The Yuzhang and Yongjia divisions of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Ming Army, the Jinhua divisions and the Jiangdu divisions, the Danyang divisions and the Dalan divisions advanced from three regions in northern Anhui, canals and coastal areas respectively. The Qing court's Huaibei defense line collapsed in just half a month. The 40,000 Huaibei Green Camps surrendered in the face of the Northern Expedition troops of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Ming Army, which had an absolute advantage in numbers.

Since the recovery of Huainan, the Ming army in Jiangsu and Zhejiang has been preparing for more than three years. Once it is launched, it will be the power of thunder. So smooth, there are many military intelligence departments that have reversed the Green Camp in Huainbei and officials. Relying on the strong strength and past achievements of the Ming army in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the green camps in Huainbei who lack sufficient control of the Eight Banners Army have turned against each other. After all, this is no different from their ideas when they surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. The enemy is too strong, and since they cannot be defeated, then join it. It is that simple.

"Our troops swept across Huaibei, and now the pioneer has entered the territory of Shandong. This northern expedition is indeed more smooth than expected."

The Ming army in Jiangsu and Zhejiang were able to win consecutive battles when its strength was at a disadvantage in the early years. Now it is now the most powerful. Especially in recent years, the battles with the two vassal soldiers of Shang and Geng and the Daxi Army of Qin were often crushing battles, and there was inevitably optimism and even inflated emotions in the army.

This Northern Expedition did not have even a small-scale battle with the Huaibei area. Even the conflict in Xuzhou was instigated to fight between the Green Camp and the Eight Banners Army. There were no casualties of one soldier and one soldier in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Ming Army, and the situation was very good.

The generals and the staff under his command were optimistic. Chen Wen also smiled slightly and continued to say: "The life of the Lu Court is that their core population is too small, and their limited human resources can only be poured into the new army. Even so, there are still things that have newly entered the banner in recent years. In Huaibei, although this is a necessary path for the Northern Expedition Army, it still cannot provide more Eight Banners Army to restrain it. The only way to use the Green Camp as cannon fodder. However, most of the Green Camps were originally the old Ming army that surrendered to the Tartars. Since they could shave their heads and surrender to the Qing Dynasty, they could naturally turn against each other. The Huaibei defense line of the Lu Court seemed ridiculous, but the key was that the core population problem caused the strategic layout to be restricted."

Chen Wen said this, as the chief of the Planning Section of the General Staff Office of the Army, Zhang Gongyan asked Chen Wen on behalf of everyone: "Then according to the wishes of His Highness the Superintendent, will the next march not be as easy as it is now?"

"Yes, the Tartars can give up Huaibei or even Shandong. With their core population, only if the new army defeats the main force of our Northern Expedition Army can we turn the tables. Otherwise, even if these places were not lost so quickly, there would be no meaning. Only if there are people, there is a future to speak of."

……………………

The Central Army advanced rapidly in Huaibei and even began to encroach on Shandong. The other route of the three routes of the northern expedition was the Luling Division led by the King of Jiujiang County Zhang Zisheng and the Duke of Miao, led by the Luling Division led by the Duke of Miao, Hou Guoyuan, set out from Xiangyang and Huangzhou respectively to attack the boundaries of Henan.

Nanyang Prefecture and Ruyang Prefecture in southern Henan have been in communication with the Ming army in Jiangsu and Zhejiang for many years. The two troops have collected the prefecture and county towns along the way without bloodshed.

When Chen Wen arrived at the important town of Xuzhou and continued northward along the canal and coastal routes to enter the boundary of Shandong, the two main forces of the Western Route Army had just completed the assembly in Shangcai County, north of Runing Prefecture, and planned to go north through Yancheng and Xuzhou to Kaifeng Prefecture. As long as Kaifeng is recovered and the Ming army in northern Anhui works together to capture Guide Prefecture, the Western Route Army relies on the actual occupation of the prefectures of these four prefectures to compress the superior cavalry of the Qing army into Henan, and the purpose of the northern Anhui road is to achieve it.

As for the northwest of Henan, and even Shaanxi and Shanxi, we can wait for the Central Army to defeat the main force of the Qing army before slowly planning it. It is estimated that it will be normal for the order to be issued by then.

However, the two divisions had a large force, and together there were more than 2,000 cavalry. However, in such a large area, facing the 5,000 cavalry teamed by the Qing court's special group of the Qing court and cooperating with the Green Camp cavalry in northern Henan, this Western Route Army was not able to deal with it at all.

During the capture of these two prefectures, although there were local green camps, they were still hit by several small-scale attacks. Now the army has merged and is preparing to go north to Kaifeng. According to the horse exploration report, the number of cavalry in the Qing army is increasing, and they are not afraid of fighting in formation. However, the food supply is of great importance. There are also a large number of county towns in these two prefectures that have not been recovered yet, and the local green camps have not all surrendered. If they merge with these Qing cavalry, it will be a disaster.

"Xing Guoan, a traitor, heard from the Military Information Department that this guy did not enter the country, nor did he eat the soft and hard. He sent the lobbyist to the prison in the past, but now he is harassed us wholeheartedly. He is even more loyal to the prison in the first place than the real Tartars."

Compared with Zhang Zisheng, Hou Guoyuan's troops were attacked far more than that, and he hated this old general of Dingnan vassal.

Seeing the deputy commander of the Western Route Army, Zhang Zisheng, as the head coach, had to make peace: "It is better to bother us than to make trouble in Huaibei. Our Western Route Army was originally a partial division. It is enough to seize the southern and eastern Henan according to the plan, compress the operation space of the Tatar cavalry, and create better conditions for the Central Route Army to go north. Now that the strategic goal has been achieved, there is still a chance for the remaining one, and there is still a cooperation between Wu Shuai."

"What Zhang Shuai said is that the generals are just complaining."

Hou Guoyuan sighed, but his frowning face was not relieved: "Before you came, the last generals just received the news that the people from the Military Information Department in Henan Prefecture and Kaifeng Prefecture found that since the Northern Expedition, the Tartars had already called back the Eight Banners from Shaanxi and recruited a large number of Mongolian Tatars from Mongolia in the south of the desert, some of which were to make trouble for us in Henan."

Although the news was sent from northern Henan, although it was still a province's territory, it was not the territory of the Ming army in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Coupled with factors such as the route, the information was delayed. The news had just arrived, but it was not easy to solve the problem that these Qing army reinforcements had entered the boundary of Henan. When they headed north to Kaifeng, they happened to meet it.

The number of cavalry has never been superior, which is a problem that the Ming army in Jiangsu and Zhejiang has always existed. Jiangsu and Zhejiang are not excellent horse farming land, nor do they produce war horses. In the south, Yunnan horses are also more suitable for mountain combat. It is a big disadvantage to the Mongolian horses with shoulder height.

During this Northern Expedition, the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Ming Army concentrated a large number of high-quality war horses to train the elderly guard divisions. The ten divisions participating in the Northern Expedition were all fully equipped. Even the local garrisons also trained some cavalry units to cooperate in maintaining the order of the newly occupied areas in the north. However, compared with the Qing Dynasty, which was backed by the Mongolian grassland, it was impossible to compare with the capture and purchase alone.

Zhang Zisheng had just arrived and was still familiar with the situation when he heard what Hou Guoyuan mentioned, but after hearing this, Zhang Zisheng couldn't help but frown.

He was not young anymore and was the oldest general in the military and political group of the Ming Army in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. He fought in Jiangxi for many years and then followed Chen Wen, and he truly saw the hope of driving the Tartars out of China. For this hope, and to fulfill the wishes of Governor Jie, Mr. Fu, Brother Hong, Brother Cao, and Brother Li, who died in Jiangxi, are now in the hope. Now the wish comes true, but the Qing court is not a complete disadvantage, so even Zhang Zisheng is anxious.

"We are in trouble, and it is even more difficult for His Highness to supervise the country. It is not bad for Huaibei, but there are probably a large number of Tartar cavalry in Shandong and Zhili."

As the two of them said, they came to the sand table and based on the information to discuss the next operation time, route and other situations. However, the boundary of Henan can be called a flat horse. The large plain area is really an excellent combat area for the cavalry. It is not as dense as the mountains and forests of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and the water network is crisscrossing. It is a big challenge for the Ming army of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, which is a military that is used to fighting in the south, especially for them.

The Minzhong Division had just arrived and it still needed time to renovate. Zhang Zisheng and Hou Guoyuan summoned the staff of the two divisions and planned a lot, but they only had so many chips in their hands. The firearms of the Ming army in Jiangsu and Zhejiang were increasing day by day. In addition to food and grass, they also had to transport a large amount of gunpowder. Once they were attacked, if they could not deal with it properly, they would be more likely to cause greater losses. There was no way.

The military orders were as high as a mountain. Although the Western Route Army was only responsible for its own strategic direction, it had to cooperate with the main force of the Northern Expedition Army in Huaibei and had to bite the bullet and send troops.

The army left Shangcai County, passed through Xiping, and passed Yancheng. By the time they reached Linying, they had been harassed several times, and their advance speed was slowed down a lot. Especially when they entered the boundary of Kaifeng Prefecture, the Qing cavalry under the banner of Henan were always wandering around, and from time to time they came to interfere with one or two. However, the number of cavalry of the Western Route Army was limited, and it was even more difficult to disperse when they were dispersed, and it was even more unimaginable to expel them.

"I walked less than thirty miles today. I have never been there since I entered Jinhua Mansion."

The harassment slowed down the marching speed, and as the army penetrated deep into the hinterland of Henan, the attacks of the Qing cavalry became more and more frequent. As a result, the injury was not fundamental, but the marching speed of the army was greatly reduced, especially the safety of the food route involved most of the energy of the Western Army.

"The Tatars have more and more cavalry, and it is hard to say whether they can guarantee twenty miles tomorrow. There are two roads now. One is to stand by on time, waiting for the governments of Nanyang Prefecture and Runing Prefecture to complete the arrangement of the garrison and the military warehouse base to move forward; the other is to carry enough military supplies and food, and the army heads straight to Kaifeng Prefecture to kill, and then take Kaifeng if there is anything to do."

Zhang Zisheng's two plans are not very realistic after all. The former severely slowed down the itinerary, which was exactly what the Tatars were willing to see, and was even more unfavorable to the advancement of the central army; the latter needed to reserve enough military supplies, and the more the number, the more it needed the protection of the large army. Moreover, this could not solve the problem of constant interference and slowing down the itinerary, and even after taking Kaifeng, it was the same.

From Linying County to Kaifeng Prefecture City, the two places are no less than 250 or 60 miles apart, and there are still many rivers to cross. If the army advances at a speed of twenty miles a day, it will take half a month, or even one month. After half a month, if Kaifeng and Guide are not allowed to be taken down, the progress of the Ming army in northern Anhui will probably be affected.

The two were worried, and a messenger rushed over and came with a young general wearing a python robe and jade belt. Zhang Zisheng and Hou Guoyuan had never seen this young general, but with the introduction of the messenger, Zhang Zisheng suddenly remembered something, and even vaguely saw hope to get rid of this predicament.

"Don't Duke Lin bring his army here?"

Zhang Zisheng is the prince and the commander of the Western Route Army. In terms of age, Li Guo is even worse than Li Guo, who has been dead for many years. When Zhang Zisheng asked this question, Li Laiheng, Duke Linguo, quickly bowed and replied: "Report to Zhang Shuai, the last general will be ordered by His Highness the Superintendent of the State to lead the cavalry to serve him. However, the journey is long and the soldiers under his command are still repaired in Runing Mansion and will arrive in front of the army soon."

Chen Wen accepted the title of the governor and gave two orders to the vassal states who went to Nanjing to show their loyalty. One was to be trustworthy and strictly prohibited from entering other people's defense zones; the other was to those who were interested in participating in the Northern Expedition, who could lead the elite troops in the headquarters to serve in front of the army.

Li Laiheng's guarding place was in Xuzhou Prefecture, Sichuan. He rushed over. He was at the forefront of the generals in Sichuan. He was still the generals who trusted Li Laiheng's combat effectiveness. He was satisfied and wanted to make a good start. Fortunately, he gained a foothold in the new dynasty in the future. Li Laiheng led his troops to come. All of them were cavalry. He had been flowing down the Yangtze River and headed north after arriving in Wuchang. Fortunately, the horses would take some time, otherwise if they were on the formation, their poor condition would also affect their combat effectiveness.

"Since that's the case, let's repair it here for a few days, and wait for Duke Lin's subordinates to arrive before heading north."

"this?"
Chapter completed!