Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 122 Yangtze River Defense Line
At the newly built wharf at the water gate east of Xuzhou City, teams of laborers stepped on creaking pedals and boarded the boats one after another. Amidst the shouts, they unloaded all kinds of supplies transferred from Jiangnan and even Fujian.

After the previous campaign of clearing the countryside and more than half a year of fighting, the land around Xuzhou City had already become barren, and even the summer grain harvest in the entire Huaibei Plain was almost completely lost.

But at this time, there were nearly 100,000 soldiers and civilians gathered in Xuzhou City, and the daily food consumption was huge.

Not only that, Zhu Cilang was also continuously migrating people from Yanzhou Prefecture in the north to the south, preparing to settle these people in the cities in Huaibei that had been looted by the Qing army before.

Xuzhou, the hub of the canal, was undoubtedly a transit station for these people heading south. The Ministry of Households and the Ministry of War were coordinating at this time to raise supplies to quickly resettle hundreds of thousands of people heading south.

The protracted war has conscripted countless civilians, resulting in a shortage of manpower in various prefectures in the south of the Yangtze River. The production in workshops and the transportation of grain have been affected.

Before the autumn crops that were planted in a hurry were harvested, Zhu Cilang could only obtain the necessary supplies from Fujian, Guangdong, and even from Southeast Asia through the Zheng family fleet in Fujian.

After the war situation in Jiangbei became clear, Zheng Zhilong's attitude towards the Nanjing court immediately took a 180-degree turn. Not only did he do his utmost to transport food and fodder to the north, he also mobilized Fujian gentry to donate more than 100,000 taels of silver in military pay.

But these hundreds of thousands of taels of silver can only temporarily alleviate the urgent needs of Jiangbei, which is currently in need of reconstruction. Hundreds of thousands of people will eventually have to rely on themselves and reclaim land on this wasteland.

Before the Nanjing court became strong enough, the entire Jianghuai region would be under semi-militarized management. While deploying military farms, Zhu Cilang also planned to restore the horse policy and turn parts of Huaibei into horse farms again.

Due to successive natural and man-made disasters, the population in Huaibei has plummeted. Even if hundreds of thousands of people from Yanzhou, eastern Henan and other places move south, they can be easily resettled.

But this is the front line of the battlefield after all. Rather than fully restoring intensive farming, it would be better to restore the horse policy after meeting the basic supplies of the military and civilians.

In this way, the problems of shortage of manpower and war horses in Huaibei were solved.

However, before the military farming system achieved results, the food and fodder supply for these tens of millions of soldiers and civilians would have to rely on the Yangtze River and the canal waterway, and be allocated from various parts of Jiangnan and Jiangxi for a period of time.

At this time, the latest batch of rice that arrived was not only to be distributed to the garrisons in various cities of Xuzhou, but also related to the food supply for hundreds of thousands of people in each city for the next month.

Inside and outside the city of Xuzhou, countless laborers and craftsmen were busy. Zhu Cilang planned to further strengthen this fortress that protected the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers, and continuously consume the strength of the Qing army heading south.

Although Duoduo had temporarily withdrawn his troops northward, it was only a matter of time before the Qing government launched another offensive against the Jianghuai region and marched south to Yingtian. Xuzhou would remain the Ming army's military center in Huaibei for a long time to come.

After repelling the Qing army, the bureaucratic system of the Ming Dynasty's Southern Capital, tempered by this war, quickly took over most of Yanzhou Prefecture and several prefectures southeast of Kaifeng Prefecture with its strong mobilization capabilities.

After witnessing the brutality of the Qing army, the local gentry in these places were very cooperative at this time. Some even brought their families and rushed to join the effort. Many of them also took the initiative to donate money to support the army, for fear of not being active enough.

The Ming Dynasty was established for more than 200 years. Although the country was almost overthrown, its political appeal should not be underestimated, especially since the Manchus were still barbarians outside the Great Wall.

Now, Duoduo's southern expedition army, known as "two hundred thousand brave soldiers", has been defeated and Zhu Cilang has proved his strength and re-established the golden signboard of the Ming Dynasty.

After all, even from the perspective of killing the Eight Banners soldiers, the significance and impact of this battle were already great enough, not to mention that when the Qing army entered the pass, Li Zicheng was defeated, and the Eight Banners were invincible, the boost it gave to people's morale far exceeded any previous war against the Qing.

After Zhu Cilang proved that he had the military power to fight back against the Qing army and restore the world, many people were no longer worried about whether the Tartars would come back, but whether they could take advantage of this opportunity to rise rapidly and gain prominence.

You know, there is never a shortage of people who want to be officials in this world, not to mention that Zhu Cilang is the orthodox emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, in these newly recovered areas, in addition to relocating the people, the Ming army also had to hold accountable and liquidate the traitors who had previously voluntarily cut their braids and surrendered to the Qing army, and focus on attacking them. They must absolutely not allow them to infiltrate the ranks of bureaucrats migrating south.

Zhu Cilang needs absolute control over the entire Jianghuai region. This is his base for training new officials, whether they are military generals or civil servants in charge of civil administration.

Moreover, he also needs to take the opportunity of severely punishing traitors and rectifying civil affairs to crack down on local governments and demonstrate his iron-fisted approach.

Zhu Cilang will not personally interfere in these specific matters. Lu Zhenfei will naturally handle the affairs of Jianghuai. He has been operating here for several years and has a very high prestige.

However, during this period, Lu Zhenfei's most important task was to follow Zhu Cilang to inspect the military camps in Jianghuai, to comfort the army, and to meet with some gentry and clan elders who had migrated in advance from Yanzhou, eastern Henan and other places to see the emperor.

Zhu Cilang used these events to further strengthen his authority in the local area, and at the same time to pave the way for Lu Zhenfei. It was time to replace some ministers in the cabinet.

"The military farms in Huaibei only need to meet the basic needs of the military and civilians. Military considerations must be taken into account wherever the military farms are located, ensuring they can be harvested in time before the Qing army launches a surprise attack. At the very least, there must be time to destroy them so that the Qing army can obtain supplies locally the next time they invade the south."

After Zhu Cilang inspected the area, he gave instructions to Lu Zhenfei who came to report on the military garrisons, civil affairs deployment and reclamation restoration plans in various places.

"I will send someone to specifically handle the high-quality stallions needed for breeding at the horse farm. The Tartars can block the land routes, but they definitely can't control the sea routes. Liaodong is such a large area, and there are smuggling strongholds everywhere. It shouldn't be difficult to buy horses."

"Your Majesty is wise." Lu Zhenfei heard this and immediately clasped his hands and said:

"I will arrange the relocation of the people as soon as possible and restore production in Jianghuai. Within a year, I will establish at least ten horse farms in Jianghuai Daming."

He had heard of smuggling in the Denglai area of ​​Shandong and the northern border areas of Shanxi. Smuggling had been rampant under the Ming Dynasty, and the Tartars were no exception. Furthermore, Korea was connected to Liaodong, so obtaining war horses was not impossible.

"Are there any changes in Gao Jie and Huang Degong's deployment?" Zhu Cilang asked again.

He had previously handed these matters over to Lu Zhenfei, who was familiar with the Jianghuai armies, to arrange and handle, but he still firmly held the final decision-making power over military deployment.

"Gao Jie is still stationed in Xuzhou with his troops. The cities of Yanzhou are currently garrisoned by the army transferred from the north and local militias. Huang Degong's headquarters is also in Huai'an. The three thousand-man headquarters of the Palace Army are stationed in various places in eastern Henan."

Lu Zhenfei paused, then continued:
"I believe that after the armies and civilians of Yanzhou and eastern Henan retreat south, Huang Degong can take over the southern Yanzhou provincial capital, Gao Jie can take over eastern Henan, and then select a group of elite soldiers from the rebel forces in Shandong and Henan to supplement their forces."

"I have made separate arrangements for the reinforcement of the troops of Gao Jie and Huang Degong. As for the affiliation of the rebel forces in Shandong and Henan, let's not discuss it for now. Tell Gao Jie and Huang Degong not to pay attention to them." Zhu Cilang said in a serious tone.

He had noticed that Gao Jie and Huang Degong had such thoughts before, and Lu Zhenfei was, after all, a veteran official in the Ming Dynasty officialdom. He was wary of and partial to the two military generals under his control, and he also followed certain unspoken rules of the officialdom.

In fact, Lu Zhenfei's way of handling the matter was perfectly normal before. These soldiers were originally recruited by Gao Jie and Huang Degong. As long as the two did not have any domineering or rebellious intentions, they would naturally be considered their soldiers.

In the last years of Chongzhen's reign, as the situation deteriorated, even the civil officials who had been restraining the military generals began to condone such behavior that had never been allowed to happen. There was no need for Lu Zhenfei to make things difficult for Gao Jie and Huang Degong.

But now that Zhu Cilang had spoken, Lu Zhenfei certainly wouldn't argue for them. He immediately clasped his hands and said:

"I obey!"

In fact, he had also sensed from Zhu Cilang's previous series of deployments that the young emperor was preparing to carry out drastic reforms, but he had not yet figured out how the changes would be made in the end.
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As time went on, Ajige withdrew his troops from Jiujiang and crossed the river to the north. Zheng Siwei, Wang Tizhong and other troops also retreated to Jingzhou and Wuchang. The offensive launched by the Qing army in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River came to an end.

Thirteen days after Ajige's main force withdrew from Wuchang, the news that Zuo Liangyu died suddenly in the government office in Jiujiang City was delivered to Zhu Cilang by the Jinyiwei's horses at full speed.

As soon as Zuo Liangyu died, the time had to immediately deal with the dozen or so arrogant and domineering military leaders under his command.

Not only that, after Li Zicheng's death, tens of thousands of soldiers and hundreds of thousands of families of the Dashun East Route Army also gathered in Pingjiang and Liuyang areas of Yuezhou Prefecture and Changsha Prefecture.

Although Zhu Cilang had made preparations and Du Yinxi had already contacted the generals of the remaining Shun army, he still planned to go there in person to persuade them to surrender.

Both of these forces are effective forces in the anti-Qing war and can be used by the Qing army. If used properly, they can become a powerful army to fight against the Eight Banners Army in Huguang.

After receiving military intelligence from northern Jiangxi and Changsha, Zhu Cilang immediately reorganized his army and prepared to lead some generals and troops westward to Jiujiang and Changsha to personally subdue these troops.

Except for some who stayed in Jianghuai to assist Lu Zhenfei, most of the officials who accompanied him to Fengyang had been sent back to Nanjing.

At this time, the news of the great victory had already spread throughout the world, and the Ming Dynasty was once again prosperous. The promotion of officials at all levels, the allocation of materials, post-war rewards, and a series of major events such as the first imperial examination of the new dynasty were naturally put on the agenda.

All of these matters, big and small, were opportunities for civil officials to form cliques and expand their power. Rather than following Zhu Cilang to northern Jiangxi, it would be better to return to Nanjing. Of course, many were hesitant. They wanted opportunities for promotions at all levels, to win over lower-level officials, or to climb the ladder, but they also wanted to perform well in front of the Emperor and rise to prominence overnight.

As a result, many officials who had secretly formed small groups began to place their bets. Some in the team chose to return to Nanjing, some chose to stay in Jianghuai, and some planned to follow Zhu Cilang to northern Jiangxi.

At that time, no matter where they are, they will not miss the opportunity. As long as one of them is reused, it will be easy for others to be promoted.

However, they were just thinking too much. Zhu Cilang had no intention of taking so many burdens with him. Except for the accompanying troops and a few officials from the Ministry of War, everyone else returned to Beijing as ordered.

Zhu Cilang also quickly bid farewell to Lu Zhenfei in Huai'an, and at the same time instructed him to properly manage Jianghuai and accumulate powerful forces for the future Northern Expedition.

"Although Ajige and Duoduo have been defeated and retreated to the north, the Qing army will soon march south again, and the next time they will come directly for me."

"Your Majesty, do not worry. The Eastern Tartars only have a hundred thousand men, and they lost seven or eight thousand in this southern expedition. If we can stop them one more time, we, your Majesty, will train two hundred thousand strong troops in Jiangnan, and we will surely be able to wipe out the Eastern Tartars in one fell swoop."

Lu Zhenfei clasped his hands towards Zhu Cilang, paused, and then said:

"As for those border troops who surrendered to the Eastern Tartars, they will definitely not fight to the death. As long as our army gains the upper hand, they will definitely turn against us in a timely manner, unless they are Geng, Kong, Shang, Shen and other people who have committed unforgivable crimes."

Zhu Cilang nodded and said to Lu Zhenfei:
"This is why I must personally visit northern Jiangxi. Xuzhou is currently in our hands. By controlling the canal, the main artery, Huaibei will be protected, and the Qing army will be unable to quickly transport food and maintain the army's operations.

Guide in eastern Henan is also in my hands. As long as we build a strong city and deploy heavy troops, it will be difficult for the Qing army to invade the Huaihe River line at will in the future, let alone cross the river to the south and raid Nanjing.

But Wuchang is now in the hands of the Qing army. Ajige has left behind an army of Eight Banners to garrison there, and Wang Tizhong also has tens of thousands of troops under his command. If we want to retake this hub of the Nine Provinces, I'm afraid it will take a lot of effort."

"Hong Chengchou must have played a role in this. Sichuan is very likely to be the focus of the Qing army's attack."

After hearing this, Lu Zhenfei recalled the military reports sent back by the Jinyiwei during this period, and suddenly said in a deep voice:
"Although Zhang Xianzhong now has hundreds of thousands of soldiers, he is brutal by nature and likes to kill innocent people. The natural barrier of Hanzhong is not in his hands. It may not be easy for him to hold Sichuan.

Wang Ge Lao has made considerable progress in Zunyi, and has now summoned a number of capable generals, including Yang Zhan, Tu Long, Mo Zongwen, and Jia Denglian. In March and April, Ma Qian (the Sichuan governor) also assembled a large force. His deputy general, Zeng Ying, was a capable general and led the troops to recapture Chongqing, with Zeng Ying being the primary contributor.

After Zhu Cilang went north to Xuzhou, Lu Zhenfei had been following him and often participated in military discussions. This allowed him to access military intelligence from all sides reported back by the Jinyiwei. At this time, he seemed to have a very good understanding of the situation from all directions.

Zhu Cilang also agreed with this. Although the Qing army's judgment of the situation inside the Great Wall did not directly rely on Hong Chengchou alone, he did play a crucial role.

Hong Chengchou started his career in northern Shaanxi and held important positions. In particular, his experience in commanding large armies to encircle and suppress peasant armies in various parts of the Central Plains made his understanding of various places more than just theoretical talk.

In this era, limited by the speed of transportation and information dissemination, such cognition and experience are absolutely unique.

"Earlier, Zhang Xianzhong had also sent troops north to capture Hanzhong, but in that battle, the western bandits ran into He Zhen and suffered heavy losses, hindering their advance northward. After that, they suffered a series of defeats in southern Sichuan and Chongqing, losing many veteran soldiers.

After the Qing court freed up its hands, it would definitely enter Sichuan through Hanzhong. If it could not defend Baoning, Zhang Xianzhong would no longer be a threat due to the continued interference of the Qing army.

Moreover, he has never been good at governing, and the officials under his rule are not stable. Once he suffers setbacks, he will lose many soldiers and generals, and many people will flee and rebel. It is absolutely impossible for him to achieve the same great power as Li Zicheng!"

"Your Majesty is right. This man is not very good at fighting. If the Qing army concentrates tens of thousands of troops and attacks Sichuan from Hanzhong to the south, he will definitely not be able to stop it."

Lu Zhenfei was knowledgeable about military affairs, so he continued:

"But the terrain in southern and eastern Sichuan is complex, and the western bandits are very good at escaping. In addition, Sichuan is in ruins, so the Qing army probably won't be able to penetrate deeply. At least for this year, Zhang Xianzhong should be able to hold out."

"This one year is enough. After I integrate the two armies of Huguang and Jiangxi, it shouldn't be a problem to defend Yuezhou and Jiujiang. The Qing army has limited manpower and cannot attack from three directions at the same time."

Zhu Cilang said this, looked up at the western sky, and said:

"Xuzhou and Wuchang, one in the east and one in the west, are both crucial hubs. If I control one of them, Dorgon will not be able to gain full advantage. Sichuan is controlled by Zhang Xianzhong, and in southern Sichuan there are tens of thousands of troops under Wang Ge Lao. If they are integrated and take advantage of the terrain, they will be enough to hold off the Qing army for another year or so.

By then, I will have trained an army of 100,000 or 200,000 in Southern Zhili, Huguang, and Jiangxi, and I won’t have to worry about this loophole in the Yangtze River defense line anymore!

Lu Zhenfei understood Zhu Cilang's concerns. From ancient times to the present, there have been victorious examples of unifying the world from north to south in the upper, middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The Qing army will definitely formulate a new strategy for the southern expedition based on this.

From a historical perspective, if one wants to attack Sichuan, one must first take Hanzhong, and then one can seize Sichuan and enter Yunnan. The Qing army has already taken the initiative in the west; once Xiang and Jing are taken, the middle reaches of the Yangtze River will be full of loopholes and difficult to defend. Now Wuchang is also in the hands of the enemy, and the Qing army has taken the initiative in the middle route.

In other words, after the Ming army held Xuzhou and Guide, the Qing army would most likely send troops to contain Jianghuai in the next round, and then send troops from the central route - Huguang, which occupied the initiative on the battlefield, or first send troops to the west to seize Sichuan, and then attack from southern Sichuan and Wuchang.

However, although he understood the urgency of the situation, he also had some complaints about the king being too close to the military. Now, Zhu Cilang was about to lead his army to Jiujiang, and he finally couldn't help but speak out:

"Your Majesty, I have something to say. I don't know if I should say it or not?"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Cilang turned his head and looked at the old minister with a resolute expression. He thought that the other party was going to advise him to beware of the bandits who had fled to Changsha Prefecture and nag him about the bandits and the national hatred. He immediately sighed in his heart.

However, there was no emotion on his face, and he said slowly:

"Between you and me, the ruler and his subject, we should speak frankly!"

"Power should not be concentrated in one department, and matters should not be left to obstruction." Lu Zhenfei paused, finally gritted his teeth, and continued:
"Taizu divided the Grand Military Governor's Office into five parts because he was worried about military chaos. Since the late Tang Dynasty, when the feudal lords began to rule, stabilizing the country and preventing the rise of military power have been the court's top priorities. Restricting military power and military power is the result of countless bloody lessons learned over thousands of years and must not be taken lightly.

Your Majesty is right to strengthen the army and restore the Ming Dynasty, but there is a difference between the emperor and his subjects, between civil officials and military officials. Your Majesty is the supreme ruler, and you must keep your distance from military officials on a daily basis, otherwise the power of the emperor will be meaningless!"

Zhu Cilang looked at Lu Zhenfei's nervous expression and smiled secretly in his heart. He knew that his approach of getting along well with the generals in the army and improving the status of military men would attract criticism from the civil officials, but he did not expect that Lu Zhenfei would be the first to stand up.

However, if you think about it carefully, this is not surprising. Lu Zhenfei usually interacts with Gao Jie and Huang Degong. Gao Jie, in particular, has always wanted to annex the Shandong Volunteer Army and has secretly embezzled military funds through various means.

"I'm afraid you're not the only one who has such thoughts, both in the government and the country." Zhu Cilang smiled, and then said meaningfully:

"You are still too optimistic about the situation. Are you thinking about restricting the military now? Taking a step back, isn't it because Zuo Liangyu's troops and the remnants of the rebels are either unwilling to return or are ready to make trouble that I am close to the Palace Guards and the generals of the Beijing Camp?
These two armies are my personal armies. The generals of each camp were all promoted and trained by me. Now that they have made such great achievements, I naturally want to be close to them and make them prominent in front of others.

Only in this way will the other armies compete to pledge their allegiance to me, and the Palace Army and the Capital Camp will also be even more loyal. If we cannot distinguish between the near and the distant, who will be willing to sacrifice their lives and go the extra mile for me in the future?"

"But the power of warriors must be limited after all."

Although Lu Zhenfei agreed with Zhu Cilang's opinion, he was afraid that the young emperor might not be able to make sense, so he wanted to persuade him again.

"Supporting one army in order to restrain several others is like bringing in tigers and leopards to deal with jackals. The consequences will be endless."

"The army has its own rules and regulations. Since I ascended the throne, I have established several new departments in the army to reshape the military system to prevent soldiers from being controlled by their generals. From now on, this will not only apply to the Palace Army, but also to the Capital Camp. All armies will be treated the same way. I'm afraid you are completely worrying too much."

Zhu Cilang paused and said calmly:

"When I mentioned the deployment of troops in Gao Jie and Huang Degong's two towns and the placement of the Shandong and Henan volunteer armies, I said there would be arrangements in the future. You will know the details when we meet.

I will not abuse the power of military commanders, but I will never allow the status of officers and soldiers to be reduced to beggars. Military commanders are not subordinate to civil officials. Both civil and military officials are the pillars of our Ming Dynasty."

　Thanks to the book friend "SuibianX" for the reward.

　　PS: I have been busy recently and time is a bit tight, so the author will adjust the update time one hour later. All subsequent updates will be changed to 22:00. Please be informed, book lovers.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)