There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 429 Quickly Take Jiangbei
The next day.

Yang Fang dispersed the tens of thousands of captured Qing soldiers and the tens of thousands of laborers and militia members in Huai'an Prefecture and incorporated them into the civilian labor camps.

The Han army certainly didn't need so many laborers, but Huai'an Prefecture had just been captured. The capture was too fast for the civil officials to keep up, so to avoid these Qing army trainees from gathering for too long and causing chaos, they were all converted into laborers for the time being.

There's no need to worry about them being idle and eating food for free; the Grand Canal is still blocked!
In order to block the Han army's northward advance, the Qing army had previously used a large amount of silt to fill boats with sand and sink them to block the river mouth from Huai'an Prefecture to Pingqiao Town, and then used iron chains to block the river.

Any ship that dared to travel north through the Grand Canal would inevitably run into the artificial reefs formed by the iron chains and sunken ships. Now that so many Qing soldiers and laborers have been captured, it's a good opportunity to keep these Qing soldiers and laborers busy and have them all clear the silt and sunken ships from the canal.

This was a massive undertaking. Even though the Qing army had blocked a short section of the river and their methods were rather rudimentary, and the Han army had tens of thousands of laborers, it would still take at least a month or two to clear the river.

Yang Fang arranged for laborers to clear the canal, while he himself led the remaining main force of the Han army to continue their rapid northward advance along the canal, first crossing the Yellow River, and then launching a full-scale attack on the north bank of the Yangtze River.

Thanks to the Qing army's crushing defeat last night, none of the large warships that Kang Jitian and Tie Bao had prepared at the Huai'an dock could be taken away in time; they were all left at the dock and became spoils of war for the Han army.

Yang Fang left only 500 Han soldiers to garrison in Huai'an Prefecture, while the remaining 10,000-plus main force boarded the large ships left by the Qing army and quickly headed north along the Grand Canal.

In less than half an hour, the Han army fleet arrived at Qinghe (Qingjiang) County.

When the magistrate of Qinghe County saw the large fleet of ships on the canal and the Chinese flag fluttering in the wind, he didn't even need the Han army to persuade him to surrender. He took the initiative to raise the white flag, open the city gates, and kneel to welcome the royal army.

Qinghe County surrendered voluntarily. Yang Fang didn't even disembark, leaving only 500 militiamen to take over the city's defenses.

After another half hour of sailing, the fleet finally entered the Yellow River.

The Han army, from top to bottom, was almost entirely composed of southerners. Yang Fang, the commander of the Fifth Division, was even from Guizhou, so naturally he had never seen what the Yellow River actually looked like.

Standing on the deck, Yang Fang gazed at the surging Yellow River before her and couldn't help but exclaim in amazement, "This is the Yellow River! It truly is turbulent. No wonder it's called the Yellow River! Speaking of which, how exactly did Wang Baobao manage to cross the Yellow River with just a single log back then?"

As a scholar, Yang Fang had read the History of Yuan Dynasty and was deeply impressed by the account of Wang Baobao "obtaining a driftwood to cross the river".

Now that he's seen the real Yellow River, the impression is even more profound; he even feels swaying while sitting on this big boat.

He could cross the Yellow River with just a driftwood; no wonder Zhu Yuanzhang praised Wang Baobao, this Yuan general, as a remarkable man throughout history.

The guide brought from Huai'an Prefecture seized the opportunity to say, "General, look south. That dry riverbed is what was left after the Yellow River breached its banks and flooded into Hongze Lake a few years ago. The old site of Qinghe County was also here, but because the Yellow River and Hongze Lake often breached their banks and flooded each other, the county seat was moved to its current location in Qingjiangpu."

Yang Fang was genuinely unaware of these matters and nodded repeatedly, saying, "I see. It seems that after conquering Jiangbei, the most important thing for our Great Han is to find a way to control the river!"

Although he is now a military general, Yang Fang still understands the importance of the Yellow River to the country.

Just by looking at the map of the Jianghuai region, he could roughly estimate how much disaster would result from the Yellow River and Hongze Lake flooding each other for a long period of time.

Historical records from various dynasties contain numerous accounts of disasters caused by the Yellow River. At least one-third of a dynasty's history is devoted to managing the Yellow River, another third to resisting foreign enemies and waging wars, and the remaining third to natural disasters, man-made calamities, suppressing internal rebellions, governing civil affairs, and factional struggles.

According to historical records to date, the Yellow River has breached its banks more than 1500 times in nearly 2000 years, averaging one breach every year and a half, and has also changed its course more than 20 times.

If history does not deviate significantly, in about 50 years, the Yellow River will experience its last major course change in modern history—the breach at Tongwaxiang will successfully alter its current course of diverting into the Huai River and flowing into the sea, instead directing it to flow into the sea via the Shandong Peninsula.

Although there seem to be 50 years left on the timeline, time is running out for the Han Dynasty.

As for the current state of the riverbed that Yang Fang can see, the Yellow River on the ground is already approaching its limit, with its surging waves.

In order to preserve the Grand Canal, the Ming and Qing dynasties would do their best to block any breaches, rebuild county towns if they were flooded, and continue to build more dikes if they were insufficient. In any case, no one dared to interfere with the Yellow River channel, let alone the Grand Canal.

This has continued for over 400 years, causing the Yellow River to accumulate silt and sand, bringing it to the brink of collapse.

Given the current state of the Yellow River, the Han Dynasty is already in no position to move its capital to Beijing in the future. At most, it can launch a northern expedition to recover the Central Plains as soon as possible and then turn Beijing into a key border town in the north. Otherwise, it simply cannot afford the financial strain.

Let's not even discuss the plan of replacing the Grand Canal with maritime transport and then moving the capital to Beijing.

Because sea transport was definitely not feasible, the Ming Dynasty initially used it, but only decided to abandon it after several ships mysteriously sank completely. At least the probability of shipwrecks was lower with canal transport, but sea transport… well, those who know, know!
After Yang Fang's fleet entered the Yellow River, it once again split into two groups.

One way goes west, the other way goes east.

The route westward is led by Deputy General Xu Chang. First, they will attack Andong (Lianshui) County along the river, and then follow the salt transport canal connected by the Yellow River northward to attack Haizhou (Lianyungang). They must sweep across the area east of Jiangbei as quickly as possible.

Yang Fang himself led the western army northward along the Grand Canal, heading straight to attack Xuzhou.

If Xuzhou and Haizhou are captured, the Han Dynasty can annex Jiangbei, join forces with the Han army in Anhui, and advance north to Shandong and Hebei.

Retreat? What a load of rubbish! We've already taken Jiangbei, of course we should continue the Northern Expedition, drive out the Tartars, and restore China.

The Jiangsu Han army's advance was very smooth, perhaps because Kang Jitian and Tie Bao were defeated too quickly and too thoroughly.

They drained the local army and denied local officials the power to recruit soldiers, and now they have suddenly been defeated, utterly defeated.

Local officials had no time to organize troops to resist. Almost as soon as they saw the Han army arrive, they either surrendered, or their officials either committed suicide or were killed by their subordinates.

The Han army on the eastern route easily captured Andong County in just half a day, and then marched straight north along the salt transport canal to attack Haizhou City.

Shuyang County, west of Haizhou, was clearly not attacked by Han troops.

Upon hearing that the south had suffered a major defeat and that both governors had fled, the magistrate of Shuyang County decisively changed his allegiance and sent an envoy down the Lian River by small boat to Haizhou to directly seek surrender and submission from the Han army.

The situation was similar for the Western Han army. Yang Fang had only been heading north for three days when he had already gained control of three counties: Taoyuan (Siyang), Suqian, and Suining.

The magistrate of Taoyuan County surrendered voluntarily, while the magistrate of Suqian County, not daring to defend the city, committed suicide in service to his country. The magistrate of Suining County was even more remarkable; he originally intended to surrender, but due to his excessive hesitation, he was killed by the gentry and his subordinates before he could actually do so, and his head was offered to the Han army.

In just a few days, except for Pizhou (Pixian), which is far away and has not yet been captured, the southern part of Xuzhou has completely become the territory of the Han Dynasty.

The city of Xuzhou is now within reach.

Kang Jitian and Tie Bao were so shocked by the news that they were speechless.

They expected the Han army to seize this rare opportunity, but they didn't expect the Han army to arrive so quickly. Were those local officials just sitting around doing nothing?

The Han army marched all the way here, at a speed not much slower than when they marched south.

What to do now?
They had almost lost all their main force and elite troops; the two of them together had less than a thousand personal guards.

If Xuzhou Town hadn't been evacuated and destroyed before, they probably wouldn't even be able to return to Xuzhou by now.

Kang Jitian and Tie Bao wanted to run away, but they didn't dare to. After the previous battle of Huai'an, Jiangbei had already lost most of its territory, and Xuzhou absolutely could not be lost again.

Xuzhou's strategic position is too important. In contrast to Fujian, which is not a place that military strategists do not contend for, it has been a place that military strategists have fought over since ancient times.

Xuzhou is a strategic town connecting the Central Plains and the Yangtze River region, situated at the intersection of north and south and a thoroughfare connecting east and west. Located on a plain, it has a wide open terrain, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Losing most of Jiangbei was a major crime for Kang Jitian and Tie Bao, but losing Xuzhou was a truly heinous crime, deserving of death.

Xuzhou cannot be lost, at least not to them, but they can't hold it either!
With no other option, the two could only frantically write memorials to the imperial court seeking help, almost three a day, while also bracing themselves to recruit soldiers in Xuzhou to defend the city.

No matter what, they had to hold on even if they couldn't, otherwise even if the people ran away, Jiaqing would not let them off the hook.

They no longer have armies, and even if they had troops, they couldn't maintain their power. Jiaqing was not Chongzhen after all, and he couldn't tolerate them.

(End of this chapter)