In less than half a day, Huai'an City was declared lost.

Under the bombardment of Ming warship cannons, the Qing soldiers were shocked.

More than 200 cannons were smashed, and the entire section of the city wall was smashed to the point of the earth, as if it had been a quake.

When the Ming army rushed to the city, Kong Xigui had already fled to Yangzhou in a hurry. Under the leadership of the Qing general Li Huazhong, the defenders in the city opened the city and surrendered to the Ming army.

The important town of Huai'an did not resist when the Qing army advanced south. Now Zhao Ming has taken less than half a day to control the city.

This was the easiest time Zhao Ming attacked the mansion.

Because there was no fierce battle, the statistics were very fast. No one of the Ming army was killed, and only a few soldiers accidentally fell and injured when they jumped off the ship. This can be said to be the smallest battle since the army was formed.

At noon, Zhao Ming entered the city and ordered the whole city to cut the braids anyway. Those who keep braids and wear them all over the clothes will be treated as the Tartars, and they will be killed without any consideration.

Zhao Ming was not prepared to defend Huai'an City. Once the Ming army left, those who cut their braids would be retaliated against by the Qing army. However, in order to force them to cause trouble for the Qing army and destroy the two Huai areas, Zhao Ming was no longer a woman's kindness.

At this time, in the Huai'an Prefecture, Zhao Ming summoned the generals to meet.

Li Zhongming and others rushed into the lobby together, "Master!"

Zhao Ming sat in the middle hall with a big golden sword, looking at everyone with a smile on his face, and asked, "How is it, what's the gain?"

Huai'an is a major city in Jiangbei. When the Qing army headed south, the city was not damaged, and the autumn harvest had just passed, so the city must be extremely rich.

"Master General! Except for Kong Xigui's escape, all the Qing troops in the city surrendered!" Li Zhongming clasped his fists and said with a smile: "We have no casualties!"

Xu Fuyuan, the commander-in-chief who went to the army to fight, said excitedly: "Report to the commander, the army seized the city and received a thousand surrendered soldiers. The military weapons, money and grain in the city have been sealed. There is no specific number at present. However, a brief look at the humble position, the seizure should be very generous!"

Zhao Ming smiled and said, "You must count the gains as soon as possible, and then load them with a ship and transport them away!"

At this moment, Dong Zhining, the clerk of the shogunate, suddenly walked in and said with a hurricane expression: "Master, the heaven and earth come from the heaven and earth. Tens of thousands of Qing troops came from Yangzhou to the north and rushed straight to Huai'an. In addition, the Qing troops in Xuzhou and Guide were also gathering, and within two days, they would reach Huai'an!"

"The Qing army reacted so quickly!" Zhao Ming was shocked when he heard the word, stood up, and ordered in a stern voice: "Please load the ship immediately after seizure, transport the food first, and then transport other materials."

When everyone heard that the Qing army would arrive in two days, they were shocked. Xu Fuyuan did not dare to neglect and hurriedly clasped his fists and said, "I will accept the order, let's make arrangements!"

"Let's wait!" Cheng Bi reached out and bowed: "Master, the materials are transported too far to Chongming. I suggest that some materials that are not afraid of rain should be stored in Kaishan Island and then transported back to Chongming and Zhoushan."

A few months ago, Zhao Ming sent troops to occupy islands along the coast of Shandong and the two Huaihe Rivers to spy on land conditions and build warehouses as outposts for large army.

The fleet went to Chongming and returned to it too time-consuming. It was transported to the coastal islands and then slowly moved.

Zhao Ming nodded when he heard the words: "Okay, transport it to Kaishan Island first! Mr. Cheng, please help Mr. Xu to complete this matter."

Cheng Bi immediately clasped his fists and said, "I am humble and accept the order!"

Zhao Ming then said to Li Zhongming again: "Old Li, you send people to take advantage of the Qing army before it arrived, and send orders to the place to cut off your braids and fight against the Qing Dynasty, drive away the people of all over the country, cross the Huai River and head north towards Haizhou."

"As for the order!" Li Zhongming clasped his fists solemnly.

At this time, someone came to report, "Master General, there is a gentry from Huai'an outside the government office to ask for a visit!"

Zhao Ming heard the words and pondered for a while, "Let them be fooled and wait, I will come later."

In the side hall, more than a dozen local gentry and big merchants wearing brocade and hats gathered together, each with melancholy faced and discussed.

Everyone was a person with some knowledge and had a certain understanding of the situation in the world. The Ming army suddenly captured Huai'an, and they were not excited.

Ordinary people cannot see clearly the current situation, but they understand very well that both capitals of the Ming Dynasty were in trouble and probably could not hold on and would be over sooner or later.

At this time, the Ming army captured Huai'an and forced them to cut their braids to fight against the Qing Dynasty, which made everyone feel really melancholy.

At this time, everyone was talking, and a soldier in the hall shouted: "The general is here!"

The crowd was quiet when they heard the sound. Zhao Tiebang's reputation had been spread to Lianghuai. However, after being spread by the Qing Dynasty, it was not a positive image, but was described as cruel murder, burning, killing, looting giant bandits.

Everyone stood up quickly, feeling a little frightened inside. Under the leadership of an old man, they bowed to greet him.

Zhao Ming walked in, sat down in the middle hall, and smiled and said, "You fellow villagers don't need to be too polite! Let's sit down!"

The man in charge saluted and said, "The Marquis is busy with military affairs, and we are still here to disturb us. I'm really sorry!"

Zhao Ming waved his hand and looked at the old man as the leader, "It's okay, what's the name of the old man? What's the advice for me when I come to see me?"

Seeing Zhao Ming being kind, the old man was a little braver and bowed, "I'm Sun Ji Lian, I'm here with you this time to ask the Marquis, are you planning to stay in Huai'an for a long time?"

Zhao Ming said bluntly: "The army will leave immediately and will not stay in Huai'an for a long time!"

There was a commotion in the hall, but it was better for the Ming army to leave, and they could live a quiet life again, but they couldn't say this to Zhao Ming. Sun Jilian tentatively said: "The Marquis is gone, what should I do?"

Zhao Ming stood up, patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, fellow villagers, how could I leave you behind? I will take you with me!"

As soon as these words were said, the gentry and merchants were panicked. They had industries in Huai'an, and no one wanted to leave, and Sun Jilian didn't want to leave. After shaving their heads, they had already lost their integrity and other things.

Once the moral bottom line is broken, it will be difficult to raise it again. When integrity and shame are lost, more people will become more and more shameless.

Sun Jilian hurriedly smiled and said, "The Marquis's refusal to abandon the people is really touching. It's just that the Marquis and the people are walking away. It's inconvenient. Lao I and others really can't bear it. The Marquis's defeat in Yang."

Zhao Ming narrowed his eyes and looked at Sun Jilian, unwilling to have a puzzle with him. Since he had captured Huai'an, it was unreasonable and returned it to the Qing Dynasty. Zhao Ming not only wanted to move the people, but also burn the city.

"Don't worry about this, the old man has a boat, so it's not a problem!" Zhao Ming stood up and suddenly said coldly: "The old man wants to stay, but he doesn't want to do things for the Tartars and be a submissive citizen of the Tartars!"

Sun Jilian shivered when he heard the words and quickly lowered his head, "I dare not, don't dare, how could I have such an idea?"

"It's so good! Then go back and prepare!" Zhao Ming said, then turned around and left the lobby.

Everyone in the hall looked at each other and surrounded Sun Jilian, talking nonsense, "Old Sun, what should I do?"

Sun Jilian sighed and said, "The situation is better than others, what can I do?"

Huai'an is a canal transport node, with warehouses in the city and countless materials, money and grain.

In the north of Huai'an City, trucks of supplies were transported out of the city. Mountains of grain bags were piled up on the dock, hundreds of boxes filled with silver and jewelry, and a large number of cloth, fine iron, porcelain, salt, tea and other supplies.

The scouts discovered that three Qing troops were rushing towards Huai'an, the nearest of which was tens of thousands of elite troops led by Mandahai. The troops had already passed Gaoyou. It took less than half a day before the vanguard would reach Huai'an.

Zhao Ming immediately ordered to speed up the transportation. If he couldn't move it away, gold and silver would sink to the river and materials would be set on fire. In short, no grass or tree could be left to the Qing army.

At this time, in the northern city of Huai'an, Zhao Ming was meeting someone, and it was Li Huazhong, the Qing general who surrendered in the last battle.

Zhao Ming smiled kindly, "General Li is the general under Liu Dongping's tent?"

Li Huazhong looked panicked, "Report to the general, the last general is indeed a guerrilla general under the Dongping Bo's tent!"

Zhao Ming patted his shoulder, "Since that's the case, you have been promoted now. I appointed you as the third rank of Hong Zewei commander." Then Zhao Ming looked at the generals behind him and said seriously: "You are all commanders and magistrates. If you are not familiar with others, please recommend them by Commander Li. At that time, I will report to the court for approval!"

Li Huazhong and other surrendered generals were a little unresponsive, but promotion was a good thing after all. Everyone hurriedly knelt down and saluted, and said happily: "The last general is to thank the general for help!"

Zhao Ming helped everyone up with a kind attitude, "Commander Li, I will hand over the Lianghuai area to you in the future. Don't let me disappoint you. Now if you ask your people to come here, you can count as much as the supplies here."

After Li Huazhong was surrounded by Bai Wen's abdomen, he was not allowed to use it. The Qing court did not believe in them, such as the southern generals, and was always on guard against them.

Now that Zhao Ming comes, he not only has promoted him, but also has a heavy responsibility, which immediately moved him and he saluted and fisted excitedly, "Don't worry, the humble position will definitely live up to the commander of the commander."

Seeing this, Zhao Ming nodded with satisfaction, patted his shoulder, and inspired again, "Do it well, I and the court will not treat you badly!"

This was already the third commander he appointed in Lianghuai, the other two were the surrendered Lianshui general and a large private salt dealer in Yancheng.

Three hours later, Zhao Ming led his army to evacuate Huai'an. At this time, Huai'an City had become an empty city. Rising fires lit up in the city, and thick smoke surged into the sky.

Li Huazhong watched Zhao Ming's fleet go downstream, then looked back at Huaian City with thick smoke, and suddenly turned around and asked, "Are I being cheated?"

The many surrendered generals behind him also came to their senses and said with a sad face, "General, it seems that this is really the case."

"My mother, Zhao Tiebang treats us as cannon fodder!" Li Huazhong said with a wry smile.

At this moment, the scout came to report, "General, something is wrong, the Qing army vanguard has arrived in the southern suburbs!"

Li Huazhong's expression changed drastically, and he suddenly said in a hurry: "Go away quickly and enter Hongze Lake!"

Huai'an is a canal transport node, with a large number of canal ships. Zhao Ming left a batch for Li Huazhong. More than a thousand Qing troops quickly boarded the ship and fled to Hongze Lake.

In the evening, the 30,000 troops led by Mandahai first arrived in Huai'an City. The buildings in the city were destroyed. The food that the Qing Dynasty prepared to transport to Beijing was looted, and the city was already an empty city.

Seeing this, Mandahai was furious, "Zhao Zamao, it's really outrageous!"
Chapter completed!