Hebei, Qinghe County, Hejian Prefecture, Zhili Province, Qing Dynasty.

On the edge of the Grand Canal, there are just tents built everywhere. Looking around, there are Xuzhou soldiers digging trenches and building walls everywhere.

More than 100,000 Xuzhou troops fought from Xuzhou along the Grand Canal to Zhili, approaching the capital, and finally stopped in Jinghai County.

Now, more than 100,000 troops need a large number of camps to live in, and many soldiers are still building camps. In order to prevent the Mongolian cavalry from raiding, the Xuzhou army has also built walls outside the camp, and the entire camp is like a belt.

At this time, inside and outside the camp, the soldiers of Xuzhou Army were busy.

In the center of the camp, under the banner of Daqi, and in the Xuzhou military commander's tent, Ajige paced back and forth violently.

After Ajige raised his army, he relied on the powerful combat power of the Xuzhou army to capture cities and villages, conquering Yanzhou, Tai'an, Dongchang, Jinan, Hejian and other places, and reached Jinghai County, which was less than 300 miles away from the capital, but did not want to suffer a defeat.

Originally, there were two elite cavalry in the field of Ajige, who attacked cities and villages, and the Green Camp soldiers in Huaibei. It can be said that the whole way was like chopping bamboo.

However, with the Qing reinforcements coming, Ajige's army was blocked by Mandahai and Luke Dehun in the south of Tianjin.

Although the Xuzhou army had strong combat power, there were too many infantry and too few cavalry. After Ajige defeated Luke Dehun and Mandahai in Cangzhou, the vanguard advanced to the southern suburbs of Tianjin, and ended up encountering the elite cavalry outside the pass led by Oboi.

More than 10,000 vanguards suffered several times of cavalry raids, suffered a tragic defeat, and were all killed in the wilderness.

"The prince raised an army to calm the crisis, just like the Ming Chengzu's army alone went south. He must conquer the capital and ascend the throne to the emperor. Otherwise, Fulin's son would summon troops from all over the world in the name of the emperor, and the prince would be defeated!" He Luo said with a gloomy face.

Ajige understood his situation. Although he was strong in his army, he was just a prince after all. The prefectures and counties in the Qing Dynasty were all obeyed Fulin, not as a prince.

This time, he went north and it was okay to have a broken road. Once he suffered a failure or was unable to conquer the capital, not only the Qing army in Shanxi, Henan and other places would come to support Fulin, but the prefectures and counties behind him would also rebel. In the end, he and his North Advancing Corps would be wiped out under the capital.

Ajige originally thought that the army would suffer fierce resistance only when it advanced to the city of Beijing, but he did not expect that he would be stopped by the Qing army just to reach the south of Tianjin.

Ajige stopped and stood in the tent, with a heavy face as deep as water. "I know what you said, but Fulin's son drew elite troops outside the pass to enter the pass to reinforce him, and did not fight with me. How can I make a quick decision?"

For Ajige, the sooner the war ended, the more beneficial it was to him. So after the defeat of the vanguard, he immediately led his troops to fight with Fulin, but the Qing army relied on the advantage of cavalry and wandered around Zhili without fighting with him.

Thinking of this, Ajige couldn't help but grit his teeth, "Fulin's child, I don't know how difficult it is to start a business, but he actually abandoned Manchuria and abandoned his ancestors' land. It's really damn!"

Tianjin, located in the southeast of Beijing, is the gateway to Beijing.

As Ajige raised his troops northward, the canal transport was cut off, and the Zhigu area went to the canal in Tongzhou, blocking a large number of canal ships.

At this time, in the tavern next to the Tianjin Wharf, due to the canal blockage, many ship owners and merchants stayed in Tianjin. The taverns, tea shops and life wishes near the wharf were all pretty good, and the guests were filled with guests.

Liu Qian was from Shanxi. He could speak the dialect of the north and understood the customs and customs of the north. He was selected by the Military Information Department as a detailed work to spy on the Qing Dynasty military situation.

At this time, Liu Qian and two subordinates sat down in the corner of the tavern and looked around. They found that although there were many people, they were very quiet. Even if someone spoke, they were still talking.

The Qing Dynasty ruled strictly and it was strictly forbidden to discuss state affairs. Liu Qian sat in the corner and listened for a while but couldn't hear anything.

This made Liu Qian feel a little anxious. The road to the south had been blocked by the Qing army, and the inspections of all counties and villages were very strict, especially around Beijing, where bannermen were everywhere. Banners were everywhere. There were many secret spies like dogs. If you were not careful, you would be discovered by the Qing army.

He had been sneaking into Hebei for a while, but he had been avoiding the Qing army's investigation and could not detect the news in the south. However, Zhao Ming was waiting for the news from within the pass to make the next deployment, which made Liu Qian very anxious.

Suddenly, Liu Qian's eyes turned and he smashed the wine glass hard on the table, saying with resentment: "It's really a bad luck. Several ships of cargo are blocking Tianjin, and they can't move forward or retreat. If the rebels from the south attack Tianjin, wouldn't they all be affected by military disasters!"

Liu Qian's words were loud and there were many eyes immediately in the lobby.

These people looked at Liu Qian, turned their heads and ate food silently or whispered. A fat white businessman had a cunning look in his eyes and suddenly got up and walked over.

"Brother, what kind of cargo is blocking Tianjin?" The fat businessman came over and asked with a smile on his face.

Liu Qian stopped talking to the two subordinates, looked up at the fat businessman, and heard that his accent was from Shanxi, so he said impatiently with a Shanxi accent: "Several ships of wool, leather and some ginseng. What does this have to do with you?"

"My surname is Fan! I heard from my brother's accent, are they from Dai County?" The fat businessman smiled and sat down opposite Liu Qian.

When Liu Qian heard that the other party’s surname was Fan, he suddenly showed shock on his face. He hurriedly stood up and said in surprise: “It turns out it’s Mr. Fan. The villain just now hasty, so I hope he won’t blame him!”

The fat merchant's face showed a glamorous look. In the northern provinces, including the Mongolian territory in the north, from princes and nobles to peddlers and pawns, they all had to give their surname Fan the face.

Liu Qian quickly received the businessman named Fan and sat down, poured him a glass of wine, and ordered the waiter to bring some plates of hard dishes and a pot of good wine.

The fat businessman drank a glass of wine and asked, "I just heard from my brothers, because I was worried that the rebels from the south would come and the cargo ship would be looted by the rioters?"

Liu Qian said with a frown: "That's right, the thief passes like combing the army, and the rebels fight, so there is no reason not to suffer the disaster. This time the villain is afraid that he will lose his entire family!"

The fat businessman rolled his eyes and suddenly said, "For the sake of your fellow villagers, I have a channel in my hand and just need some wool and leather. How about you selling these goods to me? Of course, it is a special period and the price is definitely not high, so I can only give you this price!"

As he said that, the fat businessman stretched out three fingers, which meant 30% of the market price.

Liu Qian frowned, "This price is too low, the villain wants to discount the book!"

The fat businessman smiled and said, "It's better to have a copy of the book than being stolen by the soldiers!" After that, the fat businessman stood up and made a gesture to leave. "You think about it, but I want to remind you that I don't want much goods in this channel. If it's too late, even if you give it to me, I won't want it."

Seeing this, Liu Qian hurriedly stood up, "Mr. Fan, please wait, your consideration is yours."

At this moment, the fat businessman sat back and talked with Liu Qian. There were many words of intimidation in his words, indicating that the rebels would come immediately and that the goods must be transported away before the rebels arrived in order to preserve the goods.

Liu Qian pretended to be frightened and talked for a while. After an appointment, he would trade in the restaurant for an hour, and then led his subordinates to leave the restaurant.

Standing outside the restaurant, Liu Qian said in a deep voice: "The Shanxi merchants are well-informed, especially the Fan family in Shanxi, who have a close relationship with the Qing army. Judging from the performance of the Fan merchant surnamed Fan, Ajige should have suffered a defeat, at least he cannot attack Beijing and Tianjin is temporarily safe, otherwise the Fan family will not come to receive the goods."

After saying that, Liu Qian ordered: "I will return to Liaodong immediately and report to Your Highness that you two will try to investigate south and make sure to send the exact news back."
Chapter completed!