After burning down the warehouse of the Nanjing schoolyard, Zhao Ming ordered his soldiers to build deep trenches and build strongholds to siege Nanjing.

As time comes, the food in Nanjing has become tight, and the Ming army outside the city has gradually recovered its strength while resting in the besieged city.

In mid-September, Zhao Ming received a manifesto written by Hong Chengchou, which made Zhao Ming furious and issued an order to make various Ming troops ready to give Wu Sangui a headache.

Zhao Ming was determined to resist the Qing Dynasty for many years. In the past ten years, he entered the Yangtze River twice and made three northern expeditions. He worked hard to defeat the Qing Dynasty. However, in Hong Chengchou's manifesto, he became a villain who steals the fruits of victory and a treacherous person, while Wu Sangui became a hero who upholds justice.

Not to mention anything else, just talk about the Battle of Jiangbei that year, Zhao Ming lost more than 30,000 elite troops, and he almost got in.

In fact, Wu Sangui, who was attracted to the wolf, was able to compare this point, and Hong Chengchou, who gave advice to the Qing army.

When Zhao Ming made a Northern Expedition, he used a plan to split the Qing Dynasty into the East and West Qing Dynasty. He originally wanted to take advantage of the situation to destroy the Qing Dynasty, but his troops and energy were restrained due to the matters in the South China Sea.

When Zhao Ming came to his senses, Wu Sangui suddenly launched a rebellion before Zhao Ming, destroyed the Xiqing Dynasty and picked Zhao Ming's peaches.

This time, Zhao Ming sent 300,000 troops to the Northern Expedition and destroyed Ajige. The Qing Dynasty was beaten by Zhao Ming to only be in Henan. However, Wu Sangui took advantage of the civil strife in Nanjing and Zhao Ming returned to quell the rebellion and annexed Henan.

Zhao Ming was picked by Wu Sangui again.

After repeated repetition, it was already intolerable, but Wu Sangui and Hong Chengchou were still behaved when they got the advantage. Instead, they slandered Zhao Ming as a villain who stole the fruits of the Anti-Qing Dynasty. It was too shameless to call Zhao Ming a traitor.

Although people who are truly knowledgeable know that Hong Chengchou's manifesto is completely inverted by black and white, ordinary people listen to the wind and rain. Once there are many people talking about it, once public opinion is created, it will be difficult to distinguish between right and wrong, and it is difficult to explain clearly if it is reasonable.

Although rumors are not credible, they are very powerful when they are spread.

There is no doubt that Hong Chengchou's manifesto had a considerable blow to Zhao Ming's reputation.

This was so angry that the Regent couldn't even eat the rice. If he saw two thieves, he would definitely curse, "A old man, a thief with a beard, I have never seen such a shameless person."

In anger, Zhao Ming dispatched troops and set up a net of heaven and earth, waiting for Wu Sangui and Hong Chengchou to plunge in.

Although it is known as 150,000 rebels in Nanjing, there are only less than 30,000 real elite soldiers. There are even fewer soldiers who can fight against the Ming army in the field.

Zhu Yihai could only barely fight against Zhao Ming because of the high walls and thick moat in Nanjing.

Therefore, as long as the Nanjing defenders are trapped, there will be no threat to Zhao Ming. Zhao Ming can calmly arrange troops and deal with Wu Sangui.

However, Zhao Ming made arrangements and the troops in Jiangbei were waiting for many days, but he did not see Wu Sangui's army coming.

The scout reported that when the Zhou army arrived, the Xiangcheng area on the border between Henan and Nanzhili stopped moving forward.

At this time, Zhao Ming had already crossed the Yangtze River and came to Hefei, preparing to put Wu Sangui's army into the north of the Yangtze River, and after the Zhou army crossed the Huai River, he would give Wu Sangui a pot of stew, which had relieved his hatred.

Hefei City, in the palace and festival hall.

Zhao Ming stood in front of the map with his hands behind his back, frowned, and the general behind him was reporting to Zhao Ming.

"Your Highness, the scout went to Shouzhou area to investigate, but did not find the Zhou army, so he went to Yingzhou again. It was not until he entered Xiangcheng, Henan that he discovered the Zhou army's vanguard." Li Yuanyin said with his fists.

Zhao Ming frowned slightly, "Stop in Xiangcheng? How many people are there?"

Li Yuanyin said in a deep voice: "There are only more than ten thousand people, but there are flags everywhere, looking at the bluff!"

Zhao Ming pulled the muscles of the corners of his mouth backwards, walked quickly to the map, and couldn't help but angrily: "Old fox!"

After saying that, Zhao Ming turned around and said to everyone: "The manifesto is just Hong Chengchou's bluffing move. I guess Wu Sangui should have pounced on Xuzhou!"

When the generals heard the words, they were shocked. Xuzhou was an important town in the north and south. If Xuzhou was lost, the land connection between the Ming Dynasty and Shandong and Hebei would be broken.

In the north, the Ming army had just recovered, and the remnants of the Qing Dynasty had not been cleared yet, and the gentry and people had not surrendered.

In addition, after Zhao Ming recovered the north, he distributed the northern land to the army, and the gentry and merchants in the south, and the foundation of the rule was still unstable.

If Wu Sangui takes Xuzhou, Shandong and Hebei are likely to fall into the hands of the Zhou army.

At this time, everyone was talking to him, but the curtain suddenly raised up, and Wang Shuang quickly stepped into the tent, "Your Highness, the governor of the King of Xuzhou urgently reported."

Zhao Ming narrowed his eyes and asked, "But is Wu Sangui going to Xuzhou?"

Wang Shuang bowed and said, "Your Highness is wise, the Governor Wang did find the main force of the Zhou army, passing through the unmanned area of ​​Kaifeng and pounced on Xuzhou."

Zhao Ming asked: "How many soldiers are there?"

Wang Shuangdao: "There are about 200,000, and half of them are well-equipped!"

"Your Highness, it seems that Wu Sangui's intention is to take advantage of the fact that His Highness has not yet pacified Nanjing, seize Xuzhou, seize Shandong and Hebei, control the entire north, and then compete with the Ming Dynasty!" Zhang Jiayu, the army officer, said.

This possibility was not beyond his expectations among the several situations that Zhao Ming had thought of before.

After considering that Wu Sangui might interfere with his pacification of the Nanjing coup, Zhao Ming and his subordinates joined the army and analyzed the possible actions Wu Sangui had taken and roughly obtained four possibilities.

In the first case, Wu Sangui had not yet ended the Western Expedition, or had just ended, and was unable to interfere in the war in the Ming Dynasty, so he chose to cultivate his voice and devote himself to development in Guanzhong.

Zhao Ming was most happy to see this situation. Then when Zhao Ming quelled the rebellion, Wu Sangui could take in the Qing Dynasty prince Bolehe and others to find an excuse to start a war with Wu Sangui and complete the great cause of unification.

In the second case, Wu Sangui led a large army to attack Nanjing and rescued Zhu Yihai.

This is also a situation that Zhao Ming is more willing to see, because Zhao Ming can just surround the points to attack and defeat Wu Sangui's main force, laying the foundation for the future destruction of Zhou.

The third situation is similar to the fourth situation, but the direction of the troops is different. One is to send troops to Xuzhou, attack Shandong and Hebei, and the other is to go south to Xiangyang and enter Huguang.

In both cases, Wu Sangui avoided Zhao Ming's main force, avoided the real and attacked the weak points.

Among the four situations, Zhao Ming was least willing to see these two situations.

Zhao Ming just collected Hebei and Shandong, but his foundation was not very stable. While Huguang has many vassal states, Zhao Ming also does not have much control.

However, considering that fighting is to make the enemy uncomfortable, Wu Sangui is very likely to adopt the third or fourth strategy, so Zhao Ming has already made preparations.

When Zhao Ming learned that Nanjing might change, he ordered Tang Tong and Qu Shixi, who were guarding Guangdong and Guangxi, to lead troops into Huguang.

After Zhu Yihai rebelled, Tang Tong immediately joined forces with the towns and captured the three towns of Changsha, Wuchang and Xiangyang, and then stationed in Xiangyang and Jingzhou to defend against the threats of the Qing army in Guanzhong and Sichuan.

In Hebei, Shandong, and Xuzhou, Zhao Ming also left a considerable amount of troops to suppress the local governments and prevent the Zhou army from taking advantage of the situation and taking away the fruits of his resistance to the Qing Dynasty.

Zhao Ming stood in front of the map and watched the situation in front of him. Before Nanjing was settled, Wu Sangui attacked Xuzhou. Perhaps Jiang Xiang's army also entered Hebei.

At present, should we pacify Nanjing first or deal with Wu Sangui and Jiang Xiang first?

Zhao Ming stood in front of the map and pondered for a while~~~~~
Chapter completed!