Chapter 3582
These news came out one after another, and the local officials did not dare to neglect them. The relevant information was regarded as urgent military information by Liuhe and Jiangpu counties, and was immediately sent to the Zhongdu Stay Department in Fengyang Prefecture three hundred miles away, requesting that it be under their jurisdiction. The Eight Guards Division mobilized the Ming army and rushed to the north bank of the Yangtze River for reinforcements as soon as possible.
However, the Fengyang Mansion's troops could not be mobilized. The most important duty of the guard army under the Zhongdu Left Guard Division was not to go out to defend against foreign invasion, but to station in Fengyang Mansion to protect the Ming Emperor's Mausoleum. Leaving the station without the emperor's order is a serious crime that may lead to beheading.
What's more, the Changhuai Guard, Huaiyuan Guard and Hongtang Qianhu Station under the Zhongdu Remaining Department, which were originally relatively capable of fighting, were already sent by Emperor Chongzhen to Yingtian Mansion for reinforcements during the war between the Ming Dynasty and Haihan last year. The result was of course However, they were beaten so hard by the Haihan Army that they were almost unable to fight back. In the end, only three or four out of ten of the troops successfully retreated to the north bank of the Yangtze River, and their vitality was severely damaged.
Nowadays, the combat effectiveness of the Ming army under the control of the Zhongdu Remaining Department is no longer suitable for use as a front-line combat force. Even if the remaining troops are sent to reinforce Jiangpu and Liuhe counties, there is a high probability that it will become a tactic to fuel Haihan. The military delivers military exploits.
With the lessons learned from the past, the Zhongdu Remaining Department was very cautious about sending troops for reinforcements. They only sent a message to the two counties to strengthen their precautions and continue to ascertain the military situation. As for when to send troops for reinforcements, it will depend on changes in the situation.
After receiving the reward, the county offices in Jiangpu and Liuhe were all anxious, because in the past few days of sending letters back and forth, the situation had become increasingly tense.
The Haihan fleet on the other side of the river has completed its preliminary assembly. Several high-speed reconnaissance ships will make four or five trips to the north bank a day, and they will not shy away from exploring suitable landing sites in front of the Ming army on the shore.
There was nothing the Ming army could do about it. If they opened fire, they would give the opponent an excuse to start a war. If they wanted to send ships to intercept, they would not be able to catch up with the opponent.
At the same time, it is said that on Hongze Lake in the north, the Haihan Army in Huai'an Prefecture is also showing signs of gathering, and has formed a north-south pincer attack with the Haihan Army in Nanjing. The local Sizhou City has closed its city gates and entered a state of martial law throughout the city.
Of course, Huai'an Prefecture is just bluffing, and it is impossible to launch a large-scale offensive. The local garrison commander happened to be one of Shi Diwen's favorite students. Shi Chengwu sent a telegram to him, and the other party agreed without hesitation to cooperate with the campaign and put pressure on neighboring areas.
For Jiangpu and Liuhe counties sandwiched in the middle, it would be too difficult to withstand the Haihan offensive without reinforcements. Now they can only serve as a living doctor, recruiting young and strong local people to join the militia, and resist for as many days as possible when the Haihan army comes.
However, although the local government still has a certain will to resist, the people may not be so. If you insist on fighting even though you know you are invincible, you can only do so when there is no way out.
But for ordinary people, the current situation is far from reaching the point where there is no way out and everyone needs to work hard to survive.
In Yangzhou, which borders Liuhe County, there is no sign that a war is about to break out. Several large trading houses affiliated with Haihan are still importing large quantities of high-quality quartz sand from Liuhe County, and vehicles and ships traveling between Liuhe and Yangzhou are still in normal traffic every day.
Quartz sand is of little use to the locals, but Haihan can use it in the glass, ceramics, and chemical industries. The high-quality quartz sand mine in Liuhe County just meets the relevant technical needs and has become the most profitable local area. One of the lucrative export deals.
Of course, some people may think that the existence of this special mineral will cause Haihan to covet Liuhe County, but it is extremely unrealistic to interrupt the quartz sand trade with Haihan. Because the ore trade not only supports a large number of miners in Liuhe County, but also has processing, transportation and other one-stop industries that rely on this business to make a living.
There are even many people in the local government who privately invested a lot of money in this business and accumulated a lot of wealth by relying on the dividends it brought. There are too many people in Liuhe whose interests are involved. If this trade is interrupted, civil strife will break out in Liuhe County before the Haihan people can attack.
But precisely because of this, many people realize that if they want to escape the war now, Yangzhou should be a safe place to go.
Running north may run into the Haihan army heading south from Hongze Lake. Chuzhou to the west is also within the Haihan attack range. To the south is the Yangtze River. Only Yangzhou to the east has a peaceful atmosphere.
The only thing that is uncertain is the attitude of the Yangzhou government and whether it will close the border during wartime and prohibit the influx of refugees into the area.
At this time, news came out from Yizhen County, which is under the jurisdiction of Yangzhou and is adjacent to Liuhe County. The local area began to build a large number of temporary buildings near the border between the two counties, which were said to be shacks prepared to accommodate refugees.
This is undoubtedly a clear message to the people in neighboring counties that if they want to escape, just run this way without worrying about having nowhere to stay.
So heading towards Yangzhou, the size of the fleet carrying quartz sand and other goods suddenly increased several times. The cargo was not much more, but the number of people in the escort team increased when the wind came.
Thousands of people from Liuhe and Jiangpu counties began to flee to Yangzhou through this passage. The horse and carriage companies and shipping companies also immediately transformed into passenger transport business, specifically accepting people who fled in advance. Of course, the freight must be much more expensive than usual.
Rich people can choose to go by boat, which is easy and fast, and they will arrive in Yangzhou on the same day. Those who don’t have much money can just buy a escort status from the carriage and horse agency, and follow the ore truck on foot. Although the process is tiring, but You can also pass the customs smoothly and go to Yangzhou.
Because there were too many refugees crossing the border through this channel, the Ming army guarding the border couldn't stop them, so they simply collected the customs clearance fee on a per-person basis.
No matter if you are a young man being recruited by the government, you can pass as long as you pay. As soon as this deal was opened, the customs clearance fee received within a day or two was far more than the military pay these big-headed soldiers received after serving in the army for several years.
Although the Liuhe County Government also received the report, it could not come up with any effective measures. Those carriage, horse, and boat companies that took people through customs all had profound backgrounds, and the county government did not have enough weight to confront them head-on.
Besides, even if people are replaced to guard the border, it may not be effective under the current situation. It may just be a group of people who are in vain to divide the oil and water.
Jiangpu and Liuhe counties had been recruiting for seven or eight days, but in the end only a few hundred or two hundred people reported to the Yamen. Many of them were old men in their fifties and sixties. They came purely to fill up the numbers. There was no hope that these people would be able to work in the Yamen. Functional during wartime.
While people in these two counties were panicking, the Haihan fleet on the other side finally began to move.