In addition to 20,000 cavalry and 15,000 navy troops, the Huai Army stationed in Yangzhou also had 20,000 infantry, 25,000 auxiliary soldiers and 30,000 civilians recruited from the people of Yangzhou. The total number of troops reached an astonishing 110,000 troops. The 110,000 army of troops was enough to deal with the battle in Yangzhou. However, what Li Guodong wanted was not just to defend Yangzhou, but to annihilate the Qing army.

As long as Duoduo's Qing army was annihilated and Nanjing was able to rest assured, the main force of the Huai Army could take the initiative to attack, attacking the Qing army in the middle of the road to Huguang and defeating the Qing army in the middle of the road, the Qing army lost its ability to go south to Jiangnan, and then it entered the stage of confrontation between the north and the south, and then Li Guodong waited for an opportunity to fight the north.

Although Chongzhen issued an imperial edict to Zuo Liangyu, asking him to defend Jiangxi and block the rebel army and the Qing army from crossing the river, Li Guodong did not believe in Zuo Liangyu at all. Zuo Liangyu, who was already terminally ill, was about to die. After Zuo Liangyu's death, Zuo Menggeng would probably surrender to the Qing Dynasty like the original time and space.

The Qing army divided into three groups, and the eastern army would be led by Duoduo. Duoduo is currently in Balebay, Shandong. However, according to Li Guodong's estimate, Duoduo will give up the attack on Shandong soon, turn to Henan, and then detour to Huaixi, and head south to attack Yangzhou; Ajige's army will chase Li Zicheng to the north of Jiujiang River, and Zuo Menggeng will join Qing; there is also a Haoge army, which will first eliminate the rebel army in Shaanxi and Xiangyang, and then attack Sichuan, and aim at Zhang Xianzhong.

War reports from all over the country came like snowflakes, and reached the Yangzhou Governor's Office and the Jiangbei Admiral's Office.

Looking at the Shandong battle report, Wang Chengen smiled and said, "Li Yan fought well. The main force of Jiannu was restrained in Shandong, so Jiangnan will be temporarily safe."

Lu Zhenfei frowned, thought for a moment, and shook his head: "Jiannu is not stupid. Li Yan's trick to burn Xinye failed to deceive Duoduo. Jiannu would definitely not consume the main force in Shandong for a long time, and would inevitably think of other ways, such as they also imitated us to build a bastion to protect the food security of western Shandong and northern Zhili, and then rushed to the south of the Yangtze River."

"The Duke of Chu has strong troops and strong horses, so it's no problem to defend Jiangnan." Wang Chengen said.

Lu Zhenfei questioned: "What should I do in Jiangxi? Eunuch Wang wouldn't think that Zuo Liangyu could defend Jiangxi, right?"

Lu Zhenfei's judgment was correct, Duoduo had already planned to give up Shandong.

The Qing army suffered heavy losses in attacking the Fenghuang Mountain Castle. A large number of green camp cannon fodders were shot on the slopes and in the trenches, not to mention climbing up to the top of the city. Faced with this kind of perverted bastion, as long as the cannon cannot be destroyed, no matter how many people came up, they would deliver vegetables.

In fact, in that era, the best weapon to destroy the bulwark was the mortar cannon. The bulwark's defense against direct fire on the front was very strong. The walls on the front were rough and thick, and direct fire could hardly destroy the bulwark. However, the top defense of the bulwark was actually not strong, especially those hollow bulwarks. The bulwark shells falling from the sky could destroy the bulwark. Moreover, the 64-pound bulwark was not heavy, which was only a few hundred pounds. A small cart was even taken away, and when it arrived, it was put on the ground and fired.

The Qing army did not have large-caliber mortars in their hands. Those imitated eight- and twelve-pound mortar shells hit the bastion, which was almost the same as tickling.

Duoduo ordered the Green Camp cannon fodder to attack for seven consecutive days. Apart from consuming some gunpowder and shells from Li Yan, he got nothing, and left corpses all over the ground.

"A small Phoenix Mountain Fort, attacked for seven days, with soldiers and generals missing, and even the city was not close to the top. How can I fight this battle?" Duoduo was so angry that he had broken several cups.

Kong Youdedao: "Prince, this Phoenix Mountain Military Fort is really strong. The slave's red cannons will have no effect at all. It was originally estimated that the castle would be opened in at most five days. Now it seems that a castle cannot be destroyed in a month."

"Bast, bastion," Duoduo said to himself, and suddenly he had an idea, "Here! Why should we attack the bastion? Come, I will serve you, and I will submit a memorial to the emperor's father and regent. Minggou can build a bastion, why can't our army do it?"

Kong Youdedao: "Prince, it takes a lot of time to build a bastion and costs countless silver. Minggou built these bastions in Shandong, but it started to be built in the fourth year of Chongde, and it took hundreds of thousands of refugees to be built. It took five years to build it. If our army also built the bastion line in western Shandong, wouldn't it be impossible to fight south within five years?"

Duoduo laughed: "Ritu, our army does not need to build such a solid bastion. Just build a brick and wooden fort. The thief leader Li Yan only has cavalry and no cannons. The simplest brick and wooden fort can resist the harassment of Li thieves."

After receiving the memorial from Duoduo, Dorgon in the capital did not dare to neglect it and immediately ordered the summoning of Hong Chengchou.

Hong Chengchou rushed to the Regent's Mansion, met Dorgon, knelt in front of Dorgon and beat him up: "I'm so proud of my master."

"Heng Jiu, get up quickly," Dorgon smiled and helped Hong Chengchou up, "Come on, follow me to the study."

Hong Chengchou was shocked when he saw the memorial sent by Duoduo: "Why is this bastion in Ming Dynasty so strong? The hundreds of red barbarian cannons of King Gongshu were bombarded for seven days, but they could not be blown away?"

Dorgon nodded: "Yes, Li Laoer spent five years and used hundreds of thousands of refugees to build a solid bastion defense line in Shandong. Originally, I also followed Hengjiu's opinion and ignored the Ming army's bastion line. But now the Ming cavalry used the bastion line as a support to harass the southern part of Zhili and western Shandong. Many gentry in western Shandong and southern Zhili were already poisoned. The Ming army actually attacked our Qing post station and food route, which annoyed me, so that the general of Dingguo went east to attack Shandong. It's a pity that Shandong Ming general Li Yan had many tricks. If it weren't for the alertness of the general of Dingguo, he would have been burned to death by Li Yan in Jinan!"

"Li Yan? But that traitor Li Yan?"

"It was this thief that Ming State recruited this thief. Now this thief was appointed as the governor of Shandong by Ming State. When this thief surrendered to Ming State, he also brought five thousand cavalry, which were these thief cavalry, and they came and went freely. My Qing Green Camp Army met the thief army and was defeated repeatedly."

"Prince, I have said long ago that after pacifying the thieves, you should go straight to Jiangnan. As long as you pacify Jiangnan, there is no need to be afraid of the lonely land in Shandong." Hong Chengchou said.

"I also want to give up Shandong, but Li Yan's thief uses cavalry to harass our army."

Hong Chengchou looked carefully at Duoduo's memorial and said, "Master, Prince Yu's plan is feasible. Anyway, building a brick and wooden ridge does not require much manpower and material resources."

"Building a battalion is easy, but people need to be kept at the garrison. If we want to defend the thousand-mile grain road, we need at least a hundred thousand troops. Now that our Qing Dynasty lacks enough troops, who will we send to guard the garrison road?"

Hong Chengchou quickly knelt down and beat him up: "Master, my servant is willing to station the food road for the Qing Dynasty, encircle Shandong, and capture the thief leader Li Yan!"

"What good strategy does Hengjiu have to defeat the enemy?"

"Master, the Ming Dynasty's bastion gave the slave an idea. The slave also made a steady progress with the bastion, step by step, restricting the movement of the Ming cavalry and gradually eroding the territory of the Ming Dynasty. As long as the bastion is gradually advanced with the bastion, Bin captured the thief leader Li Yan."

"But what about the soldiers? Where can Hengjiu go to recruit so many soldiers?"

"Master, the servant can let the gentry of Zhili and the gentry of Luxi give out grain and silver, recruit local farmers on the spot to serve the green camp, and serve our Qing Dynasty!"

"Okay!" Dorgon nodded, "I will report to the emperor now, so that Duoduo will suspend attacking the bastion and concentrate on his efforts to fight south of Jiangnan! Send Mr. Hong, you go to Shandong."

Dorgon immediately drafted an imperial edict, ordered Duoduo's troops to retreat to western Shandong, and sent Hong Chengchou to build a bastion line in western Shandong to defend against the harassment of the Ming army in Shandong and protect the safety of the food route. Dorgon wrote the imperial edict, entered the palace overnight, and handed over the imperial edict to the Empress Dowager Bumubutai.

Da Yuer glanced at Dorgon with anger and said softly: "Don't worry, the Regent, don't worry. I will call Fulin here."
Chapter completed!