Ding Shengming stood at the head of Laizhou city, looking at the ragged people who were busy building defensive positions outside the city, including old and young, men and women. Everyone waved their hoes and pickaxes with numb expressions, and digging the land that became extremely hard because of the freezing.

When the Honghe passed by Laizhou City, it turned a big bend, which made it a big turn. It was this turn that created an alluvial plain like Laizhou City, but it also divided Laizhou City into two halves.

The county town of Laizhou is actually divided into two parts: Jiangnan and Jiangbei. Jiangnan is a flat alluvial plain. Whether it is its own wealth or transportation convenience, it is naturally far superior to Jiangbei. Basically, all kinds of yamen such as the county government are set up in Jiangnan. Correspondingly, the housing prices and living costs in Jiangnan urban areas are much higher than those in Jiangbei. Therefore, the people living in Jiangnan are basically well-off and above, and a large number of poor people live in Jiangbei.

Although we were in the same city in the past, the exchanges between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait were basically based on ferries, which made the exchanges not smooth. Many people who lived in Jiangbei for the rest of their lives had never even visited Jiangnan for a visit.

It was not until the Ming and Qi signed a peace treaty that the construction technology of steel and cement structures began to be introduced to Qi, which changed the situation. Laizhou spent a huge amount of money to hire a construction team from the Ming Dynasty to build a bridge above the Red River.

The situation seemed to be very good at that time. As the county magistrate of Laizhou, Ding Xuan said that he wanted to make Laizhou better. Then developing Jiangbei was a big thing that could make him famous in history.

A bridge that connects north and south is not only bringing great circulation and convenience in the economy between the north and south, but also coveting the technology of the Ming people. At that time, only the Ming people had this bridge building technology, and there was no other part-time. In addition to bringing huge benefits to the local area, building such a bridge could also send people to learn the technology of the Ming people. Once the technology was obtained, he would become a money grabber.

In the contract with the Ming people, Ding declared extremely generous, and his only requirement was that after the bridge was completed, all the technology must be transferred to the team he sent.

Of course, during this cooperation, Ding Shengming was also selfish, because the assistance team he sent was from his Ding family.

It has to be said that the Ming people are very trustworthy and the bridges they built are not only extremely strong, but also very beautiful. After completing this magnificent project in two years, the Ding clan did learn how to build such a bridge.

The merchants of the Ming Dynasty left with a large sum of money with a large sum of money. During these years, the Ding Sheng clan used this technology to build bridges in Laizhou first and then slowly expand. They also made a lot of money and have now become experts in building bridges in Daqi.

From trying to build on some small rivers at first to being able to cross the rivers now, Ding Shengming was once very happy for his wise decision-making. This is a matter of gaining both fame and fortune, so why not do it!

But now, he suddenly realized that in the war years, the convenient transportation seemed to be only more powerful enemies. His government offices and more imperial courts were now relocating to Jiangbei. Compared with the flat plains of Jiangnan, the terrain of Jiangbei is easier to defend. On the bridge, there is a constant flow of people and materials flowing towards Jiangbei.

The relocation of the government was naturally in an uproar in the Jiangnan urban area, and countless people were following them to flee to Jiangbei. Xu Junsheng originally planned to blow up the bridge directly when the Ming army arrived here, but he finally gave up under Ding Shiming's strong opposition.

Ding's statement had a very good reason. If the Ming army really arrived here, with the other party's advantage on the water, would there be a big difference between this bridge?

The Ming people didn't care, but it was very important to the people of Qi. Once the bridge was blown up, it would be equivalent to completely giving up Jiangnan and giving up the army wherever they resisted. The people living there should be known that Laizhou people living in Jiangnan area lived ten times more than in Jiangbei. Could it be that if all these people were withdrawn to Jiangbei, not to mention that Jiangbei could hold up such a huge population influx, would the people in Jiangnan just be willing to run to Jiangbei?

Xu Junsheng dug two tributaries of the Honghe River, causing the tidal flats of the two counties. Most of the 100,000 people in these two counties fled to the county town, which has brought huge logistical pressure to Ding Shin-chan. You have to give people a bite of food. If you can't even save your life, you're afraid that these 100,000 refugees will immediately become a source of instability.

In order to appease these people, Ding declared that he would not be able to recruit a large number of people to build the fortifications in Jiangnan. In fact, he did not care how well it was built, whether it was firmly or not, and whether it was repaired quickly or not. He just wanted to put forward this pose to appease the people of Jiangnan and stabilize these refugees.

If you have something to do and drink a bowl of hot porridge, it is naturally very different from having nothing to do and being idle. As a people-friendly official, he knows the big difference here.

When the Mingren really hits here, these people will have nothing to do with him.

This bridge must not be blown up. Once it is blown up, everyone will despair. When he stands there, the people from Jiangnan will see hope and the court has not given up on them.

Ding Shengming looked at the numb people outside the city and the panic on the bridge. Wei Ran sighed, turned around and got down the city wall, and returned to his empty government office. Most of the people in the government office had moved to Jiangbei first. He would be the last group to leave Jiangnan.

And all this is because of a report sent back by Zhu Ruofan from Crab Bay two days ago.

Crab Bay can no longer be guarded.

Whether it was Xu Junsheng or Ding Shixuan, they thought that Crab Bay was solidly defending, no matter how powerful the Ming army was, it would be fine if they had a few months to defend. They had enough time to rectify the city defense in Laizhou, mobilize more materials and weapons, and train more militia groups to assist in defense. Unexpectedly, Crab Bay could no longer withstand it in less than ten days.

Zhu Ruofan is Xu Junsheng's confidant general, and he is also an extremely brave and indomitable person. Ding Shin-ming still agrees with this. When such a person shows such pessimistic and desperate emotions in the report, Ding Shin-ming is not worried.

But the problem is that even if the level of defense cannot be defended at Crab Bay, how can Laizhou be defended? Once Laizhou is lost, the entire Red River estuary falls into the hands of the Ming army. With the strength of the Ming army on the water, it can naturally go up the river and control the entire Red River Basin. If it really looks like this, the Great Qi Empire will basically be two from the middle and the left and right cannot be taken care of. More importantly, the Red River Basin has always been an important pillar of the rule of the Great Qi Empire. The loss of this area has made the backbone of the Great Qi Empire.

He sighed, looking at the crowd working numbly, looking at the crowds that were crowded, long queues preparing to escape to Jiangbei, sadly turned around and left the city and returned to his empty government office. Most of the people in the county government had retreated to Jiangnan, and he would be the last group to leave. Before leaving, he still needed to do his best to appease those who remained in Jiangnan. Xu Junsheng was also doing the same job at this moment, and he also needed to stabilize the army in Jiangnan.

A young man in a green hat gently pushed open the door of the study and walked in, looked at the messy study and whispered: "Uncle, Ji Shan is back."

Hearing this voice, Ding Shengming was slightly excited and looked up at the other party: "How is the matter done?"

Ding Jishan nodded: "I found the merchant who contracted the Laizhou Bridge a few years ago. Now he is an important figure in the Mingguo Bridge Construction Association. He is very welcome to what we want to go to Mingguo. He said that our Ding family has accumulated a lot of experience in building bridges over the years, and they welcomed us to join. The other party has begun to arrange the retreat route for our Ding family."

Ding Shengming was silent for a while, "Ji Shan, you have been to Ming Kingdom for a long time this time. As far as you see and hear, what exactly is the Ming Kingdom? Does our Qi Kingdom have a chance to defeat them?"

"Uncle, now, we don't have to deceive ourselves anymore. What I saw and heard in Ming Kingdom can only make me even more desperate. In this war, our Qi Kingdom was considered to be shirtless, but in Ming Kingdom, except for the initial wave of support for the army and the confiscation of hundreds of thousands of reserves, the lives of other people were not even affected. What should they do? Uncle, they are now developing the western region, and they even sent fleets to operate overseas to fight a war. The Ming people did not even use their best." Ding Jishan said sadly.

"Is the century-old empire so vulnerable?"

"The Ming people are like the rising sun, and our Daqi is in the mountains." Ding Jishan said in a deep voice: "Uncle, in the past few years, as per your instructions, I have been quietly transferring my family's funds to the Ming Kingdom. Now what I have left in Qi is just an empty shell. As long as the other party arranges the route to leave, we can leave directly. In fact, as long as Crab Bay is lost and through the waterway, we can leave Qi immediately."

Ding Shengming nodded: "You can arrange these things. Take Xiao Chong away."

Ding Jishan was stunned, "Uncle, it's time now. Why are you still doing this official? When time comes, you are your aunt, brother, Xiao Chong and the first one to leave."

Ding Shengming shook his head: "Xiao Chong is still in his infancy. He can leave. Your elder brother and I are officials of the Great Qi, but we can't leave, and we can't leave either. If I don't leave, your aunt will naturally not leave either."
Chapter completed!