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Pizhou was the territory of Xuzhou in Lu Si's previous life, but now it belongs to Huai'an Prefecture, and its prefecture is under the jurisdiction of Suqian and Suining.

Suqian is also an important canal town, and is now occupied by Lu Bizhou. Suining also has Lu Bizhou's troops stationed, but there are only more than a thousand troops stationed.

When Jin Shenghuan retreated west, he plundered the Suzhou and Sizhou areas. In order to maintain more than 10,000 troops from his troops, Lu Bizhou had to send troops to occupy the two counties of Suqian and Suining, which belonged to Huai'an Prefecture.

Lu once informed Lu Si, the governor of Huaiyang, that at that time, Lu Si was busy "recovering" Huai'an City, and there were no troops advancing north, so he acknowledged Lu Bizhou's "cross-border".

Before the Huai Army headed north, Dong Xueli kept asking for help. Lu Bizhou had ordered his deputy general Guo Sheng and Bai Bangzheng to lead more than 9,000 main forces to Xuzhou first. He left behind to guard Suqian, Suining, Suzhou, and Sizhou's troops were all weak soldiers of the Lu army, the newly recruited Ming army surrendered troops and local thieves.

After the Huai Army headed north, because they were both Dashun camp and reinforcements, they were welcomed by the Lu army along the way. However, the Huai Army marched slowly and took a full nine days to enter Pizhou. On average, less than thirty miles a day were marching.

Xuzhou urged three times a day, and Lu Bizhou kept asking people why the march was slow. Lu Si's reply was that on the one hand, the Huai Army carried too much baggage, and the army's food and grass had to be transported by the canal, so it was really impossible to speed up.

On the other hand, it is said that most of the Huai Army were Huaiyang farmers, who were nostalgic for their hometowns and were resistant to fighting in Xuzhou north, so they had to comfort themselves, saying that they "did not dare to urge them too quickly."

Although Lu Bizhou had doubts about this, it was a fact that the Huai Army had only been formed for several months, and it was composed of Huaiyang River workers. There had never been a precedent for Huaiyang combat before, so it was understandable that the soldiers in the army were unwilling to leave their hometown to fight.

Moreover, if the Huai Army was unwilling to go north to assist in the war, it would not gather 30,000 people to go north. Therefore, although Lu Bizhou had doubts, he still allowed his subordinates to provide convenience for the Huai Army to go north.

In fact, Lu Si deliberately delayed and ordered the marching speed to slow down.

Lu Si wanted Dong Xueli and Liu Zeqing from Xuzhou to fight for a while. It would be better for the two families to fight together and die together. The Huai Army would just collect the corpses directly.

Before the oath, Lu Si had already clearly told the generals of the Northern Expedition that in addition to annihilation of Liu Zeqing's group, their goal of going north was to capture the entire Haizhou and some areas of Xuzhou, and to extend the power of the Huai Army to Shandong.

Only with territory can one have wealth and honor, and there is no need to talk nonsense.

In order to complete the concept of this battle, Lu Si personally led the first town, the flag team, the iron armored guards, the cavalry brigade and Su Jinzhong's troops, a total of 20,000 officers and soldiers along the canal, went north through Suqian to Suining and entered Xuzhou, assisting Xuzhou Dong Xueli to launch a decisive battle against Liu Zeqing.

The other route was mainly two brigades in the second town commanded by Zuo Pan'an, adding Wang Jingong and Li Degong's two troops detoured from Muyang to Haizhou to Xinyi, and captured Xinyi in one fell swoop, cutting off the road from Xuzhou Liu Zeqing's troops to Haizhou. Then, they either went west to Xuzhou and attacked Liu Zeqing's troops, or marched from Xinyi to Yizhou Prefecture, Shandong to the north.

"Haizhou is the northernmost border of our Huai'an, and our navy base is also there. We must ensure that it is fully controlled by our Huai Army. This small Huaihai battle is also a battle of life and death that concerns our Huai Army. You Zuo Dazhuzi can't be careless!"

Lu Si first proposed the "Little Huaihai Battle" when he sent Zuo Pan'an, pointing out that only by fully controlling Haizhou and facing the Donggu who could enter the pass and go south could he achieve the guiding ideology of "defending enemies north of the Huanghuai River" that he had always talked about.

Zuo Pan'an didn't think that the Tartars outside the pass would enter the pass because it was impossible to think about it. However, the eldest brother always talked about this and was very serious, so he, a good brother, had to take it seriously.

There is no problem in taking over Haizhou. In addition to the ten thousand troops on hand, Guo Laosi and Qiu San had already led their troops to Haizhou in the early stage, and there was also a navy team. Zuo Pan'an felt that no matter how stupid he was, he would not disappoint his elder brother.

With the earnest instructions of the elder brother and the little red flowers picked by the elder brother from the roadside, Zuo Pan'an rode the mule and set off with ambitiousness.

On April 13, Lu Si led his troops to Yiyang Mountain at the junction of Pizhou and Suining counties. This was also the first mountain that the Huai Army soldiers saw in twelve days of marching.

According to locals, this mountain is 27 miles wide and has the highest western peak. Because it often has clouds and clouds, it is called "Baiyun Cliff". Crossing Yiyang Mountain is the hilly area of ​​Xuzhou. It is more difficult to march than the Huaiyang Plain, especially the artillery team.

Liu Zeqing's troops were harvesting grain in Pizhou, so many nearby people who were hiding from the Ming army were hiding in Yiyang Mountain.

When the Huai Army came over, these people thought it was the Ming army who searched the mountain, so they were so scared that they carried their children and ran up the mountain.

"Why are the people so afraid of being in the army?"

Lu Si immediately pointed at the people who fled to the mountain and asked the generals around him.

This is a good ideological and political education.

All the generals were silent, but they knew the truth.

"It was all raised by my father and mother. I don't ask you anything, I just ask you not to cut the swords in your hands at these people. At the same time, you must understand one truth: If there are no people, how can you bring wealth and honor?"

Lu Si shook his head and asked Qi Bao to take his people over to tell the people who were running away not to panic. But the effect was not good. Before Qi Bao arrived, the people ran faster, and there were calls for their husbands and children everywhere on the mountain.

Lu Si sighed and asked Qi Bao to go to the back grain team to get some grain and dried meat to put it at the foot of the mountain. Soldiers are strictly prohibited from going up the mountain, so they can only camp at the foot of the mountain.

Soon after, seeing that the Huai Army was not the Ming flag, but the Shunqian flag, and the camping of stoves and rice did not disturb the people at all, they boldly came down from the mountain to get the dried food and meat given by the Huai Army.

After confirming that this Dashun army would not harm the people, the people on the mountain gradually came down from the mountain. The brave people also picked the vegetables grown at home and traded food with the soldiers of the Huai Army.

Lu Si took his men to observe the terrain and then dismounted in a flat place to rest. Not far away, there were a few children looking for something in the grass on the ground.

Lu Si walked to see what they were doing, but found that these children were plucking hair needles.

"Hairy needle" is the tender grass core that has just grown in spring. After being pulled out, it is white and tender inside and can be eaten. Lu Si often plucked hair needles with his friends when he was a child in his previous life. Now he gave birth to a child's fun and pulled hair needles with this child.

Finally, after pulling a handful of them, Qi Bao gave the children a handful of copper, he smiled and peeled the "hair needle" while walking back.

Zhao Zhongyi is back and has gained something.

On the way, they met a team of Ming troops who came out to collect grain, with about two or three hundred people. Zhao Zhongyi led his troops to defeat the Ming army with one charge and captured dozens of prisoners.

Lu Si asked Sun Wu to go in and examine whether these Ming troops were Liu Zeqing's subordinates. If so, it would be easier to examine them.
Chapter completed!