In the period that followed, the Huai'an Army's pace slowed down slightly.
In addition to sending a small number of people to pursue, the remaining soldiers began to rest in place after clearing the battlefield. Master Shen used his own connections to bring a lot of pigs, cattle and sheep into the military camp, and rewarded them well. The soldiers who fought hard.
At this time, it was already the end of October in Hongde's sixteenth year.
Late autumn is gradually passing, and the feeling of winter is getting stronger.
Because it was very close to Shunde Prefecture, Shen Yi moved his camp to Shunde City and commanded various military forces remotely from Shunde City.
The reason why Shen Yi moved into the city was not because he was greedy for comfort and enjoyment. It was because many things were not easy to handle in the wild, especially since he also served as the governor of Shandong. Many official documents were messed up in the military camp. Look.
Moreover, after this great victory, Shen Yi finally felt a lot more relieved about the entire battle situation. At this time, there was no need to tense up and insist on setting up the Chinese military camp among the main army.
At this time, a garden in Shunde Prefecture was temporarily requisitioned and became Lord Shen's temporary camp. In his study, Li Zhun moved a small table and sat next to Shen Yi. He helped Shen Yi every day according to Shen Yi's requirements. He writes documents and handles chores.
On this day, Li Zhun picked up a document from his desk, then looked up at Shen Yi and said: "Zhongcheng, General Xue sent a letter saying that on the battlefield in Shanxi, the vanguard army and the Tatars came and went. But so far, four or five cities have been captured by the Tatars."
"General Xue said that these Tatars are much smarter than before and have learned some skills in attacking cities."
"General Xue also said..."
Li Zhun lowered his head slightly and said: "He also said that the Tatars sent envoys to his army and wanted to negotiate with you, Zhongcheng."
Shen Yi was reading a secret letter from the emperor at the moment. After being interrupted by Li Zhun, he looked up at Li Zhun and asked, "Did you say how many casualties the vanguard suffered?"
Li Zhun said quickly: "I said it."
"During this period, the Pioneer Army suffered another 3,000 casualties. However, because the Tatars were brutal and wantonly killed local people, many Shanxi defenders from the former Northern Qi Dynasty volunteered to join the army. The local people were also willing to help the Pioneer Army. Now the Pioneer Army The overall military strength is slightly larger than before."
"General Xue said that as long as the food supply reaches the rear, he is sure to stop all these Tatars outside Yanmen Pass."
Hearing this, Shen Yicai smiled dumbly: "You came here to ask for supplies from me."
He thought for a while and continued: "Have you received any reply to the document I sent to Henan earlier?"
Li Zhun quickly said: "Henan Governor Yamen Cheng Zhongcheng replied to the letter, saying that Henan will try its best to raise food and corresponding supplies. However, he said in the letter that Henan has just calmed down the war, so he can only say that he will try his best..."
"The chief envoy to the Yamen has not replied yet."
Mr. Shen nodded and said: "Write a letter to Cheng Zhongcheng and tell him that Henan is a land in the Central Plains. Since ancient times, there has been no shortage of food. The common people may not have it in their homes, but the families of rich landlords cannot have it. , the government will come forward. Just go to the wealthy landlord’s house to buy grain."
"Those who are unwilling to sell grain will be punished as being unruly."
"As for other things, I can buy them from him at the market price."
Li Zhun agreed and started to write the document, while Shen Yi rubbed his eyebrows and frowned slightly.
Originally, according to Shen Xu's original statement, there may be a shortage of food everywhere, but there is no shortage of food in Shanxi. He can guarantee the food supply for the entire vanguard army. But now, Shanxi is in chaos, many food routes are cut off, and there is a shortage of food. Many victims are running out of food.
Fortunately, Shen Xu's family has been a grain merchant for many years. Generally speaking, there is not much food shortage. What is really lacking is supplies, such as winter clothes, medicinal materials and other things needed on the battlefield.
Henan needs to supply some of these to Shanxi.
Of course, these are not big things for Shen Yi. As long as the battlefield in Shanxi can be stabilized and the left and right sides fight steadily now, victory will slowly tilt towards the Huai'an army.
After the two of them dealt with a lot of things, Shen Yi was about to return a small composition to His Majesty the Emperor. Jiang Sheng hurried in, holding a document in his hand, lowered his head and gasped: "Sir, this is General Liu's document."
Shen Yi took the document and quickly scanned it. The content of the letter was very simple. Liu Mingyuan reported that they had arrived near Tianjin Port and planned to bombard Tianjin Port on November 3rd.
After Shen Yi read the contents of the letter, he looked at Jiang Sheng and asked, "Did the Di News Department only send this news to me, or did all other armies send it to me?"
Jiang Sheng thought for a while, lowered his head and said, "This kind of news should have been sent to me."
Shen Yi thoughtfully nodded and said: "That's good. Send an order to all armies, especially Su Ding, to pay close attention to the battle situation of Liu Mingyuan's troops and coordinate with their cameras."
Jiang Sheng lowered his head: "Yes, I will have someone send a message to General Su right now."
After Shen Yi nodded silently, he returned to his seat and looked at the emperor's autographed letter on the table asking about the war. At the end of the letter, Emperor Hongde spoke sincerely.
"I know that the war ahead is urgent. It is not advisable for the general to act lightly. However, during this important event of the country, I and all the officials in the court are looking forward to meeting with you to discuss the secrets."
"If the Huai'an army is unable to escape, this matter will be discussed again next year. If there are ten months left, it may be appropriate for you to return to Jiankang. First, I will discuss your merits and rewards, and second, we will discuss the future of the country and the dynasty."
Staring at the letter, Shen Yi was silent for a while, then sat down and wrote a reply to the emperor.
The content of the letter is very long, mainly reporting on the battle situation. At the end, Mr. Shen added a paragraph.
"Today, the Huai'an army's war has started again from the sea. If there is a miraculous effect, the Huai'an army will march straight into Yandu. Then within this year, I will not be able to return south. If the effect is normal, I will arrange everything for the Huai'an army and go south in the middle of the twelfth lunar month. Go back to Jiankang to listen to the edict."
After writing the letter, Shen Yi dried the ink, stuffed it into the envelope, called Ling Zhan who was guarding the door, and said in a deep voice: "Transfer it to the internal guards and ask them to send it to Jiankang as soon as possible."
Ling Zhan bowed his head respectfully: "Yes."
…………
Soon, the time came to early November.
At this time, the sea breeze was no longer so cool.
Standing on the deck, Liu Mingyuan looked at the Tianjin Port in the distance and waved his hand: "Get closer, get closer!"
After the ship was about a few miles away from Tianjin Port, Liu Mingyuan waved his hand and ordered the fleet to stop. Then he picked up his telescope and looked at the port not far away.
Here is one of the most important ports in Northern Qi.
Especially after Da Chen successfully operated the Municipal Shipping Department, the Northern Qi court also began to follow suit. At this time, there were already many ships bound for Tianjin Port, and a Municipal Shipping Department was also set up to subsidize the Northern Qi court.
In fact, if it weren't for the Shishi Shipping Company that was "copied" from Shen Yi, the collapse of Northern Qi's economy might have been pushed forward by one or two years.
After reaching a suitable distance, his captain came over, walked up to Liu Mingyuan, lowered his head and said: "General Liu, our ship's cannon should be able to hit this distance."
Liu Mingyuan nodded, looked at the port not far away, and said with a smile: "We are all here, and no navy from Northern Qi has come to stop us. It seems that their northerners are not very good at building ships. This is indeed true."
"Give me the order to fire the cannon three times."
"Then, hang up the military flag of our Huai'an Army."
Liu Mingyuan lowered his head and calculated: "After an hour, bombard Tianjin Port."
The captain under his command quickly lowered his head and said yes.
As a result, several flagships fired their cannons one after another.
The sound of cannons sounded, the Huai'an Army's military flags were hoisted, and people in Tianjin Port suddenly panicked.
Then, many sailors from the Northern Qi Dynasty began to board the ships and approached Liu Mingyuan's troops, preparing to come up and push back the Huai'an army's fleet.
But their ship was too small. Before they even got close, they were frightened by the huge warship in front of them and did not dare to get close. They all shouted loudly: "Go and find the generals of the Three Guards of Tianjin! Go and find the generals of the Three Guards of Tianjin!"
Liu Mingyuan stood on the deck, happy and unafraid.
After waiting for an hour, he did not see the Northern Qi navy arriving, so the commander of the Dengzhou navy squinted his eyes and waved his hand.
"All ships in line!"
"After a cup of tea, we began to bombard Tianjin Port in turn!"
The Dengzhou Navy trained countless times at sea and quickly completed the formation.
Following Liu Mingyuan's order, hundreds of cannons fired in unison, and the sound shook the entire Tianjin Port.
The third day of November in the sixteenth year of Hongde.
Liu Mingyuan of the Huai'an Army led the troops to bombard Tianjin Port, and the sound of artillery continued for several days.