Hong Chengchou and Hou Fangyu turned around and saw that on the southwest coast, the beacon tower next to the Chaohe camp was already blazing with smoke.
"what happened?"
"Did the Ming army go to Fuhekou?"
Hong Chengchou's face fell instantly.
If the Ming Dynasty's army went to Fuhekou, then their arrangements at Chaohekou would be in vain.
"Impossible, absolutely impossible!" Hou Fangyu yelled even more arrogantly, "Unless Chongzhen is a fool, it is absolutely impossible for the Ming army to run to Fuhekou."
Compared with the Chaohe River, the disadvantages of the Floating River are obvious.
First of all, the surface of the Floating River is very narrow and far less wide than the surface of the Chaohe River.
The second and most important point is that the upper reaches of the Floating River is connected to the Grand Canal.
In other words, if the Ming army marches along the Fuhe River, they will eventually advance to the Grand Canal, and then they will face countless blunderbuss on both sides of the Grand Canal.
There are far fewer gun platforms on both sides of the Chaohe River.
"It's a mistake, it must be a mistake!"
Hou Fangyu continued to yell: "Someone must have made a mistake."
Hong Chengchou ignored Hou Fangyu. The Fenghuo communication had strict regulations and mechanisms. How could he make a mistake? Only a layman who knew nothing about the Fenghuo communication mechanism would suspect that he had mistakenly contacted Fenghuo.
However, the beacon message could only convey a general message, that is, the main force of the Ming army was discovered or attacked by the main force of the Ming army at a certain location in the southwest. As for which location was attacked, and how many troops the Ming army had?
These can only wait for the subsequent arrival of express delivery.
But there is one thing you need to prepare in advance.
At that moment, Hong Chengchou hurriedly got off the beacon tower.
He also ordered Hong Da: "Hong Da, beat the drum and gather the generals!"
"Send flying cavalry to inform the troops stationed at Shahekou and Laoting Camps, and come to the Chaohekou Camp immediately to meet up!"
No matter whether the Ming army went to Fuhekou or Dagukou, the Eight Banners Han Army and Green Camp troops stationed at Chaohekou, Shahekou and Laoting Camp all had to rush to their aid urgently.
…
However, the Ming army was neither at Fuhekou nor at Dagukou.
At this time, the main force of the Ming army had just reached the mouth of the Xiaoqing River. It was still three hundred miles away from the mouth of the Fuhe River, and it was still a full four hundred miles away from the mouth of Dagu. It would take three or four days at the fastest.
"Stop!" Chongzhen signaled the ice sledge to stop.
The Ming army driving the car quickly stepped on the ice blades.
The ice blade immediately made a deep scratch on the ice.
There was a harsh crunching sound, and the ice sledge stopped firmly on the ice.
Chongzhen stepped off the ice sledge and waited in Gaoqiqian for several eunuchs and Wu Batan and dozens of guardsmen to come down to the Jiannu beacon tower at the mouth of the Xiaoqing River.
This is a rammed earth beacon tower.
The height is about two feet, and the shape is extremely simple.
There are still bullet holes in the rammed earth wall of the beacon tower.
These bullet holes were obviously left by the infantry of the First Town.
However, the bodies of several Jian slaves who were killed have been removed.
One of the baggage camps in the first town is repairing the fortress.
Said to be a fortress, it is actually three defensive cannon towers distributed in a Z-shaped pattern.
After the three gun towers are completed, there will be a total of 288 new troops left.
"Long live Lord, this is the Xiaoqing River." Gao Qiqian pointed to the mouth of the river in front and said, "After the Xiaoqing River, there is the Daqing River. If you go up the Daqing River, you can go directly to the Grand Canal."
Chongzhen nodded silently and waited for the next time the Yellow River changed its course.
There will no longer be a Daqing River in the world, but only the Yellow River.
However, it is still very early for the Yellow River to change its course next time.
Because Pan Jixun's sand attack in Shuhe was still very effective.
…
Hong Chengchou quickly obtained detailed military information.
Shang Kexi, who was stationed at the Fuhekou camp, sent his brother Shang Keyi to report.
"Hongbutang, the first beacon tower to be attacked by the Ming army was the Zishui River Mouth beacon tower, followed by the Xiaoqing River mouth beacon tower, and now it is estimated that the Daqing River mouth beacon tower has been taken down." Shang Keyi said solemnly, "Ming Gou used it.
There are a large number of mules, horses and ice sledges, so the advancement is extremely fast, and you can cover hundreds of miles in a day!"
"So, the Ming army marched north along the coastline?"
"Didn't you go deep into Qingzhou Prefecture along the Zi River or Xiaoqing River?"
Hong Chengchou calmed down for a moment, because he discovered that the Ming army's final goal might still be the Chaohe River mouth, but the route of march was changed from a straight line to a curve along the coastline.
Hou Fangyu also breathed a sigh of relief: "Hong Butang, what am I talking about? The Ming army's target must be the Chaohe River mouth, and it can only be the Chaohe River mouth. Unless Chongzhen is crazy, it is absolutely impossible to choose Fuhe River or Weihe River.
, let alone taking the land route, so we just need to wait for work at the mouth of the Chaohe River."
Hong Chengchou did not dare to make such an arbitrary judgment.
After pondering for a moment, Hong Chengchou asked again: "Shang Keyi, are you sure that the Ming army really has 100,000 people?"
Shang Keyi said: "Reporting to Hongbu Hall, there are only a hundred thousand people, not much more, and there are at least 30,000 mules and horses, plus 10,000 ice sledges, stretching on the ice along the coast for more than ten miles, oh
By the way, there are tens of thousands of cavalry!"
"So, they are really the main force of the Ming army." Hong Chengchou nodded and said, "But instead of taking a straight line and taking a shortcut, the Ming army chose to take a long detour along the coastline. What was their intention?"
"Hong Butang, didn't I tell you that the Ming army's target must be the mouth of the Chaohe River?"
Hou Fangyu said flatly: "So don't be fooled by Chongzhen's superficial articles."
Hong Chengchou frowned and said: "But Hou Shenjun, have you ever thought about it. If the Ming army continues to advance along the coastline, it will soon advance to Fuhekou Camp. By then, will the garrison of Fuhekou Camp be defended or surrendered? And us.
Do the garrison troops from the Chaohekou Camp and the other three camps want to go for reinforcements?"
Along the coast of the Beihai, the Qing army set up a total of five camps. From south to north, they were the Fuhekou Camp, the Weihekou Camp, the Chaohekou Camp, the Shahekou Camp and the Laoting Camp.
The camp was attacked by the Ming army, and Qing troops from the other four camps had to immediately reinforce it.
There is nothing wrong with the plan itself.
Because the purpose of Hong Chengchou's defensive deployment was to hold back the main force of the Ming army and create a stalemate between the two sides, the stalemate at the mouth of the Chaohe River was no different from the stalemate at the mouth of the Fuhe River.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! But the problem now is that the Qing army set up an ambush at the mouth of the Chaohe River.
It would undoubtedly be best if the Ming army could be led to the mouth of the Chaohe River.
As a result, Fuhekou cannot be defended and must give way to allow passage.
Therefore, Hong Chengchou felt a little hesitant, wondering whether he should give up the Fuhekou.
Hou Fangyu did not hesitate at all and said decisively: "Get out of the way of the Fuhe River and let King Dingnan lead his army to retreat to the vicinity of Cangzhou in the upper reaches of the Fuhe River. The remaining battalions of defenders do not need to go to reinforce!"
"In this way, even if Chongzhen is really crazy and has to take the Fuhe waterway, there will be no problem. King Dingnan's army will hold on in Cangzhou for three to five days, and the reinforcements from the Weihe camp will arrive in a few days.
The rest of the battalions can also arrive, so that we can still rely on the cannon groups on both sides of the Grand Canal to launch a long-term confrontation with the Ming army."
Speaking of this meal, Hou Fangyu said again: "Of course this is only the most extreme situation, but I think that Chongzhen would never be so stupid, leaving the Chaohe River route but insisting on taking the Floating River route."
Hong Chengchou must admit that Hou Fangyu's analysis is very reasonable.
At that moment, Hong Chengchou ordered Hong Da: "Ah Da, send your flying cavalry to inform King Dingnan to immediately abandon the mouth of Fuhe River, retreat to the vicinity of Cangzhou, and rely on the upper reaches of Fuhe River to repair the gun platform."
"Hey!" Hong Cheng turned around and left in a hurry.
…
The next day, the forward cavalry of the Ming army held the platform and advanced to Fuhekou.
The Fu River connects the canal to the west, passes through Dongguang, Huanghua and ends at Beihai. It is almost the south drainage river of Huanghua City today. The river is neither wide nor deep enough, and its navigation capacity is extremely limited.
But it works well as a "highway" when it freezes.
The ice sledges of the Ming army's baggage troops could go straight to the canal along this "highway", and then all the way north along the canal "highway" to Beijing.
Therefore, theoretically speaking, it is still possible for the Ming army to march along the Fuhe River.
This is also the reason why Hong Chengchou wanted to set up a large camp at the mouth of Fuhe River.
At this moment, Hu Guozhu stood astride his horse outside the gate of the Jiannufuhe camp.
Jian Nu is now really studying the Ming Dynasty in all aspects, and he has learned it very thoroughly. The military camps he built are all gun towers, that is, each gun tower is combined into a military camp, independent of each other, but able to support each other.
There were more than twenty guns in total. Maybe because they were moving in a hurry, they didn't have time to destroy them.
However, Hu Guozhu was already a veteran general who had experienced hundreds of battles, so he sent scout cavalry into each gun platform to check carefully to avoid an ambush.
Soon another scout reported back: "Lord of the Headquarters, Jiannu were found more than ten miles upstream of the Fuhe River. There are at least tens of thousands of people, carrying Folang machine guns and red cannons."
"Chase!" Hu Guozhu decisively ordered the pursuit.
After chasing for about half an hour, I caught up with the group of Jiannu.
However, this group of Jiannu has already formed a large phalanx using sidecars and carriages, and a large number of Folang machines and tiger squatting guns have been set up on the sidecars and carriages.
Seeing this, Hu Guozhu decisively gave up the idea of attacking.
Using cavalry to attack an infantry protected by car camps and artillery is simply seeking death.
So Hu Guozhu led the cavalry around to the front, trying to hold back the slaves, and waited until the infantry and artillery caught up, then surrounded and annihilated them in the wild.
However, Hu Guozhu quickly gave the order to give way.
Because Jiannu's car array could move on the plains.
Therefore, Hu Guozhu and his cavalry soldiers could only follow Jiannu from a distance until dark, and sent this group of Jiannu to the vicinity of Cangzhou.
The outdoors is no longer safe after dark.
Hu Guozhu could only take the cavalry back to the camp at Fuhekou.
However, the cavalry scouts at the cavalry station did not return. Instead, they continued to roam the vast fields on both sides of the floating river, engaging in brutal hunting and counter-hunting with the slave-building Ye Bushou.
The war between the Ming and Qing armies has not really broken out yet.
But the deadly battle between the scout cavalry and Ye Bushou on both sides,
But it has been staged countless times in the wilderness and under the cover of night.