After Shi Kefa left Yangzhou, Shang Yi immediately began to arrange the arrangement of Jianghuai. Although theoretically speaking, the entire Jiangbei is now under the jurisdiction of Shang Yi, the actual controlled area is actually only the area south of the Huai River and east of the Dabie Mountains.
Including Fengyang, Luzhou, Chuzhou, Hezhou, Yangzhou and Huai'an six prefectures. The total area is about 150,000 square kilometers. The rest of the places are still in the hands of the Qing army, but they are more than Zhejiang, which Shang Yi now controls.
Save nearly half of it.
Shang Yi also made arrangements, ordering Liu Zeqing to station in Fengyang, Liu Zhaoji to station in Luzhou, Cheng Jin to station in Yangzhou, and Luo Yuanbin to station in Huai'an. That is, the Shang army controlled the Huaidong area and the Ming army took over the Huaixi area.
Because Shang Yi can't swallow the entire Jianghuai region in one bite, and the main battlefield of this battle is in Huaixi, which has caused serious damage to this area. However, Yu Shang's army defended Yangzhou, and Huaidong was basically not damaged.
If the Qing army invaded the south again in the future, Huaixi would still be the main battlefield. Therefore, Shang Yi could only settle for the second best and just put the Huaidong area into his actual control first.
Huaidong region can also be called northern Jiangsu region, but it is actually the two prefectures of Yangzhou Prefecture and Huai'an Prefecture. However, it connects Shandong to the north and Jiangnan to the south. It can connect Shang Yi's current sphere of influence into one, and it is backed by the sea.
It is conducive to leveraging the maritime advantages of the merchant army. On the other hand, over the past two months, the merchant army has also established a preliminary public base in Yangzhou and Huaian areas, which is conducive to the merchant army to quickly establish a ruling foundation here.
Yangzhou Prefecture is located at the estuary on the north bank of the Yangtze River, across the river from Suzhou Prefecture. Now Suzhou Prefecture is actually considered to be the sphere of influence of Shang Yi. Now the two areas of Jiangnan and Jiangbei are basically connected. However, the merchant army is not completely
The entire Huai'an Prefecture only controls the area south of the Yellow River. Most of the Huai'an Prefecture are under the control of the Qing army. However, due to the newly defeated Qing army, the current governance foundation of this area is very weak.
Shang Yi's next goal is to cross the Yellow River, launch the Battle of Southern Shandong, collect the entire Huaian Prefecture, and open up the connection between Jianghuai and Shandong.
However, after the end of the Jianghuai War, the soldiers of the Merchant Army were also very tired and needed to undergo a period of renovation. The soldiers who lost were also needed to be supplemented. Moreover, this battle also required cooperation with the Merchant Army in Shandong, divided into two parts: north and south.
Only by using troops together can Shang Yi decide to order all the troops to rest for ten to fifteen days before launching this battle.
While resting, Shang Yi also ordered to go to Dengzhou to recruit Zhou Shaohuan to Huai'an to meet with him. On the one hand, he discussed the plan for the two armies, and on the other hand, he also wanted to learn more about the development of the Shandong War Zone over the past few months.
;The Fifth Division also ordered the Fifth Division to return to Jiangnan to station, the First, Third and Fourth Divisions stayed in Jiangbei, rested and prepared for war. He also notified Ye Yaoying and Zhou Shiqi from Hangzhou to arrange to mobilize a group of administrative personnel to go there and to
Yangzhou and Huai'an established an administrative system for the merchant army.
After receiving Shang Yi's order, Zhou Shaohuan and Tang Zhen immediately set off to take a boat south. Because they agreed to meet in Huai'an, the journey was reduced by more than half compared to the arrival of Hangzhou. Therefore, it took only nine days for Zhou Shaohuan to arrive in Huai'an.
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At this time, Cheng Jin, Duan Peng, Yang Wucheng, Luo Yuanbin, Wang Xin and others gathered in Huai'an. Zhou Shaohuan and Tang Zhen had not met for almost a year. This time, they were naturally very happy to meet, and they were also indispensable to patting their shoulders and backs.
After greeting each other, Zhou Shaohuan and Tang Zhen met Shang Yi. The two first reported to Shang Yi about the progress of the Shang army in Shandong after he left Shandong.
After entering the first year of Hongguang 1645, although there were constant wars in Shandong, it was basically small battles of less than a thousand people, because Zhou Shaohuan also remembered Shang Yi's teachings when he left, and did not aim at seizing big cities or mobilize Dazhong.
Large-scale battles are still mainly small-scale guerrilla warfare, scattering the troops into battalions units, looking for opportunities to attack the weak links of the Qing army, and gradually infiltrate the areas of Jinan Prefecture and Yanzhou Prefecture.
Although the tactics of the merchant army made Abatai very troublesome, he did not dare to advance rashly. He could only divide his troops to guard all the important places and passively defend. At present, he finally saved the existing prefecture city in Shandong.
The county town had to let it go, because Abatai was really out of reach.
By April, the actual control area of the merchant army had increased greatly. In Qingzhou Prefecture, only a few cities such as Qingzhou, Linzi, Juzhou, Mengyin, etc. in the north were still under the control of the Qing army, while the rest were
The vast majority of areas were occupied by the merchant army. Moreover, the merchant army also occupied Lijin, Putai, Zhanhua, Haifeng, Yangxin and other counties in the northeast of Jinan Prefecture and nearby townships. Now the actual control area of the merchant army in Shandong is
It reaches about 70,000 square kilometers, accounting for about 40% of Shandong's total area, with a registered household registration of 427,000 households and a population of more than 1,924,000.
In terms of military construction, the number of Shandong merchant troops has also been further expanded. In addition to the Second Division, the Independent Regiment in Mulingguan has been expanded to eight regiments, which has actually reached the establishment of one brigade, and has been added in Dengzhou area.
Two brigades were organized, and a cavalry regiment and a reconnaissance regiment were formed. In addition, there was a considerable number of militias, with formal forces reaching more than 37,000 and more than 12,000 militias. The total force was compared with Shandong.
When the war zone just started, it expanded more than doubled.
In addition, a series of military factories such as arsenals, wood factories, clothing factories, iron smelting plants, etc. have been established in Dengzhou. Except for a few cutting-edge technologies such as fire caps, mercury, rifled guns, heavy artillery, mines and shipbuilding, all other ones are available.
Weapons and other assembly, including food, can basically be self-sufficient.
In terms of internal affairs, Dengzhou Prefecture and Laizhou Prefecture have established a complete administrative system, and the construction of communes in villages and villages, land clearing and redistribution work has been basically completed. About 380,000 households have allocated their own
Land, therefore, the rule of the merchant army in Shandong has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and it is precisely because of such a broad base and support of the people that it is the biggest reason why all aspects of the Shandong war zone can develop rapidly.
Of course, in order to report to Shang Yi in detail about Shandong's work during this period, Zhou Shaohuan not only wrote oral, but also made careful preparations. The various documents and accounts he brought also reached six major books, for each work,
All have detailed records.
After listening to the reports from Zhou Shaohuan and Tang Town, Shang Yi was also very happy that the situation in Shandong war zone developed better than he expected, and Zhou Shaohuan also showed that he not only could lead the army to fight, but also in terms of internal affairs and construction.
He also performed very well. It seems that he can feel completely relieved by handing over Shandong to him.
Therefore, Shang Yi praised them for a few words, and then asked: "Uncle Tang, Shaohuan, you are doing a good job in Shandong, so what do you have to do next?"
Zhou Shaohuan said: "Sir, the biggest problem we are facing now is that the control area is too small. The population under our rule is close to two million, but most of it is concentrated in Laizhou and Dengzhou prefectures, because we
The Qing emperors held each other and wars continued, so a large number of people fled to Lai and settled in the two prefectures. It accounted for about 80% of the total population, and Qingzhou Prefecture and other areas accounted for very little, but in Lai and Deng Prefectures
The amount of arable land is limited and can no longer accommodate more people. Now the Qing army in Shandong is insufficient, so we plan to conquer Qingzhou, completely occupy the entire Qingzhou Prefecture, and also adopt Qingzhou Prefecture as our real governing area.
.”
Shang Yi nodded. Shandong Province had the largest population in the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, about 5.6 million. After several attacks by the Qing army, although the population dropped sharply, it was about 4 million.
Laizhou and Dengzhou are only about 30% of the total area of Shandong Province, and the arable land area in these two places is not large, but now it accommodates nearly half of Shandong's population, and the load is indeed a little large. Therefore, Zhou Shaohuan suggested that
It is also very reasonable to occupy Qingzhou Prefecture and expand the fully occupied area.
Shang Yi said: "Shaohuan, you have a good idea. If it was before the Battle of Jianghuai, you could indeed implement it. But..." Shang Yi said, took the map, pointed to the location of Qingzhou, and said: "Jing
The state is located far north, and if Qingzhou is lost, Jinan will inevitably be shocked. Once Jinan fails, it will be difficult to protect the entire Shandong. Therefore, once Qingzhou fails, the Qing army is very likely to send more troops to Shandong. To the north of Qingzhou Prefecture
It still won’t be calm, it’s still difficult to stabilize, allowing people to settle down and farm with peace of mind.”
He watched his finger move downwards and reach the southern part of Qingzhou Prefecture, and then said: "We have occupied Huai'an now. If we can take advantage of the new defeat of the Qing emperors and occupy the entire Huai'an Prefecture, we can border southern Shandong, so
If you send troops to occupy the southern part of Qingzhou Prefecture first and then capture Yizhou, you can connect with Huai'an Prefecture. In this way, you can not only make the southern part of Qingzhou Prefecture the mainland, but also echo the Huai'an Prefecture. What do you think?
”
Zhou Shaohuan looked at the map carefully, nodded, and said, "This plan of the adults is indeed better than capturing Qingzhou, but in this way, there is another problem. Although it can connect Shandong and Huaian into one, the terrain is
Too narrow, from south to north, it is more than 2,000 miles long, while the east and west are the narrowest, less than 100 miles long. This lacks depth, forming a long snake with a character, which is difficult to check the head and tail, and is easily cut off by the Qing captives. This is Shaohuan's
I am a foolish person, please feel free to know."
Shang Yi patted Zhou Shaohuan on the shoulder and smiled and said, "What foolish opinions are not foolish? We did not like this in the past. If you have anything to say, you can put it on the table and say, how can you just arrive in Shandong for a year?
It's becoming an official voice."
Zhou Shaohuan was a little embarrassed, and said, "What the sir is saying is, I..."
Shang Yi smiled and said, "Okay, forget it this time, don't do this in the future. In my heart, I will always treat you as brothers. I'm not happy that you can do well in Shandong and can take on great responsibilities."