Chapter 425 If the enemy can go, I can go too!

Soon, the remaining two to three thousand people in Tianjin opened their closed doors and windows one after another, took to the streets, and listened to people read the notices.

Pan Aqiang and others took the opportunity to organize military doctors from the Guards to take to the streets to check the people's pulse and take medicine. They also set up podiums at various intersections to preach the various policies of the Ming Dynasty and how well they treated the people, and the evils of the Tatars and officials.

The grain collected from the cellars of wealthy families was divided into small portions and distributed to the people. For a time, the people praised it one after another.

The people who fled to the countryside outside the city heard that the Ming army in the city not only did not kill people, but also had strict team discipline and did not disturb the people. They also treated the people who stayed behind as their relatives. The news spread all of a sudden, and they returned to the city one after another.

Tianjin was completely settled, and the Ming Dynasty easily occupied Tianjin.

On the Goryeo side, 20,000 Goryeo soldiers, 20,000 Japanese soldiers, and 10,000 National Defense Forces are landing, and reinforcements are coming soon.

Because the North Canal from Tianjin to Shuntianfu is mainly the main stream Baihe River.

Although the river is navigable and used to transport grain to Beijing, it cannot carry the Fujian Fleet's flagship Victory, which has a draft of more than 3,000 tons and a draft of more than three meters deep. However, those third- and fourth-class battleships can barely pass.

Zhu Tiangui had no choice but to shamelessly use a third-class battleship called Quanzhou as his flagship. Fortunately, after entering Baihe, the Qing army basically had no coastal defense forts. In addition, there were guards on both sides of the Baihe River to clear the way, and there were many warships in front as exploration ships.

There is no need to worry about the Quanzhou being attacked, and there is no danger at all.

At this time, although the city of Tianjin was far from being able to regain its prosperity as a major town in North China, as the people who had fled to the countryside on the outskirts of Tianjin returned one after another, the city and outside began to become lively.

In order to ensure logistical supplies, Pan Aqiang sent troops to collect small boats and carriages to transport troops and food.

On both sides of the canal are plains full of trees and crops, making the journey very tiring.

Pan Aqiang also had the idea of ​​​​a decisive battle. He wanted to annihilate all the main forces in the Qing Dynasty's capital area in one fell swoop.

Even the Japanese and Korean soldiers did not dare to mess around, because the Ming army was watching, and those who dared to mess around would permanently lose the opportunity to become naturalized in the Ming Dynasty.

Some people may say that in history, the Tatars knew that foreigners would not occupy the country forever, so they were unwilling to fight to the death.

However, the Qing soldiers probably did not expect the Ming Dynasty's advance to be so impressive. They were too hasty and did not even deal with the more than 30 special flat-bottomed grain ships docked in the canal, so they naturally became captured by the Ming Navy.

The capital of the Qing Dynasty and other places not only accumulated a large number of garrison troops, but also had a population of nearly one million. They required a large amount of food and other commodities, which were transported by sea or the Grand Canal and had to pass through first.

Tianjin, and then via the North Canal via Tongzhou to the capital.

Before, when Huang Taiji besieged Chongzhen, he also constantly surrounded the points to bring reinforcements, draining the blood of soldiers from the northern part of the Ming Dynasty.

Hexiwu Town was originally a small village. Because it was close to the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, as water transportation became prosperous, it slowly developed into a town. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, Hexiwu Town was the choke point of water transportation.

A tax collection checkpoint and a water and land station were set up here, and it was known as the "No. 1 Town in Jingdong".

Since large warships could not enter the canal upstream, Pan Aqiang ordered Hexiwu Town to be used as a logistics transit base for the campaign in Gyeonggi and other places.

Three days later, the Ming army arrived at a small town called Hexiwu.

Pan Aqiang learned that most people were afraid of the war and fled outside.

As a result, Tianjin City became a huge transit center for grain and other goods, so even though it experienced a grain shortage, it still had a large population.

Perhaps it was because of the retreat of the Governor-General of Zhili that the Qing troops fled in all directions. The fleet sailed along the river without encountering any resistance.

The Ming Dynasty wanted to take advantage of the Tatar Qing court's fatal flaw of slow mobilization of troops and advance faster than the British and French forces in history to capture the capital.

Pan Aqiang did not stay in Tianjin City for long. He waited until the National Defense Forces who had crossed the sea from Goryeo, commanded by Japanese soldiers and Korean soldiers, left five thousand soldiers of the National Defense Forces to garrison Tianjin City and the canal channel, and then directly ordered the remaining troops to set off immediately and go upstream along the Baihe River

Go up and march directly to the Tatar capital.

Pan Aqiang and others had no choice but to disembark from the sailing battleship.

If all the people of Tianjin were here, there would probably be no less than 100,000 people in the city.

Unexpectedly, there were so many people in Tianjin City, and Pan Aqiang was still a little surprised.

Decades have passed, and the offensive and defensive momentum has changed!

On August 24, the Ming army quickly attacked northward along the Grand Canal!

However, Zhu Kezang believed that these Tatar emperors, as self-proclaimed emperors of the Celestial Kingdom, fled in panic and abandoned the capital, which must have been the last resort.

Since in history, the British and French invaders were able to capture the Dagukou Fort with more than 17,000 water and land forces, and then captured Tianjin, Tongzhou, and finally captured the capital, Zhu Kezang believed that the Ming Dynasty could do the same!

Let the Tatars completely lose their combat effectiveness in the north.

As long as Shuntian Mansion is surrounded, Ming Dynasty can surround it and send reinforcements.

Although the large post station in Hexiwu Town was burned down, Ming Dynasty scouts found dozens of mules and horses surrounding it, as well as dozens of carriages specially used to transport grain.

Pan Aqiang ordered to continue marching northward. He wanted to capture Shuntian Prefecture and defeat the Tatar garrison in the Gyeonggi area within a month.

Worried about the danger of small warships, Zhu Tiangui refused to let Pan Aqiang take an ordinary warship. In desperation, he had to march on foot.

Because in a few months, it will be winter, and the officers and soldiers of the Guards are all from the south and are not used to the severe cold weather in the north. Then there will be trouble.

The officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty had strict military discipline. They were not allowed to intrude on villages passing by them on the road.

The scouts on the shore came to report that the post station in Hexiwu Town had been burned down. Except for a small number of civilian refugees in the town, the rest of the customs and canal soldiers, water transport supervision and canal dredging officers and soldiers had all fled.

As for the Korean soldiers who had adapted to the North, Pan Aqiang could not trust them.

Zhu Kezang's personal conquest army carried a generator and a wireless telegraph with him.

The Ming army found several poor people and small traders in Hexiwu Town as guides, plus two Jinyi guards who had been ambushing here earlier, and learned that hundreds of tons of water had passed through the North Canal in the Hexiwu section, that is, the upper reaches of the Baihe River.

All ships are unable to sail.

He had Zhu Kezang's approval for this order, and Ming Dynasty had a telegram!

Large transport ships transporting rations, heavy artillery, gunpowder and other baggage, although not 100 tons, have a deep draft and may not be able to sail in the canal. Large transport ships can only unload part of the rations and allow smaller ships to carry them to ensure that

Able to navigate.

The bandits can go, and so can I!

On August 25, Ming army soldiers arrived at a canalside wharf town called Beicang. Scouts came to report from the shore. They said that according to the people, Yu Chenglong, the governor of Zhili, had passed through this town.

, led the Qing army to burn a batch of grain, and left in a hurry.

However, after thinking about it, I felt relieved.

The remaining baggage that could not be transported was all stored in Hexiwu Town and transported in batches.

In addition, due to the extremely fast speed of the Ming army's advance, the Tatar stragglers were caught off guard along the way, and a lot of discarded military rations and other supplies could be captured.

In addition, with the logistics base in Hexiwu Town, supplies can be replenished at any time, so the Ming army's logistics will not have major problems.

However, just in case, Pan Aqiang still ordered five thousand Japanese soldiers to be stationed in Hexiwu Town to prevent the Qing army from sneak attacks and cutting off the supply line halfway, and to ensure that there would be no mistakes in this logistics base. He trusted the Japanese soldiers more than the Korean soldiers.

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Chapter completed!