Huaibei.
Li Qin looked at the intelligence reports coming from various parts of Huaibei, and then he dispatched a large army to conquer various parts of Huaibei.
The prefectures and counties in the Huaibei region surrendered one after another.
Regarding their surrender.
Li Qin directly ordered that their official positions be retained.
This was done for the officials in Huainan to see.
Let them know that as long as they surrender, they can retain their official positions and wealth, just like the officials in Huaibei.
With the voluntary surrender of many prefectures and counties in Huaibei, Li Qin was able to take over the Huaibei region at an extremely fast pace.
He continued leading his army to prepare to cross the Huai River and head towards Huainan.
He ordered Zhang Hengshuo and Qin Chenyao to lead their troops across the river to Huai'an and conquer Huai'an and other places.
During this time in Huai'an, Jiang Xiangyang, who had already crossed the river on his orders, had captured some county towns.
During this period, Hu Zongxian also sent out troops to try and clashed with Jiang Xiangyang's army in the field.
They discovered that these were elite border veterans who had fought many battles.
The Huai Army, selected from disaster victims and lacking sufficient funding and training, was no match for Jiang Xiangyang's Datong Border Army.
In the end, they retreated back into the city and began to defend it.
As for the defense of Huainan, Hu Zongxian had been actively preparing since arriving in Lianghuai.
The city defenses of the three towns in Huainan are now very well-established.
It's absolutely impossible to take it down with just Jiang Xiangyang's tens of thousands of men.
He sent Jiang Xiangyang to Huainan, also ordering him to test the strength of Huainan.
He didn't have much hope of taking Huainan.
Now, based on Jiang Xiangyang's performance in Huainan...
Hu Zongxian's true strength and weakness in Huainan have been tested.
There's not much difference from before.
They are still better at defending cities than at fighting in open battle.
This put his mind at ease regarding Zhang Hengshuo and the others.
The combined forces of Zhang Hengshuo, Qin Chenyao, Jiang Xiangyang, and others numbered approximately 100,000.
Moreover, the army's combat effectiveness far surpassed that of the Huai Army, composed of refugees under Hu Zongxian's command.
With the aid of artillery and the use of civilians as cannon fodder, they swarmed the city in an ant-like attack.
Dealing with Hu Zongxian's cities is no problem at all.
Moreover, he also commands a large army in Fengyang Prefecture, located upstream of Zhang Hengshuo and his men, and can provide them with support at any time.
After completing the deployment, Li Qin ordered the army to begin entering Huainan in succession.
Fengyang Prefecture.
Qi Jiguang looked at the map in his hand.
He had just received a military report that Li Qin's army had crossed the Huai River.
Moreover, it is extremely large in scale, with hundreds of thousands of people.
There were even Tatar cavalrymen inside.
This is incomparable to the tens of thousands of people who were with Lord Hu before.
Most importantly, according to reports, they saw Li's command flag inside this army.
This proves that Li Ze was in this army.
This army was undoubtedly the main force of Li Zicheng's southward march into the Huai River region.
The thought that Li Qin's main force marching south started from his place was very gratifying.
Qi Jiguang felt a surge of pressure, but also the excitement of being a general.
Before he was promoted to the Beijing Garrison, he was already the garrison commander of Fengyang.
Having guarded Fengyang for many years, he knows Fengyang like the back of his hand.
Now he is to lead the tens of thousands of elite troops of the Beijing Garrison that he has trained to defend Fengyang, which he has guarded for many years.
Although he was very clear that his town was definitely the one under the most pressure among the three towns north of the Yangtze River.
However, he was still very confident that he could hold off Li Zicheng's hundreds of thousands of troops.
Since being promoted to commander of the Beijing garrison, he has been analyzing the weaknesses of Li Qin's army.
Especially after Li Zei gathered the Tatar cavalry.
He then discovered the weaknesses of the Tatar cavalry.
He developed some chariots, which, combined with his firearms advantage, allowed him to easily defeat Tatar cavalry when facing them alone.
He was confident of defeating the Tatar cavalry under Li Qin's command.
Moreover, most of the veterans and elite soldiers under Li Qin's command in Liaodong were not skilled in using firearms or similar weapons.
Moreover, he was passionate about archery, swordsmanship, horsemanship, and archery.
He was confident of winning against the battle formation he had designed.
However, according to intelligence, Li Ze's hundreds of thousands of troops are now marching south together, and their momentum is unstoppable.
That is a large, integrated military group.
Li Qin's massive army encompassed almost every type of troop, including cavalry, swordsmen, spearmen, musketeers, and artillerymen.
Facing this super military group with almost no weaknesses in any branch of the armed forces, he wasn't very confident about being able to leave the city and fight them in the open field.
Therefore, his goal is to continue to hold Fengyang.
As long as he remains in Fengyang and doesn't actively engage in open battle with Li Qin, Li Qin will not be able to easily capture Fengyang.
Although his army was the smallest of the three towns, he believed that in terms of the elite of his soldiers, the army he had trained could not compare with the other two towns.
After reading through all the military reports from Li Qin's southward journey.
Qi Jiguang then continued his inspection of the city wall.
He ordered the garrison to strengthen its defenses and await the arrival of Li Qin's army.
Li Qin rode on his warhorse, watching the army that had basically crossed the river.
They encountered virtually no resistance, which is thanks to the Yellow River's breach in the dikes.
The Huai River system was disrupted, leading to severe siltation. Although Hu Zongxian ordered dredging, the damage was so severe that it could not be completely cleared.
This prevented the navy from exerting its combat power.
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