Zhuang Yan was traveling south in a hurry. When he rushed to Anyang, Zhangde Mansion, the Ming and Qing armies had been fighting in Tangyin for several days.

As the Qing army continued to increase its troops, it was only then that they could barely defend the defense line in Tangyin. In addition, the Ming army was fighting steadily, Lin Jianzhang did not advance rashly in this battle, but instead dispatched troops and generals patiently.

"Ship Lin!"

"Hahaha, you're here!" Lin Jianzhang was immediately overjoyed when he saw Zhuang Yan, and took his hand and walked in.

Before he could sit down, Lin Jianzhang couldn't wait to ask about the arrangements in Beijing. Zhuang Yan briefly said that they had discussed Zhang Zhao's appointment and removal before, and mainly talked about some details, especially Zhuang Yan mentioned the strange movements sent by the Jinyiwei about the Qing army and Mongolian cavalry in the north.

"This is indeed a bit unusual." As the supreme commander of Northern China, Lin Jianzhang received this information only a little later than Zhuang Yan. Now that the two met, they naturally started to negotiate.

"I have been thinking about this matter all the way south." Zhuang Yan raised his hand and picked up the tea that had just come up, and Chen Yin said: "I have thought about it. Something big should happen in the Qing army's northward entry into Mobei, and this big thing is very likely to be related to Mobei Mongolia."

"Are you saying that the Qing army joined forces with the three Mongolian troops in Mobei and the North to go south to attack Beijing City?" Lin Jianzhang blurted out, but as soon as he said that, he shook his head and said, "This is not right. If you just go south to attack the Qing army in Beijing, there is no need to go north and go north again. Isn't it easier for the three Mongolian troops to go south to assemble?"

"That's true!" Zhuang Yan nodded and said, "So... I guess the Qing army went north to find trouble for the three Mongolian tribes in Mobei!"

"Internal strife?" Lin Jianzhang frowned. If this is the reason, then it would make sense for Chahar's Qing army to join forces with various Mongolian cavalry to the north of Mobei. However, at this moment, the Central Plains War was in full swing. Under this situation, the Qing army not only did not reinforce the Central Plains Battle, but instead ran to Mobei to fight the three Mongolian tribes? This is extremely strange.

Didn’t the Qing army worry that once the Central Plains was defeated, the Ming Dynasty would completely take control of China? By then, the Qing army would almost lose the most important heartland in the world.

This move is simply a bad word from a strategic goal, and it is very strange from a tactical perspective. This is also the reason Zhuang Yan has never figured it out. After all, although the Ming Dynasty's Jinyiwei is powerful and can monitor the movements of the Qing army, he has not yet achieved the decisions within the Qing army or the senior management.

The fact is true. The matters in Mobei, especially the agreement between the Thirteenth Prince and Tsarist Russia, are all secrets of the Qing court. There are very few people who really know the inside story. No matter how capable the Jinyiwei is, it is impossible to find out these inside stories for a while.

Zhuang Yan shook his head, took a sip of tea and put down the teacup and said, "This is still unknown for the time being, but according to my judgment, the Qing army must have other intentions to do this, but it is impossible to know what the reason is. But Lin Shuai Don't worry, if the Qing army is really infighting, it would be a good thing for the war in the Central Plains. At least we don't have to worry about the Qing army in the north, we just need to fight this battle with peace of mind."

"Haha, that's true." Lin Jianzhang suddenly laughed, and then said: "Now, April is just now, and there are still some days to June. As long as everything goes well, it will be decided to resolve the enemy of the Central Plains before June. When the battle in the Central Plains is over, it will be useless to go south again in the north."

Zhuang Yan nodded in agreement. In order to prepare for the Battle of the Central Plains, the Ming army in northern China, including the Ming army in the south, had been preparing for more than half a year. Now Lin Jianzhang is the first to launch the war, mainly because it is time to start the war.

It has always been the main task of the Ming army to open up the north and south and completely solve the Qing army in the Central Plains. However, it is not easy to fight the battle in the Central Plains. Not to mention that the Qing army in the Central Plains gathered heavily. Although the Ming army has strong combat power and its troops are much more elite than the Qing army, it is less powerful than the Qing army in terms of force.

At present, the forces of both sides of the Central Plains are nearly one million, but if we compare the total forces of each party, the Ming army only accounts for 30% of them.

If only tens of thousands of people were fighting, the Ming army could easily defeat an equal number or more Qing army with its firearms and well-trained troops. However, if the enemy's troops reached a certain level, especially if the city and fortifications were supported, such battles would not be so easy to fight.

What's more, with years of fighting, the Qing army also grew up in battle, especially the senior generals of the Qing army, Longkodo and Yue Zhongqi, who had rich combat experience and were extremely capable famous generals, especially the latter. If it were not for the Huai'an Incident in Jiangbei, it would not be so easy for the Ming army to take down Jiangbei. Even at the moment, Yue Zhongqi's main force has not been damaged, and his combat power cannot be ignored.

In addition, there is another more important factor in fighting in the Central Plains, that is, the Yellow River!

The Yellow River is the birthplace of Chinese civilization and the mother river of China. It can be said that without the Yellow River, there would be no Chinese civilization.

Like the Yangtze River, the Yellow River nurtures this land and the people on both sides of the river, making its civilization proliferate from ancient times to the present. In comparison, the Yellow River is more important than the Yangtze River.

However, while bringing civilization and prosperity to China, the Yellow River has also brought disasters to its people. Especially the flooding of the Yellow River, which is the most worrying thing every dynasty and generation. Not to mention the distance, just talk about it for nearly a hundred years. Whether in the Ming Dynasty or after the Qing Dynasty entered the pass, or after Zhu Yicheng took over Nanjing and revived the Ming Dynasty, the flooding of the Yellow River has become the norm. It will cause disasters every few years, and even every year. Just last year, the Yellow River broke through a dam, resulting in heavy losses within a radius of thousands of miles.

Lin Jianzhang stopped north of Handan, on the one hand, because he was considering the lack of troops in the front line, and on the other hand, he was also concerned about the Yellow River. If he continued to move south at that time, he would face these two problems. In the case of insufficient troops and unsecured logistics, if he fought to the Yellow River in one go, once the Qing army was invincible and digging the embankment, Lin Jianzhang's main force would inevitably fall into trouble. At that time, his new army would not be warned, not to mention fighting, and even be swept away by the surging river water on the edge of the Yellow River, and thus be defeated unbeaten.

Therefore, Lin Jianzhang stopped when he reached Xingtai, which can be said to be extremely correct. In this era, wars focus on time, geography, people and people, and both of them are indispensable. Even in later generations, when Japan invaded China, the war model at that time was already different from the era of cold weapons and had completely entered the era of hot weapons. However, even if it already had semi-mechanized Japanese elite troops, they had no choice but to stop in front of the Yellow River. Not only did they suffer heavy losses, but they were almost in desperate situations.

The Ming army certainly had some concerns about this, and this was the reason why they chose to launch the Battle of the Central Plains at this time.

The Yellow River has flood seasons, and there are also dry seasons. The dry seasons of the Yellow River are generally around winter and April to June every year. The war in winter is not conducive to the operation of the army, and the logistics pressure is also extremely heavy. Moreover, the Ming army also needs time to make complete preparations, so the day when the Ming army chose to start the war was put in April, which is now.

According to Lin Jianzhang's idea, taking advantage of the opportunity of the Yellow River to start a war now, this can greatly avoid the Qing army's desperate attempt to jump over the wall to dig the Yellow River against the Ming army. In this situation, even if the Qing army digs the Yellow River embankment, it will only cause some trouble for the Ming army at most, but it will be completely different during the flood season. At that time, even if the country in Thousand Miles of Ze, let alone war, it will be difficult to move forward.
Chapter completed!