Because Zhou Xian rebuilt the post road and established a pigeon transmission letter, Xuzhou and Huai'an Prefecture near Yangzhou soon received news.

However, most of the troops had been transferred to Dingtao by Liu Konghe, and there were less than 3,000 soldiers left in Huai'an, of which 1,000 were still the remaining water soldiers in Hongze Lake.

The reason they were left behind was because they had weak combat power and had only more than twenty dilapidated small boats.

Xuzhou is a big city, but the situation is not as good as that. Although there are about 4,000 soldiers, they are all stationed soldiers, and only a few have passed through the war.

The 3,500 squadrons and cavalry under Chen Wangxin were all old soldiers, and Zhou Xian was also the main force deployed by Zhou Xian in the Jianghuai River to guard against the Southern Ming Army. But from the momentum, the number is still too small.

The reason for this situation is that Zhou Xian felt that Nan Ming had to face the threat of the Chuang Army and the Longwu Army outside, and the factions inside were complicated, so he should have no time to look north for the time being.

The Qing army was in great power, and Zhou Xian had to move a large number of troops northwards.

The most important thing is that Zhou Xian felt that Zhu Cilang's hesitant and kind-hearted character should not send troops while Zhou Xian fought with the Qing army.

When Xia Yunyi spread the news to Jinan, Zhou Xian's first feeling was shocked, and then he was furious. He immediately ordered Wu Zhiying to gather all the cavalry in Shandong to go south to rescue.

At the same time, various parts of Shandong have also begun to actively mobilize troops.

In fact, Zhou Xian did not misjudgment Zhu Cixuan's personality. Moreover, because Zhu Ma was in Nanjing, he even issued an order to Du Yinxi to take back Xiangyang in time and support Zhou Xian.

However, the operation to seize Yangzhou was carried out this time without him, and Zhang Huangyan planned this operation.

Previously, Du Yinxi recommended Zhang Huangyan to Zhu Cixuan when he left Nanjing and went to Huguang to take office.

However, Zhang Huangyan was not very old and had little experience. At that time, he did not attract Zhu Cilang's attention, and only gave him a false position as a editor of the Hanlin Academy.

The Southern Ming Dynasty emphasized culture and over military affairs. Although the editorial position of Hanlin Academy was not high, it was extremely noble. Moreover, it was always with the emperor, and there was a possibility that it would soar to the sky. Many famous officials in the entire Ming Dynasty started with this official position, which was not considered as unfair to Zhang Huangyan.

But Zhang Huangyan only stayed in this position for a month, and then took the initiative to resign from Zhu Cixuan, hoping to serve in the army.

It happened that at that time, Zhang Mingzhen was promoted to general and returned to Nanjing to thank Zhu Cilang.

Both of them were members of Xingming Society and had a close relationship. Zhang Mingzhen talked to him and knew that he was depressed. He asked Zhu Cilang to allow Zhang Huangyan to serve as a pian painting in his own army to satisfy his ambition to promote the country with martial arts.

On the same day, Zhang Mingzhen and Han Kuo worked together to pacify Huang Binqing, and Han Kuo occupied Zhoushan, while Zhang Mingzhen obtained a large number of ships and water soldiers under Huang Binqing.

Later, because he led the fleet north to welcome Zhu Cixuan and expressed his loyalty, he also made great contributions in protecting Nanjing and resisting the Longwu Army.

So Zhang Huangyan was promoted step by step, and was already considered a general who guarded one side, and was deeply trusted by Zhu Cilang.

Zhu Cilang certainly agreed to his request. After all, in his heart, Zhang Huangyan was only a young official in his early twenties and had a high-spirited ambition, and was far less important than a general like Zhang Mingzhen who held heavy troops.

In fact, Zhang Mingzhen also had his own selfish intentions when he did this. During the process of working with Han Kuo to pacify Huang Binqing, he deeply felt the strength of Zhou Xianjun soldiers.

When Zhou Xian rebelled against Ming and many court officials believed that Zhou Xian might not be able to stop the Qing Dynasty, Zhang Mingzhen believed that the Qing Dynasty was definitely not Zhou Xian's opponent, and that the Ming Dynasty's future enemy would only be Zhou Xian.

Zhang Mingzhen’s reason was very simple. There were few people in the Qing Dynasty, and one less died in battle. Moreover, they were also alien races, so it was difficult for them to gain the support of the people in the north.

As long as Zhou Xian can stabilize the situation and Xu Tu is aggressive, the North will be his sooner or later.

Zhang Mingzhen wrote many letters, proposing that Zhou Xian should be more prepared. Even if he is temporarily unable to fight the Northern Expedition, he should actively recruit soldiers to prepare for the war. Once the situation changes, he can take the opportunity to go north and take the entire Jianghuai River.

However, the Ming court, which was threatened by the trespassing army and the Longwu army, was obviously not valued.

Moreover, those who were in charge of the power of the Ming court, whether it was Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu, or Jiang Riguang, were old ministers who were old and focused, important, and obeyed rules.

In their eyes, righteousness and rules are the most important.

They believed that the Ming Dynasty was the orthodox court, and it was still righteous to quell the rebellion, and to the old days. Zhou Xian resisted the Qing Dynasty and expelled foreign races were also righteous.

They regarded Zhou Xian as a rebel from the Ming Dynasty, but they found it difficult to make the decision to give Zhou Xian a fatal blow from behind when Zhou Xian fought with the Qing Dynasty.

Because they could not afford the risk of eventually causing the Qing Dynasty to seize the world because of their decision. They could die calmly for justice, but they were unwilling to leave a bad reputation in history.

This is why when the dynasty was destroyed, most scholars and officials chose to commit suicide but were unwilling to take up swords and guns to fight with the enemy to the end.

They regard their reputation as more important than the rise and fall of the entire dynasty.

But Zhang Mingzhen's letter was not completely useless. Just like Shi Kefa, although he did not agree with Zhang Mingzhen's plan to send troops, he also believed that Zhang Mingzhen's proposal was not completely useless. He told Zhang Mingzhen that he could collect information from the northern region in advance in preparation for the future military expedition.

Zhang Mingzhen was born as a Jinyiwei and wanted to use the relationship left by Jinyiwei in the north to carry out this matter.

However, since Ma Jixiang served as the commander of the Jinyiwei, he completely abandoned the northern land. Not only did he no longer send people to the northern land, but he also completely cut off the official salary left by the Jinyiwei in the northern land. As a result, many people broke off contact with the Ming court or surrendered directly to the Qing Dynasty.

The specific reason is that Ma Jixiang was transferred to Nanjing from outside and had no foundation in the court. He needed a lot of gold and silver to praise Ma and please the officials from inside the court and cultivate his confidants.

Because Luo Yangxing, the former commander of the Jinyiwei, surrendered to the enemy, most of the Jinyiwei in the northern region surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. Even if they were still in contact, they could not be sure whether they were really interested in the Ming court.

Therefore, Ma Jixiang completely abandoned them.

Zhang Mingzhen was not ashamed of Ma Jixiang's character, but he had to ask him for help. He even bribed Ma Jixiang by bribing military pay and obtained a list of the Beidi Jinyiwei.

At such a high price, Zhang Mingzhen certainly wanted to make a difference, but he lacked a reliable person to do this. Zhang Huang was loyal, sincere, ambitious, and wise and brave, and could be able to take on this responsibility.
Chapter completed!