"This is Wuxue Town, this is Chengzi Town, and this is Xiaochikou. Li Laishun's troops are now stationed in these three places. When I set out from Dehua and went up the river to Wuchang, I saw with my own eyes the troops of Prince Li Laishun's palace. Build artillery forts on the shore. Your Majesty, if Li Fuchen and Li Laishun are allowed to complete the defense of these three places, it will not be easy to send troops from Wuchang to relieve the siege of Jiujiang."
In the Wuying Hall in the Great Zhou Imperial City in Wuchang Prefecture, Lang Tingxiang, who had changed into an official robe of the Great Zhou Dynasty, was holding a small wooden stick and pointing on a hung map. The three towns he just named are all located on the banks of the Yangtze River, upstream of Dehua, the capital city of Jiujiang. Among them, Wuxue and Xiaochikou are in the north of the Yangtze River, and Chengzi Town is in the south of the Yangtze River. If these three small towns were firmly occupied by the army of loyal king Li Laishun, and built forts, set up dozens of red cannons that can fire twelve kilograms of projectiles, and then used pontoons, iron cables and other things to block the water of the Yangtze River. Then it would be difficult for Wu Sangui's army to go down the river to Jiujiang!
Lang Tingxiang then pointed at Dehua, the capital of Jiujiang, and said worriedly: "Your Majesty, the three counties of De'an, Ruichang and Jianchang outside Dehua are now controlled by Li Fuchen's army. Li Fuchen's vanguard has arrived in Li Fuchen last month. On the outskirts of Dehua. Duke Kang sent elite troops to fight several times in an attempt to repel Li Fuchen. However, the Li Army's firearms were very sharp and their cavalry was strong. It was difficult for Duke Kang's army to resist him. Before he left Jiujiang, Duke Kang had already been defeated several times in a row!
I estimate that it won't take long for Li Fuchen to surround Jiujiang Fucheng. Although the city defense of Jiujiang Fucheng is very strong, the military and food reserves in the city are not large. Once it is besieged, it can only hold out for a few months at most! "
Wu Sangui folded his arms, squinted his eyes, and sat on an imperial chair facing the map. Also standing beside him were Wu Yingxiong, Wu Shifan, Wu Shijue, Xia Guoxiang, Hu Guozhu, Wang Pingfan, Zheng Jiaolin, Fang Guangchen, Liu Xuanchu, Wang Shirong and other civil servants and generals.
After listening to Lang Tingxiang's introduction to the situation in Jiujiang, Wu Sangui turned to look at his two naval commanders and asked with a smile: "Prime Minister, Guozhu, how is the situation of the navy? Are you ready?"
"Your Majesty," Hu Guozhu said with a smile, "the navy has more than 800 large and small warships, and no less than 30,000 officers and soldiers. They have all been trained for two or three years and are already proficient in water warfare."
Xia Guoxiang added: "Your Majesty, after we arrived in Wuchang, we collected 3,000 civilian ships and more than 40,000 sailors from Jingzhou, Xiangyang and other places in Hunan and Hubei, all of which were incorporated into the navy to transport troops and food. So. Now we have a total of 800 warships, 3,000 civilian ships, 30,000 government troops, and 40,000 temporary recruits, all of whom are on standby at any time, just waiting for your order from the emperor!"
Wu Sangui nodded with satisfaction and said "Okay", and then asked Wu Yingxiong and Wu Shifan: "Yingxiong, Shifan, how are Master Lu's preparations going?"
"Father, there are now a total of 120,000 soldiers from the Lu Division in Wuchang that can be mobilized for the Eastern Expedition! In addition, there are 80,000 civilians recruited from Hunan, Jingxiang and other places, for a total of 200,000 soldiers. !”
"Grandpa Huang, these 200,000 land divisions are also ready to send out troops at any time! In addition, in Hunan, there are 30,000 soldiers and 20,000 civilians of the third uncle King Chu, who can also march towards Jiangxi or Guangdong at any time. Over at Chang'an besides."
"Enough, these soldiers are enough!" Wu Sangui interrupted Wu Shifan. This time he took Wu Yingxiong to send troops, but left Wu Yingqi to guard his home in Chang'an. The apparent reason was that Wu Yingqi's troops had repeatedly invaded and sacrificed their old troops, so that they could To attack and kill the old master would be a bit unfair. But the actual reason is that Wu Sangui intends to support Wu Yingxiong.
He has learned the lessons of Li Yuan and Zhu Di!
Li Yuan tied the eldest prince to his side and asked the second eldest brother, King Qin, to conquer all day long. As a result, the unfaithful and unfilial Li Shimin became stronger and stronger, and finally broke the rules of the Tang Dynasty by killing his brother and forcing his father.
Zhu Di's situation was similar. His eldest son was too fat to march and fight, so he took his second son Zhu Gaoxu to seek the throne. Although the second phase of Jingnan was not achieved, it did harm to Zhu Gaoxu and his son. In fact, it also indirectly harmed the Ming Dynasty!
If Zhu Gaoxu had not been too ambitious and was eventually killed by Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty, with his ability in fighting, he could have replaced the acting king of Datong or been sent to Liaodong to guard the country's borders. Then there would be no Xuande shrinking, and there would be no subsequent changes in Tumu Fort.
Therefore, according to Wu Sangui's wishes, Wu Yingqi, Wu Guogui, Wu Shicong, and Wu Shijue are all left to Wu Yingxiong and Wu Shifan to protect the family. Now, let's suppress them so that they can make less contributions and not climb on the prince's head, just so that they can be used in the future. them.
Thinking of this, Wu Sangui said with a smile: "Including the strength of the people, that's 270,000 by land and water! Duke Kang has an army of 50,000, so that's 320,000! I'll give him some more water, and falsely claim that it's only 600,000. Share it?"
"Not too much, not too much," Wu Sangui's chief assistant Fang Guangchen said with a smile, "even if it is falsely claimed to be one million, it is not too much."
Wu Sangui twitched his beard and said: "There are Geng Jingzhong and Kangxi. How come they each have to boast an army of 200,000. Together they are one million!"
"Your Majesty," Liu Xuanchu didn't look so optimistic and said cautiously, "The actual number of troops that Zhou, Qing, and Jiangnan Jingguo can gather to attack Ming this time is at most 500,000. I'm afraid Ming's troops will not be too large. No, we can always scrape together two or three hundred thousand."
Wu Sangui nodded and said with a smile: "Of course I know that there are many people in Jiangnan, and I don't just rely on more people to bully and fight wars. I have discovered a flaw in Li Zhongshan and Li Fuchen's formation!"
As he spoke, he stood up and walked to the map, then took the wooden stick from Lang Tingxiang's hand, and then drew a line directly along the Yangtze River - Poyang Lake - Ganjiang River on the map, and said with a smile : "Li Fuchen is thinking about his head and not his back! He covers his head and attacks Jiujiang. It is enough to defeat him. But if he cannot defeat him, my army will go around his back by water to capture Nanchang. What do you think he should do? ?”
"What else can we do?" Wu Shifan said with a smile, "Of course we will retreat to Nanchang!"
Wu Sangui said with a smile: "If he retreats to Nanchang, I will surround Nanchang!"
"Ah, isn't this the same as the Poyang Lake War?" Wu Shijue said in surprise, "Grandpa Huang, we look like..."
He wanted to say, "We seem to be Chen Youliang", but as soon as the words came out, he felt it was too unlucky and quickly stopped.
Wu Sangui nodded and said: "You are right, our formation is the same as Chen Youliang! But have you ever thought about why Chen Youliang lost the Poyang Lake battle? Is it because the formation was not good?"
"Well, Chen Youliang was actually in decline before the Poyang Lake War." Wu Shifan said, "After he killed Xu Shouhui to usurp the throne and turned Xu Song into Chen Han, he was no longer very successful."
Wu Sangui looked at his precious grandson and nodded with satisfaction: "Yes, we don't have the problem that Chen Youliang's defeat was due to internal disintegration after usurping the throne! And when Chen Youliang attacked Zhu Yuanzhang, both Bei Yuan and Zhang Wu stood by and watched. .And now, Beiqing and Dongjing are helping me deal with Can Ming!
Therefore, as long as I surround Li Zhongshan's father and attract Li Zhongshan's main force to Poyang Lake, Beiqing and Dongjing will go all out to attack Jiangnan and Jiangbei. Sun Jiqing of Guangxi will also take the opportunity to raise troops to attack Guangdong. Guogui may be able to take the opportunity to capture Guangzhou. By then, even if the battle of Poyang Lake cannot be decided for the time being, Can Ming will be in trouble! "
"What if Li Zhongshan doesn't save his father?" Wu Shijue reminded, "Grandpa, this Li Zhongshan is not a filial son."
Wu Sangui said with a smile: "If he doesn't save Li Fuchen, then I will capture Li Fuchen and take Jiangxi, and then divide my troops to support your father and Sun Jiqing, and take Guangdong for him. And the Zheng family in Fujian is a thieves who guard their home. If I give him the benefit of being able to conquer Fujian for a long time, he will surrender. At that time, what will be left of Can Ming? Even if Li Zhongshan can use the time when I besiege Nanchang to destroy Geng Jingzhong, only his territory will be left. How dare we go to Jiangsu, Anhui, and Zhejiang to fight against the world?"
Now everyone thinks Wu Sangui is better than Chen Youliang!
According to his arrangement, no matter whether Li Zhongshan marches into Poyang Lake or not, he will not escape defeat. It is nothing more than a defeat of more than a few!
Wu Sangui paused, with an indescribable pride on his face: "According to my decree, in ten days, the armies will be divided into two groups, water and land, and march forward together, along the river. This time I will fight with Li Zhongshan at Poyang Lake!"
An armed merchant ship with a high side, a huge hull and a combination of Chinese and Western style with hard sails was sailing eastward with the wind, stirring up a white wave on the Yangtze River waterway from Taiping Prefecture to Nanjing. The general's festival flag was on it. The hunting is fluttering in the spring breeze.
On both sides of the Yangtze River, the green fields are picturesque. Li Zhongshan, the general of the Ming Dynasty who was the official secretary of the British Empire, was meeting with a short, middle-aged man with high cheekbones, a feather fan in his hand, a silk scarf on his head, and a crane cloak, who looked like "Hu Jian Zhuge". Standing side by side at the bow of this sailing ship, while talking, they looked at the scene of everything around them competing and full of vitality.
"King, what do you think of this ship?"
"King Yi, this ship of yours is really good. It's big and stable. It can go quite fast and can be equipped with more than a dozen cannons on both sides. With such a giant ship, doesn't the Yangtze River allow us to come and go?"
It turned out that the person who was talking to Li Zhongshan was Zheng Jing, the Wing King of the Ming Dynasty.
King Zheng Yi has concentrated on developing in Fujian in recent years, and has successively conquered Zhangzhou, Quanzhou, Xinghua, Tingzhou, Longyan, Yunzhou, Yanping, and Shaowu. Not long ago, he took advantage of Geng Jingzhong's opportunity to shrink his troops and captured them in one fell swoop. Went to Fuzhou, Funing and Jianning. Thus bringing the entire Fujian under its rule!
After taking over Fujian, Zheng Jing was finally invited to lead Fujian's citizens and representatives of the country's elite to form a new armed merchant ship of the Fujian Navy to attend the National People's Congress in Nanjing.
This new type of armed merchant ship is called "Old Lock Ship" and is characterized by a combination of Chinese and Western styles, that is, a Western-style high-freeboard hull and Chinese-style hard sails. Because the Western-style hull is stronger, it can install more and larger-caliber artillery, while the Chinese-style hard sail is easier to operate and saves manpower. Therefore, in the Zheng family's opinion, this kind of ship is the most suitable for traveling to the East and Southeast!
As early as Zheng Zhilong's time, the Zheng family began to build old lock ships. Zheng Zhilong once built thirty old lock gun boats in Xiamen that could be used in naval battles. Unfortunately, before they were put into use, they were raided by the navy of the Dutch East India Company and burned.
When Zheng Chenggong came to power, the Zheng family lost its base on the mainland and encountered the Qing Dynasty's maritime ban. Their financial resources were not as good as before, so it was naturally impossible to build a large number of old lock ships.
But after Zheng Jing regained Zhangzhou and Quanzhou, the old lock ships were finally opened for construction!
In just a few years, dozens of old lock ships with a carrying capacity of more than 5,000 stone (almost 300 tons) have been built!
However, this kind of old lock ship does not have oars, so it is naturally very easy to use on windy seas, but it is not so easy to use after entering the Yangtze River.
"King of England," Zheng Jing shook his feather fan and said half-jokingly, "the old lock ship is a sea ship, and it is not equipped with oars. It is not easy to use when entering the Yangtze River with little wind and shallow water. If there is no wind, the ship cannot move. , and it’s also easy to run aground. When the late king went north to Nanjing, he suffered huge losses from ships entering the river.”
Li Zhongshan waved his hand and said: "King Yi, I have already thought of countermeasures for what you said!"
As he spoke, he raised his hand to point to a fast crab boat that was clearing the way in front of the old lock boat he and Zheng Jing were riding, and said with a smile: "The Yangtze River Navy has many fast crab boats, which can make the fast crab boat and the old lock boat Let's move together. If there is no wind and we must move, use a crab boat to tow the old lock boat to sail. If the old lock boat accidentally runs aground, you can also use a crab boat to tow it away from the shoal!"
"Use a small boat to tow a big ship?" Zheng Jing shook his feather fan and said to himself: I'm really sorry you can think of it. Whatever, you can do it if you think it will work!
"Your Majesty," Zheng Jingdao said, "these old lock ships are expensive to build. The sailors on board have all been at sea for many years. I am the only one in the world who has such good sailors. If the general wants to use them, I don't know. Buy, or want to rent?”
The name Zheng "Jing" is really correct, he is "Zhen Jing". The Ming Dynasty is about to fall, and you are still thinking about buying and selling!
Li Zhongshan was just about to talk to Zheng Jing about the principle of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism, but Zheng Jing was already rushing to speak: "Your Majesty, you don't know something. These ships were raised from merchants in Zhangzhou and Quanzhou and borrowed shares." If the money from the three major banks that was finally created by the imperial court is used in vain, then the business of the Yanping clan will not be able to continue!"
The Yanping feudal business he said meant the Yanping feudal trading house. When Zheng Jing ruled the island and was the king of Yanping, in order to make money to support his troops, he sorted out the properties passed down from his ancestors and set up a feudal trading house.
And when he became the lord of Zhangzhou and Quanzhou, he had the ability to raise funds from businessmen in southern Fujian. So he learned from the Dutch East India Company, "listed" the Yeonpyeong Domain Trading Company, raised shares and borrowed money in the name of the domain trading company, quickly raised a large sum of money, built dozens of old lock ships, and hired a large number of people. Sailors, then went into the business of maritime trade and roadblock "protection".
When Li Zhongshan heard what he said, he couldn't help it - the Ming Dynasty is almost turning into a "bourgeois republic"! So he has to protect the interests of the bourgeoisie! For "commercial organizations" like the East India Company such as the Yanping Domain Trading Company, the power of the state must be used to protect them.
"This. It's better to build it than to buy it, and it's better to rent it than to buy it. Otherwise, I'll rent it!"
Li Zhongshan's "it is better to buy than to build, and to rent than to buy" is not to buy or rent from the foreign devils, but to buy guns and artillery from Foshan Town, and to lease warships from Zheng Jing.
"It's so happy! The King of England is indeed a happy person." Zheng Jing said with a smile, "I am also a happy person, why not let's swore a sworn vows later, and invite Lu Sanhao and Chen Fufu to join us in sworn vows."
"This is great!" Li Zhongshan smiled and nodded, "I'll get King Bei back later, and let's recognize King Liu Bei as our big brother!"
"Okay!" Zheng Jing nodded, "In this way, we are brothers. We will give you a discount on the cost of renting a boat. One boat only charges 1,000 taels a month, and all the expenses are included. How about that?"
A boat costs 1,000 taels. It’s so dark!
"1,000 taels. That's fine!" Li Zhongshan knew Zheng Jing, but he didn't bargain - now we're not doing business, we're engaging in war and politics, and it's better to meet someone who wants money than someone who wants to kill you.
He smiled and said: "Brother Wang, if this ship is rented, then after defeating Wu Sangui, this military achievement and territory will be lost."
Zheng Jing laughed and said: "I don't want money, I want money! I'm already a prince, why do I need military glory? As for the territory, I don't want the territory! Fujian belongs to the state, I don't want the vassal land."
"Really?" Li Zhongshan was stunned. He never expected Zheng Jing to be so good!
Why is this feudal territory coming? Waiting for the imperial court to reduce vassal status?
As long as they can control the people and scholars in Fujian, the Zheng family will always be the major shareholder of the Ming Dynasty!
(End of chapter)
