Outside the city of Yangzhou, on the Grand Canal, which meanders to the north, at least two or three hundred boats are coming in a long line at this time.

If Zhu Guobi, who was familiar with Cao Yun, would have been surprised to see these ships. Because these boats are not ordinary boats, but specially selected large ships, and they have been reinforced and transformed. The two sides of the boat are equipped with a number of baffles in the shape of the battlements of the city wall, and the holes are opened in the baffle, and a long oar stretches out from the holes, rowing neatly, driving these large ships to sail towards Yangzhou City without delay.

Obviously, these two or three hundred boats have now become warships that can sail and fight in the rivers, although they can't compare with the armed sand boats of the Sha Boat Gang, let alone the Zheng family's half-Chinese and half-Western-style big war ships, but these warships rebuilt from the Cao boats also have their wonderful uses.

The fleet that was approaching Yangzhou City was personally led by Lu Zhenfei, the governor of Caoyun and the governor of Huaiyang.

After March of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, among the remaining local governors of the Ming Dynasty, Lu Zhenfei, the governor of Caoyun, was definitely one of the most powerful. Because the governor of Caoyun was in charge of a special force called the "grain transport army", and he also served as the governor of Huai'an.

The so-called "grain transport army" is actually the "squad army" responsible for managing the canal and transporting grain to Beijing, that is, the Weisu army that takes turns to go up. The soldiers were all from the various guards along the canal, and at their peak there were 120,000 people!

In the 16th year of Lu Zhenfei's reign as the governor of Cao, the section north of the Huai River of the canal was already difficult to pass, and the number of canal troops dropped sharply to more than 30,000, and the number of boats under its control was also reduced to hundreds.

But 30,000 Zhuang Ding and hundreds of Cao boats, plus the grain hoarded in Huai'an and Huai'an Jiancheng, are enough to make Cao Du Lu Zhenfei a powerful governor.

After the news of the fall of Beijing came, he had a large amount of grain at hand (in the midst of the war and chaos, grain is more precious than silver!). Lu Zhenfei immediately began to reorganize the grain transportation army, eliminate the old and weak, recruit strong and brave, and build equipment. Soon sorted out 30,000 "strong soldiers", and also defeated the Dashun army led by the former Ming officials Lu Bizhou, Wu Su and Dong Xueli, who defected to King Chuang. And kill Lu Bizhou and Wu Su!

However, Lu Zhenfei, who had 30,000 "strong pawns" and hundreds of boats, was not very interested in the king of "Qin" Chongzhen, because he had already known how powerful Zhu Cihong was through the letters of Shen Tingyang in the old department. Moreover, he is an official from Beizhili, and his hometown is occupied by the Tartars! Therefore, it is far more important to support an emperor who can defeat the Tartars and recover his hometown than Yuzhong Chongzhen.

Besides, Zhu Cihong is a righteous prince! Emperor Chongzhen has lost half of the country, shouldn't he follow the example of Tang Xuanzong and Song Huizong to step down and let the capable prince come to power?

So he was reluctant to wade into the troubled waters of Shi Kefa at the beginning, and after going to Dengzhou with Ma Shiying to investigate, he was even more sure that Zhu Cihong was the master of Zhongxing, so he found an opportunity to sneak back to Huai'an.

Later, Zhu Cihong escorted Chongzhen to the south, and when he passed by Huai'an, he conveniently sealed him a "Conando Qu Zhou Bo, added the prince and young master, let him continue to guard Huai'an, and also allocated him 500,000 taels of silver, so that he could reorganize and recruit the army by himself.

At the same time, Zhu Cihong ordered Lu Zhenfei to transfer 250 sturdy and durable ships from the "grain transportation army" to renovate them, and each ship was equipped with 40 sailors, all of whom were sent to Yangzhou for use.

Therefore, Lu Zhenfei now personally led 250 boats and 10,000 sailors to Yangzhou City to hand over to Zhu Cihong.

When Lu Zhenfei's boat docked steadily at the Dongguan Wharf in Yangzhou, he found that the wharf was heavily guarded. A large number of East Palace guards were hugging Zhu Cihong, who was dressed in **** clothes, on the dock waiting for him to get off the boat.

"The old minister respectfully invites His Royal Highness the Crown Prince Jin An!" Where did Lu Zhenfei dare to slack off, he hurriedly got off the boat, ran to Zhu Cihong, and bowed his head.

"Hurry up, hurry up, please get up quickly." Zhu Cihong hurriedly stretched out his hand to help the old man up, and took his hand with a smile and said, "I didn't expect to be able to meet with the production table in Yangzhou so soon...... 250 boats, 10,000 sailors are ready? ”

"It's all ready," Lu Zhenfei pointed to the long queues of boats on the canal, and said to Zhu Cihong, "The 250 boats are all transformed according to the instructions of the Chitose Lord, and they are also equipped with the strongest sailors!" ”

"Good, good!" Zhu Cihong nodded again and again, "Lu Zhitai has done the palace a great favor again!" ”

"It's my duty for a minister to serve a thousand years old."

Zhu Cihong said: "If everyone wants to be like a Taiwan, why can't the country be prosperous?" Taiwan, your talent is more than one house, it is better to combine Yangzhou Mansion. From now on, you will be the Governor of Caoyun and the Governor of Huaiyang! ”

"The old minister must guard the Huaiyang Second Mansion for His Royal Highness."

Zhu Cihong nodded approvingly, and with another wave of his hand, he summoned Liu Zhao, who was originally serving as the bow of the ship under Shen Tingyang, and a strong man with a black face full of hemp.

"Minister Liu Chongru respectfully invites His Royal Highness the Crown Prince Jin An!"

"The minister Gu San Mazi kowtowed to the prince!"

"Chongru" is actually the name of Huogong Liu! This black "water thief" turned out to be from a family of sand boats, and he has been doing business in Beiyang for several generations and has long accumulated a lot of family business. So his father also wanted his son to become a dragon and wanted him to study and improve, so he named him "Chongru". But the name is useless, he doesn't like to read, and he doesn't worship Confucianism. On the contrary, he likes to fiddle with firearms and artillery, and likes to make a living at sea, and he has actually made a name for himself and has become a famous general in the Haisha Gang.

And Gu San Mazi is a big water coward! He is not a pirate, but a water thief who crisscrosses the rivers and seas. Entrenched on the islands around the mouth of the Yangtze River, making a fortune by plundering passing ships - the current terrain of the Yangtze River estuary is not quite the same as that of later generations, the river surface is wider, and the area of Qidong and Haimen in later generations is still underwater. There is no later "big Chongming", but a "small Chongming" plus a bunch of scattered islands and sandbanks, which are very suitable for water thieves to entrench.

Such a big water thief and the Haisha Gang were originally opposed, but Shen Tingyang suggested that Zhu Cihong pay a lot of money to recruit An.

Because this big water thief has real ability, at least he has the ability to do it better than the naval army of Wang Zhiren, the general soldier of Susong, and Huang Binqing, the general soldier of Zhoushan-the basis of the army in this era is farmers and herdsmen, and the basis of the navy is maritime merchants, pirates and fishermen. And the serious Ming army generals are usually from the guards, either landlords or farmers, of course, they can't do the errands of the navy, so the navy that can fight at this time at the end of the Ming Dynasty is Zhao'an.

And the navy is also interlaced like a mountain, and it is the Haisha Gang that mixes with the Beiyang - the sand boats of the Haisha Gang are the most suitable for the Beiyang. Because there are rolling waves in the Beiyang (referring to the coastal waters of China north of the mouth of the Yangtze River), the sharp-bottomed boats are easily overturned by the waves, but the sand boats are not afraid of such waves. Therefore, north of the Yangtze River estuary is the world of sand boats!

The Zheng family's sea ships are all pointed, and it is very suitable to go to the South Sea and the East, but they can't go to the North Ocean. Therefore, although the Zheng family's strength is much greater than that of the Haisha Gang, it does not involve Beiyang trade.

As for Gu San Mazi, he is active between the river and the sea, and his main range of activities is from the mouth of the Yangtze River to Jiangyin, so it may be more appropriate to say that he is a river thief.

Therefore, if Zhu Cihong wants to establish the Yangtze River Water Division, he must recruit this river thief Gu San Mazi!

"Get up, get up," Zhu Cihong smiled and beckoned to Liu Chongru and Gu San Mazi, "The 250 boats and 10,000 sailors brought by the Lu Zhijun will be handed over to the two of you." All sailors were incorporated into the new army and were paid the same as other officers and men of the navy. ”

The treatment of the new army and the navy is different from that of the army. Among them, the Beiyang Navy was contracted to the Haisha Gang, without military salaries or equipment, and directly gave the trade concession to Shen Tingyang to operate.

The Yangtze River sailor is to be paid, the salary is good, and the lowest level of "guards" can also get a monthly salary of four taels of silver! However, the officers and men of the naval division will not allocate land - the naval division will not recruit peasants, let alone use "squad troops", and there is no way to operate the land once it is divided.

Zhu Cihong said: "These boats may not be suitable for combat, but they can transport grain and troops. With them, the new army of the main palace will be able to travel like the wind along the Yangtze River. As for the warships, it is better to use gunboats, and the multi-oared centipede ships (modeled after the Portuguese galleys) are very good...... The palace has already sent John Tang and Li Zubai to Haoao to buy Hongyi cannons, and dozens of cannons should be shipped by next spring, and 10 will be given to you at that time.

In addition, I will give you five days to sort out the water division, and the Yangtze River water division will be dispatched in five days! ”