"Overlooking the Jingkou, connecting Jiankang, Jicanghai, and the big river, millions of boats per year, floating in the river, people involved in the trade of Baizhou, going back and forth, will anchor then, which is the benefit of the north and south."

The above sentence is Guazhou, the so-called Jingkou is Zhenjiang separated from Guazhou by a river, and Nanjing, a healthy person.

The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal meets the Yangtze River at Guazhou and is also the port for crossing the river to Nanjing. When the fleet arrives at Guazhou, it is no longer possible to take the waterway, because the waterway from Guazhou to Nanjing is turbulent and upstream, and the speed of reaching Nanjing by boat is extremely slow, and many sections of the river must be pulled by a slender man to move forward.

In the days when there was no steam engine as a power, sail oars were used as the power of the ship, and it took more time to go upriver than by land.

Therefore, the army would cross the Yangtze River from Guazhou to Zhenjiang, and then go to Nanjing by land on the south bank, which was the fastest way to reach Nanjing.

As the center of the Yangtze River and the canal, the geographical location of Guazhou is very important, so there is a city built in, the circumference of Guazhou City is 1,543 zhang 9 feet, and the height is 2 zhang and 1 foot. In the city, there are also yamen such as the Tongzhi Office, the Ministry of Industry Department, and the Guanhe Tong Judgment Office.

When the army reached the Guazhou ferry, it did not enter the city, but crossed the river directly.

Of course, before crossing the river, you have to check the movement on the other side, after all, now that King Fu is in Nanjing, do you know if he will send an army to prevent the army from crossing the river?

Standing at the Guazhou ferry, I raised my eyes and looked at the other side, and saw that the river was three or four miles wide, and the rolling river was mighty and mighty from the west, rushing to the east. Whether it is the vastness of the river or the turbulence of the water, it is not comparable to the canal.

In this era, this large river with a width of several miles is like a moat, dividing the country into two halves, and the situation in the south and north of the river is very different. In the past years, it was this great river that made the northern army sigh and stop here countless times. There was the defeat of Cao Cao's Chibi in the front, and the Southern Song Dynasty relied on the river to retain half of the country.

Of course, no matter how wide the moat and how thick the wall is, it can only block the external enemy, but it can never stop the internal enemy. When traitors such as Zhang Hongfan were the pioneers of the Mongols, and when traitors such as Liu Liangzuo and Li Chengdong surrendered to the Manchurians, the Yangtze River could no longer stop the foreign army.

Of course, in this time and space, Liu Liangzuo has been killed, Li Chengdong and others have not yet surrendered to the Manchus, Chen Yue is determined not to let history repeat itself, he wants to prevent the Han people from sinking in this time and space.

Looking at the rolling river, Chen Yue sighed with emotion, watching the boats swaying like duckweed in the river by the impact of the river, Chen Yue knew how difficult it was to cross the river in this era.

Not to mention, if Huang Degong's troops did not surrender, but chose to continue to support King Fu and the Pingnan Army to do the opposite, his army would be enough to contain himself from crossing the river. If you take advantage of the time when you cross the river and attack halfway, I am afraid that the only way to defeat is what awaits you.

And if there is an enemy army on the other side of the river, my own fleet may not be able to get to the other side safely.

A clipper appeared in the middle of the river and rowed quickly towards the north bank.

"Master Hou, everything is normal, no enemy ships and troops have been found." Liu Neng jumped off the boat and reported to Chen Yue.

"What about Zhenjiang City on the other side, what is the movement?" Chen Yue asked.

There are defenders in Zhenjiang City, who knows if they have taken refuge in King Fu, if they suddenly attack out of the city while the fleet is docking, it will be very troublesome.

"There was no movement, the gates of the city were wide open, the people came and went, everything was normal, and no trace of the army's activities was found."

"Okay, order Lu Tai to lead fifty big ships as the vanguard, cross the river first, and go ashore immediately after crossing the river, establish a defensive line, and guard against all possible attacks at any time."

Chen Yue immediately ordered, although he knew that the defenders of Zhenjiang would not dare to intercept their own fleet, but the marching battle was not child's play, and everything had to be deployed as if there was an enemy attack.

With Chen Yue's order, fifty large ships soon set sail and headed across the river. However, because the wind was blowing southerly, although the sail was deflected as far as possible to meet the wind, the area of the wind was very small, and the speed of the boat was still not fast, and all the soldiers on the boat had to row their oars together.

The Cao ship was originally designed to transport grain, and it could be loaded with a lot of goods, but it was not a combat warship, and it could not be compared with the warship in terms of flexibility and speed, which was also the reason why Chen Yue was cautious.

It would be nice if the one hundred and ten Haiphong Battalion ships in Miaowan were there, Chen Yue suddenly thought. Chongzhen's fleet arrived in Huai'an from the sea, but the ships could not enter the severely silted up abandoned Yellow River and had to stop at Miaowan. If there were 100 sea ships there, Chen Yue was sure to deal with any enemy ships that might appear.

Worriedly looking at the vanguard fleet that crossed the river, fortunately, the enemy attack never appeared, and the fifty boats arrived at the opposite bank safely, and through the clairvoyant mirror, they vaguely saw that their soldiers had disembarked and set up defenses.

Fifty boats brought more than 2,000 soldiers, and with this army present, it was enough to resist any possible attack, and Chen Yue's heart suddenly relaxed. So he ordered that the crossing of the river continue, and the next person to cross the river was Emperor Chongzhen and a minister.

The remaining hundred or so ships crossed the river directly, and then they would come back once and carry the rest of the men and horses, and since there were more than a thousand horses in the army, it would take at least a day to cross the river in general.

It seems that the defenders of Zhenjiang are not controlled by King Fu, looking at the ships that are heading south one after another, Chen Yue is relieved.

......

Zhenjiang Mansion, the military preparation yamen, and the military preparation Daocheng Xun are entertaining the envoys of the Hongguang court in Nanjing.

"Lord Cheng, Lord Shoufu promised that he would let you serve as the governor of Su Song afterwards, and it would be no problem to become the governor or even enter the cabinet in the future, are you willing to obey the order?"

Looking at Cheng Xun, who was silent, the envoy surnamed Lin was full of anxiety. Chongzhen's fleet is about to cross the river, and it will be too late if it is not intercepted, and now the only thing that can be counted on is the army under the command of Zhenjiang Soldier Beidao Cheng.

When the news of the failure of Gao Jie and Liu Liangzuo's combined forces to attack Chongzhen's fleet reached Nanjing, Ma Shiying was so shocked that he had no time to mobilize his troops, so he could only send envoys to Zhenjiang to try to persuade the Zhenjiang defenders to side with King Fu and prevent Chongzhen from crossing the river.

"Hehe, hehe, hahaha......" Looking at the envoy's angry appearance, Cheng Xun laughed.

"Master Cheng, what are you laughing at?" The messenger was about to cry.

"Haha, Lord Prefect, you heard it." Cheng Xun didn't pay any attention to the messenger, turned to the screen and said.

In the midst of the envoy's stunned eyes, an official in a cyan official uniform slowly walked out from behind the screen, it was Lu Mingrong, the prefect of Zhenjiang.

"Your Excellency, do you think I should follow the orders of the envoy of the blessed king and send troops to attack the emperor's fleet? They have promised me the official position of governor of Su Song, tsk, governor, this is a real feudal official! Cheng Xun asked Lu Mingrong with a smile.

"Hmph, are you Cheng Xun a person who covets high-ranking officials? Rebel ministers and thieves, don't worry about what he does, don't deal with him quickly, let's go out of the city to meet Your Majesty. Lu Mingrong snorted, ignored the so-called messenger at all, and said to Cheng Xun impatiently.

"Haha, just listen to the prefect." Cheng Xun waved his hand, and two soldiers rushed in and dragged the pale messenger out like a chicken.