The person who came to report the news reported: "The Tartars are storming the Qi family, and after they take the Qi family, they will go to deal with the Yu family." ”

Zhang Huangyan asked, "Can the Qi family still hold on?" ”

"It's not a problem to last a few months." The messenger replied.

Zhang Huangyan was full of sorrow, turned his head to Zhang Yukun and said: "The Qi family and the Yu family have helped us a lot in the Zhejiang army and the Fujian army, the two of them are in trouble, we must save them, we can't let the anti-Qing soldiers in Jiangnan chill their hearts." ”

"Not bad! There are also our brothers from the Heaven and Earth Society and the brothers of the Qiongzhou Army over there, if nothing else, let's just say that our brothers, we can't ignore them! Zhang Yukun frowned slightly and nodded.

"General Zhang, we should immediately send troops to Shanyin and Huiji!" Luo Zimu Road.

Zhang Huangyan also nodded and said, "Yes!" Send troops to Ning Shao immediately! ”

"No!" Zhang Yukun stopped Zhang Huangyan, "We can't directly send troops to rescue, our strength is at sea, and after we go ashore, we don't have much hope of winning against a large number of Tartars!" We should send a fleet to enter from Hangzhou Bay, directly under the city of Hangzhou, shell the city of Hangzhou, and then send a small team to feint the city of Hangzhou. In this way, the Hangzhou Green Battalion will inevitably return to the division to rescue Hangzhou, and we will ambush on the way and annihilate the Hangzhou Green Battalion in one fell swoop! ”

"This is a plan to save Zhao from Wei Wei! I just don't know if the Tartars will be fooled? Zhang Huangyan felt that this kind of strategy was too simple, and it had already been used hundreds of times.

"If the Tartars are not fooled, let them be fooled! We bluffed, and with the response of the local Heaven and Earth Association, we sent small boats into the small rivers in the Jiangnan River network to pick up some ordinary people. Since the Tartars came to Jiangnan, they have exploited the people of Jiangnan, and the people of Jiangnan have never survived in disaster years before, but now they are starving to death! Coupled with the three major cases in Jiangnan, the people of Jiangnan already hate Tartar. We take the people. Go to Chongming Island to build fortress fortifications, the Tartars will definitely react, and they will transfer troops to the area of Gusu and Changzhou, and we will use the sailors to march to Hangzhou! Zhang Yukun proposed.

Originally, during the Ming Dynasty, even ordinary people in Jiangnan had a very good life, even if they were tenants who did not have arable land, after paying rent, they could still let the family live a well-off life, even if there were occasional droughts and floods, the peasants had surplus grain to survive the disaster period. and not starve to death. The reason is that the fields in the south of the Yangtze River are three crops, and there are rich water town resources, and the Donglin Party exempted Jiangnan from a lot of taxes, so there was no disaster in Jiangnan during the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, Jiangnan lived a good life, and it was the people in the north who suffered, and the most direct result was that Li Zicheng entered Beijing, and Emperor Chongzhen found the crooked neck tree on the coal mountain.

After the Qing army entered Jiangnan, they first killed a group of rebels with butcher knives. seized their wealth, and then imposed heavy taxes on Jiangnan, brutally oppressing the rich Jiangnan. No matter how rich Jiangnan is, it can't withstand the oppression of a Qing court that is in dire need of silver to fight. As a result, the people were struggling to make ends meet, and in disaster years, the peasants starved to death, and the small landlords went bankrupt one after another.

Later, it was the Qing court that unified the country. After the fighting subsided, Jiangnan's economy slowly recovered. Because of Jiangnan's wealth, Jiangnan recovered in the middle of the Kangxi period.

Zhang Huangyan adopted Zhang Yukun's strategy. The officers and men of the Nanyang Marine Corps were dispatched to enter various places from the criss-crossing river network area in small boats under the leadership of the local Heaven and Earth Society.

The area of the Jiangnan River network was very conducive to the operation of small boats equipped with tiger squat guns and three-pounder cannons, and it was also very conducive to the landing of the Ming army equipped with firearms. Because the rivers in the south of the Yangtze River are small boats that can directly dock on the shore, the marines do not need to wade across the beach, and there is no problem of dampness in firearms.

Emperor Hu provided Zhang Huangyan with a list of wealthy Jiangnan scholars. When the Qing army went south, these wealthy scholars took the initiative to join the Qing court, and some of them had someone in their family who was an official in the Qing court, and they bullied the people; Some large families acted for the tiger and helped the Qing court to brutally exploit the people.

Zhang Huangyan pointed to the list and said: "These scholars have forgotten their ancestors and are willing to be lackeys of the Tartars, which is simply a loss of the face of their ancestors!" Beat all these big households! ”

Qian Qianyi, because he later helped Zhang Huangyan and Zheng Chenggong, was not included in this list, otherwise the first person to be eliminated after the Ming army came ashore was Qian Qianyi. Although Wu Weiye was a second minister, he was forced to go out of office, and he was not included in the list of Jiangnan scholars who must be eradicated by the Ming army.

Gong Dingyu, a second minister and a servant of the Qing court's criminal department, although his hometown is in Hefei, Anhui, but when he was in the south of the Yangtze River, he once bought a large piece of land and had a large manor near Zhenjiang.

At this time, Gong Dingyu and his wife Gu Hengbo were in Beijing, and only his relatives were in the Jiangnan Manor, as well as the housekeeper who collected rent for him and some domestic servants and the like.

The Ming fleet made a posture of going against the current to attack the city of Nanjing, and sailed in the direction of Jiangning.

In Jiangning City, the beacon smoke signal from Jiangkou has already come, and a messenger of the Qing army has come to report quickly, saying that there are a large number of pirates in Jiangkou, huge ships like mountains, masts like forests, thousands of warships of all sizes, and tens of thousands of large and small cannons! Wusong and the Jiangbei Naval Division were all annihilated, and Haikou was heading upstream, heading in the direction of Jiangning.

Zhang Chaoxuan, the governor of Liangjiang, Liang Huafeng, the governor of Jiangnan, and Zhu Guozhi, the governor of Jiangsu, were discussing the matter in the Liangjiang Governor's Palace.

Liang Huafeng, who once defeated Zheng Chenggong's "great hero", deceived Zheng Chenggong with a delaying tactic when he was on Chongming Island three years ago, and later suffered a defeat for Zheng Chenggong.

"Liang Dashuai, the last time the thief came, you made a miraculous achievement. This time Haikou re-entered Jiangnan, how do you think you should deal with it? Zhang Chaoxuan asked Liang Huafeng.

Zhu Guozhi said: "What's so difficult about this? Last time, Liang Dashuai broke the thief with a delaying tactic, and this time he can use it again! ”

Liang Huafeng has never liked Zhu Guozhi very much, and after listening to Zhu Guozhi's words, he sneered: "Lord Zhu, are you a fool when you are a thief?" Can you use the same strategy twice? ”

"Then according to Liang Dashuai's plan, how should we act?" Zhang Chaoxuan asked.

Liang Huafeng said: "The thieves are menacing and have captured Chongming Island. Judging from the fact that they shelled our naval division as soon as they came up and directly seized Chongming Island, they have already learned the lesson of being deceived by our deception last time, and they fought when they came up, defeated our naval division, knocked out our fort, and occupied Chongming Island. The next step may be to attack Zhenjiang. The advantage of the thieves is on the water, and our advantage is on the land, as long as we hold on to a few cities! If the thieves can't attack for a long time, they will inevitably be demoralized, and when the time comes, our reinforcements will be able to easily break the enemy! ”

"What if the thieves attack Jiangning directly?" Zhang Chaoxuan asked worriedly.

Liang Huafeng laughed: "Jiangning's original southern capital, the specifications of the city are the same as those of Beijing, how easy is it for thieves to break Jiangning Jiancheng?" If they come to fight Jiangning, we just need to hold on and wait for reinforcements to arrive! ”

"Not bad! It's just Lord Liang's! Zhang Chaoxuan nodded solemnly. We are now asking the northern court for help, and it is up to the court to send any helpers. ”

"Now you don't have to ask the court for help, you just need to send a war report. The general has already asked for help from the governor of Caoyun, the governors and commanders of Jiangxi, Anhui, Zhejiang, and Hubei, as long as the reinforcements arrive, the thieves will inevitably be defeated again! We hold the city, and if we have the opportunity at night, we can attack their sailors' camp. Burn their ships! The sailors of the two lakes upstream will also go downstream, and we will concentrate all the sailors of the two lakes, Jiangxi and Anhui to break the enemy with fireboats! As long as we break the thief, we will make a great contribution to the court! Liang Huafeng arched to the north.

Qing court spies monitored the movements of the Ming fleet along the river. As soon as there is a situation, I will report to Jiangning quickly.

However, after the Ming fleet arrived at Zhenjiang, it no longer went upstream, but cruised back and forth in the middle of the Yangtze River, and bombarded the shore with naval guns. Destroy the Qing barracks by the river.

The agents of the Heaven and Earth Society on the shore also began to take action, eradicating the Qing army spies.

The Ming fleet was centered on the Zhenjiang River and cruised on the river within ten miles upstream and ten miles downstream. Not a single fishing boat was allowed to pass through, and when they saw the activities of the Qing army on the shore, they immediately opened artillery bombardment, but the Ming army just did not send people to land.

Just when the Qing army was confused, the Ming fleet sent small boats, under the guidance of the local Heaven and Earth Society, into the rivers crisscrossing the south of the Yangtze River.

Gong Dingyu's manor in Jiangnan is on the edge of a river. The most fertile fields in Jiangnan are generally located near rivers, where water can be used to irrigate rice fields and harvest crops can be loaded onto ships and transported to the city.

At this time, it is the slack season, the early rice has not yet been harvested, and the farmers are relatively idle, generally playing mahjong, or going down to the river to catch fish and shrimp.

In the creek, several farmers are pulling up their nets to catch fish and shrimp. At this moment, someone suddenly shouted: "A ship is coming!" Lots of boats! Come to us! ”

Looking in the direction of the man's finger, I saw a fleet of boats flying the red Daming flag on the river, heading in the direction of the Gong family's manor. On the bow of each ship, there was a Ming army officer, and in the cabin sat a group of Ming soldiers wearing red battle jackets.

"It's Daming's fleet!" A farmer shouted.

"You don't want to die? That's the pirates! was heard by Zhu Guozhi's people, and he wanted to lose his head! Another older farmer corrected.

For the landing of the Ming army, the common people have joy in their hearts but dare not speak, and some children feel scared, some children see these did not shave their hair, the clothes they wore were completely different from the Qing soldiers they had seen on weekdays, and they felt curious, so they came out to see the excitement, and they were all pulled back by the adults at home.

The fleet reached the outside of the Gong family's manor and stopped on the bank of the river.

"Up!" Luo Zimu, who was in charge of attacking the Gong family, shouted.

The Ming soldiers jumped off the boat one after another and went straight to Gong's mansion.

"Oh no! The thieves are here! Close the door! Of course, the people of the Gong family knew what the Ming army was going to do, and the owner of their family turned out to be an official of the Ming Dynasty, but he took the initiative to defect to the enemy and became a high-ranking official of the Qing court.

The Gong Mansion closed its gates, and all the servants took up arms in an attempt to confront the Ming army.

The Ming army shot at the wall with bows and arrows, and the few people who climbed the wall with ladders and tried to shoot arrows at the Ming army were hit by arrows one after another, screaming and falling down from the wall. The rest of the family were so frightened that they no longer dared to climb the wall to face the battle. The Ming army carried a large wooden piece and smashed open the gate of Gong's mansion. With a shout, groups of Ming troops poured into the Gong Mansion compound.

Except for six servants who were killed, the rest of the servants all knelt on the ground and surrendered. The housekeeper was pulled out and was brought to Luo Zimu like a chicken.

"A good man spares his life! What a man spares his life! The butler fell to his knees and begged for mercy.

Luo Zimu looked around, and saw that the Gong family's servants, servants, long-term workers and maids were all kneeling on the ground.

"What about the people of the Gong family? Why are you servants who don't see their family? Luo Zimu asked.

"There were several relatives of the owner, and they ran through the back door." The housekeeper didn't dare to hide it, so he had to tell the truth.

"You take someone to chase it!" Luo Zimu turned his head to Yang Guanyu and said.

Yang Guanyu took more than 20 Ming soldiers and soldiers to climb over the back wall, and saw several people running wildly in the field paths in front of them, including an obese middle-aged woman, running out of breath with the support of two maids.

"Stop! Don't run! The Ming army chased after them.

As the saying goes, a person ascends to heaven with a chicken and a dog, and these relatives of the Gong family are all pampered, and they can't run after running a few steps, and they are chased by the Ming army, and they are all taken prisoner.

After destroying the Gong family, Luo Zimu copied out a large amount of more than 7,000 taels of gold, more than 100,000 taels of silver, and a large number of rare treasures. The grain in the granary is piled up, and there are all kinds of silk, ceramics, silk and other items, it can be said that this Gong family manor is very rich, the Ming army copied his home, and earned a military expense.

As for the slaves of the Gong family, they were all taken away and sent to Chongming Island to serve hard labor. The Gong family's maids will be sent away, and in the population of the Zhoushan Islands, there are more men than women, and these maids can be rewarded to some unmarried officers.

Even the two young ladies of Gong Dingyu's cousin's family were sent to Zhoushan, and these two young ladies will be assigned to two Zhejiang army officers who have made great contributions.

The tenants of the Gong family were all allocated to the fields. The Ming army distributed all the land deeds copied to the tenants. There were also some tenants who were afraid that the Qing army would come back to retaliate, so they didn't want land, so they moved overseas with their families.

At the same time as destroying the Jiangnan Manor of the Gong family, the Ming army attacked everywhere. A Ming army entered from the small river in the north of the Yangtze River and wiped out the manor of Liu Liangzuo, the second minister and the culprit of the massacre of the people of Nanchang, near Yangzhou. Liu Liangzuo was the governor of Zuodu in Zhili, and this manor was bought when he was the governor of Jiangnan, and now it is cheaper than the Ming army.

A group of relatives of the Liu family were arrested, all the men were beheaded, and the women were sent to Qiongzhou as slaves. The Ming army could not catch Liu Liangzuo, so they killed his family and avenged the people who died in Nanchang.

Because the Qing army did not dare to attack, the Ming army came and went freely in the river network area, and a large number of second-hand ministers and traitors' families suffered.

Looking at the gold and silver treasures shipped back by boat, Zhang Yukun laughed proudly: "This Jiangnan is indeed rich!" I copied a few big families at random, and I copied so many! (To be continued.) )