In Gaochun County, Jiangsu, there is a well-known mansion of the Xu family within hundreds of miles.

The Xu family is a family in the south of the Yangtze River, and it has been a scholarly family for generations. This family once produced a high-ranking official named Xu Yifan in the south of the Yangtze River, who once served as a servant of the Nanjing Ministry of Officials, and immediately took the initiative to defect to the Qing army after the Qing army came, and was appointed by Dolgon as the Langzhong of the Ministry of Rites, and later transferred to Shanxi. Datong Jiang Liang anti-Qing Dynasty, Xu Yifan and his son Xu Mingbi went to the suppression together, and later Xu Yifan was captured and killed by Jiang Huang's general Wang Fuchen, Xu Yifan was listed as a "Qing Dynasty loyalty", and his son Xu Mingbi was a six-year jinshi in Shunzhi, and he was also an official in the north. This Xu family also produced a jinshi named Xu Rufang, who was first awarded the magistrate of Yao County, Shanxi, and went to Fujian to study.

The Xu family is deeply rooted in the south of the Yangtze River and has a strong power, and Gaochun County, where the Xu family is located, is very close to Jiangning.

Gaochun County is too close to Jiangning (Nanjing), and Zhang Huangyan originally did not advocate fighting Gaochun.

"If our army attacks Gaochun, as soon as the Tartars of Jinling come out, we will fall into the siege of the Tartars." Zhang Huangyan felt that it was too risky to fight Gao Chun.

Zhang Yukun arched his hand and said: "Lord Zhang, this Xu family is extremely evil, willing to act as a Tartar lackey, and owes the people of Shanxi, Hebei and other places a lot of blood debts, we must defeat them, so as to give those ministers who voluntarily defect to the Tartars, and the scholars who are willing to be the lackeys of the Tartars, be psychologically shocked!" ”

"The Xu family can only resolve their hatred by breaking the corpse into ten thousand pieces, but how sure are we that we will win Gao Chun?" Zhang Huangyan asked.

Zhang Yukun pointed to the map and said: "Lord Zhang, there is a dense network of rivers around Gaochun, as well as two major lakes, Gucheng Lake and Shijiu Lake, and our army's gunboats can reach the edge of the county seat. And there are not many Tartar defenders in Gaochun, we can take it completely! ”

"Good! That's up to you! In this way, we are too close to Jinling, and if we can fight, we will fight, and if we can't take it, we will withdraw. Zhang Huangyan agreed to Zhang Yukun's proposal.

Gucheng Lake and Shijiu Lake are two large lakes in the south of Nanjing, which are connected to the Yangtze River by natural deep-water channels. The Ming army's small gunboats such as centipede clippers and Cangshan boats could reach the periphery of Gaochun County, and a large number of small boats could also enter along the criss-crossing river network and reach the outside of Gaochun City.

However, in order for the fleet to enter the Gaochun Lake area, it needs to pass through the river outside Jiangning City, go upstream, and reach Dangtu, and enter from a deep-water channel in Dangtu to reach Shijiu Lake.

The Ming fleet left Zhenjiang and sailed upstream, driven by the southeast wind, to reach the city of Jiangning.

"Boom, boom, boom" The sound of artillery on the river rumbled. The guns of the giant ships opened, and the muzzles of the guns spat out scarlet orange fireballs, launching a fierce artillery bombardment on the Qing army batteries in Nanjing. A sea of shells fell on the batteries of the Qing army in Nanjing, causing smoke and dust to roll and stones to splash from the forts.

After the direct-fire naval guns suppressed the Qing artillery by virtue of their long-range advantage, several artillery bombardment ships arrived near the river, fired flowering shells with mortar guns, and launched a fierce bombardment of the battery.

The shells fell to the ground, and there were clusters of fire. The power of the Blossom Bullet. shook the Qing army in Jiangning City.

At the head of Jiangning City, Zhang Chaoxuan, Liang Huafeng, Zhu Guozhi, Gao Qian and others stood on the city tower, looking at the dense Ming warships on the river from a distance. Gao Qian, the general of the Qing army, sighed and said: "This invasion of Haikou is even larger than three years ago!" There are a large number of Tessie giant ships among them! ”

Last time. Gao Qian was frightened by Zheng Chenggong, at that time Zheng Chenggong did not have Western-style soft-sail giant ships, nor did he have so many large ships, and the scale of the Ming army's naval division this time was shocking.

Liang Huafeng sneered: "General Gao is afraid of the enemy like a tiger. Last time Zhenjiang was defeated, you were guilty of meritorious service, so you were not punished by the imperial court! This time, he dared to bewitch the public and shake the morale of the army? ”

Gao Qian hurriedly knelt down and bowed: "The last general will be guilty!" I hope you will forgive your sins! ”

"Get up!" Liang Huafeng said coldly. "Although the thieves have huge ships like mountains, General Ben will not dare to attack Jiangning at will when he observes that their land division is insufficient! They are also bluffing! ”

Before the words fell, the Qing army at the head of the city saw countless small boats rowed out of the Ming fleet, and approached the north of the river.

"There are not many thieves, this is a bluff, we should attack immediately and defeat the thieves in one fell swoop!" Zhang Chaoxuan saw that there were not many Ming troops landing, so he said to Liang Huafeng.

Liang Huafeng sneered and said, "This is a thief's plan to lure the enemy!" We should stick to it, ignore any provocation from the thief, and don't be fooled! Why did they give up attacking Zhenjiang and reach Jiangning? It's that they know that their land division is not strong enough to attack the city! They want to lure us to Jiangbei and destroy us with superior artillery fire! Hum! I'm not fooled! See what the thief can do to me! ”

The Ming army swaggered to the next arrow of Jiangning City and shouted insults at the city.

"Liang Huafeng! Aren't you a generation of famous players? How did you become a turtle with a shrunken head? Let's go out to the showdown! ”

"Zhu Guozhi! You vermilion! Create an unjust case to kill Jiangnan Shizi! If you don't love each other, you can honestly tie yourself up and surrender! ”

"Zhang Chaoxuan! Come out and fight to the death! Your grandpa is waiting for you here! ”

On the battleship of the Ming army, Zhang Huangyan asked very worriedly: "General Zhang, if we scold like this, the Tartars will not really come out to meet the battle, right?" If they get out of town, we won't be able to deal with it. ”

Zhang Yukun smiled and said, "Please rest assured, Lord Zhang!" This Liang Huafeng acted very cautiously and prudently, and absolutely refused to take risks. Last time King Yanping went to Chongming Island, didn't he surrender by fraud? Why didn't he fight to the end at that time? It's that he doesn't want to take risks. This person will definitely hold out this time and wait for reinforcements to arrive! ”

Seeing that there was no movement from the Qing army at the head of the city, Zhang Yukun asked the Ming army to "add some material" and began to scold the Manchu emperor.

first scolded "Kang Mazi" or the like, and then scolded Dolgon for killing Huang Taiji to marry his sister-in-law, and then scolded Shunzhi for killing his younger brother in order to snatch away his brother-in-law.

At the head of the city, Liang Huafeng strictly ordered the Qing army not to go out of the city to face the battle, and those who went out of the city without permission were killed!

Seeing that the Qing army did not dare to go out of the city, the Ming army bluffed under the city, pretending to attack the city, and sent auxiliaries to cut wood in the mountains and forests, build siege tools, and build forts. In order to confuse the Qing army, and just in case the Qing army protruded outside the city, the Ming army could retreat in time, Zhang Yukun only moved a few cannons and put them on the shore to set up, and the rest of the artillery positions were put on fake cannons made of wood. These wooden cannons are painted with black paint. The Qing army at the head of the city looked at it from a distance and thought it was a real cannon.

In order to make a fake show, the Ming army also launched an artillery bombardment of the city.

In fact, this was a plan to hide from the sky and cross the sea, in order to confuse the Qing army in Jiangning, so that the Ming army could surprise the county seat of Gaochun.

Outside the Qing army barracks in various places in Jiangnan, there are agents of the Heaven and Earth Society who are watching. found that there were Qing army spies wearing people's clothes in and out of the barracks, and they were targeted by the people of the Heaven and Earth Society. When the Qing army spies came out of the barracks again, ready to spy on intelligence, they were hunted and killed by agents of the Heaven and Earth Society.

After getting dark, Zhang Huangyan called Chen Wenda, a general: "I'll give you 3,000 men." One hundred small boats and eighteen fast boats, you lead your army to continue westward, entering from Dangtu! ”

"No!" Chen Wenda stepped back.

After receiving the order, Chen Wenda immediately led 3,000 men and horses, divided into more than 100 small boats, escorted by ten centipede clippers and eight Cangshan boats, and hurried overnight to arrive at the Dangtu River before dawn.

After the Ming army arrived at the Dangtu River, they were guided by the agents of the local Heaven and Earth Society. Follow a river into Lake Shijiu.

Because the Qing troops in all parts of the south of the Yangtze River did not dare to go out of the city to meet the battle, but only hid in the city. The dense spies were eliminated by the agents of the Heaven and Earth Society, and the Qing army was like a blind man, not knowing anything about the movements of the Ming army. Wait until after dawn. When a fleet appeared outside Gaochun County, the Qing army in the city was in chaos.

Because Gaochun County is near Nanjing, the main force of the green battalion Qing army in the county has long been transferred to Nanjing City to assist in defending the city, and there are only more than 100 green battalion soldiers in Gaochun County at this time. There were more than 100 officials, and the magistrate didn't even have time to organize the people, and the Ming army had already begun to bombard the city. And began the siege.

The artillery fire of the Ming army suppressed the Qing defenders at the head of the city, and the soldiers who got off the boat quickly set up a simple trench bridge, carried a simple ladder, and quickly climbed to the top of the city.

The number of Qing troops in the city was too small to defend at all. The Ming army that climbed to the head of the city cut melons and vegetables, and cut down the stubborn Qing soldiers one by one at the head of the city. The hand-to-hand combat at the head of the city soon ended, and among the more than 100 Qing soldiers of the green battalion and more than 100 officials, a few were killed, most of them surrendered, and Gao Chunzhi County set fire to the warehouse and hanged himself.

Chen Wenda saw the burning warehouse, but he didn't care at all, what he wanted to attack was the Xu family's compound, and he really didn't care about taking something from the warehouse in Gaochun County.

When the Ming army attacked the Xu family's compound, they were met with stubborn resistance from the Xu family, and the Xu family's family members climbed the wall with ladders and fired arrows at the attacking Ming army.

"Boom" The four tiger squatting cannons spewed out Huo Guang white smoke, and the gate of the Xu family was beaten to pieces in a blink of an eye.

The archers and birds of the Ming army shot at the stubborn family members at the head of the wall, beating the Xu family members one by one and falling under the wall with a miserable scream.

"Kill!" The Ming army shouted and rushed into the Xu family's compound.

Gaochun Xu's family, this family of seconders was broken, Chen Wenda did not hesitate to kill all the men of the Xu family, the family and servants were captured, and were sent to Chongming Island as coolies, the female dependents were sent to slaves, and the maids were distributed to officers. All the property accumulated by the Xu family for generations fell into the hands of Zhang Huangyan.

Then Chen Wenda issued a notice to the people, declaring that the Ming army would not kill innocents indiscriminately, so that the majority of Jiangnan scholars could rest assured that the Ming army was dealing with those large Jiangnan families who took the initiative to take refuge in the Tartars.

When the Qing army from the green camp in other counties came to reinforce, the Ming army had already boarded the ship and left Gaochun, and when returning to the Yangtze River, they passed through Dangtu County. With the cooperation of the gunboats on the river, the marines led the sheep to conquer the county town of Dangtu, plundered a number of large households in the city, and then retreated to the Yangtze River unscathed.

Under the command of Zhang Yukun, the Ming army took advantage of the good mobility of the naval division to avoid Suzhou, Zhenjiang and other large cities where the Qing army was heavily garrisoned, and specifically attacked small county towns and towns.

Everywhere they went, the Qing army's sailors were crushed at the touch of a button, and the entire army was annihilated, and all the large and small ships were sent to the bottom of the river to feed the fish, except for those who surrendered and were captured. The Qing army in those small counties and towns was only a rabble, and they were no match at all. The Ming army bombarded with artillery, and then sent troops to attack the city, often taking a small city in one go.

The Ming army attacked in many ways, and many Jiangnan Shi estates or mansions that had taken refuge in the Manchu Qing Dynasty were attacked, and Taixing and Tongzhou (Nantong) counties were conquered by the Ming army. The Ming army attacked Nansha Town again, and the local Zhang family, a large family, came to defect.

When the Ming army attacked Changshu, Qian Qianyi persuaded the local Green Camp defenders to surrender in Kaecheng.

The Green Camp Qing Army Qianzong killed the local county commander and opened the city gate to surrender.

"Congratulations to the king to recover Jiangnan!" Qian Qianyi burst into tears and knelt on the ground with a group of Jiangnan scholars to greet the Ming army.

After three years, Zhang Huangyan once again met Qian Qianyi and Liu Ru as husband and wife. Although Liu Rushi is a woman, her help to Zhang Huangyan and Zheng Chenggong is immeasurable, and it is precisely because of Liu Ruis that Qian Qianyi will help Zhang Huangyan and Zheng Chenggong in secret many times.

However, Zhang Huangyan's subsequent words made Qian Qianyi and them a little disappointed, and Zhang Huangyan told them that the Ming army would not attack Jiangning and Zhenjiang and other big cities for the time being, but only opened up the Yangtze River route. After Zheng successfully solved the big belly kingdom, the main force of the Zheng family army would free up their hands before they would consider attacking the big cities of Suzhou, Zhenjiang and Jiangning.

"Wang Shi is newly victorious, and morale is booming, why don't you go all out and seize Jiangning? As long as Jiangning is taken, the Tartars will lose the center of Jiangnan, and there will inevitably be chaos. Qian Qianyi asked.

"There are not enough troops on hand outside, only a naval division, and a lack of land divisions, so they can only rely on the convenience of the water to attack back. If the Tartars go out of the city to fight, we are naturally not afraid, but if we want to attack the city, I am afraid that the gains will outweigh the losses. Zhang Huangyan replied.

Zhang Yukun also added: "We will inevitably suffer heavy losses in attacking Jiancheng, and we will lose mobility, so the Tartars will have time to calmly deploy troops to encircle and suppress our army." What we need to do is to annihilate the living forces of the Tartars, not to consume them needlessly. We can understand that we will be able to recover Jiangnan soon! ”

Zhang Huangyan's next plan is to temporarily withdraw to Chongming Island, and when the army is withdrawn, he will take the sheep to conquer Taicang. After that, the land division was left on Chongming Island, and a part of the naval division was left to attack and harass the Qing army in the Yangtze River, and part of it withdrew from the Yangtze River and entered from Hangzhou Bay, pretending to attack Hangzhou City in order to relieve the siege of Shanyin Qijia. When the Qing army besieging the Hangzhou Green Camp retreated to save the siege of Hangzhou, the Ming army set up an ambush on the way and annihilated the Hangzhou Green Camp.

At this time, the Hangzhou Green Camp was besieging the Shanyin Qi family.

With the help of the Heaven and Earth Society and the Qiongzhou Army, the Qi family repelled the attacks of the Qing army again and again. Under the castle, the corpses of the Qing army were piled up. In the past ten days, thousands of Qing soldiers have died under the castle.

The Qing army brought in artillery, but it was bombarded by the cannons on the castle, and before the artillery of the Qing army was erected, the cannonballs from the castle smashed the Qing gunners and their cannons. The Qing army wanted to dig the tunnel, but the groundwater level in the San'in area was extremely high, and the tunnel was flooded before it could be dug a few feet. The siege weapons such as ladder trucks built by the Qing army were destroyed by the cannons in the castle, and even the edge of the castle was not touched. (To be continued.) )