Zheng Chenggong sent two messengers to the imperial court, and one went north to Zhoushan by boat to report the victory to Zhang Huangyan, the secretary of the military department; Another messenger sailed to Annam, through which he entered Burma and reported his victory to the Yongli Emperor.

The good news of the Ming army's victory has been sent, but the Qing army's defeat has not even begun to write.

The Qing army fled back to Quanzhou, Dasu and Li Shutai, the two banner men, began to write a fold, ready to report to the imperial court, lying that they had obtained tens of thousands of enemies and destroyed thousands of enemy ships, but defeat was defeat, more than 1,000 large and small warships were basically lost, the green battalion lost 40,000 or 50,000, the eight banners lost 4,000 people, and the banner people lost so much, it was impossible to do how to fake and how to cover up, so they could only report to the imperial court, saying that the first battle against Xiamen had suffered heavy losses, and Xiamen had not yet been taken.

Da Su didn't know how to write the recital, so he first asked Li Shutai to start the draft, let himself read it after writing, and then discuss the revision.

This time, Li Shutai had a headache.

The number of losses in the Eight Banners cannot be concealed, the banner people are just like that, 4,000 banner people, almost every family in Beijing is involved in the relatives of the banner people, as long as the people do not come back, they will know that they are lost in Xiamen if they ask. Li Shutai had no choice but to truthfully write down the number of losses of the Eight Banners, but he concealed the number of losses of the Green Battalion in the recital, and lied about the loss of more than 10,000 people and more than 500 warships in the Green Battalion. It is also written that more than 1,000 warships of the size of the pirates were sunk and destroyed, and 30,000 were beheaded.

Li Shutai also knew very well that although the defeat was not written on the fold, Emperor Shunzhi was not blind, he lost 4,000 bannermen, the sailors were lost, and Xiamen Island had not yet been taken. But it can only be written like this, he is a Han Eight Banners, and his treatment is lower than that of the Eight Banners. If it is played truthfully, Shunzhi will be angry, and the first to behead are Han people such as Huang Wu and Shi Lang, but if the responsibility is too great, he will not be able to escape from the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty, but a Manchurian like Dasu, no matter how much he blames him, he will not cut off his head.

As soon as Da Su saw the recital written by Li Shutai, he immediately shouted: "This, it's too outrageous, right?" The loss of 4,000 Eight Banners, the green battalion only lost more than 10,000 people? Who would believe such words? ”

Li Shutai said: "My lord, let's say that the Eight Banners fought bravely and rushed to attack the thieves, and the banner people were not good at boating, and the huge waves broke out on the sea, causing the flag people to be unable to adapt, and they suffered heavy losses. Those hateful Han green battalions, seeing the defeat of our bannermen, were all frightened and ran for their lives, so our army failed to take Xiamen Island. ”

"As you wrote, we have only lost more than 500 boats, and if someone from above is sent down to investigate, how can we hide this? All ships are gone! Da Su asked with a sad face.

Li Shutai said with a smiling face: "My lord, General Shi and General Huang have already thought of countermeasures, and they proposed to strengthen the sea ban in order to destroy our own ships. In this way, the people above come down to investigate, and we can explain the past. ”

"What did they say?" Dasu hurriedly asked.

Li Shutai said: "My lord, General Huang said that if we want to cover up the annihilation of the naval division, we have to expand the sea ban and self-destruct the naval division." From Shandong to Liangguang, all coastal residents moved 50 miles inward, and fishing and trade were forbidden; The remaining sailors of our army all abandoned the ships and went ashore and burned all the ships; For those merchants who made a fortune from sea trade, all their property was confiscated. As long as we can, on the one hand, cover up the defeat of the Sailor Division, and cut off Zheng Wei's economic and food sources from the root. Haikou relied on the sea trade to make money, and used silver to buy grain, iron tools, and raw materials from us. As long as we cut off their food sources, those pirates will sit on the islands and eat nothing. When they are almost out of food, we will issue a heavy reward for peace, and we are afraid that Haikou will not take the initiative to surrender? ”

"Then Huang Wu's method is really good, let's play it like this!" Dasu finally stretched his brow and smiled.

Li Shutai said again: "We will repay Shi Lang, although this slave was defeated, he found out in time that something was wrong, and let the Eight Banners retreat first as much as possible, and also recruited more than 200 thieves to return to Tong'an." With such great accomplishment, we can't afford to treat those minions badly. ”

Da Su sighed and said: "Our three-way army, Shi Lang's eight banners have the smallest losses. ”

"Shi Lang's eight flags all the way to the smallest loss?" Li Shutai sneered, "It's Wu Liuqi's Eight Banners that have the smallest losses, right?" ”

"Wu Liuqi? That dog slave who is greedy for life and afraid of death! When I saw that the situation was not good, I ran! Tasu said hatefully.

After the discussion between the two, Li Shutai and Dasu played together, and handed over to Dasu to personally enter Beijing to face the saint and state the battle report. At the same time, there is Shi Lang who entered Beijing to face the saint. And Li Shutai and Huang Wu stayed in Fujian, beware of when Zheng Chenggong would come ashore and sneak attack.

After Da Su and Shi Lang entered Beijing, Shunzhi did not approve the sea ban at first, but ordered to send Bei Zi Aixin Jueluo Luo to Fujian with Da Su, asking them to join forces to annihilate the Haikou. Because Shunzhi didn't know that the sailor had lost all of it, he thought that since the green camp sailor was only a small defeat, the main force still existed, and he could launch another attack. Luo Zhi and Da Su were frightened, so they simply waited until Shunzhi's anger was gone, and lied about a great victory that killed Zheng Chenggong. Who knew that Dajie had just entered Beijing, but he got the news that Zheng Chenggong had recovered Taiwan. Shunzhi was furious, so he enforced a ban on the sea and a more severe order to move to the sea, ordering the coastal residents to move 30 to 50 miles inward, and prohibiting anyone from going out to sea to fish and trade.

But now Dasudu has not set off yet, and when he sets off, Shunzhi will get the news of the defeat, at least two or three months later. Bei Ziluo came to Fujian, half a year later. When they brew a big victory and kill Zheng Chenggong, it will be next year.

Gaoqi battalion, hunting in the wind with a banner, a team of men and horses drove out of the sailor camp, led by two soldiers holding a large banner, which read: Recruitment.

This is Wang Xinyu's recruitment team, and he has to go to various villages and market towns on Xiamen Island to recruit troops.

Gaoqi Village, a young disciple who can be recruited and is of the right age for a soldier, has long been swept away by Wang Xinyu. When the villagers of the same village saw that there was a general from their village, they were very relieved to hand over their children to this general from the same village.

There are not many people who are eligible, and Wang Xinyu picked out more than 30 people from Gaoqi Village, which is already the limit of this small village.

In order to recruit more soldiers, Wang Xinyu not only posted recruitment notices everywhere in nearby villages, but also took the initiative to send recruitment teams to various villages and towns to recruit troops.

The recruiting team first arrived in Caitang Village, and Luo Xiang, who served as the captain of the pro-soldiers, came to the stage, opened his voice and shouted: "Fellow villagers, the second town of the Daming Water Division is recruiting soldiers here, and every disciple who is in the army, we will give the family three taels of silver, and we still have two taels of silver every month!" Our Lord Wang is definitely full of military salary, and there is no money to eat on weekdays, which can ensure that you can let go of your belly and eat a full meal! Your military salary is more than enough to support your family, and you can save money to marry a daughter-in-law! The number of recruits is limited, so you have to sign up for the army! ”

The conditions for recruiting were very attractive, and the teenagers in the village were eager to try it.

Soon, there was a long queue in front of the recruiting office.

But most of the people who signed up were screened out and failed to become soldiers in the second town of the water division.

"Uncle this year, how old are you?" Li Rui, who was in charge of registration, asked an old man who had just lined up to him to sign up.

The old man said: "Master Jun, I am less than forty this year, and I still have a lot of strength!" Those young people, five or six beat me up, and they couldn't beat me! ”

Li Rui carefully looked at the gray-haired old man who looked to be in his fifties, and shook his head: "Uncle, you are too old!" We don't take it! ”

But the old man stopped: "Who said I was too old!" I'm in my thirties! Why don't you take it! ”

Li Rui and the old man argued, and the old man refused to leave while lying at the recruitment table. At this time, the people behind were in a hurry, and someone said: "Uncle, you better get out of the way quickly!" ”

"Yes, old man, let's go! Get out of our way! We still want to be soldiers! Another young man said.

It was easy to get rid of the old man, and a young man about sixteen or seventeen years old came forward to sign up, and after signing, Li Rui asked him to collect the silver.

On another table, there was a tray with white silver on it. The chosen young man stepped forward, received the silver, and then stood in Luo Xiang's line.

Bai Huahua's three taels of silver were in hand, and those who were screened looked at this lucky person with envy, and their eyes showed jealousy.

Then, another teenager stood in front of Li Rui.

"How old are you, kid?" Li Rui looked at the short and thin boy and asked.

The boy replied, "I'm fifteen years old! ”

"Fifteen? I think you look like you are eleven or twelve! Well, don't mess with the kids! Go home! Li Rui let the kid blow away.

After a whole morning, although there were a lot of people queuing up to sign up, the really most suitable seedlings to be soldiers had basically been recruited by Zheng Chenggong from all walks of life, and Li Rui and a few of them recruited forty-six people throughout the morning.

In the afternoon, when they arrived at Malong Village, they recruited another 51 teenagers.

The recruitment office placed at the gate of the Gaoqi Navy Camp, on this day, there were also many people who saw the recruitment revelation and rushed to sign up, and they lined up in a long line at the gate of the Takasaki Navy Camp, but in the end they met the requirements, but only 57 people, and the others were either too young or too old, and they were all screened down.

The soldiers recruited by Wang Xinyu's recruitment team this time are all young, the older ones are only seventeen years old, and the younger ones are fourteen or fifteen years old. But that was also a helpless move, the most suitable young adults to be soldiers had already been requisitioned, and the rest were younger. However, Wang Xinyu would rather have a young boy than a half-old man in his forties. Teenagers can be cultivated and grown up, and half-old men can only become old men.

The next day, the recruiting team drove to Huangcuo Village by the sea to recruit troops.

Most of the people in line in front of them were sifted down, and at this time, a little beggar who looked to be about twelve or thirteen years old, with tattered clothes and a dirty face, stood in front of Li Rui.

"What's your name and how old is you?" Li Rui raised his head and asked.

"I don't know what my name is, I've been wandering since I was a child. My friends call me a dog. Thirteen years old. I wandered down from Gangnam and swam here! The little beggar replied.

"Dog, you're too young, let's go back first!" Li Rui shook his head.

The little beggar had a disappointed look in his eyes, and turned around to leave, when he heard someone shouting, "Wait! ”

The person who spoke was none other than Wang Xinyu.

"Lord Wang!" Li Rui hurriedly stood up and waved to Wang Xinyu, "This dog, the age is indeed too young and does not meet our requirements." ”

Wang Xinyu said: "He is an orphan, and the water is so good, he can make an exception!" ”

When the little beggar heard that he had been hired, he quickly knelt on the ground and kowtowed: "Thank you, sir!" Thank you for your kindness! Your Excellency, you are my dog's benefactor! ”

Wang Xinyu said: "You don't have a name, you will follow my surname in the future, the surname is Wang, I will give you a name, call Wang Wuquan!" ”

"Thank you, General, for naming the dog! Thank you for your kindness! The little beggar who had already named Wang Wuquan kowtowed again and again.

"But if you don't have a family, you won't be able to receive these three taels of silver for the time being. Also, I won't pay your military salary for the time being, so I'll keep it here first! Wang Xinyu said.

"As long as the general can give a small bite of food to eat, the general, you let me kill the tartars, and I won't frown!"

"Good! You are the first orphan to join the army, behave well and don't let General Ben down! Wang Xinyu smiled with satisfaction.

After the conditions were relaxed, many more orphans were recruited, all of whom were teenagers between the ages of 10 and 15.

There is also a pair of beggar brothers and sisters, the elder brother is twelve years old and the younger sister is nine years old, Wang Xinyu recruited both brothers and sisters. After the beggar brother was chosen, he was worried that his sister had no one to take care of, so he cried and begged Li Rui and Luo Xiang to take his sister into the military camp.

For example, he and Luo Xiang didn't dare to make their own decisions, and Wang Xinyu was not on the side at this time, so the two of them had to take the two brothers and sisters back to the Gaoqi camp first. Li Rui and Luo Xiang thought that even if the little girl couldn't enter the barracks, they could take her back to their own home, take some money out of the military salary, and let their parents raise her, just as raising an extra sister.

Wang Xinyu couldn't cry or laugh when he saw the recruiting team bring back a little girl who was dirty all over her body, her hair was unkempt, and her whole body exuded a peculiar smell.

"Why did you bring a little girl back?" Wang Xinyu asked Li Rui and Luo Xiang.

"Back to my lord, we took her brother, but her brother insisted on bringing his sister in with him, or he wouldn't join the army." Luo Xiang bowed his hand.

Wang Xinyu looked at the little girl, although she was dirty all over her body, and she couldn't tell whether it was a man or a woman, but her eyes were very bright, and she was looking at herself pitifully, and she couldn't help but feel a little soft-hearted, so she turned her head and asked the little girl's brother: "Child, what's your name?" ”

"Back to my lord! The little one's name is Zhang Wang! The child replied.

"Zhang Wang, right! Don't worry about your sister, General Ben brought her home, and she will be with my sister from now on! Wang Xinyu said.

"Thank you, sir!" Zhang Wang hurriedly knelt on the ground and kowtowed to thank him.