On the sea surface of Dongfan Island, the flag hunting, the mast is like a forest, the large and small warships hanging the flag of the Ming Naval Division set sail, the Zheng Chenggong giant ship of the Chinese army is particularly conspicuous, Zheng Chenggong stands at the bow of the ship, full of ambition, looking at the Fujian army that has worked hard for more than a year and recovered its vitality, and has great ambitions to succeed.

On the second day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar, Zheng Chenggong finally sent troops to the Northern Expedition again, and sent troops from Dongfan Island to the Northern Expedition to conquer the Qing army in the south of the Yangtze River. This is Zheng Chenggong's fourth northern expedition to the south of the Yangtze River.

The first three Northern Expeditions, the first of which was in 1657, Zheng Chenggong attacked Taizhou and responded to Zhang Huangyan, but because Li Shutai adopted the strategy of encircling Wei and saving Zhao, he sent troops to attack Zheng Chenggong's back road, forcing Zheng Chenggong to retreat; The second time was in 1658, when Zheng Chenggong encountered a typhoon and suffered heavy losses; The third time was in 1659, when Zheng Chenggong carelessly lost.

It can be said that the luck of the Manchus was extremely good, and even the weather helped the Manchus, otherwise Zheng Chenggong would have conquered Jiangnan long ago, and a situation of confrontation between the north and the south might have been formed.

Before setting out, Wang Xinyu and Zheng Chenggong summed up the lessons of the previous three times.

Wang Xinyu told Zheng Chenggong that as for the Qing navy in Fujian, it would be handed over to the Nanyang navy to deal with, Wang Xinyu's navy had already uprooted the Guangdong navy, and the remaining threat was the Fujian navy division of the Qing army. The Nanyang Navy Fleet will specialize in dealing with the Fujian Naval Division of the Qing Army.

The failure of the Second Northern Expedition was due to the weather. Now Wang Xinyu has helped Zheng Chenggong solve the problem of fighting the typhoon: the Nanyang Navy will send the fast Hector to quickly arm the Galen ship to cooperate with Zheng Jiajun. At that time, the Hector will be placed at the rear of the Zheng family's fleet. And on this large ship with a displacement of about 700 tons, there is a secret weapon, which is a hot air balloon. After the hot air balloon lifts off, you can find the weather conditions dozens of miles away. Once you notice that the weather is different. Immediately, the full sail will be raised and rush to report to the Zheng family, so that the Zheng family's fleet can enter the islands and bays to avoid the typhoon.

Zheng Chenggong himself also learned the lessons of the failure of the Third Northern Expedition, and there were two reasons for the failure of the Third Northern Expedition, the first was that the Zheng Jiajun's large ships entered the Yangtze River, moved too slowly, and fell into the Qing army's delaying tactics; The second reason for the failure is that Zheng Chenggong is too confident. brought his family members with him on the Northern Expedition, which resulted in a drop in morale.

"This king has learned the lesson of the failure of the third Northern Expedition, this Northern Expedition, all those who enter the Yangtze River will be wind and oars dual-purpose clippers! There will be no more 80 days from Zhenjiang to Jiangning! And this time I didn't bring my family in, let alone go to the Tartars' delaying tactics! Zheng Chenggong looked at his fleet with satisfaction.

In this Northern Expedition, Zheng Jiajun was preparing to enter the Yangtze River, all of which were newly built centipede clippers and oar-rowing clippers in the past two years, and the tonnage of these ships was not large, only about 100 tons. However, it is the most suitable fast warship on the Yangtze River route, and there will be no phenomenon that when there is no wind in the Yangtze River, the boat must be pulled slowly on the shore. In addition, Zhang Huangyan has entered the Yangtze River first with the help of Wang Xinyu, and most of Zhang Huangyan's entry into the Yangtze River are also small boats.

"With the strength of Lord Zhang alone, it is impossible to take down Jiangning, only the prince will fight. can seize Jiangning in one fell swoop! Zheng Chenggong's subordinates Cai Zheng, Chen Python, Liu Guoxuan and others gave up.

Wang Xinyu has no objection to this matter at all, and there is indeed no main force of the Zheng family's army. Just relying on himself and Zhang Huangyan, he couldn't conquer Jiangning at all. Only when the more than 30,000 land divisions of Zheng's army landed could they seize the big city of Jiangning and complete the great cause of the Northern Expedition to the south of the Yangtze River. The only unreliable factor now is that Zheng Chenggong is not in good health, how long can he last? At present, Zheng Jing's affairs have not been revealed. That incident will be the heaviest blow to Zheng Chenggong.

Out of consideration for the general interests of the nation, Wang Xinyu hoped that Zheng Chenggong would be able to hold on, so that the restoration of the Ming Dynasty would reduce a lot of unnecessary troubles, and he would be able to defeat the Qing court in advance and drive them out of the gates. Then slowly clean them up.

Zheng Chenggong set out on this expedition, except for his own Chinese army giant ships, 10 Dafu ships and 16 Haicang ships, the rest were small boats suitable for inland river navigation, with a total of more than 100 centipede clippers of 200 materials, more than 200 wind oars dual-purpose ships of 100 materials, and more than 500 small warships, with a total of more than 20,000 officers and men of the naval division and more than 30,000 officers and men of the land division, totaling 50,000 troops.

Wang Xinyu stood behind Zheng Chenggong and assured him: "Please rest assured!" The younger Qiongzhou army is here, and the Tartars don't want to sneak attack the two islands of Xiamen and Kinmen! ”

"Hahaha!" Zheng Chenggong stroked his beard and laughed, "With a virtuous nephew, this king will be relieved!" I believe that the virtuous nephew will be able to destroy the Tartar sailor! If you don't leave a boat for the Tartars, it's the same as the surprise attack on the Guangdong Navy by the virtuous nephew a year and a half ago! ”

Zheng Jiajun set off in a mighty manner and headed towards the south of the Yangtze River, preparing to join Zhang Huangyan.

"Shibo, we should go to Hangzhou Bay first, and when the Jiangnan Shi clan in Shanyin and Huiji is relieved, we will send troops to the Yangtze River and join Master Zhang." Wang Xinyu proposed.

"It's good!" Zheng Chenggong nodded, "In this way, there is no need for Lord Zhang to turn his head back, he can also use you and his own sailors to firmly contain the Tartars in Changshu and Guazhou, and when our main force arrives, we will annihilate the main force of the Tartars, and then wave his army to conquer Jiangning!" ”

Zheng Chenggong's fleet carried twelve powerful sixty-four-pounder siege mortars, as well as more than 200 new flowering cannonballs and thousands of ordinary flowering cannonballs, which were enough to blast through the strongest cities. Although the city of Jiangning is impregnable, in the face of the new weapon of the Zheng family, no matter how strong the city is, it can easily collapse.

I hope that King Yanping can be safe and sound, and I hope that this kid Zheng Jing will not make trouble for King Yanping at this time! Wang Xinyu secretly thought in his heart, as long as King Yanping is okay, Jiangning City will be broken!

The flotilla of the Zheng family's Northern Expedition army sailed ahead, and the Dutch ship Hector, captured by the Nanyang Navy, slowly followed behind the Zheng family's fleet. Captain Liu Quan stood on the helm tower and observed the sea surface with a telescope.

The Hector was getting farther and farther away from the Zheng Jiajun's fleet, and when the Zheng Jiajun's fleet in front was nowhere to be seen, Liu Quan gave an order: "Release the hot air balloon!" Keep an eye out for the southeast and south! If you notice a change in the weather, send a signal immediately! ”

The hot air balloon is a secret, and no one in the Zheng family army knows this secret except Zheng Chenggong himself. Wang Xinyu only told Zheng Chenggong alone, and the others did not tell him, just worried about leaking secrets. Because Wang Xinyu knows very well that there must be capable people on the side of the Qing court. Maybe when you see a hot air balloon, you can associate the principle of a hot air balloon from Kong Ming lanterns, and maybe the Qing court can also imitate this kind of thing, so it must be kept strictly secret.

On the deck of the Hector, several sailors dragged out a skeleton made of bamboo and a sphere made of thick paper bark from the cabin. The connection is a hot air balloon with a thick cardboard attached to a canvas and sewn with hemp rope, and there is a hanging basket underneath this hot air balloon, which has a fire oil tank and a large "oil lamp", and the hanging basket is tied to the boat with a rope.

A sailor lit an "oil lamp" and poured hot gas into the sphere. Because the top of the hot air balloon is made of canvas with good heat resistance, it will not be burned and can ensure that the hot air balloon is lifted into the air.

Wu Shifeng, who had completed several test flights before, boarded the hot air balloon, and the hot air balloon slowly rose into the air.

Wu Shifeng stood in the hanging basket. Use a telescope to observe the sea to the southeast and south. Under the action of hot air, the hot air balloon rises to an altitude of more than 500 meters. At this altitude, you can see the sea surface conditions dozens of kilometers away, and if you notice a huge change in the sea surface weather in the distance, it can indicate that a typhoon may be coming.

In fact, this may not be very accurate, it may be a change in the weather caused by the arrival of heavy rain, but it is always good to be cautious to avoid unnecessary casualties. Just think about it. The soldiers of the Zheng family did not die on the battlefield, but they were killed by the typhoon in vain. What a shame that is.

At this time, the technology was not enough, and the hot air balloon only took about twenty minutes to take off. On board the Hector, there are two hot air balloons that can be lifted into the sky in rotation to observe the weather.

Since God helps the Qing court, it is necessary to use a new weapon such as a hot air balloon to deal with God.

Two days after Zheng Chenggong's fleet sailed. The Hector sent an alarm to let the fleet enter the Dongtou Islands in the waters of Wenzhou to take shelter from the wind.

Although it was later confirmed that it was just an ordinary rainstorm, it was always good to be cautious. After two days of evasion, the fleet continued its voyage and sailed directly for Hangzhou Bay.

Changshu. The attack of the Zhejiang army on Lang Tingzuo's Qing army entered the final moment.

The Qing army was completely chaotic, the Zhejiang army entered the formation of the Qing army, and the chaotic Qing army trampled on each other, with countless casualties. The Qing soldiers of the green battalion who did not die knelt on the ground one after another and surrendered to the Ming army. No matter how the Eight Banners slashed and killed the Green Battalion, they could not stop the pace of the Green Battalion's rout, and they could not prevent the Green Battalion from surrendering to the Ming army. Some of the Eight Banners soldiers were even dragged off their horses by five or six Green Battalion soldiers, and they were immediately slashed in the muddy ground.

The Ming army continued to compress the encirclement, and those Qing soldiers in the circle who refused to surrender were all harvested.

There were many Qing soldiers who jumped into the water to escape, but the Ming ships on the river immediately came, and the arrows and projectiles were shot into the river, and the Qing soldiers who jumped into the water became a live target, and the projectiles and arrows were scattered into the river, and the blood flowed out from the wounds of the Qing soldiers, and the large strands spread along the river, and the people could not float a few feet before they overturned and were swept up and down by the blood waves and sank to the bottom of the water.

"Surrender or die!" The Ming army shouted in unison.

Seeing that the Qing soldiers of the Green Battalion had dropped their weapons and ran in the direction of the Ming army, Lang Tingzuo anxiously shouted: "Release the arrow!" ”

Several Eight Banner soldiers opened their bows and arrows and shot over several Green Battalion soldiers.

However, Lang Tingzuo found that there were not many Eight Banners soldiers who released arrows, and when he looked closely, he saw that many of the Eight Banners soldiers also dropped their weapons and ran in the direction of the Ming army.

"These second-generation flag men are no longer the fierce flag men outside the customs back then!" Lang Tingzuo sighed.

More and more Qing soldiers surrendered, and Lang Tingzuo personally slashed more than a dozen Qing soldiers with his own sword, but he couldn't stop more surrenderers.

"Master, let the minions go! The slave's family is all in the capital, and the slave's eighty-year-old mother and three-year-old child are waiting for the slave to return alive. A young Eight Banners soldier pleaded bitterly.

Lang Tingzuo was furious: "Dog! When did our noble Manchus also learn from the Han people to lie? With that, he swung his sword and cut off the head of the Eight Banners soldier with one sword.

"Kill! Kill! There are those who surrender, and there is no mercy! Tuo Hui shouted, and slashed to death more than a dozen Eight Banners soldiers who tried to run away from him.

The Eight Banners soldiers, eager to win, saw their former commander mercilessly slashing and killing their brothers, and the two Eight Banners soldiers suddenly held spears in their hands and rode their horses into Tuohui. Several other Green Battalion soldiers swung their knives and pulled Tuohui off their horses, slashing them into pulp.

At this time, the Qing army was already in chaos, and the Green Battalion soldiers who were about to surrender were fighting with the officers and generals who prevented them from surrendering, and the Eight Banners soldiers who were preparing to surrender were all in a mess with the generals who stopped them.

Zhang Yukun sent the order down and asked the Ming soldiers to shout to the Qing army: "Whether it is the Eight Banners or the Green Battalion, whoever kills the Eight Banners will be rewarded with five hundred taels of silver and released on the spot!" Anyone who kills Lang Tingzuo will be rewarded with a thousand taels of silver and released on the spot! ”

Lang Tingzuo was so anxious that he shouted: "Don't be fooled! The Southern Barbarians have always been treacherous, cunning, and untrustworthy! We're fighting to the death, and we're going to kill a few thieves! ”

But no matter how Lang Tingzuo shouted, the Qing army was already in chaos. Whether it was the Eight Banners or the Green Battalion, they all turned their heads to look at Lang Tingzuo, Buyan and the others, as if they were looking at the silver with white flowers.

Buyan cut down more than a dozen green battalion soldiers in a row, and then was dragged off his horse by two green battalion soldiers and died in the chaos.

Chadu, Kafona, and Fosina were all killed by the rebels, and Lang Tingzuo struggled to kill hundreds of Green Battalion soldiers and dozens of Eight Banner soldiers under the escort of his own soldiers, and finally he and his own soldiers were all killed by the rebels.

Lang Tingzuo's head became a sought-after item, the first green battalion soldier to cut off Lang Tingzuo's head, was cut down in a blink of an eye, Lang Tingzuo's head was snatched away by others, but the green battalion Qianzong who snatched the head was killed by a group of rebels.

Seeing that Lang Tingzuo and a group of Eight Banners were all killed, Zhang Yukun shouted: "All lay down their weapons!" Come to us with a head! ”

In the end, it was a Mongol who grabbed Lang Tingzo's head, and he carried it.

Zhang Yukun did not break his promise, and gave him a reward of 1,000 taels of silver, and said to him: "You can go back!" When we return, tell you the Mongols in the steppe, don't be our enemies! We can do you good! ”

"Thank you, sir! Thank you, sir! The Mongolian knelt down and thanked him repeatedly.

Just as the Mongolian turned around to leave, he was stopped by Zhang Yukun again: "Wait! ”

"I wonder what else the adults have to say?"

Zhang Yukun said: "Leave the name of your tribe, we will trade with you in the future, and we will definitely not let you suffer!" You can't go back to the capital, so let's go back to the grassland. ”

The Mongol left his name and address, thanked him, and left.

"Lang Tingzuo is dead, and the Admiral of the Jiangnan Banner is gone! The Tartars suffered heavy losses in this battle! Hahaha! Zhang Huangyan saw the brilliant results, stroked his beard and smiled.

In this battle, more than 100,000 Qing troops in the south of the Yangtze River were all annihilated, and in addition to those killed, a total of more than 50,000 green battalion soldiers, more than 5,000 Han Eight Banners and more than 1,000 Manchu and Mongolian Eight Banners soldiers were captured. (To be continued.) )

PS: Happy New Year to everyone