"Not good! It's the fleet of the Ming Dog Cowards! Come on! The commander of the Qing army exclaimed. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

The sailors of the Qing army, who were still drowsy just now, jumped up at once, picked up the oars and rowed desperately, and each Qing soldier rounded his arms, paddled lifelessly, and desperately fled upstream.

In the Ming fleet, several strange-looking boats rushed out and rushed towards the Qing army's fast sentry ships at full speed.

No matter how fast the oarsmen of the Qing army rowed the oars, but the small boat of the Ming army still chased closer and closer, and the distance between the two sides was soon shortened to within a mile, and the Qing soldiers on the fast sentry boat could already clearly see the appearance of the Ming army's boat.

I saw that it was a very strange-looking boat, it seemed to have two bows and two sterns, between the two hulls, a wooden board was laid, the sails were white, it looked very large, the speed of the ship was too fast, those clippers sailed by, leaving white tail marks on the river.

It was the catamaran clipper of the Nanyang Navy that chased the Qing army's fast sentry ship.

When the commander of the Qing army saw the small boat of the Ming army chasing closer and closer, he shouted anxiously: "Hurry up!" Hurry up! If you can escape back safely, everyone will be rewarded with a bag of special offerings for the Eight Flags! ”

No matter how fast the fast sentry boat rowed, how could it outrun the catamaran fast sailing boat that condensed the highest technology of the year and cost a lot of money to build! In fact, the catamaran fast sailing boat sails in the inland waterway of the Yangtze River, and the speed has slowed down, but no matter how slow it is, there is a high speed of 20 knots! And the speed of the oars of the people on the fast sentry boat is simply impossible to reach twenty knots, even if you break your arm!

"Quick, paddle to the shore!" Seeing that the Ming army's clippers were about to catch up, the Qing army shouted at the elder.

At this time, I thought of paddling to the shore, but it was too late.

Two catamaran clippers of the Ming army cut off the retreat of the Qing army's express sentry boats, and another catamaran clipper caught up from directly behind. Seeing that the small boats of the Ming army were getting closer and closer, and the muzzles of the guns on the ships were already aimed at themselves, the commander of the Qing army had no choice but to surrender.

The huge fleet passed along the way, and several catamaran clippers were in front to capture the Qing small boats. Along the way, more than a dozen fast sentinel boats of the Qing army's sailors were captured. Although not a single small boat of the Qing army was released to report the news, such a large fleet sailed on the Yangtze River, and it was still impossible to completely conceal the Qing army spies.

In Jiangning City, Geng Jingzhong, King of Jingnan, Ma Leji, Governor of Liangjiang, Han Shiqi, Governor of Jiangsu, and Liang Huafeng, Governor of Jiangnan, gathered in the hall of the Governor's Mansion of Maleji to discuss countermeasures.

"The spies came to report, the thief sailor invaded Jiangning in a big way! It is said that there are more than 100 giant ships! There are more than 200,000 thieves! Guys, tell me, how should we respond? Malagi looked around and asked.

Han Shiqi arched his hand and said: "Lord Taiwan, if the thieves want to attack my Jiangning, they must first pass through Guazhou!" Seven years ago, Zheng Wei once sabotaged our army's river defense in Guazhou. Five years ago, Zheng Wei re-entered the river, and at that time, the defense of the Guazhou River had not yet been repaired. Now it is not what it used to be, and our army is impregnable in the defense line of Guazhou! There is a fort above, a barrage and an underwater pile! No matter how powerful the thief giant ship is, it will never want to pass through Guazhou! ”

Liang Huafeng said: "Lord Taiwan, I have few soldiers, if we divide our troops to defend Guazhou, it is not the best policy!" Or shrink the troops and guard Jiangning with heavy troops! to ensure that Jiangning is foolproof! ”

Geng Jingzhong said: "Jiangning City is as solid as gold, and it is the third strongest city in the world!" The thieves don't even want to conquer Jiangning! If the thieves besiege Jiangning, our army can be the same as the last time when Zheng Wei was broken, hold on and wait for an opportunity to counterattack! You can be a thief! Since Guazhou can't be defended, there is no need to defend it! However, in Guazhou, you can leave a small number of troops to contain the puppet Ming Haikou! ”

Liang Huafeng nodded and said: "The last general agrees with the prince of Jingnan, our army should stick to Jiangning!" Don't divide your troops! Otherwise, it will be broken by the thieves! Once our army loses too many troops, there will not be enough troops to defend Jiangning! ”

Although Jiangning City is extremely strong, no matter how strong the city is, it needs to be garrisoned. Especially in a big city like Jiangning, each city gate must have a certain number of troops, and it is simply not enough to have fewer people. If the Qing army lost troops in Guazhou and Zhenjiang, then there would be not enough troops to defend Jiangning, resulting in the city of Jiangning being breached.

In Jiangning City, the Qing army began to get busy. The civil officials and military generals at all levels of the Qing court recruited people in Jiangning City and nervously prepared various equipment to defend the city. Outside the city, under the supervision of the Green Battalion Qing soldiers, the temporarily recruited people widened the moat, laid wooden stakes outside the moat, and set up obstacles.

Liang Huafeng also made a special trip to Jiangbei to find the Yamen, the governor of Caoyun, to borrow troops. Three days later, Liang Huafeng returned to Jiangning, with more than 20,000 Cao transport troops and 80,000 canal boatmen, young and strong.

In the upper reaches of Jiangning, on the river from Anqing to Jiangning, Qing army transport ships loaded with grain came down from the upstream and arrived at the riverside wharf in the north of Jiangning, and the auxiliary soldiers and people unloaded the grain on the ships and moved them into the city.

Since the Qing army was ready to hold the city, it was necessary to prepare enough grain and grass to avoid the Ming army besieging the city and be prepared to defend the city for a long time. The grain transferred from Anqing and other places was enough for the Jiangning garrison to eat for two years. In order to reduce the consumption of food in the city, Geng Jingzhong also proposed that the women, children, old and weak in the city be driven out of the city.

In fact, Geng Jingzhong was to prevent the Qing army from jumping over the wall in a hurry and taking the women, children, old and weak in the city as hostages.

Hearing Geng Jingzhong's proposal, Maleji asked: "These women, children, old and weak stay in the city, and they can't consume much food, they stay in the city, and we can still use them when necessary, why do we want to drive them out?" ”

Geng Jingzhong replied: "Lord Taiwan, what role can it play in expecting these people to defend the city? Minggou coach Wang Yu is ruthless, so he doesn't count the casualties of women, children, the old and weak! Keeping them in the city can only consume food in vain, but it is useless to defend the city! You might as well drive them out! ”

Malerji felt that Geng Jingzhong was very reasonable, so he nodded and agreed to drive out the women, children, old and weak in the city.

"Lord Zhengtai, we still have banner people, women, children, old and weak in the city, what should we do with those people?" Han Shiqi asked.

Maleji didn't know what to do, after all, the banner people were different from the Han people, if the women, children, old and weak of the banner people were driven out, I was afraid that they would be captured by the Ming army, so that they would fall into the hands of the Ming army in vain and become hostages. But those people don't feel at ease when they stay in the city, not to mention consuming food, if the city is broken, these banner men will also be captured.

Liang Huafeng replied: "My lord, we will send the banner people of the city to Jiangbei!" Those who can hold their weapons will stay, and the rest will be sent away! ”

"Good! That's it! Maleji nodded.