It's dawn.

Looking at the rising sun that appeared in the east, Jiang Guozhu, the governor of Jiangning, muttered to himself. If everything had been done according to the plan, he knew that there was a life-and-death battle going on next to Gaoyou Lake.

"It's finally going to start, and there will be results in about two days." Jiang Guozhu was caught between hope and fear, and his spirit was already overwhelmed. In addition to this contradictory mood, knowing that the result is about to be known, Jiang Guozhu feels relieved. In order to support the military expenditure of the Ming army, Jiangning's treasury has already bottomed out, and if it continues to drag on, I am afraid that the collapse of the treasury of Jiangnan officialdom will precede Jiang Guozhu's mental collapse.

The last time Zheng Chenggong besieged Nanjing, Lang Tingzuo urgently mobilized the Liangjiang troops to defend the city, and concentrated 20,000 armor and 70,000 auxiliary soldiers and strong men in Nanjing, as well as more than 10,000 war horses and horses, and the daily military expenditure was as high as an astonishing 10,000 taels of silver. However, the cost of Deng Ming's army this time was still higher than that time, and although the governor of Jiangxi and the governor of Caoyun shared the military expenses of the Ming army, the average daily expenditure of Nanjing was still as high as 13,000 or 4,000 taels.

Under normal circumstances, a green battalion needs two catties of rice and half a catty of beans a day to wear armor, and in order to boost morale, it is necessary to provide a pig or two sheep for every thousand soldiers before the battle. But Deng Ming's requirements obviously cannot be compared with the ordinary green battalion, and the 30,000 troops under his command adopt a unified standard, and there is no distinction between soldiers and auxiliaries. Every day, Jiangning needs to provide 36,000 catties of rice and noodles, 150 pigs or equivalent livestock and fish, in addition, Deng Ming also specified that Jiangning should provide a large number of vegetables and beans.

In order to gather the supplies needed by the Ming army, the supply of the Liangjiang troops had been pressed to the lowest point, and all transfers and drills were canceled in order to save supplies. Of course, the collection of these materials was carried out in the name of supplying Zhou Peigong and Liang Huafeng, and the unwitting staff in the various prefectures and counties and the governor's yamen complained about the Hunan army. They didn't know that Zhou Peigong's army was actually nothing, and Liang Huafeng's army rations had been repeatedly reduced, and in fact, like the other Liangjiang troops, they ate bran vegetables every day.

But for Jiang Guozhu, since the Liangjiang troops could not be used to attack the imperial camp, their usefulness naturally could not be compared with the Ming army, and sacrificing their supplies to meet the needs of the Ming army was also a last resort. When the pigs and sheep were not enough, the governor of Liangjiang, Yamen, did not hesitate to collect ploughing cattle and send them to the Ming army - at first, Jiang Guozhu was worried that the emperor would act too quickly, and hoped that the Ming army would have more time to prepare for the battle against the powerful Eight Banners of the world. But in the end, Jiang Guozhu was already holding a mentality of "early death and early reincarnation", hoping that the emperor would arrive as soon as possible. The aides have repeatedly pointed out that the financial situation of the Liangjiang Governor Yamen has reached the last moment.

A month of high-intensity transportation also caused a large number of vehicles and boats to be scrapped and horses to die, and these losses were completely supplemented by the silver taels allocated by Zhang Chao in the later period.

In addition to Nanchang, Huguang also provided financial assistance for the operation. Zhang Changgeng took care of the needs of the Ming army's military uniforms, horses, spears and gunpowder, and also urgently cast some bronze cannons and catapults for the Ming army. Every day, Huguang's ships arrived in Nanjing, unloaded the ships of military supplies and handed them over to Liang Huafeng, who then handed them over to the Ming army under the banner of the Hunan army. For bows and arrows alone, Deng Ming's daily training was as much as 10,000 -- Jiang Guozhu knew that Deng Ming's archers were only about 1,000, which means that each archer shot 10 crossbow arrows per day in the targeted training -- which was almost a few months of training loss for a Green Battalion shooter.

"It's finally going to end." Jiang Guozhu sighed lightly. He has done his best to help Deng Ming fight against the Eight Banners, and Jiangnan has paid a huge economic price for this. If Jiang Guozhu did not intend to use violence to plunder the gentry and local tyrants, he would only be able to barely maintain the operation of the government for a long time in the future, and it is estimated that he would not be able to resume normal military training after taxes next year. However, as long as Deng Ming can kill Shunzhi in Shun, that qiē is still worth it. Jiang Guozhu had previously discussed the political situation after Shunzhi's death with Deng Ming face-to-face, and the current empress dowager was certainly unwilling to lose power, and important ministers such as Sonny and Ao Bai had also carved too deep a Shunzhi imprint, and none of them would agree to let someone other than Shunzhi's prince succeed to the throne - although for the Manchu court, choosing an adult emperor might be a better choice.

The alliance between the Empress Dowager and the important ministers should be able to gain the upper hand and suppress the ambitions of the other princes and banner lords. When the young emperor ascended the throne and the Qing Dynasty was in a state of suspicion of the lord and the young country, the běi Jing could only adopt the policy of Huairou to the governor of Jiangnan. If the forces loyal to Shunzhi and the pretenders to the throne are in a stalemate, fighting for power and profit, or even armed conflicts, it will of course be a worse situation for the Qing Dynasty, but it will be a great benefit to the Jiangnan governor, because then both sides need to win them over.

Although Deng Ming asserted that the latter scenario was unlikely, insisting that the alliance between the Empress Dowager and the important ministers was far superior to that of the Eight Banner Princes, Jiang Guozhu still hoped that there would be infighting among the Qing imperial family, so that Jiang Guozhu would gain greater zìyóu, be able to better control Jiangnan before the imperial court re-established its authority, and gain the power to be loyal to himself like Zhang Changgeng and control his own destiny, rather than being completely in the hands of the emperor or Deng Ming as he is now.

…… Gaoyou Lake.

"It's dawn." The rising sun caused the opposing armies to cheer. The officers of the Eight Banners in the imperial camp immediately took action, and last night they had gathered all the loud men among the soldiers under them, and as soon as they saw the sunrise, the officers immediately let these soldiers climb the camp wall and began to shout to the "rebels" on the opposite side.

The banner of the Son of Heaven embroidered with a golden dragon rose on the wall, and the officers and soldiers of the imperial camp shouted in unison, making the rebels on the opposite side realize that they were attacking the sacred and inviolable camp of the Son of Heaven. At the same time, they also told the rebels on the other side that the Son of Heaven was merciful, and that the Emperor would not be guilty of their offence last night as long as they laid down their arms.

"Whoever is able to capture the rebellion alive will be rewarded with ten thousand gold, and the flag will be raised, and the essence will be given to the Chini Hafan; Those who can behead the rebellion will be rewarded with 5,000 gold, and the marquis of 10,000 households will ......"

The shouts of the imperial camp were heard from afar. Seeing the rebels wearing Huguang military uniforms, waving the green flag and the big banner with the word "Zhou" written on it, the imperial guards were shocked and angry, and immediately determined that the traitor on the opposite side was Zhou Peigong. After knowing who the enemy was, Shunzhi was a lot more relieved. Zhou Peigong is young and suddenly ascends to a high position, except for a small number of henchmen, his prestige in the army is not too high, even the number of dead friends is estimated to be very limited, and the two-pronged combination of amnesty and heavy reward will have a good effect on the disintegration of the rebels.

"It's time to shatter the illusions of the Tartars." During the march yesterday, in order to cover people's eyes and ears as much as possible, Deng Ming did not let his subordinates wear the military uniforms of the Ming army. Anyway, the gap between the clothing of the green battalion and the imperial camp is not small, it is enough for the Ming army to distinguish between friend and foe, and it still has a certain confusing effect on the enemy.

While the imperial guards shouted loudly, the Mongolian Eight Banners that were blocked outside the imperial camp walls also shouted one after another. Now that they have a chaotic structure, they have lost their armor, and the "rebels" can crush them in the blink of an eye as long as they attack, so all they can do is shout along with the imperial guards in vague Chinese, hoping that the morale of the "rebels" will collapse and launch a counterattack on Zhou Peigong.

With Deng Ming's order, the guards withdrew the green pennant from the flagpole and replaced it with the rectangular red flag unique to Deng Ming's army, and Deng Ming's guards also raised their three-wall military flags at the same time.

As the first red flag was raised high, the "rebels" surrounding the imperial camp dropped their green flags one after another, taking off their Huguang green camp camouflage, revealing the bright red robes of the Ming army.

"Deng Deng, the commander of the Yangtze River in the Ming Dynasty", saw the vast sea around him that had turned into red flags, and the imperial guards and the Mongolian Eight Banners, who were still shouting loudly just now, suddenly lost their voices.

The Ming army, on the other hand, began their counterattack: "According to the express order of the imperial court, crusade against the rebellion of Jianzhou, those who abandon their weapons will not die, and those who resist the king will be killed." Early drop! ”

With the shouts of the Ming army "early surrender", the Ming army in the front row launched an attack on the remnants of the Mengbaqi outside the imperial wall. These Mongols could not get close to the imperial camp at all, otherwise they would be attacked by the imperial guards; Most of them were unarmed, and they lacked armor to protect themselves, and they were unable to resist the attack of the Ming army. And it's daytime now, and the Ming army is forcing up in a battle formation, and they don't have a chance to fight if they want to.

Even in such an unfavorable situation, the soldiers of the Eight Banners of the Mengs refused to surrender, and they fought the Ming army side by side, drawing out the arrows shot at them as short swords and daggers to continue to resist. Meng Baqi, who was stabbed by a spear, used all his strength to hold the gun of the Ming army before he died, trying to cover his companions and give them the opportunity to pounce into the Ming army's hand-to-hand combat.

"This is the Saiwai savage who has been fighting with us Han people for hundreds of years." Deng Ming looked at the one-sided slaughter on the battlefield, and sighed softly: "They are fierce cavalry, and they are still good infantry when they don't have horses, so it's really good to be able to destroy them so easily." ”

On the camp wall of the imperial camp, the Manchurian officers looked coldly at the battle outside, and the Mongols were cut down like wheat by the Ming army, and a young and very light imperial officer couldn't help but say: "Do you throw some weapons to them?" ”

At this time, the imperial guards did not know that they were facing the same problems that Lin Qilong had encountered, but they made the same choice as Lin Qilong. Suo Etu happened to be standing next to this colleague, and he said coldly, "Are the imperial guards rich in weapons? Won't throwing them to be seized by thieves? ”

"The whole army is on alert to protect the emperor." Now that they knew that Deng Ming was on the other side, the two thousand Manchurian Eight Banners also let go of the illusion of persuasion to surrender, and they set up their shields on the camp walls and towers, and the archers nervously guarded behind them, preparing to repel the Ming army's attack on the imperial camp.

"No one is allowed to come near the camp wall or the camp gate." The officers were afraid that the soldiers would take pity on the Mongols after seeing their stubborn resistance, and that they would be merciful to the Mongols who were driven by the Ming army, thus threatening the safety of the imperial camp: "Anyone who comes close to the camp wall is a thief, and they will be killed!" ”

"Wow." The officers and soldiers of the Imperial Front answered the commander's orders. In addition to bows and arrows, rows of bird guns poked out from behind the shield wall, and the archers were focused on the front. (To be continued)