The detachment sent back to Wuchang did not let Deng Ming wait too long in Jiujiang, and before entering the territory of Huguang, the Ming army had already greeted Zhang Changgeng and informed the other party of his purpose and intentions. The army, which consisted mainly of new recruits, took those who could not use the ships to Guò Wuchang to Jiangling, while the remaining Ming troops made contact with Wuchang, sold the goods they brought to merchants introduced by Lu Chenyin, and then returned to Jiujiang with the silver paid by Wuchang.

This time, the Ming army still left one-third of the goods, and designated that it could only be purchased by the person who had the IOU, which was the second time that Deng Ming made this kind of request, which began to arouse the curiosity of some shopkeepers, and began to ask around what an IOU was and how to get it? However, it is a secret, and most of the Ming army will not know about the agreement between Deng Ming and Zhou Peigong, and those who know the inside story of the Qing army will not say it.

The market value of the goods brought by the Ming army to Wuchang in Jiangxi was 150,000 taels of silver, and two-thirds of them were exchanged for silver, resulting in 300,000 taels of silver for Deng Ming. In less than a year, the Ming army appeared on the Yangtze River for the second time, which made many Huguang merchants pessimistic about the future shipping capacity of the Yangtze River, and the price of Jiangxi's native products remained high. Although the Ming army sold the goods brought with them in wholesale, the price was comparable to the retail price before Zheng Chenggong's attack on Nanjing.

This silver greatly enriched Deng Ming's pocket, he did not need to worry about military spending for a long time in the future, after selling this batch of goods to Wuchang, Deng Ming still had goods worth more than 300,000 in Jiangxi - scarce is expensive, if too many goods are exported to Wuchang at one time, it may allow the other party to seize the opportunity to bargain, and this movement can also be smaller; After a few months, after Wuchang digested this batch of goods, Deng Ming could provide them with another batch.

"I don't know if Zhang Shangshu has received my news." Deng Ming also had to consider how to compensate Zhang Huangyan for the military expenses of sending troops, and his plan was to hand over some of the goods received from Jiangxi to Zhang Huangyan. Didn't Mu Tan say that it was difficult for Zheng Chenggong to receive large quantities of goods from Jiangxi? Deng Ming planned to transfer a batch of Jiangxi goods by Zhang Huangyan, if he could share the profits of the sea trade, Zhang Huang Yan could get some benefits, the last meeting under the city of Nanjing, Deng Ming tried his best to suggest that Zhang Huangyan should actively participate in the sea trade, and successfully aroused his interest.

These gains could further strengthen the strength of the Ming army in Zhoushan, and Deng Ming estimated that as Ma Fengzhi's army went to sea, Zhang Huangyan's material consumption rate was very alarming and needed to be replenished urgently, so even if Zhang Huangyan found out that Deng Ming's plan was not to recover the land but to disturb the luck, he would not be too dissatisfied.

Moreover, if Zhoushan became a link in the maritime trade, Zhang Huangyan and Zheng Chenggong would have more common interests, and Deng Ming was happy to help them add such a new link to ensure that the Zhejiang and Fujian armies could fully cooperate and put more pressure on the southeastern Manchu Qing Dynasty. The greater the pressure on this front of the Manchus, the less of a threat to Sichuan and Yunnan.

When Deng Ming had not left Wuchang, he had already sent a secret envoy to Zhoushan, calculating the time, Zhoushan should have gotten the news a long time ago, but Deng Ming also knew that Zhang Huangyan might not be able to organize the army in a hurry, and Ma Fengzhi, who had just led his troops to leave the mainland, would also need some time to appease the army and rectify the troops. Therefore, Deng Ming planned to wait a few more days to increase the success rate of the operation.

Before Deng Ming waited for Zhang Huangyan's news, Dong Weiguo had already taken a group of green battalion soldiers and sailors to pass through Jiujiang again, and after the Qing army passed through Guò, Dong Weiguo arranged the encampment of the troops, and once again led a few henchmen to sneak to meet with Deng Ming at night.

This is the third time that Deng Ming has met the political envoy of Jiangxi, and among all Deng Ming's partners, Dong Weiguo's attitude is definitely among the best. Part of the reason is the same as Zhou Peigong, who also felt comfortable and bold to come to talk to Deng Ming after being captured twice, Dong Weiguo, like Zhou Peigong, gradually lost his fear of entering Deng Ming's camp because of the first two experiences.

When Dong Weiguo saw Deng Ming this time, he didn't bow down like last time, and he didn't wait for the Ming army guards to draw their knives and threaten, so he took the initiative to sit on the other side of the long table, opposite Deng Ming. Deng Ming first expressed his gratitude to the political envoy of Jiangxi, the quality of the goods sent by Dong Weiguo was very good, so that Deng Ming was very satisfied, and once asked the Qing army envoy to bring back his performance, and today Deng Ming praised Dong Weiguo in person.

"As the admiral said, soldiers are not tired of deceit, and they are talking about business," Dong Weiguo replied generously: "Since it is a business of words, of course you must pay attention to honesty." ”

"Secretary Dong Bu said it well." Deng Ming was also a little surprised by the speed of the other party's entry into the corner, the two sides had not been dealing with each other for a long time, and he didn't expect Dong Weiguo to be able to distinguish the different identities of officials and business partners so quickly: "Dong Bu's political envoy's courage is also extraordinary, and his trust in me makes me feel very much. ”

"The Admiral has praised it." Dong Weiguo smiled bitterly in his heart, he was different from Zhou Peigong, and he was very unaccustomed to such a face-to-face meeting with Deng Ming, but now Dong Weiguo's future and fate are in jeopardy, although part of the Cao Yun work has been completed, but it is still unknown what the Qing court will do with him, so Dong Weiguo must come in person to try to persuade Deng Ming, so as to avoid further attacks by the Ming army in Jiangxi.

Soon the two chatted about the situation in Jiangnan, at first Deng Ming did not explicitly raise the problem secretly, but as soon as Dong Weiguo understood Deng Ming's question, he told Deng Ming what he saw and heard in Nanzhili. Dong Weiguo not only told Deng Ming the number of troops in various places, but also gave Deng Ming a brief explanation of every general who could be recalled - although Dong Weiguo and Deng Ming had been chatting in a casual manner, and their tone seemed to be talking about interesting travel experiences, it was obvious that Dong Weiguo hinted that Jiangnan could be attacked, and could even be attacked.

Dong Weiguo first talked about the emptiness of the army in Nanjing, after the first battle of Nanjing, the upper and lower reaches of Nanjing were occupied by the Ming army, although the Qing army has worked hard in the past few months, it has not been able to restore the strength of the army to the scale before the defeat, and the quality is far from being comparable with the officers and soldiers of Liangjiang in the same year ago. So in Dong Weiguo's description, everywhere around Nanjing can be easily attacked, as long as Deng Mingken goes to Jiangnan, he will definitely not return empty-handed.

However, Deng Ming is not very interested in conquering the city, and the temporarily recruited troops have basically returned to Sichuan, although the army has expanded a little, and most of the remaining troops are people who followed Deng Ming out of Sichuan, if this kind of force is clenched into a fist, it is enough to make Zhang Changgeng and Zhang Chao fearful, and dare not come out to challenge the Ming army; But if these more than 10,000 people are scattered and stationed, most of the Qing army will no longer be afraid of the Ming army, but will try to attack the territory of the Ming army, regain the lost land and repay Shunzhi.

Deng Ming didn't dare to Dong Weiguo's construction in his heart, and his words were not very positive, and soon Dong Weiguo noticed Deng Ming's thoughts. Although he was a little disappointed in his heart, Dong Weiguo was not discouraged, and soon talked about another experience, and some messages on the streets and alleys, the central content of which was that Jiang Guozhu and Liang Huafeng in Nanjing City had some discord - these Deng Ming had also heard of it from other channels.

Deng Ming was also a little surprised by the outcome of the Nanjing strife, and he didn't know why Jiang Guozhu and Liang Huafeng joined forces in the end to get rid of their original allies in one fell swoop. However, if he heard that the two were at odds, Deng Ming would not be surprised, he was a day before he withdrew his troops and released Lang Tingzuo, Jiang Guozhu and Liang Huafeng were still enemies to the death. Not to mention that Jiang Guozhu had also planned a murder plot to kill people with a knife, wanting to ambush Liang Bu, who had returned to his division to aid Nanjing, and put Liang Huafeng to death—Deng Ming believed that Lang Tingzuo must have informed Liang Huafeng of this. Although these two people now have to form an alliance because they cover each other or something, Deng Ming feels that it is not impossible for them to guard against each other in private.

Although Deng Ming was inclined to believe the information brought by Dong Weiguo, he was also well aware of Dong Weiguo's new hints, that is, Dong Weiguo tried to tell himself that it was possible to show off his might in front of Nanjing again, and if it was a coincidence, it was not impossible to capture Nanjing.

Shut down

Compared with the capture of some cities around Nanjing, Deng Ming did not have the slightest interest in the capture of Nanjing, after careful observation, Deng Ming felt that Liu Tichun's new equipment was not enough to pose a threat to Nanjing City, and if he wanted to capture Nanjing, he still needed to use tunnel blasting, or have some super siege artillery.

"It seems that Dong Weiguo just wants me to create some trouble for Nanjing, well, if Nanjing is attacked by the Ming army again after less than a year, the Qing court will definitely be shaken, right? At that time, no one would remember that Dong Weiguo had lost Jiujiang and been captured. Regarding the contradiction between Nanchang and Nanjing, Deng Ming can also guess some.

At this time, Dong Weiguo became even more disappointed, he could see that Deng Ming not only did not have much interest in the towns around Nanjing, but also had no energy to go to Nanjing to make a name for himself.

"Deng Ming is only in his early twenties, why is he not famous at all?" After the topic was diverted by Deng Ming, Dong Weiguo dealt with it, and at the same time, his brain turned rapidly, and after a while, he said: "Xiaguan heard that after the governor returned to Sichuan last year, Jiangning can be ......very busy."

According to Dong Weiguo, after Deng Ming and Zheng Chenggong left, Jiang Guozhu immediately summoned many old shipbuilders from Liangjiang to the governor's yamen and asked them about the materials needed to quickly build ships.

"Oh?" After hearing this information, Deng Ming's eyes lit up, because of the size of the army, he would not attack those cities that could not be maintained for a long time for the time being, but the Qing army on the Yangtze River was another division, and there was no shipbuilding industry in Sichuan, nor was there in eastern and western Hubei; Li Laiheng may have gained some shipbuilding capacity after capturing Jiangling and Yiling, but it is far from being comparable to the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

Deng Ming didn't know how long it would take for the Manchus to form a fleet that would be on the lookout for threatening the Ming army's Yangtze River Division, but if Běijīng had meant this, and Jiang Guozhu had the governor going all out, Deng Ming estimated that it would not be too long.

If the Manchus regained the right to navigate the Yangtze River east of Yuezhou, Deng Ming would lose contact with the overseas Fujian and Zhejiang armies, and would not be able to continue to rely on military maintenance to force the Qin magistrates to compromise. Deng Ming could endure other disadvantages, but he could never tolerate the Qing army's sailors running rampant on the Yangtze River, and the main purpose of this attack on Jiujiang was also to eliminate the Qing army's Jiangxi water camp stationed here.

Dong Weiguo immediately noticed the change in Deng Ming's expression, which brought him hope at once, and his voice became louder when he spoke again. Dong Weiguo told Deng Ming that he did not know how soon Jiang Guozhu planned to rebuild the Su Song Naval Division, but he did use this as an excuse to ask Jiangxi for money, and it was not Dong Weiguo's nonsense to gather many shipwrights a few months ago.

"Hmm." Deng Ming nodded again, and motioned for the guards to go out of the tent - Deng Ming often told the senior officers about his negotiation experience and shared his experience with these officers, if today's negotiation was interesting, Deng Ming would also use it as a teaching material for the officers, but now it was necessary for him to make Dong Weiguo feel that he was safe.

"Why does Envoy Dong Bu want me to attack Nanjing?" Deng Ming bluntly said the question in his heart: "If the political envoy Dong Bu wants me to deal with this, you need to let me understand what benefits the political envoy Dong Bu can get?" ”

After hesitating for a moment, Dong Weiguo still said his abacus, and he told Deng Ming that the governor of Jiangxi was also a strong contender for the position of governor, but this hope became slim with Deng Ming's siege of cities and land in Jiangxi, unless Deng Ming could embarrass Jiang Guozhu even more: "For the admiral, a trip to Jiangning is just a gesture, and if Governor Zhang is the governor of Liangjiang, won't the governor be able to achieve a win-win situation in Liangjiang?" Wouldn't the Admiral want Jiang Ning to sit with your friend? ”

"The envoy is right." Deng Ming nodded, when Nanjing and Nanchang were in competition, it was the most beneficial for Deng Ming, just like the two factions in Nanjing last year, compared to Jiang Guozhu or Zhang Chao's dominance, Deng Ming would rather the position of Governor of Liangjiang in the Manchu Dynasty be vacant forever.

However, Deng Ming still told Dong Weiguo that he was willing to continue to march downstream.

"Thank you, Admiral." Dong Weiguo was overjoyed when he heard this, since the transaction with Deng Ming, the other party has been honest and credible, and he assured Deng Ming that this friendship will be firmly remembered by the governor of Jiangxi.

Deng Ming agreed to send troops not because he believed that Zhang Chao would be grateful, but because he felt that it was necessary to launch a preventive attack on Su Song's naval division in the restoration of the army, and to carry out some damage to the shipyard in Jiang Guozhu's hands, in addition, Deng Ming also wanted to try to maintain the balance of the officialdom of the two rivers, Deng Ming pondered in his heart: "For me, it is not as beneficial as any one family to be the two opposites, whether Jiang Guozhu or Zhang Chao becomes the new governor, it is not as good as this vacancy, I broke through Jiujiang and made such a big move in Jiangxi, It is also time to add some blockages to Jiang Guozhu. I am too far away from Jiangnan, if Jiang Guozhu holds the power of Liangjiang in his hands, he will definitely not be too afraid of me, and his attitude may be much firmer than Zhang Changgeng, of course, if Zhang Chao comes to power, most of them will not be any different from Jiang Guozhu. Even if Zhang Shangshu doesn't come to these things, I have to do my best, and after Ma Fengzhi is anyway, the attention of the Qing army in Nanjing has been focused on the east, and I come from the west, maybe I can get the effect of avoiding the real and attacking the false. ”

After making up his mind, Deng Ming discussed with Dong Weiguo the cost of redeeming the city in Jiujiang.

……

Liang Huafeng, the governor of Jiangnan, was not stationed in Nanjing, and since Zheng Chenggong and Deng Ming retired from the army, he stayed in Suzhou far more than in Nanjing, and often went to Songjiang Mansion to inspect the troops.

Ma Fengzhi's siege of Hangzhou was unsuccessful, and Jīng Rui suffered great losses, although tens of thousands of people were coerced, but the combat effectiveness was far inferior to the old team; Although the level of Zhang Huangyan's troops has improved a lot, there is still a big gap between them and the Jīng Rui troops in the Green Battalion in terms of training length and weapons and equipment. After the two retreated to Zhoushan, Dasu judged that they did not have the ability to return to the mainland for the time being, so they moved to Fujian.

But Liang Huafeng did not dare to take it lightly, for him, he could get the report of the coastal area earlier in Suzhou, and if there was any emergency, Liang Huafeng could respond more quickly than staying in Jiangning.

As soon as he learned that Deng Ming had gone south to Huguang and the troops were approaching Wuchang, Liang Huafeng was not very worried, and still put all his jīng forces in the east. Last time, Hu Quancai could be considered to have been caught off guard and the weak Huguang Green Battalion was scattered, which gave Deng Ming an opportunity; Later, Li Laiheng impersonated and approached Nanjing, and Liang Huafeng felt that it was also because of the sudden assassination of the governor of Huguang and the chaos in Wuchang that such a big loophole appeared.

Moreover, Liang Huafeng thought that if the Ming army failed to take Wuchang, it would definitely not be able to invade Jiangxi, and Anqing would certainly not be in danger.

As a result, Liang Huafeng was surprised to find that Zhang Changgeng, who has been known to be calm and good at fighting in the past year, has been even worse than Hu Quancai - this is for Liang Huafeng, for officials outside the Liangjiang region, Zhang Changgeng is obviously much stronger than Hu Quancai, has not lost a battle, has not lost the city.

Originally, Liang Huafeng thought that Wuchang would be able to repel the Ming army, and at least he would be able to hold out for a while, and he could also analyze the battle situation in Wuchang by himself, so as to get the pre-jǐng time. Unexpectedly, although Zhang Changgeng did not lose a city, the Ming army regarded the lake and the water division as if there was nothing, and when they saw that they could not take advantage, they went down the river and entered Jiangxi at an unexpected high speed.

Just after Liang Huafeng received the news that Deng Ming appeared in Jiangxi, the news of the fall of Jiujiang reached Suzhou, and Liang Huafeng was surprised by the speed of the Ming army's march. Jiang Guozhu was also afraid that Deng Ming would attack Anqing, and if this outpost of Nanjing was lost again, then I am afraid that there would be another southeast earthquake. Governor Chiang hurriedly wrote to Liang Huafeng in Suzhou, discussing with him to move the main force of the Qing army west to Anqing and prevent Deng Ming from attacking Jiangning again......

When Liang Huafeng was in full swing to dispatch troops, the news that came later became more and more relaxing, Deng Ming stopped in Jiujiang, and later began to recruit soldiers.

Although the expansion of the army meant that Deng Ming might want to attack further, Liang Huafeng knew that these recruits were a burden during the rapid march, and Deng Ming and these newly recruited men were probably unable to carry out a rapid assault. Liang Huafeng, who was determined in his heart, no longer urged the troops, but first rushed back to Nanjing with a small number of guards to discuss with Jiang Guozhu.

Before arriving in Nanjing, Liang Huafeng met an envoy from Jiang Guozhu, who simply brought two battle reports without any message.

Liang Huafeng tore open the envelope of the battle report, both of which were good news of the fleet's forced entry into Jiujiang, one was from Huguang and the other was from Jiangxi, both fleets were transporting heavy grain and grass, and their commanders invariably boasted about their bravery, and the process of breaking through was even more thrilling.

"How is this possible?" After seeing the battle report, Liang Huafeng, the original commander of the Su Song Water Division, shouted in disbelief.