When the Ming army began to cross the river, the city of Yangzhou was already in chaos, and the officers and soldiers of the river under the direct jurisdiction of the governor of Caoyun had bullied the people and the workers for many years, but they were not good at fighting against the enemy. The last time Zheng Chenggong launched the battle of Zhenjiang and Guazhou, the former governor of Caoyun also sent those more combat-effective troops to help in the battle, but the result was that the Ming army killed a piece of armor.

Since the governor of Caoyun could not count on the officers and soldiers of the river, he had to hope for Liang Huafeng's Liangjiang troops, but Liang Huafeng, as a dignified marshal, even sent portraits to Beijing, but he was an out-and-out dove, and worked hard with the Yangzhou prefect to persuade Lin Qilong not to resist by force, and it was better to negotiate with Deng Ming quickly.

But Liang Huafeng's persuasion had the opposite effect, Lin Qilong insisted on armed resistance despite Liang Huafeng's opposition before, and now if he doesn't fight a battle, he feels that he can't come to the stage if he compromises. Moreover, some of the rhetoric of Liang Huafeng and the prefect of Yangzhou also stimulated Lin Qilong, and they even used "those who know the times are junjie", and the governor of Caoyun was furious when he heard this, and angrily reprimanded them: "You just persuade me to surrender, why persuade me to negotiate?" ”

Fortunately, in addition to Liang Huafeng and his gang in Yangzhou, there are many loyal people, such as the salt merchants in Yangzhou who actively supported Lin Qilong to fight against the Ming army. Lin Qilong's face was very different from the last time, he urgently summoned the salt merchants in Yangzhou City, praised their loyalty and patriotic enthusiasm with a smile on his face, and asked them not to flee Yangzhou at this time of crisis.

Originally, some salt merchants had the idea of fleeing to Huai'an after hearing the news of the Ming army crossing the river, but now that the governor of Caoyun has spoken, these salt merchants in Yangzhou City dare not leave immediately, except for a small number of people who do not know the height of the sky. Most of them took the salt of Jiangnan, and could only sell goods in Jiangnan, and their dependence on the canal was quite heavy, and if they angered the governor of Caoyun, then they would not be able to do business in the future.

In just two days, Lin Qilong received three million taels of silver in return—for many salt merchants, this was almost all the rich money in their pockets, and only the necessary savings for the purchase of salt were left -- if they could not defeat Deng Ming and let the canal and even the Yangtze River flow smoothly, even if there was salt and it would not be able to sell it.

In addition to silver, the salt merchants also recommended some heroes to the governor of Caoyun, and Dong Xiaoye was the most powerful of them.

The Grand Canal needs a large number of Cao workers, there have been hundreds of thousands since the Yuan and Ming dynasties, compared with the long cut off of Cao Yun at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the turbulent period of Cao Yun in the Southern Ming Dynasty is quite short, and the Cao Gong system has not been severely damaged. Compared with the peasants, the cao workers were at the lower level of society, with no land, no opportunity to receive education, no possibility of gentry among their relatives, and no patriarch with social status. If there is a chance, the Cao Gong will flee the canal and try to become a peasant under the rule of the government, so that his life and death will not be completely controlled by the underworld, and his descendants will also have the possibility of becoming a gentry.

The government turned a blind eye to the Caogong, who had no ability to defend themselves at all, and delegated the relevant judicial power to the Haoqiang around the canal, that is, in the hands of Caotou, as long as Caotou could ensure the smooth flow of Caogong, the government did not care at all about how they treated Caogong. Caotou had its own territory, monopolized the operation in their respective spheres of influence, and collected wages from passing merchants, which were then distributed to Caogong. In order to defend and fight for territory, in order to suppress the dissatisfaction and resistance of the Cao Gong, in order to capture the escaped Cao Gong or kidnap the new Ding to fill the vacancy, the Cao Tou generally has an armed force in his hands.

Dong Xiaoye was also a cao worker more than ten years ago, after the Qing army went south, taking advantage of the turmoil in the canal, he fought with a group of brothers and other competitors, and laid down a large territory, and now has a large area of his territory in Gaoyou Lake. These territories made Dong Xiaoye quickly become a rich man, in his original plan, he would work for the rest of his life, save money and then buy fields far away from the canal, and train his children and grandchildren to become scholars, as long as the descendants produce one or two people, his family will have the protection of the gentry.

The continuous turmoil in the south of the Yangtze River is also a big blow to Dong Xiaoye's business, the cut off of canal traffic has caused his business to plummet, and the shrinkage of the Yangtze River trade has a great impact on Dong Xiaoye. Whether it is these salt merchants, or the merchants with the background of the governor of Caoyun in the past, Dong Xiaoye can't afford to provoke, business has been sluggish in the past year, but the tens of thousands of workers under him still have to feed, Dong Xiaoye has a feeling of sitting and eating empty mountains.

Perhaps the gentry along the Yangtze River welcomed Deng Ming very much, and even thanked the Ming army for restricting the checkpoints of the Qing court, reducing taxes and increasing their profits, but Dong Xiaoye hated Deng Ming to the core, and hoped that he would be eliminated by the Qing court soon. If the Ming army is isolated from the north and the south, it will be tantamount to a catastrophe for a Cao head like Dong Xiaoye, because the opposing northern and southern dynasties will lead to the cessation of the shipping of the zhì canal, and the territory that Dong Xiaoye has laid for half his life will become worthless in the blink of an eye.

Although he hated the Ming army, Dong Xiaoye still did not have the idea of confronting the Ming army, and after hearing that the Ming army began to cross the river a few days ago, Dong Xiaoye only did to hug his head and cry, feeling that the nightmare of the Ming army isolating the north and the south is becoming a reality.

At this moment, the salt merchant introduced Dong Xiaoye to the subordinate officials of the Yamen, the governor of Caoyun, and together with Dong Xiaoye, there were some other Caotou, and like Dong Xiaoye, these Caotou had dozens of capable subordinates.

The subordinate officials of the governor of Caoyun told these Caotou that if they formed a volunteer and cooperated with the officers and soldiers to fight against the Ming army, they would be rewarded after victory, and the yamen of the governor of Caoyun would continue to allow them to keep their current territory, and if they refused to contribute, then they would not want to continue to dominate the canal.

When I first heard this, most of the Cao Tou were still submissive and didn't dare to agree. Seeing their appearance, the official sneered and said to Dong Xiaoye: "You don't want to think about the two ends of the first rat, Deng Thief has already said in his inscription that when he controls the canal, he will dismiss the Cao workers, confiscate your family property, and compensate each Cao Gong for one hundred taels of silver." ”

After listening to the official's explanation of Deng Ming's inscription, Dong Xiaoye's heart became colder and colder, and the other party actually regarded the treatment of the cao workers as one of the reasons for sending troops this time, and also explicitly stated that he would cut off the canal shipping -- under the explanation of the officials and salt merchants, Deng Ming's inscription was to cut off the canal and disband the cao workers, completely ruining the jobs of the cao bosses.

"Fight with Deng Thief!" Dong Xiaoye couldn't help but shout, his territory was snatched from other heroes by him desperately with his head, and no one could snatch it from him without thinking of a word.

Other Caotou also felt the same way, and after hearing Dong Xiaoye's shout, they also acted in agreement.

"Good, strong man!" The official praised and waved his hand to let the soldiers take out some boxes and open them, which were full of silver ingots with white flowers: "This is 500,000 taels of silver, I will give it to you first, and when the Deng thief is repulsed, the governor will be rewarded." ”

After returning home with the 40,000 taels of silver given to him, Dong Xiaoye asked his brothers to search for strong laborers, and finally found about 500 people. Dong Xiaoye poured everything he had, took out 10,000 taels of silver, made up 50,000 taels, and spread the silver in vain to the workers who had never seen a few big money, Dong Xiaoye shouted: "Whoever follows Lao Tzu to kill the thief, this hundred taels of silver is for whom, and after killing the thief, you will take the silver to buy two acres of land and live a good life." When the time comes, Lao Tzu will send the brothers off with wine, and there will be no difficulties! As for the directions to other places, the Governor also agreed, and he must prepare them for the brothers. ”

……

As one of the seventeen horsemen who once had trouble with Deng Ming in Kunming, Jiang Nan's qualifications were quite old in the Ming army, and he naturally had the rank of captain in the standing army. After crossing the river, Deng Ming approached Yangzhou from the south with the main force, while Jiang Nan's division belonged to the right flank, and when the main force threatened Yangzhou, he would go north along the canal and advance in the direction of Gaoyou Lake to ensure the safety of the flank of the main force. Not far from Jiang Nan, there are also Wu Baoping's soldiers and horses, who are older than Jiang Nan and are one of the guards around Deng Ming in the Battle of Wanxian.

When advancing along the canal, Jiang Nan was like looking for some millers to pull fiber for the Ming army to save the Ming army's body, and Deng Ming also allocated him some silver to pay for it. But the Cao Gong fled without a trace, so that Jiang Nan could not find a large amount of manpower to use.

The officers and soldiers of the Qing court were about to collapse at the touch of a button, and after seeing the Ming army, they either fled or surrendered with their heads in their hands, and the fiercest resistance encountered since crossing the river was actually brought by some Caogong. Jiang Nan was very puzzled by this, and at the pre-war meeting, a Zhejiang officer who was familiar with Jiangbei gave an explanation, saying that these Caogong had always been a grass on the wall, and since ancient times, they had served the power that ruled the canal, and would not intervene in the war for hegemony -- similar to the Yan Shenggong and the Shengzi Confucian Mansion in Qufu, who was loyal to Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, and Li Zicheng immediately went to the table to persuade him to enter the Beijing Dynasty, and shaved his head immediately after the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs.

After defeating the resistance of the two groups of Caogong, Jiang Nan captured a group of prisoners, and in the face of these prisoners of war who were obviously ordinary people, Jiang Nan was a little at a loss, and did not know how to treat them according to Deng Ming's prisoner of war policy. In the end, Jiang Nan ordered these captives to be organized and pulled for the ships of the Ming army.

"Captain, there's enemy soldiers blocking the way."

A sharp-eyed guard pointed ahead and reported loudly to Jiang Nan.

"Hmm." Jiang Nan looked at the heads of those black people in front of him and fell into deep thought.

On the canal in front of them were some wooden rafts and bamboo rafts, which were chained up by people to prevent the Ming army from continuing to drive on the canal, and there were some people on both sides of the obstacle who were holding sticks to guard the fixed points of the iron chains.

"Is it another Caogong? What benefits did the Qing soldiers give them that would make them work so hard? Jiang Nan observed the appearance of the enemy troops, and there were more than a hundred Caogong guards on each side of the river, they had no armor, and they did not have any sophisticated weapons worth mentioning.

Jiang Nan's detachment had five hundred people, two hundred of whom had armor, and the others also had steel knives and even a bow and arrow. There was no need to delay too much time for these enemies, Jiang Nan ordered the ships to move on, sail into the barrage fortifications, and then put a large number of armor soldiers on the west bank to expel those enemies on the shore.

But after the Ming soldiers approached him, the guards suddenly shouted, and they fled from their posts and fled to a house not far away.

"No need to pursue." Jiang Nan had no interest in attacking these workers, so he ordered the soldiers to untie the chains and then go to expel the enemy on the other side.

When the Ming army was unchaining, suddenly there was a rapid bangzi sound in the west, and then Jiang Nan went to a large number of Cao workers rushed out from behind the houses not far away, shouting and rushing towards the Ming army on the shore.

There were more than 1,000 of these workers, and they commanded their heads to climb onto the roofs and observe the battle. The dwellings of the canal on both sides provided good shelter for the Caogong, and more than 2,000 fighting Caogongs gathered here belonged to five Caotou, which were evenly deployed on both banks.

Thousands of people poured out from behind the houses, shouting and rushing to the shore with a very striking momentum, according to the experience of the Caotou, this kind of surprise attack can deal a heavy blow to the enemy's morale, and in many cases, even if there are few people on their own side, relying on a sudden charge can scare the enemy into fleeing, thus establishing victory in one fell swoop.

"It turns out that there is an ambush, did they just want to lure us to the back of the house to ambush?" The momentum of a large number of enemies suddenly rushed out also startled Jiang Nan, and he kept killing the workers from behind the houses, and he didn't know how many enemy troops there were, so he immediately ordered the archers on the ship to gather on the right side, ready to cover the soldiers and slender men on the ground.

Some of the Cao workers held flat poles, and some held wooden spears, roaring and rushing to the shore, and more than 100 Ming soldiers did not flee in the desert, or jumped into the water and swam to their ships as the Cao Bosses imagined, but under the command of the officers, they formed a tight battle formation shoulder to shoulder, ready to meet the charge.

Not long after the bangs rang on the west bank, the sound of bangzi sounded like rain behind the houses on the east bank, and a large number of workers also rushed out from behind the houses and rushed towards the canal.

"So there's one here." Jiang Nan was taken aback again, he immediately turned to the other side, observing the number and formation of the enemy: "Why don't they concentrate all their men on one side, but divide them on both sides?" ”

Many people have also seen this kind of large-scale group fighting, and many of them are also thugs who are fighting in the front, and they are even more experienced in the rivers and lakes. Every companion around him was shouting loudly, and they were all rushing forward, and everyone in the formation felt that they had dissolved into a whole with their companions around them, and thousands of people turned into an invincible torrent, as if they could rush all the way to the edge of the sky.

But after rushing for a while, the team stopped, and the Cao Gong, who was squeezed behind, had nowhere to vent his enthusiasm, so he could only push his companions in front of him and make a louder shouting of killing. Crowded with people, full of movement, the front, front, left and right, the Caogong could only continue to shout and kill, or throw the stone in his hand into the sky with all his might, and go over the heads of his companions in the hope of smashing the enemy by the river.

No matter how hard they pushed, the team was never able to take a step forward, and although the workers in the back row of the team did not participate in the battle, they also spent a lot of energy in the hard pushing. Their shouts gradually muffled, and their faces began to show fatigue. At this time, the workers in the back row felt a huge push from the direction of their arms, and the whole team seemed to be starting to retreat, and the people in front were falling backwards.

A large number of workers crowded into a group, cursing and pushing each other, those in front wanted to go backwards, and those in the back wanted to move forward......

Zheng Yaojun was one of Jiang Nan's archers on the boat, and he was ordered to shoot at the enemy troops in Xi'an at the beginning, and the Ming soldiers on the shore gathered into a circle, maintaining the length of only thirty or forty people against the enemy - if it were not for the protection of the captured slender men, the circle formation of the Ming army could have been smaller, and behind the double-layer Ming army defense line were slender men holding their heads and squatting on the ground.

The enemy army formed an arc formation on the shore, and Zheng Yaojun could go to a group of Cao Gong and rush directly to the shore to attack the very edge of the Ming army's circle formation. Several of the strong Caogong who rushed to the front were stabbed to the ground one after another, holding their flat poles and falling in a pool of their own blood, and the enemy who followed them stopped when they saw this, brandished the clubs in their hands, and shouted loudly at the armor soldiers of the Ming army.

The Ming soldiers in the front row and the back row exchanged positions, and when the retreating Ming soldiers got a breath of rest, the Ming soldiers who switched to the front listened to the drums that began to beat behind them, and slowly raised their spears and took two steps forward.

Seeing this, the Cao Gong, who stopped at a safe distance and shouted at the Ming army, immediately tried to retreat, pushing and shouting with his companions behind him.

The Ming army slowly took two steps forward, and Zheng Yaojun went to many Cao Gong to throw the flat poles and sticks in their hands towards the Ming army, making a tinkling sound on their iron armor, and then turned around and squeezed into the group of companions.

At this time, Zheng Yaojun received an order to turn from the left side of the boat to the right side, and on this side of the bank, a large number of Cao laborers rushed to the shore without hindrance and threw stones at the Ming army on the river.

Although there were no bows and arrows, the Ming troops on the side of the ship still erected their shields and meticulously protected the ship.

Stones flew like hailstones, and the Ming army with shields hid behind cover, erecting the shields in their hands straight.

Zheng Yaojun walked behind a shield bearer and aimed at a big man on the shore from the gap...... Shoot, then step back and wind the bowstring and walk behind the shield again.

To a person who is lighting a torch in his hand, even this kind of rudimentary fire attack equipment is very rare among Caogong, so this enemy is also very conspicuous. Zheng Yaojun immediately aimed at this enemy, but before he could shoot, the feather arrows of another Ming army had already hit him - if the other party was a regular army, then this enemy would not receive much attention, because the threat of ordinary torches is very low, even if it can hit the ship, it may not be able to ignite, even if it can ignite, it will be trampled by one foot, under normal circumstances, the Ming army archers will definitely give priority to attacking the opponent's officers, firecrackers, archers, oilers, and even spearmen, but in today's engagement, This cao worker squeezed to the shore and was targeted by several Ming army shooters.

The Ming army on the west bank had already advanced a dozen paces, and the attackers threw down their poles and sticks everywhere and fled back to the place where their attack began.

And the Caogong on the east bank also began to flee, and there were dozens of corpses lying on the bank of the canal, but after discovering that the enemy army began to retreat, Jiang Nan immediately ordered to stop shooting: "Bows and arrows are very expensive. ”

After removing the obstacles, the Ming ships continued to advance, and the crushing defeat in front frightened the Caotou behind, and the Ming army did not encounter the enemy who continued to rush out of the concealment for a decisive battle, but occasionally stones flew out from behind the houses not far away.

Some of the slender men were hit with stones and their heads were bleeding, and these stones did not pose any threat to the Ming army wearing armor, but one Ming soldier was thrown into the helmet and his head was bleeding.

The wounded Ming soldiers immediately drew their weapons and rushed towards the hut with their two companions, but when the armored Ming soldiers arrived, they fled from behind the house as if a single figure had flown away.

But after the Ming soldiers kicked open the door and rushed into the house, they only went to the family of Caogong who knelt on the ground, this Caogong covered his wife and children behind his back, knelt on the ground and wept bitterly at the Ming army, he was just a poor Caogong, who had been pressed by Caotou by the canal for several generations. All the property is this ancestral thatched hut, because it is close to the canal, you can also make some small transactions with passing merchants, so that you can ask for a wife and settle your family.

According to this Cao Gong, it was a nearby thug who threw stones at the Ming army just now, and he did not dare to refuse the request of the vicious fellow.

Blood trickled down his cheeks and chin from the wound on his forehead, and the enraged Ming soldier kicked the cao worker down, and because he had nowhere to vent, he smashed two clay pots in the hut before leaving.

Advancing again, a similar situation happened a few times, and those slender captives were just a few of them, and a few of his subordinates were smashed to the point that their noses were blue and their faces were swollen, and Jiang Nan also felt angry.

"These Cao Gong really don't know what to do, and they actually fight against officers and soldiers." It doesn't matter if Jiang Nan has a large number of soldiers in his hands, but he only has five hundred soldiers in his hands, and he is also ordered to sweep the river officers and soldiers of the Qing court to the north, obviously unable to retaliate against these nasty Caotou.

There are many such houses close to the river on both sides of the canal, and Jiang Nan, who has a limited number of troops, will definitely not be able to control them one by one, and he is not willing to let his subordinates inspect these houses one by one, in case the other party ambushes a large number of thugs in a certain area, it will pose a serious threat to the search team.

On both sides of the canal were prisoners for the Ming army, and in order to prevent them from escaping or being dispersed by the enemy troops who suddenly rushed out, a small number of armor soldiers must be deployed further outside to cover them, so it seems that the Ming army must endure this kind of harassment.

"Now it's just stones, what if there are Qing army river soldiers who hide fire guns and feather arrows in these houses?" Deng Ming had explained in advance that he must not harass the people on both sides of the canal, but now the behavior of these Cao Gong is different from Deng Ming's guess, showing their hostility to the Ming army, Jiang Nan thinks that it seems that they should not continue to be harmless people.

In front of him, there was another dwelling not far from the canal, Jiang Nan looked at the covering troops on the shore, and felt that his first obligation was to ensure the safety of his comrades.

"Ignite the fire," Jiang Nan had made up his mind, and gave a new order: "Burn down all the houses less than fifty steps from the canal." ”