"The Qing army in Chongqing is the most ferocious enemy of our Sichuan army...... Geng Yunlin earnestly briefed these southeastern immigrants who entered Sichuan for the first time.

At the beginning of the year, after the emperor's ** team won a great victory in Zhejiang, he shouldered the ardent hope of the Xuzhou Council, and was sent by the prefect of Yuan Xiang to make friends with the immigrants. In the past six months, Geng Yunlin has become very familiar with a large number of Zhejiang immigrants, and the other party also learned that western Sichuan is full of immigrants, including this Geng guide, Geng Yunlin was still farming in Jiangxi less than three years ago.

"Compared with the Qing army in Huguang and Liangjiang, the Ganshan Green Battalion is very vicious, and even when it is in a desperate situation, it often fights to the death and does not retreat, often causing heavy losses to our army." The only time Deng Ming was seriously wounded was in a battle with the Qing army in Chongqing, and that was also the only time that the Qing army took the initiative to pursue and attempt to annihilate the western Sichuan army under Deng Ming's command. Geng Yunlin saw that many immigrants had nervous expressions on their faces, and hurriedly comforted them: "But don't worry, we still won in the end. Moreover, the sailors of the Qing army in Chongqing were not good, and they were pressed by us in the Jialing River and did not dare to come out. Last year, they ran out of the Jialing River and made a big fuss, and within a few days we were called back. ”

Geng Yunlin's comfort did not have the effect he expected, and after hearing these words, Huang Feigang not only did not feel relieved, but became more nervous. He had heard that the Qing army in Chongqing had a naval division, and he dared to come out and confront the Ming army on the water—at least that was possible.

Huang Feigang looked around and noticed that the other companions were also worried. Although many of these immigrants from the southeast know water, the Yangtze River is different from the sea in their hometown, and it is a completely unfamiliar water for them. Moreover, the Ming army used a strict policy of family separation, and once the march began, husbands and wives were not allowed to meet -- it was said that this was not necessary for these immigrants, but the lessons of Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Huangyan last time were too painful, and Ren Tang and Mu Tan did not allow family members to get together in the treatment of immigrants in line with the principle of being prepared.

If the fleet was attacked and the ship was sunk by the Qing army, and he didn't know where his wife and children were, Huang Feigang would not be able to rescue his family. The flotilla sailed out of Causeway Gorge, and the guide pointed ahead and told everyone: "Look, there is Chongqing." ”

After hearing this introduction, Huang Fei's breathing became heavier as soon as he arrived, and sweat began to ooze from his palms - my family and I have traveled all the way through mountains and rivers, and we won't fall in front of the gate of Chengdu, right?

……

Standing at the head of Chongqing, the governor of Sichuan, Gao Mingzhan, looked into the distance, this time the momentum of the Ming army was unprecedented, the ships almost filled the Yangtze River channel, and the camp on the shore was even more grounded, covering the entire land.

"It's certainly not here to hit us." Gao Mingzhan came to this conclusion early on: "If you come to fight us, do you need so many people?" ”

As the Ming army got closer and closer, Gao Mingzhan noticed that many people were civilians, and those who inquired about the news also came back one after another, all reporting that these were sailors, craftsmen, and civilians who had been relocated from the southeast by the Ming army.

"It's all gone, it's all gone." Sun Sike shouted loudly: "Didn't you hear clearly, this is all passing, and it has nothing to do with us." ”

"It can't be said that it doesn't matter at all." Gao Mingzhan said with a deep groan.

"What do you think, Lord Governor?" Sun Sike asked rhetorically. Now the green battalion in Chongqing processes jewelry all day long - since they have promised to share a part of the profits to the Manchu and Han Eight Banners, and the garrison Eight Banners have also acquiesced, then the Han Eight Banners will naturally not come forward to oppose but make a fortune; The most important thing in the Eight Banners now is to strictly guard against thieves, and theft activities in Chongqing are extremely rampant, and many horses and weapons and equipment of the Eight Banners have been stolen and bought by merchants in western Sichuan as scrap - Sun Sike knew that some of them were sold by the Eight Banners themselves, and then claimed that they were stolen. Because he saw with his own eyes some soldiers of the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty smoking tobacco from Huguang, some eating salted fish and bacon, some people making porridge with salt duck eggs, and even carrying the kind of IOUs issued by western Sichuan in their arms -- if their equipment was stolen by thieves, how did these things come from? Could it be that the thief Tianliang found out and stuffed it under their beds in the dark?

With the morale of the current Chongqing army, if you fight with the western Sichuan army, you will definitely be beaten to the ground. Sun Sike felt that he was about to return to Boryeong anyway, and Chongqing was out of control, so let him go, and it would not be too late to pack up the army's heart when he returned to Boryeong-but listen to Gao Mingzhan...... Didn't he see that there were a lot of ordinary people on the other side, and Governor Gao wanted to go out of the city to grab a handful? If Gao Mingzhan forgets that he can eat a few taels of dry rice, Sun Sike will stop him even if he fights for his life.

"The price of selling scrap is really cheap, and the sons are miserable." Gao Mingzhan sighed sadly. He saw that many soldiers of the green battalion had cut out the iron sheets under the cotton armor and sold them, and the price of scrap collected by Chengdu merchants had not risen. Seeing that the end of the year is approaching, the sales of jadeite are not going to be smooth, how to let tens of thousands of Chongqing officers and soldiers have a fat year, this is really a difficult problem in front of Gao Mingzhan.

……

That night, Huang Feigang's camp was set up on the other side of Chongqing City, and he and his companions looked at the gloomy castle in the night, knowing that the most vicious enemy of the Western Sichuan Army was stationed inside. After a sleepless night, Huang Feigang and the others saw with their own eyes the murderous and fierce Ganshan Green Camp in the mouth of the guide.

"All kinds of wooden barrels, high quality, buy big and get small free!"

As soon as the day dawned, the soldiers of the Green Battalion holding green flags and wearing uniforms set up stalls next to the Ming army camp and sold their wooden barrels, because the merchants who collected the scrap would not ask for it, and Chengdu and Xuzhou could produce their own products. The Qing army felt that these immigrants might not know, so they washed all the wooden barrels and transported them across the Yangtze River early, hoping to deal with them at a cheap price: "Fellow countryman, take a bucket and go, such a cheap and good barrel, you can't see it all over the world!" ”

The Qing troops who came to do business were all family members of various generals or henchmen in armor, and there were no ordinary soldiers.

After having more contact with the merchants of western Sichuan, many soldiers of the Green Battalion had the intention of fleeing, but the merchants of western Sichuan and the generals of Chongqing had an agreement to promise not to assist the Qing soldiers in absconding. There is still a large area of no man's land between Chongqing and Xuzhou, so although the soldiers of the Green Battalion have this idea, it is difficult to put it into action.

Seeing hundreds of thousands of civilians passing by was a good opportunity for the Green Battalion soldiers to escape. However, their generals immediately realized this, and now the city of Chongqing is heavily guarded, and all the military camps are strictly forbidden to go out without authorization, and all the soldiers are locked up to work inside. What they produce can only be transported and sold by reliable soldiers, not even to the riverside to carry things to the suspicious unarmored soldiers.

"Kitchen knives are sold!" Another stall in the distance was filled with brand-new kitchen knives. Last night, Li Defu collected the last pieces of iron and the only remaining steel knives in the soldiers' cotton armor, stopped the processing of jadeite in his barracks, and produced civilian kitchen knives at full speed overnight -- if he could not catch up with this batch, then these things could only be sold as scrap metal. Anyway, when I return to Boryeong, the equipment will still be sent.

"Good knife, good knife!" Whenever someone looked at him, the Qing soldier who sold the knife would shout loudly and boastfully, and if an immigrant stopped in front of his stall, the soldier would desperately chop the wooden stakes on his stall with his knife to show how sharp the freshly made kitchen knives were.

The kitchen knives made by these blacksmiths in the army were indeed of good quality, and from time to time some people took out IOUs to buy one or two - when they passed through Wuchang, the Ming army issued a small IOU to each of the immigrants, telling them that they could try to use them in Wuchang, or save them and use them again after returning to western Sichuan. However, because it was said that it was to be repaid, and Wuchang's IOU was not blatantly circulated, most people did not have the opportunity to use it. Chongqing, on the other hand, is now unscrupulously accepting IOUs, and is soon making a lot of money from the pockets of immigrants.

"Thank you for your patronage and welcome to come back next time." Learning the etiquette of western Sichuan, the Qing soldiers of another stall bowed to the customers, and only after waiting for the people to go away did they straighten their chests again and continue to shout at the passing crowd: "Take a look, take a look, the fine whetstone, supervised by the Ministry of Imperial Works-the name of the craftsman is engraved on the back!" ”

When he left Chongqing, Huang Feigang, who had eaten a bowl of authentic Shanxi knife-cut noodles, had an old blanket on his back and a brand-new walking stick in his hand -- the riverside was full of Qing soldiers selling crutches, most of them made of bamboo, rattan, and pine, and they all said that the road to Xuzhou was very difficult to walk, and this crutch was not very expensive, and many immigrants took out one yuan to buy one for themselves.

Immigrants passed by the stall in a steady stream, and Song Liang worked hard to sell his goods, and the sales in the first two days met the requirements of the chief, and the rest of the profits were his own.

When night fell on Chongqing again, his companions from a few stalls next to him came to inquire about Song Liang's achievements today—just look at the empty stalls, and there was not even a bow or an arrow left—Song Liang must have earned a lot.

As soon as he lifted the cloth of the stall, Song Liang took out all the IOUs pressed underneath, a thick stack, which looked like at least a thousand yuan, which was equivalent to more than a dozen taels of silver.

"Don't say anything, don't say anything!" Song Liang was speechless excitedly: "I'll go to the Sichuan merchants to cut meat and buy wine, and the brothers will follow me." ”

After another trek, Geng Yunlin told the immigrants around him that there was Xuzhou ahead, and they were about to step into the Ming army's firmly controlled area; Tomorrow Deng Ming, the supreme governor of this area, will personally greet them, and a large number of officials from Chengdu and Xuzhou will also appear together to do their utmost to solve the problems in the lives and work of the migrants.

Geng Yunlin shouted loudly: "Tomorrow, our Yuan Governor of Xuzhou will also be there. I said, don't go forward, just stay in our Xuzhou, you will have a job and salary immediately, and Governor Yuan will help you build a house. If you can't find a job for a while, don't worry, the Xuzhou prefect's yamen can lend you money for food and clothing first, and no interest will be paid for the first few hundred yuan. ”