After meeting He Zhen, Hao Shaoqi and others, Deng Ming led the army to set off for the Three Gorges. When Deng Ming set out from the Three Gorges half a year ago, there were only 19 guards around him, but now there are more than 30,000 men and nearly 20,000 relatives who are returning to Sichuan with him. Seeing the mighty fleet on the river behind him, Deng Ming couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

Because he failed to stay in Jiangling, Zhao Tianba felt that he had lost another opportunity to become famous in the world, so he was sullen along the way, and he was a joke by Zhou Kaihuang. This time Zhao Tianba's mention also made Zhou Kaihuang a little tempted, since leaving Yuan Zongdi to follow Deng Ming, Zhou Kaihuang has never commanded soldiers again, and he was just a guard captain in the Dachang Army before, and now Deng Ming has commanded tens of thousands of troops, and it is estimated that it will become more in the future. Zhou Kaihuang thought that he would have the opportunity to command thousands of troops in a short time, and he would be very excited when he thought of this, and now Zhou Kaihuang was only in his twenties, and even in the Dachang army, there were few such young generals.

Except for this group of guards and a few guides, the other people who followed Deng Ming had never been to the Three Gorges before, and although they had also seen mountains, they could definitely not compare with the topography of the Three Gorges. Like the people of Zhejiang and Huguang, Ren Tang also came to the Three Gorges for the first time, and after seeing the magnificent mountain walls on both sides of the river, Ren Tang was also angry, and stood by the edge of the boat all day long to watch the two sides of the river.

Mu Tan stood next to Ren Tang and watched the scenery with him: "Although I have been here once, the scenery here is really never tired of seeing, although our Fujian mountains are also majestic, but it is still a little worse than here." ”

"yes." Ren Tang tried his best to raise his head and look at the towering mountain range: "It's really dangerous here." ”

The cliffs on both sides of the river provide many excellent viewing positions, and the flotilla of ships going upriver on the river can definitely be seen at a glance, and occasionally some bays and tributaries will appear, and every time he sees them emerging from behind the rocks, Ren Tang will comment: "If you ambush a fleet here, you will definitely be able to catch us off guard." ”

After entering Wuxia, Zhou Kaihuang happily ran out to be a guide for everyone, telling the people around him about the famous places along the way. When passing by the mouth of the Daning River, Zhou Kaihuang kept sighing: "It's a pity that I don't have time to go to Dachang, there are small Three Gorges and small Three Gorges, although the mountains are slightly shorter, but because the river is narrow, it is not inferior." Both sides of the river are straight up and down cliffs, at the bottom of the valley even if you look up you can't see the top of the mountain, the top is so narrow that a horse can jump over! ”

According to the administrative division, this place already belonged to the Sichuan Political Envoy Department, but Deng Mingxiang was stopped by Zhou Kaihuang when he wanted to speak, and he said that only by crossing Kuimen could he really arrive in Sichuan.

The flotilla continued to move forward, and finally, the entrance to the Three Gorges appeared in front of everyone's eyes, and the rocks on both sides were so high that they seemed to be shrouded in clouds and mist, and gradually revealed as the fleet approached.

"This is Kuimen!" As Zhou Kaihuang shouted, the soldiers on the ship rushed to the bow of the ship, stretched their necks and looked at the gate of Sichuan: "The world is Xiongguan!" ”

Two straight and steep rock walls sandwiched a thin slit that goes straight to the blue sky, the Yangtze River flows out from the bottom of the gap, looking from afar, the plank road on both sides of the bank seems to be close to the river, but in fact they are all hanging on the cliff dozens of meters high from the river surface, in addition to sailing, this is the only way to go to Fengjie through Guò Kuimen.

When the ship passed through the gate, Ren Tang felt that there was really a feeling of Mount Tai being overwhelmed, compared to this gate, even the big ships on the river were like ants, not to mention the people on board.

"I've seen it, but I'm still excited to see it again." Mu Tan beside him, like Ren Tang, looked at the magnificent Kuimen with fascination, and after passing through the Guò Kuimen, Mu Tan suddenly shouted: "How can such majestic mountains and rivers be given to Tartar?" ”

Ren Tang loudly agreed, feeling that Mu Tan had shouted his heart.

"Look, the city on the mountain is the White Emperor City, and Fengjie is on a mountain behind." Zhou Kaihuang stretched out his hand and pointed ahead, after the boat sailed out of Kuimen, the scene in front of him seemed to be much more open all of a sudden, Zhou Kaihuang turned around and shouted at his companions on the boat: "Everyone, you have arrived in Sichuan." ”

…… běijīng。

After learning that Deng Ming had returned to Huguang, Shunzhi sweated for Huguang again, this young man who seemed to have jumped out of a stone, stirred half of the wall in less than a year, making several provinces uneasy.

Previously, due to Zheng Chenggong's attack, the Qing court did not dare to let Henan Green Battalion go to reinforce Huguang, but was always ready to rush to the aid of Jiangning; After Zheng Chenggong was repulsed, Deng Ming followed and killed, and the green battalion near Nanjing suffered heavy losses, and the troops of Shandong and Henan began to move towards Jiangning, and some of them had already rushed to the southeast with Dasu, so Henan was still unable to send reinforcements to Huguang; After Deng Ming withdrew from the army, Shunzhi had the idea of letting some Henan troops go south, but Henan said that they had exhausted the military rations of the feudal treasury in order to reinforce the southeast, and if they wanted to send Henan soldiers and horses, they needed to allocate food and wages.

Shunzhi knew that what Henan said was not a lie, and it was definitely not a deliberate prevarication, because in the past few years, the Qing court had been making every effort to maintain Hong Chengchou's 5,000-mile defense line, and Henan, as the hinterland and rear, not only did not have food replenishment, but also allocated materials to support the front line. Last year, the Qing court went all out to attack the southwest, and did not invest in the Henan Green Camp at all. This time, as soon as he heard that Shunzhi had a plan to pro-conquer, Henan immediately gathered 10,000 troops, and with the order of the Qing court, he rushed to meet Dasu at full speed, and this kind of hard-working jīng god made Běijīng very satisfied. Now Henan has indicated that it needs food and salary, which is indeed a reasonable demand.

The problem is that Běijīng cannot allocate grain and grass to Henan, because the losses in the southeast are very heavy, and almost all the grain in western Jiangxi this year has been taken by Deng Ming; Suzhou was attacked and harassed by Ma Fengzhi, not only did the grain fall into Ma Fengzhi's hands, but he also coerced a large number of people to attack Hangzhou. From Anqing to Wusong, the garrisons of Jiangsu's provinces needed to be rebuilt; Dasu's military horses also needed a lot of grain and grass, so it was impossible for Henan to get the supplies it needed, and the green battalion could not go south for reinforcements.

Deng Ming led the Xinsheng Division, and had a large number of ships and grain and grass, and Shunzhi was already mentally prepared for Hubei erosion at the beginning, but the shape was far better than he imagined. What made Shunzhi even happier was that in this Hubei offensive and defensive battle, an outstanding young man emerged.

"Zhou Peigong." Shunzhi read out the name softly, recently this name has frequently appeared in front of the emperor, although this person is young, not yet thirty, but loyal and patriotic, more wise and brave, leading a small green battalion and Deng Ming's army repeatedly around, robbing the camp, ambushing rì night and night, and each time can avoid Deng Ming's counterattack in time, although there is nothing worth mentioning victories and gains, but the Ming army sāo is overwhelmed. Seeing that he could not stabilize his rule, Deng Ming finally had to return to western Hubei gloomily, and Zhou Peigong, who had repeatedly made military exploits, also returned to Wuchang at that time, and stood at the head of Wuchang City with the governor Zhang Changgeng to mock Deng Ming, who had returned from the feather. According to Zhang Changgeng's report, at that time, the Qing army in Wuchang beat the drum together, and the sound shook the sky, while the morale of the Ming army was low, and the army was silent.

"Faith rewards must be punished, so that the heroes of the world can serve the court." Shunzhi immediately made a decision to formally appoint Zhang Changgeng as the governor of Huguang, and approved all personnel appointments to Zhang Changgeng. As for Zhou Peigong, Shunzhi remembered that he was the first to discover the former Wuchang prefect's collaborator, and now he has made such great achievements: "Zhang Changgeng promoted Zhou Peigong as the prefect of Wuchang, and I was allowed to sue Zhou Peigong, although some people said in front of me that he was still young and worried that he lacked experience, but I was optimistic about him, and I valued ability and merit, not what age." ”

"The emperor is wise." Sony praised.

And Ao Bai rolled his eyes, and said angrily: "Your Majesty, let's just say that the slave does not agree to use Zhou Peigong, for which the slave was reprimanded by the emperor, I heard that the emperor even scolded the slave for him, then Zhou Peigong must be grateful to Dade, and he will definitely be able to sacrifice his life for the emperor in the future." ”

"Okay, just according to what Ao Bai said." Shunzhi nodded, and thought about it again: "Let the portrait of Zhou Peigong be presented in front of the palace, I want to see the appearance of this Huguang hero." ”

"Yes." Ao bowed to Sonny and replied. Liang Huafeng's portrait had been sent to běijīng before, and Shunzhi praised it after seeing it, saying that it was really good-looking, worthy of the name of a brave general. Because Jiang Ning turned the corner again, Shunzhi was in a good mood, so he appointed Jiang Guozhu to take over Lang Tingzuo's position: although Jiang Guozhu was also one of the people responsible for the battle of Zhenjiang, but now Shunzhi and the banner people hate Guan Allegiance the most, after Jiang Guozhu killed Guan Allegiance, most of the Manchurian anger has also disappeared, and Shunzhi also needs to show the officials of the world a clear posture of rewards and punishments.

After talking about the matter of Huguang, and talking about the southeast, Anqing, Chizhou, and Taiping were all controlled by Deng Ming before, Songjiang Mansion was occupied by Ma Fengzhi, Suzhou Mansion was also swept by Ma Fengzhi except for the city, and Zhenjiang Mansion and Jiangning were completely destroyed.

Shut down

"Since there is no hope for this year's tax, it is better to simply issue an order to exempt it." Unlike Chongzhen, Shunzhi paid great attention to tax exemption after his pro-government, whether it was a flood or a drought or a military disaster, Shunzhi would provide relief and tax exemption once it was verified, and the peasants in the Manchu ruled area also had a way to live, which greatly reduced the appeal of the insurgents. This time the southeast is fighting so hard, Shunzhi will follow the previous countermeasures, and all taxes in these areas will be exempted this year.

In addition to Jiangsu, Hubei's war-torn prefectures and counties are also exempt from taxes this year, in addition to Zhejiang, Huzhou, Hangzhou's taxes were also considerable, but Huzhou was also looted by Ma Fengzhi, and now he is still besieging Hangzhou, Zhang Huangyan has captured Yuyao, and it is said that he is now moving to Ningbo.

Seeing that Shunzhi was exempted from taxes in so many places in one go, although Ao Bai agreed, his heart still hurt a little, Shunzhi laughed when he saw this: "These places can provide three million taels of silver and four million stones of grain every year, and they have been reduced in one breath, don't I feel distressed?" But Chongzhen's experience is not far away, if it is forcibly requisitioned, first of all, the people may not still be there, they are all starving to death, who will go to farm next year? Secondly, if the people can't survive and are instigated by the evil thieves, they will immediately be in flames. ”

In addition to dealing with these personnel and tax issues, there is another very important topic for Shunzhi today, that is, future strategic planning.

Recently, Da Su has kept proposing to move to Fujian, join forces with Geng Jimao and others, capture Kinmen and Xiamen, completely eliminate Zheng Chenggong, and relieve the pressure on coastal defense once and for all.

If Zheng Chenggong is eliminated, Zhang Huangyan alone will not be able to make any waves, and if Zheng Chenggong is eliminated, then the sailors of Fujian and Guangdong can also go north to Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and Zhang Huangyan will definitely be powerless to resist. If the threat of Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Huangyan was lifted, then the Qing court could invest the saved military funds in the southwest and concentrate on dealing with the Ming army in Sichuan and Yunnan.

Now that Dasu has set off for Zhejiang, with Dasu present, Běijīng thinks that Ma Fengzhi will soon be defeated.

"Ma Fengzhi is just a rabble, and he has been under the city of Hangzhou for a long time, and the morale and morale of the army are no longer enough to worry about." Ao Bai analyzed that according to Hangzhou's report, Ma Fengzhi tried to attack at first, but failed to take Hangzhou for three consecutive days, and now he has turned into a trap. After this group of troops was repelled by the defenders of Hangzhou, it meant that Ma Fengzhi's combat effectiveness had suffered a great loss, first attacking Suzhou Buke, and then abandoning Songjiang to fight Hangzhou, and Buke, it was Ma Fengzhi's old department, and now the morale is very suspicious. As for the rest of the army, they were all ordinary people coerced by Ma Fengzhi, who were neither equipped nor trained, and they were likely to disperse in a hurry after seeing the Qing army, even if they did not break down and defeat them, it would not take much effort. It is absolutely no problem for the grain storage in Hangzhou to hold on for another month or two, and Dasu will definitely be able to arrive in time: "If the emperor wants to attack Jinxia, then Dasu does not have to return to Jiangning, and directly enters Fujian from Zhejiang." ”

"Zheng Wei doesn't seem to be able to fight on the ground." Shunzhi said with a deep groan, the green battalion in Fujian was defeated by Zheng Chenggong many times in the past, and the reinforcements sent from Zhejiang and Jiangsu were also defeated by Zheng Chenggong more than once. However, the First Battle of Nanjing completely overturned Běijīng's judgment of Zheng Chenggong's combat effectiveness, and Zheng Chenggong's army of more than 100,000 or 200,000 was beaten by Liang Huafeng's 3,000 sailors and lost his armor. As for the previous battle of Zhenjiang, běijīng can only be understood as Zheng Chenggong handing over good luck, or that Guan Xiaozhong is too stupid - although Guan Xiaozhong is dead now, the banner officer in the battle of Zhenjiang is not dead, and Shunzhi has ordered to be punished.

"But Jinxia is hanging overseas, is it easy for officers and soldiers to pass?" Shunzhi expressed his doubts in his heart, and after canceling the pro-conquest, the Manchu, Mongolian, and Han Eight Banners of Běijīng were no longer dispatched, but the green battalions of Shandong and Shanxi continued to move south, and these northern green battalions would add up to more than 30,000 people, and they would have a large number of cavalry, the number was about seven or eight thousand.

"Actually, it's not too far away," Ao Bai has also carefully analyzed the geography of the Xiamen generation in the past few days, and he said to Shunzhi with confidence: "Geng Fan and Fujian Sailors should be able to transport people over, and Xiamen Island is very large, Zheng Shunshui can't take care of them all, and it's not that he hasn't boarded it before, but the Fujian Green Camp is too incompetent, and even Zheng Shun can't beat it, so he can't occupy it." This time, Da Su led his troops forward, not only brave generals, but also nearly 10,000 cavalry, as long as he went to the island, Zheng Rui would have no physiology. ”

"The servant asked Huang Wu carefully, Xiamen is indeed not far from the mainland, Geng Fan, Fujian Sailor and Guangdong Sailor can transport 20,000 or 30,000 soldiers and horses over at a time. However, there are just in case, so you must be on guard. Sony also agreed to let Dasu go to Fujian, but Dasu also brought 3,000 Manchurian Eight Banners to the south, Sony didn't want these precious Manchurian soldiers to make any mistakes: "Let the green battalion go first, let the sailors transport the green battalion first, let Dasu and the banner soldiers stay behind, if Zheng is fighting against the water, the drowning will be the Han army; If the Han army can go up, it will not be too late for the Eight Banners to go again, and this time Dasu's side is not the useless Fujian Green Battalion, but the Green Battalion from Shandong, Henan, and Shanxi, and there are also thousands of cavalry. It is much stronger than Liang Huafeng's Su Song Water Division, maybe they don't have to go ashore with the Eight Banners, and they will wipe out Zheng Rei. ”

Shunzhi thought for a while and nodded: "You are right, then give Dasu an order, let him move to Fujian after defeating Ma Reverse, and exterminate Zheng Reverse." However, I have said first, whether it is to fight against horses or Jinxia, the Eight Banners of Manchuria are not allowed to go into battle. ”

"Not allowed to go into battle?" Sonny asked, somewhat surprised.

"Yes, as you said, whether it is to fight Ma Wei or Zheng Wei, the northern green battalion is enough, there is no need for the Eight Banners to go into battle, just keep an eye on the Han army in the back and let them do their best." Shunzhi said: "Dasu don't cross the sea, just watch it on the mainland, and leave the matter of crossing the sea and landing to the Han army." ”

"The emperor is sage, and the servants obey the order."

After saying so many things today, Shunzhi felt a little tired, but the matter was not over yet, and Li Guoying, the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi, still had a chapter there, and he needed Běijīng to agree to his plan.

"Li Guoying said that the Kuidong group of thieves is returning to Fengjie in a steady stream, and with the existing forces in his hands, I am afraid that it will be difficult to recover Fengjie in a hurry, and the Kuidong thieves will be blocked to the east of Kuimen." Sony felt that Li Guoying's actions were a little slow, but this was also caused by the shortage of materials: "The tax in Sichuan Province is only 3,000 taels a year, the officials are only 5,000 taels, the yamen expenditure is 5,000 taels, the military salary is 400,000 taels, and the grain and grass are 300,000 stones." Since Fengjie could not be taken in the short term, Li Guoying planned to temporarily abandon Yunyang, hold on to Wanxian, and then send 10,000 people to attack Chengdu. If Chengdu is taken, it can be in Tuntian, western Sichuan, and then through the Yangtze River to transfer chóngqìng and Wanxian. ”

Li Guoying reported to Běijīng that the land in western Sichuan is fertile, and as long as a number of military cantonments are established, a small success can be achieved in one or two years, and a large part of the grain and grass needed by the Qing army in Sichuan can be provided by western Sichuan, and it is not necessary to transfer all of them from Shaanxi. In Li Guoying's timetable, two years later, the Qing army in Sichuan could greatly strengthen the strength of Wanxian County, take the initiative to start a confrontation with the Ming army, and attack Fengjie with the support of military rations in western Sichuan.

"The minions think it's possible." After Sony introduced Li Guoying's plan, it expressed its support.

"The minions also think it's feasible." Ao Bai echoed.

It is said that with the unanimous support of these two people, Shunzhi will agree to the plan handed over by the local government, but today Shunzhi did not immediately approve Li Guoying's strategy, but asked rhetorically: "But that Deng Ming, will Li Guoying get his wish?" ”

"Now that Deng Ming has returned to Huguang, will he return to Fengjie?" Shunji asked.

"Probably not, Sichuan is remote, Deng Ming should still look at Huguang, and then try to enter Jiangxi and continue to attack the southeast." Sony replied immediately.

"Not necessarily." Shunzhi shook his head: "What you said is common sense, but this Deng name can't be measured by common sense, I feel that he has retreated a little quickly from the southeast and Hubei." ”

"Don't take Huguang and Jiangxi, but go to Sichuan?" Sony's mind was a little spinning for a while.

"What the emperor said is," Ao Bai suddenly agreed: "Although the southeast is densely populated and rich in products, it is also a place heavily guarded by the imperial court, and the rescue is relatively fast, Deng Ming may really go to Sichuan." ”

Sony thought about it, and there was indeed such a possibility, now Deng Ming had a lot of grain and grass obtained from Jiangsu, and he could maintain a relatively large army in Sichuan: "But if Deng Ming goes to Sichuan, it is fine, the imperial court is just free to deal with Zheng Wei and Zhang Wei." ”

"I didn't say it badly, Sichuan is a peaceful place, it is easy to enter and difficult to come out, but if Deng Ming goes, you still have to delay him a little longer, don't let him suddenly come out again and make trouble for the imperial court." Shunzhi ordered: "Order Li Guoying to act quickly, take western Sichuan as soon as possible, and strive to meet military needs as soon as possible, the transfer from Shaanxi is already costly, and Shaanxi's grain and grass must be transferred from Beijing and Henan." Speaking of this, Shunzhi hesitated again: "That Gao Mingzhan, can you rest assured?" I remember that when Chóngqìng was attacked, Gao Mingzhan abandoned the city and absconded, but Li Guoying desperately said good things for him, and I had to give Li Guoying a little face, so I didn't ask for the guilt. ”

"The emperor can rest assured, the situation in Chengdu has been clearly investigated, Liu Yao and Yang Youcai are two thieves in the city, and there are only more than 10,000 peasant soldiers under their commands, and there are less than 1,000 people in armor, and it seems that more than 20,000 men have been moved from Jianchang recently, but they are also farmers and have no armor. Li Guoying handed him 10,000 soldiers and horses, including 3,000 in armor, and they were all good at fighting the Ganshan Green Battalion, so it was absolutely no problem to capture Chengdu. ”

"Well, it's better to do it than to do it." Shunzhi nodded, agreed with Aobai's statement, and continued to instruct: "You can't let Deng Ming take Chóngqìng, otherwise he will be able to get in touch with Li Dingguo in Yunnan, and it will take more effort for the imperial court to exterminate it." After a pause, Shunzhi ordered to allocate some food and salary from the treasury to Shaanxi, although the military expenditure has been huge in recent years, but the Qing court has more than 20 million taels of silver in taxes every year, and there are still some reserves in the treasury: "Let Li Guoying not stay in Baoning, send more jīng soldiers from Ganshan to Chóngqìng, if Deng Ming really enters Sichuan, he must be dragged there." ”