The speed of the Ming army's maneuver was much slower than Deng Ming imagined, and the women and children in the old camp were not good at marching, since it was impossible to leave them behind, they had to accommodate them. Many of them are small-footed women, who are also unable to get help from their husbands because of the implementation of the camp system, and who are the slowest to walk with their children.

"Do you have any good ideas?" After walking all morning, he didn't go far, and a large number of women were exhausted, so Deng Ming had to ask Zhao Tianba and Zhou Kaihuang for advice.

But these two men also couldn't come up with any ideas, because they also had no experience with actual cāo, and had only heard some accounts from their elders.

"Then let the people of the old camp take the boat." Deng Ming had no choice but to make this decision.

"If you don't let the soldiers save their bodies, what if you encounter a tartar?" Li Xinghan objected: "Now women can still help us carry some baggage, if we all use boats, in case of emergency, can we have time to unload it?" ”

Deng Ming thought about it for a while, and ordered the soldiers to bring their own weapons, and hired people to help carry the armor and load other things with the women. Fortunately, now the Zhejiang army has only more than 1,000 people, the column is not very long, and it is not too difficult to command. At the same time, Deng Ming also sent outposts to detect possible enemy forces in advance.

There was a long delay in adjusting the formation and rearranging the ships, and as a result, they did not get far in a day. The next day, the Ming army advanced faster, but because the whole army was on guard and searching, it still did not reach the distance expected by Deng Ming. This is also thanks to the Yangtze River that can be used, Deng Mingzhen doesn't know how Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong managed to be as erratic as the wind back then, but maybe the women in Chuang Ying and Xiying are all big feet, so they will not be dragged down by Yan zhòng.

After the outpost stopped a few teams, they all said that Zhang Huangyan's army had collapsed, which made the outpost very surprised, and hurriedly came back to report to Deng Ming.

It turned out that Zhang Huangyan had learned that Zheng Chenggong had abandoned Zhenjiang and that the lower waters were once again under the control of the Qing army, so he decided to go up the river and fight in the Jiangxi area to avoid the Qing troops in Nanjing.

"Why is Zhang Shangshu so confused?" Zhao Tianba shouted when he heard this, he was born in Xiying, and he didn't have special respect for Zhang Huangyan, so he didn't speak very politely: "Even if the Tartars have a water division, the whole army must break through downstream and fight to the death with the Tartars." The soldiers know that only by winning can they have life, and they will fight to the death, and the Tartars will fight for merit and reward, and they will not play with their lives the same. Even if you can't rush over, it's better to rush over one by one than to Jiangxi. ”

Zhao Tianba said the truth of "don't stop returning to the master" in the art of war, Ren Tang immediately blushed when he heard it, and argued: "Zhang Shangshu has been on the battlefield for a long time, don't you know this truth, there must be his reasons!" ”

"Zhang Shangshu has indeed fought for many years, but it doesn't seem to have won many battles." Zhao Tianba said coldly.

Deng Ming saw that the two were about to argue, and hurriedly came out to play a round: "Zhang Shangshu does have his reasoning, and the Zhejiang army is mixed, who will play the striker?" Who is the defender? How can each family defeat the Tartar sailors? ”

Ren Tang had already seen the chaos of the Zhejiang army in Tongling, and knew that what Deng Ming said was reasonable, so he stopped arguing, beat his chest and sighed: "You shouldn't bring your family at all, it's all the construction of the king of Yanping County, saying that this time to conquer Nanjing is not a problem, bring your family and then go to the southeast of Yongzhen." Even if you want to bring it, you should carry it after conquering Nanjing. ”

Deng Ming asked the officers and soldiers of Zhejiang: "How did Zhang Shangshu's army break up?" ”

After learning of Zheng Chenggong's defeat, the Qing troops who surrendered to Zhang Huangyan all defected, and last night a group of hundreds of Qing troops searched outside Zhang Huangyan's camp, they wanted to attack and kill some Ming troops to clear their sins, but they did not want to encounter Zhang Huangyan's main force. After discovering the strength of the Ming army, this group of Qing soldiers fled with a weak heart, and before fleeing, they indiscriminately placed a cannon on the Ming army.

The Ming army was originally a frightened bird, and suddenly heard the sound of guns and cannons at night, and suddenly all the battalions were in an uproar, thinking that the Qing army had come to rob the camp, and the Ming army attacked each other in the dark night, and there was a camp roar. After discovering that there was a commotion and shouting of murder all around, the soldiers fled in the dark with their families and dependents, trying to escape from the camp as much as possible - if it was really the main force of the Qing army robbing the camp, then the camp would definitely be the biggest target.

It was only after dawn that Zhang Huangyan was able to pacify the rebellious army, and after counting the number of people, he found that the remaining troops were only a few thousand. A large number of ships were also driven away by the Ming army, and the strength of the Zhejiang army's naval division was not much left. Zhang Huangyan felt that the situation was irreparable, and there was no chance to defeat the Jiangxi Green Battalion at all, so he led the remaining troops to the direction of Chaohu.

"Didn't you see the Tartars at all?" After listening to the narration, Deng Ming sighed again: "This is obviously a group of stragglers disturbing sāo. ”

"But in the dark of night, how do we know that there is no Tartar brigade?" Several of the Zhejiang army officers who were brought in felt very aggrieved, they hid for two days, and then found that there was no shadow of the main force of the Qing army around at all, so they came out to look for friendly troops, and also wanted to join Zhang Huangyan again, but found that there were only the routed soldiers who fled the camp like them, and Zhang Huangyan had left Wuhu.

"Zhang Shangshu has been gone for two days," Ren Tang immediately said to Deng Ming after hearing this: "The army around Zhang Shangshu still has his family members, and he will definitely not be able to go fast, and the commander will be able to catch up soon." ”

Deng Ming shook his head: "It's easy to chase Zhang Shangshu, but what about the Zhejiang officers and soldiers scattered around Wuhu?" Sooner or later, the Tartars will send troops to encircle and suppress them. The top priority is to gather all the defeated troops and then work together to get out of danger. ”

Now Deng Ming not only burned a strategy, but also took the credit of killing the governor of Huguang, he was unwilling to attract the main force of the Manchu Qing Dynasty too prematurely, so he asked Ren Tang to plant a big banner as Zhang Huangyan's staff to collect the rout, and only the generals of the Zhejiang army could know Deng Ming's identity.

After collecting a part of the Zhejiang soldiers, Deng Ming immediately told these people his plan, that is, to divide the male and female camps and follow him back to Huguang. Now the Qing army in Wuchang still has a large number of naval divisions, and there is a certain risk of sailing up the Yangtze River, but the Qing army does not have the ability to launch an offensive on the ground, as long as the Zhejiang army marches to the Hanshui Valley, it can safely enter the control area of the Kuidong army.

"But can the Three Gorges feed so many of us?" Although the road seemed relatively safe, the Zhejiang generals were a little worried, they heard that the area around Kuidong was quite barren, and the living conditions in the camp were very difficult.

"If you are willing to endure hardships, you can go to Sichuan," Deng Ming said to the Zhejiang soldiers: "The country of abundance in western Sichuan, fertile fields for thousands of miles, is basically a borderless land now, if you go, it is not a problem for a family to divide dozens of acres of land, in fact, there is no problem with hundreds of acres, I am afraid that the family will not be able to reclaim it." ”

Through the contact between Guò and the Zhejiang soldiers, Deng Mingcai realized how complex Zhang Huangyan's army was, including not only a large number of fishermen and farmers, but also many small traders and entertainers. Whether it is the Kuidong Army, the Dian Army or the Fujian Army, they are all traditional feudal armies, and the composition is mainly military households. However, there are many factions of the volunteer army in Zhejiang, and they absorb all kinds of anti-Qing fighters in society, from all walks of life, which is completely different from other Ming armies.

Although there are many Zhejiang people in the Zhejiang army, there are also many people from Anhui and Jiangsu, and even many people from Shandong. These people were not soldiers in the first place, because they were unwilling to live under the rule of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, so they went to Zhoushan with their enthusiasm. The courage of these Zhejiang soldiers who spontaneously resisted the Qing Dynasty was admirable, but their training and experience were so bad that Deng Ming met with the generals in the Zhejiang army one by one, and found that most of them had no experience in commanding soldiers to fight, and some of them were only because they took the lead in advocating resistance to the Qing Dynasty in their hometowns, so they were elected as leaders and brought everyone to the Zhejiang army.

Over the years, Zhoushan has been more like a large camp, where people from all over the world gathered, but they did not know how to build a fighting army. Zhang Huangyan did not have the materials to train these aspirants into an army, nor could he provide them with weapons and equipment, and he could only barely ensure that the Zhejiang army would not starve. Since this dispatch, the local Qing army has surrendered, and the Zhejiang army has easily occupied the prefectures and counties, and has not received any training.

For such Zhejiang soldiers, Deng Ming asked himself that he was not capable of turning them into tens of thousands of strong troops for the time being, so he pondered sending them to Sichuan to engage in agricultural production.

When Deng Ming was busy gathering stragglers and carrying out persuasion work at the same time, suddenly the people of Wuhu broke into the camp to complain. The day before yesterday, the people's grain was snatched away by a Zhejiang soldier, and today the people happened to collide with this Zhejiang soldier, so he shouted to catch the thief, grabbed the Zhejiang soldier, and the two were taken back to the camp by the Ming army patrolling outside the camp. Ren Tang immediately inquired about the matter, and the people told the story of the robbery in detail, and Deng Ming, who was listening on the side, saw that the prisoner's face was like ashes, kneeling on the ground and trembling, and he knew that this matter was mostly true.

Ren Tang's opinion was the same as Deng Ming's, and after asking to understand what had happened, Ren Tang sharply questioned the prisoner: "This matter is serious!" ”

The soldier just trembled, but could not say a word.

Ren Tang shouted again: "Officers and soldiers hang their lives to fight crimes, Zhang Shangshu said before sending out the army, if you can't control yourself, don't follow out, otherwise the military law will be ruthless." Do you think that now that the officers and soldiers are frustrated, you can do what you want? ”

After speaking, Ren Tang threw down an arrow and ordered the guards in the camp: "Drag it out and cut it off!" ”

Seeing that the soldier stepped forward to grab the prisoner and was about to drag him out of the camp, Deng Ming hurriedly shouted: "Wait! ”

"What does General Hu have to say?" Ren Tang turned his head and asked, Now in front of ordinary soldiers, Deng Ming is still under the pseudonym Hu Yidao.

"It's not right for him to rob X, but he hasn't hurt anyone......" Deng Ming looked at the criminal soldier and asked kindly: "Why do you want to rob X and rob people's property?" ”

"General!" Seeing that there was a savior, the prisoner suddenly regained his language ability: "When the whole camp was in chaos the night before yesterday, the villain escaped from the camp with his wife, and hid for a day without food, the child kept shouting hungry, and the villain was in a hurry when he escaped from the camp, and he had no money on him, so he grabbed something in a moment of confusion. ”

"Are you rich now?" Deng Ming asked, but without waiting for the soldier to answer, he took the initiative to say to the people who complained: "How much, I will give it to you for him, give you double the compensation, no, three times, all of them should be shocked." ”

"Thank you, General Hu." The prisoners kowtowed in gratitude.

"General, no." Ren Tang spoke up to stop: "Zhang Shangshu has an order, even if it robs the people of a penny, it is a capital crime, we are the officers and soldiers of the king's division, if we disturb the people, wouldn't it be no different from a tartar?" ”

Since this time the army was dispatched, Zhang Huangyan military discipline was very strict, and if something happened to disturb the people, he would definitely not tolerate it. A similar case has happened in Wuhu before, where a Zhejiang soldier threw down ten copper coins and forcibly took away a pocket of white noodles from ordinary people. After the people complained, Zhang Huangyan ordered the head of the criminal soldier to be displayed to the public, and the criminal soldier was shocked and shouted: "Master Zhang, why is this the villain's crime." And Zhang Huangyan replied: "I already have a military order, even if I have a penny, I will be beheaded, not to mention the white face worth four cents of silver?" Therefore, in the Zhejiang-controlled area, the people did not feel any fear of the Ming army, and they also dared to fight on the basis of reason when trading with the soldiers.

Ren Tang had an arrogant face when he recounted the incident, and when he was ordered to go to Tongling, he also shouldered the responsibility of supervising the army and not letting the officers and soldiers disturb the people.

Deng Ming was also secretly surprised when he heard this, and couldn't help but praise: "I heard that King Yue's army can be disciplined before, but King Yue can first make the soldiers fed and clothed, and the Zhejiang army is poor, so it is really amazing." ”

"Exactly," Ren Tang said loudly: "The Tartars abuse the people, our rebels expel the Tartars, and return peace to all the people in the world, how can we be the same as the Tartars?" After saying that, Ren Tang ordered the prisoner to be dragged out and executed.

"No, no." Deng Ming stopped it again, and at the same time took out a silver ingot from his arms and handed it to the person who complained: "This is for you, are you willing to withdraw the complaint?" ”

After seeing the piece of silver, which was far more than worth it, the people hurriedly nodded: "Yes." ”

"General Hu!" Ren Tang said angrily: "This is an appointment made by Zhang Shangshu with all the officers and soldiers before he sent out the troops. ”

"Killing people pays for their lives, debts are repaid, and no one is even injured, why do you have to pay for his life?" Deng Ming said disapprehantly: "What's more, Zhang Shangshu is not here now. ”

When he first saw the military appearance of the Zhejiang soldiers, Deng Ming thought that this was a plate of loose sand, but the story narrated by Ren Tang made him look at the Zhejiang soldiers with admiration. The fact that this army was able to maintain strict military discipline without mutiny shows that it was indeed composed of a group of people who were full of ambition to serve the country, and even if they had little combat experience and poor training, their enthusiasm was unquestionable.

It is precisely because of this that Deng Ming could not agree to the disposition of this soldier, and he also felt sorry for the soldier who was executed by Zhang Huangyan: "They are not military households, but they are willing to give up a life to expel the Tartars, these people are all strong men." Deng Ming raised his tone and asked Ren Tang, "Don't you want to recover the rivers and mountains?" Why do you want to kill a strong man for a penny? ”

After handling the case, Deng Ming ordered the military regulations to be revised, and all those who took the people's things were changed to pay money, and ten times the compensation was given, and if the soldiers had no money, Deng Ming could give them a cushion first, and in the future, they would be deducted from their military salaries.

After repairing near Wuhu for a few days, Deng Ming gathered nearly 30,000 Zhejiang soldiers, at this time Guan Xiaozhong, Liang Huafeng, and Jiang Guozhu each led troops and horses to the lower reaches of Nanjing to monitor Zheng Chenggong's actions, and the Qing army was quite contemptuous of the combat effectiveness of the Zhejiang soldiers, and did not regard it as a threat at all.

More than 20,000 Zhejiang soldiers were willing to take their families to Huguang, and they all knew that returning to Zhoushan would be unlucky, and they were unwilling to let their relatives take risks, hoping to find a place to stay in Kuidong and Xichuan. However, there are still more than 5,000 people who want to return to Zhoushan, and most of these people are bachelors, or have family members in Zhoushan and coastal areas.

One of the soldiers told Deng Ming about his reasoning, saying that Sichuan was a long way away, and that it was almost another world for him, and that the soldier estimated that if he went to distant Sichuan, he would never have the opportunity to return to his hometown: "I would rather risk my life to return to Zhoushan than be a ghost in a foreign land." ”

Ren Tang is also one of them, but he is not afraid of dying in a foreign land or because he does not want his wife to be separated - he has not yet married, but because he has some acquaintances in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, who can help the Zhoushan rebels to find out news and smuggle materials, he explained to Deng Ming: "If I go to Sichuan, I am not familiar with the place, I am afraid it will not be of much help to the great cause of the admiral, if I can get lucky to return to Zhoushan, I can at least help the rebels live better." ”

"If you scatter your actions, you will not survive; If you unite and walk together, the goal will be too big, and the Tartars will definitely chase and intercept them, and it will also be nine deaths. Deng Ming tried to persuade again: "With a good body, why do you want to die in vain?" ”

"Now the attention of the Tartars has been diverted by the king of Yanping County, the goal of our five thousand people is better than tens of thousands, we can make some weapons out of wood, the local Tartars will definitely not dare to fight when they see so many of us, and then we will go around the city, as long as the Tartars of Nanjing do not come to chase us immediately, we still have a chance." Ren Tang planned to set off with the Zhejiang soldiers as much as possible, and he now hoped that Zheng Chenggong would be able to attract the enemy for some more time and drag Guan Xiaozhong and the others down.

Speaking of this, Ren Tang couldn't help but complain: "Even if Nanjing is defeated, the king of Yanping County shouldn't leave immediately, isn't this a death to the Zhejiang soldiers?" ”

"It can't be said that the vanguard generals and lieutenants of the king of Yanping County have all fallen in Nanjing, and he can't save them if they are close in front of him, let alone the Zhejiang army in Wuhu?" Deng Ming defended Zheng Chenggong. He felt that Ren Tang's trip was too dangerous, even if Zheng Chenggong could contain the main force of the Qing army for a period of time, it might not be enough for the 5,000 Ming army to cross the inland of Jiangsu; Moreover, if Nanjing sent other troops to pursue, even if Ren Tang and them were dragged for a while, these Zhejiang soldiers would definitely not be able to survive.

"I'll give you a ride." Deng Ming made a decision.