Jiang Guozhu and Liang Huafeng both hoped that Da Su would leave Jiangsu as soon as possible, as magistrates, they didn't want to raise such an army that was not under their control, not only the two of them thought so, but other officials in Jiangnan also didn't want to have such an emperor on their heads. Since Ma Fengzhi had given up Jiangnan and gone to Zhejiang, they hoped that Dasu would leave for Zhejiang as soon as possible, and when the reinforcements left Jiangnan, there would be no need for Nanjing to bear the food and salary of the support army.

Unlike Nanjing, Zhejiang's provincial capital was currently in an emergency, but he hoped that Dasu would go to reinforcements, and under the joint persuasion of both sides, Dasu also quickly made up his mind to report to Běijīng that Jiangnan had stabilized, and asked the imperial court to approve him to go to reinforce Hangzhou.

Dasu's qualifications are very old, he is the same as Ao Bai is the white armor guard of Huang Taiji, and he was already the commander of Huang Taiji's personal guard during the Songjin War. In the Battle of Songjin, Dasu also made meritorious contributions like Aobai, and when the Qing army entered the customs, he was already a general. In the successive battles of the Qing court to suppress the Jiang Pai rebellion, Dasu repeatedly made meritorious contributions and won the trust and appreciation of the Qing court. Before leaving Běijīng, Dasu was already the commander of the Shunzhi Imperial Forest Army, and after learning that Zheng Chenggong was threatening Nanjing, Shunzhi sent the fierce general Dasu to the south immediately while preparing for the expedition himself, hoping that he would be able to turn the tide.

When drafting the recital to the Qing court, Da Su was also a little hesitant, and the persuasion of Liang Huafeng and Jiang Guozhu in the past few days had a great effect, so that Da Su had the idea of attacking Jinxia in his heart. Although Zheng Chenggong has fought dozens of battles in Fujian over the past ten years, and has repeatedly defeated the Qing army with fewer victories and more victories, those are all green battalions after all. As a Manchurian, Dasu looked down on the combat effectiveness of the Green Battalion, believing that even if the Ming army could defeat the Han army, it would definitely not be the opponent of the Manchurian Eight Banners, and he didn't even need to do anything, as long as the military flags of the Manchurian generals were unfurled on the battlefield, the Ming army could be frightened and fled.

Dasu is not the only one who has this kind of thought, this is how Nikan thought at the beginning, and when he saw Li Dingguo's defeat in the Battle of Hengyang, he launched a pursuit without warning, and was eliminated by Li Dingguo. From then on, Manchurian generals, including Dasu, recognized Li Dingguo as distinctive, but their contempt for other Ming generals remained.

In this battle of Zhenjiang, Zheng Chenggong annihilated a large number of Manchurian Eight Banners, and Běijīng was greatly shaken, but also began to look at Zheng Chenggong differently. But the subsequent Battle of Nanjing changed Dasu's opinion, especially after he arrived in Nanjing and asked some generals who participated in the Battle of Nanjing, he decided that it was not Zheng Chenggong who had the ability, but that he was too incompetent to manage his allegiance, and he couldn't even defeat a group of rogues who had no fighting spirit.

Da Su is not without ambition, and he also hopes to get more military exploits to make himself to the next level, and looking around the sea, there are not many places suitable for him to perform: Guiyang is in the hands of Wu Sangui, and the king of Pingxi regards Yunnan as his territory more, and will not lightly allow others to interfere - even if he can Dasu, he does not want to go, he is not interested in making a wedding dress for Wu Sangui; Although Deng Ming in Sichuan had a great reputation, Kuidong was still too far away, and Dasu also knew that it would be extremely difficult to feint the Three Gorges from the downstream, and that a large number of ships and supplies from the southeast would be needed - these Nanjing would certainly not be able to make up for a while.

"Kinmen, Xiamen." Da Su looked at the map on the table, muttering to himself, since the idea of moving to Fujian, Da Su is about to come to the map of Fujian, after seeing the two islands of Kinmen and Xiamen from above, Da Su was shocked by the incompetence of the Fujian Green Camp - for more than ten years, they can't even attack these two small broken islands, not only can't they attack, but also let Zheng Chenggong have the spare strength to disturb the south of the Yangtze River - how incompetent must the local civil and military forces in Fujian be to do the errand so badly?

Zheng Chenggong's Nanjing campaign caused heavy losses to the Qing court, not only did this year's southeast tax basically not need to be counted on, but also threatened the coastal areas, and even Shandong in the north had to strengthen coastal defense, investing a lot of manpower and material resources to guard against Zheng Chenggong's sudden attack. If Da Su was able to destroy Zheng Chenggong's base in one fell swoop and liberate a large area of territory from Guangdong to Shandong from the threat of the Ming army, Da Su knew that he would be highly appreciated by Běijīng; And in the past ten years, the local government has spent countless amounts of money and has not been able to solve the trouble of Zheng Chenggong, but has made him stronger and stronger, from more than 10,000 people at the beginning to nearly 200,000, if Da Su can wipe out Zheng Jun in one fell swoop, it is definitely a rare martial art in recent years.

"It's all about how to cross the sea." Da Su groaned, although he only asked a few participants in the Battle of Nanjing, Da Su thought that he already knew Zheng Chenggong's combat effectiveness very well, and nearly 200,000 troops were defeated by thousands of Su Song's sailors in one day, which was completely at the level of a rabble. Da Su thought that the only trouble was to climb the Jinxia, once he stepped on the solid ground, Da Su felt that he could kill the Min army with a hundred and ten personal guards and capture Zheng Chenggong alive.

Finally, Da Su specifically mentioned a person in the recital, that is, Huang Wu, who defected from Zheng Chenggong, and Da Su asked the Qing court to send this person to his army: "Huang Wu is also a Fujian person, and he once stationed in Jinxia for Zheng Cheng, so he should be very familiar with the local hydrology." In addition to Huang Wu, other traitors to the Zheng army, Da Su, also hoped that the Qing court could send him as many as possible, such as Shi Lang, who had just defected to the Qing court, with these people to lead the way, plus the sailors of Fujian, Da Su felt that the problem of landing in Jinxia should not be too big - as long as the landing was successful, there was no need to worry about it anymore.

…… Zhong Xiang.

Deng Ming did not intend to give up his territory in Hubei immediately, which had a large population and a large area of arable land that could support the needs of tens of thousands of Ming troops. However, although the Ming army won a new victory, the Qing court still had an absolute advantage. If the Qing court counterattacked, Deng Ming did not plan to confront the Qing court, but planned to retreat to Yiling, Gucheng and other places according to the situation, and try to relocate the population of Hubei to enrich the base area.

After learning that Deng Ming intended to stick to the Hubei territory, Zhao Tianba was the most excited among the guards, and he tried his best to tell Deng Ming: He is definitely not a brave man, and he also has extraordinary command talent. Zhao Tianba tried to persuade Deng Ming to hand over half of his soldiers and horses, and let him guard Jingzhou.

"Sir, do you know what Zhao Qianhu said to us?" Li Xinghan and Ren Tang rushed to Deng Ming's camp together.

"What did you say?" As soon as Deng Ming saw the expressions of the two, he knew that they were here to make a small report, so he fulfilled their wishes.

"Zhao Qianhu said that Guan Erye failed to defend Jingzhou back then, so it can be seen that this place must be guarded by good generals." Li Xinghan got up excitedly, Zhao Tianba has always been blind, in recent days, he has always boasted in front of all the guards that he is the best candidate for Jingzhou to defend the general, and put on the appearance of the former chief general of Deng Mingzuo, this attitude of no one in his eyes makes the other guards feel a little unhappy: "Zhao Qianhu also said that if he guards this place, he will not only guard Jiangling as solid as gold, but also take care of Xiangyang, so that everyone in the world knows that his talent is not under Guan Erye." ”

"But the admiral has a saying: Jiangling can be followed, and the people should be protected and retreat to Sichuan," Ren Tang gently shook the fan in his hand - when the military affairs are not busy, Ren Tang will take off his armor and put on the dress of a literati - after Li Xinghan finished speaking, Ren Tang began to dismantle Zhao Tianba in a non-hurried tone: "Let's not mention the fact that Zhao Qianhu has never led the army, even if he has some skills, but he has the intention of becoming famous in the world, I am afraid that he will not do it according to the plan of the admiral in the future, It's going to delay the Admiral's big business. ”

"Hmm." Deng Ming originally didn't plan to let the Zhejiang army and the people he recruited along the way stay in Hubei, but in the past few days, he couldn't stand Zhao Tianba's repeated verbosity in his ears, and his mind began to waver, and he was already thinking about leaving a little troops, letting one of his guards take command, and tempering his commander's ability. But after listening to Wan Li Xinghan and Ren Tang's small reports, Deng Ming felt that Zhao Tianba was indeed not suitable for this position, even if he was to stay in Jingzhou with other Kuidong generals.

When Deng Ming lowered his head to think, Ren Tang and Li Xinghan had been carefully observing Deng Ming's expression, and after finding that Deng Mingliu showed his approval, Li Xinghan couldn't help but be overjoyed.

"Zhao Qianhu is indeed not suitable for staying in Jingzhou," Deng Ming nodded: "Also, his proud temper has to be changed." ”

"Exactly, pride is easy to be careless, Guan Erye's ability was so great back then, and in the end, he was careless in Jingzhou." Li Xinghan was even more excited when he heard this, and reminded Deng Mingdao: "If the ancestor had left Zhao Zilong to guard Jingzhou......

Shut down

Ren Tang coughed lightly, and Li Xinghan immediately revised his speech when he heard it: "At the beginning, it was a foolproof strategy for the first lord to leave Zhao Zilong and Zhuge Kongming in Jingzhou, but it's a pity, it's a pity, and later the first lord transferred Zilong to Sichuan, so that Jingzhou was lost." ”

Deng Ming felt that Li Xinghan seemed to have something to say, so he looked at him suspiciously, seeing this, Li Xinghan straightened his chest even more, and continued in his mouth: "Zhao Zi is brave and careful, brave, and modest and cautious, he is really the best person to guard Jingzhou......"

Listening to Li Xinghan's chatter for a while, Deng Ming suddenly realized, and suddenly remembered that Li Xinghan seemed to be named by Huguang's singer: Zhao Zilong was reincarnated.

"There is also Zhuge Kongming, only by leaving one article and one martial arts, and working together can Jingzhou be safe, otherwise Zhao Zilong alone may be difficult to support a big tree alone." After listening for a while, Ren Tang also began to interject on the side.

"Exactly, exactly." Li Xinghan hurriedly agreed.

After hearing Li Xinghan's approval, Ren Tang also smiled and gently shook the fan again.

It was already the end of October in the yīn calendar, and the wind that Ren Tang fanned over made Deng Ming feel a little cold, and he almost blurted out and asked, "What kind of fan do you fan in winter?" But before the words came out, Deng Ming had an understanding in his heart, and he stared at the fan in Ren Tang's hand: Sure enough, it was a feather fan, and he didn't pay attention to it just now.

"That's right," Deng Ming nodded, the situation was already obvious, if these two people were left behind, they would not honestly obey Deng Ming's strategic arrangement: "But I'm not Liu Bei, I don't plan to defend Jingzhou, and I don't need Jiangling to be as stable as Mount Tai, so whether it's Guan Yunchang, Zhao Zilong and Zhuge Kongming, they all have to go to Sichuan." ”

After blasting away the depressed Li Zilong and Ren Kongming, Deng Ming went to Li Laiheng to discuss the defense of Jiangling by him. Li Laiheng had no objection to this, and soon the two reached an agreement: if the Qing army was unable to carry out a large-scale counterattack, Li Laiheng would continue to defend Yuezhou and strive to control more of the Yangtze River; The Ming army had to prepare in advance, and if the Qing army was under great pressure, it was necessary to move the population and withdraw to Jiangling in advance; Yiling is the bottom line of the Ming army, if Fengjie is the entrance to the Three Gorges, then Yiling is the exit, mastering this place can not only effectively cover the Three Gorges, but also maintain military pressure downstream.

Now in the Kuidong army, in addition to Li Laiheng, the strength of the four generals who followed Deng Ming on the expedition last time is also relatively strong, Li Laiheng feels that Liu Tichun can help him defend the Yiling area, which is not far from Liu Tichun's Badong base, and the Yangtze River waterway in the middle is completely controlled in the hands of the Ming army, and it is not difficult to transport troops and materials.

"Wuchang is not in the hands of our army, the Yangtze River and Hanshui shipping will not be smooth, although now Zhang Changgeng does not dare to provoke us, but if the strength of the Tartars increases, Zhang Changgeng will still try to cut off the communication between the Yangtze River and Hanshui." Li Laiheng said that he could not take care of the defense of the Yangtze River basin and the Hanshui basin, and that Yunyang, Gucheng, Xiangyang and even Zhongxiang needed to be assigned to take charge of others.

Compared with Liu Tichun, Yuan Zongdi is a little farther away, but it is also more convenient to support the Yangtze River Basin, but Liu Tichun and Li Laiheng are strong enough to not need Yuan Zongdi's participation; And it was very troublesome to go from Dachang to the Hanshui Valley, and unless Yuan Zongdi moved the base out, it would be difficult to support the operations in the upper reaches of the Hanshui. Therefore, Deng Ming considered letting Yuan Zongdi act as the backbone of Fengjie and not participate in the attack and defense of the downstream.

"As for the Hanshui Basin, aren't General Hao and General He almost there? I'll leave it to them when the time comes. After learning that Deng Ming had returned, He Zhen and Hao Shaoqi both rushed to Zhong Xiang to see him, and it seemed that they would arrive in the next two days.

Sure enough, Deng Ming saw He Zhen the next day, although Daning was farther away from Zhongxiang, but He Zhen had been paying attention to the movements in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and after receiving the news of Deng Ming's withdrawal from Nanjing, He Zhen immediately set off with his personal guards. When passing through Fang County, Hao Shaoqi did not set off because he did not receive accurate information, and He Zhen did not stop at Hao Shaoqi's base to wait, but hurried non-stop, and arrived at Zhongxiang before Hao Shaoqi.

Li Laiheng's troops had been moving to Yuezhou and Jiangling before, and the first to leave was mainly the female battalion and auxiliary soldiers, and now it was a part of Li Laiheng's more jīng Rui army that remained on the edge of Zhongxiang City. He Zhen did not come in immediately after walking to the edge of the city, but first walked around the military camp outside Li Laiheng and saw the Xingshan army wearing beautiful cotton clothes and holding brand-new weapons.

After entering the city, He Zhen saw a military camp of Li Laiheng next to the yamen, the armor of this group of soldiers looked like the best quality of the production of zuòjīng liang, and the soldiers standing in front of the camp gate held high spears, and the scabbards around their waists were also painted.

"Little tiger, you have made a fortune," After meeting, He Zhen's face was full of envy that could not be concealed: "This trip to Nanjing, tsk, the burden is all full." ”

"It's all up to the Admiral." Li Laiheng said with a smile, he did not reveal the slightest tone about the transaction in Wuchang.

He Zhen went over and over to find out how many things Li Laiheng had caught, but he thought that it would not take much thought at all, as long as he asked on the side, Li Laiheng would explain everything like pouring beans into a bamboo tube. But to He Zhen's surprise, Li Laiheng actually had a sloppy fight with him today, humming and refusing to spit out the actual number. He Zhen had never seen and never thought that Li Laiheng would have such a heart and expression, and he was shocked and angry, and began to ask the specific number directly.

"I'll talk about this later," Li Laiheng said, "Today, the Admiral still has important matters to discuss with Uncle He. ”

Deng Ming nodded and took the topic over. After hearing that Deng Ming planned to stabilize the rule of the Xiangyang area, He Zhen immediately patted his chest and said that he was willing to take on this important task for Deng Ming, and even said that his Ming army could send people to Daning to take the army and their families out: "I have been in that ghost place in Daning for too many years, and I can be regarded as able to come out to change my breath." ”

"General He, don't worry." Deng Ming hurriedly pressed the excited He Zhen and told the other party that he had no intention of defending the territory, but planned to act at the opportunity.

After listening to Deng Ming's explanation, He Zhen's good mood dissipated a lot, and Deng Ming made it clear that he wanted the army to return to Sichuan, and Deng Ming's focus will also be in Sichuan for a period of time in the future; Moreover, Deng Ming told Sù He Zhen that the Zhejiang and Fujian armies suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Nanjing, and it was unlikely that they would organize another offensive of the same scale in the short term, so the Qing court could have spare strength to launch a counteroffensive against Huguang.

But He Zhen thought about it and felt that it was better than continuing to nest in Daning, at least when he was stationed in Xiangyang, he could collect taxes, and at the same time levy Ding to expand the army. Anyway, Deng Ming had already made it clear that he could give up Xiangyang according to the situation, and then He Zhen could also retreat openly, without worrying about being blamed by Deng Ming for preserving his strength. Thinking of this, He Zhen became happy again, and once again asked Ying to let him defend Xiangyang, but he hoped that Deng Ming would agree to hand over the Daning Lair to his son He Daoning to guard, and not to send another guard.

It is impossible for Deng Ming not to agree to this request, He Zhen asked in person to show his respect for Deng Ming, and after accepting the respect handed over by the other party, Deng Ming approved He Zhen's request in person, and promised to go and talk to Wen Anzhi to ask for a suitable official position for He Daoning - it is impossible for Wen Anzhi to disagree with this request.

He Zhen's promise to defend Xiangyang is also more in line with Deng Ming's wishes, and with He Zhen sharing part of the defensive pressure, Hao Shaoqi's troops will not be spread too thin. In this way, Deng Ming could safely hand over Yunyang and Gucheng to Hao Shaoqi, and these two cities could be connected with Hao Shaoqi's existing territory, which would be more convenient for Hao Shaoqi to control.

After discussing the issue of territorial garrison, He Zhen brought up the old words again and asked about Li Laiheng's harvest. Li Laiheng really couldn't hide, so he had to say something vaguely.

After hearing that Li Laiheng had obtained an unknown amount of military funds, He Zhen shouted at him to give some to himself, and seeing that Li Laiheng was unwilling, He Zhen asked Deng Ming to preside over justice: "The admiral handed over such a large territory to the last general to defend, and the last general always had to add some weapons and armor. Admiral, yes or no? ”

"This is General He and General Li's business, I have no place to intervene," Deng Ming hurriedly dodged: "I still have something to dodge, so I will leave first." ”

After Deng Ming fled, He Zhen had no choice but to admit it: "Can't I exchange things for something?" A fair shake. ”

"Okay," Li Laiheng took out an abacus like magic, sat down in front of the stunned He Zhen, and skillfully put his hands on it, then raised his head and asked, "What does Uncle He want?" How much? ”

...... "Little Tiger has learned badly!" After leaving Zhongxiang Yamen, He Zhen looked up to the sky and sighed.