Jiang Guozhu, who was entrenched in the south of the Yangtze River, was much stronger than Zhang Chao, although it was not necessarily comparable to Zhang Changgeng in the two provinces, but because it was far away from Sichuan, it offset Deng Ming's military superiority in a large distance. Therefore, in Deng Ming's initial judgment, Jiang Guozhu would be the most difficult trouble to solve on this trip. However, Deng Ming initially conservatively estimated that he would encounter limited resistance in Huguang and Jiangxi, so the Ming army had already suffered losses when it arrived in Jiangnan, and it was necessary to deploy troops in the rear to prevent the Erzhang rebellion.

But now the situation is much better than planned, Huguang and Jiangxi not only did not resist but also framed each other, and the Ming army arrived at the border south of the Yangtze River without blood, because there was no conflict and they got a deposit. Deng Ming did not need to leave a large number of alert troops in the rear, and the Kuidong Army that participated in the war all marched eastward with the Sichuan Army - letting the Kuidong Army stay in the rear was likely to cause their dissatisfaction, and they also risked a conflict with Zhang Changgeng; And if the Sichuan army is allowed to stay, it will greatly weaken Deng Ming's power.

"The scene of the last time I went to Jiangnan with Hu Shuai, I still remember it vividly." When the huge Ming fleet sailed through the border of Jiangxi and Jiangnan, Deng Ming boarded Li Laiheng's ship and spent time reminiscing about the past with the latter.

"In just four years, the most powerful fleet on the Yangtze River was under the command of the Admiral." Li Laiheng couldn't help but sigh. The last time he led the army to come, he still needed to disguise himself as a green battalion to cover people's eyes, even if Zheng Chenggong had already tossed the Qing army in the southeast at that time, and the fleet owned by Nanjing was not something that Li Laiheng's civilian ships could contend with: "The Admiral had already arrived in Nanjing at that time, and I was still hiding around Anqing**, every time I saw the giant ships of the Tartars sailing past my fleet, even if there were only a few ships, my heart would pound, for fear that they would find out my identity." ”

That impression was very deep, and even after several years, Li Laiheng remembered it very clearly. And now the huge Ming army fleet that is densely covered with the Yangtze River can't do it even if you want to dress up as a Qing army, because everyone knows that the Qing court doesn't have such a fleet at all. Li Laiheng and Liu Tichun were the first to arrive; Dang Shousu and Ma Tengyun also caught up with Deng Ming before Deng Ming left Huguang; While staying in Jiujiang, Wang Guangxing also arrived by boat - this time it was Hao Shaoqi who stayed in Xiangyang to monitor Zhang Changgeng and Henan Luying, and He Zhen was ill, so the Ming army in the Hanshui valley sent only symbolic troops.

When the plan was first formulated, Deng Ming finalized that he would wait for the troops to complete the assembly, and then follow the bankers into Jiangnan territory, so that these invading financial pioneers could be closely protected by military backing. Although the situation was better than expected, there was no need for Deng Ming to change his plans, and the bankers walked over one by one, selling war bonds; After completing a mission in a prefecture, the Ming army would move to follow, so as to ensure that when the banker crossed the threshold of the prefect, the sales target would also receive an urgent report of the military situation on the border of his jurisdiction.

Seven hundred large and small ships carried more than 30,000 Kuidong troops, 25,000 imperial land and water officers and soldiers, and more than 22,000 Sichuan laborers. The scale of 90,000 horses is even greater than the momentum of Li Xinghan and others going down to Jiangnan last time. When Deng Ming's flagship left Anqing Mansion and anchored in Tanglin, which was under the jurisdiction of Chizhou Prefecture, the rearguard troops were still waiting in front of the capital city of Chizhou Prefecture, waiting for the return of the partial division that had gone to Chaohu to support the bankers who had gone to Hefei to sell bonds.

The magistrate of Tongling disguised himself after subscribing to his bond and came to Deng Ming's military camp to meet him, and Deng Ming also comforted him, saying that the brass he contributed last time was of good quality, and specially asked a three-wall guard to take off the brass helmet on his head for the magistrate of Tongling to see.

At this time, the prefect of Taiping Mansion also came to visit Deng Ming in person. Although the Ming army has not yet left Luzhou Mansion, the prefect feels that it is not strange to have many people, and at least one of them has a good attitude when he comes to the door to ask for a meeting. Before the prefect departed, the bankers who came to Taiping Mansion to sell bonds had not yet arrived, but the prefect had already told his subordinates that they must make every effort to meet the various requirements of the Sichuan bankers, and as for the living conditions of the bankers, they would refer to the standard of retirement scholars.

Although the news of the Ming army's re-entry has spread throughout the province, there is not the slightest panic in the Taiping Mansion, and many small landlords are smiling: "Last year, the Taiping Mansion was exempted from fifty percent of the tax, and this year it can be exempted a lot, right?" It's getting better every year. ”

The roads in the prefecture were full of people pouring towards the river, and among them there were many people from Ningguofu, who were driving big carts and full of goods behind them -- all the people who welcomed the Ming army to cross the border last year had made a fortune, especially when hundreds of thousands of people moved into Sichuan, and the people who set up stalls by the river to sell goods made a lot of money. Hearing that the army had come to Jiangnan again, the people of Taiping Mansion rushed to tell each other, heard the wind, and wanted to make more money and lay the foundation for a fat year. Ning Guofu is not close to the river, but it is not unwilling, many people simply take the fishing guys, and plan to do business by the river for a few months; There are also some people who come to buy things, they have heard that every time the Ming army enters Jiangnan, a large number of goods will be transported, and the price of silk, Sichuan embroidery, and Gan porcelain is only a fraction of that of their hometown. This kind of opportunity to catch up with the big set is hard to come by, and next year to marry a daughter and a daughter-in-law will be staring at this transaction.

Experienced fishermen in Taiping Province shrugged off the swarm, with one person privately commenting, "It's not the cheapest time." When the Sichuan army returned to the division last year, it was called cheap, and I bought five pairs of new green camp military pants in one go, which was enough for me to wear for several years. ”

"It's only five?" Another person said: "I didn't spend a lot of money to buy more than a dozen green camp uniforms, and my relatives and neighbors shared a lot. The rest have been changed into gowns, and it is no problem to sew and mend them until they are old. ”

At present, the Ming army has not yet arrived, but the Yangtze River is already very lively, and even artists have been attracted, and there have been several groups of singing and juggling. Now the Qing court is still strict with the accumulation of the southeast, and Sichuan is actually absorbing gold, so the land price stopped rising after a slight recovery, hovering around five taels of silver per mu. If you can do a prosperous business by the river, you can earn more than a year of hard work in the field.

It's just that the timing of the Ming army's crossing this time is not very good, and there are a lot of things in the farmland in May, so there are enough strong laborers left at home. Especially those who are far away, they complain vigorously about why the Ming army didn't come back in July, and they could also rob the imperial court's grain and cao boats by the way -- Deng Ming and the cao yun governor's agreement of course ordinary people did not know, they only knew that there was silver, grain, cloth and other Jiangnan local products on the cao boats, and the Ming army would not take them all away if they robbed them, and the people could still buy some bargains during the sale.

The scene by the river gave the prefect of Taiping a feeling that the temple fairs in his city had never been so lively.

"The court has to clean up people's hearts." The prefect with makeup didn't dare to reveal his identity, so he could only sigh in his heart: "Your Excellency, you have to clean up the hearts of the people in Jiangnan." ”

After sneaking to the vicinity of Tongling, the prefect knew that the Ming army was not far away without inquiring, because the official road here was already full of people, and this phenomenon was extremely rare in May. The sampans of the hawkers on the Yangtze River are full of their loud shouts. Storytellers, allegro, piano players, and singers on the shore.

The prefect saw the stall owner smiling and entertaining a few customers in Ming military costumes, and happily took from them the thing called a military ticket - the prefect is no stranger to this thing, since the last invasion of Jiangnan, the Ming army has used this kind of battlefield banknotes, and the recipient can exchange the huàn silver money to the Ming army with a military ticket - even after the Ming army left, there was still a work of redeeming huàn, and it is said that the Yamen of the prime minister Deng was in charge of this matter, This kind of saying is still spread in the mouths of the officials of the yamen, who have noses and eyes.

Of course, the Yamen of Premier Deng flatly denied this, and demanded that the contingent of officials in the southeastern provinces not believe rumors, do not spread rumors, and do not smear fraternal units. When the rumors first started, Prime Minister Yamen issued an official document, officially denying that they would redeem the military tickets of the Ming army, and even took the initiative to deny that the Deng Yamen would send the military tickets to western Sichuan and exchange them for huàn silver from the hands of the Ming army to earn a handling fee. Those who deliberately spread similar rumors were all the Ming soldiers lurking on the side of the Qing court; A month later, the person who sent this official document was dismissed and arrested after an internal investigation by the Yamen of Premier Deng, and it was announced that he was found to be the Ming army who was lurking in the Yamen of Premier Deng, and this official document that had caused a very bad impact was recovered and destroyed.

The new official document once again denied the rumors, and said that even if the Yamen really recovered the military tickets of the Ming army -- of course, this is impossible -- it was for the sake of the people, and that it was the officials at all levels of the Yamen who, under the inspiration of Zhou Bu's political envoy, took the initiative to donate money to help the poor people make up for their losses. The second letter had an even worse impact, and upon learning of the incident, the prefect of Taiping Mansion became suspicious. When the political envoy found out, he was also furious, and his left and right hands moved when he heard the wind, and quickly solved the case, and found that the person who issued the second official letter was the guy who sentenced the previous Ming army to death, and it was a Ming army who was lurking deeper.

Just after the second exposed Ming army was punished like his accomplices, the Yamen of Premier Deng decisively changed to the upper route of the southeast governor, and soon the Taiping Mansion received an official document issued by the Yamen of the Governor of Liangjiang, and it was strictly forbidden to mention the word "military ticket" in any official document in the future, otherwise it would be punished with the Ming army. There is a grapevine that Zhou Peigong personally applied to Governor Jiang Guozhu for this ban.

"Let's go fight Shandong!" The owner of the restaurant who had just received the Ming army ticket waved enthusiastically to the departing Ming soldiers: "Bring more people back, I will make something delicious for you." ”

"I must go to Shandong." Many people shouted along with them, shouting vigorously at the Ming army.

Behind the people, a Qing army envoy hurried to Nanjing on a fast horse, containing a secret message to the governor of Liangjiang, one of which was an official recital to the imperial court -- the whole country worked together to protect the city and unite to create another great victory in Tongling.