The merchant fleet seen along the way made a deep impression on the Shanxi captives, and officers like Mo Huaizhong knew that this meant that the Ming army in Chengdu was far more powerful than the Han Eight Banners advertised, at least on the way from Baoning to Chongqing, the Shanxi Green Battalion had never seen so many ships. The last time Li Guoying's sailors poured out of the Jialing River, they amazed these Shanxi soldiers. But compared with the Chengdu Naval Division, the Qing Army Naval Division is obviously nothing.

Of course, Mo Huaizhong didn't know that most of the river boats in the entire Yangtze River basin now belong to Deng Ming, and the downstream boats have almost been divided by Deng Ming and Zhang Huangyan. In addition to the boats in the hands of some of Deng Ming's related households, the merchants on both sides of the Yangtze River did not have a few boats that were easy to use -- the Qing army continued to requisition civilian ships because of various needs, and when the ships came into the hands of the Qing army, they would naturally be defined by Deng Ming as the enemy's equipment and be snatched away, taken away for various reasons, or destroyed in the war...... The Qing army continued to requisition civilian ships because of military and transportation needs, and then they were snatched away by the Ming army, and finally the Qing army and the people had no ships in their hands, and the ships were all on the side of the Ming army.

In addition to the war, there was also natural attrition, and the shipbuilding industry in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River was also hit hard because the Ming army had to take the shipwrights away. Many Qing magistrates noticed that shipyards always attracted the attention and desire of the Ming army, and they spontaneously destroyed many of the shipyards under their rule to ensure that their districts were not attacked by the Ming army.

In addition, the Qing court in Beijing began to impose a ban on the sea, which was systematically destroying the shipbuilding industry in the coastal areas, which dealt the final blow to the Yangtze River shipping industry.

Now Chengdu is suffering from a labor shortage, while the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River are experiencing an equally serious ship shortage. After the Ming army returned to Sichuan, the Yangtze River shipping not only did not recover, but fell into an even more terrible shipping cut off because of the departure of the Ming army, which had a large number of ships, and the cost of freight soared, more than 20 times higher than two years ago, that is, before Zheng Chenggong first attacked the Yangtze River. Merchants with Nanjing or Nanchang backgrounds are fine, for example, Premier Deng Yamen can use the fleet of Chongming Island to transport goods, while the commercial houses without background are beginning to lose a lot of money and go out of business, and the business is shrinking faster than after the Qing court issued a ban on the sea in Deng Ming's previous life.

Because of their surprise at the strength of the Ming army, Mo Huaizhong and the others asked more about the situation in Chengdu from the officers and soldiers who monitored them or the Ming army who accompanied them, and they learned that they would be sent to Xuzhou first, and then transferred to Chengdu. As for the specific arrangement, the Ming army officers guaranteed that anyone who was willing to work hard would have no worries about food and clothing -- the Ming army officers' word was to get rich, but Mo Huaizhong did not believe them, they thought that most of the prisoners would be lucky if they could be a tunding in the Ming army's military cantonment and get food and clothing, so they automatically understood the guarantee of the Ming army officers as if they could obtain the status of serfs.

Whether it was a non-armored soldier recruited from Shanxi or Shaanxi, after being captured, he could only accept his fate and go to the Ming army's military camp to farm. It is normal for these conscripted men to not return to their hometowns alive, and the luckiest of them may be valued by an officer to become armored soldiers, and the rest of them, if they survive, are generally arranged to be resettled in a military cantonment somewhere; The possibility of the armoured soldiers returning to their homeland was also extremely small, and the epidemic treated the armoured and unarmoured soldiers equally, except for war. If Mo Huaizhong had survived until after the war, he would probably have been reorganized into a cantonment green battalion in Sichuan -- since no one thought that the war would end anytime soon, it was unlikely that these green battalions drawn from Shanxi would return to their hometowns, and Xuanda would not reserve a place for them for a long time, but would recruit new officers and soldiers.

The question now in front of Mo Huaizhong is not whether he should serve the Ming army, but whether he should serve the Ming army under other generals if the benefactor is not reused by Deng Ming. Most of Mo Huaizhong's colleagues thought this was unacceptable, because if they were under the hands of other generals, they would not be trusted and would only be used as cannon fodder and scapegoats. Just as other generals would not trust Mo Huaizhong and them, it was difficult for Deng Ming to trust their benefactor unconditionally, so according to the law of the loyalty chain, it was almost impossible for Mo Huaizhong and them to enter the loyalty chain system with Deng Ming at the top.

"What do you want to do so much when you're all captured?" Mo Huaizhong's heart was sad for a while, and he reminded himself that it would be good if the captive could save one life. The benefactor is not dead, his own life is still there, no matter how slim the hope is, he can finally go to the military camp to live, and he may encounter some adventures in the future. Or if his benefactor had some chance to find a place in Deng Ming's loyalty chain system, he would definitely think of an old subordinate like himself at that time.

Now Mo Huaizhong hates nothing more than the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty, Sun Sike commanded indiscriminately, used the Shanxi Green Camp as cannon fodder, and fled first when he saw that the situation was not good; And what comforted Mo Huaizhong was that it was not only their family that was unlucky, but also the Ganshan Green Battalion who fought side by side failed to run away, and the officer of the Ganshan Green Battalion who persuaded the Ming army to surrender seemed to be Wang Xincheng's pro-military battalion guerrilla, and his eyes were red when he walked into the encirclement, and when he persuaded the Shanxi Green Battalion to recognize the situation and surrender, the guerrillas even cried bitterly.

"You Shaanxi guys! I don't fight like a man, so I can only cry like a mother-in-law! At that time, Mo Huaizhong despised the officer of the Ganshan Green Battalion who was in tears. Because since the beginning of the battle, the Ganshan Green Battalion has been hiding behind and has not stepped forward to kill, and the final fate can of course only be captured and sent to the military camp to be used as cattle and horses until they are tired to death -- because of the same disease, so Mo Huaizhong forgave these difficult brothers and brothers, but he still felt a little indignant in his heart -- the Shanxi Green Battalion is all men, but it is also the same as the Shaanxi Green Battalion, and it is difficult to escape the doom of being captured.

At this time, there was a cheerful military song in front of him, Mo Huaizhong listened to it, and couldn't help but be a little suspicious in his heart, the military song had an obvious Shaanxi accent, and the content seemed to be the same as the military song of the Shaanxi Green Camp that he had heard.

"Could it be that reinforcements are coming?" Mo Huaizhong concluded that the Ming army would not use the military song of the Qing army, so it could only be that Chongqing sent new reinforcements.

"You're too late, we're all taken prisoner." In an instant, Mo Huaizhong even wanted to jump off the side of the boat and gamble his life to see if he could swim back to shore, and he had the idea of looking for troops. As long as he works hard and fights bravely, Mo Huaizhong thinks that it is still possible for him to find a new person who appreciates him and hang on the chain of loyalty to the Qing Dynasty again, no matter what, this kind of future is better than dying in the military camp.

Puff, puff, said it was too late and that it was fast, Mo Huaizhong saw that there were figures on the boats in front and behind jumping off and jumping into the boiling river, but none of them could swim ashore, but were quickly swept away by the river downstream.

Mo Huaizhong had a new question in his heart, and it was this question that prevented him from jumping into the Yangtze River to commit suicide by following the example of his colleagues who moved the fastest: "Why do the reinforcements sing, and the singing voice is so cheerful?" ”

"Save people, save people!" Instead of giving the order to release the arrows, the Ming officer shouted, lowered the boat and went to salvage the captives who were struggling in the rapids.

After a riot, the returning boat failed to bring back the man who jumped from the boat, whose fate depended on the salvage team of the following boat, but a suicide attempt by an officer of the Shanxi Green Battalion who jumped from the boat in front of him.

This Shanxi officer, who was obviously not able to compare with Wang Jinbao in terms of water, had already drunk several sips of water in the river, and was dragged onto the deck and beaten for a long time before he could be regarded as spitting up the water in his stomach.

At this time, the fleet of the Ming army had already sailed close to the singing team, to Mo Huaizhong's surprise, he saw that this Qing army was not going east and west, when he saw the banner of the Qing army, Mo Huaizhong's eyes were even straighter: "This ...... It's ......"

It was Wang Xincheng's troops who were happily advancing in the direction of Chongqing. Mo Huaizhong had always thought that they had been captured like himself and had been transported to Xuzhou by the Ming army, but now he saw Wang Xincheng's army proudly walking on the road to Chongqing with green flags and majestic military songs.

The Ming fleet didn't seem to see this Qing army at all, and the Ganshan Green Battalion behaved similarly, continuing to sing their military songs, and even soldiers waved to the Ming warships passing by, as if they were greeting old friends.

"They...... They ......" Mo Huaizhong sorted out his thoughts for a long time, but his mind was still a mess, and after staring again and again to confirm that he was not mistaken, he asked the accompanying Ming army officers loudly regardless of the danger: "Why is Vice General Wang on the shore?" ”

"Why can't they be on shore?" The Ming officer who was asked looked a little confused.

"We ...... They ......" Mo Huaizhong pointed to himself, and then pointed to the Ganshan Green Camp on the shore, and shouted unbearably: "Why are we captured, but they are so good?" ”

The officer of the Ming army looked at Mo Huaizhong deeply, turned his face and glanced at the other captured officers who were puzzled, and said meaningfully: "Because you are all captured, they are so good." ”

……

After reacting, Mo Huaizhong felt that his chest was about to explode, and he couldn't care about any cannon fodder or scapegoats anymore, he rushed to the Ming army officer with an arrow and shouted: "Why don't the officers and soldiers (referring to Deng Ming's army) go and kill these thieves on the shore?" The villain is willing to be a pioneer! ”

Other officers of the Shanxi Green Battalion also asked for help, swearing to beat Wang Xincheng into a pig's head. The officers also hysterically informed the dejected soldiers below deck, and the whole ship was in an uproar, and the Shanxi people were shocked at first, and then everyone was furious, vowing to fight to the death with Wang Xincheng's men.

"Oh, do you want to be soldiers? Not yet. The accompanying Ming army officer patiently explained: "You must stay in Chengdu for a year, and then pay at least 100 yuan in taxes or protection fees, and when you become a fellow Xiucai, you can wait for the draft." ”

"Moreover," the sentence that accompanied the Ming army officer was suspected of adding fuel to the fire: "Because of the strong assistance of the officers and soldiers of the Adjutant General Wang of Baoning in this battle, the Admiral ordered that no one should take the initiative to attack the troops of the Adjutant General Wang within 15 days, otherwise the military law will deal with it." ”――

Author's note: There are still a few days until the end of the month, and the author will pick a day off in these days, and I have been looking forward to this rest day since this month. I haven't figured out when to use it.