Of course, the emperor couldn't hide such a big matter from himself, Deng Ming outside Zhenjiang City got the news a few days ago, and after confirming the reliability of the news, Deng Ming thought that it became more urgent to consolidate the defense of Chongming Island.

Like the officials of Liangjiang, the Ming army also did not understand the attitude of Shunzhi's pro-conquest, this time the threat of the Ming army was far less than the last time, and even Zhenjiang, an almost empty city, was besieged but not attacked, to be precise, it was not even encircled, and it was said that it was far from stimulating Shunzhi's pro-conquest. Therefore, the Ming army believed that the purpose of the Shunzhi pro-conquest was not to ensure the safety of the south of the Yangtze River - and now it seemed that there was no danger, and the purpose of the pro-conquest could only be to destroy the Ming army in the south.

"If I withdraw now, then Zhoushan will be in crisis." Thinking about it, I also know that if Shunzhi really goes on an expedition, it will be to fight one or two battles before returning to Beijing for the sake of face, and the first of them must be Chongming and Zhoushan. Therefore, Deng Ming gave up the plan to withdraw his troops immediately, and the agreement between him and Zhou Peigong was to withdraw the troops as much as possible, and not to stay in the territory of Liangjiang for an excuse, but how long this should be has not been clearly defined.

Although Zhang Huangyan and Ma Fengzhi's troops were quite numerous, they certainly could not compare with Deng Ming's direct troops in terms of combat effectiveness, and Deng Ming also had a large number of ships, plus the Zhoushan army, which had an overwhelming advantage over the Qing army in the south of the Yangtze River.

Therefore, Deng Ming's plan was to concentrate the Ming army to hold Chongming Island, 50,000 Ming troops to hold on to this island, and the advantage of warships over Cao boats. As long as the confrontation between Chongming and the pro-Zheng Shunzhi continues, Deng Ming believes that the other party will not be able to hold on first, and the emperor, as the lord of a country, will not be able to leave the center of power for many years and stay at the mouth of the Yangtze River to hold on to the enemy. According to the traditional concept of politics, such behavior will lead to the loss of power, and Deng Ming believes that Shunzhi will not be at ease to let the empress dowager or ministers control his imperial power for a long time.

Resisting Shunzhi in Chongming will not only have military benefits and reduce the pressure on Zhoushan, but will also have a heavy political significance, if the world sees that even if the emperor is helpless to take the name of Deng with the Manchu and Mongolian Eight Banners, it will deal a heavy blow to the authority of the Qing court, and it is this military authority that the Manchus used to maintain their rule; Deng Ming believed that Shunzhi's military prowess could not be compared with that of Da Su, let alone Wu Sangui and Li Guoying, but thwarting the emperor's attack would be a greater encouragement to those who cherished the Ming Dynasty.

After determining the strategy of confrontation, the Ming army began to actively collect grain and grass, transported it to Chongming for storage, and at the same time began to build fortifications in Chongming. Although it was only a few days, Deng Ming also felt the change in the attitude of the Jiangnan officials, and when he learned that Shunzhi had a plan to go to the army, the local officials who traded with the Ming army disappeared all at once, which strengthened Deng Ming's determination to go toe-to-toe with Shunzhi -- if he did not retreat without a fight, the Jiangnan officials were likely to think that Deng Ming's might was forced by Shunzhi's power and fled with a weak heart.

Before the Shunzhi people left Beijing, Deng Ming left his allies and fled, which was enough to shake the confidence of his allies in him, and would also greatly boost the arrogance of the Qing court.

"If the Qing Emperor came with tens of thousands of Eight Banner soldiers and wanted to fight me on the plains, I might really want to consider retreating, but now that Chongming is in hand, how can I be scared away by him?"

When Deng Ming was in full swing to prepare for war, Zhou Peigong, who had disappeared for many days, suddenly appeared again, and as soon as he saw Deng Ming, he asked him to withdraw his troops immediately, and Zhou Peigong also brought Shunzhi's two holy decrees - in any case, Deng Ming's speed of obtaining news was still not as fast as the Manchu Qing high-level, and what he knew now was the theme of the first holy decree: Shunzhi planned to conquer in person. But the exact content of the decree is not clear, and one can only guess Beijing's intentions.

As soon as he saw Deng Ming, Zhou Peigong begged Deng Ming to withdraw his troops quickly, and carefully analyzed the wording and meaning of the holy decree for Deng Ming, pointing out that Shunzhi had made a big trip because he didn't like Deng Ming.

"Do you mean that your emperor is bored in Beijing, or that he is unhappy, so he came to Jiangnan for a walk?" Although admitting that Zhou Peigong's analysis was reasonable, and he had also read the copies of the two holy decrees of Shunzhi, Deng Ming was still a little incredulous.

"Yes, I also think it's strange," Zhou Peigong was also very puzzled by Shunzhi's whims, but the emperor is not bound by any rules, since Shunzhi wants to mess around, then the courtiers have to be accompanied, thinking of this, Zhou Peigong raised a doubt in his heart: "Is there any personal grudge between Admiral Deng and the emperor?" ”

Deng Ming categorically denied this, he is a traverser, theoretically not a person from this universe, from a physical point of view, at least when he first crossed over, his relationship with Shunzhi was farther than that between aliens (if any) and Shunzhi, where did the personal grudge come from? Perhaps from the perspective of metabolism, the matter of another universe in Deng Ming's body has been completely replaced by the elements of this earth in the past two years, so he can be considered to be a Ming Dynasty earthman of this universe, but no matter what, there is still no grudge: "I don't know your emperor, where do I get a personal grudge." ”

"Deng

The Admiral rightly said, and I'm just weird. Zhou Peigong also knew that his idea was quite ridiculous, but no matter how Shunzhi's holy decree looked, there seemed to be a personal spirit in it, which made him can't help but have this strange feeling: "The emperor's mind can't be guessed, since he was a child, he grew up in the deep palace, surrounded by women, and he had to make a sedan chair from the gate to the second gate, and he had never heard a word of rebellion, which is very different from reasonable people like us." Admiral Deng should not be like our emperor, hurry back to Sichuan, let our emperor this time, we, the emperor's courtiers, will be very grateful to you. ”

For the life and death of these Jiangnan officials, Deng Ming didn't care about it at all, and it had nothing to do with Deng Ming to clean them up after Shunzhi's personal conquest, anyway, as long as the strength of the Ming army was there, the Qing court's law of death if the land was lost remained unchanged, and if Deng was not passed, he would die quickly, and Deng could die a few days later, as long as the emperor was not exposed in front of him, the chance of being exposed was still very small, and there was still a chance for a group of officials to come up; Besides, the rabbit is in a hurry and bites, if Shunzhi is ruthless, it is difficult to say what Zhang Changgeng, Zhang Chao, and Jiang Guozhu will do; Even if they are all tied up and killed without any resistance, they will be exterminated by the Qing court, which will also make a big case that shocks the world and weakens the prestige of the Qing court.

However, since Shunzhi may not be personally recruited, then Deng Ming still has to consider their wishes, after all, these local powerful factions can give him huge benefits.

Soon the governor of Jiangning and the governor of Caoyun showed their gratitude with facts.

The day after Zhou Peigong arrived, a large number of shipbuilders were sent to the side of the Ming army, and the envoy of the governor of Jiangning, who sent people, also vigorously apologized to Deng Ming, saying that the incident was sudden, so only the people from the shipyard near Jiangning were arrested, and the envoy asked the governor of the Yangtze River to be calm and not to be impatient, and the governor of Jiang was arresting all the shipbuilding masters in Jiangnan to ensure that none of them could escape.

Lin Qilong's envoy also arrived later, bringing 200,000 taels of silver for labor and military expenses, although this is equivalent to four years of Caoyun Governor Bai Gan, but as long as Deng Ming is willing to nod and withdraw the army, it will be a salary from the bottom of the kettle, completely cutting off a hidden danger. And Lin Qilong is not as good as giving Deng Ming silver now, Liang Huafeng, the governor of Jiangnan, is black-hearted, and he wants no less than Deng Ming, and he has to take the risk of losing the battle, where is there to directly send the plague god away? Deng Ming is gone, so he doesn't have to worry about the matter being revealed, wouldn't he be happy and happy?

When Jiang Guozhu and Lin Qilong were carrying things to the Ming army camp, Liang Huafeng had already sent people to chase the gift-giving messenger to Beijing. After seeing the second holy decree, Liang Huafeng was angry in his heart, he originally thought that Shunzhi was very dissatisfied with the repeated setbacks of the officers and soldiers in Jiangnan, Fujian, and Huguang, so he would personally supervise the southeast, and most of them would not return to Beijing if they did not draw Zhoushan and Xiamen, and they might even sit in Huguang for a period of time. Even if Shunzhi can't get his wish, staying in the southeast for so long, the matter of Tong Deng will almost definitely be exposed, so Liang Huafeng plans to tell the secret to protect himself.

"I didn't expect it, I didn't expect it." Liang Huafeng muttered to himself in his tent, he never expected that the emperor's next decision would be very big for Deng Ming, he knew that he could dispel the emperor's idea of recruiting in person so easily, so why did he spend 100,000 taels of silver to bribe the bigwigs of the court? Wouldn't it be good to use this silver to buy some land and add a few beautiful concubines?

"This hairy child." There was no one left and right, thinking that he almost sent out a large sum of silver in a daze, Liang Huafeng opened his mouth and scolded, completely losing his due respect for the emperor: "This is the Ming and Qing dynasties fighting for the world, and it is not a personal grudge between you and Deng Ming, it is really upside down!" ”

What makes Liang Huafeng a little strange is that even if the emperor is young and ignorant and regards the change of dynasty as a personal vendetta, why don't so many high-ranking officials in the court know how to come out and persuade him: "Does the emperor really have any personal grudges with Admiral Deng?" The important ministers in the court also know what to do, so they don't dare to persuade or can't persuade them? ”

However, Liang Huafeng put this idea away in a blink of an eye, Shunzhi ascended the throne at a young age and spent his whole life in the palace: "The emperor is not a wild child on the side of the road, Deng Ming has no chance to snatch the chicken leg in his hand." ”

These days, Liang Huafeng wants to redeem himself for meritorious service, and the silver is also spent like flowing water, recruiting a group of Ding Yong regardless of the cost, serving them with good wine and meat, and letting them practice every day to prepare to fight the Ming army. In order to arm these recruits as much as possible, Liang Huafeng also advanced money to buy some pig iron, birch, cowhide, and raw rubber, which could have been expected to be reimbursed to the governor of Caoyun, but now it seems that it has also been lost.

"Hurry up and stop the operation!" The more Liang Huafeng pondered about it, the more he felt that the money had been spent wrongly, so he hurriedly ordered the exercise to stop, and the recruited Ding Yong was disbanded: "There is no need to do the exercise this month, and there is no need to do the exercise next month." ”

Some of the heroes who had just eaten a full meal for two days still refused to leave, shouting that they wanted to contribute to the country. After hearing the commotion in the camp, Liang Huafeng was even more furious: "This is a military camp, not a porridge factory for raising idlers, whoever refuses to leave will be beaten out by Lao Tzu!" ”

After another two days, Liang Huafeng finally learned a good news, and his family came back to report that they had caught up with the silver ship sent in the early stage and had made them turn around and return to Yangzhou.