Ma Shiying no longer hesitated, and the next day he led his 50,000 troops all the way out, from Fengyang to Nanjing is only three or four hundred miles away, even if most of Ma Shiying's command are infantry, marching with all his strength, that is, six or seven days, you can reach the city of Nanjing, but Zhang Xianzhong's arrival in Nanjing is only six or seven days, leaving Ma Shiying with little time, and he must march with all his strength in order to surround Nanjing City in front of Zhang Xianzhong and occupy the favorable situation in Nanjing.

The departure of the army naturally caused a shock in the entire Nanzhili, this Ma Shiying is finally going to tear his face with the imperial court, and start a full-scale war, 50,000 troops, which is not a small number, is enough to affect the battle situation of one side.

However, Zhu Jie didn't treat Ma Shiying as a dish at all, in his opinion, Zhang Xianzhong is what he really needs to pay attention to, Zhang Xianzhong's 50,000 elites, compared to Ma Shiying's 50,000 army, is not a star and a half, that is Zhang Xianzhong's family foundation accumulated in the southern and northern wars, although it cannot be compared with the elite of the Tianwei army, but it can also be said that it can be conscripted and fought well.

Once Zhang Xianzhong's 50,000 elites successfully arrived at the city of Nanjing, it would be a big trouble in Nanjing, and it would be difficult to solve Nanjing's predicament if Sun Chuanting did not return to the division, so it was necessary to completely annihilate Zhang Xianzhong's army on the Yangtze River!

In this battle, Zhu Jie even asked Cha Xuan to personally fight the Imperial Sailor and go out with Zheng Haotian, just to ensure that nothing goes wrong!

From Nanjing to Taipingfu, only two hundred miles away, the warships of the imperial navy division went upstream, compared with the speed of Zhang Xianzhong's march, it was naturally a lot slower, and if you want to intercept Zhang Xianzhong in Anqing, it is too late at all, so you can only wait for Zhang Xianzhong's army to pass Anqing and approach Taipingfu.

Fortunately, now the battleships of the Imperial Navy Division have been updated, and it is too late for Longjiang Bao Shipyard to supervise the construction of new ships, but the opinions put forward by Tang Ruowang and others at the beginning are good, that is, to spend money to buy, buy warships from the hands of Fujian Sailors, anyway, Zhu Jie has money, and bought more than ten Daqingtou from Fujian Navy Master Zheng Zhilong in one go, which is the main battleship of Fujian Navy Division, these twelve battleships alone cost 300,000 taels of silver, and then spent 300,000 taels, from Fujian, The caravans along the coast of Zhejiang purchased 20 large merchant ships, all of which were pulled into the Longjiang Bao Shipyard, and in just half a year, the Longjiang Bao Shipyard completed the refit of more than 20 warships.

Now the Imperial Naval Division has more than 100 large and small warships, and the original Dongting Lake Naval Division has more than 40 old-fashioned warships all withdrawn from active service, and has been supplemented with 40 warships, basically completing the renewal of the Imperial Naval Division, of which more than 30 warships are now stationed in Songjiang Mansion, and the remaining more than 70 warships are all concentrated in Yanziji, the original Dongting Lake Naval Division's combat power has increased greatly, and it has directly doubled. As for the soldiers under their command, they are even more energetic, and the silver in their hands even chased after the cavalry of the three towns of Nanjing, which is naturally very different from the past.

What makes the Imperial Sailors feel the most uplifted is that the current fifteen capital battleships, each battleship is equipped with all red-coated cannons, each battleship has eight 5,000-pound red-coated heavy guns, and twelve 3,000-pound red-coated artillery, in addition, even the latest rockets are equipped on the main battleships, each battleship has two rocket launchers, twenty rockets, five hundred shells, and one hundred musketeers, such a powerful configuration, even Zheng Zhilong's Fujian Naval Division can only be stunned. The Dutch warships were no more than that.

As for other small and medium-sized warships, there are also a lot of artillery, not to mention that such strength is rampant on the Yangtze River, even if it goes to the coast, it is definitely difficult to meet opponents, but these big green heads are placed in the fleet of the Western Ocean, and the tonnage is still too small, which makes Zhu Jie very dissatisfied, but there is no way, since Zheng He, the Ming Dynasty has not supervised the construction of large warships on a large scale for many years, and many skills have been almost lost, and the craftsmen of Longjiang Bao Shipyard have been studying the design and improvement of giant warships day and night. But without five or six years of preparation, it is impossible to build a world-leading giant warship, fortunately, Tang Ruowang has really made great efforts to help the imperial court tap talents from the coast, the South Seas, and even the West, and now Yingtian Academy is already full of talents, Mao Yuanyi has already laid a package ticket, within two years, he will definitely complete the design and production of giant warships, and if he can't finish the work, he will jump into the Qinhuai River to be a water ghost.

Cha Xuan and Zheng Haotian led the main force of the imperial naval division, and arrived in Wuhu in just three days, and all the warships were close to the front of the Wuhu ferry, waiting for the arrival of Zhang Xianzhong's army.

"Lord Zheng, how do you plan to arrange this battle?"

Cha Shu asked Zheng Haotian.

Zheng Haotian said in a deep voice: "Lord Cha, among the 50,000 people in Zhang Xianzhong's army, it is obvious that if you want to carry 50,000 troops to the expedition in one go, there will definitely be no fewer ships that need to be used, not to mention that they also need to transport war horses, weapons, ordnance and even grain and grass." Xia Guan thought that Zhang Xianzhong had to collect at least three or four hundred large ships before it was possible to complete the transportation of 50,000 troops, but three or four hundred large ships were not so easy to get together, and if they were mixed with small and medium-sized ships, I was afraid that there would be no five hundred ships, Zhang Xianzhong had no place to change the warships, most of them were merchant ships and cao ships on the Yangtze River, basically, there was no attack ability, there was no need to worry, the only thing we have to worry about now is that Zhang Xianzhong's fleet is too long, once we hit the front, The ships behind will quickly flee the battlefield, either landing close to the shore or returning the way they came, without engaging us. ”

Cha Zhu nodded and said: "Yes, what you said makes sense, but in this battle, the emperor's will for us is to completely annihilate Zhang Xianzhong's army, we can't let Zhang Xianzhong's army run, especially once they land in advance, a large number of foot cavalry choose to attack Nanjing City by land, our situation is not good, we must annihilate Zhang Xianzhong in one fell swoop, and definitely not let him have the strength to threaten Nanjing City!" ”

Zheng Haotian frowned, and said slowly: "In this case, my lord, then we can only divide our troops, I will lead the Imperial Navy Division to raid the fleet of the Great Western Army on the Yangtze River, you lead our musketeers to stay on the shore, as long as there is a Great Western Army to land, then annihilate them all on the banks of the Yangtze River!" ”

(End of chapter)