Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 111

Liu Kongzhao and Yang Wencong waited anxiously in the camp.

During this period of exile and wandering in the southeast, they have changed a lot. Liu Kongzhao is no longer as arrogant and domineering as before, and Yang Wencong is no longer as fond of painting and writing scripts as he used to be. I really realized what it means to sink the land of Shenzhou and break the mountains and rivers.

"Can Lu Jianguo accept us?"

"Should be, I heard that my brother-in-law was summoned to work as Ren Shaoqing, and even Ruan Dacheng paid homage to a Shaoqing. You said that Lu Jianguo recruited and appointed both of them. Why don't we accept it?" Yang Wencong said.

Yang Wencong is well-read and fond of ancient times, known as the nine friends in the painting. Although he is Ma Shiying's brother-in-law, his official career was not smooth before. He used to be the county magistrate of Qingtian, Liu Kongzhao's hometown, so the two of them can be regarded as socializing.

After failing six times in the general examination, Chongzhen was elected as the Huating teaching edict as a juren in seven years, officially became an official, served several county magistrates, and was finally impeached and seized by the Donglin party censor.

King Fu proclaimed himself emperor, and Nandu established his name, because his brother-in-law Ma Shiying made the first contribution, so he had to worship the censor of Youqian capital, and later he was ordered to governor Zhenchang and supervise the army on Jiangshang, but this high-ranking official did not serve the Qing army for a few days. crossed the river.

Compared with his insignificant achievements in official career, he is extremely accomplished in calligraphy and painting and is famous all over the world.

He is a master of poetry, calligraphy and painting, and he is also proficient in riding and shooting. In the past few months, he has led the army to run away, but he can always gather an army and even expand it to [-] troops with [-] Guizhou soldiers. It can be seen that he is not only good at Calligraphy and painting, in fact, do have a bit of Guizhou brutality. After all, weak scholars are in this troubled world, but it is difficult to really suppress the troubled soldiers.

For this point, even Liu Kongzhao, who has always been arrogant, admired him very much. Not long ago, he took the initiative to join forces with Yang Wencong, and was even very polite to him, without any intention of annexing others.

Liu Kongzhao knew that although Yang Wencong was also regarded as a member of the eunuchs, he had a much better reputation than himself. Before that, he also wanted to settle with King Yiyang, but King Yiyang refused to accept him. Huang Fei and others even refused to help him with food and grass.

"I've heard a lot of rumors about Lu Jianguo. Although I don't know how much is false, but I heard that this man has the demeanor of Han Guangwu, who is tolerant and decisive. It is on this person. If we still want to avenge our shame, we must follow this person." Yang Wencong said.

Liu Kongzhao nodded. He had also heard many rumors. Although he thought it was a bit exaggerated, it was these rumors that made him change his mind about going south to Wenchu, his hometown, and instead brought troops to join Lu Jianguo.

Regarding the fall of the Hongguang Dynasty in Nanjing, in fact, Liu Kongzhao has always been brooding, especially for the inaction of his admiral's navy, and he is even more ashamed. However, he believes that the Yangtze River Navy fled without a fight, mainly due to Zheng Cai, Huang Fei, etc. Commander's question.

He doesn't care if others call him a traitor or eunuch, but he can't bear to say that he is weak and incompetent, or that he is a traitor.

Qian Qianyi is known as the leader of Donglin, but he shaved his head and opened the city to welcome the captives. He is a national traitor, and he is definitely not.

"His Royal Highness summons!"

Finally, when the envoy from the prison came, Liu Kongzhao suddenly felt like crying.

Jian Guo's military camp was just outside the city of Haiyan County, less than ten miles away from Liu and Yang's military camp. They dismounted in front of the camp and entered the camp on foot.

Yang Wencong was very relaxed along the way, while Liu Kongzhao kept observing the Northern Expeditionary Army, becoming more and more surprised the more he watched.

Although it can be seen that there are still some equipment that is not complete, and there are even a lot of recruits, but there is a spirit in the battalion, a kind of upward spirit that is completely different from his soldiers and horses.

This army is full of vigor and confidence.

Finally came to the big tent of the Chinese army.

The two declared their names.

"Civil Minister Cao Jiang Admiral Cheng Guogong Liu Kongzhao pays his respects to His Royal Highness Jian Guo."

"Chen Youqian Capital Censor Governor Changzhen Local Supervisor Jiang Shangshui Division Yang Wencong pays homage to His Highness Jian Guo!"

The two bowed down.

It was very quiet in the big tent, and there has been no response.

The two of them didn't dare to raise their heads in disrespect, so they could only lie down all the time.

Zhu Yihai sat there, observing the two carefully.

Both of them were tall and burly, and the honored minister Liu Kongzhao was actually smaller than Yang Wencong, the master of calligraphy and painting. Yang Wencong was at least 1.8 meters tall, while Liu Kongzhao was slightly shorter than him, maybe less than 1.8 meters.The most surprising thing is that Yang Wencong does not have the temperament of an artist at all. He is tall, strong and handsome, and he is more like a pacesetter of honor.

Liu Kongzhao is not so handsome, he is more handsome than Kong Wu, and even has a fierce air.

"Liu Kongzhao, as an honorable minister of the Ming Dynasty, was honored by the state, the admiral Cao Jiang, and commanded the navy. As a result, the six towns of the navy didn't shoot an arrow, so they let the Tartars cross the river. You generals scattered, are you guilty?"

Liu Kongzhao asked the crime when he saw him coming up, his heart skipped a beat, he felt very bad, but he didn't dare to get up, so he had to lower his head and replied, "I really did neglect my duty. A chance to make amends."

Such a bachelor's confession made Zhu Yihai very satisfied.

Although Liu Kongzhao was attacked by Yu Dafu and others, Zhu Yihai didn't care if he had been attacking the Donglin Party before. After all, Donglin didn't represent the court or the emperor, he just attacked the Donglin Party and not the emperor's imperial power.

The Donglin Party has always liked to call itself a gentleman, and even lost themselves a bit, thinking that they represented the imperial court and Ming Dynasty.

If Liu Kongzhao came to see him, and he still had the arrogant and domineering attitude in the Hongguang court, and dared to ignore the monarch, then Zhu Yihai would not have to draw his sword to kill people. Anyway, he would kill Liu Kongzhao and appease his subordinates. The same is true for each battalion.

"Liu Kongzhao, you are the sixth generation Boss of Sincerity. You have been favored by the country, but when the country was in crisis, you really failed Daming. Now that you are ordered to supervise the country, you lead the army to vote. I am very happy, but you will be rewarded for your meritorious deeds and punished for your mistakes. , You still have to be punished for your previous serious dereliction of duty, are you willing to accept it?"

"The guilty minister is willing to be punished!"

"Okay, then I will demote your title, the Duke of Cheng, and the Boss of Chengyi. Admiral Cao Jiang and the governor of Nanjing Youdu will be exempted. In the lonely Northern Expeditionary Army, a new naval battalion will be set up, and you will be demoted to the rank of water." Lieutenant General of the division battalion, would you like to assist the navy generals in atonement?"

"As long as Your Highness can give me a chance to atone for my crimes, and let me go to the battlefield to kill the Tartars to avenge my shame, even if I beat you to the end and become a cook in the navy camp, I will be willing."

This attitude is very correct, Zhu Yihai is very satisfied.

"Very good, but Gu will not only believe in your one-sided words, but also depends on your actual performance. If you can make up your mind and redeem your mistakes, then the two capitals will be restored, and the old capital will be restored, and the Golden Palace will reward you." At that time, you still have the opportunity to receive the title of duke again."

"Yang Qing!"

"The sinner is here."

"You patrolled Changzhen with [-] Guizhou soldiers, supervised the Yangtze River, and the Jiang defense army collapsed. You are also responsible for losing the defense. However, you later killed the northern envoy in Suzhou, refused to surrender in Taihu Lake, and still fought against the captives. This loyalty is commendable. .”

"Gu will now remove you from the posts of governor of Changzhen and the supervisor of the Yangtze River, and retain your title of right deputy capital censor, so you can stay in Gu's imperial camp and assist Shen Ge's department in handling affairs, how about it?"

"I thank Your Highness for your kindness, and I will do my best to help, and I will live up to His Highness's expectations."

After the two made arrangements, Zhu Yihai then directly talked about the arrangement for the two soldiers.

The [-] Guizhou soldiers at Yang Wencong's core were scattered and recruited into the upper guards such as Yubayashi, Jinwu, Banner Bearer, and Yongwei. , demobilized and resettled, or converted to a long husband and auxiliary soldier.

The more than 1 people in Liu Kongzhao's fourth battalion are similar. The four battalions will be disbanded and will not be retained. The troops will be added to Zhu Yihai's battalions.

Jinwu and Habayashi will be expanded into four battalions.

The Navy's Fubo Battalion will undergo a major expansion this time, from the previous two battalions to twelve battalions, that is, the Navy's 2000 soldiers and more than [-] auxiliary soldiers.

The large and small ships in Liu Kongzhao's and Yang Wencong's armies will also be rowed to Ruan Jin's naval battalion first, and the other ships will be rowed to Liangtai.

Liu Kongzhao listened carefully and did not object.

Although he also heard that there is no need for Zhu Yihai to abolish these battalions of the two, especially his four battalions, which are originally naval battalions, and they are even relatively complete, but Zhu Yihai would rather disband them all, and then A few new battalions were built, but they were not retained.

How could he not understand the thoughts in it.

If it was in Nanjing more than a year ago, who dared to treat him like this, he would immediately jump up and curse, and even drew his sword to meet each other.

But after going through so much, he has become relatively calm now.

He is also very clear that Lu Jianguo doesn't trust him now, so it would be nice if he could accept him. Relegating him to Bo Chengyi and adding him as a lieutenant general of the navy is already a rare and precious thing. With more than 1 horses, it is even more impossible.

The atmosphere in the tent became more harmonious.

Zhu Yihai successfully expanded his new army to several battalions again.

Now there are 48 battalions, including 32 infantry battalions, four horse battalions, and twelve water battalions. The whole army will have 4000 soldiers and 640 auxiliary soldiers.

The fourth battalion of two thousand cavalry will be Zhu Yihai's elite trump card in the Northern Expedition. The horses of the whole army will be given priority to the horse battalion.

Each battalion does not accept horses and horses, and keeps horses. Even the battalion officers and sentries have to change their horses and leave the horses to the horse camp first.

If there are not enough war horses in the horse battalion, some better riding horses should be selected first, and then slowly replenished later.

Although the terrain is restricted in Jiangnan Water Town, the cavalry is used well and its power is huge. Zhu Yihai's Northern Expeditionary Army has more and more horses. After that, it is impossible to rely on raids and ambushes all the time. There will definitely be a frontal battle. A cavalry , In this kind of battlefield, sometimes it is the key force that can determine the outcome.

It is a well-known fact that one cavalry can be equivalent to four or five infantry, and two thousand cavalry can be equivalent to tens of thousands of infantry.

However, the cost of cavalry is also high, especially war horses are not only difficult to buy and expensive, but also need to be carefully raised and expensive.

The cost of one cavalry with horses will not be less than five infantry.

But Zhu Yihai still urgently hopes to gather horses and warriors who can ride and shoot, and build a cavalry first.

For reconnaissance, charge, pursuit, and even detour and outflank, cavalry is more useful.

With cavalry, you can strengthen the spirit of the infantry and chill the courage of the enemy.

As for the equipment of the cavalry battalion, Zhu Yihai's plan is to consider firearms. After all, the times are advancing, and we can't always rely on bows and arrows to ride and shoot. Therefore, the cavalry must find a way to equip shotguns, let the soldiers use them skillfully, and then equip them with bows and arrows, sabers, and spears. , and even the horse battalion can consider equipping some small guns in the future, so that the horses can run and provide fire support at any time.

According to Zhu Yihai's statistics, he gathered the horses of his entire army, plus Liu Kongzhao and Yang Wencong's horses among the more than 7000 soldiers and horses, and finally got more than 500 war horses.

With [-] cavalrymen and [-] war horses, the fourth battalion of cavalry was established, and a lot of riding horses, draft horses, and pack horses were drawn and handed over to the commander of the fourth battalion.

Zhang Mingyang, the deputy general of the Jinwu Battalion, was also officially promoted by Zhu Yihai to be the commander-in-chief of the Jinwu Battalion. With [-] cavalry under his command, he couldn't stop talking from ear to ear.

Ruan Jin, a member of the Fubo Battalion, was directly promoted by Zhu Yihai to be the commander-in-chief of the Fubo Battalion because his water battalion was directly expanded to ten battalions this time, and his two original commanders were also promoted to lieutenants.

"Your Highness, Li Yuchun sent Mr. Yan to see me."

"It seems that Li Yuchun can't wait." Zhu Yihai said with a smile in a good mood.

(End of this chapter)