Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 594
There is a saying that misfortunes never come singly, and blessings come without pairs. As soon as Lu Jianguo entered the Yangtze River, Jiangnan was shaken and people panicked. The Qing soldiers who entered Jiangxi were defeated and returned. There were only 5 horses and only 5000 cavalry fled back one after another. .

The Qing army not only lost its coach Man Dahai, but also lost Anqing, an important town in the upper reaches of Jiangning, which shocked Hong Chengchou.

Hong Chengchou immediately realized that Duoduo was also in danger. While reporting to Beijing, he asked to send Manchurian soldiers to support him, while preparing soldiers to retake Anqing and open up the grain road.

But King Lu's men and horses are like a stinky plaster. They have already withdrawn from the Yangtze River, but they don't know why?Returning to Chongming Island, hundreds of large ships were cruising on the river, and soldiers landed on the shore to harass them, disturbing the peace of Suzhou, Songjiang and Yangzhou.

Chaos immediately ensued in the county town of Shanghai. Some people wearing Hanfu and net scarves, fearing to overthrow the government, forced the magistrate of the Qing court to open the city to welcome the king's division. He was so arrogant that Hong Chengchou had to send [-] soldiers and horses, which he planned to use to recover Anqing, to Shanghai and other places. The threat of slaughtering the city stabilized the situation.

At this time, the army of Lu Jianguo saw the main force of the Qing soldiers stationed at the mouth of the Yangtze River, and immediately returned to the sea, but they did not retreat. Instead, they used the sandbar near Chongming as a base to reclaim the land and cultivate it. appearance.

Zhang Mingzhen used to be in Chongming for a little trouble, but now nearly [-] Lu soldiers are stationed at the mouth of the Yangtze River, how can Hong Chengchou bear it.He immediately ordered the navy to attack, but the Yangtze River estuary was no different from ordinary rivers, with wide waters, strong winds and high waves.

The Lu army did not retreat this time, and it seemed that they were determined to plant rice here and make their home here at the mouth of the Yangtze River.

The two sides fought a big battle near Chongming Island. More than 50 Qing ships were sunk and retreated into the Yangtze River in a hurry.

In mid-August, before the problem of Lu Jianguo was resolved, news from Duoduo's side came, and the battle between Chu and Jiangxi was a complete failure.

Duoduo retreated to Xinyang, the army had already eaten up the food and grass, so he had to rob several county towns in the area controlled by the Qing court, supply supplies on the spot, and urged Hong Chengchou to raise food quickly.

In mid-September, another news came that Wang Yan led nearly 10 troops out of Sichuan and had already arrived in Wuchang, bringing the regular Ming army in Chu and Jiangxi to more than 22.

If you count some of the rebels in disorder, there will be more, and they have already seriously threatened Jiangnan.

Various signs and secret reports from the Qing court indicated that all kinds of materials from the Ming Dynasty were gathering in Chu and Jiangxi, which made Hong Chengchou feel a great sense of threat.

Fortunately, at this time, Duoduo's soldiers and horses had already reached the north bank of the Yangtze River, filling up the troops in the south of the Yangtze River, but the offensive and defensive changes were already very obvious.

South of Yangzhou, Guazhoudu, Hong Chengchou came to meet Duoduo.

The city of Yangzhou was burned down by Wang Yan in a big fire. Now it has been four years, and Yangzhou has been rebuilt from the ruins at this moment.

Although Yangzhou is no longer as prosperous as it used to be at this time, because it is located on an important water and land route and the throat of the Grand Canal, it has gradually regained some popularity, and the market has also begun to flourish.

This place used to be the headquarters of salt merchants from Lianghuai and Huaihe Rivers, but now it is dominated by rich merchants from Shanxi. Yangzhou can recover so quickly, except that the Qing court established Beijing as its capital, and hundreds of thousands of parasites need to restart water transportation to support them. Yangzhou is at the center of water transportation. In addition, the large amount of money injected by the eight imperial merchants is also indispensable.

At this time, in Yangzhou City, restaurants, brothels and other industries were mostly dominated by Shanxi merchants.

When Hong Chengchou entered Yangzhou City, instead of going to the government office, he went straight to a large mansion in the east of the city. This was the property of Fan Yongdou, one of the imperial merchants, and Duoduo stayed in his mansion.

In this battle between Chu and Jiangxi, the Qing army failed to achieve its strategic goals, spent countless supplies, and returned in vain. Although the main force of Duoduo's road was preserved, the loss was not ugly, but Prince Yu was still sick with worry and anger.

Hong Chengchou was waiting for him in Jiangning, but now he can only come to Yangzhou.

Duoduo rested in Yangzhou for a few days, and as the weather turned cooler after autumn, his complexion improved and his body gradually recovered.

At this time, Duoduo was walking in the courtyard in his single clothes. A guard stepped forward, slapped Qian Er, and reported: "Your Majesty, Governor Hong has arrived."

"Oh, take him to the lobby to wait, the king will come later." Duoduo waved his hand, and the two servant girls immediately stepped forward to help him go back.

Hong Chengchou sat in the lobby. The tables and chairs were all made of high-quality huanghuali wood. It would be nice for ordinary people to have a string of huanghuali beads to play with. This whole set of furniture, doors and windows are all made of huanghuali wood, which shows the pride of the owner.

The servants served tea, but Hong Chengchou did not move. He waited for a while, and Duoduo was helped out from inside.

His illness was a little difficult to talk about. First, he was worried and angry, and second, he was not good at hygiene, and he got dysentery, which made his legs weak.

Seeing his pale face, Hong Chengchou was startled, and hurriedly said: "My lord, this is~"

Duoduo waved his hand, unwilling to listen to Hong Chengchou's advice on his physical condition, he interrupted him, sat down and said directly: "My king is in good health. I heard that more than a hundred thousand people arrived in Wuchang when Wang Yan came out of Sichuan. Is the news reliable?"

Seeing this, Hong Chengchou stood respectfully and nodded, "I am about to explain this matter to the prince. After Wang Yan came out of Sichuan, the main force of the Ming army was concentrated in the land of Chu and Jiangxi. , we have to guard against it!"

These words made Doduo feel like a dream. In the past two years, the Qing Dynasty was chasing the Ming Dynasty. Although the fortunes have been bad in the past two years, they have not reached the point of complete reversal.

Duoduo didn't believe it in his heart. Although the Qing army's attack on Chu and Jiangxi failed this time, Jiangnan lost a total of more than 8 people, but Jiangnan still had 13 soldiers, plus Zhejiang and half of Fujian, the number of troops exceeded 18.

If the Ming army wanted to attack Jiangnan, it would have to send at least 30 troops. He did not believe that the Ming Dynasty could mobilize so many troops. Moreover, when the Ming army came to attack Jiangnan, the Qing soldiers from Lianghuai and Beijing could all go south to support.

Duoduo listened, and was silent for a while, "Is the situation so bad? The Ming army has the ability to attack Jiangnan so soon?"

Hong Chengchou saw that Duoduo didn't believe it, and threw out another big event, "Your Majesty, recently, some changes have been discovered by the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River at the sticky pole. Even Shandong, Shanxi, and Beijing have Han officials participating. It seems that they are planning a big event!"

"What?" Duoduo raised his eyebrows and said, "Governor Hong is saying that someone is going to harm my Qing Dynasty?"

"My lord, the other party's actions are quite secretive, and I haven't found any clues about the sticky stick yet." Hong Chengchou paused, and continued: "However, judging from some clues, these people seem to be planning to help the Ming Dynasty seek Jiangnan."

Duoduo straightened his body, frowned and asked, "What do you say? Do they have that ability?"

"Your Majesty, in August, the pirate Lu Ni led a boat division into the Yangtze River, and then withdrew from the mouth of the Yangtze River. But for some reason, he turned back and stationed his troops on sandbanks such as Chongming. He fought and did not fight, and retreated and never retreated. When a large ship is wandering in the river mouth, there must be clues and plots by traitors from the mainland."

"Governor Hong, what do you think they are going to do?" Duoduo became serious.

"Just now, my lord doesn't believe that the Ming army will aggressively attack the south of the Yangtze River. But if the Ming army blocks the Yangtze River with naval forces first, there will be chaos in the south of the Yangtze River. When the Ming army comes along the river, the states and counties along the way may all rebel."

(Thanks to Shuhai wuya, the monthly ticket of Dahaohua, and thanks to Yuedong Woxin for the reward)
(End of this chapter)