Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 492 People from the East Bank on the Yangtze River ([-])

On July 7th and 16th, the Duduo army stationed in Yangzhou City hardly moved.Apart from sending some cavalry to spy near Guazhoudu, he has been adjusting his deployment and has not divided his troops to attack other places.Perhaps it was because the battle from Shaanxi to Jiangbei during this period exhausted the energy of the soldiers under their command, so they urgently needed a rest.However, since the yellow-clothed pirates on the east bank of the Ming Dynasty were outside, and their strength was unknown, the Qing army did not dare to entrust them with large numbers of troops. A large number of troops began to be driven to the Yangtze River, guarding various places, In order to prevent being attacked by the people on the east coast.

The ministries of the Eight Banners, the Han Army of the Green Camp, and the Mongolian soldiers of the Outer Domain complained. Everyone knew that Yangzhou was rich and wanted to plunder and make a fortune. They didn't expect to go out of the city to guard against the yellow-clothed thieves. How could they accept it.However, Duoduo's attitude was very firm. All the ministries that had entered Yangzhou were ordered to withdraw, and he himself moved the camp forward dozens of miles, passing through Yangzhou and not entering, which made the Eight Banners disciples who had been making sarcastic remarks helpless .

A few fast steamboats on the east bank cruised the lower reaches of the Yangtze River idly.From time to time, some local fishermen in small boats encountered these huge oncoming ships. The tall chimneys, the masts in the forest, and the whistle that sounded from time to time made them panic and run away as if they had seen a ghost.

When Mo Ming's "Fenshui" ship approached the water surface near the Jingkou of Zhenjiang, some soldiers on the other side who seemed to be from the Nanming Navy rushed away, which made Mo Ming a little depressed.In fact, he originally wanted to ask these people for questions, but he didn't expect that everyone was so timid and fearful of the enemy. If the Manchu Qing collected ships to cross the river, then don't expect these people to be able to resist.If the soldiers have no fighting spirit, then the so-called natural danger of the Yangtze River is just a joke.

As a last resort, two small boats were lowered from the "Fenshui", and forty army soldiers escorted an officer to row to the river bank.They held up a white flag and carried a letter dictated by Mo Ming and written by others with a brush, and they were going to go ashore to get in touch with Zheng Hongkui, the general of Zhenjiang.

After repeated efforts, the army soldiers who went ashore finally found several Nanming soldiers who were hiding among the reeds.The officer leading the team took out these guys who were kneeling and begging for mercy, and then gave each of them a dollar to suppress the shock.Strange to say, the Nanming soldiers who were desperately begging for mercy immediately calmed down after seeing these blond, blue-eyed, fierce-looking vassals giving them round silver pancakes.They looked at these outsiders in yellow clothes with fear and doubt, and said something in their mouths, but no one could understand.

They seem to be able to understand a little bit of the East Bank Mandarin spoken by the officers leading the team. This may be because there are guest soldiers from the north in Zhenjiang, but only God knows how much they can understand.The officer leading the team handed over the envelope to a person who looked like an officer in clothes—in fact, their clothes were similar because they were all tattered, and then repeated three times "Ask General Zheng for an interview on the sandbar in the middle of the river", Then he turned back and rowed back to the big boat.

I don't know if the people on the east bank were lucky or what, but those Nanming sergeants actually brought the letter to Zheng Hongkui. In the early morning of July 7, a small Chinese-style hard-sail boat came out of the reed marshes in the south, and then docked near the sandbar in the center of the river.

After the lookout on the "Fenshui" found out, he immediately reported it to Mo Ming, and with a whistle, the "Fenshui" that had been cruising nearby also approached the sandbar at a low speed of two knots.After arriving at the destination, the ship did not turn off the fire, the anchor chain was not lowered, and everything was still ready for sailing.

After the officers and soldiers of a squadron came ashore and finished the security, Mo Ming also boarded the sandbar under the escort of more than ten elite security team scouts.There were more than [-] people standing far away on the sandbar, dressed in various colors, only one black and thin man was wearing the robes of a military officer of the Ming Dynasty, presumably this was Zheng Hongkui.

Mo Ming just wanted to say something, but he heard a question from the opposite side: "But the famous Marshal Mo on the east coast of the Liaohai Sea? I, Anping Zheng Hongkui, have heard of Marshal Mo's reputation before, and I admire him very much. See you today. It is the posture of a dragon and tiger, and its mighty power is extraordinary, and only a god like Marshal Mo can make that Jianzhou mandarin slave fearful, admire, admire!"

Well, although the accent is a bit weird, I can understand most of it more or less.Mo Ming was not surprised that Zheng Hongkui knew Liaodong official dialect. Wouldn't it be too useless for this kind of traveler to know a few dialects?Moreover, he did not use the identity of the general of Zhenjiang to suppress people, but only spoke in the name of the Zheng family in Anping. Today's matter is interesting. It seems that Zheng Hongkui is not optimistic about this small court of the Southern Ming Dynasty, so he didn't mention it at all. This stubble.

"Brother Zheng is also very handsome." Mo Ming walked over under the escort of the scouts, and said to Zheng Hongkui: "Let's get down to business, I don't like polite manners, so don't blame Brother Zheng. As I said in my letter yesterday, What does General Zheng think about attacking the Tartars together with Brother Ling?"

"This matter is very good." Zheng Hongkui agreed, "Marshal Mo said in his letter that he can sell the cannon in yellow clothes to my Zheng family. Is this really true? Look at the majestic and powerful ship of Marshal Mo. This deck The giant ship must have come from Taixi, and the guns it prepared must be extraordinary. In the past, I used to fire guns on the Guanying gunboat in Humen. , it should be as easy as turning the palm of your hand. If Marshal Mo is willing to sell these cannons to my Zheng family, then everything will be easy to talk about."

"Brother Ling is also willing to attack the Tartars?" Mo Ming said with a mocking smile on his lips, "Duoduo surrendered more than 30 troops from the four towns in the north of the Yangtze River, and now has [-] troops. Pointing his sword at the south of the Yangtze River, it can be said to be throwing whips." The flow is cut off, and the momentum is already extremely high. The emperors and ministers of the Ming Dynasty are in panic, the soldiers have no fighting spirit, and the soldiers have no intention to keep them. You, me, and brother Ling can all see that destruction is only a matter of time. Now that the Tartars have conquered the world, it has made my brother's family great. Is it possible that we are willing to destroy the family and fight against the Tartars? I don't read much, and Zheng Don't bully me, brother!"

After hearing Mo Ming's words, Zheng Hongkui, who knew his brother's nature well, was at a loss for words and didn't know what to say.

"Brother Zheng, don't be annoyed, I'm a bit blunt, and I hope to offend Haihan." Mo Ming laughed, and then changed the subject: "With today's situation, Nanjing is bound to be unstoppable. What is Brother Zheng's plan?"

"Do your best, listen to the destiny, that's all..." Zheng Hongkui sighed, and said desolately: "As the commander-in-chief of Zhenjiang, I should be loyal to the king's affairs and beat the Tartars hard. However, the troops under my command are not uniform. Most of them fled; the guests and soldiers were arrogant and did not listen to orders, and the disabled people tried to succeed, and the officials were also exhausted. If there is any disharmony, you should retreat to Fujian to protect yourself."

Zheng Hongkui was surrounded by soldiers brought from his hometown, so he didn't worry about these people hearing what he said about the so-called "rebellious".

"This is the truth. Brother Zheng didn't deceive me, haha." Mo Ming laughed and said, "Since that's the case, I don't want to say too much. There will be a period later. I am like building a city and a port at the border of Yantaidun in the east of Dengzhou. In the future If Brother Zheng is in trouble, you can come here by boat, and I will not hesitate to help. Well, I can’t let Brother Zheng go for nothing. I will ask someone to leave some gifts for Brother Zheng later. Two 4-pound steel doors Cannons, fifty muskets, and fifty sabers are trivial things, and they are not respectful. By the way, I have been in love with my nephew Mr. Damu for a long time. I would like to give you ten armors and ten flintlock pistols. I will trouble Brother Zheng to bring them back to you. .”

Now that we've talked about this, Zheng Hongkui can't say anything more.In fact, he was willing to come out today to meet the legendary leader of the yellow-clothed army. Firstly, he was curious, and secondly, he wanted to see if he could buy some yellow-clothed cannons from them.This kind of cannon was rumored to be miraculous in the north. Zheng Hongkui believed that it should be much better than the red cannon, so he eagerly wanted to buy some of this kind of military heavy weapon, even if the price was more expensive.

But who knows that the other party thinks that his brother Zheng Zhilong will not resolutely resist the Qing Dynasty, so he is unwilling to sell.On this point, Zheng Hongkui has nothing to say.Because as a real brother, he has some understanding of his elder brother's thoughts, and because of his personality, he does not want to brazenly say that his elder brother will not surrender to his conscience, so this matter is I can only let it go.

Unexpectedly, these yellow-clothed soldiers left him a back door and told him that he could go to Yantai Port to do business. Anti-clear and then make plans.Moreover, the other party was very generous and generous, which made Zheng Hongkui, who came empty-handed, a little embarrassed.But he is not a person who sticks to common etiquette, and he will just find a way to repay him later.So, after a brief farewell, the two parties left separately.

After Zheng Hongkui left, the people on the east bank continued to wander aimlessly on the Yangtze River in boats.It wasn't until the naval officer reminded Mo Ming that if he didn't go back, he couldn't catch up with the coming fishing season, Mo Ming felt that it was almost time to retreat.Now that people on the east coast are short of food, these transport ships and warships are also used as fishing boats, and the most important fishing season of the year is coming soon. If they don't rush back, will everyone drink northwest wind in winter?

At dawn on the 19th, people on the east bank who were packing up suddenly found a large fleet of ships on the river.Mo Ming hurriedly boarded the bridge to watch, and found that it was the fleet of the Qing army crossing the river.I don't know where they got the boats, but they saw that the river was covered with sky and sun, densely packed with troop transport boats, maybe tens of thousands of people were crossing the river.Moreover, there were a large number of small boats going down the river, heading straight for the fleet of people from the east bank. The watchman issued a warning, saying that these small boats were full of firewood, and the Qing army might use fire tactics.

Upon learning of this important situation, Mo Ming immediately ordered the entire fleet to retreat and head downstream.After they drove at full speed and pulled away from those arsonist boats, some boats the size of leaves had already landed in the Zhenjiang area on the south bank in the distance, and some Qing troops like small black spots jumped off the boats and headed inland advance.Mo Ming knew that Zhenjiang would fall in an instant, and if Zhenjiang was lost, Nanjing would not be able to keep it.

Seeing that there was no advantage to take advantage of, the people on the east bank simply went all the way east, and then landed along the coast of Jingjiang County, which is currently under the control of the Qing army.The Qing army did not garrison here, and the people from the east bank forced more than [-] people from the whole city to board the overcrowded fleet after they plundered the area, and then sailed down the river, preparing to reach the mouth of the Yangtze River. The follow-up fleet from outside will meet and return to Dabo Port.

(End of this chapter)