I

  Chapter 346 344 [Cao Cao]

   "Brother, brother, does this suit look good?" Zhao Zhenfang ran in bouncing.

  Zhao Han is cooling off by the pool. Although it is the autumn harvest season, the autumn tiger in Nanjing is even hotter.

  Fei Rulan and Pan Qimei also came in, and they were wearing new clothes. It seemed that they had just gone out to visit a clothing store.

  All tube top Perot shirts, Fei Rulan is better, the sleeves are at the wrist. Zhao Zhenfang and Pan Qimei were both wearing half-sleeved sleeves, their snow-white arms were exposed.

  Don’t think that ancient women only dressed conservatively. From the paintings left by the Song and Ming dynasties, we can see that women in summer dress very openly.

  There are sleeveless shirts, and both arms are completely exposed. You can still see a tube top inside, and you don't even wear a tube top, which vaguely reveals that.

   Of course, this is in my own yard.

  When going out, you will wear an extra bijia (sleeveless and collarless double-breasted vest).

  Fei Rulan smiled and said, "The clan brother (Fei Ruyi) also moved to Nanjing and opened a clothing store. Please ask us to be the first batch of customers."

   "It's pretty." Zhao Han praised.

  Zhao Zhenfang was holding a bag of melon seeds in her hand, sitting by the pool and knocking non-stop: "I heard that eldest sister is going to Gaoyou?"

  Zhao Han nodded and said: "When Gaoyou is captured, my brother-in-law will go over there to be the county magistrate."

  Big sister's matter has been settled, Xu Zhiyuan quietly reconciled with his original partner. His original wife married Zheng Yu, and followed Zheng Yu to Fujian to be an official.

  In addition, the Xu family is temporarily split into three branches.

   One stayed in Jiangnan, one moved to Fujian, and one moved to Hunan. This kind of big family will continue to be dismantled in the future, not only the Xu family, but many big families in Jiangsu and Zhejiang will also be dismantled.

  Fei Yinghuan, Lou's family, and Fei Rumei's family are all in Zhejiang at this time, and Fei Yinghuan's official position is the prefect of Jinhua.

   Fei Rulan sat by the pool for a while, feeling terribly hot. Then he got up and left, and came back with Xiyue after a while, and put a few bowls of "milk ice" on the tray.

   "I learned how to relieve heat a few days ago." Fei Rulan said with a smile.

  Milk ice can be divided into milk and goat milk. The milk is added to the ice, and condiments such as jam are added, which is not much different from modern ice cream.

  The method of making ice with saltpeter was found in the Tang and Song dynasties.

  The cold drink shops in the Song Dynasty night market did not close until midnight.

  Fei Rulan and the others came to Nanjing and didn't enjoy much else, but tried all kinds of street snacks and drinks.

  Zhao Han scooped up the ice cream with a spoon, and it felt icy in the mouth, and the heat disappeared three points immediately. He commented: "The taste is too sweet, you can put less sugar."

   "I think it's just right." Pan Qimei said while licking the ice cream.

  Zhao Zhenfang nodded again and again: "Yes, just right, it won't taste good if it's not sweet."

  Zhao Han can only agree that the sweetness is appropriate. Looking at the people in front of him, he can't help but think of the women who drink milk tea all over the street.

  Women are all the same in ancient times and modern times.

  Everyone was eating cold drinks when Zheng Sen suddenly came to see him.

  The kid ran to the pool, first winked at Zhao Zhenfang, and the little girl immediately rolled her eyes back.

   Zheng Sen cupped his hands and said: "Commander, my father heard that there are not enough warships in the Shanghai Navy, so he is willing to sell 20 warships at a low price."

   "I have a heart." Zhao Han was neither happy nor annoyed.

  The warship that Zheng Zhilong is willing to sell is definitely not small, but not too big, it can be regarded as a medium-sized ship. But there is almost no ocean-going capability, and the Dutch shipbuilders have to be recruited to build them slowly using Western-style shipbuilding methods.

  Chinese and Western sea ships each have their own advantages.

  If you want to improve your combat effectiveness, a western-style warship is better. This has nothing to do with shipbuilding technology, but is determined by the hull structure.

   Zheng Sen hesitated to speak.

  Zhao Han laughed and said, "Your father wants to be an official?"

   "He always wanted to be an official." Zheng Sen said helplessly.

  Zhao Han said with a smile: "I want to be an official, but I don't want to bear the Nanyang trade, and let the merchant ships of various countries pay him protection fees. Can he take advantage of all the benefits in the world?"

   Zheng Sen sighed: "My father won't listen to advice."

  Until now, Zhao Han has not appointed Zheng Zhilong an official, and his identity is still the Daming Coastal Defense Guerrilla.

  Seeing that Zhao Han's territory is getting bigger and bigger, Zheng Zhilong is a little anxious.

  Zhao Han was not in a hurry, and let Zheng Zhilong and the Dutch wait for him to occupy more land inland.

  The autumn harvest is over, and the grain is in storage, and it is time to send troops.

  …

  The South Court Army did not move for the time being, and half of them stayed in Guangdong to guard against the enemies of Guangxi. Half of them entered Fujian to suppress bandits. There are a large number of bandits in the mountainous areas of Fujian, and they must continue to be suppressed to stabilize.

  Intermediate Court Army—

  Zhang Tieniu and Liu Zhu as the main lieutenants, landed in Taixing and Tongzhou (Nantong), and occupied the salt-producing areas of the Jianghuai River. The enemy was the salt lords and Yanhu rebels there.

  East Academy Army—

   Fei Ruhe and Wan Sitong are the main lieutenants, starting from Yangzhou along the Grand Canal, the strategic goal is to capture Huai'an. Then divide the troops to advance eastward, help Zhang Tieniu block the north, and then occupy the salt-producing areas together.

  West Academy Army—

   Li Zheng and Xiao Zongxian were the main lieutenants, starting from Jiangpu County, first captured Fengyang Mansion, and the ultimate goal was to reach Xuzhou, mainly fighting against the uprising soldiers.

  North Academy Army—

  Huang Shun and Fei Yinggong were the main lieutenants. They first attacked Luzhou Prefecture, and then went to Lu'an Prefecture, mainly fighting against Luo Rucai.

  In addition, Huang Yao, the head of the Northern Military Academy, continued to suppress the chieftains in Shizhou Prefecture, and now he has farmers and soldiers in his hands. After these farmers and soldiers have seen blood in actual combat, next year they will be expanded into a mountain division of 7,500 people, which will be responsible for the southwestern operations in Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan.

  …

   Luzhou.

  Luo Rucai was going crazy. He had been besieging Fucheng for three months, but he was still unable to conquer the city.

   You must know that the soldiers of Luzhou have already been taken away, and the defenders of the city are all the townspeople and citizens!

  Minister Yang Chengzu said: "Zhao Tianwang is about to attack, whether to surrender or fight or leave, you have to make a decision first."

Luo Rucai sighed: "The surname Zhao will not tolerate me, and surrender is impossible. Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong are two bastards, they are both thieves, but they refuse to fight together. If they join forces, plus us, what is the world?" Can't go?"

   "They all want to be emperor." Yang Chengzu shook his head.

   "Being the emperor? The mud on the trousers hasn't been wiped off yet," Luo Rucai sneered, "I want to be an emperor, but I can't tolerate me. Now I have to face that surnamed Zhao alone."

  Among the rogue bandits in the late Ming Dynasty, Luo Rucai was an outlier, ranking second in military strength for a long time.

  He saved Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng.

  Especially when Li Zicheng was rescued, Luo Rucai fell seriously ill. As soon as he heard that Li Zicheng was in trouble, he immediately sent troops to rescue Li Zicheng.

  This guy doesn't trust the government, and his philosophy is "thieves don't fight thieves", and he wants to overthrow the Ming court. When there were conflicts among the rebels, he was in charge of mediating. Once Zhang Xianzhong was almost killed by Li Zicheng, and it was Luo Ru who sent Zhang Xianzhong 500 cavalry to help Zhang Xianzhong escape from a dangerous situation.

  Yang Sichang's evaluation of Luo Rucai is: "The Qu Kui of Qu Kui, the most cunning of fierce and cunning, has been trained to be the most refined and fierce in the past twenty years, and he will never die or surrender!"

  Luo Rucai's old battalion is indeed brave. In terms of combat effectiveness alone, it may surpass the soldiers of Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng.

  However, this guy has poor military discipline and likes to enjoy himself.

  Luo Rucai had dozens of wives and concubines, and also raised several theater troupes, and his generals also followed suit.

  Escaping from Zhang Xianzhong's territory, Luo Rucai lost few wives and concubines. In just one year, he had dozens of wives again.

  The cavalry of this product has recovered to 2,000, and there are thousands of old battalion infantry. The combat effectiveness is likely to be close to that of the Qing elite.

  Huang Shun and Fei Yinggong led 7,500 soldiers and 12,000 civilian husbands, and marched towards Luzhou Prefecture in a mighty manner. The reason why there are so many civilians is because there are no rivers along the way, and the expanded army has a lot of baggage.

  Luo Rucai personally led 2,000 cavalry to attack, but he couldn't find a chance to attack.

   In desperation, he ordered to withdraw from the siege and chose to confront the Datong Army.

  The Datong army went straight to the outside of Luzhou City. Zhu Zhifeng, the prefect of Luzhou, said, "Jiangxi soldiers are coming, open the city to welcome them!"

  Seeing that Datong soldiers were welcomed into the city by the officers and soldiers, Luo Rucai was so angry that he almost spat out old blood.

  The same traitors, he besieged Luzhou for three months, the whole city's soldiers and civilians rose up to resist, but Zhao Han's soldiers were able to enter the city with a big swagger.

"Walk!"

  Luo Rucai's entire army withdrew to Lu'an, but on the way, this guy led the cavalry and suddenly plunged obliquely in the direction of Shucheng County.

  He did not fight positional warfare with the Datong soldiers, but harassed Shucheng, which had already divided the fields, and harassed the logistics and food roads of the Datong Army by the way.

   Two thousand cavalry came galloping, and the peasant association and peasant soldiers had no time to react.

"kill!"

  The bandit cavalry broke into the village, killed everyone they saw, and left with only a small amount of food.

  Many of the people in Shucheng moved from the south, and they only finished dividing the land for half a month. It's just that the peasant association has been formed, and the peasants and soldiers have just put up a show, and they haven't even had time to practice.

   "Dang Dang Dang Dang!"

   "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!"

  The bell was ringing and the whistle was blowing again in the village, and the peasants, soldiers and peasant association quickly assembled.

  Luo Rucai killed dozens of villagers, and when he saw the rest of the villagers assembled into an army, he immediately ordered to turn around and leave.

   Arriving at the next village, there was another attack and killing. After the villagers gathered, Luo Ru led the cavalry to escape again.

  Two thousand cavalry passed through villages and towns, raiding and killing all the way, killing hundreds of peasants in three days.

  He had no other intention, but to disturb the rear of the Datong Army, so that Huang Shun and Fei Yinggong, who had just occupied Luzhou, could not concentrate on attacking Lu'an.

   Zhao Han's shortcoming of not having cavalry was finally exposed, and he couldn't even chase after him. He had to mobilize several times the number of troops to chase and intercept him.

  Huang Shun and Fei Yinggong had nothing to do about it. In ten days, more than 2,000 farmers were killed or injured.

  Luo Rucai's cavalry rushed into the village and chopped it down. They didn't deliberately massacre the village. Anyway, they ran away after killing people, and they couldn't even touch the shadow of ghosts.

   In desperation, Huang Shun simply ignored it and led his troops to attack Luo Rucai's territory.

"Son of a bitch!"

   "It's not for grabbing food, it's just for killing people. If I catch Luo Rucai, I will cut him into pieces!"

  When Zhao Han got the news in Nanjing, he immediately flew into a rage and dispatched the cavalry from Jeju Island in advance. The Mawari horses continued to breed, and the Jeju pony was temporarily used to fight, only to kill Luo Ru so that he would not be allowed to kill everywhere.

  From Shanghai to Jeju Island, it only takes a few days to go back and forth.

  Hu Dinggui, Wang Yaochen, and Chen Tangong came with cavalry, while Lu Xiangguan stayed in Jeju Island to manage civil affairs.

   In a fit of rage, Zhao Han called Lu Xiangsheng, and asked Lu Xiangsheng to lead the cavalry to chase the enemy.

  (end of this chapter)