After discovering the thoughts of these people, especially some Qing generals who later surrendered, it was even more obvious. Zhu Youdong hurriedly said: "This privilege, only once, will not be there afterwards." In addition, those who indiscriminately kill innocent people and rob the people's property are still subject to military law. Hearing Zhu Youdong's words, the others calmed down.

Wang Qing hurriedly said: "Thank you, Your Highness, rest assured, Your Highness, I will definitely restrain my soldiers." We should strictly enforce military discipline and never indiscriminately kill innocent people or rob people's property. Zhu Youdong said: "Okay, you go to prepare first, and after the army is reorganized tomorrow, you will set off early the day after tomorrow." I will try my best to send reinforcements north to support you in half a month. ”

Wang Qing didn't say much more, and left directly with Li Gui and others to reorganize those Mongol prisoners. Zhu Youdong continued: "We arrived in Nanjing on the seventh day of Wuchangding, and now it has been six days, and in order to eliminate the Mongol army, we have been delayed for two days. It is impossible to get to Nanjing within seven days, but we must also rush to Nanjing as soon as possible. Gou Xingwang and they conquered Anqing, and it won't be long before the Qing soldiers in Nanjing will get the news. ”

Jiang Chao said: "Our army does not need to be reorganized, it will be able to set off tomorrow, and at our speed, it will take about three days to reach the city of Nanjing." Now we still have more than 1,000 Manchurian Eight Banners here, and I believe that the Qing soldiers in Nanjing will not dare to directly reject them. ”

Wei Du also said: "Your Highness, rest assured, now these more than 1,000 Manchurian Eight Banners are absolutely loyal to our Restoration Army, and we will definitely be able to take Nanjing City." Zhu Youdong said: "When I was in Wuchang, I already said that what is the use of just taking the city gate of Nanjing?" We can't let the army enter the city in time, as long as the Qing army counterattacks, you won't be able to defend the city gate, and when the time comes, it will not be easy for us to attack Nanjing. ”

Zhu Youdong didn't seem to be too demoralizing to everyone, so he said: "Don't think too simply, Nanjing City is so big, but there are a large number of Qing soldiers stationed outside Nanjing City." This is not the place where we attacked before, as long as the city is in place, all parts of the country have basically been pacified. ”

Zhu Youdong looked at the map and said: "Nanjing has always been a prosperous place, and there are not many Qing soldiers stationed here, scattered, but if they have time to assemble, this will still put a lot of pressure on us." What's more, there are so many big cities around Nanjing. If we can't go out with a large army and take the city quickly, if we fight city by city. How long are we going to delay? Will the Qing army give us so much time? ”

After speaking, Zhu Youdong asked Lin Zhuang again: "Where is Hu Yiqing's army now?" Lin Zhuang said: "General Hu's army is all reorganized from Qing prisoners, and the marching speed is not fast. I just arrived at Taihu Lake yesterday, and today I am estimated to be able to go to the hidden mountain. ”

Zhu Youdong frowned and said, "They didn't directly cross the Yinghuo Mountains? Lin Zhuang said: "It is estimated that the army has just been reorganized, and it immediately carried out such a strong long-distance march, I am afraid that the army is not easy to control." Moreover, there were no supplies along the way in the Yinghuo Mountains, and General Hu and they should not have taken this risk. ”

Zhu Youdong said: "It's too late, at their speed, the army will go to Nanjing, and the daylilies will be cold." In one day, he could only march more than 50 miles. If great armies can only go at such a pace, why should we reorganize these armies? ”

Feng Shuangli said: "It's better not to wait for them, just let our army here go directly to Nanjing." The newly reorganized army will not be able to keep up with the combat power at all, and it will drag down the army when the time comes. Liu Zhen also said: "Yes, Your Highness, now we have more than 30,000 troops here, and more than 1,000 Manchurian Eight Banners." If they are allowed to open the gate of Nanjing, we will definitely be able to capture the city of Nanjing. ”

Jiang Chao also said: "Your Highness, even if Hu Yiqing and his army are come, they may not be able to use it, and their combat effectiveness will not be used at all." If we are attacked by the Qing army at that time, and let them disrupt our military formation, it will not be worth the loss. ”

Although what Jiang Chao and others said was also very reasonable, Zhu Youdong said: "With the combat strength of our current Fuming Army, if we want to attack Nanjing City, we don't need many troops. But what about after we attack Nanjing? How to defend the city, do you want to capture Zhenjiang, Changzhou, Songjiang, Suzhou? Without these armies, they cannot take on these tasks. At that time, we still had troops there to attack these places? ”

Feng Shuangli said: "After we capture Nanjing, let the army rest for two days, and then we can send troops to attack." It won't take too long, not to mention that there is still Gou Xingwang's army in the south, and now the army of Ma Weixing and Zhou Dazhu is also following the sailor. So we still have an army of nearly 60,000. ”

Lin Zhuang also said: "Yes, Your Highness, in the afternoon, General Gou Xingwang sent information that they had captured Anqing City yesterday. In terms of the water division, Yang Jie, the commander of the Jiujiang Water Division, was beheaded by Lin Xingzhu and others. Then he led the Jiujiang Naval Division to the east, and now he is already waiting in Anqing. ”

Feng Shuangli said: "Such a huge army is waiting in Anqing, and it is very difficult to avoid leaking the news. Your Highness can't wait any longer, if the Qing army is really prepared in Nanjing, we really can't advance or retreat. Zhu Youdong was finally moved, and said: "Go to Anqing immediately to pass the order, let the sailor set off immediately, and we will arrive in Dangtu a day later." When our army arrives, the sailors must wait for us in Dangtu. ”

Lin Zhuang immediately sent someone to start giving orders, and Zhu Youdong said: "Our army should hurry up and rest, early tomorrow morning, our army will set off immediately, rush to Dangtu at full speed, and cross the river by the naval warship." In addition, the order was immediately sent to Hu Yiqing and them, and two days later, they must rush to Dangtu to meet. If it is not delayed, military justice will be imposed. ”

Everyone saw that Zhu Youdong never let go, and the Huguang Qing Army organized by Hu Yiqing and others was a little puzzled. But now that Zhu Youdong has given the order, everyone can no longer object, so they have to do this.

Early the next morning, Zhu Youdong began to leave with the army. Wang Qing, Li Gui and others reorganized the army in Tongcheng. Another thousand people were left behind to guard Tongcheng and Beixia Pass.

On May 20, Zhu Youdong led a large army and finally arrived at Yuxi Town, opposite Dangtu. This place is not directly facing Dangtu, but between Dangtu and Wuhu. The reason why this position was chosen was to avoid the defenders of Dangtu, and to avoid the attack of the defenders of Dangtu when the army crossed the river. The second is that there is a civilian wharf here, which is convenient for the ships of the naval division to dock.

Since it is a civilian dock, there will not be too many guards, and the Restoration Army will not cause too much movement if it captures the dock here. With just one garrison regiment, the dock was easily controlled.

The merchant ships that were loading and unloading on the dock suddenly saw a large number of troops running in, and they immediately became in a hurry. But now it's too late to escape, not to mention that you still have a lot of cargo. Either it wasn't unloaded, or it wasn't loaded onto the ship. The merchant is not willing to bear such a loss, and the steward who accompanied you will not let you take the ship away.

The Qing soldiers on the dock are all from the Inspection Division. Usually, on the wharf, it is to maintain order, check the goods for contraband, and then collect taxes on the goods that come and go. It's okay to bully and bully the people, but if you want to do it with real knives and guns, you suddenly hide in the inspection department in fright and don't dare to come out.

After a while, the dock was controlled by the Restoration Army. Suddenly, a general of the Restoration Army stood up and said, "Listen, everyone, we are the Restoration Army of the Ming Dynasty." Now the army is going to cross the river, and your ships are being requisitioned. Now everyone has unloaded all the cargo on the ship and waited for the army to call. ”

Hearing this, many businessmen immediately started to make an uproar. Suddenly, a person who looked like a steward stepped forward and said: "Master Jun, we are the fleet of the Huizhou merchant Cao Shengchen's family, the villain's name is Cao Fang, and I hope that the master of the army will be convenient, so he put two ingots and ten taels of silver ingots in the hands of the general of the Restoration Army." ”

When the general saw it, his eyes lit up at first, and twenty taels of silver was not a small amount. Such wealth is a temptation for everyone, and the lead is to swallow a saliva. Then he pushed the silver back and said, "Shopkeeper Cao, I, Dong Gang, don't embarrass you, and you don't want to embarrass me." Whoever you are on the ship, it must be requisitioned today. ”

Cao Fang obviously saw that Dong Gang was already moved, but he didn't know why, so he suddenly retreated. Cao Fang thought that Dong Gang was too little, and immediately said with a smile: "It turned out to be General Dong, it's a small faux pas." Don't be embarrassed, it's really just a matter of asking the general for convenience. After speaking, he directly took out a silver ticket of one hundred taels of silver, Dong Gang looked at it, and suddenly his two eyes were as big as copper bells.

Seeing this, Cao Fang was overjoyed and said secretly: "Are there still people in this world who don't want silver?" Thinking about it, he put the silver ticket in Dong Gang's hand and said: "We have some tea leaves on the ship, these are all newly picked tea this year, and they are all in a hurry to sell the first stubble." If this is delayed for a day, the loss will be great. ”

Cao Fang said as he bowed to Dong Gang, wanting to beg Dong Gang to let him go. Dong Gang looked at the silver ticket in his hand, and then looked at the soldiers and some other merchants around him. As soon as he was about to hand over the silver ticket, he saw a lot of merchants, which really made some people in charge look at him. It is estimated that if Dong Gang accepted Cao Fang's silver ticket, they would immediately pounce again and let Dong Gang let him go in the same way.

Dong Gang was suddenly startled, remembering Zhu Youdong's order to Hu Yiqing that if the march was delayed, military law would be conducted. Now he himself accepted such a silver ticket and let the ships leave, or continue to load the goods. By then, the docks were not empty, and there were not enough ships. When Zhu Youdong came with the army, the army was blocked on the dock, wouldn't it be regarded as a delay.

Dong Gang was shocked and sweated, hurriedly stuffed the silver ticket back into Cao Fang's hand, and said, "What you just did, I will treat it as if it didn't happen, you hurry back to the boat." Unload your cargo from your ship immediately, or we will force it to be unloaded. Cao Fang was stunned for a moment, wasn't it okay just now, Dong Gang had the intention of accepting the silver ticket, why did he suddenly change his mind.

Cao Fang wanted to ask again, but Dong Gang ignored it. Directly and loudly let all the soldiers start to clear them, and let these people unload all the cargo from the ship. Cao Fang had no choice but to return to the cargo ship and let people cooperate with the unloading.

Dong Gang not only asked these merchants to unload the goods, but also asked them to move all the goods away from the dock. For a time, the entire wharf was full of complaints, and all the merchants were very resentful of the Ming army. He also secretly sent a small boat with some businessmen to go down the river and rush to Nanjing to report the news.

Soon after Dong Gang arrived at the dock, the rear brigade of the Restoration Army also arrived. In this way, these businessmen did not dare to say much, and they all obeyed the command of the Restoration Army in a proper manner.

In the evening, a dense crowd of warships suddenly appeared on the river, the total number of which was not less than a thousand. Of course, these ships are big and small. There were more than two hundred real naval warships. The others were some troop carriers and boats. Seeing the arrival of the naval warship, Zhu Youdong also rushed to the riverside and immediately asked the army to board the ship to cross the river.