Li Zicheng once expressed the hope that Zhao Dangshi would show mercy to Ma Shouying, Luo Rucai and others, but did not explain to what extent the "mercy" was reached. Zhao Dangshi and the grievances of these two people, Li Zicheng will not be unaware, although the army is strong, Li Zicheng has not been so dizzy that he forced Zhao Dangshi to obey. As the largest ally of the Chuang army at present, it is self-evident who is more important than the Zhao battalion and the Hui and Cao battalions, and Zhao Dangshi believes that even if he destroys the Hui and Cao, with Li Zicheng's heroic nature, he will definitely not do the stunned thing of Xingshi asking for guilt. In this cannibalistic world, faith is important, but strength is even more important.

The reason why Zhao Dangshi decided to send troops to Wuchang Mansion to help suppress it was not only because Lu Qiqing reacted to the obstruction of the trade route, but also because of the words of the Sai Imperial Court. Even if he is in charge of Yunxiang Erfu in principle, he should not leave Xindi without permission, but now that even Chen Hongfan, the chief soldier of Changping, has rushed to Chu thousands of miles away, and he is stationed in northern Chu, what reason does he have to sit back and watch the thieves such as Hui and Ge ravage southeast Chu and be unmoved?

Song Yihe did not summon and impeach him does not mean that others look down on Zhao Dangshi, who supports the army and respects himself, Fan Juan can not only tell him, Hu Guangcheng announced that there are already people in the political envoy department and local officials who have already attacked Zhao Dangshi's corpse and raised Kou to play with Kou, but these people's level is not too high, and the imperial court has temporarily held it down after weighing Zhao Ying's military strength. Now even a big thorn like Zuo Liangyu has obediently returned to Henan to fight against the army, Henan and Huguang are in a mess, and Zhao Dangshi will sit firmly in Diaoyutai again, it will really be impossible to say.

Originally, Zhao Dangshi planned to settle the fierce army before moving, but unexpectedly, the sky was unpredictable, and the fierce tiger suddenly had back sores, and he was sick in bed and could not move, and the army could only follow him to continue to stay in Chengtianfu first. At present, the army and the official army are fighting in northern Henan and central Henan, and southern Henan is still quiet, so Zhao Dangshi officially sent troops south at the end of April to aid Wuchang Mansion.

Halfway through the army, Zhao Dangshi repaired a letter to greet Song Yihe. Song Yihe had never asked Zhao Dangshi for help, and he had just snatched back the command of the officers and armies of the Chu Prefecture from Yang Zhuoran, and Zhao Dangshi wanted to test his attitude first. Moreover, Song Yihe's cronies, Huguang General Soldier Qian Yixuan, was stationed in De'an Mansion, where Zhao Ying had to go south, and without Song Yihe's permission, Zhao Dangshi might not be able to easily cross this gate.

Song Yihe is a generous person on the surface, but he actually has a lot of eyes. When Yang Sichang first came to Xiangyang Mansion to announce the civil and military affairs of various roads, Song Yihe, who was still preparing for the Runan Army, was afraid that his name would be taboo because he considered that Yang Sichang's father was named "Yang He", so he specially changed the signature of the poster to "Song Yiniao", which became a laughing stock for a while. It can be seen that Qian Zhongxuan, as the general soldier of Huguang, has never participated in the battle to kill the Hui and Ge thieves, but he has been stationed in De'an Mansion for a long time, which is not an intentional act of Song Yihe.

Zhao Dangshi had been promised by Yang Sichang to "act cheaply" and could go out of the palace to fight as needed. Even if Yang Sichang died, no one revoked this military order, and Zhao Dangshi informed Song Yihe halfway, and what he saved was that Song Yihe had to agree to his mind when he rode a tiger. Song Yihe had no worries, and he didn't dare to let the "anxious" Zhao Dangshi go home.

As expected, Song Yihe replied to Zhao Dangshi's letter in early May and praised Zhao Dangshi's "loyalty and patriotism", and sincerely thanked and welcomed Zhao Dangshi's support. The last sentence of the letter, "With the help of the king today, Chu can be peaceful" seems to be a heartfelt statement, after all, if Hui and Ge continue to run rampant, it is really difficult for him to protect his black gauze hat, if he follows in the footsteps of Yuan Jixian and others and goes to prison, no matter how much he has any eyes, it will not help.

Zhao Ying sent troops this time, and none of the barracks under the command of Xu Hui, Hou Dagui, Guo Ruke, Han Gun, Ma Guangchun, Chen Weifu, Ma Tingshi, and Xu Qizuo were moved, and the main body of the army was the training camp under the Tuntian Army.

After a long period of training and several baptisms of actual combat, the combat effectiveness of the training battalion has been extraordinary, compared with the old troops of the Zhao battalion such as the Wuqi Battalion and the Xiaojie Battalion, and compared with the Changhong Third Battalion, it is really better than that, because Zhao Dangshi dared to entrust Fanhecheng, where the lifeblood is located, to the Tuntian Army and did not send other battalions to assist in the defense.

There were 3,000 soldiers in the training camp, and Zhao Dangshi drew 2,000 from them. There is a slight difference between the Tuntian army system and the field army system, with the field army having 500 men per outpost and the Tuntian army having 1,000 men per outpost. The two thousand drawn are two sentinels, and the sentinels are Guang Wenlu and Zheng Shixin, both of whom have a very good evaluation in the army. Similar to the previous battles, although the coaches of the training camp, Luo Wei and Liu Shijun, did not belong to the training camp, but because they had the closest relationship with the soldiers and had a very high prestige in the army, they also played the role of staff officers around Zhao Dangshi.

Zhao Dangshi led his army through the defense area selected by Qian Zhongxuan in mid-May and arrived in Hanyang Province from Xiaogan County. After being stationed for two days, the governor of Huguang passed the word and transferred it from Hanyang Mansion to Wuchang Mansion to replenish military supplies. Song Yihe supervised the battle in the front, not in Wuchang Fucheng, Zhao Dangshi changed the waterway from Wuchang Fucheng, after one day of marching and two days of preparation, he went to Qizhou where Song Yihe was stationed.

At present, there are two other official armies gathered in Qizhou, both of which are subordinate to the Yongwei Battalion, a regular battalion of Huang Degong, the right general of the Wuxiang Battalion, and a reinforcement battalion of Lin Baoguo, the right general of the Wuxiang Battalion, all of which are temporarily from Chu to suppress thieves.

The Yongwei battalion was divided between the eunuchs Liu Yuanbin and Lu Jiude, and Huang and Lin were on Lu Jiude's side. Lu Jiude himself was now stationed in Lu'an Prefecture to supervise the other battalions under his command to attack Yuan Laoshan and Yuan Shizhong, who were in trouble in Anhui and Huai, while Liu Yuanbin supported Lu Jiude and Hu Dawei of Runing Mansion at the same time in Gushi County on the border of Henan and Anhui, and pursued Zhang Xianzhong who was wandering in southeastern Henan.

According to the practice of the Ming court's "imperial martial arts with literature", including Zhao Dangshi, Huang Degong, Lin Baoguo and other generals all need to obey Song Yihe's command, so Zhao Dangshi went to meet Song Yihe after settling the army. Song Yihe had already reported that he was waiting for Zhao Dangshi in the government office, and the two talked and laughed about some interesting things about the former governors, and Zhao Dangshi found that Huang Degong and Lin Baoguo were not present, so he asked why.

Song Yihe replied: "Lord Zhao didn't know anything about the newcomer, and he heard the wind in front of his head, and the Hui and leather thieves merged with the water thieves hiding in Poyang Lake, Lei Chi and other waters, gathered a lot of warships, and traveled along the big river uncertainly, and the officials and people suffered greatly. Huang and Lin have already led their troops to Makou Town to drill the naval army a few days ago, preparing to destroy the thieves' nest in depth. The official was also going, but he heard that Lord Zhao was coming, so the government office postponed it for a few more days. ”

Zhao Dangshi was surprised: "So, you want to fight a water war?" "Zhao Ying is familiar with land warfare, but there is no chance of water warfare, the second time he went out of Sichuan before, he had walked the waterway, just need the soldiers to steer the ship, and there is no training in naval skills on weekdays, if you want to fight in water, Zhao Dangshi really has no bottom in his heart.

Song Yihe responded: "Exactly, Wuchang Mansion has developed waterways, and thieves invade the territory with boats, if they are not annihilated on the river, there will be endless disasters." And said, "Wuchang Mansion is an important town, there are many warships, and the ports of Makou Town and Fuchi Town have countless sand boats, net shuttle boats, oars boats, horn bluff boats, etc., so adults can rest assured." ”

Sand boats, also known as "square ships", belong to medium and large ships. The draft is shallow, the sail is many, and the speed is very fast, but the ability to break the waves is poor, so it is mostly used in inland rivers and coastal areas; The net shuttle boat is very small, the draft is only seven or eight inches deep, can accommodate two to four people, it is very convenient to travel in small ports and narrow rivers, it is very flexible, and it is very effective in rushing into the wind and waves; The oars are small and medium-sized, mostly powered by oars, and there are a few spinnakers, which are still used to break the waves; The horn bluff boat is also small, the bottom of the ship is pointed and wide, the oars and sails are equally heavy, ten oars or eight oars on each side, and the wind mast is covered with cloth sails, and the cabins above the deck are covered with curved bamboo and reed mats.

"In addition, there are yachts, river falcons, grass skimming boats, high-handle boats, cangshan boats, centipede boats, sub-mother boats, wheel boats, and so on."

Although the river is wide in the inland area, it is said that the wind is high and the waves are fierce, but it is still not the same as the sea. Therefore, most of the main combat ships are mainly small and medium-sized, and the flexible and mobile river basins with many narrow bays and shallow water levels are admired. Large ships with deep drafts such as Daifuku ships, Haicang ships, wide ships, and bird ships are less assembled. The armament on the ship is mostly the invincible god flying cannon, Franc machine gun, tiger squat cannon, bird gun and even fire barrels, spray cans, rockets, flying knives, hooks, hooks, plowshares and so on.

Makou Town, Fuchi Town and other Wuchang Mansion, Huangzhou Mansion and other places of Zhengang Zhao Dangshi went to the southeast road most of the way, once saw the scene of thousands of sails competing, knowing that Song Yihe did not lie. However, warships belong to warships, and officers and men are not accustomed to water warfare, and even if they have ships, it is difficult for them to exert their combat strength.

Song Yihe saw Zhao Dangshi's concerns, and said: "Huang and Lin are practicing water warfare skills at the port of Makou Town at this time, and Lord Zhao and this official also need to rush there tomorrow. The officer predicts that the training will be in January, and it will be in June, and there will be no major problems. ”

The surface of the river was turbulent, bumpy and undulating, Zhao Dangshi secretly slandered for a month, afraid that it would be good if the officers and soldiers could do not get seasick, and Song Yihe's literati did not know the soldiers, and they were eager for quick success, which was too unreliable. So he said: "One month, I'm afraid it's too tight......"

Song Yihe shook his head and said: "Time is not waiting for me, the thieves are raging, slaughtering the people of the Ming Dynasty everywhere, how can we wait for my officers and soldiers to be good and everything is ready?" Lord Zhao rest assured, in the water war, Huang and Lin are the main departments, and your army is the secondary. What's more, "Hui and Ge are also thieves in the northwest, and they don't know how to fight water wars, so why be afraid?" ”

Zhao Dangshi thought for a while and asked, "How many soldiers do the two adults Huang and Lin have?" ”

"There are 2,000 people in the main barracks and 1,000 people in the reinforcement camp."

"Well, with the scale of Hui and leather thieves, three thousand people in the second battalion are enough to defeat the enemy. Our army is shorter than a water battle, and the 2,000-man temporary exercise to catch up with the donkeys on the shelves will inevitably take more time and delay the fighters. Although the front-line war is urgent, but the thieves are ghostly, and the rear of our army can not be careless, Zhao is foolish, the headquarters of 2,000 people, pick out 700 people with good water quality to go to Makou Town to practice water warfare, and the remaining 1,300 people are guarding Qizhou for the military gate, what is the intention of the military gate? ”

These words are half public-minded and half-selfish. The public heart has already been said on the bright side, and the selfishness lies in Zhao Dangshi's lingering worries about the water war.

Song Yihe pondered for a moment and said, "This is reasonable, so let's do so." ”

Zhao Dangshi returned to the camp and told Luo Wei, Liu Shijun, Guang Wenlu and Zheng Shixin about it, and the four of them couldn't think of a safer way to do it. In the end, it was decided that Liu Shijun and Zheng Shixin would stay in Qizhou, and Zhao Dangshi, Luo and Guang would go to Makou Town with 700 soldiers.

The military port in Makou Town had long been filled with the Beijing battalion soldiers of Huang Degong and Lin Baoguo. After Zhao Dangshi led the troops, Song Yihe introduced him to Huang and Lin. Huang Degong is burly and dignified, and he is imposing at any station. In comparison, Lin Baoguo is much more inconspicuous, and he looks like a pawn by Huang Degong's side.

The most famous generals in Beijing are Sun Yingyuan, Huang Degong and Zhou Yuji. Zhao Dangshi paid attention to collecting information on the forces of soldiers and horses from all sides, and actually knew about Huang Degong for a long time.

Huang Degong's ancestral home is Hefei, a generation of military nationality, and belongs to the Kaiyuan Wei of Liaodong. When he was young, he was known for his courage, and was recommended as a personal soldier in front of Sun Chengzong's account in Liaodong at that time, and he was promoted to guerrilla with merit. Emperor Chongzhen reformed the Beijing camp, Huang Degong was appointed as the deputy commander-in-chief, and then followed Lu Jiude to the Central Plains to suppress thieves. Before he went into battle to kill the enemy, he liked to drink and strengthen his courage, and he was extremely brave in battle, so he was nicknamed "Huang Chuangzi". At first sight, Zhao Dangshi only felt that he gave people the first feeling that he was very similar to Zuo Liangyu, perhaps the temperament of the soldiers from Liaodong was somewhat similar. But compared with the arrogant and lawless Zuo Liangyu, Huang Degong is a little less arrogant, and he is full of loyalty, as if he is ready to sacrifice his life for the country all the time.

Zhao Dangshi's name Huang Degong and Lin Baoguo are also like thunder, Huang Degong is refreshing, I heard that Zhao Dangshi has not many soldiers, and immediately set aside a piece of his own camp for Zhao Dangshi to garrison the army, and also invited Zhao Dangshi to train with his own troops. The officers and soldiers of the Yongwei Battalion have been chasing thieves on both sides of the river for a long time, and they have a certain experience in water warfare.

Huang Degong is bold and enthusiastic, after Zhao Dangshi stayed, he often came to drink and talk together, Zhao Dangshi was skilled and sociable, and in just a few days, the two began to call each other brothers.

After more than ten days in a row, that is, in the middle of June, the sentinel found that the main force of the thieves had signs of assembling on the river north of Jiujiang Prefecture, Song Yihe thought that this was a good time to enter and suppress, so he ordered the whole army to reassemble and set off to fight a decisive battle with the thieves at the end of the day.

On the eve of the war, Zhao Dangshi and Huang Degong went to Makou Town to inspect the flood land in the town, and then transferred to the battalion to inspect the army. The two walked side by side, and before they reached the camp, they could feel the gust of land breeze.

"Brother Huang, what do you think we have a chance of winning this battle?" Zhao Dangshi asked suddenly, and he could vaguely see that he had a smile on his face.

Huang Degong said lightly: "Although there are many thieves and robbers, there are few warships, many of them are light, or those slightly modified merchant ships, looking bluffing, in fact, they will be broken at the touch of a button, so there is no need to worry about it at all." ”

Zhao Dangshi laughed, but he was still a little worried in his heart. was about to speak, but at this time, the sound of gongs and drums of the alarm came from the camp, as if there was a thief.