Chapter 489: Chen Jin's struggle

……

The fire attack ship is ten miles upstream, and it is the fleet that connects the total cattle and two pu.

It is said that it is a fleet, but in fact there are only about a dozen ships in total, and they are all "small boats" of more than 100 tons, and the entire fleet does not have a single gun.

According to the order of Lord Qian, more than 200 people under Niu Erpu all boarded the ship to prepare for battle, except for a few musketeers, most of the soldiers held waist knives, spears, and even pennies, and nervously crowded the boat gangs on both sides.

On the surface of the Yellow River, the hundred-ton warships are no longer small, and their main duty in ordinary times is to set up cards to collect taxes in various parts of the river, and to board and inspect the ships in a majestic manner to frighten the passing merchant ships and fishermen.

If you encounter a water bandit or something, you will all block and intercept it before, and jump to the gang to fight.

At this moment, Niu Erpu stood at the bow of the ship, watching Huang Sida's fire attack ship start, and went down the river one after another, with both schadenfreude and a little sadness in his eyes.

He knew very well that Mr. Qian had taken care of himself enough.

Huang Jiang is always taking his life to open the way for him, even if the fire attack succeeds, this kid will definitely die for life, and it is himself who takes advantage of the situation to cover up and kill and gain military merits.

However, once the fire attack fails, the thieves will rush to kill, and then it will be their turn to be cannon fodder.

"Damn!"

Looking back at the dozen or so broken boats behind him, and then looking upstream, Niu Erpu secretly cursed a dirty word in his heart.

He knew that behind him, there was still the main force of the river defense battalion transferred from Huai'an outside Andong City, but the governor didn't know what the hell was going on, so he didn't let them come up.

This stupid and selfish pig clearly doesn't take the life of his subordinates seriously!

"Give Lao Tzu some spirit!"

After some slander, he calmed down and shouted to the surroundings, "Today is the ghost gate, either break through and receive a reward for meritorious service, or give Lao Tzu to die!" ”

……

Behind them, thirty miles upstream, was the county seat of Andong (now Lianshui, author's note).

At this moment, looking at the sea outside the city, Chen Jin put away the monocular in his hand and nodded slightly.

Although the distance is not close, there is no shelter in the Pingchuan, and the yellow smoke rising above the front sentry posts can still be seen clearly.

The flag officer came to report that, judging from the color of the smoke, the fire attack fleet had set off despite the delay, which was a good sign -- the military spirit was still available.

Could it be that there is still a drama in this battle?

Originally, what Chen Jin was most worried about was the general spread of the "fear of the enemy like a tiger" sentiment in the army, and at the moment of the great enemy, he was afraid that he would not be able to command these old soldiers.

Since he went to Huai'an to receive the seal, he has this strong feeling, especially those defeated generals who fled and redeemed from Zhejiang and Fujian, they can't hear the word "begging for the army", if they say the word "fight", they all shake their heads and sigh.

When it comes to the mysterious thieves, it is nothing more than the cliché "strong ships and sharp guns", "fierce and not afraid of death", and "excellent firearms"...... These, since Chen Jin fled north, he almost heard the cocoon in his ears.

At the beginning, when he was satisfied with his duties as the governor of Zhejiang and Fujian, he learned about this from Zhang Tianlu, who had returned from the defeat of Jiangxi, and thought that this was just an excuse for the defeat of the defeated army -- it has been the case since ancient times.

Even Chen Tai died in Nanchang, he scoffed, this is this Manchu nobleman who died by himself - in the face of the siege of the fierce general Jiao Lian, he could obviously see the opportunity to act, but he wanted to be trapped in the lonely city and sit still......

However, over time, especially in the Battle of Fuzhou, the governor Zhang Xuesheng died in the battle, and the governor Zhao Guozuo was captured by the Ming thief, he woke up - I'm afraid, what Zhang Tianlu said is true.

Later, bad luck befell him directly on Chen Jin's head.

The Ming thieves attacked Zhejiang in a hurry, not only swept away thousands of troops, defeated his main force of 20,000 Zhejiang troops in one fell swoop, but also killed the south bank of the Yangtze River within half a month.

Originally, his Chen Jin's army was defeated like a mountain, and the imperial court was bound to investigate him for the crime of losing his teacher and land, and it was very likely that he would not escape death, and it was not surprising that he was beheaded all over the house.

Fortunately, he was lucky enough, at this time, the rest of the places also suffered defeats, and the imperial court ordered the five provinces to retreat through the whole army of Hong Chengchou and retreat to Jiangbei to regroup, so that he, the governor of Zhejiang and Fujian, who had no territory, was not too responsible.

After pleading for mercy and accommodating all sides, he was actually allowed to make meritorious service for his crimes, and mixed up with the errand of the governor of Caoyun and the envoy of the two Huai salt transports, leading a group of remnants of the defeated generals to guard in this dangerous salt-producing land.

If it is placed in peacetime, it is said that the governor of Caoyun, even if the two Huai salt transportation envoys are on this errand, it is a big fat difference.

But Chen Jin knows that with such an important fat shortage, there is no master who is full of people, and all of them are pushed out as hot potatoes, and the reason is self-evident - the current northern Jiangsu is really a place of right and wrong.

Chen Jin naturally didn't dare to resign because of danger, not to mention that this position was a governor of all sizes, even if he kept Xiang Shang's head, it was already a great grace of the emperor.

Therefore, he not only has to do it, but also try to do it as well as possible, and strive to keep this important salt-producing area for his master.

However, after taking office, Hong Chengchou's attitude made Chen Jindou slander and feel uneasy every day.

Originally, he, the governor of Caoyun, was supposed to control the four prefectures of Fengyang, Luzhou, Yangzhou, and Huai'an, as well as the entire territory of Xu, He, and Chuzhou.

However, Lord Hong, who has more than 100,000 elite iron cavalry, not only occupies most of his territory, but only leaves himself a line east of the canal such as Yangzhou and Huai'an, and what is even more excessive is that in such an important salt-producing area, this Lord Hong did not send a single soldier to assist in the defense, but only transferred more than 10,000 old, weak, sick and disabled Cao soldiers and the river waterproof division battalion to him.

In this way, even if he added the thousands of defeated troops he had gathered, there would not be enough of 20,000 people for him to send.

It's going to kill you!

Once the thieves come to attack, how can they hold on to the two Huai by relying on these half-soldiers and half-bandits?

What kind of combat effectiveness can these loose and lax Caoyun veteran soldiers, who are usually accustomed to drinking the blood of the people, have?

Of course, he Chen Jin is not stupid, he does not dare to disobey the orders of the imperial court, and Lord Hong can't afford to offend, his subordinates can still be bullied and bullied - he won't go to Yangzhou, so let that stunned admiral Ma Jinbao go to the front.

Therefore, after some calculations, Chen Jin ordered Ma Jinbao to lead 8,000 soldiers to stay in Yangzhou and Tongzhou along the river to deploy defenses, while Zhang Tianlu, a relatively old general soldier, led more than 3,000 more elite "Cao Biao" - Chen Jin's own personal soldiers, to stay in Huai'an Mansion City to protect his governor's yamen.

At the very least, if something happens, there must be enough troops to cover him to get out, right?

Whether you flee to Fengyang or cross the river directly, it will take time, and someone needs to resist it......

However, having said that, even if there is only a chance of victory, he will have to struggle hard and prepare seriously.

Whether he can keep this territory, but he, the governor of Caoyun, has the last chance, and he is guilty of it, even if it is for the sake of the lives of the family, he will no longer dare to escape alone.

Now he knows that the gang of thieves on the other side of the river is by no means idle, if they really cross the river to attack, it will not be possible to rely on those thousands of old soldiers alone, and it will take time to "sweep the ground as soldiers" in Yangzhou and other places, coerce the people, and quickly organize and train into an army.

However, this is not something that can be done overnight, and according to the consistent speed of work in the officialdom, these newly recruited soldiers will have to train for at least half a year to a year, and absolutely not less than half a year.

To this end, he made some additional preparations - ordered people to quickly supervise the construction of red-coated cannons in Yangzhou, and also made a new batch of new firearms.

This is also the meaning of the imperial court and Hong Chengchou.

Isn't the greatest reliance of this gang of thieves on the excellent armament, and we must also make some innovations, and order all localities to supervise the production of new firearms as soon as possible—many of which are newly created according to the military books and the atlases presented to the imperial court by literati and generals from all over the country.