"Five days?" Gu San Mazi showed an excited look, and arched his hand with a smile, "Master Chitose, are you going to fight Nanjing in five days?" The last general is willing to take the lead! At the end, there will be two flat-bottomed big centipede boats, both ten zhang long and two zhang wide, each ship will be equipped with forty guns and two copper cannons, which will be enough to cross the river! ”

The flat-bottomed centipede boat he was talking about was a combination of a sand boat and a Western-style galleys, and Shen Tingyang's big dragon head was also of the same type.

This type of boat has a large number of oars and sails, and a flat bottom suitable for shallow waters, so it has excellent maneuverability on the water surface of the Yangtze River and the Beiyang coast. And the hull is large, which can accommodate a large number of oarsmen, warriors and firearms, and the combat power is very strong!

If fighting on the Yangtze River, the combat effectiveness of this flat-bottomed centipede ship is still on the Zheng family's big war ship - the Zheng family's big war ship is the hull of the Galen ship plus the Chinese hard sail, because the Galen ship has a high side, and a large number of gun windows are opened on the side of the ship, which is inconvenient to install long oars. Therefore, this type of ship is only suitable for activities in the South China Sea and the coast of Japan, where the wind direction is changeable and the water level is deep. It is not suitable for entering the Yangtze River and the coastal area of the Beiyang.

Historically, the Zheng family's naval division performed badly in the Yangtze River battle, a big reason is that the ship type is not suitable, and the big war ship is very easy to use when the wind is downwind, but it will be miserable once there is a headwind and no wind.

In Zheng Chenggong's Northern Expedition to Nanjing, the Zheng family's fleet encountered headwinds and could only be dragged forward by manpower, delaying the big event.

The large flat-bottomed centipede boat is like a fish in water on the Yangtze River, fast and flexible, and can go anywhere. And the firepower is strong, there are many sailors, and the artillery battle jumping gang takes advantage of it, and it can also ram!

With these two large flat-bottomed centipede boats, Gu San Mazi has been the king and hegemon at the mouth of the Yangtze River for so many years, and even the Haisha Gang has to pay tribute to him, and now he has found an official position, not to mention how proud he is.

As for Nanjing's river man, he is not in his eyes at all. However, it was the sailors in the hands of Wang Zhiren, the general of Su Song, and Huang Binqing, the general of Zhoushan, who made him a little jealous.

Zhu Cihong didn't answer Gu Sanmazi's words, but just smiled and said, "This is not the place to talk, go to Pingshan Hall to discuss again." Lu Zhijun, let's go to the Pingshan Hall of Daming Temple to sit together. ”

......

"Let's not go to Nanjing first, let them make a big fuss, and then clean up when the evidence is conclusive and irrefutable. Now let's take Zhenjiang, Changzhou, Suzhou, Songjiang and Ningbo, what do you think? ”

In Pingshan Hall, Zhu Cihong asked people to put out a map of the southeast area. The map shows the situation of "Xingchao" and "Nanjing". At present, the two provinces of Huai'an and Yangzhou are in the hands of the Xing Dynasty. Nanjing, on the other hand, controlled Yingtianfu.

As for the rest of the provinces in the southeast corner of the Ming Dynasty, their positions are unclear.

In Pingshan Hall, next to the map table put together by several square tables, in addition to Prince Zhu, Li Yan, Chen Rui, Fang Gongyue, Qiu Yu, Fan Jingwen, Li Banghua, Lu Zhenfei, Wu Xiang, Cao Youyi, Wang Zhixin, Zheng Sen, Liu Chongru, Gu San and others were also around. Each of them can play a role in Zhu Cihong's plan to pacify the southeast!

Not rushing to enter Nanjing was originally Zhu Cihong's established strategy. Not only because there is a noble group in Nanjing that resists him, but also because Nanjing is the goal of victory in the eyes of the officers and soldiers of the New Army.

Everyone thinks about Nanjing, so before entering Nanjing, everyone will cheer up and dare not relax - this situation is quite similar to before Li Zicheng entered Beijing!

So Zhu Cihong was not in a hurry to enter Nanjing...... He doesn't learn from Li Zicheng, he only recognizes Beijing, and the territory he gets along the way is not well managed. Before entering Nanjing, he had to firmly control the seven prefectures in the southeast, including Huai'an, Yangzhou, Zhenjiang, Changzhou, Suzhou, Songjiang, and Ningbo, as his base areas.

With these seven prefectures, plus Nanjing Yingtianfu, plus the four prefectures of Hangzhou, Shaoxing, Huzhou, and Jiaxing, which should be able to be controlled quickly, a total of twelve prefectures in hand, Zhu Cihong's ruling foundation in the southeast can be solid.

"Zhenjiang and Changzhou are garrisoned by Jiang Yuntai, a general soldier, Suzhou and Songjiang are garrisoned by Wang Zhiren, and Ningbo is garrisoned by Huang Binqing, a former Zhoushan general who has been appointed as the chief soldier of Guangxi." Chen Rui, the secretary of the Ministry of War, said, "Now the civil officials of these provinces are not a problem, the key is these three general soldiers!" ”

"Chitose Lord, Wang Zhiren is the brother of the old slave, and the old slave will say that he will definitely be willing to submit." Wang Zhixin immediately took over the topic and started the package ticket.

Zhu Cihong nodded, and looked at Lu Zhenfei and Zheng Sen again, "Lu Zhijun, senior brother, you two have an old relationship with Huang Binqing, right?" ”

"It's a little bit of friendship." Lu Zhenfei said.

Zheng Sen also said: "My family and the Huang family are fellow villagers in Fujian and world friends. ”

Zhu Cihong nodded lightly and asked again, "How is his strength?" ”

Gu San Mazi interjected with a big grin: "Master Chitose, he also has two big centipede boats, which were built by the Zheng family's Shijingkou Shipyard, and he also raised 800 boat operators. With these two boats and 800 families, he can be regarded as the number one person. ”

"Lu Zhijun, senior brother," Zhu Cihong said with a smile, "there are two Laos...... Now that Shen Tingyang is out of Beiyang, the Navy Commander is vacant, if he is willing to come to Yangzhou, the Commander will do it for him. His two centipede boats and 800 boatmen were incorporated into the Yangtze River Naval Division. In addition, he was given a seat of admiral, to be filled by the person he sent. Give him another 50,000 taels of silver, which can be regarded as the palace buying his ship and the boatman's housekeeper. ”

Zheng Sen frowned, "Senior Brother, this condition is a bit tight, and General Soldier Huang may not be able to agree." ”

"Yes!" Zhu Cihong smiled coldly, "He is a monkey, there is a knife in this palace, and he plans to kill a chicken!" ”

"Chickens?" Wu Xiang asked, "Who is the chicken?" ”

"Zhenjiang General Jiang Yuntai is a chicken!" Zhu Cihong said, "It's been a few days since the palace went to Yangzhou, and he didn't come to visit, what is his intention?"

Now that there are soldiers and ships in this palace, who will open the knife if you don't use him? ”

Cao Youyi said: "Master Chitose, who will go?" ”

"Hao Shaoqi, Sun Fugui, Chen Yidao, Zhang Wenjue, each with a fire hammer association, Hao Shaoqi is the main general. Troops in five days! Zhu Cihong said, "The Yangtze River Navy attacked together.

Fang Futai, you go to Zhenjiang with them to take office...... The rest of Jiang Yuntai will do your patrol! ”

He glanced at Wang Zhixin again: "Wang Banban, after Zhenjiang is taken, you will go to Susong again, let Wang Zhiren hand over Susong's second mansion to Qiu Futai, and then bring the warships and family to Yangzhou, and the palace will give him the commander of the Huaiyang army!" The military tun and official fields of the two prefectures of Huaiyang were all in charge of him. ”

......

"Godfather, the ship is already moored in Baoshan. The little one also used a clairglass to see the big flag of the second master hanging at the head of the city of Baoshan. It seems that the second master has arrived at the Baoshan Institute, and he will be able to meet you soon. ”

It was Wang Zhixin's godson who spoke, and he was also a eunuch, who followed Wang Zhixin and Wang Governor for many years, and fled all the way to Yangzhou. Now he is waiting for the heart of the godfather king to go to Suzhou Province.

Wang Zhixin has a younger brother named Wang Zhiren, who is now the chief soldier of Su Song, and is stationed in Suzhou Fucheng. By the way, this place of Baoshan is not the location of Baoshan District in Shanghai in the later generations, but in the area of Gaoqiao Town in Pudong New Area. The site of the later Baoshan District now belongs to the Wusong River Institute. Both are under the jurisdiction of Zhenhaiwei, and they are not on the territory of Songjiang Mansion, but on the territory of Suzhou Prefecture.

In other words, the area around the entrance of the current Huangpu River belongs to Suzhou. A little further in, it is the territory of Shanghai County, Songjiang Prefecture.

However, whether it is Suzhou or Songjiang, it is now the defense area of Wang Zhiren, the general army of Su Song. These two mansions are terrible, in the Ming Dynasty known as "Su Song tax half of the world" said. It means that the taxes paid by Suzhou and Songjiang will account for half of the total taxes in the world! This is of course an exaggeration, but the importance of Su Song's tax to the Ming Dynasty's finances is beyond doubt.

After paying so many taxes, Suzhou City is still one of the largest cities in the world, before the plague ravaged Suzhou at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the population of Suzhou City was as many as 500,000, surpassing Nanjing and becoming the first in the southeast! Nationally, it is probably the second most populous metropolis after Beijing.

However, Beijing was a consumer-oriented, military-oriented city, while Suzhou was a production-oriented industrial and commercial city, the world's largest silk industry center at the time, and an important cotton textile center.

Even though the plague ravaged and the demand for silk in Europe were reduced by the Thirty Years' War, Susong was still one of the richest regions in the southeast.

And in Zhu Cihong's view, the potential of Su Song's second mansion is far from being fully realized!