On July 16th and 17th, there was almost no movement of the Duoduo army stationed in Yangzhou. Except for sending part of the horse team to the vicinity of Guazhoudu to watch, he has been adjusting his deployment and has not divided his troops to attack other places. Perhaps it was this period of time from Shaanxi to Jiangbei that exhausted the energy of his soldiers, so they urgently needed to rest. However, since the yellow-clothed pirates on the east bank of the Ming Dynasty were outside, and they did not know their troops, the Qing army did not dare to support them, and a large number of troops began to be driven to the Yangtze River, holding everywhere in case they were landed and raided by the people on the east bank.

The Eight Banners, the Green Camp Han Army, and the Mongolian soldiers of the Outer Domains complained, originally everyone knew that Yangzhou was rich and wanted to plunder a good fortune, but they didn't expect that now they would have to go out of the city to guard against the yellow-clothed thieves, how could they accept it. However, Duoduo's attitude was very resolute, and the various departments that had entered Yangzhou were ordered to withdraw, and he himself moved the camp forward dozens of miles, passing through Yangzhou without entering, so that the Eight Banners disciples who had been talking cool words were helpless.

Several east-bank steam clippers were cruising boringly along this stretch of the lower Yangtze River. From time to time, some local fishermen rowing small boats encountered these huge oncoming boats, and the tall chimneys, the masts and the occasional whistle made them panic and flee.

When Mo Ming's "Dividing Water" arrived near the water near Jingkou in Zhenjiang, some of the generals on the opposite bank who seemed to be the Nanming Water Division scattered in a hurry, which made Mo Ming slightly depressed. In fact, he originally wanted to ask these people for questioning, but he didn't expect that they were so afraid of the enemy and timid that if the Manchus collected ships to cross the river. Don't expect these people to be able to resist that. If the soldiers have no fighting spirit. Then the so-called Yangtze River natural insurance is just a joke.

As a last resort. Two small boats were lowered on the "Dividing Water", and forty army soldiers escorted one officer to the riverbank. They held white flags and carried a letter dictated by Mo Ming and written by someone else with a brush, preparing to go ashore to get in touch with Zheng Hongkui, the chief soldier of Zhenjiang here.

After repeated efforts, the army soldiers who went ashore finally found several Nanming sergeants hiding among the reeds. The officer who led the team took out the guys who were kneeling and begging for mercy, and then one of them gave a dollar to suppress the shock. Strange to say, the Nanming soldiers who were originally begging for mercy immediately stabilized their emotions after seeing these blonde, blue-eyed, and fierce-looking feudal lords give them round silver cakes. They looked at the yellow-clad outsiders with horror and confusion. Something was said, but no one could understand it.

They seem to be able to understand a little bit of the official dialect of the east coast spoken by the officers leading the team, perhaps because there are guest soldiers from the north in Zhenjiang, but only God knows how much they can understand. The leading officer handed the envelope to a man who looked to be an officer—in fact they were dressed similarly, as they were all tattered, and repeated three times the phrase "General Zheng was interviewed on a sandbank in the middle of the river," and then returned to rowing back to the big boat.

I don't know if Lu Dao was lucky for the people on the east coast or what, those Nanming sergeants really brought the letter to Zheng Hongkui. Early in the morning of July 18, a small Chinese schooner sailed out of the reeds to the south and docked near the sandbar in the center of the river.

After the lookout on the "Dividing Water" was discovered. It was immediately reported to Mo Ming, and it was accompanied by a whistle. The "Fenshui", which had been cruising nearby, also approached the sandbar at a low speed of two knots. After arriving at its destination, the ship did not turn off its ignition and the anchor chain was not lowered, and it was still ready to sail.

After the officers and men of a squadron landed ashore and finished guarding, Mo Ming also boarded the sandbar under the escort of more than a dozen elite security scouts. There were more than 20 people standing far away on the sandbank, dressed in various colors, only a black and thin man wearing the robes of the Ming military attaché, presumably this was Zheng Hongkui.

Mo Ming just wanted to say something, but he heard a question from the distance opposite: "But the famous East Coast Mo Dashuai?" The contemptible Anping Zheng Hongkui, who has heard of Mo Dashuai's prestige, is admired and admired. When I saw it today, it was a dragon and a tiger, mighty and extraordinary, and only gods like Mo Dashuai could make the Jianzhou Tatar slaves frightened, admire, admire! ”

Well, although the accent is a bit weird, I can still understand most of it. Mo Ming was not surprised at all that Zheng Hongkui knew Liaodong official dialect, isn't it too useless for this kind of person who doesn't know a few dialects to go south and north? And he didn't use the identity of the chief military officer of Zhenjiang to oppress people, he only spoke in the name of Anping Zheng, today this matter is interesting, it seems that this Zheng Hongkui is also not optimistic about this small court of the Southern Ming Dynasty in this corner of peace, so he simply did not mention this stubble.

"Brother Zheng's demeanor is also extraordinary." Mo Ming walked over under the escort of the scouts, and said to Zheng Hongkui from afar: "Getting back to the point, I don't like to be polite, don't blame Brother Zheng." As I said in my letter yesterday, I want to fight the Tartars with Brother Ling, what does General Zheng think? ”

"It's a very good thing." Zheng Hongkui agreed, "What Mo Dashuai said in his letter that he can sell the yellow-clothed cannon to my Zheng family, is this true?" The view of the handsome ship is tall and majestic, and the power is extraordinary. These deck ships must have come from Tessie, and the guns they were equipped with were not ordinary. In the past, I watched the British gunboats fire in Humen, and their momentum and power were not comparable to the red-coated cannons cast by my Ming Dynasty. If it is used to attack the city, it should be as easy as a hand. If Mo Dashuai is willing to sell these cannons to my Zheng family, then everything is easy to say. ”

"Brother Ling is also willing to beat the Tartars?" Mo Ming had a mocking smile on his lips and said: "Duoduo has collected more than 200,000 troops from the four towns in Jiangbei, and now has 300,000 troops, pointing at the south of the Yangtze River. The Ming monarchs and ministers were panicked, the soldiers had no fighting spirit, the soldiers had no will, and the nobles of the Manchu Dynasty did not want to serve the society, but they pondered the groveling and slavery all day long. In this kind of court, you, me, and Brother Ling can see that it is only a matter of time before it is destroyed. Now that the Tartars have won the world, the brother's family has a great cause, is it possible to destroy the family and fight against the Tartars? I don't read much, Brother Zheng don't want to bully me! ”

After listening to Mo Ming's words, Zheng Hongkui, who knew his brother's temperament, was a little speechless for a while, and he didn't know what to say.

"Brother Zheng, don't worry, I speak a little straight, and I look at Haihan where I offend." Mo Ming snorted, and then changed the topic and said: "Today's situation, Nanjing is undefensible, I don't know what Brother Zheng has planned?" ”

"Do your best, obey the destiny of heaven, that's it......" Zheng Hongkui sighed, and said lonely: "As the chief military officer of Zhenjiang, this official should be loyal to the king and beat the Tartars. However, the soldiers and horses under his command are uneven, and many have fled in recent days; The guest soldiers were arrogant, did not listen to orders, and the remnants of the people were exhausted. If there is disharmony, you should retreat to Fujian to protect yourself. ”

Zheng Hongkui was surrounded by soldiers brought from his hometown, so he was not afraid that these people would hear the so-called "great rebellion" he said.

"This is the truth, Brother Zheng didn't deceive me, Ha Luha." Mo Ming Dalu said with a smile, "Even so, I don't want to say more, there will be a period later." I am equal to Dengzhou east of Yantai pier boundary to build a city and set up a port, in the future, if Brother Zheng has something difficult, you can come here by boat, we will not hesitate to help. Well, I can't let Brother Zheng run for nothing, I'll ask people to leave some gifts for Brother Zheng in a while. Two 4-pounder steel cannons, fifty muskets, and fifty sabers, a small meaning, not a tribute. By the way, I have been friends with my nephew Damu Gongzi for a long time, and I would like to give ten collars of armor and ten flintlock handcuffs, and I will bother Brother Zheng to bring them back and hand them over. ”

has said all this, Zheng Hongkui is not good at saying anything more. In fact, he was willing to come out today to meet the legendary leader of the yellow-clothed army, first, because he was curious, and secondly, he wanted to see if he could buy some yellow-clothed cannons from them. This kind of cannon is rumored to be miraculous in the north, and Zheng Hongkui thinks that it should be much stronger than the red-coated cannon, so he is eager to buy some of this kind of militaristic heavy weapon, even if the price is more expensive.

But who knew that the other party actually felt that his brother Zheng Zhilong would not resolutely resist the Qing Dynasty, so he was unwilling to sell. Zheng Hongkui has nothing to say about this. Because as a brother, he has some understanding of his brother's thoughts, and for personality reasons, he is not willing to have a clear conscience and cheekily pat his chest and say that his brother will not be cleared, so this matter can only be done.

Unexpectedly, these yellow-clothed soldiers also left him a back door, telling him that he could go to Yantai Port to do a trade, which made Zheng Hongkui suddenly enlightened, it seems that these yellow-clothed pirates on the east coast want to see if the Zheng family will resolutely resist the Qing Dynasty and then make plans. And the other party was very generous, and the meeting gift was also very generous, which made Zheng Hongkui, who came empty-handed, a little embarrassed. However, he is not a person who is bound by vulgar etiquette, and he will find a way to repay it later. So, after a brief goodbye, both sides went their separate ways.

After Zheng Hongkui left, the people on the east coast continued to wander aimlessly on the Yangtze River in boats. It wasn't until the naval officer reminded Mo Ming that if he didn't go back, he wouldn't be able to catch up with the upcoming fishing flood, that Mo Ming felt that it was almost time to retreat. Now that the people on the east coast are short of food, these transport ships and warships also have to be used as fishing boats to catch fish, and it will soon be the most important fishing season of the year.

At dawn on the 19th, the people on the east bank who were packing up their things suddenly noticed a large number of fleets on the river. Mo Ming urgently boarded the bridge to watch and found that it was the fleet of Qing troops crossing the river. I don't know where they collected the boats, but I saw that the river was covered with small troop boats, and I was afraid that tens of thousands of people were crossing the river. In addition, a large number of small boats were still coming down the river, heading in the direction of the convoy of people on the east coast, and the lookouts warned that these small boats were full of firewood and grass, and that the Qing army might use fire attack tactics.

Mo Ming, who learned of this important situation, immediately ordered the entire fleet to retreat and head downstream. After they drove at full speed to the small arson boats, some boats the size of leaves had already landed in the Zhenjiang area on the south bank in the distance, and some Qing troops like small black dots jumped off the boats and headed inland. Mo Ming knew that the fall of Zhenjiang would be in an instant, and if Zhenjiang was lost, Nanjing would basically not be able to be saved.

Seeing that there was no longer anything to take advantage of, the people on the east coast simply went all the way east, and then landed along the coast of Jingjiang County, which was now under the control of the Qing army. The Qing army did not garrison here, and after the people on the east bank plundered it, they forced more than 5,000 people from the city to board a well-stuffed fleet, and then went down the river, preparing to join the follow-up fleet that had almost reached the mouth of the Yangtze River, and then return to Dabo Port. (To be continued......)