The final result of the report of Wang Hua and other speakers of the East Palace was that Zhu Houzhao was beaten with ten boards and the book was confiscated. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info Emperor Hongzhi took his son's martial arts novels for himself, and at the same time took the "Golden Vase Plum" given by Zhang Yanling to relieve his fatigue, and the matter came to an end for the time being.

Emperor Hongzhi thought that the book was given to the prince by his brother-in-law, while Zhu Houzhao felt that his second uncle reported him, and even the ministers thought that there was no one who dared to show the prince idle books except his relatives and the Zhang brothers. And Zhang Yanling didn't dare to see his sister and brother because of his "intention to send a woman into the palace", and he "innocently" carried everyone's black pot.

At this time, Shen Xi, who was far away in Guangzhou, did not know that the book he wrote became a magic weapon for Emperor Hongzhi to pass the boring time, and now Zhu Youzhu has no intention of being a woman, in addition to going to the court and dealing with government affairs every day, he is holding a novel to read, forgetting to sleep and eating, so that the eunuchs who accompany him are so confused, and he really can't figure out what makes the emperor so addicted.

After Shen Xi planted the corn and sweet potatoes of the season and instructed the military households in the West Campus to take good care of them, he waited for the beginning of March to go north.

On the second day of the first month of March, Shen Xi's family moved to Xinfudi, which is spacious and bright, and each female dependent has her own room.

Shen Xi's housewarming to a new house has become a first-class event in Guangzhou Prefecture, and there are countless people who come to send housewarming gifts.

With the previous experience of being rejected for holiday gifts, the magistrates and gentry are much smarter to give gifts again, only giving local products, which seem worthless, but maybe there are some gold, silver and jade hidden under those worthless things, as long as the gifts are sent to Shen Xi's mansion, and the gift list is presented, even if Shen Xi finds the problem back, it is difficult to return.

I obviously sent souvenirs to your house, but you returned gold and silver utensils, what does this mean? The Governor bribes the magistrate?

Shen Xi had long expected that he would come to this one, so he had long sent someone outside the gate of the new mansion to refuse to accept gifts, even if you gave goose feathers, the official said that if you don't accept it, you won't accept it, you say that the official is good, or buy people's hearts, anyway, don't think about giving gifts.

Originally, many people thought that Shen Xi was unkind, but after this incident, they felt that he was stubborn, and we sent some "local products" to mean that you would not accept it, and it was clear that it would not give face to the officials and gentry of the Guangzhou government! Do you need us to help you raise military rations and supplies in the future? Three gangs of a hero, you are determined to fight alone!

Shen Xi was scared of the red tape of officialdom at this time.

He clearly knew that the magistrates and gentry did not give gifts for nothing, they usually had something to ask for, or hoped to be protected by the governor's yamen, in such a turbid era, the result of trying to stir up turbidity and promote the Qing was to be isolated, as if he had done something wrong.

Shen Xi just did what a normal honest official should do, but he caused a commotion.

"Sir, the ship and everything have been prepared, and the soldiers and horses have basically arrived, but there may be a little trouble in the transportation of supplies...... We may not have enough ships. ”

Ma Jiu counted the number of large and small warships docked in the port and found a very serious problem, that is, there were not enough ships.

A few years ago, Shen Xiping bandits, with 4,000 soldiers and horses, only 2,000 people went with the boat, and the remaining 2,000 were stationed on the spot halfway, and it was not until the return trip to attack Shangchuan Island that the people were transported in batches by small boats.

This time, Shen Xi went north to level the bandits, still with 4,000 men and horses, although there were three more big ships of the Francophile people, and more than 20 ships helped by the political envoys, but because the war cycle was longer, more materials needed to be transported, so that the shortage of ships was still a big problem.

Shen Xi put down the official document in his hand and asked, "What did the political envoy say from the Yamen?" ”

"The people in the political envoy department said that the ships that can be mobilized have basically been transferred, and no matter how small the ship is, I am afraid that it is not suitable for the battlefield." Ma Jiudao, "If the number of ships is not enough, we can only temporarily find people to build ships, or transfer civilian ships from inland rivers to replenish the number, but these ships ...... I'm afraid that if I am washed by the waves, I will fall apart. ”

There is a big difference between inland river vessels and sea vessels, inland river vessels are relatively small, and the structure is relatively loose, and the result of risky use may be that the ship is destroyed and people die after a strong wind and waves, and Shen Xi does not dare to take such a risk.

Shen Xi sighed: "It's a pity that the Franc machine is not here at this time, otherwise it may be enough to borrow a few more boats from them." ”

Ma Jiu was stunned, he didn't understand what Shen Xi meant, Shen Xi had forced the Franc machine man to "lend" three big boats, so that the Franc machine man was almost vomiting blood, you must know that the ship of the Franc machine man is much stronger than the Ming Dynasty's sea ships, and it is difficult for the Ming craftsmen to build such a sea ship at this time.

After all, the shipbuilding of the Franc machine is to cross the sea, if the quality is not up to par, then the Franc machine man will not be able to come to Daming to do business.

Shen Xi said: "That's it, follow the soldiers and soldiers, if the ships are not enough, they will still divide part of the land route, this time I will not take the boat, and go north with the land soldiers and horses." ”

"Sir, you ......"

Ma Jiu wanted to say, if you don't take a boat, then who will command the fleet and the Franco machine gun?

When he went south to quell the bandits, Ma Jiu found that if he wanted to fight the pirates, he still had to rely on large ships and artillery, and if he relied on cavalry and infantry by land, he might not have any results for several years.

Now Shen Xi is abandoning the excellent "navy" and following the army's march, which is not only slow, but also weak in combat effectiveness, and it is easy to have problems if there is no one to command the fleet.

Shen Xi waved his hand to signal Ma Jiu not to be nervous, and said, "It's okay, don't rush to march, the most important thing to go north this time is to fight steadily." ”

It is said that the fighting will end within three months, but in fact there is no hard requirement, as long as the logistics can keep up, it will not be a problem to fight for a year and a half.

……

……

On the sixth day of the first month of March, the expedition was officially launched, and the result was five days in advance, 4,000 soldiers and horses had been assembled, and the port of Guangzhou became lively, and the army was ready to go out at any time.

The officers and soldiers followed Shen Xi to win the battle a year ago, got a reward, and then received a reward for military merits, at this time they had money on hand, a small part of them went into the pockets of those kiln sisters in the Qinlou Chu Pavilion in Guangzhou City, most of them were sent home to support their wives and children, and the rest became materials for marching and fighting.

Of all the supplies, the most popular is dry food.

The army does not die of hunger, but it is unrealistic to want to be full, and everyone's daily ration is somewhat fixed, and those with a big appetite need to prepare some in advance.

Southerners mainly eat rice, and rice balls are a good thing to satisfy hunger, but the shelf life of rice balls is relatively short, which is not conducive to carrying. Among all dry food, the most popular is the dry cake in pasta, although this thing is hard, it can be stored for ten days in March and April, and even can be eaten after mold.

Of course, if you have a lot of money, you can also reserve some beef jerky, meat floss, dried fish and other meat food, endure hunger, and eat and drink a few sips of water to rise.

Shen Xi inspected the barracks twice on the third and fourth days of the first month of March, and at this time, the soldiers had already put away the dry rations they had been distributed, along with the ones they had brought and bought from home, or transported them in the wagons that accompanied the army, or prepared to load them on the ship with their luggage, and some of them carried the dry rations directly on their backs.

The soldiers' weapons and equipment are basically self-prepared, and arrows are relatively scarce, although at the beginning of the year, led by Shen Xi, the local government worked overtime to build a batch, but it is still not enough.

Not only is there a shortage of arrows, but there are also certain problems with weapons.

The south is humid, and weapons are very easy to rust, so soldiers must not only carry weapons, but also whetstones, and sharpen them at any time when they are dull or rusty.

"My lord, the situation is not very good, as soon as March and April passes, there is a lot of rain in the south, whether it is a boat or a road, it is not easy to walk!" Jing Yue came over and said to Shen Xi.

Jing Yue experienced the war a year ago, and was promoted from 100 households to deputy 1,000 households with military merits, which was considered a relatively large promotion, and he still served as Shen Xi's personal guard captain after a year, responsible for protecting Shen Xi's safety and conveying Shen Xi's military orders.

Shen Xi's face was a little worried, and he shook his head and said, "What else can I do?" There must be a road before the car reaches the mountain. ”

At this time, Shen Xi also found that it was because the bandit suppression battle before the year ago was too easy, which made him a little flustered, and he underestimated the difficulties of the war after the year.

The problem of weapons is not big, relatively speaking, the weapons of the official army have been calculated, due to the implementation of the iron monopoly of the Ming Dynasty, the weapons of those bandits are more backward, many of them are unveiled for the banner and chop wood for the soldiers, the two armies are on the short hand of the hand, the advantage is not too obvious! But the lack of horses is a perennial problem.

Generally speaking, bandits run away if they can't win, they need cavalry to pursue, bandits like to hide in the cottage and don't come out, and they need siege equipment to attack the cottage.

Even if the cottage is not a masonry structure, just a heavy wooden fence, it needs to be crashed open, and those wooden fences have been specially treated, and it is not good to use the trick of setting fire, and the amount of gunpowder on hand in Shen Xi is also seriously insufficient......

When Shen Xi came back from inspecting the barracks, he couldn't help but ponder these questions.

Now it's a bit of a duck on the shelf, if it's a small-scale pirate and mountain bandits, it's not a big deal, I'm afraid of encountering relatively sophisticated Japanese soldiers and horses, the army composed of the hereditary military households of the Ming Dynasty can't go up to the table, and can't withstand the bloody battle, Shen Xi is really afraid that when he encounters hard stubble, he will not be able to bear the huge casualties and cause a big defeat.

Lu Heng, the political envoy of Guangdong Zuobu, personally came to discuss with Shen Xi about the supply of grain and grass before the three armies set out, and after Shen Xi told Lu Heng about the difficulties, Lu Heng did not have a good way to deal with it.

Lu Heng said: "Shen Zhongcheng, now that all the things that can be made up for you on the ground in Guangdong have been recruited, if there is any shortage, you can either wait for a year and a half to go on the expedition, or you can recruit from Fujian and Guangxi." However, thinking that the coastal bandits are just a group of rabble, Shen Zhongcheng doesn't need to worry about it! ”

Lu Heng had fought with the Tatars and Warats in the northwest, so he naturally looked down on this group of bandits on the southeast coast, but the problem was that the bandits were wandering around the sea to commit crimes, and they paid attention to using the right time and place to deal with the officials and soldiers, and the result of contempt could be defeat, and Shen Xi did not dare to be careless at all. (To be continued.) )