Li Zicheng was forced to go south, and Zhu Changzhu was not happy here. was originally rejected by Zheng Zhilong, a local snake, from Fujian, but now he is oppressed by Li Zicheng, and the court is in a panic.

Someone suggested that someone should be sent to talk to Zheng Zhilong again, and let Zheng Zhilong send a boat to pick them up first. As for whether to go to Fuzhou or not, I will talk about it later, obviously Fujian will soon become the front line, and it is no longer safe, so it is safer to go to Guangdong.

Some suggested contacting Zuo Mengeng, anyway, Zuo Liangyu on the Qingjun side was already dead, and Zhu Yousong on the Qingjun side was also dead. Now Zuo Mengeng is not having a good time, and it is just right to use Zuo Menggeng's team to strengthen the force of the imperial court and use it to deter a feudal town like Zheng Zhilong.

Others, however, suggested peace talks with Li Zicheng. After all, now Li Zicheng is also embarrassed by Li Yan's chasing, and it is a good opportunity for the two parties to join forces to resist the southern invasion of Daliang. However, such a suggestion can only be told to Zhu Changzhu in private, Jiangnan is the base camp of Qingliu, and if anyone dares to negotiate peace with the thieves, those officials who are staring at the opportunity to express themselves will not let go of this good opportunity that will go down in history.

Zhu Changzhu didn't care what he could do at this time, he immediately asked the ministers to start implementing it, but he didn't dare to contact Li Zicheng. It's not that he's afraid of a knife-like historical pen, but he really can't believe that Li Zicheng, the murderous demon king. There is no problem for ordinary people or civilian and military generals to cooperate with Li Zicheng, or even surrender to Li Zicheng, but as a royal family, he does not dare to contact Li Zicheng. Therefore, the road of peace talks between Da Ming and Da Shun is impossible to implement, at least for now.

At this time, Zhang Han, the commander of the naval division of Daliang, was leading the fleet on the Yangtze River. They had just recruited Zhang Xianzhong's Poyang Sailor, and now they were tracing the river to continue to clean up Zhang Xianzhong's Dongting Sailor. In fact, he was very disappointed in Zhang Xianzhong's sailors, who had no value in training their troops at all, and as soon as their warships entered Poyang Lake, the sailors composed of those fishing boats surrendered.

The only effect of this voyage is to test the success of their improved wheel pulp. In the previous wheel pulp, the blades were flat, but after the improvement, they have become blades with a small arc. It not only increases the force of the wheel stroke, but also reduces the resistance of the paddle to the boat when it is not working.

Moreover, the power system of the wheel pulp has also been well tested. It turned out that they directly used eight sailors to push the turntable to drive the gears below and eventually drive the wheel pulp to rotate. However, after testing, it was found that this was a great physical drain on the sailors, and the speed of the turntable was not fast, and the eight sailors could only work for half an hour before they were bored.

Later, they switched to using the crankshaft in a small boat to spin the pulp, but the difference was that the paddles were replaced with gears, and the gears were used to drive the turntable. In this way, four platforms are built in four directions, and the same eight people work, but they can be rotated in an hour, and the speed of the turntable can be faster.

In order to reduce the impact of the paddle on the speed of the ship when the wheel pulp is not used, they also made a braking device on the transverse axis of the wheel pulp, in fact, several recesses were carved on the shaft, and the wooden rod could be put down to resist the transverse axis, so that the wheel pulp could be stopped. At this time, the sailors pulled the gears on the shaft high by means of a winch, disengaged them from the gears of the transverse shaft, and then lifted the wooden pole. At this time, the wheel slurry only bears the friction of the horizontal axis in the water, so the resistance is much smaller. The next time you use the wheel slurry, you can combine the two gears and you can use it normally again.

As for artillery, it remains a difficult problem. Through the explanation of the shipwrights, it is known that the warship uses the partition of the watertight compartment as the support body of the hull, so the less support, the less force the warship can bear. Therefore, they had to put wooden planks on the first deck, and the gun carriage was placed with three-inch Franc cannons, and the brake ropes were fixed near the watertight compartment partition to reduce the damage to the hull when the guns were fired.

Despite this, they were able to install only three guns on each side of the first deck. And the second deck was occupied by two wheel slurry turntables, and there was no room for artillery at all. So in order to increase the firepower, four stone throwers were installed on each side of the warship, and one in the bow and one in the stern. The stone thrower is fixed to the deck and uses the base of the grinding disc to allow the stone thrower to be fired in all directions. Of course, a fire pot is a dangerous thing and needs to be stored properly.

They were driving on the Yangtze River, and all kinds of boats along the way pulled over early to make way for them. Although their fleet only has two medium-sized Fu boats, eight Haicang boats, and dozens of two-headed boats, they still have a great advantage in the face of the flat sand boats sailing on the Yangtze River. There is no need for artillery bombardment at all, even by colliding, you can open a route. The ships on the Yangtze River do not avoid it, that is because they are not at ease.

At this time, the hourglass on the table ran out, and Zhang Han ordered: "Notify the power group and replace it." Keep sailing, and we can go to Wuchang tonight to rest. ”

The deputy issued an order to the second deck through a bamboo tube. The replacement sailors were organized by the officers and came to the platform by the turntable to wait. They don't change people at the same time, which causes the wheel to stop, so they change one group and then the second group, so that there are always three groups of people who are maintaining the momentum. Although this method is not very useful at this time, it is extremely important when pursuing or escaping.

The sailors who changed up listened to the monotonous drum sound and adjusted the timing of the power according to the drum beat. Soon, the eight men were able to adjust their rhythm, using the strength of their arms, waist, abdomen, and legs, as if they were paddling on a boat, and exerting force on the crankshaft handle one by one, so that the boat could continue to swim against the current and against the wind.

At the same time, Li Yan, who was patrolling the defense in Datong, received a report from the maritime merchants, saying that there were pirates on the sea and plundering, and asked the Daliang court to make decisions for them. It's not because the maritime merchants paid taxes to the government, but they have no other better way, and the maritime merchants in the north are completely inferior to the strength and courage of the southern maritime merchants, so they can only hope that the imperial court will solve the problem for them.

However, at this time, Li Yan focused on the war between Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng in Jiangnan, and had no energy to manage the demands of the maritime merchants. Moreover, the strength of his fleet is still very weak, and he doesn't know if he can achieve his goal if he can get rid of pirates. But then again, if the pirate's strength is not strong, he can also let his sailors go out to practice, which is more valuable than not firing a shot at Poyang Lake.

Li Yan instructed Sun Sifu: "You send someone to investigate the details of this group of pirates, the time and area of their activities, and try to be as detailed as possible." If it is appropriate, let the sailor go to sea to practice. ”

Sun Sifu agreed, but reminded: "Your Majesty, those maritime merchants are not good people. We banned trade with the Qing State, but those maritime merchants smuggled grain to Korea and indirectly traded with the Qing State. This is still our strict investigation, or they dare to trade gunpowder. ”

Li Yan said casually: "To intensify the strict investigation is that the key is that the laws and regulations can be effectively enforced, and in the face of severe punishment, the businessmen themselves will learn to follow the rules." It is up to your overseers to keep an eye on the officials at all times, so that they do not dare to slack off, let alone act recklessly. ”

"Your Majesty rest assured," Sun Sifu clasped his fists and promised: "The Intelligence Department will definitely do a good job of Your Majesty's eyes and ears, and no one will dare to deceive Your Majesty." ”

Li Yan nodded, and then reminded: "You also have to be self-disciplined, if there is a problem with your ears and eyes, even if it is painful, you must replace it with a new one." ”

Sun Sifu knew that this was advice to them, and maybe they were also under the supervision of another system. He immediately knelt on the ground, clenched his fists and said: "Your subordinates should remember Your Majesty's teachings, and they must uphold their public intentions and dare not be deceived in the slightest." ”