From Tianjin to the south, more than 100 tiger squat guns of the Xishan Army were also transported to Huai'an by sea boats, and now, Chen Yue has placed these guns on the deck of the boat, covered them with tarpaulin, and mixed in sacks.

More than 200 crossbows and bows in the army were also placed on the boat and handed over to the brothers of the water camp for use, and according to Jin Shenghuan's requirements, all the bows and arrows in the Huai'an arsenal were mobilized, and more than 500 pairs were handed over to Jin Shenghuan. Although bows and arrows are certainly not accurate without long-term training, if there are many of them, they can make up for the lack of accuracy with covering shots.

The commander of the water battalion of the Pingnan Army is Lu Tai, the original guerrilla of the Tianjin coastal defense battalion has now become a deputy general, commanding 1,500 water battalions, and Chen Ping is his deputy. The current water battalion is a mixture of the original coastal defense battalion and a part of the Xishan Army, and after a long period of training, its combat effectiveness is far higher than that of the ordinary Ming army.

However, both Lu Tai and Chen Ping lacked experience and could not take on the heavy responsibility of commanding thousands of troops, so Chen Yue handed over the command to Jin Shenghuan. Compared with Jin Shenghuan, who was born in a military family, Lu Tai and Chen Ping are still a lot worse.

As for the infantry and cavalry battalions of the Pingnan Army, 4,000 men and horses, under the leadership of Yang Zhengping, took more than 200 boats, took advantage of the night, and disappeared into the rippling Hongze Lake.

On May 5, in Qingjiangpu, under the send-off of local officials in Huai'an, Chongzhen stepped on the second-floor official ship, and the entire fleet of more than 200 ships, several miles long, docked on the canal.

Hey? Why did Jin Shenghuan's subordinates put on the uniforms of the Pingnan Army and also raised the banner of the Pingnan Army? Lu Zhenfei's eyes were blazing, and he looked at the soldiers around him. He has been promoted to a cabinet scholar by Chongzhen, so he naturally wants to go to Nanjing with Chongzhen.

The regimental training was recruited and trained by Lu Zhenfei, and he could naturally distinguish the difference between the soldiers. The soldiers on the entire officer ship are regimental training, and the entire fleet is regimental training and his standard battalion except for some soldiers of the Pingnan Army, where did Chen Yue's main army go?

While Chongzhen was talking to Xu Yong, the prefect of Huai'an, who had come to say goodbye, Lu Zhenfei took a few steps back and stood beside Chen Yue.

"Pingnanhou, why didn't your cavalry battalion see it?" Lu Zhenfei looked ahead with a face and asked in a low voice.

"Cavalry battalion?" Chen Yue turned his head and glanced at Lu Zhenfei, and said in surprise: "Isn't it ahead, don't you see that the soldiers are pulling their war horses to the boat?" ”

Lu Zhenfei glanced ahead with a side face, there were indeed some soldiers pulling war horses to the boat, but the number of war horses was only one hundred and ten, but the cavalry of the Pingnan Army had nearly two thousand war horses!

"Is Pingnanhou playing tricks on this official, this official knows the numbers!" Lu Zhenfei said unhappily.

Chongzhen's side Lu Zhenfei has the highest official position, in fact, the behavior of the entire fleet is also responsible for Lu Zhenfei, it has long been said that the Pingnan Army is responsible for the safety of the fleet, but the whereabouts of most of the troops of the Pingnan Army are unknown, how can Lu Zhenfei feel at ease?

"Hehe, Lord Lu, you also know that the war horses are too big to be suitable for boating, so the cavalry battalion will march by land." Seeing that he couldn't prevaricate, Chen Yue had no choice but to smile bitterly.

It's not that he doesn't want to tell Lu Zhenfei the truth, it's that this battle is too important, and it's more with less.

Chen Yue didn't want to make a fuss, he wanted to prevent any possibility of leaking the whereabouts of the army.

Lu Zhenfei nodded and said no more.

......

The emperor traveled, the entire Huai'an Mansion officials and gentry saw off together, the scene was extremely huge, for the sake of safety, thousands of regiments trained troops to guard the canal wharf, strictly preventing anyone from approaching.

On the periphery of the regimental training, thousands of people gathered to watch this grand scene.

In the crowd, several men in short clothes did not go to see the emperor Lao'er traveling, but looked at the accompanying ships and troops.

In the flotilla of the canal, each boat is full of soldiers, the flag fluttering on the boat, except for the dragon flag that symbolizes the emperor hanging on the emperor's boat, the other boats are standing high flagpoles, and the four characters of "Pingnan Hou Chen" on the flagpole flutter in the wind.

"See, it's all Pingnanhou's army, but it's amazing, even the ferocious Manchurian Tartars are not their opponents. The thieves are powerful, the imperial tombs in Fengyang were burned by them, but the Marquis of Pingnan rescued the emperor from the army of hundreds of thousands of thieves. ”

Looking at the flags fluttering on the fleet and the sturdy soldiers standing on the boat, a lively crowd exclaimed.

"What do you know, the Fengyang Imperial Mausoleum was not burned by thieves, it was sacrificed to thieves!" Another man lifted the pole.

"It doesn't matter if it's a thief or a thief, but it's true that the army of the Pingnan Army is powerful. Not only is it powerful, but I heard that the soldiers under him are very rich, and any soldier has dozens of taels of silver in his waist. ”

"So rich! No wonder the neighbor Lao Wang wanted to marry his daughter to a soldier of the Pingnan Army, I thought he pushed his daughter into the fire pit and scolded him at that time. ”

Listening to the discussions of the people around him, several men in short clothes glanced at each other. A man who looked like a leader commanded in a low voice.

At his command, a man squeezed out of the crowd and ran quickly downstream along the canal, running five or six miles, leaving the fleet, which had not yet set sail, far behind.

Then he pulled a war horse out of the reeds by the canal, mounted it, and galloped south.

......

The emperor's travel is different from ordinary people, so it is natural to have a complete set of etiquette processes, even if Chongzhen, the emperor who has lost the national capital.

The officials saw them off, the squire's representatives spoke, and after drinking the send-off wine, it took a full hour for the fleet to pull anchor and set sail south.

The section of the canal from Huai'an to Guazhou is wide and deep, and the boats run smoothly in the canal, not as seriously blocked as the North Canal.

Due to the blockage of the old channel of the Yellow River in Huai'andong, most of the water of the Yellow River is injected into Hongze Lake, Hongze Lake is only an inner lake, and the water of the lake will naturally be discharged to the outside of the river, and the lake water will be injected into the Yangtze River along the canal all the way to the south.

Therefore, it can be said that it is smooth sailing from Huai'an to the south, which is also the main reason why the officials chose to go south by water.

Emperor Chongzhen returned to the cabin under Zhang Xiu'er's service, and the accompanying important ministers, Chen Jianghe, Wang Yin, Lu Zhenfei, Wu Mengming, etc., all took an official boat with Chongzhen.

The dispatch of the entire fleet was arranged by Lu Zhenfei, and the management of the army was in charge of Chen Yue.

However, the soldiers were all on boats, and there was no war, Chen Yue was very idle, and was pulled by Princess Kunxing on the bow of the boat to watch the canal scenery. The girl who has lived in the palace since she was a child sees everything freshly, and her small mouth keeps talking, Chen Yue listened patiently, and with Kun Xing, he felt extremely relaxed.