"According to legend, Gao Jie and Liu Liangzuo's combat effectiveness is not bad, and they also have a lot of troops, are you sure?"

Gao Jie and Liu Liangzuo combined more than 20,000 troops, and the Pingnan Army and Shui Ying also had 5,000 troops, which was very different from the enemy. Although he knew that Chen Yue's plan was the only option to quickly stabilize the situation, Wang Yin was still a little worried.

"If you want to say that you are absolutely sure, you must not have it. But do we still have a choice? ”

Chen Yue sighed. The time has come to May, and the news of Li Zicheng's defeat has come, and there is not much time left for Daming. Either they can quickly defeat Gaojie Liu Liangzuo and capture Nanjing, or they can simply take Chongzhen and continue to flee and give up continuing to fight. A protracted war will lose the last bit of vitality of the Ming Dynasty, which is not advisable!

"Unexpectedly, Dashun, who seems to be full of flowers, is so defeated! Why am I so unconvinced? ”

Wang Yin still had an unbelievable look, Dashun attacked Ming all the way, and occupied the entire north while surrendering and rebelling, so he was easily defeated by the Mantars? If it weren't for Chen Yue's words, Wang Yin would never have believed it.

"Maybe in another ten and a half days, the news will come, and there is really not much time left for us." Chen Yue was reluctant to say more.

......

On the second day, Chongzhen's important ministers gathered together and began to discuss the matter of going to Nanjing. In order to confuse the opponent and prevent the news from leaking, Wang Yin kept his mouth shut according to Chen Yue's request, and even Chongzhen was not told the movements of Gao Jie and Liu Liangzuo.

Chongzhen originally planned to go to Fengyang to worship the ancestral tomb, which was the mausoleum of Zhu Yuanzhang's father Zhu Wusi who was burned by Zhang Xianzhong, but this idea was strongly prevented by the ministers.

Fengyang and Huai'an are separated by Hongze Lake, and the detour is too far, and it is too delayed.

There are no more than two roads from Huai'an to Nanjing, one is to go to Pukou by land, and then cross the Yangtze River to Nanjing. The distance is more than 400 miles, and the overland march can be reached in ten days.

Then take the waterway, take a boat along the canal to the south, cross the Yangtze River at Guazhou to reach Zhenjiang, and then from Zhenjiang to Nanjing by land. Although this road is a little farther, it is smooth from Huai'an to Guazhou, and it is very labor-saving to take a boat.

As for why the fleet did not go from Guazhou to Nanjing via the Yangtze River after arriving at Guazhou, it was because it was going upstream, and the section of the Yangtze River from Guazhou to Nanjing was relatively narrow, the water flow was turbulent, and it took a long time to go upstream. The distance from Zhenjiang to Nanjing is only 150 or 60 miles, which is a good official road, and it only takes three days to reach Nanjing.

After deliberation, the group chose to go south along the canal, after all, it would be much less labor-saving to have a boat to ride, and it would not take much more time than taking the land route.

After discussion, he told Chongzhen and decided to set off for Nanjing on May 5. Chen Yue, Marquis of Pingnan, led the subordinate to escort the troops, and the number of civilian-military troops and troops accompanying them reached more than 5,000 people, and at least more than 200 river boats needed to be requisitioned.

The supplies and salaries along the way, the honor guard of travel, the soldiers' armor, etc., all need to be properly prepared.

Accompanied by Jin Shenghuan, Chen Yue inspected the riverboat that had been requisitioned and moored in the canal.

Some of them were the cao boats of the Cao Yun Yamen, which were flat-bottomed sand boats that could carry 400 stone of grain, with cabins at both ends and sheds to protect them from the wind and rain, and they could carry forty or fifty people if they were used to carry people.

There is also a part of the merchant ships that are requisitioned to transport goods, Huai'an is the hub of the canal, where the Caoyun Yamen is located, and there are not too many boats here.

The requisitioned ships were all brought forward by the Huai'an government and rented the ships with silver.

This is a two-story official ship, fifteen zhang long, the first deck is equipped with gun emplacements, can place more than ten guns, of course, are some hundreds of pounds of small cannons, thousands of pounds of Hongyi cannons this kind of ship can not hold at all.

The second deck was equipped with wooden stacks that soldiers could use to fire at the enemy. The whole ship can carry more than 200 soldiers, and the cabins are wide and comfortable.

This ship is the ship of the general army of Caoyun, and now of course it is the ship of Emperor Chongzhen.

The entire wharf was guarded by soldiers of the Pingnan Army, and outsiders were not allowed to approach it at all.

Bands of soldiers resisted sacks of grain and loaded them onto the various boats, each with forty or fifty bags, which were stacked in the open on the deck.

"Master Hou, you really love the people like a son, this kind of manual work actually recruits the people and is done by the brothers themselves." Jin Shenghuan followed behind Chen Yue, smiling and flattering.

"Fart love the people like a son, go and see for yourself what's in the sack?" Chen Yue scolded with a smile.

Hearing this, Jin Shenghuan walked to the sack, reached out and touched the sack, the tentacles were strong and fine, and it was not rice at all, but sediment.

"Master Hou?" Jin Shenghuan walked back to Chen Yue, his face became serious. Of course he knew the effect of loading the ship with sediment, it was to set fire to it! Could it be that an enemy will attack this army escorting the emperor?

"It's good to know. This trip to the south does not want to be so beautiful on the surface. The dangers can be greater than you think. Chen Yue said indifferently, looking at Jin Shenghuan without blinking.

"I am willing to die for the Hou Ye!" Jin Shenghuan did not hesitate, and said upright.

At this time, Jin Shenghuan knew that Chen Yue would not ask him to accompany him for no reason, there must be a task to be handed over to him, this is a good opportunity to emerge, if he does a good job, his name will definitely enter the ears of the emperor, and it will be a golden avenue from now on.

As for the danger, from the moment he entered the army, Jin Shenghuan was never afraid of danger, he was afraid of no chance!

"On this southward journey, there will be an enemy attack on the fleet, and your task is to lead your subordinates to assist the water battalion of our Pingnan Army to hold the fleet together and protect Your Majesty's safety." Chen Yue commanded.

"Dare to ask who the enemy is? How many troops are there? Jin Shenghuan asked in a deep voice.

"The enemy is Gao Jie and Liu Liangzuo, with about 20,000 troops. There are 1,500 brothers in the water battalion of my Pingnan Army in the fleet, and 1,000 soldiers in the regiment of your headquarters, and I will allocate 2,000 soldiers to you, which is the standard battalion of Lu Zhenfei, the governor of Huaiyang. There are four thousand five hundred men on board, all under your command. Can it withstand the attack of 20,000 enemy troops? ”

Jin Shenghuan's throat surged, and he felt that his throat was dry, with less than 5,000 people to resist the attack of more than 20,000 enemies, and the emperor was in the fleet, this task was really difficult.

"I need a lot of bows and arrows, and artillery." Jin Shenghuan thought nervously and said with difficulty.

It's a daunting task, but if it's accomplished, the credit will be immense. As for why Chen Yue did this, Jin Shenghuan didn't ask much, he had been leading troops to fight for more than ten years, and he naturally understood Chen Yue's purpose for doing this.

"Last question, when and where will the enemy attack the fleet?"