The 6,000 iron horsemen of Fangyuan and Chigutai rushed back to the territory of Nanzhili in the starry night, and it was seven days later.

After Fang Yuan learned about the battle situation of all parties, he chose to abandon Nanjing City, go to consolidate the defense line of Jingkou Wharf, and then rescue the princess. If you lose the city of Nanjing, you will lose it! It's best to teach them a hard lesson, so that they don't know how many pounds and taels they have.

When Fang Yuan's 6,000 Xuanjia Iron Cavalry arrived at the Jingkou Wharf, Jing Jie had been compressed to a corner of the Jingkou Wharf by 20,000 or 30,000 Jin troops.

Jing Jie was deeply relieved to see that Fang Yuan finally returned in time.

Fang Yuan studied the current battle situation with him, and even six thousand Xuanjia iron cavalry could not solve the siege of Jingkou Wharf, not to mention Yangzhou Mansion, which was besieged and attacked by Gao Jie, and Gao Youwei, who was far north.

And Gan Hui's infantry rushed to Nanzhili, at least half a month later. When Gan Hui's infantry battalion arrived, he had to defeat the Jin army at Jingkou Wharf first, and then cross north to relieve the siege of Yangzhou Mansion, and finally get Gao Youwei, at least one or two months later.

The princess has been guarding Gaoyouwei for a month or two, and Gaoyouwei has long been at the end of the crossbow, how can it be possible to guard it for another one or two months? Gao Youwei may fall at any time, and if it drags on for one more day, the princess will be in more danger!

Jing Jie still wanted to save the princess, but now that the army was not in place, he couldn't save it at all, so he could only be anxious.

Just when Fang Yuan was at a loss, news came from Zhenhaiwei that Shi Lang's sailors sent north from Fujian to return to the north had been stationed in Zhenhaiwei in Suzhou Prefecture, waiting for Fang Yuan and Jing Jie's assignment.

Fang Yuan was overjoyed when he heard this, the only way to save Princess Gao Youwei was on this fleet.

Fang Yuan immediately ordered this fleet to return to attack Zhang Guowei, the secretary of the military department, Fei Cheng, the commander of Tianjin Wei, and the sailors of the Fengyang Ma Shiying coalition army.

The Xuanjia fleet immediately went north into the Yangtze River waterway, joined Shi Fu's fleet, and began to attack the imperial naval division coalition stationed in Guazhoudu.

Today's Xuanjia Army Navy Fleet, the number of warships is almost the same as that of the imperial court sailors, but the tonnage is obviously larger, and there is a giant ship of 1,500 tons, at least 3,000 materials, coupled with Shi Fu, an experienced sailor commander, has an overwhelming advantage over the imperial navy.

The sailors of both sides fought in Guazhou, and the combined forces of the imperial court sailors were defeated and fled north. Shi Fu's fleet was stationed in Guazhoudu, cutting off the connection between Jiangbei and Jingkou Wharf.

The naval division was in an unfavorable situation, and the 20,000 or 30,000 Jin troops who attacked the Jingkou wharf were cut off from military food supplies, and they were trapped at the Jingkou wharf rather than attacking.

advances, unable to capture the positions of the Xuanjia Army;

retreat, without any sailor cover, unless you can swim across the Yangtze River;

Defending, there is only five days' food in the army, and once the army is cut off, the whole army will inevitably collapse.

These two or 30,000 Jin troops have fallen into a dead place where they cannot advance or retreat!

This is exactly how Fang Yuan rescued Princess Kunxing, that is, to use the lives of these, twenty, or thirty thousand Jin troops to negotiate conditions with Zhou Yuji and release Princess Kunxing who was trapped in Gaoyouwei.

Fang Yuan immediately sent someone to send a letter to Zhou Yuji, asking Zhou Yuji to ensure the safety of Princess Kunxing, and then come to meet and negotiate, otherwise he would annihilate the 20,000 or 30,000 Jin troops who crossed the river and were deprived of grain and grass.

As soon as Zhou Yuji received Fang Yuan's letter, as well as the military situation ahead, Guazhoudu had indeed been lost, and the Jin army that crossed the river could not return to Jiangbei and was trapped at the Jingkou wharf. Once it drags on, the 30,000 Jin army will inevitably be wiped out.

Zhou Yuji immediately went to Zhu Cihong to discuss the conditions of exchanging Princess Kunxing for 20,000 or 30,000 Jin troops. Zhu Cihong was reluctant to agree, but when he saw Princess Kunxing piling up fire oil in her bedroom, she made it clear that she would rather die than surrender, and if she was forced too much, she could only get the princess's corpse.

The crown prince Zhu Cihong hesitated all night, between tenderness and possessiveness, or his love for the princess prevailed, and decided not to force the princess anymore, let her live, and let Zhou Yuji go to negotiate with Fang Yuan.

The place where Fang Yuan negotiated with Zhou Yuji was arranged on two warships on the Grand Canal.

The bows of the warships on both sides were next to each other, and all the sergeants who escorted them withdrew to the stern, leaving only Fang Yuan and Zhou Yuji, the two commanders, to stand at the bow to negotiate.

Fang Yuan said coldly to Zhou Yuji, "Governor Zhou, although I am young, I always have the grace of knowing you. You actually took revenge and took advantage of the situation to sneak attack, I am afraid that it is not a gentleman's doing. ”

Zhou Yuji scolded sharply and said, "Fang Yuan, you have the grace of knowing me, it is a personal relationship; Dealing with you, a rebellious minister and thief, that is justice, how can you abolish the public for personal gain?!"

Fang Yuan sneered and said, "I have paid all the land taxes and commercial taxes, and even if your Shanxi and Jin armies are short of grain, I have also paid 100,000 stone of grain, what is a chaotic minister and thief?" If Da Ming was all chaotic ministers and thieves like me, the world would not be in chaos!"

Zhou Yuji said coldly, "You are buying people's hearts, with ill intentions, and you want to gradually encroach on them, and then play some kind of hypocrisy to steal the world!"

Fang Yuan was slightly stunned, his mind was said correctly by Zhou Yuji, could Zhou Yuji really guess, or did he get some rumors?

Fang Yuan asked tentatively, "What is the reality of the Hypocrisy?" I've never heard of it!"

Zhou Yuji scolded, "King Yong's maid gave the prince a letter and exposed all your conspiracies, and you still want to quibble?!"

It turned out that it was Yongwang Zhu Cizhi who ventilated to the court and sowed discord from it. This Zhu Cizhi couldn't support the wall in the mud, which made Fang Yuan completely disappointed, so he had to wait for the war to subside, and then arrest Zhu Cizhi and judge him for his crimes.

Fang Yuan sighed deeply and said, "I don't have a verbal dispute with Governor Zhou, the terms of this exchange, you put back the princess, and I put back the Jin army at the Jingkou dock." ”

Zhou Yuji shook his head and said, "I can't hand over the princess, the princess is pouring fire oil in the room, and whoever gets close will light the fire." It's the first time I've seen such a fierce and unyielding woman, and it's really impressive!"

When Fang Yuan heard that the princess had put life and death aside, he was both pity and shame for her, and he couldn't wait to immediately hug her into his arms, his nose was also sore, and he almost burst into tears. Fortunately, he got the news that the princess was safe from Zhou Yuji, otherwise he would have felt guilty for the rest of his life.

Fang Yuan sighed and said, "Governor Zhou, the victory and defeat of this battle have been divided, let's retreat!" As long as the Jin army withdraws from Yangzhou Prefecture, I will disarm the 20,000 or 30,000 prisoners at Jingkou Wharf and transport all of them to Weihaiwei by sea. ”

Zhou Yuji said coldly, "The victory and defeat have been divided? There are still 50,000 Jin troops and 50,000 Ming troops in Jiangbei, and there are still 200,000 left troops in Nanjing City and Chizhou Mansion, Governor Fang is telling jokes!"

Fang Yuan smiled faintly and said, "The 90,000 Xuanjia Army has arrived in Nanzhili, and now the Yangtze River channel is under the control of our army, and the Ming army can't cross the river. The Manchu Qing Dynasty is eyeing the entry into the customs, and the governor of Zhou ignores the Shanxi defense area, so he and I are spending it in Yangzhou Mansion, if there is a police in the capital, it will be too late to regret it!"

Fang Yuan's words hit the death hole of the imperial court, which was the Manchu Qing Dynasty who were eyeing the outside of the Guan. If the two sides are in a stalemate on both sides of the Yangtze River for a long time, the supply of military rations and military materials for the imperial court will be a problem. In addition, there was a vacuum in the Shanxi defense area in the rear, and once the Manchus entered the customs from Shanxi, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Zhou Yuji didn't have much choice, and after resigning from Fang Yuan, he went back to Gaoyouwei to find the crown prince Zhu Cihong and stated Fang Yuan's idea of asking for the withdrawal of troops.

Zhu Cihong was deeply annoyed that his division had failed this time, and he was unwilling to withdraw his troops at all.

Zhou Yuji patiently persuaded him, "Now that the army is stationed in Yangzhou Mansion and Fang Yuan, it is just a waste of military food." It is better to agree to Fang Yuan's conditions in exchange for the trapped 20,000 or 30,000 sergeants. Before our army withdrew, we looted the money and grain of the occupied Yangzhou Prefecture and counties, leaving Fang Yuan with an empty Yangzhou Mansion with millions of mouths to be fed. ”

"If Fang Yuan saves these people, he will spend a lot of money and food, and he will not be able to recover for a while; If Fang Yuan is not saved, Yangzhou Mansion will no longer be owned by him, and it will just serve as a buffer zone with the imperial court. ”

Zhu Cihong nodded, agreeing with Zhou Yuji's statement, he couldn't cross the river anyway, as long as he could snatch the wealth of Yangzhou Mansion, this sneak attack could be regarded as a big gain, and it would be best to let Fang Yuan take over this mess.