Shou Zhi took Barnaby into the East Water Port of Qiongbei.

Zhang Pengfei rushed back to Qiongzhou from the Chaozhou front.

Last year (1653), Li Dingguo and the Hainan coalition army conquered Wuzhou, Li Dingguo opened the Xunjiang River communication line, through the Xunjiang River and its tributary Liujiang, and joined the troops who remained in Liuzhou, Qingyuan, and Youjiang Province in Guangxi, and then established contact with Kunming.

The 18,000 main force led by Dingguo was able to get rid of the embarrassing situation of huddled in the mountainous area of northeast Guizhou and regain a stable rear.

The coalition forces then attacked Zhaoqing. The armies in various parts of Guangdong, the Gao Lei Lian Defense Army, fully supported Li Dingguo. Zhou Jintang, Ye Biao, Shi Shangyi, Xiong Zhaozuo, Wang Zhihan, Deng Yao, Li Yuanyin, Zhou Zhou Lie and other troops who could be called out all went.

At sea, Wang Xing and Chen Qice re-entered the Jiujiang estuary of Xinhui.

In eastern Guangdong, Hao Shangjiu was in Chaozhou anyway, corresponding to Li Dingguo.

Shang Kexi set up more than 100 cannons at the head of Zhaoqing City.

The main force of the two feudal domains of Pingjing and the 3,000 banner battalions of Beijing and Jiangning under the command of Hahamu, and the 3,000 new green battalions of the commander of Kong Guozhi arrived in southern Jiangnan, with a total of 30,000 Manchurian and Han Mengbu cavalry artillery, firmly holding Zhaoqing City.

Shang Kexi judged that Hao Shangjiu's strength was limited, and the key points of Guangdong were all in Dingguo. He made two deployments, sent Raoping general Wu Liuqi to drag Hao Shangjiu, and at the same time ordered Geng Jimao to send cavalry to block the Kapoantou ferry in the southwest of Sanshui County.

Geng's cavalry encountered the Dingguo roundabout troops, and broke the Ming army in the middle of the crossing. This one ferry cut off the possible connection between Li Dingguo, Chen Qice, and Hao Shangjiu, and forced the Ming army to fall into a situation of fighting on its own.

Under the city of Zhaoqing, the artillery battle of the two armies was tied, Dingguo dug the tunnel, Shang Kexi offered a reward of 50 taels of people to recruit warriors, dug holes in the city wall, played a wave of rapid counterattack, destroyed all the entrances of the Ming army's tunnels, and the Ming army lost countless elite soldiers trapped in the tunnel.

Dingguo suffered this defeat and had to withdraw from the army. Shang Kexi pursued decisively, and the infantry and cavalry artillery broke through the Dingguo camp. Dingguo could not stand in Guangdong, so he had to retreat. But this time, the Ming army at least kept Wuzhou.

Subsequently, Shang Kexi took advantage of the inner line of Pearl River shipping to move eastward and attack Chaozhou.

Hao Shangjiu was in Chaozhou for half a year anyway, occupying Fucheng, Chenghai County, and Jieyang County, but his attack on the surrounding counties was not successful.

Hainan sent Zhang Pengfei to lead 4,000 naval divisions to reinforce Chaozhou, and joined forces with Yang Jun, deputy commander of Chenghai.

Zheng Chenggong sent Huang Wu to land in Jieyang to rob under the banner of rescuing Hao Shangjiu.

Shang Kexi's army marched into the Dongjiang River, and Zhang Pengfei persuaded Hao Shangjiu to retreat.

Hao Shangjiu held on to the infant city in Chaozhou City to buy time for the people to evacuate. His core position is on the top of Jinshan Mountain in the north of the city, there is a fort on the mountain, two shafts lead to the Han River, the water source is endless, and there is no shortage of food, Hao Shangjiu has made preparations for long-term perseverance.

There were too many artillery pieces in the Ping Domain, and after several months of bombardment, Hao Shangjiu was finally defeated.

The Tatars broke through Chaozhou, slaughtered the city, and killed more than 10,000 soldiers and civilians who had not been evacuated from Chaozhou.

Zhang Pengfei was unable to resist tens of thousands of Tatar troops on the ground, and took advantage of the time gained by Hao Shangjiu to board ships and evacuate the mainland from Chaozhou, Chenghai, Jieyang, and the coastal areas of Chaoyang and Huilai.

It was another Dunkirk-style retreat, and the Ming army was very familiar with the process of evacuating the coastal people, and the process was generally smooth.

Shou ordered to summon Zhou Luqing and Zhang Pengfei, the governor of Guangdong, "The green camp sailor of Huizhou Jieshi Wei Suli did not interfere with you?" ”

"Su Liwei sent a boat to attack, and he secretly sent someone to contact me, hoping that I could evacuate more Chaozhou people under the Tatar butcher's knife."

"So, although Sully's surrender with the Jieshi camp is gratifying, his conscience is still clear?"

"Should it be?"

"Zhou Zhongcheng, send someone to contact Su Li to lay the foundation for future exchanges."

"Xia Guan remembers."

"Great unification, I evacuated immigrants from Chaozhou this time, and Sanmen Island played a big role."

"Well, I know the island, I lived there for a few days, and there is no end of fresh water on the island."

In the naval battle at the mouth of the Pearl River that year, the orderly flagship was almost paralyzed, and after leaving the battlefield, he repaired ships on Sanmen Island.

"Yes, sir. Although Sanmen Island is not big, it can control Mirs Bay and Daya Bay, and I think it is necessary for us to occupy that island. ”

"Who to send?"

"Yang Jun and Hao Yao, who retreated from Chenghai, are willing to stay on Sanmen Island."

"Oh, is the courage commendable, east of the Pearl River Estuary, in case something happens, I'm afraid it will be difficult for us to rescue in time."

"Yes, Hao Yao wants to avenge his father. The coast of Huizhou is also relatively rich, and he can be replenished on the shore. ”

Shou Xiang looked at Zhou Luqing, "You can just look at this matter." Since it has been incorporated into our system, Zhongcheng remembers to send prison officers. ”

"Yes, sir."

"Chaozhou and the population obtained in Guangxi and Gaozhao last year will be transferred to Nanyang as soon as possible."

"Shipping is on track and without the interference of the Spaniards, our shipping efficiency will definitely improve."

"yes, finally don't worry about the Galen gunboat."

Zhou Luqing: "There is one more thing, Li Dingguo asked us to send troops again." ”

"Hit Zhaoqing again?"

"Zhaoqing Chengjian, this time he plans to go south from Guangxi, go west through Maoming, follow Geng Jimao's route to western Guangdong, and make a detour to the southern flank of Zhaoqing."

"Then he's going to play Xinhui."

"Yes."

Xinhui controls the Jiujiang Estuary, another strategic location in Guangdong.

"The Dingguo front is very long, he wants to keep Xunjiang and Liuzhou, how many troops can he draw out to attack?"

"We judged that there were no more than 10,000, and he mainly wanted to use the local rebels in Guangdong, such as Wang Xingbu."

Shou Xuan nodded, "You must make sure that Wuzhou, the rest of the soldiers, you can fully cooperate." ”

"Your Excellency still won't go to the mainland this year?"

Shou Xu smiled, "It's enough to have Li Dingguo as a protagonist on the mainland stage, I have other arrangements." ”

After the meeting ended, Shou ordered to call Zhang Pengfei.

The orderly changed the new tea, and said in order: "Yaoyu, we have retreated from Dengzhou, and now, it has been almost 10 years, right?" ”

"Nine and a half years, my lord."

"How much do you know about the Dongjiang Sea Trade back then?"

"Mao Shuai is a native of Zhejiang, and he has a very deep understanding of Haimao, and the Dongjiang River grew by controlling the northern sea trade between China, Japan and North Korea. After Mao Shuai was killed, although Shen Shikui once had the intention to rectify, it was difficult to return to the old view. ”

"Yes, that's right. Yaoyu, this route has recently resumed, and business is not bad. ”

"Oh? Isn't the Tartar forbidden sea? ”

"It is said that the sea is forbidden, mainly the south is forbidden, and the north is loosely controlled. Moreover, the Tartars were short of copper, and they were encouraging merchants to go to Japan to collect copper. ”

As early as 1646, the Tatar court issued a relevant decree, if there is a merchant to go to the sea to market copper, the official to Fu Weixin, the copper shipped back by the government at the market price to buy.

Doing maritime trade requires financial support, and businessmen borrow money to get together a shipload of goods to go to sea. Not counting the household department, the richest institution in the north is undoubtedly the Tatar Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the minions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs rely on financial means and under the banner of the palace, and basically control the Beiyang route in a few years.

Shou Order: "You should be familiar with the Dongjiang needle road and islands?" ”

Zhang Pengfei sat still, as if he was caught in a memory.

"Back then, the eldest brother took our two brothers to run to every island in the Dongjiang River, and more than ten years have passed."

"Do you want to go back to the place where you fought?"

"Your Excellency!?"

"I plan to rebuild Dongjiang Town, come to think of it, there is no more suitable person than you."

Two lines of tears dripped from Zhang Pengfei's eyes, "The last general is willing to go to the soup and the fire." ”

"Maybe it's going to be bitter."

"It's easier than Mao Shuai leading 197 dead soldiers to live millions of Liao people."

Shou Xuan sighed, "I'll send a fleet of plywood boats north with you." It's a group of foreign pirates, and it's not easy to deal with. ”

"As long as they fight Tartars, I don't care about small things."

"Try your best to cooperate, these foreigners have excellent skills in fighting."

"Yes, sir."

"You recruit more Dengzhou veterans, and pick another 1,000 people to come out."

"I'll do it right away."

"The wind is urgent, you have to hurry."

"I understand."

A week later, the Taiwanese detachment arrived in Qiongzhou.

Shou Xiang left the two battleships Lianzhou and Leizhou to the commander of the Qiongzhou detachment, Coutinho.

Taiwan's detachment has two new warships, including Brenshire and Huberian, Taipei and Yilan, as well as five frigates and notification ships.

Barnaby fleet 7 sloops and brigs, more than 700 people.

Zhang Pengfei 16 junk ships, 1,000 soldiers.

and after the resumption of the Taipei route, a transport fleet of 60 Cantonese ships sailed north from Qiongzhou.

Controlling the Beiyang shipping route, opening the sea route to raise troops, and buying grain in Korea will be able to achieve a positive cycle of raising troops.

Shandong is a large grain province in the north, the south is in the dark, and the Eight Banners are recuperating in the north.

The northern islands are generally small in size, making it difficult to grow staple foods, at most vegetables, and in winter, it is bitterly cold, making it difficult to invest more troops.

But the benefits are also obvious, the northern base of Hai Duong Island is far from the shore, and unless the Tatars build a naval division that can fight a decisive battle in the open sea, they will never be able to conquer Hai Duong Island.

Haiyang Island was used as a winter port for warships, and the coastal islands of Liaodong were occupied. Tianjin, Shandong, and Liaodong have thousands of miles of coastline, and there are many places where they can land, attacking the coast, obtaining population and materials, and at worst, forcing the Tatars to invest huge sums of money in the north to build coastal defense fortresses, which were originally the back garden.

For every soldier and 1 tael of silver invested in Liaohai, the Tatars had to invest 20 times or more resources for defense.

The relocation of the forbidden sea was originally for a show in the north. This method kills 500 enemies and inflicts 3,000 self-losses, and in not very critical places, the Tatars do not want to use it. Once the new Dongjiang Town is established, Shandong will definitely have to really move the border, so that at least half of the province's money and grain, the Tatars will not have to count on it.

Zhang Pengfei recruited another 1,000 people from the Shandong immigrants in Taipei, and the Junk fleet doubled.

Also joining the new Dongjiang Town were Zhoushan Zhang Mingzhen's subordinates, Chongming pirates Gu Rong and Gu San Mazi.

Last year, Zhang Mingzhen sent Gu Rong to lead 60 warships to the north to cruise Shandong, Liaodong, and North Korea, and there was a great earthquake in the north. This time, Gu Rong didn't just run away, he led 1,500 people to become members of New Dongjiang Town.

This was not enough, Shou Xuan summoned the former commander of the Li Chaoshui Division who was stranded here in Taipei, Lin Qingye, the commander of the Ping'an Dao Army.

"General Lin."

"Grand Commander."

"A few years ago, I promised you to help you get back to your hometown. Now the time has come, are you ready? ”

"Every day and every night, I have only one thing on my mind, revenge on the Tartars."

"Very well, how many of you have?"

“400。”

"I'll give you 8 ships and go home with your soldiers."

The current reigning monarch of the Li Dynasty, Li Hao, had served as a hostage with the Tatars and returned to China in 1649 to ascend the throne. Li Hao was the last emperor of the Li dynasty who was determined to rebel against the Tatars, and he made many preparations for this, including going south to contact the Southern Ming.

Shou Xiang did not expect Li Chao to take a clear stand at this stage, but as long as Li Chao relaxed his management slightly, New Dongjiang Town would be able to purchase supplies nearby. And Lin Qingye has outstanding prestige in the Li Dynasty, and will be a very powerful help to the new Dongjiang Town.

Of course, there are many historical problems between the Federation and the Li Dynasty, but the new Dongjiang Town is the banner of the Ming Dynasty, and it was ordered by the Son of Yongli to go north to Shandong to recover the lost territory, and the army is dominated by the regular army of the Ming Dynasty in Hainan, which has nothing to do with the Federation.

Shou Xu took out the blank pardon letter from Zeng Ying, and appointed Ding Yaokang, a Taipei official from Shandong, as the political envoy of Shandong and the affairs of Guan Liaodeng. When he went to Beiyang to create a foundation, of course, the officials had to be in place, and they were high-ranking officials who were political envoys.

Zhang Pengfei inherited the position of his old boss Huang Fei. The right governor, the chief soldier of Dongjiang Town, the commander of Guan Liao Dengjin Water Division, acted cheaply, and hung the seal of General Pingliao.

Gu Rong served as the governor of the capital, the general army of Dengzhou, and hung the seal of the pioneer general of Pingliao.

Including Ding Yaokang's standard battalion, the whole army had a total of 5,000 people and 70 warships of various colors.

Orderly toast to the generals who went out on the march.

"Let the battle flag fly in North China, and you will be the vanguard of the counteroffensive."