The western suburbs of Hangzhou.

"Shuai, the Tartars are here."

"Registered Niang Xipi, not a Tartar, but a traitor." Rong Dashuai saw the flag clearly and spit out the chewed grass roots.

On the polder embankment was a team of patrol soldiers and horses belonging to Tian Xiong, the general soldier of Jianyu Hangzhou, which made Rong Dashuai, who wanted to get a few Tartar heads back, not very satisfied. However, since Tian Xiong's soldiers were sent to the door, they couldn't let them go.

Seeing that the distance was almost over, Rong Dashuai slapped his left hand on the helmet of the detonator, and swung his right hand back heavily.

A hundred and ten Ming troops poked out of the trench below the polder, and set up their bows and arrows to shoot upward.

Suddenly encountering an ambush, the first reaction of the Tianzhen Green Battalion soldiers was to dismount, lie down, and organize fire to fight back.

After a few rounds of ping-pong shooting, there was a loud bang on the polder, and the world was quiet.

Rong Dashuai stood up, opened his mouth slightly, and kicked the explosive's ass. "How many mines did you plant?"

"Hey, handsome man, this firecracker looks good, I buried all the firecrackers I brought."

"Niang Xipi, you look like a fart." Rong Dashuai broke out, "I finally begged for these mines from Zongrong, where can I get them if you blow them all up." ”

The soldiers got up from their trenches and walked towards the place where the prisoners had been bombed on the polder. Disheveled clothes and simple equipment, Rong Dashuai scolded and scolded, and his voice gradually fell silent.

Someone returned with a deep foot and a shallow foot, "Handsome man, what should I do if I catch a few live ones?" ”

Rong Dashuai looked disgusted, "The old rule, Tian Xiong's soldiers are not left." ”

Tian Xiong defected in Wuhu and captured the general who Hongguang Tianzi dedicated to Duoduo. Among the generals of the Green Battalion, the reputation is the worst.

"Get up," Rong Dashuai reached out and pulled the detonator from the ground, "go up and find a pair of military shoes that you can wear." ”

Of the more than 100 soldiers under Marshal Rong, only one-third were regular soldiers, and most of the rest were righteous soldiers. The regular soldiers are paid two taels a month, and the rebels are paid a couple a month. Marshal Rong has been mixing on the ground and sea of Guanhaiwei Longshan for more than ten years, and he has never seen such a fucked military salary system. In his team, Marshal Rong didn't care about the regular soldiers and the righteous army, as long as he went out to see the battle, everyone shared the salary and reward.

Being the boss, the good guy and the bad guy don't matter, the important thing is fairness, it's best to eat and drink spicy food with your subordinates, if you want to eat bran vegetables, then you have to come together.

The Ming army quickly searched for the spoils of war, took the captured ordnance and silver and took a small boat, and returned to the south of the Yangtze River, leaving only a naked corpse.

……

The draft of the Qinjiang barely reached the mouth of the Cao'e River, and the mouth of the Cao'e River continued upward, and the Qiantang River had no shipping value.

The battleship fired a cannon salute to the Ming army, and the sails were anchored. In front of Shou Xiang is one of the greatest water conservancy projects of the Ming Dynasty, the three river gates where the Qiantang River, the Cao'e River and the Qianqing River converge.

The tide of Qiantang poured back, and the people of Shaoxing suffered from the erosion of saline-alkali land. The sea ponds and reservoirs built during the Tang Dynasty have been completely silted up and destroyed by the Ming Dynasty. Who would have imagined that Shaoxing, known as the land of fish and rice, was once thousands of miles away in the early and middle Ming Dynasty, and there was no harvest. If it rains, it is a great flood, and if it does not rain, it is a great drought. In the Tang Dynasty, the county with abundant profits and taxes could not even fill its stomach at that time.

It was not until Tang Shaoen, the prefect of Shaoxing, repaired the Sanjiang Gate and Baili Haitang that Shaoxing re-became the richest county in Jiangdong. In order to resist the tide of Qiantang, the foundation of the Sanjiang Gate was driven down to the rock layer, and the tenon was drilled in the rock layer to water molten iron. Every five sluice holes on the ground, there is a water-dividing shuttle pier built by huge stones in front of it, which becomes the mainstay of resisting the tide. The depth of the gate is different, relying on the natural rock foundation, on the rock foundation of each gate and cave, the internal and external sill is set up to bear the gate plate, and there is a gate opening and closing system.

The function of this set of large seawalls and gates is to close the gates to isolate the salt water when the tide backs up, and open the gates to dredge the flood water when the inland floods. Above the sea gate is the bridge deck erected by large stone beams, which is a highway bridge with a length of 50 zhang, a width of 3 zhang and a high load-bearing. During the construction of the Sanjiangzha Seawall, the project was washed away by the tide many times, and finally, the prefect Tang Shaoen** slept on the seawall, saying that if the embankment burst again, as the prefect, he would live and die with the seawall. With this determination, the construction of the Sanjiang Gate was completed. The Sanjiangkou sea gate system was used from the Ming Dynasty until the 70s of the 20th century when it was replaced by new water conservancy facilities, and even then, the bridge with a history of more than 400 years on the sea gate was still able to pass through trucks.

Shaoxing was the capital of the Lu Jian State, which was a poorer regime than Longwu. Fang Guoan garrisoned Yanzhou and took the part controlled by the Lu Wang regime in Quyan Erzhou. Wang Zhiren was stationed in Xixing and fed Ningbo. The two armies were in the upper reaches of the Qiantang River and the other in the lower reaches. This is the only soldier in the Lu Jian State who can fight.

The main part of the division on the river was the rebel army from all over eastern Zhejiang. Emperor Longwu once sent 100,000 taels of military salaries to Lu Jianguo, and Lu Jianguo killed the minister who sent money. Now I really want to raise 100,000 soldiers in the land of Sanfu. The soldiers of the Jiangshang Righteous Army only have a salary of 10 taels of silver for one year, which is not enough to fill their stomachs at all, and this amount of righteous salary was robbed by Fang Guoan once.

As a result, collecting food and collecting donations became the only way, and the rebel soldiers rushed into the homes of the people and scavenged for the last bit of surplus food.

It is not uncommon to see different subordinates on the Qinjiang, and the Ming army in disheveled clothes swept back and forth near the Sanjiang Gate, and other military discipline corruption accompanied by looting was inevitable.

At the very least, the Longwu regime was able to extort donations from rich landlords, while Lu Jianguo swept away all large and small households. Looting had a very negative impact on popular sentiment, and after a brief period of nationalist frenzy, food was the more real problem.

…………

Qiantang River, Xixing, Didang ferry, opposite to Hangzhou across the bank, and the starting point of the Zhedong Canal, the key point of the Qiantang River. The military pillar of the Lu Jian State, Wang Zhiren, the general soldier of Wuning Bodinghai, was stationed here.

On the south bank of the river, on the top of the crown mountain, on a high altar, Lu Jian Guozhu worshiped Fang Guoan as the general of Zhenyi, and the president of the Jiangshang Division.

The defense line of the Qiantang River of the Ming army was to cut down large trees in the mountains of Quzhou, Yanzhou, and drift down the river to the lower reaches of the river. The big wood is lined up along the river, and even the warship is the reef. The battalions were connected from end to end, in the shape of a moon, and the defense line appeared to be very strong. At this moment, His Royal Highness the Supervisor took the stage to pay respects to the generals, the marshals stood in line with the court, tens of thousands of soldiers waved their flags, and the sound of military drills shook the river valley.

In the midst of the great military might, Wang Zhiren has a trace of worry.

At the beginning of eastern Zhejiang, the crowd was excited, and everyone said that they would go north and go straight to Huanglong. Now it is taking the Qiantang River as a chasm and trying to move to the south. Compared with Jianguo, which occupied most of China, the Lu Jianguo regime, which held the three prefectures of Ningshaotai, raised 100,000 troops as a one-time army. If we fail to rapidly expand and obtain new sources of military pay while morale is still high, the consequences will be unimaginable when the old men and the people are exhausted.

But there is no way, it really can't be beaten.

After Boluo returned to the north, the defenders in Hangzhou were mainly the governor of Zhejiang and Fujian, Zhang Cunren, and the 3,200 people in Tianxiong, the general soldier of Hangzhou. Fang Guoan and Wang Zhiren joined forces in tens of thousands and achieved some victories on the outskirts of Hangzhou, but they were unable to recover the city of Hangzhou. By the time nearly 10,000 Eight Banner soldiers arrived, the Ming Army in eastern Zhejiang could only defend the Qiantang River, and the morale of the people was rapidly falling. Lu Jianguo thought of using this kind of propaganda article to build an altar to boost people's hearts. But that won't do much.

After the worship was closed, Wang Zhiren returned to the yamen, and the order was waiting for him.

The Qiantang River is an inland river that is more pitted than the Yangtze River, and the river flows into the sea, and the river water quickly spreads from the narrow channel to Hangzhou Bay, and the flow rate slows down, and the sediment is deposited. The lifting effect of the Qiantang tide on sediment is even more than that of the Yangtze River estuary, and there are countless dark sand shoals.

For Wang Zhiren, the commander of Dinghai, the garrison of Qiantang was a necessary deployment, but on the Qiantang River, he could not use large sea ships. The ships are now parked in Ningbo and are idle. Shou Zhi spends money to hire for 4 months, and will return it from the south wind next year, during which all maintenance and repair duties are taken care of by Shou Ling. Wang Zhiren couldn't think of a reason to refuse, and the business was easy to discuss.

Marshal Rong's soldiers were drawn from the front line by Wang Zhiren and arranged to guide the water to the order.

"Rong Guangde. Thanks to the brothers on the road, I was raised and called a handsome. "Rong Dashuai arched his hand towards the order

Shou Xuan originally thought that the military general with such a mighty name must be a big man with a beard. The meeting surprised him, and in front of him was Zhengtai's face with clear eyebrows.

"Zong Rong, there is something I want to report to you, but I am just guessing, and I am not sure." Rong Dashuai said hesitantly.

"It's okay, just say." Wang Zhiren likes this young general very much.

"Yes, Mr. Rong." Marshal Rong said, "I have fought with Jiannu near Hangzhou a few times recently, and I found that the proportion of real prisoners in the enemy army is getting smaller and smaller, and it is all Tian Xiong's soldiers and horses. ”

This is until it ends with you, and do not go out and talk about it. Wang Zhiren put down the teacup and didn't pay much attention to it.

A common problem among Chinese and foreign officers in ancient and modern times is to report the strength of the enemy's army upwards, so that they can get more priority in supplies and reinforcements. Wang Zhiren's first inclination in his heart would not be to report that the number of real prisoners opposite Lu Jianguo's own defense area was decreasing. Moreover, the information reflected by a reconnaissance contact of 200 people is not comprehensive, and it is a crime to use inaccurate information to report to the superintendent and interfere with the decision-making of the superintendent and the superintendent.

Keeping the order came down and had a very happy conversation with Rong Dashuai.

Contrary to the general impression, the military households of the Ming Dynasty actually did not have much independent arable land since the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. Generally, there are some military cantonments scattered in the nearby counties, and these military cantonments are also managed by the prefecture and county. The guard is to collect grain at the right time, and there is not much jurisdiction. The army can only manage the Acropolis and the Beacon Palm. Only in the border areas of Sichuan, Kang, Yunnan, and Guizhou, Huguang, Guangxi, and Northwest Guangxi, and Huayi in eastern Liaodong can the guards have large contiguous autonomous territories.

Zhu Yuanzhang said that letting the army support itself was just a nonsense to deceive the layman, from the very beginning, the guard station could not support the army with the army, and had to rely on the state and county to retain silver and grain to feed the army. In the middle and later periods, the conscription battalion soldiers replaced the military households of the guard station to become the backbone of national defense, and more and more silver grain was released in Beijing, and the proportion of silver retained in the prefecture and county decreased, and the desertion of the guard army was a natural process. The inland guard house gradually changed to the private household, and the coastal guard post changed to merchants and sailors. Except for the health centers on the coast of Shandong, the rest were all changed to prefecture and county households, but at the official level, they recognized the fait accompli formed over the past hundred years.

Rong Dashuai has a belt and a bad job, and the deputy of Longshan is the world's office. I don't see anything in charge, and that poor man is not even enough to support his family.

The proportion of military households fleeing from the southern coastal guard post is slightly better than that in the interior, because the guard post piers along the coastline of the Ming Dynasty are not only for national defense, but also for shipping. Without accurate latitude and longitude calculations and sturdy rudders, most of China's merchant ships must rely on offshore navigation. The coastal guard provided a safe haven for merchant ships, fresh water supplies for vegetables, and most importantly, pilotage. This relay pilotage system was a feature of Chinese shipping in the Ming Dynasty. The military sailors of the guards in various coastal areas were like relay batons, passing the merchant ships down one baton after another. For example, the sailors hired by the merchant ships in Changguowei would be released back in Zhoushan, and then the military sailors in Zhoushan would be hired.

Rong Dashuai hit Guanhaiwei with a pair of fists, monopolizing the pilotage business in Hangzhou Bay. In the past, his men would hand over to the military guards in the north at Jinshanwei or Zhapu.

The Jiangnan army was prosperous, and Marshal Rong sold all his property, recruited an army of 200 people, and went out with Wang Zhiren, the general soldier of Dinghai. The composition of his army is very mixed, including the military brothers who followed in Longshan, the stragglers who fled back from the north, and the Daoshang brothers in Cixi County. If someone else comes to lead these soldiers, it may be a few days to break up, but Rong Dashuai is comfortable with him, and his brothers are willing to follow him. It is really a rare unit with a high degree of unity among the armies on the river.