Shou Zhi and Wang Huizhi continued to be arranged in the Pearl River Delta.

Cao Junfu, who was escorting the grain fleet, had just sailed into Zhaoqing Prefecture.

Every day, Cao Junfu took a fast boat back and forth to inspect the slow-moving grain fleet, shuttling through the sails and masts like a forest. Standing at the bow of the ship, his shiny three-quarters armor became his calling card, and everywhere he passed, he shouted to the soldiers and joked with them. Cao Junfu used this way to remind the soldiers that he was with them at any time.

In front of the soldiers and boatmen, Cao Junfu always had a calm expression, but secretly he couldn't relax at all.

The Pearl River has a complex water system, and there are many dangerous sailing sections along the way. During the dry season in winter, in order to ensure food security, many times the boat can only sail during the day, and at night it is necessary to find anchors in Jiangwan River to rest. At such times, Cao Junfu is the most nervous person in the fleet.

There are many bandits and thieves along the road. From Xiangshan to Hezhou, it has to pass through three or four warlord defense areas. Hainan still has to use troops against the Li region in winter, and the number of troops it can send is limited. Shou Xian tried his best to transfer 600 people to him, leaving only 900 in the important town of Xiangshan, which actually put Cao Junfu under a lot of pressure.

Cao Junfu sent two groups of people in advance to visit the generals and the heroes along the road respectively to reduce the trouble when passing by.

Antelope Gorge was the most difficult part of the voyage, where the fleet had to stop and pull through the canyon one by one. 150 grain ships, 5 days. When the last ship passed through the mouth of Antelope Gorge, all the soldiers couldn't help but cheer, and Cao Junfu breathed a sigh of relief, at least the morale of the Ming army in Hainan was much higher than that of the friendly army in Guangdong.

The soldiers are very sensitive to morale, and in the numb eyes of the Guangdong Ming army, Cao Junfu could not see any desire to take the initiative to fight.

Chinese New Year's Eve is supposed to be a time for Chinese people to celebrate the festive season. Shang Kexi and Geng Jimao sent people to burn the drum tower of Nanxiong Mansion, and took advantage of the opportunity of the Ming army in the city to fight the fire and storm the city. After Yan Keyi died of illness, the 200 cavalry and 6,000 infantry who stayed in Nanxiong Mansion were all killed in this battle. The Tatars slaughtered the city.

After the annihilation of the Ming army on the first line, Luo Chengyao saw that the enemy army was strong, abandoned the city of Shaozhou, and led the civil and military officials and troops to retreat south.

When the news of the loss of the two mansions in northern Guangdong came, the first to be shaken was the emperor. Yongli ignored the opposition of Guangdong Wenwu and Qu Shiyun, boarded the ship on the eighth day of the first month, and abandoned the line from Zhaoqing to Wuzhou in the west.

There is no secret, and the military and civilians know the content of the inscription played by Du Yonghe, the governor of Liangguang, and the people of the bloody game.

"Yonghe is edicted, and he does not dare to stop His Majesty. But weeping for the ministers said: 'If you go to the west, you will abandon Guangdong and return it to the captives, and all the loyal and righteous people will also be returned to the captives and killed.' How miserable it is for the emperor to draw this plot! ’”

Du Yonghe's inscription makes people sigh. When is it, the imperial court is still engaged in party disputes. Many generals in Guangxi secretly hoped that the emperor would abandon Guangdong, so that they could control the power of the imperial court again. Guangxi had only Qu Shiyun, who had transcended the party strife, to reprimand the emperor for abandoning the land. The great ruler said well, and for some goods, it still killed clean things.

Cao Junfu didn't like Li Chengdong's generals, but now he was only deeply disappointed in the emperor.

Cao Junfu is a realistic soldier, not a poor and sour person who is stupid in reading. It's not that you can't run, but if you can't fight, you must run, and the emperor can't be sent to death. A few years ago, the emperor ran away from Guilin and Wugang City in time, and Cao Junfu was pleased.

But now it's different, Shang Kexi is just advancing to Shaoguan, and it is still far from Zhaoqing. Starting from Shaoguan to the main stream of the Xijiang River, there are still several states and counties along the way, and the Ming army has fortifications. Moreover, the strategic town of Sanshui County is still in hand, and the victory or defeat of the war is not decided.

Even though Li Chengdong's troops had a thousand crimes, the Ming Dynasty could only rely on them now. And until now, none of Chengdong's troops have surrendered, and most of the troops are still fighting on the front line.

The enemy army was still far away, and the emperor fled, just like Du Yonghe said, this was to throw the soldiers to the Tatars to be cut and killed, which was a devastating blow to the morale of the Ming army in Guangdong.

Cao Junfu had nothing to do about it, he could only try his best to complete his task.

After the Antelope Gorge is the Liangguang important town of Zhaoqing, the military flag fluttering at the head of the city clearly identifies the main generals of the Ming army, Ma Jixiang who stayed in Zhaoqing and Li Yuanyin, who actually controlled the military power.

Most of Li Chengdong's troops were inherited by Du Yonghe and others, and his adopted son Li Yuanyin originally only had the forbidden soldiers guarding Zhaoqing. Li Yuanyin invited Yang Dafu, who was also a general soldier under Chengdong, to drink flower wine and find a group of beauties to sing and dance.

Yang Dafu was drinking with a beautiful woman in his arms, and Yuan Yin suddenly burst out and cut off Yang Dafu's head during the banquet. At the same time, Du Yonghe and Zhang Yue sent troops to surround Yang Dafu's military camp, and Li Yuanyin carried the head to subdue this army before it could become an army.

From the perspective of feudal ethics, Du Yonghe seized the position that should have belonged to Li Yuanyin, and excluded Yuan Yin from the decision-making level in Guangzhou, but he didn't mind the belonging of Zhaoqing, and sent troops to help Yuan Yin become an army, and he was still relatively comprehensive, so it is no wonder that he can win the hearts of officers and soldiers.

Zhaoqing is a fortified city, and the Ming Dynasty Chengping Liangguang Governor's Office was located here for a long time. The city wall is 6-10 meters high, and the defense facilities such as the four city towers, the four corner towers, the pier platform and the enemy tower are very complete. Most of China's brick and stone walls were built during the Ming Dynasty, with a rare exception in Zhaoqing. This city wall was built in the Song Dynasty and has gone through three dynasties, which shows how important the location of Zhaoqing City is.

Today's Zhaoqing City is heavily guarded, and military camps are everywhere by water and land. Military flags of various colors and logos fluttered in the wind, filling the air with a sense of slaughter.

The main force of Kong Youde in Hunan fought in western and southwestern Hunan provinces, and the frontal pressure in Guilin was lighter. The reinforcements transferred by the Southern Ming Dynasty from the south of Guangxi and the Zhongzhen Battalion successively gathered in Zhaoqing Mansion to prepare for the decisive battle in Guangdong.

There were more and more Ming troops in Zhaoqing. There were countless contradictions between the Ming army in Guangxi and the Ming army in Guangdong, between the orthodox official army and the loyal battalion. The various departments competed for territory, robbed the little lady, and fought non-stop every day.

Liu Guochang's troops of the loyal battalion plundered the four fields of Zhaoqing, and cut off their hands and noses at every turn. Cao Junfu heard that this Liu Guochang could not bear to be nested in Nanning, and after a big quarrel with Li Guo and Gao Yigong, he led the army out and came to Guangdong.

Li Yuanyin is also an explosive temper, and of course he can't stand someone messing around on his turf. The Ming army carried guns and guns out of the city, and the Ming army and the loyal battalion in Guangdong were no longer fighting, they were fighting a civil war.

The more Cao Junfu looked at it, the more chilled he became. The decisive battle and the decisive battle, the Tatars have not yet come, and their own people have fought into a pot of porridge first, this battle is a ghost.

Cao Junfu directly asked Li Yuanyin to open a slip and leave Zhaoqing, the land of right and wrong, as quickly as possible.

Swimming against the current, the boat can't go fast. The Son of Yongli left Zhaoqing on the eighth day of the first month and arrived in Wuzhou on the first day of February. Cao Junfu's grain convoy was about the same speed as the emperor, and arrived in Fengchuan County at the mouth of the Hejiang River on the fifth day of the second month.

The Hejiang River basin is at least within the influence of Hezhou Town, and is safer than the main stream of the Pearl River, which is mixed.

The water surface of the Hejiang River is narrow, the channel is shallow, and the boat speed is slower when it goes upstream. It took nearly a month to ship to Xindu Township to inspect the city. On a plain, a castle stands on a rocky hill facing the river. The muzzle of the black hole pointed at the surface of the Hejiang River, which was daunting.

The military flag of the Hainan Ming army hunted and fluttered on the top of the mountain.

Cao Junfu let out a long breath, relaxed all over, and collapsed on the boat. By the time he recovered, it was already after he was carried into Hezhou City by his own soldiers.

Zhang Shijie, He Huchen, Xie Yuanbian, Fei Changtong and other civil and military officials in Hezhou couldn't wait too long, and they couldn't care about Cao Junfu's lack of energy, so they held a meeting overnight.

The only thing that the Yongli Imperial Court lacked was the official position, and several people who were guarding Hezhou were promoted. Zhang Shijie added the seal of General He to the general army of Hezhou; He Huchen was promoted to the general army of Buchuan; Xie Yuanbian was promoted to Guangzhou, according to the investigation of affairs, Hezhou military preparation road; Fei Chang took over Zhizhou.

Fei Changtong said: "Counting the military rations, Xiangshan shipped 30,000 stones, and it actually reached 24,381 stones. ”

Drifting 2 percent, Cao Junfu was ashamed and clenched his fists, "Mr. Zhang, Xie Bingxian, Junfu is sorry for everyone, I lost so many grain ships." ”

Zhang Shijie immediately interrupted him, "What is this nonsense Cao Guerrilla." You have come across the sea to transport grain for thousands of miles, and there is no fault, only merit. ”

Xie Yuanbian stroked his beard, nodded with a smile, and said, "Cao Guerrilla, we all know the situation on the river. There are rebels and bandits everywhere, and if you go upstream, you can transport 24,000 stone of grain, which is much better than I expected. ”

Zhang Shijie: "Fei Zhizhou, can these grains allow us to last until the summer grain is on the market?"

"Enough, enough. The soldiers, the general town, and the soldiers had two meals a day, accompanied by miscellaneous grains. ”

Xie Yuanbian: "The Great Commander ordered me to allocate 10,000 stone of grain to help Xiao Yuanying, Fei Zhizhou, have you counted this part of the grain?" ”

"Bingxian rest assured, the lower officials have eliminated this part of the free grain." Fei Changtong turned his head and waved to Cao Junfu, "On behalf of the people of the whole state, thank Cao for the guerrillas." ”

In March, it is the season of green and yellow. Last autumn, the grain was almost exhausted, and the army had food to eat, so there was no need to rob the people of the last bit of surplus food. The military rations transported by Cao Junfu were the life-saving food for the people of Hezhou.

Cao Junfu hurriedly dodged, saying that he didn't dare.

Xie Yuanbian: "Cao guerrilla, what other orders does the general system have?" ”

Cao Junfu: "The Great Commander said that there are too many soldiers and civilians in Hezhou, and it is best to transport some of them away immediately." ”

Zhang Shijie: "Sanshui County is fighting every day, and the channel down the river to Guangzhou has been broken. If the population is transferred, they can only go to the southwest of Guangxi. ”

"Yes, the Great Ruler told you to give me all the ships and transport as many ships as you can."

He Huchen: "Guerrilla Cao, you took the boat away, what should we do?" ”

Cao Junfu: "Don't worry, Mr. He, as many boats as I take away, I will return you as many boats." I will be back in half a year. ”

Xie Yuanbian frowned and said: "Hezhou's production has just stabilized, and the local military and civilians can't go. ”

Zhang Shijie: "We can only transport the people of Xiaoyuan Ying, tens of thousands of them are nested in the land of projectiles, and their lives are very hard, and sending 10,000 stone of grain is not enough for them to eat in the past, so it is better to transfer some of them now." ”

"Please also ask your superiors to prepare early." Cao Junfu hugged his fists, he didn't care where Hezhou was transporting, he only cared about completing the task.

Zhang Shijie and Xie Yuanbian bowed their heads and discussed for a while before ending the meeting.

"Let's do it immediately, it will take some time to organize the population, please ask Cao Guerrilla and your officers and soldiers to rest and wait in Hezhou City."

Cao Junfu naturally agreed.

Zhang Shijie rode out of Hezhou City on horseback the next day, crossed Nanling through Fuchuan, and rushed to Ningxi, Guiyang Prefecture, Hengzhou Prefecture, through Jianghua County. The base camp of Xiao Yuanying is located here, backed by Nanling, in the middle of the mountains.

Yuan Shizhong operated in the Luoxiao Mountains on the border of Jiangxi and Hunan for several years, and his troops were transferred from the plains to the southern mountain bandits.