On the eleventh day of July in the fifth year of Yongli, Lu Jianguo traveled to Zhoushan.

Due to the fact that they had to cross the area occupied by the Qing army, and because the Qing army had begun to consciously impose martial law and coastal defense in June, it took more than a month for the Qincha to go to Tiantai Mountain to proclaim the edict, even if someone led the way.

After explaining the process of announcing the edict, Chen Wen's opposition to recruiting him into the guard, and the situation of the various ministries of the body were all explained to Lu Jianguo, the two messengers left the main hall. It's just that they didn't go home after leaving, and they didn't go to the mansion of Zhang Mingzhen, the most powerful Dingxi Marquis in the Lu Jianguo Imperial Court, but came to the home of Zhang Kentang, the first assistant of the cabinet, and waited for him to be on duty.

There are many topics today, and the completion of the edict means that the Ming army of Dalanshan will return to the Ming army of Lujian State, and the details of the Ming army of each department of Tiantai Mountain will be easy to figure out the situation there. As for the problem of Chen Wen's resistance, neither Lu Jianguo nor Zhang Kentang could come up with any solution, and even Zhang Mingzhen only said a few words that didn't hurt or itch, and then it was over.

In addition, the news that came a few days ago, as Chen Wen had predicted in the report of victory, was that in mid-June, the Qing army once again sent troops to encircle and suppress Siming Mountain. It's just that unlike in history, this time, in addition to the Zhejiang Admiral Standard Battalion and the Dinghai General Army Standard Battalion, the Qing army also dispatched the Zhejiang Governor Standard Battalion, as if it was afraid that the first two men and horses were not the opponents of the remnants of the Ming Army in Siming Mountain.

The news of this news means that the Qing army will encircle and suppress Zhoushan in September at the latest, which is like Sima Zhao's heart, which is already known to passers-by, and the civil and military ministers of the Lu Jianguo court can naturally imagine it.

Now that Chen Wen's Nantang battalion has been determined that it will not enter Zhoushan, the Zhoushan Ming army will still fight as alone as it did in history. It's just that the secret conversation before leaving still made the monarchs and ministers of Lu Jian State feel a little relieved, at least the official positions of the governor of Zhejiang and the general of the conquest were not given in vain.

After finishing the administrative affairs, Zhang Kentang, as the head of the civil officials, hurriedly returned to his home, and went into the inner room to negotiate with the two envoys.

"Two General Li, can you see anything from this trip?"

The two Li generals in Zhang Kentang's mouth, the older one is called Li Xizuo, and the younger one is called Li Xigong, both of whom are descendants of Li Wenzhong, the king of Qiyang, but they are not the one who inherits the title, but they are just sidelines.

Previously, when Lu Jianguo asked them if they knew anything about Chen Wen's ancestor, they were not very clear. After all, more than 200 years have passed, and there were quite a few generals under Li Wenzhong back then, and the possibility that a small army leader who did not get a hundred household posts until his death was retained by generations of hairpins, and the descendants of Li Wenzhong's family, who retired with the country, remembered it are almost zero. Coupled with their status as a side branch, this is even more so.

Originally, there was another intention to send these two people as Qincha, which was to verify that identity through Chen Wen's attitude, but it was just ......

"The two of us have communicated with that Chen Dashuai, but this person always seems to have a little inexplicable estrangement from us, and he doesn't seem to have the attitude he should have, but he is not as eager to prove himself as a liar. In short, there may be something else hidden in their identity. ”

After Li Xizuo finished telling his thoughts, his younger brother Li Xigong continued: "Therefore, the two of us did not mention the relationship between the ancestor of the family and Chen Shuaizu, but only strengthened his loyalty to His Royal Highness the Prison State according to the request of the elder. But ......"

Zhang Kentang understands very well what is behind Li Xigong's mouth, but the current Ming Dynasty is no longer what it used to be, and His Royal Highness King Lu is not the only contender for the throne. At present, the Zhoushan Islands occupied by the court of the Lu Jianguo Kingdom are simply not enough to support these monarchs and soldiers, and they still have to rely more on the worship of the righteous army in eastern Zhejiang.

This time Li Xizuo and Li Xigong's consolation, the generals of Tiantai Mountain also expressed their allegiance to the king of the prison country in the form of offerings, as the remnants of the Ming army of Dalanshan accepted the appointment of the state of Lu at the same time, he also presented some weapons and armor of the officers of the standard battalion, which can be regarded as confirming his orthodox attitude of supporting the king of the prison country Lu.

In this case, the matter of resisting the decree can only be revealed with one eye closed, especially when this guy still has a strong army with thousands of troops in his hands, Zhang Kentang and other civil officials of the Lu Jianguo court still expect Chen Wen to be able to compete with the power of the alliance of Dingxi Marquis Zhang Mingzhen and Danghu Marquis Ruan Jin in the future.

"The generals of Tiantai Mountain can be of great use?"

In fact, this problem was reported to Lu Jianguo and those civil and military ministers when they were in the main hall, but some words could not enter the ears of everyone, and they would always leave one or two key sentences to say to the people who were really in charge.

"The generals of Tiantai Mountain are far inferior to the previous generals of Siming Mountain, and they are much inferior in terms of scale and combat effectiveness. Among them, the most powerful is the men and horses of Xinchangbo, who have a force of 10,000 people, not to mention, and have recently been training a new battle formation, which seems to be somewhat powerful. Just ......"

"Just what?"

Hearing Zhang Kentang's question, Li Xizuo immediately replied: "It's just that according to Xin Changbo, this formation is Chen Shuai's handiwork, although it is not quite consistent with the current formation, but it is also the principle of the secret talisman soldier. ”

Chen Wen again?

Since Chen Wen was known, his appearance rate was really frighteningly high, which made Zhang Kentang feel a little unaccustomed, after all, it was just a fledgling hereditary martial artist, which was too common in the Ming Dynasty. It's just that Zhang Kentang is a jinshi in the fifth year of the Apocalypse, and after a long time as a eunuch, Chongzhen Dynasty has sat in the position of governor of Fujian, although he was a little surprised by this, but he didn't show any unusual looks, at least Li Xizuo and Li Xigong in the inner room didn't see anything.

"What about the rest of the Great Lan Mountain King Division?"

The Ming army of Dalanshan was called a strong force in eastern Zhejiang, captured Shangyu County twice, defeated the encirclement and suppression of the Qing army several times, entrenched in Dalanshan, and closed the city of Leh in eastern Zhejiang, which naturally paid more attention to Zhang Kentang.

"The Dalanshan Wang Division originally had six battalions, Huang Dudu and Liu Dudu were martyred in the Battle of Siming Lake, and the front, left, right and middle battalions were also canceled, and only the Nantang Battalion and the rear battalion still existed. The rear battalion was evacuated from Siming Mountain, and when it arrived at Tiantai Mountain, there were only more than 400 people left, and its commander Mao Mingshan also left Tiantai Mountain a few days ago, and the existing deputy general Ye Shirong temporarily took it. ”

"There are more than 600 people in the headquarters of the Nantang Battalion, and more than 30 people were killed and less than 100 wounded in the battle behind the Siming Mountain Palace, all of which have been replenished. By the time the general arrived, the Nantang battalion had expanded to more than 1,000 people and was undergoing training. The last general thought that the Nantang Battalion defeated the Raised Zuo Battalion with the head of the new battalion, which had only been in force for three months, and it was really a rare strong army. ”

Hearing this answer, Zhang Kentang nodded, although he had not seen with his own eyes what kind of combat effectiveness the standard battalion was, but even Zhang Mingzhen, who had always regarded himself very highly, did not dare to stroke the tiger's whiskers lightly, thinking that he had seen the edge of Master Jiang when he was defeated. Since Chen Wen was able to defeat such a strong force with fewer victories, and even captured Li Rong, the deputy general of the left battalion, then the combat effectiveness of the Nantang battalion can be imagined.

Maybe it's really the blessing of Emperor Taizu Gao, and maybe he will descend a famous Zhongxing general for His Royal Highness.

"The last general once talked to Governor Wang, and it is said that Chen Shuai has always trained soldiers and horses according to the book "Wujing's Testament" written according to the words of his ancestors and Qi Shaobao's military book, so there are sometimes unexpected moves."

Due to the division of labor of the Li brothers, Li Xigong has always stayed in the temporary old camp of the Ming Army in Dalanshan, although some things may not be true, but the words still have to be said, after all, the possibility of this rumor also exists.

"In addition, during the old camp of the king of Dalan Mountain, I once heard the people and some officials and soldiers talking, this Chen Shuai is said to be the son-in-law of the Penglai Qi family, and the current mandarin duck array in the Nantang camp is inherited from the Penglai Qi family."

"Oh?"

Penglai Qi family is Qi Jiguang's family, in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, but any military general of some level will collect a few Qi Jiguang's military books, whether you look at it or not, but it has become a fashion. However, there are so many military books in the world, such as "The New Book of Discipline and Effectiveness" and "The Actual Record of Military Training", but only Chen Wen dares to use this mandarin duck array, and he still went south from the north to join the army, so it is inevitable that such rumors will spread.

It's just that Zhang Kentang is different from the noble sons of the Li brothers, he was born as a jinshi, has been an official in many places, has served as a magistrate, served as a royal history, and served as a governor; After Jiashen, he was in charge of the Ministry of Officials, wandered overseas, and sat down to the head of the cabinet and the head of the civil government of the Lu Jian State court. Such a person naturally won't listen to these nonsense, because in his experience, he has heard too many more nonsense jokes, and this son-in-law of the Qi family is really not worth marveling at.

"What about the other kings?"

Seeing that Zhang Kentang was unmoved, the Li family brothers were surprised and admired, and they simply shook their heads and did not speak.

I see.

Although it had been expected, the fact that the strength of the Ming army on Tiantai Mountain was not satisfactory still made Zhang Kentang feel a little tired.

King Lu supervised the country in Zhejiang, and the momentum at the beginning of the supervision of the country was huge, and almost the entire officers and soldiers in Zhejiang were all based on it, but once the division was defeated, it was all lost.

After the defeat of Master Jiang, he was invited by Zheng Cai to move to Fujian, and when he was in Fujian, he integrated some of the people of the Tang Dynasty and soon created a momentum that swept through most of Fujian, but on the one hand, Zheng Cai was at odds with the old team of Lu Jianguo, and on the other hand, the Qing army concentrated the elite large-scale encirclement and suppression in the southeast, and the overall situation of Fujian was completely ruined under the internal and external difficulties.

After recovering the lost territory, Lu Jianguo was forced to return to Zhejiang, and after Zhang Mingzhen, Ruan Jin, Wang Xianhuo and Huang Binqing, he entered Zhoushan, relying on the support of the righteous army from all walks of life in eastern Zhejiang led by Wang Yi, in order to survive to this day.

But now that the dynasty has died first, its subordinates will surrender to the Qing Dynasty and inform the Qing army of the truth and truth of Zhoushan; Wang Yi was captured, Feng Jingdi was martyred, and the Ming army in the area of Siming Mountain was almost swept away, even if there was a great victory for the rest of Wang Yi in the south of Siming Mountain, it was only barely saving some face, and the loss of its strength was still shocking.

The Ming army in Siming Mountain was no longer able to pose a threat to the Qing army, and the rebel armies in southern Zhejiang were almost wiped out under the encirclement and suppression presided over by Ma Jinbao, the chief soldier of Jinhua and Zhang Guoxun, the deputy general of the supervision battalion, and the Ming army in Zhoushan could only count on the men and horses of Tiantai Mountain, but the result of the inquiry was that only Yu Guowang and the rest of the Ming army in Dalanshan were still useful, which made Zhang Kentang how not to worry.

Let's hope this new general can turn the tide, I hope ......

At the same time, Zhang Mingzhen, Marquis of Dingxi, and Ruan Jin, Marquis of Danghu, gathered at Zhang Mingzhen's house for negotiations. Nguyen Jin was born as a pirate, and was promoted to manage the water camp by Zhang Mingzhen, and although the situation changed later, the two were still allies who could trust each other politically and militarily.

This time, the news of the Qing army's encirclement and suppression of Siming Mountain has arrived, which is the same as Chen Wen expected before, if according to that deduction, the Qing army will soon gather in Ningbo, and then besiege Zhoushan, then this is the last period of time that can be used to prepare for war.

"The Tartars must have come with the whole division this time, and if they follow Chen Wen's deduction, it is likely that they will besiege Zhoushan in three ways. Then, the heavy task of facing the first-line Tartars in Ningbo will have to be Brother Lao Xian. ”

"Brother Hou Fu is serious, but how to deal with the Tartars on the north and south lines?"

Zhang Mingzhen thought for a while, and then said: "Brother Fool originally planned to suggest that His Highness send Zhang Cangshui and Ling Lang to face the North Road Tartars, and Yu Zi led all the troops and horses to guard the front line of Taizhou. Since Xin Changbo and Na Chen Wen were ready to contain the Tartars on the front line of Taizhou on land, then Brother Yu led the army to the north, striving to defeat them in a battle, and then rendezvous with Brother Xian. As for the southern line, Zhang Cangshui and Ling Lang led a small number of troops to defend it, just in case. ”

Ruan Jin thought for a moment, only to see him nod, and said to Zhang Mingzhen: "Brother Hou Fu's words are the right thing for the soldiers, but the military general surnamed Chen is really so trustworthy?" ”

Zhang Mingzhen knew very well what Ruan Jin meant, a fledgling military general who could defeat the standard battalion may be just a fluke, but that guy actually used Qi Jiguang's art of war battle array, but the people who heard about it couldn't help but add a little trust to it, after all, this is eastern Zhejiang, Qi Jiguang was in such a terrain back then to hang and beat the Japanese invaders, and it is not unimaginable that a military general who uses the mandarin duck array can win.

It's just that Ruan Jin's meaning may be more about the reaction of the civilian clique these days.

When Lu Jianguo went to Fujian, Zheng Cai killed Xiong Rulin, causing Zheng Zunqian to commit suicide by throwing himself into the sea, in fact, it was just an internal struggle caused by the Zhejiang and Fujian people fighting for control of the Buddha of Lu Jianguo at that time.

Later, Lu Jianguo was forced to return to Zhejiang, and the civil official group headed by Zhang Kentang, the first assistant to the cabinet, also united with Wang Yi, Wang Chaoxian and others to contain Zhang Mingzhen. Unlike Zheng Cai, Zhang Kentang and others are defending the right to speak of the civil official group on the one hand, and on the other hand, they are also following the ancestral system of the system of people and ministers, preventing Zhang Mingzhen and Ruan Jin from going on the wrong path.

With the credit of several rescues, as well as the absolute superiority in military strength, Zhang Mingzhen can be said to be a man of his word in the court of Lu Jianguo. However, Zhang Mingzhen did not compete for power by any means like Zheng Cai, even if it was the first thing of the dynasty, it was more that he relied on the support of the civil official group behind his back, trying to completely defeat him by using the cause of Huang Binqing's death.

Now that Wang Yi has been captured, there are only two battalions of men and horses left in the Ming army of Dalanshan, but this military general surnamed Chen has risen strongly by virtue of his military exploits of defeating the left battalion and capturing the deputy general Li Rong in one fell swoop.

"The battle of Siming Lake, first near and then far, first easy and then difficult, gather the army to break through, if it is not to catch up with the traitors and turn against them, the victory or defeat is really unknown; The battle in the south of Siming Mountain, when the Dao array was supplemented by flank harassment, the response was also very good, not at all like a battlefield junior brother; What impressed the foolish brother the most was in Beizhang Town, intimidating and scaring the Tartars, and then launching a pursuit, and he already had the demeanor of some strong generals in predicting the matter. ”

According to Wang Jiang's note, when this person learned the information that the Tartars encircled and suppressed Siming Mountain, he had already predicted that the Tartars would besiege Zhoushan this year, and even predicted that this year would be encircled and suppressed again in advance. These have all been fulfilled, and such a vicious vision may really be a natural general. ”

"The size system is the ancestral system, how can Zhang Shoufu and their intentions not be known? Brother Xian, no matter what, it is the current priority to hold Zhoushan, defeat the Tartars, and then recover Zhejiang. This person has outstanding ability, and with the men and horses of Xinchang Boyu Guowang and the generals of Tiantai Mountain, as long as he can contain the Tartar Half Moon on the southern front, Wang Shi will win. ”

A month later, Chen Wen, who had high hopes for Zhoushan's civil and military forces, swore to go on the expedition as a general and a general officer of Dalanshan, but his goal was a place that made almost everyone stunned.