Since the "Daming Daily" reported that Zhao Yansheng captured the battle of Gao Yingxiang, it was sold out of stock in the provinces of Daming, and the provincial printing offices printed it at night, but it was still like this.

Those who knew a little bit of writing in everything rushed to buy the "Daming Newspaper", which caused the newspaper to sell out as soon as it was printed.

The most powerful king Gao Yingxiang has always been a headache for all the officials and soldiers, and he has been tired for many years, as soon as Zhao Yan came out, it was solved in just over a month, and Zhao Yan's reputation skyrocketed again for a while, and it also proved Hong Chengchou's incompetence.

Just two days after Hong Chengchou's cantata was issued, a large stack of recitals by Zhu Huakui, the king of Chu, Song Yihe, and various Taoists in Huguang was quickly sent to Jingshi by Zhao Yan's private post station.

Because Chongzhen abolished the post station in order to save expenses, Hong Chengchou's report speed was very slow, while Zhao Yan's private post station had three transmission specifications: 400 li, 600 li, and 800 expedited, which were similar to the previous post stations, but the management was more sophisticated.

Zhao Yan sent the recital in an expedited way of 800 miles this time, and it only took nearly three days to send a stack of recitals to the Beijing Division, and Hong Chengchou's recital was still on the way!

As soon as the chapters arrived, the impeachment of Hong Chengchou like a snowstorm appeared in the DPRK on June 26, and those officials of the Shandong party went up one after another to impeach Hong Chengchou.

Huguang officials listed Hong Chengchou's five major crimes, one: thirst for killing and subjugating the people. Two: beggar-thy-neighbor, arsonist out of Shaanxi. Three: The superintendent is incompetent, and the officers and soldiers plunder the locality. Four: jealousy and jealousy, regardless of the overall situation. Five: The time limit for suppressing thieves has expired, and nothing has been done.

Party officials in the DPRK and Central Shandong listed the 10 major crimes, and listed all the misdeeds, some of which were even the work of chasing after the wind.

Chongzhen was a little overwhelmed by the sudden situation, and from the recitals of Huguang officials and Zhu Huakui, the king of Chu, Chongzhen had a general understanding of the situation.

After Zhao Yansheng captured Gao Yingxiang, he appeased the collapsed sky, but Hong Chengchou did not let him be appeased, and surrounded his troops in the mountains, Zhao Yan sent troops to explain, Hong Chengchou villains besieged, and finally caused a conflict between the two sides, and finally Hong Chengchou was defeated.

In this case, Chongzhen did not doubt his real surname. First of all, Zhu Huakui and Song Yihe, the governor of Huguang, testified, and secondly, he was clear about the discipline of Zhao Yan's Shandong army.

Last year, Zhao Yan sent troops to Qinwang, and 40,000 troops passed through the Beijing division without committing any crimes. This time, the "Daming Newspaper" also reported on the situation of the war every day, and the magistrates who passed through the army did not reflect the incident of looting and the people when they played.

Within two days, Hong Chengchou's recital also arrived, and the difference between the process reported by Hong Chengchou in the recital and the process reported by Zhu Huakui, the king of Chu, and the officials of Huguang was simply very different, and Chongzhen did not believe it.

It's just that for Hong Chengchou, although Chongzhen is a little annoyed that he doesn't care about the overall situation, his mood is also complicated at the same time, because the contradiction between Hong Chengchou and Zhao Yan has reached a certain level.

Chongzhen has already begun to be jealous of Zhao Yan, so he intends to promote all the officials who oppose Zhao Yan, so as not to develop too many wings in the future.

At the same time, the progress of the Central Plains thief suppression was also quite smooth, first Zhao Yan killed Gao Yingxiang, and also captured Gao Yingxiang, and Gao Yingxiang was escorted to Beijing.

After that, Zhao Yan appeased the collapse of the sky, and two of the three largest thieves in Huguang have been destroyed, leaving only one Zhang Xianzhong still wandering.

Therefore, Chongzhen didn't want to punish Hong Chengchou, anyway, he didn't make any trouble, so he just revealed it.

In line with this idea, when Chongzhen went to the court the next day, there was a lack of response to this matter, and the civil officials of the Shandong party chased after him fiercely, which annoyed Chongzhen, and directly dismissed the two Shandong officials and returned to their hometowns, using this strong means to suppress the discussion in the court.

However, something unexpected happened to Chongzhen.

On June 28, an article entitled "Denunciation of Hong Chengchou's Crime" appeared on the special page of the Daming Daily.

Among them, more than 5,000 or 6,000 characters were sprinkled, among which there were some sparse contents of Huguang officials and Chu King Zhu Huakui, who gave a rain of bullets to Hong Chengchou's instructions to the officers and soldiers to attack the Shandong cavalry, accusing him of mobilizing more than 100,000 officers and troops to surround and seriously deplete his troops, and if these officers and troops were sent to besiege Zhang Xianzhong, the eighth king, Zhang Xianzhong would not have wreaked havoc in Huguang.

Finally, he also called on the scholars and squires across the country to stand up and denounce Hong Chengchou.

As soon as this article of the Daming newspaper came out, there was an uproar in all parts of the Ming Dynasty, and the people of the world were ashamed of Hong Chengchou's merit-grabbing behavior, and under the continuous bombardment of the "Daming Daily", Hong Chengchou's reputation became stinky again, and this time compared with the original, it was even more stinky.

Hong Chengchou's incompetence and shamelessness have completely angered the middle and upper classes of the country, who, as the beneficiaries of interests, are eager to exterminate the thieves who shake their interests and privileges.

Zhao Yan's chaotic war and successive victories can be described as a great reputation, and Hong Chengchou, incompetent and shameless, naturally forms a strong contrast, and the contradiction between the two broke out, and the world naturally stood on Zhao Yan's position and strongly criticized Hong Chengchou.

For a time, squires, scholars, and even officials from all over the country drafted a letter of the people and petitioned Chongzhen to remove Hong Chengchou from his official position.

The outpouring of public grievances made Chongzhen even more scrambling.

I don't know how to determine the reward for Zhao Yan here, and there are letters from all over the country, demanding the removal of Hong Chengchou, and even the officials of the Beijing Division have re-mentioned this matter, which is no longer limited to the officials of the Shandong party.

"Why is there such anger everywhere?" Chongzhen wondered, Yang Sichang quickly gave the answer, everything was caused by "Daming News".

"Shengshang, the "Daming Newspaper" is said to be published, and the scholars and squires of the world say that if they are left to their own devices and not controlled, it is very easy for villains to spread rumors." Yang Sichang said to Chongzhen, "The minister even said to read it, and his newspaper even said to report it to Zhao Yan, and his reputation is already steaming, and His Majesty must guard against it." ”

Chongzhen woke up for it, and couldn't help but be shocked when looking back.

Zhao Yan's Daming often appeared in front of the eyes of the world at these times, and the consequences were ...... Chongzhen hadn't realized the powerful influence of the newspaper before, but tens of thousands of people from all over the country wrote letters to remove Hong Chengchou, but Chongzhen woke up to the horror of the newspaper.

"Yang Aiqing thinks, what should be the best?" Chongzhen asked.

"This newspaper was created by Zhao Yan, so that he could hand over the operation to the imperial court, and if he didn't obey, he would order the provinces to ban it." Yang Sichang said, Yang Sichang said this, which reminded Chongzhen of Yang Sichang's suggestion before, which can be described as a repetition of the old trick, but before, they had already obtained the textile machinery, and they were afraid of stimulating Zhao Yan's nerves, so they had to weigh it.

However, in Yang Sichang's mind, this newspaper has nothing to do with interests, and it is not a big deal to ban it.

"Is there a mistake in Shandong's textile equipment?" Chongzhen, who thought of this, asked Yang Sichang.

"Your Majesty, there is no mistake in the equipment handed over by Zhao Yan, the spinning equipment is used by one person, which can be compared to fifty people, and the weaving equipment is comparable to three people by one person, which is really a sharp weapon." Yang Sichang said happily, "The affairs of the emperor's business, the minister is carefully screening. ”

"Okay." Chongzhen clapped his hands and said, "Is there a mistake with the craftsman sent by Zhao Yan?" ”

"There is no mistake, it can make hydraulic turbines and hydraulic forging machines, these two things can make the matter of making muskets and armor several times faster, and the quality is better. Plate armor and artillery will also be made, and its guns are not made of clay molds, but iron molds, which can be used repeatedly without damage, several times faster, and the cost is greatly reduced. Yang Sichang reported.

"Okay, okay." Chongzhen applauded again and again, full of ambition in his heart, and said: "And Zhao Yan is a thief who is destroyed, and as soon as the thief is destroyed, the court will be able to recuperate and recuperate, and with the strength of the whole country, this son will be checked and balanced." ”

Although Chongzhen was jealous of Zhao Yan, he only wanted to check and balance at present, and did not want to put Zhao Yan to death, all because Zhao Yan pretended to be a loyal minister before.

In fact, Chongzhen does not have much status in Zhao Yan's mind, and his loyal ministers are not him Chongzhen, nor the Ming Dynasty, but this nation, whoever hinders the development of the nation, Zhao Yan will wave a butcher's knife at whom.

Although Chongzhen was in a better mood, Hong Chengchou's incident was getting more and more intense, and Chongzhen was gradually unable to resist.

After Hong Chengchou sent the piece out, he thought that Chongzhen would punish Zhao Yan heavily, but the next development exceeded his expectations.

Zhao Yan defended Shangshu for anything, but the officials of Huguang and Zhu Huakui, the king of Chu, revealed the truth one after another and listed the five major crimes.

Then the Shandong party officials listed his 10 major crimes. Chongzhen didn't react, which made Hong Chengchou a little proud in his disappointment.

disappointed that there was no Yin to Zhao Yan, but proudly, the saint was biased towards him.

But the next development made Hong Chengchou completely unable to get up, since the "Daming Daily" published the "Guilty Complaint of Denunciating Hong Chengchou", the provincial squires and scholars were indignant, and he became an incompetent and shameless person referred to by thousands of people in the world overnight.

His reputation has become so bad that he is irreparable. Hong Chengchou hid in the camp tent for a while, and said that he did nothing.

At this time, Hong Chengchou was terrified to find that the Zhao Yan he provoked was actually a powerful existence. This man is not only strong, but also has a lot of means, and his reputation has been ruined by a single operation.

All that is left is decadence.

Under the anger of the masses, Chongzhen finally ordered Hong Chengchou to return to his hometown, and ordered Sun Chuanting to take over Hong Chengchou's power and responsibility.

This toss down, it has reached the beginning of July, it is midsummer, Huguang is located inland, the summer is less windy, and the heat is incomparable. However, this did not affect Zhao Yan's suppression of thieves.

Even after Zhao Yan was stationed in Wuchang, and collected more than 10 thieves from all over Huguang, the big and small thieves in Huguang received the news that Gao Yingxiang was captured, and Zhao Yan had sent troops and they moved seriously, many thieves were disheartened, and then Zhao Yan's resettlement conditions, so that the displaced people below were moved, and they came to Wuchang to appease.

The number of displaced people who arrived in Wuchang before July alone reached more than 200,000, so Zhao Yan had already recruited nearly 700,000 people.

However, Zhao Yan was not too satisfied with this speed, and his next target was Zhang Xianzhong. Zhang Xianzhong obviously did not want to give in to Zhao Yan, and he was still on the move.

Although Zhang Xianzhong is not as famous as Gao Yingxiang, he is also one of the giants among the thieves.

…… At the same time, at the beginning of June, the First Fleet, having received an order at sea, returned with a full load. After the Dutch again mobilized more than a dozen warships from Europe to the Batavia Company, the Batavia Company's trade with the Batavia Company was resumed.

However, the Dutch changed their previous way of going out en masse and the ships went it alone. They had reached a consensus with Zheng Zhilong to deal with the rising Shandong forces in the north, and Zheng Zhilong promised not to plunder their merchant ships again.

Although Shandong's maritime power is strong, there are too few ships after all, and on the route to Yuben, it has not encountered Shandong's plundering ships for a long time. If a single ship goes to the trade of Yueben, the probability of being looted is still not large, and if the plundering ships of Shandong are dispatched, there will only be a few looted, and they will not be wiped out.

After the First Fleet dispatched this time, it intercepted eight Dutch merchant ships on the route, and the merchant ships were loaded with deerskins and other goods, all of which were backlogged last year.

After intercepting eight merchant ships, Dutch merchant ships finally ceased to appear. In terms of information, the First Fleet could not intercept it, because the Dutch could send it back from the merchant ships in Fujian.

Since Nagasaki did not wait for the arrival of the merchant ships, it also means that the merchant ships had an accident, and if one or two can be explained by accidents, but the eight merchant ships that did not arrive must have been intercepted.

The value of the cargo on eight Dutch merchant ships is more than 5 million taels, and generally speaking, a thousand-ton merchant ship carrying more valuable commodities will be worth millions of dollars.

However, the cargo of these eight Dutch merchant ships, such as deerskins, rattans, and rice, was not so valuable.

As far as maritime trade is concerned, the principal of a ship's cargo accounts for most of the value, and after successful trade, you can get about double the profit.

For the raiders, it is a business without capital, and the speed of money is definitely doubled, but the premise is that it can be robbed, if a treasure ship is plundered, the value is at least seven or eight million taels, and the treasure ships of the Spaniards are all gold and silver accumulated in half a year or a year, which is robbed by others, which means the loss of colonial profits for a long time.

The losses of the Dutch were relatively small when they were robbed of merchant ships, because they could make up for the losses by doing a few more trades, and they had merchant ships, and they were afraid of the British as a competitor.

The two things that the Dutch feared, the first was that they would be trampled by France like grapes, and the other was that they would be overtaken by the British in trade.

The First Fleet, which had returned to Qingdao, immediately sailed to Pusan and joined up with the 2nd Battalion of the Shandong Army, the 1st Cavalry Battalion and the 1st Artillery Battalion of the Liaodong Army, which had been on standby in Pusan.

And Wang Wenyue has been appointed by Zhao Yan as the commander of the Honshu Mixed Brigade, the first cavalry battalion of the Liaodong Army, and the first artillery battalion are incorporated into the Benju Mixed Brigade.

The reason why it is called the Honshu Mixed Brigade is because their place of operation is called Honshu Island. On 12 June, Wang Wenyue led the Honshu Mixed Brigade to board the ship.

Fifty merchant ships formed a huge convoy of troop transports, six warships escorted it, and twenty merchant ships were equipped with artillery, which was equivalent to thirty armed merchant ships.

After the merchant ships were equipped with artillery, the carrying capacity was reduced, but this time the task was to attack the book, the first thing to face was the sea power of the book, only six warships and ten armed merchant ships were far from enough, although the ships of the book were generally not large, but also had a certain scale, after all, this is an island country, a large part of the means of transportation is composed of ships, and at the same time they must also guard against the sea threat of the Dutch and Zheng Zhilong, these two forces have frequent trade with the book.

After nearly half a month of sailing, the huge fleet rounded Kagoshima and reached the sea off Tokyo Bay.

He had already closed off the country, and he was more cautious in detouring and far from the coastline, so he didn't know anything about the arrival of the Honshu Mixed Brigade.

Su Buheng was in charge of the landing assistance, he first hid the fleet 20 kilometers away, and then sent three armed merchant ships into Tokyo Bay to reconnoiter the Bay of Tokyo in the name of requesting supplies.

When the armed merchant ships sailed into Tokyo Bay, they immediately saw many return ships transporting goods back and forth, and these return ships were divided into two types, one was used to transport passengers and goods, and the other was called bottle return ships, which were used to carry liquor and other liquids. The return ship is pitifully small for the Shandong ships, and one can only transport goods ranging from 100 to 500 stones.

In addition to the return ships, the lookouts on the armed merchant ships also saw many gun emplacements in the harbor. Due to the Edo shogunate's policy of seclusion, they built many forts in the port for defense.

These batteries were not a cause for concern, as most of the guns were imported, and they could only make arquebuses themselves.

Their cannons were all backward artillery sold to them by Zhao Yan, and the effective firing range was only more than a thousand meters, and the guns of the battleships were enough to deal with these artillery.

Although their coastal defense artillery is large, it is still a small amount compared to the coastal defense artillery used in Qingdao, Longkou, and Songjiang, and the tonnage is not comparable to the heavy artillery on the battleships, not to mention the power, and the shells are still solid.

Three armed merchant ships asked for supplies to go ashore to investigate, but their request was quickly rejected by Yue himself.

According to the regulations, no foreign ships are allowed to enter any port other than Nagasaki.

Soon, the armed merchant ships sent by Su Buheng were driven out by his own artillery, but those cannons were not very accurate, allowing the armed merchant ships to rush all the way out of the narrowest exit of Tokyo Bay. After leaving the harbor, they joined the fleet directly, and the ship's lookout reported the situation in the harbor.

What made Su Buheng quite difficult was the choice of landing site, they didn't have a lot of information inside Tokyo Bay, after all, they were closed off from the country, and they lacked information on the terrain.

Su Buheng simply sent the three armed merchant ships into Tokyo Bay again, and their task was to reconnoiter the distribution of forts along the way, as well as the waters of the port.

Three armed merchant ships once again burst into Tokyo Bay, and they first reconnoitred the narrowest waterway in Puga, which was more than 10 kilometers wide, and the fort could not be completely sealed.

After these three armed merchant ships rushed into the Kamaga waterway, they first conducted reconnaissance on Yokosuka, and were also hit by batteries, but they were not hit, and calmly withdrew from the shelling range.

They found that Yokosuka was not suitable for landing operations, and the terrain there was predominantly mountainous. So they continued to scout in Yokohama, which was inside.

They boarded a small boat on an uninhabited coastline and found that Yokohama's terrain was very flat and a relatively large plain.

On 18 June, three armed merchant ships rushed directly into the port of Yokohama and shelled the returning ships in the port. The rumbling of artillery suddenly sounded in the port of Yokohama, and more than a dozen batteries in the port of Yokohama also began to return fire, and quickly repelled the three armed merchant ships.

At the same time, three armed merchant ships also made a clear picture of the coastal defense situation in Yokohama.

(To be continued)