On October 19, 1643, the seventh day of September in the sixteenth year of Chongzhen of the Ming Empire.

A fleet of ships coming from the north slowly entered the water village of Xiamen Island, and several dusty generals hurriedly headed towards Xiamen City before they had time to rest. Not long after, a large number of generals and colonels gathered in the lobby of the Fujian Haiphong General Military Mansion, waiting for Zheng Zhilong to appear on stage.

When Zheng Zhilong walked into the lobby wearing a green shirt and taking a young scholar, the generals present knelt down on one knee and saluted.

Zheng Sen, standing behind his father Zheng Zhilong at this time, quietly looked at the family's henchmen and generals. Zheng Sen's face, the residual childishness has long since dissipated, after staying in Chen Zilong's army for more than half a year and participating in several suppression actions against the peasant army, Zheng Sen has a faint trace of the stern momentum of a soldier.

"Big brother, the fifth brother's fleet has returned from Liaodong." Zheng Zhihu, as the number one general of the Zheng family's tribe, was the first to stand out of the queue at this time, and he was still holding a letter in his hand, "The slave chief Huang Taiji has returned to the west on the ninth day of the first month of last month, and now the eight banners of the East Captives are all excited, and the pseudo-king Haoge and Dolgon are competing for the position, I am afraid that the infighting is just around the corner." ”

"What can it be, now except for Ningyuan Pass, the Qing Dynasty has heavy troops in the territory, and the plague is rampant in Henan, Shandong, and Beizhili, and the imperial court may not have a chance to take advantage of it." Zheng Zhilong sighed, and secretly glanced at the eldest son beside him, "The rebellion in Xudu has not yet subsided, and the commercial affairs of the coastal prefectures and counties in Fujian have withered, which is also not good for us." ”

As he spoke, he suddenly found that the fifth brother Zheng Zhibao, who was supposed to appear, was not present, and seeing that the expressions of some people in the hall were a little wrong, Zheng Zhilong frowned secretly. Looking at the silent eldest son Zheng Sen, Zheng Zhilong slowly waved his hand: "Sen'er just came back from Chen Zilong's army in Zhejiang, and he just happened to listen to the uncles' military affairs. Besides, why didn't the fifth brother come to see it? ”

Seeing that his father recognized his participation, Zheng Sen hurriedly bowed his hand to the family generals present: "The kid is shallow, and I hope you uncles will mention it." ”

Seeing that the eldest brother seemed to be planning to let the eldest nephew participate in the military discussion from today, Zheng Zhihu hurriedly handed over the secret letter in his hand to Zheng Zhilong: "There is a secret report from the fleet. The fifth brother was outside the city of Ningyuan in Liaodong, and secretly resold commercial goods with the Qing Dynasty...... I have detained him in the water village and waited for my eldest brother to be released. ”

As soon as these words came out, not only did the faces of some of the generals change greatly, but Zheng Sen's pupils also shrank suddenly. Just as he was about to open his mouth to ask a question, he saw his father raise a hand, so he had to shut his mouth.

"What kind of goods are they?" Zheng Zhilong slowly sat back on his throne and casually picked up the tea.

"Tea, grain, refined salt, and gunpowder that should have been shipped to the defenders of Ningyuan...... About half of it was sold to Qing captives. Zheng Zhihu walked up a few steps angrily, and his voice was low, "This kid is too arrogant. When questioned, he also said that he didn't know that the opponent was Qinglu. Big brother, what should I do? If it spreads, I'm afraid it will be bad for the big brother! ”

"Did you lose money?" Zheng Zhilong took a sip of tea gently, still with a calm expression.

"This ...... It's about 60% higher than the usual price. Zheng Zhihu looked at his eldest brother suspiciously, a little unclear what the other party was thinking.

"Well, got it. Since he has made a lot of money, he is also contributing to the country. Zheng Zhilong smiled slightly, and said in an astonishing voice, "Jin Shang has been in the year since Wanli. Stealing out of the border and reselling salt, tea, and iron silk is more than a million. The Qing soldiers entered the customs several times, and they plundered tens of millions of money and goods. Such decimals are not enough to worry about, and the leopard is young and ignorant. I've thought about it behind closed doors for now. ”

"Father! The sages said: Don't take evil as small. This drop of water pierces through the stone and the harm of the anthill ......" Zheng Sen finally couldn't help it and shouted loudly on the spot.

"Let's disperse, Sen'er stays."

Zheng Zhilong put down the teacup, slowly got up and carried it. The Zheng family who was present looked at me and I looked at you, and then quietly withdrew.

"Father!" and everyone is gone. Zheng Sen hurriedly took a few steps forward.

Zheng Zhilong turned around, and his expression became more and more serious: "Let me ask you, what is the situation of the Ming Dynasty, and what about the Qing Dynasty?" ”

Zheng Sen was stunned for a moment, lowered his head and thought for a while, so he had to give up his hand and answer: "I am a vast territory of thousands of miles in the Ming Dynasty, and the people are more than hundreds of millions. In the bitter cold land of Qinglu, there are only hundreds of thousands of mixed places. In addition, there were also years of famine outside the northern land, and the Qing captives had the act of dying in Koubian. If the Ming Dynasty can hold still, wait for the time to turn peaceful, the people's hearts will be stable, and the soldiers and horses will be reinforced, and the Qing Dynasty will be wiped out in a battle. ”

"Well, that's true. The difficulty of the Ming Dynasty is in the internal void, and the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty is also strong inside, rather than the strength and weakness of the Qing Dynasty. Now that the sea and land business is prosperous, my Zheng family sells millions of grains, cloth, salt, iron and oil tea every year, and the small number of Qingyu is not hindered, so your fifth uncle is not much at fault. Moreover, this time, your fifth uncle also ransomed hundreds of young men and women from Liaodong, which can also be regarded as a meritorious service for the country. ”

Looking at his son's angry appearance, Zheng Zhilong just smiled and downplayed the past. The ransom he called buying the refugees from Liaodong was just a pig business with Wu Sangui in private.

Zheng Zhilong's far-fetched cover-up was really a bit of a blow at first glance, but Zheng Sen always felt that there was something wrong with it.

Seeing that his son was still a little unconvinced, Zheng Zhilong's smile gradually faded: "Don't mention your fifth uncle's matter again." If it is unstable today and the Quartet is in crisis, the Zheng family cannot tolerate internal friction. Brothers in war, fathers and sons in battle, you should understand this truth. ”

"Yes......" Zheng Sen saw that his father had the intention to cover up this matter, so he could only comply, but he seemed to remember something, and hurriedly gave it up, "I heard that Zhao Youheng, the governor of Guangdong, is training in a new town in Guangdong, hiring Huamei veterans to practice, and practicing the method of Taixi military training, and my son wants to go and see it." ”

Zheng Zhilong was very satisfied with his son's interest in military affairs, after all, this Zheng family would have to be handed over to the other party sooner or later, so he nodded with satisfaction: "It's good to travel a lot." Lord Shen, the governor of Liangguang, was the governor of Fujian, and he had some friendship with his father, so he brought a letter with him, and it would be better if he could seek a position as a counselor in the new army. ”

"Thank you, father!" Seeing his father's full support for him, Zheng Sen was overjoyed and hurriedly bowed down.

……

At this moment, at the wharf outside Dongning City on Dayuan Island, Cao Xiulin, the former shogunate of the Propaganda Division, was taking his family to send off some of his colleagues.

Since Huamei's return, Cao Xiulin has gradually kept a low profile in the officialdom, in addition to completing the assigned government affairs, he stays at home almost every day to read a large number of books brought back from Huamei. After having a practical understanding, comparing the many differences between Daming and Huamei, Cao Xiulin is no longer enthusiastic about the career of a master.

The death of his old father in Zhangzhou finally gave Cao Xiulin the opportunity to quit. Probably Yan Sicheng had already seen Cao Xiulin's thoughts. did not hold back too much, and agreed to the other party's request to return to the mainland.

On the dock, Cao Xiulin bowed to Yan Sicheng for the last time, and a thousand words had turned into silence.

"Brother Cao resigned this time and returned to his hometown, keeping filial piety and studying, and the big man lost a pillar and a humerus, which can be described as sad. If Brother Cao intends to come back in the future, Yan should welcome him. Yan Sicheng said reluctantly while ordering someone to carry a large number of gifts from himself onto the boat.

this year. Yan Sicheng also aged a little faster, and when he was less than forty years old, he had a lot of wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, and Cao Xiulin knew that the other party was physically and mentally haggard in dealing with the government affairs of Huamei Oriental Union Group, and he secretly couldn't bear it.

"Thank you, Lord Yan, for your kindness...... However, as I have seen below, it is a great good thing to send the children of the official family to study in Huamei, and I know that the adults should not miss it. ”

Unlike Yan Sicheng, who has always been obsessed, Cao Xiulin instead thinks that increasing the number of people and Huamei is a choice that has more advantages than disadvantages. Although the great man is abundant. However, the population is sparse, and most of the areas are still wild, so if you don't use Huamei Oriental Union Group to increase local development and talent training, you can rely on the ability of the staff themselves. It is impossible to achieve the self-improvement and self-reliance that Yan Xianping said. In gorgeous words, there is no strong "self-hematopoiesis" ability, and the current senior members are too far behind Zheng Zhilong, who is eyeing him.

"Huh. Then write down Brother Cao's parting words and take care all the way. Yan Sicheng smiled and arched his hand, noncommittal to Cao Xiulin's point of view that he had always adhered to since returning from Huamei.

Cao Xiulin is gone. Yan Sicheng didn't stop at all, and hurried to the Dongning City Mansion with a group of officials, preparing to receive the merchant envoys from Luzon. It is said that the Chinese who seized Luzon from the Spaniards this time will agree with the Daguan to exchange markets normally.

……

A few days later, the new officers and soldiers of Guangdong who went north arrived in Qujiang County under the leadership of Shen Tingyang, and then crossed the Wujiang River. At this time, the Shaoguan garrison had already been in a rumor, not to mention the city gate, the local garrison even fled into Qujiang County, and there were not a few guards left, and people everywhere were panicking.

Shen Tingyang, who was smeared with the marching battle, took it for granted that most of the baggage team left in Shaoguan, arranged the pass defense with the local defenders, and then personally led the main force to camp on the nearby hill slope of Wuli Pavilion in the later generations, intending to have a "mutual horn" with Shaoguan, and then sent outposts to the north and east to reconnoiter separately.

The camp overlooks the Wujiang River, with complex terrain and primeval mountains and forests to the north, narrow river plains to the west, and Shaoguan to the south. Theoretically, as long as this place was held, the peasant army attacking from Chenzhou would not be able to threaten the hinterland of Guangdong. Under the principle of using literature to control force, the whole army can only be deployed according to Shen Tingyang's ideas.

On the way north, I kept encountering a large number of refugees going south. These waves of refugees from the interior of Huguang or the northern border prefectures and counties of Guangdong stretched for hundreds of miles, and the banks of the Wujiang and Beijiang rivers were full of abandoned, hungry and hungry old women and children. Along the way, the county town was afraid that these refugees would make trouble, so they didn't give relief, and closed the city gate and sent soldiers to disperse the refugees who gathered outside the county to rest.

Everywhere there were lamentations and weepings after being displaced, people who died in their bodies abounded along the way, and the killing and snatching of food from each other happened everywhere under the noses of the officials and soldiers in the north. The bleak picture made it impossible for the officers and soldiers who lived a relatively stable life in Qiongzhou day after day to adapt for a while. The food and grass in the army are tight, and it is a drop in the bucket to help the refugees, Shen Tingyang is helpless for a long time.

After another two days, the number of refugees pouring in along the Wujiang River increased suddenly, and then the outpost also brought back news that a peasant army of more than 10,000 troops was hurrying south behind the fleeing people, including more than 1,000 cavalry.

After setting up camp, the officers and soldiers who were still a little giggling were inexplicably nervous, especially the guerrilla Zhou Qiao of the Qiongzhou battalion, who stood nervously on the high slope outside the camp and looked at the direction of Shaoguan all day and night, as if he had been looking for a way out for a long time.

After the last wave of refugees passed from the west side of the official barracks, the sky and the earth suddenly became empty, and the air seemed to freeze. The spies that were constantly sent out kept returning, reporting the news that the peasant army was approaching one by one.

Soon, a peasant army numbering nearly 20,000 people finally appeared on the east bank of the Wujiang River, less than 20 miles northwest of the Qiongzhou battalion official army camp, and then set up camp and confronted the official army.

Leading this peasant army was Sun Kewang, one of the four righteous sons adopted by Zhang Xianzhong. In order to cooperate with Zhang Xianzhong's battle against the main force of Jiangxi's official army in the southeast of Huguang, Sun Kewang was ordered to lead the main force of 1,000 elite cavalry and 3,000 infantry, wrapped in the newly recruited more than 12,000 surrendered officers and soldiers or young and strong rebels, preparing to enter Guangdong in the south, and then occupy Shaoguan, and wait for the opportunity to make a detour through Nanxiong towards the flank and rear of Ganzhou, Jiangxi.

After the occupation of Chenzhou, Sun Kewang continued to discharge small forces to intimidate the surrounding prefectures and counties, basically as long as the cavalry ran a few laps around the county seat and burned a number of villages, the next day the city officials would flee. Sun Kewang relied on this momentum to sweep away a large number of prefectures and counties handed over to Huguang and Guangdong, and collected and looted countless amounts of money and grain, but it also delayed a considerable amount of time.

Although it took a lot of effort to cross the mountainous area at the junction of Guangdong, he effortlessly enjoyed a large number of rapes and killings, and the plundered food and property were loaded with more than 200 carts, and he went straight to Shaoguan along the heels of the refugees, and then enjoyed himself.

But this time it seems that something is wrong, it stands to reason that as long as their sentry horse appears, the local government officials and soldiers should flee from the wind, how can they approach Shaoguan, but they will meet a wave of stubborn officers and soldiers?

But Sun Kewang is a timid and arrogant person by nature, in his eyes, the momentum caused by this southward feint has exceeded the original expectations, even if there is really such an official army on the border of Guangdong that can fight, then with the troops at hand, he can not eat all of them and retreat.

Moreover, he did not believe that the officers and troops in Guangdong could be more capable than those in Huguang and Jiangxi.

Before night fell, Sun Kewang secretly arrived to reconnoiter for the last time, and Sun Kewang learned that the officers and troops in front of him were less than 4,000 people, and the cavalry was more than 100 people, so he immediately made a decision to launch an all-out attack the next day.

At this moment, in the camp of the new officers and soldiers in Guangdong, the guerrilla general Zhou Qiao was also looking for a reason to run away, constantly lobbying the middle-level officers in the army and Shen Tingyang's staff, hoping to persuade Shen Tingyang to retreat to Shaoguan.

In the face of the strong pressure of more than 16,000 peasant troops, even if a large number of low-level young young officers were somewhat blindly confident, most of the middle-level officers of the Ming army, including Shen Tingyang and Zhang Jianye, still agreed with Zhou Qiao's retreat plan.

Relying on his status as the commander and the support of a large number of old officers, Shen Tingyang rejected the invitation of the young officers of Qiongzhou to fight, and planned to withdraw from the camp early the next morning and go south. However, he did not expect that the peasant army on the opposite side also planned to launch an attack at that time. (To be continued......)