Yang Yanfeng, the word Lairu (Lairu), a native of Laiyang County, Shandong, is a son of a rich family. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the list of Jinshi was issued, and he only waited for the emperor to meet and try to select the champion. Left and right, Emperor Chongzhen was martyred, and the Ming Dynasty perished. Young Yang Yanfeng sighed to Tianchang: "Wen can't protect the country. Then he returned to Laiyang from Beijing, worshiped Yu Qi as his teacher, and devoted himself to learning martial arts to protect the country. Yang Yanfeng followed Yu Qi to participate in the first Jiaodong peasant anti-Qing uprising, and later assisted Yu Qi in Jiaodong to spread Yu's boxing, and was one of Yu Qi's intimate advisers and right-hand men.

"Master, all the arrangements are in the hands of Master Gu, at this time, Lord Gu is learning about the situation from Lord Ding, and he will come to invite Master soon." Yang Yanfeng said: "This trip to the south, the disciples have opened their eyes, they have not only seen the prosperity of Guangzhou, but also seen the battle array, it is really better than reading for ten years!" ”

Yu Qi suddenly became interested, waved his hand and motioned for everyone to sit down, and let Yang Yanfeng and the others talk in detail.

As soon as the chatterbox was opened, it couldn't be closed, Yang Yanfeng and others talked about what they saw along the way, from the Ming army's sailors covering the sky and the sun, to the vitality of the Guangfu area, and when they were personally summoned by His Royal Highness Min in Guangzhou, their words were friendly, but they were shrewd and heroic, and everything they said was to the point, and finally they went to the coast of Jiangsu and Zhejiang as observers to participate in a landing and disturbance.

Yu Qi was fascinated when he heard it, and when he heard Zhu Yongxing talk about the accounting and reimbursement of the expenses of the Qing Dynasty, he couldn't help laughing, looked around and said: "Your Highness looks down on me Yu Qi, when I am a miser, an iron rooster?" When Master Gu comes, he must make it clear. This money is for him to spend vigorously, but I want His Highness to know that I am generous and generous in Yu Qi, and let His Highness know that I want to fight against the Qing Dynasty in Yu Qi, so I can bet all my net worth into it. ”

"Master is naturally broad-minded, not comparable to those rich people." Yang Yanfeng complimented. He also said solemnly: "Your Highness also specially explained that we should be careful, and when the war in the south has not been freed up, we may not be able to help in a hurry." Shandong's actions are important, and it is necessary to cooperate with the situation. Don't be reckless. ”

"The Tartars have repeatedly transferred the Shandong Green Battalion, but in fact, Shandong's troops are quite empty." Someone said tentatively, "Is Your Highness too worried?" ”

Yu Qi thought for a while, patted his thigh, and said: "Since His Highness specially explained, then endure it for a while, you all heard it clearly and remembered it." Don't be too ostentatious outside, lest you spoil His Highness's big things. Well, His Highness wants us to stock up on grain and grass in Asan. Then they will do it separately, and try not to attract the attention of the government. ”

Asan Mountain, also called Juya Mountain, is seventy miles east of Qicheng, the main peak is more than 800 meters, a radius of several hundred miles, and the end is easy to defend and difficult to attack. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, General Xu Shiyou, commander of the Jiaodong Military Region and commander of the large military region after the founding of the People's Republic of China, recalled: Controlling Asan was condescending. controlled Jiaodong; The defeat in Qiya Mountain that year was mainly due to the lack of troops in the back mountain.

The Ming army was to carry out a landing operation in Jiaodong. If Yu Qi can provide supplies and food, he will be able to transport more soldiers or more ammunition with a limited number of ships. Especially from the landing in Yantai and Penglai, to Qixia is very close, and there is a material base in Ashan, then the Ming army will reduce a lot of logistics work, and the control of Jiaodong will be more smooth.

Yu Qi arranged for his apprentices' cronies to purchase supplies. The route of transportation was being discussed, and how not to make the government find out, and someone had already been sent to ask for it.

came to the secret room, Gu Yinghui, who hung the title of governor of Shandong, and Ding Mian, the former stationmaster of the Shandong Station of the Intelligence Bureau. Laughing and talking. When he saw Yu Qi, he hurriedly got up to greet him.

"Yu General Soldier looks dignified, and when he looks at this posture, he knows that he is a person who practices martial arts." Gu Yinghui opened her mouth and called Yu Qi the official name, which made Yu Qi stunned for a moment.

Ding Mian hurriedly explained: "The seventh master was admitted to the martial arts in the third year of Chongzhen, and he was appointed as the last chief soldier of Dengzhou Mansion. This Lord Gu Yinghui Gu is the governor of Shandong appointed by the imperial court, in charge of Shandong's military and political affairs. ”

"Huh?" Yu Qi was taken aback, and hurriedly knelt down to give a salute, "The last general is seven, see Lord Governor." ”

"Mr. Yu is polite." Gu Yinghui stretched out her hand to help her, and asked Yu Qi to sit down, and the real discussion began.

"Do you want to buy a Tartar official?" Yu Qi listened for a while, and then he was confused.

"That's right." Gu Yinghui spread out a map brought from the south, pointed and said: "I don't want big officials, and I don't want other places, just the coastal ones in Shandong." Well, it's mainly from Dengzhou's capital. For example, the petty officials of the Green Flag Soldiers, the county officials, inspectors, generals, and so on. Some of them are free to buy, you should have them among your apprentices, or you can sign up directly. The purpose is to infiltrate the Tartars' government, and may even be controlled in the future. ”

Yu Qi nodded as if he didn't understand, infiltrating and controlling, which seemed a bit fresh.

"Don't underestimate these small officials with big sesame seeds." Ding Mian explained with a smile: "If there is someone in the Qing court's naval division, you can follow the waterway from the sea to Qixia, and this weapon and ammunition can be equipped and trained in advance." Think about it, if you had a firearms unit in your hand at the time of the incident, it would not take more than 1,000 people to sweep the Jiaodong Green Flag soldiers. ”

"I see!" When Yu Qi heard the weapons and equipment, he immediately came to his senses and said, "Okay, that's good." Buy, let's buy the official. By the way, His Royal Highness said that the cost of the last general can be reimbursed by the imperial court, which is really underestimating the last general. How much Lord Gu and Lord Ding need, even if they withdraw, they don't have to keep accounts, and they can't afford to lose that person in the end. ”

"Oh, Chief Soldier Yu doesn't dare to be His Highness's creditor?" Gu Yinghui teased: "Your Highness has explained, if you can be dedicated to the Ming Dynasty and be determined to resist the Qing Dynasty, it is a credit, how can you let the heroes pay out of their own pockets?" ”

"The Governor laughed." Yu Qi rubbed his hands a little embarrassed and said, "Money is something outside the body, so it doesn't matter." In order to revive the Ming Dynasty, the last general was even willing to give up this life. ”

"General Yu is really a bold and straightforward person." Ding Mian praised it, which was regarded as relieving Yu Qi's embarrassment, and then got to the point, "Most of Yu Zongbing's subordinates are martial arts practitioners, and they are all over Jiaodong, His Royal Highness has an idea, and he will fall on them......"

Yu Qi listened intently, and the more he listened, the more shocked he became, he didn't expect that his apprentices from all over the world, as well as the martial arts halls covered with tape, would be so useful. At the same time, his heart also spontaneously filled with admiration, how could His Royal Highness Min have such a train of thought, how could ordinary people think of it?

……………

Chongming Island.

With the Broken Shuo Army led by the Winged Male Ma Zide fully recruited and fully equipped. In addition, with the protection of the naval divisions whose strength has greatly increased with the replenishment of the ships and soldiers of the Zheng family, the security of Chongming Island has been relatively certainly guaranteed, and the people who have migrated from the raids on Jiangsu and Zhejiang have accelerated the development and construction of Chongming Island.

The Zhoushan Islands, not far from Chongming Island, are also rebuilding at an astonishing rate. The Ming army continued to harass the coastal areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, so that the Qing court's coastal relocation did not have the desired effect, but made a large number of people who suffered from it not have to call on them. He consciously and voluntarily followed the Ming army to Zhoushan and re-lived the coastal life that his ancestors had been accustomed to for generations.

The migration of a large number of people did increase the burden on the Ming government in the early stage, but after surviving for half a year, the effect was revealed. Soldiers, labor, and surplus materials produced added the power of victory to this national war.

"Looks like the time for a decisive battle is coming." Lu Wenyang, the county commander of Chongming County, commanded the people to unload the supplies from the ship and transport them into the warehouse in different categories, calculating the next move of the army on the wharf.

Re-enter the Yangtze River. The capture of Nanjing, in Lu Wenyang's view, seems to be a decisive battle plan with no suspense. Judging by the recent volume of deliveries, and the fact that most of them are ammunition, he believes that his judgment is not in question.

His Royal Highness Min is supervising the division along the Yangtze River from west to east, and if he wants to completely annihilate all the Qing troops in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu, he must use the power of the water division. East and West go forward, and will be taught in Nanjing. Cutting off the Yangtze River should be the most powerful decisive move. Because of the strength of the Ming Army's maritime sailors. In order to prevent the Qing army from crossing the river and fleeing north, it will inevitably rely on the speed and strength of the naval division. However, the speed of the advance of the Ming army group along the river on the western front could not guarantee the achievement of this strategic goal.

"It's our turn to sing." Also having a similar judgment to Lu Wenyang is the commander-in-chief of the second fleet, General Zhenhai, Yang Yandi.

The current Ming army naval division is divided into three major fleets, the anchorages are Fuzhou Mawei, Zhoushan and Chongming, led by Jinghai Hou Deng Yao, Jianping Bo Zheng Zhangxu, Zhenhai Bo Yang Yandi. After some dispersal and placement, the ships and soldiers who came to take refuge in the Zheng family have been digested by the Ming army's sailors, even Zheng Zhangxu, the commander-in-chief of the detachment. There are not many old subordinates left.

Judging from the reduction in the number of raids and the accumulation of ammunition in Chongming, Yang Yandi believed that the sailors would soon launch an unprecedented operation. With the momentum of covering the sky and the sun, it goes straight into the Yangtze River, isolating the north and south, so as to recover the south of the river in one fell swoop.

This will be a joint operation on a much larger scale than Zheng Chenggong's Battle of the Yangtze River. It is likely that all three fleets will participate, except for the naval division, the total number of marines has been expanded to 20,000, and the Breaking Shuo Army, which is based on Chongming Island, has a total strength of more than 100,000. If we add the Western Front Group and the extermination army in Fujian Province--

"The general's judgment is indeed correct." Lin Shun, the former governor of Zheng Jun's aid to suppress the right town, was deeply impressed by Yang Yandi's words, and nodded again and again, "Your Highness has calculated carefully, not only not letting the Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Qing troops cross the river and flee north in advance, but also not allowing the sailors to act too early and support them alone for too long." ”

"yes, that's going to take a good time." Yang Yandi pondered for a moment and said: "All the sailors are dispatched, plus the marines and the Poshuo army, it is enough to isolate the Yangtze River and guide the troops to the capital. ”

"It's not okay to send all the sailors." Lin Shun shook his head and denied, "Some sea ships are huge, going upstream, and not tailwinding, and the river from Zhenjiang to Nanjing is shallow, so they need to rely on a slender rope, and the speed is too slow." At the beginning, the king of Yanping misplaced, and after recovering Zhenjiang, he should have been driven by Lu Chang, doubling the road day and night, and advancing at the same time, forcing the southern capital. However, it is a hundred miles away, and it can be reached in three to five days at most. But I have to take the waterway, and it will take ten days to arrive. Tartar reinforcements have arrived, and the southern capital cannot be attacked. ”

"His Royal Highness wants to annihilate the Qing army in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, but the southern capital is not in a hurry to attack." Yang Yandi pondered for a moment and said, "However, there is indeed a certain truth in what you said that the giant ship is not suitable for fighting too far into the river. In other words, after the giant ship enters the river, the speed will be affected, and the order of the ships of the fleet needs to be arranged. ”

"Exactly." Lin Shun nodded and said: "Small and medium-sized ships can gallop in front, and huge ships can slow down in the rear, when the strength of our army's naval division has won the battle of Yanping Wang Yangtze River, as long as the tactics are appropriate, it will be successful." ”

"His Royal Highness proposed to restore Shenjing, thinking that the great cause of revival and revival would be moved to the stone city where the dragon is located, and the Tartars will die in no time!" Yang Yandi's voice was excited, expressing the optimism in his heart, and then he raised his hand and pointed, "Set sail and support the Breaking Army." ”

Ma Zide, the Duke of Yiguo, led the Poshuo army to confront the Qing army in the area of Jinghai (Nantong) in the north of the Yangtze River, and continued to advance westward. The situation of threatening Jingjiang, an important town of Jiangfang, contained a large number of Qing troops and weakened the strength of the Qing army in Jiangnan.

The General Staff Headquarters has already issued an order to be ready to move the army at any time. This order is also an important basis for Yang Yandi and others to believe that the battle into the river will be carried out soon.

In fact, Zhu Yongxing made a decision not to attack Wuchang for the time being. After leaving the Zhengshuo army to defend Yuezhou, and then waving his army to capture Jiangxi Province, all the units of the Ming army south of the entire river began to act. A strategic encirclement has been formed, directed directly at the Qing army group in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

The Dangshuo Army, the Yanshuo Army, and the Annihilation Army, the Ming Army was divided into three routes, pressing to Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi Province, from the east, west, and south.

In the sixteenth year of Yongli, the first year of Kangxi, on December 16, 1662, the Ming army of the three roads gathered under the city of Nanchang. After a little rectification. Immediately dig trenches to trap the enemy and prepare for a siege.

At this time, the Qing army south of the river was divided into three major groups, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Wuchang, and Nanchang. The Qing army in Nanchang was previously sent to reinforce Wuchang to prevent the Ming army from continuing down the river. The Qing army of Wuchang faced the containment of the Zhengshuo army and the Yangtze River water division, and heard that the Ming army had invaded Jiangxi Province, so it had to urgently transfer 5,000 soldiers and horses to reinforce. The Qing army in Wuchang City reached more than 30,000.

Dutong Heye and Hulib urged the Qing army to defend desperately, and led the elite cavalry out of the city to counterattack. After a fierce battle, the Qing army was defeated and returned to the city, unable to fight again.

It's really thrilling! Although Zhu Yongxing knew that even if the Qing army won the counterattack, it would not be able to stop the Ming army from capturing Nanchang. But the infantry confrontation just now, as well as the cavalry's slashing and slashing, still shocked him.

"Who is the general who led the cavalry to counterattack just now?" Zhu Yongxing stabilized his mind. He turned his head and asked the Minister of Pingbei Hou Xia.

"Back to Your Highness, this is the victory of the general army." Xia Guo also showed his face when he saw the Dangshuo army, and he was slightly proud, and said: "Gao Dejie is brave and knows military affairs. In battle, he is a fierce general with less and more strikes. ”

"Very good, Lone wrote it down." Zhu Yongxing wrote down the name and smiled.

Xia Guoxiang was shocked, he was going to leave the general Wang Fuchen before, is he thinking about Gao Dejie again this time? Thinking of this, he regretted it a little, and he shouldn't have boasted proudly.

Cavalry talents, Zhu Yongxing is eager for this, based on memory, based on observation, he is widely searching. One cavalry in the northwest, one more for the conquest of Liaodong. There should be no problem in negotiating with the DPRK to temporarily borrow Jeju Island, where horses will be raised and horses will be raised, and cavalry units will be formed to train them. Time is tight!

The three major groups of Qing troops, one more to eliminate one. In line with this principle, more than 100,000 Ming troops were arranged to completely annihilate the enemy. It takes some time, but it's a big picture. With the siege of the moat, the water source of the moat was cut off, and the water was released to fill the ditch.

If the army is invincible, you must not go out of the city to fight again. If the battle is defeated again, it will not only reduce the number of defenders of the city, but also affect morale. After the Qing army's counterattack failed, Mu Zhan, who had palpitations, immediately turned from heroic to cowering. When the city was not completely besieged, it was necessary to send envoys from all directions to ask for help, and then it was to strengthen the city and prepare to defend the city. Because Nanchang City, in the eyes of Mu Zhan and others, the city is high and deep, which is enough to withstand the siege of several times the enemy.

In the tenth year of Hongwu in the early Ming Dynasty (1377), Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Zhu Wenzheng to supervise Nanchang. Zhu Wenzheng began to rebuild all the city walls to the specifications of two zhang and nine feet high, two zhang and one foot thick, and one zhang and one foot deep, and dredged and repaired the eastern, western, and northern moats. Under the newly built west city wall, a moat of more than 3,000 zhang was dug out. Since then, the moat from Desheng Gate to Guangrun Gate, 11 zhang wide, 1 zhang 5 feet deep, more than 10,000 meters of moat through the whole city.

The rebuilt Nanchang city wall shrank 30 steps, abolished five gates, and left a total of seven fixed city gates, and the seven gates had their own detailed division of labor. The Nanchang folk proverb "seven gates, nine continents and eighteen slopes" comes from this. The seven gates all face south, and the technology relies on clever engineering and construction. At the beginning of the construction of the city, the project adopted the scheme of combining the city gate and the fortifications of the castle, and then built the urn city on the basis of the city gate of the previous generation. The urn city is made of tung oil, lime, glutinous rice juice to build huge bricks, one-third lower than the city wall, and the urn city is equipped with a thousand-pound gate. In case of war, the gate can be lowered to trap the enemy.

Such a strong city, even if it is not as good as Nanjing, is not far behind. Dutong Mu Zhan didn't want to abandon the city and flee, and he also felt that it was enough to resist the Ming army, waiting for reinforcements to arrive.

In fact, the fortified city of Nanchang did bring some difficulties to the Ming army, but it was by no means insurmountable. When Yuezhou and the Yangtze River Naval Division acted separately, the Ming army unloaded more than 30 heavy guns from the ships, which were used to attack the city. It's just that the heavy artillery moved slowly on the road and fell behind the army. The other is the tunnel blasting, the sappers after several surveys and tests, after several failures, finally solved the difficulty of high groundwater level with the technical means of digging and supporting, and dug two tunnels leading directly to the city wall from the west.

Historically, the Taiping army "overturned the giant city, like a piece of paper", from southern Hunan to southern Jiangsu, countless heavily guarded fortified cities in the Yangtze River basin fell with a loud bang. The Taiping Army also used the two-way superimposed chain blasting method, that is, the upper and lower layers were blasted in different directions or at the same location, and the upper layer blasted first to open the gap, and then ignited the lower layer of mines to kill and injure personnel when the defenders rushed to block. Using this tactic, the Taiping army was invincible, which made the Qing army frightened and scolded "the authentic plan is very evil".

Now the sappers of the Ming army are showing this glory in advance, whether it is excavation technology or blasting technology, it is no worse than the Taiping army. (To be continued......)