The form of Jiangxi is critical, but it has not yet reached the point of no return. Yuan Chonghuan is still holding on to Nanchang City, and reinforcements from Zhejiang, Fujian, and Huguang will soon rush to Jiangxi to reinforce, and the rebellious thief army may not be able to break through Nanchang and break through Poyang Lake into the Yangtze River.

Therefore, Zhu Youzhen is not very worried, and he also has the elite of the 5,000 Janissaries who have been on the battlefield for a long time, the strongest army in this era. Even if the thieves go down the Yangtze River, what is there to fear?

Of course, Zhu Youzhen is not blindly reckless and blindly confident, because he still has other chips in his hands.

On September 16 of the fourth year of Chongzhen, Zhu Youzhen led the army to officially leave Yangzhou, went down the canal, and arrived in Guazhou in only half a day.

Guazhou is located at the confluence of the canal and the Yangtze River, and is the place where the provinces in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and the Jiangdong prefectures must pass through to the north. Every year, hundreds of thousands of ships berth through Guazhou, and millions of quintals of grain are transported north through Guazhou every year. Therefore, Guazhou is actually the busiest ferry port in the world.

Standing at the bow of the ship, you can see the vast Yangtze River to the south of the narrow canal, and you can see the sails in the river like clouds, the masts like forests, and the large and small ships are almost connected from end to end, densely covered in the river.

Numerous ships anchored in the middle of the river, waiting to line up to enter the canal heading north. In the canal, all ships were moored to the side, waiting for the passage of the emperor's fleet.

Five thousand Janissaries, a hundred ships, formed a huge fleet, including several huge dragon boats, the bow of the apricot yellow dragon flag, showing the identity of the emperor on the ship, the ship is full of loaded guns and ammunition of the Praetorian Guards, how dare the ships passing the ferry not avoid?

Looking at the mighty imperial fleet, the people on the shore on the ship had different expressions. Some people were excited to be so close to the emperor, others had worried looks on their faces, and many more people showed indifference. For many Jiangnan businessmen and ordinary people, the emperor is too far away from them, and they belong to the heavens, they only care about the days in front of them, and naturally have no feelings for the emperor.

In fact, just a few days ago, many merchants were very afraid of the emperor, and what happened to the salt merchants in Yangzhou frightened them. Knowing that not long ago, Zhu Youzhen issued the will of the people in Yangzhou, and the news spread along the canal, which made the hearts of many businessmen settle down, knowing that the emperor only attacked the salt merchants because of salt corruption and would not implicate other merchants, and the business and trade from Guazhou to Yangzhou was normal.

But even so, many businessmen still had very mixed feelings about the emperor. The salt merchants were horrified of the emperor.

In particular, many of the merchants in Jiangnan had the identity or background of the gentry, and they were even more frightened by the emperor's southern tour. I am afraid that the emperor will come to the south of the Yangtze River like this, and I am afraid that the emperor will use all kinds of excuses to kill the gentry and merchants for the sake of silver. It is well known that today's emperors are very greedy for money and are accustomed to competing with the people for profit.

Of course, it didn't matter to the ordinary people, to the guys on the boat, the emperor would never use a knife against the ordinary people. Watching the royal fleet go south, many of the guys and crew members stretched their heads excitedly, hoping to see what the emperor looked like.

However, the merchant ships near the Guazhou ferry only hoped that the emperor would leave Guazhou as soon as possible, and then the canal would be unblocked so that they could continue to do their business.

However, to the surprise of these merchants, the emperor's fleet did not leave when it arrived in Guazhou, and anchored at the Guazhou ferry. Then I saw the fleet docking, and a group of elite soldiers landed on the shore and headed for Guazhou City.

Guazhou City is located north of the Yangtze River and east of the canal, is a small city with a circumference of 1,543 zhang and 9 feet, and a height of 2 zhang and 1 foot. Because the Guazhou ferry port is very important, there are Yamen in the city, such as the Tongzhi Department, the Ministry of Industry, and the Guanhe Tongju Office, and the Lianghuai Salt Transportation Department has also set up an inspection office in Guazhou to verify the salt introduction.

The Yangtze River is wide and vast, and the canal is relatively narrow, and many of the original ships will anchor for several days after arriving in Guazhou, or repair or wait to enter the canal. The busyness of the ferry port gave birth to the prosperity of Guazhou, with shops on both sides of the canal, and many merchants even bought land and houses in Guazhou. There are dozens of large buildings, private gardens, temples, buildings, pavilions, halls, halls and so on in Guazhou City.

The Praetorian Guards entered the city to control the city defense, and Zhu Youzhen also entered the city under the protection of the Praetorian Guards, and temporarily stationed in a private garden. The owner of this garden is a big salt merchant, who was arrested in Yangzhou and is still in Yangzhou prison.

The emperor stopped in Guazhou, which surprised many people, and it was not until three days later that a huge fleet sailed from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River to Guazhou, and the questions in the minds of many people were answered.

It is said that it is a huge fleet, but in fact, the number is not much, there are only more than 50 ships, but the problem is that these ships are too large, and they are all sea ships, especially the five largest of them, which are really as tall as a building, and they are parked in the river, and the deck looks higher than the city wall of Guazhou!

Looking at the flags fluttering on the mast of the fleet, "Fujian General Soldier", "General Fubo", and "Li", many people suddenly understood and understood why the emperor stayed in Guazhou.

"It's Li Yanzhi, the chief soldier of Fujian, I heard that he was born in the emperor's Praetorian Guard, and he is responsible for guarding Fujian for the emperor!" Someone exclaimed.

"No wonder the emperor stayed in Guazhou, it turned out to be waiting for the Fujian Navy Division to come over to rendezvous, the Fujian Navy Division has defeated several pirates, and the southeast maritime merchants have been overwhelmed, and now he is transferred to Guazhou, is the emperor going to make a big move?" Someone was suspicious.

"What's the big move?"

"It's not good, in this case, let's leave quickly."

For a time, the arrival of the Fujian sailors shocked the merchants of Guazhoudu, and countless merchant ships in the canal in the Yangtze River pulled anchor and set sail, either rushing to the north through the canal, or simply scattered like birds and beasts, and returned to avoid other places. After half a day's effort, the boats around Guazhou Ferry were empty, leaving only the emperor's fleet moored in Guazhou and the sailor warships in the river, which looked quite stormy!

Li Yanzhi naturally didn't care about the actions of the Fujian merchant ships in Guazhou, as early as half a month ago, he received a secret decree from the emperor, ordering him to lead the Fujian sailors into the Yangtze River. After arranging the affairs of Fujian, Li Yanzhi immediately gathered his Praetorian Guards, led the fleet north, passed through the Zhoushan Islands, bypassed Hangzhou Bay, and entered the Yangtze River to Guazhou.

Li Yanzhi settled his subordinate ships and stationed them in the river, and took Li Dingguo, Zhang Huangyan and others to board the Guazhou wharf in small boats.

"I can finally see Your Majesty!" Stepping on the land on the shore, Li Dingguo smiled happily. It has been more than a year since he was ordered to go to Fujian, and Li Dingguo misses Zhu Youzhen very much.

Zhang Huangyan didn't speak, but the look on his face was as happy.