Only ten days after Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Mingzhen set sail, Shen Shuren finished handling other trivial affairs in Nanjing and embarked on the return journey back to Wuchang.

Shen Shuren's return trip was much safer and faster than Zheng Chenggong's.

Twenty days went by in a flash.

One day at the end of February, when Shen Shuren returned to Wuchang, Zheng Chenggong and his entourage also happened to arrive at Shanhaiguan, and it would take a few days to unload the military rations for Wu Sangui this year.

In the early spring, it is impossible to encounter typhoons at sea, and the Shen family's sea ships have been stable after years of practice and improvement.

Every year, hundreds of ships, a total of two or three thousand voyages, at most only 1 in 1,000 wreck.

The days along the way, there are no accidents, and naturally it is boring and does not need to be repeated.

Zheng Chenggong had never been to the north, but when he first arrived in Shanhaiguan, he was still very curious.

Taking advantage of the time it took to unload the grain, he also went ashore with Zhang Mingzhen for a walk, and also asked the Liaodong Army to buy a small batch of war horses, ride horses to climb the mountain, and look outside the pass-

They themselves could not carry a large number of horses from the mouth of the Yangtze River, because the horses' health was easily damaged during the long sea turbulence.

Horses are scarce and expensive in the south, and even if they may be used for follow-up, it is better to buy them in the northeast.

Although the Ming Dynasty was relatively weak in the face of nomadic Tartars, Ma Zheng still did much better than the Song Dynasty, and the army was not limited to the lack of horses, and a large area of natural pasture was still preserved.

In the Northeast, as long as you are willing to pay money, you can always buy a small amount of horses through open and dark channels.

"This is the easternmost point of the Great Wall? Cao Mengde's east is adjacent to Jieshi and the sea is also here. "Zheng Chenggong rode a horse to climb the Jieshi Mountain on the inner side of the mountain customs,

Looking at the boundary between mountains and seas, the wall stretches to the rugged rocks by the sea, and finally being hit by the waves, my heart is also surging. Growing up in the south, he has never seen such a scene of angry waves and Xiongguan coexisting.

In Cao Cao's "Viewing the Sea", the "Jieshi" on the east side of the Jieshi is Changli County, which belongs to Qinhuangdao in later generations, and Shanhaiguan is also in Qinhuangdao, which is less than one county apart.

Zheng Chenggong is not a research fetish, looking at the majestic terrain along the Shanhaiguan, he mistakenly thinks that this is Jieshi Mountain.

Zhang Mingzhen also dealt with the sea for half his life, was in charge of coastal defense in Ningshao for eight years, and was stationed in the Zhoushan Islands to fight pirates and pirates. But he had never seen this kind of precipitous scene directly into the sea from the mountain pass, and he was just as amazed, and his heart was suddenly heroic.

The two played for a long time, and they were targeted by the defenders of Shanhaiguan, but they had official documents and letters to transport military rations, and the defenders did not embarrass them.

These defenders looked very sluggish, they should have just broken through from the front line in the winter a few months ago, and they had just been re-collected by Wu Sangui.

After a while, Wu Sangui himself seemed to have heard that the shipping officer who escorted the military rations this year had changed to a new person, very young, still from the Zheng family in Fujian, who was climbing the mountain to inspect, and he also hurriedly asked people to prepare game and come over to make friends.

With Wu Sangui's current status, it is said that there is no need to pay so much attention to the grain transport officials from the rear, but the Zheng family is the god of wealth, and they should always try their best.

In addition, Wu Sangui and several other general soldiers were defeated and fled back last year, so far the imperial court has only asked Wang Pu, the general soldier of Datong who was the "first to escape", and the other three general soldiers have not yet been decided, Wu Sangui is a little nervous, and asks people to inquire about the news in Beijing every day, hoping that he will give up Hong Chengchou and flee back.

Therefore, whenever there are officials from the rear, he is very polite.

Seeing a team of cavalry approaching, Zheng Chenggong and others also lowered their hands to wait and see.

"It's Nanjing Zheng Tiju? Since they came to transport grain, why did they come here privately? In the lower Wu Sangui, since the friendship of the landlord. ”

"It turns out that it is Wu Junmen, I have admired it for a long time, and I am fortunate to meet it." Zheng Chenggong waited for the other party to report to his home, and he also returned the salute with his fists, and was soon introduced into Guancheng to rest and feast.

Zheng Chenggong's current errand is a shipping promotion, which is a new position, and the treatment is comparable to that of the original river management yamen.

In the Caoyun era, there was a river under the governor of Caoyun, and the Ministry of Industry assigned a Zhengliupin director to each section of the river to be responsible for maintaining the shipping conditions.

After the change of shipping, of course, there is no waterway governance, but there needs to be an official responsible for escorting and escorting, and the treatment of the director of the six products and six departments can be set up and promoted.

Originally, the main task of river transportation was sent by the Ministry of Industry, but the lifting of shipping was sent by the Ministry of Household in Nanjing, because there were no engineering errands to do, mainly financial supervision work.

From this point of view, Shen Tingyang, the father of Shen Shuren, is now the head of the household department in Nanjing, that is, Zheng Chenggong's direct boss.

It is equivalent to one is in charge of the deputy department, and the other is the director of a department and a department under the department. With this relationship, the Zheng family can only be more flattering to the Shen family, and they can't act rashly.

Zheng Chenggong is not a traverser, of course he will not have any disdain for Wu Sangui today, he only thinks that this is also a heroic hero who fought for the country, and his first impression is very good.

Wu Sangui felt that Zheng Chenggong's family had a huge fortune, tens of millions of taels of family property, and he was willing to personally run the sea to supervise grain for the country.

Wu Sangui had a heart, so he touted: "Zheng Tiju is a young man with a sharp spirit and a heroic appearance, but it reminds me of a person." Two years ago, Shen Futai, who was still going to Beijing to take the exam, personally escorted military rations to this Shanhaiguan with the ship.

I also hit it off at first sight, when he was only seven grades, and I never thought that just two years later, he would become a governor. Brother Zheng Xian, I see that you also have the style of Shen Futai. ”

Zheng Chenggong was originally polite to Wu Sangui, and when he heard him praise people with such chic and simple words, he was also overjoyed: "Really? Wu Junmen, do you really think I have the style of Brother Shen? Accept your auspicious words, over the years, Xia Guan has indeed taken Brother Shen as an example everywhere.

Brother Shen is a hero who stands up to the sky and the people for the country and the people, and he can learn his skills and fully repay his life's wishes...... By the way, you called him Shen Futai just now? Isn't it a platform? Is it ......?"

Wu Sangui was stunned for a moment, and then immediately reacted: "Brother Xian, I have been adrift at sea for more than half a month, and I don't know the current situation in Beijing." I am ashamed to say that since the defeat and retreat of the army last year, I have been worried in my heart, and I have been inquiring about the recent situation in Beijing for a long time.

Recently, it was learned that Elder Zhou Ge had arrived in Beijing seven days ago and officially assumed his duties. Five days ago, the imperial court had issued a clear decree to officially promote Shen Futai to Anhui Fu.

Under the jurisdiction of Huguangxiang, Wuhan Suihuang Wufu, and Henan Xinyang Mansion, Nanzhi Anluchi Sanfu, Jiangxi Jiujiang Mansion, a total of ten prefectures, purging the remnants of the five battalions of the left of the Revolution, pacifying and pacifying the place. ”

After Zheng Chenggong heard about it, he was also quite happy for Shen Shuren, but these were all expected, most of the credit required for promotion was established last year, and this year's forced landing Lin cultivation was just the last step in the door, and it was also caused by Shen Shuren being too young.

He is only twenty-two years old this year, and being a governor is already very, very rebellious.

Zheng Chenggong was overjoyed, and it was inevitable that he did not open the door when he spoke:

"Brother Shen is finally the governor of one party, congratulations, eh, by the way, speaking of which, this Shanhaiguan town guard has always been a combination of civil and military, this time to transport grain, why did you only see Wu Junmen, the governor of Liaodongqiu?"

Wu Sangui heard him unintentionally mention Qiu Minyang, the governor of Liaodong, and his face turned dark, but then he thought that the other party might just be unaware and not malicious, so he endured it.

Wu Sangui adjusted his expression and tone, and then said slowly: "I'm ashamed, Governor Qiu and Inspector Hong are still besieged in Songshan City, and we are incompetent and can't rescue!" ”

Zheng Chenggong was stunned for a moment, and he also knew that his topic was a bit of a sore spot for the other party, but he was originally here to inquire about the military situation and understand the situation, so he had to continue to follow this question to get to the bottom of it.

Fortunately, Wu Sangui is not a traitor now, and he will not betray his allies, seeing that Zheng Chenggong said that he was just "temporary", he wanted to see if he could help respond.

Wu Sangui also agreed to cooperate and try to provide the latest first-hand information on the current situation of the Liaodong military: "Are you going to see if there are any defenders in Tashan, Xingshan and other places who can break through and escape, and you will retreat from the sea?" ”

Zheng Chenggong: "What? Is it too whimsical? Could it be that the Tartars are strictly guarded? ”

Wu Sangui's eyes flickered, and he seemed to have really thought of a few possibilities: "It's not ...... Maybe it's really possible to succeed, but it's not a secret, and in the past few months, I've occasionally sent scout sentries.

Even some points in the western Liaoning corridor where the terrain is dangerous and easy to be set up by the Tartars, I also let the night not take away the surface of the Bohai Sea and walk on the ice to bypass. is so fearless of hardships, and he really found out the enemy situation around Tashan and other places outside the pass.

This is the bitter cold of Liaoxi, and it is a tartar in the harsh winter, and it is not happy to stand in the snow all the time. Therefore, in addition to Songshan, which was trapped by Inspector Hong himself, it must have been strictly guarded by Huang Taiji.

In the other two small cities, the Tartars are mainly besieged by sentry patrols, and the main force usually lives in other nearby cities that have been breached, and they are unwilling to camp and besiege in the wild.

But don't look at the tartar loose on the outside and tight on the inside, this is actually a trick to lure the enemy. In September last year, just after the end of the Songjin Great War, more than 50,000 of our Ming soldiers were killed, and tens of thousands of people died when they went to the sea.

The Tartars seem to be leaving a way for the defenders of Tashan and Xingshan this time, but in fact, the defenders have not many cavalry, and they have been besieged for half a year, I am afraid that the horses have been killed and eaten, even if they break through, they will be caught up by the Tartar cavalry if they can't walk dozens of miles, and they will not be driven down to the sea by the whole army and drowned? The Tartars also wished that they would lure out the defenders and annihilate them in this way, saving them the pain of forcibly attacking the fortifications.

But if you can have a ship to meet the Tartar cavalry before they go down to sea, you can be sure. But the action must be fast, otherwise the rear army will be congested to board the ship and be covered by the Tartars, and I am afraid that it will be worse than the half-crossing attack. However, how miserable can it be? If they do nothing, they will all starve to death in the lonely city. ”

After Zheng Chenggong listened, he checked with Zhang Mingzhen next to him, and felt that according to Wu Sangui's intelligence, the key to this thing being done was suddenness-

If the Tartars had already known that the Ming Dynasty had dispatched a navy to respond, they would definitely adjust the deployment of the besieging troops, and would no longer only monitor the patrol cavalry cycle as they are now, and the main force would be stationed in the nearby city.

Therefore, before the final move, the navy must not be exposed in advance, and it should not even send a large number of sentinel ships to reconnoitre.

At most, you can only send a few light boats, and cooperate with a small number of cavalry scouts to understand the situation ahead.

If you can take advantage of the gap between the Tartar patrols to sneak into Tashan to get in touch with the defenders in advance and make an appointment for the breakout to meet the time, then the certainty will be even greater.

But it is definitely not enough to rely on Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Mingzhen for this matter, they are not cavalry generals, and they are not familiar with the terrain of Liaodong.

I still have to ask Wu Sangui to borrow a few cavalry officers to be the dead soldiers for liaison and reconnaissance.

Wu Sangui also felt that this task was very dangerous, and he didn't want his henchmen to take risks, but the robes in Tashan Xingshan City were also all brothers of the Liaodong Army, and he was really reluctant to abandon them all.

In the end, Wu Sangui still agreed to lend him a guerrilla and bring some elite Yiding Raiders to help carry out this reconnaissance and liaison mission.