Bright Spring

The rebels gathered two armies, one was the Ruan Shuai Department of Beijiang Mansion, which had already been defeated by Zhang Fu; the other was in the southeast of Dongguan City, it seemed that the group of troops originally wanted to gather troops to capture the important town of Dongguan.

In Zhang Fu's view, Chen Jizuo's deployment of troops in this way was very absurd, and he was looking for a dead end.To be honest, Zhang Fu felt that since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming army had never been afraid of anyone in a battle with the main force, including the iron cavalry against the Yuan army; Can't stand the battle.On the contrary, climate and terrain are the advantages of Annan's army.

Zhang Fu didn't care what the Annan people thought, on the contrary, he welcomed such a battle that gathered more than tens of thousands of people.He was even a little impatient, eager to advance to the front line of the Huangjiang River immediately and start the second battle immediately.

Zhang Fubu and Huang Zhongbu of the official army marched in different directions to wipe out the remnants.However, in the pursuit of Zhang Fu's troops, they did not actually achieve much results. The tens of thousands of troops quickly advanced to the north bank of the Yellow River near Dongguan City in three days;Zhang Fu's target was another army of traitors.

At this moment, Dongguan City sent an urgent report.

The rebel army in the south has abandoned the military stronghold and camp, and is retreating southward along the Yellow River.Such news made Zhang Fu feel a little bad, thinking that the news of the Beijiang War must have spread to the south, and the rebels finally realized the mistake of gathering troops to fight, and they were going to run away!

Zhang Fu immediately noticed two places in the south, one is Manhaikou (Nanding) and the other is Hualu (Ningping).These two places can get sufficient food and grass, one is protected by waters;

However, if Zhang Fu's army from the north wanted to expand the results of the battle, they had no choice but to continue southward.

Chapter 741 Wang Shihai Comes

Among all the nobles in the Ming Dynasty at this time, Liu Sheng was undoubtedly the most handsome general.

He was in his thirties, tall, with a hulking back and a symmetrical face; his skin was naturally lighter in color, and compared to most warriors in the army, he looked cleaner and tidier.Because he was born with a dignified appearance, Liu Sheng also pays attention to his words and deeds, and has a bit of refined temperament.

Under Liu Sheng's humble appearance, there is always a kind of restrained arrogance.Occasionally, he would say a few words and generalize some truths in front of the soldiers, so that everyone half understood, and only felt that it was unfathomable.

Now he was standing on top of a sand boat, gazing out at the rolling sea.The crimson cloak fluttered in the wind.

From the mouth of the Songtai River (near today's Haiphong City) to the mouth of the Majiang River in Qinghua Prefecture, the sea route is about [-] miles, and the sailing time is only a few days.Liu Sheng reckoned that the fleet was almost there.

As the eunuch Hou Xian said, there are not many prodigal sons on this sea route, and everyone's journey was smooth.It was Liu Sheng's first time to go out to sea by boat, and it was indeed a novelty, so he often watched from the side of the boat.His expression was indifferent, but he was just pretending to be calm; as a literate nobleman, of course he couldn't be ecstatic after experiencing something new.

It was not the first time Liu Sheng saw the sea.I saw that the sea and sky in the south seem to be more colorful than those in the north. When the weather is calm and the sea is calm, it is very beautiful from a distance.

However, when he was actually in the sea, Liu Sheng felt that it was definitely not as beautiful as it looked; just a slight wave of wind and waves could make the ship bump.The power of the sea, and the feeling of being completely helpless, quickly becomes awe-inspiring.

Fortunately, the fleet is sailing offshore, and during the day you can often see the coast and land in the west with your eyes, which makes people feel relieved.Fleets that go out to sea generally choose to sail as close to the land as possible, and will not easily go to an endless place; probably because there is no one who is not afraid of the sea.

At this moment, a general of the navy came up, cupped his fists and said, "Commander, look at the movement in the sky. There may be a storm or rain in a while. Please leave the side of the ship and sit down in the cabin." , or find a place to lean on to sit down."

Liu Sheng nodded his head. He had no experience in sailing, so of course he would listen to the advice of the sailors.He looked back twice, then turned and went straight into the cabin.At this time, some sailors were pulling the slide rope (block block) to lower the hard sail on the mast.

In the cabin, Liu Sheng sat down on a chair. The chair leaned against the wall of the ship and had been nailed in place. It was very stable.

Sure enough, not long after, the heaving and shaking of the hull became more and more violent.Liu Sheng grabbed the armrest of the chair, otherwise he might have to roll around in the cabin in embarrassment.The ups and downs of the boat make people worry that the boat will fall apart.

There was a huge noise outside "哗哗...", and the sound of waves and rain violently swept across the entire sea.At this time, almost no one was able to walk around or even stand on the ship. Only those experienced sailors could continue to operate on the ship.They were as dexterous as monkeys, using their arms to find a place to use their strength and move around along the ship's wall.

But the most violent gust of wind and waves lasted only a short while, and soon the turbulence became smaller.It rained for a long time.

"We can't see the land in the west!" A sentence came from outside the cabin.

Liu Sheng asked: "What's going on?"

The guards around him immediately went outside the cabin to inquire.After a while, an eunuch came in, waved his fists and saluted, and said, "Don't worry, Commander. According to the chart, there is a bay to the north of Majiangkou in Qinghua. So when we get here, we have to change direction and go west. Out of the bay is Majiangkou."

Liu Sheng nodded and asked, "When can we arrive?"

The eunuch said: "Report to Commander-in-Chief, we will go to Majiangkou within today." He paused for a while, and then said, "There is a deep-water safe haven in the Champa Kingdom and Hoi An. Since the Song Dynasty, merchants along the coast have been doing business. They often moored there, and later named it 'Xinzhou Port' (Da Nang). In the waters north of Xinzhou Port, a large number of Han businessmen have been coming and going for at least hundreds of years, we are very familiar with it, and we will never make mistakes."

When Liu Sheng heard this, he felt more relieved.

The eunuch talked enthusiastically, and talked about things that had nothing to do with the battle, "Xinzhou Port is the best port in Annan and Champa. The bay is blocked by mountains and forests, and the sea is calm; The sharp-bottomed boats are also unimpeded.

Persian Semu people, dark merchants from Western countries, and Han merchants, as long as they come to the south, they will choose this place to stop for supplies.In the past, the Chen Dynasty of the Annan Kingdom used troops against the Champa Kingdom many times, so they were envious of this place; so that the Ming Dynasty conquered the Hu family of the Annan Kingdom in the early Yongle period, and the King of Champa worked very hard to help the Ming army.The deep enmity between the two countries is not a matter of one or two years..."

Liu Sheng said: "I will report these things to the Holy Majesty when I return to Beijing. The Holy Majesty may be interested. But this time we will not go to Xinzhou Port, but to Majiangkou. The purpose is to attack Qinghua."

"Yes." The eunuch bowed hurriedly.

The eunuch was right, that afternoon, nearly [-] warships of various sizes from the Daming Navy entered Majiangkou one after another.On the surface of the Majiang River, sails cover the water surface, as if blocking the entire river, the scene is very grand.

More than 2 people from Liu Sheng's department decided to land on the south bank of the Ma River.Because Qinghua is also located on the south bank of the Ma River, and there is a pier at the mouth of the river, which is also located on the south bank.

That pier was completely unable to accommodate so many people landing, and the Ming army needed to use flat-bottomed sand boats to rush directly to the shallows and forcefully land.

When the imperial court planned the strategy of "surprise attack on Tsinghua", it also took this into consideration, so the sea ships mobilized and the Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian navy were mainly sand ships.The warships commonly used by the naval divisions of the Ming army, in addition to the sandships, also include the Cantonese boats and Fuchuan, all of which are wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, so they are afraid of running aground; only sandships are not afraid.

Several sand boats carried the infantry and rushed to the shallow water first.After people probed the depth of the water with bamboo poles, some people and horses jumped straight into the river and waded ashore.

After those infantry came ashore, they immediately searched deep into the land to find out the enemy's situation.

Liu Sheng was still on his ship, leaning on the railing to look at the scene on the land.This place is very close to the sea surface, and the water may be salty, because Liu Sheng discovered that there is a section of beach beside the river with almost no vegetation.The place farther away is lush and lush, full of woods and weeds, and some village houses are looming among the vegetation.

There is only a village on the other side of the pier, and a few ordinary people can be vaguely seen.In addition, looking from the river, only the Ming soldiers were left on land.

Two Guangzhou ships docked at the wooden wharf next to the village, and more soldiers of the Ming army disembarked from the ships, many of them leading horses.The land gradually became lively, but it gave people a sense of calm, because there were no enemy troops and no conflicts.

After a long time, someone patted his horse on the beach and shouted to the flagship in the river: "The scouts haven't seen the enemy, they haven't seen the enemy..."

A flag on the flagship waved for a moment in response to a specific rhythm.Liu Sheng also heard the shouts of the scouts, and ordered: "All ships, land one after another. After the soldiers landed, immediately build ditch walls and set up barracks."

The soldiers clasped their fists together and said, "Decree!"

A moment later, the flag band on the warship blew the horn, and several flags waved repeatedly.Some warships in the distance also blew the same trumpets, and the simple military orders of the Chinese army were spread across the entire river.

Liu Sheng couldn't wait to order the boat to the pier, and when the two Guangzhou boats left, he immediately boarded the shore.

The officers and soldiers who had just landed were in a bit of a mess. Some of them seemed unaccustomed to sailing, lying on the side of the road and vomiting continuously. The disgusting voice sounded very uncomfortable.On the contrary, it was Liu Sheng who took a sea boat for the first time, and nothing happened after getting off the boat.

The Ming army sent people to the villages and towns to drive away the remaining villagers.But according to Liu Sheng's order, the soldiers gave some well-made fishing nets, cloth, copper coins and other things to the villagers as rewards for expropriating houses.

Before the Jingying expedition, the emperor Zhu Gaoxu repeatedly told the soldiers not to plunder as much as possible, and not to arouse the hatred of the local aborigines uselessly. (Even if it is necessary to plunder | necessary military supplies, it should be carried out in an orderly manner to reduce damage. You cannot rob the people of everything and cannot survive.)

Liu Sheng was very accepting of the imperial edict of the emperor.He felt that what he was leading was a righteous "king teacher", so of course he couldn't do those nasty things, so as not to embarrass him.

However, some officials accompanying the army and minions sent by the civil official Hou Hai took the opportunity to bring translators to the villages and towns and began to spread the rhetoric of who is right and who is wrong.Regardless of whether the natives were literate or not, the officials also distributed some paper documents; some people even pretended to be enthusiastic and helped the villagers push the wooden carts.That scene reminded Liu Sheng of those deceptive cult activities in the local area, and he also persuaded people as soon as he saw them.

The river was full of sand boats, and more and more soldiers tried to get ashore, either by wading or paddling small boats back and forth.Some lighter Hongwu cannons were also carried to the shore first. Hongwu cannons (mortar guns) had a large muzzle, but the gun body was relatively thin, so the weight was light; on the contrary, the Hanwang cannon with a small muzzle, the smallest The "Xuan" brand name can easily weigh a thousand catties, and it must be transported to the pier by car.

Two personal soldiers carried a roll of maps and opened them in front of Liu Sheng.Liu Sheng reconfirmed the location and topography of Tsinghua City. From the mouth of the Majiang River to the west of the river, he would be able to reach Tsinghua City within tens of miles.

The rebels obviously did not expect that the Ming army would drive straight from the sea into its lair.No enemy troops were seen on the Majiang River, so one can speculate that the rebels did not deploy river defenses at all.

Sudden surprise attack, Liu Sheng also wanted to start marching into Qinghua immediately.However, the army has to go ashore from countless ships and adjust the numbers; it will take at least a few days to transport the military supplies, food, ordnance and ammunition, and establish a foothold and warehouse on the shore.

Liu Sheng had no choice but to send out scouts to investigate the military situation in Qinghua City, while waiting for the army to be rectified properly.

Chapter 742 Pingding the King and the Ship Bandits

The Liu Sheng Department of the Ming army arrived at the mouth of the Majiang River by boat, and the Japanese soldiers came to the city of Qinghua!When the news arrived in Qinghua, it immediately shocked the government and the public.