After meeting He Zhen, Hao Yaoqi and others one after another, Deng Ming led his army to the Three Gorges. When Deng Ming set out from Three Gorges half a year ago, there were only nineteen guards around him. Now, there were more than 30,000 men and nearly 20,000 relatives after him. Deng Ming couldn't help but feel deeply moved when he saw the vast fleet on the river behind him.

Because he failed to stay in Jiangling, Zhao Tianba felt pain and lost another chance to become famous all over the world, so he seemed depressed along the way, and was a joke by Zhou Kaihuang. This time, Zhao Tianba's proposal also made Zhou Kaihuang a little moved. Since leaving Yuan Zongdi to follow Deng Ming, Zhou Kaihuang has never commanded soldiers again. In addition, he was just a guard captain in the Dachang Army. Now Deng Ming has commanded tens of thousands of troops, and it is estimated that he will become more in the future. Zhou Kaihuang believes that he will have the opportunity to command thousands of troops in a short time. When he thinks of this, he will be very excited. Zhou Kaihuang is only in his twenties now, and even in the Dachang Army, there are few such young generals.

Except for this group of guards and a few guides, no one else who followed Deng Ming had visited the Three Gorges before. Although they had seen mountains, they were absolutely unable to compare with the terrain of the Three Gorges. Like the people from Zhejiang and Huguang, it was also the first time that Ren Tang came to the Three Gorges. After seeing the magnificent mountain walls on both sides of the strait, Ren Tang was also frightened by it and stood by the boat all day long to watch the two sides.

Mu Tan stood beside Ren Tang and watched the scenery with him: "Although I have been here once, the scenery here is really endless. Although the mountains in Fujian are also very majestic, it is still a little worse than here."

"Yes." Ren Tang looked up at the towering mountain range: "It's such a natural danger."

The cliffs on both sides provide many excellent observation locations. The fleets that flow upstream on the river can definitely be seen at a glance. Occasionally, some river bays and tributaries appear. Every time they appear from behind the rocks, Nin Tang would comment: "If a fleet is ambushed here, it will definitely be caught off guard."

After entering Wu Gorge, Zhou Kaihuang happily ran out to serve as a guide for everyone and told the surrounding people one by one. When passing by the mouth of the Daning River, Zhou Kaihuang kept sighing: "It's a pity that there is no time to go to Dachang. There are Xiaosanxia and Xiaosanxia. Although the mountain is slightly shorter, it is not inferior because the river surface is narrow. There are cliffs on both sides of the bank. Even if you look up at the bottom of the valley, you can't see the top of the mountain. The top is so narrow that you can jump over!"

According to administrative divisions, this place already belongs to the Sichuan Provincial Administration Commission, but Deng Ming wanted to deliver a speech but was stopped by Zhou Kaihuang. He said that only by crossing Kuimen can he truly arrive in Sichuan.

The fleet continued to move forward, and finally, the entrance of the Three Gorges appeared in front of everyone. The rocks on both sides seemed to be shrouded in clouds and mist, and gradually emerged as the fleet approached.

"This is Kuimen!" With Zhou Kaihuang shouting loudly, the soldiers on the boat rushed to the bow and stretched their necks to look at the gate of Sichuan: "The world is the most powerful pass!"

Two straight and steep rock walls are sandwiched with a thin slit that goes straight up to the blue sky, and the Yangtze River flows out from the bottom of the gap. From a distance, the one-person-wide plank road on both sides seems to be close to the river surface, but in fact they are all hanging on cliffs dozens of meters high from the river surface. Apart from sailing, this is the only road to Fengjie through Kuimen.

When the ship passed through Kuimen, Ren Tang felt a feeling of Mount Tai being pressed down on the top. Compared with this gate, even the big ships on the river were like ants, not to mention the people on the ship.

"Although I have seen it, I am still very excited to see it again." Mu Tan beside him looked at the magnificent Kuimen like Ren Tang. After passing through Kuimen, Mu Tan suddenly shouted: "How can such a majestic mountain and river be given to the Tartars?"

Ren Tang expressed his approval loudly, feeling that Mu Tan shouted out his own voice.

"Look, the city on the mountain is Baidi City, and Fengjie is on a mountain behind." Zhou Kaihuang stretched out his hand and pointed forward. After the ship sailed out of Kuimen, the scenery in front of him seemed to have become much wider. Zhou Kaihuang turned around and shouted to his companions on the boat, "Everyone, you have arrived in Sichuan."

...

Beijing.

After learning that Deng Ming had returned to Huguang, Shunzhi was worried about Huguang again. This young man, who seemed to jump out of the stone, stirred half of the wall in less than a year, saving several peace.

Previously, due to Zheng Chenggong's attack, the Qing court did not dare to let the Henan Green Camp go to reinforce Huguang, but was always ready to rush to Jiangning. After Zheng Chenggong was repelled, Deng Ming followed him and caused heavy losses to the green camp near Nanjing. Shandong and Henan's troops began to move towards Jiangning, and some of them had already rushed Dasu to the southeast, so Henan still could not send reinforcements to Huguang. After Deng Ming withdrew, Shunzhi had the idea to let some Henan troops go south, but Henan said that in order to reinforce the southeast, they had exhausted the military rations of the vassal treasury, and if they wanted to dispatch Henan troops, they would need to allocate food and wages.

Shunzhi knew that Henan was not lying, and it was definitely not intentional refusal, because the Qing court had been fully maintaining Hong Chengchou's five thousand-mile defense line in the past few years. Henan, as the hinterland and rear, not only had no food supplements, but also had to allocate materials to support the front line. Last year, the Qing court attacked the southwest with all its might and did not invest in the Henan Green Camp. This time, when he heard that Shunzhi had plans to fight in person, Henan immediately raised 10,000 troops. With the Qing court's order, he rushed to join Dasu at full speed. This spirit of hard work and resentment made Beijing very satisfied. Now Henan said that it is indeed a reasonable requirement to need food and salary.

The problem is that Beijing cannot allocate grain and grass to Henan, because the southeast suffered heavy losses. This year, the food in western Jiangxi was almost taken away by Deng Ming; Suzhou was attacked by Ma Fengzhi, and not only did the grain fall into Ma Fengzhi's hands, he also encircled a large number of people to attack Hangzhou. From Anqing to Wusong, the garrisons of Jiangsu needed to be rebuilt; Dasu's military horses also needed a large amount of grain and grass, so Henan could not get the materials they needed, and the Green Camp could not go south to reinforce.

Deng Ming led the Xinsheng Army and had a large number of ships and food. Shunzhi was mentally prepared for Hubei's decay at the beginning, but the situation was much better than he had imagined. What made Shunzhi even happier was that an outstanding young man emerged in this Hubei offensive and defensive battle.

"Zhou Peigong." Shunzhi said this name softly. Recently, this name frequently appeared in front of the imperial court. Although this person was young and not yet thirty, he was loyal to the emperor and patriotic, and was even more wise and brave. He led a small green camp to repeatedly deal with Deng Ming's army, robbed the camp and ambushed day and night, and he could avoid Deng Ming's counterattack in time. Although there was no victory or victory worth mentioning, it harassed the Ming army. Seeing that he could not consolidate his rule, Deng Ming finally had to return to western Hubei in sadness. Zhou Peigong, who had made many military achievements, also returned to Wuchang at that time, and stood at the top of Wuchang city with the governor Zhang Changgeng to mock Deng Ming who returned home. According to Zhang Changgeng's report, the Qing army in Wuchang beat the drums together, and the sound of the Ming army was sluggish, and the morale of the Ming army was sluggish, and the army was silent.

"If you believe in rewards and punish, you will be punished, and the heroes of the world will serve the court." Shunzhi immediately made a decision and formally appointed Zhang Changgen as the governor of Huguang, and approved all personnel appointments for Zhang Changgen. As for Duke Pei of Zhou, Shunzhi remembered that he first discovered the former Wuchang prefect's behavior of cooperating with the enemy, and now he has made such great achievements: "Zhang Changgeng recommended Duke Pei of Zhou as the governor of Wuchang. I have approved it and told Duke Pei of Zhou that although someone said in front of me that he was still young and worried that he would lack experience, I am optimistic about him. I value ability and merit, not age."

"The Emperor is wise." Sony praised.

Oboi's eyes rolled and he said with a sigh: "Your Majesty, just say that it's a slave who doesn't agree with the use of Zhou Peigong. For this reason, the slave was scolded by the emperor. I heard that the emperor even scolded him for him. Then Zhou Peigong would be grateful and would definitely be able to sacrifice his life for the emperor in the future."

"Okay, just follow what Oboi said." Shunzhi nodded and thought for a while: "Let the portrait of Zhou Peigong be presented to the imperial court. I want to see the appearance of this hero in Huguang."

"Abide by the order." Oboi replied with Sony. The portrait of Liang Huafeng had been sent to Beijing before. After Shunzhi looked at it, he praised it and said that it was indeed a handsome appearance and worthy of the name of a brave general. Since Jiangning turned danger into safety again, Shunzhi was in a good mood and appointed Jiang Guozhu to take over Lang Tingzuo's position: Although Jiang Guozhu was also one of the responsible persons of the Battle of Zhenjiang, what the people in Shunzhi and the Banners hate most is Guan Qizhen. After Jiang Guozhu killed Guan Qizhen, the culprit, the aura of the people of the people disappeared, and Shunzhi also needed to show the officials in the world a clear attitude of rewarding and punishment.

After talking about Huguang, we also talked about the Southeast, Anqing, Chizhou and Taiping, the three prefectures were previously controlled by Deng Ming, Songjiang Prefecture was occupied by Ma Fengzhi, Suzhou Prefecture was also swept by Ma Fengzhi, and Zhenjiang Prefecture and Jiangning were completely destroyed.

"Since there is no hope for tax revenue this year, I'd better issue an order to exempt it." Unlike Chongzhen, Shunzhi paid great attention to tax exemption after taking power. Whether it was floods and droughts or military disasters, Shunzhi would provide relief and exemption once it was verified. The farmers in the Qing Dynasty ruling areas also had a way out, which greatly reduced the appeal of the uprisingers. This time, the southeast was so hard that Shunzhi followed the previous countermeasures and all taxes in these areas were exempted this year.

In addition to Jiangsu, prefectures and counties in Hubei that were in war were also exempted this year. In addition, there are also Zhejiang, Huzhou and Hangzhou's taxes were also quite considerable, but Huzhou was also robbed by Ma Fengzhi. Now he is still besieging Hangzhou. Zhang Huangyan has captured Yuyao and is said to be moving towards Ningbo.

Seeing Shunzhi exempting so many places from taxes in one breath, Oboi agreed, but he still felt a little painful. Shunzhi laughed at this: "These places can provide three million taels of silver and four million stones of food every year, and they are reduced in one breath. Wouldn't I feel sorry for Chongzhen's past? But the lessons of the past are not far away. If it is forced to collect, first of all, the people may not have them. They are starved to death. Who will go to farm next year? Secondly, if the people can't survive and are incited by the ulterior motives, there will be wars everywhere."

In addition to dealing with these personnel and tax issues, Shunzhi has another very important issue today, that is, future strategic planning.

In recent times, Dasu has been proposing to move to Fujian, unite with Geng Jimao and others, capture Kinmen and Xiamen, completely eliminate Zheng Chenggong, and relieve the pressure on coastal defense once and for all.

The Beijing court felt that this proposal was very tempting. The most threatening to the southeast was the Fujian army. If Zheng Chenggong was eliminated, Zhang Huangyan would not make any trouble. Besides, if Zheng Chenggong was eliminated, the navy from Fujian and Guangdong could go north to Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and Zhang Huangyan would definitely be unable to resist. If Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Huangyan's threats were all lifted, the Qing court could invest the saved military expenditure in the southwest direction and concentrate on dealing with the Ming army in Sichuan and Yunnan.

Now Dasu has set off to Zhejiang, and Dasu is here, Beijing believes that Ma Fengzhi will be defeated soon.

"Ma Fengzhi is just a mob. He has been fighting under the city of Hangzhou for a long time, and his morale is not enough to worry about." Oboi analyzed that according to Hangzhou's report, Ma Fengzhi attempted to attack forcefully, but he failed to capture Hangzhou for three consecutive days. Now he has been in siege. Ma Fengzhi must have been his elite troops at the beginning. After this group of troops was repelled by the Hangzhou defenders, it means that Ma Fengzhi's combat effectiveness has suffered a great loss. He first attacked Suzhou and then gave up Songjiang

If you go to fight Hangzhou, you will not be able to defeat Ma Fengzhi's old subordinates. The morale is now very suspicious. As for the remaining troops, they are all the people who are bound by Ma Fengzhi, and they are neither equipped nor trained. After seeing the Qing army, it is likely that they will scatter. Even if they are not dispersed, they will not take much effort. It is absolutely fine to hold on to the food in Hangzhou for another month or two. Dasu will definitely arrive in time: "If the emperor wants to attack Jinxia, ​​Dasu will not have to return to Jiangning, but will go directly from Zhejiang to Fujian."

"Zheng Ni doesn't seem to fight on the ground." Shunzhi said in contemplation. In the past, the green camp in Fujian was defeated by Zheng Chenggong many times, and reinforcements sent from Zhejiang and Jiangsu were defeated by Zheng Chenggong more than once. Although the Manchus despised the combat effectiveness of the green camp, they originally thought that since Zheng Chenggong won so many battles, the ability of land war would still be a little bit. However, the battle in Nanjing completely overturned Beijing's judgment on Zheng Chenggong's combat effectiveness. Zheng Chenggong had more than ten and two hundred thousand troops,

Being beaten by Liang Huafeng's three thousand sailors was so bad that it didn't look like the combat effectiveness of an army. In order to show his courage, Liang Huafeng certainly did not carefully analyze to Beijing why the combat effectiveness of the Zheng army became so low. As for the previous battle in Zhenjiang, Beijing could only understand that Zheng Chenggong had good luck, or that Guan Xiaozhen was too stupid. Although Guan Xiaozhen is dead now, the bannermen officers in the battle in Zhenjiang were not dead, and Shunzhi had ordered the offense.

"But Jinxia is hanging overseas, is it easy for officers and soldiers to pass by?" Shunzhi expressed his doubts. After abolishing the personal expedition, the eight banners of Manchu, Mongolian and Han in Beijing were no longer dispatched, but the elite green camps in Shandong and Shanxi continued to move south. These northern green camps had more than 30,000 people, and had a large number of cavalry, with a number of about 7,000 or 8,000.

"Actually, it's not far away," Oboi has carefully analyzed the geography of Xiamen generation in the past few days. He said to Shunzhi confidently: "Geng Fan and the Fujian Navy should be able to transport people there. Moreover, Xiamen Island is very large, so Zheng Ni's navy cannot take care of them. They have not been to the ground before, but the Fujian Green Camp is too incompetent and cannot even defeat Zheng Ni, so they cannot occupy it. This time Dasu led his troops to the scene, not only with brave generals, but also with nearly 10,000 cavalrymen. As long as he goes to the island, Zheng Ni will have no physiology."

"I have asked Huang Wu carefully. Xiamen is not far from mainland China. Geng Fan, Fujian Navy, and Guangdong Navy can transport two or 30,000 troops at a time. However, if things are in case, we must guard against it." Sony also agreed to let Dasu go to Fujian, but Dasu brought three thousand Manchurian Eight Banners to the south. Sony did not want these precious Manchurian soldiers to make any mistakes: "Let the Green Camp first, let the Nachurian Army transport the Green Camp first, let Dasu and the Banner Army stay behind. If Zheng Nishui is very powerful, the Han army will be drowned; if the Han army can go up, it will not be too late for the Eight Banners to go again. Besides, the ones around Dasu are not the useless Fujian Green Camp, but the Green Camp from Shandong, Henan, and Shanxi, and there are thousands of cavalry. It is much stronger than the Susong Navy of Liang Huafeng. Maybe they won't have to go ashore in the Eight Banners and they will wipe out Zheng Ni."

Shunzhi thought for a while and nodded: "You are right, so I'll order Dasu, let him defeat Ma Ni and move to Fujian to wipe out Zheng Ni. But I have something to say first, no matter whether it is to fight Ma Ni or Jinxia, ​​the Eight Banners of Manchuria are allowed to go into battle."

"Not allowed to go into battle?" Sony asked in surprise.

"Yes, just like you said, whether it is to beat Ma Ni or Zheng Ni, the northern green camp is enough. There is no need for the Eight Banners to go into battle. Just stare at the Han army from behind and let them work hard." Shunzhi said: "Dasu should not cross the sea, just watch here on the mainland. Leave the Han army to do the cross-sea landing."

"The emperor is wise and the servants obey the order."

After talking about so many things today, Shunzhi felt a little tired, but the matter was not over yet. There was still a memorial with Li Guoying, the Governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi, and Beijing needed to agree to his plan.

"Li Guoying said that the Kuidong thieves were returning to Fengjie continuously. With his existing troops, it would be difficult to recover Fengjie in a hurry and block the Kuidong thieves east of Kuimen." Sony felt that Li Guoying's actions were a bit slow, but this was also caused by the shortage of materials: "The taxes in Sichuan Province are only 3,000 taels a year, the salaries of officials are 5,000 taels, the military pay is 400,000 taels, and the food and grass are 300,000 stones. Sichuan officers and soldiers all need to rely on transportation from Shaanxi, so it is difficult to confront Fengjie thieves. Since they cannot get Fengjie in the short term, Li Guoying plans to temporarily give up Yunyang, defend Wanxian, and then send 10,000 Gao Mingzhanshen to attack Chengdu. If they take Chengdu, they can farm in western Sichuan and then transfer to Chongqing and Wanxian through the Yangtze River."

Li Guoying reported to Beijing that the land in western Sichuan was fertile, and as long as a batch of military camps were established, there would be a small success in one or two years. The food and grass needed by the Qing army in Sichuan could be provided by a large part of the food and grass required by the Qing army in western Sichuan, and there would be no need to transfer all of them from Shaanxi. In Li Guoying's timetable, the Qing army in Sichuan could greatly strengthen the strength of Wanxian in two years, and actively began to confront the Ming army, and attack Fengjie with the support of the military rations in western Sichuan.

"I think it's feasible." After Sony introduced Li Guoying's plan, he expressed support.

"I think it's feasible, too." Obai agreed.

In theory, with the unanimous support of these two people, Shunzhi would agree to the plan submitted from the place where he agreed. However, today Shunzhi did not immediately approve Li Guoying's strategy, but asked back: "But will that Deng Ming make Li Guoying come true?"

"Now Deng Ming has returned to Huguang, will he return to Fengjie?" Shunzhi asked.

"It shouldn't be. Sichuan is far away. Deng Ming should still look at Huguang, and then try to enter Jiangxi and continue to attack the southeast." Sony replied immediately.

"Not necessarily." Shunzhi shook his head: "You are talking about common sense, but Deng Ming cannot be judged by common sense. I think he retreated a little faster from the southeast and Hubei."

"If you don't take Huguang or Jiangxi, go to Sichuan instead?" Sony's mind was a little overwhelmed.

"What the emperor said is," Oboi suddenly agreed: "Although the southeast is densely populated and rich in resources, it is also a place where the imperial court is heavily guarded, and the rescue is relatively fast. Deng Ming might really go to Sichuan."

Sony thought it was indeed possible. Now Deng Ming has a lot of food and grass obtained from Jiangsu, which can maintain a relatively large army in Sichuan: "But if Deng Ming goes to Sichuan, the court will be free to deal with Zheng Ni and Zhang Ni."

"I didn't say it was hard to say. Sichuan is a peaceful place, and it is easy to get out. However, if Deng Ming goes, he should still delay him for a while and don't let him suddenly come out again to cause trouble for the court." Shunzhi ordered: "Order Li Guoying to act quickly and quickly take down western Sichuan and strive to meet military needs as soon as possible. Transferring from Shaanxi is already very expensive, and the grain and grass in Shaanxi must be transferred from the capital and Henan." Speaking of this, Shunzhi hesitated again: "Can you rest assured that Gao Mingzhan? I remember that when Chongqing was attacked, Gao Mingzhan abandoned the city and fled. But Li Guoying tried his best to say good things for him. I have to give Li Guoying some face to not be asked for the crime."

"Don't worry, the situation in Chengdu has been investigated clearly. In the city, Liu Yao and Yang Youcai, two thieves in the city, originally had more than 10,000 peasant soldiers, and less than 1,000 men were wearing armor. Recently, it seems that more than 20,000 male soldiers were moved from Jianchang, but they were all peasant soldiers and did not wear armor. Gao Mingzhan's crimes were not clear before, and he would definitely try to make contributions and redeem himself. Li Guoying handed him over 10,000 soldiers, including 3,000 of them, and they were all fighting Green Camps in Ganzhou, and it would be absolutely fine to capture Chengdu."

"Well, it's better to use faults than to make a contribution." Shunzhi nodded, recognized Oboi's statement, and continued to order: "Deng Ming cannot take Chongqing, otherwise he will be able to contact Li Dingguo, Yunnan, and the imperial court will have more effort to wipe out the imperial court." After a pause, Shunzhi ordered to allocate some food and salary from the treasury from the treasury. Although the military expenditure in recent years was huge, the Qing court had a tax of more than 20 million taels of silver every year, and the treasury still had some reserves: "Let Li Guoying not stay in Baoning, draw more elite troops from Ganzhou and Shaanxi to Chongqing. If Deng Ming really enters Sichuan, he must drag him there."
Chapter completed!