When the Ming army began to cross the river, there was already a chaotic situation in Yangzhou. The river officers and soldiers directly under the Governor of the Grain Transport bullied the people and the Governor of the Grain Transport have been bullying the people and the Governor of the Grain Transport for many years, but they were not the director of the battle with the enemy. Last time Zheng Chenggong launched the Zhenjiang and Guazhou Battle, the former Governor of the Grain Transport also sent those more combat-effective troops to assist in the war, but the Ming army killed them without leaving any armor.

Since the Governor of the Valley Transport could not count on the officers and soldiers of the river, he had to rely on Liang Huafeng's Liangjiang troops. However, as a great commander, Liang Huafeng had even sent his portrait to Beijing, but he was an absolute dove. He worked with the Yangzhou prefect to persuade Lin Qilong not to resist by force, and it would be better to negotiate with Deng Ming as soon as possible.

But Liang Huafeng's persuasion played a counterproductive role. Lin Qilong had previously ignored Liang Huafeng's opposition and insisted on resisting by force. Now if he didn't fight, he would compromise and feel that he would be too unlucky to come to Taiwan. Moreover, some of the remarks of Liang Huafeng and the prefect of Yangzhou also stimulated Lin Qilong. They even used "those who know the current affairs are heroes." The Governor of the Cao Transport was furious and scolded them: "You might as well advise me to surrender, why bother me to negotiate?"

The river officers and soldiers were not able to fight, and the Liangjiang troops could not count on them. Lin Qilong was also a clever woman. Fortunately, in addition to Liang Huafeng and his gang, there were many loyal and righteous people in Yangzhou City. For example, the salt merchants in Yangzhou actively supported Lin Qilong to fight against the Ming army with force. Lin Qilong's face was very different from last time. He urgently summoned the salt merchants in Yangzhou City, praised their enthusiasm for loyalty and patriotism with a smile, and asked them not to escape from Yangzhou at this moment of crisis.

Originally, some salt merchants had the idea of ​​fleeing to Huai'an after hearing the gust of the Ming army crossing the river, but now the Governor of the Cao Transportation said that these salt merchants in Yangzhou City did not dare to leave immediately except for a small number of people who were ignorant of the world. Most of them were salt gutters from Jiangnan and could only sell goods in Jiangnan and depended heavily on the canal. If they angered the Governor of the Cao Transportation, then their business would not be able to be done in the future.

With personal interests, coupled with the heartwarming words of the Governor of the Canal Transportation, many salt merchants once again took out their money to serve the court. In just two days, Lin Qilong received three million taels of silver. For many salt merchants, this was almost all the wealthy funds in their pockets, leaving only the necessary savings for buying salt. If Deng Ming cannot defeat and restore the canal and even the Yangtze River to smooth flow, even if there is salt, it cannot be sold out.

In addition to the money, the salt merchant also recommended some heroes to the Governor of the Cao Transportation, and Dong Xiaoye was the most powerful one among them.

The Grand Canal requires a large number of canals, which have been as many as hundreds of thousands since the Yuan and Ming dynasties. Compared with the long-term cut off of the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties, the turbulent period of canals during the Southern Ming dynasty was quite short, and the canal system did not receive serious damage. Compared with farmers, canals were at a lower level in society, without land and no chance to receive education, there was no possibility of gentry among relatives, and there was no social leader. Because there was no relatives, canals had no possibility of resisting oppression from the government and the powerful. If there was a chance, canals would flee the canal and try to become farmers under the rule of the government. In that way, his life and death would not be completely manipulated in the hands of the underworld, and his descendants would also have the possibility of becoming gentry.

For the canal workers who have no ability to defend themselves, the government ignored them and delegated the relevant judicial power to the powerful people around the canal, that is, the Caotou. As long as the canal canal canal canal smooth transportation, the government will not care about how they treat the canal. The canal each has its own territory, monopolizes the operations within its own sphere of influence, collect wages from passing merchants, and then distribute them to the canal. In order to defend and compete for territory, to suppress the dissatisfaction and resistance of the canal, to capture fleeing canal workers or kidnap newcomers to fill the gap, Caotou generally has a force in his hands.

Dong Xiaoye was also a canal worker more than ten years ago. After the Qing army advanced south, he took advantage of the turmoil of the canal. He fought with a group of brothers and other competitors and captured a large area of ​​territory. Now he has a large area of ​​territory in Gaoyou Lake. These territories make Dong Xiaoye soon become a rich man. In his original plan, he would work for the canal for the rest of his life, save money, and then purchase land far away from the canal, and cultivate his descendants into scholars. As long as one or two descendants produce a juren, his family will be protected by gentry.

The continued turmoil in the south of the Yangtze River was also a big blow to Dong Xiaoye's business. The severance of canal traffic caused his business to plummet, and the shrinking trade in the Yangtze River had a great impact on Dong Xiaoye. Not only were there few passers-by, but the salt merchants were not as generous as before, but were petty about expenses. Whether it was these salt merchants or past merchants with the background of the Governor of the Canal Transportation, Dong Xiaoye could not afford to provoke him. His business has been depressed in the past, but his tens of thousands of canal workers still have to support him. Dong Xiaoye felt like he was sitting in the empty house.

Perhaps the gentry along the Yangtze River welcomed Deng Ming very much, and even thanked the Ming army for restricting the Qing court's checkpoints, reducing taxes and increasing their profits, but Dong Xiaoye and other canals hated Deng Ming to the core, hoping that he would be eliminated by the Qing court all day long. If the Ming army isolates the north and south, it would be a disaster for Dong Xiaoye, such a canal, because the opposing Northern and Southern Dynasties would stop shipping, and the territory that Dong Xiaoye had captured for half his life would become worthless in the blink of an eye.

Although he hated the Ming army, Dong Xiaoye would not have the idea of ​​confronting the Ming army. A few days ago, after hearing the news that the army began to cross the river, Dong Xiaoye only did the only thing he did with his head in his arms and cried, feeling that the nightmare of the Ming army's isolation between the north and the south was becoming a reality.

At this moment, the salt merchant introduced Dong Xiaoye to the subordinates of the Governor's Office of the Cao Transportation Governor's Office. There were other Caotou, who were with Dong Xiaoye. Like Dong Xiaoye, these Caotou had dozens of capable subordinates.

The subordinates of the Governor of the Cao Transport told these Governors that if they formed a brave and bravery and cooperated with the officers and soldiers to fight the Ming army, they would receive rewards after victory. The Governor of the Cao Transport will continue to allow them to maintain their current territory. If they refuse to contribute, then they will not continue to be kings and dominate the canal.

When they first heard this, most of the Caotou were still timid and did not dare to agree. Seeing their appearance, the official sneered and said to Dong Xiaoye and the others: "Don't think about the two ends of the rat. Deng Zhe had already said in his manifesto that when he controlled the canal, he would dismiss the Caotou, and confiscate your property and compensate each Caotou 100 taels of silver."

After hearing the officials explain Deng Ming's manifesto, Dong Xiaoye's heart became colder and colder. The other party actually regarded the treatment of the canal workers as one of the reasons for sending troops this time, and also explicitly stated that they wanted to cut off the canal shipping. Under the explanation of officials and salt merchants, Deng Ming's manifesto was to cut off the canal, disband the canal workers, and completely smash the jobs of the canal leaders.

"Fight with the thief Deng!" Dong Xiaoye couldn't help but shout. His territory was taken from other powerful people with his head and desperately, and no one could snatch it from him in one sentence.

The other Caotou also felt the same way. After hearing Dong Xiaoye's scream, they also performed and agreed.

"Okay, hero!" The official praised and waved his hand to let the soldiers bring out some boxes to open, which were filled with white silver ingots: "This is 500,000 taels of silver, I will use it for you first. When the Deng thief is defeated, the Governor will still have a lot of rewards."

After returning home with the 40,000 taels of silver he gave him, Dong Xiaoye asked his brothers to search for strong cannon workers, and finally found about 500 people. Dong Xiaoye gave all of them and took out 10,000 taels of silver himself, gathered 50,000 taels, and spread the white silver in front of the cannon workers who had never seen many of them. Dong Xiaoye shouted: "Whoever follows me to kill the thief, will this hundred taels of silver be given to whom. After killing the thieves, you can use this silver to buy two acres of land and live a good life. At that time, I will serve wine to see you off for the brothers, and you will never leave any difficulties! As for the way to go elsewhere, the Governor also agreed and will prepare it for the brothers."

...

As one of the seventeen cavalry who once made a big fuss with Deng Ming in Kunming, Jiang Nan's qualifications were quite old in the Ming army, and naturally had the rank of a captain in the standing army. After crossing the river, Deng Ming led his main force to approach Yangzhou from the south, and Jiang Nan's troops belonged to the right-wing side division, which would go north along the canal and head towards Gaoyou Lake when the main force threatened Yangzhou to ensure the safety of the main force's flanks. Behind the distance from Jiang Nan, there were Wu Baoping's troops, who were older than Jiang Nan's qualifications and were one of the guards around Deng Ming in the Battle of Wanxian.

When advancing along the canal, Jiang Nan was like looking for some canal workers to pull fibers for the Ming army to save the Ming army's physical strength. Deng Ming also allocated some silver to pay for the reward. However, the canal workers fled without a trace, so that Jiang Nan could not find a large amount of manpower that could be used.

The Qing Dynasty's river officers and soldiers were about to collapse. After seeing the Ming army, they either fled or surrendered with their heads. The fiercest resistance they encountered since crossing the river was actually brought by some canal workers. Jiang Nan was very puzzled. At the pre-war meeting, a Zhejiang officer familiar with Jiangbei gave an explanation, saying that these canal workers have always been fences and served the power to rule the canal since ancient times, and would not intervene in the war of hegemony. Just like the Yan Shenggong of Qufu, the saint-born Confucius Mansion, who was loyal to Chongzhen during the Ming Dynasty, Li Zicheng immediately came to Beijing to persuade him to enter the imperial examination, and the Qing Dynasty immediately shaved his head after entering the pass.

After defeating the resistance of two groups of canal workers, Jiang Nan captured a group of prisoners. Faced with these prisoners of war that were obviously ordinary people, Jiang Nan was a little at a loss and did not know that he should treat them according to Deng Ming's prisoner policy. Finally, Jiang Nan ordered the organization of these prisoners and pull fibers for the Ming army's ships.

"Captain, there are enemy soldiers ahead to block the way."

A sharp-eyed guard pointed ahead and reported loudly to Jiang Nan.

"Um." Jiang Nan looked at the dark heads in front of him and fell into deep thought.

There were some wooden rafts and bamboo rafts blocking the canal in front of them. They were tied up with iron chains, trying to stop the Ming army from continuing to drive on the canal. There were also some people on both sides of the obstacles holding sticks to guard the fixed points of the iron chains.

"Are they the canal workers again? What benefits did the Qing soldiers give them, and would they fight like this?" Jiangnan observed the appearance of the enemy troops. It seemed that there were more than a hundred canal workers on both sides of the Taiwan Strait guarding the defense line. They did not have armor and had any excellent weapons worth mentioning.

Jiang Nan's squad had five hundred people, of which 200 had armor, others also had steel knives, and even a bow and arrow. There was no need to waste too much time on these enemies. Jiang Nan ordered the ship to continue advancing, sail into the fortifications, and then put a large number of armored soldiers on the west bank to drive out the enemies on the shore.

But after the Ming soldiers approached him, the guards suddenly shouted, fled from their posts and fled to a residential area not far away.

"No need to pursue." Jiang Nan had no interest in attacking these canal workers, and ordered the soldiers to untie the iron chain and then expel the enemies on the other side.

Just as the Ming army was untiing the iron chain, a sudden burst of rapid bangs sounded from the west. Then Jiang Nan saw a large number of canal workers rushing out from behind the houses not far away, shouting and rushing towards the Ming army on the shore.

There were as many as thousands of people in this group of canal workers, who commanded their canals to climb up the roof and observe the situation of the war. The canal houses on both sides provided good concealment for canal workers. The battles gathered here exceeded 2,000, and were divided into five canals, and were deployed on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Thousands of people rushed out from behind the houses, shouting and rushing to the shore were amazing. According to the experience of the Caotou people, this sudden attack can hit the morale of the enemy more severely. In many cases, even if there are few people on the side, relying on a sudden charge, the enemy can flee in panic, thus laying the victory in one fell swoop.

"So there is still an ambush. Did they want to lead us behind the house to ambush?" The momentum of a large number of enemies suddenly rushed out also scared Jiang Nan. He looked at the canal workers who were constantly coming out from behind the house, and did not know how many enemy troops were. He immediately ordered the archers on the boat to assemble to the right, preparing to cover the soldiers and boatmen on the ground.

Some of the canal workers were holding shoulder poles and some were holding wooden spears, roaring and rushing towards the shore. More than one hundred Ming soldiers did not flee in panic, or jumped into the water and swam towards their ships as the Caotou thought. Instead, under the command of the officers, they formed a tight battle formation side by side, ready to welcome the charge.

Not long after the bangzi sounded on the west bank, the bangzi sounded like rainy behind the houses on the east bank, and a large number of canal workers rushed out from behind the houses and rushed towards the canal.

"So there are also here." Jiang Nan was shocked again. He immediately turned around and looked at the other side, observing the number and formation of the enemies: "Why don't they concentrate all the people on one side, but on both sides of the strait?"

The canal workers who launched the charge on the west bank were all excited. Many people had seen such large-scale gang fights. Many of them rushed forward were thugs from Caotou, and they were also experienced in the martial arts world. Every companion around them was shouting loudly and rushing forward with all their might. Everyone in the formation felt that they had dissolved into a whole with their companions around them. Thousands of people turned into an invincible torrent, as if they could rush to the horizon.

But after rushing for a while, the team stopped. The canal workers who were squeezed behind had nowhere to vent their enthusiasm. They could only push the companions in front and make louder shouts of killing. The people were crowded with people, and they couldn't move in front, back, left and right. The canal workers trapped in the crowd could only continue to shout loudly, or throw the stones in their hands into the sky, crossing the heads of their companions and hoping to hit the enemy by the river.

No matter how hard the team pushed hard, the team could not move forward any further. Although the canal workers in the back row did not participate in the battle, they also used a lot of effort to push hard. Their shouts gradually became low, and their faces began to show fatigue. At this time, the canal workers in the back row felt the huge thrust from the direction from their arms, and the entire team seemed to be beginning to retreat, and the people in front were retreating back.

A large number of canal workers were crowded into groups, cursing and pushing each other, the ones in front wanted to retreat, and the ones in the back wanted to move forward...

Zheng Yaojun was a archer on Jiang Nan's boat. He was ordered to shoot at the enemy in Xi'an at the beginning. The Ming army's armor and soldiers on the shore gathered into a circle, maintaining the length of only 30 or 40 people against the enemy. If it were not for protecting the captured boatmen, the Ming army's round formation could be smaller. Behind the double-layer Ming army's defense line was a boatmen squatting on the ground with their heads in their arms.

The enemy formed an arc formation on the shore. Zheng Yaojun could see a group of cannon workers rushing directly to the shore and attacking the most edge of the Ming army's circular formation. Several strong cannon workers who rushed to the front were stabbed to the ground one after another, and fell in their own pool of blood with shoulder poles. The enemy behind them stopped seeing this, waved the sticks in their hands, and shouted loudly at the Ming army's armored soldiers.

The Ming army in the front row exchanged positions with the rear row. When the retreating Ming army soldiers got a breath of rest, the Ming army who moved to the front listened to the sound of drums that began to ring behind them, slowly raised their spear and took two steps forward.

Seeing this, the canal workers who stopped at a safe distance shouted at the Ming army immediately tried to retreat, and pushed and yelled with their companions behind them.

The Ming army slowly took two steps forward. Zheng Yaojun saw many canal workers throwing the shoulder poles and sticks in their hands towards the Ming army, making a ding-dong sound on their iron armor, and then turned around and squeezed into the group of companions.

At this time, Zheng Yaojun received an order and turned from the left side of the ship to the right side. On this side of the shore, a large number of canal workers rushed to the shore without any obstacles and threw stones at the Ming army on the river.

Although there was no bow and arrow, the Ming army beside the ship still raised shields and protected the ship meticulously.

The stone flew over like hail, and the Ming army holding the shield hid behind the cover, erecting the shield in their hands straight.

Zheng Yaojun walked behind a shield player, aimed at a big man on the shore from the gap... and shot, then stepped back and turned the bowstring, and walked back to the shield again.

Seeing a person lit the torch in his hand, even such simple fire attack equipment was very rare among the canal workers, so the enemy was also very conspicuous. Zheng Yaojun immediately aimed at the enemy, but before he shot, another Ming army feather arrow had hit him - if the other party was a regular army, the enemy would not receive much attention, because ordinary torches had very low threat, and even if they could hit the ship, they might not be able to cause fire. Even if they could cause fire, they would be wiped out by one foot. Under normal circumstances, the Ming army archers would definitely give priority to attack the opponent's officers, musketeers, archers, oilers, and even spearmen. However, in today's battle, the canal workers were targeted by several Ming army archers as soon as they reached the shore.

The Ming army on the west bank had advanced more than a dozen steps forward. The attackers threw down shoulder poles and sticks everywhere and fled back to their attack starting point.

The canal workers on the east bank also began to escape, with dozens of corpses standing upside down on the canal bank. However, after finding that the enemy began to retreat, Jiang Nan immediately ordered to stop shooting: "Bows and arrows are very expensive."

After the obstacles were lifted, the Ming army's ships continued to advance. The crushing defeat in front made Caotou terrified behind him. The Ming army did not encounter enemies who continued to rush out of the hidden place to fight, but occasionally stones would fly out from behind the houses not far away.

Some boatmen were hit by stones and their heads were bleeding. These stones did not threaten the Ming army with helmets and armor. However, one of the Ming army was thrown into the helmet and was bleeding from his head.

The injured Ming army immediately pulled out their weapons and rushed towards the hut with two companions. However, when the Ming soldiers in armor rushed to the house, they only saw a figure flying away from behind the house.

But after the Ming army soldiers kicked open the door and rushed into the house, they only saw the family of canal kneeling on the ground. The canal covered his wife and children behind his back, kneeling on the ground and cried bitterly at the Ming army. He was just a poor canal, and several generations had been squeezed by the canal by the canal. All the property was this ancestral thatched hut, because it was close to the canal, and he could do some small business to passers-by merchants, so he could get his wife and settle his family.

According to the canal worker, the one who threw the stone at the Ming army just now was a nearby canal thug, and he did not dare to refuse the request of the vicious guy.

Blood flowed out from the wound on his forehead and flowed down his cheeks to his chin. The angry Ming soldiers kicked the canal workers down. Because they had nowhere to vent, they smashed two clay pots in the thatched hut before leaving.

After moving forward for about a while, similar situations happened several times. It was fine for those boatmen to capture them. Seeing that several of their subordinates were smashed to their noses and faces, Jiang Nan also felt angry.

"These canal workers are really ungrateful and actually fight against the officers and soldiers." If Jiang Nan had a large number of soldiers in his hands, it would have nothing to do, but he only had five hundred soldiers in his hands, and was ordered to sweep the river officers and soldiers of the Qing court north, obviously he could not retaliate against these annoying canals.

There are many such houses near the river on both sides of the canal. Jiang Nan, who has limited troops, will definitely not be able to control them one by one, and he is unwilling to let his subordinates check these houses one by one. If the other party ambushed a large number of thugs in a certain area, it will pose a serious threat to the search team.

On both sides of the canal were prisoners who were pulling for the Ming army. In order to prevent them from escaping or being dispersed by the enemy who suddenly rushed out, a small number of armored soldiers must be deployed outside, so the Ming army seemed to have to endure this kind of harassment.

"It's just a stone now. If there are Qing army's river soldiers and there are muskets and feather arrows hidden in these houses, what should we do?" Deng Ming explained in advance that we must not harass the people on both sides of the canal. However, the behavior of these canal workers is different from Deng Ming's speculation, showing hostility towards the Ming army. Jiang Nan believes that they should not continue to be regarded as harmless people.

Seeing another residential house not far from the canal, Jiang Nan looked at the cover troops on the shore, feeling that his primary duty was to ensure the safety of his comrades.
Chapter completed!