Although it was different from Deng Ming's prior explanation, Jiang Nan believed that his order did not violate the commander's usual practice. After Wen Anzhi was picked out from Fengjie Army and followed Deng Ming, he found that although the commander did not disturb the people for no reason, if it was related to the safety of the army, he would not be ruthless. For example, Deng Ming had always refused to attack the city that could not be defended to avoid giving the Qing army an excuse to retaliate. However, when he heard that the Jiangxi Navy was stationed in Jiujiang, he attacked without hesitation.

"Either the canal workers or the canal, their families cannot be harmed. They must be punished for robbery or murder." Jiang Nan just wanted to ensure the safety of the Ming army, worried that this order would cause the soldiers to lose control, so he specifically instructed: "If you dare to hurt lives, don't blame the ruthless military law."

When ordering his men to clear out the hidden places that the enemy might use, Jiang Nan also passed his orders and considerations backwards. Following him was Wu Baoping's troops. When they saw the sudden fire in front, Wu Baoping was shocked. He thought that a fierce battle occurred in front of him and urged the ships to speed up and chase the front army. However, soon a messenger from the front arrived and reported Jiang Nan's actions to Wu Baoping.

"So that's it." After hearing that it was not because of the enemy's vitality, Wu Baoping felt relieved. Like Jiang Nan, Wu Baoping was also harassed. The losses were similar to those of the former army. About ten armored soldiers were smashed. Wu Baoping had several officers from the standing army, most of whom were from Zhang Huangyan's Zhejiang Army. If it were in the past, Jiang Nan's order might make them very dissatisfied, because it was very different from Zhang Huangyan's teachings.

However, over the past year, they followed Deng Ming to fight north and north, and experienced more wars than the previous years of military life in Zhoushan. Even if these officers had never killed anyone, they had seen the cruelty of the battlefield.

"Captain, we should also use the same countermeasures." Wu Chenming suggested to his family's chief that being captured in other armies is a shame, but it is completely different in Deng Ming's army. After the war with Li Guoying, Wu Chenming was praised by Deng Ming himself for his brave performance before and after being captured, and was also kept in the standing army during the disarmament. The last escape from death made Wu Chenming think that war is a life-and-death battle, and kindness can only be told to his own people, just like Deng Ming.

As for him, last time, Wu Chenming planned to sacrifice his life for the safety of the entire army. Now he felt that it was reasonable to destroy these houses that might be used by the Qing army for the sake of the safety of the troops. In particular, the residents also showed hostility towards the Ming army: "If the Tartars hid a cannon in these houses, they might kill many officers and soldiers of our army. If there is no one now, it may not be dragged in the future. Moreover, the rear army will relax their vigilance after seeing our smooth passage."

"Yes." Wu Baoping thought for a while, and saw that several Zhejiang officers around him had no objection, so he ordered the same strategy as the former army: "Send the order and give the residents some time to take away the most valuable things."

"No harm to life is allowed!" Wu Baoping emphasized again before the messenger left.

After issuing the order, Wu Baoping ordered the envoy to continue rushing backwards and report these situations to the Central Army.

...

It was a long time since Deng Ming received the report. At this time, he was directing the main force to approach Yangzhou from the south.

When advancing, the main force led by Deng Ming was also resisted by some canal workers. Faced with Deng Ming, who had a large number of people and a cavalry unit, the resistance of these canal workers seemed even more vulnerable.

Not every Caotou devoted all his organization to resist like Dong Xiaoye. Besides, not every Caotou could get tens of thousands of taels of silver. Some Caotou even deducted some of the military expenses given by the Governor's Office and brought more mobs to fight against the Ming army.

Although there were many troops composed of thousands of canal workers, their combat effectiveness was similar to those of river officers and soldiers. A charge from the Ming army could break up them apart. On the way to Yangzhou, in addition to a large number of canal workers, Deng Ming also captured three canals.

These prisoners Deng ordered to be dismissed on the spot without giving them any severance payment: "They did not wear the Qing army's robes, so they could not be considered prisoners, and I could not give severance payments."

If the combat effectiveness is the same, of course, enemies without military uniforms are more dangerous than those without military uniforms, and enemies with their own military uniforms are more dangerous than those without military uniforms. This principle is simple and easy to understand, and there is a ready-made example of Deng Ming burning Kunming, so his subordinates have no difficulty in understanding it.

Therefore, Deng Ming once gave a very clear order to the officers. If the enemy was captured wearing the Qing robe, he would be treated humanitarianly; and if the other party did not wear military uniforms, it was obviously a surprise to catch the Ming army, and the Ming army would not have to be polite to these enemies; if an enemy was found wearing the Ming army uniforms, he would have to be executed.

At that time, Ren Tang joked that Deng Ming, who was good at disguising, set up such a policy, was simply blaming his past behavior. Deng Ming replied: "If I were seen through in Kunming, do you think Wu Sangui would let me live?"

The canal armed forces that confronted the Ming army this time were the more dangerous enemies that Deng Ming called, but he did not intend to deal with these prisoners severely because the other party did not pose any threat to the Ming army. Moreover, through the interrogation of the Caotou, Deng Ming felt that they were more greedy and released all the time.

After hearing the reports of Wu Baoping, Jiang Nan and others, Deng Ming just shook his head: "These are naturally the enemy troops to fight against our army, but the people on both sides of the river bank are not necessarily enemies. Because more than a dozen soldiers were thrown into stones, they set fire to thousands of houses, which seemed to be a little overreacting."

"But," the envoy who was photographed back argued for several captains on the right wing: "The Admiral's clarification, maybe this is the temptation of the Qing army. If we take it lightly, they will send warriors, archers, and even cannons to these houses and launch an attack on our army."

Deng Ming also knew that the troops on the right wing were scarce. If there were a large number of people blocking their vision on the flanks and rear roads that could provide a large number of hidden houses in the Qing army, they would be uneasy. If the Ming army had sufficient troops, they could send enough sentinels to form a cordon. Perhaps Jiang Nan and the others would not do this, but now they lacked troops, so they could only feel at ease if they burned the house.

"So I didn't say what they did wrong, but they might have a better idea."

In this era, probably only Zhang Huangyan's army can be called a benevolent and righteous army. In the conflict of interests between the army and the people, Zhang Huangyan stood firmly on the side of the people rather than his army. The last time Deng Ming heard about killing soldiers because of a few pieces of silver was a typical example. Even if the Zhoushan army did not eat enough and did not cover up their clothes, Zhang Huangyan never allowed his subordinates to plunder the coastal people and did not force them to buy and sell them. Even if the Xong Army had good military discipline, it was inevitable that Latin collects grain.

Perhaps it is precisely because of this reason that Zhang Huangyan's strength has always been quite limited, and most of the people who follow Zhang Huangyan are real patriots. However, even patriots hope to get better treatment. The Zhejiang soldiers were very satisfied with Deng Ming's pardon in Chizhou. Although most of Deng Ming's army were former Zhejiang soldiers, he had no resistance to his priority in protecting the interests of the army. Even Ren Tang, after staying in the army for a long time, became completely different from when he was in Zhoushan, and naturally began to look at the problem from the perspective of soldiers.

Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Huangyan were very different. In the last battle of Nanjing, Zheng Chenggong's Fujian army had a large number of plundering activities, which was much worse than the military discipline of the Xongdong Army. Zheng Chenggong had never given severe punishment for his subordinates' plunder of people's wealth. In his opinion, these soldiers were all heroes who carried their heads to help him realize the cause of reviving the Ming Dynasty. Compared with them, the people in the Qing ruling region were much less valuable to Zheng Chenggong. Deng Ming even heard of Zheng Chenggong.

Zhang Huangyan also accused Zheng Chenggong in front of Deng Ming, saying that losing the hearts of the people was one of the reasons for Nanjing's defeat. However, Zheng Chenggong denied that the people killed by the Fujian army were all sympathetic to the wealthy families and gentry of the Qing court, not because of their family property. Zheng Chenggong also angrily retorted that the disarray of the army was the only reason for Nanjing's failure. The hearts of the people could not stop the Qing Dynasty from moving south at that time, and now it would not lead to the defeat of the Fujian army.

Deng Ming asked himself that he could not learn Zhang Huangyan's ability, but he did not intend to favor the army like Zheng Chenggong.

"We do not plan to restore Jiangbei this time, but we will definitely recover here in the future. The canal workers will not be the people of the court for the time being, but sooner or later will be our family. It is necessary to use force for the safety of the army, but we should pay attention to the standards. Captain Jiang did a good job and knew not to burn it indiscriminately. He just cleared the fortifications that could be hidden within fifty steps from the river surface. "Deng Ming first set the tone for Jiang Nan's behavior, and then further said: "But I think Captain Jiang can do better. You must know that the canal workers have no fighting spirit at all and will collapse at once, because they did not

He had the fighting spirit of fighting with our army. Although the Qing army tried to use silver to buy the canal workers to fight against our army, the canal workers were not fools. They knew that they had lost their lives and had no life to spend. We would better not arouse their hatred for our army. Go back and tell Captain Jiang and others that they should publicize to the people along the river. I, the admiral of the Yangtze River, will compensate Deng Ming, the admiral of the Yangtze River. A thatched hut is not worth a few taels of silver, right? Even if ten taels are better, I will double the compensation for them. I will give them twenty taels of silver to settle down for every person who was burned in the house and five taels of silver to subsidize food."

"As for the order!" The messenger responded loudly, saluted Deng Ming, turned around and left quickly.

"Twenty-five taels of silver per household?" After the envoy left, Mu Tan couldn't help but shout: "One thousand households are twenty-five thousand taels of silver! If you continue to burn along the way, are you afraid you will have to pay 100,000 taels of silver?"

"I'm afraid it's not all. Although I gave them subsidies, I'm afraid I'll have to open a porridge factory. If arson fires, I might even die. I have to give it a pension. In the end, two or three hundred thousand taels of silver may not be able to escape. But I didn't pay this silver. The culprit was the governor of the canal transport, the prefect of Yangzhou and the salt merchants. They looked very rich and could take out 500,000 taels of silver to buy the canal. I guess they could pay an extra 500,000 taels of military compensation." Deng Ming said coldly: "There are also punitive compensations, so that they know that there is no need to pay a price to fight our army with this method."

Before Jiang Nan's envoy came, Lin Qilong sent a summons to seek peace. At that time, Deng Ming's military expenditure compensation request was only one million taels of silver, and it seems that it still needs to be added.

...

Dong Xiaoye's 500 men were considered to be more fighting, and together with the other two Caotou, they were arranged near Yangzhou to assist the officers and soldiers in defense. After hearing that the blocking troops in front were defeated by the Ming army, the morale of the canal workers under Yangzhou city plummeted. Dong Xiaoye didn't see it at all, dozens of canal workers ran away and fled. They no longer wanted Dong Xiaoye's 100 taels of silver. Although they might be liquidated in the future, they would live one day for one more day, and Dong Xiaoye might not be able to go back alive.

After seeing the fire rising from the sky on the other side of the river bank, the canal workers were even more shocked and suspicious. Dong Xiaoye, including Dong, couldn't help but want to leave Yangzhou and go home to take a look.

Not long after, the Governor of the Cao Transportation Army called Dong Xiaoye and a few Caotou again. When they saw them, the officials told them with sadness that the Ming army advancing north along the canal would kill people and burn houses, and all the women and children could not escape: "From Guazhou to Gaoyou Lake, tens of thousands of canal workers and their families along the way were killed by Deng Zhe. Now the canal is full of corpses. Deng Zhe arrested the alive people and forced them to salvage the bodies so that the ships could travel together."

The officials also told these Caotou that their home was looted by the Ming army, their wives and concubines were stolen by the Ming army, and their children were chopped up and threw them into the river: "This matter is absolutely true. It was seen by the river officers and soldiers with their own eyes. Several of them have destroyed their families for the country and the Governor are also impressed. They will definitely go to the court for you..."

Dong Xiaoye could no longer hear what the officials said later. He climbed to the Caotou position step by step from the bottom of the canal. Several children were his all hope. Although his eldest son was only eight years old, Dong Xiaoye had hired a private school teacher for him. Every time he saw his son and his husband read, he felt that the hard work in his first half of his life was not in vain, and every scar on his body was worth the money.

After returning to the camp in a daze, Dong Xiaoye saw a wandering subordinate running back and was telling his companion in horror that he saw Ming Jun holding a torch at the house from afar.

Everyone around this guy was worried and talking about the safety of his family, but the guy who ran back didn't know because he didn't dare to get close to the residential area at all.

"Everything is dead!" Dong Xiaoye shouted sadly and angrily, telling his subordinates what he had heard from the Governor's Office: "Thief Deng killed all the people, and now there are so many corpses in the canal that the boat can't leave."

...

When the Ming army finally arrived at the city of Yangzhou, Liang Huafeng mobilized all the troops in the Liangjiang River and went to the city to defend with the river officers and soldiers. The strong men in Yangzhou were also organized to assist in defense. The canal workers were deployed outside the South City Gate to protect the safety of the city gate.

"Governor, it's not too late now, we can still negotiate with Deng Ming." Liang Huafeng said to Lin Qilong, who was visiting the city to observe the enemy: "As long as he agrees to Deng Ming's conditions, he will still be willing to withdraw his troops."

"Well." At this point, Lin Qilong felt very regretful, but he was already in a difficult situation. After the defeat of the river officers and soldiers and the canal troops, he sent envoys to Deng Ming's camp to seek peace, but Deng Ming's conditions were improved again than before crossing the river. Not only did he ask Lin Qilong to agree to all the previous conditions, he also proposed a million taels of military compensation and punished Yangzhou's pro-war faction and other new requirements.

Although Lin Qilong, the largest pro-war faction, was not on Deng Ming's list of punishments, this request still gave the governor of Caoyun a deep sense of humiliation.

"We have this money." The prefect of Yangzhou also persuaded him: "Didn't the salt merchants serve three million taels? There were still two million taels for those who gave the canal. We handed over all the salt merchants in the city to Admiral Deng, and it was these villains who bewitched the Governor."

"How can this be done?" Lin Qilong rebuked: "They will definitely say bad things about me."

"Admiral Deng will definitely not pay attention to them," said the Yangzhou prefect anxiously. Could it be that Deng Ming would not know that the Governor of the Cao Transportation was the biggest war lieutenant? But Deng Ming would definitely not ask for punishment for Lin Qilong, otherwise how could this be negotiated: "If the Governor is worried, we will hand over the head to Admiral Deng."

"Of course you can only hand over the head if you want to hand over it." Lin Qilong snorted. If Deng Ming knew that he had scrapped three million taels from the salt merchant, the other party might have to raise the price: "But you still have to fight first." He pointed to the canal workers under the city and said, "Don't we have so many people?"

"These canal workers..." Liang Huafeng looked at the canal workers whose shoulder poles were the main weapon and said laughing and crying: "They are simply vulnerable."

"At least it can consume Deng Ming's bow and archery and physical strength. Even if it can kill an enemy soldier, it will be good. If we can resist Deng Ming for a while, we will have a good talk. Anyway, we are not our officers and soldiers." Lin Qilong said disapprovingly: "Only one can be at peace can we fight. We must let Deng Ming know that there are people in Yangzhou, and we are united in our hearts and swear to be loyal to the court. If he can't kill, he will have to pay a huge price even if he wants to win. It is better to lower the conditions."

After seeing this deployment of the enemy, Deng Ming knew that the enemy's will to resist had not been finally destroyed, so he ordered a formation to prepare for war.

"It's the canal workers again. Is it a waste of the evil of Lin Qilong?" In Deng Ming's original idea, this entry into Yangzhou would be an operation similar to an armed parade. Force the Qing army into the city and then blasting the city walls, which would probably destroy Lin Qilong's will to resist. Deng Ming did not expect that hundreds of canal workers would be killed and thousands of houses would be burned down. If the opponent was a river officer and soldier who held the Qing court's military pay, Deng Ming would not have any burden. However, through interrogation of the prisoners, he learned that most of the poor and lowest-level people were killed by the Ming army.

However, Deng Ming could not stop military operations just because of the resistance of the canal workers, as it would lose the deterrence of the Ming army. He ordered the archers to advance: "Let a single arrow and drive them away. After there is no enemy army outside the city, we will explode the city wall."
Chapter completed!