Although Zhou Peigong has not returned yet, Deng Ming estimated that the Ming army would definitely obtain Chongming Island as a base. Zhang Huangyan seemed a little regretful about Deng Ming's decision to give up the Zhenjiang and other riverside territories and retreat to Chongming Island to stand firm.

However, the last Nanjing meeting had already determined Zheng Chenggong's next strategy. The Fujian army would protect the Taiwanese expatriates and challenge the Netherlands' control of the East Asian trade line. Once Zheng Chenggong wins, then the alliances of Deng Ming, Zhang Huangyan and Zheng Chenggong can obtain a steady stream of wealth from the sea. Of course, Zheng Chenggong only opened one end of the situation. If Deng Ming and Zhang Huangyan cannot guarantee the channels for the Southeast Alliance to obtain goods from the mainland and make the Qing Dynasty's sea ban work, then the significance of Zheng Chenggong's acquisition of Taiwan will become very limited, and it is likely to be equivalent to obtaining a piece of land for the Fujian army to cultivate.

"Yanping and Shangshu are also the pillar of the southeast. Although Zhoushan and Xiamen are far apart and thousands of miles away from Chengdu, I think we should still try our best to cooperate and combine our strength to one place." After seeing Zhang Huangyan's regret, Deng Ming tried his best to persuade: "Since Hongguang, our dynasty has suffered repeated setbacks. I am afraid that it was because the generals and the generals were all in charge and were used by the Qing court. It is not too late to make up for the sheep. This time, Shangshu helped Yanping break through the blockade, so that Yanping could achieve the greatest victory after regaining Taiwan. After Yanping's strong strength, he will naturally have better support for our great cause of revival."

"If Yanping can successfully recover Taiwan." Zhang Huangyan sighed lightly. He understood that without Zheng Chenggong's support, the Zhoushan army would definitely not be able to occupy Songjiang, Suzhou, Zhenjiang and other places for a long time with Deng Ming's support. Even with the support of Deng Ming, it would be difficult to withstand the Qing court's full counterattack.

"I am very confident in Yanping. Moreover, if Suzhou and other places are in the hands of the Qing court, as long as the sea trade continues, it will still be of great help to us. Needless to say, Yanping can benefit from smuggling and enrich its military strength. If we take it down and confront the Qing court, there will be only one or two prefectures that can be cultivated. Moreover, the Qing court will definitely recapture it with all its might. If the war continues, our income will probably be very limited." In Deng Ming's view, if Zheng Chenggong's major offensive last year is victorious, there will still be a

There is a great opportunity, so that the Ming army can take all Jiangnan and cut off the grain transportation. But even if Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Huangyan have 200,000 troops stationed, they will definitely fight hard with the main force of the Qing court who is swaying over the country. It is unknown whether it can continue in Jiangnan for a long time until the Qing court gives up. Now that the Fujian army is damaged, the Zhejiang army alone has a short-term occupation of one or two prefectures and counties in the short term is too small: "Dividing will make the strength weak, and combining will make the strength strong. After Yanping recovers its vitality, we will not only think about taking one or two prefectures when we attack Nanjing next time."

After concentrating the Ming army in Chongming, the Ming army controlled the area was much smaller. It was surrounded by waters like Zhoushan and Xiamen, and it was just a relatively remote county. The Qing court's reaction to the Ming army's control of Chongming would probably be much smaller than seeing the Ming army return to the mainland, Beijing would most likely instruct the Liangjiang Governor's Office to be responsible for the offensive and defense of Chongming County, so that the Ming army's confidence in maintaining this forward base would become greater.

Zhang Huangyan recognized Deng Ming's plan. The arduous battles over the past decade have made the Zhoushan Army a very pragmatic army. Although it was a very painful thing to give up land, the Zhoushan Army was unable to support its officers and soldiers not long ago and would not blindly insist on counterattacking.

"I heard that Admiral Deng sent away some of the soldiers who came to join the army?" After the strategy was determined, Zhang Huangyan asked about some trivial matters he had just heard of.

"Yes, our army does not intend to stay in Jiangnan for a long time, so there is no need to expose these scholars. This is also my usual policy." Since entering Jiangnan for the second time, Deng Ming has been appeased local gentry and prevented them from coming out to fight with local officials of the Qing court: "Although the group of people who have come recently did not want to raise troops to help me, I think there is no suitable position in the army for the time being, so it is better for them to lurk in the enemy camp."

Zhang Huangyan smiled, and Deng Ming's explanation made him shake his head slightly when he heard it.

"Haha, this is only one aspect, and I don't trust them very much. If these people recently want to join the army, why not join the Zhoushan of Zhang Shangshu? They came to me in a hurry. I judged it with a villain's heart. They just felt that our army was quite powerful recently, as if it was sweeping across the south of the Yangtze River. If we see our army retreating, we might be discouraged. Since that's the case, I will decline first. If their desire to serve the country is immortal, we can still go to Chongming after I leave." Deng Ming said and laughed.

"Admiral Deng is a little mean." Zhang Huangyan shook his head lightly again, but he did not continue talking about this issue.

"It's not that I'm mean, but that's true. When I heard that when Zhang Shangshu crossed Nanjing last time and advanced to the upstream prefectures and counties, people at that time thought that the revival of Jiangnan was about to be restored. Not only were the prefectures and counties one after another, scholars also came out to greet him like a tide, but they did not bring their servants to join the army, nor did they take out the food and silver from the family to supplement military supplies. They just ran to Zhang Shangshu's camp to discuss how to govern the local area. Simply put, who should replace the officials who had just made up the right way to take over the local authority. At that time, Yanping's military strength was quite strong, and those local officials who were in absurd and dared not speak out, but how could they not be worried? How could they do their best to cooperate with Zhang Shangshu?"

"Those are all gangsters who are both rats," Zhang Huangyan couldn't help but defend the performance of the scholars in Jiangnan: "They are indeed unreliable. Moreover, our army's purpose is to restore Jiangnan, not to exploit the scholars and gentry, so how can we force them to pay out silver and grain?"

"That's right, because the prince of Yanping lost, the local officials surrendered quickly, but those officials were unreliable, were the scholars who defected to Zhang Shangshu not both sides of the rat? Didn't they flee home like flying? They didn't pay money, food, call on the people, and don't join the army with their servants, that would be of no help to our army. This was Yanping's loss, so their evil consequences did not appear. If Yanping won in Nanjing, they would continue to compete for power and profit with the original local officials.

Those local officials really have the hands of soldiers, horses, money and food. The scholars' method of serving our army will not only not enhance our army's strength, but will instead push the powerful faction to the side of Lu Chou. Yanping's defeat in Nanjing will not cause hidden dangers to break out, but it does not exist. Deng Ming felt that it would be better for these scholars to do business with the Ming army at home, which would help the Ming army even more: "Next time we march into Jiangnan again, I think we would just use officials anyway, and we would give them as much power as the Qing court gave them."

"This is not good." Zhang Huangyan immediately expressed his objection.

"Since Zhang Shangshu feels it is not good, then choose the good candidates in advance and set the list of officials in prefectures and counties in advance." Deng Ming guessed that Zhang Huangyan would not agree with his first suggestion, so he said with a retreat: "It is difficult to find a righteous man who sacrificed his life to the country. Is there any official who is still worried that no one is willing to be a official? If Zhang Shangshu feels that there are not enough people, I can help. I have people here who want to be an official, and twice the candidates can be found."

"Oh, Admiral Deng, the scholars in Jiangnan also have their own difficulties." Zhang Huangyan seemed to want to speak for the scholars in Jiangnan: "The steel knife is added to the neck, and the scholar has to bow his head."

"Shangshu Zhang, I am not disrespectful to scholars. If you don't talk about you, I respect you very much. The country has been raising scholars for three hundred years. Not only can they not pay taxes or perform corvee labor, but they even accused them of accepting the remittance. The international community would rather damage the tax source, and would rather lack corvee labor than make them live better. They have no reason to bow their heads-or, or if they want to bow their heads like the people, they should not force the scholars to be Zhang Shangshu and Yanping County Prince, but then they will pay taxes like the people and perform corvee labor. If they all pay taxes and serve, and the country still cannot protect them, then they will bow their heads and no one can say anything bad."

While Deng Ming and Zhang Huangyan were discussing, Ma Fengzhi remained silent as usual. However, Ren Tang couldn't help but support Deng Ming. Last year, when he was in Chizhou, the local officials turned against him when they heard that Zheng Chenggong was defeated. The Chizhou scholars who had been instructing the country the day before also changed their ranks and had no trouble with the local officials. They even did not even inform Ren Tang, which caused the Chizhou Zhejiang Army to have no idea that the change had occurred and was caught off guard. If Deng Ming and others had not arrived, Ren Tang would not have thought of living: "Admiral Deng said it well. If it were not for the taxes and the troops were sent, this would be of no help to our army."

After the meeting with Zhang Huangyan and Ma Fengzhi, Deng Ming continued to work on the matter in his hand.

"Shangshu Zhang is really a humble gentleman." When Zhang Huangyan was there just now, Ren Tang had to take some of his feelings, and now he is even more scruples. He did not show any respect to the two famous scholars in Jiangnan, but called him directly: "Qian Qianyi, Huang Zongxi's disciple and son, is not reliable at all."

"Oh?" Zhou Kaihuang glanced at Ren Tang. He remembered that when Deng Ming did not see two scholars, Ren Tang had opposed it.

"No need to mention Qian Qianyi. If he was not an old master or Yanping's master, he would probably not be able to escape the traitors," Ren Tang snorted: "Why did Huang Zongxi? When Zhang Shangshu supported King Lu in eastern Zhejiang, the uprising soldiers resisted the Lu Chou, he and Zhang Dai also came to serve as officials. The officers and soldiers fought many times but failed. Zhang Shangshu struggled to support and vowed to deal with Lu Chou to the end. When Huang Zongxi and Zhang Dai saw that the situation was not good, they immediately ran back to Jiangnan, shaved their hair with peace of mind, saying that the country had perished, and they were the "Da Ming Dynasty"

Remnants’, although Zhang Shangshu was alone at that time, the country’s dynasty had large tracts of Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Huguang, and Sichuan, how could it be destroyed? As long as the loyal and righteous people were still fighting hard, the country’s dynasty would not have been destroyed. But so far, Huang Zongxi and Zhang Dai have been “remnants” for ten years. After the Ming Dynasty’s revival, I want to see what these two survivors have to meet Zhang Shangshu. Do you still remember the bold words they said to Zhang Shangshu when they first arrived in Zhejiang."

"Then why would you object to the admiral blowing people away?" Zhou Kaihuang asked in confusion after hearing Ren Tang's words: "If the teachers are all like this, then wouldn't their disciples follow the same example?"

"This is because..." Ren Tang glanced at Deng Ming: "Maybe they are not worthy of their teachers. At least when the admiral talks about 'the law of ancestors' and 'the matter is urgently followed', someone will say a few words for me."

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Chapter completed!