Chapter 17 Suspicious soldiers

Although Huang Zongxi was very annoyed by the sudden withdrawal of troops from Mingjin, after returning to Shuizhai, the matter became clear: the reason why Sun Jiaji and the others did this was not because they saw the Qing soldiers firing, but because they received a letter from Xingyuan, the governor of Fuyang. An emergency order came, ordering all battalions to stop advancing immediately, change from offense to defense, and defend the river defense with all their strength, and not to attack without authorization. "I heard," Sun Jiaji said in a low voice after handing over the command flag and the duties of arranging the ships to the deputy general beside him, while gesturing for Huang Zongxi to enter the cabin, "the imperial court has received intelligence that Jianlu recently sent Hong Hengjiu to the south of the Yangtze River to oversee military affairs. He Hearing that our soldiers were going to attack Hangzhou, I personally led the reinforcements and headed south from Liudu at Xingye, intending to fight me with all my strength. The supervisor feared that I might lose, so I urgently ordered Fuyang Xingyuan to suspend the march of troops, and we will wait and see what happens."

"Hong Hengjiu—which Hong Hengjiu?" Huang Zongxi asked suspiciously. "Who else can Hong Hengjiu be? Isn't it the Hong Chengchou who defeated Songshan in the 15th year of Chongzhen, was captured alive, and finally surrendered to the Tartars—Hong Hengjiu!" Sun Jiaji said a little annoyed, "Well, this traitor is no better than others. He used to be the Chief Sima of our dynasty, the governor of the military for many years, he has been in battle for a long time, and he knows the situation of our soldiers very well, he is really a formidable enemy that cannot be underestimated!"

Huang Zongxi gave an "um" and stopped talking.He naturally knew Hong Chengchou, and knew that apart from being hateful, hateful, and despicable, he was indeed a very formidable opponent.Speaking of it, when Hong Chengchou was still a minister of the Ming Dynasty, because of his outstanding achievements in fighting Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and other "rogue bandits", his reputation shocked the government and the public, so that Huang Zongxi, like many scholars and people, once ardently worshiped and praised him, and placed great trust in him. Unlimited expectations. "Ah, treasonous traitor, liar! Fear of death! Why are they all these people?" Huang Zongxi couldn't help clenching his fists due to hatred and shame from recalling the past.

"I heard—" Seeing that Huang Zongxi was frowning without making a sound, Sun Jiaji slowly stroked his beard, and said, "When the court was discussing leaving the teacher, this matter had already been rumored, so some people advocated being cautious at the time. In the end, it was Zhang Ge Lao tried his best to reject all opinions, thinking that at present, the rebels in the south of the Yangtze River are swarming, Nanjing is surrounded by enemies, and he is too busy to take care of himself. Hong Hengjiu may not be able to spare Hangzhou to reinforce Hangzhou, so Jian Guo made a decision. Unexpectedly, in the end... hey! "

Huang Zongxi glanced at his colleagues.If it was said that the withdrawal of troops by Mingjin just now was an order from above, and although he didn't take it seriously, it was inconvenient to attack, then Sun Jiaji's worried look aroused his disgust again. "What are you afraid of?" He sat down on the wooden bed angrily, raised his sword with a "crash", and put it across his knees, "As long as our army and people in eastern Zhejiang share the same hatred, Hong Hengjiu has nothing to fear!" Sun Jiaji shook his head: "You can't say that. This time, the imperial court decided to march westward. It was because our army was strong and the enemy was lonely. It was a good opportunity to use troops. Now the enemy in Hangzhou has suddenly received strong reinforcements. On the other hand, Except for the subordinates of Zhendong and Wuning Erhou, who are still regular soldiers in the guard, most of our soldiers are newly recruited soldiers who have not fought in battle. We are not sure whether we can fight against him at that time! "

"Hmph, up to now, there is no retreat. Whether you are sure or not, the only thing you can do is to fight to the death! Could it be that we just let it go?" Sun Jiaji blinked, as if surprised by Huang Zongxi's words. "This is impossible." He said solemnly, "A battle can only be fought if you are sure; if you are not sure, how can you fight in vain!" "This - with us soldiers, since 'attack' is not his opponent, could it be that 'shou' is his opponent?" "Defending, it's better than attacking. What's more, the northern soldiers are good at riding horses, but not good at riding boats. Our soldiers rely on the natural danger of the Qiantang and wait for work at leisure. He may not be able to attack."

After a pause, seeing that Huang Zongxi was silent, he warned again: "Now that the imperial court is newly established, this Western Expedition is a crucial start. If you win, you can boost morale and reassure the people. If you lose, the consequences will be dire. Don't be careless!" What Sun Jiaji said was naturally reasonable, and the Governor Xingyuan's order could only be obeyed. Even though Huang Zongxi felt resentful, he knew that there was nothing he could do.But, staying in the cabin, he felt very stuffy again, so he straightened up, stood up, left the cabin, and went back to the deck.

On the big river, not long ago, there were warships galloping, and the sound of guns was loud. Now, because the opposing sides have quieted down their flags and drums, it has returned to calm and emptiness.The setting sun slanting in the west broke free from the mist, and wiped out pieces of flickering floating light on the surging northward waves.Inside the water village, cooking smoke rose everywhere.The soldiers who were clearly relaxed gathered together in small groups, some were gambling, some were chatting, looking lazy and happy... "Yes, an excellent opportunity was lost just like that!" Huang Zongxi took two steps aimlessly, thinking dejectedly, "Then, what will happen next? As Sun Shuofu said, in the Stand guard by the riverside, waiting for Hong Chengchou to attack? No, this time our division was ordered to come here to cross the river and defeat the enemy. All of our vigor was focused on this. The sudden change from offense to defense is obviously out of fear of the enemy and avoiding the battle. , morale will definitely be greatly frustrated. If you want to defend it, you may not be able to defend it. This is absolutely impossible! But, what should I do? Hey, what should I do..." So troubled, suddenly, a burst of noise came from The neighboring ship rang.Huang Zongxi turned his head and found two soldiers chasing and fighting in the boat for some reason.One fled in front, and the other chased behind, attracting other onlookers to boo.The escaped man was agile, sometimes jumping over the piled ropes, sometimes turning around the mast, and even jumping from one ship to another.After dodging like this for a while, he couldn't stop the tall and long-legged chasing one, who was about to be caught up.Unexpectedly, someone came out of nowhere to help out, and punched the long-legged man from behind, causing the man to yelp, turn around and chase him again. In this way, the one in front was let go...

"Well, if someone drags Hong Chengchou from behind like this, well, it won't take long, a few days, let my soldiers cross the river and fight a battle, that's enough! But, is there anyone near Nanjing who can help? What about this one? Jiangyin? Taihu Lake? Wuxi..." Huang Zongxi looked at the mischievous soldiers while thinking mechanically and vaguely. He opened the letter but didn't have time to read it, so he walked to the side and read it page by page. The long letter that Gu Gao sent from Wuxi was sent more than half a month ago.Maybe it was not delivered until recently because of the obstacles on the road.At the beginning of the letter, as usual, I talked about the situation after the farewell. It was nothing more than how the Qing soldiers went south, how the cities and villages were panic-stricken, and how people fled with their families. It was similar to the situation in eastern Zhejiang.But then, Gu Gao specifically introduced the situation in Jiangyin County not far to the north of Wuxi in his letter, which aroused Huang Zongxi's attention.It is said that the soldiers and civilians in this county hated the "hair shaving order" so much that they killed officials and started riots in June, occupying the city. Still in a standoff.However, due to the increasing number of Qing soldiers coming from Nanjing to assist, Jiangyin City's foreign aid continued, and the situation was deteriorating day by day.Gu Gao decided to contact Huang Zongxi immediately after receiving a request for help from a local Donglin faction named Huang Yuqi.Gu Gao hoped that the king of Lu would quickly send troops to aid Jiangyin based on the righteousness of the same hatred and hatred.Gu Gao also stated in the letter: He is ready. Once he gets the reply of agreeing to send troops, he will lead hundreds of strong men under him to meet King Lu's army in Wuxi.

"He expects us to send troops to rescue, but he doesn't know that I also expect them to send troops to help!" Huang Zongxi thought with a wry smile after carefully reading the letter from beginning to end.Even so, the fierce battle in Jiangyin also proved that the possibility he imagined really existed. "Well, judging from the situation in Zifang's letter, it seems impossible to ask them to divide their troops to contain Hong Chengchou. But Jiangyin is the gateway to Nanjing, and its location is important. If a soldier is sent from here to rush to help, maybe Can you force Hong Chengchou to return to the teacher to protect himself? Well, yes! This is in line with the method of "encircling Wei and saving Zhao" in the book of war!" Huang Zongxi suddenly became excited and excited.He thought that the situation on the neighboring ship had changed—the mischievous soldiers were being severely reprimanded by the officer—he hurriedly turned around and walked to the cabin, intending to raise his thoughts to Sun Jiaji.

However, before he could enter the cabin door, a strange sound came from his ear, which made him withdraw his foot that had been stretched towards the cabin door... Indeed, that's right, he heard the drums!The sound of drums urging Jiang Tian to promote the army more than an hour ago: "Boom boom boom! Boom boom boom! Boom boom boom!" "What? The soldiers are marching again?" Huang Zongxi was more surprised this time than the first time he heard it. Then he turned around and looked for the place where the drum sound came from. "What's the matter? What's the matter? Why are you beating the drum?" Sun Jiaji asked loudly as he boarded the deck with a nervous look following the sound of the cabin pedals. "I don't know. Maybe Governor Xingyuan changed his mind and went to the army!" Huang Zongxi guessed, his eyes did not leave the direction upstream. "But--" "Well, I heard that Jiangyin and Wuxi are making troubles! It's probably because Governor Xingyuan got another spy, and Hong Chengchou is still stuck! So..." Continued to speculate like this, Huang Zongxi's thoughts began to become active : Indeed, the change in the situation is likely to be what I expected, and it has already changed the high-level decision-making.This made him feel refreshed: "Haha, good wow, the person surnamed Hong can't come, but it's up to us to call!" Sun Jiaji shook his head: "This is just a guess. I haven't seen the general order, so it's hard to be sure." "Then what about them?" Huang Zongxi pointed at Wang Zhiren's water village where the drums were shaking, "What should I say? Naturally, they are closer, and they will receive the military order first. They will come to us soon!" So saying, He waved his hand to the commanding officer and said loudly: "Order the ships and beat the drums!" "Wait!" Sun Jiaji was clearly taken aback. "how?" "Don't worry, wait for a while, and wait until the military order arrives!" "But, the king's soldiers are already sailing! Could there be any mistakes?" "Well, wait a minute, wait a minute!" At this point, Sun Jiaji was still sticking to the rules, which made Huang Zongxi very dissatisfied.He was about to argue again, when suddenly the commanding officer's urgent voice came: "My lords, stop, stop the drum!" Huang Zongxi was taken aback for a moment, then turned his face away.Sure enough, at some point, the twilight-shrouded river surface had become completely silent, and Wang Zhiren's water village seemed to be banned suddenly, and the drums stopped beating. "Huh, what's going on here?" Huang Zongxi wondered, and couldn't help but look back at Sun Jiaji, only to find that the latter was standing motionless, still looking in the direction of Wang Zhiren's water village. "Lord Dutang—" "Well, wait a minute, wait a minute." Huang Zongxi felt baffled, but seeing the other party's concentration, he had no choice but to temporarily shut his mouth.After this situation lasted for a long time, even the soldiers under his command noticed, and began to remind each other, stop chattering, and cast surprised eyes on them. After going on like this for a while, suddenly, Sun Jiaji moved his body and raised a finger as if reminding attention.Huang Zongxi blinked, and was about to ask, but suddenly stopped.Because he could clearly hear a low rumbling sound coming from a distance, from Wang Zhiren Water Village, like the night tide hitting the shore, or like a torrential rain hitting the canopy, but it suddenly became louder and louder, and it still turned into a loud noise. "Boom boom boom! Boom boom boom! Boom boom boom!" The sound of war drums. "What, it's playing again?" Huang Zongxi couldn't help being stunned.However, what surprised him even more was that this time Sun Jiaji changed his previous hesitant attitude, waved his hand at the commanding officer decisively, and said: "Order the ships, beat the drums for me!" After a pause, he added, " It's just that no soldiers are allowed!" After he finished speaking, he turned around and found Huang Zongxi's face full of surprise and bewilderment, so he smiled slightly and said, "My brother doesn't seem to know that Marquis Wuning's temper! He sleeps peacefully, trying to frighten them with this method! In this case, why don’t we help him! Hey, let’s go into the cabin and wait, maybe, once they hear that we are cheering him on, they will come back again. Come up with some new tricks!" Sun Jiaji's estimation was indeed not bad.Not long after the two colleagues returned to the cabin and sat down, the outside reported to the envoy of Marquis Wu Ning to ask for an audience.However, the person who came was not an ordinary person, but Wang Zhiren's son Wang Mingqian.When Wang Zhiren was the commander-in-chief of Ningshao, Wang Mingqian had contacts with Sun Jiaji who was at home, and also knew Huang Zongxi, so he was not a stranger.He ordered his subordinates to bring two altars of good Shaoxing wine "Nuerhong" and a stripped and cleaned fat pig to Sun and Huang. A piece of information, said that in view of the fact that until now, the situation of the war is that we are stronger than the enemy, Wang Zhiren believes: Instead of waiting for Hong Chengchou's reinforcements to overwhelm the border, it is better to take advantage of the gap that he has not yet arrived, and attack across the river with lightning speed. , To beat the enemy down, so as to boost morale and benefit future wars.This suggestion has been written into a document, and people were sent to Fuyang overnight to report to Governor Xingyuan.If adopted, it will re-advance the army.For this reason, I specially informed Yuyao to make preparations, so that when the time comes, we will cross the river together and defeat the enemy side by side. "Hey, in my brother's opinion, will Governor Xingyuan obey their request?" Huang Zongxi asked excitedly after seeing off Wang Mingqian and returning to the cabin to sit down again. Sun Jiaji shook his head: "If you want to attack, you should have gone through it just now! Now that you have retreated and delayed for half a day, who knows if Hong Hengjiu has come? If you attack rashly, you will suffer big losses if you make trouble. Zhang Ge How can an old man be willing to Meng Lang!" "Then, we have heard that the people in Jiangyin have shaved their hair, and they are making a fuss with the Tartars. In addition, Wu Risheng, a gentry from Wujiang, has raised troops in Taihu Lake. Why don't we report to the state of the prison to send envoys, ordering them to rush to Nanjing, If Hong Heng is forced to return to the teacher nine times to protect himself, our teacher can take the opportunity to cross the river!" Thinking of Gu Gao's letter, Huang Zongxi couldn't help bringing up his previous idea. Sun Jiaji obviously did not think of this move.He twirled his beard hanging down to his chest, and looked at Huang Zongxi for a long time: "'Surround Wei and save Zhao'... Well, it is naturally a strategy. However, I am afraid it is too late right now, and the next step can be discussed." "So--" "Well, the strength of the student alone is not enough. It's getting late now, let's go downstream first to see if the Shaoxing, Ningbo, and Cixi armies have arrived? If they arrive, tomorrow will be Qi Zhangyuhou, Qian Yusun, Yu Ying and others, let's discuss it again. If they all think it's okay, they can write a joint letter and see how Elder Zhang Ge decides." "Hey, saving soldiers is like putting out fires, so why wait until the Ming Dynasty?" Seeing that his idea was approved by his superiors, Huang Zongxi immediately got excited. Sun Jiaji smiled: "Didn't you say the next step? There is no need to be in such a hurry? You and I have been tired all day, let's rest first! It's just—" He turned his head sideways and listened to the sound coming from outside. There was a burst of drumming like raging waves and torrential rain, "It's hard to sleep peacefully tonight!"