Chapter 78 end

On the Qiantang River shrouded in night, the wind is high and the waves are rough, and the stars and the moon are dark.A fleet of fifty or sixty ships full of soldiers, after hastily cutting the last cable, pulled up the bulging sails, left the bank of Tanshan River one after another, and sailed towards the vast dark night.They seemed so tense and flustered that they completely lost their normal formation and only cared about scrambling to escape for their lives.The officers and men on board were obviously shocked and frightened. For a long time, despite the turbulence of the waves, most of them remained silent and silent.Only those eyes that were still in shock were faintly shining in the darkness.This is Huang Zongxi and his 3,000 soldiers. They have been forced to completely abandon all action plans, and are currently planning to retreat to Yuyao, which is directly opposite the bank.

Zha Jizuo's estimate was correct. Due to the sudden collapse of the Ming army in eastern Zhejiang, Huang Zongxi and his soldiers who were still camping in Tanshan at that time were indeed in an extremely dangerous situation.However, they finally got the news in time.Just when many fleeing ships suddenly appeared on the river, and everyone was in a state of panic, Chen Qianfu, who was sent to the Dragon King Hall for help seven days ago, finally came back in despair. , He also told everyone tearfully: These days, Sun Jiaji, who is ill, has been stepping up negotiations with Yi Xingbo Zheng Zunqian, imploring the other party to send troops across the river from Xiaowei Ferry to cooperate with Huang Zongxi to attack Haining.Originally, Zheng Zunqian had agreed to send troops within a day or two.Unexpectedly, I never dreamed that the whole situation would collapse all at once.Sun Jiaji was so angry that his gangrene broke out on the spot, and he escaped from the Dragon King Hall only because his soldiers carried him on his back.Even though he was breathing weakly before the breakup, he still couldn't forget to tell Huang Zongxi as soon as possible!Chen Qianfu was in a small boat among many fleeing warships, desperately rushing back to report.He also reported that right now, whether it is on the big river or in the counties in eastern Zhejiang, everything is in chaos. All the troops and horses are only scrambling for their lives, and even killing each other, and no one can care about the other.Where Sun Jiaji went right now, of course there is no way to find out, even the safety of Lu Jianguo is unknown. There are rumors that Fang Guoan has hijacked him across the river, and there are also rumors that he is fleeing with Zhang Guowei, Zhu Dadian, Yu Huang and other ministers. fujian...

Before hearing the news, although everyone already felt that the situation was not good, they never expected that the situation had collapsed to such an extent that they all froze like a thunderbolt with the sound of "Ah".Among them, Huang Zongxi suffered the strongest impact.In an instant, his face was distorted horribly, but his lips trembled. Then, as if pushed by some invisible force, he backed up a few steps, and finally fell down on a stone in a daze.Until Wang Zhengzhong, Zhang Qinchen, Zhu Dading, Wu Naiwu and other generals woke up from the shock and realized that their solitary army was in an extremely critical situation, so they became very nervous and talked a lot. He stared blankly, didn't move, and didn't speak.

Indeed, it's no wonder Huang Zongxi is like this.Because this big collapse came so suddenly and so unbelievable that in a trance, his whole spirit and soul came out of his body, and he was in a daze, as if floating in an absurd and terrifying dream.In fact, in the past seven or eight days, perhaps due to the long wait and anxiety, Huang Zongxi was often haunted by various bizarre dreams.Sometimes, he dreamed that he was marching with his army, and he was like a broken bamboo along the way. He took Haining, broke Hangzhou, drove northward, and went straight to Nanjing and Beijing. At the point of the banner, the Qing army was defeated. …Sometimes, I dreamed that I went back to my home in Huangzhupu, where I was reunited with my mother, wife, children, and brothers. I still lived a rural life of reading, plowing, and devoting myself to writing. My friends were fighting with red faces... Another time, I dreamed that the enemy came to attack me, and I rushed to fight, and suddenly found that all my subordinates had died, and I was also seriously injured. Are you also dreaming this time?It's just that the situation is so absurd and realistic?

However, he finally came to his senses.Because the subordinates began to surround him, anxiously asking for instructions on how to deal with it.At the same time, reports came one after another from each battalion, saying that the soldiers were in a mess and were planning to break up and flee for their lives.Faced with this urgent situation, Huang Zongxi had no choice but to suppress his doubts and misery, restrain his mind, listen to the advice of his subordinates, and at the same time consider how to make a decisive decision to deal with the crisis.In the end, he agreed with the opinions of most people: since the overall situation has completely collapsed and morale is facing a complete collapse, if he continues to attack Haining, he can only die in vain; even if he continues to stay in Tanshan, he will also be easily defeated by the enemy. Encircled and annihilated.But before finding out where King Lu is going, he can't run away indiscriminately.The safer way is to withdraw to the south of the Yangtze River and return to my hometown first.Originally, it was not easy to retreat safely.Because the 1,000 reinforcements of the Qing army are just ten miles away at Dajianshan, and they will take the opportunity to pounce over at any time.Fortunately, however, they also brought a fire attack battalion.On the one hand, Huang Zongxi ordered the generals to do their best to stabilize the morale of the army. On the other hand, he ordered Zhang Qinchen to lead his men five miles away and plant ten thousand bombs of landmines along the enemy's only way to attack. Then, he concentrated the most powerful firearms in the camp Get up, form the rear line of defense, and cover the boarding of the battalions.As a result, after being fiercely blocked by firearms one after another, the pursuers of the Qing army were really frightened and did not dare to press too far.In this way, Huang Zongxi finally withdrew all three thousand troops...

Now, the soldiers have been withdrawn, but when it comes to Huang Zongxi's mind, the suspicion that he is experiencing a nightmare has not been completely eliminated.On the contrary, since the most tense and chaotic time has passed, at this moment, he is alone holding on to the mast, looking at the night-shrouded river silently, listening to the sound of waves hitting the side of the ship, and the nervous and restless voices of the soldiers beside him. The sound of breathing, that absurd and unreal feeling, like a chaotic mist, permeated his mind again. Indeed, they took the lead in dispatching troops this time, and they won it after overcoming great difficulties through all kinds of efforts, and they have successfully landed in Tanshan.Over the past few days, although they have been waiting for news from the Dragon King Hall and have not taken further action, they did not just sit idle, but tried their best to contact the four townships to win the support of the local people.What is gratifying is that in the past two days, more and more gentry people came to express their condolences.Therefore, Huang Zongxi has made an agreement with everyone: If Chen Qianfu does not come back, they will not wait any longer, and send troops to attack Haining as soon as possible, and fight a battle first.Unexpectedly, in the blink of an eye, everything came to naught... "Ah, what's going on?" Huang Zongxi thought blankly and sadly, "Why did this happen all of a sudden? That's right, Fang Guoan It has been known for a long time that the Wuwu people are unreliable. But isn’t there still such a huge Qiantang River natural moat, how could it be attacked by the Qing army within a day? Well, since spring, the rain in eastern Zhejiang has been constantly It is relatively rare, and after entering May, the drought is severe. These are all facts. But with the support of the tide, it is not so shallow that the horses can cross! Could it be that the upstream has stopped? Alas, Why is it such a coincidence? Why is it not too late or too early to cut off the flow at this moment? Could it be that even God is deliberately helping Jianlu to destroy Daming!" Thinking so resentfully, Huang Zongxi suddenly felt a tingle on his back. chill.That’s right, if it’s really doomed in the dark, then these benevolent and gentlemen will work hard to restore the Ming Dynasty and rebuild ZTE, even at the expense of destroying their families; Once, wouldn't the desperate struggle to not be conquered and enslaved by tigers, wolves and beasts be futile in the end?If this is the case, then what are you going to do with all the hardships and stalking?It's better to jump into the river immediately and die, it's even more happy and clean!With such abandonment in his heart, Huang Zongxi fell into a kind of despair and depression that he had never experienced before.He began to think wearily: the Ming Dynasty has been corrupted to such an extent, in fact, everything is a foregone conclusion, and it is very difficult to change it.Compared with the way of heaven that runs in the dark, people are actually so humble and their power is so limited. It is really difficult, even impossible, to change this general trend...

However, he failed to continue this gloomy thought.Because the soldiers behind him suddenly let out a cry, and then became nervously commotion.Huang Zongxi was taken aback, and turned around quickly, but nothing unusual could be seen in the darkness.It wasn't until he tried his best to open his eyes wide and make a careful identification, that he vaguely found out from the hazy image shining with white light that it turned out to be two ships with huge sails, one after the other, sailing directly from the upstream, and they were about to Collided with their fleet.Originally, when sailing at night, it is customary to hang lanterns so that other boats can avoid them.However, these two boats, like their fleet, seemed to be hiding their whereabouts. The lights on the boats were blind, and their approach was urgent and fierce.The few boats that were on the brunt finally dodged in time, so they narrowly passed by without causing any trouble.But despite this, the soldiers have already screamed in fright:

"Dog thief! Do you want to die?" "What kind of ass eyes do you have? Dare to break into the master's boat?" All kinds of curses sounded from the surrounding ships.But there are also people shouting: "Hey, who are you? Are you soldiers of Duke Xingguo?" "Hey, how is the upstream?" "Where are you going?" But the two boats didn't answer at all. Under the twilight of the river waves, the two huge white sails passed by in front of everyone's eyes. Because an accident almost happened, Huang Zongxi's nerves that had become slack and tired all of a sudden became tense again.He involuntarily continued to keep his eyes wide open, turning his head back and forth, left and right, monitoring the movement outside the ship's side.He found that the ship seemed to be passing the main channel in the center of the river, because there were obviously a lot of ships escaping from this water area.In this way, the risk of a collision is correspondingly greatly increased, and there is no reason to be careless.Moreover, the facts were as expected, in the next half a day, they encountered two or three such fleeing warships in a row.Some, just like the two boats just now, didn't make a sound and just ran for their lives; but some were clearly frightened, and once they found a boat blocking their way, they didn't care about it, fired rockets, and fired again. It was poisonous smoke, which caused Huang Zongxi and his fleet to panic and almost caught fire on the spot...

However, as the south bank got closer, this situation finally stopped.On the contrary, the soldiers crowded in the cabin and on the deck may feel relieved that they are about to set foot on the land of their hometown again, and the conversation has become lively: "Ah, finally came home alive again!" "Yes, almost home." "Hey, how did you do this? If you say it's a defeat—it's a total defeat? It's really evil!" "If I knew it was a waste of time, I might as well not have gone!" "Oh, it's good to be back! Just in time for the rice to ripen. In a few days, it's time to start harvesting."

"Yeah, there are still ten days left, it's time to harvest!" "But the Tartars have already attacked. I'm afraid we won't be able to harvest the rice!" "That's bad! If the harvest is not harvested, what will the whole family eat?" "Hmph, you're only thinking about eating! Why don't you think about it, Tartar is going to shave your head this time!" "Ah, do you want to shave your head? Then—wouldn't you become a beast? It's better to be dead!" "It's not easy to die! But there are still a whole bunch of people in the family! What can we do without them?"

"This... oh!" I don't know if this question is too difficult or for other reasons, the soldiers' answers finally subsided, and they fell silent again.Huang Zongxi, who had been listening by the side, felt as if his heart had been accidentally pinched by a thick, rough and powerful hand. The blood that was cooling down suddenly surged again and boiled. . "Ah, what happened to me just now? Why did I think that way? I actually planned to admit defeat at this point—could it be possible to escape if I admit defeat? They are right, in fact, even if I die, I can't escape! Besides, there are family members What about the others? Yes, you must not just admit defeat like this! If even people like us admit defeat, then the axioms of this world will not even have the last support. Never admit defeat! There is no doubt!" He bit Teeth clenched, thinking like an oath.Even so, he could feel that there was always a place in his heart that was breaking and bleeding out, which made him feel like he couldn't die.He couldn't tell what the reason for this feeling was—sorrow and anger?Is it hatred?Is it hopeless?Is it wrong?It seems to be a little bit of both, but not quite.But one thing is clear, that is, he knew that his journey was not over.No matter what is waiting for him is success or failure, profit or harm, life or death, as long as he has a breath, he has to go on... "It's too fast, it's almost time to land! Right now, the morale of the army is gone. I'm afraid something will happen after landing. What should I do?" A familiar voice whispered beside him, it was Wang Zhengzhong, his deputy. "Go if you want to go, stay if you want to stay." "So what about you, brother?" "Go to Siming Mountain!" "Go to Siming Mountain? Don't you want to go home and have a look? So as not to worry and look forward to the Lord!" Huang Zongxi clenched his lips and did not answer.However, after restraining himself so strongly for a moment, his heart finally felt sour, and tears dripped down his cheeks. At this moment, the lights flickering between the hedges on the embankment were already faintly discernible.