Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

"You are joking, sir. Now that we have not accomplished our great cause, how dare I indulge in the land of gentleness?" Qian Qianyi shook his head.

But after he finished speaking, he frowned and said:

"But this girl is indeed different from other girls. She must be a strong-willed girl. I will definitely not give up on her."

The implication was that the previous meeting did not seem to be very successful. Xu Hongji was just gossiping casually and replied:

“Don’t be discouraged by what you receive. Things that are easily obtained are easy to get bored with. On the contrary, things that are obtained with great effort can last.

This woman is strong-willed, and her personality is similar to yours. You are wealthy, talented, and ambitious. I think it will only take a while for you to win her heart."

Qian Qianyi smiled when he heard this, but he didn't seem to want to talk too much about Liu Rushi, so he changed the subject and said:

"I have heard that Gao Jie committed many illegal acts when he was the general in Sizhou. Now that he is stationed in Nanjing, you should punish him more and stop him from doing whatever he wants in the city."

More than half a month ago, Gao Jie and Liu Zeqing's troops entered Nanjing City. Nanjing City was high and had deep moats, so the two men no longer had any worries and often drank and visited prostitutes in the city. What's worse, there were even reports of them robbing women in the middle of the night for their sexual pleasure.

If this matter had not affected Qian Qianyi, he would not have bothered to say anything. But recently, someone slandered this person, and Gao Jie actually set his sights on Hedong Jun Liu Rushi.

Even though Gao Jie hasn't done anything out of line yet, Qian Qianyi still hates these Jiangbei troops very much.

Xu Hongji frowned when he heard this.

"Don't worry, Shouzhi. I will ask someone to remind him. But Shouzhi should also tell other colleagues not to let his wives and concubines meet Gao Jie when he visits him."

Xu Hongji said very seriously.

Although he was on the same warship with Qian Qianyi, Xu Hongji, as a military officer, was very clear about the distinction.

Compared with Gao Jie, although Qian Qianyi had considerable influence among the literati in Donglin, they were now at war, and if they were defeated they would lose their heads.

It is said that a scholar may fail to succeed in a rebellion even after ten years, so Xu Hongji would never make this mistake.

Although Gao Jie and the other three Jiangbei troops were arrogant, they were a powerful army that often fought against bandits. Whether it was Nanjing City or the entire Jiangnan front, these three troops were still needed to hold the fort.

Otherwise, with only tens of thousands of garrison soldiers, it would be enough to defend the city, but it would be a pipe dream to cross the river and march north.

In fact, Xu Hongji's real reliance was not Gao Jie and other Jiangbei troops, but Hong Chengchou of Shaanxi.

Although the army of Jiangnan is now in his hands and his civil and military colleagues around him are also praising him highly, Xu Hongji knows his own strengths and weaknesses.

It's okay to hold the defense, but when it comes to mobile warfare and siege warfare, it has to be Hong Chengchou, the governor of the three borders of Shaanxi.

A while ago, he sent someone to write a letter to this person, hoping that he would take action as soon as possible. As long as this person could disrupt the northern front, that bastard Zhang Shikang would definitely return to defend.

At this time, he could order the army in the south of the Yangtze River to cross the river and march north. He was very clear about the combat effectiveness of his own army. He could fight a defensive battle or a favorable battle, but he could not win a tough battle.

As long as Hong Chengchou can start a rebellion, Zhang Shikang will certainly not care about the consequences, and that is when he will be able to truly show his talents.

But his letter seemed to have fallen on deaf ears, which made Xu Hongji very worried.

But based on the principle that whoever he can grasp is his own, he must definitely win over the three forces in Jiangbei. For this reason, let there be some chaos in the city.

But Xu Hongji's reminder was not groundless. The reason why Gao Jie surrendered to the court was not because he really wanted to accept the amnesty, but because he had no choice.

Li Zicheng's wife, Xing, was brave and smart. She was in charge of managing military supplies and distributing rations and weapons for war every day. As a result, Gao Jie had a lot of interactions with Xing. Gao Jie was handsome and good at sweet talk, so he got together with Xing and was later discovered by Li Zicheng.

Speaking of which, Li Zicheng was quite unlucky. It was said that he started the rebellion because the imperial court abolished the post stations, causing him to lose his job.

But in fact, the last straw that broke the camel's back was being cuckolded. Li Zicheng lost his job and discovered that his wife was having an affair with someone, so he killed his wife and rebelled.

And this guy Gao Jie cheated on Li Zicheng.

Xu Hongji roughly knew that Gao Jie and Cao Mengde in history books probably had the same hobbies.

Therefore, he reminded Qian Qianyi and his fellow literati to try not to let Gao Jie meet their wives and concubines.

But he was just a reminder. When the critical moment came, Gao Jie still had to be won over. After all, nothing could be accomplished relying on the words of literati.

After Qian Qianyi left, Xu Hongji paced around the house alone for a long time, and he still felt something was wrong.

But he couldn't figure out what the problem was. After thinking for a long time, he finally just sighed.

June 26, the 12th year of Chongzhen, Dantu Port, Zhenjiang Prefecture.

It rained heavily last night, and the river was still foggy until morning.

The wharf of Dantu Port was filled with canal boats parked in a haphazard manner. Dantu Port was originally an important wharf for north-south canal navigation, but now it has become a temporary base for the navy of the Jiangnan gentry group.

There are more than 200 grain ships here, and more than 400 other types of ships. More than 100 of them have been modified, and each ship is equipped with more than 20 small French cannons.

These more than one hundred armed grain ships are the trump cards of the Jiangnan navy. In addition to their daily routine patrols, they are also responsible for carrying out targeted attacks on the ships summoned by the traitor Zhang Shikang.

The previous attack was so effective that the traitor still dares not cross the river.

Xu Dacheng stood on the high dock, overlooking the entire navy. He was Xu Hongji's nephew and the commander of this navy.

A while ago, he led more than a hundred armed grain ships and sank or captured dozens of newly recruited ships by the traitor. He was commended by his uncle, which made Xu Dacheng very happy.

He had no inheritance rights in his family and thought that this was his chance to purge the imperial court.

Therefore, he lived at the dock almost every day and did not dare to take any orders from Xu Hongji lightly.

But today's weather seems to be bad. There is heavy fog, which makes the visibility on the river very low.

But he was not too worried. After all, all the usable ships on both sides of the river had already been requisitioned or sunk by him. Unless that dog thief ordered people to build them, it would be impossible for him to requisition enough navy to compete with him in a short period of time.

Many craftsmen were still working overtime to modify the ships. After he scolded his deputy to keep an eye on the craftsmen, he looked at the huge fleet again and planned to go back to take a nap.

But this glance is not a big deal, as you can see a huge monster appearing and disappearing in the dense fog.

Xu Dacheng opened his eyes wide and suddenly felt cold all over.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

……