At the end of February, after learning that Duoduo had returned to Jiangnan, Zhao Ming immediately left Guo Zhong, Wang Deshun and Xia Wanchun, stayed on Chongming Island, reclaimed land, trained troops, and built fortresses.

Zhao Mingze led a fleet back to Zhoushan to raise food and weapons for the army.

After the army retreated to Chongming, Zhao Ming and Li Chengdong conducted a count of the Battle of the Yangtze River. Their own side originally fought for 12,307 people, and had more than 4,300 seriously injured people who were killed and treated ineffectively. Among them, Zhao Ming, including the rebels who followed him, a total of 2,805 people were killed, and Li Chengdong's army was killed.

In addition, there were a large number of righteous people who later joined, and there should be three or four thousand killed in battle. However, because there was no book and the chaos in the war, there was no statistics.

The Ming army achieved the results of shocking Jiangnan, but the losses were actually very large, especially when they stood firm on the Lime Mountain, many casualties and injured, and everyone was injured.

Grief is inevitable, but the Ming army was also quite rich in its capture. It defeated tens of thousands of Qing army and beheaded about 18,000 people. Zhao Ming and Li Chengdong each claimed their merits and killed 9,000 enemies.

In addition to killing enemies, there were money, grain and materials. The Ming army seized a lot of money in Zhenjiang and captured the outer capital.

Zhao Ming and Li Chengdong slapped the table and stared at them. The two fought red. In the end, Zhao Ming did not ask for jewelry and calligraphy and paintings, and got 400,000 taels of silver, 30 pairs of iron armor, 3,000 sets of cotton armor, 5,000 battle jackets, firearms, bird guns, spears, shields, and 80,000 stones of food. The rest belonged to Li Chengdong.

More than 400 sea ships on the sea, loaded with more than 20,000 people, and a large number of seized money and materials, were sailing on the sea through the wind and waves.

At this time, the waves on the sea were high and the wind was strong, the boat was crowded, the space was very narrow, and a large number of soldiers were seasick, and the military and civilians were in a miserable way.

Li Chengdong's army has been active on Taihu Lake for half a year. He has no awe of the sea. He thought it was similar to being in the lake, but he realized it was amazing once he entered the sea.

Many soldiers were almost vomiting out their galls when they were bumping at the sea. Even the majestic General Li Chengdong and General Li vomited constantly and hid in the cabin, feeling embarrassed to come out.

Chongming was close to land. In order to shock the Qing army, the Zhenyuan gunship and several main lucky ships were left in Chongming Water Village. Zhao Ming returned to Jintang Island on a large lucky ship.

That night, the moonlight shone on the sea, and Zhao Ming stood alone on the boat building, thinking about future events.

This expedition earned Zhao Ming a huge reputation, and at the same time doubled his strength. The troops of the two battalions of the water and land expanded to more than 6,000. In addition, Chongming also had more than 10,000 troops, with strength close to that of a town general.

Zhao Ming looked at the sea with deep eyes, "First of all, you have to write a letter to ask for me for me and ask for a title."

Zhao Ming is now just a general of Pinglu, a military general. He cannot control local military and political power and is not qualified to appoint officials, so it will be very troublesome.

He Wencheng suddenly appeared beside Zhao Ming, slapped the feather fan, and smiled and said, "What are Brother Bo'an thinking?"

Zhao Ming turned his head and looked at him, then expressed his thoughts, wanting to continue to master Chongming and Jintang Island, without wanting to be constrained, and wanting to monopolize the power in order to resist the Qing Dynasty.

He Wencheng pondered: "Now that the court has mastered power and traitors, Brother Bo'an entered Jinling and worshiped Xiaoling, which is famous all over the world. He finally created a situation. If he did not take the opportunity to consolidate, let me intervene, or let Zheng Zhilong seize power, the great situation would be ruined."

During the Chongzhen period, the world was in chaos, and the Ming Dynasty's talents were consumed too quickly and were more capable officials were mostly in Beijing, not in Nanjing.

The Ming Dynasty implemented the two-Beijing system, with one team in Beijing and one team in Nanjing. The difference is that the Beijing team is doing things, while the Nanjing team is for elderly care.

In the Ming Dynasty, only if the political struggle failed or the ability was mediocre, they would be sent to Nanjing for retirement.

After the demise of Beijing, Nanjing's elderly care team replaced Beijing and grasped the highest power of the Ming Empire.

The character of this group of people may be better than that of the officials in Beijing, but after all, they are far from the center of power and their abilities are really not good.

If it was a peaceful time, it didn't matter if it was a mediocre situation, but in the life-and-death war to destroy the country, mediocre ability would kill people.

The old empire is no better than the emerging regime. There was a set of unspoken rules for seniority within the system. The officials in Nanjing were not capable, but they were all old qualifications. Many people still held high positions after escaping Nanjing and entering Fujian.

In addition, there was Zheng Zhilong in the court. If Zhao Ming did not grasp the results, he would be ruined by these people. Therefore, He Wencheng was not disgusted with Zhao Ming's idea of ​​monopolizing power, but agreed with it.

He Wencheng continued: "Brother Bo'an made great contributions this time, and the court must have rewards. Brother Bo'an must master the military and political affairs of Chongming and Jintang Island. He can ask the court for the position of commander commander, or according to the Dongjiang Town's rules, please open the town."

Zhao Ming didn't expect that He Wencheng knew a lot, so he couldn't help but ask: "What's the difference between the two?"

He Wencheng said: "The Ming Dynasty military households and civil servants are managed separately and do not subordinate to each other. The advantage of Brother Bo'an's request to enthrone the commander commander is that he can all the people of Chongming and Jintang Island be incorporated into the military households and be managed by the Commander Commander. It is not controlled by local officials and only listen to the orders of the Ministry of War. Of course, in order to check and balance, the court will definitely send, the magistrate and the assistant magistrate to check and balance, but if His Majesty trusts him, the situation is more special. Brother Bo'an wants to recommend himself, and His Majesty will probably not refuse. However, the military household system comes from self-sufficient, and the court will not allocate any military equipment and food. If Brother Bo'an becomes the commander commander, it will be difficult for him to ask for money and food from the court."

Zhao Ming couldn't help but nodded slightly and asked, "Where is the town?"

He Wencheng said: "If you open the town, Brother Bo'an will be in the garrison, and you can control the army of Chongming and Jintang Island. With the current situation, military officials are the main ones. Even if the court sends officials, he will listen to Brother Bo'an. Kaizhen is to recruit soldiers, and the advantage is that you can reach out to ask for money, grain and weapons from the court."

The Chinese dynasty system has evolved to this day, and there has been a complete set of checks and balances. In fact, whether it is commander or open a town, the court has restrained the measures. However, now the central government’s authority is ruined, and most of the measures have been invalidated, so there are so many warlords.

Zhao Ming thought about it and found that Kaizhen Bidu Commander was much more powerful. The Ming Dynasty's garrison system had long collapsed and had only a false reputation. However, now the Longwu court is also very poor. The military pay, money and food for recruiting soldiers were mostly solved by the generals themselves, so they formed warlords.

If Zhao Ming opened a town, he would not have enough money or food. Besides, Zhoushan already had a general, so the court could not have a general. It would be better to have a commander commander, recruit soldiers and train troops by himself.

Thinking of this, Zhao Ming had a clear mind and smiled and said, "Chang Geng, just stay by my side and do things for me!"

He Wencheng said: "I just wanted to send Marshal Li to refuse to let him go!"

After saying that, he shook the feather fan with a very popular expression.

Zhao Ming shook his head, and at this time, black shadows appeared in front of the fleet, and everyone was approaching the Zhoushan Islands.

Zhao Ming looked at the outline of the Zhoushan Islands, his eyes became deeper, and he thought of another problem that troubled him.

Although the Qing army had no choice but to do anything to him, the island was scarce and small in size, so it could not be self-sufficient.

Although Zhao Ming farmed in Chongming, it could only satisfy the consumption of part of the food. The two islands alone could not support so many people, and the gap in the food needed by Zhao Ming was still very large.

The grain on Chongming Island was not allowed to be harvested in summer, and all the grain stored on Jintang Island was consumed by Zhao Ming.

In addition to grain, Zhao Ming needed iron ore and coal mines to smelter weapons, to build warships, and to wood. It was obviously impossible to meet these Chongming and Jintang Islands in the east.

At this time, eastern Zhejiang had been occupied by the Qing army, and it was difficult for Zhao Ming to obtain resources from Zhejiang, which made him frown slightly, thinking that it was time to find a larger base.

This fast base must be rich in resources and must be absolutely safe, and there is no need to send a large number of troops to garrison, restrain and spend too much money and food.

Zhao Ming actually has one place in his mind, which is Taiwan. Taiwan is vast in area, equivalent to a vassal state. If it can be developed, the grain from Chongming and Jintang Island can be solved, and iron ore, coal mine, and timber for shipbuilding can be found. And there is no need to worry about the Qing army attacking the island. It can be said to be an ideal place.

However, there are Dutch people entrenched at the southern end of Taiwan. If Zhao Ming sent people to land at the northern end, the Dutch would not turn a blind eye and would definitely send troops to attack. Now Zhao Ming's navy is obviously not a match for the Dutch, which makes Zhao Ming depressed.

The fleet saw Zhoushan Islands from afar, but it was not until dawn that the fleet arrived at Liegang.

At this time, the fleet arrived outside the harbor, but suddenly a warning bell rang out of the harbor, and a group of soldiers and horses rushed out of the village as if they were facing a great enemy.
Chapter completed!