"A strong man drinks all the wine in his bowl and never looks back on a thousand-mile journey. If we unite as one, we will win. We will never stop destroying the Qing captives."

This was the only slogan Yang Zhen shouted before he took the oath and set off.

This Northern Expedition is definitely a big event for Yang Zhen and Jinhai Town.

It stands to reason that Yang Zhen should hold a grand swearing-in meeting and issue an exciting and morale-boosting proclamation.

But it is a pity that Yang Zhen has no literati under his command, and no pens that can write for him.

The only person suitable for this job is Fang Guangchen, but Fang Guangchen was sent out by Yang Zhen to do other things long ago.

And Yang Zhen himself did not have the ability to choose words and sentences to write a message, so he had to give up.

He only briefly inspected the first batch of troops who went north with him by sea at the entrance of Lushun, then toasted everyone with a bowl of wine, and finally adapted a few poems as an oath to conquer the captives.

However, even these four temporarily adapted poems won the echo of thousands of fellow soldiers saying "We must win" and "We must win".

In the midst of this louder and louder cry of victory, Yang Zhen threw down his wine bowl and ordered to board the ship and set off.

Along with Yang Zhen, the first batch of teams to take the South Road Navy Regiment Camp and go north by sea. In addition to the newly formed main town government gun carrying team with about 600 auxiliary soldiers, they were the Artillery Regiment Battalion of the Eastern Conquest Army led by Yang Shen.

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The artillery regiment battalion commanded by Yang Shen currently has five main artillery battalions, including two heavy artillery battalions, two sky artillery battalions and one flying thunder artillery battalion.

The two heavy artillery battalions are the heavy artillery left battalion and the heavy artillery right battalion. They are both heavy-duty vehicles and artillery, equipped with huge gun mounts and huge iron-clad hardwood wheels. Each heavy-duty vehicle and artillery weighs four to five thousand kilograms and requires three horses.

Only by driving together can you move freely on the ground.

The two heavy artillery battalions together have a total of one hundred heavy vehicles and guns.

Each heavy vehicle and cannon is equipped with a shed for the cannon, ammunition and carriages, with a total of thirty regular soldiers and several auxiliary soldiers.

As for the left and right cannon battalions and the flying thunder cannon battalion, the equipment is relatively simple. Each cannon is only equipped with a shed of soldiers, divided into a corps for the cannon and a corps for the ammunition.

In this way, the entire artillery regiment and battalion of the Eastern Expeditionary Army combined had one hundred heavy artillery pieces with carriages, as well as three hundred sky cannons and one hundred and fifty flying thunder cannons.

There are 550 large and small artillery pieces, which may not seem like many, but their total tonnage is quite large.

If we take the land route and rely on human power to drag it, traveling north along the thawed and civilized east coast of the Liaodong Peninsula will definitely be time-consuming and laborious, and it will probably take a month.

Such a long march will be a nightmare for the soldiers of each artillery battalion, especially the heavy artillery left and right battalions.

Not only is it detrimental to boosting morale, but it is also extremely detrimental to maintaining the service life of heavy-duty vehicles and guns.

As for the sky cannon and flying thunder cannon, although each one is not too heavy, especially for short-distance marches, they mainly rely on manpower to carry them.

However, if we travel overland from Lushunkou to Anton City, it is a distance of seven to eight hundred miles. If we carry them all the way, these battalion heads will not have to fight after arriving at Anton City, and can be directly classified as non-combat attrition.

Therefore, in the face of the strong desire of the Artillery Regiment Battalion and the Grenadier Regiment Battalion to follow Yang Zhen to Anton City, Yang Zhen chose the Artillery Regiment Battalion without hesitation.

As for the musketry regiment camp led by Zhang Chen and the grenadier regiment camp led by Li Lu, in the early morning of the next day after Yang Zhen set off, they brought thousands of war horses, pack horses, and chariots as well as corresponding dry food and ammunition, with flags flying.

We marched northward by land in a mighty way.

Correspondingly, Yuan Jin, the chief military officer of the Jinhai West Road Assistance Guard, also led the Jinhai West Road Navy Regiment and Battalion to Changxing Island early, joined the Jinhai North Road Navy and the Jinhai Middle Road amphibious troops, and also started

Started the march northward to harass and fight along the coast of Liaodong Bay.

On the evening of the first day of April in the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, Yang Zhen took the flagship Yingzhou and led the entire fleet to Guanglu Island.

When Guanglu Island existed in Dongjiang Town, it was a very important military base within the jurisdiction of Dongjiang Town.

But now, after the rise of Jinhai Town, especially after the establishment of Jinhai East Road and the completion of Zhuanghe Castle, the status of Guanglu Island has plummeted.

Nowadays, it is within the jurisdiction of Jinhai Town and is just a large island for resettling immigrants.

Of course, it also serves as a transfer station for the maritime routes east of the Liaodong Peninsula from time to time. Fleets traveling south and north along the coast often dock in the port in the evening.

At present, there are five villages on the island belonging to Jinhai East Road, with a total of 1,500 households and a population of more than 9,000 men, women, old and children.

Yang Zhen docked at Guanglu Island for one night, and set sail again the next morning, bypassing Dachangshan Island and its nearby islands, and arrived at Shicheng Island in the afternoon of the same day.

On the afternoon of the day he arrived at Shicheng Island, Yang Zhen summoned Gao Chengyou, deputy general of the Jinhai East Road Navy, and Shen Qizhou, the commander-in-chief of the Zhongyi Gui Ming Army, in the camp where he had stayed when he visited the island.

Gao Chengyou led his team and was transferred to the position of deputy general of Jinhai East Road. Since he was stationed in Shicheng Island, he has assumed two main responsibilities. One is to guard Jinhai East Road from the sea, and the other is the transshipment task from south to north from Qingchuan Jiangkou to Lushunkou.

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When going south, they mainly carry ore from the Jiechuan Mine to Lushunkou.

When heading north, they mainly transport a steady stream of refugees from the direction they came from to Anzhou and the vicinity of the Jiechuan Mine.

Compared with his first responsibility, the second responsibility takes up almost all of his time.

Because the castles, camps, and soldiers on Jinhai East Road have hardly faced any threats for more than a year.

There is Xiuyan Castle in the northwest, and Anton Castle in the northeast. From the Yajiang Estuary to the east, Tieshan, Dingzhou, and Anzhou are all stationed with soldiers and horses affiliated with the Andong regiment.

There are also Dongjiang Island, Yuncong Island and the navy team of Andong Regiment Camp on the sea.

Therefore, almost all the villages and towns on Jinhai East Road are living and working in peace and contentment.

As a result, Gao Chengyou's naval battalion can only assume the responsibilities of the Jinhai East Road Maritime Transport Brigade.

However, Yang Zhen always regarded maritime transportation matters as important as combat, so after meeting, he praised Gao Chengyou very much and gave him great recognition for his performance after being transferred to Shicheng Island.

As for the commander of the Zhongyi Gui Ming Army, Tongzhi Shen Qizhou, Yang Zhen directly ordered him to select a group of young people from the court from among the people, and then rushed to Andong City by land.

The current settlement of the Loyalty and Gui Ming Army is on Jinhai East Road. Several other officials, such as the commander-in-chief An Yingchang, the commander-in-chief of the fifth battalion Shen Qicheng, and the military commander Yuhou Liulin of the fifth battalion, as early as the spring of the 14th year of Chongzhen

, he was ordered to follow the newly appointed governor Fang Yizao across the sea and go south to Zhongzhou to participate in the encirclement and suppression of bandits.

Lin Qingye, the navy commander who loyally returned to the Ming Army, is currently commanding the navy and is stationed in the Japanese castle in Hirado Island Town.

Therefore, the large number of left-behind families of the Zhongyi Gui Ming Army, mainly the elderly, weak, women, children and children of the Zhongyi Army, have always been managed by Shen Qizhou, the commander of the capital.

Although it does not have much credit, its status is special.

He is one of Shen Qiyuan's younger brothers. From the perspective of Yang Zhen's fifth wife, Shen, he can also be regarded as Yang Zhen's elder.

Of course, the most important thing is that when Shen Qicheng is not in front of the army, Shen Qizhou can serve as the best channel for communication between Yang Zhen and Shen Qiyuan.

Next, when Yang Zhen attacks the Qinglu in Jiulian City, he will most likely use Shen Qiyuan.

Even if he is not needed for the time being, Yang Zhen is still prepared to kill all the Qing captives stationed in Hening country after taking Jiulian City or Phoenix City.

At that time, Shen Qiyuan's current status will be very useful, and he can completely use it to deceive Jingjin Beilenikan to the bone.

For this reason, Yang Zhen will take Shen Qizhou with him and ask him to communicate with Shen Qiyuan at any time according to changes in the battle situation.

Of course, these things cannot be stated clearly at present.

However, Shen Qizhou immediately obeyed Yang Zhen's arrangement of choosing young men to rush to Andong City.

Since Yang Zhen allowed Jinhai Town and Pinghe to trade in Anzhou last winter, Shen Qizhou and Shen Qiyuan have been in constant contact.

Therefore, he is also very clear about his brother's thoughts.

He knew that his brother had been looking forward to Yang Zhen's early expedition to the north to clear the Qing Dynasty. He also knew that his brother wanted to take advantage of Yang Zhen's northern expedition to the Qing Dynasty to send troops south to depose Li Jun.

Therefore, he couldn't ask for Yang Zhen's arrangement. He returned that evening and stayed overnight, and the next day he selected young people around Donggaoli City.

Yang Zhen also led his team to leave Shicheng Island early the next morning and went straight to Andong City at the mouth of the Yajiang River.

Of course, while staying on Shicheng Island, Yang Zhen also learned some about the situation of Jinhai East Road from Gao Chengyou and Shen Qizhou.

As Yang Zhen had explained before, Zu Keyong personally led the main force of the horse infantry from the Zhuanghe Regiment Battalion early and went to Xiuyan Fort City to reorganize the army and prepare for war.

At present, affairs at the rear of Jinhai East Road are left to Deputy General Gao Chengyou and the commander of the Zhongyi Army to inform Shen Qizhou for discussion.

Now Shen Qizhou has also been assigned an errand by Yang Zhen to obey orders in front of the Andong City Army, so only Gao Chengyou is left in the rear.

Gao Chengyou is also an old man under Yang Zhen. Although he is selfish, he can no longer easily betray Yang Zhen.

Therefore, Yang Zhen felt relieved. He gave some instructions before leaving and ordered him to stay behind Jinhai East Road.

Around midnight on the third day of April in the fifteenth year of Chongzhen's reign, after almost three days of sailing north, the fleet led by Yang Zhen finally entered the mouth of the Yajiang River.

Qiu Zhenhai, the commander-in-chief of the Andong Forward of Jinhai Town, who had received the news earlier, was already waiting here with several major generals from the Andong Regiment Battalion on several battle cruisers from the Andong Regiment Naval Battalion.

As soon as Yang Zhen's flagship Yingzhou arrived, Qiu Zhenhai and his generals quickly boarded the ship to pay their respects.

Then he ordered Qiu Bi to lead the warships from the Anton Tuanying Naval Camp to lead the way. Riding on the momentum of the rising tide, he led Yang Zhen's large fleet all the way to the bottom of Anton City.

"Can big ships like Yingzhou and Lelang go directly to Andong City?"

The construction of Andong City was at a location designated by Yang Zhen himself.

So of course Yang Zhen knew that it was built on the mountain and close to the river, and there must be a port under the city for large ships to dock along the river.

However, after Andong City was repaired, Yang Zhen had not been there, and he was somewhat worried that the Yajiang waterway would not be navigable for giant ships such as Yingzhou and Lelang.

So after the generals met with Yang Zhen, Yang Zhen didn't ask anything else, but asked this question first.

"Don't worry, Governor. Although the Governor's ship is large, at this time, it is the time of high tide at the river mouth. The water of the Yajiang River channel is open and the water is deep enough to support the entry and exit of large ships.

"And the docks along the river outside Andong City are by no means comparable to the docks outside Zhenjiang Castle. They are enough to accommodate ships as big as the Yingzhou and Lelang!"
Chapter completed!