The winter of the thirteenth year of Chongzhen was extremely cold. Especially after the winter lunar month entered the twelfth lunar month, the ice conditions in the northern waters of the Black Water Ocean east of the Liaodong Peninsula, which later became the northern waters of the North Yellow Sea, became increasingly severe.

Although most of the sea is not frozen, ice floes are surging on the sea surface, almost contiguous. And the closer to the northern coast, the more complicated the ice conditions are.

Starting from the mouth of the Yalu River, heading southwest and along the coast to the waters of Guanglu Island, and heading southeast and along the coast to the waters of Baengnyeong Island, almost all of it is covered by ice and snow.

Especially on the sea surface within a few miles or even more than ten miles close to the coast, the ice layer on the sea surface is more than a foot thick in many places.

From the Yalu River estuary to the southwest, the coastal waters of Jinhai East Road, Dalu Island, Shicheng Island, and the west of Guanglu Island are all frozen and connected to the land.

Fortunately, the thickness of sea ice is not uniform. The ice layer on the sea surface is as thick as one or two feet in the nearest few miles offshore. However, the ice layer on the sea surface is thinner in places farther away from the shore, especially places far away from the estuaries.

Already.

As for the vast sea area southeast of Dalu Island, Shicheng Island, and east and south of Guanglu Island, it is dominated by floating ice and is not completely frozen.

Although some sea areas are more serious with floating ice, such as the southeastern waters of Dalu Island, this vast sea area is still navigable. Even Dalu Island at the mouth of Yanghe River has not become an isolated island frozen in the sea.

Correspondingly, the waters of Pidao Island, that is, the waters of Dongjiang Island, and the waters near Yuncong Island are also surrounded by layers of ice floes.

As for the north of Dongjiang Island, the north of Yuncong Island, all the way to the coast of Pingan Road and the coast of Huanghaidao, they are all frozen.

Severe cold like this had never happened before when Dongjiang Town was still there.

In the past, the sea surface within a few miles or more than ten miles near the east and west coastlines of the Yalu River Estuary would of course freeze, but the waters of Dongjiang Island and Yuncong Island are slightly farther south and will not be completely frozen easily.

Even if the northern strait is frozen, the ice layer is thin and cannot withstand the stampede of a large number of soldiers and horses. It is enough to ensure the safety of Dongjiang Island, Yuncong Island and other islands in the cold winter season.

However, in the twelfth lunar month of the thirteenth year of Chongzhen's reign, the cold was unusually severe. Not only did the snowstorms come one after another, but the area of ​​ice on the sea surface also continued to increase day by day.

By early December, the sea between the north of Dongjiang Island and Tieshan Peninsula, and the sea between the northern end of Yuncong Island and the opposite coast, were completely frozen.

Although the conditions in the nearby sea areas are complicated due to ocean currents, and the ice thickness varies everywhere, Yu Liangtai's fleet and Lin Qingye's fleet, which led the fleet stationed in the waters of Dongjiang Island and Yuncong Island, had to be extremely careful to guard against it.

Qing soldiers and horses suddenly crossed the ice and attacked.

Therefore, in order to ensure the safety of the people in the large fleet and the safety of the large number of immigrants on several islands, Yu Liangtai and Lin Qingye led the fleet to pick up Shen Qi, Cheng Shen Qi, Ping Di soldiers and other evacuated troops led by brothers Zhou.

, took a short rest, and then led a large number of main troops to transfer directly to Ocean Island.

Only Qiu Zhenhai's son Qiu Bixian was left to lead the main battle fleet of the Jinhai South Road Naval Battalion, stationed in the waters of Yamato Island not far south of Dongjiang Island and Yuncong Island, as a maritime outpost.

On the one hand, they were responsible for staying behind to guard the foundations of Dongjiang Island, Yuncong Island and other places. On the other hand, they were also responsible for patrolling the long coast of Ping'an Road and Yellow Sea Road in separate ships to spy on the military information of the Qing Dynasty soldiers and horses.

After all, the Qing Dynasty puppet emperor Huang Taiji personally led the Qing Dynasty army to Hanyang City. It is necessary to find out as soon as possible what fate the Li family's small court will have or what choices it will make.

If in the future Yang Zhen sends someone to ask for news about the Li Dynasty, and he leads his army to live far away at sea but knows nothing, then the sin will be huge.

Although Yu Liangtai and others had learned a lot about the recent situation of the Li Dynasty from the Shen brothers and others, they also learned from Lin Qingye that he had sent people to evacuate a large number of relatives of Lin, Shen, Liu and other pro-Ming generals and officials from Ganghwa Island.

From the tribesmen, they learned about many recent events, such as the news that Kim Sang-heon and other pro-Ming officials were killed.

However, the inside story they know is limited after all.

Because when relatives of the Lin family, Shen family, Liu family and other families began to flee, the soldiers and horses of the puppet emperor Huang Taiji of the Qing Dynasty had not yet arrived at Hanyang City.

Therefore, they were not aware of all the subsequent events in Hanyang City and the entire south of Li Dynasty, and they could not imagine how Huang Taiji would deal with Li Zhu and other courtiers after he led his army to Hanyang City.

This is what Yu Liangtai, Lin Qingye and the Shen brothers are most concerned about. At the same time, they also take it for granted that this is what Yang Zhen is most concerned about.

Therefore, when they led a large number of ships to evacuate Dongjiang Island from Yuncong Island in early December, they did not relax their attention to Huang Taiji's movements within the Li Dynasty.

The remaining fleet led by Qiu Bixian was responsible for such a task.

When the main force of the fleet withdrew to berth on the ocean island, the young Qiu Bixian did not hide in the relatively safe Maodong of Yamato Island, but quickly assigned the Jinhai South Road Naval Battalion he led——

Gu 梩

One unit headed to the sea outside the Yalu River Estuary to wait for possible news from Zhenjiang Castle.

One group headed to the coast of Dingzhou and the waters off the mouth of the Qingchuan River to warn against possible attacks by Qing rebel troops on Yuncong Island and other places.

At the same time, there was another naval force, led by Qiu Bixian himself, heading south along the frozen coast of the peninsula and directly to Ganghwa Bay to inquire about the news.

On the afternoon of December 16, Qiu Bi, who led his troops south along the coast, arrived at the mouth of the Datong River.

After all, the Datong River Estuary is farther to the south. The ice conditions outside the river mouth are lighter than those at the Yalu River Estuary and Qingchuan River Estuary in the north. Although ice floes are gathered, they are not completely frozen into pieces.

That afternoon, it was rare for the sky to be clear. When Qiu Bi first led his fleet to pass by the sea outside the Datong River Estuary, he saw that the ice conditions here were not serious, so he decided to anchor at an unknown island outside the Jiangkou.

In the evening, as if he had a tacit understanding, Qiu Bi first asked the other ships accompanying him to rest near the island, while he himself led a gunboat upstream along the river mouth filled with scattered ice floes.

Then, under the guidance of the military and Korean guides, we walked all the way to the vicinity of Woniu Island in the river mouth.

This is where the later Nanpu Port of the Datong River Estuary was located. The river estuary has a vast surface, and there is an island on the north bank that looks like a lying cow, so it is commonly known as Wanniu Island.

Further inside Woniu Island, there is mostly fresh water in Jiangkou Bay, and the ice layer is still getting thicker. Although Qiu Bixian was bold, he did not dare to go deeper under the setting sun and night was about to fall.

However, while they were anchoring at Woniu Island for reconnaissance, the team of spies sent ashore by Qiu Bi first happened to bump into Shen Yueren and his party who were looking for ships along the coast.

At this time, Shen Yueren and his entourage had all shaved their heads and changed their clothes. Although the money rat tail was not exposed in the cold weather, the Qinglu armor they were wearing made Qiu Bi first send ashore. The team almost had a fight with them.

Fortunately, the clothes of Qiu Bixian's men and horses were the standard winter clothes of Jinhai Town in the Ming Dynasty.

Although they did not have any armor such as riveted cotton armor, their thick felt hats and fur coats, as well as the muskets in their hands and the grenade pouches on their chests, were still very eye-catching, and the identity of the enemy and ourselves was clear at a glance.

Shen Yueren, who had followed Shen Qiyuan and seen the musket battalion uniforms of Yang Zhen, the general of the Ming Dynasty on Jianghua Island, naturally knew at a glance that this was the ally they were looking for, so he opened his mouth and stopped in time. An encounter.

Otherwise, I'm afraid they would die at the hands of the Ming army they had been searching for for most of the day.

In this way, that night, Shen Yueren boarded Qiu Bi's ship that was anchored at Woniu Island, and then followed the ship out to sea overnight.

After unexpectedly learning from Shen Yueren that Li Zhuo had shaved his head and changed clothes, and that the Qing captives had returned north, Qiu Bixian naturally immediately gave up his plan to continue going south.

After they rested for the night in the bay of an unnamed island with less floating ice outside the Datong River, they raised their sails early the next morning and took Shen Yueren straight to Ocean Island.

"What?! Huang Taiji has already withdrawn his troops from Hanyang City? Already, has passed Pingxi City?! This - when did this happen?"

"It was already three days ago."

"So, haven't the Qing soldiers and horses returned to Zhenjiang Fort now? What should we do? In this case, we must send a ship to inform Governor Yang of the matter as soon as possible, and we must assemble as soon as possible Warship, return to Dongjiang Island station!"

In the evening of December 19, the sea area around Haiyang Island was rarely calm. After three days and two nights of sailing at sea, Qiu Bixian and his small fleet finally arrived at Haiyang Island and met Yu Liangtai, Lin Qingye and Shen who had taken refuge on the island. Qi Cheng, Shen Qi Zhou and other generals.

On the simple harbor dock of Haiyang Island, Qiu Bi first informed the people who came to greet him and Shen Yueren that Huang Taiji had withdrawn his troops and had already withdrawn through Pingluo City.

All the generals knew that Qiu Bi and his entourage were coming first and there must be important news delivered to them. At the same time, they also knew that Shen Qiyuan's biological son was among them, so they all came to greet them.

Unexpectedly, Qiu Bixian immediately told the generals a piece of news that shocked them as soon as he saw it. Yu Liangtai couldn't help but ask for details as soon as he heard half of it.

Facing the young general Qiu Bixian's answer, Yu Liangtai rarely showed a look of nervousness and fear. He didn't bother to ask about other situations. He made up his mind on the spot to lead the warships back to the sea not far from the Yajiang Estuary as soon as possible. Went to the Dongjiang Island station.

Because Yang Zhen is still "besieged" in Zhenjiang Castle, while Yu Liangtai and others have evacuated Yuncong Island, Dongjiang Island, and ran to Ocean Island deep in the Blackwater Ocean.
Chapter completed!