The news of Hu Zhensheng's death in battle quickly spread to Zhejiang Province, and everyone from the governor's office to the three coastal towns was shocked. After seeing the urgent report of Hu Zhensheng's martyrdom, Ruan Yuan was shocked and angry, and immediately sent orders to the coastal towns.

He agreed to gather with Li Changgeng and Zhang Cheng in Ningbo to discuss the matter of coastal defense. He also traveled eastward at all times of the day and night, and soon met Li Changgeng and others in Ningbo.

When Li Changgeng met Ruan Yuan, he couldn't help but blame himself: "Zhongcheng, this matter is my fault. I misjudged people. I mistakenly used Sun Dagang to support Hu Zhentai in Fujian. As a result... As a result, I heard before

The report said that Sun Dagang did not send troops at all! If I had discovered the true situation of the Fujian Navy earlier, I...I would never let Hu Zhentai take this risk?"

"Li Tijun, I am also wrong. The joint supervision of Fujian and Zhejiang to suppress Cai Ni was the result of your and my discussion. At that time, we did not know that Sun Dagang was such a rat, so the emperor asked him to cooperate with our actions. Let's

None of them have any objections. It seems that I should ask the officials to discuss the matter this time." Ruan Yuandao: "But I also heard that before Hu Zhentai went south, he had left a fleet of guerrilla Gao Qirui in the south of Wenzhou Town.

We agreed to go south to help at any time, but Gao Guerrilla is here today?"

"The general is here." A man came out from behind Li Changgeng and paid homage to Ruan Yuan: "Reporting to Zhongcheng, the general on that day... indeed received an urgent order from Hu Zhenjun that day. After that, the general... the general immediately led his soldiers and quickly

He went south to rescue Hu Zhentai, but the last general had just gone south for a day when he encountered Hu Zhentai's warship. He learned that Hu Zhentai had defended his warship and retreated, but he... had already been martyred! The last general was guilty, and the last general

You will be guilty!"

"When did you send troops to go south?" Ruan Yuan suddenly asked.

"Back to Zhongcheng, the last general went south on the fifth day of the lunar month. On the seventh day of the lunar month, he encountered six warships from Hu Zhen Taipei. The last general wanted to go south to avenge Hu Zhen Tai. But the generals who went north said that it was better to concentrate instead of moving lightly.

We have enough troops to conquer Cai Ni again, so..." Gao Qirui hesitated.

"Then why didn't you move on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year?!" Ruan Yuan suddenly scolded him angrily.

"This... I got the order from Hu Zhentai on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year and immediately went south. I don't know how Hu Zhentai was trapped on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year?" Gao Qirui said in a panic.

"What nonsense!" Ruan Yuan said angrily: "Do you think I don't know the situation at sea? Then let me tell you, Hu Zhentai sent a clipper to convey the order to you on the afternoon of the second day of the Lunar New Year, and the clipper arrived at you on the morning of the fourth day of the Lunar New Year.

Among the troops under your command, you delayed sending troops for nearly a day! If you had marched south under starry night, you would have been able to join forces with Hu Zhentai in one day! By then, even if you were unable to suppress Cai Ni, you would at least be able to protect Hu Zhentai.

It is not difficult for you to return the warship to the north. But it was you who delayed this for most of the day, leaving Hu Zhentai isolated and helpless in Gantangyang, and finally died in the battle! In this way, you have no excuse for our army's defeat this time.

The blame lies with you! Why, you still refuse to plead guilty?"

"This... this is absolutely nothing!" Gao Qirui exclaimed in shock: "The general received his order on the fifth day of the lunar month. This is absolutely correct. All the soldiers below me can testify for the general. This

You will never be fake, right?"

"Gao Guerji, do you think you can hide this matter by threatening your soldiers not to tell them? It's easy for you!" After Ruan Yuan heard this, he was even more merciless to him and took a pot next to him.

She folded the paper, put it in front of him, and said angrily: "Your subordinate Zhang Wu is Hu Zhentai's confidant. You think that I am far away from Wenzhou and can't get the truth from you, so you can collude with the soldiers to confess."

Did you hide it from me? Zhang Wu already wrote all the things that you delayed in your move yesterday in this testimony! If you still don’t believe it, then after this battle, I will send people north from Gantangyang

Once, if it takes him two days to reach your headquarters, I will resign immediately and apologize! But if he can arrive in one and a half days, then your crime will be increased! How about it, do you dare to test it with me personally?

"

"Sir, please forgive me!" Gao Qirui heard this and finally couldn't hold on any longer. He knelt down in front of Ruan Yuan and said: "General... I made an appointment with my generals that day to have a banquet in the boat together. On the fourth day of the Lunar New Year,

At that time, when the clipper arrived at the villain's command, the villain was indeed... he was already drunk. He thought that it would only be one night before he sobered up before sending troops, so it would be fine. So the villain... the villain

I didn’t send troops immediately. I never thought that in just one night, I would miss the important event in Hu Zhentai?”

"What a mistake? Hu Zhentai is one of the few maritime generals in the country. If you delay him for half a day, his life will be lost! Our Qing coastline feels like we have lost a pillar! How much will your mistake bring to the coastal defense plan?

Do you know the losses?!" Ruan Yuan thought about Hu Zhensheng's repeated military exploits, and also knew that as a result, there would be one less powerful general who could resist Cai Qian, and he became even more angry, saying: "In accordance with the military orders of the country, I

I can pull you out of the shackles now. Originally, I thought that if you repaid the truth and took the initiative to admit your guilt, I could allow you to take merit. But you just concealed it, but I can't forgive you! Come on, now.

Pull him down and show him to the public at the gate of the government office!"

"Zhongcheng! Zhongcheng, please spare your life!" Gao Qirui begged for mercy repeatedly, but since Ruan Yuan had already hardened his heart, how could he let him call for help again? Soon, two soldiers under Li Changgeng stepped forward and pulled Gao Qirui away.

Go outside. Seeing him like this, Li Changgeng couldn't help but sigh: "I never expected that since I became the admiral, I have not been careless in hiring people, but I didn't expect that there would be such a cowardly person in the guerrilla.

"

"General Li, it is inevitable to be careful when employing people. The general has been in the Zhejiang Army for many years and most of the people he employs are capable people. This shows that the general knows people well and should not blame himself too much for one person's fault." Ruan Yuan

He also comforted him. However, both of them knew that after Cai Qian defeated Hu Zhensheng, he would soon go north, and the deployment of defenses was imminent, so they also asked Li Changgeng: "General Li, the important thing now is

We should set up defenses as soon as possible to fight against Cai Qian and make up for the situation. I believe it is not too late. But I don’t know what the situation is like with the warships at Hu Zhentai?"

"The warship is okay. Hu Zhentai can't save it by himself. There is another warship that is seriously damaged and cannot fight again without half a year of repairs. But the other warships under Hu Zhentai can still fight again as long as they are repaired.

Attack." Li Changgeng said: "Actually, before I came, I had already unloaded the batch of wood from Fujian and sent the three-town navy to repair the warship. It's just that time is tight. It will take at least a month to repair the ship, but according to the

Judging from the current situation at sea, Cai Qian's fleet will be able to attack Dinghai Town within seventeen or eighteen days at most. If he reaches Dinghai, he will set fire to the shipyard and then we will no longer talk about the eradication of the pirates."

"Can't sea ships be dispatched for a while?" Ruan Yuan asked.

"It's not that it's impossible. Only one-third of the ships that can attack are now. If you rashly confront Cai Qian, you're probably going to hit an egg with a stone." Li Changgeng said.

"That being the case, we have to make a plan first." Ruan Yuan sighed: "I am going to issue an urgent order first to clear the wild coast of Zhejiang. Cai Qian will not be repulsed for a day, merchant ships will not go to sea for a day, and the fishing market will be temporarily closed.

.If the people suffer losses, I will send money from Hangzhou to help them. But Brother Xiyan, the time left for us now is only half a month?"

"If that's the case, it's not impossible." Li Changgeng said, "But in this way, it may cause hardship to the soldiers?"

"Brother Xiyan, you want to tell the soldiers repairing the ship..." Ruan Yuan seemed to understand Li Changgeng's intention.

"Zhongcheng, this matter is not difficult to think about." Li Changgeng said: "But I also know that the salary of these soldiers under me in recent years is only enough to make ends meet. They usually go to the coast to police, but they are just like suppressing bandits and suppressing rebellion.

My life was in danger. So I kept thinking, I'm sorry for the soldiers. I can do as little as possible on daily chores, just to prevent them from suffering more. But I didn't expect that today, I...I even do these things.

It's over. But I don't have any other choice? I... I'm incompetent..." As he spoke, Ruan Yuan felt that he, a tough guy who was fearless despite the wind and waves, actually looked gloomy and was about to fall.

Tears come.

Ruan Yuan himself also knew that this was actually due to the limitations of the old system at that time. In the narrow sense of the Qing Dynasty, war was limited to the emergence of anti-Qing forces in local areas, either to capture cities or to seize territory, or to establish themselves as kings. Only then could the court officially send troops to conquer. But Cai Qian

He only surrendered first and then rebelled. He neither occupied any land cities nor established himself as a king. Therefore, in the eyes of many people at this time, Li Changgeng's battle to suppress Cai Qian could only be regarded as suppressing bandits and maintaining local security, but was not considered a formal war.

As for Cai Qian, he owned nearly a hundred ships and had almost 20,000 pirates at his peak. He had already done many things against the Qing regime, but most people on land were unaware of it. Therefore, the officers and soldiers who died in the sea battle were previously listed in Zhaozhong.

The temple was already a magnanimous move by Jiaqing. It was not until after this battle that Jiaqing officially issued an edict confirming that the suppression of pirates was equivalent to a land war.

"Brother Xiyan, if that's the case, I can't say much about this matter. You...if you have a plan, just do it. After that, I will accompany you to plead guilty to the emperor." Ruan Yuan couldn't help comforting him.

"Forget it, Boyuan, I understand that if we can win this battle, even if Cai Qian cannot be wiped out for a while, there is still room for improvement. But if we lose, I am afraid that within three years, the Zhejiang Navy will be in ruins. In this situation, I

I can only give up the little ones. If the gods and Buddhas are spiritual and really want to punish me, just let them punish me! This time I owe the soldiers, I will spend the rest of my life to pay them back, but I will still have to pay them back.

Two, right?" Although Li Changgeng spoke with a hint of intolerance, he finally made up his mind.

"This is going to be a disaster for Brother Xiyan." Ruan Yuan was also at a loss in his heart, but seeing no other way, he had to secretly decide to temporarily fortify the wall and clear the country. He patted Li Changgeng on the back and said, "I will go back to Hangzhou right now.

Go and prepare some money and food relief for the people along the coast who cannot go fishing. Brother Xiyan will do the rest by himself. If there is someone who needs me, I will definitely help you with all my strength."
Chapter completed!