"Brother, brother, do you look good in this outfit?" Zhao Zhenfang jumped in and ran in.
Zhao Han was cooling off by the pool. Although it was already the autumn harvest season, the autumn weather in Nanjing was even hotter.
Fei Rulan and Pan Qimei also came in, each wearing new clothes. It looked like they had just gone out to a clothing store.
Fei Rulan was wearing a uniform tube top Perot shirt, which was better, with wrist-length sleeves. Zhao Zhenfang and Pan Qimei both wore half-sleeves, with their snow-white arms exposed.
Don't think that women in ancient times dressed conservatively. From the paintings left in the Song and Ming dynasties, we can see that women dressed very openly in summer.
There are sleeveless blouses, with both arms fully exposed. You can also see a tube top inside, and you don't even wear a tube top, which is vaguely exposed.
Of course, this is in my own yard.
When going out, I will wear an extra piece of bijia (sleeveless, collarless vest).
Fei Rulan smiled and said: "Brother (Fei Ruyi) also moved to Nanjing and opened a clothing store, and asked us to be the first customers."
"It's quite beautiful." Zhao Han praised.
Zhao Zhenfang held a bag of melon seeds in her hands and sat by the pool and kept sipping: "I heard that eldest sister is going to Gaoyou?"
Zhao Han nodded and said: "When Gaoyou is defeated, my brother-in-law will go there to become the county magistrate."
The eldest sister's affairs have been settled, and Xu Zhiyuan has reconciled with his first wife. His first wife married Zheng Yu and followed Zheng Yu to serve as an official in Fujian.
In addition, the Xu family is temporarily split into three branches.
One family stayed in Jiangnan, one moved to Fujian, and one moved to Hunan. This kind of big family will continue to be split up in the future. Not only the Xu family, but also many big families in Jiangsu and Zhejiang will be split up.
Fei Yinghuan, Lou, and Fei Rumei's family were all in Zhejiang at this time, and Fei Yinghuan's official position was the prefect of Jinhua.
Fei Rulan sat by the pool for a while, feeling too hot. She got up and left. After a while, she came back with Xiyue, carrying several bowls of "milk ice" on a tray.
"I learned this to relieve summer heat a few days ago," Fei Rulan said with a smile.
Milk ice can be divided into milk and goat milk. Milk is added to the ice, and condiments such as jam are also added. It is not much different from modern ice cream.
The method of making ice from saltpeter existed in the Tang and Song Dynasties.
Cold drink shops in night markets in the Song Dynasty would only close at midnight.
Fei Rulan and the others didn't enjoy much else when they came to Nanjing, but they tried all kinds of street snacks and drinks.
Zhao Han used a spoon to shave the ice cream, and it felt cool in the mouth. The heat was immediately relieved by three points. He commented: "The taste is too sweet, you can add less sugar."
"I think it's just right." Pan Qimei said while licking the ice cream.
Zhao Zhenfang nodded repeatedly: "Yes, just right. If it's not sweet, it won't taste good."
Zhao Han could only agree that the sweetness was appropriate. Looking at the people in front of him, he couldn't help but think of the women drinking milk tea all over the street.
Women in ancient times and modern times are all the same.
While everyone was eating cold drinks, Zheng Sen suddenly came to see them.
This guy came to the pool and winked at Zhao Zhenfang. The little girl immediately rolled her eyes in return.
Zheng Sen raised his hand and said: "Captain, my father heard that Shanghai Navy does not have enough warships, so he is willing to sell twenty warships at a low price."
"I'm interested." Zhao Han was neither happy nor upset.
The warships Zheng Zhilong was willing to sell were definitely not small, but not big either, and were considered mid-range goods. However, they had almost no ocean-going capabilities, and they had to recruit Dutch shipbuilders and slowly build them themselves using Western shipbuilding methods.
Chinese-style and Western-style ships each have their own advantages.
If you want to improve combat effectiveness, Western-style warships are better. This has nothing to do with shipbuilding technology, but is determined by the hull structure.
Zheng Sen was about to speak but stopped.
Zhao Han smiled and said: "Your father wants to be an official?"
"He has always wanted to be an official." Zheng Sen said helplessly.
Zhao Han said with a smile: "I want to be an official, but I am reluctant to trade with Southeast Asia. I also ask merchant ships from various countries to pay him protection fees. Can he take advantage of all the benefits in the world?"
Zheng Sen sighed: "My father doesn't listen to my advice."
Until now, Zhao Han has not given Zheng Zhilong an official title, and his identity is also a Ming Dynasty coastal defense guerrilla.
Seeing that Zhao Han's territory was getting bigger and bigger, Zheng Zhilong became a little anxious.
Zhao Han was not in a hurry, letting Zheng Zhilong and the Dutch wait until he could occupy more inland territory.
The autumn harvest has been completed and the grain has been put into storage. It is the time to send out troops.
…
The Nanyuan Army has not moved for the time being, with half staying in Guangdong to defend against enemies in Guangxi. The other half has entered Fujian to suppress bandits. There are a large number of bandits in the mountainous areas of Fujian, and the suppression must be continued to stabilize the situation.
Intermediate Academy Army——
Zhang Tieniu and Liu Zhu were the main lieutenants. They landed in Taixing and Tongzhou (Nantong) and occupied the salt-producing areas of the Jianghuai River. The enemy was the salt barons and the salt household uprising army there.
Dongyuan Army——
With Fei Ruhe and Wan Sitong as the chief and deputy generals, they set out from Yangzhou along the Grand Canal with the strategic goal of capturing Huai'an. They then divided their forces and marched eastward to help Zhang Tieniu block the north, and then together they occupied the salt-producing area.
West Hospital Army——
Li Zheng and Xiao Zongxian were the main and deputy generals. They set out from Jiangpu County to capture Fengyang Prefecture first. The ultimate goal was to reach Xuzhou and mainly fight against the uprising cavalry.
Beiyuan Army——
Huang Shun and Fei Yinggong were the main deputy generals. They attacked Luzhou Prefecture first, then went to Liu'an Prefecture, mainly fighting against Luo Rucai.
In addition, Huang Yao, the commander of the Northern Military Academy, continues to exterminate the chieftains in Shizhou Prefecture. Now he has peasants and soldiers in his hands. After these peasants and soldiers see blood in actual combat, they will be expanded into a 7,500-man mountain division next year, specifically responsible for Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan.
Southwest battle.
…
Luzhou.
Luo Rucai was going crazy. He had besieged the city for three months, but he was still unable to capture it.
You must know that the soldiers of Luzhou have been taken away long ago, and the people guarding the city are all local braves and citizens!
General Yang Chengzu said: "The king of Zhao is coming. Whether to surrender, attack or leave, we must first make a decision."
Luo Rucai sighed: "I can't tolerate Zhao. It's impossible to surrender. Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong are two bastards. They are obviously thieves, but they refuse to fight together. If they join forces, and we are included, what will happen in the world?"
Can’t go?”
"Everyone wants to be an emperor." Yang Chengzu shook his head.
"Being an emperor? The mud on the trousers has not been wiped clean yet," Luo Rucai sneered, "Everyone wants to be an emperor, but they can't tolerate me. Now I have to face the man named Zhao alone."
Among the rogue bandits in the late Ming Dynasty, Luo Ru was an anomaly, ranking second in military strength for a long time.
He saved Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng.
Especially when he rescued Li Zicheng, Luo Rucai himself fell seriously ill. As soon as he heard that Li Zicheng was in trouble, he immediately sent troops to rescue Li Zicheng.
This guy didn't trust the government. His philosophy was "Thieves don't fight thieves" and he wanted to overthrow the Ming Dynasty. When there were conflicts among the rebels, he was the one responsible for mediating. Once Zhang Xianzhong was almost killed by Li Zicheng, it was Luo Rucai who gave Zhang Xianzhong five
Hundreds of cavalrymen helped Zhang Xianzhong escape from the dangerous situation.
Yang Sichang's evaluation of Luo Rucai was: "He is the best among the best, the most cunning among the cunning. He has been trained to be the most sophisticated and powerful in the past twenty years. He will not surrender until he dies!"
Luo Rucai's old camp is indeed brave. In terms of combat effectiveness alone, it may exceed Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng's personal soldiers.
However, this guy has extremely bad military discipline and loves to enjoy himself.
Luo Rucai had dozens of wives and concubines, and also maintained several theater troupes. His subordinates also followed his example.
After escaping from Zhang Xianzhong's territory, Luo Rucai lost many of his wives and concubines. In just one year, he had dozens more wives.
The cavalry of this guy has recovered to 2,000, and there are thousands of old battalion infantry. The combat effectiveness is likely to be close to the elite of the Manchu Qing Dynasty.
Huang Shun and Fei Yinggong led 7,500 regular soldiers and 12,000 civilians to march towards Luzhou Prefecture. The reason why there were so many civilians was because there were no rivers along the way, and the army's baggage after the expansion was also large.
Luo Rucai personally led two thousand cavalry and took the initiative to attack, but could not find an opportunity to attack.
In desperation, he ordered to withdraw from the siege and chose to confront the Datong army.
The Datong army went straight to the outside of Luzhou City. Zhu Zhifeng, the prefect of Luzhou, was overjoyed: "The Jiangxi soldiers are coming. Quickly open the city to welcome them!"
Seeing the Datong soldiers being welcomed into the city by the officers and soldiers, Luo Rucai was so angry that he almost spat out a mouthful of blood.
He was also a rebel. He surrounded Luzhou for three months. The entire city's soldiers and civilians rose up to resist, but Zhao Han's soldiers were able to enter the city with great arrogance.
"Walk!"
Luo Rucai's entire army retreated to Lu'an, but on the way, this guy led his cavalry and suddenly made an diagonal thrust in the direction of Shucheng County.
Instead of fighting positional battles with the Datong soldiers, he harassed Shucheng, which had already divided its fields, and also harassed the Datong army's logistics and food routes.
Two thousand cavalry came at a gallop, and the peasant association and peasant soldiers had no time to react.
"kill!"
The rogue cavalry broke into the village, killed everyone they saw, and only robbed a small amount of food before leaving.
Many of the people in Shucheng had moved from the south, and they had only finished allocating their fields for half a month. They had only formed a peasant association, and the peasants and soldiers had just set up an airs and had not even had time to practice.
"Dang-dang-dang!"
"Uu! Uu! Uu!"
Bells were ringing and whistles were blown in the village, and the peasant soldiers and peasant associations quickly gathered.
Luo Rucai killed dozens of villagers. When he saw the remaining villagers gathering into an army, he immediately ordered to turn around and leave.
When they arrived at the next village, they were attacked and killed again. After the villagers gathered, Luo Ru fled again with the cavalry.
Two thousand cavalry passed through the villages and towns, attacking and killing all the way, killing hundreds of farmers in three days.
He had no other intention, just to disrupt the rear of the Datong Army so that Huang Shun and Fei Yinggong, who had just occupied Luzhou, could not concentrate on attacking Lu'an.
Zhao Han's shortcoming of having no cavalry was finally exposed. He could not pursue him even if he was chasing him. He had to mobilize several times the number of troops to encircle and intercept him.
Huang Shun and Fei Yinggong were unable to do anything about this. In ten days, more than 2,000 farmers were killed or injured.
Luo Rucai's cavalry rushed into the village and cut them down. They did not deliberately slaughter the village. They killed people and ran away without even being able to touch the shadow of the ghost.
In desperation, Huang Shun simply gave up and led his troops to attack Luo Rucai's territory.
"Son of a bitch!"
"It's not for grabbing food, it's just for killing people. If I catch Luo Rucai, I will kill him with a thousand knives!"
When Zhao Han got the news in Nanjing, he became furious and called in the cavalry from Jeju Island in advance. The Marwari horses continued to be bred, and the Jeju ponies were temporarily used for fighting. They only wanted Luo Ru to be bitten to death to prevent him from killing him everywhere.
It only takes a few days to go back and forth from Shanghai to Jeju Island.
Hu Dinggui, Wang Yaochen, and Chen Tanggong came with their cavalry, while Lu Xiangguan stayed on Jeju Island to manage the civil affairs.
In anger, Zhao Han called Lu Xiangsheng and asked him to lead the cavalry to pursue the enemy.
