"The affairs of the Deputy Chief Executive Officer shall be handed over to the military advisors." Before leaving, Zheng Yunming had already made arrangements for the officers and soldiers who were left behind in Xiangyang City: "The army shall be temporarily commanded by Wang Deng, and Lu Weng will be the acting agent in front of Zhao's commander, and Ge Gong is responsible for the guards of the whole city. Staff Ma will inspect the military camp every night and preach the truth. If there is no judgment, everything will be accepted by the military advisors."

He said to Bai Yijie: "The enemy was hit last time and would not take Xiangyang's attention for a while. It is enough to just pay attention to the situation of the outer fortress. If the enemy returns to Xiangyang for a large number of troops, they will send people to Ezhou to report the news quickly."

"Lord, don't worry. As long as the lord fights well downstream, the Mongols cannot attack Xiangyang wholeheartedly." Bai Yijie said: "The only thing I am worried about is that the various naval armies do not listen to the lord's order. If so, they must go through the path of historical system."

Zheng Yunming shouted suddenly: "When is it still the narrow concept of taking care of one's own business? Don't say it again. I think Shi Jian will never abolish the public for personal gain." His words were very righteous, but Bai Yijie knew that Shi Songzhi was completely opposed to Zheng Qingzhi in his political stance. At that time, the commander along the river would be able to make Zheng Xianggong's son without soldiers if he had a little trick.

Zheng Yunming also instructed Lai Ruyue: "During the war, everything is in power. You should stay at home with a group of children. Don't go out to the streets to walk around casually. There are naturally stone brothers on the streets to take care of them. Don't think about searching for Mongolian spies on the whim and playing with them."

Lai Ruyue gently pulled her eyelids with her fingers, rolled her eyes so much that she turned to her and said softly: "Be careful when you are outside..."

Zheng Yunming laughed: "I am twice as safe as I am outside than in Xiangyang City. The Mongols only know how to fight immediately and have no idea about the work on the water. As long as I stay on the Yangtze River, what can the Tartars do to me?"

At this time, he never thought that his navy would have a weak side when facing the Mongolian army that he had been on a boat for the first time.

Zheng Yunming ordered all ships to dock on the riverside, and under the guidance of Peng Man and Zhang Lian, they examined the damaged warships in the battle one by one. In this bitter victory, the new Jinge Navy suffered heavy losses on its first attack. The soldiers on the vanguard's water whistle were almost wiped out except for falling into the water, and Peng Man's oar fleet also suffered heavy casualties. The losses were mainly officers and soldiers and sailors. As for the ships, more than ten were burned. Although the remaining warships were the Mongolian army.

The captured, but was immediately recaptured by Zhang Weixiao's army. As for personnel, there were three team officials, more than 100 soldiers were killed, and one deputy general and more than 300 people were injured. Most of these injured soldiers could not return to the battle immediately. Although it was not said that the loss of energy was damaged, when Zheng Yunming was about to show his strength in Ezhou, even if the scale was not as large as that of the navy, it would lose some of his combat power, which would make Zheng Yunming's military use even more difficult.

"This is not possible. The troops are far from enough to stop the Mongolian army. When will our large ship arrive?" Zheng Yunming asked Zhang Lian, the commander of the navy in charge of the operation of the large fleet.

Zhang Lian's hand was sweating. If Peng Man revealed that he went ashore to attend an old friend's banquet at this time, the young general was angry and beheaded him on the spot to serve as a military discipline. Fortunately, he saw Peng Man's face as usual and did not want to report it. He replied carefully: "The large fleet is training in Dongting Lake. It was originally scheduled to arrive in Ezhou tomorrow, and it will arrive in three days at the latest."

The loach ship, the swan ship, the six and eight large ships were the core combat power Zheng Yunming relied on. In this era, the big ship was an advantage and the guarantee of victory. Hundreds of years ago, the prosperous Tang Dynasty fought with a towering giant boat at the mouth of the river in Shiraku Baicun and the Japanese island light vehicular. Although the Tang ships were only 170, the ships were tall and the Japanese army was not as good as that. The Tang army launched rockets and rockets from a high place, burning more than 700 Japanese ships. This shows the victory of the power of the large warships, but the whole country of the Song Dynasty and even Zheng Yunming did not notice that this situation was undergoing subtle changes.

Peng Man suddenly interrupted: "The warship is still second, mainly because the troops are not enough."

"The more than 3,000 officers and soldiers from Commander Yang led by the land and water. I only brought 300 people as the vanguard. The other people and ships Yang Xuan will be transported tomorrow. There is another thing, please follow me." Zheng Yunming said, turning around and walking towards his boat. Peng Man and Zhang Lian were unconscious of their intentions, so they had to follow the deputy commander onto the boat. Zheng Yunming took the two of them to the middle cabin, where the bamboo general wrapped in felt cloth and various firearms were neatly placed inside.

"From now on, the proportion of firearms should be greatly increased in water battles." Zheng Yunming asked: "In water battles, first use firearms to shoot, burn all the enemy ships, what do you think?"

"That's true. If there are firearms to help, even if the Mongolians have thousands of ships, our army can burn them at a distance. But now it can only rely on rockets and ignition tanks to fight against thousands of enemy ships." Peng Man also deliberately avoided his defeat. In the morning, he suffered a small loss on the Mongolian fishing boat, but at this time he talked about the use of firearms without changing his face.

Zheng Yunming responded: "When I was in Xiangyang, I always worried about the inability to equip enough firearms for the navy because of the tight time. At that time, in order to consolidate Xiangyang's defense, I didn't care about everything. Now that Xiangyang's city defense is complete, I urged the craftsmen in Xiangyang to rush to make general cannons and muskets day and night. Fortunately, there is no shortage of bamboo, wood, pig iron, and coal in the city. This is all because the military advisors were able to do a good job in the battle. It's just that there is the same." Zheng Yunming gently knocked on a wooden general: "There is no foot in Xiangyang City."

There is enough saltpeter and sulfur. The entire Jinghu Lake lacks these two things. Since the imperial court took away our gunpowder formula and handed it to the Jianshi and Rongshi along the river, these two resources on the market have been plundered by the army. Now the price of sulfur is three times that of last year, and the price of saltpeter has even risen to ten times! Now the merchants in Jiangnan, Guangnan and Fujian are all trying their best to transport saltpeter and sulfur, but one by one, one by one, one by one, one by one, and one by one, they are immediately plundered by local governments and army, and they have no time to transport it to Jinghu Lake."

"Now you should understand that I have to collect and hoard saltpeter and sulfur before the war." Zheng Yunming asked Zhang Lian: "Is the materials stockpiled now used to produce gunpowder, is it enough?"

When Zhang Lian talked about this, his voice immediately became louder: "Just collecting these expensive sulfur and fire salts, it took us a lot of effort. The officials also knew that saltpeter was not produced locally, and they were smuggled from northern Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu through great difficulty, "

Zheng Yunming waved his hand: "I don't care. The commander only needs to answer whether the raw materials you stockpiled are enough."

"There is surplus of sulfur. Although saltpeter is not enough is not a big deal. After all, there are methods taught by officials to make up for the shortcomings. Although this method is not so good..." Zhang Lian exaggeratedly made a move to cover his nose. Zheng Yunming also laughed. However, he also knew that as the scale of the war became larger and larger, the supply of saltpeter in the Song Dynasty would become increasingly tight. The distribution of saltpeter and war horses showed an amazing similarity, that is, it did not favor the south of the Yangtze River, but was biased towards the northwest. In the areas near the Song Dynasty where saltpeter could be obtained, Hedong was the base for the Mongols to go south. Longnan was in turmoil under the attack of the Mongolian army. Not to mention the Western Regions, even Ogedei's edict may not be useful there.

Zheng Yunming has another place that can ensure the endless supply of saltpeter in Song Dynasty, but it is not yet said that at present, they still have to endure the unpleasant smell to extract these precious white powders from the feces and urine of pigs and cows.

"It's a bit smelly, it's better than that." Zhang Lian frowned and said, "It's just that the troops from all over the country can't stand it. Refining gunpowder is a troublesome thing, and preparing refined gunpowder according to the methods of officials is even more labor-consuming. However, the refined gunpowder that has been produced has been borrowed by Huangzhou today, 100 kilograms, tomorrow, 50 kilograms, and the day after tomorrow Zhenjiang will borrow another 80 kilograms..." He smiled bitterly and shrugged: "It's not enough for the craftsmen to work day and night to force the throne masters from all over the country to come and borrow it."

Zheng Yunming stared at Zhang Lian for a long time, and smiled maliciously: "I think with such a shrewd person, you will never see these precious inventory being divided up by others without leaving any reserved."

"There are inventory, but it may not be enough for Shangguanren." Zhang Lian said bluntly: "The officials came to Ezhou after all the twists and turns, not to do anything to live here. They must have fought more than one battle with the Mongolian army. I am afraid that the gunpowder I have saved may not be able to support it."

Zheng Yunming waved his hand: "Then work overtime continuously and rush to do it day and night! How can the war be fought because of the adverse effects of the armed forces!"

He shouted to Peng Man: "You go to the Ezhou Prefecture Office and ask them to move out a house. I want to set up a gunpowder workshop on the spot, not only do I double the speed of producing gunpowder, but also produce various cannons and bullets. I will concentrate all the craftsmen in Ezhou, Yueyang and Wuchang, and use division of labor and cooperation, and make a large amount of money. Each craftsman is given a triple reward. In addition, hire more husbands and workers, and don't let the craftsmen do these efforts, so that they can concentrate on the most critical procedures!"

He said to Zhang Lian again: "Warning is going on, fishermen, brothers, don't wait to see success or failure as before. Send someone to contact Dongting, ask everyone to prepare their own boats and wait for the government to send them at any time. Don't say anything more about the heavy corps of the government. When the Tartars come, they can't even save their lives. How can they complain? Within three days, I will transport forty Fuyang boats, and 100 fishing boats will be at their disposal. Once the army sets off, follow the warships and transport food, grass and ammunition."
Chapter completed!