The total number of soldiers and civilians who retreated to Chongming was more than 11,000, including more than 7,000 soldiers of Li Chengdong. After Zhao Ming's two battalions were fully organized, he would take away more than 6,000 people and his relatives. The rebels who followed Zhao Ming would take away more than 4,000 people. In addition, hundreds of gentry and relatives and scholars would also leave Chongming and go to Zhoushan.

In this way, the population placed in Chongming was roughly more than 80,000, and the number of strong men was about 12,000. It was divided into 12,000 households and distributed in Shazhou near Chongming.

If all these strong men were organized into garrison troops, Zhao Ming's strength would increase greatly, and more than 10,000 garrison troops were trained and fortified in Shazhou were built, it would be enough to guard Chongming.

The Qing army is too strong now, and it is difficult for the Ming Dynasty to resist. More than 100,000 Zhejiang soldiers were easily defeated by Duoduo. The Ming army was difficult to defeat the Qing army on the front battlefield. Therefore, the chess piece of Chongming is very important and can restrain the Qing army and prevent it from attacking the Ming army with all its strength. It is always concerned about the attack in Nanjing.

The most important thing for the Ming army to gain a foothold in Chongming is the navy and food.

The Qing Dynasty rose between the white mountains and black waters. The barbarians have always been not very concerned about navy.

Now the Qing Dynasty occupied most of China, and the horse army and infantry were unmatched, but they never established a real navy.

Chongming is located at the mouth of the Yangtze River, surrounded by water. The Qing army did not have a navy, so it was difficult for him to attack Chongming. Therefore, even if Duoduo arrived in the south of the Yangtze River, Zhao Ming was not very worried that Duoduo would attack Chongming.

Therefore, the key to the Ming army's foothold is that they cannot starve to death on Chongming Island.

This requires enough food, and the source of food is to be robbed and purchased, and you also need to grow it yourself.

In the early morning, the rising sun was scattered on the sandbanks, and the sea and sandbanks were golden. Countless figures were bathing in the sun, working very vigorously.

On the sandbank, building embankments and fields are surrounded, land is being reclaimed, and water villages are being built at the same time.

More than 200,000 people, both men, women, young and old, were mobilized. The riverside was crowded with people, and tens of thousands of people worked together, and the scene was spectacular.

The terrain of Shazhou is flat and the large ships cannot get close to Shazhou. Guo Zhong led the three thousand soldiers of the Shui Camp and nearly ten thousand people. Taking advantage of the relatively low water level of the river, he cleared out a waterway on Chongming Island, dug out a waterway for the large ships to approach the wharf, and cut down trees and build a water camp to give the Shui Camp a shelter.

Zhao Ming took the shovel and took the lead in surrounding the dike. He sweated heavily. When the military and civilians saw him working so hard, they were moved and worked hard, and no one was lazy.

There were bright flags on the beach, and the military and civilians waved hoes and shovels, but they didn't stand up straight, and they all waved their hoes like rain.

Li Zhongming led a team of soldiers to urge the people to work, but everyone worked hard, so he urged the encouragement. The soldiers of the Pacification Division were motivating morale with drums and drums. After a few beats, they shouted loudly: "Everyone should work quickly!"

Ten thousand people stood in a row next to the earthen embankment, waved their hoes and shovels together, and soon built an earthen embankment around the sandbank. In the earthen embankment, countless elderly, weak, women and children bent down to work in the fields, the elderly drove oxen to plow, and the young man supported the plow to reclaim the land.

On Chongming Island, there was a busy scene. Zhao Ming worked until noon. The women picked up food. The soldiers rang the gong and shouted loudly: "After eating, everyone sat on the ground to rest."

Zhao Ming sat directly on the hoe handle, brought a bowl of rice, and talked to Xia Wanchun and He Wencheng while eating.

After the earth embankment is surrounded and the fields are reclaimed, spring plowing will begin soon.

Xia Wanchun said: "The general seized a batch of grain, and he could prepare all the grains and grow them, and he could produce grains and cultivate them. However, the ox and plowshares were a little insufficient, and various agricultural tools were also very lacking!"

Cattle are scarce. There are only more than 200 heads on Chongming Island and 500,000 mu of arable land, so there are indeed too few cattle.

The farm tools were not prepared first, and now many soldiers are good at cutting the soil.

Zhao Ming said in a deep voice: "I let someone think of some solutions to see if I can buy a batch of oxen. If not, let Guo Zhong send a navy to grab it. As for the farm tools, I seized a lot of iron ingots this time, so I can ask the craftsmen to make a batch immediately."

As he was talking, Li Yuanyin came over. He stood in the crowd and looked around. After asking how many people, he saw Zhao Ming in the distance.

"General Zhao, good news!" Li Yuanyin hurried over.

Zhao Ming put the finished bowl aside and couldn't help asking, "What good news?"

Li Yuanyin said: "The news came from Master Hu Xiang that Duoduo had withdrawn his troops, and the main force of the Qing army had left Zhejiang and returned to Jiangnan."

Zhao Ming was immediately overjoyed when he heard the word. His purpose of entering the Yangtze River was to force Duoduo to retreat. Now that Duoduo retreated, his goal was achieved.

"Really?" Zhao Ming stood up and showed joy, and Xia Wanchun and others were also happy.

Li Yuanyin nodded and said excitedly: "It's true, I know the people who come here, and there will be no false!"

Zhao Ming took two steps back and forth and suddenly asked, "What's the situation in Zhejiang? Do you know if someone comes?"

Li Yuanyin said: "It is said that Boluo is still in Zhejiang, but once the main force of the Qing army retreated, it will be difficult for Boluo to eat Wentai and Taiwan."

Wen and Taiwan are not lost. If the Zhejiang army was not completely defeated, the Qing army would not be able to pose a substantial threat to Fujian. Zheng Zhilong would inevitably sway and would not immediately surrender to the Qing Dynasty.

In this way, the crisis was finally resolved temporarily.

...

In Nanjing City, Duoduo sat in the middle hall with a gloomy expression, while Hong Chengchou and others knelt on the ground.

Hong Chengchou was a Grand Secretary and Governor of Jiangnan. His status was very high, but when facing Duoduo, he would kneel down any way he should kneel, without the dignity of a chief official.

At this time, Duoduo listened to Hong Chengchou's report, his face was full of anger, and he gritted his teeth and said, "I want to completely clear Zhejiang and attack Fujian, but I don't want to be disturbed by this Zhao Manzi, which forces me to retreat. Now Zhao Manzi is still entrenched in Chongming. If I reinforce Huguang, will he want to enter from behind me again?"

Hong Chengchou felt Duoduo's anger and kowtowed, "Prince, this time he made a mistake. The main force of the Eight Banners was not in Jiangnan. The army did not know the water battle, which made the Zhao thief crazy. I also asked the prince to atone for his sins!"

Duoduo snorted coldly, "The Regent asked you to govern Jiangnan, so that you could make Zhao Manzi break through the outer land and worship Xiaoling. You write a letter to the Regent to explain it yourself. I don't want to listen to your reasons, I just want to know how you are going to solve Zhao Manzi!"

Hong Chengchou couldn't help but sweat coldly on his forehead, and said boldly for a while: "Prince, Zhao Ming is entrenched in Jiangdao, and he has the benefits of a navy. The servants cannot wipe him out for the time being!"

Duoduo was furious when he heard the words, "What does it mean?"

Duoduo slapped the table suddenly, with murderous intent in his eyes, "Governor Hong meant that Zhao Manzi would be allowed to entrench the estuary of the Yangtze River, and wait for my army to enter Chu, and let him enter Nanjing again?"

Hong Chengchou hurriedly explained: "The prince, the Qing Shui Master has not been successful, and it is difficult to succeed in attacking the island at this time. Even if Chongming is captured, there will inevitably be huge losses. The slaves think that the Zhao thief is just a disease of scabies, and the pseudo-Ming small court is the confidant. The prince only stares at the Zhao thief and then loses the foundation."

Duoduo's face sank. Hong Chengchou actually dared to teach him a lesson, "What do you mean?"

Hong Chengchou kowtowed and said, "Your Majesty, now the anti-Qing thieves, including Zhao Tiebang, are all co-ruled by the fake Tang King. Zhao Tiebang entered the Yangtze River to prevent the prince from entering Fujian. Therefore, as long as the prince eliminated the fake Tang King, Zhao Tiebang could not change the general trend."

Zhao Ming was just a general of the Longwu court, and more than 100,000 Qing troops surrounded him to fight. If he could solve the problem, there was nothing to say.

However, Chongming was surrounded by water, and the Qing army did not have regular navy troops. Duoduo had more than 100,000 elite troops, but he could not use his strength. He could only see Zhao Ming occupying Chongming.

Now the Longwu court launched a counterattack in Huguang. If Duoduo continued to stare at Zhao Ming, once Huguang was restored by the Ming army, the Ming army would lead to the forefront and threaten Jiangxi and Nanjing, and the situation would be detrimental to the Qing army.

Duoduo squinted his eyes and pondered. The most urgent task of the Qing Dynasty was to reinforce Huguang and occupy the granary of the world. Zhao Ming was indeed a disease of scabies, but even so, scabies were not something that could not be damaged.

This time, Duoduo was going to wipe out Zhejiang and Fujian in one fell swoop, but Zhao Ming ruined the big thing. When he rescued Huguang, it was hard to guarantee that Zhao Ming would not go back again, so he gave him another knife.
Chapter completed!