The Revolt of the Three Feudatories: All-in at the start in Beijing

After Zhu Xin left, Liu Mu summoned all the generals into the main tent. Seeing several unfamiliar faces, he realized they were all surrendered Green Standard Army generals and paid them no mind.

The original Green Standard Army, those who followed Dorgon, were absolutely unacceptable. Those people were either local warlords or former Ming Dynasty officials who had surrendered, and they had no moral compass whatsoever.

They were ruthless towards the common people, no less so than the rebel soldiers of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.

However, the Green Standard Army soldiers who followed Shunzhi in pacifying the southwest were different, because these people were recruited from the local areas and fought their way up step by step.

They might have had reservations about the Manchus and were somewhat intimidated by the Eight Banners, but what they cared about more was their own future. As long as the Han dynasty didn't collapse directly, they still had a basic sense of loyalty.

"Now that Zhao Liangdong is stationed at Fengyang, we have only one goal: to take Nanjing. Let's hear your thoughts!"

After Liu Mu finished speaking, he leisurely ate the cherries. These were not imported cherries, but local cherries, which were larger and had a sweet and sour taste.

According to Zhou Peigong's plan, since Daqing in Henan and Hubei has now declared independence, they should adopt a feint attack strategy, sending a large army to Yangzhou to pretend to cross the Yangtze River, attracting the Qing army, and then sending elite troops to cross the Yangtze River from Anqing.

After securing advantageous terrain, the army should then cross the river at Anqing in unison. This would maximize the safety of the soldiers.

Although this was a good idea, Liu Mu still raised questions with the generals. One was to see if there were any better options through brainstorming, and the other was to get these generals to use their brains and cultivate more generals.

In the end, the solutions were always the same: gather all the small boats, force a crossing of the river to fight the Qing army, or train the navy before deciding on the crossing.

He couldn't even pinpoint the exact location where he crossed the river. It seems the ancients were right: a general can gradually reach the maximum level, but a commander's talent is something that is innate.

These garrison commanders, leading ten or twenty thousand men, would reach their limit in direct combat with the enemy.

Just as Liu Mu was about to announce the answer, an ordinary-looking surrendered Green Standard Army general stepped forward.

"Your Majesty, I was a Green Standard Army adjutant stationed in Fengyang before. I overheard the Dutch and the Eight Banners commanders discussing something. They said that in addition to 5,000 troops, there would be dozens of ships to guard the Yangtze River for the Manchus."

Upon hearing this, Liu Mu subconsciously touched his nose. The coolness of the top-grade Hetian jade thumb ring instantly stimulated his brain, but it still couldn't dispel his worries.

Liu Mu already knew a great deal about the Dutch fighting ability through Yin Huaxing's military report. With the same type and strength of troops, the Han army could easily defeat the Dutch.

But the Dutch were truly powerful because of their navy!

Even with cannons, it would be difficult to defeat the Dutch if the three Chen brothers had only contributed Fujian ships and various riverboats from Zhengzhao.

Unable to come up with an answer, Liu Mu subconsciously looked at Xu Chuang. If a problem is raised by a subject, then you must have a solution to it, otherwise you are incompetent.

This is similar to what happens at work: if you raise a question but don't have a corresponding solution, the boss won't like it.

Whether it's a boss or an emperor, a truly excellent employee likes to ask questions and offer one to three solutions that the boss can choose from.

Xu Chuang seemed to be an expert as well. When he saw Liu Mu looking at him, he was not flustered at all. Instead, he cupped his hands in a salute.

"Your Majesty, my ancestors were the river defense commanders during the Jiajing era. Our family has some maps of the Yangtze River's defenses. If we find a weak point, we can take advantage of the situation to cross the river!"

"Before I left, I had been assisting the Qing court in defending the Yangtze River, and my soldiers were also quite skilled in naval warfare, so crossing the river would be absolutely no problem!"

Liu Mu was delighted upon hearing this.

Although the Admiral Cao Jiang was an official appointed by the emperor, he was the undisputed leader of the Yangtze River. As his descendant, Xu Chuang's naval warfare skills must have been quite impressive.

What the Han Dynasty lacks most right now is a naval commander.

Thinking of this, Liu Mu personally stepped forward, looked Xu Chuang up and down, and patted him on the shoulder.

"You're very good, tell me more specifically!"

Upon hearing this, Xu Chuang immediately straightened up. As a man, he naturally wanted to serve the emperor after learning the art of turning rivers and seas upside down. Xu Chuang, who had been suppressed for so many years by the Eight Banners commander who knew nothing about naval warfare, wanted to stand out more than others.

"Your Majesty, the Dutch have large ships and numerous cannons, and are also equipped with a large number of small ships from the Qing Dynasty to assist them. The old methods of using fire ships and close-quarters combat are no longer suitable."

"But large ships also have their weaknesses on the Yangtze River. As long as we take advantage of thunderstorms, our Han army can find a low tide point and cross an army of fifty to sixty thousand in three hours!"

"This is Baguazhou!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Mu immediately picked up a map. Indeed, there was an island in the middle of the Yangtze River opposite Nanjing, and Bagua Island was like a tentacle, dividing the wide Yangtze River in two.

If the tide were to recede, the army could easily cross the river with muskets, since the deepest part of the river is only about half a meter to a meter deep.

Do you know the exact time of low tide?

Liu Mu asked what was on his mind most, since it was almost April and the dry season had passed. If they couldn't cross the river on time and the water level suddenly rose, these northern soldiers of the Han Dynasty would all become water ghosts.

"Your Majesty, this humble general is willing to sign a military pledge!"

Seeing that Liu Mu was already tempted, Xu Chuang immediately issued a powerful military order, because he was unaware of Liu Mu's ambitions and thought that the Han Dynasty, like the Manchus, would not need a naval commander like him after successfully crossing the Yangtze River and unifying China.

If we don't try this time, it'll be gone!

Liu Mu was never an indecisive person. If there were generals who wanted to take the lead, why would he hesitate? Now that his base of operations was established, even if he lost tens of thousands of troops this time, it would only delay the destruction of the Qing Dynasty for a few years.

"Listen up, everyone! This crossing of the river will be led by Zhou Peigong, with Xu Chuang as his deputy. No one is to disobey!"

"If we successfully cross the river, under the leadership of Yin Huasheng, all the garrison troops will march straight for Nanjing. This time, not a single Manchu bannerman will be allowed to escape, including those bondservant slaves!"

After giving the order, Liu Mu looked at Xu Chuang.

"Among those 100,000 surrendered soldiers, there should still be the navy you once led. You will go with Yin Huasheng to select them, and all the ships will be yours. I only want the results!"

Xu Chuang was terrified upon hearing this. He hadn't expected that the emperor could see through his intention to cause trouble, so he quickly bowed and clasped his hands in greeting.

"This subordinate obeys!"

……

Once everything was arranged, Xu Chuang immediately began asking Zhou Peigong for people and boats, all ten-meter-long sand barges and flat-bottomed boats; he didn't want any of the Fujianese boats.

After finally acquiring more than 320 small boats and over 7,000 Green Standard Army sailors, Xu Chuang set off for Baguazhou.

Liu Mu was unaware of all this, as he was wholeheartedly focused on learning about the Ming Dynasty from Zhu Xin at the Yangzhou government office, eager to learn everything he could.

As expected, Princess Daming knew a lot. Liu Mu spent five whole days trying to learn it, but still couldn't understand it.