Without the threat of thieves and weapons attacking rafts, the Huai Army naval army was relaxed and happy when fighting. The small sampan was played casually. The centipede clutch directly hit the small sampan of the thieves' army. Shi Lang's centipede clutch went over and sank more than ten small sampans of the thieves' army. The large warship even entered the flock of sheep, bombarded with cannons from far away, crushed directly when approaching, smashing the thieves into pieces, or crushing them into the bottom of the water.

Even the transport ships loaded with the officers and soldiers of the Land Division joined the water battle. The officers and soldiers of the Land Division fired guns on the ship and killed the bandit sailors. The transport ship directly hit the bandit boats. Wherever they passed, countless broken wooden boards were left on the river.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the navy of the bandit army turned the bow and wanted to escape back to the upper reaches, but it was not so easy to run upstream. The cliffs led by Shi Lang had already been blocked upstream. Seeing the bandit army's ships attempting to escape upstream, the centipede cliffs rushed down immediately and hit the way, like an iron hammer smashing an egg, knocking the pirate ships to the bottom of the river.

After two hours of fierce fighting, the navy of the bandit army was almost wiped out, more than 500 ships were sunk, more than 6,000 people were killed, and more than 100 ships and more than 5,000 people were captured.

"A great victory! A great victory! Our army suffered minimal casualties." When the last small thief boat that did not run over surrendered, Li Guodong laughed.

After the war ended, Shi Lang boarded Li Guodong's central army ship and knelt on one knee in front of Li Guodong to salute: "The last general Shi Lang has fulfilled his mission and has defeated the thief navy!"

"Hahaha!" Li Guodong laughed and looked at the young navy general who was only in his early twenties. "It turns out that he is a tiger father without a dog son! General Xiao Shi, would you like to make achievements with Uncle from now on?"

Although Shi Lang became a traitor in real history, he did not have the opportunity to be a traitor in this time and space. What Li Guodong lacked most is the navy general. Shi Lang was proficient in water warfare at a young age and was a rare navy talent. Although this person was not loyal, Li Guodong liked him not loyal. If he was loyal, Shi Lang would never betray Zheng Zhilong and come to join him. It is precisely because of his lack of loyalty that this person can recruit him.

However, Shi Lang did not agree immediately, but looked at his father Shi Fu.

Shi Fu nodded with a smile, turned to salute Li Guodong: "The son of a dog is mediocre, has no talent and is incompetent, and it is rare to be loved by Master Bo! He thanked Master Bo for his job as a dog son."

Seeing that his father agreed, Shi Lang was overjoyed and quickly saluted: "Thank you for your kindness, I am willing to do my best to you!"

"Okay!" Li Guodong stroked his beard and smiled, "General Xiao Shi, from now on, you will be the deputy general of my Huai Army Navy! My uncle will report to the court and grant you a deputy general."

Shi Lang was overjoyed. He was only twenty-two years old and became the deputy general at the age of twenty-two. In the future, he followed Bo Gan and was granted the title of Bo and Marquis. Isn’t it expected?

The Huai Army Navy won a great victory, and from the river to the Jingzhou embankment, they were all controlled by the Ming Navy. Li Guodong's next plan was to prepare to attack Jingzhou. He could be polite to Zhang Xianzhong, and even would not kill Li Zicheng, but Li Guodong, who was stationed in Jingzhou, did not want to let this guy go.

Li Guodong did not block the retreat route of Jingzhou. Although there was a Han River blocking the north of Jingzhou, the bandit army had enough ships to cross the river and escape. However, the location of Jingzhou was too important. Ma Shouying did not choose to abandon the city and escape, but decided to stick to Jingzhou and protect Li Zicheng's back safety.

"Since Ma Shouying refuses to abandon the city and escape, it is a good opportunity for us to make achievements!" Li Guodong looked around, "Brothers, conquer Jingzhou and kill the thief-headed Ma Shouying!"

To be honest, compared to fighting the bandit army, Li Guodong prefers to attack the Qing army. Although the bandit army is much easier to fight, Li Guodong, who has taken the elite line, has insufficient troops. He cannot form a siege against the bandit army, nor can he occupy all his territory. It is useless to completely eliminate the bandits, just relying on extermination. If the Ming system does not change, kill one Li Zicheng, Zhang Zicheng, and Wang Zicheng emerge. Officials force the people to rebel. The Ming Dynasty, which has accumulated a long time, cannot fundamentally solve the problem, and it will not stop the people from rebelling.

In contrast, his elite troops restrained the Qing army. The Qing Dynasty had a sparse population. After several defeats, they could beat them to the point where the males were almost gone. They could only use a large number of Mongolians and Han people. In this way, the combat effectiveness would be reduced a lot, and the more they fought, the easier it would be to fight.

But whether it was a bandit or a Qing Dynasty, it was actually just a superficial problem. The real problem in the late Ming Dynasty was that the internal corruption of the Ming Dynasty was that all kinds of ills were not solved, and that Li Zicheng and later generations were killed; if the Qing Dynasty was defeated, perhaps the Russians, Galdan, and Westerners would come one after another.

To be honest, the accumulated problems within the Han people were not solved. Even if Li Guodong luckily helped the Ming Dynasty solve the bandits and the Qing Dynasty, in a few years, the bandits would inevitably rise again, and the Ming Dynasty once again had civil strife. At this time, Junggar, equipped with the firearms of the Russians, entered the Central Plains, and the Ming Dynasty would be finished.

What Li Guodong wanted was not just to carry out reforms and reforms on the basis of the feudal system, but to fundamentally reform. The so-called fundamental is to overthrow the feudal system and enter capitalism. He treated the Donglin Party well, not because he thought that the Donglin Party was a good person, but in this era, only the Donglin Party was the most likely force to enter capitalism.

If you want to let China embark on the road of capitalism, what other forces can you rely on besides relying on the Donglin Party and the Maritime Merchant Group? The Donglin Party, which represents the interests of the merchant group, is undoubtedly the best choice for the development of industry and commerce.

To resolve the contradiction between population, land and food, the only way out is to strongly support the maritime group, purchase grain from overseas, and develop overseas colonization. If you don’t grab large areas of unowned land overseas and focus on the pitiful land inside, you will not be able to escape the vicious circle of the dynasty cycle for three hundred years.

Both Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong can be let go. In the future, they will be used to reshuffle and use them to fight against the Qing Dynasty. However, Ma Shouying must not be let go. Those who are not of our race will have different hearts, especially those who believe in some kind of religion.

"Lord, Jingzhou's city is strong, and there are many elite troops under the command of the bandits and horse guards. If it attacks strongly, our army may lose too much. In my opinion, now in the rainy season, the river waters are rising sharply. We might as well dig open the Jingjiang embankment and flood Jingzhou!" Xu Liang offered a suggestion.

"No!" Li Guodong rejected the proposal, "If the Jingjiang River embankment is opened, not only will the thieves in Jingzhou City become fish and turtles, but the surrounding people will also suffer! The thousands of miles of fertile soil in Jingzhou will be transformed into a country with devastated creatures and suffering from the people. We cannot do this."

"Lord, if you attack for a strong force, it will be difficult to fight Jingzhou City." Xu Liang shook his head.

Li Guodong smiled and said, "Our army has many cannons. We will move all the red barbarian cannons from the navy and bombard the city. Then we will build a tower chariot, use scattered soldiers to climb high and suppress the enemy with long-range muskets; set up a high platform, use Folang machine and turtledove-footed guns to shoot the defenders in the city. Then we will approach the city with the chariots made of captured thieves and ships, and then we can blow up a section of the city wall."

The siege war is about to begin, and Li Guodong ordered the fleet to transport wood and build siege weapons; at the same time, the captured small boats of the thief navy were pulled ashore, and a wooden rack was made, and the boat was put upside down, and the bottom of the ship was coated with mud, so that the ship would be transformed into a cart. At the same time, a large sieve ladder was built, with a lot of silt by the river, and the large ladder truck was covered with mud. It was difficult for tinder oil and rockets to destroy the ladder truck.
Chapter completed!