The winter of the 13th year of Chongzhen was particularly cold, especially after the winter months entered the twelfth month, the ice conditions in the northern waters of the Heishui Ocean east of the Liaodong Peninsula, that is, the northern waters of the Northern Yellow Sea in later generations, became more and more serious.

Although most of the sea areas are not frozen, the floating ice surging on the sea surface is almost connected, and the closer the sea area to the northern coast, the more complicated the ice situation is.

Starting from the mouth of the Yalu River, heading southwest, along the coast to the Guanglu Island waters, southeast, along the coast to the Bailing Island waters, almost all are covered by ice and snow.

Especially on the sea surface a few miles close to the coast or even within ten miles, the ice layer on the sea surface in many places is more than one foot thick.

From the mouth of Yalu River to the southwest, the coastal waters of Jinhai East Road, Dalu Island, Shicheng Island, and the seas west of Guanglu Island are all frozen and have become a piece of land.

Fortunately, the thickness of sea ice is not even. The ice layer on the sea surface is one or two feet thick a few miles away from the shore. Whereas the ice layer on the sea surface is relatively thin, especially far from the estuary area.

As for the vast sea areas southeast of Okushima and Shicheng Island, the east and south of Hirokashima are mainly floes and are not completely frozen.

Although some sea areas have more severe ice floes, such as the southeastern waters of Dalu Island, this vast sea area is still navigable. Even Dalu Island at the mouth of Yanghe River has not become an isolated island frozen on the sea.

Correspondingly, the Pi Island waters, that is, the Dongjiang Island waters, and the waters near Yuncong Island, are also surrounded by layers of floating ice.

As for the north of Dongjiang Island, the north of Yuncong Island to the coast of Ping'an Road and the coast of Huanghai Road, all of them were frozen.

Such cold cold never appeared when Dongjiang Town was still there.

In the past, the sea surface near the coastline in the east and west directions of the Yalu River estuary would of course freeze within a few miles or more miles, but the Yuncong Island area of ​​Dongjiang Island was slightly south and would not be completely frozen.

Even if the northern strait is frozen, the ice layer is thin and cannot withstand the impact of a large number of soldiers and horses. It is enough to ensure the safety of islands such as Dongjiang Island and Yuncong Island in the cold winter.

However, in the twelfth lunar month of the 13th year of Chongzhen, the severe cold was extraordinary. Not only did the wind and snow fall and then the next, but even the frozen area of ​​the sea surface continued to grow day by day.

By early December, the sea surface between the north of Dongjiang Island and the Tieshan Peninsula, and the sea surface between the northern end of the island and the coast facing it had completely frozen.

Although the surrounding waters are complex due to the ocean currents and the thickness of the ice is different, the Yu Liangtai fleet and Lin Qingye fleet, who led the fleet to station on Dongjiang Island and Yuncong Island, had to be extremely careful to prevent the Qing army from suddenly stepping on the ice and attacking across the sea.

Therefore, in order to ensure the safety of the large fleet personnel and the safety of a large number of immigrant households on several islands, Yu Liangtai and Lin Qingye led the fleet to take back the Pingsha Yi soldiers led by Shen Qicheng Shen Qizhou brothers and others to evacuate the team, and after they took a break, they led a large number of main forces to directly move to the ocean island.

Only Qiu Zhenhai's son Qiu Bixian led the main combat fleet of the Jinhai South Road Naval Camp, stationed in the seas of Yamato Island not far south of Yuncong Island, as sea outposts.

On the one hand, they were responsible for staying behind and protecting the foundations of Dongjiang Island and Yuncong Island, and on the other hand, they also had the responsibility of patrolling the long coast of Ping'an Road and Huanghai Road to spy on the military information of the Qing army.

After all, the Qing emperor Huang Taiji personally led the Qing army to Hanyang City, and the Li family's small court would have the fate or choices to make, we must find out as soon as possible.

If Yang Zhen sends people to ask about the news about Li Dynasty in the future and leads his army to live on the sea without knowing anything, then the crime will be great.

Although Yu Liangtai and the others had learned a lot about the recent situation of the Li Dynasty from the Shen brothers and others, they also learned a lot about the recent events from the family members of the Lin, Shen, and Liu who were sent by Lin Qingye to pick up the evacuated large number of Lin, Shen, and Liu who were evacuated from Jianghua Island. They had learned a lot about the recent events, such as the killing of a large number of Jin Shangxian and other pro-Ming officials.

However, what they know is limited after all.

Because when the relatives of the Lin family, Shen family, Liu family and other families began to escape, the soldiers of the pseudo-Emperor Huang Taiji of the Qing Dynasty had not yet arrived at the city of Hanyang.

Therefore, they were not aware of the subsequent events that happened in Hanyang City and the entire Li Chaonan, and they could not imagine how Huang Taiji would deal with Li Gui and other court officials after leading his army to Hanyang City.

And this is exactly what Yu Liangtai, Lin Qingye and the Shen brothers are most concerned about, and they naturally think that this is what Yang Zhen cares about the most.

Therefore, after they led a large number of ships to evacuate Yuncong Island in Dongjiang Island in early December, they did not relax their attention to Huang Taiji's movements in the territory of the Li Dynasty.

And the remaining fleet led by Qiu Bixian is responsible for such a task.

When the main force of the fleet retreated to the Ocean Island to moor, the young Qiu Bisheng did not hide in the relatively safe Yamato Island Maodong, but soon assigned the Jinhai South Road Navy Camp he led.

Guye

One is heading to the sea outside the Yalu River Estuary to wait for the possible news that Zhenjiang Fort City is coming.

One went to the coast of Dingzhou and the coast of Qingchuan River Estuary to warn the Qing army that might launch an attack on Yuncong Island and other places.

At the same time, there was a navy soldier, led by Qiu Bixian himself, heading south along the already frozen peninsula coast and went directly to Jianghua Bay to inquire about the news.

On the afternoon of December 16, Qiu Bixian, who led his troops to the south along the coast, came to Datong River Estuary.

After all, the Datong River Estuary is somewhat south. The ice conditions outside the river estuary are slightly lighter than the Yalu River Estuary in the north. Although the floating ice is gathered, it has not completely frozen into pieces.

That afternoon, it was rare to have clear sky. When Qiu Bixian led his fleet through the sea outside the Datong River Estuary, he saw that the ice was not serious, so he decided to stay on the edge of an unknown island outside the river Estuary.

In the evening, it seemed as if he had a heart-to-heart relationship. Qiu Bi first asked the other ships he accompanied to stayed next to the island to rest, and he himself led a gunship upstream along the river mouth full of scattered ice.

Then, under the guidance of the Korean guides in the army, they walked all the way to the near Woniu Island in the river mouth.

This place is where Nanpu Port, the mouth of the Datong River Estuary, is located in later generations. The water surface of the river estuary is vast, and there is an island on the north shore that looks like a Woniu, so it is commonly known as Woniu Island.

Going further inside Woniu Island, most of the fresh water in Jiangkou Bay, and the ice layer is still gradually getting thicker. Although Qiu Bixian is bold, the night is about to fall under the afterglow of the sunset, and he dare not go deeper.

However, during the mooring and probing of Woniu Island, Qiu Bixian sent a squad of spies ashore and accidentally bumped into Chen Yueren and his group who were looking for ships along the coast.

At this time, Chen Yueren and his accompanying men had already shaved their hair and changed their clothes. Although the tail of Jin Qian rat was not exposed in the cold weather, the Qing armor they were wearing made Qiu Bixian send a standstill almost fight against them.

Fortunately, the clothing of the men and horses, armor and clothing, was the standard winter clothes of Jinhai Town in the Ming Dynasty.

Although there are no armors such as rivets and cotton armor, their thick felt hats and fur coats, their muskets and grenade bags on their chests are still very eye-catching, and their identities are obvious at a glance.

He had once followed Shen Qiyuan and had seen Shen Yueren, who was dressed in a musket camp under the command of Yang Zhen, the General of the Ming Dynasty, on Jianghua Island. Naturally, he could tell at a glance that this was a friendly army they were looking for, so he spoke in time to stop an encounter.

Otherwise, they would probably die at the hands of the Ming army who had been searching for most of the day after they met.

In this way, that night, Chen Yueren boarded the boat that Qiu Biyi first anchored on Woniu Island, and then followed the boat out of the sea overnight.

After unexpectedly learning from Chen Yueren that Li Jue had shaved his hair and changed his clothes and the Qing barbarians had already returned to the north, Qiu Bixian naturally gave up his plan to continue his journey south.

After resting for a night in the bay of the unknown island with less ice floes outside the Datong River, they raised their sails the next morning and took Chen Yueren straight to the ocean island.

"What?! Huang Taiji has withdrawn troops from Hanyang City? He has passed Pingfu City?! This -, when did this happen?"

"It's already three days ago."

"So, have the Qing army returned to Zhenjiang Fortress City now?! What should we do? In this case, we must send a ship to Governor Yang as soon as possible to inform the matter, and we must assemble the ships as soon as possible to return to the Dongjiang Island station!"

In the evening of December 19th, the sea area around the Ocean Island was rarely calm. After three days and two nights of sea voyage, Qiu Bixian and his small fleet finally arrived at the Ocean Island and met Yu Liangtai, Lin Qingye, Sinking Vessel, Sinking Vessel Zhou and other generals of all sizes who were living in the island.

Just above the simple harbor pier of Ocean Island, Qiu Bixian informed everyone who had withdrawn from Huang Taiji and had already retreated from Pingtung City after hearing the news.

When the generals knew that Qiu must come first, there would be important news to be delivered. At the same time, they knew that the son of Shen Qi was also among them, so they all came to welcome him.

Unexpectedly, when Qiu Bixian saw the generals, he immediately gave out a piece of news that shocked them, so that Yu Liangtai couldn't help but ask for details halfway through hearing it.

When facing the young general Qiu Bixian's answer, Yu Liangtai rarely showed nervousness and fear. He didn't care about any other situation and made up his mind on the spot to lead the soldiers back to the Dongjiang Island station, which is not far from the sea outside the Yajiangkou, as soon as possible.

Because Yang Zhen is still "besieged" in Zhenjiang Fort City, Yu Liangtai and others evacuated Yuncong Island on Dongjiang Island and ran to the ocean island deep in the Black Water Ocean.
Chapter completed!