Huang Degong, Zhou Yuji, Tu Yuan and other generals in the county government feasted happily. For many days, a bird appeared in their mouths. They couldn't eat well and slept restlessly. It was like a storm.
"Factory Supervisor, can you give me some wine? One pot is enough!" Huang Degong couldn't bear it anymore. It was too painful to have food but no wine.
Chang Yu glanced at the generals. Not only Huang Degong, Tu Yuan, Hao Yaoqi, Ji Jike, Li Muxian, etc. were all swallowing their saliva, but even Zhou Yuji, who had always been steady in the mountains, also had a look of longing.
"How can one pot be enough? Let's drink it tonight!"
The generals cheer!
Li Yan couldn't drink because of his injury. He even ate very little. He ate some hastily and then lay next to him. Chang Yu checked his injury, cleaned it, rebandaged it, and applied medicine, which moved him deeply.
"Why don't you see Lao Jia?" Tu Yuan, who was drinking at the table next to him, asked.
"I'm guarding the gate for King Heng. You can't just slip away if you use money to eliminate disasters for others," Chang Yu said casually, and the generals burst into laughter.
"I'm still thinking of sending the two battalions of the factory supervisor to pick up Cheng Ming. It seems I have to send another manpower." Li Yan frowned and saw Chang Yu's confused expression, so he had no choice but to send Cheng Ming to Cangzhou to borrow food because he was about to run out of food. It's all said and done.
Although I don't know how much Cheng Ming borrowed, he only led a thousand people to escort the grain and grass. He was afraid of trouble due to the long journey. At this time, the Qing army's probing horses were running around within a hundred miles, and there were even horse thieves everywhere. It would be bad if they encountered it.
Chang Yu thought for a while after hearing this: "At present, Linzi's food and grass can only last for ten days. We are not in a hurry to let Cheng Ming rush on his way. For the sake of his safety, we can slow down to Xincheng County to prepare food and grass in case of emergency."
"My humble position has sent people to Xincheng to collect food." Li Yan smiled slightly, and Chang Yu extended his thumb: "General Li is thinking ahead to prepare for a rainy day."
"It's far inferior to the humble position of factory supervisor strategizing," Li Yan said with a cupped hand.
Chang Yu laughed loudly: "Let's stop subsidizing each other." He turned around and glanced at the generals at the wine table: "Now there is Linzi, Xincheng and two counties. The food and grass supply can last more than a month. With more than 30,000 troops, there is enough food." There are drinks and soldiers, and the next step is to see how we fight Dorgon."
"Eat and drink enough, then you can fuck me!" Huang Degong shouted, his face flushed and his mouth full of alcohol.
Chang Yu smiled without saying anything and looked at Zhou Yuji.
"Soldiers will block it, water will cover it, and the factory supervisor will beat him wherever he goes." Zhou Yuji smiled slightly. He and Chang Yu had been side by side for a long time and had great trust in him.
"The problem is that I don't know what to do now?" Chang Yu smiled bitterly and looked at Li Muxian. The wandering Taoist priest had recovered from his illness and was blushing from drinking. Although he was not good at marching and fighting, he was good at planning and had good eyesight. Very poisonous.
"In terms of military strength, we are on par with the Tatars. In terms of combat power, we are slightly inferior, and the Tatars are best at field warfare. Looking at the overall situation, we don't seem to have any advantage at the moment. This is a tough battle." Li Muchian raised his glass and drank it down, looking at Chang Yudao: "So the factory supervisor doesn't know where to point?"
Chang Yu nodded. Li Muxian explained that the combat power of the Qing army was slightly inferior to that of the Qing army. In fact, he had taken everyone's face into account. No one knew the gap between the two better than him. If he really let go and fought head-on, the Qing army would have ten thousand soldiers. A horse can defeat the more than 30,000 men he has. .
This is the gap in strength. Even if you don't accept it, the gap does indeed exist.
The reason why he dared to fight hard outside the pass and won was that, in addition to his scheming and underhand moves, Wu Sangui's Guan Ning cavalry was the most powerful army in the Ming Dynasty at the moment.
Among the soldiers and horses in hand, Huang Degong's thousands of cavalry are the most powerful, followed by Zhou Yuji's, followed by Tengxiang Guards, Jinwu Guards, and Li Yan at the bottom. Combined, all the troops are still defeated by the Qing army.
"Does the Taoist Master have any good ideas?" Chang Yu stood up and walked to the wine table with a solemn expression: "This battle is of great importance. In addition to protecting the vassal, we also need to drive the Qing army out of the pass in one fell swoop. We cannot let it continue to cause harm in the Ming Dynasty! "
Li Muxian lowered his eyes and thought deeply: "If we were in the city, let the Tatars have thousands of troops and factory governors sitting in charge..."
"Let me tell you something useful. We are outside the city now without wings and can't fly in. The Tatars can't let us in. The governor doesn't want to enter the city either." Chang Yu interrupted him: "Besides, we are too passive in the city. The Tatars are too passive. We can completely trap us in the city. At worst, it will be the same if we don't eat King Heng's flesh and attack the surrounding cities. Then we can only watch him do evil in the city. As I said, we don't just need to protect him. The city still needs to drive away the enemy."
"Then let him attack the city." Li Muxian gritted his teeth and said: "The Tatars only have more than 20,000 troops. Qingzhou City has two battalions under the factory governor and more than 10,000 young men. If the Tatars want to break the city, they must attack with heavy troops. We When he takes the opportunity to call for reinforcements, he has to divide his troops to stop it. Is it possible that our more than 30,000 troops cannot break through his defense line of tens of millions of people?"
"Yes, just do it like this. If the Tatar troops are scattered and cannot be settled at both ends, the city cannot be attacked and they cannot be stopped." Huang Degong was the first to agree.
Chang Yu snorted and shook his head slightly: "No!"
"Why not? I think it's very good." Huang Degong asked.
Before Chang Yu could speak, Li Yan said for him: "Although there are many soldiers in Qingzhou City, most of them are inexperienced civilians. The Tatars may not use heavy troops to siege, and they have captured tens of thousands of civilians along the way, so they can be used as cannon fodder to attack the city." , they still have an adjustable army to stop us. Even if they intercept the reinforcements with half their strength, if it is flat ground, we may be able to break through their defense line with our strength advantage, but they will definitely set up a defense line on the Beiyang River and want to fight through..." Li Yan Shaking his head: "It's difficult. Even if we pass it at any cost, Qingzhou City may be lost."
this is the truth.
A very cruel reality.
The hall suddenly became quiet, Chang Yu and Li Yan drank tea in silence, Huang Degong, Zhou Yuji lowered his head while drinking and muttered something, while Li Muchian stared at the map and frowned.
"Is there a road in the mountains?" Li Muxian said suddenly. Everyone looked at him. Chang Yu was slightly confused: "We are going to Qingzhou Yangguan Avenue and there is no way to reach the plains. Why do you want to go through the mountains? You want to play Ningyuan's trick? It won't work. of!"
Although Li Muxian did not participate in the battle of Ningyuan, he was deeply impressed after hearing many stories about the young eunuch hiding his troops in the mountain and using the mountain as a city to face Wu Sangui through the air.
"No, no, no," Li Muchian shook his head: "Factory Supervisor, just take a look..."
Out of curiosity, everyone stood up and gathered around.
In the county government office, the young eunuch and a group of military leaders were thinking hard about how to deal with the enemy, but outside the city it was a different story: a carnival!
Huang Degong and other bosses entered the city, and his subordinates led their soldiers to camp by the Taigong Lake in the east of the city. There were forests and water to provide shelter from wind and rain, and it was close to mountains where they could attack, retreat or defend if the enemy attacked.
The soldiers were exhausted from running all the way, and after working hard to set up camp, they suddenly felt hungry and thirsty. At this time, a condolence group headed by Prince Heng arrived, and of course they also led a vast logistics service team of civilian volunteers.
Although serving tea and pouring water was not enough, he was busy lighting fires and cooking for them. He won the favor of the soldiers. Li Shiyuan, Zou Fengji, Li Yan's general Qin Songwang, Huang Degong's seven generals and the commanders of Jinwu Guards exchanged greetings. Because the situation was serious, They must always be on guard for the front line not to enter the city. Zou Fenggi is also discerning and has specially prepared rich meals for them, but of course there is absolutely no wine.
The food of ordinary soldiers is still porridge and white rice, but the Ming army is used to the hard life and can easily be satisfied if they have something to eat without being picky. However, they were pleasantly surprised to find that there was shredded pork in the porridge today. Wow, it’s meat!
Chasing the enemy for thousands of miles, fighting to the death in several fierce battles, all they ate and drank was gruel and bran, and they even ate the first meal without finishing the next meal. Only they can understand the suffering best, and many people actually drank this bowl of meat porridge. He cried loudly, maybe because he felt that he was suffering too much, or maybe because he felt that his former brother and former comrade-in-arms died in the battle without even drinking this mouthful of porridge.
Zou Fengji, He Wentang and other civil servants could not understand this kind of emotion. Li Shiyuan was lucky and secretly wiped away his tears. It was really not easy for the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty these days!
The meat porridge was an unexpected surprise, but it was the money that made the military camp excited! More than a dozen carts of white money were overturned to the ground. Zhu Cian waved his hand: "Everyone has a share!" The cheers from all around shook the sky, making him feel like everyone was paying attention!
Previously, more than 40,000 yuan was raised in the city. Later, the young eunuch got angry and Zou Fengji gathered the rich gentry in the city together for a small meeting. A message was sent out: the big eunuch was very angry and the consequences would be serious.
The chief eunuch is from Dongchang. He has military power and the favor of the emperor. In addition, the special situation of the outside world at this time. As long as these rich gentry are not stupid, they know how serious the consequences of his anger are. It is too serious to imagine.
So in just one meal, 40,000 yuan turned into 100,000 yuan!
Then he raised his hand and pulled them all out and divided them among the soldiers. Each person received almost three taels of silver, which was equivalent to the annual salary of an ordinary Ming army!
What's more, Zhu Cian roared again: "Prince Heng's Mansion will reward the Tatars for killing them, and they will distribute a million taels of silver to the meritorious soldiers!"
million!
Linzi City exploded immediately. Even Chang Yu and others who were discussing countermeasures in the county government thought they were being attacked by enemies outside, so they rushed people to investigate. The people in the city turned pale with fear.
