After listening to Liu Zhaoji's words, Shi Kefa looked back in the direction of Nanjing, shook his head, and said bitterly: "Do you also believe that the army of Princess Jianguo defeated Zuo Liangyu and went eastward? That means Zuo Liangyu raised his troops and went eastward.

, are more convincing than such words.”

"What do you mean, Supervisor?" Liu Zhaoji was just a small general with thousands of soldiers, and he was relatively simple. He didn't know much about the disputes in the court. He couldn't help frowning and questioning after hearing this.

Shi Kefa said nothing.

Next to him, He Gang sighed and explained for Shi Kefa: "The current government is full of eunuchs. Ma Shiying, Ruan Dajue and other traitors have long wanted to kill the governor, so how can they send troops to save the governor?"

Liu Zhaoji frowned even more tightly and said, "Isn't that true? Even if they have a grudge against the governor, they won't put national affairs at risk, right?"

Once Yangzhou cannot be defended, the Qing army will march to the Yangtze River. Although the Yangtze River is naturally dangerous, how can it be defended with its long river bank?

The Qing army is approaching fiercely. If we cross the Yangtze River, wouldn't the capital be in danger?"

He Gang smiled bitterly and said: "General Liu, Ma Shiying, Ruan Dayue and others are traitors, how can they have national security in their hearts?

If you look at the ridiculous excuses they used to transfer the Marquis of Jingnan, such as 'the princess who oversees the country leads her army eastward', you will know that in their minds, state affairs are nothing more than child's play."

Liu Zhaoji also felt that the "princess supervising the country" thing was too ridiculous, let alone "the princess led an army to defeat Zuo Liangyu and went eastward".

Zuo Liangyu was a great warlord who blocked the Yangtze River with an army of 800,000 people. So what kind of strength does the princess' army need to defeat him?

It doesn't sound believable.

I don’t know how the princes in the imperial court transferred Marquis Jingnan because of this. Could it be that Ma Shiying, Ruan Dajue and others wanted to use this to kill Superintendent Shi?

Even though Liu Zhaoji didn't understand much about high-level political struggles, he still felt that Ma Shiying and others' idea of ​​using Jiangbei in exchange for Shi Kefa's life was equally absurd and unbelievable.

So he said: "Supervisor, no matter what, we have to defend Yangzhou. I believe that there are always sensible people in the court who will send troops to support."

Shi Kefa disdained to argue with a military commander about such a thing, and was frustrated, so he said perfunctorily: "I hope so."

After saying that, he walked down the city.

He was planning to go back and write a suicide note.

'One letter each for mother, madam, uncle and brother. Well, I also need to leave one letter for Duduo to ask him not to massacre the people after he breaks the city.'

Shi Kefa felt that now that the matter had come to this, he had no choice but to live and die together in the city to show his loyalty and integrity.

···

The next day.

After breakfast, Duduo, who held the position of general of Dingguo and commanded the Qing armies in the south, was formally promoted to discuss matters.

All the generals under his command came to his tent on fast horses to listen to orders.

Li Chengdong, who moved his camp to the south of Yangzhou City yesterday, was the last one to arrive. He entered the tent and glanced around, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart: This time, King Yu's command is really full of stars.

I saw Duduo sitting high on the handsome tiger-skin chair.

The ones closest to him below and also sitting with horses are two famous generals of the Jueluo clan.

The plain-looking middle-aged man in his thirties on the left is Chu Ying's third son, Dorobel Nikan.

The one on the right looks to be in his early thirties, tall and muscular, with a beard. He is the third son of Abatai, Gushan Beizi Bolo.

After these two people, Han Dai, the Manchu Minister of War, also sat on a horse.

Below are the senior Manchurian military attachés, Baiyin Tu, Tu Lai, Ashan, Nushan, Ahanikan, Yild, and Marashi.

Then came Kong Youde, the obedient king of the Han Army Banner, Geng Zhongming, the Huaishun King, and Zhang Cunren, the governor of Shandong and Meile Zhangjing of the Han Army Banner.

The last one to attack was a kind of general who surrendered from the Ming Dynasty in the pass.

But the ranking of these people is also divided into high and low.

At the front were Xu Dingguo, Li Jiyu, the commander-in-chief of the army who had surrendered to the Qing court in Henan, Liu Zhong, the pseudo-Shunnan Pingbo, and then there were Li Chengdong, Yang Chengzu and other Ming Jianghuai generals who had surrendered to the Qing court not long ago.

When Li Chengdong saw Li Qifeng and Gao Fengqi, they were kneeling in the tent with their buttocks stuck out. They were obviously asking Duduo for forgiveness, so they knelt down too.

But subconsciously he just knelt down on one knee.

"General, my plan was not effective last night. Please punish me, King Yu!"

Duduo, who was in a good mood yesterday and said he wanted to treat Li Chengdong and others to dinner, now had a sinister look on his face.

He sat on the handsome seat with a golden sword, looked down, and said gloomily: "Reducing the crime and punishing it? Is it useful? The opportunity to capture Yangzhou easily has been wasted by you!"

Li Chengdong stopped talking.

He was just asking for forgiveness, not really thinking that he had made a mistake - what happened last night was obviously due to poor planning by Li Qifeng, Gao Fengqi and others, which was noticed by the Ming army and forced to leave the city early.

The whole thing took less than half an hour.

In such a short period of time, it was difficult for them to notice the changes in the city and they had no time to respond, let alone seize the opportunity to capture Yangzhou City.

Sure enough, Duduo stepped down from his commanding position, stood in front of Li Qifeng and Gao Fengqi, and said, "You two are mainly responsible for this crime. Tell me, do you have a way to make up for your mistakes?"

Li Qifeng and Gao Fengqi looked at each other, both speechless.

In the end, Gao Fengqi tentatively said: "I would like to go to the city again to make a powerful statement and persuade Shi Kefa to surrender."

"You were unable to persuade him to surrender in the city before, so what's the use now?" Duduo sneered, and then changed his words, "Forget it, I will give you another chance.

If we fail to persuade you to surrender this time, when we attack the city in the afternoon, thousands of your men will be the first to attack."

Hearing this, Li Qifeng couldn't help but said: "Attacking the city in the afternoon?"

Duduo said: "Our Hongyi cannons arrived last night. Since we have cannons to help us, if we don't capture Yangzhou City as soon as possible, how can we keep them for the New Year?"

At the end of the sentence, Duduo's tone was cold, and he clearly showed murderous intent.

In his opinion, if these surrendered Ming troops were no longer useful, it would be better to kill them as soon as possible to avoid wasting military rations.

Li Qifeng and Gao Fengqi didn't dare to say anything more, so they agreed, stood up and stood near the door of the tent.

Immediately after Duduo arrived in Yangzhou, the first military meeting began.

It was said to be a military discussion, but in fact, Duduo probably had already discussed the siege strategy with the bannermen generals, and Li Chengdong and other Ming generals had only to obey orders.

The Qing army's siege strategy was also very simple - mainly attack the north, and feint attacks on the other three sides, with the task of spreading the Ming army's forces and preventing the Ming army from breaking through.

In the early stage, the Qing army only dispatched 20 Hongyi cannons and other artillery from Kong Youde's department to bombard the city walls and buildings inside the city. Li Chengdong and other surrendered troops were responsible for the siege. After testing the strength of the Ming army defending the city, they dispatched the Eight Banners army.

Conquered Yangzhou in one fell swoop.

After hearing this, Li Chengdong, Yang Chengzu and other subordinate generals couldn't help but curse: What do you mean by waiting for us to test out the strength of the Ming army? With Li Qifeng and Gao Fengqi here, didn't the strength of the Ming army in the city be clearly stated earlier?

This arrangement is clearly intended to allow these surrendered troops to be used as cannon fodder to consume the strength of the Ming army.

Even though they understood the sinister intentions of Duduo's military arrangements and complained in their hearts, none of the surrendered generals dared to raise objections.

Don't look at the fact that outside Yangzhou City today, the Ming Dynasty has surrendered as many as 80,000 or 90,000 troops, which is several thousand more than the Eight Banners Army of the Manchu, Mongolian and Han Dynasties.

But if the two sides fight, the Eight Banners Army only needs to send out 10,000 or 20,000 troops to defeat them and make them flee, or even be unable to escape.

Because this time the Eight Banners Army not only has a large number of cavalry, but also an elite navy led by Geng Zhongming. Whether on the ground or in the water, you will have nowhere to escape...

Seeing that the military meeting was about to end, someone outside shouted loudly: "General General, General Li Chengdong's men came to report that a large Ming army has been discovered in the south and is advancing towards Yangzhou!"

Duduo smiled casually after hearing this and said: "It's probably Huang Degong's soldiers... Li Chengdong, can you stop him?"

Li Chengdong thought about the combat effectiveness of Huang Degong's soldiers and horses, and immediately said sincerely: "The number and combat effectiveness of the soldiers and horses under the general's command are not as good as Huang Degong's, so it may be difficult to resist."

"What a coward." Duduo cursed lightly, and then said: "Then you go back first and try to slow down his troops. When I send the Eight Banners army to attack its flanks, I will definitely be able to defeat them in one battle!

When the time comes, beheading Huang Degong before the battle, and then taking Huang Degong's head to the foot of Yangzhou City to persuade him to surrender, should be able to get Shi Kefa to surrender.

Isn't he just a governor? There have been governors who surrendered to our Qing Dynasty for a long time. He is not the first, so there is no shame."
Chapter completed!