Li Guoying commanded his Governor's Biao Battalion and the other 4,000 Gansu and Shaanxi Green Camps to approach Wanxian. Although the quality of the Qing army may not be as good as the last time, under the unified command of Li Guoying, the generals could not get angry even if they were resentful. Yuan Zongdi had obviously known that the Qing army had 20,000 armored cavalry and more than 800 armored cavalry of the Governor's Biao Battalion, so the Ming army guarded the city honestly and had no intention of attacking again.

Yuan Zongdi didn't know that Li Guoying only brought five thousand armors, but even if he knew, he would continue to defend the city. Yuan Zongdi thought he had taken a big advantage. He seized more than 3,000 sets of equipment and nearly 4,000 prisoners of war. Now Yuan Zongdi was thinking about digesting the fruit of victory with peace of mind and not vomiting it out again accidentally.

In order to destroy the military camp in Wanxian, Li Guoying ordered the siege as soon as he arrived. His reason was similar to what Liu Tichun said to Deng Ming back then, that is, the army would lose morale under the city, and some battles would have to be carried out to maintain the morale of the army. Moreover, the siege now has an additional benefit to Li Guoying, that is, it would make Yuan Zongdi even more confused about his reality and stay in the city and not come out to interfere with his harvest. Now Li Guoying no longer despises Yuan Zongdi's strength. Although he had hundreds of cavalry in the rebuilt Biao battalion, if fierce field battles really broke out, Li Guoying would not be confident that he could complete the plan to completely destroy the military camp in Wanxian.

There are guard posts everywhere on the walls of Wanxian, and the city towers that are conservative are full of armored soldiers. There is a camp outside the city gates that cover the city gates, which makes it impossible for the Qing army to approach the city towers easily. However, even if the Qing army can get close, it is useless, because according to the observation of people who have been to Wanxian, all the gaps in the city wall have been filled, as if the city towers have been raised apart. After finding a few experienced people to observe closely, they also confirmed this statement. The city towers in Wanxian seem to be reinforced to varying degrees, especially the south city tower is raised the most, and the pre-built ladders must not reach the battlements of the city towers.

"The Yuan thief really planted a lot of land." On the way, Li Guoying encountered no farmland. During the Xiong Lan period, there were originally a large number of military camps in Wanxian, which looked like there were only more than 2,000 acres of land in the southwest of Wanxian, and the crops inside were snatched by Yuan Zongdi. However, after receiving the report from the guards, Li Guoying became more convinced of his earlier judgment, that is, Yuan Zongdi reclaimed a lot of farmland, recruited a large number of people, and the gathered people may even have a small 100,000. Otherwise, it would be impossible to explain how Yuan Zongdi could renovate all the city walls of Wanxian when large areas were reclamation.

When he went to observe in person, Li Guoying found that the military camps in the southwest were not completely robbed, and a small amount of crops were still burned to the ground. It was obvious that Yuan Zongdi only started robbing the harvest after the previous battle. After collecting some, he found the vanguard of the Qing army, so he carefully burned some of the food and returned to the city.

Li Guoying also saw the newly built pier of the Ming army outside the south city tower in Wanxian. It was protected by stone walls with the shipyard. There was also a camp outside the gate tower, which echoed the camp outside the south gate of Wanxian. There was also a passage between the two camps where Yuan Zongdi was fenced with a fence, and soldiers were stationed to guard it.

It is definitely impossible to attack Wanxian. It takes a lot of time just to create new siege equipment. At that time, Deng Ming probably sent reinforcements long ago; even attacking this wharf may not be easy. The stone wall looks quite solid and not far from Wanxian. It is difficult for the Qing army to completely cut off the connection between the two. When the Qing army attacked the wharf, it would not only be firepower from behind, but also be raided by the Ming army in Wanxian.

"How many fields did Yuan Thief plant?" After seeing the deployment of the Ming army, Li Guoying's heart was pounding. Yuan Zongdi knew very well, and his tactical level was pretty good. After so many years of war, although he might not always have any wonderful ideas, the battlefield responded quickly and would not make any low-level mistakes. However, Yuan Zongdi was not good at governing. In fact, the generals of the Dongdong had no ability to govern, including Wen Anzhi sent by Emperor Yongli. Although he was very loyal and thoughtful, he had no unique experience in how to operate the territory in difficulties.

Looking at the situation in front of him, Li Guoying estimated that the people gathered by Yuan Zongdi must have exceeded 100,000. The efficiency of the military garrison with a scale of tens of thousands of people was already very low. The surplus grain of the army not only had to support thousands of soldiers, but also had to be able to supply tens of thousands of people to repair the city walls and build the fortifications of the wharf. Li Guoying felt that he had to make a new evaluation of Yuan Zongdi's governance level. Although it was difficult for him to figure out where Yuan Zongdi got so many people, being able to manage a military garrison with a scale of 100,000 people was definitely an extraordinary talent. Li Guoying felt that he might not be able to control such a large military garrison. If Yuan Zongdi did not use the military garrison model, he would have to look at it even more.

However, after the Qing army approached Wanxian, the Wanxian Navy, who had been well-educated for a long time, also drove out. Now the Qing army's navy has retreated, and the river is full of Ming army warships. After careful observation of Li Guoying's troops, the Ming army's new warships equipped with cannons were also driven to the riverside and fired artillery demonstrations at the Qing army trying to approach the dock.

"There are cannons and warships that can hold cannons." Li Guoying found that Yuan Zongdi was constantly refreshing his estimate of Wanxian's strength. Now Li Guoying is completely unsure of how much manpower Yuan Zongdi has gathered in Wanxian. And if Yuan Zongdi had rich manpower and started to build gunboats, then how strong is his army? If Li Guoying was in Yuan Zongdi's position, he would not have started to do anything gunboats without doing his job when there were only a few thousand armored soldiers. Just like when the enemy attacked, gunboats could not defend the city and the farmland outside.

Now Li Guoying is increasingly suspicious that Yuan Zongdi's army has more than a few thousand armored soldiers. The last time he fought with Zhang Yong and Wang Mingde was only the first part of Yuan Zong's strength.

"Is there so many land around Wanxian?" Li Guoying had never been to Wanxian, but after listening to the report from his subordinates, if a large number of livestock and tools were not transported, the output of the military camps in Wanxian would not increase. Raising one, twenty thousand auxiliary soldiers and two, the three thousand armored soldiers was relatively efficient and not easily contradictory. At that time, Santan was a little larger, and there were many internal disputes.

Li Guoying became more and more guilty, but he could only bite the bullet and continue the attack. If Yuan Zongdi continued to develop like this, he would not be able to defeat even Wanxian next year. How could the dignified governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi fall to such a level? Is it not worthy of an enemy in a county?

The military garrison in the southwest was closest to the Qing army, and Yuan Zongdi must have started from here. Since there were a small amount of military garrisons here that were burned, the cultivated land in other directions must be safe and sound. Now Li Guoying could only move forward carefully while deciding that Yuan Zongdi did not dare to go out of the city to counterattack - he even burned the farmland, obviously thinking that the field was unable to defeat the Qing army. If Yuan Zongdi could burn Yuan Zongdi's fields, then Yuan Zongdi would have to be busy with how to support the large population he had plundered from unknown places. If most of the output in Wanxian could be harvested - now Li Guoying believed that the output was considerable, then Chongqing would make a lot of money.

In order to prevent the mighty powerful Ming army from attacking, the Qing army worked tirelessly to build camps, trenches and deer antlers around Wanxian. The Ming army did not take the initiative to attack, and the Qing army search team could not find where Yuan Zongdi's fields were. Some military camps during the Xiong Lan period were actually full of weeds, which were obviously abandoned for a long time.

"Yuan Zongdi's field should be in Wanxian." After searching the mountains west of Wanxian for a day, the search team, who was exhausted, reported to Li Guoying: "If you cross the mountains north of Wanxian, you should be able to see the thief's field."

"Northeast of Wanxian?" A Qing soldier who had come to Wanxian with Gao Mingzhan during the Xiong Lan period couldn't help but question: "There are mountains there. It's not that some fields cannot be cultivated in the mountains, but they are all small pieces. How much output can there be?"

"You also said that Wanxian cannot have the land needed by 100,000 people." The search team members retorted dissatisfiedly. They felt that this was a criticism, accusing them of not finding the Ming army's fields, but the fields were not broken. How could they not find it except for blindness?

"It's really impossible. This is not the western Sichuan plain." The Qing soldier who served as a guide has been criticized a lot in the past two days, but it is true that there are tens of thousands of people in Wanxian. The changes in the city walls and docks are unquestionable. The Qing soldier could only bow his head and admit his mistake. Now that he saw the search team that he could not find the fields of Wanxian, he mustered up the courage to argue: "It's impossible for Wanxian to have so many fields."

"If you said right--" Li Guoying, who had been listening to the argument, spoke. He had never been to Wanxian. All his understanding was heard from others. However, a day after arriving in Wanxian, he also felt that the terrain here did not look like a granary: "That's the worst thing happened. Chengdu is replenishing Wanxian. In this way, Wanxian does not need too much population, because it does not require farming. It makes sense that Wanxian attaches so much importance to docks and warships. They are meeting Chengdu's requirements, and maybe even Chengdu's orders!"

Li Guoying had heard of that committee. Until now, he seemed to have not heard about Yuan Zongdi joining the committee. He always believed that this might indicate the conflict between Deng Ming and Yuan Zongdi, which may be because they are in Sichuan, so they have a relatively fierce territory and population competition.

But the situation is obviously not as Li Guoying expected. Chengdu can fully supply Wanxian’s needs. This logistical support not only means trust, but also brings corresponding rights and control capabilities. Wouldn’t Wanxian vigorously develop the shipbuilding industry and even sacrifice the strength of the army?

"Yuan Thief, he has no farming." Li Guoying smiled bitterly. After working hard for several days, the deployment of defenses in the inspection camp all night made him feel that he could no longer support him: "Retreat the troops, withdraw quickly."

What Li Guoying is most worried about now is the reinforcements from Chengdu and Xuzhou. If Chengdu and Wanxian have such close relationships, the ones sent may not be just the emergency navy.
Chapter completed!