Yang Zhen held a telescope in his hand and faced the countryside in the west of the city. He had been watching for a while. Others were more worried, but he was actually more grateful.

Fortunately for him, the Zhengbai Banner's army arrived a step too late. If they had arrived at Songshan City before Hauge decided to attack the city, then Songshan City might be in a different situation now.

If the Manchu-Tatar army wanted to capture Songshan City at all costs, regardless of casualties, then Yang Zhen might really be self-defeating.

At this moment, when he heard what Yang Chaojin said, he immediately put down the telescope in his hand, turned around and looked at everyone, and said with a bitter smile:

"Reinforcements? Where did they come from? Don't think about reinforcements. Eunuch Yang, if you really brought reinforcements from Shanhaiguan, that might not be a good thing."

Yang Zhen's words confused everyone, but he did not explain further, but continued: "Of course, what Eunuch Yang said is correct. Everyone, we must prepare for the worst, or

That is to say, we must prepare for the Manchu Tatars to invade the city!"

"Ah?! Governor, do you mean to say that it is really possible for the Manchu Tatars to destroy our Songshan City?!"

Yang Zhen's words shocked everyone around him. As soon as he finished speaking, everyone started talking.

The surprise and discussion of the people around Yang Zhen soon attracted the attention of the soldiers on duty in Wengcheng.

After noticing this, everyone's discussion gradually became quieter and finally subsided. They were all worried and looked at Yang Zhen intently, waiting for Yang Zhen to reveal his true plan.

Yang Zhen looked around, first outside the city, then inside the city. He didn't let everyone wait for long, and said: "Jinzhou City and Xingshan City are so close, we can't count on them, and we can't

If we count on them, can we still count on Ningyuan, Shanhaiguan, and the capital court? Don’t count on anyone else. The only one we can count on now is ourselves."

At this point, Yang Zhen faced Xia Chengde, saw his frown, and said to him first: "Although the new Manchu Tatars outside the city have a large formation of Zhengbai Banner, I didn't see where their heavy artillery positions are located.

"What does this mean? It means that they came in a hurry. Either they did not bring heavy artillery, or the heavy artillery is still on the road. At least for a while, they will not be able to launch an siege.

"However, the West City that you are guarding, Deputy General Xia, is indeed the weak point of Songshan City's defense. What Eunuch Yang just said is right. Once the Manchu Tatars are bombarded with heavy artillery, they are likely to open a gap from here."

After Yang Zhen pointed at the newly repaired outer wall and said this, he strode towards that section of the city with rapid strides, and the others quickly followed.

The newly repaired outer wall has not yet dried completely, and the color of the wall is different from the walls in other places. Anyone with a discerning eye can tell at a glance that this is the weakest point.

Xia Chengde was naturally aware of this, but he had nothing else to say except sighing secretly that he was unlucky. He could only smile bitterly and follow the crowd, gathering around Yang Zhen again.

Yang Zhen stood still on the repaired city wall, stamped his feet on the masonry ground on the top of the city, then pondered for a while, pointed to the criss-crossing ditches outside the city, and said:

"Zhang Chen, Li Lu, you two must also dedicate a group of manpower to help defend the West City, and you must deploy a group of elite musketeers and grenadiers in the trenches outside the city. When the time comes, we will

Resist, retreat step by step, and kill a group of their troops outside the city first."

Zhang Chen and Li Lu listened and nodded quickly to receive the order.

Immediately afterwards, Yang Zhen walked from the outer side of the city to the inner side, pointed at a large number of houses inside the west wall, and said to Xia Chengde:

"Before the Manchu Tatars attack the city, you must demolish this area of ​​houses as soon as possible, and use the demolished materials to build a month-long city directly opposite this section of the city wall."

After hearing this, Xia Chengde's eyes widened at first with a look of disbelief on his face, but soon he nodded thoughtfully.

Seeing this, Yang Zhen knew that he understood what he meant, so he squatted on the ground, found a piece of gravel, first drew a horizontal line on the ground, then drew a semicircle on one side of the horizontal line, and then continued:

"This Moon City does not need to be built like an inner urn city. We are pressed for time and there is no need for that. As long as we can stop the people who are full of Tatars attacking the city, then this will be theirs again.

A place of death."

Having said this, Yang Zhen stood up and said to Li Lu: "In addition, Li Lu, you have to arrange manpower to bury some ten thousand enemies in this new moon city. Once the Manchu Tatars break into the city from here,

, first blow him up and knock him off his back."

In Yang Zhen's view, as long as you are prepared in advance, even if a large number of Tatars rush into Songshan City, it will not be a big deal. If they do get in, you can just fight them out.

If you are really well prepared, it would be a good thing for the Tartars to rush into the city. When the time comes, you can close the door and beat the dogs, and kill as many as they rush in.

As soon as Yang Zhen made it clear what he meant, everyone who followed him no longer worried.

Looking back at the exterior wall in Xicheng that was of a different color from the other walls, they no longer felt so anxious.

"The Governor's thoughts, vision, courage, and ability to adapt to local conditions and turn crises into opportunities are beyond words. Guangchen is truly convinced!"

Today, Yang Zhen's image in Fang Guangchen's mind has completely changed unconsciously. He is no longer the tough guy he was when he followed the father and son to take office outside the customs.

The same is true for other people. Unknowingly, Yang Zhen has become the backbone of the officers and soldiers of various departments in Songshan City.

Not only Zhang Degui, but also Zhang Chen and other old people around him no longer question his decisions. Even Xia Chengde and Lu Pinqi, who were once somewhat incompatible with Yang Zhen, don't know when they started to follow Yang Zhen's orders.

.

To this day, Yang Zhen says whatever he says is what he says. Even with such a bold and risky arrangement, no one dares to stand up and say no.

After arranging a number of defense matters on site, Yang Zhen saw the dusk and the sky was getting late. He knew that the Manchu Tatars would not be able to attack the city on a large scale today, so he returned to the General Military Mansion.

Only Zhang Chen, Li Lu, Yang Shen, Xia Chengde and others were left at the scene, continuing to discuss the deployment of the trench defense outside the west wall of Songshan City and the moon city trap inside the west wall.

As for Yang Chaojin's question of first sending important prisoners such as Dodo, the Tenth Prince of the Manchu Tatars, out of the city, Yang Zhen did not respond in public.

The reason is not that he is reluctant to share the credit with others, but that he really cannot trust these people out of his control.

At the moment, he can't easily trust anyone except himself, except these people who belong to him in Songshan City.

There is no telling what trouble an important figure like Duduo will take once he passes through the hands of officials from Ningyuan City, Shanhaiguan and other places.

But it was not convenient for him to say these words publicly, so he could only avoid talking about them.

Fortunately, Yang Chaojin was not a stubborn person. When he saw that Yang Zhen was avoiding talking about this issue, he understood what he meant.

But that night, the lights inside the west gate of Songshan City were brightly lit, and the reserve officers and soldiers of various departments of the Songshan army experienced another sleepless night.

That area was originally a barracks for Xia Chengde, the garrison at the west gate of Songshan. A few days ago, when the Manchu Tatars first attacked the city, they bombarded it with heavy artillery for half a day. Many buildings collapsed and it was originally uninhabitable.

This time, Yang Zhen said that he simply demolished them all. The demolished masonry and wood were not wasted at all, and a moon city was built on the spot.

It is said to be a moon city, but it is actually an earthen fence or barricade built of bricks, stones and earth that is as high as one person, with a wooden fence on top.

The purpose of building this earthen fence or barricade is also very simple, which is to block the Tatars when they rush into the city.

At the very least, their offensive must be delayed. In short, they cannot be allowed to completely rush into the city and disperse.

As long as this earthen wall can delay the Manchu Tatar offensive, the rest will depend on the performance of Zhang Chen, Li Lu, Yang Shen and their respective reserve teams.

That night, the reserve posts organized by various ministries in Songshan City and the miscellaneous personnel of various ministries not organized into reserve posts once again played their roles.

It was not until this time that the generals who originally had objections to Yang Zhen's request for the establishment of reserve outposts and handymen fully realized the importance of establishing a reserve force.

The regular soldiers of each ministry rotated in batches to guard the defense areas of each ministry on the top of the city. Those who were on duty could not be removed to build fortifications. Even those who were rotated and not on duty could not go back to work sweating like rain to build fortifications after they were on duty.

After all, these regular soldiers would have to shoulder the main task of defending the city the next day. After doing the work of building fortifications at night, how could they climb the city to fight during the day?

The night of the ninth day of October in the twelfth year of Chongzhen passed peacefully like this.
Chapter completed!