When Jierhalang said this, not only Huang Taiji's eyes turned to him, but also the other princes and ministers present, Gu Shanerzhen, who were originally watching his nose and nose, also looked at him.

Because whether it is Huang Taiji or others present, they have actually seen this.

Especially for everyone present except Huang Taiji, if Huang Taiji hadn't suddenly become angry and raised an army in anger, insisting on attacking Zhenjiang Fort, they actually didn't want to attack by force.

Even if we want to attack by force, we have to wait until the heavy artillery commanded by Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming actually destroys the walls of Zhenjiang Fort City.

It's just that they never had the right time to express their opinions in front of Huang Taiji.

Now, Jierhalang, the relatively respected Prince of Zheng County, expressed their inner thoughts, which suddenly attracted everyone's attention.

"Well, one is to continue to besiege the city, and the other is to divide the troops to raise food. So, Prince Zheng, in your opinion, between these two strategies, where should our army go?"

Huang Taiji naturally saw the reactions of others present, but he did not comment and continued to question Jierhalang.

"Your Majesty, in my opinion, it is better to leave half of the troops and horses to besiege the city, and send half of the troops to cross the river to raise food. At present, the food and grass in the blue flag that I have in my hands are no longer enough for three days.

"Once the food and grass are exhausted, if our tens of thousands of troops continue to besiege the city here, can we still besiege it? Previously, the reason why I advocated retaking Zhenjiang Fort as soon as possible is for this reason."

"Well, I know what you're thinking."

After Huang Taiji listened to Jierhalang and understood his true thoughts, he did not make an immediate decision. Instead, he turned to the other princes and ministers present and said:

"What about you, what do you stand for?"

Among the people present, there were people who had the qualifications to discuss politics before the emperor. In addition to the banner leader Jierhalang of Xianglan Banner, there was also Zhen Aixili of Gushan'er in Michouzhou.

In addition to the picture of worshiping the minister of flag affairs, the Xianghuang Banner also has the book of true leaves on the forehead of Gushan Mountain in Mite Island.

In addition to assisting the flag minister Namutai, the Zhenghuang Banner also has the Zhenguar Jaturai of Gushan'er in Miczhou.

In addition, there are currently two remaining Han army princes, King Kong Youde of Gongshun and King Geng Zhongming of Huaishun.

Of course, Gang Lin, a scholar of the Academy of Internal History, was naturally among the princes and ministers who could participate in the imperial discussions.

As for the other remaining guards, they could only listen. Without the special order of Huang Taiji, the puppet emperor of the Qing Dynasty, they could not interrupt at will.

Therefore, Huang Taiji's question does not target a large scope.

They are the Assistant Banner Minister of the Two Yellow Banners, the three banners of Zhenghuang, Xianghuang and Xianglan, Miezhou Gushan Ezhen, and the two kings Kong Geng and Gang Lin, a total of eight people.

Among these eight people, Namutai, Baiyintu, Ashley, Ye Keshu, Kong Youde and Gang Lin, six expressed their support for Jierhalang's idea on the spot.

Three of them, Namutai, Bayintu and Ashley, took advantage of Huang Taiji's opportunity to ask for their opinions and further reported to Huang Taiji the specific situation of the shortage of grain and grass in each banner.

Previously, Jierhalang said that the Xianglan Banner had less than three days of food and grass, but this situation was actually the best among the three flags.

As for the Lianghuang Banners who had trekked all the way from Shengjing City to camp outside Zhenjiang Fort City, and the Han Army's heavy artillery Niulu, whose other banners were temporarily under the command of Kong Youde, they had already started to run out of food a few days ago.

Otherwise, Huang Taiji's original decision to send important ministers to recruit Yang Zhen and his subsequent decision to prepare for a strong attack after the recruitment failed would not have been so easily accepted by everyone and implemented smoothly.

It is precisely because the army is short of food and grass that most of them are anxious to solve the problem.

For these people, whether it is to recruit surrender or to attack by force, they just want to solve the problem as soon as possible. As a result, the situation is like today.

At the same time, Ye Keshu, Kong Youde and Gang Lin also took this opportunity to further describe to Huang Taiji the benefits of dividing their troops to cross the river to plunder the imperial people.

Among the benefits they described to Huang Taiji, raising the food and grass needed for the army was only one of them.

In addition, there are two more items.

One is to suppress the rebellion of the Koreans on the east bank of the Yajiang River in the two northern prefectures of Daoyi, Ding'an, and Pingping, and to accuse the Li family's small court in Hanyang City, to completely subdue them, so that they will never dare to have the heart to rebel.

This was Gang Lin, a scholar at the Academy of Chinese History, who took this opportunity to once again propose to Huang Taiji.

He had proposed it to Huang Taiji before, but Fan Wencheng was still alive at the time, so this suggestion was refuted by Fan Wencheng.

Now Fan Wencheng is dead, and at the same time, the army cannot attack Zhenjiang Fort. Not only is the army short of food, but its morale is increasingly low.

In this case, Ganglin believed that the best choice was to send troops to the east of the Yajiang River as soon as possible to crush the Li Dynasty again and plunder the Korean people. This would not only raise food and grass, but also boost morale.

This time, Huang Taiji did not have Fan Wencheng by his side. Gang Lin's suggestion immediately won the approval of almost everyone.

Of course, in addition to Gang Lin's suggestion, Kong Youde once again made a basic supplementary suggestion to Huang Taiji, which also won the support of almost everyone the moment it was proposed.

Because Kong Youde's suggestion was that after dividing the army and crossing the river, they should not only raise as much food and grass as possible, but also capture as many young and strong people as possible.

Then they were brought to the foot of Zhenjiang Fort. Firstly, they were used to make up for the loss of the soldiers of each banner, and secondly, they were used as cannon fodder to storm Zhenjiang Fort.

Finally, Kong Youde felt the increasingly heated atmosphere in the tent, and was also inspired by the atmosphere. He knelt on the ground and said generously to Huang Taiji:

"Master, you can leave more than ten thousand soldiers and horses to surround the city, and then use the main force to march eastward. It can take as little as ten days or as long as a month. The army that crosses the river and marches eastward can wipe out several areas north of the imperial court.

"By then our army will have sufficient food and military supplies, as well as a large number of young people from the court. Its morale will surely rise greatly, and then it will come back in triumph.

"After that, whether our Qing soldiers continue to siege the city or attack again, the situation will be completely different. If we continue to siege the city, we will have food in hand and it will last a long time.

"If we attack again, we can use the Qing troops to suppress the formation, and then drive the Qing people to charge into the city without stopping, exhausting the ammunition and firearms in the city. The ammunition under my command is limited, but Yang Zhen is huddled in Zhenjiang Fort, and it is difficult to replenish ammunition and firearms.

Also limited."

When Kong Youde said this, he closed his mouth and did not continue to speak, but the meaning behind his words was very clear.

That is, in the future, the Koreans should be used as cannon fodder to exhaust the Ming army's firearms and ammunition in Zhenjiang Fort, and then the city in front of them can be captured.

"Very good. It's great that you can speak openly and freely in front of me."

After Huang Taiji listened to the opinions of these people one by one, he finally had a smile of relief on his face. So as soon as Kong Youde finished speaking, he nodded and praised the few people who had made suggestions.

However, apart from these few people, Huaishun King Geng Zhongming and Gualjiaturai, who led their troops to the east of Zhenjiang Fort and blocked the east line of Zhenjiang Fort, have always hesitated to speak and have not said a word so far.

As the atmosphere of this imperial meeting gradually became more lively and dull at the beginning, the performance of the two of them also attracted Huang Taiji's attention.

Therefore, after Huang Taiji praised several other princes and ministers who had expressed their opinions, he turned to look at the two of them and asked:

"Tu Lai, Geng Zhongming, do you two have any other suggestions?"

At this time, Zhenghuang Qigushanzhen Guarjiaturai, who had high cheekbones, sunken cheeks and a tired look, looked at each other with Geng Zhongming, King of Huaishun, who also looked tired and had sunken eye sockets, knelt on the ground and kowtowed and said:

"Your Majesty, all my servants agree with what the two princes and ministers have just said. Since our army is short of food, we can no longer siege the city for a long time. Therefore, we cannot break the city within a few days. So we should divide our troops to plunder the people of Jiangdong Dynasty to make up for our supply.

It is imperative to ration the army and then reward the whole army to boost morale.

"However, while the servant and King Huaishun were guarding the east of the city these days, King Huaishun was ordered to bombard the east wall of Zhenjiang Fort with heavy artillery, but found a weak point. That place was not the Wengcheng, but the main east wall of the city.

Once the heavy artillery hits that place, our army can immediately defeat this city! So——"

When Tu Lai said this in a calm tone, he noticed from the corner of his eye that almost everyone in the tent except Geng Zhongming frowned.

Some people looked at him sideways and looked unhappy, so he stopped talking and didn't know whether he should continue talking.

"So what? Keep talking!"

After the suggestions from others just now, Huang Taiji did feel a little regretful about his previous behavior of raising an army in anger and ordering a strong attack on Zhenjiang Fort.

However, it is impossible to ask him to admit his mistake.

Now he heard that Gualjaturai and Geng Zhongming, who did not speak, seemed to have different opinions, and he immediately became interested.

With Huang Taiji's words, Tu Lai naturally no longer worried about public anger, so he immediately said:

"So, I think my army doesn't have the only way out now by dividing its forces and plundering the Chao people. There is still a chance to storm Zhenjiang Fort! As long as-"

"Tu Lai! What are your intentions, a slave?! The Ming army in Zhenjiang Fort has sharp weapons. Our army stormed Zhenjiang Fort and suffered heavy casualties. This situation is clear and unmistakable. However, you still want to ask the army to attack again. Who are you?

Intentions?!"

Gualjaturai was about to go on to tell his tactics, but was interrupted by Jierhalang, the king of Dorozheng County, who stood up and pointed at his nose.

However, Guarjaturai did not take it seriously to the accusations and angry accusations made by Jierharang, Prince of Zheng County.

Because his loyalty to Huang Taiji has been tested.

Huang Taiji trusted him very much, and he knew it very well, so he was not afraid of Jierhalang's accusation that he had bad intentions.

"Prince Zheng, calm down, I'm just discussing the matter!"

"Huh, let's talk about the matter. You put it lightly. This time a large army stormed Zhenjiang Fort. You, Zhenghuang Banner Gushan'erzhen, didn't have any cavalry to participate, so you would be happy to have others lose their troops and generals!"

"Enough!"

Faced with Jierhalang's scolding of Tu Lai, Huang Taiji listened to a few words. Seeing that Jierhalang's words became more and more outrageous, he immediately stopped him.

This time the army stormed Zhenjiang Fort, and the Zhenghuang Banner went from Bagala to Alhachaoha. The number of men and horses involved was indeed very small, and the losses were minimal.
Chapter completed!