After all, Shen Qicheng still has some scholarly spirit. Although he successfully gathered the scattered Korean volunteers on Haiyang Island with a certain degree of scheming and shamelessness, he only temporarily gained the official support of those Korean generals. .

As for how many people there were under each general and what their situation was, such as how many archers, how many spearmen, how many sword players, how many gunners and gunners, including how many cavalry, he had a blank look.

The most important thing is that he doesn't care about these specific issues or the minutiae.

When Zu Keyong asked at this time, he couldn't answer, and he didn't have anyone to prepare the number of people, so he thought about it for a while and only gave a rough idea.

Zu Keyong understood at a glance that this was another armchair scholar, so he simply didn't ask in detail, just smiled and nodded, and asked him to send these people to Zhuanghe Fort as soon as possible.

However, after such a simple question and answer, Zu Keyong made up his mind not to let Shen Qicheng follow him to attack Xiuyan Fort.

For Zu Keyong, Shen Qicheng's soldiers may be used, but Shen Qicheng himself cannot be used.

Therefore, after thanking Shen Qicheng for his contribution on the spot and promising to show his merit to Yang Zhen once the matter was completed, he resolutely rejected Shen Qicheng's request to follow him on the grounds that the trip was more dangerous.

As for Lin Qingye, who also participated in the discussion, he did not speak at all.

He also knew that many of the people in the water camp under his command were just ordinary oarsmen and boatmen. Not to mention they didn't have war horses, even if they had war horses they couldn't be cavalry at all.

Therefore, he could only act as Shen Qicheng's deputy for the time being and handle various military chores for him.

In this way, on December 23, Zu Keyong discussed the battle and defense affairs of Zhuanghe Fort with Yu Liangtai and others at Zhuanghe Fort, and gave them support, and then began to mobilize troops and generals to take action.

In the afternoon of the same day, thirty cannons from Yu Liangtai's fleet were transported ashore and lent to Zu Keyong's troops.

At the same time, the few cavalrymen among the Korean volunteers that Shen Qicheng promised to send to the war also moved from Shicheng Island to the foot of Zhuanghe Fort.

Shen Qicheng's estimate was quite accurate. Although there were not more than a thousand people, he still managed to gather 961 horses and usable cavalry.

The 961 cavalrymen with their own horses were commanded by two people, one was the captain of Dingzhou, Che Zhongliang, and the other was the captain of Anzhou, Cai Menheng.

The two of them and their tribesmen were able to escape from death in Dingzhou and Anzhou to reach Pyongfu City, and finally escape from death in Pingyangfu City and run to the west coast of Pyongyang because of their war horses.

Of course, it is not easy to escape death several times.

If they hadn't been mentally agile and physically strong enough, and were among the elite of the Korean volunteers, even if they had horses, they probably wouldn't be alive today.

However, it is said that Che Zhongliang and Cai Menheng each led their own core troops to Zhuanghe Fort and accepted Zu Keyong's review. After that, they were organized into two commanders and temporarily joined Zu Keyong's team.

In the evening of that day, as the sun set and night fell, Zu Keyong led a team of more than 3,600 people together, crossed the frozen Yina River north, and walked through the ice and snow in the direction of Xiuyan Fort.

The road from Zhuanghe Fort north to Xiuyan Fort is not easy to walk. In fact, except for some infrequent paths taken by unknown dynasties, years and people, there are no serious roads between the two places.

Fortunately, the patrol teams sent out by Zu Keyong in turns, including Yu Lewu's men and horses, and Ao Rijin's men and horses, all sent out in that direction.

Therefore, although the road to the north was difficult to find and the march was difficult, they did not lose their way at night and were approaching Xiuyan Fort City step by step.

However, on the same evening that Zu Keyong led his army to attack Xiuyan Fort, Huang Taiji once again conquered the main force of the Qing captives of the Li Dynasty, bringing with them a large number of captured people and a large amount of looted materials.

He also returned to the outside of Zhenjiang Fort in a grand manner.

In fact, as early as the first two days after Huang Taiji's main force returned to Zhenjiang Fort with a large number of people and supplies, the soldiers and horses of the Yellow Banner Bajala Camp and Alihachaoha Camp led by Guarjiasohai had already

As the vanguard team returned to their previous camp south of Zhenjiang Fort.

Yang Zhen and the generals in Zhenjiang Fort discovered this when a large number of cavalry troops with yellow flags crossed the ice and entered the camp in the south of the city. At the same time, they also understood that they had lost the best opportunity to destroy the Qinglu camp outside the city.

.

Of course, they couldn't figure out whether Zu Keyong failed to carry out Yang Zhen's order, or whether he carried out the order but failed.

In short, there was no movement in the several Qing camp camps outside Zhenjiang Fort. Until the main force of the Qing rebels who suppressed the imperial uprising came back, they finally realized that the biggest test of Zhenjiang Fort was about to come.

It was not that Yang Zhen had never thought that he could simply withdraw from Zhenjiang Castle while Huang Taiji led his army deep into the Li Dynasty in Jiangdong.

After all, he has achieved considerable results in the past few months since he captured Zhenjiang Fort.

The head of Shang Kexi, King Zhishun of the Qing Dynasty, is in his own hands.

In addition, he also had in his hands several heads of Gushan Ezhen, the Han army under Qinglu's banner, and thousands of heads of Qinglu's horse infantry.

With these gains, it should be said that this time the attack on Zhenjiang Fort northward has achieved huge results.

Not to mention that his plan to divert trouble eastward and kill people with a borrowed knife has been a great success.

Anti-Qing uprisings broke out in various places in the northern two provinces of Korea. A large number of cities were destroyed and the population was almost wiped out by the Qing captives.

Gu Ai

Under such circumstances, it may not be a reasonable choice to give up when the situation is good and retire from Zhenjiang Fort.

And it's not impossible to get out.

Since the beginning of November, when the main force of Qing captives led by Huang Taiji penetrated deeper and deeper into the hinterland of the Li Dynasty, the outside of Zhenjiang Castle has become extremely peaceful.

The three remaining Qing barracks camps in the north, west and south of the city almost never launched a decent attack on Zhenjiang Castle.

At most, they could just send out a large number of Qing soldiers who stayed in the camp and patrol outside Zhenjiang Fort from time to time to intimidate them.

As for the Qinglu camp set up on Waihua Island in the frozen main stream of the Yajiang River east of the city, it could only send a small team of troops to patrol far along the river.

Under such circumstances, if Yang Zhen really made up his mind to evacuate, properly contacted Yu Liangtai, Lin Qingye and Zu Keyong's soldiers and horses, and led the soldiers and horses in the city to suddenly abandon the city, it should be said that he would have a good chance of escaping intact.

.

In fact, Qiu Zhenhai, Liu Lin and even Zhang Chen, either explicitly or implicitly, had proposed such an idea to Yang Zhen.

In their opinion, since Huang Taiji, the puppet emperor of the Qing Dynasty, had already sent troops to deal with the rebellious court people, once he returned with the main force, Zhenjiang Fort would probably not have the advantage of having sufficient troops and food supplies.

Because the reason why Yang Zhen and everyone believed that they could defend Zhenjiang Fort City was because they firmly believed that the Qing army had plenty of food and grass, and there was no hidden danger of food shortage for the soldiers and horses in the city in the short term.

However, once Huang Taiji obtained a large amount of grain and grass supplies from the Koreans, as well as a large number of young men, they would immediately fall into an unfavorable situation in the next battle.

It's true that we have plenty of ammunition, but no matter how much ammunition we have, without new supplies, we can't hold off Huang Taiji's team of free soldiers Aha.

Besides, it is true that we have enough food and grass in the city. If we eat frugally every day and provide each person with a ration, it is no problem to last for another three to five months.

But if you are surrounded and consumed like this, there will always be a day when you can no longer consume it!

Therefore, since it was confirmed that Huang Taiji led the main force of the elite Qing soldiers and horses deep into the hinterland of the Li Dynasty in Jiangdong, all the generals in Zhenjiang Fort hoped that Yang Zhen could lead everyone out of the city to fight, and first remove the large number of infantry and soldiers left by the Qing soldiers in the camp.

Eliminate the wounded soldiers.

However, Yang Zhen never agreed because he was worried that there would be casualties if he turned from defense to offense, and also because he did not want to "interfere" Huang Taiji's move south.

When the generals saw that Yang Zhen refused to agree, they thought that Yang Zhen was ready to withdraw as soon as he was ready, so some people began to propose withdrawing the troops.

In their opinion, instead of wasting their time like this every day, neither sending troops to attack the Qing camp on the outskirts nor sending troops to rescue the city where the Chao people were revolting, it would be better to simply withdraw.

In this way, Huang Taiji can be prevented from coming back after defeating the Koreans again and returning to attack Zhenjiang Castle's own army.

However, Yang Zhen still couldn't make up his mind.

Human nature is greedy, and even though Yang Zhen was a human being in two lifetimes, he was no exception.

The thought of giving up what he had already acquired made him feel sick.

Correspondingly, Yang Zhen was also very sure that even if he showed weakness and evacuated Zhenjiang Castle, Huang Taiji, who had gained great rewards from the Li Dynasty monarchs in Jiangdong, would not withdraw his troops and return to Shengjing so willingly.

If he destroyed the Zhenjiang Fort and evacuated when he saw that he was good, Huang Taiji would think that the threat had been removed, so he would lead his army to retreat and ignore him?

it's out of the question.

Unless Hong Chengchou Zu Dashou and others in western Liaoning really took action, otherwise, Huang Taiji would chase him to Zhuanghe Fort after he left Zhenjiang Fort.

So in this case, instead of fighting Huang Taiji to the death on his own inside line in Zhuanghe Fort City, it is better to continue fighting him in Zhenjiang Fort City where the fortifications have been completed again.

In another two or three months at most, the ice and snow will melt and the river in the east will be surging again. By then, it will be time to win without a fight.

Only such a victory is a real victory, and only then can the greatest victory obtained so far be preserved, which is the large area of ​​land on the coastal plain south of Zhenjiang Fort that is easy to cultivate and cultivate.

At the same time, only by firmly anchoring Zhenjiang Castle, the land along the east coast of the Yajiang River, which was the area along the coast of Ping An Road as the people of the previous Dynasty called it, could be in the hands of Jinhai Town as soon as possible.

The Korean people there have been almost emptied by the Qing captives, but if they can't completely fall into the pocket of Jinhai Town, they will fall into the hands of others sooner or later, either by the Qing captives who go to camp for cultivation, or by those who flee after the war.

Returning court people.

This is not what Yang Zhen wants to see.

However, to avoid this outcome, all he can do now is to continue to guard Zhenjiang Castle firmly.

As long as he can withstand the final crazy attack of Huang Taiji's army, defend Zhenjiang Fort until the ice of the river and sea subsides in spring, then the coastal land from the south of Zhenjiang Fort to Zhuanghe Fort, and the land hundreds of miles east of the Yajiang Estuary will be

It will be from Jinhae Town.

In particular, the land hundreds of miles along the coast east of the Yajiang Estuary is particularly important to Yang Zhen.
Chapter completed!