Although Shang Kexi and Geng Jimao were stationed in separate camps, there were still basic exchanges.

The reason why they ended up in a fiasco in the last battle of Jiangxi was that they were suspicious of each other and did not communicate, and secondly, they were careless and underestimated the enemy.

Now that they have been here for the first time, they are naturally cautious and have done the details to the extreme.

After resting for the night, the army marched in the direction of Nanchang early the next morning.

Both Shang Kexi and Geng Jimao hope to make up for the lost time.

At first, it was really smooth, and under the promise of heavy rewards, the soldiers were like being beaten with chicken blood, and there was no need to supervise the leading officers at all.

But after arriving outside the city of Nanchang, they found that things were not as simple as they imagined.

The Ming army seems to have been prepared, and the head of the city is well defended.

And at first glance, the number of Ming troops at the head of the city is not a lot.

Geng Jimao originally thought that the strength of the Ming army in Jiangxi would not exceed 30,000, and this number was the most in Nanchang City.

This is still the result of concentrating all the troops of various prefectures and counties in Nanchang.

But now, as far as the eye can see, the city is densely packed with soldiers, and it doesn't look like there are only 30,000 people.

Nanchang City is a first-class big city, and to fill such a big city, it must have at least 50,000 people.

Geng Jimao began to be uncalm.

Could it be that the source is wrong, and the Ming army did not have a Northern Expedition at all?

If that's the case, he's really going to blow up.

Mobilizing the army is not a joke, although along the way, Geng Jimao supplemented a lot of food by ordering the soldiers to loot the people.

But at the beginning, I had to prepare my own grain and grass.

Attacking Jiangxi once has to come up with hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, if it is just to take a walk, Geng Jimao can't accept it anyway.

He subconsciously glanced at Shi Lang beside him, and Shi Lang was obviously also depressed.

This information was originally told to him by Geng Jimao, and he felt a little strange at the time, but considering Geng Jimao's face, he didn't say much.

Now it seems that it is likely to be a trap set by the Ming army, waiting for Geng Jimao and Shang Kexi to hit him up.

And the sad thing is that Geng Jimao and Shang Kexi didn't want to bump into each other without hesitation.

"Ahem, General Shi, what should I do now?"

Geng Jimao finally couldn't hold it back, and asked Shi Lang in a deep voice.

Shi Lang spread his hands helplessly and said: "It's all here, you can't go home empty-handed." Although there are a lot of Ming troops in Nanchang City, they are still much worse than the allied army of the prince and the king of Pingnan. If we really fight, we will definitely win. ”

Shi Lang said this to appease Geng Jimao, in fact, he also understood that the number of coalition troops was only about three times that of the Ming army, and this number could only be said to be able to fight, but it was really not certain to say that it was a sure victory. In other words, after the real fight, the losses of the coalition forces will definitely be large. Even if you take Nanchang City, the battle damage is bound to be quite ugly.

But as he just said, if you come and come empty-handed, it is really unreasonable.

Not only is the soldier holding back a fire in his belly, I'm afraid Geng Jimao himself is about to explode.

Therefore, even if you have to attack Nanchang City, you can only have the next step plan if you take Nanchang.

You can choose to continue to attack the city of Nanjing, or you can choose to stop there.

It depends, of course, on the situation.

If the main force of the Ming army did not have the Northern Expedition, it would be possible for Geng Jimao to withdraw his troops.

Of course, it must be after sacking Nanchang City and then retreating.

Geng Jimao frowned, obviously not making up his mind.

After all, this was very different from the situation he had imagined before, originally he thought that as long as he moved his fingers, Nanchang City would be taken by him.

But now it seems that there is a considerable price to pay.

"Come on, please come to the meeting with King Pingnan."

Although the two marched in separate battalions, it was inevitable that they would join forces in the face of such a major event as the siege.

Now the situation is very complicated, and naturally it can't be decided by Geng Jimao by patting his head alone.

Shi Lang also felt that it would be good to ask Shang Kexi to discuss it together. In this way, everyone has made a decision, and no one will regret it.

The soldiers clenched their fists and led the way, followed by an awkward wait.

Taking advantage of this time, Shi Lang suggested: "Lord Wang, there is a sentence in the end that I don't know whether to say or not. ”

Geng Jimao waved his hand and said impatiently: "Let's talk about it." ”

"In the opinion of the last general, the defenders of Jiangxi may not be the main force of the Ming army."

When Geng Jimao heard this, his eyes were as wide as cowbells.

He stared at Shi Lang in disbelief, coughed and said, "General Shi isn't joking?" Have you counted the number of soldiers in the Ming army? As far as the king knows, their number of soldiers will not exceed 300,000. Take Jiangxi as an example, if there are 50,000 soldiers, should Huguang also have this number, let alone Nanzhili? There are also Zhejiang, Sichuan..."

Geng Jimao's face was very ugly, and he endured it so that he didn't burst out foul language.

"The prince misunderstood the meaning of the last general."

Shi Lang added unhurriedly: "The last general said that this may not be the main force of the Ming army. In other words, the main force of the Ming army is likely to have already gone on a northern expedition. Those left behind are likely to be made up of the number of village warriors and auxiliary soldiers. ”

Shi Lang pointed to the key: "If so, what is the difference between 50,000 and 30,000?" What if 100,000 people defend the city? ”

When Geng Jimao heard this, he suddenly became enlightened for a while.

yes, he didn't think of it.

If the news is misunderstood, it is impossible for the general to really go on the Northern Expedition, and there will be so many soldiers left.

He has been dwelling on this, and has actually fallen into a misunderstanding.

Because from the bottom of his heart, he believed that these 50,000 men were soldiers.

If these 50,000 were auxiliary soldiers, the situation would be completely different.

"Whew!"

Geng Jimao let out a long breath of turbidity, and then said in a deep voice: "If you say so, the thief is singing an empty city plan." ”

Zhuge Liang's empty city plan has an exaggerated component, and it is impossible to have a single soldier in the city.

But it means that, it is likely that Nanchang City is very empty now, and there are basically no soldiers, relying on a group of township warriors and auxiliaries to support the façade.

The purpose of the Ming army is very clear, that is, to scare away the monk Geng Jimao.

If Geng Jimao and Shang Ke were happy to believe and chose to withdraw from the army, they could easily resolve a crisis.

But if Geng Jimao and Shang Kexi chose to continue to attack the city, the situation would be completely different for the Ming army in the city.

The combat effectiveness of the auxiliary soldiers and the village warriors who lacked combat experience was completely incomparable with the combat soldiers, and Geng Jimao felt that he would be able to take Nanchang in less than a day.

This is the argument that he carefully analyzed after Shi Lang's admonition.

The more he thought about it, the more reasonable he felt, and he would know whether it was a soldier or an auxiliary soldier.

There's no reason to scare yourself if you don't fight.

At this time, his own soldiers came to report that the king of Pingnan refused to come to this camp, and asked the two sides to go to a neutral point to discuss. And the number of soldiers that each can bring cannot exceed 100.

Geng Jimao blew up for a while when he heard this, this old thief can't believe him like this?

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