Jingzhou is located on the north bank of the Jingjiang River, the danger of Bashu in the upper town, the meeting of the rivers and lakes, and the Yangtze River moat, which is the hub of water and land transportation connecting the east and west, north and south, and has been a battleground for soldiers since ancient times.

Jingzhou City, also known as Jiangling City, is named after Jiangling County after Qin Poying and as the county seat.

The Jingzhou city wall is about 1,125 zhang long from east to west, about 360 zhang wide from north to south, the total length of the city wall is 3,084 zhang, and the height is about 2 zhang 7.

The city wall has eight gates and two gatehouses. The ancient city of Jingzhou is divided into three layers, with a water city on the outside, a brick city in the middle, and an earth city on the inside.

Jingzhou City has a moat, the total length is 3,150 zhang, the width is about 9 zhang, the water depth is one zhang and two, the west leads to Taihu Lake, the east connects Changhu Lake, and is connected with the ancient canal.

When the city was built in the Ming Dynasty, in order to prevent the city base from subsidence, the flood flooded the city, and the glutinous rice slurry was poured in the stone crack at the foot of the right city, so the city wall was particularly strong.

At the same time, the Jingzhou city wall is equipped with urn city, enemy tower, war house, fort, hidden soldier cave, and the city gate, the defense system is complete, it has always been easy to defend and difficult to attack, there is the saying of "iron hitting Jingzhou".

During the Kangxi period, the Manchu Qing Dynasty set up a wall in the city of Jingzhou, and stationed Manchuria Eight Banners in the east, called Manchuria; The western part is the government and private house, called Seoul.

Outside Jingzhou City, in the tent of the military camp, Junzheng Qian Lushan asked Ma Jiulu opposite him with a sad face:

"Commander Ma, it has been three days since you besieged Jingzhou City. The three-day attack has caused nearly 2,000 casualties to our army, but this Jingzhou city has not been able to be taken, so what is the best strategy? ”

Originally, the army should not have asked too much about the war in this army, after all, the main thing in the army of the army to suppress bandits is to work, take care of life, and provide ideological guidance. However, the unhappiness of the war made him inevitably unable to help but ask Ma Jiulu.

Since the bandit suppression army entered Hunan, the bandit suppression army has always been invincible. Ma Jiulu and the others didn't expect that the resistance of Jingzhou City was so strong.

Especially the full city of people in Jingzhou City, all of them went to the battlefield. Those who could hold the bow all went to the city wall, and the old, weak, women and children all went to battle.

Originally, the siege method created by Zhang Rui was a headache for the Qing army along the way, and most of the green battalion soldiers defending the city did not want to fight hard.

Important: After the bandit army defeated the city, they would divide the land, and it was not bad for the green battalion soldiers who surrendered like this. Therefore, since the siege of the city along the way, the bandit army has encountered not many green battalion soldiers who are really serious about defending the city and desperately.

After all, in the eyes of these green battalion soldiers, there is really no need to throw away their lives for only one or two silver months. But this bandit army is still so capable of fighting, the key is that if they surrender, they can be selected into the bandit army, their monthly salary is higher than that given by the Manchu Qing Dynasty, if they retire, they can still have land, and they don't need their children and grandchildren to only be soldiers.

"At present, I haven't been able to negotiate a good solution on my side, so I can only see if there are any good countermeasures on Chief of Staff Wang's side. I am really to blame for the casualties of our army, and I have also disappointed the sixth brother. Ma Jiulu's words were full of self-reproach, after all, Zhang Rui let him lead an army here, which was a great trust in him.

"Actually, I can't blame you, who would have thought that the Manchurians of Jingzhou City would have such a bloody nature that is not afraid of death. If they hadn't harmed our army by hiding in the city walls, our army wouldn't have suffered such casualties. Qian Lushan also said helplessly.

At this time, the voice of the guards came from outside the door of the tent, but it was Wang Kaiyuan who arrived.

"Counselor Wang, you're here." Qian Lushan saw Wang Kaiyuan coming in at the door of the tent, so he gave him a military salute and asked.

"It's Qian Junzheng! You're there too. Wang Kaiyuan also saluted back with a military salute, and now Wang Kaiyuan has already reached the instinctive conditioned reflex of the military salute.

"Chief of Staff Wang, do you have any good methods for this Jingzhou City?" Ma Jiulu didn't talk to Wang Kaiwen politely, and asked directly.

"Yes, the way is there. However, the method we have worked out over there still requires a lot of casualties. Wang Kaiyuan replied, and there was a little loss in his tone.

"Hey, since ancient times, the siege casualties have been small. I really can't do it, I can only endure the casualties and strong attack, I'll ask him for guilt on the sixth brother's side! We must not let the brothers in front of us die or be wounded in vain. Ma Jiulu listened to Wang Kaiyuan's words, gritted his teeth, and said with determination.

"Speaking of Sixth Brother, just when I wanted to come to look for you, I met a herald sent by Sixth Brother. He said that the sixth brother will arrive at us the day after tomorrow at the latest, and let us prepare what he wants and wait for him. So I'm here to talk to you about it. Wang Kaiyuan said to Ma Jiulu.

"Sixth brother is coming? Could it be that he has already conquered Wuchang City? Ma Jiulu hurriedly asked.

"Looks like so, I got to know the herald. When we were still fighting Jiangling, the sixth brother had already conquered Wuchang City. Wang Kaiyuan said with admiration.

"The sixth brother is the sixth brother, so fast." Qian Lushan couldn't help but admire.

"But no, it is said that as soon as the sixth brother arrived in Wuchang City, they conquered Wuchang City that night with the assistance of the brothers who entered the city in advance." Wang Kaiyuan said: "It turns out that the sixth brother has already started the battle in Wuchang City after he finished fighting Yueyang City. ”

"Speaking of siege, the siege methods of the sixth brother can be said to be endless, which is really unimaginable." Ma Jiulu also looks like a five-body cast.

"Commander Ma is right, when the sixth brother left all the staff officers to me, I thought we could take Jingzhou before the sixth brother and they took Wuchang! I'm ashamed. Wang Kaiyuan said with embarrassment.

"Sixth Brother will always be our dependence, and it is normal to be better than him. By the way, what did the sixth brother ask us to prepare? Qian Lushan inadvertently did his own work.

"Qian Junzheng is right." Ma Jiulu followed closely with the echo road.

"What Qian Junzheng said is reasonable." Wang Kaiyuan also said without lagging.

Immediately after, I saw Wang Kaiyuan poke out an envelope from his arms, handed it to Ma Jiulu, and then said, "This is what the sixth brother wants in this." ”

Ma Jiulu looked at the envelope handed over by Wang Kaiyuan and was still a little strange, and only after he received the envelope did he find that it had not been opened. But it was Wang Kaiyuan who was waiting for him to come to Kaifeng, and he thought about his own feelings.

Ma Jiulu looked at the envelope in his hand, and when he raised his head, he saw that Wang Kaiyuan and Qian Lushan were also staring at the envelope in their hands. I think they are also looking forward to seeing what the sixth brother wants!

"Shhhhh

There was a sound of paper tearing

Ma Jiulu didn't think much about anything else and tore open the envelope, only to see that there were only three pieces of paper in the envelope, which was not very thick.

When Ma Jiulu stretched out his finger and took out the three pieces of paper, they looked at it, and there seemed to be something drawn on them.