Since taking Linfen, Qin Chuan has not attacked any fortified cities.

Because time is running out.

News came from Baodezhou, Ningwuguan and Jiaocheng respectively that the Ming army in Hexi was assembling along the Yellow River and collecting boats along the river, as if there were signs of crossing the river to invade.

There are also Ming troops assembled in the Shuozhou area, the direction of attack is either Ningwuguan or Shenchikou, in addition, the Tanma of Hongchikou also found that two Ming armies are moving south along the Xinzhou area, one before and one behind, the number of each is 6,000, the one in front is led by the new Datong general, and the one behind is led by Yang Sichang, the new governor of Xuanda Jin.

The news from Jiaocheng shows that there are Ming troops gathering in the Taiyuan area, and it seems that Wu Fu is not willing to let Qin Chuan run rampant in his territory, and he is not willing to let Jiaocheng and Wenshui fall into the hands of Qin Chuan, so he is gathering troops and preparing to recover Jiaocheng and Wenshui.

After receiving the news, Qin Chuan immediately asked Bobcat to lead two thousand soldiers and horses back to Jiaocheng to lead the defense of Jiaocheng and Wenshui.

Those two small cities originally had 2,000 defenders, plus 2,000 of Bobcat's men, a total of 4,000 troops, which should be able to resist for a while.

Qin Chuan hurried south, passed through Anyi without entering, and went straight to Siyan City.

Si Yancheng's former transfer envoy Tao Zhang has been escorted to the capital to prison, because he not only accepted bribes and traded with Wang Helun and others, but also did business with Qin Chuan.

After the arrival of the new transfer envoy Ye Zhuguo, many officials and guards in Si Yancheng were demoted, fined salaries, and even a few were beheaded for colliding with Ye Zhuguo.

For a while, Si Yancheng was in turmoil, and everyone was in danger.

At the same time, many officials and defenders were increasingly dissatisfied with Ye Zhuguo.

Serving in Si Yancheng, even if he is just a clerical official, he can eat with a round belly, but after Ye Zhuguo came, many important positions were replaced by his own people, and those positions with a lot of oil and water were all changed.

The old officials and defenders were cut off, so they were naturally full of resentment towards Ye Zhuguo.

Qin Chuan's army began to bombard the city on the day it arrived in Siyan City, and at night, when he was about to collect his troops and return to the camp, there were sudden shouts of killing in the city, and it didn't take long for the north gate to open.

The defenders in the city mutinied, and Hao Dezhong, the garrison of Siyan City, personally escorted Ye Zhuguo, who was tightly bound, and led the 2,300 defenders in the city to leave the city from the north gate and surrender in front of Qinchuan.

Qin Chuan accepted the surrender of these people with a smile, and after a moment of appeasement, he led Emperor Guan's army into Siyan City.

Siyan City is not large, but there is a large wall built behind the city to enclose the huge salt lake.

This salt lake, known as the Yuncheng Salt Lake of China's Dead Sea, is one of the three major sodium sulfate inland salt lakes in the world.

Today, the salt needed by the people of Shanxi and Shaanxi is produced by this salt lake, and its importance is self-evident.

After entering the city, the first thing Qin Chuan did was to move salt.

There are a large number of salt workers who make a living by boiling salt around Siyan City, and the salt boiled by these people will be purchased by Si Yan City at a low price, and then sold by Si Yan City to salt merchants who have quotations.

In other words, the Ming court played the role of a middleman, exploiting salt workers and selling them to salt merchants at a high price to obtain a large amount of salt tax.

However, most of the large annual salt tax was given to the vassal kings by the mediocre emperors of the past dynasties.

This is the stupid thing that the Ming emperors did who were so stupid that their brains cramped.

The salt that Qin Chuan grabbed was the salt that Si Yancheng had already collected from the salt workers, and the number was counted that night, a total of 5,000 small leads, and a small lead of 200 catties, that is, 1 million catties.

Because there is no sealing technology now, salt cannot be stored for too long, so Qin Chuan only took 2,000 catties, a total of 400,000 catties, enough for the people in his rule to eat for more than half a year.

In addition, he sent someone to inform Wang Helun, who was still waiting in Jiezhou, and asked him to come and get 2,000 citations.

Qin Chuan didn't want to make the people in Shanxi and Shaanxi have no salt to eat, so the remaining 1,000 people stayed in Siyan City and left it for other salt merchants to take salt.

In addition to salt, Qin Chuan also moved two hundred carts of trona, which was very useful, but Qin Chuan mainly wanted to use it to make glass and baking soda. Hot Books

Naturally, he didn't let go of Si Yancheng's money and food, except for the money and property of those officers and soldiers who surrendered, the rest was almost looted.

He still kept the administrative system in the city, so that other salt merchants could exchange for salt normally.

As for the officers and soldiers who surrendered, after another round of screening, Qin Chuan only took 1,500 people, including the garrison Hao Dezhong.

Ye Zhuguo was also taken away, and he was tightly tied up and taken away, ready to let his family take money to ransom people.

Qin Chuan only stayed in Siyancheng for one day, and after all the goods were loaded, he immediately went north and returned to Jiaocheng.

……

Ten miles east of Jiaocheng City, the Ming army camp.

Wu Fu sat in the main tent, looking around at the group of generals below with a dark face.

Wang Zhong stood below, and said with a bitter face: "Lord Futai, you can't fight the city, although there are only two thousand thieves in the city, but their firearms are extremely sharp, if the siege is frustrated, the morale of the soldiers will inevitably be frustrated, and when the Qin thief reinforcements arrive, I am afraid it will not be stopped." ”

"At this time, the Qin thief should already be on the way back, why don't we give up Jiaocheng and set up an ambush in the area of Yitang Town in Jiexiu, how about ambushing the Qin thief?"

"Although the Qin thief is strong and strong, he has captured a large amount of salt and money and grain from Siyan City, and the mule and carriage alone stretches for more than ten miles, so we can hide the army in the deep mountains, and then launch a surprise attack on him at the same time when he passes by, he will definitely not be able to take care of the beginning and the end."

"If we wait for a small victory, we can take advantage of the victory to chase and kill, kill him and throw away his armor, if the two confrontations are inseparable, we can also contain him, and when the army of Lord Yang arrives, we can annihilate him in one fell swoop."

Wu Fu didn't rush to respond, but looked around and asked with a dark face, "What do you think?" ”

"The last general seconded the plan of the king's general army."

"Lord Futai, what General Wang said is extremely true, at this time, it is not appropriate to consume troops to attack the city, but to ambush the Qin thief and prevent him from returning north to Luliang Mountain."

"The last general thinks that the plan of the general army of the king is very good."

Seeing that the generals below all spoke in favor of Mr. Wang, Wu Fu's face became more and more ugly.

It was not easy for him to transfer troops and horses from Yangqu and Xinzhou, and he gathered enough 8,000 troops, wanting to recapture Jiaocheng and Wenshui in one fell swoop, cut off the back road of the Qin thieves, and wait for the arrival of the governor Yang, he could annihilate the Qin thieves in one fell swoop.

Unexpectedly, the army had already arrived at the city of Jiaocheng, but the generals below were unwilling to attack the city, shouting one by one to ambush the Qin thieves.

Wu Fu didn't know that they coveted the salt and money and grain captured by the Qin thieves, and wanted to loot the salt and money before the arrival of Xuanda's soldiers and horses.

However, the Qin thief has 6,000 troops, and if he wants to ambush the Qin thief halfway, how easy is it to talk about it?

And Jiaocheng only has 2,000 troops, this moment is the best time to break through, as long as Jiaocheng and Wenshui are captured in one go, they can cut off the retreat of the Qin thieves, and the initiative is in their hands.

However, these generals ......

I am a newcomer, and I can't suppress these arrogant soldiers.

If they don't follow their wishes, I'm afraid they will only end up empty, neither being able to defeat Jiaocheng, nor ambushing the Qin thieves.

"Lord Futai, you can't miss the opportunity, if you don't make a decision at the opportunity, you will miss the best opportunity to ambush the Qin thief." Although Wu Fu's face was ugly, Wang Zhong still persuaded.

After hesitating for a long time, Wu Fu finally gritted his teeth and slapped the table hatefully.

"Pull out the camp and go south, and set up an ambush for Yitang."

"Lord Futai is wise."