"And within the siege, since the arrival of the garrison in May, all the houses are located, and the officials give them monthly rations, which are their own private property; Daily supply and demand, responsibility for the residence. The poor people set up wine and food to pay the soldiers, and ran beans and horses, which were not abundant, and they were whipped, and they still used the excuse of not giving them grain, and searched the homes of the people, and their children and silks, and plundered them arbitrarily. Since the people are all on hunger strike, digging rats and birds, eating duckweed and grass shoes. ”

"At the beginning of the month, the soldiers were slightly artificial, and the remnants were entrusted to the land, which was more than 10,000. Mo Zhilian, Gongsheng Li Lingchang, Sheng Yu Hao, Lu Ao, Li Jiongdeng, etc. are all meat on the anvil. Huang Zhizheng, the magistrate of the county, didn't dare anyone, he just mourned. ”

"On four days out of ten, the reinforcements lifted the siege, and there was a surplus of horses and grain in the city, and the soldiers had left food, and the people left behind were not supported. Li led the governor to comfort the soldiers, sympathized with the people, and wept for them: "Although the generals have the merit of the whole city, they also have the sin of the liver. This will be a self-defeating general. And the soldiers did not care, and the children of the city of Jul took the gold and silk hostage; Those who can't do it will be taken prisoner. Inspector Li's number is a strong word, and the first one or two are returned to the people; As for the plundering of the Jing Domain, they will not be retained. Gai Zi was surrounded for half a year, half of the starved to death, half of the slaughterers, and half of the children were plundered. ”

"Heaven descends on mourning, and there is no such miserable person!"

This account from the "Xinhui County Chronicles" roughly describes the fact that during the siege of Xinhui by the Ming army, the feudal soldiers plundered the jade silk of the children of the people in the city to replenish military supplies. Even in the month of Layue, when it was difficult for the feudal soldiers to loot the goods, they even killed people to make bacon, and even the gentry in the city were not exempt, let alone ordinary people. Until the reinforcements arrived to relieve the siege, these cannibalistic Qing troops were still able to have horses and horses, and soldiers had food leftovers, it seems that in their eyes, cannibalism is also very normal, and there will be no psychological burden.

The feudal soldiers were like this, and the magistrates were powerless. When the Ming army was defeated, the vassal soldiers continued to extort the people and plunder their children, and even the persuasion of Li Shutai, the son of the great traitor Li Yongfang and the then governor of Liangguang, was ignored.

Chen Kai can't remember the full text of this record for a long time, but the Qing army cannibalized people and made bacon in Xinhui, which is imprinted in his mind, just like the Guangzhou Massacre, which cannot be forgotten. And this tragedy is also the most important reason why he must come in a hurry!

Since September when Li Dingguo personally led his army to Xinhui City, the fierce offensive he had seen a few days ago had been carried out many times, but the casualties and casualties would be a little different each time, but the results were only fruitless.

If nothing else, it was defeated again and again, and Li Dingguo had to spend until the 14th of the lunar month, when the reinforcements of the Eight Banners arrived in Guangzhou to join Shang Kexi and Geng Jimao, and the army went south for a decisive battle to relieve the siege.

Then, defeated by the Qing army - more than 40,000 soldiers and horses of the headquarters, plus the Ming army and the righteous army of the various departments that came to the alliance, from the defeat of the 18th army of Layue, it took only six days to flee back to Gaozhou Mansion, and two days later passed the boundary between Leizhou Mansion and Lianzhou Mansion, and retreated to Guangxi in a hurry. Not to mention that this is not only dozens of times faster than when it came, but it can be imagined that the number of weapons, baggage, and personnel discarded along the way, the Ming army that participated in the war has shrunk rapidly in the past few days, and there is nothing left when it returns to Guangxi.

The battle of Zhaoqing in history was only a small setback, and the army had to withdraw due to the inability to follow, and the loss of its own vitality was minimal. However, the battle of Xinhui made Li Dingguo's army that killed Nikan directly break the backbone.

"If nothing else......" Lifting the hard work on the desk, Chen Kai's eyes were blazing, and he muttered to himself: "I am the biggest variable this year!" ”

Early the next morning, Chen Kai went directly to meet Li Dingguo. Entering the big tent and making a request, Jin Tongwu, Jin Weixin, Gong Ming and others who were on the side were all shocked. It was Li Dingguo, who looked at Chen Kai without the slightest hesitation, so he agreed.

"It just so happens that this king also looks at the actual method of warfare."

The coach agreed, and it was not easy for others to say more. Immediately afterwards, Li Dingguo held a military meeting and announced in public that Chen Kai would be responsible for the next siege operation, and there were some whispers below, but Chen Kai was famous after all, and the generals acquiesced in doubt. Even Lian Chengbi didn't say anything, but his brows were furrowed, and he seemed to be still speculating about what Chen Kai was planning to do.

The generals had no objections, Chen Kai stood up, bowed to Li Dingguo, took a few steps forward, and stood in front of everyone, completely giving orders.

"According to the original plan specified by His Highness, the various ministries continue to build siege equipment." Looking around at the generals, Chen Kai shouted loudly: "The military discussion is over!" ”

"Huh?"

A puzzled sound came out of nowhere, but it just represented the surprise of everyone present.

Speaking of which, since his debut, Chen Kai has also been a battle-hardened figure, and he is by no means comparable to ordinary civil officials. Whether it is to promote agriculture and persuade mulberry, manage manufacturing, or strategize and experience the battlefield, it has always done an excellent job. Even if his methods are always very different from the habits of this era, after all, the effect is there, and others can't help but be unconvinced.

Such a person, if he wants to preside over the siege war this time, for everyone, the questioning of Yue Kai is inevitable, but there is also the desire to see Chen Kai's quality and methods with his own eyes. However, this well-known civilian official had just taken over the command, and the first order turned out to be to act according to Li Dingguo's original plan, and then announced the end of the military conference, so that everyone just retreated, and it was really impossible to understand what this was thinking.

The generals hesitated slightly, and couldn't help but look at Li Dingguo, who also said in public - since the command has been handed over to Chen Kai, then before the end of this attack, Chen Kai will naturally be responsible for the mobilization of the army. First Li Dingguo, and then even Lian Chengbi also stood up, facing the generals of the Ming Army and the Righteous Army in Western Guangdong, saying that he would obey the military orders of Li Dingguo, the king of Xining, although he did not say it explicitly, but now even Li Dingguo has to listen to Chen Kai, obviously even Chengbi, the governor who has contradictions with him, also wants to listen to Chen Kai, the governor.

Lian Chengbi's statement couldn't help but make Chen Kai turn his head and look at him deeply. At a glance, there is no ghost mind at all, at least there is no micro-expression about intrigue, some are just categorical, that's all.

In return, Chen Kai bowed to Lian Chengbi, immediately faced the generals, coughed lightly, and the generals began to resign one after another. When he arrived at the back, even Chengbi did not stay, saluted Li Dingguo, signaled to Chen Kaishi, and left the Chinese army's tent by himself and returned to Wang Xing's camp where he was stationed.

"Army, what kind of tricks is Chen Kai playing?"

Back in the camp, Wang Xing couldn't help but ask, Lian Chengbi was still frowning, but just shook his head: "The official doesn't know what he wants to do or what he will do." Speaking of which, this person is indeed very capable, if it weren't for the sworn friend of the man surnamed Fujian in Fujian, I would also like to have a good talk with him and serve the court and the emperor together. This time, let's see what he does, it's still the same sentence, even if it is to fight, it is after the recovery of Guangzhou, and now we need to make concerted efforts to ensure the success of this offensive of the King of Xining. The emperor and the court are also waiting for this great victory. ”

Zheng Zhilong was cleared, just because of this one, Lian Chengbi inevitably doubted Zheng Chenggong's intentions. Wang Xing has been in contact with Lian Chengbi for many years since he was raised, and he admires his personality very much and believes in what he says. Even from Lian Chengbi, a single sentence of having a father must have a son, he also inevitably had some distrustful thoughts towards Zheng Chenggong.

Chen Kai drove Guo Zhiqi away, and he was already in trouble with the Western Guangdong Civil Affairs Group. But this time, Lian Chengbi still chose to cooperate, Wang Xing also felt that what he said was right, this is like before he rebelled, several hunters went into the mountains together, encountered tigers, and they had to be killed together before they could consider dividing tiger skins, tiger bones, tiger whips and other valuable things, otherwise everyone would have to be eaten by tigers.

"The last will obey."

As strange as Wang Xing's performance is Chen Kai's performance, in this army cobbled together by the Ming army in the southwest of Li Dingguo's department, the Ming army in various parts of western Guangdong, and the Zheng group from eastern Guangdong, incomprehension is the most common emotion at this moment.

Others didn't understand, and Chen Kai didn't plan to explain. Here is a public order for the crowd to continue to prepare siege equipment, and he is not idle there. From the perspective of others, Chen Kai is going to use the old subordinates he brought from Chaozhou, maybe those people will have some more unbelievable methods.

This time, Chen Kai brought six towns from Chaozhou, plus the hussar towns that had been assisting in the defense of Hong Kong, a total of seven towns before and after. Among them, because Hong Kong Island is too close to the Kowloon Peninsula, Chen Kai frequently dispatched the Pearl River Naval Division to transport the army to avoid being attacked again, and Houjin Town did not dispatch, but continued to stay there. There are indeed 9,000 troops in his hands, of which there are more than 1,000 cavalry alone, but for the siege, the cavalry will obviously not have much effect.

After the end of the military discussion, Chen Kai then sent Gao En, the governor of the firearms battalion under Li Dingguo. Just like Zheng Chenggong's artifact town, Li Dingguo's firearms battalion, as the name suggests, naturally mainly uses firearms, such as the artillery team when the city wall was shelled yesterday, most of the artillery is from the firearms battalion, and some are the treasures of other Ming armies.

"Gao Dudu, tomorrow will attack the city, or you will command the artillery team. In addition, the artillery team of our department is also under your full command. It's just a little bit, just don't play with the bore. ”

"Chen Fujun laughed, and the sons and daughters under the command of the last general are free to measure."

The first time he was commanded by others, especially in front of Li Dingguo, Gao En tried to behave neither humbly nor arrogantly. He is an understanding person, and Chen Kai is indeed joking with him here. It's nothing more than that there are some hints in this joke, which is not very obvious.

"By the way, how are the tunnels the day before yesterday doing?"

The Ming army of the tunnel was abandoned, but there was still a threat to the Qing army. Therefore, after using fire and smoke to repel the Ming army, the Qing army immediately sent craftsmen to block the entrance of the cave with bricks and stones, which inevitably broke open for the Ming army again, and even added several layers, which was very thick.

"Chen Fujun, please rest assured, if you want to use it, if you really can't open it, it won't take too much time to let people dig out another one from the side of the inside."

"Well, very good, Gao Dudu is really a connoisseur who is good at this."

After complimenting, Chen Kai found Jin Weixin again and transferred a batch of items from the warehouse of the army. For example, the door panel, and some other things, but the biggest thing is these inconspicuous wood, Li Dingguo has collected a lot of them when he was in Gaozhou Mansion, and basically transported them, some of which have become part of the siege equipment, and there are still a lot of the rest, which happened to be asked by Chen Kai.

"Chen Fujun, do you need to find a carpenter to modify some?"

Jin Weixin didn't quite understand what Chen Kai was going to do, but the door panel, the modification always had to use a carpenter, which was always right. He had thought of it early, but Chen Kai shook his head and said that it would be good now.

Door panels, firearms battalion, Chen Kai tossed a day's work. Until late at night, a team of people was also sent out.

The next day, the army came to the city again, and Gao En's artillery team was transported up step by step, but not as good as the last time, this time his artillery moved a considerable distance to the east, and the empty one was not really empty, but was filled by Chen Kai's artillery team, and extended a large piece to the west.

"Hey, such a big cannon, how many catties of cannon do you have to fire!"

On the verge of battle, there were Chen Kai's Fubiao and several troops of the Ming Army in Western Guangdong, but the main force was still the battalions under Li Dingguo. For example, Wu Zisheng's right battalion, Wang Zhibang's left battalion, Zhang Sheng's Xisheng battalion, Guo Mingming's strong crossbow battalion, etc., there are all kinds of soldiers, and there are also twenty or thirty thousand soldiers and auxiliaries under the city.

I have long heard that the man surnamed Li Dingguo sent someone to contact is from a maritime businessman, and his sailors are the best in the world. With a sailor, artillery is naturally indispensable, even Gao En is self-aware, and always feels that Fujian's artillery team should be more luxurious than his firearms battalion. He had seen a handful of artillery teams brought in by ship two days ago, but today, the surroundings were filled with the sound of surprise at those huge cannon bodies, and even he couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva.

If only one cannon is relatively large, the problem is that each gun of this artillery team is not small. Even the smallest one was the same as the three Hongyi cannons with twelve-pound cannons that he was proud of. What's more, the use of twelve-pound guns is already the most common in Chen Kai's artillery team.

"Chen Fujun, these Hongyi cannons?"

Lian Chengbi heard that Chen Kai's artillery team was a little scary, but seeing it with his own eyes and hearing it with his ears were definitely two feelings. When asked here, Chen Kai did not hide it, only said that except for the largest one, the others were sent by Geng Jimao last time, and according to the captured Qing gunners, these Hongyi cannons were the ones that the Qing army bombarded Guangzhou four years ago.

"So, this is a tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye?"