The executioner cut a piece of meat from Yuyunlong's body, showed it on the spot, and stuffed it directly into Youyunlong's mouth. The cannibal eats himself in the end, and what Chen Kai wants is to give back to the other in the same way.

However, it's a pity, I don't know if I ate too much and died, or if I ate too quickly and choked to death, or if those two front teeth wore through my appetite, and Yunlong didn't survive until the end of the punishment. Fortunately, Chen Kai's goal has been achieved, and the ogre has eaten himself to death, which is enough.

As soon as Yunlong died, the remaining feudal officers were also brought to power, and the punishments were different, but the final result was a dead word. The only thing that is unsatisfactory is that Yunlong did not die until the next day, and the next day, the eagerness for revenge was replaced by the reality of restoring the current life, and most of the people who watched the execution were reduced here, and the audience became boring without those ghosts crying wolves.

The siege of Xinhui is over, but there are still many things to be done in the future, at the very least, it is necessary to achieve the strategic goal of this time - to conquer Guangzhou City, and this stage of work can be regarded as an end.

Chen Kai knows these things very well, and so do Li Dingguo and Lian Chengbi. The capture of Xinhui, the gateway to the south of Guangzhou, was only a phased victory for the Ming army's attack on Guangdong. Next, going north to seize Guangzhou, not to mention that it will inevitably face off with the two feudal domains of Pingnan and Jingnan, which are sitting in Guangdong, but also that more cities need to be conquered along the way, and one nail after another between the Ming army and Guangzhou City can be pulled out in order to reach the final destination.

At the beginning of the execution, Li Dingguo, Chen Kai and others showed their faces, and after a while, they left the venue one after another, handing over the affairs here to the generals, and they returned to Li Dingguo's Chinese army camp to discuss the next step.

"His Highness's army set out from Liuzhou in February, and in March it entered Guangdong. According to the intelligence of the lower officials, it was around that time that the Tartars asked for help from the Imperial Court. However, not as good as last year, this year Zhang Houye repeatedly broke through the Yangtze River defense of the Imperial Court, the four banners of the left wing of Jiangning in Jiangnan and the Han army flag that co-defended it did not dare to move lightly, and the other Eight Banners Army, the Eight Banners of the Hangzhou garrison suffered defeat last year, and the vitality did not recover, and now the national surname swept Fujian, and the sword pointed directly at Zhejiang, even if they wanted to come to Guangdong, it was impossible. ”

In this way, the Imperial Court can only draw reinforcements from the capital, because the simple green battalion is absolutely not enough, and can only dispatch the Eight Banners Army. Head south from Beijing. According to Xiaguan's thinking, the fastest itinerary is to take the Grand Canal, enter the Yangtze River waterway, then go south from Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province to Poyang Lake, and finally follow the Ganjiang River and other waterways to the south to reach the Nanjiang region, and then cross Meiling into Guangzhou. In this way, counting the time when the messenger rushed to the capital and assembled with the captive division, the fast will be the lunar month, and the slow will be the first month of next year, and the captive division will definitely arrive, and the time left for the king is running out. ”

Chen Kai said these words with confidence and confidence, precisely because the Manchu and Han Eight Banners army led by the Jingnan general Gushan Ezhen Zhumala in history arrived on the Guangdong battlefield in the month of Layue, and defeated Li Dingguo's tired army under Xinhui City for more than half a year at the end of the month.

In the days when he was planning to assist Li Dingguo in conquering Xinhui, Chen Kai was always trying to recall the specific time, but he couldn't remember anything. It wasn't until the day before yesterday that he blew down the Xinhui city wall, and he suddenly realized that in fact, even if he knew the specific time, history had begun to turn a corner, and it didn't matter whether it would still happen in the same way as it once was.

Having said that, most of the people present such as Li Dingguo, Lian Chengbi, Jin Tongwu, Wang Xing, Jin Weixin, Gong Ming, and Zhou Quanbin brought by Chen Kai already believed Chen Kai's prediction and judgment, because none of them had ever had the experience of going south from Beizhili through the canal. Even if it was Li Jianjie, another general brought by Chen Kai, although he followed Li Chengdong to the Qing Dynasty when he was in the four towns of Jiangbei, and then went all the way into the Liangguang region, he also took the route of Zhejiang and Fujian, and it was not like Chen Kai who had the experience of entering the Yangtze River waterway through Poyang Lake.

This is a matter of experience, and it is also a credibility bonus brought by the image that Chen Kai has established over the years and is well-versed in military affairs. It was already the end of October, and there was only one month left before the lunar month, and the time left for them, even if it was the time that Chen Kai had won by breaking through the city, was actually not particularly sufficient.

"How the army will unfold next, this king has also considered earlier. After years of bloodletting by Chen Fujun, coupled with Chen Linghai's victory in Jiangmen in August, the capture of Guangdong Navy Division was gone, and the rivers and seas were the world of Wang Shi. Our army now controls the area south of Cangbushui on the land route, and the new meeting is in hand, and the army has a more solid rear, which can further encroach on other prefectures and counties in Guangzhou, or the army can go north to storm Shunde and reach the city of Guangzhou. ”

"In the consideration of this king, there is not much time, and the advantage is to win quickly, if you can take Guangzhou before the reinforcements of the captive division and the two feudal domains of Pingnan and Jingnan converge, then you can calmly deal with the reinforcements of the captive division. It's just that the giant city of Guangzhou is very strong and not overnight. If you can't break through the city before the reinforcements arrive, you will face the danger of being unstable in the flanks and rear, and then encountering a strong enemy. ”

Guangzhou's city defense is one of them, this time the capture of Xinhui, although it is said that the two feudal troops of Yunlong and Wu Jingong were completely annihilated, but the main force of Shang Kexi still exists, at least there are six or seven thousand soldiers of the Pingnan domain and tens of thousands of soldiers of the Jingnan domain. The former is not to mention the recuperation, although the latter was once broken by Chen Kai, but the Qing court's vigorous replenishment always made them recover a lot of vitality - when the Jingnan Domain went south, there were more than 1,000 old feudal soldiers of the Han Army Banner in the headquarters, and the remaining part of the 10,000 army was all supplemented by the northern green battalion. Chen Kai's two hundred Geng Jimao, especially the second time, the latter can be described as a heavy loss, but it is not the kind of loss that cannot be replenished and difficult to recover.

"Green Battalion, Li Shuotai's superintendent is now in Zhaoqing, and there are Li Qifeng's Fubiao and some other green battalion soldiers in Guangzhou. If the Wang Division is in the city, Shang Kexi is likely to summon other green battalions to help in the battle, so the strength of the captive division will not be the current number. Even, if it is just to defend the city, there are still a large number of clothed minions in Guangzhou City, and those boneless guys can also help. ”

Li Dingguo analyzed the city defense, and Chen Kai supplemented the number of soldiers of the Qing army. Lian Chengbi sat there and pondered carefully for a moment before asking Chen Kai: "Isn't there Chen Fujun's Hongyi artillery team and that collapse method, can't you have this sharp weapon?" ”

won Xinhui, and time was running out, Li Dingguo had the idea of seeking stability. The soldiers are dangerous, if there is no need, Chen Kai has no intention of taking risks for it, and it is indeed more appropriate to slow down and make steady profits without losing money than to stud at every turn. After all, in these years, the Qing court has most of the world, and if they lose once, they will lose a province, and if they lose one, there will be many more, but the Ming army can easily afford to lose, so if they can't get it, they will return to the rhythm before liberation overnight.

At this moment, Lian Chengbi asked, Chen Kai also sighed, and explained: "There has never been a winning strategy in the world, it always depends on the situation. ”

"The heavy artillery bombardment of the city wall is first of all because the defending side does not have too many cavalry, otherwise it will be difficult for the artillery team to play a role under the threat of a large force of cavalry. Just like in Guangzhou back then, Shang Kexi had no fear, because he had many cavalry, and the cavalry in Guangzhou City could not pose a big enough threat to his artillery team. And this time in the battle of Xinhui, the gap in strength between the two sides was too large, and Yunlong did not dare to risk going out of the city to counteract, so he could only pin all his hopes on the solidity of the city wall. ”

This is a fact, Yunlong was ordered to defend to the death, and in the face of Li Dingguo's army, he naturally did not dare to be careless, and always used the most secure method to defend the city, because this was a strategic decision. However, if Guangzhou was to be attacked, it was the most important foothold of the Qing army in Guangdong, and it could not be lost, and the size of the cavalry that was still gratifying was no longer an advantage, if not overwhelming. The method of heavy artillery bombardment of the city, in the face of the arrival of reinforcements at any time, the defenders only need to risk delaying for a while, as long as it does not work immediately, it will become a drag on the army.

Speaking of which, looking around at everyone, most of them had already figured out what Chen Kai was referring to. Seeing this, he continued: "In the same way, although the collapse method is huge, there are many precautions. The quick effect of this was actually the fact that the official took advantage of the tunnels that His Highness had spent a lot of time digging earlier, which were time-consuming and labor-intensive, and were for the purpose of entering the city, and there was no possibility of burying gunpowder without digging a place to pose a threat to the city walls. ”

"This kind of strategy is not in line with the possibility of quick victory, it depends on the time spent. If you want to reach Guangzhou by land as soon as possible, you must first pass through the Shunde pass. Every time a tunnel is dug, it takes several days, and it takes more than ten days for two cities to break through the city walls. And that's not counting the cost of the road and the resistance of the captives, the time is too tight. ”

"In addition, the countermeasures of the collapse method are easier than those of the artillery team. Because the tunnel should not be too far from the city wall, the defenders only need to send a dead soldier out of the city to defeat the king guarding the tunnel, and use some sandbags and soil bags to seal the entrance to the tunnel tightly. At this time, even if the king master killed the captive master, the time to re-dig the entrance of the tunnel was enough to suffocate all the Wang Shi in the pit inside. ”

Although the collapse method is good, the conditions are harsh, and the weaknesses are still relatively obvious. Chen Kai pondered for a long time based on Zheng Chenggong's failed experience to achieve this success, and it was also in the shadow of Li Dingguo, even then he had to take a lot of trouble to deceive the defenders in the city, so as not to be destroyed by Yunlong.

Talking here, everyone also had their own thoughts, but Lian Chengbi tentatively asked about the idea of whether the tunnel could be dug longer.

"No, the tunnel is too long, but it's not ventilated inside, and it's still easy to suffocate people."

rejected Lianchengbi's idea, but Chen Kai's mind suddenly came up with the hypothesis of "whether it is possible to use a blower to quickly move air to deliver oxygen to the tunnel". It's just that there is no time to conduct experiments now, and today we must set the next combat strategy and make the best use of this month's time.

After thinking about it, this king decided to slow down the map of Guangzhou, first uproot all the key points around Guangzhou, and ensure the safety of our army's flanks and rear. At that time, even if the reinforcements of the captive division really converge with the two feudal domains of Pingnan and Jingnan, tens of thousands of elites of our army, as well as the follow-up troops of Chen Fujun, will only be dominated by Wang Shi in terms of strength. ”

In the several provinces around Guangdong, Fujian can no longer be counted on, and Huguang and Guangxi will also face the threat of the Ming army, and they will also dare not move lightly. As for Jiangxi, the Qing court's military strength in Jiangxi was extremely small, and it was absolutely difficult to provide sufficient support in the face of such a confrontation of tens of thousands of troops. What's more, Zheng Chenggong's army has already entered Tingzhou Mansion and Shaowu Mansion, and Jiangxi still has to bear the military threat from the direction of Fujian, which is even more stretched.

In the eighth year of Yongli, this year in history can never be compared with the sixth year of Yongli. But after several years of preparation, especially these two years of fancy operations, Chen Kai stubbornly played this year into another anti-Qing climax after the great counteroffensive in the sixth year of Yongli - Zheng Chenggong swept through Fujian, Zhang Mingzhen entered the Yangtze River three times, and now Li Dingguo has officially aimed at Guangzhou, and the Qing court's embarrassment in this year is absolutely incomparable in history.

Li Dingguo wanted to slow down the map of Guangzhou and pull out those key points first. The first to bear the brunt is naturally Gaoming County on the north bank of Cangbu Water. After taking Gaoming County, there is a bridgehead north of Cangbushui, and it can continue to encroach northward. Until the capture of Sanshui County, with here, you can not use the threat of the Ming army to the west during the attack on Guangzhou - after all, in addition to Li Shutai's supervision, the Ma Xiong Department of the Dingnan Domain now controls Wuzhou, plus in case Guilin's line Guoan and other departments jump over the wall in a hurry and return to Guangzhou, since they have decided to seek stability, they must always take it into account.

"The safest thing is to take Zhaoqing, with Zhaoqing Fucheng, you can effectively prevent Guangxi's captives from threatening the Guangzhou battlefield. It's just a pity that time is running out. ”

The defeat of the Battle of Zhaoqing made Li Dingguo inevitably have a slight psychological shadow, of course, the city was indeed strong enough, especially those forts could effectively restrain the artillery of the Ming army, which was a great obstacle for the besieging side.

Li Dingguo already had a plan, so he naturally wanted to mobilize a large army to the north to seize various key points. Lian Chengbi naturally wanted to follow this Li Dingguo, because the combat effectiveness of the Ming army in western Guangdong, which he was responsible for controlling, was really worrisome, and it completely relied on Li Dingguo's prestige. At this point, Chen Kai also has his own plans.

"Chen Fujun, do you plan to divide the troops?"

"Exactly, the capture of Gaoming, Sanshui, and Shunde, the army of the king of Xining is enough. In this case, the 10,000 troops brought by this official are not too much, but not too much, and a lot less, so it is not good to continue to waste energy here. ”

Consumes energy in vain, and this sentence made everyone present think of the possibility that Chen Kai was ready to take advantage of this victory to pick some peaches. This is perfectly normal, after all, reinforcements will only come to help if they are profitable, and since those troops seem to be a bit surplus at this stage, it is okay to do something else.

Chen Kai is reasonable, and Lian Chengbi insisted that Chen Kai praise the military affairs here, and at the same time, it is more secure for the army to be together. However, just like Chen Kai couldn't control those Ming troops in western Guangdong, Lian Chengbi couldn't control Chen Kai either, speaking of which, Chen Kai still insisted on going his own way, and finally had a big quarrel with Lian Chengbi.

The punishment outside Xinhui City continued, and Chen Kai had already begun to arrange for the army to be drawn out of the camp. After nightfall, Chen Kai secretly invited Jin Weixin, handed over a letter to him, and dragged him to Li Dingguo.

"This strategy can be discussed with His Highness in detail. However, do not ask Your Highness to keep it a secret, and never disclose it to anyone. ”8)