As if knowing that the situation of the Ming army was sinister, even the siege of the western thieves outside Jiujiang City suddenly became fierce.

Some time ago, the western thieves only used Hukou as a breakthrough point to launch a strong attack on Hukou, and the attack on Jiujiang was not very fierce, it may be that Zhang Xianzhong did not have the confidence to break through the heavily guarded Jiujiang or did not want to lose too many troops under Jiujiang City.

And now, under the urging of Zhang Xianzhong, the 300,000 thief army went crazy and launched wave after wave of fierce attacks on Jiujiang, each of which would leave thousands of corpses under the city.

Standing at the head of Jiujiang City, countless thieves and soldiers overwhelmingly rushed towards Jiujiang City like a wave, and smashed into pieces in the solid Jiujiang City, leaving corpses everywhere, red blood stained the moat, and corpses piled up everywhere.

Hundreds of cannon heavy artillery, a large number of 10,000 enemies, flying dragon firearms, tiger squat cannons, bowl guns, plus thousands of muskets, the long-range firepower of the Jiujiang Ming army, so that the western thieves will suffer a large number of casualties every time they go further, even if they attack the city, they will be hit from three sides of the city wall when they climb and attack the city, and it is too difficult to attack the city head in this case.

However, this time, the Western Thieves completely ignored the casualties of the attack, which also put Jiujiang City under a lot of pressure. Among the western thieves, there were also a large number of artillery guns, and a large number of bows and arrows, and under the all-out attack, the casualties of the Ming army at the head of the city were not small.

The siege lasted from sunrise to sunset, and as night fell, the thieves retreated like a tide, leaving only a mess of countless corpses inside and outside the walls.

Chen Yue wore armor and personally inspected the city wall to comfort the wounded soldiers. Lu Zhenfei, Shan Minglei, Li Yi, Jin Shenghuan and other generals followed behind.

The officers in charge of defending the city have already counted the casualties, and the Ming army on the city suffered more than 500 casualties in a fierce battle in one day, which can be described as not untragic.

In the city tower of Nancheng, a group of senior officials of the Ming army held a combat meeting on the spot.

"Although our army has suffered many casualties, the casualties of the thief army are even greater, according to rough statistics, the casualties of the thief army today have reached at least four or five thousand, and there are as many as two or three thousand corpses under the city alone." The Zhenfu Department was responsible for counting various wartime data, and Shan Minglei, who was in charge of the Zhenfu Division, reported to Chen Yue.

"Although the casualties of our army are not too large, there are too many gunpowder projectiles that can be consumed, and today alone, more than 2,000 shells have been fired, hundreds of firearms such as 10,000 enemies, and more than 20,000 catties of gunpowder have been consumed. If we fight at this rate, our army's various materials will not be able to support half a month. Nanjing must continue to transport all kinds of materials here. ”

Lu Zhenfei, who was in charge of logistics, said.

Although Nanjing's materials were continuously transported to Jiujiang, the daily consumption was also very large, and all the black powder used in these years was used, and the precision of firearms was not very powerful, and a large amount of gunpowder would be consumed in a battle.

"Half a month, where do you need to fight for half a month, haven't you found anything weird?" Gu Junen said suddenly.

Hanyang only sent back the news of the internal strife between the Zheng family army and the Hao army, and not long after the thief army in Wuchang went down the river, Zhang Xianzhong suddenly launched an attack.

Not to mention how the matter of Wuchang Hanyang spread to Zhang Xianzhong's army so quickly, after all, Zhang Xianzhong's thief army and Wuchang are separated by our Jiujiang City.

Even if Zhang Xianzhong knew the news that Zhang Dingguo had raised his troops, there was no need for him to launch an attack on Jiujiang now. When Zhang Dingguo's army arrives in Jiujiang, wouldn't it be better to be flanked from both sides? ”

"Yes, the thief army's attack is indeed a little strange, a few days ago it was just a feint to attack Jiujiang, focusing on Hukou. Now he suddenly stormed Jiujiang, completely ignoring his own losses, which is really incomprehensible. Lu Zhenfei also said.

"Could it be that Zhang Xianzhong knew that Zhang Dingguo went down the river and attacked Jiujiang so that we could not divide our troops to stop Zhang Dingguo?" Jin Shenghuan said tentatively.

"It's also unlikely, we don't have many troops, and we are divided into two cities at the mouth of Jiujiang Lake, so we can only send a naval army to block Zhang Dingguo's army. The navy army could not defend the city, even if Zhang Xianzhong knew that our army was divided, he should take advantage of the time when our navy army left to forcibly break through the mouth of the lake, why would he storm Jiujiang City, which was obviously gnawed? Gu Junen shook his head and said.

"This shows that there must be a change in the thief army," Chen Yue said with a smile, "Originally, Zhang Dingguo suddenly went down the river, and we suffered great pressure. Now no matter what, Zhang Xianzhong's all-out attack on the city gives us an opportunity. The siege method of the thief army will be exhausted and demoralized in a few days, and it will be the time for our army to launch a counteroffensive. ”

"Guogong is wise," Gu Junen agreed, "The subordinates suggested that General Jin Shenghuan's army and Guogong's personal army be withdrawn from the city, and then General Yu Feng's cavalry should also be prepared, so that we can probably transfer 10,000 elite soldiers." Defend the city with the ordinary soldiers and the young and strong soldiers in the city can defend the city, these 10,000 elite soldiers temporarily recuperate, and when the western thieves are tired, they will go out of the city to attack and defeat the thief army in one fell swoop! ”

"Even so, there is no need for Lu Tai's naval army to meet Zhang Dingguo, but Lu Tai can return to Jiujiang, and then the naval army will be from Poyang Lake, and this 10,000 elite will be from Jiujiang City, and the two sides will launch a strong attack on the thief army, and they will definitely be able to annihilate the thief army in one fell swoop." Lu Zhenfei proposed.

According to the current situation, as long as Zhang Xianzhong's 500,000 army can be defeated in one fell swoop, Zhang Dingguo's 100,000 thief army will not pose much threat. Taking advantage of Zhang Dingguo's arrival, he defeated Zhang Xianzhong's army first, hit a time difference, and then naturally could go all out to meet Zhang Dingguo's thief army, which was Gu Junen and Lu Zhenfei's proposal.

After listening to the opinions of Gu Junen and Lu Zhenfei, the generals discussed for a while and spoke in favor one after another. After confronting the thief army for so long, everyone felt very depressed, and now it was finally time for a decisive battle.

Among the generals present, except for a few general soldiers from Beijing, the others were all generals from the Pingnan Army, or Chen Yue's descendants from the Xishan Army. Over the years, he has fought countless victories with Chen Yue, many times he has defeated the strong with the weak and fought more with less, and he has fought countless battles with the fierce Manchu, how could he be afraid of Zhang Xianzhong's thief army.

Although Zhang Xianzhong's momentum is great, in the eyes of the generals of the Duke of Qi, his combat power is just like that. Many generals have never understood why Chen Yue has become so conservative, and they have long wanted to fight the thief army with real swords.

Seeing that the generals were united and their morale was high, Chen Yue nodded with satisfaction. The military affairs were immediately arranged, and the next defense of the city was mainly based on the Beijing battalion soldiers and the ordinary soldiers in the reinforcements, supplemented by the recruited people in Jiujiang City. Jin Shenghuan came from the personal battalion of the Pingnan Army, the cavalry battalion of Yu Feng, and the personal guard battalion that followed Chen Yue all withdrew from the city and repaired and recuperated.

At the same time, Chen Yue gave Shan Minglei another order, ordering him to send people out of the city to investigate the details of the thief army and find out why the thief army suddenly launched a strong attack on Jiujiang.