Zhao Yingyuan on the city tower watched the two thousand Qing troops outside the city set up camp, and after a while, he saw a cavalry composed of yellow armor and blue armor enter the camp, just when he thought that the Qing army attacking Qingzhou was only six or seven thousand men and horses under the city, a foot army stretching for several miles in the distance completely crushed Zhao Yingyuan's confidence.

The Qing army besieging the city was full of 20,000 people, including 1,500 real Manchurian inlaid yellow elite cavalry, 4,500 Han army Zhenglan banner, and the rest were more than 14,000 green battalion soldiers, and the Zhao army was only more than 4,000 people counting the new soldiers who had just been recruited.

There is a saying in the art of war, ten are to surround it, five to attack it, and to fight it twice, the enemy can divide it, and if it is less, it can be escaped, and if not, it can be avoided, so the small enemy is strong, and the big enemy is captured!

The Qing army was more than five times that of the Zhao army, but the Zhao army could not avoid it, and it was trapped in Qingzhou, and if it did not get support, it would be almost death.

At this time, with the arrival of the green battalion, the Qing army surrounded Qingzhou on three sides, leaving only the south gate, although Zhao Yingyuan lacked confidence in holding Qingzhou, but now the cavalry is lost, and the siege is missing one, such an old trick, how can he be fooled.

Seeing that the Qing army had set up camp and had no intention of fighting at night, Zhao Yingyuan retreated to the state government with Wang Yan and others to discuss countermeasures.

Tonight, there were fires inside and outside Qingzhou, and in the tent of the Qing army commander outside the city, the four Qing court officials were also discussing the way to break Qingzhou.

The four people in the tent are not all Manchus, only the Kabush Xianjia Lazhangjing and Tuo are the real Manchurians, and the other three are Han people who have surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. However, although the four of them were mainly Hetuo, the main force of the siege was the green battalion soldiers of Wang Guodong, the general army of Linyi, and the blue banner of the Han army of Li Shuotai.

In the city, in the state yazhong.

Qingzhou officials and squires were also present.

Sitting in the first place is His Royal Highness King Heng of the Ming Dynasty, followed by the real masters of Qingzhou, the mighty general Zhao Yingyuan and Yang Wang Xiu.

Many officials in Qingzhou sat on both sides with the generals of the Zhao army, as well as the gentry of the Liu, Feng, and Zhai clans.

Everyone in the hall, King Heng is completely just a card, he has no heart to resist the Qing, he only wants to save his own life, his fat body sits there, just like a sculpture.

The officials and gentry also didn't like Zhao Yingyuan, and he was born in a rogue, so naturally he couldn't get their real support.

Only the Zhao army is up and down, it is still available, they have followed Zhao Yingyuan for many years, and Wang Aoyong died at the hands of the Zhao army, the Qing army will inevitably retaliate against them after breaking the city, but although they want to do their best, they lack insight and strategy, and they can't say that they are ugly.

Looking around at the people in the hall, Wang Yan had already seen everyone's mentality, the war was about to start, but people's hearts were different, and he couldn't help but feel more bitter in his heart.

Zhao Yingyuan sat upright, waiting for everyone to put forward their views on defending the city, but time passed slowly, but there was silence in the hall, and his already bad face became more ugly with the passage of time.

Seeing this, Wang Yan had to stand up, he walked to the center of the hall, and saluted to King Heng, Zhao Yingyuan, and Yang Wang Xiu, who were sitting in front, and then raised his voice and said: "Although the slave is fierce, it can be defended and frustrated. ”

Seeing Wang Yan break the silence, Zhao Yingyuan was overjoyed, and at the same time, his heart added a little guilt, if he had listened to his words at the beginning, how could he be trapped in Qingzhou today.

At this time, Zhao Yingyuan had a glimmer of hope in his heart, he looked at Wang Yan and said, "Shiheng three strategies, what is the specific explanation?" ”

"Three strategies for late life, one of them is to train soldiers, there are still 300,000 taels of silver in the treasury, there are no less than 10,000 young people hiding in the city outside the city, and there are thousands of soldiers in the major clans, and the general can propose a heavy reward, recruit new pawns, and train soldiers in battle!" Wang Yan pondered.

Things didn't seem to be as bad as imagined, Zhao Yingyuan couldn't help nodding slightly, and motioned for Wang Yan to continue.

"The second is to spy on the Ming Dynasty, strictly inspect the suspicious people in the city, etc., and strictly prevent the Qing court from doing tricks." Wang Yan paused slightly, sorted out his thoughts, and continued. "The third is to ask for help, Manchuria is only 200,000 after all, not only to deal with the Shanxi Shun army, but also to guard Gyeonggi, it is impossible to Shandong Zeng soldiers, and now the Shandong Qing army is gathered here, Jinan, Dezhou, Jiaodong and other places must be empty, there is a way is the lips and teeth are cold, the general can send a messenger to contact the Zhulu righteous army, or let it attack Jinan and other places, or attack the Qing army's food road, or recruit it to come to help the war, so that the Qing army is tired of running for its life, the general is defending the city, not fighting with its wild waves, waiting for the Qing army to run out of food, its self-retreat!"

Hearing this, everyone in the hall couldn't help but whisper for a while, secretly praising the reason.

However, at this moment, a figure quietly retreated.

Outside the city, in the tent of the Qing army commander.

He Tuo, Li Shutai, Wang Guodong, and Li Shiyuan are studying ways to break through Qingzhou.

He Tuodao: "Today's forward battle, killing 100 cavalry of the Zhao army, can be described as a great achievement!" However, Qingzhou is a strong city after all, the river is wide and the city is thick, and we are in a hurry, lacking siege equipment, I don't know if you have a way to break the city. ”

"As the saying goes, knowing oneself and knowing one's opponent is invincible! Xiaguan has already sent a detailed work to contact the old acquaintances in the city, as long as he finds out the troops in the city, and then there is an internal response, it is expected that it will not be difficult to break the city. Li Shiyuan said with a smile.

At this time, there was a report from the guards, and people from the city even outside the camp, and he asked people to bring him into the tent, and the man was stunned that it was Han Zhaoxuan, Qingzhou Dao, who quietly withdrew from the state government.

He was exempted from death by Zhao Yingyuan because of his meritorious service to Wang Aoyong, but he lost his official position, at this time the Qing army attacked, Li Shiyuan sent someone to contact, and he decided to surrender to the Qing court again.

The four of them hurriedly inquired about the situation in the city, and learned that the city was recruiting troops and horses, killing the Qing court, and even sending an envoy to say that the righteous army was attacking the rear of the Qing army and the grain road, the four of them couldn't help but change their faces slightly.

In this way, it seems that breaking the green state is not as simple as previously thought.

"Zhao Yingyuan is still quite capable!" After listening, Li Shutai on the side sighed slightly.

Han Zhaoxuan smiled mysteriously. "The general doesn't know that the person who came up with this strategy is not Zhao Yingyuan."

"Who was then?" Hearing this, the four of them couldn't help but become interested, Li Shiyuan thought about it and said: "But Yang Wangxiu, he used to be a soldier in Tongguan in Mingting Mountain, and he was also Li Chuang's soldier in the military palace, he knew military affairs and knew strategy, which was also reasonable. ”

Han Zhaoxuan didn't answer in a hurry, and after attracting the eyes of the four people, he said: "You don't know, this person's name is Wang Yan, but he is quite talented and learned, and it is his plan to enter Qingzhou and support the Heng Domain." ”

The four of them secretly wrote down Wang Yan's name in their hearts, and continued to discuss the method of breaking the city, since they found that Qingzhou, which was originally thought to be easy to break, was really difficult to fight, they couldn't help but be a little frustrated.

"Since it's not easy to attack, why not outwit?" Li Shiyuan came out without discussing the reason, and suddenly spoke.

"How to outwit, Master Li can come quickly with this general." Hetuo, who was quite distressed, couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.

"The essence of Zhao Jun is just a grass coward, I see that Zhao Yingyuan and Yang Wangxiu have swayed between Ming Shun, it can be seen that they are not loyal and righteous people, what they want is only utilitarian, why don't the generals allow heavy profits and recruit them to surrender! As for Wang Yan, he is not in power, as long as he talks about Zhao and Yang, a scholar will have nothing to do with the overall situation. Li Shiyuan said.

"It's not appropriate~It's not appropriate~" He Tuo listened and thought about it carefully, and finally refused. "Zhao thief killed my Qing military department squire, Shandong appeased Shi Wang Aoyong, and destroyed the foundation of the Qing Dynasty in Shandong, how can it be easily forgiven! If he had spared him and given him riches, someone would have followed suit in the future. Moreover, the regent hates him to the bone, and wants to kill him quickly, he will not dare to disobey his will, so Lord Li should think of another strategy. ”

As a Han Chinese, Li Shiyuan naturally did not dare to question Hetuo and the regent Dorgon, so he had to respond: "The general is thoughtful. ”

"Do you have any other way?" Heto nodded in satisfaction, then asked again.

"The last general carefully thought about Wang Yan's strategies, although they are all good strategies, and they can bring a lot of trouble to our army after they are completed, but the Zhao army is congenitally insufficient, that is, the strength is too weak, and those strategies take time, we only need to break the city in one fell swoop before its new soldiers can become combat power." Li Shutai said.

A few people thought about it and felt that it was reasonable, there were only more than 4,000 Zhao troops in the city, and most of them were new soldiers, it would take time to recruit new soldiers and train them, and contacting the righteous army from all walks of life was not something that could be completed in a day or two, as long as the army could quickly break through Qingzhou, these plans would be all empty talk.

"Haha~ That being the case, tomorrow's army will directly attack the city, so that Zhao Thief can see the power of my Qing warriors!" He Tuo agreed with Li Shutai's words very much, laughed and looked at Wang Guodong, the chief military officer of Linqing on the side, and said: "General soldier Wang, whether you can capture Qingzhou tomorrow depends on your performance." ”

The thankless and rough work of attacking the city naturally cannot be done by the full man and the banner people, so it can only be the green battalion men and horses who surrendered.

"If you obey your orders, you will definitely not disappoint the general's expectations!" Wang Guodong and Li Shutai's official positions are much higher than those of Hetuo, but because they are Manchurian, Wang Guodong, the chief military officer, has to whisper in front of him, Jia La, Ezhen.

"Okay, let's talk about this today, tomorrow we will attack the city on a large scale, after breaking the city, we can set up troops for three days, General Li will arrange the people who are on duty at night, and they will all retreat!" Seeing that everything was over, he waved his hand and said.

"'Chirp~" The four of them responded in unison and withdrew from the tent.

It was night, the two armies were safe, the Qing army rushed for a few days, came to the city, and needed to recuperate, and would not rob the city at night, but the Zhao army was unable to sneak attack because of the lack of troops, and both sides tacitly maintained the last tranquility of Qingzhou City.

(The author consulted the historical materials, only to know that Wang Aoyong was captured hiding in the squire's house, and the novel here was arranged on Han Zhaoxuan's head for the sake of the plot.) In the Qingzhou Incident, Li Shiyuan did collude with Han Zhaoxuan, but in history, Han Zhaoxuan finally raised troops against the Qing Dynasty, and was finally defeated and killed! ）