The development of the situation is still not as optimistic as Hong Tang Shang is pleased with their expectations, although Wu Jie, who is in the rear, also takes care of Gong Changling, and the supplies and soldiers are not stingy, but after a month-long siege battle, Gong Changling still fell.

The reason for the fall was actually very unexpected, that is, as a temporary repair of the city's defense, the ice suddenly cracked in the front section, which caused the collapse, which made the Qing army see the opportunity to mobilize all the troops to launch a fierce offensive day and night.

The final result is self-evident, the gap caused by the frontal collapse, even though the Hongtang army quickly built several lines of defense under the still gratifying arrangement, but the offensive of the Qing soldiers at any cost and without giving a respite was to make her insufficient army have no time and opportunity to fill this gap.

More and more Qing soldiers poured into Gongchangling Castle from this gap, making the already understaffed Hongtang soldiers tired and under great pressure, and finally Shang Kexi made the best choice rationally Before the Hongtang soldiers' formation was destroyed, he made a retreat plan one step in advance.

Fortunately, the terrain on the first line of Gongchangling and Anshan is mostly hilly, which is not suitable for the dispatch of the Qing cavalry.

Moreover, in order to cover the mines in Gongchangling and Anshan, after the Gongchangling Walled City, the Hongtang army also established a defense line that was not simple.

Coupled with the wounded soldiers, the Hongtang army is still happy that there are still nearly 40,000 soldiers who can breathe, although 30,000 soldiers are lost in the Gongchangling walled city, but they still have the strength to fight.

Therefore, until now, Shang Kexi has not been able to dispel the Qing army on the front line of Gongchangling, so as not to let the other party enter the hinterland occupied by Hongtang.

Wu Jie of Phoenix City soon learned the news of the fall of Gong Changling, but at this time, he was only in his early 3,000s in Phoenix City, and even if he had the heart, he didn't have the strength to support Shang Kexi. On the contrary, because Shang Kexi lost the Gongchangling Walled City, the territory behind Hongmen in the Phoenix City area would face the threat of 100,000 soldiers from the Qing Dynasty.

"Do we still have troops to mobilize?"

As the commander of the Chinese army, he previously supported Shang Kexi's strategy of resisting the enemy outside Gongchangling, but now it is a sign of defeat, and now all he can do is to continue to increase his support for Shang Kexi.

"The strength of other strongholds is already weak, if we move, we can't say that it will give the Qing army a chance to take advantage of it, and our subordinates do not recommend transferring troops from these defense lines."

Shi Lang shook his head, Hongtang now has more than 100,000 troops deployed inside and outside the Northeast Pass, which seems to be only tens of thousands away from the main army of the Qing army, but in fact, because there are many strongholds that need to be defended, and the Qing people only need to attack a little, but they are more concentrated than the Hongtang army.

Speaking of which, I don't know whether it was luck or misfortune, I fought with the Hongtang army several times, so that the Qing army did not take advantage of the Hongtang army, so this time the Qing army's southern expedition did not think about dividing the troops at the beginning, but it made the Gongchangling Walled City, which was the main breakthrough, the target of the public and suffered heavy pressure.

The Hongtang strongholds in other places, such as the front line of Maohelm Mountain, did not dare to act rashly because they did not know whether the Qing army had other troops, but did nothing, and watched the battle on the side of Gongchangling in full swing, leaving 20,000 troops stationed in the meantime.

"Then Shang Kexi, can they hold the Anshan defense line?"

Wu Jie looked at the map worriedly and groaned.

"Commander, please believe in Senior Commander Shang, since Senior Commander Shang and they have not asked for help yet, it means that the war has not yet reached a critical time, let's take a look at Senior Commander Shang's next actions!"

"As for the troops, we can actually first transfer the Ryukyu Naval Division on Iriomote Island, the garrison in Dongjiang Town, and recruit new recruits from the manpower transported from the Foreign Affairs Bureau.

"At the same time, the subordinates have also written an urgent letter to send back to Dayuan Island, and it will not be long before the master of the sect will send us some new recruits."

Shi Lang and the other members of the crew also racked their brains to raise troops, and although the consumption of materials was like flowing water for the wealthy Hongmen, it was already within the psychological expectations of the prepared Hongmen.

It's just that the problem of troop strength has always been the biggest problem in Hongmen.

Many of the powerful generals installed by Hongmen in the Ming Dynasty and the peasant army have been exposed in advance, and they came to the Northeast with Peng Zhihai and He Sanjiang.

There are some hidden shadows left, and Hongmen is reluctant to expose them, firstly, some chess pieces have a high status but the strength in their hands is not strong, and they can access a lot of high-level secrets; Second, as a future opponent, Hongmen will attack these opponents sooner or later, so you can't help but reserve some shadows in it!

And Qi Hu of the Foreign Affairs Bureau has worked hard and recruited many young and strong laborers for the Northeast, but as the cornerstone of the Northeast Reclamation, Hong Tang can't recruit all the young and strong laborers as soldiers!

Without enough young and middle-aged people as the main labor force for land reclamation, the life of the people at the bottom will become extremely difficult, and it is easy to have unstable factors, let alone manage.

As the base camp of Hongmen Dayuan Island, almost all the strength of the Hongtang army has been transferred to the northeast, and even the indigenous warriors of the Bengang Alliance who have just returned to the army have also been requisitioned and sent to the northeast.

Of course, it's not that soldiers can't be recruited on Dayuan Island, it's just that it takes time to increase troops, and it will also invisibly affect the future prospects of Hongmen.

It's just that if it really comes to the critical situation in the Northeast, Hongmen, who has already paid countless costs in the Northeast, will naturally not be able to sit back and watch the Qing people regain their territory, let alone let their previous sacrifices be in vain.

Finally recruiting soldiers on Dayuan Island will be Hongmen's last choice.

In fact, now that the senior members have arrived at the island headquarters, Li Tianyang and they have already begun to make preliminary preparations for expanding the number of troops: the Ordnance Bureau, the Gun Manufacturing Bureau, the Military Uniform Factory and other factories, most of the hot work orders are to prepare for arming new soldiers.

The policy of recruiting new recruits has also been formulated, and after Li Tianyang said a word, it was sent to all neighborhood committees in Hongmen and began to act.

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