Outside the city of Yangzhou, the Qing court Gushan Ezhen Zhun Tower, led 3,000 real Manchurian Zhengbai Banner men and horses, together with Melle Ezhen Li led 2,000 Han troops to the Blue Banner, and jointly supervised the Han army Li Benshen, Bai Yongfu and other totaling 80,000 horses, continue to besiege Yangzhou.

Since Duoduo led more than 200,000 men to cross the river and seize Jiangnan, the Qing army besieging Yangzhou did not attack the city, but built a hard village and dug a trench to trap Wang Yan.

At this time, the materials in Yangzhou City have been scarce, especially the grain and grass, which is only enough for a month's food, Wang Yan saw the Qing soldiers digging a wide trench outside the city, building an earthen wall, he knew the meaning of the Qing generals, and led the troops out of the city, several times to kill, but finally because of the disparity in strength, was forced back to the city.

On July 12, Wang Yan saw that the ditches and earthen walls dug by the Qing soldiers under the city had been slowly transacted, and if the Qing army was allowed to dig for a few more days, it would be difficult for the Yangzhou soldiers and horses to get out of the city.

Wang Yan and the generals watched together, and a large number of Qing soldiers digging ditches outside the city couldn't help but feel heavy, and their hearts were extremely depressed about the future of Yangzhou.

When the people in Yangzhou were in a heavy mood, the Qing army that was digging the soil under the city suddenly stopped their movements and returned to the Qing camp one after another.

The abnormality of the Qing army made Wang Yan puzzled for a while, and just when he couldn't understand it, there was a faint sound of silk and bamboo in the Qing camp.

When Wang Yan heard this, his face suddenly changed.

"The Qing camp seems to be celebrating and feasting, isn't Nanjing lost?" He Gang on the side also turned pale and said in horror.

For a time, the people of Yangzhou were panicked.

It was night, Wang Yan couldn't sleep because of the day's events, everything he was worried about still happened, the land south of the Yangtze River may have fallen into the hands of captivity, so in the lonely city of Yangzhou, where should the remaining more than 500,000 soldiers and civilians go?

The society was overturned, the country was ruined, Wang Yan sighed for the rapid defeat of the imperial court, and was extremely worried about the way out for the soldiers and civilians of Yangzhou.

Under the moonlight, Wang Yan wore only a long shirt, walked back and forth in the courtyard, pondered and meditated, but did not get a plan, and couldn't help but be very annoyed.

At the end of the day, Wang Yan still did not feel sleepy, and the huge crisis and responsibility made him only in his twenties, and a few strands of gray hair appeared on his head.

At this time, Wang Yan looked up at the moon hanging in the night sky, greeted its bright light, and couldn't help but sigh.

"Has the general ever rested? I have something important to report, you go and spread it quickly! A voice sounded outside the courtyard, it was Qu Congzhi, who was in charge of the night patrol.

Wang Yan had already heard the voice, and he wondered in his heart that it was so late, what else was important, so he said directly: "But Master Qu, come in directly, and the general has not rested yet." ”

At that time, Qu Congzhi led a person into the courtyard, he hurriedly saluted, and stood aside, and the person who led in, when he saw Wang Yan, he bowed down and said in a crying voice: "General, the last general is fortunate not to be dishonored, so he moved to rescue the soldiers, and it is fifty miles east of Yangzhou City." ”

The person who came was Hu Weizong, who was ordered to sneak back to Yangzhou and contact Wang Yan to discuss the matter of breaking the siege.

"Hurry up!" Wang Yan saw Hu Weizong and listened to his words, he couldn't help but hurriedly walked over to help him up, and then said excitedly: "At the beginning, I ordered you and other hundreds of people to go out of the city to ask for help, but I saw the Qing army ships on the river, hunting and killing in all directions, and the brothers were killed and injured countless times. ”

"General, the last general is on the order of Lord Zuo, come to contact the general, and agree on a plan to cooperate with the outside to break through the east camp of the Qing army and meet the general to break through." Hu Weizong was helped up and said to Wang Yan.

Zuo Maodi listened to Xia Wanchun's words, gave up the plan to retreat to Zhejiang Province, left a thousand people with warships, bluffed at the mouth of the Yangtze River, and he took nearly 9,000 soldiers and horses to land on the north bank of the Yangtze River and rushed to Yangzhou by land.

Along the way, the army walked in concealment, until fifty miles away from Yangzhou, still did not find the Qing army sentry horse, Zuo Maodi and others could not help but secretly praise Xia Wanchun's talent, the Qing army was really slack, and immediately greatly strengthened the confidence of the trip.

Wang Yan listened to Hu Weizong's words, but there was a trace of hesitation in his heart, now the Qing soldiers are celebrating Duoduo's victory in Jiangnan, thinking that the overall situation has been decided, and he is slack, he has nearly 10,000 horses to respond, and it is very possible to lead the army to break through from one gate, but if he leads the troops to break through, what should the people of Yangzhou do?

Yangzhou City defended for two months, killing and wounding countless Qing soldiers, if the people of Yangzhou fell into the hands of the Qing soldiers, the Qing soldiers would inevitably slaughter the city to vent their anger.

"The matter of breaking out of the siege still needs to be discussed." Wang Yan frowned and said: "The people of Yangzhou will not bear to abandon it, and when they think about it, they can have other strategies and then reply." ”

"The heart of the general will be known by the general, and the people of Yangzhou will also be known." Hu Weizong was very moved when he heard Wang Yan's words, but he didn't want Wang Yan to make a senseless sacrifice, so he persuaded: "However, the general is trapped in the city, but it is not easy in the overall situation. Now that Nanjing has fallen, His Majesty has been taken captive, and General Kuang Fu Sheji is needed, how can he be trapped in the city. ”

"General!" Qu Congzhi on the side, along the road has learned the situation from Hu Weizong's mouth, knowing that with the overthrow of the imperial court, Yangzhou's hope has been completely cut off, and now the breakthrough is the last chance for the Yangzhou defenders, and he said sadly: "The lower official thinks that what Hu Weizong said is reasonable, and also asks the general to save some fire for Yangzhou and lead the troops to break through." The lower officials were willing to lead the people to defend the city and stay in Yangzhou for the general. ”

"The meaning of the two of you, you will know!" When Wang Yan heard this, he did not change his original intention: "But this general will never give up on the people of Yangzhou!" ”

Seeing Wang Yan's resoluteness, the two couldn't help but sigh, but they no longer spoke to persuade each other.

At this time, Wang Yan asked the two to retreat first, and when he thought about it again, there was a way to do both, and then discuss, but the two had not said goodbye and left, but there was a small colonel who patrolled the city and led the two to ask for a meeting.

These two people are also from outside Yangzhou City, and one of them is one of the hundred warriors who went out of the city to ask for help, Dai Zhifan, a one-eyed warrior born in Wusheng.

Like Hu Weizong, he was rescued after being seriously injured, but Hu Weizong was washed by the river to Zhenjiang on the other side, while he was washed downstream and rescued by a businessman.

Dai Zhifan was unconscious, the merchant sold goods from Songjiang to Anhui, and when he was injured, he had already reached the border of Huizhou, so he hurriedly said goodbye to the merchant and went to the local government to present Wang Yan's letter asking for help.

From time to time, there were Chongzhen Dynasty Jinshi, who returned to the imperial history Jin Sheng was in Huizhou, and was invited by the prefect to enter the yazhong, discuss countermeasures, and learned of the danger of Yangzhou, and the imperial court has passed on the southern Zhili, Zhejiang Province to raise troops and Qin Wang, Anhui also received the edict.

Jin Sheng deeply felt the danger of his family and country, and decided to go out of the mountain, together with his protégé Jiang Tianyi, to raise troops to help, but they had few people along the way, and there was a great shortage of materials, so they acted slowly, and only after the defeat of the Zhenjiang Ming army did they come to Zhengyi County, which was hundreds of miles away from Yangzhou.

At this time, Duoduo had already crossed the Yangtze River, and the attention of the Qing army in Jiangbei was focused on Yangzhou, but they did not find their soldiers and horses.

Jin Sheng only had 4,000 men and horses, and he did not dare to storm the Qing camp and enter Yangzhou, so he sent his disciple Jiang Tian and Dai Zhifan together, intending to sneak into Yangzhou and get in touch with the defenders, and then make a plan, not wanting the two to be captured when they passed through the Qing camp.

At this time, Zhan Ba, who passed on the decree to Duoduo, did not return to Beijing, but stayed in the Qing camp outside Nanjing to assist the Zhun Tower.

After Dai Zhifan and Jiang Tianyi were captured by the training sentry Qing soldiers, they were about to be brought to the Zhun Ta tent for questioning, but because of the fact that Duoduo trapped Nanjing and captured Hongguang, Zhun Ta held a banquet in the camp, and he was already drunk.

The two were captured, and they thought they would die, but they didn't want Zhan Ba not only not to kill the two, but to help them enter Yangzhou at night after taking a leave of absence.

At this time, Wang Yan learned what happened from the two of them, and read Zhan Ba's letter, and couldn't help but be overjoyed, and excitedly said to everyone: "This day helps Daming, there will be a plan to break the captive!" ”

(Thank you for the dream is getting farther and farther away from me, Tang Doudou 123 for the reward, and also thank you for the recommendation and comments of book friends!) ）