However, what Zhang Xianzhong didn't know was that the real elite main force of the Ming army on the Jiujiang city wall had been withdrawn for repair. The only people in charge of defending the city were ordinary soldiers, plus the strong men who were recruited.

There are more than 60,000 troops in Jiujiang City, the most elite of which is naturally the 3,000 personal guard battalion that followed Chen Yue, as well as Yu Feng's 1,000 cavalry, and Jin Shenghuan's more than 7,000 original Pingnan army elite soldiers. In addition, most of the soldiers of the Ming army were ordinary military households, and many of them had not seen many battles, such as 30,000 soldiers of the Beijing camp.

Although Chen Yue scavenged a large number of weapons from the arsenal of the Nanjing Military Department, even the soldiers of the Beijing camp are also very well equipped with weapons, but weapons and equipment are not equal to combat power, if such an army is placed in the battle array, it cannot be regarded as the middle at all, it is much inferior to the elite of the Western Army, after all, some of Zhang Xianzhong's subordinates are bandits who are used to fighting.

But defending the city is not a battle, there are strong walls as a backing, there are stacks of plates as a cover, as long as you throw bricks and stones down the battlements, open the bow and arrows. This kind of combat is even capable of untrained strong men, and you don't see another time and space, Yan Yingyuan is taking such tens of thousands of strong men to resist the elite hundreds of thousands of Qing troops for eighty days.

Of course, Zhang Xianzhong didn't know that Chen Yue had withdrawn the main force, and he instinctively thought that the Ming army was exhausted, so he forced his army to continue to attack the city with greater hope.

The Western Army rushed towards the city wall like the tide in the sea, and the Jiujiang city wall was like a rock standing on the coast, no matter how huge the waves were, they would be smashed to pieces.

Wave after wave of Western soldiers rushed to the city wall, and were hit on the head and bleeding heavy casualties and had to retreat, Zhang Xian's loyalty was as hard as iron, completely ignoring any casualties. When more than half of the casualties of each battalion could not hold on, he would order another battalion of soldiers to be replaced, and from sunrise to noon, the attack of the western army did not stop for a moment, and even lunch was ordered to be carried to the position after the men were ready.

Whenever a new wave of troops was replaced, Zhang Xianzhong held on to hope, and whenever he saw his soldiers rushing up the ladder to the city, he held his breath and held back the excitement in his heart. And when the soldiers who rushed to the city were slaughtered, he looked forward to the next time he would be able to establish himself on the city walls.

The sun was setting in the west, and there were mountains of corpses under the walls, which almost filled the moat. Blood flowed in the ground, and the sun shone obliquely on it, reflecting countless bewitching flowers.

By the time the last round of the 200,000-strong army was driven to the siege, the sun had already set on the top of the mountain. And when the sunset was completely covered by the mountains, the last round of the army also retreated from the city, so Zhang Xianzhong knew that today's siege was a complete failure.

"Your Majesty, you can't fight anymore, more than 20,000 of the 200,000 troops who attacked were killed, and 20,000 or 30,000 were wounded, and the casualties reached 30%! The brothers were complaining and demoralized! ”

Wang Zhaolin knelt on the ground, begging hoarsely.

The 200,000 troops who attacked accounted for half of the army outside Jiujiang City, and after the first battle, half of the army had lost its combat effectiveness, although it attacked the city wall several times, but all of them had no foothold. Such a siege battle could not be fought again.

Hearing such a large number of casualties, even Zhang Xianzhong was secretly frightened. In one day's siege, the 200,000 army will be almost disabled, and if it comes back for another day, how many of these hundreds of thousands of troops will be used?

Can't fight anymore! Zhang Xianzhong finally had a heart to retreat. The one-day siege also proved that the Ming army in Jiujiang City still had combat strength, and if their casualties were large, I am afraid that the Ming army would take the initiative to attack.

"We can't fight anymore," Zhang Xianzhong sighed, "but we can't just withdraw in a hurry, we have to think of a safe way to take away the elite brothers as much as possible." ”

"Your Majesty, the minister has already thought that we can send part of the army to feint against Jiujiang tomorrow, and the other troops will take the opportunity to evacuate. The army could retreat in separate ways and retreat to Fuzhou, Ruizhou, Nanchang.

Although there are heavy casualties along the way, there are as many as 1450,000 troops, and the Ming army must think that it is the main force, and His Majesty and other generals can lead the elite brothers from Taiping Mountain, Jiugong Mountain, and Shogunate Mountain to Huguang Tongshan, Tongcheng, and Pingjiang, and then join General Anxi.

As long as we can withdraw tens of thousands of elites, plus General Anxi's 100,000 troops, it is enough to control Huguang and continue to compete with the Ming army. ”

Wang Zhaolin's plan was very detailed, and the central idea was to use the wounded soldiers and ordinary soldiers as bait to lure the Ming army into pursuit, while Zhang Xianzhong took a small number of elite troops and fled over the mountains to Huguang. Although there is a shortage of food in the army, it is too difficult to climb the vast mountains, but compared to hundreds of thousands of troops, if there are only a small number of troops, it may not be impossible to climb the mountains.

Zhang Xianzhong closed his eyes and thought for a long time, and finally nodded.

"Send the order down, and convene Wang Shangli, the governor of the Chinese army, Wang Shangguo, the former military governor, Ma Yuanli, the governor of the left army, and Zhang Hualong, the governor of the right army, to discuss the matter!" Zhang Xianzhong ordered in a deep voice.

The stakes of the retreat are so great that the generals must be convened to discuss and arrange specific methods of retreat.

"Your Majesty, and General Zhang Nengqi of Hukou, you also have to deploy retreat." Before the generals came to the future, Wang Zhaolin remembered something and hurriedly reminded.

"I can wonder my son!" Zhang Xianzhong's face became solemn. Zhang Nengqi led more than 100,000 troops to attack Hukou, but he was separated from the wide Poyang Lake, and he could not escape to Huguang at all. For Zhang Nengqi's army, which is also short of food, he will definitely not be able to support it alone if he retreats on his side!

"General Nengqi can be ordered to retreat to Guangxin Mansion through Raozhou Mansion, Guangxin Mansion is surrounded by mountains, located at the junction of Jiangxi and Zhejiang and Fujian provinces, if General Nengqi can not gain a foothold in Guangxin, he can escape over the mountains and flee into Zhejiang or Fujian, and he can always escape with his life and retain some strength.

The main army of the Ming Dynasty gathered in Jiujiang Nanjing, and the hinterland of Zhejiang and Fujian was empty in defense, so maybe General Neng Qi could start another career and conquer Zhejiang for my Daxi. ”

Seeing Zhang Xianzhong's embarrassed face, Wang Zhaolin suggested again.

For Zhang Xianzhong, Zhang Nengqi is his righteous son, and he has more than 100,000 troops under him, so it is difficult to give up. Wang Zhaolin's suggestion is tantamount to abandoning Zhang Nengqi's subordinates and leaving them to fend for themselves. But what if you don't? For the current Western Army, defeat is inevitable, and there is no need to take too much care of it. Zhang Nengqi is Zhang Xianzhong's righteous son, not his own son, for a hero like Zhang Xianzhong, who has reached the end of his rope, at the moment of life and death, let alone a righteous son, even his own son can be abandoned.

Zhang Xianzhong pondered for a long time, and finally nodded slowly and agreed with Wang Zhaolin's suggestion.