"Wait!" Yue Qijie stretched out his hand to stop Yuan Shu.

"Say whatever you want." Yue Qijie said lightly. At present, Shangqiu is already facing a desperate situation, no matter who it is, as long as it can help to defend Shangqiu, Yue Qijie is willing to listen, not to mention that Liu Neng still has the identity of the Shogunate Enemy Intelligence Department of the Jiangbei Governor.

"Yes, Governor." Liu Neng pondered for a moment and said, "At present, tens of thousands of Tartar troops are pressing the border, and it is difficult to hold Shangqiu, so we must gather the manpower and material resources of the whole city.

Now Shangqiu is facing two difficulties, one is that the squires regard money as their fate and are unwilling to cooperate at all, and the other is that the defenders in the city do not listen to the dispatch and are demoralized. ”

"If you have any ideas, just say it." Yue Qijie suddenly became interested, since Liu Neng could see the predicament faced by Shangqiu, maybe there was really a way.

"These two difficulties are actually one, the reason why the soldiers are demoralized is that they are afraid of the obscenity of the Eight Banners of Mantar, and they cannot see the hope of victory. If the two adults can solve the problem of food and salary, everything will be solved. Liu Nengdao.

"The reason why the squires are reluctant to pay for food and pay is that they feel sorry for their own belongings, and second, I am afraid that they will not see the hope of victory, and I am afraid that when the city is broken, they will be liquidated by the Qing army because of the salary. In the eyes of these people, home is always more important than country. The city is ruined and the country is ruined, as long as they protect their net worth and property, they don't mind being slaves and slaves under foreign rule.

Therefore, there is no need to be polite to them, and the two adults can order that the materials of the whole city be controlled by war. Soldiers were sent to forcibly collect all the squires' food and silver taels, and the government managed and distributed them in a unified manner.

The idea was to concentrate all the food under the control of the government, so that the people of the city would naturally obey the orders of the government. And with sufficient food, rewards can be made, and for these soldiers, whoever pays them will listen to whomever they want. In this way, the strength of the whole city can be concentrated and the city can be defended Shangqiu City. ”

Liu Neng slowly said his thoughts, and the two of them were stunned when they heard it, and they gasped.

If you can really concentrate the manpower and material resources of the whole city as Liu Neng said, it will not be a problem to hold Shangqiu, but how difficult it is to do all this!

"Do you know who the squires of the city are? How can such a means be used against them! After half a ring, Yuan Shu came back to his senses, shook his head vigorously, and rejected Liu Neng's proposal.

Guide is a famous city in eastern Henan, and its wealth and cultural style are second to none in the whole of Henan. Since the Zhengde years, there have been many talents in Guide, there have been two pavilion elders, four Shangshu and more than 10 servants, imperial history, governors, general soldiers and other high-ranking officials and dignitaries, at that time there was a popular "Manchu Dynasty civil and military half Jiangxi, small Guide to Germany four Shangshu" said.

The famous squires in the city, seven families and eight households, are all well-known gentry in Henan Province, like the Shen family in the city, the deceased head of the family, Shen Li, Shen Ge Lao in the Wanli Dynasty did Hanlin editing, the Ministry of Rites and Wenyuan Pavilion scholars.

The Song family in the city is even more remarkable, the Song family in the world is out of Shangqiu, and the three Song Dynasty in Germany have a clear name in the entire Ming Dynasty. The late Song Qi once served as the secretary of the household department and the secretary department of the Wanli Dynasty. Song Quan's nephew, Song Quan, was also born as a Jinshi and served as a governor in the Chongzhen Dynasty.

The Hou family, Hou Sui was the secretary of the household department, served as the governor, and is now living in seclusion in the city, and his son Hou Fangyu is a disciple of the old Qian Qianyi.

The other five families of Ye Yu, Liu Gao, and Yang have also produced high-ranking officials such as Shilang Shangshu, and all of them have children who serve in various places.

It can be said that the squires in the city are originally the same kind as Yue Qijie and Yuan Shu, and both sides also have such and such relationships, so that the two of them use knives against the squires to forcibly collect their family property, not to mention anything else, a Hou Sui is not something they can deal with.

Although Liu Neng's advice is good, there is no possibility of implementation at all.

With a deep sense of disappointment, Yue Qijie asked Liu Neng to come out, and he and Yuan Shu thought hard about countermeasures.

Yue Qijie was disappointed, and Liu Neng was even more disappointed.

The strategy that he finally came up with was vetoed by Yue Qijie like this, and Liu Neng was very dissatisfied. But what can you do if you are dissatisfied, he is just a subordinate of the Jiangbei Governor's Palace, and he can't enter the speech of a local magistrate like Yuan Shu, Qijie, in terms of identity and status, so he can only cry out in vain.

This Shangqiu City can't be defended! Liu Neng said secretly.

In the Gongyang Gate of the South Gate of Shangqiu, there is a small courtyard near the city wall, which is Liu Neng's residence and the secret station of the Enemy Intelligence Division in Shangqiu. After returning to the courtyard, several people greeted him, all of whom were subordinates of the Enemy Intelligence Division.

"My lord, what's going on?" A subordinate asked.

Liu Neng shook his head: "Yue Qijie and Yuan Shu don't listen to me at all. ”

"So what do we do?"

The task of the Enemy Intelligence Division in Shangqiu was to find out the intelligence of the north and send the news to Yangzhou in time. Now the news that the Manchu Eight Banners marched south has been confirmed, and according to intelligence, the target of the Qing army's attack is the Ming Dynasty. However, the exact route of the march still needs to be confirmed. But now that the vanguard of the Qing army has arrived in Kaifeng, it is only a few days away from Shangqiu, since Shangqiu has no hope of defending the city, the enemy intelligence department should withdraw so as not to fall into the city.

"Is there any news about the brothers who infiltrated Xu Dingguo's army?" Liu Neng thought for a moment and asked.

Although it is not impossible to retreat now, Liu Neng is still a little unwilling in his heart. He always thought about what he could do to defend Shangqiu. After all, if Shangqiu keeps more time, it will buy more time for Yangzhou. Now for the Jiangbei Governor's Palace, which is full of recruits, time is everything!

In the days when he came to Guide Mansion, in addition to exploring intelligence, Liu Neng also sent several detailed works to the local Ming army, hoping to grasp the movements of the local army through them.

When going north from Yangzhou, Chen Yue, Marquis of Pingnan, instructed Liu Neng to pay more attention to the movements of Xu Dingguo, the general soldier of Henan, so Liu Neng sent as many as three fine works to Xu Dingguo's army.

Because in another time and space, Xu Dingguo became a traitor and killed Gao Jie of the Northern Expedition. Although history has changed, the majesty of Chongzhen's reigning court is much higher than that of the Hongguang court in another time and space, and Chen Yue is very worried that history will repeat itself and Xu Dingguo will rebel.

"Not yet, there should be news in the evening." Subordinates.

For the rest of the day, Liu Neng fidgeted, anxiously waiting for news of the personnel sent to the army.

Until the evening, his subordinates brought a man dressed as a soldier into the house, which was sent to Xu Dingguo's army.

"Oh no, my lord! Xu Dingguo wanted to surrender to Manchu. The news brought back by the fine work made Liu Neng shocked.

If the Xu Ding State Department in the city is cleared, Shangqiu City will be self-defeating.

What to do? Liu Neng thought nervously.