Of the two thousand war horsemen, only half of them escaped back to the city with Siteku in the end, and many people even lost their horses, and the people who ran back were killed by the Ming army.

But the bad news was far more than that, at noon that day, a group of remnants of less than a thousand people came from the south, and Sitku recognized the other party, it was the brave troops he sent to the bank of the Yellow River to snipe the Ming army crossing the river.

"What the hell is going on?" Sitku also questioned the brazenness of the defeated retreat.

"Lord Governor, last night we were suddenly attacked by the Ming army, the Ming army suddenly killed from behind us, so that we were caught off guard, the other party attacked our camp with artillery and muskets, we had no choice but to evacuate, but in the middle of the road to Fu Niugang, and was ambushed by the Ming army, two thousand men and horses, only seven or eight hundred of us escaped back, please Governor Governor!" Zhang Dan also cried to the ground with snot and tears on his face, and pleaded guilty to Sitku.

"How did the Ming army get behind your back, didn't you have any defense when they crossed the river?" Šitku asked, too, feeling incredible.

"The Ming army is a naval army, and it directly entered Qinshui from the Yellow River and went around our backs, and we didn't expect this, so we were caught off guard by them."

Xiteku also understood at this moment, where would the Qing army care about any sailors, they relied on their self-proclaimed invincible Eight Banners Iron Cavalry, as for the rest, they have always despised it very much, although the Qing court also has sailors, but it is just to transport grain and fight bandits, and it has never been of any great use, where will they know how sharp the sailors of the Ming army are.

"It's me who underestimated the enemy, you get up, it's not your crime, now we can only defend Huaiqing Mansion and wait for reinforcements from the imperial court!" Xi Teku also knew that even if he was guilty of being bold at the moment, he couldn't deal with it, Hu Maozhen had died in battle, and he needed more helpers to defend Huaiqing Mansion.

Outside the city, Weng Zhiqi led the sailor to arrive and join Jiao Lian's department, and Bai Wang's soldiers and horses also followed. This is a big play, Jiao Lian led the army to Huaiqing City, with a small number of soldiers and horses to attract Xiteku out of the city, and then to Lingnan specialty Croton to them to set, Croton is a southern specialty, Jiao Lian brought a lot, this is still Cao Bianjiao ordered, said that it can be surprised, croton is very fragrant after cooking, attracting the war horses of the Qing army, as long as you eat, it will not take long to lose combat effectiveness, there is no horse of the Eight Banners, then there is no need to be afraid. At the same time, Weng Zhiqi led the army up the Qinshui River and attacked Zhang Dan's men and horses from behind, and Baiwang ambushed them on the road they had to pass to the north, interlocking, so that the Qing army lost more than 2,000 people in the first battle, all of which were the elite of the Eight Banners, which can be described as a heavy loss.

Sitku leaned back on the desk and rubbed his sour brows, resisting bouts of tiredness. The afternoon sun shines on the body, warm, it is easy to make people sleepy, in order to prevent the Ming army from attacking, the Ming army bombed seven times intermittently in one night, he did not dare to disarm all night, until now, the eyelids have long been as heavy as a mountain, by the warm sun, drowsiness is a burst of attack, so that he is very tired.

"Knock knock knock ......" The sound of war drums above the city tower sounded, and it was the Ming army that began to attack the city.

Sitku also secretly complained bitterly, and hurriedly issued a battle order, and the war drums rumbled and exploded outside the city, breaking the temporary calm. A moment later, countless Qing soldiers rushed out of their tents, lined up around the city wall, clenched their swords and guns, and pulled out their bows and crossbows.

These are the elite of the Qing army, the action is very fast, but Xi Teku is still not satisfied, these soldiers are too tired, from last night until now, people do not unarmour, horses do not unsaddle, plus yesterday's battle, morale has fallen, has made them have no quick reaction to the past, although they have entered the combat position, the spirit is a little sluggish, the neat formation reveals a scattered.

A dark cloud jumped out of the position of the Ming army, rushed to Huaiqing City, like a storm, such as lightning and thunder, in contrast, the Qing army's counterattack was just a drizzle, the Qing artillery range was mostly four or five hundred steps, at such a distance, but it could not play a role in the Ming army, because the Ming army's artillery basically had a minimum range of more than six hundred steps, and some could reach two or three miles away. In the face of the Ming army's frantic shooting, the Qing army was very helpless, and could only hide under the shield and behind the female wall as much as possible, so as not to be injured by the intensive artillery fire.

We all know that the Ming army has a lot of money and an obvious advantage in armaments, and now I have finally experienced it myself, just by this extraordinarily dense artillery fire, you can imagine how thick his strength is. The artillery is like a wave, wave after wave, every time it falls on the head of Huaiqing City, it sets off a bloody rain, blood stains the wall bricks on the city, the city wall is wet and slippery, and the combat boots are stepping on it and rattling, as if it is the neighing of death.

Sitku stood on the podium, looking at the scene in front of him, and a chill broke out in his heart. In less than half an hour after the start of the battle, the other side broke through the city wall, and the sharpness of the attack greatly exceeded their estimates, and in less than an hour, their five or six hundred people were locked by artillery fire, and a hole in the city wall had been blown open.

Remove? The thought of escaping first came to Sitku's mind, and he had hoped to use the walls to hold on to his help, but now that the walls were broken, his hopes were dashed. Whether it would be possible to turn the tide of the war if he continued to fight, and whether it would send all the soldiers into the abyss of death, he dared not imagine.

The drums outside the city stopped abruptly, and the Ming army did not continue to attack the city, which made Sitku very puzzled, although the Ming army did not attack the city, but his heart could not be relaxed, worried about whether the Ming army was brewing some conspiracy, which made him feel uneasy.

"The defenders in the city listen, the reinforcements you want can't come, tell you the truth, Shandong, Shanxi have been captured by our army, the hundreds of thousands of troops in your imperial court to the south have been trapped by my Ming army, they are still waiting for rescue, my Ming 200,000 troops are attacking Hebei, approaching Beijing, if you still want to live, put down your weapons and sneak attack, otherwise your end will not be far away, even if you can hold on for a while, you can't stand it, surrender, I will not embarrass you, The reason why we don't attack the city is to give you a way to live......"

"Lord Governor...... "All the generals looked at Sitku, if it was really as the Ming army said, it would be really difficult for them to parry, but now they can't confirm all this, they can only judge for themselves.

"Don't listen to their nonsense, they are deliberately shaking our military morale, I am invincible in the Qing Dynasty, and I will never be defeated!" Sitku shouted angrily, in fact, he was also very uneasy in his heart, but he couldn't show it, he could only say these words to stabilize the army's heart, otherwise they would really be finished.