Although Zhang Cunren held the civilian rank of governor of Fujian, he was born as a military general, and his actions were completely in the style of a military general.

In the Central Military Hall, Zhang Cunren sat in the center, the civil and military dignitaries in Shangrao City were lined up on both sides, and a Qing army scout knelt on the ground and reported the military situation loudly.

"According to the lowly investigation, the Nanban Pingjiang Battalion and the Changsha Battalion have been building siege equipment in the past few days, and there are thousands of craftsmen and craftsmen in the White Duckbill Military Camp alone, and they have built 11 half-cut boats, more than 30 siege ladders, more than 50 flying bridges, 5 crashes, and countless wooden donkey carts......

"Bastard, full of nonsense! Come on, push this guy out and cut it down, and hang the head of the gate to show the public! ”

Zhang Cunren's face was pale, and he suddenly slapped the table, ordered his soldiers to press the scout down, and carried him out of the gate, the scout kept shouting injustice, but Zhang Cunren kept saying a word with a calm face.

Lu Jiejun, the prefect of Shangrao, looked left and right, took two steps forward, and knelt down to plead.

"The military gate is angry, and the scouts are out to investigate the military situation, and they may not be able to find out accurately every time, and it is the time to employ people in the city, so please spare his life."

"No! However, in just a few days, the southern thieves could not build so many siege equipment. This thief is talking nonsense, messing with our army's heart, we must kill him! ”

It was a matter of the stability of the army, the civilian officials and military generals looked at each other, and no one dared to come forward to persuade them, Lu Jiejun kowtowed, confessed and got up. Immediately afterwards, a drum sounded outside, and after a short time, the executing officer came in to report. The scout has been decapitated for public display.

Zhang Cunren nodded and said to him, "Zhang Jiuming, you go to the White Duck's Mouth." Look at what Wang Jincai is doing, and how many siege equipment they have built, you must find out. ”

Zhang Jiuming is the captain of his personal soldiers, he followed Zhang Cunren into the army twenty years ago, and saved Zhang Cunren's life several times on the battlefield, and Zhang Cunren also saved his life several times, although he was a superior and a subordinate. They are also brothers who are like brothers. As Zhang Cunren's most trusted confidant general, Zhang Jiuming has always been steady and reliable, and he is bold and careful. Let him probe the military situation, and he will definitely not be mistaken.

Zhang Jiuming responded neatly, turned around and went out, and Zhang Cunren stood up. came to the hall and squatted down in front of several corpses of Qing soldiers. Look at it again carefully.

The corpses of these Qing soldiers were basically shot in the front, and the number of bullet holes on each person's body varied, except for the face and throat points, some soldiers were only shot once in the torso, and they were also killed.

Zhang Cunren stretched out his fingers, probed into the wound of the corpse of the Qing army, and squeezed out a lead bullet full of blood, and the round lead bullet hit through the cotton armor and body. Slightly deformed, Zhang Cunren pinched it in his hand and looked at it over and over again. He untied the cotton armor of the corpse of the Qing army and carefully examined it inside and out.

"Come and have a look." Zhang Cunren still lowered his head, but called several of his generals in his mouth: "The flintlock pistol of the southern thief is really powerful, and it is forty steps away, and the cotton armor can't be prevented." ”

Cotton armor is the best body armor in this era, can not be 100% defense against lead bullet damage, but can offset most of the impact force, in the cotton armor close to the body and then wear two layers of silk underwear, generally after being shot, can only hurt the flesh, the silk underwear gently pulled out, you can take out the lead bullet...... However, the long-tested cotton armor was pierced by the lead bullet of the flintlock pistol, and it also penetrated deeply into the bodies of the Qing soldiers.

"Last year, during the Battle of Huguang, I heard that the southern thieves had a new firearm called the flintlock pistol, which had a long range and great power, and was much more powerful than our bird guns. The official asked people to search for it in many ways, and only then did he find a broken flintlock pistol, and after sending someone to send it to the imperial court's military headquarters, it was like a stone sinking into the sea, and there was no response for more than half a year. ”

Zhang Cunren stabbed, tore off a piece of his shirt from the corpse of the Qing soldier, and wiped the blood stains on his hands: "Alas......, after the death of Emperor Taizong, there are only a few knowledgeable people left in the court, and the court officials desperately advocate that the Eight Banners are unmatched, but they don't want to work firearms. Hmph, the cavalry is unparalleled, the cavalry is unparalleled, and a row of muskets and cannons are coming, can you resist it just by riding and shooting? ”

No one dared to answer this question.

Zhang Cunren is loyal to Huang Taiji, belongs to the Haoge faction, and is a political enemy with Dolgon, who leans towards the government and the opposition, and he criticizes the government here, and who dares to intervene in other small fish and shrimp.

"Open the military gate, there is a word in the humble position, I don't know whether to say it or not." Lu Jiejun stood up again and asked to speak, and after getting Zhang Cunren's permission, he said: "I think that the southern thieves rely on the trenches and fortifications to lure our army to attack, and Balipu is a trap that will exhaust the defenders in the city, and it can't be fought like this anymore." ”

Lu Jiejun, the prefect of Shangrao, "has the responsibility to defend the territory", and must live and die with Shangrao City, seeing that the Qing army in the city is getting smaller and smaller, he would rather risk offending Zhang Cunren, and persuade him to withdraw his troops and stop the war.

Fortunately, Zhang Cunren was a relatively pure soldier, and he was reasonable and did not get angry.

"You're right, I underestimated Wang Jincai, after the vicious battle in the past few days, the soldiers in the city have been damaged by two, and Balibao can no longer fight."

Positional warfare is to fight attrition, after several days of fierce fighting, although there was no large-scale decisive battle, the Ming and Qing armies suffered heavy casualties, because the Ming army took a defensive position in the fortified bunkers, the proportion of casualties exchanged was obviously superior, gradually, the Pingjiang battalion with superior strength became more and more solid, but Zhang Cunren had no stamina.

He only has a few thousand soldiers, and he really can't afford to fight like this.

Lu Jiejun was secretly happy in his heart, and was about to kowtow and get up, but the general of the Fujian Green Battalion stood up and hugged his fist to Zhang Cunren and said: "The last general thinks it is inappropriate, there is a shortage of soldiers and food in the city at the moment, if it is surrounded by the southern thieves, Shangrao City is the place where the soldiers die, and the military gate should be decisive, and break through and withdraw before the southern thieves are encircled." ”

Lu Jiejun immediately became anxious: "Break through, tens of thousands of southern thieves and horses are around Shangrao, where do you break through after you leave the city?" Or stay in the city and ......"

"Ha, you don't understand that. As long as we open up Balibao, we can go to Zhejiang to the east, and Fujian to the south, and in my opinion, the military gate should lead us back to Fujian......"

Other civil and military officials joined the debate, and the two sides were arguing over whether to withdraw or defend. At this time, Zhang Cunren suddenly coughed, and everyone immediately closed their mouths, and the needles in the room could be heard.

"This can only be said here, whoever dares to chew his tongue and disturb the morale of the army will be beheaded and shown to the public, understand!" Whether to withdraw or defend, Zhang Cunren was noncommittal, and reprimanded the civil and military officials who were arguing with 50 boards......

In the afternoon of the next day, Zhang Jiuming came back and brought two bad news at once.

The beheaded scout was right, the Ming army was indeed building a large number of siege engines, and after only one day, there were many more of them. In addition, Zhang Jiuming also got the latest information that Wang Sheng's Chongyang battalion and Zhang Jiayu's Dongguan battalion had left their original positions and were moving closer to Shangrao.

There was a fierce debate between the civil and military generals again, this time the retreating faction had an obvious upper hand, the Ming army really built so many siege equipment, but the city wall of Shangrao was full of patches, if the Chongyang battalion and the Dongguan battalion came up, if there were a few more big guys who blew up the city wall, the city around the city would definitely not be able to hold!

"Junmen, let's break through, it's too late if you don't leave!"

Most of the generals of the Fujian Green Battalion, the generals of the Jiangxi Green Battalion, the generals of the Wuzhen Chaoha Soldiers, and Zhang Cunren's staff team all supported the retreat, and only a few people such as Lu Jiejun supported the defense of the city.

Zhang Cunren never said a word, his eyes were lowered, as if an old monk was in a state of mind, and when the generals asked him for his life, he suddenly got up and walked away.

Everyone, you look at me, I look at you, there is a feeling that you can't figure out the size of the head. After waiting for a long time, Zhang Cunren did not come back, and the general of Wuzhen Chaoha got up and went out, turned back after a while, waved his hand to everyone and said: "The military gate is on the city wall, and it has been circled twice. ”

"Yes, yes, Shangrao is an important town in Jiangxi, whether to withdraw or to defend the relationship, we have to wait for the military to get an idea, I wait, just don't bother him......"

Lu Jiejun immediately shouted, everyone frowned at him, and even began to openly abuse him, Lu Jiejun was isolated, and his voice became lower and lower.

After another hour, Zhang Cunren finally came back and arranged a retreat as soon as he entered the door.

"The southern thieves are strong, Shangrao can't stay for a long time, tonight the sons and daughters are ready, attack Balibao early tomorrow morning, and go to Yongfeng County to ......"

Yongfeng, is a county under Guangxin Mansion (now called Guangfeng County), just fifty miles east of Shangrao, there are only less than 2,000 Qing army defenders, the strength is not too much, but they have ships and docks, Zhang Cunren and they will meet, can avoid the Ming army that is coming, go up the river along Fengxi, enter the mountainous area at the junction of Jiangxi and Fujian, and withdraw from Cen Yang Pass into Fujian.

"After the official leaves, Shangrao City will be handed over to you." Zhang Cunren patted Lu Jiejun on the shoulder, and said cordially: "I will leave you five hundred soldiers and horses, and then gather the young people in the city, and it should be no problem to hold Shangrao for two months." Two months at most, or one month at least, the official will definitely lead soldiers and horses to rescue Shangrao. ”

Lu Jiejun's face was like ashes, and he couldn't speak anymore, but he kept nodding.

Turning around, a look of resentment flashed in his eyes, and he secretly slandered in his heart: "Five hundred soldiers and horses? Hmph, they are all the old and weak who can't be taken away, so they can keep Shangrao? Since you are unkind, don't blame me for being unjust, as long as you leave Shangrao with your front feet, this mansion will immediately open the door and offer the city......"

The next morning, the Shangrao Qing army suddenly poured out of the nest and launched a fierce attack on the front line of Balipu in an attempt to break through. (To be continued......)