Inside the city of Suzhou. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

In the temporarily established governor's yamen, Wu Qitai, the Jiangsu inspector, Zhao Dezhe, the governor of Jiangsu, Pinghan, the prefect of Suzhou, Xue Huan, the prefect of Songjiang, Bo Chengsheng, the chief soldier of Langshan Town, and Lin Mingrui, the chief soldier of Susong Town, were present at the meeting.

Because Yiliang, the governor of Liangjiang, fled to Wuxi, the governor of Jiangsu, Gil Hang, who was originally the political envoy of Jiangsu, had died in Shanghai in battle a month ago, and Lei Yiyi, the new political envoy of Jiangsu, had not yet arrived, and the biggest official in Suzhou City had become Wu Qitai, the envoy of Jiangsu.

Wu Qitai is a former grain inspector, and has been the prefect of Suzhou, and has been an official in Suzhou for many years, cherishing the people, being honest and honest, and having a high prestige. It's just that there is no one in the DPRK and China, and it is difficult to drill camps, so he did not take over the post of political envoy.

Wu Qitai's face was embarrassed, he glanced at everyone, and said: "Ladies and gentlemen, now the Cantonese thieves are menacing, although there are many soldiers in the city, they are afraid of war like tigers, what are your clever plans to retreat from the Cantonese thieves?" ”

Hearing this, Pinghan, the prefect of Suzhou, took out a copy of the "Anmin Notice" and presented it to Wu Qitai, and said worriedly: "Lord Wu, the lower officials know that although the Guangdong thieves do not have many troops, their firearms are sharp, they can fight well, and they are invincible in the field. Therefore, now the only way to stick to Suzhou City is to mobilize the surrounding squires and mobilize the regimental training in the surrounding countryside to constantly harass them, so that they are tired of running for their lives and finally retreat. However, last night, a squire from outside the city sent a letter and newspaper that the Cantonese thieves wantonly posted a notice of the thieves' peace of mind in Suzhou Mansion to appease the old gentry of the township and persuade them to surrender and train in the group. What can I do? ”

Wu Qitai took the notice, looked at it carefully, his face sank like water, and said: "If the Yue thief can really press the people above, I will be in danger!" The people in the countryside and the villagers will be co-opted by it. ”

"Not bad! Therefore, Xia Guan suggested that it was better to send someone to contact several large group exercises in the suburbs, make an appointment, and take the initiative to attack and defeat the Cantonese thieves outside the city. Otherwise, after a while, I am afraid that the squire group training outside the city will be recruited by the Cantonese thieves, and Suzhou will become a lonely city, how can it be defended? Suzhou Governor Pinghan suggested.

Wu Qitai was silent, as if he was thinking.

Xue Huan is the new prefect of Songjiang, but the imperial court has not been able to recover Songjiang, he can only live in Suzhou City, naturally, he is eager to attack earlier, it is best to recover Songjiang Mansion. He hurriedly chimed in: "What Lord Ping said is good! Stick to the city of Suzhou, I am afraid that after the Cantonese thieves sweep away Zhejiang, they will send tens of thousands of reinforcements to come, and Suzhou will be broken! It's better to fight to the death at this time. ”

Xue Huan's original intention was good and true, but as soon as he said this, everyone's faces were ashes.

Xue Huan suddenly realized that what he said seemed to be a little true. Yes, tens of thousands of Cantonese thieves are still attacking Zhejiang, look like that, sooner or later. Once Zhejiang is occupied, the troops of the Cantonese thieves are abundant, and 20,000 troops are transferred to attack Suzhou at will, and all the adults here will end up in the destruction of the city.

Xue Huan suddenly felt a little excited, and his heart was cold. The overall situation is like this, whether it is to stick to Suzhou City, or to take the initiative to attack and be occupied by Cantonese thieves, it is a doomed thing, sooner or later. Perhaps, taking the initiative to attack angered the thieves, but speeding up will provoke retaliation.

But on the surface, no one will say these words.

Zhao Dezhe, the grain governor of Jiangsu, just said calmly: "There is still enough food in the city, which is enough to hold on for two or three years." It's just a few granaries outside the city, although some of them are hidden among the people, but there are still some that are afraid to be taken away by thieves. ”

Lin Mingrui, the chief soldier of Susong Town, suddenly said: "Why should Lord Ping raise the morale of others and destroy his own prestige? It is better to let the town and the general soldiers of Bo lead the troops together to sweep away the Cantonese thieves besieging Suzhou. ”

Bo Chengsheng, the chief soldier of Wolf Mountain Town, who was silent on the side, shook his head and said in a low voice: "It's not appropriate! Bo still feels that it is better to stick to Suzhou City and wait for a turnaround. ”

Lin Mingrui couldn't help but sneer: "If General Bo is afraid, just go out to fight alone in this town!" Also, you don't have many soldiers and horses in Wolf Mountain Town. ”

His agitated words made Bo Chengsheng's face flush, and he stood up angrily: "You!? ……”

Everyone knows that he Bo Chengsheng was defeated after the battle with the Cantonese thieves in Shanghai City, thousands of men and horses followed, and finally only hundreds of men and horses fled back from Taihu Lake in embarrassment, and then successively gathered some fleeing troops, only to gather more than 1,000 soldiers, almost the entire army was annihilated. If you want him to send troops, it really won't help much.

Everyone thought that Bo Chengsheng would definitely be angry, and would agree to Lin Mingrui to send troops together.

However, to everyone's disappointment, Bo Chengsheng's face changed uncertainly, forcibly held back, and continued to sit down, no longer speaking.

Lin Mingrui, who couldn't succeed in the excitement, was uncomfortable, his heart suddenly burst, and he secretly guessed that the Guangdong thieves were terrible, otherwise he would not have made this famous fierce general Bo Chengsheng so afraid, and he couldn't help but feel uneasy in his heart.

Zhao Dezhe, the grain inspector of Jiangsu, interjected at this time: "Lord Wu, my lords, Zhao thinks that he should take the initiative to attack, otherwise no matter how much food there is, there will always be a day when he runs out." However, everyone knows that the Cantonese thieves are fierce, and their combat power is not something that the long-haired thieves can resist, otherwise, the Futai Lord Gil Hang'a would not even be able to escape and die a tragic death, and the foreigners in Shanghi City are helpless to take the Cantonese thieves. ”

"Therefore, if you want to go out of the city to defeat the Cantonese thieves, you must explore in advance and find the weaknesses of the Cantonese thieves, which has to rely on the squires and regimental training outside the city. Now it happens that the Cantonese thieves are recruiting squires from all over the country to practice, and we must contact them as soon as possible, and we will not give them a reward, and we cannot let them throw themselves to the side of the Cantonese thieves. ”

Everyone nodded one after another, looking at Zhao Dezhen with admiration, and they couldn't imagine that a grain inspector actually knew about the war.

And Bo Chengsheng looked at Zhao Dezhen with gratitude, his fiasco was not a problem with his command, but because the Yue thief was too strong.

Seeing that everyone was no longer silent, Wu Qitai, the envoy of Jiangsu, said conclusively: "That is the case, on the one hand, stick to the city. On the other hand, he hurried to contact the squires outside the city to find fighters. Well, this Xu Shaoyu seems to be still concerned about the imperial court. ”

Suzhou Governor Ping Han said with a smile: "Lord Wu Mingjian, this person is a slippery head. It is estimated that both the court and the thieves will curry favor, and if the other side is strong, it will fall to which side. However, it can be put to good use. The lower officials will explain it. ”

……

Two days later, Pinghan, the prefect of Suzhou, received news from Xu Shaoyu that a group of Cantonese thieves were going to Yongchang in the east of Changzhou County to carry grain, and there were only more than 3,000 people, which was a good opportunity to annihilate the enemy.

He immediately reported to Wu Qitai.

So, the next day, Lin Mingrui, the chief soldier of Susong Town, personally led more than 5,000 Qing troops from his own town and several battalions under his jurisdiction, plus 4,000 Qing soldiers and regimental brave soldiers who fled to Suzhou City, a total of 9,000 Qing soldiers, secretly went out of the city in the middle of the night and went to Yongchang, Changzhou County, not far away, to ambush the Cantonese thief army.

And just when the Qing soldiers went out of the city, on Huangqiao Mountain in the north of Changzhou City, several black shadows, holding binoculars, quietly observed, and then quickly ran down the mountain.

At the same time, in the Xu family's mansion in Yongchang.

Xu Shaoyun glared angrily at his younger brother Xu Peiyun: "Peiyun, what are you doing in the afternoon?" You can't tell the captives, do you? ”

Xu Peiyun said with a straight face: "Brother, if you want to tell the truth, you should tell it first!" Last night, you secretly asked Xu Er to run to the city gate to deliver the news that the captive army was coming to the Yongchang grain depot, right? ”

Xu Peiyun pursed her lips, and then said loudly: "Brother, you are confused!" My brother can't watch my brother destroy the Xu family! Think about it, in the entire south of the Yangtze River, how many places are still not occupied by the Holy Country? With only 30,000 remnants of Suzhou soldiers, they can hold Suzhou for a while, but they can't hold Suzhou for a lifetime. What's more, the foundation of our Xu family is in Yongchang, and it is not in Suzhou City, which angers the capture army, which is when our Xu family is destroyed. ”

Xu Shaoyu was exposed by his younger brother, a little embarrassed, and defended himself: "Being a brother is for the Xu family!" Think about it, those Cantonese thieves are the same as the long-haired thieves, at the moment, because they want to win over us squires, they won't touch our property if they say it nicely, but when they really break through Suzhou City, when we don't need it, I'm afraid that we will be deprived of all our Xu family's property! ”

"Yes, brother, what you said also has some truth! But you have to understand that that's later. If I hadn't secretly taken refuge in the captive army, do you think our two brothers would still have the leisure to argue here? I'm afraid that the family has already been ruined! Xu Peiyun retorted.

"It turns out that you really took refuge in the captive army. You always knew that I was sending news to the city, but you didn't expose me, just to ....... the danger of the officers and soldiers tonight! Xu Shaoyu suddenly realized.

"Not bad! Thank you brother for your cooperation! Tell my brother the truth, if the officers and soldiers really go to the granary tonight to ambush the captive army, they will be ambushed by the captive army on the way there! Then take advantage of the situation to capture the city of Suzhou. ”

Xu Shaoyu's face turned pale for a moment.