August 28, the fifth year of Yongli, in the evening.

Just when Chen Wen was taking advantage of Qi Jiguang's glorious deeds to carry out a wave of advertising and marketing to the recruited people and captured regimental training soldiers, in Dongyang County, the commander of the Qing army, Ma Sanxing, had just left the county government under the pretext of arranging defense.

The battle in the afternoon was clearly seen by the three provinces of Ma after the battle. From beginning to end, this Ming army changed formations many times, and the speed of the change of formation was terrifying. The rate of fire of the firearms only felt as if it was faster than that of other Qing soldiers who used bird guns, but it didn't attract his attention too much. It's just that the Mandarin Duck Array killer team that appeared after that was too fierce, not only easily suppressed the Qing army several times larger than itself from the beginning of the battle, but also changed to a more suitable formation for attack through the change of formation in the middle of the battle, so as to tear apart the Qing army's formation effortlessly and won the battle.

This Ming army, whether it is training or fighting spirit, is not comparable to the Zhenbiao battalion under his command, and even the elite of the Zhejiang Green Battalion he has seen may not be able to have the strength of a battle, and probably only the elite of the Qing army like the Eight Banners Army can win in battle.

Thinking of this, Ma Sanxing couldn't help but curse in his heart, if it wasn't for Tian Xiong's dog thing to hide the truth, how could he have fallen into such a situation? As for Ma Jinbao's share of the report, it is impossible to say that he does not resent it from the bottom of his heart, but Ma Jinbao has always treated him very kindly, which also makes Tian Xiong the best person to use in his heart to carry the blame.

It's just that if you want Tian Xiong to take the blame, it has to be after you survive. Just now in the county government, the Jinhua prefect has already expressed his attitude, and now in the prefecture city, there is a vacancy in the same knowledge and the general judgment, and only one pusher is maintaining the situation, so he is ready to return to Jinhua Fucheng to prepare for the war.

In this way, if Dongyang County can survive, then the prefect will also have a response to allocate some soldiers, grain and grass, and people's husbands; If you can't be spared, it's better to lose a county seat than to lose a prefecture.

This statement coincides with what Ma Sanxing thinks in his heart, but he is different from the prefect who does not know military affairs, if Chen Wen easily captures the county seat, then the situation will be difficult to govern. In order to buy time for Ma Jinbao to return to defense, he still planned to borrow the manpower and material resources of Dongyang County to resist stubbornly, and this was combined with the magistrate of Dongyang County, who would die if he lost the city.

Getting out of the gloom in the county government, Ma San Province was shocked by the strong combat effectiveness of the Ming army, but also did not completely lose heart. Although the Ming army was victorious, the problem of its weak strength was also revealed, at least at the moment, the Ming army did not dare to divide its troops to besiege the city, and the key to this was that he actually had less than 200 infantry and a cavalry that did not suffer too much loss.

Turned over and mounted his horse, and under the escort of his own soldiers, the three provinces rode their horses towards the east city gate. It is the location where the main force of the Ming army gathers, and it is also the key to defending the city. If he can't catch it, he still has hundreds of cavalry in his hands, and the Ming army can't stop him by leaving the infantry from other city gates.

During this period, the county seat of Dongyang County has been under martial law, and there are no idle people on the avenues in the city except for the soldiers of the Qing army and the people led by the small officials and Li Zheng. But just as Ma San Province rode his horse to the east gate, in a small alley, more than 20 pairs of eyes stared at the direction he left, quite unwillingly.

"Ma San Province, this bastard, actually went out with so many cavalry, and he was embarrassed to lead troops to fight if he died at this point?"

Zhang Jun complained a word, and most of the dozen or so people hidden in the alley showed a wry smile that saw their credit disappear.

Since Zhang Jun, Yu Li, Yang Kai and the people of the special operation team entered the city in batches, the defenders of Dongyang County were first defeated in Hengdian Town, and they had a chance to capture the city, but according to the previous plan, they had to wait for the arrival of the Qing army's encirclement and suppression troops, and then they would go out. However, after the Qing army's encirclement and suppression troops arrived, the Qing army's strength was unexpectedly strong, so that they had to temporarily abandon their plans and continue to lurk in various parts of the city.

After waiting for today, the encirclement and suppression of the Qing army was defeated by the Ming army again, and this group of lurking personnel was about to go out to capture the city, but found that the cavalry of the Qing army did not suffer much losses, so they naturally did not dare to support it, so they had to gather at the home of a member of the action team in Dongyang County, and continue to stand by until this moment.

"Captain Zhang, should we rush in and slaughter those two dog officials?"

The person who spoke was the captain of the special task force that entered the city this time, Chen Wen trained a total of two special task forces when he was in the old camp of Tiantai Mountain, one was a team composed of Taizhou people led by Lin Zhongxiao, and their task was to cooperate in the capture of Tiantai County; And this branch is composed of all Jinhua people, and its target is this Dongyang county seat.

The reason for this is mainly because of the accent and knowledge of the terrain, after all, people in Hongxiang are not easy to be suspected by the Qing army.

Although there were some minor accidents in the previous mission, it was not badly completed. However, this is the first time for this team, so it is natural to ask for the opinions of Zhang Jun and others, after all, they have done such things as a vote before, and they have more experience than the personnel of this action team.

"No, this mission is to capture the city, those two dog officials are just additive, and they can't be touched yet."

Everyone knows that what Zhang Jun said is right, but the strength of the Qing army in the city is still not weak, only the strength of this county government is not much, and there are still some opportunities for them. But after all, the county government in ancient times can be used as a fortress for stubborn resistance after the city is broken, and the defensive effect of the high wall is not comparable to the earthen wall in this small alley.

Between the dilemma, everyone is unwilling. In fact, killing Ma San Province is the best way to capture the city, as long as Ma San Province is dead, the Qing army, which has been defeated by the Ming army before this, sees the Ming army entering the city, and is naturally powerless to resist.

However, Ma San Province is now protected by so many cavalry, and the number of Qing troops at the East City Gate is not something they can deal with, so if they have to wait until tomorrow to attack the city, then tonight will not be wasted?

Seeing that Ma San Province had already gone away, everyone had to go back for the time being to make plans again, but at this moment, Yang Kai suddenly stopped and stood there thoughtfully.

"I've got a way."

Although this word was light, it exploded in everyone's minds like thunder. Zhang Jun and Yu Li glanced at each other, and couldn't help but feel a little strange, although Yang Kai was not stupid, he was not a person who liked to use his brain. On weekdays, I ask a lot and do a lot, but I think less, what's wrong today?

Either way, it's best to be able to think of a way. "Brother Yang, but there is a way to break the city?"

"Nope."

Seeing that Yang Kai shook his head, everyone showed a look of disappointment. But at this moment, in the middle of the night, Yang Kai's eyes seemed to be moving forward with his train of thought and becoming brighter and brighter.

"I think I have a way to make the main force of the Tartars unable to escape from this Dongyang county seat!"

………………

Less than two hours later, outside the military camp in the east of the city, a small official from Dongyang County led three monks and three horse-shoe masters and a group of seven people to ask to enter the barracks.

The Qing army who was guarding the door knew him, and he had come to escort grain and grass several times before. After consulting the officers, the Qing army guarding the door divided one person to go to the stable with the small officials and the few masters who nailed the horseshoe, but the three monks who heard that the Qing army was defeated and were called by the county government to do things were blasted out.

After the master of nailing the horseshoe arrived at the stable with the Qing army, the owners of the war horses who needed to nail the horseshoe also stood aside to watch. The so-called nail horseshoes are nothing more than nailing a horseshoe to the horse's hoof, in order to make the horse's hooves more wear-resistant and less likely to be injured.

In fact, these green battalion cavalry in Jinhua Mansion are not equipped with blacksmiths and masters who nail horseshoes, this is this time to fight in this mansion, these supporting personnel are left in the city, and there are not many cavalry in the county, and they have always been looking for masters in the city who operate such a livelihood to do it.

This time, the Qing army was defeated by the Ming army, although Ma San Province has always pacified the army and cannot besiege the city, but if the Ming army is killed into the city, these Qing cavalry do not plan to rush the forest composed of spears and wolves. Fortunately, the county magistrate thought thoughtfully, and sent the master who nailed the horseshoe over, although it was already night at the moment, but it was best to do what needed to be done, and then even if the city was not to go, it would not be a horse to stumble.

When everything was ready, the three horseshoes master began to get busy. If these three people look at the division of labor, they should be a master with two apprentices.

I saw that the master led the war horse under a door-shaped shelf, and began to teach the two apprentices how to fix the war horse with a belt. After the horse was fixed, the master began to take his apprentice to fix the horse's hooves that needed to be nailed to prevent the horseshoe from being injured by the horse's hooves during the nailing.

When the horses were fixed, the master sharpened his blade and began to repair the horseshoe after the two apprentices had taken off the old horseshoe, while the two apprentices went to tinker with the little stove and put the new one on top of it to heat it. When the hooves were repaired with a shovel, the master pressed the new horseshoe to the hooves and fixed them with nails.

After nailing a hoof, the master began to take the apprentice to drum the second hoof, and when the first war horse's hooves were nailed, the cavalry of the Qing army also relieved their hearts, although the two apprentices looked clumsy, but the master's craftsmanship was still very good. After feeding the war horses with night grass once, they went back to sleep one after another, leaving only one Qing soldier to continue to watch these people work.

After the group of Qing soldiers left, the little official who had been standing aside also talked more, and began to talk with the Qing army who stayed, and the Qing army seemed to be tired of the repetitive work of the few masters who repaired the horseshoe, so they naturally chatted with the little official about the big day, and the right was to relieve the boredom in front of him.

The work of repairing the horseshoe lasted all night before it was over, and the Qing army left the barracks of the Qing army in the morning light, and the Qing soldier in charge of guarding the horses, after hastily calculating the repaired horses' hooves with his eyes open, hurried back to the camp to sleep.

After leaving the barracks, the four of them walked through the streets and alleys, and finally came to the house of the little official. Entering the gate of the courtyard, the little official and the master who repaired the horseshoe hurriedly rushed in, and after seeing that the family was fine, they couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

"The merits of the two of you will be made clear to the commander, and the reward will be arranged after the army breaks through the city in the past two days."

"The villain thanked the general for his great kindness."

After the monk at the head made some arrangements, the little official went to the county government office as usual, while the three monks and more than 20 men with various blades continued to accumulate physical strength and prepare for the upcoming siege battle.