Zhang Chu decided to take Chen Qiang and other cadres of the new 1st Division to inspect the situation of the enemy army in Yuncheng before it was dark.

For Yuncheng, Zhang Chu had sent people to do a multifaceted investigation before deciding to act, but he didn't expect that there would be an accident today.

Yuncheng is different from other cities, the general small city wall circumference has a seven or eight miles even if it is not small, the city wall of Yuncheng has reached a terrifying more than 100 miles, Yuncheng is because of the lake to set up a city, the salt lake of Yuncheng provides a large amount of edible salt for the surrounding population, the government naturally wants to manage such an important resource, from the Tang Dynasty began to build a wall to prevent the theft of salt in the salt lake. At the beginning was just some earthen walls, and then the dynasties and generations continued to strengthen the wall of the salt lake, this work was carried out for thousands of years, and it was still carried out in the Ming Dynasty, especially more than ten years ago, the court carried out a comprehensive renovation of the wall, and the rammed earth city wall was all wrapped with bricks and stones, in fact, the salt lake was surrounded by the small Great Wall that was more than 100 miles long, and there were also staff generals Liu Lianxiang led 5,000 elite officers and soldiers to guard here, and it was very difficult to capture Yuncheng.

When the flames were raging in various places, many rebel armies approached Yuncheng, but they did not occupy Yuncheng in the face of such an important resource as salt, mainly because of Yuncheng's strong defensive force. Originally, Zhang Chu was still very confident in capturing and holding Yuncheng with more than 20,000 horses and new artillery, but the super combat effectiveness displayed by the officers and troops of Yuncheng in today's First World War made it more difficult to capture Yuncheng.

Zhang Chu led people to carefully approach the city wall of Yuncheng, the situation is abstract, then Zhang Chu had an intuitive understanding of the city wall of Yuncheng, far away you can see the high brick and stone wall towering there, the preliminary judgment is two or three zhang high, there is a ditch more than two zhang wide outside the wall, because it is far away can not see how deep.

Not only that, but outside the city walls, the officers and soldiers also set up strong camps and sent troops to garrison outside the city, indicating that the officers and troops had been prepared for the security army to attack the city. This added a lot of difficulty to the siege, judging from the number of troops stationed outside the city, the official army was definitely not the 5,000 people in the original intelligence.

For security reasons, Zhang Chu did not get very close to the enemy's camp, and led the people back to the village where the first regiment was stationed, waiting for the reconnaissance personnel sent to send back the information.

After dark, the detectives gradually sent back the information, and the situation changed dramatically. Now the enemy stationed in Yuncheng is no longer the 5,000 people who were originally detected, but has reached a terrifying 30,000 people, and the total number has exceeded the number of troops prepared by the security army to attack the city.

The enemy's more than 30,000 people were mainly composed of two parts, the salt Ding and the village Yong, who were recruited by the officials and soldiers and the salt merchants. It turned out that Zhang Chu led his troops all the way to the south to kill, and the first thing the officers and troops around Yuncheng thought of was to keep their important financial source Salt Lake, and at the same time, the Salt Lake was the safest within the wall, so 5,000 elite soldiers were sent to Yuncheng under the unified command of Liu Lianxiang, and at the same time, there were more than 500 salt merchants registered in Yuncheng, who understood that if the salt lake was occupied by thieves, the precious days of the past would come to an end. In order to keep the financial resources, the salt merchants showed amazing unity and action, not only sent their own salt to Yuncheng, but also recruited a large number of villagers to participate in the defense of Yuncheng, and the number of salt and village warriors who arrived in Yuncheng reached more than 20,000 in a few days. The merchants' salt ding, who sells salt for the merchants on weekdays to defend, are some outlaws who have killed people and seen blood, and the merchants also paid to set up a high bonus this time, indicating that if everyone has a reward for holding Yuncheng, the morale of the officers and soldiers has risen sharply for a while.

Because the officers and soldiers in Yuncheng have salt lakes as a source of wealth, their food and salaries are still very sufficient on weekdays, and Liu Lianxiang still pays close attention to the training of the officers and soldiers on weekdays in order to crack down on the thieves who smuggle salt, so the combat effectiveness of these officers and soldiers is much stronger than that in other places.

Liu Lianxiang was afraid that he would only be beaten passively if he held on to the city, so he ordered people to set up a camp outside the city, preparing to meet the officials and soldiers in the city when the thieves attacked the city. Today, the first regiment of the new 1st Division of the Security Army was engaged in the battle with the officers and soldiers stationed outside the city.

After listening to the report, Zhang Chu's brows tightened, now the enemy is stronger than imagined, the number alone exceeds the number of the expeditionary team of the security army, and there are high walls and deep trenches, whether this battle should be fought or not, how to fight it has become a problem.

In Yuncheng City, the face of Liu Lianxiang, the general of the city, was also clouded, originally he was full of confidence in defending Yuncheng, although he heard that there were many thieves who attacked this time, this is not to worry, the thieves have always been coerced by the homeless people as cannon fodder, to strengthen the momentum, and the number of people who really have combat effectiveness will not be too much.

But today's battle gave Liu Lianxiang a new understanding of the thieves, and he had to bring his staff master to discuss how to deal with it.

Liu Lianxiang was born in a martial arts, and he still thinks that he has some ability to kill the enemy, but he mainly relies on the master around him for advice on the art of war.

The master is a thin-faced scholar in his forties, and when he was young, he also went to school and took the imperial examination, and he was also promoted, but later he failed to succeed in many attempts, so he cut off his mind in this regard and joined Liu Lianxiang's account as a staff member.

"The muskets of the thieves attacking today are very sharp, and there are thousands of cavalry to help, do you think you should transfer the troops stationed outside the city into the city?" Liu Lianxiang asked the master very respectfully.

"The army outside the city should not be withdrawn for the time being, if there is no army outside the city, the thieves will have no scruples when they attack the city, which is very unfavorable for defense, and the withdrawal of the army just after the battle with the thieves will affect the morale of the whole army, the general should order the defenders outside the city to strengthen the camp, and meet the defenders at the head of the city at any time, so as to hold the city." The master already has a rough draft of how to repel the thieves.

"But this bandit is really powerful, today's short battle was killed and wounded by their muskets more than a thousand soldiers, pay such a price just rushed to the front of the thief musketeer, just about to fight, the thief cavalry arrived, the follow-up thief still has a few people and horses is not clear, I am afraid that with our strength can not hold Yuncheng." Liu Lianxiang was very worried that in the past, when fighting the thieves, the casualties of the thieves far exceeded those of the officers and soldiers. And although the thieves were driven away in this battle, the casualties of the officers and soldiers were too terrifying, if the thieves behind were so powerful, the officers and soldiers under his command would not be enough to kill the thieves.

"Let the soldiers outside the city hold on for a while, and then retreat into the city if it is really impossible, and at the same time send people to immediately ask for help from the governor of the three sides, Lord Hong, maybe wait for the governor's brigade of officers and soldiers to arrive, surround the thieves under the fortified city, and destroy this group of thieves in one fell swoop, and the general will have made a great achievement." The master is more confident than Liu Lianxiang in holding Yuncheng.

After listening to the master's analysis, Liu Lianxiang felt that it was very reasonable, he didn't say more, and went to the city to inspect the defense.

On the side of the security army, Zhang Chu also made up his mind that he must not let this trip run in vain, and this Yuncheng must be beaten. (To be continued.) )