"This is the intelligence of the sentinels sent out, and I have drawn them on paper. Pen, Fun, Pavilion www.biquge.info" Li Yanzhi took out a piece of white paper and spread it on the table, on which were zigzag lines, but it was a topographic map of Yangzhou.

"What about the brother who sent the sentry? Are there many casualties? Ren Siqi did not go directly to the topographic map, but first asked about the casualties of the sentinels.

"Twenty sentinel ships were sent for a total of two hundred brothers, half of which met the plundering Qing soldiers, and killed and wounded more than fifty people in the battle, and two sentinel ships did not return, presumably falling into the hands of the Tartars. The arrows of the Eight Banners are too accurate, but fortunately, our brothers are on the boat, and if we encounter the Eight Banners on land, I am afraid that the casualties will be greater. Li Yanzhi said gloomily.

War is like this, a big war involving tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people, often the biggest casualties are the spies on both sides. The two armies will not start fighting all at once, but will always send a small number of spies to check each other's intelligence.

Ren Siqi sighed and didn't say anything more. The Daishan Army has its own system for the compensation of the casualties, and there is no need for everything to be taken care of by the commander Ren Siqi.

Lowering his head and carefully looking at the topographic map on the table, Ren Siqi pondered, and suddenly slammed his fist on the map.

"We should take the initiative to attack and smash the spirit of the Qing soldiers!"

Li Yan was shocked when he heard this, the Daishan army only had more than 10,000 people, and they were all infantry, how could it be possible to take the initiative to attack the Qing soldiers?

"Of course you can't fight with the Qing soldiers during the day, but we can attack at night!" Ren Siqi said.

"But uncle, the Qing soldiers are twenty miles away, and with our troops, even if they attack at night, it is impossible to defeat more than 100,000 Qing soldiers, if they are stuck by the Qing soldiers, I am afraid that the attacking army will be very dangerous." It was not enough to defend the city with Daishan's troops, and Li Yanzhi had to think of dispelling Ren Siqi's idea of attacking.

The Daishan army has always practiced spear formations, and they pay attention to fighting in arrays. In the case of a night attack, the formation of the army could not be deployed at all, and it could only fall into a night battle with the Qing soldiers. Although the Daishan Army has been training for more than half a year, compared with professional soldiers like the Eight Banners, the personal qualities of the soldiers are very different. If they fought in formation, relying on the neat queue of strict training, the Daishan army was naturally not afraid of any army. However, if there is a chaotic battle at night, I am afraid that the soldiers of the Daishan Army are not the opponents of the Eight Banners at all, and if they are not careful, the attacking army may be wiped out!

"How could I not know that night raids are dangerous," Ren sighed, "but I have to." ”

"There are more than 20,000 troops in Yangzhou City plus our Daishan army, and except for our Daishan army, almost all the troops are demoralized. If you want to hold Yangzhou, you must first fight a victory, even if it is a small victory. Now almost in the hearts of most of the Ming army, there is the idea that the Eight Banners are invincible, which is why Li Yuchun of Sizhou surrendered without a fight. As the war progresses, I am afraid that there will be more generals who surrender in the future. If the Qing army attacked the city, and the generals in Yangzhou surrendered, what would be the consequences? ”

What will be the consequences? Of course, it will be very serious, Li Yanzhi's mind suddenly reflected this kind of scene, when the Daishan army was fighting a bloody battle with the Qing soldiers, suddenly the Ming army in the city opened the door and surrendered, and the Qing soldiers rushed in......

"Therefore, we must fight a battle and frustrate the spirit of the Qing soldiers, so as to improve the morale of the soldiers and civilians in Yangzhou, so that Yangzhou can be held." Ren Siqi said angrily.

"With our troops, it is not feasible to attack the Qing army twenty miles away during the day, so we can only attack at night, so that we can not only deal a blow to the Qing army, but also take advantage of the night to leave the battlefield and return safely."

After listening to Ren Siqi's words, Li Yanzhi had to admit that Ren Siqi was right.

"Then should we ask Inspector Shi for instructions?" Li Yanzhi asked. After all, Shi Kefa is the highest governor in Yangzhou City, and sending troops to attack the Qing soldiers is such a big thing, if you don't know Shi Kefa, you can't say it anyway.

"Don't inform him yet, and then send someone to report to him after we send troops at the second watch." After thinking for a while, Ren Siqi said.

Judging from today's contact, Shi Kefa did not have the confidence to keep Yangzhou at all. Maybe now Shi Kefa has only one thought in his heart, that is, he died in Yangzhou, so that he is worthy of the imperial court and can also fulfill his reputation! After all, he is the governor of Jiangbei, and Yangzhou is his station, if he flees without a fight, Shi Kefa's reputation in this life will be completely ruined.

Maybe he thinks people's hearts are too sinister, Ren Siqi secretly said, Shi Kefa is not a bad person, he is honest and honest, and has an excellent reputation, but his ability is a little lacking.

But it was precisely because Shi Kefa had no military talent at all that Ren Siqi was reluctant to inform him in advance of the night attack out of the city, and it would be difficult to do it if he was stopped by Shi Kefa.

After discussing the route of the march with Li Yanzhi, Ren Siqi immediately ordered that the infantry of the third battalion, who was not on duty in the city, immediately rest and prepare to set off for the second watch.

At the second watch, 3,000 soldiers were called up, and after eating the prepared meal, they boarded a hundred river boats. The water gate was quietly opened, and the fleet slowly rowed out of the city and into the canal.

Today is April 19th, and the moonlight is not bad. Then I saw a moon hanging in the eastern sky with a corner missing, and the sky was full of twinkling stars. Taking advantage of the bleak moonlight, the oarsmen paddled their oars as the fleet slowly headed north along the canal.

At the second watch, the whole Yangzhou city was silent, and there was silence in all directions, only the sound of oars paddling in the water. The torches on the city wall of Yangzhou are everywhere, but they can't illuminate the canal, standing on the boat and looking at both sides, you can vaguely see the outline of the riverbank, and then there is darkness in the distance.

I walked north along the canal for more than ten miles, and when I reached a fork, I left the canal and entered the fork. After walking another five or six miles northwest along the fork of the river, the fleet came to the shore, and the soldiers disembarked from the boats in silence and lined up on the shore.

A large amount of material was unloaded from the ship, and two hundred soldiers were in charge of the resistance, which was the sharp weapon of tonight's attack on the camp, hundreds of "flying dragons" and "swarms" firearms.

In order to avoid too much movement when walking, all the soldiers wrapped the soles of their feet in thick cotton cloth. Chen Ping and several of his subordinates walked at the front as guides for the army.

The 3,000 army walked silently along the avenue, and after walking for another three miles, Chen Ping suddenly stopped and signaled that the camp of the Qing soldiers was ahead. Ren Siqi stood in front of the queue and looked forward, and saw a large area of Wuyang a mile away, judging from the lights lit, the camp of the Qing soldiers stretched ten miles wide, and I was afraid that there would be no 100,000 troops in the camp!

When they arrived here, the soldiers were more careful, bending over and tiptoeing forward slowly, for fear of making a little movement and attracting the attention of the Qing army camp opposite.

On the fence wall of the Qing army camp, there is a torch not far away, and on both sides of the camp gate, there are four tall arrow towers, and from the lights above, there should be soldiers on duty.

At a distance of a hundred paces from the camp wall, all the Daishan soldiers stopped, this place was out of the range of torches, and any further on it might attract the attention of the Qing soldiers. (To be continued.) )