After Kong Youde's envoy left, the atmosphere in the Chinese army's tent was a little strange for a while.

Fan Zhiwan couldn't help but say, "Why did the Admiral directly refuse Kong Youde's request to surrender?" Why not agree to one or two conditions for the time being, and accept their surrender first? ”

Liu Jun ignored him, but said to the governor Fu Zonglong, "Sun Tzu has a cloud in the art of war, and those who know whether they can fight and those who can't fight win, the two armies fight, and the defense must be defended, and the attack must be conquered." At present, the 50,000 rebels in Gaizhou are completely turtles in urns and dogs in closed doors. Kong Youde still wants to negotiate peace? ”

Gai State Inner Fort.

The repulsed Kong Youde family put Mao Fang on his horse in front of the fort gate and walked quickly to the door. The defenders on the fort gate immediately shouted, "General Mao is back, quickly release the basket." ”

The defenders on the fort gate put down the bamboo basket and pulled Mao Fang up.

"General Mao, the marshal is waiting for you in the Shuaifu, and you will be asked to see you as soon as you come back."

Mao Fang nodded slightly, and hurried to the Marshal's Mansion in the center of the fort. When the family at the door saw him, he hurriedly led him in, and reported from afar, "Dashuai, General Mao is back." ”

Mao Fang entered and bowed to the ground, "The last general will come back to restore his life." ”

"Mao Fang, how's that?" Kong Youde asked hurriedly.

Mao Fang got up, stood in the hall, looked around, and saw Geng Zhongming, Shang Kexi, Shen Zhixiang and others all present, and other senior generals such as Tianqi Bing and Tianzhu Bing and other senior generals with black flags, staff generals, guerrillas, etc., all of them had solemn faces, and they seemed to be waiting for his reply.

Geng Zhongming didn't raise his head, "General Mao came back so soon, if I expected it to be true, it must be Liu Jiye who is unwilling to talk." ”

Mao Fang stepped forward to report, "The last general went to Mingying, and when he saw Liu Jiye, he didn't want to talk about it at all, so he only asked the last general to tell the generals." Say let's surrender immediately and unconditionally. ”

Hearing the news, Kong Youde frowned a little and sighed.

"It's been half a month, and there are still no reinforcements, and the emperor is afraid that he will abandon us." Shang Ke said happily.

Shen Zhixiang hung his head in frustration, "Now the outer city has been lost." With this inner fort, we can't hold out for three days, what should we do? ”

In the past half a month, they have fully seen the strength of the Chu army's artillery fire. Chu had only been fighting for half a month, and he had already smashed the city of Gaizhou, and more than 3,000 people died under the artillery fire. All sorts of artillery and shells, it really cost them a lot.

They lasted for half a month, not how powerful they were, but the Ming army had not officially attacked the city at all. It's been just shelling. They were already beaten so embarrassed and suffered heavy casualties. Once the Ming army really launched a full-scale offensive, they didn't know how many days they could last.

The combat effectiveness of this Chu army was enough to make the black-flaged armies change color when they heard it, and the atmosphere in the hall was solemn for a while.

Kong Youde slowly raised his head, "Everyone, do you have any good solutions?" ”

Geng Zhongming slammed his fist on the table, and roared unwillingly, "Liu Jiye of the dog day." Life and death on the battlefield depend on luck. But his mother besieged the city like this, only bombarding the city with artillery fire, what's the fucking matter, the soldiers can not be killed, Lao Tzu is never willing to sit here and wait to be bombarded by his artillery fire. I want Lao Tzu to say, fight with them. Kill it out. ”

Shang Kexi was also furious, and stood up, "Dashuai, fight with them." ”

Kong Youde glanced at the two of them.

He slowly turned his gaze to Shen Zhixiang, "What does Chief Shen think?" ”

Shen Zhixiang bowed his hand slightly. said, "At the beginning of the siege, it was still possible to break through the siege at that time, but now, the military spirit is difficult to use, and the morale is insufficient. And now counting the city wall we just abandoned, outside us, there are already six trenches, three earthen walls, and one city wall, not to mention the forest of forts, there are traps everywhere outside, let's rush out, it can only be the target of the Ming army, and as many as you go, you will die. ”

Kong Youde nodded slightly, "Then according to your wishes, where should we go?" ”

"The Chu army has sharp guns, and there are trench forts, and we can't fight hard to break through the siege. But when I look at the tactics of the Chu army in the past half a month, they don't seem to want to fight hard, or they don't want to damage more soldiers and horses. If this is the case, we may be able to hold on to the inner fort, and as long as we can hold out until the emperor sends reinforcements, we may be able to escape this fate. ”

Kong Youde's brow soothed slightly, he let out a long breath, and coughed again. Then he said, "Ladies and gentlemen, we ran away from Shandong back then, and there is no way to go back. Go back, it's also a dead word. What's more, over the years, we have all started a family in Liaodong, and our parents and children are also in the Qing Dynasty, and there is no way back, and there is no way back. I believe that the emperor will come to save us, although we have lost the outer city, we still have enough food, at least to last more than three months. As long as we persevere, maybe reinforcements are already on the way, and they will arrive soon. Brothers, we will fight the Ming army to the end! ”

Geng Zhongming, Shang Kexi, Shen Zhixiang and others all said in unison, "Fight to the end!" ”

Kong Youde waved his hand, "Okay, then we will work together and fight the Ming army to the end." ”

Over the past few decades, Kong Youde has made several difficult decisions, when he went south alone to defect to the Dongjiang River, and also fled from the Dongjiang River to Dengzhou, and then later, he rebelled, and then after the rebellion, he chose to defect to the Qing army. Every time, it's such a difficult decision. But he never regretted these choices, and sometimes he also thought that the situation might be different when he surrendered directly to the imperial court in Shandong.

Over the years, he has borne the name of a traitor and traitor, and in the dead of night, he has also had uneasiness. But as soon as the day dawned, he resolutely fought for the Qing army.

Mao Fang had been standing there, listening to the words of the four generals, he couldn't help but look up at Kong Youde, and said softly, "Big handsome!" ”

Kong Youde turned his head and glanced at him.

"Thank you for your hard work, sit down over there."

Kong Youde looked at the generals in the hall, and said in an impassioned tone, "Brothers, we are all traitors to the Ming, and in the eyes of the Ming, we are all chaotic ministers and thieves without a king and a father. But I want to say, at the beginning, we also fought on the battlefield for the Ming Dynasty, and fought desperately, but what did we get in exchange? It is the civil officials and eunuchs who climb on our heads to do prestige and blessing, and we work hard for the imperial court, but the imperial court owes us food and salaries, and we send troops to fight, and we can't even eat enough. The local officials looked down on us, even the local squires dared to oppress us, and even the squire's minions dared to ride on our heads and! With such a rotten court, do we still have to work for him? Is our life really so cheap? ”

"Over the years, we have defected to the Manchus. What the Qing Emperor did to us, everyone also understood in their hearts. When we were in Dongjiang in Dengzhou, we were in arrears all year round, and we often had worries about food and clothing. But in Daqing, we have our own territory, food and salary. There are also rewards, and what is on both sides can be judged. Everyone knows how the emperor will do to us, the emperor will not abandon us, and reinforcements will come soon. Brothers, just hold on for a few more days. Although the Chu army has sharp artillery, how many Chu troops are there in the Ming Dynasty? No matter how strong the artillery fire of the Chu army is, how can it be stronger than the Eight Banners cavalry? ”

"There are still 50,000 horses in the city. Divided into five parts, each part of 10,000. General Kong Bing, Geng General Bing, Shang General Bing and a certain each guarded one side, and left another 10,000 horses as a reserve to support in the center. ”

Mao Fang was still standing in the middle of the hall, and he raised his voice a little, "Handsome! ”

Kong Youde looked at his general with some puzzlement, "Mao Fang? ”

Mao Fang said loudly, "Handsome." The last general thinks that we can no longer keep it. ”

"You think we should break through?" Kong Youde asked. Mao Fang is his confidant, leading his 3,000 family members, and he also has the rank of general soldier.

"No, we can't get out." Mao Fang replied.

Kong Youde's face sank, he pondered for a moment, and asked slowly. "What should we do if you think so?"

Mao Fang replied word by word, "Bow down and sue for peace, surrender unconditionally!" ”

As soon as Mao Fang's words came out, the hall suddenly exploded. Geng Zhongming was angry. Li Sheng asked, "Hmph, Mao Fang, what are your intentions, the enemy is at present, you are saying this, but you want to disturb the hearts of our army?" Or, in the Ming camp, what official promise did Liu Jiye make to you? ”

Before Geng Zhongming's words landed, Shang Kexi snorted, "Needless to say, he just came back from Mingying, and immediately said this kind of surrender, making it clear that Liu Jiye made a wish to him and let him persuade us to surrender." Perhaps, he has already sold us all in the Ming camp, and has promised to exchange our heads for the official positions of the Ming Dynasty. Tell us, what official did Liu Jiye promise to give you? Adjutant General or General Soldier? How much silver did Liu Jiye give to our heads, 5,000 or 10,000? ”

Mao Fang said slowly, "Marshal, generals, please allow me to say something." ”

Geng Zhongming spat on the ground and said disdainfully, "Coward, what other rhetoric do you want to say?" ”

Mao Fang ignored him, and just said to Kong Youde, "Dashuai, reinforcements won't come." When I was in the Ming camp, I heard the news that Ningjin's Ming army was counterattacking, and the imperial court had lost more than ten castles in a row, and all the west of the Daling River were lost, leaving only one Yizhou City. Now the Ming army is besieging Yizhou, and the emperor is leading the army from Shenyang to Yizhou to rescue, and he can't take care of us at all. ”

This news shocked everyone in the hall and made it hard to believe.

"How is this possible, Ning Jin's Ming army is not the opponent of the Eight Banners at all, and it has more than ten castles west of the Daling River, and the soldiers are besieging Yizhou, what nonsense are you talking about? Liu Jiye asked you to say that, right? Geng Zhongming asked with a cheer.

Kong Youde asked seriously, "Who did you listen to this news?" ”

"I heard it in the camp."

Shen Zhixiang said to Kong Youde, "This must be a trick of the Ming people, deliberately letting you hear this news, but in fact, this news is fake." ”

"It won't be fake, I also saw Zu Dashou's younger brothers, Zu Daming and Zu Dacheng, in Mingying."

As soon as these words came out, Kong Youde's face changed greatly. "You read that right?"

Mao Fang replied, "The last general had an old relationship with the Zu brothers, and he would never admit his mistake." ”

"This is impossible, Zu Daming and Zu Dacheng are now surrounded in Jinzhou City, how can they come to Liaodong?" Geng Zhongming said, "It must be this coward's nonsense." ”

Zu Daming and Zu Dacheng were the brothers of Zu Dashou, the forward general of Jinzhou, both of whom held the position of guerrilla generals, and were previously besieged in Jinzhou City with Zu Dashou. Before Kong Youde and others came to southern Liaoning, they were also transferred from Jinzhou City, and they knew this very well. But now that Zu Dashou's two brothers have arrived in Gaizhou Mingying, what does this mean?

The siege of Jinzhou may really be solved, and the Ming army really has a chance to encircle Yizhou. If this is the case, then the reinforcements they are waiting for will be far away.

"What do you think is a chance that Mao Fang heard the news?"

Shen Zhixiang hesitated for a moment, "About fifty or sixty percent." ”

Kong Youde's brows furrowed tighter and tighter, and the excitement just now had long since disappeared.

There was another scream outside, followed by a loud rumbling, and the Ming army began to fire artillery again. (To be continued.) )

PS: Thanks Nautilus for your support, thank you!