When Wu Ruxiao was observing the Chinese army at the head of the city, Lin Zhe outside the city was also observing the fortifications of Zhenjiang City with many senior generals.

"It seems that they put a lot of thought into repairing the broken city wall last year!" Xu Pengan looked at it and said: "Now that the fortifications of this Zhenjiang City are perfect, I am afraid that it will take a lot of time to attack the city in the future!" ”

At this time, Shi Langyi, who was also shaved like everyone else, wearing a military uniform and a big-brimmed hat, also said: "Yes, these thieves have some insight and know how to shrink their forces in advance, I'm afraid there are at least 30,000 thieves in the city!" ”

Shi Langyi's situation in the past year has not been very good, he was originally a first-class general in Yu Shengjun, whether it is fame or ability, he actually surpasses Xu Yanqing, Shi Qingxuan and others, but he used to always think about the Manchu side.

If it weren't for Lin Zhe's pity for his talent, it is estimated that when Yu Shengjun was independent against the Qing Dynasty last year, he would have been killed by Lin Zhe.

At that time, in the face of the general situation, although he was quite reluctant in his heart, he still chose to obey, shaved off his hair, and once again declared his allegiance to Lin Zhe.

Later, although Lin Zhe readmitted him, he could only sit on the cold bench, seeing that Xu Yanqing, Lin Anfei and others were all promoted to major generals one by one, and were in charge of a division or a mixed brigade, but he could only continue to work hard in the position of chief of staff of the first division, and his rank was still colonel.

Even when he was knighted, Xu Yanqing and several others were named earls, but he Shi Langyi was only named a viscount.

Later, I barely figured it out, anyway, my head had been shaved, and the Qing court had already included Shi Langyi and other civil and military dignitaries of the Chinese Empire in the list of anti-thieves, and it was estimated that he would definitely die if he was caught.

Without any way out, he could only grit his teeth and follow Lin Zhe to the end!

And once he made this determination, he did not remain silent about everything as before, but began to actively speak up, and contributed a lot in the subsequent reorganization of various divisions.

This time he sent troops to Zhenjiang, and he accompanied Lin Zhe on the expedition as the chief of staff of the First Division, and gave advice to Lin Zhe, which can be regarded as a lot of hard work.

For these, Lin Zhe also sees it, as long as this Shi Langyi can give up the slightest illusion about the Manchu Qing in his heart, then Lin Zhe doesn't mind accepting him again, and even important him.

And before that, Shi Langyi is needed to prove himself.

After all, in today's Chinese Empire, quite a few former Qing officials have taken refuge in them, and most of them are not really refuge, but are just forced to seek wealth or wealth.

Lin Zhe is still relatively tolerant of his subordinates, as long as it is a talent, as long as it can be within his control, then he can use it!

After all, he Lin Zhe is not a god, it is impossible to let others die for him casually, it is good that people can rebel against him, is it possible that you really want people to worship you with a full face, and you can't do it. If this has to be the case, it is estimated that except for a few Yu Shengjun generals, he Lin Zhe will have no one to use.

As long as Shi Langyi is willing to follow him, whether he is sincere or forced to do it, Lin Zhe doesn't care!

After half a ring, Lin Zhe put down his binoculars, and then turned his head to look at the generals: "Now that Zhenjiang is in front of us, what is the strategy of all Aiqing?" ”

At this time, Shi Qingxuan, who had the highest title and military rank among the people, took the lead in speaking: "Your Majesty, Zhenjiang has been operated by the thief army for many years, although it was broken by Xu Bo last year, but now the thief army has rebuilt the city wall. The thief army in the city is at least 30,000 people, and the thief army will definitely launch the young and strong in the city to defend it when necessary, so when our army attacks the city, the thief army facing it will probably exceed 30,000.

The minister thought that he should first set up camp steadily, encircle Zhenjiang, and then slowly figure it out! ”

Lin Zhe listened to his words and thought secretly, this Shi Qingxuan can be regarded as the most cautious one among his many generals, and now it is reasonable to say that he is firmly on the hard drive.

However, after Shi Qingxuan's words fell, the commander of the Fifth Division, the newly promoted Major General and Viscount Shen Chiyun, also said:

"The minister thought that although Zhenjiang was strong and strong, but the second mixed regiment was able to take the city in only a few days, we now have six divisions, but there are tens of thousands of soldiers, as long as we strive to attack the city, it will be ten and a half months, and at least three or five days will definitely be able to break through Zhenjiang, and then our army can continue to march west to Nanjing, and the second division of Lishui will seize Nanjing, and then completely lay the foundation of our great cause of China!"

"Even if you can take the city in a hurry, how many soldiers' lives will it take? It is not easy for our Chinese soldiers to train, and it has cost countless amounts of money and food over the years to get tens of thousands of soldiers, and my Greater China still has to rely on these tens of thousands of soldiers to fight the world, how can I have suffered a lot of casualties for just one Zhenjiang! Shi Qingxuan was a little angry at Shen Chiyun's opposition.

Since this Shen Chiyun became the commander of the Fifth Division, he thought that he had become enough to be compared with a few generals such as himself, and his military strategy was more radical, and he often argued with himself, hum, he really thought that he was a character when he became the commander of the division!

Shi Qingxuan's face was not good, but Shen Chiyun continued: "My great cause of Great China is not something that can be obtained by sparing my life, I will shrink back when I fight a Zhenjiang City now, and when I fight Nanjing, Beijing and other big cities in the future, won't I have to sit back and wait for the enemy army to surrender?" ”

Shi Qingxuan and Shen Chiyun one thought that they should be cautious, and the other thought that they should take it as much as possible, and then march into Nanjing, each with their own reasons, and the other generals also spoke one after another around these two choices.

Even in the past two years, the sense of zài has been extremely low? William interjected in time.

Hunter? William has been getting weaker and weaker in Yu Shengjun in the past two years, but he is not reconciled, always trying to express himself, in order to better integrate himself into the Yu Shengjun group, he even taught himself Chinese, although the tone sounds a little awkward, but now communicating with other generals of Yu Shengjun, finally without translation, can communicate directly in Chinese.

After Lin Zhe claimed that the emperor was established, he gritted his teeth and directly applied for the citizenship of the Chinese Empire, and voluntarily gave up his British nationality. William's yearning for the wealth of the powerful.

For such a foreigner who is willing to give up his motherland and follow him, Lin Zhe naturally accepted it gladly, and generously gave him the title of baron, which moved this English man in his forties, full of beard and scum, he fought all his life, and he didn't catch the hair in the first half of his life, and finally was kicked out of the army, and after a few years of defecting to Lin Zhe, he has now won the title of nobleman.

This moved him so much that he declared his allegiance to Lin Zhe in public, saying that he and his family descendants would be loyal to Lin Zhe and his family heirs forever.

Since he has entered the nationality of the Chinese Empire, Lin Zhe naturally can't let him be a consultant all the time, and of course it is not suitable for him to directly command the army, so he appointed him as the deputy director of the Military Training Department of the Supreme Command, and let him continue to do his old job of training troops.

Lin Zhe will also bring him with him when he is on the expedition and act as his personal staff and the like!

Many subordinate generals and generals talked about each other, although the scene was a little noisy, and a few people were already arguing, and the spittle and scum were flying around, if it wasn't for Lin Zhe in front of him to maintain the dignity of his courtiers, it is estimated that these generals would be able to roll up their sleeves and do it directly.

For this noisy scene, Lin Zhe was not disgusted, but still felt very pleased, although the army was his own hall, but he still hoped that his subordinates could give him different opinions.

At military meetings, he always encouraged his generals to take the initiative to express their ideas, and to speak out whether they were wrong or right; not only that, but he also implemented a staff officer system in the troops, assigning staff officers to the commanders of the troops, so that the commanders of the troops could obtain enough different opinions.

Everyone was talking nonsense, and Shi Langyi, who was standing next to him, also spoke at the right time!

"In the opinion of the minister" Although he only said these words, the noisy scene quickly stopped, and everyone planned to listen to what Shi Langyi was going to say.

Seeing everyone stop and look at themselves, especially when Lin Zhe also looked at him, Shi Langyi still had a hint of joy in his heart, although Lao Tzu has been neglected for more than a year, but his reputation is still there, and it seems that His Majesty still attaches great importance to himself.

Immediately, he continued: "If we besiege Zhenjiang for a long time, I am afraid that it will take three or five months or even more than half a year, which is unacceptable to us when the army pours out!" ”

As soon as he said this, Shen Chiyun echoed on the side: "Yes, now that my Great China has come out of Zhenjiang, there is only one Seventh Mixed Brigade left in Shanghai, and Songjiang and Suzhou are only one auxiliary defense division, and the army can't fight outside for a long time, and it will change for a long time!" ”

Shi Langyi ignored Shen Chiyun's interjection and continued: "But the strong soldiers in Zhenjiang City are well known, if you want to take it down in a short time, I am afraid that there will be a lot of casualties, and it is difficult for us to accept that it is not easy to train troops!" ”

At this time, Shi Qingxuan also nodded and praised: "Yes, every soldier is our precious wealth, and we must not sacrifice it casually!" ”

For the Chinese army, soldiers are wealth, and it takes at least 50 taels of silver to train a qualified line infantry, and the loss of 1,000 people is equal to 50,000 taels of silver, and the loss of 10,000 people is equal to 500,000 taels. And more importantly, money is still a trivial matter, and it will take at least three or five months to replenish the loss of troops, which is difficult to accept for the time-critical Chinese Empire.

Just imagine, if the 40,000 main force of the Chinese army loses tens of thousands of people at once, it will be a catastrophe for the fledgling Chinese Empire, and it will even cause internal turmoil, and no one can predict what will happen at that time.

Therefore, whether it is an attack on Zhenjiang or Nanjing, the losses of the Chinese army must be controlled within an acceptable range.

Shi Langyi continued to say:

"In this regard, the minister's opinion is that Zhenjiang should be fought, but it should be fought slowly, and in addition, our army can be divided into two routes, one way to besiege Zhenjiang, and the other road to continue west to Tianjing!"

At this time, Lin Zhe spoke: "If you divide your troops to the west, does Aiqing mean to encircle and send reinforcements?" ”

The small number of troops could not move Nanjing City at all, otherwise the second division of Lishui would have gone north to take Nanjing, why not garrison troops in Lishui! Under such circumstances, Shi Langyi also said that if he wanted to divide his troops to the west, it would be impossible to divide 20,000 or 30,000 people, at most, it would be about 10,000 people in one division.

In this case, Shi Langyi's intention to divide the troops is very clear, that is, he wants to defeat the Taiping reinforcements from Nanjing. (To be continued.) )