On Haimen Street in Dengzhou Town, a stone bridge is crowded with people, and at both ends of the bridge are spontaneously formed markets, where all kinds of vendors sell their goods. This is Caoqiao, one of the important transportation hubs in Dengzhou, which is the main passage from Beicheng to the city center.

Chen Xin and Zhou Shifa dressed as literati, walked across the grass bridge from the south, and after crossing the bridge, turned into an alley, and then several personal guards who covered left two of them to prevent anyone from following. After Chen Xin came out from the other end, he went north into a southern goods store.

When the shopkeeper saw that it was Zhou Shifa, he didn't say much, but only led the two to the back, and the two saw Zhang Dong in the study.

"Dengzhou Town, with a total of more than 3,300 officers and men, and 37 large and small sand boats bluffing, left Shuicheng yesterday and went in the direction of Ningyuan." Zhang Dong respectfully invited Chen Xin to sit down, and then reported the latest information in Chapter 76.

"Just a little soldier? What is the morale in Dengzhou Town? ”

"Before escaping Yan zhòng, Wang Tingqian and others came, Sun Yuanhua strictly ordered each battalion to replenish the manpower, and the beggars and homeless people in Dengzhou City were all arrested, and the battalion officers spent money to hire a group of soldiers in the hands of the local Qingpiyou, and roughly gathered the number of soldiers."

Chen Xin nodded, Dengzhou Town has half of the empty salary, and it is not easy to get it together for a while.

Zhang Dong continued: "Not to mention the morale, the Dengzhou soldiers are negligent in training on weekdays, and they are terrified in battle, and as soon as the transfer order arrives, more than 300 people in the main barracks escape, Kong Youde's left battalion and Geng Zhongming's middle battalion are quite good, and most of these Dongjiang soldiers have nowhere to go." However, according to the reports of various intelligence points, these Dongjiang soldiers also complained, and they were unwilling to rescue the Guanning army. ”

Zhou Shifa frowned and said, "The three thousand three hundred mobilized are elite soldiers?" ”

"It's an elite soldier, most of them are veterans from Dongjiang Town. Zhou Ruibao has been checking the number of soldiers everywhere in the past few days, this person is very clear about eating empty salaries in front of the military department, and found a large number of beggars and green skins, and all battalion officers are anxious. Strictly ordered Kong Youde and others to fight to the death in Liaoxi, and they must have the ability to do it. ”

Chen Xin smiled. "This is what I saw in Chapter 76 and forced Kong Youde to his death, have other troops been mobilized?"

"Yes, there are more than 1,000 people in Dongjiang Town. It was Zhang Tao who led the troops, but Sun Yuanhua did not let them go with Kong Youde, which is said to have been requested by Zhang Tao. ”

Chen Xin thought for a while, Dengzhou sent a total of about 5,000 troops, it seems that Sun Yuanhua really intends to fight for the merits, "How is our deployment in Dengzhou." ”

Zhang Dong opened the booklet, "My lord, there are three shops and five residences in the city, including two at the head of the book bridge. Caoqiao to Zhenhai Gate everywhere, Hongyi artillery barracks two, Chunsheng Gate one, there is not much business and dwellings in the water city, there is only a small shop selling incense in the southwest corner of Sanyuan Palace at present. It can hide up to more than ten people. ”

Chen Xin asked lightly: "If you want to capture Shuicheng, this number of people is not enough, do you have a corresponding plan?" ”

Zhang Dong didn't speak, turned his head to look at Zhou Shifa, Zhou Shifa said cautiously: "Yes, although there are not many shops and houses. But there are many temples in the city, if the situation is not right, please ask the special service team to pretend to be pilgrims, donate some merits to the temples, when you can eat and live in the temple for some time, on Guangdanya Mountain, there are three temples of Sanqing Palace, Tianhou Temple, and Longwang Temple, and there are Sanyuan Palace, Sanguan Temple, and Li Gong Temple under the mountain, all of which can live pilgrims, but it is not very convenient to carry weapons. ”

Chen Xin took out the booklet in his arms, wrote down one, and said to the two of them: "I will let the military factory produce some short guns, and you can bring in the other swords yourself." ”

Zhou Shifa is very happy, the short gun is very useful for the intelligence bureau that engages in secret operations, but it has always given priority to equipping the soldiers, and now the captain, fireman, and military judge of the mandarin duck array have been used, and the next step is to equip the sword and shield and the captain of the peasant soldiers, and the intelligence bureau has only obtained more than ten, and now it can finally be replenished.

Chen Xin breathed a sigh of relief, "The Japanese officials will return to Wendeng tomorrow and accompany Wang Ting's inspection to the test, Zhou Shifa will return to Weihai to sit in charge of all directions and information, and Zhang Dong will be responsible for the operation of Dengzhou and Shuicheng, so you have to cheer up from now on." ”

He still didn't say anything would happen to Dengzhou until this moment, and the two even felt that Chen Xin might be going to rebel, and they were a little unsteady in their hearts.

Chen Xin looked at the two of them, or decided to explain, "Jiannu can't go to Dengzhou, what I am guarding against is the civil strife in Dengzhou, just like Phi Island, Dengzhou seems to be calm, but in fact, the undercurrent is surging, Dongjiang Town is full of Liao people, since Mao Wenlong was killed, these people are full of suspicion of the court and Shangguan, and they have been bullied by local officials and people for a long time in Dengzhou. ”

Zhang Dong's mouth opened for a moment, he didn't have an opinion on Chen Xin's logic, but if he said that the Liao people would rebel, he felt that it was unlikely.

Zhou Shifa arched his hand to Chen Xin and said: "Adults have always done extraordinary things, and their subordinates only have to act according to the deployment of adults. ”――

In the middle of September, the Ming army that came to aid Liao began to be mobilized one after another, mainly in Jizhen and Denglai towns, Changping, Miyun, and Tianjin standard camps near Zhili all sent their own elites, the most of which was Changping sent 3,500 troops, and the leader was Zuo Liangyu, Denglai sent more than 3,300 reinforcements, and the leading general was Kong Youde, the commander of the left battalion of the governor's pacesetter, and the reinforcements of Dongjiang Town were tentatively set at 1,500, but they failed to set off for a long time.

After besieging the city for more than a month, the Guan Ning army of Da Ling River began to beat drums in their hearts, looking at the appearance of Hou Jin, they did not plan to go if they were not besieged to death, Sun Chengzong and Qiu Jiahe of Liaodong were also anxious, most of the trenches between Da Ling River and Jinzhou were captured, and the sentry cavalry of Jinzhou also saw with their own eyes that the Hou Jin soldiers used a new type of artillery similar to the Hongyi cannon, and the power was similar to the Hongyi cannon of the Ming army.

They calculated the grain and grass of the Daling River, a total of 30,000 stones were transported before the siege, and some were left when the city was repaired, and the total should be around 32,000 stones, and the 40,000 people in the city were calculated according to one pound per person per day, and they could eat for more than three months, and it was okay to save some food for April and May, so it was not too urgent, but the appearance of the Jin Hongyi cannon made them doubt whether the Daling River could hold on, once the city wall was breached, the tens of thousands of people in it could not defeat Jiannu.

In addition, the imperial history of the imperial court was constantly impeached. Asking them to relieve the siege, Sun Chengzong had to let Qiu Jiahe send reinforcements again, this time the reinforcements were led by Qiu Jiahe himself, and the military generals were Wu Xiang, the chief soldier of Liaodong, and Song Wei, the chief soldier of Shanhaiguan, Wu Xiang was not as famous as his son, but he was also a Wu Jinshi, and this person was originally a businessman. As a general soldier, he is also a businessman, and he is a good hand at making connections, and there is nothing in the officialdom of Liaodong that he can't drill. A military attache like Zu Dashou befriended him and married his sister to Wu Xiang, making him an important member of the Guanning warlords. And even the civil officials like him, but the war is a mess.

Qiu Jiahe knew that Wu Xiang was unreliable, so he also brought a slightly reliable Song Wei, Song Wei was originally from Shanxi, his father was a general, he grew up with the army to fight and kill, Chongzhen was transferred to Guanning as a deputy chief soldier in the first year, after Zhao Shujiao died, he became the chief military officer of Shanhaiguan, and followed Liu Kexun to fight Zunhua during the Battle of the Four Cities. Although Song Wei also ate empty salaries and drank the blood of soldiers. But he was born in the army, and he was far more reliable than Wu Xiang when he used the knife, so Qiu Jiahe insisted on walking with him.

After they left Jinzhou, they crossed the Changshan Mountain in the southwest, and their whereabouts were discovered early by the Houjin Sentinel Cavalry, and the army was just more than ten miles away from the city. As soon as Jiannu appeared, Wu Xiang didn't care about going to Daling River to save his eldest brother, so he couldn't help but turn his head and run, leaving a nest of bears and encountering this kind of friendly army. Originally, the Shanhaiguan barracks that could be worthy of a war could not be fought, a wolf rushed to the dolphin, everyone fled all the way back to Jinzhou, and was killed by Azig more than 300 people, Azig chased straight to the city before retreating, fortunately, the Guanning army dispatched cavalry, the loss was not large, but the morale was completely gone.

Qiu Jiahe fled back with the defeated army, and the three souls and six spirits were scared to lose seven or eight, but he still had to do the right thing, he could only use his decades of hard work to write a report of victory, claiming that he had defeated thousands of Houjin troops in Changshan, but there were tens of thousands of Houjin reinforcements behind him, so he didn't have time to cut off people's heads and retreated to Jinzhou, but it had greatly shocked Jiannu, and it is estimated that Jiannu will soon retreat.

Since Daling was besieged, Qiu Jiahe has reported two great victories, deceived the court of Beijing, and could not deceive Sun Chengzong, he knew that there would always be a day to repay such a concealment, he personally rushed to Jinzhou, ready to organize a rescue again, and found that the soldiers were afraid of war, and he knew that when he was defeated in Liuhe, he knew that the bear generals of Liaozhen would never fall well.

But the siege can't be solved, he thought about it, felt that the food was enough, and he could delay it a little longer, and then wrote a letter to the letter, saying that Jiannu had reinforcements arriving, with a total strength of nearly 100,000 people, and the Guanning army alone was not enough to relieve the siege, and asked to mobilize Wendeng Battalion and Shizhu soldiers to Jinzhou, and the Guanning army to relieve the siege, in his opinion, the troops of Jizhen can only defend the city, if you really want to break the siege, you can only rely on these two troops, Zhejiang soldiers may not be bad, but they are too far apart.

When he sent out this letter, Chen Xin, who was far away in Wendeng No. 23 Tunpu, sneezed violently, he never expected that when he dug a pit for Sun Yuanhua, Huang Taiji and Sun Chengzong were also digging a pit for him, and he didn't know that the grain in Daling River was three times more than the original history, and Zu Dashou could last longer.

Wang Ting tried to see Chen Xinlian sneezing, and said with concern: "General Chen has been working hard recently, although the general is young, he must also pay attention to his body." ”

Chen Xin rubbed his nose, thanked Wang Ting, and then pointed to the beggar-like tunhu in front of him and said: "My lord, look, these are the families of heroic martyrs, this military commander has been in my Wendeng camp for more than a year, and he sacrificed his life for the country on Shenmi Island, and the last general can't let his family eat enough, and he feels ashamed." ”

Wang Tingqian nodded again and again, and said to Lu Zhi, who was accompanying him: "Now the grain and rice arsenal is distributed by the Lu Prison Army, and this official asks the Prison Army to make up the arrears of grain and rice as soon as possible on behalf of these family members. ”

Lu Zhi has now taken over the arsenal and grain, he and Chen Xin are wearing a pair of pants, and now Qin Cha said that of course he would not refuse, and immediately agreed to come down, and asked Chen Xin to immediately send a ship to Dengzhou to transport grain.

Chen Xin was secretly proud, he reported 3,005 soldiers, and the true colors of the family and battalion soldiers were five buckets a month, and six stones a year, and he could earn 20,000 stone of grain with this sum, which was much more than the grain tax he collected this year.

This tunpu belongs to the latest batch of establishments, all of them have just been settled, barely able to eat, and live in shacks, Wang Tingtry first watched the exercises of the Wendeng battalion soldiers, and then saw the situation of this tunbao, thinking that he should make every effort to ensure the supply of the Wendeng battalion, Chen Xin does not care whether he really believes it or not, now Denglai's political advantage is obviously on Lu Zhi's side, and the advantage of the imperial court is also on Wen Tiren's side, Wendeng camp is the emperor's concern, and Wang Tingli must give Chen Xin enough benefits.

After Chen Xin figured this out, the lion opened his mouth to ask for iron, ships, sulfur and other military supplies, Lu Zhi agreed to all of them, and called a small eunuch to ask him to go to Dengzhou with Wendeng's water camp with his own warrant.

This is the smoothest time for Chen Xin to ask for materials, the price of materials is not expensive, he naturally still has to give Lu Zhi and Wang Ting a test return in proportion, and after hinting at it, the two Shangguan are more satisfied.

Wang Ting's task was completed for most of the time, Li Sizhong's affairs he did not interfere, directly handled by the East Factory and Jinyiwei, there is the East Factory, those benefits are not something he can earn, he came to Wendeng to inspect to let Sun Yuanhua deal with Jinyiwei alone, it is estimated that Sun Yuanhua has been knocked out a lot of silver.

According to the current investigation of the situation, even if Sun Yuanhua did not sell military rations, he also had a charge of lax imperial authority, plus he treated Wen Dengying and ate empty salaries, it was inevitable that he would go to work, Lu Zhi did not belong to either of Wen Tiren and Zhou Yanru, as long as he was in the power of Denglai, whether Wen Tiren could defeat Zhou Yanru, the big tiger, he didn't care.

A few imperial historians sent by Wen Tiren hoped to open the door from Li Sizhong's matter and turn the matter into a strict case of collaborating with the enemy, but they couldn't control the people in Dongchang, and the people in Dongchang only needed silver, and if Sun Yuanhua could afford it, the crime of collaborating with the enemy could be reduced.

Therefore, Wang Tingqian did not want to be involved in this matter, so he simply came to Wendeng to inspect, and when Sun Yuanhua was leaving, he told him that Wendeng Camp was engaged in smuggling, and he also forcibly occupied people's land, and asked Wang Tingqian to verify. Wang Tingqian knew most of these things, but Chen Xin was so domineering now, where did he dare to care, and made up his mind to take care of Wendeng Camp, Chen Xin took him to inspect wherever he went every day, and he never inquired about other situations in Wendeng Camp.

So far, he has inspected for five or six days, he has visited all the poorest places in the Wendeng camp, and today he has also got the benefits in his hands, and finally asked Chen Xin about the starting time of the Wendeng camp.

Chen Xin looked at Lu Zhi, and Lu Zhi stepped forward and said: "Lord Wang, the Wendeng camp has been heavily damaged on Shenmi Island, and most of the current battalion are recruits, how can you travel a long way to Liaodong, at least you have to train for a month or two." ”

Wang Tingqian frowned and said, "But this matter was arranged by the emperor himself......"

Chen Xin hurriedly said: "Xiaguan must not make it difficult for adults, I am a soldier boy, since I should go to the country, even if it is a group of farmers, Xiaguan will take them to Daling River, but they are short of food and rice this year, and when they eat a few more days, the general will take them off." ”

Wang Tingqian asked, "How many days?" ”

Chen Xin pretended to be melancholy, his plan was to casually transfer some auxiliaries to go to sea in early October, and then directly reported that the coast of western Liaoning was frozen, and he could not land on the shore and could come back, according to the situation in previous years, it should be frozen in mid-October.

Wang Tingqian naturally didn't know about his little abacus, and it was not good to continue to force Chen Xin, so he agreed to this time, and then asked about the number of soldiers, Chen Xin still insisted on a thousand people, the two were bargaining, and a Wang Tingdong's personal soldier came on horseback from a distance.

He walked in and dismounted and knelt down and said: "Lord Wang, Lord Zhou in the military department asked your Excellency to return to Dengzhou quickly, Kong Youde's department, which set off a few days ago, suddenly returned to Dengzhou, according to them, the sea in western Liaoning is frozen, and it has been hit by a storm, and the ship has lost a lot of money, so I implore you to set another division ......!!