After the Praetorian Guards conquered the Hukou Fort, the gate to Poyang Lake was completely opened. Hong Chengchou ordered 5,000 men to be left to guard the fort, and the rest of the army entered the lake by boat.

"Hong Aiqing, generals, let's talk about it, how to fight next?" In the middle of the imperial boat, Zhu Youzhen asked everyone.

"Your Majesty, our army is now approaching Poyang Lake, facing the overwhelming momentum of the rebel army Zeng Taishan, the rebels must have been frightened, and the siege of the city is the next and the heart is the top, you can send a messenger to the rebel camp to persuade you to surrender, so that the war can be eliminated without a fight." Yuan Keli, who had just come to escort grain and grass, suggested.

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks it's unnecessary. The rebels are obviously demoralized, and our army can be easily defeated by a normal attack, so why bother to persuade them to surrender?" Zheng Zhilong said. He was appointed as the Governor of Caojiang and was already qualified to speak in front of the Emperor.

"Trouble persuading? It's the first time I've heard of it." Yuan Keli was almost angry, "The soldiers are fierce and dangerous, even if our army can win easily, it will inevitably lose a lot of troops and consume countless money and food. Wouldn't it be easier to persuade him to surrender without a fight?"

For a vulgar martial artist like Zheng Zhilong, Yuan Keli didn't want to talk to him at all, but this was a meeting in front of the emperor, so he had to refute it loudly.

"Lord Yuan has thought about it, if you want to persuade the other party to surrender, you must make a condition, you must make a wish to reward the silver taels. And the combat effectiveness of these rebels is not worth mentioning, and it is useless to recruit them, and they have to spend two silver taels to dismiss them afterwards, and the cost is not even more. On the contrary, our army took the initiative to attack and defeat them, and how much money and food did it cost? Most of our army are newly recruited soldiers, and wouldn't it be better to train them with the help of weak rebels, and what casualties are you afraid of?" Zheng Zhilong Zhenzhen said, what he said was very reasonable.

"Lao Yu understands General Zheng's thoughts, and he just wants to earn military merits. Since we are Your Majesty's courtiers, we should put state affairs first in everything, how can we only consider our own interests?" Yuan Keli said disdainfully,

"As General Zheng said, you need to make a wish to persuade the official to surrender, but how big the wish is is in our control, as for spending two silver to dismiss the surrendered troops, isn't that what we should do? All the people of the world are His Majesty's people, and so are the rebel soldiers who are being held hostage. Could it be that General Zheng wanted to see tens of thousands of rebels flee into the mountains, and how much harm would it bring to the people of Jiangxi at that time? How much food, how much time will it take us to clear these routs?"

"This ......" Zheng Zhilong opened his mouth and stammered, unable to answer any longer.

"Your Majesty, what Yuan Shangshu said is that we should send an envoy to recruit the rebels, so that we may be able to win quickly." Hong Chengchou, who had been listening to the arguments between the two, also stood up and said.

Zhu Youzhen nodded: "Since the two Aiqing have agreed to surrender, then surrender." The official made a wish to seal as much as possible, and as for the future, ......."

Zhu Youzhen didn't say anything more in the future, but everyone understood what he meant, and of course it should be liquidated in the future.

Among the rebels, there are many people who have committed the most heinous crimes, especially the people who support Zhu Yousong's prison country, and Zhu Youzhen will not let go of any of these people.

The strategy of persuading the enemy to surrender was decided, and the specific manpower was selected from the Jinyi Guard, and Liu Wenbing was in charge.

Next, the superintendent Hong Chengchou began to assign military affairs. If you want to quickly deal with the rebels, it is definitely not enough to persuade them to surrender, but also to use their troops. Only by keeping the pressure strong so that they have no hope of winning will they surrender voluntarily. ….

Hong Chengchou ordered that the troops were divided into two routes, one was led by Liu Yongfu, the general soldier of Ningyuan, led by Liu Xingzuo, Li Yangeng, and the generals of Liaodong, led 30,000 Liao soldiers, abandoned the ship, went to Jiujiang by land, and attacked Jiujiang City.

Jiujiang is an important town, guarding the Yangtze River, and occupying Jiujiang can cut off the rebels' escape to Huguang, and can also prevent the Huguang rebels from rescuing Nanchang. However, now that Sun Chuanting is leading the Western Route Army to attack Huguang, it is reported that Xiangyang has been captured, and is marching along the Han River towards Wuchang, I am afraid that the Huguang rebels will not be able to support the Nanchang rebels.

The remaining 120,000 troops went south along the lake by boat and rushed to the camp of Kanglang Mountain, where the rebels were stationed, waiting for an opportunity to fight the main force of the rebels.

Jiujiang was less than sixty miles away from the mouth of Poyang Lake, and when the main fleet was still on the way south, Liu Yongfu had already approached Jiujiang City with an army of 30,000.

At this time, the people of Jiujiang City were panicked. The war situation was critical, and Ma Wenchao, the prefect of Jiujiang, invited the gentry of the whole city

discuss ways to defend the city.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the army of the Dusk Monarch has already captured the mouth of the lake, and tens of thousands of its forwards have reached twenty miles outside Jiujiang City, and now the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in Jiujiang are on us, we should brainstorm and defend Jiujiang City for His Royal Highness." Marven stood up and bowed to the gentry.

Ma Wen Dynasty Shandong, originally Dechang County Order, because the wealth of the hometown was divided, his father was executed after being criticized for his great crimes, and he was extremely resentful of the Chongzhen court, Zhu Yousong was supported as a prisoner in Nanchang, Ma Wen Chao sent a congratulatory table for the first time to express his attachment, and was promoted to the prefect of Jiujiang. Among all the officials of the Nanchang court, Ma Wenchao was the most loyal to Zhu Yousong, because he had no way out.

After listening to Ma Wenchao's words, the gentry looked at each other, and no one wanted to speak out.

The situation is already very obvious, the imperial army has won the battle, and it is a matter of time before Jiangxi is captured, and it is really unwise to take the initiative to confront the imperial court at this time.

"Have you forgotten how to show loyalty to the prison country in the first place, and how to donate money and materials to help the prison country form an army? Now that the faint gentleman is calling, do you still want to stay out of the matter and act as if nothing happened? Once Jiujiang City is broken, will the Praetorian Guards be able to spare you?" Marven sneered.

Ma Wenchao's words hit the weakness of these gentry, because they were afraid that Zhu Youzhen would send people to Juntian, Jiangxi, so they supported Zhu Yousong's rebellion and tried to kill Chongzhen in Nanjing to set up another imperial court. At the beginning, there were 200,000 troops, and there was a famous general Yuan Chonghuan, and the civil and military gentry in Nanjing City were also dissatisfied with Chongzhen, and everyone thought that they could easily take Nanjing City.

But as a result, the 200,000-strong army collapsed, and the commander Yuan Chonghuan was captured and executed by Ling Chi. After the war report was transmitted back to Jiangxi, it shocked everyone in the Nanchang court and shocked the gentry in Jiangxi.

Many people are worried about when Emperor Chongzhen will send an army to Nanchang, and then I am afraid it will be the end of the big guys. In order to resist the imperial army, they once again donated money, food, and property to help the Nanchang Imperial Court form an army. However, he did not expect that the combat effectiveness of the army formed was so poor, and under the attack of the imperial army, it lost several cities in a row, and it had already hit Poyang Lake and outside Jiujiang City.

These gentry were afraid, afraid of the might of the Praetorian Guard, and did not dare to be enemies of the Praetorian Guard again. But what Ma Wenchao said also makes sense, once the Praetorian Guards enter the city, they will definitely not let them go. ….

In this case, only if you fight, you can bet that Jiujiang City can be defended, and the gambling prison can block the main force of the Praetorian Guard in Poyang Lake.

"If you fight, you have to defend Jiujiang City to death!" The gentry Mr. Huang stood up and took the lead in expressing his support.

"I am willing to give 2,000 stone of grain to help Fuzun defend the city." Master Lin, a grain merchant, also stood up.

"We are all at the behest of the government...... other gentry and celebrities also expressed their positions.

"Okay, with the support of your seniors, Jiujiang City will definitely be able to defend it." Marven was overjoyed.

Jiujiang was originally a high city, and there were more than 200,000 people in the city, as long as the city was single-minded, although the enemy had hundreds of thousands, he would not easily capture the city. And now most of the gentry and celebrities in the city have expressed their support for defending the city, and most of the wealth in the city is controlled by these people, and their energy can be imagined.

With the support of these gentry, they can easily raise enough money and food, and they can recruit tens of thousands of people to help defend the city, and the tens of thousands of Praetorian Guards outside the city will have great difficulty in capturing Jiujiang.

"Okay, let's prepare a batch of money and food first, and I will personally send it to the camp to pay the army, and then stabilize the army in the city first." Marven immediately said.

The people's will is important, the army's heart is equally important, and only the upper and lower hearts can hold Jiujiang City.

Taking advantage of the time to raise food and materials, Ma Wenchao personally went to the eunuch's mansion to see the eunuch Li He, and asked Li He to go to the labor army together.

"Our family is ordered by the prison country to guard Jiujiang, and the labor army is within its own responsibility, and the government can send someone to send the labor army's money and food to my house, and I will go back to the labor army." Li He said with a smile.

"......" Ma Wenchao was a little speechless.

When the money and grain are sent to the eunuch's mansion, how much is left in the army?

"The father-in-law's subordinate has been prepared, the war is urgent, in order to prevent the morale of the army from being shaken, it is better to send the money and food directly to the barracks." Marven Chao said.

Li He looked at Ma Wenchao deeply for a few moments, and finally nodded and said, "It's okay, just follow the mansion."

After agreeing on the time of the labor army, Ma Wenchao took his leave and left.

"Godfather, this surnamed Ma obviously doesn't take you seriously." The little eunuch who was waiting on the side said angrily.

Li He sighed: "It doesn't matter, I don't know if this Jiujiang City can be defended, and I have to rely on Marven Dynasty to defend the city."

"What if the city can't hold it? Godfather, do we have to be ready?" The little eunuch asked.

Li He nodded: "It's time to prepare."

As he spoke, he glanced around, beckoned the little eunuch to come forward, and commanded softly: "Little Dezi, you bring some silver taels and quietly go to buy a mansion, don't let anyone know, if the city can't be defended, we will at least have a place to hide......

When Ma Wenchao returned to the palace, he was asking people to count the money and food raised by the gentry, when suddenly someone from his subordinates came to report:

"Fuzun, a brother saw the gate of Dongcheng open, and the soldiers guarding the gate took a person in and sent him to General Xu's mansion."

"Huh?" Marven was stunned, "What does this mean?"

"The city gate has long been sealed, and no one is allowed to enter, unless someone from Nanchang comes. But shouldn't people from Nanchang see the mansion first? Therefore, the subordinates estimated that most of the people who came were sent by the enemy......

After listening to the analysis of his subordinates, Ma Wenchao suddenly shuddered.

If it is really a detailed work sent by Chongzhen, it must be to persuade him to surrender, if Shoujiang Xu Yong is persuaded to surrender, it is useless to toss himself.

"Don't count any more, come on, load everything into the car, and follow me to the General Soldier's Mansion!" Marven said sharply.

ps: I've been more idle lately, so I'm thinking about it or continue to write, this book has poured a lot of effort and feelings, and the eunuch is really unwilling. But after being interrupted for so long, the popularity has long been gone, and there is no money to be made. If you really like it, brothers, give a subscription to support it. The update won't be too fast, after all, there is another book written.

Ren Guocheng