In Wu Zheng's view, even if the troops in his hands are not enough to recover Ying Tianfu, it should not be difficult to take down a Changzhou with empty troops and a new defeat.

The Qing army suffered two defeats in a row, and its morale must have been low, and the composition of the Qing army, the largest part was still the surrender of the Ming army from all over the country.

The number of troops that can be mobilized in Hong Chengchou's hands has reached the limit, and even if the Qing court in the north can increase its troops to the south, it will be half a month later.

If the front can be advanced to the north of Changzhou, then it may not be impossible for the Ming army to recover the south bank of the Yangtze River.

And if you are lucky, if you can recover Ying Tianfu, the situation of resisting the Qing Dynasty will be reversed in an instant.

Countless surrendered troops on the southeast coast will be anyway, and the rebels from all over the country will swarm in.

The worst is that it can also rely on the Yangtze River natural danger and the Qing court to govern from north to south.

After a delay of two days in Jiangyin, even if it was two or three days later in Hangzhou, I am afraid that it would not be able to catch up with the battle of Shaoxingfu.

Although worried, Wu Zheng decided to continue the Northern Expedition.

Wuzhuang is guarded by Chen Sheng of Pinggang Mountain, and no matter how much the relatives in the village retreat to the cottage with Chen Sheng, they can also support it for a period of time.

In addition, Chi Erhan led 10,000 people to reinforcements, although it was difficult to hold Shaoxing Mansion, it must be possible to escort the monarchs and ministers of Shaoxing Mansion to retreat to Hangzhou.

Compared with the loss of Shaoxing Mansion, it is more worthwhile to occupy Changzhou and march into Yingtianfu.

And Wu Zheng still has a glimmer of hope in his heart, that is, after taking Changzhou, there may be surrounding rebels to come to serve, so that the troops available for siege will increase.

The army has been launched, and Wu Zheng and other generals are at the end.

At this time, a voice suddenly came from behind him, "The general stays." ”

Wu Zheng turned around to look, only to see the old man who had blocked him on the official road before, with the support of several teenagers, rushing in his direction.

Wu Zheng hurriedly greeted him, "My husband is in such a hurry, what else is the matter?" ”

The old man excitedly arched his hand and said: "The general saved me Jiangyin, the old man has nothing to repay, and I ask the general to wait for a while, the people of Jiangyin have a heavy gift." ”

Wu Zheng heard this and laughed.

If he is greedy for money and wants to receive gifts, the 100,000 taels of silver that were looted by Tu Guobao in the county government will not be returned to the people of Jiangyin.

No matter how heavy the old man's gift is, can it be heavier than 100,000 taels of silver?

"My father-in-law's mind, this official has received it, but this gift, there is no need, this official's military affairs are urgent, so I will not accompany you." Wu Zhengwan refused.

I don't want the old man to step forward and grab Wu Zheng's hand and say, "The general led the king division to the west, but in order to recover Changzhou?" ”

Wu Zheng didn't want to reveal it, but Wu Zheng also believed in the old man's loyalty.

If anyone in this Jiangyin City will betray himself, I am afraid that the saliva of the people in the city will drown him.

One city, eighty-one days, hundreds of thousands of lives, no one has been cleared, this kind of background, there is no traitor.

"My uncle guessed right, I heard that there was a shortage of defenders in Changzhou City, and this official wanted to take advantage of the situation to recover in order to try Nanjing."

The old man was overjoyed and said: "The general is really a famous general of my dynasty, since this is the case, the general must accept this great gift!" ”

Wu Zheng became curious at this moment, can the gifts given by the people be related to the success or failure of this battle?

So, Wu Zheng didn't want to wait.

About the time of the pillar of smoke, there were hundreds of people in the city, carrying many large vats.

There was also a long cart, tightly wrapped, and I don't know what was in it.

Wu Zheng was led forward by the old man.

Come to the crowd.

The old man pointed to the vat and said to Wu Zheng: "General, do you know, what are these?" ”

Wu Zheng looked at these large vats with the mouth of the cylinder sealed tightly by oil paper, and his heart suddenly moved, and he asked in horror: "Could it be ...... Is it gunpowder? ”

The old man clapped his hands and exclaimed: "The general is indeed a god, and there is gunpowder in this vat." ”

Wu Zheng was horrified, looking at these 20 or so large vats, God, how much gunpowder does this have, a tank of four people to carry, at least two or three hundred catties.

How could there be such a huge amount of gunpowder in a county town in Jiangyin?

"Uncle, where did all this gunpowder come from, how could there be such a large amount of gunpowder in the city?"

The old man raised his head, his expression became extremely solemn, he trembled his fingers, pointed to the city tower, the door where Yan Yingyuan left his handwriting, and said in a trembling voice: "On the 21st of leap June, the Qing army could not conquer it for several days, so I asked the Qing court for support, and the Qing court sent more than 1,000 generals such as seven kings, eight kings, and ten kings, with more than 100,000 troops, with 240 cannons to the outside of Jiangyin City, and sent Liu Liangzuo as the vanguard to attack the west gate first. ”

"Yan Gong led the people of the whole city to defend it, and sent hundreds of messengers to beg for help from all over the surrounding areas...... Does the general know how many reinforcements these hundreds of messengers have begged? ”

Wu Zheng was silent and shook his head.

The old man said sadly: "Not a single soldier has entered Jiangyin!" On the contrary, there were rebels from all over the country, at least tens of thousands of people came. What is infuriating is that the Ming army in various places actually took advantage of this to blackmail Jiangyin, such as Wu Zhikui, the general soldier of Wusong, who borrowed his soldiers to be in arrears for a long time, and Jiangyin had to offer a thousand gold before he could send troops for reinforcements. The history of Yan Dian made people gather enough gold and sent it to Wu Zhikui. ”

Wu Zhengshu said angrily: "Then did Wu Zhikui come to reinforce him?" ”

The old man nodded and said, "Here we are." But the time was delayed, the Qing army had formed a three-sided encirclement of Jiangyin City, Wu Zhikui had not yet arrived in Jiangyin, the department was defeated by the Qing army, and he himself was captured by the Qing army and surrendered. ”

Wu Zheng's face was like water, and the depression in his heart was beyond words.

There are many things that you don't know, but once you hear about them, you will have endless chagrin in your heart.

What kind of world is this, the Ming army, which should have been responsible for defending the land, let it go, but those reckless rogues actually shed the last drop of blood for the Ming Dynasty, and what is even more tragic is that the hundreds of thousands of people in Jiangyin City who died in vain in the west were martyred for the Ming Dynasty.

The old man continued: "In desperation, Yan Dianshi asked people to register the household registration in the city, how many insurances, how many households, how many populations, how many people in the prime of life and the elderly, all of them were registered. Then he chose some strong and brave men to join his command, and relied on their strength to accomplish this righteous deed. After that, Yan Gong also launched a fundraiser, and if he had money, he could also contribute materials and efforts if he didn't have money. At most, there were 500 urns of gunpowder, 2,000 stones of lead bullets, more than 100 cannons, 2,000 shotguns, 10 million pieces of money, 10 million ends of silk, 10000 jars of wine, 10,000 bells of fruits, 10,000 jars of beans, 10,000 bundles of fodder, 10,000 catties of salt, 10,000 copper and iron utensils, 1,000 heads of cattle, 1,000 pigs and sheep, 1,000 bags of dried fish, and 1,000 furrows of vegetables. ”

Wu Zheng was dumbfounded, this Yan Yingyuan's handwriting was indeed big enough.

This, in turn, also shows the mind of the people of Jiangyin for this, such a huge amount of materials, even if the Shaoxing Imperial Court is afraid that it has long been unable to raise, and a small county in Jiangyin has raised such a large amount of materials, the Ming Dynasty is really rich in the people.