On the third day of the fifth month of the sixteenth year of the Ming Dynasty, there are no clouds in this sky, and the clear blue sky is as transparent as washing, and it is pleasing to the eye. There are several trenches on the periphery of Shenyang under this sky - this is not dug by the Qing army defending the city, but by the loyal and righteous army themselves, in order to prevent the enemy troops in the city from fleeing, so as to achieve the goal of completely annihilating the defenders in the city. And between the trenches, every mile, there is a simple fortress built of earth, the fortress is deployed with small artillery and hundreds of firearms, the fortress cooperates with each other, even if there are tens of thousands of Qing troops to attack, can not break through this line of defense.

Shengjing has become a dead city!

For the people in the city, when they saw the trenches, the fortresses, and the dense deer rocks, they almost understood their fate - the Ming army wanted to besiege them and kill them...... In this way, it also made the defending side relax a little, at least this shows that the Ming army has no intention of storming Shengjing.

"Surround it, surround it, surround it for half a month, and the emperor will lead a large army to save us......"

Almost all the flag soldiers were thinking like this, and those leaders and commanders kept instilling this idea in them.

As long as the Ming army does not attack, they can hold Shengjing until the emperor leads 200,000 troops to rescue!

It seems that for the people in the city, all their hopes lie in the emperor's rescue, and even in the fact that the Ming army does not attack, but ...... How could the Ming army not attack the city?

Although it was already May, the muddy water still seemed a little cold, and for the loyal officers and soldiers who had become accustomed to bathing every day in the barracks, although the river water was a little cold, they would still use the noon time to scrub their bodies by the river.

Good hygiene equals combat effectiveness!

Whether it's a daily bath or a well-equipped toilet, most epidemics can be avoided in this day and age, and bathing can avoid the breeding of lice, which can transmit a variety of infectious diseases. Because of this, even on the battlefield, as long as there are conditions, it is extremely necessary to take a bath or scrub your body every day.

"This water is so cold......"

While scrubbing his body with a cloth towel and enduring the cold brought by the river, Wang Yushu looked towards the artillery position in the distance, but he could not see the artillery position at all, only a thick earthen wall, which was six zhang thick and about one zhang high that thousands of sappers had piled up in half a month. And behind the earthen wall is the coastal defense mortillery, and now, the big guys already know that those coastal defense cannons weighing 15,000 catties will fire the first shot of the siege.

"Yushu, when do you think we will attack the city?"

Seeing that Yushu's eyes had been staring at the artillery position, the sixth child asked.

"The devil knows, anyway, as long as they blast the city open, we will attack it, and then ......"

Gesturing with his hand, Wang Yushu sneered.

"Just kill him and don't give birth!"

But any Han people with a little conscience will not forget the massacre of the Qing army when they entered the customs, and for these officers and soldiers in the army, their family members and friends have died under the butcher's knife of the Qing army.

Sometimes, people's emotions are always so simple, and so love-hate-clear.

The emotions of ordinary soldiers are so simple, and the emotions of the officers are also extremely simple, and their simple and unpretentious thoughts are very simple - to recover Shenyang! Recovering the homeland of the Ming Dynasty, as for the rest, is not within their consideration.

“…… The circumference of the city wall is 9 li and 332 steps, 651 defensive battlements are set up on all sides, and the original two moats outside the city are combined into one, widened to 14 zhang 5 feet, and the circumference is 10 li and 204 steps......"

When the staff officer pointed to the map to introduce the city wall of Shenyang and its city defense, Zhang Xiaowu just took a ruler and drew on the map, and when he was drawing with a pen, Yu Shujie took a look at it and didn't say anything, until the staff officer finished introducing the city defense of Shenyang, and asked.

"Deputy Commander Zhang, do you have any other suggestions?"

The conductor's inquiry made Zhang Xiaowu put down his pen and raised his head and said.

"The river is 14 feet and 5 feet wide, and the deepest part is 1 foot and 5 feet deep! It's not easy to hit such a wide and deep river......"

Thinking about this moat, Zhang Xiaojie's brows were tightly locked.

"According to the lesson plan of the martial arts, the siege of the city is nothing more than the collapse, artillery bombardment, these two methods are the easiest to use, especially the latter, after all, the collapse needs to excavate the tunnel, but if the moat is deep, it is naturally impossible to excavate the tunnel, so the first choice is the shelling, although according to the test, the siege of the city with mortars, with heavy iron bullets to continuously hit the city wall, and finally cause the city wall to collapse, but the mortar artillery is not accurate, even if it is not easy to smash the city wall, when the siege is too long, when the time comes, The defending side must be ready, and when the time comes, ......"

Raising his head and looking at the map on the map shelf, Zhang Xiaojie continued.

"A bloody battle is inevitable, not to mention that Shengjing is the nest of the Qing captives, they must defend the city with the heart of death, plus there are thousands of living Jurchens in the city who are not afraid of death, street battles and melee combat are their strengths, such a siege method is really not the best policy."

Zhang Xiaowu's remarks are tantamount to a direct negation of the plan formulated by the Military Command Department; in the military sequence of Jiangbei, the military affairs yamen may be the highest military affairs organ, but the military affairs yamen only manages the construction of Jiangbei's military forces, such as the recruitment, establishment, equipment, training, scientific research, and military ranks and salaries of new soldiers. Therefore, the military affairs yamen did not have actual military command. The actual command organ is the Military Command Department headed by King Huai, which is responsible for the operational command of the army, and it is also the responsibility of the Military Command Department to formulate operational plans. The plan to attack Shengjing was also formulated by the Military Command Department, and now Zhang Xiaowu's words are directly repudiating the plan of the Military Command Department.

Despite this, Yu Shujie did not stubbornly adhere to the plan of the Military Command Department, but motioned for him to continue.

"Commander, you see this Shenyang City, it is just a city, the length and width are only two miles, if we concentrate the mortars and mortars of the whole army, and divide the Shenyang City into nine grids, each grid will be about one mile long and wide, and then each grid will be calculated according to 5,000 shells, and it will only take 45,000 rounds at most to almost level the Shenyang City, and when the time comes, it will ......."

Raze the city of Shenyang to the ground!

As soon as Zhang Xiaowu's words fell, Fang Yizhi, who was present at the meeting, almost immediately objected loudly.

"No, how can Shenyang be razed to the ground, although this Shenyang will not be the center of the Northeast in the future, but it is also a key city in the Northeast, if Shenyang is destroyed, when the time comes, will it have to be rebuilt, and when the time comes, it will outweigh the losses. Besides......"

Thinking of the king's earlier advice, Fang Youzhi added.

"Besides, most of the Qing captives in the city are the families of their dignitaries, and they don't know how many people they have brought to loot our Han people, if the city is razed to the ground, then these things will all be destroyed by artillery fire......"

"It can't be destroyed!"

Shaking his head, Fang Xiaowu said directly.

"Even if the silver is burned, it is still silver, and besides, those people who will put silver and valuable things in the house openly, not all of them in the cellar, as long as they don't happen to be hit by a hundred catties of shells, how can they be destroyed? Let's talk ...... again."

Facing Fang Yizhi's gaze, Fang Xiaowu leaned back on the chair a little lazily, and then said.

"As the commander of the army, I need to be responsible for the lives of the soldiers, as for this Shenyang City...... What's the matter if it's ruined, don't want this tartar thing. ”

After saying this, Zhang Xiaowu turned his gaze to Yu Shujie, and then said.

"I estimate that if the city is shelled, the casualties can be reduced to less than 1,000, and if it is attacked, the casualties may exceed 5,000, after all, there are now 30,000 Qing troops and people in the city!"

"In the future, when we move here, we will always need a place to live, and it would be a pity to say that it was so ruined!"

Fang Yizhi tried to keep Shenyang City again, but he already knew the answer from Yu Shujie's gaze, compared to others, for the commander of the army, they were more concerned about the city, what they cared about was the casualties of the troops. The concern is how to minimize the casualties of the troops, as for the city...... It's just a dead thing, it's not a big deal.

"Well, but even so, when the time comes, the wall will still be there."

Yu Shujie looked at Zhang Xiaowu and asked.

"When the time comes, what will happen to this wall?"

"Commander, in this city, there are eight banners, as well as their coats, and the birth of the Jurchens who are not listed in the flags, how can their minds be a rope? If we smash the cannonballs one by one, and then appropriately attack the heart, persuade them to surrender, and command, do you think they will sacrifice the city? ”

Whether he will dedicate the city, Yu Shujie does not know, but it is certain that when facing a dead end, everyone will think about themselves and want to find a way to live!

"In that case......

After a moment of silence, Yu Shujie's fingers tapped lightly on the table, but he didn't speak immediately, as if he was weighing something.

"Then let's do it!"

Whether it was Fang Yizhi or Yu Shujie, they didn't think about how many civilian casualties would be caused by razing Shenyang City to the ground, compared to civilian casualties, they all had their own values, especially Fang Yizhi, after hearing Yu Shujie nod in agreement, he finally sighed helplessly. He knew that no matter what, this Shenyang City would not be able to be saved!

It's a pity......

When Fang Yizhi said that it was a pity and a pity that he couldn't keep the buildings in Shenyang City, Yu Shujie said again.

"However, we have to act quickly, in case the Qing Lu is desperate to return to Liaodong, then our life will not be easy......"