Jiangbei fell into the hands of the Qing court, leaving only the lonely city of Yangzhou, trapped on the north bank and struggling to support.

The 300,000 Qing troops joined forces for 80 miles, and there was a great tendency to break Yangzhou, drink the Yangtze River, and throw the whip to cut off the stream. The Qing army is here, and the prosperity of the military peak is comparable to that of the former Qin Fujian, but the Hongguang Dynasty is not the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the people in the DPRK are not aligned, and the generals support the troops and are self-respecting, and they cannot be mobilized at all.

After Wang Yan recaptured Yangzhou, the Hongguang court wanted to send troops from Fujian to help, but the money and grain in the court had already been consumed by Jiangbei and Zuozhen, and it could not meet Zheng Zhilong's requirements, so he had to give up.

The threat of the Qing army in Jiangbei has surpassed the rebels in Zuozhen, Ma Shiying had to compromise and transfer 10,000 horses and horses of Fang Guoan, the general soldier of Chizhou, to rescue Yangzhou, but after the Fang Department rushed to Zhenjiang, he saw that the Qing army camp was spreading, and the flags were like forests, and there were tens of thousands of people, so he did not dare to cross the river rashly.

Zheng Hongkui, the waterproof master of the river, hurriedly wrote to the imperial court, saying: "There are more than 40,000 people stationed on the riverbank, and the soldiers of Zhenjiang are less than 20,000. The minister implored His Majesty to send tens of thousands of more soldiers, so that the ministers could work together to help the generals, break through the coastal defense, and rescue the people of Yangzhou. ”

Hongguang Dynasty got the report, Donglin and the party again wanted to transfer Huang Degong to aid Yang, Ma Shiying and the emperor were worried that the left would take advantage of the situation to go east, so they refused, saying: "You can recruit troops to help!" ”

The people of Donglin refuted again: "The court has no money, how to recruit troops." ”

Ma Ruan said: "You can add land and levy business taxes." ”

The people of Donglin are the gentry of Jiangnan, the representatives of the big families, so they naturally can't tolerate it, and fiercely opposed: "The tax increase hurts the people, and it may provoke a civil uprising!" ”

The two parties argued endlessly, and whatever one party proposed, the other party would inevitably oppose it, and the government was in a miasma, causing time to pass, but the court had no solution.

The minister who wanted to do practical things was suddenly disheartened, and Zuo Maodi saw that he could not affect the court situation in the court, so he only heard that he quarreled endlessly every day, so he followed the book and asked to go to Zhejiang to raise his own food and salary, and recruit the township to help him.

The party struggle of the Hongguang Dynasty made Wang Yan recapture Yangzhou, and the precious time he bought for the Ming Dynasty was wasted, and the opportunity to adjust his strategy was missed.

Soon after, the troops of the Zhun Tower went to Yangzhou, the soldiers and horses of Jiangbei surrendered to the Qing court, and the news of the siege of Yangzhou reached 300,000 people into the imperial court.

At this time, whether it was Fujian, or the soldiers and horses of Hunan and Guangdong, they were far from quenching their thirst, and the emperor and courtiers had to hope that Wang Yan, who was guarding Yangzhou, could hold the city and block the Qing army in Jiangbei.

In order to grasp the life-saving straw of Yangzhou, the emperor and the courtiers hurriedly conferred official titles on the people of Yangzhou, and the general Wang Yan was promoted to two levels in a row, and was named the general of Guangzhou, the general of the dragon and tiger, the loyal and brave uncle, and the chief of Yangzhou's defense.

The edict was sent to Yangzhou overnight, but at this time the Qing army had already controlled part of the waterway, and the messenger and the reinforcements on the south bank could only go to Zhenjiang, and then looked at the river and sighed.

Duoduo's 300,000-strong army besieged Yangzhou, occupied a huge advantage, and even climbed the city wall repeatedly, but was finally driven down by the Ming army. The Qing court wanted to fight a quick battle, but Yangzhou could not be attacked for a long time, which made Duoduo very annoyed.

At this time, the time had reached the beginning of June, the weather in the south of the Yangtze River was getting hotter and hotter, and the epidemic began to occur in the Qing military camp.

Within a few days, the catapult was built, and Duoduo ordered the Qing army to slaughter the people, expose the corpses to the sun, and then throw them into the city.

Duoduo wanted to create a plague to defeat the Yangzhou defenders, but the plague was not easy to control, he ordered the army to be stationed in separate camps, and ordered the Qing soldiers to arrest the doctors, and transported a large number of medicinal herbs to prevent the outbreak of the plague in the Qing army camp, and then waited for the plague to break out in the city of Yangzhou.

Wang Yan didn't expect the Qing army to be so vicious, so he hurriedly asked people to burn the corpses and summon the doctors in Yangzhou City, but the epidemic still spread quickly in Yangzhou City, making a large number of people infected in the city every day.

Yangzhou city sheltered more than 700,000 soldiers and civilians, it was very dirty, and surrounded on all sides, filthy things could not be transported out of the city to bury, it was easy to cause disease, the Qing army threw dead bodies into the city, and suddenly let the already bad environment in the city collapse, the epidemic broke down, and harvested human lives.

Yangzhou, which was already in crisis, became even more stormy.

In Yangzhou City, more than a month of defense made Yangzhou Qingzhuang more than 30,000 killed, 20,000 wounded, and Wang Yan's available soldiers only had more than 40,000 left.

Although Wang Yan asked people to boil hot water, isolate the infected, burn corpses, and dispose of feces, there was a lack of medicinal materials in the city, and he still failed to control the epidemic, and the defenders infected thousands of people.

With the consumption of more than 700,000 soldiers and civilians in the city, the grain and grass in the city have become scarce, and all kinds of materials have begun to be scarce, and Yangzhou has reached the moment of crisis.

Wang Yan originally thought that after retaking Yangzhou, the Ming reinforcements would soon cross the river to support, but he didn't expect that Liu Liangzuo's 40,000 reinforcements would have surrendered to the Qing court, and then the Zhongyi Battalion infantry and other Ming reinforcements that were supposed to arrive had no news, and Yangzhou could only rely on the young men and thousands of officers and soldiers in the city.

The lonely city could not be defended for a long time, Yangzhou was besieged by 300,000 Qing troops, and the epidemic was rampant in the city, if there was no support, Yangzhou's blood would dry up sooner or later, and Wang Yan had to fight for more than 700,000 soldiers and civilians in the city.

It is impossible for him to give up on the people and watch them being slaughtered by the Qing soldiers, so he can't break through with his soldiers and horses, and the Qing army will not retreat, so he can only hope that the imperial court will send reinforcements to support him quickly.

That night, in a military camp in Yangzhou City, the torches were bright, 3,000 armor soldiers stood on the school field, and in front of them were 100 strong men without armor, Hu Weizong, Zhang Youde, and Dai Zhifan were all standing among them.

They did not participate in the defense of the city during the day, but recuperated and waited for the arrival of the evening to complete their special mission.

Flickering torches, shining on everyone's faces, exuding bursts of slaughtering atmosphere, hundreds of strong men are Wang Yan's selection of water, and good warriors, most of them are men begging for a living on the canal, the Qing army went south, so that they became Yangzhou defenders, become warriors who wield knives to protect their families.

Now, each of these 100 people carries a letter of help stamped with Wang Yan's official seal, and each of them is a hope for Yangzhou.

"The wind is sluggish and the water is cold, and the strong man will never return once he is gone!" Wang Yan carried the war knife, looked at the armor soldiers and the hundred strong men in front of the school field, and shouted loudly with a trace of grief and indignation.

"Yangzhou is besieged on all sides, and it will be trapped in the city with you, and now the epidemic is rampant in the city, if the siege cannot be lifted, it will be with your relatives and die in the city." Wang Yan looked at the hundred people, and suddenly bowed: "The people of Yangzhou, who will have their lives, are entrusted to you and others today." Tonight, I will personally bring the armor soldiers to open a bloody road for you and others, you must not forget the trust of the fathers and elders in Yangzhou, move to rescue the soldiers, and relieve the people from hanging! ”