The coastal areas of Fujian were filled with smoke, and for a time the military information of the invasion of the "Haikou grain grabbing team" spread all over the coastal areas of Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong.

Zheng Tai's sailors entered Quanzhou Bay, and the Qing army sailors who were hit hard did not dare to meet the battle, Zheng Tai's sailors walked around Quanzhou Bay as if they were in a no-man's land, and found that the Qing army in Quanzhou was heavily armed, so they gave up Quanzhou, continued to drive the boat north, and went ashore to harass it in the Chongwu area, seized some grain and boarded the ship to continue north. Zheng Tai's troops had only 5,000 soldiers and horses, but they restrained more than 100,000 Qing troops in Quanzhou, Putian, Fuzhou and other places, and did not dare to act rashly.

Zheng Chenggong's main force of 10,000 soldiers and horses was in Zhangzhou, and after landing, he captured Haicheng. Although the Qing army in Zhangzhou had more than 20,000 soldiers and horses, the Qing army was newly defeated and demoralized, so it did not dare to take the initiative to provoke Zheng Chenggong's 10,000 army.

The battle reports everywhere gave Huang Wu, Li Shutai and others a headache.

The Qing army Zhangzhou camp, Fujian governor Li Shutai and Fujian governor Xu Yongzhen were all in Zhangzhou camp. Not long before, Li Shutai and Xu Yongzhen personally led people to build a strong city and deep pond in Yunxiao, and after the city was completed, the two led a large army to Zhangzhou to confront Zheng Chenggong on the other side. Although these two people are first-level feudal officials in Fujian Province, because of Zheng Chenggong, these two have not returned to Fuzhou for a long time.

"Report to your lord! According to the report from the spies, Haikou still has two partial divisions, which are heading to the sea south of Zhangzhou! A personal soldier walked into Li Shutai's big tent.

Li Shutai's brows were twisted, and after a while, he let his soldiers retreat: "Okay, you go down first!" ”

"Wow!" The pro-soldiers retreated.

Xu Yongzhen said: "Your Excellency, the Haikou Zheng Tai is still continuing to march north, looking for our weak points to land. And Zheng rebelled against the head of the thief, but in Yuegang; Now there are still two partial divisions, all the way to the south, they don't want to land in the area of Yunxiao Zhao'an, right? ”

Li Shutai felt that it was unlikely that the two deviant divisions would land in Yunxiao: "The thief Tongshan Wei has all the fine works to come into Yunxiao, and Zheng Wei must also know that Yunxiao City is strong now, and it is impossible to conquer it at all; And if the thief wants to take Zhao'an, he must first take the clouds. Yunxiao is garrisoned by Xu Shichang, Yang Sheng and others, with more than 1,000 green battalion soldiers and more than 3,000 auxiliary soldiers. If the thieves come to attack, they can also mobilize five or six thousand people to help in the war. Without more than 30,000 troops, it is impossible for the thieves to capture the clouds. If the thieves make a desperate gamble and concentrate their forces to attack Yunxiao, they will inevitably fall under Yunxiao City, and our army can annihilate them in one fell swoop! Therefore, the official judged that the two deviant divisions of the thieves were going to Guangdong. Since they are going to Guangdong, we don't have to worry about it, let Monk Wu Liuqi have a headache. ”

"Your Excellency! So what are we going to do with thieves now? Xu Yongzhen asked.

Li Shutai replied: "The thieves have two partial divisions in the north and south, either as a bait or as a bait to harvest summer grain, their real purpose is still in Zhangzhou, as long as we reinforce Haicheng, the army will not be able to hold out after reaching Haicheng, and confront the thieves, and the thieves will definitely retreat without a fight." As for Huang Wu in Quanzhou, let him guard his Quanzhou. This official will also send expedited fast horses to strictly order all prefects and counties to defend the city! If there is a mistake, he will be severely punished for the crime of losing his land! ”

Xu Yongzhen asked again: "My lord, since Zheng Cheng sent it to the door, don't we take the initiative to send troops to encircle and annihilate him?" ”

"Never!" Li Shutai shook his head, "In the twelfth year, Zheng Wei attacked Fuzhou, but he didn't attack for a long time, and then the thieves turned to attack Ningde. Who knew that Zheng Cheng took advantage of the sailors, and the main force secretly landed on the coast around Luoyuan at night, and Zheng Cheng's empty fleet continued to attack Ningde. Akshan didn't know that there was a deception, and continued to march towards Ningde, but he died in ambush in the Huguo Ridge. This Zheng Yi is extremely cunning, if our army is mobilized, he will be led by the nose by taking advantage of the sailor, and it will be a fiasco if he accidentally ambushes! ”

Using the maneuver of the naval division to disperse the forces of the Qing army, or whether it is true or false, moving on the sea, waiting for an opportunity to attack the Qing army, this is a trick commonly used by Zheng Chenggong, and the Qing army has suffered many losses, but it cannot be resolved.

Li Shutai did not dare to divide the troops, so he could only make the troops hold out, and he led the main force to confront Zheng Chenggong's main force.

Xu Yongzhen asked again: "The thieves came to grab the summer grain, but we didn't stop it, wouldn't that let the thieves succeed?" ”

"It's not a big deal to let the thieves succeed, there is not much summer food they can snatch, as long as the county seat is not breached! If the county seat is lost, the loss of grain, grass and silver will be heavy. As for the grain stolen by the thieves, we will go to the imperial court and give tax exemption to the counties and towns that were robbed. Li Shutai replied.

"Your Excellency! Only in this way can Zheng Yi retreat. It's just that if the clouds fall, we will fall into passivity! Zheng Wei had a total of 30,000 soldiers and horses, 5,000 on the North Road, and 10,000 on the main force of the Chinese army; If the thieves are desperate to attack Yunxiao with 15,000 men and carry red-coated cannons to attack the city, then Yunxiao will be in danger. Xu Yongzhen said worriedly.

Xu Yongzhen's worries are not unreasonable, once the important town of Yunxiao is lost, the Qing army in Zhangzhou will not go to Yunxiao, and it will not be if they do not go. If you don't go, Yunxiao will be destroyed by the Ming army, and the Ming army stationed in Tongshanwei can land at any time in the future; If he goes, Zheng Chenggong takes the opportunity to attack Zhangzhou, then Huang Wu has to transfer troops from Quanzhou to Zhangzhou. However, as soon as Quanzhou's troops and horses moved, the troops of Putian and Fuzhou had to be mobilized, and Zheng Tai could take advantage of the situation at any time to capture several cities.

As soon as the clouds are lost, the entire coastal area of Fujian will be in chaos.

Li Shutai suddenly seemed to remember something, touched his beard and said, "Yuan Liang (Zhou Lianggong) is also in the clouds." This person originally committed a crime and was to be assigned to Ningguta, but fortunately, the Holy God forgave him for his great sins, and this person returned to Zhangzhou. This official built the city of Yunxiaojian, and this person also participated in the construction of the city. ”

Xu Yongzhen smiled with relief: "With Yuanliang here, Yunxiao is even more worry-free!" ”

Zhou Lianggong was also a famous traitor in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, and this person was the most stubborn against Zheng Chenggong. In the ninth year of Shunzhi, Zheng Chenggong besieged Zhangzhou, and the Qing army in Zhangzhou held on to the city, and was besieged and lacked food. Zheng Chenggong flooded Zhangzhou City with the Jiulong River. The city of Zhangzhou was about to be broken, and Zhou Lianggong led his troops south in the starry night to repel the Zheng army. Later, in the thirteenth year of Shunzhi, Zheng Chenggong attacked Fuzhou, but suffered a loss at the hands of Zhou Lianggong. Two years ago, he was imprisoned for committing a crime and awaiting the ruling of the imperial court in Fuzhou. But Shunzhi pardoned the man. Li led Tai to build Yunxiao, and this person actively rushed to Yunxiao to personally design the city and build a strong city. Zhou Lianggong is still very good at defending and building cities.

At this time, the guards in Yunxiao County were the Qing army's guerrilla Yang Sheng, the Chinese army's garrison Cai Zhong, and the supervision of the imperial history who was transferred from the capital not long ago, Xu Shichang, a member of the Han Eight Banners, and Zhou Lianggong, the political secretary of Fujian Zuobu, who had just been released from prison. The defenders consisted of 1,000 green battalion armored soldiers, 3,000 auxiliaries, and a large number of people transferred from other counties in the city. After Li Shutai's newly built Yunxiao County, the city is high and deep, and the geographical location is very important, which restricts the pipeline from Fujian to Guangdong, and also chokes the road for Tongshanwei to land deep into Fujian, and at the same time blocks the entrance and exit of Zhalumshan. If the Ming army wanted to attack Yunxiao, it would not be able to take it without a force of 50,000 people. Once Zheng Chenggong made a desperate move to attack Yunxiao, Li Shutai in the north and Wu Liuqi in the south would be able to rush to attack Zheng Chenggong.

Besides, Wang Xinyu's fleet arrived at Tongshanwei after a night of sailing.

Tongshan Wei, located in today's Dongshan Island, this is a Ming Dynasty government built a thousand households in coastal defense, the city wall of Tongshan Wei is 571 zhang long, one zhang wide, two zhang and one foot high, with a water division village. After the Qing army entered Fujian, the officers and soldiers of the Tongshan Guard Station were changed to the establishment and placed under the jurisdiction of the Zheng family.

The fleet entered the Dazhai of the Tongshan Guard, and the garrisons Guo Yi and Cai Lu stationed in the Tongshan Guard hurriedly greeted them.

Walking into the big tent of the Chinese army, after everyone sat down, Guo Yi asked: "The two adults came to Tongshan, are they going to Chaoshan, passing by to replenish fresh water and grain?" ”

Chen Python smiled: "No! We don't go to Chaoshan! We're going to hit the clouds! ”

Cai Lu was taken aback: "Hit the clouds? The city is strong, and it is said that it was designed by Zhou Lianggong, there are currently 4,000 defenders in the city, and it can mobilize tens of thousands of people. If our army is attacking the city, we will not want to take it without 50,000 or 60,000 men! ”

Wang Xinyu laughed and said: "Ben will come today, just to claim that it is an army of 50,000 to attack Yunxiao!" ”

Guo Yi smiled as if he understood something: "Lord Wang is using a suspicious strategy!" The two of you have 3,500 soldiers and horses, we can send 1,000 soldiers and horses here, plus the sailors can also go ashore 1,500, we have a total of 6,000 soldiers and horses, pretending to be 50,000 troops, and want to deceive the Zhangzhou Tartars to relieve the siege of Yunxiao, right? In that way, the main force of the prince's headquarters can take the opportunity to take Zhangzhou. ”

Cai Lu laughed and said: "Claiming 50,000, will the Tartars believe it?" The Tartars will only see if we can take the county seat of Yunxiao. If it is unable to pose a threat to the county, the Tartars will first repel the main force of the prince, and then come to reinforce Yunxiao; In addition, the Tartars were able to transfer troops from Guangdong to Yunxiao. Just such a simple trick to fool the Tartars? ”

"Although I claim to be an army of 50,000, I am not attacking from above, but I want to take the clouds!" Wang Xinyu's voice was steady and calm, but it revealed an unquestionable firmness.

Guo Yi and Cai Luden were stunned, and their faces changed drastically.

Guo Yidao: "The lord attacked Yunxiao with 6,000 soldiers and horses, did he go to die in vain?" There are only 6,000 people, and they can't even climb the city wall! ”

Cai Lu told Wang Xinyu and said: "This Yunxiao city, four zhang high, one zhang and three feet wide, the city wall is rammed into three pieces of soil, and the boulder is laid three feet thick, there are 100 Tibetan soldiers in the city, four gates, the southeast Yingxi gate, the northeast Tianshu gate, the southwest Xiegong gate, the northwest Huaiyin gate. The moat was three feet wide and one foot four feet deep. How can a mere 6,000 people attack such a strong city? And the red-clothed cannon bombarded the city gate, although it could blast open the city gate, there was still an urn city inside. If you want to bombard the city walls, how much shells and gunpowder are needed? If we bombard the city outside, the Tartars will be able to block it inside, and even if we bomb it for a month, we won't be able to open it. If it is a cave attack, it is impossible to dig down the city wall in half a month, and even if it is dug down, the Tartars will plug the gap in it, and we will not be able to attack it because we have too few troops. ”

Wang Xinyu said: "Ben will have a plan to break the city!" We will rest here for one night tonight, make food on the fourth watch, cross the sea on the fifth watch, launch a landing attack, and first take the Gaotang Tucheng at the mouth of the river. After breaking the enemy's earth city, attack the clouds! I believe that in just three days, you can take Yunxiao County! ”

Although Guo Yi and Cai Lu did not believe that Wang Xinyu could take Yunxiao County, they still had to provide food for the guest army and arrange for the guest army to rest in the city.

At night, Guo Yi and Cai Lu discussed countermeasures in the middle tent.

Cai Lu said: "This General Wang, young and vigorous, thinks that with 6,000 men and horses, he can take the clouds? It's too much to underestimate the tartars! The thousand people we sent can only be sent to death in vain. ”

Guo Yidao: "But this person brought a letter from the prince of Yanping, and the prince wants us to cooperate, and I am afraid we will not be able to send troops." ”

"Isn't that easy? We'll send a thousand men and follow them! If they attack the city, we will not be able to help from behind. If they are defeated, we will retreat to the Copper Mountain first, so that our troops and horses may not be lost; If General Wang really has a way to break the city, we will follow up and fight a good battle and make some spoils. There are a lot of food, goods, and silver in this Yunxiao County, and if we can take it within three days, the Tartars will not have time to burn, and we can get a lot of loot. Cai Lu said.

"Master Cai really has a clever plan! Tomorrow we will do so! Let them go and touch the Tartars and break the blood! Guo Yi said with a smile.