The earth-shattering oath in Xinhui City made the morale of the Qing army outside the city even more low, after the water division camp was burned, the grain and herbs in the Qing army camp were in danger, Shang Zhixin decided to attack Xinhui in a desperate gamble, although Shang Kexi agreed afterwards, but the king of Pingnan, who was far away in Guangzhou, in addition to sending the general Ban Zhifu to come to strengthen the momentum for the prince, was not a grain of grain could not be transported.

Three strong attacks, in addition to the loss of soldiers, the consumption of grain and grass in the army is even more amazing, after all, the soldiers who drive the soldiers to forcibly attack the city must first make them full, the emperor is not bad for hungry soldiers, how can Shang Zhixin, who was born in the gate, not know.

Zhou Yuanliang, the deputy commander of the Pingnan Domain, who was killed by the artillery fire of the Taiping Army, counted the grain and grass in the army after the fire of the Sailor Division, and came up with a result that was only enough to last for three or four days. However, now, the Qing army's assault on Xinhui has been carried out for eight days, and the grain and grass that can only last for three or four days are absolutely unable to last for so many days, and now the Qing army is still outside the city, at the cost of a large number of soldiers and civilians being starved to death, of course, those Qing soldiers who died in the attack also saved some rations for the living.

When Shang Zhixin left Guangzhou, the Guangzhou Prefecture was ordered by the Governor Yamen to recruit more than 3,000 people in the prefecture and county for military service. Later, Shang Kexi personally rushed to Xinhui, and the prince of Pingnan personally recruited, and the number of people in this army naturally doubled.

According to the rough count of the Guangzhou Prefecture, the total number of young and strong men who served in the army this time reached more than 7,000, not including the number of men recruited by the Guangzhou Government when it raised food for the army. So many people were conscripted into the army, so that the size of the Qing army looked very huge from the outside.

According to the military system of the Qing army, the supply of the Eight Banners of Manchukuo was higher than that of the Eight Banners of Mongolia, and the Eight Banners of Mongolia were higher than those of the Han Army Banner, and the supply of the Han Army Banner was higher than that of the Green Battalion soldiers.

The besieging army is mainly based on the Han army banner of the Pingnan Domain and the banner of Geng Jimao's Jingnan Domain, supplemented by the green battalion, so although the number of the green battalion soldiers in Guangdong accounts for more than half of the army, it is the Han army banner soldiers who consume more in the supply of grain and grass. Under the exploitation of the Han military banner, the rations of the green battalion soldiers were very limited. In order to fill their stomachs, the Green Battalion soldiers naturally put the object of exploitation on the people who were lower in rank than them.

For ordinary people, "Lafuzi" is undoubtedly a catastrophe from heaven, and in this era, no matter which side of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the masters who serve in the army are treated equally-the same cruelty and harshness. The people who were dragged into the army to be masters often died nine times, and if one of the ten survived, it was considered that the ancestral tomb was smoking, and the ancestor appeared.

Before the Qing army ran out of food, in order to let the people have the strength to work, the Qing army could more or less let them eat half full, after the food was cut off. This half-satiety became a luxury. After wantonly plundering the rations of the green battalion soldiers for the flag soldiers to eat, and thinking of using the green battalion to fill the bottomless pit of Xinhui, Shang Zhixin stopped distributing the rations of the people, and even hinted that the generals of the green battalion let their subordinates plunder the last bit of food hidden by the people, so that the green battalion soldiers could continue to serve as cannon fodder for the attack on Xinhui City.

As a result, a large number of people who were already in a state of semi-starvation were starved to death, and the first two days were fine, and the people were hanging with their breath, but in the past few days, a large number of dead people have begun, and more than 1,000 corpses have been carried to the river and discarded. The remaining few thousand are acutely malnourished. The half-dead people are also in danger of dying at any moment.

It's not that no one thought about escaping, but under the close surveillance of the Qing army, the fate of the escapees was even more tragic. There are brave people who don't want to starve and run to the river in the middle of the night, but there are very few who run to the river. There are only a handful of people who can successfully jump into the river and swim out alive.

It is not that no one in the Qing army has suggested that these people be dismissed. lest they die here needlessly. However, this suggestion was ruthlessly rejected by Shang Zhixin, and the reason he explained to the generals was that military information should not be leaked. He said that at present, it is known that the army has been besieging the city for several months, and a large number of people have been dismissed in the Turkish army, so that the gentry and people everywhere know what they will think.

A simple sentence that the military information should not be leaked decided the tragic fate of thousands of people. The tragic scene of daily wailing in the master's camp made the Qing army unbearable to visit the camp, so they only asked the camp to drag the dead to the river and discard them, which made the fish and shrimp in the Tan River doubly fattened.

Some Qing army generals thought even deeper. The prince kept so many people who were about to starve to death in the army, I am afraid that it was also effective for the intention of the ancestor to celebrate his birthday or last year's move by Yunlong.

During the Chongzhen period of the former Ming Dynasty, Zu Dashou guarded Dalinghe City, and last year Yunlong guarded Xinhui, and the people in this city were finally made military rations!

Man is a sword, I am a fish!

The people who could not decide their own life and death now hoped for nothing more than the Qing army breaking the city in one fell swoop, or the thieves in the city crushing the Qing army, both of which could end their current miserable situation no matter what happened.

Every time he was closely guarded in the camp and waited for the good news of the Qing army breaking the city from the head of the city, every time he was deeply disappointed, three times in a row, there were not a few people left who hoped that the Qing army could break the city, and more of them imagined that the Taiping army in the city could defeat the Qing army.

Therefore, when the earth-shattering oath in the city spread outside the city, to every corner of the camp, the people who could still move struggled to get up from the ground, crawled to the place where they could see, and looked at the Xinhui City in front of them in silence. When some of them saw that the Qing soldiers who were guarding them were all drooping their heads at this moment, looking at Xinhui City and hanging their heads, their eyes began to shine with a strange brilliance

The successive earth-shattering movements of the Taiping army in the city made the Qing army, which was already demoralized, particularly depressed, the officers looked at the city with gloomy faces and did not say a word, and the soldiers shrank aside with their swords and guns in fear. There was no voice, no whispering, just despair.

Along with Shang Zhixin, the commanders Ban Zhifu and Qin Guocheng, the commander-in-chief of the Guangdong Green Battalion, Lin Shanzhi, the general of the Governor and Fu Pacesetter, Hu Guoguo, the commander of the Jingnan Domain, Geng Zhongde, and the commanders and generals of the Pingnan Domain, there were roughly more than 10 people.

Ban Zhifu came to Xinhui to help the prince of the world on the order of Shang Kexi, but he was not an immortal, and in the face of Xinhui Jiancheng, which was difficult for Li Dingguo's tens of thousands of troops to conquer, he was helpless. In his heart, Ban Zhifu did not agree with the decision of the prince to attack, he thought that the time should be to withdraw the troops to relieve the siege and return to Guangzhou, because compared with Xinhui City, the internal strife between Nan Mingsun and Li Erthief is a major matter.

A small Xinhui city, a small Taiping army of only a few thousand people is really not worth the Pingnan Wang Xingshi mobilization, as long as the Sanjiang Estuary is blocked so that the Taiping army has the opportunity to invade Guangzhou, and then send elite troops to force Gaozhou. Wait until the news of the infighting between the two kings of Nanming is confirmed, and the Taiping army will be defeated if it is undefeated!

After all, this Taiping army is just a lone army, without the support of Li Dingguo, in the heart of the Qing army in Guangdong, in the face of the Guangdong Qing army, which is far superior to him, what waves can this Taiping army stir?

That thief show can hold Xinhui, it is nothing more than relying on the fact that this city is too strong, easy to defend and difficult to attack! If the thief Xiucai really dared to lead his troops out of the city, Ban Zhifu dared to promise the king of Pingnan that he only needed to lead a horse team of a few hundred people to defeat this rabble in one fell swoop!

However, things are not something that he Ban Zhifu can decide. Although he knew that King Pingnan and his old man also hesitated about the prince's decision, he finally supported the prince. This is not so much that King Pingnan also thinks that Xinhui City cannot be lost, but that King Pingnan believes that the authority of the prince cannot be attacked. And the prince is actually difficult to ride a tiger, as the prince of Pingnan, it is the first time to lead the army to the battle, no matter what aspect it is, Shang Zhixin can't accept failure, because he can't fail!

Ban Zhifu had done everything he could, and when he came, he personally went to the Governor's Yamen and the Guangzhou Mansion. In order to ask them to rush a batch of grain and grass to send over. But a few days have passed, and not a single grain has been delivered to Guangzhou.

This is not to blame the governor of Guangdong, Li Shutai, and the prefect of Guangzhou, Zhu Guorong, for not doing their best, but they really couldn't scrape together food in the short term. I really can't scrape the food now! If you want to blame, you can only blame Liang Biaoxiang for his incompetence, if it weren't for him, would the army be short of food!

Thinking of Liang Biaoxiang, who ran away without a trace, Ban Zhifu was inexplicably angry. But as soon as the anger came up, he pressed it again, and this knot was to kill Liang Biaoxiang and help something, or to solve the problem in front of him. Look at the movement in the city. I'm afraid that it will be difficult to break the city even if I attack it three more times, so let's think about how to persuade the prince to withdraw his troops, this new meeting can't stay any longer.

Thinking of this, Ban Zhifu glanced at the generals who were all mournful, and with one mouth, he was about to open his mouth to persuade the prince to withdraw to Guangzhou, but before he could speak, Shang Zhixin suddenly gritted his teeth and said: "The city makes this out, the thief will obviously want to cover up, and want to trick me into breaking the siege, I am not as good as he wants, pass my general order, and then attack the city after the three drums!" ”

Hearing this, Ban Zhifu and the generals were all taken aback, and everyone thought that the morale of the army had been depressed to this extent, and His Royal Highness the Prince of the World would attack the city, wouldn't this be a self-defeating failure!

"Your Highness not!"

Ban Zhifu was in a hurry, and he couldn't care about so many people, so he said directly: "Attacking the city again can only bring humiliation on yourself!"

Hearing this, Shang Zhixin's cheeks trembled violently, and he stared at Ban Zhifu with a fierce light, ignoring that the person in front of him was an old subordinate who had followed his father for more than 30 years, and scolded: "What are you talking about this old horseman!" ”

When the generals heard this, they were all frightened and stunned on the spot, everyone was chilled, Ban Zhifu was stunned at first, and then his face turned red, looking at the highness of the prince in front of him, who he had seen since he was a child, and he also wanted to support him, he was speechless for a long time.

In the middle of the ring, he regained his composure, took a step back and bowed his head to plead: "Your Highness is angry, the last general is speechless!" When he said this, Ban Zhifu was extremely sad in his heart.

Shang Zhixin also came to his senses at this time, knowing that he was dizzy for a while just now, and he actually hurt the heart of the first cronie around his father with bad words, and he regretted it very much, but because he was embarrassed to apologize to Ban Zhifu in front of so many people, he snorted angrily and waved his hand to signal that Ban Zhifu did not have to be like this.

After Ban Zhifu raised his head, he no longer looked at Shang Zhixin, but silently took two steps back, standing outside the generals without saying a word.

After experiencing the scene just now, all the generals were palpitating, and no one spoke. Shang Zhixin was also silent, staring at Xinhui City with an angry face. The scene was at an impasse for a moment.

Everyone present, except for Ban Zhifu, was the most respected of the capital Qin Guocheng, followed by Geng Zhongde, the capital of the Jingnan Domain. Seeing that Zhifu was dissuaded and scolded, and no one dared to persuade him, although Shang Zhixin did not mention the siege of the city again, but things could not be so stiff anymore, there must be a decision, otherwise it would drag on for another two or three days, and the army would collapse by itself.

Qin Guocheng had the heart to persuade him, but he felt cold when he thought of Ban Zhifu's fate, thinking that the prince was now riding a tiger, and he might not be able to change his mind if he came forward, but it was better for the Geng family to come forward and persuade him. The son of the world doesn't give face to his family, so he has to give outsiders some face. Thinking of this, Qin Guocheng turned his face sideways to look at Geng Zhongde, not wanting the other party to seem to know what he meant, so he turned his head instead of seeing it.

This scene was so angry that Qin Guocheng scolded in his heart, and he had no choice but to take a step forward and say with his mouth moving: "Your Highness"

As soon as he said two words, Geng Zhongde on the side suddenly said "Huh", Qin Guocheng was even more annoyed when he heard it, you refused to come forward before, but now you are doing something. When he looked up, he glared at him angrily, but he also let out a "huh", and then his expression froze there, and the cold air on his back surged like a falling ice cellar.

Qin Guocheng and Geng Zhongde's eyes both fell on the Tan River to the west, but there was an extra fleet on that river at some point.

A red flotilla

Here are some of the heartfelt words of the bones.

Since the book was published, in addition to a routine classification recommendation, it has not been recommended by the website, and even the shelves are required by the bones themselves, of course, there is no recommendation after the shelves, so it has not been known to readers, and the collection cannot rise, and now it is only a mere 2000 collection. However, thanks to the love of these 2,000 readers who have collected this book, there are now more than 300 subscriptions, which is proportionally good (whether you can make money is another matter). I believe that if I had been more diligent in updating and not always interrupting the work, the book would have done better.

I remember last summer, I kept posting notices about things at home, which made many readers complain in the comment area, and also made some readers who subscribed to abandon the book. But as I have been emphasizing, I will not be a eunuch in the book "Han'er is Not a Slave", and I will continue to write it until it is finished.

Today, I finally went to see the house, if there is no accident, the new house will be assigned before the year, and it is planned to be renovated in June next year, so that a family of three has a nest, and there is no need to live in a rented house for the New Year.

Putting down the big things in my heart, I drank another glass in the evening, and wrote these paragraphs before I started writing, just to say to my readers, you can rest assured, I will work hard, I will persevere! (To be continued.) )