I'm sure of the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong!

Chapter 57 Arriving in Fucheng
Zheng Dingrui led the Ming Army's first town and set off north together with Zhang Yue's [-] troops. Zhu Yijiong immediately made a big fanfare and personally led the second, fifth, sixth, and seventy-fourth towns, with a total of [-] troops galloping southward. A group came out to attack the capital of Quanzhou.

The commotion was so loud that even before the Ming army arrived, the horse racing vendors along the road spread the news to Quanzhou Prefecture that Zhu Ni's tens of thousands of troops were approaching.

After hearing the news, the Quanzhou prefect and Tongzhi and other prefectural officials were all shocked.

The prefect Wang Daocheng wrote an urgent note that day and hurriedly delivered it to Xinghua Prefecture to ask for help from the governor Lu Youlong.

At the same time, he hurriedly summoned the wealthy gentry in the city and asked them to donate money. At the same time, he also sent out his servants to guard the city to assist the government in defending the city.

As for recruiting local warriors, the Qing Dynasty had no right to recruit soldiers except during the Xianfeng period when the civil uprising was too violent and local officials were given this power.

Governor Lu Youlong dared to do this because he had borrowed the advantageous power from Emperor Kangxi's imperial edict, but he could only use it for himself. If he gave this power to the prefects and magistrates in the area under his jurisdiction, it would be an act of subjugation.

Therefore, Wang Daocheng knew that Zhu Yijiong was coming to attack his city with tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, but he still couldn't do anything. He could only rush for help with one fast horse a day.

Even if we forcefully recruit civilians and summon the guardians of the rich households in the city, plus the government officials from the city, we can finally gather thousands of people. This fighting power can only be described in words.

When these people came to the city, they were of all kinds. Some of them were even in rags. It was obvious that the people below had even caught beggars on the roadside to make up for their errands.

Of course, this cannot be entirely blamed on the subordinate officials below. The prefect and other big men have almost divided the money collected from the people.

Everyone takes a little of the rest and puts it into the hands of the subordinates. What's left?
If they can recruit civilian husbands, they have fulfilled their duties.

Just as they were jumping up and down here in Quanzhou Prefecture, and never forgetting to be greedy, the [-] troops led by Zhu Yijiong finally arrived at the foot of Quanzhou City.

When he arrived in Quanzhou, Zhu Yijiong did not immediately order an attack on the city. Instead, he set up camp several miles below the city, assuming a siege posture without cutting off Quanzhou's connection with the outside world, especially Xinghua Prefecture.

At the same time, he ordered the army to sweep the countryside around Fucheng. On the one hand, he actually isolated Quanzhou City and made it panic. On the other hand, it also raised food and grass for the army.

On the second day of the Ming army's siege, the prefect Wang Daocheng finally arrived belatedly and came to the top of the city to inspect the enemy's situation.

The day before, news came that tens of thousands of Ming troops were attacking. He was so frightened that he did not dare to come over. He only waited anxiously for the news in the government office, and was ready to commit suicide by taking poison at any time.

Haha, such an official who is afraid of death is actually willing to commit suicide.

He is worthy of being a warrior of the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty.

"This... what exactly are the rebels trying to do? Why haven't they attacked the city yet?" Wang Daocheng stood on the city wall and patrolled back and forth. He saw that several miles outside the city, the Ming army had already set up camps one after another.

Just looking at the number and scale of this camp, there must be at least 5 to [-] troops.

With such a large number of troops, if they were to attack Fucheng by force, with Fucheng's strength alone, the city would be defeated in an instant!
Wang Daocheng's face was full of sorrow, and the Quanzhou magistrate beside him was also quite puzzled: "This... mansion, even the lower officials don't know! Could it be that the rebels don't know how to attack the city, and they only know how to do it randomly, just like Lin Lin before?" Like a thief?"

"Well... maybe!" Wang Daocheng was not sure. After thinking for a long time, he came up with this explanation.

After all, last month the Lin bandits claimed to have 20 troops to attack Quanzhou, but they were still unable to do anything and were defeated by the Admiral in a single battle.

If the Admiral had not died of illness suddenly, I am afraid the situation would not have deteriorated to this point.

At the moment, Zhu Ni, who has come from Taiwan this time, thinks that this is all he can do. He may be able to occupy so many counties and towns because he was lucky enough to take advantage of the absence of officers and soldiers.

In the past few days, he had already sent out several copies of letters asking for help, as long as Quanzhou could hold on for a while.By then, when the governor's army arrives, the traitors will be wiped out.

Thinking of this, Wang Daocheng, who was still a little worried at first, suddenly became full of confidence and said with a smile: "It seems that the rebels are nothing more than that. With respect, come, how about you go back to your house for a drink with me? It's really hard these days. I'm so busy with this office, haha." "I really admire my office for doing a lot of work for the people of Quanzhou. Since I invited you, there's no reason not to come." The Quanzhou magistrate immediately replied with a smile, While talking, he even flattered me a little.

After hearing this, Wang Daocheng waved his hand and said with a humble face: "Jingzhi said it too much. It is my duty to serve the people. How can I say it is tiring! I respect you. These days, in order to deal with the rebels, , but it was really hard work.”

"The official's words are serious, and the lower officials are only fulfilling their responsibilities..."

The prefect of Quanzhou, the co-prefect of Quanzhou, and the two officials from the prefecture simply pretended that the [-] Ming troops outside the city and King Zhu did not exist, and they started to brag about each other's business in the city.

It took about half a quarter of an hour to blow it!

Both of them seemed to be thirsty, so they invited each other to go down the city wall. The distinguished Tongzhi was half a step behind.

The Quanzhou general magistrate, who never said a word from beginning to end, saw both of them descending the city wall, looked back at the Ming army outside the city, raised his eyebrows slightly, and then followed suit.

As for the forcibly recruited civilian husbands and the servants of wealthy families who guarded the courtyard, except for the first day, they were still performing their duties loyally at the top of the city under the organization of the official servants.

Now, it was obvious that the Ming army outside the city was going to besiege the city, and these people immediately became lazy, gathering into small groups in twos and threes, lying down on the city wall to sleep and rest.

What's interesting is that even if these people on the city are sleeping and resting, they are clearly divided into three groups.

There was a wave of common people, there was a wave of government servants, there was another wave of servants of wealthy families, and even the food was divided into three, six or nine grades.

The official and yamen servants naturally have the best food, including white-flour steamed buns, and the servants and nursing staff are not bad either, and they can eat dry food anyway.Only the common people had the worst food. It was only the second day and the magistrates had just left. They had nothing to eat and could only drink porridge, which was only two meals a day.

The porridge was so thin that it floated on chopsticks, so that most people, starting from the second day of guarding the city, just moved as much as possible to reduce the loss of physical strength as much as possible.

The magistrates in the city drank and had fun, and indulged in sex, but the "defenders" at the top of the city only had porridge and water, and their eyes were so hungry that they were dizzy.

Ha ha.

Zhu Yijiong, who was in the Ming army camp outside the city, naturally had no idea about the various life situations in Quanzhou City. He was listening to several generals like Yang Gong arguing over a scrawled map of Fujian.

"To report to the Supervisor, our Ming Dynasty has strong troops and horses, but the city of Quanzhou has such high walls and thick walls, but the army is too empty to fight. We should take this opportunity to capture it. If we camp here and besiege the city, won't we waste the opportunity to fight?" Chen Fushou cupped his hands and said.

As soon as he finished speaking, Yang Gong hurriedly objected: "This is wrong. It will be easy for our Ming army to fight in Quanzhou City, but what about the follow-up? This is a capital city, and the people in it alone are several times the size of our army."

"Not to mention the collusion with the Qing Dynasty and the secret conspiracy, it is also very difficult for us to promote braid cutting and hair shaving, in case it triggers a riot..."

Chen Fushou looked disdainful: "If it is a riot, just suppress it directly. Isn't it possible that the Ming Dynasty is still afraid of these gangs of purge dogs?"

Yang Gong also sneered: "My Ming Dynasty is indeed not afraid, but have you ever thought that if the city of Quanzhou is destroyed, then Lu Youlong will definitely want to retreat. What if he sends his troops back to defend Xinghua Mansion?"

"The reason why Jian Guo went south this time, or even divided his troops to go north, was to lure the main force of the Qing army in Fujian to march westward, so that they could be wiped out in one wave. If Lu Youlong's fellow soldiers had escaped, wouldn't your actions have ruined Jian Guo's plans for the world? "

"This……"

These words were so heart-wrenching that Chen Fushou didn't know how to refute them.

　tired
　　
　
(End of this chapter)