Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 218 Wang Fu’s Proposal to Take Jingzhou City
When Wang Yan paid his salary, the whole army rejoiced, but some generals who had just changed from the Shun army to the Ming army were very unhappy, so they went to Gao Shi and Li Guo together.

When Li Laiheng, He Lan and others came to the tent, they couldn't help complaining: "General Town, Ma'am, I used to pay my subordinates the salaries in the army, but now the Duke doesn't go through our hands at all. This is wary of us and unwilling to trust."

Li Guo frowned slightly when he heard the words, he naturally understood the meaning of the generals, it was nothing more than that they could not deduct the military salary, seeing all the money being handed out in vain, felt pain in his heart, felt that they had cut their flesh, so he was angry It's unfair, I just want to get a share of the money.

As the commander of a town, Li Guo was naturally a little unhappy.Li Suiqiu, who is in charge of logistics, paid out Wang Yan’s army’s silver salary without going through them, the leading generals, so they would not get blood from the soldiers, nor would they be able to eat empty salary. The loss was indeed huge, but Li Guo knew that Wang Yan had already given them the money. Far beyond the regular payment, they can't be too greedy, and he was really grateful to Wang Yan in his heart, and then said to several people: "Li Laiheng, how much money did you get for this payment?"

Li Laiheng was slightly taken aback when he heard the words, and couldn't help lowering his voice, and replied, "760 eight taels."

"Pa~" Li Guo waited for him to finish speaking, and immediately slapped the seat with his palm, stood up abruptly, and yelled at several people: "760 eight taels, then as a commander, your salary will be 250 month It’s [-] six taels, the Duke treats you so kindly, how dare Ru’an have such a different heart?”

In the Ming Dynasty, there were officials of the first rank, and the three princes of the dynasty. Their monthly salary was no more than 87 Lumi shi, and their commanders were no more than the third rank. However, Wang Yan gave 250 six taels, which was nearly three times more. The salary was not too generous.

Li Laiheng and others woke up after hearing the words, Wang Yansui deprived them of the right to handle the money, but also gave them enough compensation, and felt ashamed for a while.

Seeing this, Mrs. Gao said softly: "Although all the generals and concubines have surrendered to Ming Dynasty and become members of the government, there are still many people in the court who regard us as thieves and want to get rid of them quickly. Duke Chu, Your kindness to us is as great as a mountain, and you are our reliance in the court, you generals, you should think twice about what you do in the future."

When Li Guo heard this, he nodded and said: "Yimu is right. Don't you only care about the small gains in front of you, and ruin the overall situation of the Duke. Now that we are under the Duke's command and the Duke is prosperous, then we, the officials, will pay homage to the Duke. Hou, it's not a problem, but if the Duke of the country is defeated, then we will never recover!"

When the generals heard the words, they knew that they were one with Wang Yan, and they all resigned in shame.

So far, Wang Yan's payment has greatly shocked the morale of the whole army, especially the old soldiers of the Shun Army, whose morale has gradually recovered. There is a glimmer of hope in the eyes of every soldier, and some spirits have been restored.

The originally scattered camp began to become orderly, and the soldiers who had been sitting around on the ground, lazy and godless, also began to practice.

For this, Wang Yan paid a price of 50 taels of silver. In the blink of an eye, only 60 taels of silver were left in his hands.

At this time, with the expansion of his army again, he will spend hundreds of thousands of money every month in the future, but the money and supplies in his hands are stretched again.

In two days, the army could only carry out preliminary reorganization, and could not immediately become combat power, but time waited for no one, Wang Yan could not wait for the results of the army's drills before dealing with the Qing soldiers.

He was afraid that the defenders in Yuezhou would not persist until he wiped out the Qing soldiers in Jingzhou and Changde, so Wang Yan could only let the soldiers and horses grind in the battle, and slowly form a strong fighting force.

At this time, Wang Yan first changed the two-sided siege to four-sided siege, and supervised the pro-army, loyalty, loyalty, and loyalty to one, each surrounded one side and prepared to attack.

Geng Zhongming originally wanted to defend the city and wait for Luck Dehun to send troops to rescue him, but when Wang Yan sent troops to surround the surrounding areas, letters and military orders from Luck Dehun in Wuchang City also came to the city.

At this time, Geng Zhongming, Zheng Siwei and others knew that the Qing army in Wuchang had gone to attack Yuezhou, and they would not rescue Jingzhou at all.

Luc Dehun ordered them to defend the city, and wait for him to capture Yuezhou, and then surround and annihilate Wang Yan under the city of Jingzhou. But if Jingzhou can hold it, will they ask Luc Dehun for help again and again?

"This is to use us as bait!" Li Sifeng from Jingnan Daotai couldn't help saying angrily after reading the letter.

The law of using troops is to encircle it if it is ten, to attack it if it is five, to divide it if it is doubled, to fight it if it is small, to escape it if it is small, and to avoid it if it is not enough.

With the arrival of Li Guo's troops, the Ming army outside the city reached more than [-], nearly five times the number of the defenders inside the city. Under the bombardment, the morale has been lost. In addition, the grain and grass in Jingzhou city were almost consumed in the last siege, and they have not been replenished, so the grain and grass are not enough.

At this time, in the eyes of Zheng Siwei and Li Sifeng, there is no possibility of defending the city, whether it is military spirit, supplies, or city defense.

After hearing Li Sifeng's words, Geng Zhongming and Zheng Siwei's expressions were heavy. They all knew that they were abandoned by Luck Dehun as pawns.

At this time, the three senior officials of the Qing army in the city couldn't help but have different thoughts.

Geng Zhongming, an old thief like him, knew very well in his heart that even if he surrendered, he would not end well, and his subordinates were all bannermen, so he would not agree to his surrender, so he had to fight to the death, but Zheng and Li , but you can think differently.

Because of the relationship with the Shun Army, Zheng Siwei would not surrender to the Ming Army unless it was a last resort, but since Luck Dehun did not send reinforcements, he would have to die if he kept defending, so he had to try to surrender.

At night, Zheng Siwei and Li Sifeng's envoys quietly left the city to surrender to Wang Yan, but Wang Yan refused at all, and only said that he wanted to take Jingzhou himself, and the envoys retreated in fear.

Seeing this, Wang Fuzhi was very puzzled, and then asked: "In the past, Chengzu won the world because he was able to recruit Nashun. Why does Shiheng reject Zheng and Li Ye?"

Hearing the words, Wang Yan replied: "That time, this time is also. In the past, Chengzu Wendi fought for the hearts of the people, so he recruited and rewarded him to persuade people. Today's dispute between Huayi and Barbarians is for righteousness. Zheng and Li Zhi They are those who forget righteousness. If they are allowed to surrender, they will vote for the barbarians if they see benefits, and if they lose, they will vote for Daming. This is not a good strategy for the ambition of this generation. In addition, General Shun of our army and Lord Zheng Youzai Enmity, if I agree to surrender, the army will not be attached, if not, I have won the hearts of the people!"

After hearing this, Wang Fuzhi couldn't help stroking his beard, then nodded and said: "Shi Heng's words are very good. But since thieves are not allowed to surrender, they should not be surrounded by iron buckets. If thieves cannot beg for surrender, they must fight to the death. There are still more than ten thousand people in the city. It is better to withdraw the east gate and attack the west alone, then the thieves will have no intention of fighting and will abandon the city and leave. At that time, Shi Heng can ambush outside the city, and the two thieves, Zheng and Li, will be captured easily."

"Brother's words are good!" Hearing the words, Wang Yan took it very seriously, and ordered his men to retreat to the east and attack the west city alone.

(End of this chapter)