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Su Jin said in a hurry: "King Qin, please take your guards and disguise yourself to hide your whereabouts. King Qin, Aobai will soon arrive in Lai'an. It will be too late if we don't leave now. Please set off immediately."
Qin Mu said unmoved, "Do you think everyone else is a fool? The city must be full of Qing spies by now. Let alone me taking hundreds of guards back to Nanjing, even if I fly out, I'm afraid I can't escape the eyes of Qing spies."
"The King of Qin is worth a ton of gold. He is related to the safety of our Great Qin..."
"Su Jin!"
"I am here."
"When we only had 2,000 men, we dared to attack Zhang Xianzhong's army of hundreds of thousands. When we were in Wuchang, we dared to fight Ajige without even frowning. Now that we have conquered half of the country, we are afraid of Duoduo's tens of thousands of isolated troops. Damn it, have you all become cowards?"
“Your Majesty… … ..”
"Stop talking nonsense and arrange according to the plan immediately. This time, I will make sure Duoduo can come but cannot leave."
“Yes!”
Su Jin didn't dare to say more and left in a hurry.
Duoduo went south in a hurry and had no time to bring artillery and other siege weapons. At present, Chuzhou had more than 10,000 troops and had made a series of arrangements in advance. If Duoduo wanted to capture Chuzhou with his 40,000 cavalry, he would probably be in trouble.
The city wall of Chuzhou is 27 feet high, with a circumference of about 10 miles. It has 6 gates: the big east gate is called Huari Gate, the small east gate is called Huanyi Gate, the big west gate is called Yongfeng Gate, the small west gate is called Guande Gate, the south gate is called Jianghuai Gate, and the north gate is called Gongji Gate.
In the 17th year of the Wanli reign of the Ming Dynasty, the gates were rebuilt, 12 shelters, 3,549 battlements, 4 corner towers were added, water from the West Stream was diverted into the city, and a water gate was built. There are 3 arches, half of which is a city wall and half is a bridge, and people can walk on it.
The most noteworthy thing is that the moat around Chuzhou City is more than 50 steps wide and two people deep. In fact, it is formed by diverting the Qingliu River around the city. There are river bridges outside each city gate to connect the inside and outside of the city.
As long as the defenders in the city held the bridgehead, the moat, which was more than 50 steps wide, would make the attacking side helpless. This was one of the reasons why Qin Mu dared to stay in Chuzhou as bait.
Near Lai'an, there is the Lai'an River, which flows from northeast to southwest, and merges with the Qingliu River 50 miles south of Chuzhou, then meanders eastward into the Yangtze River. The 6,000 cavalrymen led by Su Jin blocked Aobai along the Lai'an River, buying time for the western part of the Lai'an River to clear the fields.
Although the Lai'an River is only ten feet wide and less than ten feet deep, in this cold winter, even if the Tartars are cold-resistant, they dare not wade across it.
Su Jin was blocking the way on the west bank of the river. Aobai could not build a bridge and could not cross the river for a while. He was so anxious that he was restless. Fortunately, there were spies reporting back, confirming that Qin Mu was still in Chuzhou City and had not escaped, which comforted him a little;
Aobai was a man with a strong enterprising spirit. He was not discouraged by the temporary obstacles and believed that he would find a chance to cross the river at night.
Most of Hongniangzi's troops stationed at Qingliu Pass withdrew to Chuzhou City, except for 1,500 people who stayed to defend the dangerous pass.
She was dressed in military uniform with a red cloak on the outside, and she walked hurriedly into Qin Mu's residence on the east side of the provincial government office with a horsewhip in hand. She saw him thinking about something alone in front of a sand table.
The hall was quiet. The red charcoal fire made the hall warm. Lady Hong walked up to Qin Mu and asked, "What are you thinking about?"
"You're back?" Qin Mu answered the question irrelevantly. His eyes were fixed on the sand table, but his hands naturally grasped Hong Niangzi's hands and held them in his palms.
Hong Niangzi, who had just ridden into the city, had her hands frozen and hot air coming out of her mouth as she spoke. She subconsciously tried to break free from Qin Mu's hands, but in the end, for some reason, she didn't use any strength and just let him hold her hands.
"I asked you what you were thinking about? Are you planning some trick again?"
Qin Mu then turned his head and blew a few puffs of warm air on her red, frozen hands before saying, "Ying'er, look, what is this?"
Qin Mu's subtle movements and natural care made Hong Niangzi's heart beat faster inexplicably, and she felt a little hot. She looked at the sand table in the direction of Qin Mu's finger and said, "Isn't this Xianghe?"
"Yes, it's Xianghe River. What about here?"
"Come to Anhe."
"Did Ying'er see anything?"
"What do you want to do?"
"These two inconspicuous little rivers, although only ten feet wide, have given me new ideas. Ying'er, let's go big this time."
Red Lady asked curiously, "What do you want to do?"
"I plan to wait for Duoduo to arrive, and then have Su Jin's 6,000 cavalry withdraw to the east bank of the An River instead of returning to Chuzhou..."
"No." Hong Niangzi said firmly, "I don't care what tricks you have. There are only 8,000 troops in Chuzhou City now. If Su Jin's 6,000 troops are allowed to withdraw to the east bank of Lai'an River, who will defend Chuzhou?"
"Ying'er, don't get excited. As the saying goes, a husband and wife working together can break iron. You and I, husband and wife, with 8,000 men and horses, can defend Chuzhou. That's enough!"
Lady Hong no longer cared about his verbal advantage and continued to object, "Don't do anything rash. Chuzhou will be trapped and there are so few defenders in the city. If the ministers in the court lose their composure, it will be the end."
Qin Mu laughed loudly and said, "Don't worry, there won't be any chaos. When I was by the Ju River, it was much more dangerous than this time, and I didn't see the chaos in Wuchang. Ying'er, look, there is the Xiang River in Quanjiao County to the west and the Lai'an River in Lai'an County to the east. These two inconspicuous rivers meet at Sanchahe in the south of Chuzhou, and form a triangle area of dozens of miles with the Qingliuguan Mountains in the north.
If Duoduo were to attack Chuzhou, tens of thousands of troops would have to enter this triangle. At that time, as long as our army defended the west bank of the Xiang River and the east bank of the Lai'an River, Duoduo would be trapped."
"You wish. The river is not wide. How can they easily trap tens of thousands of troops?"
"It is because they are not wide that they are inconspicuous and can easily trap the enemy. As for whether they can trap Duoduo, that depends on us. I believe that with my husband and I in the city, Duoduo will never give up until the very end. By the time he realizes that Chuzhou cannot be captured, his division will be old and his soldiers will be tired. By then, these two small rivers will be enough to kill them."
"But we only have 8,000 men..."
"Eight thousand versus forty thousand, and there's a fifty-step wide moat. The city can also organize tens of thousands of young and strong men to defend the city together. If they can't defend it, I, Qin Mu, will grab a rope, find a crooked tree, stretch my neck, and kick my feet..."
"What nonsense are you talking about!" Hong Niang interrupted him quickly.
Originally, Qin Mu's plan was to lure Duoduo to Chuzhou, then concentrate the eastern front's forces, march north along the Yellow River, and quickly capture Suqian and Xuzhou. If all went well, he would then use the land and sea forces to attack Fengyang from the west.
However, once the army attacks Fengyang, Duoduo's retreat will be threatened and he will most likely retreat quickly. The most ideal outcome of this plan is to capture Xuzhou, and Duoduo's overall strength will not be greatly reduced.
If the current plan is changed, it will be to concentrate troops to besiege Duoduo's 40,000 troops. If successful, the blow to the Qing Dynasty will be greater than capturing ten Xuzhous.
Qin Mu acted promptly and issued several decrees, asking all parties to adjust their plans immediately and prepare to catch the turtle in the jar.
Afterwards, he and Hong Niangzi inspected the four cities together. Han Gang, Niu Wanchuan and other generals had arranged the defense of Chuzhou city like an iron barrel. Shi Qing was responsible for organizing the young and strong men in the city to patrol the city strictly and bring them to the city to help defend when necessary.
Finally, Qin Mu went to check on Chengzhong’s food and weapons reserves. After confirming that they could sustain for 50 days, he suddenly realized that there was nothing left to do.
Duoduo, please come quickly. Don’t you know that waiting is the most difficult thing
Qin Mu returned to his residence on the east side of the yamen at dusk. He asked someone to bring two pots of good wine, and drank with Hong Niangzi under the window. The north wind was howling outside the window, but it was warm as spring inside the window.
After drinking some wine, Hongniangzi's heroic look faded a little, her eyes became a little hazy, and she became more feminine.
She was already twenty-four or twenty-five years old, like a ripe apple, exuding an enticing fragrance.
When the two of them were drinking, they spoke very little. One could say that Qin Mu's gaze was frank or unbridled, but he never dodged when he looked at her.
Hongniang pretended to be fine on the surface, but she was a woman after all, and it was inevitable that she would feel uncomfortable being stared at like that by a man.
"Ying'er."
"What?"
"Come on, have another drink."
"Just drink it, what did you ask me to do?"
"Hehe..." Actually, Qin Mu could feel that she was a little nervous. With her martial arts skills, she didn't need to be nervous at all, but she was indeed a little nervous, which was a good thing for Qin Mu. "Ying'er, can you come over here and sit?"
"Hmph!" Hong Niang snorted disdainfully and turned her head away.
If the mountain doesn't come to me, I will go to the mountain.
Qin Mu has always been a proactive person...
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.(To be continued..)
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