In the past, Huang Taiji was decisive and courageous in his attacks. He rarely gathered people to discuss a certain matter over and over again and delayed making a decision for a long time.

This time, he was extremely eager to succeed in recruiting Yang Zhen, but he was really not sure of success.

That's why I changed my previous style of killing decisively and resolutely, and started to struggle over this issue again and again.

Fortunately, the imperial meeting that afternoon dispersed quickly after the candidate to preside over the recruitment was finalized.

In addition to deciding that Shang Kexi and Fan Wencheng were responsible for the recruitment and surrender of Yang Zhen, Huang Taiji also ordered the two yellow flags, the Xianglan flag and other Han troops to inspect their food, grass and equipment and prepare for war.

Once Yang Zhen failed to surrender, or the surrender could not be completed quickly, the besieging army outside Zhenjiang Fort would divide its troops, with half of them crossing the river to rob the Koreans on the east bank of the Yajiang River.

Contrary to the silence of Yaque when he selected people to enter the city to recruit Yang Zhen, as soon as Huang Taiji said that he was going to divide his troops to cross the river and plunder the city, the two yellow flags, the blue flag and other flags of the Han army, Prince Baylor, and ministers were all eager to try and asked for orders.

The sound of fighting resounded throughout the tent.

This scene made Huang Taiji even more worried.

At the same time, he became even more anxious about recruiting Yang Zhen.

No matter how likely the surrender is, you should try your best. What if the surrender is successful?

After all, this trick in the past has almost always been effective. As long as the price he offers is high enough, Yang Zhen is a human being, so there is no reason not to be tempted!

With this idea in mind, Huang Taiji decided to take the risk to recruit Yang Zhen after repeated weighing.

At the end of the imperial meeting, it was already dusk. Huang Taiji specially left Fan Wencheng and Shang Kexi behind. After explaining it carefully, he told them to prepare as soon as possible.

At night, it snowed again, and the inside and outside of Zhenjiang Fort were shrouded in a vast white snow.

The heavy artillery of the Qing Dynasty had not bombarded the city wall for a whole day, which made Yang Zhen in the city instinctively think that Huang Taiji must be holding some other evil in his stomach.

Thinking of the fact that a few days ago, the Qing captives outside the city shot arrows into the city on a snowy night to persuade them to surrender. It happened that there was a storm and snow at nightfall, so Yang Zhen ordered the east and west cities to increase patrols and pay attention to the movements outside the city.

In the middle of the night, the wind and snow had not stopped, and Yang Zhen, who had no intention of sleeping, personally took Zhang Chen, Li Lu, Ma Keqing and others to the top of the Tangshan Gate to look west.

Ever since he learned that Huang Taiji still wanted to recruit him, Yang Zhen had been thinking about how to seize this opportunity and use his tricks to trick Huang Taiji again.

On the one hand, he would take this opportunity to get one or two of his important officials to enter the city and kill the sacrificial flag, so as to boost the morale of the soldiers defending the city and gain some victory at the same time.

On the other hand, we might as well take this opportunity to humiliate Huang Taiji, it would be better to completely anger him, or we might ask him to come and attack Zhenjiang Fort regardless of the casualties of the Eight Banners.

It was precisely because of these considerations that Yang Zhen ordered the heavy artillery battalion in the city not to make any counterattack in the past few days. No matter how the Qing captives outside the city bombarded the city wall, his own troops could not fight back.

The purpose of this was to show the Qing rebels outside the city that after receiving the surrender letter, the soldiers and horses in the city reacted differently to the Qing rebels' bombardment than in the past, and the defenders' determination to resolutely fight back had changed.

However, three days passed in the blink of an eye, and the Qing captives also surrounded the city and bombarded it for three consecutive days. However, Huang Taiji's attempt to surrender himself did not come to an end.

Neither sent sentries to shoot letters into the city again to ask for a reply, nor did they send people to call the city again to establish contact.

Seeing that he had thought up a strategy to take advantage of the situation, but the Qing envoy was waiting around and couldn't wait, Yang Zhen became a little impatient.

That night, there was another wind and snow. Yang Zhen tossed and turned in the eastward camp and could not sleep, so he invited Zhang Chen and General Li Lu to visit the city together and plan countermeasures.

"This Tatar is too out of line! Since you have submitted a letter to persuade me to surrender, you should show some sincerity! But it has been a few days, and there is nothing more. This is too disrespectful to me.

Is something going on?"

Accompanied by Zhang Chen, Li Lu, and Ma Keqing, Yang Zhen climbed to the top of the west city and patrolled north. He walked to a deserted place nearby, looked west for a while, and finally couldn't help but complain.

In the past few days, Yang Zhen was also afraid that the morale of the troops in the city would fluctuate about the Qing rebels outside the city who had sent letters to persuade them to surrender, so he did not expand the scope of his knowledge. Only the few people who were traveling with him tonight knew about it.

Of course, they all knew about it, but they also knew very well that Yang Zhen was not really looking forward to the Qing puppet emperor Huang Taiji continuing to send people to recruit people to surrender, but he was looking forward to the early implementation of the plan to exploit the enemy.

As for how Yang Zhen planned to use the plan, Yang Zhen did not tell them in detail.

But in the past few days, Yang Zhen visited every garrison camp, every defensive position, every grain and grass camp, and every ammunition depot in the city. In addition to asking for help, he also encouraged preparations for war. These actions have obviously revealed Yang Zhen's intentions.

Intend.

It was impossible to surrender. Yang Zhen would only use the opportunity of Qinglu to recruit surrender to completely anger Qinglu, and then urge Qinglu to attack Zhenjiang Fort at all costs.

Therefore, the few people following Yang Zhen were actually in a nervous mood.

On the one hand, they were worried that Yang Zhen's strategy was too successful and would lead to a relentless attack by the Qing army. What if they couldn't defend it? After all, the opponent had tens of thousands of soldiers and horses!

On the other hand, they were also worried that Yang Zhen's strategy would not be successful and would be discovered by Huang Taiji, the always cunning and wise Qing Dynasty puppet emperor. They would continue to besiege him until they ran out of food and fodder and were forced to break out.

After all, when the Qing Dynasty army had arrived but had not surrounded Zhenjiang Fort, Yang Zhen had already sent troops to deliver the order, strictly ordering troops from Jinhai Town and Jiangdong Dynasty to come to support, thus eliminating his own source of foreign aid.

On the way.

At that time, once the food and grass in Zhenjiang Fort are really exhausted, the only way left is to break through the siege.

However, tens of thousands of Qing soldiers were besieging the city. Will the soldiers really be able to break out of the siege?

Li Lu and Zhang Chen have been following Yang Zhen for so long, and it's hard to find today. If they say they are not worried, it would be a lie. Of course, they are worried that Yang Zhen's desperate play style has messed up.

"Captain, it's really not possible. It's better to do this. Commander, you tell me to write. We go back and get a reply letter, and then ask someone to come down to the city at night and deliver it to the Qinglu camp in the west of the city. We agree on a time to call Qing.

I sent someone to talk to you."

Li Lu, who was following him, saw Yang Zhen looking in the direction of the Qinglu camp in the wind and snow, cursing and complaining. After thinking for a while, he said what he was thinking.

"When the time comes, when the Qingluo messengers come, we will ambush them all and capture them all at the top of the city. We will execute them on the spot. In this way, the governor can show to the officers in the city that he has no intention of surrendering.

You can also anger the Qing captives and make them attack. Then, won’t the strategy of scratching them in anger as mentioned by Deputy General Zhang be effective?”

In the wind and snow, on top of the city, after hearing Li Lu's statement, Yang Zhen was silent for a long time, and finally rejected it.

"Inappropriate. If the messenger we sent out was caught by the Qing soldiers, tortured and interrogated, and leaked the inside story of our army, it would be self-defeating."

"If the governor agrees, and I am willing to go out of the city in person, I will not be caught by the Qing soldiers. Even if I am caught, I will never reveal the inside story of our army!"

Faced with Yang Zhen's denial and concern, Li Lu was not discouraged. Instead, he proposed that he go out of the city to deliver the letter in person.

Of course Yang Zhen denied this again.

"That's even more inappropriate! How could this governor allow you, a general in the army, to risk falling into the hands of the Qing Dynasty and do such a thing that is not worth the gain? It's inappropriate!"

In fact, Yang Zhen himself had not thought about Li Lu's idea of ​​actively writing letters to contact the enemy.

In the past two days, he has been thinking about whether he should be more proactive.

He was a little worried that his deliberate show of weakness after receiving Huang Taiji's surrender letter was not enough to attract Huang Taiji's attention, or it was not enough to show that his determination was wavering in the face of Huang Taiji's surrender.

But he didn't want to do it too deliberately.

Once Huang Taiji or the extremely shrewd traitor counselors around Huang Taiji get a whiff of a conspiracy, I'm afraid they won't be fooled.

After all, Yang Zhen has a soul from hundreds of years in the future. He knows very well that his opponent Huang Taiji is not an ordinary person. His wit and resourcefulness are far beyond ordinary people, especially what he does, sometimes it is as if he has divine help.

Once Huang Taiji realizes that he is a little too enthusiastic about recruiting and surrendering, he will most likely be the unlucky guy who falls into the trap in the end.

Even though Huang Taiji has just recovered from his serious illness, he is still suffering from Yang hyperactivity and stroke. His brain power must have been damaged or affected by sequelae, and Yang Zhen does not want to take risks.

"It's really inappropriate. How many days have the Qing army surrounded us? It's only been more than half a month. Now our city is consolidated, ammunition has not been consumed much, and there is no shortage of food and grass. At this time, I am rushing to contact the Qing soldiers about the surrender.

It will inevitably make Qinglu suspicious."

Zhang Chen, who was also following him, listened to the conversation between Yang Zhen and Li Lu. Seeing that Li Lu was still thinking about what he wanted to say, he immediately interrupted their conversation and interjected:

"Although it was the Qinglu puppet emperor who recruited the governor first, the governor must not rush to contact the Qinglu, at least not lower his profile to contact the Qinglu now.

"Remember that when Songshan was besieged, the situation was much more critical than it is now. Huang Taiji, the puppet emperor of the Qing Dynasty, sent Zu Zerun to Songshan City to recruit surrender, but the governor did not waver. But now it is uncharacteristic. How can the Qing Dynasty believe it?"

"Then, do you want to wait like this?"

After hearing Zhang Chen's explanation, Li Lu did not insist on his own opinion, but asked helplessly.

At the same time, after listening to Zhang Chen's words, Yang Zhen no longer struggled in his heart. After hearing Li Lu's rhetorical question, he shook his head and said with a wry smile:

"That's right, you have to be determined and just wait like this. I want to see if Huang Taiji, the governor, can survive us."

That night, the snow continued all night, and it was not until the next morning that the wind stopped and the snow stopped, and the long-lost sun actually rose on the eastern horizon, spreading golden sunlight to the top of Zhenjiang Fort.
Chapter completed!