"Xianlan and Xianghuang are both soldiers and horses of the Qing Dynasty, and they are all my people. I have always treated them equally, with no distinction between strong and weak, and no distinction between them. Xianglan Banner has suffered losses in this battle, and I am very heartbroken."

Huang Taiji was very dissatisfied with the flag-to-flag controversy provoked by Jierhalang. He did not want to cause any internal strife within his own army.

Although the status between different flags has never been equal, as the leader of the Qing Dynasty, Huang Taiji still wanted to drink a bowl of water on the surface.

"What is discussed today about the movement of our army is related to the fate of the Qing Dynasty. No matter what opinions you have, as long as they are good for our Qing Dynasty, you can speak openly and discuss them in front of me."

Huang Taiji had a gloomy face. After saying these words, he pointed at Gualja Turai who was kneeling on the ground and said, "Tulai, keep talking!"

"嗻!"

After listening to Huang Taiji's words, Tu Lai no longer paid attention to Zhengjun Wang Jierhalang, who was glaring at him, and immediately continued what he had said before:

"The slave said that the reason why there is still a chance for a strong attack in the short term is because a section of the east wall of Zhenjiang Fort has been crumbling several times and is about to collapse.

"As long as the emperor issues an order to move all the heavy artillery of our army to the east of the city, and without fear of damage, approach and bombard us, the wall there will definitely collapse within a day or two.

"What I said is the truth. If there is any lie, I am willing to lead the military. As for whether to continue the offensive or divide the troops and advance eastward, everything is decided by the emperor. I only know how to do it!"

After Tu Lai said these words, he knelt on the ground and stopped talking, just waiting for Huang Taiji's will.

However, Huang Taiji felt hesitant after hearing what he said. After looking around at everyone in the tent, he suddenly realized that Fan Wencheng was gone. He couldn't help but let out a long sigh, and then said to Geng Zhongming:

"Geng Zhongming!"

"The slave is here!"

"These days, you and Tu Lai are stationed in the east of the city, and you have been in charge of the heavy artillery camp in the east of the city. What do you think of Tu Lai's judgment?"

"When I return to the emperor, I will tell you that I have the same views as Benqi Gushan'ezhen."

In fact, what Tu Lai just said was first proposed to him by Geng Zhongming.

When Huang Taiji issued an order to mobilize troops and horses to gather in the west of the city and decided to launch the strong attack from the west of the city, Geng Zhongming proposed to Tu Lai the idea of ​​massing heavy artillery and troops in the east of the city.

However, Huang Taiji was angry and raised troops at that time, and the decree was issued. At the same time, he did not recruit the two of them to come to the west of the city to participate in the matter, so they had no chance to report it to Huang Taiji.

At present, Huang Taiji's method of gathering heavy troops to launch a strong attack from the west of the city failed. This reminded Tu Lai of Geng Zhongming's previous proposal, so he said it in public.

However, now that Huang Taiji took the initiative to ask Geng Zhongming for his opinion, he could not just say it in one sentence, he had to give his own basis.

"Your Majesty, I heard that the Zhenjiang Fort was destroyed in the east of the city. It was heavily damaged by heavy artillery hidden in the imperial warships and then exploded with gunpowder.

"Later, the section of the city wall that was blown up was rebuilt by Yang Zhen's troops who entered the city. Now, the location of the rebuilt section of the city wall has been discovered by the slaves who have bombarded the city with heavy artillery for days.

"This is what Tulai Gushan said just now. In my opinion, this city wall is the weakest point in the entire Zhenjiang Fort. If all the heavy artillery can be gathered to bombard this place, then the city will be broken from here."

There’s a good chance.”

In the past two days, Geng Zhongming has been using heavy artillery to bombard the rebuilt wall on the east side of Zhenjiang Fort, including this morning on the west side of the city. He did not stop in the east either.

It is a pity that although he has many kinds of artillery under his command, there are not many heavy artillery of General Tianyou that can hit the city wall two or three miles away and cause damage to the city wall.

At the beginning, when he and Kong Youde divided their forces and moved to the southern end of Weihua Island east of Zhenjiang Fort City, he had twenty heavy artillery pieces to support General Tianyou.

But until today, especially since the heavy artillery on the city head began to attack his artillery array yesterday, four of his twenty heavy artillery were hit one after another, and now only sixteen are left.

Moreover, in order to prevent the remaining sixteen heavy artillery from being destroyed by the same heavy artillery with a longer range from the top of the city, they had to retreat a certain distance, and their accuracy and strength were reduced a lot.

However, if he could gather all the heavy artillery in the army and move the artillery positions forward again at all costs, he would be sure to quickly destroy that section of the city wall.

Geng Zhongming was just thinking about whether to risk offending others by speaking out his thoughts when he heard Huang Taiji ask him again:

"Then in your opinion, if we follow Tu Lai's advice and focus all the heavy artillery on you, how many days will it take to blast through the rebuilt main wall in the east section of Zhenjiang Fort that you mentioned?"

"emperor--"

The other princes and ministers present were shocked when they heard Huang Taiji asked Geng Zhongming. Among them, Jierhalang, Namutai, Baiyintu and Ganglin almost shouted "Emperor" in unison.

However, when Huang Taiji saw that they were trying to interrupt his conversation with Geng Zhongming, he immediately became extremely displeased. The only eye he could open widened and glanced over, suddenly showing murderous intent.

Seeing this, Jierhalang, Namutai, Baiyintu and Ganglin all lowered their heads and did not dare to interrupt.

Geng Zhongming, who experienced this scene, immediately realized that Huang Taiji was still obsessed with capturing Zhenjiang Fort as soon as possible. He thought about it in his mind and said:

"If you don't hesitate to kill or injure the gunners, and don't hesitate to destroy the heavy artillery, I think you will see the outcome within a day or two!"

"Within a day or two?"

Upon hearing Geng Zhongming's answer, Huang Taiji frowned and asked immediately, then fell silent.

Perhaps he was calculating the pros and cons of another attack. At this time, the big tent was quiet, and everyone even breathed softly.

After a while, Huang Taiji took a deep breath and asked Geng Zhongming again:

"How sure are you?"

"If we assemble all the heavy artillery in the army, and the gunners risk their lives, regardless of casualties, move the artillery positions forward, get close to bombard them, and destroy that section of the city wall within a day or two, I dare say that I am very sure!"

At this moment, Geng Zhongming also realized Huang Taiji's obsession with Zhenjiang Fort. After thinking that there should be no accidents, he simply gave up, so his tone was very affirmative.

However, being always shrewd, he also added many conditions in front of him, such as gathering all the heavy artillery, gunners risking their lives at the risk of death or injury, and moving the gun position forward to close in for bombardment, so that if there was an accident, he could shirk responsibility.

.

But no matter what, after these days of continuous shelling, Geng Zhongming was still very confident.

Huang Taiji seemed to have seen through Geng Zhongming's thoughts, so he stared at him for a while and finally said to him:

"Geng Zhongming, starting from tomorrow, I will give you one day. If you can break through the wall you mentioned, then I will count your first contribution in this Eastern Expedition and you will be rewarded heavily! If not, I will demote you to a noble title.

I will confiscate your San Niu Lu to make up for the loss of Xianglan Banner!"

"The slave obeys the order."

When Geng Zhongming heard what Huang Taiji said in the end, he cursed in his heart. At the same time, he did not dare to say anything more and quickly accepted the decree.

When other people present heard this, they were a little confused for a moment, and they all looked at Jierhalang, the king of Duoluozheng County.

Finally, Huang Taiji and others also turned their attention to Jierhalang's face.

However, at this time, Jierhalang was moved by what Huang Taiji had just said about filling the three cattle records. He thought that it would only take one day anyway, and although his army was short of food, it was not enough for such a day.

So he nodded and said no more different opinions.

Upon seeing this, Huang Taiji knew that Jierhalang also agreed to do this. He let out a sigh of relief, looked around at the people in the big tent, and finally said:

"Today's discussion was very fruitful. Moreover, our army divided up the river to plunder the Li Dynasty, and we are not in a hurry to do it in one and a half days. From noon today to noon tomorrow, all the banners of Zhenghuang, Xianghuang and Xianglan, as well as from other flags,

All the mobilized men and horses were given a day's rest.

"From noon tomorrow, each banner will separate its garrison troops and combat troops. The garrison troops will stay at each banner's camp, while the combat troops will pack up their horses and equipment to prepare for a decisive siege and eastward march.

"If King Huaishun, after gathering all the heavy artillery, destroys the east wall of Zhenjiang Fort as planned, then our army's selected soldiers will charge into the city through the gap to win the decisive victory.

"If King Huaishun fails to destroy the east wall as scheduled by the time of application tomorrow, then the selected soldiers of our army will immediately march eastward to capture Jiulian City and eat it in front of the enemy's Yizhou capital! How about that?"

"Your Majesty is wise!"

After Huang Taiji said these words, everyone present, including those who had just strongly advocated dividing the troops and marching eastward and opposed another forceful attack, all obeyed.

Because Huang Taiji's decision absorbed everyone's opinions and took into account the demands of all aspects.

Anyway, it only lasts one day. Even if King Geng Zhongming of Huaishun is not given this opportunity, the main armies of the Zhenghuang, Xianghuang and Xianglan banners will not be able to set off eastward tonight or tomorrow morning.

And as long as they don't launch another ant attack on the city such as climbing ladders and seizing the city head with heavy casualties, they don't care too much.

After all, if the main wall on the east side of the city can be destroyed and the siege team can rush in on horseback, then there is nothing to fear.

Even if the Ming army guarding the city had sharp guns and artillery, as long as he rode his horse into the city fast enough, the casualties should not be much, right?

Furthermore, Huang Taiji has already made up his mind. If King Huaishun cannot destroy the east wall of Zhenjiang Fort before Shenshi tomorrow, the assembled horsemen will turn around and go east to rob the court.

With this prepared option, naturally no one will stand up to oppose Huang Taiji's decisions, or put forward any different opinions.

In this way, although the attack on Zhenjiang Fort in the morning ended in failure, by the afternoon of that day, Huang Taiji minimized the impact of the failure of the morning siege through this prepared strategy.
Chapter completed!