In fact, many people present knew Yang Zhen's attitude.

Although Yang Zhen had not made a clear statement against the Yajiang Dongchao people before, he had actually said some words that showed his true feelings when he first responded to the Qing army's plan to siege the city for reinforcements.

As early as the beginning of the siege of Zhenjiang Fort City, Yang Zhen sent many troops out of the city.

Some of them were to deliver messages and orders, such as heading to Jinhai Town or to western Liaoning.

Some asked them to go out to support the Jiangdong Koreans in their uprising against the Japanese, such as the several Korean troops who gathered in Zhenjiang Fort at that time.

However, no matter how different the missions Yang Zhen gave them when he sent them out of the city, they all had a common primary mission.

That is to tell the various soldiers and horses in Jinhai Town and the Korean rebels in the Yi, Ding, An, and Pingding areas of Jiangdong, not to send troops to help when Zhenjiang Fort is besieged, and not to support the Qing soldiers and horses in the field.

opportunity.

Moreover, Yang Zhen also asked people to clearly inform Zu Keyong at the beginning that if Zhuanghe Fort City was besieged by Qing forces, they would have no choice but to defend. If they couldn't hold on, they would withdraw to the sea on their own.

All in all, don't ask for help everywhere. Not only the main force of the Eastern Expedition Army in Zhenjiang Fort will not go to rescue, but other people in Jinhai Town will also not send troops to rescue.

As for what the defenders of Zhenjiang Fort would do when the imperialist uprising cities on the east bank of the Yajiang River were attacked by heavy Qing troops in the future, Yang Zhen almost kept silent at that time.

Cui Xiaoyi and others, who were eager to leave the city and cross the Yangtze River, did not dwell too much on this issue, and did not even ask it properly.

They took it for granted that Zhenjiang Fort on the west bank of the Yalu River had fallen into Yang Zhen's hands, so even if the Qing army came, they would definitely besiege Zhenjiang Fort.

Moreover, before Zhenjiang Fort was breached by the Qing rebels and captured by the Qing rebels, the other Korean and humanitarian prefectures and counties on the east bank of the Yalu River had a very small chance of being attacked by the main force of the Qing rebels.

Correspondingly, if the main force of the Qing Dynasty troops dared to divide their troops to cross the river to fight against the rebels, Ding, An, and Pingpingchaoren before recapturing Zhenjiang Fort from them, then the Jinhai Town army stationed near Zhenjiang Fort and Dongjiang Island would definitely not be able to do so.

Will sit back and ignore it.

Therefore, when they led the team to leave in high spirits, they did not think clearly about these matters, nor did they ask questions clearly.

As for Yang Zhen, who was also a party involved, he pretended to be confused at that time and did not mention it to the soldiers or generals. Of course, he himself would not tell the truth.

Moreover, Cui Xiaoyi and the others were full of confidence, as if they were sure of victory over anyone else. Yang Zhen did not want to undermine their newly built self-confidence.

In this way, if the prefectural city on the east bank of the Yajiang River, where the Koreans raised troops to resist the Qing Dynasty, was attacked by the main force of the Qing Dynasty army, it became an unresolved question whether the defenders of Zhenjiang Fort should try their best to rescue them.

However, regarding this issue, the generals of Jinhai Town actually know what they are doing.

After all, Yang Zhen had already said before that in order to avoid falling into the trap of the Qing forces encircling them for reinforcements, even if the Qing forces were to attack Zhuanghe Castle on the East Road of Jinhai Town, they would not risk going to the rescue.

Zu Keyong and the others can only rely on themselves.

If Yang Zhen has this attitude towards his own people who are also under the jurisdiction of Jinhai Town, then naturally there will be no need to mention others.

Therefore, when Li Lu and Qiu Zhenhai expressed their judgments with joyful faces, and everyone agreed with their judgments, the scene quickly cooled down.

Li Lu's originally smiling and cheerful face gradually solidified, and finally he scratched his head, becoming a little embarrassed.

The gloating on Qiu Zhenhai's face just now disappeared in the blink of an eye. He looked at Liu Lin and An Yingchang who were also present, coughed a few times, pretended to clear his throat, and finally said:

"Well, the soldiers and horses of the Qing Dynasty suffered heavy losses here. Not only did they not get any advantage, but they suffered a lot of casualties and consumed even more ammunition.

"Haha, even if they cross the Yangtze River to attack the Uiju Prefecture Jiancheng guarded by General Yin Cuibie of the Huang Prefecture, I don't expect it to be that easy!

"And just before the Ya River froze, didn't General Hwang Prefecture Yin Cuibie and others send people from Uiju Prefecture to deliver a message asking us if we wanted to help with our defense?

"Although the Governor refused them to send people over, it can be seen from this that they have recruited quite a lot of anti-capitalist troops in Yizhou Prefecture. Not only can they protect themselves, but they also have the power to rescue us. So, Governor, you don't have to worry!"

Worry?

Yang Zhen never worried about this.

But it was hard to explain clearly what he was thinking. After hearing what Qiu Zhenhai said, he had no choice but to nod his head without expressing his position.

However, the slightly embarrassing change from Li Lu and Qiu Zhenhai's cheerful expressions when they first came to the conclusion that the Qing captives should divide their forces and cross the river to now also reminded other Jinhaizhen generals present.

Therefore, after Qiu Zhenhai said what he said, Zhang Chen saw that Yang Zhen had no expression and was worried that Yang Zhen was too thin-skinned to show affection in front of Liu Lin and An Yingchang and make the wrong decision, so he immediately stood up and said:

"Commander, the Qing captives splitting their forces and marching eastward may still be a trap. Before we really figure out what happened, all our deployment and response should be based on holding on to Zhenjiang Fort, and everything should be done with caution!

"

"Yes, Commander-in-Chief, the Qing captives failed to attack Zhenjiang Fort twice. Then there will be other conspiracies. They will divide their troops and go eastward to attack the Huangfu Yin and Cui Biejiang, their Yizhou capital and Dingzhou.

Anzhou or even other places, it is very likely that this is a plan to divert the tiger away from the mountain."

Yang Shen had obviously understood what Qiu Zhenhai and Zhang Chen were saying, so as soon as Zhang Chen finished speaking, Liu Lin, who had been hesitant to speak several times, didn't give Liu Lin a chance to interrupt, and immediately put forward his own opinion.

He also directly took over Zhang Chen's words and described the fact that the Qing captives divided their troops and marched eastward to attack the imperial capital of Yizhou as a conspiracy by the Qing captive army to divert the tigers away from the mountains.

And when he said this, the other Jinhai Zhensen generals present nodded in approval.

Later, Li Lu, who was the first to reveal the Qing captives' movements, immediately expressed his attitude.

"That's right, Commander. Seeing that the siege was fruitless and the attack failed, the Qing captives must have wanted to divert the tigers away from the mountains, lure our troops to split up and leave the city, and then ambush us.

"So, next, I predict that there will be new wars in the direction of Yizhou Fucheng, including Dingzhou City and Anzhou City. There may even be some people pretending to be rebels from the Jiangdong Dynasty to come to Zhenjiang Fort to call the city.

Or ask for help!

"If there are no accidents, all of this must be the conspiracy of the Qing puppet emperor Huang Taiji, and the purpose is still to try every means to destroy us!"

"this--"

Seeing Zhang Chen, Yang Shen, and Li Lu talking more and more outrageously, Yang Zhen naturally knew that they were giving him a setback and providing him with an excuse to refuse the requests of Liu Lin or An Yingchang and other court generals.

But despite this, when he heard them say this one by one, Yang Zhen couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, not knowing what to say.

After a moment of silence, Yang Zhen took a deep breath, then turned to Liu Lin and An Yingchang, who had hesitated to speak several times before but remained silent in the end, and asked:

"Liu Bingshi, An Du pointed out that you two, what do you think of the abnormal behavior of the Qing captives outside the city? Do you think the main force of the Qing captive army has really divided its forces and marched eastward across the Yangtze River?

"If this is indeed the case, then what is the real purpose of the Qinglu? And what should we, the soldiers and horses of Zhenjiang Fort, do?"

Just now, in a very short period of time, Yang Zhen decided to clarify some issues.

Because how to treat the people of the imperial court and how to treat the Li Dynasty are issues that he cannot avoid. Even if he doesn't want to face them now, he will have to face them sooner or later.

In his opinion, neither Liu Lin nor An Yingchang is a fool.

If they were not sure whether the Qing captives had divided their forces before, whether they had moved eastward, or whether they had gone to attack the city of Yizhou or other dynasty cities, then now they heard from Li Lu, Qiu Zhenhai, Zhang Chen, and Yang Shen

The two of them must have known what was going on.

At the same time, Li Lu, Qiu Zhenhai, Zhang Chen and Yang Shen's attitudes towards this matter have become quite clear.

If under such circumstances, Liu Lin or An Yingchang still expressed their position and firmly advocated that the soldiers and horses of Zhenjiang Fort should rescue the anti-capitalist rebels in Yizhou Fucheng, the Korean people, it would mean that their thoughts were not with Yang Zhen, or

It is said that the two of them will break away from Yang Zhen sooner or later.

If this is the case, Yang Zhen will take this opportunity to order them to lead his troops out of the city, ask them to go to rescue Chao Ren's city, and then go their separate ways.

Anyway, now, Yang Zhen doesn't have to worry about the Qing rebels launching another large-scale attack on Zhenjiang Fort for a while.

However, if their attitude is the same as that of the generals under their command who were born in Jinhaizhen, or if they are not completely consistent, but are ambiguous and can go either way, then it means that they are not die-hard loyalists to the Li Dynasty.

This also means that one day in the future, when Jinhai Town moves to the east bank of the Yajiang River for large-scale immigration and settlement, or even controls or deposes the Li family, they will not alienate themselves.

So, if this is the case, then they can continue to stay and can be truly trusted in the future.

Therefore, Yang Zhen's question was actually a temptation and a test.

"This——, the Qing captives have always been extremely cunning, and the governor must not be careful. Even if their main force has been divided across the river, I think we cannot act rashly.

"As for what to do next? The loyal and righteous commander of the humble position returns to the Ming army. He is loyal to the righteousness upheld by the governor. He returns to the Ming Dynasty where the governor is. From the humble position, he only knows that he is sincere and single-minded and obeys the orders of the governor!"
Chapter completed!