Liu Lin had met Huang Taiji, the puppet emperor of the Qing Dynasty. Although he was a minister of the Li Dynasty at that time, he followed the leader Li Zhu in the Qing camp at Santiandu and met Huang Taiji from a distance through many people.

But Huang Taiji, who was tall and imposing at that time, left him with a very profound memory.

And this was the reason why he was always in a state of sitting on the fence when faced with the recruitment of Shen Qiyuan and Yang Zhen, trying to stand on both sides.

Because he had always believed that facing such a powerful opponent as Huang Taiji, not to mention Shen Qiyuan's secret plans, even if the country's leader Li Zhu personally stood up to lead the rebellion against the Qing Dynasty, the chance of success would be slim.

Therefore, he did not want to put his own wealth and life, and the wealth and life of his family, on Shen Qiyuan's dangerous plot to depose Li Jie to rebel against the Qing Dynasty.

Including Yang Zhen's Jinhai Town troops, he also felt unreliable.

After all, when Bingzi was in chaos, the remaining officers and soldiers of Dongjiang Town of the Ming Dynasty on Pi Island, as well as the army of Chen Hongfan, the officer and army of the Ming Dynasty in Denglai Town, who came to the rescue, watched helplessly as the Qing soldiers and horses defeated the Li Chao soldiers and horses, without Dare to go ashore and fight the Qing captives!

Therefore, since Bingzi started acting recklessly, he instinctively believed that the Qinglu were too powerful and it was unlikely that he would succeed in resisting the Qinglu.

Because of this, he did not dare to pin his future and destiny, as well as the survival of his family, on things that were too illusory and illusory.

Of course, things are unpredictable, and he did not expect that an ordinary operation of transporting grain to the Qing Dynasty would coincide with the sudden incident of Yang Zhen's capture of Zhenjiang Fort, and he would be deeply involved in it from then on.

At this point, the situation is stronger than the person, and he has no way to turn back.

He had anticipated this day ever since he was coerced, or even coerced, by his generals into acting as an internal agent for Yang Zhen to seize Zhenjiang Fort.

Now, for him, since he has boarded Yang Zhen's "thief ship", he has no choice but to follow Yang Zhen until the end.

Therefore, at this moment, he did not have any reservations. Instead, he combined his feelings about Huang Taiji with the current strange situation, and then reported all his thoughts to Yang Zhen.

"Captain, please be careful. The Qing army may have two moves next. Either they will make a desperate move and risk all their troops to launch a final storm-like general attack on Zhenjiang Castle in order to complete their victory in one battle, or they will Pack your bags and evacuate quickly, at least Huang Taiji may be able to evacuate quickly with his main force!"

"ah?!"

"No way?"

"That's right, isn't it?"

"Will Qinglu really withdraw their troops?"

Liu Lin obviously did not have much prestige in the minds of the generals in Zhenjiang Fort at the moment. As soon as his judgment was stated, it immediately aroused almost unanimous doubts from all the generals present.

The soldiers and horses of the Qing Dynasty holding blue flags sent out troops and returned to camp as if they were child's play. Although it was extremely unusual, few people really considered this abnormal situation together with Huang Taiji's possibility of taking risks or withdrawing his troops directly.

"Vice General Zhang, what do you think?"

While everyone else was exclaiming and questioning Liu Lin's judgment, only Zhang Chen still held up his telescope to look to the west in the direction of the Qinglu camp, so Yang Zhen asked him.

Zhang Chen heard Yang Zhen's inquiry, put down the telescope in his hand, frowned and thought for a while, and said:

"No matter what happened on the Qinglu side, since the situation of the soldiers and horses with the blue flag is so abnormal, something big must have happened suddenly.

"And it's so big that Huang Taiji, the puppet emperor of the Qing Dynasty, or Jierhalang, the prince of the Qing Dynasty, would rather do such ridiculous things than care about the impact on their military morale!"

Zhang Chen first said something that seemed to be nonsense, then looked at the crowd and saw that the others clearly didn't agree with what he said, so he continued:

"So I agree with what Liu Bingshi said at the end. Our soldiers and horses in Zhenjiang Fort must be extremely careful in the next two days and make all preparations for the last battle since the Qing Dynasty besieged the city!"

Zhang Chen's prestige in the military may currently be second only to Yang Zhen's, and at least much higher than Liu Lin's.

So when he said this, although it was no different from what Liu Lin said, the expressions of the other generals following Yang Zhen immediately became solemn.

Finally, all the generals looked at Yang Zhen.

"So what kind of big deal do you think might have happened?"

"My humble position cannot be determined, so I dare not lie."

"Let's just say."

In fact, there are not many things that would allow Huang Taiji or Qinglu Prince Jierhalang to issue such an order. The speculations made by Liu Lin and other generals just now, either seriously or jokingly, have basically covered several types of things.

The greatest possible.

However, regarding this strange situation, even though Zhang Chen was well-informed, he still could not make a completely convincing judgment.

Therefore, he was also worried that if he said something wrong, he might mislead Yang Zhen and all the soldiers who had been guarding Zhenjiang Fort for three months.

But when faced with Yang Zhen's questioning, he couldn't help but say nothing. In the end, he could only boldly tell a reason he thought was possible.

And for this reason, no one else has mentioned it in the discussion that everyone was talking about just now.

"I'm not sure, but I've been wondering if the Qing captives behaved so abnormally. Could it be that they received news of the war in western Liaoning?"

"ah?!"

"Hold on!"

"Liaoxi?"

"Vice General Zhang is talking about the Zu Family Army?"

"Is it possible?"

Even though Zhang Chen's prestige among the generals was second only to Yang Zhen, after he expressed his conjecture, it immediately aroused discussion again among the generals.

Because there has been no news from western Liaoning, many people under Yang Zhen's command no longer have any hope for the Ming army in western Liaoning to cooperate in operations.

A few days ago, when Huang Taiji once again led the main force of the Eastern Expedition to fight back to the gates of Zhenjiang Fort, Yang Zhen mentioned this possibility again to persuade the generals in the city to be calm and continue to hold on.

However, after Yang Zhen said it, others were not at ease.

Because for them, their so-called friendly forces have never been reliable. It is good if the friendly forces do not cheat them. How can they provide help in the snow?

Therefore, when everyone speculated on the reason for the abnormal behavior of the Qing captives, although many people had great imaginations, no one still placed their hope on the group of friendly troops in western Liaoning.

At this moment, Zhang Chen suddenly mentioned this point, and everyone started talking about it again.

"cough!"

Yang Zhen listened to everyone's discussion, coughed, focused everyone's attention on him again, and then said:

"How is it impossible? Everything is possible! We have been fighting here for more than three months. Yuan Jin should have sent the news anyway.

"We don't have to ask them to send their troops to Zhenjiang Fort to relieve the siege or fight. Instead, we ask them to look for opportunities to fight on their own in western Liaoning, either by detours or feigning attacks, in order to contain the Qing soldiers and horses.

It’s just a purpose, what’s the problem?

"Besides, such a thing is not without benefits for them. There are no risks and there are many benefits. I don't believe that Hong Chengchou, Zu Dashou and the others will really sit back and watch indifferently!"

"If it was really Liaoxi that sent troops to attack the Qing captives, then what kind of thing did the governor think might have happened?"

With Yang Zhen's support, Zhang Chen had some confidence in his own judgment. He ignored other people's suspicions and talked to Yang Zhen on his own.

Yang Zhen was obviously inspired by what Liu Lin and Zhang Chen said before. He thought for a moment and said:

"As you just said, it must be a big event to make Qingluo behave so abnormally. So the soldiers and horses in western Liaoning must have made a big move, and based on my understanding of Governor Hong and Zu Dashou,

If they don't use troops, that's it. If they do use troops, it won't be just a small fight!

"You know, Yizhou City is not far from Guangning City. If the governor's prediction is correct, they may have dispatched a large army to attack or surround Guangning City! Otherwise, it will not be enough to shock Huang Taiji."

As soon as Yang Zhen said these words, the generals and generals present were stunned for a moment.

On the one hand, they found Yang Zhen's statement unbelievable and thought it was a bit fanciful. On the other hand, everyone hoped that Yang Zhen's judgment was accurate.

Because if this is the case, then after several months of holding on in Zhenjiang Fort, wouldn't it be that the clouds will clear and the moon will shine soon?

So whether this is really the case, when Yang Zhen first thought about this, he was confused.

However, when he saw that Liu Lin and Zhang Chen both came to similar conclusions, he suddenly had strong confidence in his own judgment.

Of course he thought about the change of hands of Xiuyan Fort, but the change of hands of Xiuyan Fort would only lead to a large-scale dispatch of troops and horses with blue flags at most, and it was unlikely that Huang Taiji would suddenly withdraw his orders and recall the troops with blue flags.

As the saying goes, there is no joke in the king, and there is no joke in the army.

How could a decision as important as dispatching or recalling 10,000 or 20,000 troops and horses be changed casually?

However, since Huang Taiji made such an unusual move, it means that there must be something more serious than the change of hands of Xiuyan Fort.

Thinking of Yuan Jin's westward journey in early October, and then thinking of the agreement he made with Hong Chengchou and Zu Dashou, Yang Zhen felt that the only thing that could shock Huang Taiji so much was that Hong Chengchou or Zu Dashou sent a large number of troops from western Liaoning!

Of course, although Yang Zhen thought of this, he only thought that Hong Chengchou or Zu Dashou might have sent a large number of troops to Guangning City, and did not dare to go further and make bolder conjectures.

In fact, as early as the evening of the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month two years ago, when Zu Keyong led the Jinhai Town Ming Army cavalry from Zhuanghe Fort, they set out north to attack Xiuyan Fort.
Chapter completed!