Most of the rebels and river workers in the city gate tunnel died of thick smoke, and a few of them ran out were also shot dead by Fujian soldiers with guns.

Li Shiyuan had to stop siege, not only because of the loss of the siege equipment, but also because of the loss of the old soldiers. He only had hundreds of soldiers under his command, and if he died too much, he would not be able to bear the siege workers.

"Damn it, these Fujian soldiers are really difficult to deal with!" Ma Lazi looked at the cheering defenders on the city wall and spat hard.

"Brother, what should I do now?"

Li Shiyuan's other sworn brother, Zhang Tianbao, was not from Liaodong, but from Henan.

"When it gets dark, let the river workers take a feint attack in Xicheng. Let's choose some good brothers to climb up from other city walls!"

Li Shiyuan is still capable of living in troubled times. Seeing that the attack cannot work, he turned to other ways to seize the city.

It is impossible for him to give up Huai'an City!

Under Li Shiyuan's order, the rebels retreated to the Changpingcang area of ​​the canal governor's office, which belonged to the canal. There were a large amount of grain transported from Jiangnan. Not to mention thousands, even tens of thousands of people were enough to eat for a year. (Author's note: After the fall of Beijing, a large amount of grain stored in Huai'an was robbed by Liu Zeqing, and Yu Duo was robbed by the Pavilion Shi Kefa to the Qing army in order to join forces to suppress the enemy, but in the end he became the confidence of the Duoduo tribe to go south.)

When the rebels retreated, the defenders and officials in the city breathed a sigh of relief. Someone went to the Governor's Office to report the news.

Lu Zhenfei, the governor of the canal transportation, did not go to the city to watch the battle. Although he commanded Zheng Zhilong's navy to fight the Dutch and pirates, he never went to the front line in person. In addition, Zheng Tai was a leader in the Zheng family's younger generation, so he could believe it.

At this time, as the highest official in Huai'an City, Lu Zhenfei had to do was to calm down and never show panic, otherwise it would cause panic in the whole city.

"General Zheng will have to rush back at least five days after receiving the news. At present, it is not known whether the Jianhe Army is rebelling or a unit. If they all rebel, these people will definitely attack Huai'an by the Hegong. The two places outside the city are Changping Warehouses and the rebels are occupied. It is difficult to defend with more than 1,000 soldiers from Zheng Qian's army alone. The most urgent task is to send people to Sizhou and Yangzhou for help." The person who spoke was Zheng Biao, the governor of the Caodao, who was a Jinshi in the fourth year of Chongzhen.

Zheng Zhibao was not in the city. Five days ago, he was ordered by Lu Zhenfei to go to Haizhou to gather refugees, preparing to use refugees as a group to train the local brave men. When he left, he took away half of the Fujian soldiers, so there were actually only 1,500 Fujian soldiers in the city.

"Sizhou? No, absolutely not! The rebellion was Jin Shenghuan's soldiers. How could they still ask for help from him? If Jin Shenghuan takes the opportunity to rebel, how could this Huai'an City be preserved!"

Promoter Jin Peng strongly opposed asking for help from Sizhou.

Zheng Biao thought it was the same and said, "Then send someone to Yangzhou. The Yangzhou garrison Shi Dewei is brave and good at fighting. He is also the adopted son of the Ministry of War. He knows that there are police in Huai'an that will lead troops to quell the rebellion."

"The Governor Ma Shiying of Fengyang also has to send people there. The eunuch of the military supervisor Lu Jiude has many soldiers and horses. In addition, Huang Degong's cavalry is in Dingyuan and Lingbi. If he can lead cavalry to aid, no matter how many rebels there are, he will be worried!" Jin Peng knew the garrison of the government troops near Huai'an.

Lu Zhenfei ordered: "Go to do this matter immediately and choose a reliable and useful person."

"There is now a job!"

There are three cities in Huai'an. The rebels are now concentrated in the West City and do not surround the three cities to death. Therefore, the city can send envoys to seek help.

After Jin Peng left, Zheng Biao said again: "The yamen runners have been organized by the Ministry of Justice. In addition, they are also recruiting young and strong residents to go to the city to help defend. As long as they can guard for three or five days, reinforcements from Yangzhou will arrive. The Ministry of Justice doesn't have to worry too much,"

As he was speaking, Jin Peng left and returned, showing joy, and shouted out loud regardless of his demeanor: "The rebels retreated, the rebels retreated!"

"oh!"

Lu Zhenfei and others stood all up, and Jin Peng asked the person who reported the news to explain in detail immediately.

"Wu Daqian has made great contributions, and the head office will ask for merit from the court for him!"

When the instructor Wu Daqian came up with a way to defeat the enemy, Lu Zhenfei was happy and rubbed his hands straight, and he also told him to send orders. Each officer and soldier guarding the city could receive three taels of silver, and he was also asked to prepare wine and meat to go to the city to reward him.

Zheng Biao reminded: "Although the rebels retreated, they are still outside the city. I don't think they will give up Huai'an City easily, and the soldiers still cannot relax."

“This is natural,”

Lu Zhenfei glanced at Zheng Biao, "You can handle the matter of defending the city with Wu Daqian. From now on, you will represent the department. If you need money, grain and materials, you don't have to ask me for it. Just collect it directly in the vassal treasury."

"The official is here to receive the order!"

Zheng Biao responded and wanted to go to the city to find Wu Daqian, but Lu Zhenfei called him, "What do you think about Lu Wang's thought of the headquarters here?"

Yesterday, Wei Hui's Lu King Zhu Changqing sent a letter to Lu Zhenfei, saying that the bandits in Henan were attacking Huaiqing in a large scale and were rushing towards Wei Hui.

The King of Zhou, King Chong, King Fu and others who escaped from Kaifeng were all in Weihui. The princes meant that Weihui was no longer safe, so they all wanted to leave Weihui and come to Huaiyang to avoid the thieves.

But if Lu Zhenfei, the governor of the grain transport and the governor of Huaiyang, did not accept them, these princes would not know where to escape.

Zheng Biao said without hesitation: "The prince's nobles are in danger now, and the department should send someone to pick them up and make proper arrangements."

"I also think so. I just have to quell the rebels before I can send people to greet them, otherwise I wouldn't have asked some relatives to enter the dangerous place."

Lu Zhenfei was not against his will. In fact, he was going to let Jin Shenghuan from Sizhou pick up the four princes to Huai'an, but after the rebellion of the Jianhe Army, whether Jin Shenghuan is still reliable is a question. If this person has the will to rebel and capture the four princes, Lu Zhenfei will be redeemed for his crimes even if he dies.

.............

On the banks of the canal, more than a dozen people were lying in the grass and looking at the rebels who were carrying food and preparing to cook.

"Didn't you say that the Fujian soldiers are very weak, why do they have a large number of firearms? How can we fight this battle?" The oil-selling man Cheng Lin witnessed the defenders on the city shooting a large number of firearms with muskets. Although he was not afraid, he was always a little guilty.

Sun Wujin said with a "hehe": "Don't worry, if you have a firearm, you can win the war. Our Ming Dynasty would not have asked the Tartars outside the pass to enter the pass five times, let alone let the thieves make trouble in the north."

Lu Si didn't say anything, he knew Sun Wujin was right.

"Too,"

Cheng Lin nodded, "But look at the rebels, can you not want to siege the city for a long time?"

"Impossible, Li Shiyuan has only a few hundred people, and he cannot be besieged for a long time. The longer he delays outside the city, the more miserable he died of Li Shiyuan... I guess Li Shiyuan wanted to attack at night."

What Sun Wujin said was actually the situation of the Huai Army, and it could not be delayed outside Huai'an City.

"Night attack?"

Lu Si narrowed his eyes, "A good idea."
Chapter completed!