Jixiha's march was very fast. He did not delay, but led his troops to cross the Lushui River and headed straight to Jiaozhou.

As the number one important city in Laizhou, the importance of Jiaozhou is self-evident.

It is precisely stuck between Lingshanwei and Fushan in front of him. Its geographical location is extremely important and has been a must-fight for military strategists since ancient times.

It can be said that whoever controls Jiaozhou controls the entire Jiaozhou Bay.

Upon hearing that the Qing army was attacking in large numbers, Wang Ermazi personally led his troops to Jiaozhou City to prepare for the battle.

Also coming were Zheng Jing, Gan Hui and Li Shitou, deputy general of the Hu Ben Army who had just arrived in Laizhou.

Zhao Xu is now promoted to general of the Tiger Ben Army, and Li Shitou is also promoted to deputy general.

The emperor ordered Li Shitou to lead 5,000 elite troops to help Shandong. Li Shitou dared not delay the journey of the night. Although the process was tortuous, fortunately, he arrived before the Qing army launched a large-scale attack.

As a result, with more than 10,000 reinforcements, Wang Ermazi's confidence increased a lot.

These are all elites among the elites. You can tell by looking at the equipment of armor and weapons and their appearance when marching.

Such ten thousand people are even more powerful than the ones of hundreds of thousands of mobs combined.

At the same time, Wang Ermazi also sent someone to Dengzhou to ask for help from his elder brother Yu Qi.

The Battle of Laizhou was not his own business, Wang Ermazi, and Qixia's brothers would definitely not sit idly by.

Of course, Yu Qi's reinforcements may arrive in Jiaozhou a little slower, but it doesn't matter, they can still withstand it for a while.

It was the first time that Zheng Jing saw the people around the emperor, and he was naturally very excited.

As for Li Shitou, when he learned that the leader of the army was the prince of His Highness Zhong, he was so surprised that he couldn't speak.

His Highness, King Zhong, is really a loyal country. Even his relatives have sent to reinforce the battlefield in Shandong. His Majesty has indeed read it wrong.

At first, he was worried that King Zhong would gradually become unjust in his reliance on his great military achievements. But from the current situation, His Highness King Zhong was still loyal to the court and the emperor.

That's good, that's good. Li Shitou doesn't want the Ming Dynasty to start internal friction again at this time.

The Ming Dynasty is really unbearable now.

Jiaozhou City is not as big as Zheng Jing imagined, but it is not small, and it is still bigger than an ordinary county town.

So an embarrassing thing happened. If tens of thousands of people were stuffed into Jiaozhou County, it would look very bloated and crowded.

After repeated consideration, Wang Ermazi finally decided to transfer some of his own people to the fort outside the city.

After all, Zheng Jing and Li Shitou are the guest soldiers, so how could they not let the guest soldiers enter the city?

Of course, if the war on the outside is not going well, Wang Ermazi will take the people back to the city in time.

There is no need to destroy the Great Wall by yourself.

Li Shitou raised some doubts and opinions about Wang Ermazi's strategy of defending the city.

In the past two years, he followed the emperor and King Jin to travel around the world and fought countless battles. Although he may not have learned anything at a large level, he still saw some details.

For example, when defending the city, you must clarify your purpose, just temporarily delay waiting for reinforcements or defend to the end?

The former generally does not block the city gate, so even if reinforcements do not arrive, there is still a chance to break through the city.

The latter is usually dead, and the generals usually order the city gate to be blocked.

In this way, even if the enemy wants to capture the city, they will have to lose a layer of skin.

The current situation is obviously the former, but Wang Ermazi ordered the city gate to be blocked.

This made Li Shitou very puzzled.

After thinking about it for a while, he decided to explain his great relationship to Wang Ermazi.

After all, it is related to the survival of Jiaozhou, so there is no need to be careless at all.

After listening to Li Shitou's analysis, Wang Ermazi felt that he was a little too cowardly. In this situation, he actually ordered the city gate to be blocked.

At this time, Zheng Jing came out to smooth things over, which was considered to have revealed this page.

The waiting time is torment. Although I know that the Qing army will definitely come, this fear of the unknown makes Wang Ermazi unable to sleep well and will wake up in the middle of the night.

As for Zheng Jing and Li Shitou, they are much more broad-minded.

Perhaps it was because they had experienced too many big and small battles, so they were used to it for a long time. They ate whatever they wanted and slept until dawn.

Finally, on the second day of April, the Qing army arrived outside Jiaozhou City.

The Qing army led by Jishiha was known as 100,000 people. Looking down from the city, they saw that it was dense.

"Oh my god, this fucking Tartar really mobilized a hundred thousand troops?"

Wang Ermazi only felt her legs were weak and her eyes were black.

He had never fought such a large-scale war, not to mention that the number of enemies was several times his own.

"General Wang, don't panic. In my opinion, there are not as many as 100,000 people in the Tartars."

Li Shitou laughed and said, "There are at most 70,000 to 80,000 people."

Zheng Jing also nodded and said, "Yes, I usually say that I'm talking about it too much. If it were me, I would definitely have to report the number of people."

Wang Ermazi suddenly realized, "So there is still this statement. If you don't say it, I'm afraid I'll be kept in the dark by the Tartars."

Although there are many 70,000 to 80,000 people, at least the psychological pressure is not that great.

The Ming army could even get 40,000 to 50,000 people together, and it was still the one who defended the city, which had the advantage of being a good place.

As long as the Ming army resolutely defended the city and did not go out of the city to fight, there were no advantages but no obvious disadvantages.

"General Wang is so serious, so we also say whatever we say."

Zheng Jing put his posture very low, and did not show any airs of a loyal prince.

He really wanted to train himself through this battle and win the favor of his father. Fortunately, he ordered him to lead more troops to fight in the future.

"Generally speaking, the defender of the city should mobilize the young and strong people in the city to assist in defending the city as much as possible. I believe General Wang knew this?"

Wang Ermazi nodded suddenly when he heard this.

"I still know this. I have already ordered that any man over fifteen years old must assist the army in defending the city."

“That’s good.”

At this moment, I could only hear a burst of curses outside the city.

A group of Qing soldiers cursed the Ming Emperor Zhu Youlang at the top of his throat, saying that he was a cowardly and soft-boy who only knew how to run away and run for more than ten years.

When Wang Ermazi heard this, his lungs were furious. He jumped and cursed, "I want to pull out their skin!"

"General Wang, don't be impulsive."

Seeing this, Li Shitou quickly advised: "The Tartars obviously want to use aggressive generals to anger the general, so that they can take the opportunity to attack the city. It's better to be so quick to speak out."

Wang Ermazi was shocked.

Li Shitou is a person around the emperor. The emperor was scolded like this, why was he not angry at all?

Li Shitou seemed to see Wang Ermazi's thoughts and explained with a smile: "Those who accomplish great things are not focused on the details. No matter how much the Tartars curse, they will not change the heroic image of His Majesty in our hearts. They will make them show off their good deeds. As long as we guard Jiaozhou, we will be the best reward for His Majesty to the court."

Wang Ermazi thought about it carefully and realized that this is the reason.

...

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Chapter completed!