There was no fear in Cao Chong's eyes, only sadness. In the Qing Dynasty, local officials were responsible for defending their territory. Once they escaped, they would inevitably harm their family, let alone surrender. Moreover, Cao Chong was still a member of the Han army's banner. There were dozens of people in the Cao family. In order not to implicate their family, Cao Chong had already seen his ending. Although he was unwilling to give up, what could he do?

"Sir..." Gu Bai, as Cao Chong's friend, had a deep relationship. Gu Bai had followed him as early as when Cao Chong was a co-minister. In the past twenty years, the relationship between them was both the guest of honor and the friend. Cao Chong was able to govern the local government well and was rated as outstanding every year. He was really not helping Gu Bai. Although Gu Bai was only known as a scholar, he was a figure of both civil and military. Unfortunately, due to his fame and fame, he could not enter the officialdom. Over the years, he had tried his best to assist Cao Chong. Cao Chong had long regarded him as his closest person.

At this time, Cao Chong had not forgotten to let Gu Bai leave this place of right and wrong early. Looking at Cao Chong who was ashamed, Gu Bai was moved, but at the same time he was saddened by Cao Chong's self-deprecation.

Taking a deep breath, Gu Bai said, "Sir! Why do you say this? Although the situation is critical now, there is no way. As long as you can revive, summon the people, and strictly guard the city, you may not be able to compete with the thieves in Taizhou. Sir, don't forget that hundreds of thousands of thieves were besieged day and night in the battle in Hangzhou, but what about the end? Wasn't it destroyed under my heavenly soldiers?"

"This time and then, let alone Hangzhou is the capital city's important land, the court will never ignore it. Now, due to the food shortage in Jiangnan, the eldest prince is far away from Lin'an, and the governor is not reliable. How can we fight against the thieves in Taizhou alone?" Cao Chong shook his head and sighed.

"Sir! Things are done by others. How can you know if you don't do it?" Gu Bai said patiently: "In the years since the adults became officials in Jiangnan, there have been many people who have been favored by them. Even if the food in Jiangnan is now deserted, in Taizhou City, because of the adults, the people can still have a full meal. Will the people forget all the things they have done for them?"

Speaking of this, Gu Bo paused and continued: "Besides, as an official of the court, he has the responsibility to defend the country. How can he rebel and open the city without doing anything? If he does this, how can he comment on you in the future? Don't you think about it? In addition, you are not worried that the court will pirate off your family after learning the truth?"

Hearing this, Cao Chong was stunned. His original idea was that since he could not hold on, he should not make fearless sacrifices. As a Taoist platform, he must have died for his country. But why should those innocent people drag them to fight against the thieves? But he did not expect that his negative attitude would anger the court. Once the court learned the truth and took his anger at his family, wouldn’t he die in vain?

The most important thing is that Gu Bai also reminded Cao Chong that if he did this, he would comment on himself after he died. In this era, especially literati, what they fear most was not life, but the reputation behind him. Once his reputation was destroyed, it would be even more unacceptable than killing him.

"But Qingsong, is this useful?" Although he had not been convinced by Gu Bai, he could hear the looseness in Cao Zhong's heart from his words, and Gu Bai immediately turned the railway line: "If lord can trust me, leave this matter about city defense to me!"

"This... Qingsong, why do you have to do this?" Cao Chong hesitated, but looking at Gu Bai's resolute gaze, Cao Chong shook his head again and finally sighed.

On that day, Cao Chong ordered Gu Bai to assist in handling all matters, and Gu Bai took the initiative to take on the important task. Regarding Gu Bai, there was no one in Taizhou City who knew Mr. Gu's name, let alone Cao Chong's orders, and the various yamen immediately expressed that they obey Mr. Gu's orders.

In this way, under Gu Bai's command, the entire Taizhou City began pre-war mobilization. Not only did it recruit people to step up the construction of the city wall, but it also found ships to block the waterways near Taizhou one by one. In addition, it used the money and grain from the mansion to summon a large number of young and strong men to train day and night, gathered craftsmen in the city to create various tools...

Just as Gu Bai was speeding up the resettlement of Taizhou defense, Ningbo's army had begun to mobilize. In order to ensure that everything was foolproof, Zhu Yicheng personally led the army to the expedition. His troops had two divisions in the army. The navy was commanded by Wang Dong and Zhang Fei as the deputy general. The other generals at all levels were dispatched in full swing, except for the warships left in Ningbo and escorted the Sihai Commercial Bank.

As for land, Dong Dashan was left behind in Ningbo and did not go out with the army. Ma Gongcheng was the main general and brought a musket team with him. The two divisions of the water and land had a total of 15,000 people. They came out of Ningbo in a mighty manner and headed towards Taizhou.

For Taizhou, the green camps in the entire Taizhou City, plus the yamen runners in each yamen, etc. are only less than a thousand people. It can be said that Zhu Yicheng used a 15,000-strong parade army to attack the Taizhou City, which was guarded by nearly a thousand people, which is almost certain.

However, Zhu Yicheng did not dare to neglect the battle at all. Not only did he send his elite soldiers and generals, but he also went to the battle in person. The main reason was that this was the first official battle after Ningbo's army was reorganized. In this battle, Zhu Yicheng also had to verify the combat effectiveness of his troops under his command, including surrendering to his Fujian Navy and the newly trained musket team.

For safety, Zhu Yicheng did not board the boat and traveled with the navy, but took the land route. Ningbo is not far from Taizhou. If you are fast, you can arrive in one day, and even if you advance at the speed of the march, it will only take three days.

When the army set out, Zhu Yicheng asked Ma Gongcheng to send a large number of spies to ensure the safety of the army's marching. However, along the way, the local area did not resist at all. Until the night of the next day, the army camped, and there was still no trace of the Qing army around, and the entire army was as smooth as a march.

"Grandmaster, it seems that Taizhou is probably scared. Seeing that our army was dispatched, even a small group of troops dared not send out." Ma Gongcheng said with a smile. In his opinion, it was simply effortless to attack the small Taizhou City with such powerful force, and the situation in the past two days has proved this.

Not only Ma Gongcheng, but some other officers were also very happy, but Zhu Yicheng frowned slightly. In his opinion, although Taizhou was vulnerable, the Qing army did not move at all. No matter how weak Taizhou was, it was too strange that it was not easy for the Qing army to move at all. No matter how weak the Qing army was, it would always struggle to death, right? How could there be no movement at all?

"How is the situation of exploring the road ahead?" Zhu Yicheng asked.

"Everything is normal. It is said that all the local people have fled along the way to Taizhou, and there is no movement everywhere."

"Everyone escaped?" Zhu Yicheng thought for a while, what kind of way is this? Did even the people of Taizhou run away? Taizhou is now an empty city? But then he thought it was wrong. The Qing Dynasty's control over local officials was more severe than that of any dynasty, especially in war. As early as when he was under house arrest by Yuan Qi, Zhu Yicheng had witnessed the situation where local officials in several prefectures and counties died when they could not defend the city.

"Don't be careless! Check it out carefully!" Zhu Yicheng said with a serious expression, and asked: "Where has the navy been? Will you arrive in Taizhou tomorrow?"

In order to ensure that the navy and land armies arrived at the same time, Zhu Yicheng made arrangements before departure, and the route from Ningbo to Taizhou was basically coastal, so it was more convenient to contact the navy. Someone immediately told Zhu Yicheng that the navy was also progressing smoothly, and if there was no accident, he could arrive in Taizhou at the same time tomorrow.

That night, although Zhu Yicheng fell asleep, he still felt a little uneasy. He always felt that this battle in Taizhou might not be as easy as it seemed. On the second day, the army set out and continued to move forward. After walking for only two hours, the horses in front came back to report that the waterways and dry roads near Taizhou City were all destroyed, and all the people in the nearby areas were driven away. Even the supplies were plundered. After finally finding a few people who had not escaped, they learned that Taizhou City had been stepping up its defenses day and night and trained the troupe bravery. As for the reason for doing this to the local area, it was to prevent the rebels from receiving manpower and materials in the local area, and to cause difficulties for their march and attack.

Soon, news came from the Navy that the waterway near Taizhou City was blocked by many wrecks, and the navy warships were temporarily unable to reach the city of Taizhou. Except for the three heavy artillery on the flagship that could barely reach half of the city wall of Taizhou, the cannons of the other warships could not directly pose a threat to Taizhou.

Upon hearing this news, Zhu Yicheng was shocked. To be on the safe side, he quickly asked the siege to continue inquiring. At the same time, he went to the beach in person and boarded the small ship to the ferry to the navy's flagship.

"Grandmaster!" After getting on the flagship, Wang Dong and others had been waiting for a long time. When they saw Zhu Yicheng coming, they hurriedly saluted.

"What is the situation in Taizhou's waterway?" Zhu Yicheng didn't talk much nonsense with them, and asked directly when he met.

"You say it." Wang Dong pointed at a person and said, "This person was a lower-level official of the Fujian Navy, and now a hundred households of the Ningbo Navy."

"Report to the Grand Governor, the waterway outside Taizhou City was firmly blocked by more than 30 wrecks and huge rocks. Twelve iron chains as thick as bowls were pulled up in the narrow place. My navy did not pay attention when I first arrived. It was not until two ships were stranded that I realized that Lord Wang had ordered the navy to withdraw from the channel and stand by here."
Chapter completed!