After Kong Youde's envoy left, the atmosphere in the central army's tent was a little strange. ⊙,

Fan Zhiwan couldn't help but say, "Why did the admiral directly reject Kong Youde's request for surrender? Why don't you agree to the first or second terms and accept his surrender first?"

Liu Jun ignored him and just said to Governor Fu Zonglong, "Sun Tzu's art of war has its own way of fighting. Those who know that those who can fight or not can win. The two armies fight, and they must be able to defend and attack. At present, the 50,000 rebels in Gaizhou are completely turtles in the jar and dogs in the closed door. Kong Youde still wants to negotiate peace?"

Gaizhou Neiburg.

The repelled Kong Youde family general Mao Fang jumped off the horse in front of the fort gate and quickly walked to the gate. The defenders at the fort gate immediately shouted, "General Mao is back, put the basket quickly."

The defenders on the fort gate put down the bamboo basket and pulled Mao Fang up.

"General Mao, the Marshal is waiting for you in the General's Mansion, and ask you to see you immediately as soon as you come back."

Mao Fangluo nodded and rushed to the center of the fortress. When the servants at the door saw him, they hurriedly led him in and reported from a distance, "Master, General Mao is back."

Mao Fang entered the room and bowed to the ground, "I will come back and report my life."

"Mao Fang, how?" Kong Youde asked hurriedly.

Mao Fang stood up, stood in the hall, looking around, and saw Geng Zhongming, Shang Kexi, Shen Zhixiang and others all present. There were also Tianyou soldiers, Tianzhu soldiers and other deputy generals in the black flag, generals of the participating generals, guerrillas and other senior generals, all of whom were present, all of whom were solemn, and they seemed to be waiting for his reply.

Geng Zhongming didn't raise his head, "General Mao is back so soon. If what I expected is not bad, it must be that Liu Jiye is unwilling to talk."

Mao Fang came forward to report, "Mu General went to Ming Camp. When he saw Liu Jiye, he was unwilling to talk. He only asked General Mo to tell the generals and told us to surrender unconditionally immediately."

Hearing the news, Kong Youde frowned a little and sighed.

"It's been half a month, and there are no reinforcements yet. The emperor is afraid that he will abandon us." Shang Kexi said.

Shen Zhixiang was depressed, "Now the outer city has been lost. With this inner castle, we can't hold on for three days. What should we do?"

In the past half month, they have fully seen the power of the Chu army's artillery fire. After only half a month of shooting artillery, Chu had already broken into Gaizhou City with holes, and more than 3,000 people died under the artillery fire. All kinds of artillery and shells really made them suffer.

They had been withering for half a month, not because they were so powerful, but because the Ming army had not officially attacked the city once. They had been bombarding them so embarrassed and suffered heavy casualties. Once the Ming army truly launched a full-scale offensive, they didn't know how many days they could last.

The combat effectiveness of this Chu army was enough to make the black flag armies change color when they heard it, and the atmosphere in the hall was solemn.

Kong Youde slowly raised his head, "Everyone, what good solutions do you have?"

Geng Zhongming punched the table with a thud and roared unwillingly, "Dog Yu Liu Jiye. Life and death on the battlefield are fate, and each depends on luck. But his mother besieged the city with only gunfire. What's wrong with him? Soldiers can be killed and not humiliated. I will never be willing to sit here and wait for his gunfire to be bombarded by his gunfire. I want me to say, fight with them and fight out."

Shang Kexi was also furious and stood up, "Master, fight with them."

Kong Youde glanced at the two of them.

He slowly turned his gaze to Shen Zhixiang, "What do you think of General Shen?"

Shen Zhixiang bowed a little and said, "At the beginning of the siege, it was possible to break through the siege. Now, the morale of the army is difficult to use and the morale is insufficient. And now, the city wall we just abandoned, there are already six trenches, three earthen walls and one city wall outside us, not to mention the line of forts, there are traps outside. If we rush out, we can only be the target of the Ming army, and we will die as much as we go."

Kong Youde nodded slightly, "Where should we go according to your wishes?"

"The Chu army's guns and cannons are sharp, and there are trench turrets. We can't kill them at all. But when I look at the Chu army's tactics over the past half month, they don't seem to want to fight hard, or they don't want to damage the troops. If this is true, we may be able to stick to the inner castle. As long as we can persist until the emperor sends reinforcements, we may be able to escape this disaster by then."

Kong Youde's brows were slightly relieved. He let out a long breath and coughed again. Then he said, "Everyone, we left Shandong back then, and there was no possibility of going back. Going back was also a word of death. What's more, we have started families and careers in Liaodong over the years, and our parents and children are in the Qing Dynasty. We have no way to look back and can't go back. I believe that the emperor will come to rescue him. Although he lost the outer city, there is still enough food, which can last for at least three months. As long as we persist, maybe reinforcements are already on the way and will arrive soon. Brothers, we will fight the Ming army to the end!"

Geng Zhongming, Shang Kexi, Shen Zhixiang and others all spoke in unison, "The bloody battle to the end!"

Kong Youde waved his hand and said, "Okay, then we will work together and fight the Ming army to the end."

Over the past few decades, Kong Youde has made several difficult decisions. He went south alone to Dongjiang, and once left Dengzhou from Dongjiang. Later, he started a rebellion, and then chose to join the Qing army. Every time, it was such a difficult decision. But he never regretted these choices. Sometimes he thought that the situation might be different when he surrendered to the court in Shandong.

He was carrying the name of a traitor and traitor over the years. He also felt uneasy when the night was late. But as soon as the sky was dawn, he firmly fought for the Qing army.

Mao Fang stood there all the time. Listening to the four generals, he couldn't help but look up at Kong Youde and said softly, "Master!"

Kong Youde turned his head and glanced at him.

"Thank you for your hard work, sit down there."

Kong Youde looked at the generals in the hall and said in an excited tone, "Brothers, we are all people who rebel against the Ming Dynasty. In the eyes of the Ming people, we are all traitors without a king or a father. But I want to say, we also fought for the battlefield for the Ming Dynasty and fought hard, what did we get in return? The civil servants and officials climbed on our heads to be powerful and blessed, and we worked hard for the court, but the court owed us food and salary, and we sent troops to fight, and we couldn't even have enough food. Local officials looked down on us, and even the local gentry dared to oppress us, and even the slaves from the gentry family dared to ride on our heads and shit! With such a rotten court, do we still have to work for him? Is our lives really so cheap?"

"We have been in the Qing Dynasty over the years. Everyone knows in their hearts what the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty treats us. We were in Dongjiang and Dengzhou, and we were owed wages all year round and we were always worried about food and clothing. But in the Qing Dynasty, we had our own territory, food and wages, and rewards. What the two sides are, the heights can be judged. Everyone knows what the Emperor treats us. The emperor will not abandon us. Reinforcements will arrive soon. Brothers, it will be better to hold on for a few more days. Although the Chu army's artillery fire is sharp, how many Chu army in the Ming Dynasty is? No matter how strong the Chu army's artillery fire is, how can it be stronger than the Eight Banners Cavalry?"

"There are 50,000 troops in the city. They are divided into five units, each unit with 10,000. General Kong, General Geng, General Shang and someone guard each side, leaving another 10,000 troops as reserve teams to support the center."

Mao Fang was still standing in the middle of the hall and increased the volume a little, "Master!"

Kong Youde looked at his family general with some confusion, "Mao Fang?"

Mao Fang shouted, "Master, the general thought that we can't defend any more."

"Do you think we should break through?" Kong Youde asked. Mao Fang was his confidant, led his three thousand servants, and he also held the rank of general.

"No, we can't make it out." Mao Fang replied.

Kong Youde's face sank, pondered for a moment, and asked slowly. "What should we do according to your wishes?"

Mao Fang replied word by word, "Please seek peace and surrender unconditionally!"

As soon as Mao Fang said this, the hall exploded. Geng Zhongming rushed up angry. Li Sheng asked, "Hmph, Mao Fang, what are you thinking? The enemy is facing. Do you want to disrupt our army's morale? Or, in the Ming camp, what promise did Liu Jiye make to you?"

Before Geng Zhongming finished speaking, Shang Kexi snorted, "It's more than anything. He just came back from Mingying and immediately said such surrender. It was clearly Liu Jiye who made a wish to grant him an official position and asked him to surrender us. Maybe he had already sold us all in Mingying and had promised to exchange our heads for the Ming Dynasty to be the official position. Tell us, what official should Liu Jiye promised you to give? Deputy General or General? How much silver reward did Liu Jiye give us for the heads? Five thousand or ten thousand?"

Mao Fang said slowly, "Master, generals, please let me say something."

Geng Zhongming spitted on the ground and said disdainfully, "Coward, what other sweet words do you want to say?"

Mao Fang ignored him and just looked at Kong Youde, "Master, reinforcements will not come. When I was in the Ming camp, I heard the news that Ning Jin's Ming army was launching a large-scale counterattack. The court had lost more than ten castles in a row. The west of the Daling River was all lost, leaving only one Yizhou city. Now the Ming army is besieging Yizhou, and the emperor is leading the army from Shenyang to Yizhou for rescue, and he doesn't care about us at all."

This news shocked everyone in the hall and was unbelievable.

"How is this possible? Ning Jin's Ming army is not the opponent of the Eight Banners soldiers at all. They have defeated more than ten castles west of the Daling River and surrounded Yizhou. What are you talking nonsense? Is it Liu Jiye who asked you to say that?" Geng Zhongming asked.

Kong Youde asked seriously, "Who did you hear this news?"

"I heard it in Mingying."

Shen Zhixiang said to Kong Youdedao, "This must be a trick of the wise man. He deliberately lets you hear this news, but in fact, this news is fake."

"It won't be fake. I also saw Zu Daming and Zu Dacheng, the younger brothers of Zu Daming, in Mingying."

As soon as these words came out, Kong Youde's face changed drastically. "Are you reading it wrong?"

Mao Fang replied, "The last general has an old relationship with the Zu brothers, and he will never admit his mistake."

"This is impossible. Zu Daming and Zu Dacheng are now surrounded by Jinzhou City. How could they come to Liaodong?" Geng Zhongming said, "It must be this coward who is talking nonsense."

Zu Daming and Zu Dacheng are both brothers of Zu Dashou, the vanguard general of Jinzhou. Both of them served as guerrilla generals and were previously surrounded by Jinzhou City with Zu Dashou. Before Kong Youde and others came to southern Liaoning, they were also transferred from Jinzhou City. They were very clear about this. But now Zu Dashou’s two brothers have arrived in Mingying in Gaizhou. What does this mean?

The siege of Jinzhou may have been really lifted, and the Ming army really had the opportunity to surround Yizhou. If this is the case, the reinforcements they were waiting for would be nowhere to be found.

"How likely do you think the news Mao Fang has heard?"

Shen Zhixiang hesitated for a moment, "About 50% or 60%."

Kong Youde's brows became tighter and tighter, and the excitement he had just now disappeared.

A scream came from outside again, followed by a loud rumbling sound, and the Ming army began to fire artillery again. (To be continued.)

ps: Thanks to Nautilus for your support, thank you!u
Chapter completed!