Just as Shi Kefa was having a heart-to-heart talk with his adopted son, the gate of the governor's mansion suddenly sounded, and the sound was urgent and quick. Shi Kefa and Shi Dewei looked out the door in confusion.

The gate of the courtyard opened with a creaking sound. Before the servants who opened the door could see clearly, several dusty Ming soldiers had already bumped into it, and the leader shouted: "Gao Master, emergency military information."

When Shi Kefa heard the emergency military situation, he was shocked: "Tell me quickly!"

"Yes, Lord of the Pavilion, the Tartars have come to Huai'an."

Shi Kefa said a word and opened his mouth in surprise. This matter was beyond his expectations and he was speechless. Shi Dewei asked quickly: "When will the Tartars arrive in Huai'an? How many people are there?"

"God of General Shi, the Tartars arrived yesterday. As for how many people there were, I only saw the Tartars vanguard before I came out, and I don't know."

Shi Dewei nodded, Huai'an and Yangzhou were nearly 350 miles away, and these people ran over within a day. It would be better to be surprised if the situation was unknown: "Where is Xuzhou, how is Xuzhou?"

The person who reported the news still shook his head. If Xuzhou was captured, there was news a few days ago that Xuzhou was as safe as Mount Tai; Xuzhou gathered more than 70,000 strong soldiers from the Ming Dynasty. How could the Tartars take it if they say they were taken? But if Xuzhou was still in the hands of the court, how could the Tartars run to Huai'an?

Seeing that he could never ask again, Shi Dewei waved his hand: "You guys have a hard time on the road, let's go down and rest first."

"Master Ge, you must save Huai'an." But the local people who reported the news turned their heads to Shi Kefa.

"You go down first. Our headquarters will send troops to rescue as soon as possible." Shi Kefa seemed to have just woken up from a nightmare, and his voice suddenly became extremely tired. After receiving Shi Kefa's promise, the messengers bowed down.

After several messengers left, Shi Kefa fell to the ground and burst into tears. He murmured to himself: "It's over. The Ming Dynasty is over."

Shi Dewei stared at Shi Kefa in a daze. He didn't understand why he just heard that the Tartars arrived in Huai'an. His adoptive father was so pessimistic. He quickly shook Shi Kefa's shoulders: "Entertainment father. Wake up. Wake up."

Shi Kefa raised his head and realized that he had lost his composure. He wiped his tears with his sleeves and said, "General Shi, immediately send the news of the fallen land in Xuzhou to the court."

"Xuzhou's fallen, adoptive father. Where did you get the news about the fallen place in Xuzhou?" Shi Dewei asked in confusion.

"You mean Xuzhou has not yet fallen? Where did the Tartars come from in Huai'an? Do the Tartars dare to leave the army in Xuzhou?" Shi Kefa immediately raised a series of questions and his eyes lit up again.

Only then did Shi Dewei realize why his adoptive father was so incompetent just now. It turned out that he had already determined that Xuzhou had fallen. If the Tartars could eat the Ming army in Xuzhou in one breath, it would be dangerous. But if Xuzhou was still in the hands of the Ming Dynasty, the Tartars just bypassed Xuzhou. Then the Tartars were too risky. Aren’t he afraid of cutting off his retreat and being surrounded and annihilated by the Ming Dynasty?

Then Shi Dewei immediately remembered that the Tartars really dared to do this. When the Ming Dynasty was still alive, the Tartars dared to go deep into Shandong. The army mobilized by the Ming Dynasty could only send the Tartars out of the country with gifts, and no one dared to attack first. So what now? Apart from the elite troops in Xuzhou, relying on the newly gathered troops of Yangzhou, the Emperor's newly trained Yulin Guard. Even if the retreat was cut off, the Tartars could plunder all the gains from the wealth of Huaian, Yangzhou and other places. If they could capture Huaian and Yangzhou attack directly at Nanjing, the Ming army in Xuzhou could only go out of the strong city to fight the Tartars. This was probably the goal of the Tartars.

"Weier, then, it is very likely that Xuzhou has not fallen?" After hearing Shi Dewei's disposal, Shi Kefa's face turned up, but his face immediately became worried again: "There are only 5,000 people in Huai'an. If the Tartars dispatched tens of thousands of troops, how to resist? Yangzhou is more than 300 miles away from Huai'an. Even if reinforcements are sent, it will take several days to arrive. Will the reinforcements be blocked by the Tartars on the road?"

In the past, when the four towns in Jiangbei were in, the four towns had 120,000 troops paid by the court. In fact, Liu Zeqing and Liu Liangzuo alone had more than 100,000 people under the tents. The entire four towns had a maximum force of more than 300,000 troops. Now the four towns and two towns were destroyed. The other two towns were in Xuzhou. Shi Kefa had only more than 40,000 troops. Some of these more than 40,000 people absorbed the remnants of Liu Zeqing and Liu Liangzuo, some were foreign troops transferred from other places, and some were defeated soldiers from the north.

Liu Zeqing and Liu Liangzuo had almost never won a battle. It can be said that they were often defeated generals. When Liu Yu's troops rebelled, nearly 200,000 people were beaten by Huang Degong and 30,000. Although the head coach died, only 200,000 people were wiped out by more than 30,000 people in more than a month. It can be seen how poor the quality of the two troops was. At present, half of the troops in Yangzhou are their remnants. It is okay to defend the city. If you encounter Tartars on the road, mutiny will be a trivial matter, and it will be bad to surrender directly.

"It's better to just send Zhongguan Camp if Huai'an cannot defend, you should rescue General Liu and retreat to Yangzhou together."

Zhongguan Camp is a relatively elite unit in Yangzhou. General He Gang and Liu Zhaoji, who is now stationed in Huai'an, belong to the Liao people. The two have a very good relationship. When they encounter Tartars intercepting them, they will at least have the power to fight. What is insufficient is that Zhongguan Camp has a small number of people, only 5,000.

If there were only 5,000 people, if there were tens of thousands of Tartars, they might not only be unable to escape the siege, but also become meat buns. But then again, if there were tens of thousands of Tartars, it would be useless to send all the troops and horses in Yangzhou out, and Huaian had to save them, so it would be a helpless choice to send Zhongguanying.

"Okay, I'll pass the order from our headquarters. He Gang of Zhongguan Camp sets out immediately to reinforce Huai'an, and at the same time sends news of the Tartars attack to the prefectures in Jiangbei to let the prefectures respond."

"Yes, I will obey the order." Shi Dewei responded and asked again: "Entertainment Father, should I issue an order to strengthen the walls and clear the country, so that all the people outside the city can be moved to the city?"

Shi Kefa hesitated for a moment. Letting the people be allowed to be outside the city would undoubtedly become the target of plunder of the Tartars. However, if they were all moved into the city, they would definitely not be able to be resettled. If they were sleeping on the streets, I wonder how many people would die of freezing because of the cold.

"Forget it. It's not easy for the people, and the Tartars may not be as vicious as before." Shi Kefa said nothing, even he himself had no confidence.

"Yes, I will know." Shi Dewei knew that his adoptive father was soft-hearted, but it was extremely difficult to move people into a city with such weather. The people would definitely not want to move, and they didn't know if it was time. Shi Dewei said that his adoptive father had made up his mind and stopped persuading him.

Nanjing. Today is the day of New Year's Eve. Firecrackers are crackling from time to time from time to time in alleys. Whether it is high-ranking officials or ordinary people, they are mostly staying at home and reunited with their families. The smell of meat from each kitchen makes children's mouths jealous, and they are staring at their own kitchens. Three hundred and sixty-five days a year, it is rare for ordinary people to be generous.

The palace was also lively, and Wang Fu was taking two talented people from Xinna to pay homage to King Fu's biological mother, Empress Dowager Zou. These two talented people were the two palace maids Liu Ziluo and Piao Tianwenxue, who were originally selected by Wang Fu.

Wang Fu had no disgust for this Empress Dowager Zou, and of course he lacked the affection of his own son. As long as Empress Dowager Zou did not threaten the throne, Wang Fu was willing to live in harmony. From Empress Dowager Zou's eyes, Wang Fu could still feel a kind smile, just like his parents before.
Chapter completed!