Under the city of Yangzhou.

The soldiers of the Royal Guards shouted towards the top of the city wall: "There are no loyal ministers in the court today, and there are treacherous people inside! We are here to serve the king in accordance with the order of the Crown Prince. Please open the city gates and let us in. Otherwise, we will be against the Nanjing court and the Crown Prince!"

On the city wall.

Yangzhou prefect Zhang Huangyan looked at the Huaiyang governor Wei Yinwen next to him and said, "Sir Wei, the prince's army is approaching the city. What should we do? Should we open the city gates to let them in, or hang a suspension bridge to block the city?"

"Tsk tsk tsk," Wei Yinwen kept sucking his teeth: "This...this..."

Zhang Huangyan added: "If we open the city gates, it means we are on the side of Nanjing and the prince. If we don't open the city gates, we are on the side of the capital."

"Master Zhang," Wei Yinwen asked in a deep voice, "Do you think His Majesty has really been deceived?"

Zhang Huangyan did not answer, but shook his head slightly.

He didn't know much about Chongzhen and the Imperial Household Department, but he had a deep understanding of the cabinet chief Xie Sanbin.

Xie Sanbin is a relatively obedient person.

The word "obedient" here means to listen to Chongzhen.

Zhang Huangyan didn't believe that he would collude with the Imperial Household Department.

Seeing this, Wei Yinwen said, "Since Your Majesty has not been deceived, then the so-called support for the king is a rebellion. We cannot let the rebels enter the city."

Zhang Huangyan nodded in agreement.

After finalizing this idea, the two divided their forces to defend.

Zhang Huangyan led the Yangzhou garrison to defend the city, while Wei Yinwen immediately returned to Huai'an Prefecture.

He first sent a message to the court that the prince had raised an army to defend the king, and then assembled the troops of Huai'an Prefecture to deal with the upcoming war.

Outside Yangzhou city.

The messenger came to the central army tent and said, "Report, a letter has been sent from the city."

Zhu Guobi asked: "Letter? Whose letter?"

"A letter from Yangzhou prefect Zhang Huangyan." The messenger reported and handed the letter to Zhu Guobi.

Zhu Guobi opened the envelope, took out the letter, and read it carefully.

"What do you mean?" asked Xu Wenjue, Duke of Wei.

Zhu Guobi replied coldly: "Zhang Huangyan said in the letter that the situation is unclear and it is inconvenient to open the city. When we return from the battle and get the imperial decree, he will open the city gates and reward the three armies."

"Humph!" Xu Wenjue snorted coldly, "Zhang Huangyan is so bold that he actually dares to go against His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

"What should we do?" Zhu Guobi asked Liu Kongzhao who was beside Xu Wenjue, "Should we go around or attack the city?"

Liu Kongzhao said in a serious tone: "Yangzhou is the gateway to Nanjing. If we bypass it, the troops of Yangzhou can arrive at Nanjing at any time, so we must not bypass it."

Zhu Guobi said worriedly: "Yangzhou's walls are high. Even if we can capture it by force, the casualties will be incalculable."

"No need to attack!" Liu Kongzhao was very confident, "I have already made arrangements."

During the period of waiting for Zheng Zhilong, Liu Kongzhao did a lot of work.

The first step was to unite with the Donglin Party and bribe the military generals in Yangzhou Prefecture, Huai'an Prefecture and Xuzhou.

In order to ensure that everything went smoothly, he arranged in advance for a large number of soldiers to disguise themselves as civilians and sneak into the city in advance.

If the defenders refused to surrender, they would take advantage of the chaos to open the city gates and let the army outside into the city.

Looking at Liu Kongzhao's confident look, Zhu Guobi had no doubts.

Just as they were discussing the specific military strategy, the herald came in again: "Sir, urgent delivery from Nanjing."

Zhu Guobi, Liu Kongzhao and Xu Wenjue were all stunned.

The sudden express delivery from Nanjing obviously meant that they had encountered an urgent matter.

But they had just left Nanjing, what urgent matter could there be?

Liu Kongzhao was the first to react and ordered, “Bring it here!”

The messenger handed the letter to Liu Kongzhao, clasped his hands together and ran away.

After reading the contents of the letter, Liu Kongzhao's heart sank.

Seeing that Liu Kongzhao looked unhappy, Zhu Guobi asked hurriedly, "What's wrong?"

Liu Kongzhao said helplessly: "The money in the Nanjing treasury is lost."

Zhu Guobi asked stupidly, "How much money was lost?"

“All lost…”

"Ah?" Zhu Guobi was stunned.

Duke of Wei Xu Wenjue was also stunned.

Everyone present was stunned.

Zhu Guobi asked with difficulty: "How...how did the money in the treasury get lost? Who did it?"

Liu Kongzhao was in no mood to talk, so he put the letter directly into Zhu Guobi's hands: "Read it yourself."

After reading it, Zhu Guobi felt a little depressed.

Having money and food does not necessarily mean you can win a battle, but having no money and no food definitely means you cannot win a battle.

The money in the treasury is the confidence of the army that comes to support the king.

Now that his money is gone, his confidence is gone too.

At this time, Xu Wenjue had also finished reading the contents of the letter. He asked, "The Nanjing court asked us to raise grain on our own. Is this okay?"

Liu Kongzhao said helplessly: "We have to do it anyway. Once the arrow is shot, there is no turning back. We can't withdraw our troops and return to Nanjing. We can only bite the bullet and continue to march north."

Xu Wenjue was still a little worried: "But..."

"Don't be too quick to deny it. Yangzhou City is right in front of us. After we capture it, we can try to raise food and fodder. We will know whether it works or not after a try!"

"It seems that this is the only way!"

......

On the tenth day of June in the twenty-seventh year of Chongzhen, the Eastern Route Army began to prepare breakfast before dawn.

When the east began to brighten, the army had finished breakfast and began to line up outside the city.

Yangzhou prefect Zhang Huangyan personally climbed up the city wall and organized the defense.

At the middle of the Mao hour, the army that was supporting the king began to advance slowly under the command of Zhu Guobi.

It was the first time that Zhang Huangyan saw such a scene. Although he was a little scared, he still insisted on staying on the city wall.

boom!

With the sound of the cannon, the war officially began.

To Zhang Huangyan's surprise, the soldiers outside the city were not in a hurry to attack the city.

But something was waiting outside the artillery range.

Just when Zhang Huangyan was puzzled, a loud noise suddenly came from the east.

Zhang Huangyan quickly turned his head and saw thick smoke rising from the direction of the East City Gate.

Immediately afterwards, there were deafening shouts of killing.

"It's bad," Zhang Huangyan said in shock, "Their main attack direction is the East City Gate, come with me to support them!"

Under his command, half of the nearby soldiers followed him and ran along the city wall towards the east gate.

As he walked, Zhang Huangyan suddenly felt something was wrong.

If the main force of the Royalist Army is near the East Gate, the guard at the East Gate will inform him immediately.

But from beginning to end, he didn't get any corresponding news.

Before he could figure out the problem, a team appeared in front of him.

Their armor was stained red with blood. It was unclear whether they were injured or had been splashed with other people's blood.

The leading general heaved a sigh of relief after seeing Zhang Huangyan's face. He shouted, "Master Zhang, hurry up. Zhang Tianlu, the general of Guazhou, is Zhu Guobi's spy. He sent people to ignite the gunpowder depot, and then took advantage of the chaos to open the east gate and let the rebels into the city."

"The rebels have already entered the city. They are so numerous and powerful that our army cannot confront them head-on. Sir Zhang, please leave the city quickly and make plans later!"