At the top of Wuchang City, soldiers quickly squeezed to the wall, and saw a crowd of people all over the fields gathering towards Wuchang. There were also giant ships as high as fortresses on the river.

Du Yinxi's face sank, "How many people are there?"

Gao Yigong's face stretched out and shook his head and said, "It's too far, I can't tell!"

Zheng Chenggong said in a deep voice: "The enemy's original strength was 300,000. After capturing the troops from Fujian and Guangdong, he also captured a large number of troops in Nanjing, but the total strength would not exceed 500,000. Most of the surrendered troops would not be trusted by Zhao Bo'an immediately. In addition, occupying Nanzhili and advancing westwards, they would need troops to be stationed, so the army from Wuchang should not exceed 100,000!"

"100,000?" Du Yinxi nodded slightly, "That's not much!"

In the Battle of Nanjing, Zhao Ming actually used only 120,000 to 30,000 troops, and defeated 200,000 elite Ming army soldiers with strong morale.

There are less than 100,000 people in Wuchang City, and the morale of the army is shaken. The 100,000 Han troops are not a small number for them.

Zheng Chenggong had a deep gaze and stared at the figure of the Han army slowly moving forward in the distance, covering the earth like a carpet. "Don't worry, Master Ge. In terms of military strategy, attack it for five. Even if the enemy's elite and the advantage of equipment, we are equal to their troops and defend the city. It is not easy for the enemy to break Wuchang. We can use the solidity of Wuchang to defeat the enemy's spirit and force Zhao Bo'an to accept the peace talks!"

...

Ten thousand Han troops were covered with the sky and the earth, advancing water and land, and ten miles east of Wuchang City, setting up a camp.

The Han army established Gaozhai, dug trenches, arranged deer antlers, threw caltrops, and buried fried bags to prevent the Ming army from attacking.

In the Han army's tent, Zhao Ming, wearing armor, stared at the Wuchang map drawn by the scout after investigation, and couldn't help but frown.

"Tell me!" Zhao Ming stood up and looked at the generals and many other soldiers.

The king said first: "This is a gun city, and the moat is wide and difficult to attack."

Zhang Jiayu said: "It is best to persuade the defenders to surrender! This will prevent casualties and reduce consumption."

In the Battle of Nanjing, the Han army suffered heavy casualties. For both armies, life was like mowing grass.

Although the Han army won a great victory, there were more than 10,000 casualties, and the losses were huge.

Zhao Ming nodded slightly, "Then shoot letters into the city and urge the defenders to open the city and surrender within three days. If they do not surrender, then dig trenches and advance according to the method of shooting the gun city, push the mortar cannon at the foot of the city wall, shoot the head of the city with flowering bullets, and then the warships enter the moat and climb directly to the city head!"

The Han army attacked the Western Yibiao during the fight against the Netherlands and Spain in the South China Sea, so they still have some experience in how to attack the gun city.

"Here!" The generals held their fists together, and the armor rustled.

...

Wuchang.

Du Yinxi looked at Zhao Ming's letter and said that compared to unconditional surrender, the conditions have been relaxed.

However, Zhao Ming's tone was still tough. He had to hand over Zhu Linyuan and place him in a place, and was monitored by the Han army. Each official could be hired according to the situation, but he had to hand over his military power and his title was also revoked.

After Du Yinxi finished reading with everyone, he discussed, "What do you guys think?"

Zheng Chenggong said: "Zhao Boan's tone has loosened, but such conditions are still unacceptable!"

Gao Yigong said: "If we hand over the prince to the enemy, wouldn't we become villains who only care about ourselves and what kind of face we have to meet the late emperor? Furthermore, it would be impossible to hand over military power!"

Du Yinxi pondered for a moment and said to Jiang Yueguang: "Since Zhao Bo'an took the initiative to shoot letters into the city, he could tell that he actually wanted to surrender and end the dispute at the minimum price. He also asked Mr. Jiang to leave the city and meet him again and do his best to deal with him. Now that Zhao Bo'an takes a step back, we can also give in. The prince can go to the position of governing the country, but he must enfeoff the vassal and establish a country and take charge of Wuchang. The army is still controlled by the prince!"

Du Yinxi paused and continued: "If Zhao Bo'an can accept this condition, we will make peace with Jianwu. If we don't accept it, please help Master Jiang to delay the time and wait for the times to change!"

Jiang Yueguang nodded, "I understand! Please leave it to me!"

...

Han army camp, Han king’s tent.

Zhao Ming suddenly overturned the table in front of him and was furious, "It's outrageous! You are so arrogant, right! The conditions offered by Gu are the last conditions! Go back and tell Du Yinxi that in three days, Gu will attack the city!"

After speaking, Zhao Ming left again without giving Jiang Yueguang the opportunity to delay the argument.

Three days later, the Wuchang city gate was still in a lockdown, and Zhao Ming immediately ordered the cannons to bombard Wuchang, and the soldiers dug trenches and advanced.

Zhao Ming did what he said. The next morning, nearly a hundred red-clothed cannons were arranged three miles away from Wuchang East City, and the soldiers were busy loading.

On the river surface, three Ming army gunboats, with a total of more than 90 artillery pieces on the side, bombarding the northern city wall of Wuchang.

"Boom boom boom" A deafening sound of cannons suddenly erupted on the surface of the river. In the lightning and thunder, thick white smoke covered the side of the warship.

At the same time, the Han army artillery array on land and each artillery mount retreated, nearly a hundred and ten kilograms of iron bullets rushed out of the gun mouth and smashed towards the city wall. The dust was flying on the Wuchang Arbor City, the city bricks were shattered and sunken, and countless gravels rose into the air and fell like raindrops.

For a moment, smoke and dust filled the city at the top of Wuchang. In front of the city, water columns more than three meters high splashed in the moat, and the scene was extremely spectacular.

Zhao Ming looked at this scene but felt very unhappy.

Zhang Jiayu smiled and said, "I think the people in Wuchang City are so capable, and they are not scared by the king!"

From the beginning, Zhao Ming wanted to surrender Wuchang, but the differences between the two sides were too great. Zhao Ming wanted to force Wuchang to hand over military power through strength and blackmail. However, now it seems that blackmail has failed.

Zhao Ming said in a deep voice: "Transfer military power and end separatism, this is the bottom line! Since that's the case, we can only speed up the attack!"

After saying that, Zhao Ming couldn't help but leaped over Wuchang and looked at the northwest sky, as if something would be there.

Zhang Jiayu knew that the King of Han was worried about the changes in the surrounding situation.

With the Han army so strong, the strength of all parties in the world will inevitably lead to a move.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, six countries joined forces to resist the powerful Qin, the three countries had Wu and Shu to resist Wei, Japan had Nobunaga's encirclement, and the West had an anti-French alliance to deal with Napoleon.

Now that the Han army is powerful, I am afraid that neither the Qing nor the Zhou, the Han army will be willing to annex Chu and Gan.

Therefore, Zhao Mingcai was eager to use the power of Nanjing to defeat Huguang in order to quickly swallow Huguang and Jiangxi provinces.

Zhao Ming looked at the cannon array, and the smoke filled the cannons completely suppressed the cannons at the top of Wuchang City, and then waved his hand: "Start digging trenches! Within ten days, I will put the mortar cannon at the feet of Wuchang!"

With a command, the flag was waving, and more than ten thousand Ming troops rushed out like a tide, resisting the shovel.
Chapter completed!