The mysterious world: Start working hard from the beggar camp!

Chapter 527: Intrigues and deceptions, each with its own calculations

In Changzhou City, the defending soldiers were thrown into chaos when they saw the million elite troops of the Imperial Guard Battalion arriving outside the city again.

Xie Youming, the eldest son of the Xie family, could never have imagined that at this critical moment, the 300,000 elite soldiers of the Xu family quietly evacuated from the East City Gate overnight!

Xu Maocai, the elder of the Xie clan who presided over the withdrawal operation, gave a high-sounding reason: the Xu clan's base areas are located in Huzhou and Guangde Prefecture, which are adjacent to Yingtian Prefecture. In terms of the importance of the defense line, they are much more important than Changzhou Prefecture.

Under the orders of the head of the family, Xu Nianzu, they needed to return to Xianglan Mountain and Jianping in time and build a solid line of defense with all their might to prevent the Southern Ming Dynasty army from invading their territory and bringing disaster to the Xu family.

Although this is just an excuse, what Xu Maocai said makes a lot of sense.

To the south of Changzhou Prefecture, there is the vast Taihu Lake which serves as a natural barrier. Even if Changzhou Prefecture is lost, it can still stop the imperial army from sweeping southward.

However, Guangde Prefecture and the neighboring Huzhou, located just south of Yingtian Prefecture, have no natural barriers like the vast Taihu Lake to rely on. If they do not make strict defensive preparations as soon as possible, they will be easily invaded by the imperial army.

For the Xu family, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Changzhou and Songjiang, the most developed prefectures in Jiangnan, are the bases of other Jiangnan aristocratic families, and the Xu family does not have many conflicts of interest here.

With the huge Taihu Lake as a barrier, even if Suzhou, Hangzhou, Songjiang and Changzhou fell, the Xu family would not be harmed.

Guangde Prefecture and Huzhou, which are almost completely controlled by their Xu family, are the roots of the family.

To be honest, facing the three main army corps of the Ming Dynasty court, which were advancing southward in three directions at the same time, it was not easy for the Xu family to firmly hold Guangde Prefecture and Huzhou with their strength.

After all, the three main combat corps of the Ming Dynasty court were all super corps with a scale of millions of people.

Moreover, they were led by several peerless generals, Sun Chuanting, Huang Degong, and Zhou Yuji and his wife, and with sufficient military pay and supplies provided by Chongzhen, one can imagine the combat effectiveness they unleashed!

Regarding the reasons for the withdrawal given by Xu Maocai last night, the leaders of various Jiangnan families headed by the Xie family who stayed behind in Changzhou City were all speechless.

It was not until today when the million-strong army of the Yongwei Camp, led by Zhou Yuji and his wife, arrived at Changzhou City again that they became truly panicked and their formation was in disarray.

There is no way. The last battle between us and the Yongwei Battalion is still vivid in our minds.

Although the two sides were evenly matched at the time, the Aristocratic Family Alliance managed to defend the Changzhou City, and finally forced the other side to retreat on their own.

However, at that time, in addition to the more than 100,000 white-clothed guards of the Xie family and a thousand-man Qi-refining realm secret guards, there were also 300,000 elite troops of the Xu family in the city.

In that battle, it can be said that the elite army of the Xu family was the core combat force of their side.

Now that the Xu family has left quietly, what can we use to stop the million elite soldiers of the Yongwei Camp?

After the Xu family's army evacuated last night, they each used spirit pigeons to send messages to their own families for help, but the reinforcements sent by the various aristocratic families would take at least three to five days to arrive.

The question now is: although there are as many as 1.5 million ragtag troops gathered in Changzhou City, can they hold out for three to five days?

"Master!"

Qian Deli, the representative of the wealthy Hangzhou salt merchants, looked at the millions of soldiers of the Yongwei Camp outside the city, who were already lined up in battle array. His fat face was full of panic. He said to Xie Youming, the head of the Xie family in Changzhou, "We have already discussed it. In this battle, we will follow your lead, young master. We will follow your arrangements!"

"As for money, food and military supplies, we have plenty stored in Changzhou City. Even a million-strong army will have enough for half a year!"

"As long as we can hold on to Changzhou City for about five days, and wait for the arrival of the million reinforcements raised by various families, this round of crisis will be resolved immediately!"

"It is reported that there are 23 noble families who have decided to come to Changzhou Prefecture to reinforce, mainly from Changzhou, Suzhou Prefecture, and Songjiang Prefecture."

"Each of them has at least dozens of Qi Refining Realm masters leading the team, and their combat effectiveness is stronger than our 1.5 million troops here!"

"I'll leave everything up to you, young master!"

He had to be anxious, because if Changzhou City fell, the aristocratic families in Changzhou Prefecture and the neighboring Suzhou Prefecture and Songjiang Prefecture would all face a real catastrophe!

If we are not careful and have bad luck, the death of everyone and the annihilation of the clan is not a joke, but a cruel reality.

Hangzhou Prefecture, which is adjacent to Suzhou Prefecture and Songjiang Prefecture, will not be spared!
After all, if even this heavily-military city of Changzhou cannot stop the million-strong army of the Yongwei Camp led by Zhou Yuji and his wife, the development of the situation that will follow is terrifying!
These wealthy Hangzhou salt merchants are each as wealthy as a country.

The wealth of any of the top ten salt merchants is more than enough to match the Ming Dynasty’s treasury!
How could these wealthy salt merchants be willing to allow the imperial court to plunder the huge wealth accumulated from generation to generation?
This was also the main reason why the various aristocratic families in the south of the Yangtze River were anxious and ready to come to the rescue with all their might after the Yongwei Camp's million-strong army attacked again from the south.

No matter what, the best strategy is to firmly block the million-strong army of the Yongwei Camp in the heavily-trooped Changzhou City.

If Changzhou City fell, the subsequent landslide-like effect would spread rapidly, with disastrous consequences.

"Manager Qian, you can rest assured."

Xie Youming said confidently, "We haven't spent these days in waste."

"Let's not talk about the current city defense formation, which has been completely upgraded and overhauled. After the last withdrawal of the Brave Guard Battalion, we have been training elite soldiers, targeting those monsters and demons in the deep mountains and old forests outside the city, and often conduct actual combat training."

"It is no exaggeration to say that the 1.5 million soldiers guarding the city now have at least a 30% increase in combat effectiveness compared to last time. They are no longer a ragtag army."

"Even if the Xu family's 300,000 elite soldiers withdraw now, with the unity of the soldiers and civilians in the city, they are enough to compete with the Yongwei Battalion."

"The only thing we need to worry about is whether Chongzhen will come with the soldiers of the Yongwei Camp?"

"This tyrant is too powerful, and he has a top-level innate divine weapon that can suppress our top masters."

At this point, a trace of panic flashed across Xie Youming's eyes, but disappeared in an instant.

After a head-on battle with Emperor Chongzhen several months ago, he, who had always been complacent, had realized that Chongzhen's powerful fighting ability was far beyond the ability of an early level six expert like himself to contend with.

If the Xu family army had not come out of the city to support them last time, he and his third brother Xie Xiangming would have most likely been defeated.

Although they would not die on the spot, because the two brothers could completely rely on the protection of their own divine artifacts, abandon the soldiers and flee. In today's world, a level six strongman with a divine artifact to protect himself can easily escape with his life under normal circumstances as long as he is determined to escape.

Of course, if the battlefield is blocked by the opponent's powerful military formation and formation, and you don't have a powerful trump card, that would be another matter.

Apart from anything else, Xie Youming still had great confidence that he could lead the 1.5 million coalition soldiers in the city to hold out for ten days or half a month.

The city defense formation arranged here, although not the kind of formation that the imperial court used to use the energy of people's will and luck in the city to activate, is a proper five elements formation.

As long as you are willing to spend manpower and material resources, and use a large number of magic cores, soul beads and other energy crystals to activate the city defense formation, you can actually unleash even more powerful power.

In view of the importance of Changzhou City, after the last battle with the million-strong army of the Yongwei Camp led by Chongzhen and Zhou Yuji, the Jiangnan aristocratic families realized the danger and raised a large amount of top resources and treasures to upgrade the city defense formation here again.

Today's city defense formation is about 30% stronger than before, and its power has been greatly enhanced.

If the power of this kind of super city defense formation is increased by even 10%, it would be very astonishing, let alone 30%?
"That's good. We will be at your disposal, young master."

Faced with imminent disaster, Qian Deli no longer cared about the huge amount of manpower and resources that the Yangzhou salt merchants he represented had to invest.

Although his surname is also Qian, he is completely different from the Qian family to which Qian Qianyi belongs, and the two are completely unrelated.

The Qian family of Yangzhou is one of the top ten salt merchants in the Ming Dynasty. Their wealth is much richer than that of the Qian family to which Qian Qianyi belongs. The two are not on the same level.

In the past, the Qian family of Yangzhou took shelter in the mansion of Duke Wei.

Eight years ago, when Li Dingguo had just come out of the country and established himself, he carefully planned an ambush on the Jialu River. Among the bigwigs killed in the enemy's large fleet was a wealthy businessman named Qian Deli, who was Qian Deli's cousin.

Ever since the fall of Duke Wei's Mansion in Jinling City and the extermination of the family by Chongzhen's order, the Qian family of Hangzhou lost its biggest backer. Although they had huge wealth, they wanted to expand the family's military power as quickly as possible, but it was too late.

Although they, like most aristocratic families, have recently spent a huge amount of manpower and resources to build a household army of 100,000, due to time constraints, it is just a group of freshly-minted recruits.

There were less than ten powerful Qi Refining Realm masters among them, which was not enough to strengthen the Qian family's own courage.

It's not just the Qian family, the salt merchants in Hangzhou. The other big salt merchants are in a similar situation.

Because the Ming Dynasty's migration southward was too sudden, and these aristocratic families broke off relations with the court too hastily, most of the aristocratic families had a large amount of wealth and materials but not enough time to build an elite family army.

So the time aspect now is crucial for them.

To this end, their only choice is to spend huge amounts of money and materials to support those top families with unfathomable backgrounds.

Today, the Xie family is the target of investment for these Yangzhou salt merchants.

In the past, when the Xu family of Huzhou was determined to hide their family's strength, the Xie family of Jiangnan had an irreplaceable position among the major families and enjoyed enormous prestige.

In the eyes of these aristocratic families, although the Xu family has been very powerful as recently revealed, it is still far inferior to the Xie family.

"it is good!"

Xie Youming looked at the representatives of the noble families, wealthy merchants and tycoons around him and nodded with satisfaction. He immediately exercised his power as the leader of the alliance and gave an order on the spot, "Everyone, the million-strong army of the Yongwei Camp outside the city looks like it is about to prepare for the siege. We must all work together to fight against them and defend the Changzhou city under our feet."

"In order to unite the front and avoid confusion in military orders, my second brother, I, and several elders of the Xie family will each serve as the commanders of five major legions consisting of 1.5 million soldiers!"

"I have something to say in advance. If anyone dares to disobey orders during this battle, the Xie family law enforcement team will enforce battlefield discipline on the spot and chop off their heads as a warning to others!"

"Times of chaos call for severe punishment! Everyone, please remember to pass on the general's order to your team as soon as possible, so that no one will be unaware!"

Facing a powerful enemy, the first step Xie Youming must take is to seize military power in Changzhou City.

Otherwise, there would be no way to stop the millions of elite soldiers of the Yongwei Camp outside the city.

Xie Youming's fundamental confidence lies in the fact that the more than a thousand Qi Refining Realm masters of the Xie family who have gathered in the city are enough to suppress these ragtag troops.

He had even contacted his third brother Xie Xiangming through carrier pigeons, asking him to lead another team of 100,000 white-clothed guards from the family, each riding two horses, to come to the rescue as soon as possible.

As long as we can stop the offensive of the Yongwei Camp and defend the Changzhou City before the reinforcements arrive, it will be time for our counterattack.

By then, relying on their own military advantage and the large number of Qi Refining masters coming to support them, it would not be a big deal to defeat the imperial army in one fell swoop.

"I will obey your order!"...

The representatives of various aristocratic families, wealthy merchants and tycoons present were all silent, received the order respectfully, and then left separately. Under the command of the Qi Refining masters of the Xie family, they began the final preparations for the war.

"Dong dong..."

About half an hour later, the sound of war drums began, and military flags fluttered in the sky. War drums sounded outside the West City and the North City at the same time. Zhou Yuji and his wife and the million-strong army of the Yongwei Camp were divided into two, lined up in neat military formations, and marched towards the two city gates!
"Your Majesty, our army's hidden Qi Refining Realm commandos are already in place!"

"Once we discover the enemy's weakness, the commandos will immediately take action and capture the Changzhou city in one fell swoop!"

At the center of the Yongwei Camp's military formation outside the north city, Zhou Yuji flashed in front of Emperor Chongzhen, who was wearing top-grade spiritual armor, and reported solemnly.

Zhou Yuji's tone was filled with a strong desire to fight and strong confidence.

This kind of support naturally came from the hidden trump card of their own side in this war: two commando teams composed of masters of Qi Refining Realm from Jinyiwei and Dongchang respectively.

In order to capture the big city where enemy troops were gathered, Emperor Chongzhen played all his cards this time. He specially transferred most of the Qi-refining masters from the reorganized Jinyiwei and Dongchang to form two elite teams of 300 Qi-refining masters each.

As long as any weakness of the enemy is discovered in the following siege, the two commandos composed entirely of Qi Refining Realm masters will immediately launch a surprise attack, break into the city in one fell swoop, and capture the obstacle that prevents the army from moving south: Changzhou Prefecture City.

(End of this chapter)