Zhou Shixian actually didn't have much hope for the so-called "supplication letter". He just wanted to use this to disgust the Tartars and traitors, and at the same time, it was also to anger Duoduo and make the other party determined to attack.

The final result of the victory or defeat of this battle is the success or failure on the battlefield. Zhou Shixian knows this very well.

As the movements in the Qing army camps in the north became more and more frequent, Zhou Shixian also held another military meeting in Fengyang City and agreed on the final response strategy.

After so many days of whistle and cavalry battles, the Ming army still found a lot of news, and Zhou Shixian was blessed with the support of the telescope. He could also observe the changes in the Qing army camp north of the Huaihe River.

In fact, the Ming army still had a certain geographical advantage in this battle. Even if the field was defeated for a while, Zhou Shixian could still hold on to the city and then find opportunities to defeat the Qing army, but it was very likely to fall into an unfavorable situation of fighting alone, and eventually fail.

After the military meeting ended and the generals of various departments went down to deploy as planned, Zhou Shixian also took Xue Laoer and Zhang Huangyan to inspect the "Tianwei Central Military Camp" with his personal guards.

The camp of the "Tianwei Zhong Military Camp" is built in the schoolyard north of Fengyang City. Now, the entire Fengyang City has become a huge military camp after Zhou Shixian's transformation.

Each battalion is distributed in one square, and the residents of the people are concentrated in another area. The food, grass and military supplies in the city are also divided into several parts and stored in different warehouses to prevent accidents.

In addition to the daily rotation of the city, the soldiers in the battalion also need to maintain certain training to maintain physical fitness and condition, but the intensity and daily training cannot be compared at all. They also have to reserve physical fitness for the war that will last for unknown how long it will last.

Zhou Shixian patrols all the way. After seeing his commanding flag, the soldiers along the way immediately stopped to salute until the Iron-blooded prince consort walked away. He couldn't help but feel happy when he looked at the soldiers training in the camp, whether it was a uniform team or a slogan that shook the sky.

After this year of training, his troops can no longer see the appearance of a poor boatman, and it is completely a strong military posture.

"The prince-in-law, the Jinwu camp of Sun's official, and the Wufen camp of Wu's official, are both the most well-equipped and elite troops in the army. If they were released from the beginning, the Qing army would probably notice something was wrong." Zhang Huangyan said worriedly. After thinking about it, he was still confused about Zhou Shixian's arrangement. Finally, he made up his mind and asked again.

"We can't swallow Duoduo's 50,000 troops in one breath, we have to do it step by step."

While walking forward, Zhou Shixian explained to Zhang Huangyan: "This first step is to reshape the confidence of the army. Therefore, in the first battle, one must win, whether it is a small victory, a big victory, or even a miserable victory, it must win, otherwise the morale of the army will collapse in an instant."

Zhang Huangyan actually thought of this. Although he had passed the previous Tartar parade, there was still fear in the army, especially most of these people were recruits. Once the battle was defeated in the front, the situation was very likely to be out of control.

But the problem is, even if you win at the beginning, once the Qing army crosses the river, there will be tens of thousands of elite troops. If the elite troops on our side are fighting at the beginning, how can we fight the subsequent battle?

It is better to keep the army and hold on to the city. When the temperature rises in July and August, the whole country will not be accustomed to the southern climate. The army will inevitably suffer from the epidemic and the crisis will be resolved by itself.

"But the officials were worried that after the Qing army successfully crossed the river, the situation would be out of control. Although Tianwei Camp, Jinwu Camp, and Wufen Camp were strong, the rest of the camps were not weak, but most of them were recruits after all, and the troops of Gao Jie and others could not be used directly..."

"Mysteriously, don't worry, the main force of the Qing army cannot get through. This prince-consort has already been prepared, but this matter is related to the success or failure of the war, and it is not suitable to explain it in detail to the generals for the time being." Zhou Shi said mysteriously.

"Can't you get through?"

Zhang Huangyan suddenly had a big question in his mind, but since Zhou Shixian had already said that, he couldn't ask anything else. He was still quite immature in military affairs, which was why he didn't dare to ask further questions at the military meeting just now.

"And, mysteriously, don't think about defending the city directly." Zhou Shixian suddenly stopped, and the personal guards behind him, Zhang Huangyan and Xue Laoer, also stopped immediately.

Zhou Shixian turned around, looked at the two of them, then turned his head and looked at Xue Laoer and asked, "Xue Laoer, tell me, why can't you just stick to the city?"

When Xue Laoer heard this, he immediately bowed his hand and said, as if he was ready, and said directly: “The officials thought that if they retreat without fighting, the so-called defending by the city would lead to self-destruction. Not to mention the morale of the army at that time, even the army of cities on both sides of the east and west would probably be volatile. Perhaps there would be no need to wait until July and August, and someone would be able to surrender.

Therefore, no matter what, we must fight the Qing army and defeat it, so that those military leaders who are now pretending to stick to it, but who are actually ready to move and have different minds will continue to persist, otherwise it will give the Qing army the opportunity to defeat them one by one."

After hearing this, Zhou Shixian nodded in agreement: "Xuanzhu, this is what this prince consort means. We and the Qing army must fight a war seriously, otherwise we will not be able to strengthen people's hearts."

Zhang Huangyan had nothing to say at this time. Although he was not as good as veterans like Xue Laoer in military terms, he was definitely not the kind of stubborn and ignorant scholar who did not understand the world and people's hearts. Otherwise, Zhou Shixian would not have entrusted him with important tasks.

In this world, there is no need to argue or think. Just look at the tens and two hundred and twenty million troops from Shanxi, Shaanxi, Shandong, and northern Zhili to join the Qing army, you will know what the military leaders are thinking.

"The emperor understands it, so he should follow the teachings of the prince-consort."

After hearing this, Zhou Shixian patted the other party's shoulder and then continued to walk deeper into the barracks. Zhang Huangyan, Xue Laoer, and dozens of personal guards quickly followed.

Night fell and after the evening rotation, Zhuang Lidong's 100-year-old general returned to the tent, and most of them fell asleep immediately. In the tent of the camp, the soldiers were shouting one after another.

When Chen Yu was on duty tonight, he heard someone saying that the war was about to begin. Now he was a little panicked and couldn't sleep. He originally wanted to chat with Zhang Dong, but when he heard the news, he was snoring at this time, which made Chen Yu feel upset.

And it was not only Chen Yu who couldn't sleep, but also his wife and children had yellow hair at home, and he was also opening his eyes, but he didn't know that there were other people in the tent awake.

Although Huang Fa made up his mind to kill the Tartars and earn rewards, he was actually a little scared, worried that if he accidentally was killed by the Tartars, he would be bullied after his child had no father.

In the entire military camp of Fengyang City, there were countless new recruits who could not fall asleep immediately these days. They were all afraid of death, but they also knew that they had to fight.
Chapter completed!