"All people are here?"

Wang Tieniu was wearing a set of mountain-patterned armor, sitting above with a big golden sword, looking around with a tiger's eyes, and a hideous scar on his face squirming. Combined with his burly body, it gave people a strong sense of oppression.

"Report to the commander, everyone has arrived."

The personal soldiers next to him immediately bowed and replied.

"That's good, everyone, the lord sent an order to keep our guard. No matter what happens outside, we cannot go out of the city to fight without authorization. Remember, otherwise don't blame our military law for being ruthless!"

As Wang Tieniu glared at the tiger's eyes, his cold and ruthless eyes made everyone present feel terrified, and everyone should be.

"The next thing is the issue of arming, first..."

"Just like that, go back and prepare!"

"Yes, the captain!"

After everyone bowed and slowly retreated. Finally, only Wang Tieniu and his personal soldiers were left in the hall.

"Have the spies in the city handled it?"

Wang Tieniu suddenly asked in the air beside him.

"Don't worry, there is no one escape, you can concentrate on defending the city."

Outside the window, a figure suddenly appeared and disappeared immediately, as if it had never appeared before.

At this time, the army that had just arrived outside the city was building a camp. The chief general Yang Zong stood alone on a slope, looking at Gaoning County in front of him, and the big flag of Liu character floating on the city tower, frowned.

The size of this county is even larger than that of Yinyang County before. The city has 400,000 people. It is a large county in Laiyang Prefecture, second only to the city. It can be said that the city is high and the pool is deep. It is not easy to conquer it. Just the moat outside the city that is full of water and is 30 meters wide is a big problem.

"General!"

At this time, He Zhang walked over from a distance.

"You said, how could such a strong city be unable to hold on for half a month and fall into the hands of the thieves!"

Yang Zong let out a deep breath, a little incomprehensible. Even if there is no regular garrison, as long as the people in the city are mobilized to help, even if they face ten times the enemy, they will not be able to defend even for half a month.

"The thief army captured the only son of Gaoning County Magistrate from somewhere, and then used him to threaten the county magistrate to open the city gate. The county magistrate was eager to save his son, and he opened the city and surrendered in less than half a day."

He Zhang said helplessly.

"Why are the son of the county magistrate who is not staying well in the city? What about other officials in the city? Didn't he stop it?"

"The county magistrate and his subordinates who participated in the defense of the city were all dispatched to another city wall by the county magistrate. When they heard the news, it was too late and they finally died in battle."

He Zhang said as he handed over the information in his hand. All of the information had just been sent from the Fucheng Secretariat.

Yang Zong took the information and was speechless. The county magistrate was not a good minister, but a good father.

"General, the Ministry of War ordered us to quell the rebellion within one month. This is simply a difficult task. If we choose to siege the city, it only takes a few months and the three counties will be destroyed without attacking."

He Zhang sighed, with a hint of resentment in his tone. He clearly had a better way, but he gave up and ignored it.

"It's a bit difficult for people to force themselves, but there is no way. You may not know that I got the news that the Northern Wei suddenly increased its troops on the border, which was very meaningful to go south. The imperial court believed that the people must first settle the country when resisting foreign countries. Therefore, not only our Laiyang Prefecture, but also the generals from other places also received the same order. Even if they were to use their lives to fill it, they would have to quell the rebellion within one month and concentrate all their strength to deal with the Northern Wei."

"So that's it, but it's not the first time that we fought with Liu Zhe. After the last half-month bloody battle, his troops were no longer those farmers with weapons, but real soldiers. In addition, these people are good at defending the city. Even if we use human lives to fill it, we may not be able to capture three county towns in such a short time."

Yang Zong turned around and looked at He Zhang, with consideration in his eyes, and asked, "Then do you think we have no chance of winning?"

"It cannot be said that there is no chance of winning. As long as Liu Zhe's men walk out of the city, we--"

Speaking of this, He Zhang looked up in shock, "General, did you cross Zhe County and choose to besiege Gaoning County to lead the rioters from Zhe County and Yinyang County out of the city to attack our army's rear?"

"There is another reason for this, and Gao Ning's position is very important."

Yang Zong always likes to use righteousness to defeat his opponent with a grand army. This time, he is forced to go on a dangerous journey. Putting the army between the two counties will test the ability of the main general. If he is not careful, he will be in danger because of the head and tail.

He Zhang also understood this truth, but he was still very confident in Yang Zong's command ability. Now he was only worried that the thief army would hide in the city and not come out like before, so that the plan would be useless.

Yang Zong seemed to see the worries in He Zhang and continued: "Even if they don't leave the city, it doesn't matter. The Gaoning County defenders are only 7,000, and our army's 70,000 soldiers will attack them ten times the force. They will surely break the city day and night! At that time, as long as Gaoyang County is broken and thousands of elite cavalry are left to garrison, the other two counties will not be troubled."

His purpose is very simple. The Ministry of War gave him a month to quell the rebellion and wanted to pacify three county towns at once. It was a bit unrealistic, but it was still possible to break through Gaoning County. Once Gaoning County was broken, thousands of elite cavalry were left to garrison, and the remaining two county towns were all under the vanguards of this cavalry. After all, the two county towns were surrounded by plains and were close to Gaoning County. Once they left, they would be left to easily catch up with the cavalry and then eliminated.

Even if they never leave the city, the food in the city will not be supported for long. As long as they wait for the food in the two county towns to be exhausted, the result will be the same.

"General wise!"

He Zhang suddenly felt like he was clearing away the clouds. It was not difficult to raise thousands of cavalry with the money and food of Laiyang Mansion. Although it did not meet the requirements of the Ministry of War, the result was not too bad.

The next day, the fierce siege began. Under the suppression of catapults and a large number of bow and arrow shots, countless civilians carried sandbags to fill the moat. There were only two thousand archers in the city, scattered behind the four walls, and there were only five hundred people on each wall.

Facing the overwhelming river-filling troops under the city and the rain of arrows that were shooting over, the lethality of the five hundred people was extremely limited. As time went by, the water of the moat was dyed red by blood, and a large number of corpses and sandbags were piled up together, paving a path of flesh and blood.

With a rapid drum sound, the army, which was already ready to go, immediately pressed up with a large number of siege equipment. The battle continued until nightfall, and the corpses under the city were piled up like mountains and blood flowed into a river.

Faced with the attack of the imperial army regardless of casualties, Wang Tieniu and the others felt great pressure, and the casualties between the two sides remained almost at around 1:4.
Chapter completed!