The army broke out, and the spies went first. Li Zicheng had been surrounded and suppressed for more than ten years. He was really cautious. Although he was near Jiexiu, the spies had already spread to Jiaocheng. I am afraid that there were more in Fenzhou Prefecture at this time, and Chang Yu felt more and more uncomfortable.
underestimate.
After a few more miles, Jiaocheng was in sight.
In ancient times, for the purpose of defense, all cities, regardless of size, had city walls. The larger ones were dozens of miles in radius and had a population of one million, such as Beijing and Nanjing. The smaller ones were two to three miles in radius and had a population of hundreds or thousands.
The city is a typical small town with a population of more than 2,000.
And because the population was sparse in ancient times, the city not only contained houses and streets, but also cultivated farmland and even mountains and rivers. This was very different from later generations.
Jiaocheng is too small, the walls are neither high nor thick, and there are no more than a hundred defenders. It may be possible to deal with some bandits, but when encountering bandits, there are only two ways, either to escape or to surrender.
Something was wrong. As they got closer and closer, Chang Yu suddenly noticed the longing figures of people in the north of Jiaocheng, which were incompatible with the windy and snowy weather. So they all hurried towards the north on horseback.
As they marched, they discovered that the people in the city were dragging their families and families out of the city, heading straight north.
There were many officers and soldiers at the city gate shouting to maintain order. Chang Yu made a show of calm, and Chunxiang rode his horse over. After a while, he turned back and informed the Jiaocheng garrison that they had received Zhou Yuji's military order, asking them to join the city immediately.
The people abandoned the city and headed north to avoid the disaster.
Obviously, Zhou Yuji planned to confront the bandits head-on in Jiaocheng.
"Are there any soldiers and horses from Taiyuan in the city at this time?" Chang Yu asked again. He knew that the situation was urgent. After Zhou Yuji held a military affairs meeting yesterday, since he had sent someone to notify the crowd to clear the place, he must have also sent vanguard soldiers and horses.
"The troops haven't arrived yet, but there are only a hundred guards in the city clearing the place."
This answer made Chang Yu frown deeply. Jiaocheng was less than two hundred miles away from Taiyuan. If Zhou Yuji had sent someone here yesterday, they should have arrived by now.
I'm afraid that the troops and generals dispatched yesterday were not enough, but they will definitely come today. Chang Yu thought in his mind and led the team into Jiaocheng through the north gate.
The city is too small, with no more than ten streets in length and width, and there are few high-rise buildings in sight. Instead, it is a scene of chaos, mixed with crying and cursing from time to time, but soldiers are forcing some people to leave the city.
Not everyone is willing to leave. The people at the bottom are living in poverty and are obedient no matter where they go. The rich and wealthy people are worried about their family property and will lose it if thieves break in, so they obediently pack their bags and drive them out one by one.
, but the kind of well-off people are the most reluctant to part with them.
There was a house in front of him. No matter how the soldiers persuaded and pulled him, he clung to a dead tree in front of the door and howled: "Even if the old man dies, he will die in this city. What's more, if you stay, you will not necessarily die. Instead, you will die."
We have arrived in the city, how can we survive in this cold winter without food and clothing... Just beat me to death, just beat me to death..."
"The thieves will arrive soon, and this place will be like hell." Chang Yu drove his horse forward, looked at the old man and said coldly: "Although it is cold, you will not lose your life if you go to Taiyuan. Even if you open a porridge shed there, you will not die of hunger, but
If you stay here, you will definitely die."
The old man looked at him, but he didn't recognize him, but there were so many cavalry behind him, and their origins were by no means simple. There was a little panic on his face: "I once heard that King Chuang did not kill the people."
Hum, Chang Yu sneered: "Thieves only don't kill the people who resist, and don't kill the people who surrender. If you surrender, you are a thief. Do you want to surrender and become a thief? If that is the case, I will punish you on the spot as you wish."
"
This... the old man's face changed, he couldn't help but shudder, and he lowered his head and said nothing.
"Pass this on, and if anyone is forced to stay and refuse to leave, he will be killed on the spot," Chang Yu said coldly, looking at the soldiers.
However, several soldiers just looked at each other in confusion, but did not respond.
"Why can't Dongchang still control you?" Jiang Quan looked at the soldiers and shouted, making them look frightened. It turned out to be someone from Dongchang: "Young man, take the order."
"Spread around and help drive them away," Chang Yu ordered as there were too few soldiers in the city and the manpower was obviously insufficient.
Cheng Ming immediately took the order and left with fifty of his subordinates, leaving only Chunxiang and other twenty eunuchs to accompany Chang Yu.
Chang Yu rode his horse southward along the street. He was going to climb the southern city wall to observe the terrain. Wherever he passed, he heard only chickens and dogs restless. After all, it was so painful to leave home.
Chang Yu's face was extremely ugly. The forced eviction naturally made the people feel dissatisfied, but in order to save them from the disaster of the war, they had to do it. More importantly, the walls and the country were cleared just to set up a line of defense here to fight against the intruders.
"Let me go, let me go, help me... Wuwuwu..." Suddenly, a woman's vague cry came from an alley on the street. Although it was not too loud, it was extremely miserable.
Chang Yu couldn't help but raise his eyebrows. He heard crying at least ten places all the way south from entering the city, but this time he frowned and immediately shook the reins and ran towards the alley.
However, he saw several soldiers dragging a woman to a house with a lewd smile on her face. The woman was in ragged clothes and struggled hard. However, she was held down tightly and her mouth was gagged by one person.
"Go away!" A soldier kicked away the little boy next to him who was screaming and dragging him. He was about to walk into the house when he suddenly felt something was wrong. He turned his head and looked towards the alley, only to see more than twenty knights in black looking murderous.
Rushing forward.
"Shhhhhhhh..." The soldier felt chilled in his heart, whistling and hurriedly waving to the friends who had just dragged the woman into the house.
Looking at his face, several of his accomplices knew something was going on. They immediately let go of the woman and walked towards the door. The woman screamed and ran towards the door: "Xiaobao, Xiaobao..." He hugged the woman who had just been kicked to the ground.
The boy, whose face was covered with blood and couldn't get up, cried hoarsely, and then closed his mouth again, because she saw a group of cavalry approaching gloomily, and immediately in front was a young man with an ashen face.
"You, who are you waiting for?" The soldiers couldn't sense Chang Yu's gloominess and the murderous aura that was about to burst out at any time. They were panicking and couldn't help but draw their swords. They murmured in their hearts: Could it be that the thieves are entering the city?
Already.
"The Director of the East Factory is here, how dare you be rude?" Chunxiang shouted. Several soldiers were startled, and then with fear on their faces, they quickly walked to Chang Yu's horse and knelt down. I've seen this before... ah!
Almost at the moment they knelt down, Chang Yu shot an arrow through the head of the first man with a sharp crossbow in his hand. The others were shocked and were shot dead by the eunuch army before they could react.
Chang Yu turned over and dismounted, his face still ashen, and then he drew the knife, clicked a few times, and looked at several heads. He was so shocked that the woman next to him fell over and fainted.
"Jiang Quan, hang these dog heads on the city gate to show the public, and lead people to inspect the whole city. Anyone who does evil will be killed immediately!"
Jiang Quan immediately took the order and left.
In troubled times, Chang Yu not only dealt harshly with thieves, but also treated officers and soldiers equally. After all, these days, most officers and soldiers are no different from thieves.
After a few simple presses on the woman's body, the woman woke up. When she saw the boy in front of her, she was shocked again. She just held the boy in her arms and said, "Spare my life, spare your life..."
Chang Yu sighed, wiped the blood on the boy's face with the lapel of his clothes, threw some broken silver and said, "Leave this place quickly and follow the others to Taiyuan."
After saying that, he got up and mounted his horse, heading towards Nancheng.
The city wall was only five meters high, more than two meters wide, and no more than two or three miles in circumference. It was impossible for such a small city to withstand the rebel cavalry. Chang Yu stood on the city wall, blowing the wind and snow, and looked at the vast mountains to the west and the wild rivers to the east.
Although the due south is barely a flat plain, there is no danger to defend this area.
But even so, he decided to have a head-on confrontation with the bandits again.
Why? Because I don’t accept it! Because I don’t want to feel so aggrieved.
Li Zicheng sent troops to Beijing. To be precise, he went out for an outing. He walked around all the way out of Xi'an. He opened the door to welcome everyone he came to and gave him food and drink. He arrived in front of Ningwuguan without any obstruction and was beaten severely by Zhou Yuji.
.
This beating was actually quite painful, and it even gave Li Zicheng, who had never wanted to go to Beijing to play, the idea of going home. However, when he met the warm and hospitable Jiang Quan, he opened the door to him: "I'm a guest coming to Beijing to play," and then there were a lot of things along the way.
Arrive in the capital with food and drink.
Hundreds of thousands of majestic troops are standing at the door, but they are not as good as a guard dog!
"Shame! What a huge shame!" Chang Yu punched the battlement hard and looked into the distance fiercely. He would never let Li Zicheng enjoy the carnival so comfortably.
This is the purpose of setting up a defense line here, to give the rebels a head-on blow! Jiaocheng is small and open, so fighting here will cost little and is low.
Of course, he also knew that there was no danger in Jiaocheng, and the small walls of the city could not stop the intruders. He had no illusions about blocking them here, but he only needed to give the thieves a punch to let the thieves know the pain.
Boost the morale of the officers and soldiers and cure their phobia of thieves!
Chang Yu's heart was filled with humiliation when he thought of the thieves walking so casually from Xi'an.
"Brother, it's getting dark soon, and it's getting a bit cold here in the city." Chunxiang shrank his neck next to him, breathing in the air-conditioning.
Chang Yu took a long breath: "Let's go."
"Where to go?" Chunxiang asked.
"Taiyuan"
Chang Yu and others had just descended from the top of the city when they met Jiang Quan and others, and saw that the mouth of his scabbard was stained with blood.
"Killed?"
"Thirteen" Jiang Quandao.
"Are they all soldiers?"
"There are five more gangsters who took the opportunity to cause trouble."
"Good kill." Chang Yu said nothing and rode north. Not far away, he met Cheng Ming again and everyone went straight out of the city.
When you leave the city, you will see a mast with more than a dozen bloody heads hanging on it, which makes people feel chilly. The people passing by were whispering and their eyes were filled with fear.
Although it was already dark, there was still a steady stream of people in the city. They had no choice but to force them to leave the city. They had to rush to Taiyuan at night and settle down early.
Jiaocheng is more than a hundred miles away from Taiyuan. According to his walking speed, it would take twelve hours even without stopping. With the wind and snow all the way, it was indeed hard enough.
Chang Yu and others rushed on their horses and took advantage of the darkness to run all the way. They ran for more than ten miles in one breath and met a group of men and horses, estimated to be more than two thousand.