During the siege battle in Beicheng, there was heavy thunder and little rain. All kinds of cannons, shells, and muskets were fired from a distance, and the sky was dark and smoke was everywhere. But in fact, not a single soldier of the official army attacked the city wall.
Even so, the rebels who defended the city did not dare to take it lightly. Because under the cover of this kind of artillery fire and in the dark night, it was easy for the opponent to get under the city wall. If reinforcements were not timely and the opponent occupied the city wall, that would be
What a big joke.
Although they were not necessarily afraid of the officers and soldiers once they were fighting in the street. After all, they were fully prepared. However, it was definitely a blow to morale for the opponent to break through the city wall so easily.
Therefore, Liu Chong, Yang Hu, Qi Yanming and others each occupied a side of the city wall and hid on the backside where artillery bombs could not reach them. They threw many torches under the city to illuminate the darkness below. From time to time, they sent people to risk their lives to see if the other side was there.
attack.
This kind of battle may seem like there won't be many casualties, but forget about the futility in your heart.
Seeing the opponent indiscriminately bombing places up and down the city wall and within a few hundred steps of the north city wall. Everyone shrank their heads and stared, daring not to show their heads. From time to time, some people were struck by pieces of iron from exploding bombs around them.
Being hit by thorns can kill you anytime and anywhere. It feels like the end of the world and you don't know when you will die.
The continuous bombing made Liu Chong's ears buzzing. He stood with his back against the city wall, cursing constantly in his heart. With every roar of artillery shells and the flash of fire, everyone around him could hear Liu Chong's evil words and gnashing of teeth.
Cursing. The firelight illuminated his face, which was twisted and convulsed, terrifying like a devil.
In the smoke, someone was running from Beicheng Street. They broke in amid the roar of shells.
"Where is the Generalissimo? Where is the Generalissimo? I have something important to report." The man ran along the base of the city wall, shouting quickly.
Qi Yanming was behind the tower, so he was the first to hear this man's cry.
"I am Qi Yanming, the forward general. Why are you looking for the general? He is under the west wall." Qi Yanming shouted.
The rebel soldier, like a lost child meeting his parents, rushed over and cried out: "General Qi, it's bad, it's terrible. The food and grass have been burned."
"What?" Qi Yanming was sweating profusely and feeling unbearably hot. When he heard the news, his whole body felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.
When Liu Chong heard the news, his vision went dark and he almost fainted. His mind was buzzing and he opened his mouth, but no words came out for a long time.
I don't know when the artillery fire on the city stopped. On the high place of the messy city wall, Liu Chong, Yang Hu and Qi Yanming stood side by side. The three of them looked towards the direction of the granary in the city. The red light there reflected the dark night, and a fire was burning.
is in full swing.
The southeast wind blew over, and a burnt smell with some fragrance filled their nostrils. They had smelled this smell before, and thought it was the smell of gunpowder after the opponent's shell exploded. But at this moment, they realized that it was
The smell of burning forage grain.
After the rice is overfired, it will pop into popcorn and emit a fragrant aroma. However, the popcorned rice will catch fire more easily, which is why it is difficult to put out a fire in grain and rice. When the flour in the warehouse is ignited, it will emit sparks.
It burns in a splattering and explosive manner, and may even cause dust to rise.
There was an explosion, not to mention the huge piles of fodder. Although the rebels only captured less than 600 war horses, these were treasures. They were relied on to pull carts and escape. Therefore, a large amount of fodder was piled around the grain stacks. The fodder stacks
Once a fire breaks out, sparks will be blown away by the wind and ignite everything around it.
"It's over, it's over. How could this happen? How could this happen?"
Liu Chong seemed to have aged ten years, his eyes were dull, the muscles on his face were tangled, and he muttered to himself in pain.
Qi Yanming sighed softly, not knowing what to say.
"This is a trick by the army. Someone sneaked in and set the fire on fire. Mao could not say that three people pretended to be your personal guards and sneaked in. It must be them." Qi Yanming said.
"How can you sneak in like a steel wall? Tell me. Mao must not allow this guy to neglect his duties. The generalissimo trusts him so much that he even messed up this little thing. This bastard, I have to kill him." Yang Hu shouted loudly.
scolded angrily.
"There is no need to kill him, he has already committed suicide. He knew he would die, so he wiped his neck." Qi Yanming whispered.
"This bitch will die happily. If you mess up things, what will you do with this mess?" Yang Hu cursed angrily to himself.
"It's the seventh brother's coffin. No, there's something wrong with the carriage. We were fooled. It must be so. As soon as the fire started, the army's siege stopped. This is to cooperate, to attract our attention and take advantage of the chaos.
Do it. The coffin... we have checked it. But the car, have we checked it?" Liu Chong suddenly shouted.
"..."
Yang Hu and Qi Yanming thought about it with their eyes wide open, and both fell silent. Indeed, no one checked the cart from beginning to end. People could be hidden under the cart. No wonder the strong horse pulling the cart struggled to pull a coffin.
That's how many more people are down there.
"Zhang Yanling, the dog thief, has many tricks and tricks, and he did this kind of thing in a sneaky way. I and him are at odds with each other. He is so despicable and shameless. It is unbecoming of himself." Liu Chong cursed.
Qi Yanming thought: You have to blame your own seventh brother. Your brother Liu Qi is a disaster. It's okay if he is dead. Zhao Sui died because of him, and now the grain and grass are burned because of him. You
No wonder others. Zhang Yanling used a trick, not a trick. Isn't it normal behavior for two armies to fight and burn each other's food and grass?
"What should we do now? Marshal, let's go to the fire scene and have a look. Maybe we can still leave some food." Yang Hu said.
Liu Chong shook his head and said: "Look at the fire, the sky is burning red, where is the food? It must have all been burned away."
Yang Hu looked at the fiery red field in the distance and sighed: "Then we have only one way. Break out and rush south. Or, simply go out of the city and fight them hard. We have 70,000 to 80,000 people and fight with them."
Liu Chong was silent.
Qi Yanming said: "Going out of the city to fight is the last resort. Breaking out is impossible. If you want to break out, you have to leave from the beginning. It's too late to leave now. Besides, without food and grass, where can we go? In less than three days
, everyone has fled. Let alone fighting."
Yang Hu said angrily: "Then what do you think we should do? Aren't you very resourceful? You have to find a way at this time. If Crazy Zhao is here, he will definitely have a way."
Qi Yanming looked at him speechlessly. Liu Chong shouted angrily: "Don't mention Madman Zhao again. You are responsible for his death, and you still dare to mention it?"
"I..." Yang Hu looked at Liu Chong angrily. Seeing Liu Chong's fierce expression, he didn't dare to say any more and swallowed his words.
Liu Chong breathed a sigh of relief and said in a deep voice: "There is no unstoppable path for man, but there is another way for the present."
"What can we do?" Qi Yanming and Yang Hu asked in unison.
…
In the early morning, many rebel troops appeared on the streets of Daming Mansion. They entered the streets and alleys and entered every household to collect food.
After the army entered the city, they did not search too much in Daming Mansion. There was still food in the people's homes. But this move was obviously to deprive the people of food. At this time, food is life. Besides, the people in the city had food in their homes.
It's not much, and I'm counting on Generalissimo Fengtian saying that the army will have enough food, so that the people in the city will have enough to eat.
Who would have thought that now the rebels are coming to search for food.
At first, the rebels were reasonable. They discussed with the people to give some food to the rebels as military rations. However, how could the people be willing at this time? Over time, the situation turned into a robbery.
Not surprisingly, at this time, the situation will be difficult to control.
When a rebel team was walking out from a family holding a rice jar, an old woman from the family held the soldier's leg and pulled her. The soldier kicked her foot, and the old woman hit the bluestone on the threshold.
Go up and die instantly.
The old man and his son and daughter-in-law immediately cried out and stepped forward to fight with all their strength. While pulling, they scratched the face of the rebel soldier. The rebel soldiers were already extremely violent, and at this moment, they did not stop doing anything. They slashed the whole family with their swords.
The situation quickly evolved from requisitioning grain, to robbing grain, and even robbing gold and silver valuables, to raping women to commit murder and arson. This kind of behavior was restrained at first, but after the bottom line was exceeded, there was no bottom line.
Soon, the streets and alleys of the city were shouting loudly, and the rebels became crazy, burning, killing, and looting everywhere. The entire Daming Mansion fell into extreme panic and chaos.
The naive people originally thought that the arrival of General Fengtian was their savior. They supported them from the bottom of their hearts, worked hard for them, and strengthened the fortifications. When the army entered the city, they greeted them with pots of food and rice.
, set off firecrackers and beat gongs and drums to welcome them.
But now, they suddenly woke up. These people are a group of beasts without reason and bottom line. They are no different from the officers and soldiers of the imperial court, and they even have less bottom line than them.
Internal fighting also broke out in the city. Some soldiers recruited from Daming Prefecture naturally refused to give up when they learned of this situation. Someone gathered thousands of soldiers and horses recruited locally and began to defend the city.
After several small-scale battles, Yang Hu brought more soldiers and horses to suppress them. Hundreds of people were killed, and rivers of blood flowed in the streets.
Daming Mansion is crying. The reality is cruel. After the food was burned and Liu Chong chose to seize the people's food, everything was destined to be like this.