In the lobby of the Daming Mansion, Liu Chong was slowly drinking a cup of hot tea. Qi Yanming rushed in unusually from outside the Yamen.
"Brother Qi, why aren't you guarding the city in Beicheng? Come and have a cup of hot tea." Liu Chong said with a smile.
"You still want to drink tea? What kind of chaos is it outside? The soldiers are burning, killing and looting. Deputy Commander Yang and his troops are killing the soldiers from the Daming Prefecture. The blood is flowing like a river. Do you still want to drink tea?"
Qi Yanming roared.
Liu Chong slowly drank a cup of tea, looked up at Qi Yanming and said, "I know. Brother Qi, sit down and calm down. Have a cup of tea, go to Beicheng and watch the officers and soldiers go. Don't worry about things in the city.
"
Qi Yanming shook his head, frowned and asked Liu Chong: "You all know it, but you don't stop it. Marshal, this is the result you want? This is what you want to do? Aren't we revolting to save the lives of the people?
?But what have we done? I said yesterday that we couldn't do this, but the Generalissimo just didn't listen. I humbly ask the Generalissimo to stop this behavior immediately."
Liu Chong looked at Qi Yanming and said calmly: "Brother Qi, I can't give the order. I have no choice. Everything can only be like this."
Qi Yanming roared: "What do you mean by having no choice? We can't do this to the people. They are all our relatives, parents, wives and children. You are digging your own grave by doing this. If you do this, you will be infamy for thousands of years in the future."
Liu Chong's face turned red, he slapped the table and shouted: "Brother Qi, I treat you as a brother, but you don't want to be rude. What does it mean to be infamous for thousands of years? What can we think about behind us? If there is no food and grass in front of us, the soldiers and horses will mutiny, so
If everything is going to fall apart, the army will invade. We will all die. It is imminent, why do we care about the ten thousand years behind us?"
Qi Yanming sneered repeatedly, nodded and said: "I understand, I understand. I understand everything. For your own sake, you can let the people die. You are full of lies, saying that you are doing justice for God, acting in accordance with God, and saving the people. It's all.
Nonsense. You are just doing it for yourself. You want to be the emperor. But how can you be the emperor if you are like this?"
Liu Chong shouted angrily: "Qi Yanming, don't be ignorant of praise. I have tolerated you enough. If you hadn't planned to rule across the river, how could we have fallen into today's situation? Twenty thousand soldiers and horses are slipping.
The county was beaten back. I ask you, are you guilty? You should be content."
Qi Yanming closed his eyes and took a long breath, slowly unbuttoned his armor, took off his armor, and removed his weapon.
Liu Chong shouted coldly: "How are you doing?"
Qi Yanming abandoned his armor and sword on the ground, and said with his hands: "A gentleman breaks off friendship and never speaks evil words. You and I have different ways and we don't want to conspire against each other. Qi went to him in admiration, thinking that you are a man of great talent and strategy, and we can work together."
It's a big deal. But what you did makes people feel cold. In that case, Qi will go."
After Qi Yanming said that, he turned around and walked towards the entrance of the lobby.
Liu Chong stood up, looked at Qi Yanming's back as he strode away, and said in a cold voice: "Brother Qi, if you have something to say, please speak up. Why do you do this?"
Qi Yan didn't answer and walked towards the yamen gate.
Liu Chong's face was extremely gloomy, and he suddenly reached out and grabbed a bow on the table. He bent the bow like a full moon and pointed it at Qi Yanming's back.
Qi Yanming walked to the door of the lobby. It was noon, and the sun shone in through the door, blazing and warm. The sky was blue, the clouds were white, the wind was clear, and the trees were green. Qi Yanming felt a sense of relief. He was finally free of all this, and since then
Just like in the mountains and forests, I will never come out to suffer the troubles of this world.
There was a "buzz" sound. The sound of a bow string vibrating sounded behind him. Qi Yanming turned his head instinctively and felt a pain in his heart. Then he saw Liu Chong standing in the hall holding a bow and arrow with a stern expression.
"You..." Qi Yan called.
"Now that you are on this boat, you want to escape unscathed. How is that possible? Brother Qi, you can only follow me all the way to death. At this time, it is unkind and unjust for you to give up your choice. How can I
Can you be allowed to leave? Anyone who goes against me will die!" Liu Chong said in a deep voice.
"You... thief! I'm blind... ah..."
Qi Yanming roared with all his strength, but the arrow hit him right in the back of the heart. The arrow pierced the vital part of his heart, and even the gods could not save him.
With a 'pop' sound, Qi Yanming's body fell on the steps, his eyes wide open, and he refused to close his eyes.
"The corpse was taken away and put on armor. When the order was sent to the whole army, he said that General Qi Yanming defended the city and killed the officers and soldiers, and saved the righteous heroically. The whole army should imitate his heroic behavior and swear to kill the enemy and avenge him.
." Liu Chong looked blank and shouted in a low voice.
The dozen or so guards in the hall looked panicked, and they kept agreeing, and carried Qi Yanming's body down with all their hands and feet.
…
In the military camp outside the city, Zhang Yanling, Zhang Yin and other people stood on a high watchtower and looked into the city. Through the telescope, the chaotic scene in the city was completely visible.
Zhang Yin gasped and took the telescope away from his eyes, looked at Zhang Yanling and said, "Master Hou, how could this happen? Civil strife broke out? So quickly? The food and grass had just been burned, and then the chaos broke out?"
Zhang Yanling frowned and said: "It's not like that. I haven't been hungry for half a day, but I'm not hungry yet. This should be Liu Liu's order robbing the people's food. This guy is really stupid, he actually robbed the people's food."
Zhang Yin suddenly said: "I see. Do you really deserve to die and kill the people?"
Zhang Yanling said: "It is your own fault. He could have stayed in the city. If we didn't want too many casualties, we could only waste it with him until the food in the city ran out. But now, I'm afraid he won't be able to consume it."
We can survive. Even if we rob people of their food and lose the support of the people in the city, we will never be able to survive. I think the war will be over soon."
Meng Liang said: "Master Hou, you mean to take advantage of the chaos to attack the city?"
Zhang Yanling laughed and said: "Attack nothing. Send an order, order Xu Yande's cavalry to patrol the Nancheng, and ride in the Nancheng wilderness every day. Zhang Yin reinforced the camp overnight and set up several fortifications. Artillery entered the camp, and all the crossbows and muskets were fired.
Take it out and prepare for battle."
Zhang Yin said in surprise: "Defend the camp? Does the Marquis mean that they are about to attack?"
Zhang Yanling said: "They can't stay in the city, and there are cavalry going south. They can only make a desperate move and make a last-ditch effort. It could be three to five days later, or two or three days sooner, they will definitely come out to fight."
Zhang Yin smiled and said: "Isn't that the final decisive battle?"
Zhang Yanling said solemnly: "Be careful, the final battle between the trapped beasts will be extremely fierce. It is a life and death fight. I don't want too many soldiers to die, so you'd better be fully prepared."
…
In the Daming Mansion, the rebels left the city in a mess after burning, killing and looting.
Some food was indeed looted, and the military rations were enough for more than ten days for the time being. However, this move allowed the people to see the true face of this group of rebels, and also put the people into trouble.
The common people also need to eat. When the rebels seize the food, the common people quickly fall into a state of hunger. Just like the reason why Liu Chong and others rebelled in Wen'an County in the first place, they have to rebel if they have no way to survive.
At this moment, the hungry people in the city are on the same desperate road to death from starvation as they were before. Coupled with the rebels' perverse actions, the entire city is already like a powder keg, about to ignite.
Not only the common people, many people in the rebel army also felt that the end was coming. After the food was burned, how many days could the food robbed from the people last? Moreover, many rebel soldiers were ordinary people, and they were angry at the generalissimo for allowing the soldiers to rob food and kill the people.
, and even suppressed the local soldiers in the rebel army, which made them feel fear and disgust.
No matter how dull you are, you can still feel the desperate atmosphere at this moment. It is a kind of breathless despair.
In the next three days, the cavalry in the south city was rampant and smoke was everywhere. The officers and soldiers outside the north city did not attack the city, but just wandered outside the city. However, the atmosphere inside the city was extremely tense, and both Liu Chong and Yang Hu were very anxious.
Because in the past two nights, countless people and rebel soldiers escaped from the city. More than a thousand people fled the first night, and more than 3,000 people fled the next night. The rebel general who once guarded the west gate led his soldiers
He fled, causing the west gate to open wide, and countless people escaped.
After getting the news, Yang Hu rushed to the west gate and went on a killing spree. Hundreds of heads were hung on flagpoles and sounded threats and warnings. This stopped the soldiers from fleeing and the people from fleeing.
However, in the early morning of the third day, the people who had been hungry for three days finally couldn't stand it anymore. They attacked the tightly protected military grain warehouse just to get a bite to eat. The two sides clashed. Thousands of rebels and tens of thousands of people
There was a big scuffle.
In the end, the food was saved, and hundreds of people were killed. More than a hundred soldiers also died.
Many future officers and soldiers in the army began to fall silent. Wherever Liu Chong and Yang Hu went, they turned their heads and stopped looking at him. The eager light in their eyes that used to look at the Generalissimo disappeared. Instead, there was a deep look in their eyes.
of fear and disgust.
Liu Chong felt this. He knew that from now on, the hungry people would rise up in rebellion again at any time. He rebelled against the court, and now the people rebelled against him. It was really retribution.
On the third night, Liu Liu woke up from a nightmare and sat on the bed in a daze, sweating profusely. He dreamed that the people rushed into the back hall of the government office in a swarm and tore him into pieces. The people had green faces and fangs,
Each one of them looked like a devil. They shouted that they were starving to death, and they ate all their flesh and blood.
Liu Liu knew that although this was a dream, it was the worry in his heart. The tens of thousands of hungry people in the city might rebel on a large scale at any time. The fortifications in the city also came to a standstill because no one was working. The people even
Burning the wood of the door panels into ashes and smashing the bluestone into powder will not allow them to obtain materials for building fortifications and defenses. Yesterday, more than a dozen material storage yards in the city caught fire.
All of this gave Liu Liu a warning. He could no longer stay in the city. Do we want to kill all the people? That is impossible.
Moreover, the military rations are being consumed day by day. The looted military rations are also being consumed quickly. If this continues, people may be eaten.
"Please come to see me, Deputy Marshal Yang. I have something to tell him." Liu Chong wiped his cold sweat and ordered loudly.