Before dawn, Li Laiheng had already woken up early. He went to Gao Yigong's camp first, and saw that Gao Yigong had gotten up earlier than him. At this time, he was already adjusting and deploying sentry posts. In his heart
I couldn't help but feel a bit of admiration for this old businessman's brother-in-law.
The evening breeze was still blowing before dawn. Gao Yigong, wearing a coarse cloth cloak, stood alone on a high ground near the camp. He held a sword in his right hand and held a cold pancake with only two bites in his left hand.
Li Laiheng stepped forward. He was deeply impressed by Gao Yigong's dedication to his duties. He reached out and handed over half a bowl of gruel and asked: "Brother Gao got up so early? I guess the defenders in the city were in shock and would never have the courage to go out to fight at night.
of."
Gao Yigong placed his sword on a stone next to him, stretched out his hand to take the porridge, shook his head, and said with a smile: "If anything happens, we must be on guard. I still dare not relax until your adoptive father arrives."
I had no sleep last night and stayed here all the time."
"Brother Gao's approach is the surest way. I didn't realize it for a moment, and I was too confident." Li Laiheng's face turned red. Although the defenders were frightened, it was indeed as Gao Yigong said, if anything happens,
If the defenders really ventured out of the city to attack at night, but he was still asleep and almost unprepared, wouldn't it be a big mistake?
"My approach was hasty. If the defenders had not been courageous, I would have almost destroyed myself."
"Haha, you don't have to be too harsh. The morale of the defenders is depleted and the number of troops is so sparse. The chance of a night attack out of the city is indeed very low. Besides, although you went to bed, the Little Tiger Team also placed night sentries on guard, so they would not be able to attack
The level of destruction." As Gao Yigong spoke, he pointed to a night sentry post in the distance and said with a smile, "I stayed up all night waving the flag, keeping vigil outside for the Little Tigers."
"Hey, this bastard." Li Laiheng felt a little warm in his heart. Hao Yaoqi made several mistakes, which caused the Little Tigers to fail to break through the county wall in time. He finally wanted to save his face.
Hao Yaoqi knew that he had made consecutive mistakes. First, he failed to tighten the network port during the ambush battle and let Zhang Shoubei escape. Then he led Wangzhi County to deceive the city and failed. Although the mistake cannot be entirely attributed to Hao Yaoqi, he did
His performance was poor and he felt that he was embarrassed. After retreating to the camp, he stayed up all night and guarded the post outside, not daring to relax even a little bit.
Li Laiheng faced the direction of the sentry and shouted loudly: "Okay, all the brothers on the night watch will take turns to watch and come and have a few bites of food!"
Dawn has come quietly, the sun slowly rises from the mountains, and a few rays of golden light shine on the simple camp of the Little Tigers. After hearing what Li Laiheng said, Hao Yaoqi thought that he could finally eat. He looked depressed at first.
, was quickly replaced by joy. He faced the rising sun and was about to run over when he saw a few more figures on horseback on the horizon in the distance.
Hao Yaoqi rubbed his eyes, looked carefully, and vaguely saw the shadows of several felt hats. He guessed that they were not reinforcements from the army, but his own troops, so he shouted to Li Laiheng: "In charge of the team."
, it seems that our reinforcements have arrived!"
"Um?"
Li Laiheng estimated the time and felt that either Li Guo or Liu Fangliang should have arrived in Shanyang County at about this time. It was just that the person came running with his back to the rising sun, giving Li Laiheng a moment to see
Not sure about the appearance.
After a while, it wasn't until the cavalrymen ran closer that Li Laiheng recognized them clearly. He didn't see Li Guo's always serious and stereotyped look, nor did he see Liu Fangliang's fair face that didn't look like a bandit. Instead, he saw them.
I saw the familiar red tassel felt hat.
Wearing a felt hat with red tassels and white rims, a sky-blue short archery jacket, and a long bow with red lacquer and gold painted diagonally across it, who could it be if it wasn't the old businessman Li Zicheng?
"Old Palm!"
Li Laiheng and Gao Yigong were both shocked and blurted out at the same time. They looked at each other and never expected that the person coming was not Li Guo, a tiger, nor Sai Lanling Liu Fangliang, but actually the old boss Li Zicheng. Something must have happened in the situation.
An unexpected change made Li Zicheng come here in person.
Li Zicheng was so agile that he jumped off the saddle without waiting for the horse to stop and landed firmly on the ground. He had already recovered from his condition, and his voice was loud and full of energy. He arrived before anyone else arrived.
"Second father!"
Gao Yigong was surprised when he saw Li Zicheng coming to Shanyang County to meet him in person, and he was the first to greet him.
In the tradition of northern Shaanxi, according to the order of elders, uncles and uncles are called eldest father, second father, third father...in that order. Although Gao Yigong is Li Zicheng's brother-in-law, due to the large age difference, he is usually regarded as Li Zicheng's brother.
Li Laiheng was the son of his nephew's generation. Li Laiheng should be considered Li Zicheng's grand-nephew in name, but since Li Zicheng and Li Guo got along like brothers, the old boss naturally treated Li Laiheng as a younger nephew of his nephew's generation.
Li Zicheng also had an eldest brother above him, Li Zili, Li's father who died young. Therefore, according to the tradition of northern Shaanxi, he regarded himself as the "second father" of Gao Yigong and Li Laiheng.
"Brother Gao, little tiger, the situation has changed." Dismounting behind Li Zicheng were Li Shuangxi and Dang Shousu. Li Shuangxi no longer looked like he was laughing and playing, his expression was heavy, and he seemed to be in an unusual situation.
Li Zicheng put the Huama Sword behind him, put it together with the long bow, spread his arms, and hugged Gao Yigong. Then he pointed to the north and said: "The imperial court has made a big move. Yuan Zongdi is investigating."
When a large number of officers and soldiers left the Xi'an Prefecture and headed east in three directions, they were probably going to search and suppress Shangluo."
When Li Laiheng heard what Li Zicheng said, he immediately realized the seriousness of the situation. If Li Zicheng could go to Shanyang County in person to inform him of the situation, I am afraid that the situation was so serious that he had to retreat immediately.
"Why is the old boss here in person? Where are General Liu and the others!"
Hao Yaoqi hadn't figured out the situation yet. He was just surprised that Li Zicheng came here in person, with a confused look on his face.
Li Shuangxi explained from the side: "A tiger has escorted the grain and fodder, and has left the boundary of Shangzhou Prefecture first, heading towards the west of Hubei."
"That's right." Li Zicheng nodded, pointed to the north, then pointed to the surface, and said, "A large number of government troops are coming from the north. Yang Sichang's reinforcements to suppress the towns also tend to go north and east. Shangluo is no longer a place to stay for a long time.
Tian Yufeng had previously received envoys from the camps of Cao Cao, Luo Rucai, and Prime Minister Hun Tianxing Hui Deng, inviting them to break into the camp and join the camp in western Hubei to reject the officers and soldiers."
"The officers and soldiers are surrounded on both sides. Qinzhong cannot be re-entered, and Zhongzhou is tightly guarded by the officers and soldiers. For the current plan, the only way is to return to the west of Hubei and join forces with Hun and Cao's battalions to join forces. Only then can we have the strength to fight."
The severity of the situation was worse than Li Laiheng imagined. How could the imperial court react so quickly? Didn't Yang Sichang always regard Zhang Xianzhong as his primary enemy? Now that Zhang Xianzhong is still active in northern and eastern Sichuan, how could Yang Sichang have the spare capacity to mobilize Qin?
, Chu soldiers and horses, search and suppress Shangluo?
Li Laiheng felt a little unwilling. In the past few days, he had cut off most of Shanyang County's official army, and the difficulty of conquering the county had been greatly reduced. If he withdrew his troops at this moment, wouldn't his success be in vain?
"The situation is critical and there is no need to delay. But when the old commander came to Shanyang, did he want us to retreat immediately? It's just that in Shanyang County, the officers and soldiers were wiped out several times, less than one in ten, and there were only dozens of defeated soldiers left in the city who were in shock.
That’s it. The county town is like a ripe melon with its stems dropped. You can get it if you reach out and pick it. It would be a pity not to pick it now."
When Dang Shousu heard that Li Laiheng seemed to be opposing the old boss, he immediately objected: "Things have priorities. The imperial encirclement and suppression troops are about to arrive. How can a county be compared?"
However, Li Zicheng stretched out his hand and stopped Dang Shousu from speaking. He asked Li Laiheng gently: "Little tiger, have you wiped out all the main forces of the county government and army?"
Li Laiheng patted his chest and replied confidently: "There were originally more than a hundred Qin soldiers in the county and hundreds of brave men in the countryside. They were all ambushed and annihilated by me and Brother Gao. At the moment, there are at most dozens of remaining soldiers in the county."
"Okay, you did a very good job." Li Zicheng praised first, and then asked the key question, "If you and Yigong attack the city, how long do you expect it will take to conquer the county?"
"this……?"
Li Laiheng didn't have much experience in siege, and he was unsure, so he glanced at Gao Yigong. Gao Yigong understood and replied to Li Zicheng: "If Laiheng's men and I attack with all our strength, I estimate that the fight will last until night at most.
, we can definitely break the city."
Li Zicheng shook his head and said in denial: "No! The time is too tight! And it is inconvenient to set out at night to march, I'm afraid it will delay the time again."
But Li Zicheng did not completely deny what Li Laiheng and Gao Yigong meant. He looked in the direction of Shanyang County, pointed at the more than ten soldiers who came with him, and said: "I will personally lead the troops to attack the city.
We must break the city before noon!"
"Destroy the city in half a day?!"
Gao Yigong and Li Shuangxi were shocked when they saw each other. They both had many years of experience in attacking cities and territories. They knew that although Shanyang County had very few troops, the officers and soldiers had a night of preparation time to mobilize the civilians and improve their defenses. With the current strength of the troops who broke into the camp,
To defeat the city in half a day is indeed an extremely difficult goal.
Li Laiheng was not like Gao Yigong and Li Shuangxi. Apart from the battle to seize the town of Zhuxi County at night, he had not really participated in the siege war and had little experience. After hearing Li Zicheng blurt out the heroic words of destroying the city in half a day, he became very energetic.
Excited, he just thought that since the old boss said this, he must have full confidence.
"Destroy the city in half a day! That way the little tiger team will have enough time to search the city for grain and fodder, march out of the county, and head south to western Hubei!"
Li Zicheng's sharp eyes carefully examined the different expressions of Li Laiheng, Gao Yigong, and Li Shuangxi. Then he laughed loudly, stretched out his arms to hold Li Laiheng in his arms, and praised: "What a breast tiger! There is a breast tiger here."
Isn't it easy to defeat the city in half a day?"
"The situation is tense and there is no room for a moment's rest. As soon as the attack is completed, the order will be sent down immediately to break up the camp and attack the city!"
Gao Yigong saw Li Zicheng overjoyed and praised Li Zicheng after he hugged Li Laiheng, and his eyes were thoughtful. Li Shuangxi didn't care. Only after hearing Li Zicheng's order to start the war, his fighting spirit rose. Only the party
Shousu looked at Li Laiheng and then at Li Shuangxi, frowning slightly.
"The sun has come out. Wave the flag and go quickly to gather the brothers from the Little Tiger Squadron. Let me tell you that the boss personally came to Shanyang County and will take you to break the city in half a day!"
Li Zicheng gave the order, and both Li Laiheng and Gao Yigong turned around and ran back to the camp. Time was urgent, and they could not allow any rest, so they immediately gathered the soldiers and horses in the camp.
It was just dawn at this time, and the soldiers, except for the sentry guards, were mostly drinking porridge and eating pancakes in the camp. They were all surprised when they saw Li Laiheng, Gao Yigong, Hao Yaoqi and others gathering their troops in a hurry.
After that, the story spread to ten and hundreds, and everyone gradually learned about the difficult situation faced by the camp at this time, and even learned that the old commander Li Zicheng personally went to Shanyang County to direct the siege and prepare to break the city in half a day.
Li Zicheng led Chuangying to fight in the world, and had successes and failures. At the worst time, he led three hundred old and weak men to lure the enemy with his own body and deceive Hong Chengchou's main pursuit force, so that the main force of Chuangying and the old camp could be transferred smoothly.
When he was at his lowest, except for some old and weak people, he only had a few guards around him. However, no matter what reward the court offered, no one would betray Li Zicheng, because he always had a simple charm in his behavior that was convincing.
.
Lao Zhangpan is a legend in the camp. He does not represent victory, but it makes people willing to fight to the death. The news that Li Zicheng's arrival in Shanyang County immediately boosted the morale of the veterans who were familiar with Lao Zhangpan.
When they got up, everyone rushed to be the first to fight bravely, just waiting to fight on the top of the city of Shanyang County.