Chapter 67 The long line that was released at the beginning finally caught a big fish
Liu Xiyao handed over the matter of sending out spies and bribed the underlings to try to deceive the city gate, and handed it over to the dog-headed military advisor Niu Ziquan.
In order to ensure that the strategy was feasible, he gave Niu Ziquan a very large authority. Basically, he could mobilize the army sergeants at will, and he could also burn, kill and loot at will without having to ask for instructions.
Niu Ziquan was originally a failed scholar, because he hated the unfairness of the imperial examination and hated the whole society. Once such a person gained power, he would not have any scruples when it came to killing people and setting fires. Everything was done to achieve the goal, and he could use any means.
The people around Qizhou who were originally in a wait-and-see mode and refused to go into the city to avoid the fighting soon suffered.
…
Early the next morning, Qizhou County Government Office.
Shen Shuren was very diligent in his work. He got up early in the morning to take care of things. After a hasty breakfast, he planned to go up to the city wall to inspect the four gates and take precautions.
However, he had just finished half of his breakfast when he saw his subordinate Zhao Yunfan rushing in.
"Sir! Something bad has happened! I heard that after Liu Xiyao arrived in the middle of the night yesterday, he went crazy because of the pain of losing his son. Because he was unable to attack the city for a while, he spread the word that he wanted to massacre Qixian County.
Starting from Huangqikou Town, there was already a town along the way, and seven or eight villages in the two townships were slaughtered by bandits! These bandits didn't even care about the people's hearts!
In just a quarter of an hour in the morning, several groups of people who had fled from the Qishui River downstream had already arrived outside the west gate. It was dark before, and Shen Lian and Lu Datou, who were on duty at the west gate, did not dare to open the door without permission and urgently asked for instructions. Zuo Dusi. Zuo Dusi also felt that this matter was serious and reported it again. Please make a decision with your Majesty Tongzhi!"
Chen Shuren raised his eyebrows: "How many people are crowded under the city? Where are Liu Xiyao's troops? Have our army sent scouts out of the city to keep an eye on the enemy's movements in real time? Have the lookouts at the top of the city seen the enemy's situation?"
Zhao Yunfan was not familiar with military affairs and could not answer these details for the moment, so he was speechless.
Chen Shuren shook his head and asked, "What about Zuo Zixiong? Why doesn't he come to retaliate himself?"
Zhao Yunfan: "Zuo Dusi immediately went to the tower to suppress the enemy. He was afraid that Lu Datou and other newly recruited regiment training officers would open the door indiscriminately due to their feelings for the countryside, so he went to guard the city in person to prevent any unexpected events."
Chen Shuren could only sigh: "That's all, I'll go to the city myself."
…
After half a stick of incense, Chen Shuren rode his horse and rushed to the west gate. He saw that the crowd of driven people outside the city had exceeded a thousand people.
Chen Shuren hurriedly found Zuo Zixiong and asked the questions he just asked again. He received a positive answer, saying that there was no army of thieves within a dozen miles, so he immediately gave the order:
"Open the city gate immediately, but after entering the city, the people are not allowed to wander around, and they must be inspected together. Time is tight, and to prevent accidents, luggage is not allowed to be brought into the city to avoid carrying weapons, and people pushing carts are not allowed to load any packages on the cart. .
In addition, let the soldiers with loud voices shout and promote the government's policies. For all the people who fled into the city today, the government will give up porridge to help them during the subsequent siege stage, and will not ignore them, so there is no need to worry about leaving their packages and starving to death. After publicity, Anyone who dares to resist will be treated as a traitor!"
"General, obey the order!" Zuo Zixiong got the message and immediately carried out the order vigorously and resolutely. He asked the soldiers to shout and opened the door to let people go.
In just two cups of tea, all the miserable-looking people crowded at the city gate were let in.
During the whole process, the soldiers on the tower were very nervous, fearing that Liu Xiyao's army would suddenly appear in the distance, but they did not appear until the end, and everyone was relieved.
After closing the city gate, it took some time to conduct a cursory search of the people to see if they were carrying weapons. During this period, some people were found to be carrying kitchen knives, sickles, etc., and some soldiers tried to confiscate the people's poles and hoes, which almost caused a fight. conflict.
Fortunately, Shen Shuren was at the scene and immediately announced that farm tools and sickles could not be confiscated, allowing the people to report the matter voluntarily, and then he reluctantly suppressed it. After a lot of trouble, at least a hundred thorns were caught who were disobedient or unwilling to part with their property. .
At this moment, Chen Shuren's staff and other officials from the county also rushed to the scene. Seeing all this, the staff Gu Yanwu could not bear it at first, so he came over and asked:
"Sir, could it be that these common people who brought kitchen knives and sickles and were unwilling to hand them over were Liu Xiyao's work? Liu Xiyao chose the time before the autumn harvest when he invaded.
These people who were unwilling to flee back to the city before may just be reluctant to part with the crops that are about to be harvested, fearing that they will be ruined and robbed by bandits. Now they have to take refuge in the city, taking a sickle with them, perhaps because they want to go back to harvest as soon as possible after the war. Such a short period of time Weapons should pose no threat in battle."
Shen Shuren said calmly: "I know that if Liu Xiyao really sent a spy, but did not take the opportunity to let the army come up, then his spy must be very calm, and he will not be like this when our army can even pick up a sickle. The sting of two sentences of argument and resistance.
But I have to do this, so that after carefully searching, and then allowing the people to disperse, they will relax their vigilance. If I let it go from the beginning, and if I really do it carefully, I will feel that it is too easy to get through, and maybe it is a scam."
Gu Yanwu was sincerely convinced: "It's true that I worried too much. It turns out that your Excellency has already thought of it."
After Gu Yanwu shut up, Zhang Huangyan on the other side said again: "But if Liu Xiyao's Xizuo didn't bring weapons and didn't take advantage of the chaos to grab the door, even if he sneaked into the city, how would they attack later?"
Chen Shuren stroked his beard and muttered: "I don't know for the moment, but I won't move if the enemy doesn't move. As long as you guard the city gate and be vigilant at all times, you can cope with all changes by remaining unchanged.
I had already given orders last night. In order to prevent the enemy from taking advantage of the chaos to deceive the gates, temporary semi-circular trenches were dug in the north and east gates, and the soil dug out of the trenches was also rammed and piled on the inside of the trenches. Although this is It is not as good as the defense of Wengcheng, but it is not something that the enemy can rush away at once, so this is equivalent to another layer of protection."
Qizhou County is not an important city, and it barely ranks among the top three counties in Huangzhou in terms of scale and defense, behind Huanggang County, which is under the jurisdiction of the prefecture, and Huangmei County at the mouth of Poyang Lake.
Such a county town, of course, only has a simple rammed earth city wall, it is impossible to have stone cladding, and it is impossible to have an urn city. Under normal circumstances, after the city gate is breached, the enemy can directly fight along the main street to the center of the city.
Chen Shuren also had no ability to temporarily build an outer urn city, but he was able to temporarily dig a long wall inside the city gate to serve as a simple inner urn city without alerting the enemy.
This matter was arranged by Shen Shucai after Zuo Zixiong returned to the army last night, and no one else knew about it yet.
After Zhang Huangyan heard this, he breathed a sigh of relief, and then became curious: "It turns out that the other two gates have already built trenches, so there is no need to worry about it - but why did they do this to the east gate and north gate instead? The west gate faces Qishui. The mouth of the river is the enemy's main attack direction along the Yangtze River, right?"
Chen Shuren smiled with wisdom: "The bandits don't have heavy siege weapons. If they want to break the city in a hurry, they can only rely on deception. We are not afraid of attacking by force. I have stationed a heavy force at the west gate. If the enemy forces are careful and want to attack, they will be destroyed." , Liu Xiyao will definitely think of this, so he will definitely not choose the city gate that is most convenient for him to enter to steal."
After Shen Shuren announced that the people who were fleeing into the city should be dispersed, they still maintained the state of loosening the outside and tightening the inside. They divided these people into groups and assigned soldiers to guard them for a long time.
After working hard for a long time, around the afternoon of that day, when Shen Shuren was conducting a rigorous investigation and preparing to find out the flaws in the thieves' elaborate work, a turning point finally came.
Several details seemed to have been exposed. Shen Shuren had given an order in advance for his subordinates to report the details as soon as they discovered the details, so Zuo Zixiong immediately sent people to him for personal interrogation.
When he saw Xizuo, Shen Shuren was a little surprised. Among them was the anti-Japanese Xizuo Liu San who he had put back a month and a half ago.
"Sir, I was forced. I was not caught by the army today. I found that your master was heavily guarded and I would definitely be able to defeat Liu Xiyao, so I took the initiative to surrender!" When Liu San saw him, he also kowtowed. , immediately expressed his feelings.
Chen Shuren couldn't help but feel happy: "It's been a month and a half, and you haven't been able to run away? Are you still working for Liu Xiyao?"
Liu San cried with a bitter face: "After I returned, because I followed your instructions, I was taken seriously by Liu Xiyao and watched closely. I had no chance to become a deserter in the camp.
I wanted to take advantage of this military expedition and escape when Liu Xiyao sent his troops out to burn, kill, and loot. Unexpectedly, Liu Xiyao was furious and determined to break the city. He made people try every means to deceive the door and contact the non-existent internal intelligence. But it’s frustrating for me.
I saw that your Excellency was able to kill Liu Xiong and annihilate Liu Xiyao's cavalry with his miraculous calculations. This guard's laws are so strict. I know that Liu Xiyao will definitely not be able to accomplish the task, so I am willing to help you with your hard work!"
Liu San said it all as if he were pouring beans out of a bamboo tube. As long as a person has been a traitor once, there won't be so many psychological barriers if he wants to become a traitor in the palace for the second time.
This kind of capricious and self-protective villain cannot really be used by Shen Shuren in the future, but this time he can be used as temporary toilet paper against Liu Xiyao.
"You are honest. You actually admitted directly that you came to shoot because of my strict defensive methods. Tell me what Liu Xiyao asked you to do." Shen Shuren said disdainfully.
Liu San continued to kowtow and clarify: "I just don't dare to deceive the adults, I just tell the truth. If the adults are not strict in guarding the law, the younger ones will not dare to be enemies with the adults. They will only find ways to become deserters and will not help Liu Xiyao." The one who grabs the door.
Liu Xiyao seemed to have asked his generals to go through the mountains and attack the east gate. He also asked us to sneak into the city with the victims from the west gate. Don't bring weapons and don't arouse suspicion. After they are disbanded, we can find a way to get the weapons. And contact the people in the city. The tycoon's family member has a grudge against you——
But sir, you know, those lords and gentry who were fabricated by Xiao last time to coax and beg for mercy do not exist at all! How could Xiao possibly do such a narrow escape for Liu Xiyao?
According to Liu Xiyao, there would be some people outside the east gate who had been looted and driven out in the evening, and they would come over and ask to enter the city. At that time, we took weapons and took advantage of the opening to sneak into the crowd and kill the gatekeepers from behind, and Set fire to the city. The troops who have detoured back to the east of the city will suddenly come out from a distance and take advantage of the chaos to grab the door."
Chen Shuren nodded and turned to Zuo Zixiong who was waiting next to him: "Did you hear that? In the evening, if the east gate opens, let our own people set a fire inside the gate. But remember, we must follow in advance. The officers of each branch should make it clear that they should not be afraid when they see a fire at the east gate."
Zuo Zixiong clasped his fists: "I will obey the order."
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