The whole day passed with everyone's nerves tense. The soldiers were carefully on guard, but nothing happened - at least until early in the afternoon, no abnormality was found.
It was not until halfway through Shenshi that Shen Lian, who was responsible for defending the west gate of Qizhou, observed the enemy's army outside the city and appeared for the first time in the sight of the lookout on the tower.
The enemy was huge, numbering at least tens of thousands, but they marched very steadily, dragging a convoy of baggage with them. When they were less than ten miles away from the city, they stopped and seemed to be preparing to set up camp.
The camp was not completely set up yet, so many soldiers re-lined up, carrying a small number of simple equipment that seemed to be flying ladders, and moved towards the city. It was not known whether they wanted to stop the exploratory attack.
At the same time, the east, north and south sides of the city were very quiet.
The east side is the hinterland of the area controlled by the official army. It is said that Liu Xiyao's rebel army will not be able to get around easily. The north and south sides are also not suitable for attacking the city.
The south side is adjacent to the Qishui River and is blocked by a river. The distance from the city wall to the river bank is only half an arrow. If you want to enter this area to form an array, you will definitely be suppressed by firepower from the city walls along the way.
The north side faces the hillside, and the terrain is rugged, making it impossible to deploy an army. Qishui is originally a river formed by two ridges in the Dabie Mountains. The width of the valley plain is not large, and it is already very crowded with a county seat.
At this moment, Shen Shuren was on the east gate tower, hiding alone in the guard's room, anxiously waiting for the final result to be announced.
Although the double-faced Liu San has surrendered, whether the enemy will really deceive the enemy from the east of the city cannot be taken lightly until the final reveal.
Maybe the dog-headed strategist within the bandits also has two brushes? Maybe these detailed works are the result of a death that he doesn't know the truth?
The news of the enemy's appearance at the west gate was the first, and following Zhang Huangyan's report, it also reached Chen Shuren's ears.
After Zhang Huangyan finished speaking, he said without worry: "Is there a scam? Why haven't the people who were driven into the city from the east of the city showed up yet? But the army from the west city showed up first?"
Chen Shuren gripped the armrests of the chair tightly: "Not necessarily, just wait and see what happens. Maybe this is just Liu Xiyao wanting to act more realistically. Just let all departments do their part."
Zhang Huangyan didn't question it anymore, but he knew his cousin too well. After a casual glance, he noticed that Shen Shuren was in a low mood. It seemed that his eyes were a little wet just now. He couldn't help but expressed concern:
"What's wrong? When I set up an ambush to annihilate Liu Xiong, I didn't see you so worried. Or are there other worries?"
Chen Shuren sighed: "It's nothing. Don't talk too much when you leave this room, so as not to shake the morale of the army. When we made plans in the morning, I was too busy to think about it. Now that I have been alone for so long, I suddenly feel a little bit... Guilty.
In the conscience of heaven and earth, I had a premonition before that the bandits would choose a trick to attack the city, but I still didn't expect that Liu Xiyao would be so frantic and massacre innocent people.
If I knew, I would definitely advocate for more people to seek refuge in the city in advance and further strengthen the walls and clear the country. In previous years, these bandits claimed to kill rich households to share the surplus food, and some poor people were seduced by them. I always feel that Zhang Xianzhong's men You won’t attack the poor indiscriminately.”
Chen Shuren was telling the truth, and his wisdom was extremely limited. He only thought of this because he had read in the history books that thieves from the Zhang Xianzhong family were accustomed to using craftsmanship to deceive people.
But Liu Xiyao really had no way of predicting exactly how he would deceive, how he would kill civilians indiscriminately and create chaos to fish in troubled waters.
Zhang Huangyan was slightly startled. The cousins he had seen recently were all cold-blooded, sophisticated, and geniuses in thinking. He never expected that Shen Shuren also had a sexy side.
It seems that he was afraid of shaking the morale of the army and only had this kind of introspection when he stayed alone and waited for the results.
He also quickly comforted: "Who would have thought of such a thing? It's not your fault. It can only be said that the revenge of killing his son made Liu Xiyao become more and more crazy. By doing this, he also cut himself off from the people. In the past, we were worried that the poor would be killed. He is deceptive and short-sighted.
Now that he is going on such a killing spree, the news is spread by word of mouth through the people who hid in the city in the morning. Now everyone in the city is afraid and they say that he is going to massacre the city. He has completely shared the same hatred with the government and army. There are tens of thousands of people who are willing to carry the soil. If Shi helps in the battle, why worry about not being able to defend the city!"
While the two were chatting, something unusual finally appeared on the distant horizon outside the East City Gate. Hundreds of ordinary people and villagers suddenly appeared, screaming and running away, and soon they arrived.
Many people shouted in confusion, saying that a small group of bandits who were collecting food and grass had crossed the mountain and crossed Qizhou County, and went to several villages along the river in the east to burn, kill and rob food. These people had all fled in distress and wanted to enter. City escape.
Inside the East City Gate, after a day of emergency repairs, a semicircular trench and an earthen wall behind the trench have been dug, forming a simple "inner urn city".
With complete preparations and the fact that most of the details in the city had been caught in advance, Zuo Zixiong certainly dared to let the gatekeepers open the door as planned.
Hundreds of refugees gradually poured in, and were soon blocked in the "inner urn city" inside the city gate. The officers and soldiers only left one or two small openings, allowing these people to leave their belongings and enter the city after a simple inspection. .Some of the "common people" had slightly changed their expressions when they saw this battle.
At this moment, about a block or two inside the East City Gate, several flames suddenly burst out, as if several houses had been burned. Pillars of smoke quickly rose into the sky and were clearly visible for miles away.
"Close the city gate quickly! All people entering the city are not allowed to move!" Zuo Zixiong immediately shouted an order, and the soldiers behind the inner wall of the city were also ready.
At the same time, on the slopes of Dabie Mountain not far from the east gate, hundreds of groups of bandits suddenly rushed down, and soon formed a torrent and rushed towards the city gate.
The people who were blocked in the inner urn city were panicked for a moment. Many of them took out their knives and rushed towards the officers and soldiers. Some others went towards the city gate to cut off the noose and kill the people who were trying to kill them. Officers and soldiers closing the door.
"Those who fail to pass the inspection should get down immediately! Those who do not get down will be punished carefully by seizing the gate! You are not allowed to approach the city gate, we are going to open fire!" Zuo Zixiong shouted loudly. At this time, he could not care about the careful screening and could only Use this method to do a rough screening first.
As soon as they finished speaking, the officers and soldiers opened fire on those who were trying to rush to the city gate from the crowd. They used shotguns and fired at close range in a condescending manner, immediately turning the inside of the city gate into a slaughterhouse of Shura. Dozens of people who tried to rush over were beaten to death on the spot.
If those people inside the earthen wall of the inner urn city do not lie down, or if they try to attack the wall, they will be shot. But as long as they lie down obediently, nothing will happen.
Some of them were too scared to lie down, but as long as they stayed put and stayed away from the city gates and gaps in the walls, no one would shoot at them. But whether they would be hit by stray bullets depended on luck. War is so cruel. , we can only try to avoid innocent casualties, but it is impossible to completely achieve it.
There were also some smart people who, in order to win the trust of the officers and soldiers, took off all their clothes in a panic and took nothing with them to show that they were not trapped at all, and then rushed through the gap in the encirclement. The officers and soldiers were not in trouble. Hundreds of people were quickly evacuated.
The rogue thieves' careful efforts seemed to have had some effect. The noose on the city gate seemed to have been cut, and there were not enough manpower to rush under the door and put it on top. It only took half a cup of tea. , the bandit troops outside the door have already rushed forward.
…
This bandit division was led by Liu Xiyao's dog-headed military advisor Niu Ziquan himself. This time Liu Xiyao sent out a total of 15,000 troops to attack the Chenshu people. The 2,000 leading troops have been destroyed. They were all cavalry and mounted infantry. The main follow-up force There are still thirteen thousand.
During these 13,000 miles, 10,000 people were left in the west of the city by Liu Xiyao, preparing to stage a feint attack to attract the attention of the officers and soldiers. The partial division of 3,000 people was led by Niu Ziquan back to the east of the city over the mountains, hoping to take advantage of the deception. Rush in.
It is very difficult for a large army to quietly cross the remaining mountains of the Dabie Mountains around Qizhou at night and go around to the east of the city, so it cannot bring too many people. Three thousand people is the limit.
Even at this scale, in order to cross the mountain in the middle of the night last night, Niu Zi all killed dozens of soldiers in vain, in order to ensure the concealment of the operation in the dark and not let the officers and soldiers know that a bandit had appeared in the east of the city. So that the government and army's management of the east gate would not be too strict.
In addition, Niu Ziquan was only a strategist after all, not a fierce general. He was still not good at directly leading troops and giving tactical command, so he also hired Yi Dou Gu, a thief general who had fled back, to take charge of the specific command——
Yidou Gu also went back to find Niu Ziquan in the middle of the night yesterday. He failed to protect the young master because of the defeat, and was afraid that the king would be angry and kill him to punish him, so at first he did not dare to gather the remaining soldiers and go back to apologize, but secretly went to Niu Ziquan to intercede.
Yi Dou Gu paid tribute to Niu Ziquan with all the valuables he had grabbed during this expedition, and then asked Niu Ziquan to work hard to help him negotiate peace. He said that now that the war was about to begin and he was recruiting people, he hoped that Liu Xiyao would give Yi Dou Gu a chance to redeem himself and make meritorious service.
After confirming that Liu Xiyao had temporarily suppressed his murderous rage, Yidou Gu dared to formally show up to return to his life, and was then assigned to this relatively dangerous task by Liu Xiyao.
At this moment, seeing that the city gate was finally opened in the chaos and could not be closed for a while, Yi Dougu bravely took the lead, rode his horse to rush into the front group of people, and fought in with great ferocity.
He knew that only by seizing the city gate, entering into street fighting, and making the first contribution to today's destruction of the city, would the king completely forgive him for failing to protect his son.
"Kill the dog officer! Massacre the city and share the money and food!" The surging bandit army successfully rushed into the city gate.
But the next second, when Yi Dougu saw the simple inner urn city composed of shallow trenches and low walls, he immediately felt that his hands and feet were cold, and a sense of fear rose involuntarily.
"Bang, bang, bang!" Another burst of continuous gunfire sounded, and the bandits blocking the door were instantly bloody and howling in agony.
Today's group of thieves is not as elite as yesterday's cavalry - yesterday's cavalry could wear at least 30% more armor. Today, not one of the ten soldiers may be able to wear ironclad cotton armor that can protect against shotgun shells.
However, the formation at the gate of the city was still dense, and there was no place to hide after being sprayed by the trolls, and there was no need to even aim.
With each round of gunfire, hundreds of lives were intensively harvested. A bucket of grain didn't even last until the third round of gunfire, and he was shot dead on the spot.
Niu Ziquan behind him was more cautious and did not follow the front army into the city.
Hearing the gunfire inside the door and groups of people blocking the door, he secretly thought something was wrong and was about to turn around.
Unfortunately, at this moment, he had also entered the coverage area of muskets and bows at the top of the city. A group of musketeers were assigned to the top of the city, responsible for shooting at enemies outside the city wall.
Niu Zi was one of the few siege infantry on horseback. Of course, he received special attention. He turned around and did not run away for a few steps before he was shot to death.
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