stubborn thief

Chapter 340 Eliminating Spies
Mo and Jing stayed up all night.

He lay on the bed in the first half of the night, thinking about the strategy to defeat the enemy; in the second half of the night, he stood on the top of the city, listening to the Mongolians scolding the streets.

The morale of the defenders was extremely low. In just one hour of fighting, the local soldiers lost more than [-] soldiers, and there were not even one out of ten officers in the front line composed of branch children.

Even the native soldiers who fled back could not be organized in a short time.

Li Huaao was the only officer who came back alive from the front of the battle, but he was carried back. He was shot with two guns and three arrows.

completely annihilated.

Desperation enveloped this small border town. Right now, there are only three castles that can provide support for Mo and Jing. Fortunately, the fortresses are not too big, and he still has a lot of defenders.

It's just that in terms of morale, these very outstanding chieftain soldiers were frightened.

Due to the large number of troops and belonging to various chieftains, after the death of the officers of the various formations, Mo Yujing and Ye Guoqi were unable to gather and take care of the defeated army in the first place.

So that those who survived by chance spread the power of the enemy in the camp, further deepening the despair of the defenders.

People say that the guns of the Marshal's Mansion are longer and farther away, and can penetrate two people at a hundred paces; they say that their artillery is so heavy that they killed eight members of Ji Tusi's family in one shot; A long-barreled cannon, one shot broke two arms and one head, and scared a person crazy.

In fact, it's not too bad that things have progressed to this point, and it's basically the first-hand truth.

Mo and Jing were bewildered, and in the course of the development of this matter, the worst happened when he realized the problem.

He gathered the rout soldiers, but instead spread unstoppable rumors in the army, which was even more outrageous.

But overnight, the blunderbuss of the Marshal's Mansion became an existence capable of piercing a phalanx, and the artillery became a great artifact that could flatten the Centuries with one shot.

The Mongols outside the city scolded the street, essentially because there were too many deserters who went down to the city at night, and they were so incompetent and furious that they couldn't catch them.

The sky in the east gradually brightened, and Mo and Jing yawned. The Mongols under the city put a long ladder made by rushing in front of the formation, pushed the Lele cart outside the city to fetch soil, and parked it [-] steps outside the city.

On the black line at the farthest point of sight in the west, hundreds of military formations are crossing the river layer by layer, meandering here.

A rider galloped to the bottom of the city, shouted and shot a letter of persuasion to the top of the city. Mo Yujing opened it and read it, sighing wearily.

The generalissimo in the west began to persuade them to surrender again.

The last time the persuasion was mainly to persuade Ye Guoqi to surrender, this time it was specifically to persuade Mo and Beijing to surrender.

Liu Shizi said that I raised my troops to stabilize Hehuang. Your soldiers are all Chinese heroes. You can see what northern Shaanxi is like. Loyal to one surname or loyal to the common people?
You didn’t understand this truth before, but today I personally wrote to tell you that if you go out of the city and surrender, I will guarantee the safety of you and your subordinates’ families.

Mo Yujing's heart was moved, and so were the subordinates gathered around him.

But when he took this letter to find Ye Guoqi, Ye Guoqi didn't look at Mo Yujing again, and Ye Bingqian, who was released from house arrest, persuaded him with his nephew and nephew, but he didn't change his mind.

Ye Guoqi just said to the crowd: "My generation of chieftains has been blessed by the emperor to guard Situ. Today I will surrender when Liu Chengzong comes, tomorrow I will surrender when Huduntu comes, and the next day when Huang Taiji comes, I will surrender. If everyone surrenders , the chieftain who has been favored by the imperial court for generations is a joke."

After finishing speaking, he looked at Mo Yujing, and said, "Marshal Mo, if you wish to surrender, I will not stop you, and the children of the clan, go out of the city by yourself, and stay with me in this city to stand by and wait for help." It is enough, even if the reinforcements are not available, even if the enemy is outnumbered, we will die with the city and never surrender."

Mo Yujing tried to persuade him again, but it was still ineffective. Even he himself was almost infected by Ye Guoqi's attitude, but the soldiers under his command couldn't do it, and clamored to leave the city.

Ye Guoqi shook his head, bowed to Mo and Jing with a smile and said, "Then Commander Mo, go out, you go, this city has more military rations, and can hold on for longer."

Although Ye Guoqi was smiling, his heart was very cold.

He was once appointed Liuguan to guard Changping, and he was very clear about the offensive and defensive situation of Liaodong. According to his judgment, it is difficult to defend three cities, but it is not impossible to defend only one city of Machang.

Because Liu Chengzong made a surprise attack with all his nest, intending to win quickly.

As long as he can withstand the fierce attack in the first two days, dampen the vigor of the western thief, and drive a nail in the river valley, it may not be impossible.

Through the previous battle, he has realized that Liu Chengzong's army is good at field battles, so he can no longer go out of the city to fight in the field to prevent being surrounded and wiped out; at the same time, he must strengthen his internal confidence in defending the city to prevent being attacked by spies.

Therefore, when letting people out of the city, Ye Guoqi has his own choice, not only those who want to leave will be released, but also some people who do not want to leave will also be released.

Anyone who had served in the Zhenhai camp, who had a Ningxia accent in Yulin, northern Shaanxi, Mongols who had fled from the west, those who were not determined to fight among the native soldiers, and those who were directly related to the chieftains of various families would all be released.

All in all, there is one principle, no one will be left in the city who is likely to be instigated.

In the crowded Machang City, nearly half of the defenders were immediately selected for release due to the decision made by Ye Guoqi, and the nearly 4000 defenders were reduced to [-] in the blink of an eye.

There was a booming cannon in the distance, and the cavalry outside the city began to move across the city to the east. The Fran machine guns in the Banuan Sanchuan camp fired towards the outside of the city, and more and more horses galloped from the edge to the range of the shells Continue to drive all the way east.

Those cavalry that spread out in small groups were still wearing frontier armor, brazenly cutting off the escape route of the three small cities to the east.

At least in the eyes of Mo Yujing.

However, in Liu Chengzong's eyes, the purpose of Yang Yao's Marshal's Mansion, Maying, leaping to the east was to block the possible reinforcements from Gansu and to block the news of their appearance.

The west gate of Binggou Machang City was opened, and [-] frontier troops marched out of the city, and a large number of local soldiers, women and children who did not want to participate in the battle also ran out of the city.

Mo Yujing walked out of the shadow cast by the city gate tower, and watched the veterans who had moved to Shaanxi line up out of the shadow. They couldn't tell whether they were happy or sad, but they felt a little indescribably relaxed.

He couldn't count on Liu Chengzong to keep his promise. There was no way to talk about the official treatment of the defeated generals, and it was nonsense to have enough food for the soldiers in a famine year. At least he didn't bury his army here. It was enough to let them disarm and return to the field.

At this moment, he heard Ye Bingqian calling him, turned his head and saw Ye Binggan bringing dozens of women and children of the clan and his nephew Yeding over, and asked, "What's wrong?"

Ye Bingqian bowed his hands and smiled at him, saying: "The commander-in-chief is tolerant and tolerant. The general passed by, and he will be reused in the future. I discussed with my brother and wanted to entrust my clan to the general. I also hope that the general will recognize my nephew. As a adopted son, I will take more care of you in the future, and leave an incense for the Ye family, and my brother and I will not leave."

Mo Yujing frowned and said, "This city can't be guarded..."

He looked at Ye Bingqian's relieved expression and didn't say any more. Ye Bingqian smiled and said, "You don't need to say too much, you don't know if you don't keep it. I'm not afraid of your jokes. When I went to Juerwan, my brother let me I wear a sword, presumably to let me decide on my own, I thought about it in the camp, but I dare not and I am not reconciled."

"But now that my brother is determined to stick to it and has no intention of stealing life, I am also willing to accompany him in life and death. I also hope that the general will tell the commander-in-chief that he will let me come back. I am very grateful. It is not my wish to be an enemy. Its master is responsible for guarding the land, although Ye Bingqian does not have the courage to commit suicide, he still has the ability to be killed."

After all, Ye Bingqian, who was standing in the shadows, raised his hand and patted his nephew Ye Ding on the shoulder, said goodbye to Mo and Jing, and slowly retreated into the deep city gate.

The two city gates were slowly closed, and a heavy iron gate crashed down, separating the two worlds.

The military discipline of the Mongolian soldiers in the fishing camp was not very good. Before Mo Yujing had gone far, he almost commanded the soldiers to fight with the Mongolians who swarmed to scramble for wealth and loot people.

Fortunately, Xie Erhu deliberately restrained him and asked Tang Qi to pass the information to the Generalissimo, so that he did not force the surrendering army back in the shortest possible time.

Almost at the same time that Mo and Jing were leaving, Basang had already stood on the top of the Ba Nuan Sanchuan camp.

The camp city was captured very smoothly. These cities were far less well-built than Bajiao City. There were quite a few defenders in the city. Lang cannon, but it is suppressed by the heavy artillery, so it is difficult to play its due role.

Mr. Qian was crushed to death by the explosive bullets fired by the mortar, and the camp city was declared to be breached immediately after.

Soldiers in the city brought Qian Zong's corpse down. Liu Chengzong only felt that things are impermanent. According to his thinking, the mortar should shoot the explosive bullets and explode on the gate tower, killing everyone around.

The result may be that the shell fuse was knocked out during the collision, and it became a big dud. Instead, it fell from the sky on an arc trajectory and killed Mr. Qian, who was directing the battle under the eaves of the city gate.

Hearing the news that Mo and Jing had left the city to surrender, Liu Chengzong was very happy and sent guards to clear the way for the descending army, but at the same time he knew very well in his heart that the last thing he wanted to see happened.

Ye Guoqi was very shrewd, and the soldiers from the Zhenhai camp were the ones who were kicked out. In fact, for Liu Chengzong, the spy war at the Marshal's Mansion was a failure because he was not a local.

His main force came from northern Shaanxi, and his accent was different from that of the Hehuang army. He could only use the Zhenhai battalion to use spies, but many of those battalions were just forced to live under the command of the Marshal's Mansion.

Once sent out to serve as spies, some of them changed positions and turned into officers and soldiers again. The spy status was often just a retreat for those soldiers, and no one gave him to do his best.

And a reliable spy, because of the northern Shaanxi accent, is easy to be seen through, and the danger is extremely high.

Now Yeguoqi has completely removed the soldiers who might surrender and defect. Although the strength of the defending army has dropped, the cohesion is higher and the mentality of defending is more determined.

This defensive measure directly made the Binggou Machang City, which was not much different in size, and the captured Ba Nuan Sanchuan Yingcheng, into two types of difficulty in siege.

A question was thrown on Liu Chengzong's face. It was time to test his determination to attack. Time did not allow him to prepare more siege equipment. Under this premise, how much casualties could he bear to forcefully attack this city.

two thousand?

Three thousand?

Or four thousand.

At the foot of the earth mountain under construction in the west of the city, Liu Chengzong looked at the two-foot-high square town, strengthened his determination, and once again sent a letter of persuasion to the city, giving the defenders the last half hour to leave the city and surrender, otherwise the city will be destroyed and people will die.

Then issued orders to the ministries.

"Xie Erhu moved to the north of the city, and Ahaidai Qing stationed troops to the south of the city. They dug deep trenches on both sides at the same time. The trenches must be dug within two hours. No one in the city can escape."

"Huang Shengxiao built a heavy artillery position in the west of the city. How many steps do you need to destroy the battlements?"

Huang Shengxiao was already quite familiar with this job. He looked at the banners on the top of the city, and said to Liu Chengzong: "Commander, 350-step flat shooting is the most accurate, but you have to take some risks."

"Then take a risk and build a position at 350 paces. There are only long ladders in this battle, and artillery must be used to cover the attacking army." After finishing speaking, Liu Chengzong turned to look at Li Tianyu, and said, "You go to recruit local soldiers, and put the trenches in the trenches. Fill it out for me."

Li Tianyu's heart skipped a beat when he heard this. He said earlier that he was recruiting soldiers to fight, but yesterday he heard that reinforcements from the Gansu frontier army had entered the river mouth, and Li Huaao had also died in battle, so he was not so determined.

At this time, Liu Chengzong was assigned this task, he stammered a bit, and the chieftains behind him gloated even more.

Just as he was stuttering, two people came out from the foot of the earth mountain, and the voices had already scrambled before they stepped forward.

"Master, let me come."

"Master, I'm going too!"

It's Basang's Qianzong Gas and Ah Liu, the two looked at each other, and they still wanted to fight, Gas said: "The commander just let me go, if I die in battle, please remember my master Mu Ya Toast's credit."

"The local soldiers in the west of the Changhe River once attacked Bird City, Commander, let them learn later." Ah Liu glanced at Gas, then glanced at the Northwest chieftains, and finally clasped his fists and said: "We have boarded Chengdu Fucheng, It is easy to storm the small town."

Li Tianyu was dumbfounded. There were still people fighting for the mission of storming the city. Are these guys stupid?
But Liu Chengzong said: "In this case, you two go together and recruit soldiers to fill the trench..."

"Wait a minute, handsome!"

Li Tianyu understood, don't care about how other people ask for a fight, Liu Shizi's mind of filling trenches with native soldiers will not change, if this job is taken away by others, it will be a question of whether he can command the native soldiers in the future.

Thinking of this, Li Tianyu thought that it would be better to be brave and fight hard, and simply said with a straight neck: "Please let me lead all the soldiers in command, the first battle to attack the city, I will come!"

Liu Chengzong nodded in satisfaction: "Since chieftain Li is interested, then it's settled like this. You can't change the gas, and the gas can't be changed to Ah Liu. In short, it must be broken before tonight..."

At this moment, guards suddenly passed through the ranks of generals and whispered beside Liu Chengzong.

Liu Shizi frowned first, then stretched his brows, and said to the crowd: "Maybe the enemy reinforcements won't come, but we still need to break the city before tonight. I hope you will work together and reward Hehuang for meritorious deeds. No one will." sorry."

After all, Liu Chengzong ordered the generals to go to prepare, standing under the earth mountain and looking east, with a complicated expression.

There was a guest who followed the Gansu frontier army into Hekou, and the name of the uninvited guest was—Smallpox.

　good afternoon!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)