Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 101
Zhang Xianzhong took thousands of elite veterans, as well as trusted generals such as Shi Tatian and Xiedi Guang, and set off for the northwest overnight.Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo escorted the food and grass and left behind, while Liu Wenxiu and Ai Nengqi stayed behind with tens of thousands of people.One is to prevent Gao Yingxiang from noticing the abnormality, and the other is to continue to attack Shouzhou to rob more money and food, and then find an opportunity to leave Gao Yingxiang and go to join Zhang Xianzhong.

Zhang Xianzhong was going to go north first, then turn west, break through Yingshang, and then go southwest to enter Runing Mansion in Henan Province. He took advantage of Lu Xiangsheng's troops to pursue the gap left by Gao Yingxiang, breaking prefectures and attacking counties along the way.After passing through Nanyang Mansion, they finally arrived at Yunyang Mansion in Huguang, which is the junction of Shaanxi, Henan, and Huguang provinces. The government is weak, the folk customs are strong, and there are many refugees.With the money and food in his hands, he will soon gather a huge team. Zhang Xianzhong believes that he will not be afraid of any official army in a few years.

However, the hustle and bustle when thousands of people broke out of the camp, and the fire dragon formed by countless torches during the march still alarmed the other campers.

In the early morning of the second day, Gao Yingen rushed to the camp and saw that the tents of the tens of thousands of people in the camp had not changed. He thought to himself: There was a lot of noise in the camp last night. Someone reported the noise of the camp, but now This should not be the case.How could the camp be so tidy after the camp roar?There was no blood-stained corpse on the ground, so what happened?

After arriving outside Zhang Xianzhong's big tent, Gao Yingen got off his horse and Liu Wenxiu greeted him from the tent, bowed his hands to Gao Yingen and smiled and said, "Brother Gao came so early to offer camp, what can you tell me?"

Gao Yingen didn't return the gift, but said as he went to the middle of the tent, "Last night it was reported that there seemed to be some changes in the camp. King Chuang sent me to inquire about it. What happened last night?"

Liu Wenxiu laughed and said, "It's not a big deal. One of them defected with grain and grass, and the adoptive father got angry and led people to chase him himself!"

Gao Yingen was taken aback, stopped and asked, "Who defected? How many people are there?"

Liu Wenxiu replied bitterly: "That damned shoe has bare soles! Thanks to my adoptive father treating him like a brother, I don't know what kind of evil he committed. He took more than [-] people under his command to go north, and even killed the people in my camp. Most of the gold and silver were taken away, my adoptive father was very angry, and led people to chase him, threatening to ask him to understand what happened to make him go away!"

Gao Ying'en said: "It's already midnight, how come the eight kings haven't returned yet? Could it be that something dangerous happened?"

Liu Wenxiu shook her head and said, "I don't know either! My adoptive father brought my two elder brothers to go, and nothing will happen. As for why he didn't return, I really don't know. Maybe he broke down the nearby villages by the way to replenish food and grass. !"

"The Eight Great Kings haven't returned, so can we send troops to attack the city today?" Gao Yingen continued.

Liu Wenxiu straightened her chest, and said proudly: "Brother Gao, don't worry, little Shouzhou, a group of guard soldiers, I don't pay much attention to dedicating a battalion! Yesterday was just a test of the truth! Today, the fourth brother and I will personally go into battle and guarantee to break the city , when my adoptive father comes back, he will give me a good compliment!"

Gao Yingen looked around, Zhang Xianzhong's big tent was still there, and many bandit soldiers from the surrounding camps had left their tents, some were relieved, some were cooking, some were lifting stones to practice their strength, and the expressions on their faces were different from those of ordinary people different.

He already basically believed Liu Wenxiu's explanation: Someone led his troops to defect, and Zhang Xianzhong led a small group of soldiers to chase after him.As for why some people run away, the reason is very simple, silver and women.It's not surprising that such things happen every day in the thieves' camp, either because of uneven distribution of spoils or jealousy.

Gao Yingen turned around and walked back, loudly saying as he walked: "No matter when your adoptive father comes back today, King Chuang has an order to attack the city at the hour! Take Shouzhou within two hours, or you will go away if you donate your camp! Let the local people Break into the camp and fight!"

Liu Wenxiu cupped her fists and said, "Brother Gao, don't worry! I'll take it in an hour!"

Without looking back, Gao Ying'en walked quickly to the horse, got on the horse and rode away, followed closely by a dozen of his own soldiers on horseback, and the dust they raised attracted his eyes.

Liu Wenxiu waved his hand to disperse the dust that hit his face, and after spitting, he turned and returned to the big tent.

Gao Yingen returned to Daying, reported what he had seen and heard to Gao Yingxiang truthfully, and admitted frankly that perhaps what Liu Wenxiu said was indeed true.Gao Yingxiang and one of his cronies pondered for a long time but couldn't think of any other reasons.They never expected Zhang Xianzhong to be so decisive. After realizing that Gao Yingxiang wanted to harm him, he immediately left tens of thousands of horses and left.In Gao Yingxiang's heart, he still believed that the fat piece of Shouzhou was right in front of him. According to Zhang Xianzhong's greedy nature, he must break through the city and loot it. When the time comes, he will send someone to find an opportunity to kill him while taking advantage of the chaos.

Just after the hour of the hour, thousands of dedicate soldiers, led by Liu Wenxiu and Ainengqi, assembled a whole team, carried more than ten long ladders, and marched towards the city wall in a mighty manner.The tens of thousands of rogues in the camp, under the command of their respective leaders, began to pack up their tents and debris, and picked out strong and strong people to gather and prepare. When the city was broken and opened the city gate, these people would rush Go into the city to help carry various supplies.

This is a tacit agreement reached by the thieves for a long time.After all, there are too many people. If everyone wants to enter the city to loot after the city is broken, just a few 10 people will crowd and trample on each other, and countless people will die.Therefore, each battalion of the thieves selects its personnel in advance, waits for the city to be broken and advances in an orderly manner, and the total number cannot exceed [-].

When they were hundreds of steps away from the city wall, Liu Wenxiu gave an order, thousands of people stopped the whole team, two hundred archers and a hundred shieldmen stepped out, walked quickly towards the city wall, and stopped at about ten steps away from the city wall.Immediately, the [-] bandit soldiers who offered the camp were divided into groups, and walked towards the city wall with knives and shields. More than a hundred bandit soldiers shouted, carrying ladders and rushing towards the city wall.

The bandits who carried the ladder quickly rushed to the bottom of the city, and a group of several people set up the ladder and stabilized it. Five hundred bandits quickly approached the long ladder, ready to start climbing.The archers and shielders formed a square formation, standing about ten steps below the city, ready to cover the bandits as they ascended the city.Two hundred archers are enough to cover the scope of most bandits climbing the city.

On the top of the city, it was still as quiet as yesterday, and there was no movement.

When the attacking thieves gathered around the long ladder, a whistle sounded, and the two hundred archers let go of their fingers almost at the same time, and a small black cloud formed by two hundred long arrows flew over the top of the city in an instant.

There was no miserable cry from the top of the city, which surprised the archers, but they still kept shooting long arrows in their hands, and the bandit soldiers also stepped on the ladders and began to struggle to climb the city.

There was no hot oil in the lime bottle as imagined, and there was no bow and arrow to fight back. The first bandit soldier on more than ten ladders successfully reached the top of the ladder in fear.After shooting seven or eight long arrows in a row, the archers retreated to rest under the protection of the shieldmen, their arms sore and weak.

More than a dozen bandit soldiers climbed onto the crenel almost at the same time, but the scene that greeted them was like a basin of ice water, cooling them from head to toe.

The ground of the wide city head is full of feather arrows shot from below the city, and the white tail feathers are like Di flowers, swaying gently in the breeze.

On the northern part of the city wall close to the inner city, there is a long row of grass sheds, and the top of the grass sheds is also filled with countless long arrows.More than a hundred gunners in the thatched shed pointed their firecrackers at the thieves entering the city. Of course, these gunners were from Huang Degong's Shandong army. His more than [-] men were equipped with [-] new-style firecrackers.

The bandit soldiers standing on the crenel were left with nothing but despair in their hearts. Some of the bandit soldiers burst out with ferocity, jumped off the crenel after a roar, and rushed towards the grass shed; But the thieves on the ladder were one by one, and someone was already standing behind him, urging him and pushing him hard with his hands.

A short and sharp trumpet sounded, and dozens of firecrackers were fired almost at the same time. Suddenly, there was a loud bang in the quiet city, and a thick smoke filled the entire city in an instant, and then it was gradually blown away by the wind.The first batch of gunners turned to one side after they finished shooting, and the second row of gunners aimed their guns at the crenel.

Within a distance of more than ten steps, whether it was the bandit soldier who jumped off the crenel ready to fight to the death, or the bandit who turned around and fled, several flowers of blood were splashed on his body.The bandit soldier who jumped down was directly knocked to the ground by the impact force of the blunderbuss and died.The bandit soldiers on the crenel were directly knocked into the air and fell from the city wall several meters high.

After the bandits in the front row were killed by the firecrackers, the bandits in the second row became hesitant when they heard the sound of the guns, but they were pushed by the bandits behind them and climbed up the crenel.

Although the gunpowder smoke on the top of the city hadn't dissipated, it could no longer obstruct the sight. The bandit soldiers on the top of the city were also stunned by the scene in front of them. Then the sound of gunfire rang out again, and finally some bandit soldiers who were not killed on the spot shot out. There was a shrill scream, and the bandit soldiers who were about to step up to the top of the wall finally stopped their climbing steps, and several terrified shouts sounded: "Fire gun!"

"The officers and soldiers have firecrackers!"

"Back! Back!"

"Crap! Scrap!"

　The more I write, the less I feel.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)