golden scales

"I'm going out of the city to fight, and you will shoot arrows for me." Cui Erda patted the shoulder of Lieutenant General Wang Genzi, suddenly full of pride.

Wang Genzi nodded heavily: "Du Si can go at ease."

The weak point of a city is the gate, so the enemy must not be allowed to attack the gate.Xi'an was not well-prepared before, all the routs of Bai Guangen and Gao Jie were recruited, and they didn't dare to use them to fight.Not many people were brought out by Cui Erda, and he only hoped that the arrow formation at the top of the city could defeat the top formation of bandits.

——As long as you can win for a while, maybe your morale will rise.

Cui Erda secretly said in his heart that he still had a glimmer of hope.

Wang Genzi stood at the top of the city, and said to the left and right servants: "Bring me the iron tire bow."

The iron tire bow is a bow body made of iron. It has no elasticity and can only be used for practicing kung fu.Wang Genzi's iron body bow is made of iron and wood, and although it has the surname of elasticity, it is not far from iron, so it was named "Iron Body".With this strong bow, well-made long arrows, and the height of the city wall, Wang Genzi was able to shoot two hundred steps away, which is already amazing.

He took out a piece of letter paper full of words from his pocket, folded it into strips, and tied it crosswise on the arrow cluster.When the bow came, without saying a word, he drew the bow and shot the arrow, only to see the white arrow feathers draw a beautiful curve in the air, and plunge into the land in front of the army.

Cui Erda felt very relieved when he saw it, and thought to himself: This must be Wang Genzi's test shooting.

Because the range of bows and arrows is directly related to the maintenance of bows and arrows and the manufacture of arrows, every time the two armies confront each other, they have to test each other's range.If you are out of range, walk slowly in formation, maintain your strength, and boost your morale. Once you are within the range, you must rush into the enemy's line at the fastest speed, so as to reduce losses.

Wang Genzi's arrow shot out, and the fast horses who rushed forward to challenge and test the range of the camp were afraid, and retreated one after another.It's just that one person with sharp eyes and quick hands, leaned sideways when returning to the horse, and pulled out the arrow.This is the habit of fast horses, to bring an enemy arrow back to prove that they have indeed entered the enemy's range.As soon as he pulled it out, he found that there was a note attached to the arrow, which seemed to be used for communication.

This method of archery communication is also common in ancient and modern times when the two armies confront each other.He immediately sent the note to the Chinese army, and handed over the top general to Li Zicheng.

About drop!

There are only a few words in the letter, there is no extra pen and ink, it only says that the Ming Dynasty is exhausted, and I am willing to bring my own soldiers as the internal support of the volunteers, and open the door to dedicate the city.

Li Zicheng read it a few times, and passed the letter to Gu Junen on the right.Niu Jinxing, who was standing on the left hand, almost spit out fire in his eyes, but he could only grit his teeth and endure it.Since he was released, Li Zicheng has trusted Gu Junen more and more.

After reading it, Gu Junen smiled and said: "Congratulations, Marshal! If Xi'an can surrender, the vitality of the army will not be hurt. In this way, Gansu, Ningxia and other places can be recovered as soon as possible, and it will set an example for the small towns on the eastward road."

Li Zicheng was ready to fight a tough battle, but he didn't expect that a guard would surrender.He was slightly disappointed and said: "It seems that Prince Zhu is not in the city."

Gu Junen thought for a while and said: "Prince Zhu even has to guard Ruzhou for two days, not to mention the high water and deep water in Xi'an City, there is no reason to abandon the defense, presumably there are other constraints in the Ming court."

"I'm afraid Xi'an really has no soldiers to defend." Niu Jinxing interjected.

Li Zicheng nodded, stood up hula la, put on the wide-eaved felt hat with his signature surname, and said, "Let's go! Let's talk after we enter Xi'an."

……

"His Zhu family has rich clothes and fine food, and we can't even eat coarse grains! It's cold and we don't even have a piece of clothing to keep out the cold! Are we born to be trampled by them!?" Wang Genzi stood on the top of the wall, furiously pointing to the sky, Cursed bitterly.

His subordinates, servants, or entourages all heard that they were very angry.

The surrounding soldiers knew that there was a change, so they kept silent, not even daring to breathe.

"I stood in front of King Qin's gate for two days, and he wouldn't even see me!" Wang Genzi vented his anger to the fullest: "In that case, we won't see him either, and just opened the city gate to welcome King Chuang! Let King Chuang talk to him!"

"I don't want to give my life to the Zhu family for a long time! Follow the general to welcome King Chuang!" The servants below clamored and glared at the soldiers who refused to express their views, exerting pressure.

Wang Genzi glanced around and saw that most of the soldiers were still standing on his side, and no one jumped out to be Zhu Ming's dutiful son. , we opened the city gate and dedicated the city! All brothers who are willing to advance and retreat with my Wang Genzi, wrap green cloth around their left arms! If brothers who do not want to, I will not force it, but we will meet each other in battle in the future. I don’t know it!””

"I will follow the general to the death!" The servants and soldiers drew their swords one after another and stabbed the sky high.

Among the other soldiers, there were those who followed the wind and held up their weapons to show their obedience.The rest of those who could surrender or not surrendered were even more worried that they would be dragged out to sacrifice the flag after being ordered, so they all followed suit.

All of a sudden, the situation in the city was changing, and everyone wore blue cloth on their left arms.

The news of the guard's surrender has also been spread in the camp, as long as he fights to the gate of the city in one go, he will be done.Knowing that they don't need to use their lives to fill the city, the morale of the soldiers who broke into the camp was immediately high, and they wished to beat the drums and march immediately.

The artillery finally sounded!

Boom, boom, boom!

The drums are thundering.

"Kill the thief!" The two armies rushed towards each other shouting the slogan of killing the thief at the same time.

Cui Erda took the lead, and had already seen the mole on the face of the cavalry rushing towards the camp, and stabbed the long knife in his hand diagonally.

In a blink of an eye, the two passed by.Cui Erda only felt a fierce force coming from the tiger's mouth, and almost dropped the long knife.In an instant, hot blood spattered on Trierda's face, and the fishy smell filled his nose, making his face numb from the heat.

—Killed one!

Cui Erda let out a sigh of relief, the horse had already been caught in the bandit formation, and it was difficult to speed up.He looked back at the towering city of Xi'an, and shouted loudly: "Kill a thief, and you will be rewarded with five liang of silver! Kill!" Amidst the shout, Cui Erda took aim at a bandit soldier with his back turned to him, and slashed at him heavily. Just as he was chopping on the bandit's head, his blood suddenly surged.

"Kill!" The soldiers of the Ming army behind were encouraged, and rushed forward one after another, protecting Cuierda's sides.

Killing two people one after another, Cui Erda finally regained the feeling of going into battle and became more courageous. The soldiers who were about to encourage them to break through the enemy's formation suddenly heard a terrified cry from behind: "The city gate is open! The city is dedicated!"

Dedicated to the city! ?

Cui Erda paused in his heart, and immediately came to his senses, and immediately understood why he hadn't fired an arrow at the top of the wall until now.He cursed loudly: "Wang Genzi! The bastard!"

As if hearing Cuierda's curse, a rain of arrows fell on the city wall, and the Ming army's rear line suddenly wailed, cried and cursed.

"Dusi! Let's go!" The soldiers who were chasing up from the side rushed forward and grabbed the bridle of Cuierda's war horse.

"Let's go? Where are you going?" What Cui Erda saw in his eyes and heard in his ears was all that his own son died in battle. His heart was full of grief and anger, but his body seemed to be drained.

"Let's go... I won't be able to repay the emperor's favor if I don't die..." Cui Erda grabbed the horse's head, clamped the horse's belly heavily, and jumped into the enemy's formation.

He raised the knife and landed, but he cut through the air, but the enemy soldiers caught the openings on his body, and stabbed him with several long spears, picking him off the horse.

"Grab the big one!"

"Don't trample to death!"

"I killed it!"

When Cui Erda heard the last words, it turned out to be a kind local accent, and the pain in his body was reduced a lot, until his eyes were completely plunged into darkness.

A quick-witted camp knife stepped forward and chopped off Cuierda's head, randomly picked up a spear from the ground, raised it high, and announced loudly: "I killed the enemy general! The enemy general was killed by me!"

Seeing that their commander was dead, the Ming army fled away one after another without a trace of fighting spirit.A few soldiers who had avenged Cui Erda were instantly hacked by the enemy, and the Ming army who went out of the city to fight was wiped out.

The battalion soldiers roared in their mouths and rushed towards the wide-open city gate.Their howling sound was magnified hundreds of times by the empty city gate, and the entire city of Xi'an was shrouded in this beast-like howling.

……

"My lord! Commander Cui is dead! Wang Genzi opens the door to offer the city! The bandits are coming!"

Feng Shikong was wearing a court dress, sitting in front of the desk, and on the desk was a watch with wet ink on it.He didn't even look at the family, he just stood up, bowed three times facing east, and then said: "Take my left watch and go to the capital."

Seeing this appearance, the family knew that Feng Shikong was going to commit suicide, so they felt sad: "Master! Let's go too!"

"Nonsense!" Feng Shikong shouted angrily, but then he lost the strength to get angry, just waved his hand, his voice gradually became lower and lower: "Let's go, let's go." He stepped down, as if fluttering with the wind.In his mind, countless images of the past flashed through, thinking of his title on the gold list, the wedding ceremony, until the second rank of the official residence, Fengjiang Guanzhong...

Pfft!

Feng Shikong fell headlong into the well in the courtyard.

——The well water in winter is warm.

This was Feng Shikong's last thought, and he immediately fell into an eternal deep sleep.

……

Huang Jiong was sitting in the main hall of his home in Guanfu, surrounded by soldiers who broke into the camp outside the door.These soldiers did not attack Huangfu, but besieged, and no one was allowed to enter or leave.

After a while, there was the sound of horseshoes outside, and the soldiers shouted long live, and opened the gate to let the man in.

Huang Jiong watched the man come in, but saw that he was a strong man wearing a felt hat with wide eaves and walking like a tiger with one eye. He immediately identified him with the intruder Li Zicheng.

——This is Daming's curse!

Huang Jiong thought to himself.

"Master Huang, don't come here without any problems." Li Zicheng smiled and said, "I'll come to see you as soon as I enter the city, how about it? Wouldn't it be better to come here to be a military servant than to work for Zhu Chao?"

"Hahaha," Huang Jiong laughed loudly, "You? You're just a thief I killed in Tongguan! Let me surrender to you? It's a good idea!"

When Huang Jiong was the deputy envoy of Lingong Bingbei, he once mobilized Fanbing to defeat Li Zicheng in Tongguan.

The two of them can be regarded as old acquaintances meeting in a foreign land-it's a pity that they are enemies.

"Master!" An old family member rushed out of the back hall, crying sadly: "Grandma has thrown herself into the well."

When Huang Jiong heard that his wife had thrown himself into the well, he felt sad and relaxed again.He glanced at Li Zicheng, got up and said, "There is a strong woman in the family, can An Neng send her a ride?"

Li Zicheng frowned slightly, and wanted to say something to take him away, but thinking that Huang Jiong would not be able to fly out of Xi'an, he could just give him his surname.As soon as he turned around and took a few steps, he heard a burst of crying from behind.

Huang Jiong also threw himself into the well.

It is Chang'an Duoyi Well.

……

Li Zicheng came out of Huang Jiong's house with a heavy heart.He still respects the officials of the Zhu Dynasty who can defeat him, but it is a pity that most of these people are loyal and righteous.After he entered Xi'an, he strictly ordered his subordinates not to burn, kill and loot.In today's Xi'an city, the people keep their doors closed, and obedient people are posted on the doors of every house, and no one walks on the roads. This is the best state of order after the city was broken.

Besides the righteous and brave king, whose army can do this?

Li Zicheng was quite complacent in his heart, but soon he was frowned upon by the incident of Huang Jiong's family going to death.Whether it's him, Niu Jinxing, or Gu Junen, everyone says that Zhu Ming is exhausted, but why are there still so many people who would rather die than surrender!He was thinking while walking, when suddenly the horse under his crotch stopped, and it turned out that there was a group of people gathered in front of him.

"What's going on ahead?" Li Zicheng asked displeased.

Li Shuangxi, the general beside him, was also his adopted son, and was recognized as a man of the Communist Party, so he hurriedly stepped forward to inquire.Li Zicheng rode his horse a few steps closer, and saw a human figure hanging on the tall Duanli Gate of Qin Wangfu from a distance.When I got closer and looked at it, it turned out that someone had hanged himself at the Duanli Gate.

The man was wearing a vermilion court dress and a beam crown on his head. When he put it down, he was dead.

"Who is this?" Li Zicheng's joy after breaking the city was completely defeated.

He is not afraid of seeing dead people, no matter how many dead people he has seen.

But he had never been so disgusted by so many dead people.

"Marshal, this is Shi Zhangshang, the governor of the Prince of Qin." Li Shuangxi quickly ordered someone to find out, and reported to Li Zicheng when he came back.

Li Zicheng sighed: "It's a good burial. Is King Qin still alive?"

Qin Wang Zhu Cunji opened the middle door, wearing the crown of Emperor Mingzong's vassal, knelt at the bottom of the steps, trembling. (To be continued.)