subvert the late Tang Dynasty

Huang Chao's army marched mightily all the way to the north, and all the counties they passed were fortified and cleared. The timid guards simply abandoned the city and left, leaving the city full of old and weak women and children.The rebel army occasionally captured several small counties to supplement food and general needs, and arrived in Puzhou (Zhencheng, Shandong) in a few days.

Still taking the surrounding counties first, Shang Rang, Meng Kai, Li Hanzhi, Li Qing, Qin Yan, Hu Zhen and others each led an army and captured all the counties around Puzhou with little effort.

The Puzhou defender hurriedly sent a fast horse to report to the court, asking for reinforcements.

Several armies of the rebel army finally met under the city of Puzhou.Discuss the strategy of attacking Puzhou.

Huang Chao sat in the middle and said with a smile, "The defender of Puzhou can't hold out, what's your strategy?"

Shang Rang glanced at Zhu Wen from the corner of his eye, and said in a loud voice: "Commander Zhu is resourceful and well-versed in the art of war. He disintegrated the eight thousand elites of Zeng Yuanyu's vanguard under the city of Luyi without a single soldier, which can be said to be rare among our rebels. The tiger generals. The other commanders have each captured a county, and I think the task of attacking Puzhou will be handed over to Commander Zhu."

Although Zhu Wen now has 5000 people under his command, most of them are recruits, and he can make do with the decisive battle in the plains, but siege is not his specialty.Zhu Wen took a deep look at the smiling Shang Rang, the one who should have come is still here, isn't this obviously trying to make Lao Tzu look ugly?

Zhu Wen bowed and said: "Zhu Wen is young and inexperienced. He has few soldiers and few generals. I am afraid that it will be difficult for him to take on the important task. I hope Huang Wang will learn from him."

Huang Chao glanced at Shang Rang, then at Zhu Wen, why didn't he know Shang Rang's intentions.He smiled and said: "Marching and fighting is not a child's play, how can you be so hasty? General Shang thinks so much of the young man, but he may not be competent."

Lin Yandao: "Third Junior Brother is much more resourceful than me in martial arts, but lacks experience. Why don't you take this opportunity to let him experience it?"

Meng Kai looked at Shang Rang, and agreed, "Nephew Lin Xian is right."

Huang Chao was a little angry, but he didn't want to let it out. Knowing that the three of them obviously wanted Zhu Wen to suffer, he didn't point it out. First, let Hu Zhen lead the troops from the headquarters to raid the formation for Zhu and Wen, just in case of accidents."

Huang Chao wasn't a fool either. It was obvious that Shang Rang, Meng Kai, and Lin Yan were colluding to make Zhu Wen look bad. He wanted to help Zhu Wen, but he didn't want to refute everyone's embarrassment too much.Knowing that Hu Zhen was born under Zhu Wen's command and was recommended by Zhu Wen, the relationship between the two must be very good, and only by letting him fight the enemy side by side with Zhu Wen can Zhu Wen not suffer.

Regarding this, Zhu Wen felt like a mirror in his heart, and he was very grateful to Huang Chao for his love for him.Without saying much, he and Hu Zhen bowed to accept the order and left.

As soon as he got out of Huang Chao's big tent, Hu Zhen said: "General Shang and the others clearly wanted to make Third Brother look ugly. I knew that I shouldn't have met him, an old man who will avenge his kindness and revenge, outside Luyi City today."

Zhu Wen smiled wryly and said, "It's hard to disobey the military order. Fortunately, King Huang asked you to come and help me attack the city. Otherwise, how can I win Puzhou with my troops?"

Although Zhencheng, the seat of Puzhou's government, is not as strong as those big cities, it cannot be taken down in a day or two.Zhu Wen was thinking about countermeasures.

Hu Zhen said: "Third brother, why don't you let that Wu Biao get an igniter and blow up Zhencheng directly?"

Zhu Wen smiled wryly and said, "I think so too, but there are too many innocent people in the city, and I'm afraid too many innocent people will be hurt by using explosives. Besides, what we want is Zhencheng, not a ruin."

Hu Zhen said with a face full of shame: "The third brother Zhai has a kind heart, and the younger brother is ashamed."

"I'll go back and see if Old Man Wu can blow up the city gate." Zhu Wen sighed. After all, he still couldn't bear to bomb the city.

Zhu Wen told Wu Fu about the situation, and Wu Fu said, "Blowing up the city gate is not a problem, the key is that it is a bit difficult to blow up the city gate without affecting the people in the city. Unless..."

"Unless what?" Zhu Wen asked anxiously.

"Unless you dig a tunnel, bury gunpowder when you dig below the city gate, and then lead it out of the tunnel with a lead wire. This method is a bit risky. The defenders in the city must be on guard against digging tunnels outside the city to enter the city. There must be special personnel to listen In the case of the situation below, if it is discovered, it will return in vain. Fortunately, the tunnel does not need to be dug through, which reduces the possibility of being discovered." Wu Fu analyzed.

Zhu Wen nodded, and said, "That's all we need to do. Please ask Uncle Wu and Brother Wu Biao to make enough gunpowder and a long enough fuse. I'll arrange the tunnel digging."

After Zhu Wen arranged the manpower to dig the tunnel, he led Zhu Cun and Zhu Zhen to pretend to attack the city to attract the attention of the enemy.

Zhu Zhen led 2000 men and horses to rush towards the tall and majestic gate of Zhencheng. The shouts of killing and the heavy footsteps of the 2000 men and horses resounded throughout the world, but they were somewhat powerful.

"This kid, it really looks like that." Zhu Wen looked at Zhu Zhen's back and thought to himself.

With an order on the city wall, arrows were like locusts, and rows of arrows rained non-stop at the rebels.Zhu Zhen had been prepared for a long time, and ordered the first few rows of people to hold up their shields to block, and the sound of "橐橐..." was endless.

Hearing the sound of dense flying swords hitting the shield, the soldiers holding the shield panicked in their hearts, but the military order was hard to disobey, so they could only bite the bullet and rush forward.

Zhu Zhen saw that the play was almost done, so she hurriedly withdrew her troops.Charged back and forth like this several times, and the guards of the city did not know how many thousands of arrows they shot, but they didn't kill a rebel army.The defenders on the city were furious, shouting and cursing.

Zhu Zhen was out of the range of the enemy army below the city, she didn't care about that at all, and rushed over again in vain.After a few rounds of arrow rain from the enemy army, he then withdrew his troops and went back.He yelled at the city: "What kind of anger are you guys, go out of the city and fight Lao Tzu if you have the guts. Or don't shoot arrows if you have the ability..."

The soldiers of the rebel army burst into laughter when they saw the desperate look of the defenders on the city.

Zhu Zhen let the two thousand rebels rest for a while, and launched another charge...

Huang Chao, Shang Rang, Meng Kai and others who were watching the battle from a distance wondered, what the hell is Zhu Wen doing?Going back and forth just for fun?

Shang Rang sneered and said, "Where is this a war? It's like a child's play!"

Lin Yan and Meng Kai also spoke in agreement, adding fuel to the flames.

Huang Chao looked at the battlefield in the distance with a smile on his face, and was noncommittal to the discussion of the three people behind him.

The guard of Zhencheng cursed in his heart, where did such a shameless thing come out, attacking the city is attacking the city, what kind of thing is it like running around.But he didn't have the guts to talk about the decisive battle outside the city. Seeing that the arrows were almost exhausted and the enemy had no casualties, he felt aggrieved.

Seeing that the sun had already set to the west, he suddenly saw the rebels outside the city retreating one after another, and he was puzzled in his heart.Suddenly there was a huge earthquake under the feet, and there was a loud "bang", the city wall under the feet was torn apart, and the people on the tower were thrown into the air by the strong airflow generated by the explosion.The guard hadn't figured out what was going on, so he ran to report to Lord Yan.

The blasting was successful!Zhu Wen said happily, this should be the first blasting used on the battlefield in the history of the world!

Zhu Wen watched the bricks, tiles, wood chips and billowing smoke flying into the air from the gate of Zhencheng. The power of the explosives was indeed extraordinary!

Zhu Wenling waved the flag straight forward and shouted: "Come on!"

Hu Zhen and Zhu Zhen each led 3000 men and rushed towards the gap that had just been blasted. Zhu Wen, under the protection of the personal troops led by Zhu Cun, led the Chinese army to attack Zhencheng.

There is no suspense in this siege battle...