stubborn thief

Chapter 370

The lights outside Lanzhou City were brightly lit, and fourteen miles of intermittent moats, mountains and rivers surrounded the giant city, neither entering nor exiting.

In just a few days, all the defenders in Lanzhou City understood the strategy of the Marshal's Mansion, surrounded Lanzhou City without attacking it, and plundered all directions to obtain food and grass.

On the evening of the fifth day of April, there was Zhu Yingyin, a family member of Lanzhou Weiqian household who was outside the city. He led his Dingqi army [-] out of the city on horseback. Only three people and eight horses returned to the city.

He Renlong gritted his teeth as he watched from the city, and said to You Shilu, who had a livid face, "Liaozhen has a big chasing wind gun, and under Liu Thief's command is Cao Yao, an old soldier from Sarhu. device."

You Shilu leaned on the battlements and glanced at him, his eyes were hidden under the light of the torches with hidden thoughts: "They are all General He's soldiers, they are like a treasure."

He Renlong stared, you sick old man, don't dirty me: "Commander, what virtue can you do with a humble job? In the past they were the imperial court's frontier soldiers, then they were the imperial court's deserters, and now they are the imperial court's rebels."

You Shilu glanced at the cowardly He Renlong, and didn't listen to his nonsense at all. No one in Yansui Town knew that Liu Chengzong was released by you to find food.

He waved his hand and said, "I won't tell you these things, but if you release the soldiers, you will release the soldiers. Why did you release all those who are capable?"

Faced with such soul torture, He Renlong did not speak, because You Shilu asked the wrong question.

He was very sure that among the teams released by Yuhebao, Liu Chengzu and Cao Yao were not bad as officers, while Liu Chengzong was different from others in the selection of strikers.

Those soldiers are indeed the most incompetent people in the castle, but they are also good soldiers, but they have not been given the opportunity to receive the full training of the army.

He did try his best to keep all the elite veterans for the court, even though the court thought he had 600, but actually only had 300.

He also really wants to keep all the soldiers under his command, but he is an officer, and the first mission of an officer is to win when soldiers are needed.

The military rations given by the imperial court are so small that 600 people cannot be fed. Although 300 people are a little less, they can work hard when they are full, and they can win if they work hard.

He tried his best to solve the problem of soldiers' rations, and those who went out were not restrained. As long as they had a knife in their hands, no one had to worry about food and clothing.

It's not that he let the capable people go, but that the court couldn't keep the capable people at all.

Among other things, just getting promoted, this so-called general sounds nice, but what is it actually?Almost blocked the promotion path of the people below.

He Renlong looked at You Shilu, and a bunch of grapes appeared in his mind.

The person at the top of this bunch of grapes is Zhang Chen, a famous general who was active in the four sides of Li Town during the Longqing and Wanli years. Altan Khan once wanted to use Helan Mountain to attack Wala, but Zhang Chen made insulting remarks because he refused to let him pass.

I Da's temper was violent, and Zhang Chen's temper was even greater. He dug up the mouth of Chen Bing's Chishui in the second canal of Han and Tang Dynasties, which made An Da give up his attack plan.

After that, in the border market for three years, the Mongols did not dare to make any noise in the place guarded by Zhang Chen.

Zhang Chen has three grandsons called Zhang Yingchang, Zhang Quanchang, and Zhang Dechang. Zhang Yingchang was promoted to Shanxi as the deputy commander-in-chief of Yansui Township just this year; Zhang Dechang was the deputy commander-in-chief in Baoding; Deputy Commander.

The father of these three people is Zhang Chengyin, the eldest son of Zhang Chen. He served as the general soldier of Yansui first, and then the general soldier of Guangning.

At that time, there was a guerrilla general under Zhang Chengyin who was the descendant of Yulin's chief soldier, named You Shigong, who was dismissed because of Zhang Chengyin's death in battle, and was later appointed by Yang Gao.

You Shigong's second younger brother, You Shiwei, is currently the general of Changping, and his third younger brother is You Shilu in front of He Renlong.

The commander-in-chief of Yansui Town has been in the surnames of Wang, Jiang, You, Du, Zhao, Zhang, Bai, and Hou for more than 100 years, and only ten people can get a foreign surname.

Finally, there are multiple foreign names, and this foreign name will pull out a large number of clan members, making it more difficult for those who come later to go up.

Of course, these people are very good at fighting, but which one of them who came from the army and became a general can't fight?
Amidst the awkward silence between the two of them, there was a commotion in the east of the city at night, and it seemed that the cheers of the defenders came from afar.

You Shilu quickly sent someone to ask, and it didn't take long for a soldier to report back, saying that Mr. Huang Qian had returned.

Huang Qian's name is Huang Ming, and he is the general of the Hezhou camp. Yesterday evening, under the order of the governor to practice state affairs, he led a train army of [-] to break out from the east of the city where there are fewer bandits besieging the city, to contact Lintao Gongchang's army. .

The terrain of Lanzhou facing the Yellow River and backing to Wuquan Mountain determines the characteristics of easy defense but difficult attack.

As a result, Liu Chengzong's besieging army was forced to divide the siege into east and west. There were more troops in the west and fewer troops in the east. However, a cavalry detour from the north bank of the Yellow River bypassed Lanzhou City and headed east.

This situation is very beneficial to the defenders. As long as they take a little risk, they can create an opportunity to severely damage the besieging army in the east of the city, and then turn their heads to defend the west city.

But Lanzhou city was bad because of Su Wang's mansion, and the huge size of the city made it difficult to deploy troops and generals, so they couldn't take any risks.

Therefore, although there are not many besieging troops in the east of the city, the defenders have no way to maneuver, so they can only follow the defense and count on foreign aid from the east.

Huang Ming's train army has strong firepower and is very reliable. They are equipped with Liu Tianhe's improved Quansheng war light car from the Jiajing period. The car weighs 150 kilograms. It has a round iron shaft and can be stowed when traveling.

The car is equipped with a small Buddha wolf machine gun with three taels of powder and three taels of ammunition; one swarming bee; one three-eyed gun; one torch; , and also carry shovels, shields, antlers, iron ropes, military tents and other items.

This group of people put the long planks on the carts, and a group of five pushed the carts out, using the plank bridge to block the trench, and the Dongcheng troops with weak siege forces were unwilling to stop them.

The general in charge of the east city is Zhang Tianlin. Liu Chengzong gave him an order not to let King Su run away, as long as the army does not let the large forces interfere with Yang Yao's movement of moving grain to the east.

These 500 people had cars, guns and shields. Zhang Tianlin thought about it and looked carefully with a telescope. She was sure that they were all soldiers, so she let them go. He just sent cavalry to report the news to Yang Yao in the east, telling him to be careful. The Expendables.

Zhang Tianlin is also from the frontier military management team, and is very familiar with this kind of old-fashioned tank. The Buddha Wolf machine on board is called No. [-]. It weighs [-] kilograms, is light and fast, and it is determined to be an iron king when camping.

It is not impossible to insist on eating them, but there are no high-value targets in it, and the cost is too high, so it is unnecessary.

It's better to see what they want to do.

As a result, the train army didn't do anything, wandered outside for a day and a night, and then came back, but there were a little more people, gathered some wealthy gentry who had been robbed of money and food by Yang Yao, and headed to Lanzhou City with their heads covered rush.

Zhang Tianlin wondered if this bastard is traveling here?

In any case, Chief Qian Huang Ming is the hero of Lanzhou City, but he failed to bring back good news for Lanzhou, but brought back the bad news that Jin County has been captured.

That night, Lian Guoshi asked people to prepare meals for the shocked wealthy gentry, and handed over the task of guarding the west city to You Shilu, summoned the generals, and elected an old man from among the gentry to report the situation outside the city.

In the official office in the outer city of Lanzhou, the old man kept talking about his grievances, how much food and utensils were taken away by the thieves, and even a vase from the Jingtai period, which made the governor and generals faint. sleep.

He Renlong laughed from the sidelines.

After arriving at such a field, the peasants carrying money and food from the Marshal’s Mansion are crowded in the west, the mule caravan going to and from the Yellow River is running day and night, and there are more than a hundred rich families who have been looted in the countryside, and more than [-] money and food transported to the mouth of the river?
Within a few days, rich families near Lanzhou were devastated. I don’t know how many tragedies happened. As far as He Renlong knew, there were two good surnames in the countryside who spared no expense on their wealth. You have to kill the door.

The sky is falling!Who cares about your three melons and two dates?
Zhang Quanchang reprimanded the old man: "Old man, just be content with your life. How is the enemy situation outside the city?"

When talking about the enemy's situation, the old man was more anxious than being robbed of money: "The black cavalry team rode on the city wall, first attacked Qingshui Fort, and then attacked Jin County City. It's gone, it's gone!"

"Nonsense!" Lian Guoshi glared and said angrily, "How could the horse ride on the city wall, and someone surrendered the city?"

The old man knew that the room was full of high officials and generals, but he did not lie, and immediately wanted to defend himself in a panic, but Zhang Quanchang stopped him before he could speak.

Zhang Quanchang didn't seem surprised by riding on the city wall, but was more annoyed. He calmed down a little, and said to Lian Guoshi: "My lord, Qingshui Castle has not been repaired for 12 years."

He Renlong who was standing behind sighed, he knew it.

He knew it was about repairing the city wall. He was too familiar with this matter. During his tenure as the guard of Yuhe Fort, his most important job was to ask Yulin Town for money to repair the city wall. From his appointment to his promotion, the city wall of Yuhe Fort None were fixed.

This is because he sent troops every year to fill the gaps in the city wall with soil and wood planks. If he didn't fill in the gaps, Yuhe Fort would probably be like Qingshui Fort today, and he could ride up directly on horseback.

If you want to come to Qingshui Fort, it is normal for the fortress walls not to be taken seriously. Who would have thought that Jincheng would encounter enemy attacks?

Lian's face was full of disbelief and annoyance, but he couldn't say anything.

There is no doubt that this is his dereliction of duty. Since he took office, the governor has neither inspected nor appeased. He has mainly focused on supervising the army and suppressing thieves, pulling the army of the five towns to go back and forth in Liupan Mountain.

What's more, even if he doesn't supervise the army, he can't patrol. Today's Shaanxi can't even go [-] miles without troops.

In fact, not to mention practicing state affairs, it is hard to imagine that the Marshal's Mansion army attacked the city on horseback. Even Yang Yao never thought that he could ride a horse into the city in his life.

Of course, it was Liu Chengzong who felt the most outrageous of all this.

At the same time that Lian Guoshi and others received the news in Lanzhou City, in the camp west of Lanzhou, Liu Chengzong was also summarizing the battle reports sent back by Yang Yao, hoping to draw the latest situation on the map.

In the battle report, Yang Yao made it very clear that when Fort Anning was destroyed, Yang Yao led his army across the Yellow River from Dongjin, Lanzhou, and raided Jin County in two directions at Yingpanshan. Yuying went straight to Qingshui Horse Station in Jinxian County.

The Yuzhong Basin to the east of Lanzhou was very militarized. In the Han Dynasty, Huo Qubing set up a fort and camp here when he went to Hexi, and it directly became Han Sui's base camp at the end of the Han Dynasty.

Since then, we have seen and changed hands several times back and forth, so that ancient abandoned earth fortresses and military camps can be seen everywhere in the area, and most of the local settlements are named after a certain camp.

However, this militarization did not bring difficulties to the horse camp.

Because in these settlements named after the battalion, all the people living in these settlements are the Banner Army, the rest of the army, or the people who are related to the Banner Army. The door is familiar, just like coming home.

It wasn't until they arrived at Qingshuiyi that they were finally shut down.

The postman at Qingshui Mayi saw him from a distance and closed the city gate, ordering the postmen to take weapons and plan to defend the city to the death. There were not many postmen, but Yang Yao didn't have any siege equipment at hand, so he didn't want to attack the city.

But it was also here that Yang Chengzu, the general manager under his command, reported that Qingshui Castle, which was only one mile away from the post city, seemed to have an opportunity to take advantage of.

Yang Yao went over and saw that there was a big gap in the city wall of Qingshui Castle. The slope of the city wall was as low as a man's height, and he could jump up on the back of a horse.

The defenders didn't have much momentum in defense. They felt that the Yuzhong Basin had entered the thieves, and Lanzhou City must have been captured, so they only fired two rounds of guns, the first round was directed to the sky, and the second round was directed to the ground. If Yang Yao didn't leave, he turned his head and surrendered.

There is no other way if you don’t surrender. Originally, you need to step on horseback to climb the city. After they finished fighting, the sergeants driving the horses went to the bottom of the city. city.

Just stepped on the horse corpse and came riding on the horse.

Qingshui Fort surrendered, and the postmen of Qingshui Post quickly killed their officials and surrendered, and then some surrendered soldiers volunteered to talk about Jiangtiao City, followed by Shizichuan Fort and Jieheguan defenders who heard the news and fled.

As for Jin County, Jin County is a fairly good medium-sized city. If you want a moat, you have a moat, and if you want a brick-wrapped wall, you have a brick-wrapped wall, but...it has no soldiers.

There were thousands of battlements in that city, but only a few dozen civilians, but it was a pity that there were three soldiers in the city. One of them ran around the city and shouted, calling on the people to climb the city to resist the enemy, but was killed by an arrow.

There are also two brothers from Lintao, named Ding Guangyao and Ding Guangcai, who are also scholars, and they dared to lead a few companions with whips, horses and spears, trying to open a way.

Liu Chengzong put down the battle report and shook his head. It's a pity that they are not bandit soldiers. This kind of courage and skill alone cannot fight against the army.

He sighed, and wrote back to tell Yang Yao that he needed to make it clear to the people that the Marshal's Mansion would not be an enemy of the people and would not kill innocent people indiscriminately.

Then use his inscription to set up monuments for the dead students and city guards, and take some rice and grain from the looted riches to give them pensions, not to record their unnecessary sacrifices against themselves, but to commemorate their protection of their neighbors .

No matter the world is turned upside down, the world will always need such heroes.

Of course, at the end of the letter, Liu Chengzong urged Yang Yao emphatically to repair the stele and flatten the city of Jin County as soon as the people's hearts are almost settled. His brother Liu Chengzu has already set off from the South Road to Pinghe Prefecture, and they will finally meet in Didao.

Move the food back as soon as possible, there are still two big sweaters waiting for him to clean up in the west.

　Good morning!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)