stubborn thief

Shi Xiang stood on the gate tower of Xiuchuan Gate and looked westward, the bustling Xiguan was still brightly lit.

It's just that at this time, people were shouting and neighing everywhere, and the people who went out of the city at night rushed to the city gate, huddled together on the bridge, and it was dark in the farther place, Shi Xiang was very anxious to see.

The dozen or so trusted officers under his command who accompanied him to the Sodegawa Gate surrounded him nervously, looked around with a hostile expression, and asked in a low voice when to do it.

They obviously couldn't wait to draw the knife inward.

Shi Xiang was calmer than others, and arranged for a few cronies to watch over Qian Zong Han Ying, who went up the city together, and continued to look at the darkness outside Xiguan.

He had to see the army of the Marshal's Mansion, and he had to measure the strength of both sides before ordering to defect... Even if it was pretending before that, he had to let his cronies and brothers pretend to be defending the city.

Because he is a minority in this city.

What he is determined to do with him is still the dozens of banner troops who first imitated the crime. Since he took office as a general, he has intended to cultivate some cronies in the Lanzhou camp, but the time is too short. evil.

Things like thieves can't be done with great fanfare.

Shi Xiang knew that he only had one chance to let the Marshal's Mansion troops outside the city enter the city and at the same time ensure that they could defeat the defenders inside the city.

The most difficult thing in this process is to be wrapped into a momentum.

Shi Xiang and his cronies had their own ghosts, Qian Zong Zhang Ying pointed the battlements to the west, turned his head and shouted: "General, the thief has crossed the Xiuchuan River!"

Earlier, the flames outside the city were still integrated with the lights, and the dots could not be seen clearly, but when the soldiers and horses were ten miles away from the city, the riders on horseback held up the torches and lined up the team into fire dragons. , orchards running through, illuminating everything around as if it were daytime.

Then the horsemen crossed the river.

Even after a few miles, Shi Xiang still seems to be able to hear the sound of war horses smashing through the thin ice and swimming across the water. The horse team of the Marshal's Mansion separated dozens of fire snakes, and looked at the winding river as nothing, and crossed the congested banks on both sides of the holding bridge. The common people jumped into the river with their manes in their arms, and the horses came out again in a blink of an eye.

At this moment, two to three hundred troops rushed out of the barracks of Qianhusuo on Longwei Mountain in the southwest of the city, and rushed towards the soldiers of the Marshal's Mansion along the mountain road.

The horsemen who crossed the river gathered together, and split into two groups in an instant, one route went south along Longwei Mountain to drive away the banner army, and the other route went northwards outside the city to drive away several soldiers that were gathering outside the city.

Shi Xiang saw that there were more than a dozen other riders surrounding the bridge with torches and driving the people back. He couldn't help feeling anxious, but Han Ying, who was also in the city, saw this scene and felt relieved, saying: "General , The bandits drove the people away, and there is no danger of driving the people away and destroying the city, but I am afraid it will be time to attack the city soon."

Shi Xiang glanced at him, but didn't say anything, he would rather the army of the Marshal's Mansion drive the people to the bottom of the city, so he opened the city gate and let the army of the Marshal's Mansion in and that's it.

It's good now, the people are driven away, the next step is to set up artillery positions, and the shells at night don't have eyes.

Don't blame others for this matter, it's Yang Qi's idea.

The army general dispatched by the Marshal's Mansion to Lanzhou this time was Wang Wenxiu, who led [-] Chinese troops stationed in Xigu at this time; the backup was Liu Chengyun, who was still on the west bank of the Yellow River; He also took Yang Qi who joined the army.

Yang Qi is familiar with Lanzhou people, and at the same time he was born as a general, so he can grasp Shi Xiang's mind more accurately.

As early as Liu Chengzong's order to dispatch troops had just been sent to them, according to Luo, Li, and Yang's intentions, they should take advantage of the lantern festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month to rush into the city with the people outside the city. Internal response, they are not afraid of anything.

But Yang Qi didn't think that was the case. He found that the generals in the marshal's mansion were all a bit scary in courage. Sometimes this habit was a good thing, but sometimes it seemed that they didn't take human life seriously.

People's hearts are changing, and the battlefield is changing rapidly. The generalissimo gave them such a high authority, equipped with sufficient troops and supplies, and handed over the entire front line of Lanzhou to them.

In case Shi Xiang in the city refuses to rush in because of the entrustment of the university and he loses the battle, according to Yang Qi's thinking, it would not be wrong to kill them at all.

Yang Qi only asked a rhetorical question, and stopped the three hot-headed guys who were about to rush into Lanzhou City to win a big victory: "Shi Xiang is riding on the wall, how can the three generals be sure that he must be the internal response?"

Across a towering city wall, who can be sure?
"Shi Xiang is the internal response, and the three generals will naturally drive straight in. If he does not respond internally, we will occupy all the outside of the West Pass, push the heavy artillery to the bridge, knock down the battlements and attack the West Pass day and night."

In Yang Qi's view, the way to capture Lanzhou once and for all is to attack Xiguan by force, because this is a Huizi city with an inner city and an outer country.

Inside is Suwang Palace City, which is four square miles around the city, and outside is Lanzhou Waiguo, which turns everywhere around eighteen miles around the city. Even if Shi Xiang let them in at Xiuchuan Gate, after passing Tanshi Street, there is Yongning, the west gate of Suwang City The door awaits them.

No matter what, there is a strong attack to be fought. If you don't fight outside the city, you have to fight inside the city.

Yang Qi thought that to win this city, he had to fight a real battle after all.

At this moment, Li Wanqing has led the army to capture Daping on Longwei Mountain in the west of the city, overlooking the west city of Lanzhou from a height of one mile.

He smiled and said, "It's such a good place, it's a shame not to build the castle piers... Put the cannons on Hexi, and let's go and see if the general can open the city or not."

The army of the Marshal's Mansion was not in a hurry, Shi Xiang was burning his ass at the top of the city, fidgeting and watching the soldiers running around on both sides of the Agan River outside the city.

This distance has already entered the maximum range of the cannon at the top of the city. Mr. Qian Han Ying asked to fire the cannon many times, but he refused to let it go.

At this time, Zhang Yunqi, another general manager in the city, also sent someone over to ask him if he wanted to leave the camp.

The three generals of the Lanzhou camp, Han Ying, Zhang Yunqi, and Li Zude, are not Shi Xiang's confidantes, and Li Zude is also very good at fighting.

Before the battle, Zhang Yunqi received an order from Shi Xiang to gather his troops and sit in the camp. He thought he was the reserve team for defending the city. Now the total of [-] troops are in the camp ready to go, ready to go into battle wearing armor.

According to his clan, Li Zude is a remote branch of the Li family in Longxi. His uncle was Li Chengxian, a general who died in the battle of Liuhe in the fifth year of Tianqi, and he had many veterans with rich combat experience around him.

It is because Li Zude's soldiers are very good at fighting that Shi Xiang ordered him to lead the soldiers to fight the fire before the battle. After all, during the Lantern Festival, thousands of lanterns will be lit up inside and outside the city, and the city has long planned for fire fighting. , Fire fighting equipment is also well prepared.

Take fire-fighting equipment, you can't take weapons.

Ax and saw, which are used to stop the fire and demolish the house.

The most common melee weapon is called Ma Ta, which looks like a mop. The eight-foot wooden pole is tied with a two-pound hemp rope, which is stained with wet mud and used to put out fire.

The long-range weapon is called a pump. It is usually made of bamboo. It has a lever and a piston inside. It is a large water gun equipped with a water tank and a hose. After pumping water, it is stored in the barrel. Push the lever back hard to pump the water. Spray more than 20 meters to extinguish the fire on the eaves.

The pump is a friend of military and local dual-purpose talents. The battle of Luanzhou in the second year of Chongzhen was the battle where Yang Yanchang led the cultist alliance to fill the trench. Cao Wenzhao used this fire-absorbing oil to burn a city gate tower. Ti Mao went to the city first and killed five Tartars.

Shi Xiang was afraid that the fire would be rescued quickly, so he asked Li Zude and his gang to take up weapons and put on armor, and he might not be able to open the city gate by then.

Afraid of what would happen, Li Zude sent people to the city to report the news that King Su and his clan had left the city, and Huang Ming, the governor who participated in the banquet in the city, gathered the guards of the palace and the banner troops in the city, and gathered hundreds of people to help put out the fire.

This news made Shi Xiang's neck feel cold.

Huang Ming was formerly the head of the Hezhou Battalion. When Liu Chengzong plundered Lintao Mansion last fall, he led five hundred train soldiers to meet Zhang Tianlin outside the city. He was the only general in the city who dared to leave the city at that time. He entered the capital and served in the department, but he has not been given an actual award.

In Shi Xiang's eyes, Li Zude and Huang Ming are brave generals who dare to fight. If these two lead troops to the city, even if he can open the city gate, Ming will have to stay here.

At this moment, Shi Xiang finally saw a cavalry approaching a hundred paces below the city, Qianzong Han Ying ran over quickly, clasped his fists and said: "General, the enemy army has approached more than a hundred paces, and the Frang machine is ready, just wait for the attack." They fired a shot and boosted morale!"

Shi Xiang glanced behind Han Ying, shook her head slightly, and said slowly, "Mr. Han Qian, don't let the brothers lose their lives in vain, open the city gate."

"Ok?"

Han Ying was stunned for a moment, raised his head and looked at Master Xiang's expression, puzzled and asked, "What does the general mean?"

"King Su has already run away, this city cannot be defended." Shi Xiang looked at Han Ying very seriously and said, "Open the city gate."

Han Ying came to his senses, heard that Shi Xiang wanted to surrender, and immediately cursed furiously: "Shame on your ancestors!"

After saying that, he reached for his waist, grabbed the handle of the knife and was about to slash Shi Xiang with the knife, but unexpectedly he was a step too late, he just raised the saber, and a Guanzao wrist knife was stuck from behind his side Dig into the ribs through the bone seam.

The torches on the city wall were flickering, Han Ying raised his knife and stood on the city as if he had been immobilized. Shi Xiang was clearly close at hand, but the knife couldn't be hacked at all. The air intake sounded like a bellows.

He turned his head with difficulty, only to feel dizzy, his eyes turned black, in the flickering light and shadow of the torch, someone kept saying sorry, and his hands kept moving, waving a pumpkin and knocking his cronies behind him to the ground.

There were also people who kept silent, still holding the waist knife in the posture of cutting the throat of the guard in front of them, waiting for the guard to fall slowly.

Han Ying turned his head, and the blood foam spewed out of his mouth uncontrollably with his breath, and he still tried his best to stab the raised knife at Shi Xiang.

Shi Xiang didn't speak, but just took a step back. Han Ying stumbled and fell to the ground, his eyes that refused to close gradually lost their spirits. The chain twisted, and the heavy iron gate was finally pulled up.

The wolf-like cavalry of the Marshal's Mansion rushed into the city gate immediately, and the infighting defenders on the city saw that the situation was over, and put down their weapons one after another. The Suochuan Gate and the west city wall were immediately occupied by Li Wanqing's troops.

Teams of infantry from the Marshal's Mansion marched into the city, and the defenders who were too late to board scattered and fled, spreading the news of the city's destruction.

Qian Zong Zhang Yunqi, who was guarding in the camp and preparing to go to the city for battle, was shocked when he heard the news of Kaesong. Before his army moved out, the horsemen of the Marshal's Mansion had rushed into Tanshi Street and blocked them in the camp.

Before the soldiers in the battalion had set up the cannons, there was a chorus of shouts from outside the camp that King Su had escaped. Under the sound of persuasion, the soldiers looked at each other in blank dismay. Zhang Yunqi's order to fire the cannons failed to get a response.

Between killing a few gunners and taking them all away, Zhang Yunqi saw little chance of winning, so he chose the latter... The reaction of the sergeants in the battalion this time fully shows that they are still well-trained soldiers, and their movements of discarding their armor and taking off their scarves are neat uniform.

Outside the camp, Shi Xiang, who led the commander-in-chief's horse soldiers to surround the camp, was really relieved when he saw the soldiers in the camp surrender. At this time, Luo Rucai and Li Wanqing left Yang Chengzu to lead the troops to meet the backup troops on Longweiping. The two led all the troops into the city.

Shi Xiang didn't know Luo Rucai, but he was very familiar with Li Wanqing who was guarding the East Gate, so he hurried up to meet him and said, "Shotatian, why did you enter the city? The two thousand headquarters have surrendered according to my general's order, and only Li Zude, Huang ordered the two departments to fight the fire in the city."

Luo Rucai answered with a smile, "Your Lanzhou battalion is very powerful. His grandma has four thousand generals?"

Shi Xiang shook his head and said: "That's the capital, gathered the Yiwei of the Wangfu and the Banner Army who have not been evacuated in Sufan City, these two people are not easy to deal with, I have no confidence in persuading them to surrender."

Shi Xiang had already thought about this set of rhetoric when he sent Li Zude to put out the fire. He didn't know what treatment Liu Chengzong would give him in the future. He guessed that he wouldn't be too stingy, but after all, no one could say for sure before he was appointed as an official.

Therefore, he must first grasp the soldiers and horses of the two thousand generals, and stabilize the two thousand generals. At least he can keep the power of one thousand generals. If he can be a general, he will continue to be a general. Zhang Yunqi formed an offensive and defensive alliance with him.

If Li Zude could be recruited to surrender, the original squad of their battalion would be saved.

"Huang Ming, I know him, he used to be in the Hezhou camp."

Li Wanqing nodded, then turned to Luo Rucai and said, "The handsome plundered Lintao, and Zhang Wu surrounded Lanzhou City. This Huang Ming would be the general manager of the Hezhou battalion, leading the train battalion in and out under Zhang Wu's nose. Very courageous."

Luo Rucai smiled cruelly: "I want to see how brave he is."

While they were still discussing how to fight Li Zude, there was a fast horse galloping in front of him. It was Li Wanqing's confidant. The general answered in the city. "

The three of them looked at each other, Shi Xiang spoke first, and asked Luo Rucai and Li Wanqing to look at each other, and nodded slightly, thinking it was a false surrender.

Luo Rucai said: "Shooting the sky, it seems that he is trying to trick you into going there to eat."

Li Wanqing asked his cronies, "What is he going to ask in the city?"

"He said that he has two thousand defenders and occupies the strong city. If the commander-in-chief treats him with sincerity and makes him a general of Lanzhou, he will hand over the royal city to the commander-in-chief."

Luo Rucai and Li Wanqing looked at Shi Xiang at the same time, and when they saw Shi Xiang's brow raised sharply, they smiled and said, "After Zhongliang also surrendered, it's the destiny of the commander-in-chief."

There is a villain in his heart who is scolding: wolf ambition!You big-eyed guy also wants my Lanzhou General!