Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 52 Siege
The thieves who rushed to the bottom of the city first put the ladder on the wall, and the thieves scrambled to climb the ladder to start attacking. Hundreds of archers gathered at the bottom of the city and began to shoot upwards at the top of the city. Following the general's loud orders, several large shields covered the city's head and battlements, but there were still many arrows that only passed through the gaps between the shields and fell into the crowd. Amidst the screams, several people fell to the ground with arrows. But none of them were injured in vital parts, and Min Zhuang on the side quickly stepped forward to drag the injured away.

The area defended by Xu Zhiyuan was commanded by an officer general. Seeing the thieves gathered under the city, the general shouted loudly: "Vote!", and with an order, Min Zhuang lifted up the gray bottles and stones piled up on the city. When it was thrown down, a boulder weighing more than ten catties fell from above, and none of the culprits made a sound, their heads were smashed to pieces, and red and white blood and brains spurted out. The short and thick log was lifted high above the top, and then it aimed at a ladder and smashed straight down. A thief who was a few steps away from the top of the city was the first to bear the brunt. The thieves fell down together, and a log weighing fifty to sixty catties fell with great inertia. The thieves crowded together below had no time to dodge, and there was a wailing sound, and several thieves had broken bones and tendons. Accustomed to such scenes, the casualties were quickly dragged to the back, and more thieves rushed over and began to climb the ladder.

The general manager shouted again: "Down!" Several Min Zhuang, with thick cotton cloths on their arms, quickly lifted a few large pots emitting green smoke to the crenel, and then poured the still boiling hot oil from the crenel. When it poured down, the thieves under the city let out screams that didn't sound like human voices. Dozens of thieves were covered with hot oil, and their skin was instantly torn apart. Some thieves were directly sprayed with hot oil on their faces, and the skin on their faces began to fester , the culprit fell to the ground in pain and began to roll, the culprits in this large area fled in all directions, and the people in the city burst out laughing.

Several officers and soldiers defended a section of the city with their commander in chief. Min Zhuang was in charge of throwing stones and ash bottles and dumping hot oil. As soon as some thieves emerged from the battlements, they were hit by spears and cold arrows at the same time, turned over and fell into the city.

But there were too many rogues. Although the soldiers and civilians defending the city caused a lot of casualties to the rogues, some rogues still climbed onto the city wall. This stout rogue soldier was wearing iron armor and holding a mace. His figure was exposed at the battlement, and he waved a mace with one hand, swinging away the stabs of a few spears, jumped onto the crenel with his waist and legs, and swung the mace with both hands. An officer near the crenel was hit on the chest After sweeping, he immediately stepped back a few steps and fell to the ground, with blood gushing out of his mouth.

The thief jumped off the battlement and smashed his mace violently. One officer couldn't dodge in time. Amid the sound of bone shattering, his shoulder was crushed. The huge pain caused him to fall unconscious instantly. Surrounded him, several long spears stabbed him, the thief swung away several long spears with a mace, but still one spear pierced his thigh straightly, the sharp point of the spear pierced through the iron armor and went straight into the flesh, the thief was in pain With a loud roar, the iron rod hit the officer's head, smashing his head to pieces. The other officers took the opportunity to stab straight, and a long spear pierced the thief's eye, piercing the thief's eye. It came out through the head, stabbed in the abdomen, and blood burst out. The life of this fierce thief disappeared instantly. Several officers and soldiers drew back their spears, and the thief fell on his back.

Although the thief died, a gap was opened at the top of the city, and the thieves behind continued to rush up the top of the city along the crenel. Surrounded by guns and knives, more than a dozen thieves ascended the city. The general raised his knife and slashed down. One of the thieves couldn't dodge. With a scream, one arm was chopped off, and several long spears stabbed him one after another. Chest and abdomen, the thief immediately fell to the ground.

Swing the long knife in the chief's hand sideways, the blade sliced ​​through a thief's cotton armor, and the blade cut a long gash in his chest, blood oozes out, the flesh rolls up, and the thief screams in pain, tilts the chief long knife When it was chopped off, the artery in the thief's neck was cut open, a stream of blood gushed out, and the thief fell to the ground dead.

Under the leadership of this brave general, all the thieves who climbed to the top of the city were strangled, and more than a dozen officers, soldiers and civilians were injured or killed.

However, as several crenels were breached one after another, more and more thieves entered the city, and there were crowds of fighting people everywhere on the city wall, screaming one after another, and the situation was precarious.

The long knife in Xu Zhiyuan's hand was also stained with blood. Just now, he took advantage of the inattention of a thief who was fighting with the officer, and stabbed the thief in the thigh. The thief slowed down in pain, and was stabbed by an officer. owl head.

Xu Zhiyuan saw a large number of thieves swarming up from the battlements. He knew that the city would be broken soon, and in desperation he wanted to kill himself to avoid being captured and humiliated. At a critical moment, Dong Qigao rushed back with more than a hundred reserve troops.

Dong Qigao held a pair of iron maces and charged into the crowd of thieves with a loud roar. The iron maces were smashed horizontally and vertically, as if entering no one's land, and killed several thieves in the blink of an eye. Turning around and going forward desperately, he drove all the thieves on the top of the city to death in one go. The remaining thieves who climbed the city panicked, stepped on the battlements and jumped off the city wall. Officers and soldiers with spears rushed to the crenel, desperately stabbing the thieves who were still ascending the city. The thieves on the ladder saw their own people jumping from the city, and their morale plummeted. The finished stones slammed down, and the thieves who attacked the city finally couldn't hold on. They jumped off the ladders and turned over and fled.

Seeing the thieves fleeing, the officials and civilians guarding the city jumped up and cheered. Dong Qigao loudly ordered to clean up the battlefield, gather weapons and arrows, and the lime bottles used to defend the city. Going down, all the casualties of one's own side are carried to the bottom of the city, where the doctors and workers of various medicine shops in the city are waiting there, the wounded will be healed, and the remains of the soldiers and civilians who died in battle will be placed together, and the remains will be covered with white cloth.

Wang Renyuan and Zhao Yuzhi stayed behind all the time. Although they held long knives in their hands, they had no courage to go forward and fight until all the thieves were driven out of the city. They trotted to Xu Zhiyuan's side. Dong Qigao held an iron mace Striding up to the three of them, Xu Zhiyuan threw away his long saber, bowed solemnly to him and said, "It's fortunate that Dong Shoubei arrived in time, otherwise the city would have been destroyed! Please accept my gift!"

Although Wang and Zhao usually looked down on Dong Qigao as a military officer, things changed with time, and they had to rely on his force at this time, so they put down their knives and saluted Dong Qigao to thank him.

Dong Qigao hastily put the iron mace into his hands, and bowed his hands to return the gift. Not only did the two civil servants, Wang and Zhao, look down on him, but the concept of the superior and the inferior has been deeply rooted in his bones for a long time. He couldn't hold his head up, and felt a deep inferiority complex in his heart. Seeing several civil servants who had always been proud salute him at this time, Dong Qi Gao felt deeply unworthy, but also felt recognized and respected, and felt extremely relieved.

Dong Qigao said: "My lords, don't worry, the humble position has been properly arranged, and the sons and daughters of each family have three personal guards. They have already left the city and headed towards Nanjing. They also carry enough gold and silver. The humble position ordered you to wait until the time comes. After Nanjing, immediately contact the relatives of several adults, and after contacting them, we will separate and escort them to various places!"

Xu Zhiyuan and the others bowed their hands again to express their thanks, this time from the bottom of their hearts. Unexpectedly, this seemingly rough general was actually a careful person, who not only knew how to arrange guards to go out of the city, but also provided enough money for his future life. Bring it on, and even think of contacting your relatives after going to Nanjing. This matter can be said to be very complete.

Xu Zhiyuan felt guilty, and said: "This time, no matter whether it is public or private, the few of us are grateful for Dong Shoubei's kindness. Dong Shoubei is brave and resourceful, and he can be called the talent of a general. If we can defend Chuzhou this time, the few of us will take care of ourselves." Will jointly write a letter recommending Dong Shoubei to the imperial court, this is not polite, it is really from the bottom of my heart, it is a pity that you and I will die here today, it is really my luck to be able to fight the enemy side by side with Dong Shoubei! "

Dong Qigao said with a smile: "I can know that the masters of the government appreciate it. Dong has lived up to this life. A certain man respects learned people the most in his life. To tell the truth, I have read a few military books in private. Although I don't understand many of them, but Still consciously benefiting infinitely, my lord is from a Jinshi background, if someone can get a compliment from a Jinshi today, a certain family's face will be bright, haha!"

At this moment, one of Dong Qigao's personal soldiers rushed over, knelt down on one knee and said: "My lords, the thieves are already gathering, and they are about to attack the city again!"

(End of this chapter)