Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 53 Reinforcement
Gundi Longyan, who was supervising the battle in the rear, saw his subordinates retreating again, his face suddenly darkened. He got on his horse, drew out the long knife from his waist, and knocked on the horse's belly. The horse rushed forward, and he galloped to the first place to retreat One of the culprits approached and slashed down with a knife. The culprit's head rolled to the side, the blood in his neck spurted up more than a foot high, and he fell straight down.

The thieves nearby were so frightened that their faces turned pale, and they stopped in their tracks immediately. Gundilong reined in his horse, raised his knife and pointed at the thieves, and shouted loudly: "I'm into you! If you dare to escape, I will kill you one by one!" Kill them all!"

Pi Lizhen also rushed over with a few soldiers, and he shouted loudly: "Who is your leader?"

A thieves in their thirties hurried out from the crowd, and said with a smile on his face, "I lead Pi's team. I'll fight one more time, and I'll make sure to beat him!"

Pi Lizhen swung his horsewhip and whipped it at him shamelessly, cursing as he whipped: "You damn Wang Si, if I hadn't seen you following me for so many years, I would have killed you alive today! Hurry up and fight again with the whole team, If you can’t beat me again, I’ll chop off your dog’s head!”

Wang Si didn't dare to dodge, he gritted his teeth and let the horsewhip fall on him, he knew that if Pi Lizhen had used the horsewhip to whip him, Gundilong would have chopped off his head long ago.

Gun Dilong watched with a cold face. He knew that Pi Lizhen and Wang Si came from the same village. Now they have more than 2000 people under their command, so they can be regarded as a person.Seeing that the needles in the skin were tired, Wang Si's face was already bruised, and Gundilong said coldly: "Wang Si, you have half an hour to take the city, or you can wipe your neck yourself!"

Wang Si didn't care about the pain, turned around and drew a knife in his hand and shouted viciously: "You're the one! Hurry up and form a team for me! Take down Fucheng, and the silver ladies are all ours!"

The most favorite of the thieves is the Yinzi woman. Hearing this, their morale is greatly boosted. Under the command of their respective little leaders, they start to form a formation, and then choose the front to go first.

Xu Zhiyuan and the others on the top of the wall saw the rogues forming a team in chaos, and their hearts suddenly became heavy. After several fights, the officers, soldiers, and civilians suffered heavy casualties, and only four hundred officers and soldiers could fight. There are more than [-] people left in the [-]-odd people, and there are not many huge stones and logs left to defend the city. There is only one pot of hot oil smoking on the fire. Nearly half of the dozens of archers died in battle. Weapons and arrows are enough to use, but there is not enough manpower, and this time it will definitely not be able to withstand it.

After the thieves assembled their team, hundreds of Kong Wu's sturdy rogues were selected as the strikers who broke through the city. Gundilong promised in public that those who climbed the city first would be rewarded with a hundred taels of silver. Under the dual stimulation of generous rewards and family members of officials, the thieves are all gearing up and rushing towards the city wall aggressively.

Xu Zhiyuan smiled wryly and said: "Dong Shoubei, the three of us are powerless to kill chickens, and we have to be guarded here. Masters Wang and Zhao and I are now entering the second floor of the Arrow Tower. You invite some people to pile up their salaries on the floor. Inside, pour the boiling oil in the pot, and leave a few people to light the fire. After the thieves break through the city, immediately set fire to the building, even if you die, don't let the thieves insult our bodies!" After that, Wang Renyuan and Zhao Instead of turning around and stepping into the building, Dong Qigao gave a deep salute to the backs of the three people, and then ordered them to go down, and several folks went separately to gather firewood and other flammable objects.

When the thieves were about to approach the city, there was a loud noise from the rear of the thieves a few miles away. Dong Qigao stood at the top of the city and looked around. Countless thieves seem to be running and gathering, several horses are galloping towards this side quickly, Dong Qigao ordered to prepare to meet the enemy, and the officers, soldiers and civilians formed a small team and came to the battlements defended by each to wait for the thieves to attack.

Gun Dilong and Pi Lizhen also vaguely heard the noise coming from the direction of the camp behind them, and when they were wondering, they rode up to them, and Gun Dilong saw that it was Ma Shizhong's personal soldier, Zhao Hanwa, and others who came from Zhao Hanwa. Hanwa's anxious expression made him feel that something was wrong.

Zhao Hanwa reined in her mount, jumped off her horse and walked quickly to the ground dragon, shouting hissingly: "Yang Ye! The officers and soldiers are coming! The big boss was killed! He Ye and Gao Ye in the camp told you not to fight!" The city is under siege, hurry back and fight!"

When Gundilong heard about Ma Shizhong's death, he couldn't help being angry and anxious. He and Ma Shizhong had played together since they were young, and it was good to be with one person. It took only an hour, and his best brother died unexpectedly!
Gun Dilong roared: "How did the big boss die?! Why don't you die?!"

Zhao Hanwa burst into tears, and the rest of the soldiers also cried bitterly. Ma Shizhong was cruel, but he was tolerant and generous to those around him. His sudden death made the soldiers feel very sad.

Zhao Hanwa sobbed and said: "The officers and soldiers pretended to be our scouts, and lied about the emergency situation. We were drinking in another tent, and the soldiers in the big tent were not on guard. Entered the big tent, then killed the big boss and ran away on horseback!"

Gundilong felt as if his brain was going to explode, he got on his horse, and with red eyes, he ordered loudly: "The attackers withdrew back, leave 1000 people to let the people in the city come out, and the rest will go back to the camp with me!" With the whip whipped tightly, the horse galloped away, Zhao Hanwa and others and Gundilong's soldiers hurriedly got on their horses to follow.

Pi Lizhen was also extremely sad. He ordered Wang Si to stay behind to prevent the officers and soldiers in the city from harassing the rear, and then asked the soldiers to immediately notify the leaders of the army, and each of them assembled in a team and returned to the west camp immediately. , Ready to face the official army.

Dong Qigao saw dozens of thieves galloping back, and then the thieves who had already approached the city began to turn around and leave. He knew that something must have happened to the camp of thieves, so he immediately ran to the watchtower, ready to report the situation to the people inside. Xu Zhiyuan and others.

When I came to the building, I saw that the stairs on the second floor were covered with firewood, and several strongmen were coming in and out to continue to add dry firewood. Dong Qigao stopped them, and then went up the narrow stairs to the second floor.

Xu Zhiyuan and three people on the second floor were sitting on chairs and chatting. The three of them who were always in conflict were talking and laughing happily at the moment. Since death is inevitable, they might as well be more relaxed. As for the overgrown weeds, no one pays homage to them.

Xu Zhiyuan smiled and said: "Brother Zhiyi, you are a qualified official up to the fifth rank, but I don't know which old and important minister is in the car. I am a genuine Jinshi, and now I am from the fourth rank. Seeing that I am getting older I don’t know if I’ll be able to return to Beijing in this lifetime, ha ha!”, he usually felt bitter about a Juren who was only one level shorter than himself, but at this moment he looked down on life and death, so he used jokes to sarcasm.

Wang Renyuan smiled calmly and said: "My fifth rank is already at the end, and it is impossible to go up. After all, the status of a person cannot be changed. I heard that if my brother is interested, Brother Yu can recommend it to the old Wang Ge. We civil servants After all, it’s better to go back to the center. If you don’t get familiar with the Holy One, even if the time is ripe, it will be difficult to serve as a pilgrimage. The Holy One is also a human being, so you must use someone you know well, right? Haha”

Xu Zhiyuan cursed secretly in his heart: "No wonder the promotion was so fast, it turned out to be Wang Yingxiong's man, the reason why I was born as a Jinshi and only reached the fourth rank, isn't it because there is no one in the court?"

He nodded and said with a smile: "I heard that the food made by the chef of your mansion is exquisite. When I have time, I will definitely visit and taste it by the way. Don't be stingy, brother-in-law, haha!"

Wang Renyuan is from Huizhou. He has been in business for many years, and his family is rich. He studied effectively and failed repeatedly in adulthood. He didn't win the exam until he was over forty. Having obtained the official position as a five-rank co-prefect, I am quite satisfied in my heart.He likes to enjoy himself. When he took office in Chuzhou, he specially brought a cook to his home to make delicious food for himself to enjoy. But he didn't expect that in Chuzhou, which is located in the hinterland of Nanzhili, there would be a disaster of thieves breaking the city. s.

He stroked his beard and said with a smile: "Of course you are very welcome. When it comes to the way of gourmet food, brother Yu has a little experience, haha!"

Zhao Yuzhi, who was also from Juren, said with a wry smile: "My lords, you and I are going to hell together today, and the two of you are still talking about such boring things. I admire you so much for your open mind!"

The two were startled when they heard the words, and immediately woke up, looked at each other, and shook their heads with wry smiles.

Suddenly there were footsteps on the stairs, and in an instant, Dong Qigao came upstairs, and the few people froze for a moment, Xu Zhiyuan said urgently: "Dong Shoubei, but the thieves have already broken the city, do you want to die with us?"

Dong Qigao shook his head and said: "You can only die in battle, you will never kill yourself! Shicai saw that there seems to be a difference in the bandit camp, and the thieves who attacked the city have also retreated, so I come here to let you know!"

Xu Zhiyuan and others hurriedly came to the arrow window to have a look, they saw thousands of thieves sitting or standing facing the city wall about one mile away from the city wall, and a large group of thieves formed a small group and went to the camp.

Xu Zhiyuan thought about it for a while, and suddenly clapped his hands happily and said, "It must be the imperial soldiers coming! It must be!"

Wang Renyuan said: "Our request for help was sent to Nanzhili and Fengyang, and we did not send personnel to the west. If the reinforcements arrive, they should come from the south and north. How can there be help from the west? What's more, the thieves broke Hezhou and we only sent out the request for help, how could the imperial soldiers come so quickly?"

Xu Zhiyuan laughed loudly and said: "Brother Wang, do you know why you are a Juren and why this official is a Jinshi? The difference between them is vision, judgement!"

Without waiting for a few people to interrupt, Xu Zhiyuan continued: "The army coming from the west must be Commander-in-Chief Lu! I dare to bet on the head! It must be Commander-in-Chief Lu who came to help the army!"

(End of this chapter)