Chapter 486 Chapter 489
Yang Gongqing and Ma Changzheng were concentrating on studying the distribution of camps and trenches on the map. The former sighed: "Li Shimin is indeed an incomparable talent for using soldiers. Humans know that his method of defending the city is unparalleled in the world. Who knows that the method of attacking the city is also so good. No matter whether we attack from any gate, because the trenches limit our marching route, we can only follow a "zigzag" route, and we must meet the enemy's camp. The Tang army can calmly attack and counterattack Stand firm in the stronghold, waiting for friendly troops to come to help."

Ma Chang pointed to the south of Luoyang City and said: "The south of the city is a plain, and only one of the four camps is located on a high ground, so there are many trenches. If the camps above are not attacked, we will be able to break through the blockade to the south."

Yang Gongqing frowned and said: "Filling trenches is easy, but attacking the village is difficult. The three villages have a combined strength of [-] people. There are eight archery towers on each side of the village. Deep trenches are dug around. The three villages respond to each other. Even if we use all our troops, we may still not be able to capture any of the camps. What is more worrying is that the Tang army from other camps will come to help and cut off our retreat, and our army will be wiped out at every turn."

Ma Chang said: "If Li Shimin is sitting outside the city, we should wait for the young marshal to come back and make plans. Fortunately, the people outside the city are very happy, and they are eager to restore Li Yuanji, who has lost his reputation and wants to surpass Li Shimin, but that is another matter. I'm sure that before Li Shimin left, there must be a strict order to prohibit Li Yuanji from attacking the city. We must stir up Li Yuanji's fighting spirit and force him to attack the city. Then the robbing the stronghold and breaking the siege, the young commander should come back at that time! With the young commander in command, what is Duke Yang afraid of?"

Yang Gongqing asked Xu Ziling, "What's your opinion?"

Xu Ziling replied: "Our biggest advantage is that the walls are thick, the tools for defending the city are abundant, and their power is astonishing. Even though the enemy's strength is several times that of ours, because we are concentrated and the enemy is scattered, the initiative is actually in our hands. Therefore, I agree with General Ma's strategy of disorganizing his formation and exhausting his soldiers, filling in trenches and crossing trenches day and night, constantly attacking from various gates, or sending out several troops at the same time, making it difficult for Li Yuanji to look at the head and tail. Morale, reduce the fear of the Tang army, and maybe break out of the siege, and join forces with the Dou army in Hulao."

Yang Gongqing finally agreed, stood up and said: "Okay! Just according to your words, I will immediately enter the palace to see Wang Shichong. If he dares to disagree, we will break up and go home."

……

When Liu Zhicheng was brought to the inner hall of Chief Chen Liu's mansion, Shen Mu's first impression was that he had a fragile personality and would have no restraint in female sex.

After traveling all over the world for so many years, seeing all kinds of people in the world, with his ingenuity, he has cultivated a set of methods of observing people.

Liu Zhi grew up with good looks and well-dressed clothes, but in his 30s, his eyes are covered with crow's feet, he smiles before he speaks, and his mouth is full of spring.This kind of person will be overjoyed when he is proud, and panic when he is frustrated.Just by listening to his footsteps, one can tell that his heart is in a mess, and he has lost his position due to a guilty conscience.

When he saw Shen Mu, Luo Qifei, Xu Xingzhi, and Xuan Yong waiting for him in the inner hall, the four giants of the young general army, the sound of his heart beating made Shen Mu hear it clearly from a distance away .

Shen Mu waved and ordered the subordinates who brought him to leave the inner hall, and said calmly, "Zhicheng sit down!"

Liu Zhicheng lowered his head, not daring to meet Shen Mu's sharp eyes, and respectfully saluted, "You can just stand here, the young commander. Please tell me if you have something to say."

"boom!"

Luo Qifei slapped the table with his palm, and shouted: "The seat given by the young commander is the seat, please sit down immediately."

Liu Zhicheng's whole body trembled violently, his face was earthy and trembling, and he sat down tremblingly on the other side of the four of them.

Shen Mu smiled and said: "Zhicheng, your handwriting is indeed good, and the fonts are flying like dragons and phoenixes. You are worthy of a well-learned person. No wonder Qifei entrusts you with important tasks."

Xuan Yong took out a roll of small notes, spread them out on the table, and Xu Xingzhi pressed them up and down with paper. The small notes were densely written in petite characters, and the contents were all about Shen Mu's situation after he arrived in Chen Liu.

Liu Zhicheng took a sneak peek, and immediately his expression changed dramatically. He rolled down beside the chair and knelt down on the ground, trembling all over his body, and said in a trembling voice, "Damn the villain! Damn the villain! Please, young commander!"

Luo Qifei stood up abruptly, pointing his halberd and cursing: "This note was taken from the carrier pigeon you released, you are not as good as a beast, how can I, Luo Qifei, treat you poorly?"

Shen Mu smiled and said: "Don't be angry, Zhicheng has already admitted this matter, saving us the time of torture and waiting, it is also a merit. If he is willing to do his job honestly in the future, and he has not caused any losses to our army. , should be dealt with lightly as appropriate."

Liu Zhicheng hurriedly begged for mercy: "Young commander, please forgive me!"

Shen Mu said lightly, "Sit back in the seat for me."

Trembling, Liu Zhicheng tried his best to get up, and squeezed back onto the chair like a puddle of mud. Tears of panic welled up in his eyes, and he lowered his head tremblingly, as if he had aged more than ten years suddenly.

Xuan Yong shook his head and sighed: "I knew this before, why bother? No one forced you to join our Young Commander's Army."

Liu Zhicheng sobbed: "The villain knows his mistake! The young commander is merciful!"

Shen Mu treated him calmly, and said straightforwardly: "What benefits does Xiangyu Mountain give you?"

Everyone was stunned.

Liu Zhicheng raised his head in shock, met Shen Mu's gaze and lowered his gaze like an electric shock, and said in a trembling voice: "How could the young commander... Sigh! I..."

Luo Qifei yelled violently: "Young Marshal asked you what benefits Xiangyu Mountain has given you? Why don't you really ask for it?"

Shen Mu secretly rejoiced, his words were purely probing, and he was not sure of his conjecture.Now of course I know it's a target.One must know that Liu Zhicheng was originally a member of the Pengliang Club, and Xiangyushan had always been active in Pengliang before, using Pengliang as the headquarters of the Xiang family. A romantic figure like Liu Zhicheng should have contacts with Xiangyushan who runs a casino brothel.And Xiang Yushan is well aware of Liu Zhicheng's weakness in character, and with conspiracy, he can easily buy him off.

"Thumbs up!"

Liu Zhicheng's teeth were trembling and he couldn't speak a word.

Shen Mu laughed and said, "Xiangyu Mountain is the oldest one, and you won't suffer if you meet me, Shen Mu. I'll give you half an hour to think about it carefully. First, cooperate with me sincerely, then I will do everything for you." You are in charge, and any problem can be solved for you; one is to hand it over to the Ministry of Punishment to punish you, treason is the number one crime, this is no joke. Come here! Detain me!"

The guards guarding the door came as ordered and carried away Liu Zhicheng, whose legs were weak.

Luo Qifei said angrily: "Young Marshal, why should he be tolerant of this despicable traitor, I'm not afraid that he won't speak."

Shen Mu smiled and said, "Of course it takes a bit of effort to catch big fish, ha! Xiangyu Mountain does have some skills, and knows how to subvert our army from within."

Xu Xingzhi frowned and said: "How can Xiangyu Mountain have any connection with Tang Jun?"

Shen Mu said: "We don't need to bother to think about this matter. There are two things that we should think about most now. The first is how to use Liu Zhicheng to distribute fake news to deceive Li Shiji. The second is how to deal with the aftermath if Dou Jiande is defeated."

Everyone was heartbroken. Although they had successfully transported food to Luoyang and persuaded Dou Jiande to help Luoyang, the Young Marshal Army was still at an absolute disadvantage struggling to survive. The road ahead was uncertain, and no one could maintain an optimistic mood. .

Shen Mu rolled up the note, handed it to Luo Qifei, and said with a smile, "Fortunately, Qifei used a net to catch pigeons, and now the pigeons can send the note. I want to have a good sleep, wake me up at dusk, and everyone will accompany me to eat." meal."

Twenty chariots, which can block the enemy's arrows and cover their own archers, were dubbed wooden donkeys by the soldiers, lined up in the square inside the Changxia Gate in the south, waiting for the night to come.

This kind of chariot is shaped like a mobile house with wheels, with a herringbone top and covered with medicinal raw cowhide.

In addition, there are more than a hundred "toad carts", which are actually just ordinary cargo wheelbarrows. In particular, they are equipped with anti-dart boards to protect the soldiers who carted the carts. Increased trench filling speed.

The organized residents kept sending bags of sand, stones, and soil to both sides of Changxia Gate, and piled them up into several hills. When they were waiting for action, they asked the soldiers to cover them with wooden donkeys and transport them outside the city to fill in the trenches.

The most lethal ones are the ten eight crossbow and arrow machines and five heavy-duty flying stones transported from the top of the city. As long as these super war tools can cross the trenches, they can have a huge destructive force on the enemy's wooden village.

Nine thousand soldiers lined up on the square, divided into three teams, each team had one thousand contradictory soldiers, five thousand archers, and five hundred cavalry.Everyone is full of hope for this attack, so their morale is high and they are ready to wait.

In their hearts, Xu Ziling is like Shen Mu's stand-in, a symbol of invincibility.

Wang Shichong, Yang Gongqing, Wang Xuanying, Wang Xuanshu, Ma Chang, Duan Da, Shan Xiongxin, Bing Yuanzhen, Ba Yegang, Song Mengqiu and Xu Ziling gathered on the tower of Changxia Gate, watching the movement of the enemy troops outside the city from Chengchen.

Gaozhai, except Lixu, which is directly facing the south gate, was built on a hilly highland. There is danger of defeat at every turn.

Wang Xuanying sighed: "If I had known that I would have shoveled this hill to the ground first, the battle tonight would have been much easier."

Wang Shichong didn't know if he was dissatisfied with losing the Hulao, he frowned and blamed: "What's the use of these words, it's a positive attitude to find a way to conquer these three strongholds."

Wang Xuanying had no choice but to keep silent.

At this time, Lang sent a report that the assault troops of Anximen in the north, Dongmen and Jianchunmen in the east were all ready. These three armies each had 3000 people, and their equipment was the same as that of Xiamen's main assault army. About one-third of the main force is of a containment nature.

Yang Gongqing said: "We are not in a hurry to rob the stronghold and kill the enemy, we use the tactics of exhausting our soldiers and disrupting our formation."

All the generals agreed that filling the trench was the first step, and then they had to crush the enemy's counterattack and protect the filled trench.

Stretching two thousand steps outside the Changxia Gate, there are two deep moats about two miles apart, one hundred feet apart, each two feet wide and one foot deep. There are many gaps, from which the enemy can lead to the other side of the trench.

Behind the outer trenches, there are twelve three-foot-high wooden archery towers, each of which is surrounded by piles of sand and mud bags as high as a person's body. Under the cover of sand and mud bags, the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty took turns guarding them day and night, deploying trebuchets and heavy crossbow arrows. The machine has become a solid defense point, and with the reinforcements from the three villages that can communicate with each other, it is indeed impeccable in defense.

Among them, four archery towers are located at both ends of the long moat, two at each end, surrounded by short circular moats, and the exit is set in the south, closely echoing the left and right villages.

The external passages of the three gates of Changxia, Dingding, and Houzai in the south of Luoyang were all blocked by trenches and battle towers.

Under the red sun in the west, there were frequent activities near the enemy's village, and the cavalry and infantry patrolled in turn. The Yishui flowing out of Luoyang was locked by the enemy with sharp wood. Arrow towers and trebuchets were deployed on the high banks of the river behind the blockade line. Outside the city, there is an atmosphere of imminent war.

Wang Shichong asked, "What's Ziling's opinion at this moment?"

Xu Ziling Zhuo stood next to Wang Shichong, and was concentrating on observing the enemy's largest Gaozhai. He said leisurely: "The flag flying at the gate of the village has the character 'Lu'. Which general does it represent?"

Shan Xiongxin replied: "It should be Li Yuanji's confidant general Lu Jun'e. This man is a famous Tang army general who is best at charging and encircling the enemy. He made great achievements in attacking Guanzhong. Today he came with Li Yuanji to the east. He is the marching officer of Yuanji's army. Li Yuanji sent him to guard the south, which shows the importance he attaches to this front."

Xu Ziling smiled and said: "Tonight we only fill in the first layer of trenches, and then learn from them to defend the second layer of trenches with sand and mud to resist the enemy. As long as we can firmly guard the passage between the two trenches, the enemy will do nothing. What advice does General Ma have?"

Ma Chang spoke modestly before saying: "We have the danger of Yishui on the left, so we only need to deal with the enemy attacking from the front with all our strength. The enemy may attack from the right along the trenches. We can attack at Houzai Gate and Dingding Gate. There are thousands of cavalry in each place, the cavalry from the Houzaimen will cut off the attackers, the cavalry from the Dingdingmen will attack from the middle, and the Qianwu cavalry from the trench-filling army will counterattack head-on.

Everyone nodded their heads, and Wang Shichong also thought there was no problem, and said: "As suggested by you, we will launch an offensive after nightfall to show Li Yuanji some color."

Everyone should be here, with high morale. After being besieged by the Tang army, until now the generals under Wang Shichong began to regain their vitality.

Xu Ziling felt that it was the right thing for him to stay in Luoyang, otherwise Luoyang would be destroyed and nothing would be mentioned.

……

Attending the dinner were Xu Xingzhi, Chen Changlin, Xuan Yong, Luo Qifei, Bu Tianzhi, Chen Laomou and Ren Meimei who had just arrived from Liangdu.

After drinking for three rounds, Luo Qifei first reported Liu Zhicheng's affairs to him, saying: "Because that kid couldn't stand the temptation of a red prostitute in a brothel, he fell in love with her. This girl is a spendthrift and loves to hang out in casinos, which tires him. The debts are high, and one of Xiangyushan's subordinates took advantage of the situation and bought it with a lot of money. I also insisted that the end of our army is coming, if we serve Xiangyushan, we will be rich and rich in the future, so we acted as a slave to the traitor."

Chen Laomou said with a strange smile: "It is clear that Xiangyu Mountain has set up a trap, beautiful women add wealth, and indeed not many people can resist the temptation."

Luo Qifei said: "That kid confessed that he regretted seeing our victory in the battle of the Shuixia Gorge in Liangdu, but he was threatened and had to bite the bullet and go on. This is because I did not employ people properly, please young commander Lower the punishment, otherwise Qi Fei will feel uneasy."

Shen Mu calmly said: "It's not that you have improperly employed people, but that there are not many people available, and you have to transfer the team from the previous Pengliang Club to the emergency. This means that we need to carry out innovations, but this kind of thing can't be rushed. If you have doubts, you can discuss it with Military Division Xu and listen to his opinion."

Ren Meimei said solemnly: "Xiang Boy knows us very well, and he is still a member of the Pengliang Remnant Party. Fortunately, I also know him very well. I will handle this matter. I promise to clear Xiang Boy's people and shut down all people related to Xiang. The brothel gambling house that the kid is related to."

The way to do it: "The Xiang family has been in Pengliang for many years, and its power is deeply rooted, and it is closely related to people's livelihood. Therefore, although this matter is imperative, it must be done step by step, and the action should not be excessive."

After Shen Mu agreed, he asked Luo Qifei, "Who is the person who threatened Liu Zhicheng?"

Luo Qifei said: "It's a businessman named Wei Qing. He supplies wine to Pengcheng, Liangdu and Lanling. He doesn't belong to any gang, but he has always maintained good relations with Baling and Pengliang. Liu Zhicheng supplies pigeons on a regular basis, and the pigeons never came back after they were released, and even that boy Zhicheng didn’t know where the pigeons flew to.”

Bu Tianzhi said: "Is Liu Zhicheng willing to cooperate with us?"

Luo Qifei nodded and said: "He swore a poisonous oath in front of me just now, promising to cooperate sincerely. He just asks us to spare his dog's life."

Shen Mu said happily: "His life is still in our hands for a day, this guy who is greedy for life and afraid of death has to be obedient. After we study how to act, we will use him to spread false news."

Xuan Yongdao: "I'm afraid Li Shiji won't be fooled by the fake news. We must cooperate with a series of actions to let Li Shiji use the information collected by the spies to confirm the false news. Li Shiji will be convinced."

Shen Mu said: "Suppose Li Shiji is convinced that we will march against the river to attack Kaifeng, how will he react?"

Chen Changlin said: "If I were him, I would do my job with ease. When our army approached the city, I would use superior forces to cut off our retreat, destroy our navy ships, and then confront us head-on. With Li Zitong as a lesson from the past, the Tang army treated us The airship should be fully prepared."

Shen Mu nodded and said: "This is indeed the most brilliant tactic that can be thought of. Under such circumstances, we will never take advantage of it. What better strategy is there to deal with his grandma's bear?"

Ren Meimei smiled coquettishly: "Didn't the young commander say that there is a saying in the art of war, what is attacked must be saved, what is Li Shiji must save?"

Shen Mu patted his legs and sighed: "Give Big Sister Ren a word to wake up the dreamer, and we will use a trick of praying mantis to catch cicadas, with the oriole behind, and I promise to teach Li Shiji unforgettable."

After nightfall, the city guards in the south of the city were the first to launch an attack, lowering the large suspension bridge of Changxia Gate, and the two thousand shield spearmen rushed out first, forming formations on the left and right sides of the city gate.This arm is mainly defensive. The high shield can block arrows and swords, and the spear is not afraid of the impact of the enemy's cavalry. The greatest use is to provide cover for the shooter. It exerts a powerful lethality on the battlefield. It can attack the enemy and break the formation, and retreat. Stand firm.

Then the archers went out of the city, and in the sound of the horn, the [-] contradictory hands on the left and right moved forward a hundred steps in unison amid the yelling of the soldiers, allowing the [-] archers to rush out and gather in the formation of contradictory hands, turning into contradictory hands. The archers are in the front and the archers are in the back. The latter are divided into three rows.

The drums sounded again, and the last group of assault soldiers rushed out from the city gate, forming a contradiction again. In this style, the Chinese army is in front, and the left and right armies guard the two wings.

(End of this chapter)

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