Chapter 489 Chapter 492
Shen Mu laughed and said, "The three generals, please come in."

Everyone felt that it was inappropriate and stood up to greet him.

Ba Yegang, Shan Xiongxin, and Guo Shancai entered the hall from the side door with solemn expressions. After sitting down, Ba Yegang said straight to the point: "Wang Shiqi has exhausted his life, and good birds choose trees to live in. After the three of us discussed , decided to surrender to the young marshal."

Shan Xiongxin said: "We are by no means unfaithful people, it is only because Wang Shichong uses others only for selfishness, it is difficult to become a great weapon, and he does not listen to the young commander's advice, which led to today's results."

Guo Shancai also stated: "In fact, we are representing all generals with foreign surnames in Luoyang. Please ask the young commander to replace Wang Shichong. Luoyang has hope."

Shen Mu and the others looked at each other in dismay when they heard it. It was not surprising that Shan Xiongxin turned against Wang Shichong, because he was a general who had switched from Li Mi to Wang Shichong and had no deep relationship with Wang Shichong.However, Ba Yegang and Guo Shancai have followed Wang Shichong for many years and have always been loyal to Wang Shichong. It can be seen that Wang Shichong has fallen into a situation of betrayal.

Shen Mu laughed and said, "I'm flattered that everyone thinks highly of me, Shen Mu, but now I can't protect myself, and I'm in danger of being overwhelmed at any time. If you follow me, I'm afraid you won't have a good life."

Yang Gongqing said: "What happened that made the three of you suddenly so dissatisfied with Wang Shichong?"

Ba Yegang snorted coldly and said: "Since Cijian forced the young commander away, we have been very dissatisfied with Wang Shichong's actions. Last night Li Yuanji sent someone to throw a book into the city with arrows. Although we don't know the content of the book, we only read Wang Shichong didn't say a word about this before the young commander, knowing that he had ulterior motives. The young commander sent food to Luoyang regardless of life and death, and stayed with us in the dangerous city even more righteously. All the members of our army are grateful, so we don't do it outside of our duty. Shame on what Wang Shichong did."

Everyone suddenly realized that Li Yuanji's biography was almost certainly persuading Wang Shichong to surrender and betray Shen Mu along the way.

Shan Xiongxin said angrily: "We were born and died for him, but Wang Shichong only cared about himself, of course! He has Concubine Dong Shu to speak for him in front of Li Yuan, and even if it doesn't work, he can still save his life. Maybe there is even a half-job that makes him famous The rest of our lives. We will surely die."

Xu Ziling was puzzled and said, "Why does the general have such an idea? Isn't Li Shimin always treating surrendered generals kindly?"

Guo Shancai sighed: "According to the news from Chang'an, Li Yuanji came here with a secret order from Li Yuan. If Luoyang is destroyed, all the generals except Wang Shichong's family will be executed to warn the world."

"boom!"

Shen Mu patted the table again, his eyes shot a sharp and strange light, and said in a deep voice: "If Wang Shichong wants to betray me, Shen Mu, I'm afraid he will have a chance in his next life. From now on, we are brothers, and even if we die, we must die like a man. But Now is not the time to abolish Wang Shichong, unless he dares to open the door to meet the enemy. Let us take a long-term plan and secretly monitor the movement of Wang Shichong's lineage. If he is not benevolent, I will be unrighteous. Otherwise, I will keep my promise and help him stick to Luoyang until the end Last minute."

Shen Mu, Xu Ziling, and Ba Fenghan patrolled along the top of the city. Soldiers everywhere saluted solemnly, with a look of admiration from the bottom of their hearts in their eyes.

The three of them warmly greeted and comforted the defenders of the city, trying to improve their situation and improve their morale.

The enemy villages and arrow towers outside the city are lighted, and they are evenly distributed outside the city. The army is at its peak, and it really has the power to make people feel frightened and collapse without a fight.

Finally, the three of them came to the upper east gate in the northeast, climbed up the tower on the top of the wall, and looked at Li Yuanji's commander-in-chief village on the left, which was located on the high ground between Caoqu and Luoshui. Shuai Zhai locks the town and threatens Luoyang.

The soldiers guarding the tower retreated quietly so that the three of them could talk.

Shen Mu sighed softly: "If I can capture Shuaizhai and cut Li Yuanji under the knife, I will definitely change the fate of the future."

Xu Ziling sneered: "This is called great joy, and it is beyond self-control."

Shen Mu apologized and said with a smile: "I just use words to vent my uselessness in my heart. After a good sleep, I am now full of energy and fighting spirit. Frankly speaking, on the way to Luoyang, my mood is unbeatable. It’s only when I wake up that I feel refreshed.”

Ba Fenghan smiled and said: "No matter how bad your mood is, you must not show it. Because everyone in Luoyang City regards you as the leader of the horse, and lives up to your name."

Shen Mu's eyes flickered, and he said in a deep voice: "I, Shen Mu, will never admit defeat. It is not easy to kill me, and it is absolutely impossible to ask me to surrender."

Xu Ziling lowered his voice and said, "What are your plans for Wang Shichong?"

Ba Fenghan cut in and said, "First strike, and then strike against others."

Shen Mu frowned, pondered for a moment, and smiled wryly: "A centipede is dead but not stiff. Don't look at Wang Shichong's subordinates, but due to his long-term deployment, most of the military power in his hands is under the control of the royal generals. If we Taking action against Wang Shichong is very likely to lead to civil strife and street fighting. At that time, before the enemy comes to attack, we will collapse first."

Ba Fenghan said: "If Wang Shichong surrenders in secret, our entire army will be wiped out."

Shen Mu replied: "I know Wang Shichong very well! He loves power, and he will never give up until the end is exhausted. Anyway, as long as he surrenders, Tang Jun will not kill him. Of course, he will suffer from his personality. He decided to surrender at the last moment. At present, he still has hope for the double battle between Tang and Xia, and he will not give up so easily. Therefore, we only need to closely monitor Wang Shichong's movements, and we will be safe."

Xu Ziling glanced around the situation outside the city, and said calmly: "At present, Luoyang is like an isolated island. Not only is the traffic cut off, but it is also isolated from the world. I don't know the situation of the battle between the Tang and Xia armies. When Li Shimin defeated Dou Jiande and returned the soldiers Luoyang, at that time we not only had to deal with foreign troubles, but also internal troubles!"

Shen Mu asked in surprise, "Young Master Ling actually supports Lao Ba's proposal to strike first?"

Xu Ziling smiled bitterly and said, "I'm just talking about the facts. I don't care about life and death, but I have to think about the brothers who are fighting side by side with us."

Ba Fenghan said in a deep voice: "War is a death thing to see who is more ruthless. Shen Mu, you should not have the kindness of a woman, it will only delay things."

Shen Mu put his arms around the shoulders of the two, and said with a smile: "Brother, you blamed it well, but the timing of the action still needs to be considered. I still have a hand: when Dou Jiande really hates the tiger prison, Qi Fei will come in person, Three beacon fires are lit on the hills in the southeast of Luoyang. That will be the moment for us to start our operations. But under the current situation, we have to pretend to attack the Tang army outside the city in a big way, and make various careful arrangements inside the city. Wang Shichong didn't realize it. If we control the whole city, we will not be afraid of him betraying us."

Ba Fenghan said happily: "Good boy! Sure enough, he has some skills."

Shen Mu said: "Originally I still have a way, which is to open the tunnel first, and send spies through the tunnel to communicate with Chen Liu's army secretly. But I am afraid that the existence of the tunnel will be exposed because of small mistakes, so I give up this idea."

After a pause, he continued: "The most important thing for us at present is to preserve our strength. Once the city is broken, the whole army will break out and go south to attack Xiangyang. If we can abide by the rules, if we can't, we will retreat to Zhongli from the waterway, and then we will have a showdown with Li Shimin. male and female."

Ba Fenghan smiled and said: "I'm looking forward to that day. It's not easy to stick to Luoyang, and it's also hard work in martial arts."

Shen Mu let go of his arms around the two and asked, "How is the grain storage in Luoyang?"

Xu Ziling said: "Food and daily necessities can still last for 20 days. It is inevitable to save food and clothing. Medicines are almost used up. This is one of the reasons why we dare not launch a large-scale counterattack."

Ba Fenghan frowned and said, "Isn't it unwise to leave an open tunnel unused?"

Shen Mu smiled and said: "Heroes see the same thing, I am thinking about the tunnel, if we can send someone to get out of the tunnel without anyone noticing, then Xuan Yong will send people to send dry food, medicine and arrows Some of the weapons were brought into the city from the tunnels, and some were hidden in hidden places in the mountains near the exit of the tunnels. When we escaped, we would not be short of food or arrows. Even if Li Shimin was chasing after him, we still had the capital to deal with him. "

Xu Ziling said decisively: "Let me do this job!"

Shen Mu and Ba Fenghan have no objection, with Xu Ziling's unparalleled spiritual sense, getting in and out of the enemy's territory is as easy as pie, and he can even lead the grain transport army to sneak back without anyone noticing.

Shen Mu happily said: "Please leave everything to Master Ling." Pointing to Li Yuanji's commander-in-chief village, he said, "So what if we dig a tunnel directly to Li Yuanji's kennel?"

Ba Fenghan laughed dumbly and said: "Then you have to kill Wang Shichong first."

Shen Mu said: "If Li Yuanji is killed, the siege of Luoyang will be resolved by itself. How could Wang Shichong disagree?"

Xu Ziling understood his intentions, he didn't want to watch Dou Jiande fail.Good advice: "It will take at least 20 days to open such a tunnel, and there must be no big rocks or rivers blocking the ground, and it will delay the construction of the southern tunnel. Even if Wang Shichong cooperates sincerely, it is still not feasible in terms of time."

Shen Mu said dejectedly: "Okay! Everything is going according to the established plan. I hope that Dou Jiande can show his might and capture the tiger prison, so that we can retire successfully and go south to capture Xiangyang and enjoy some peace and happiness."

……

At dusk of the next day, Shen Mu and Ba Fenghan led the attack. After bluffing and attracting the attention of the besieging army, Chen Laomou took the opportunity to open a tunnel and build an ingeniously designed concealed exit. .

In order to confuse the enemy's eyes and ears, Shen Mu and others took turns to attack, filling in the trenches and destroying the arrow towers. Under the ground, Chen Laomou was working hard, using the first tunnel to develop horizontally, and at the same time developing the other two tunnels in multiple sections.

Five days later, Xu Ziling led the grain transport team back by night and brought bad news.

It turned out that Li Shimin deliberately released the news, falsely claiming that the Tang army ran out of fodder for the horses, and transferred a large number of troops to Hebei to herd horses.

Dou Jiande was overjoyed when he heard the news, thinking that this was a good opportunity to attack Hulao, he launched a large army from Banzhu, and set up a battle formation at Niukouzhu. For more than ten miles, drums were beating and formations were called.

Li Shimin formed an formation at Xu in the other side of the flooding to meet him, but he couldn't hold out, forming a confrontational situation.

The problem is that Dou's army is short of food, but Li Shimin's soldiers have enough fine food to wait for work, and they are backed by a tiger prison.

The decisive battle between the Xia and Tang armies was imminent, and the atmosphere in Luoyang City became increasingly tense.

Shen Mu found Shan Xiongxin and Ba Yegang, and they had a secret discussion at their home in the south of the city. Shen Mu first asked: "You said that Li Yuanji had a secret decree from Li Yuan, except for Wang Shichong and his clan, all other generals will be killed without mercy. Where did the news come from?"

Ba Yegang replied: "It was Zhang Zhenzhou who sent people to inform me, and advised me to take advantage of the situation and lead my brothers to escape immediately, so I don't need to sacrifice my life for a villain like Wang Shichong."

Shen Mu nodded and said: "Mr. Zhang is a man of temperament, saying one is one, saying two is two, and he will not make false threats."

Shan Xiongxin asked in surprise, "Why didn't the young commander directly ask about this matter?"

Shen Mu said frankly: "The problem is that General Ba and General Guo have followed Wang Shichong for many years, so I have to observe for a period of time before I can be sure of your sincerity. Please don't be offended."

Ba Yegang said: "It's reasonable for the young commander to have such an idea."

Shan Xiongxin happily said: "Young Marshal is finally willing to take us in!"

Shen Mu said: "I said that everyone is a brother or a brother. I don't know how many generals outside the royal family are still on my side?"

Ba Yegang counted his fingers and said, "There are more than a dozen other generals, including Duan Da, Wang Long, Cui Hongzhou, Xue Deyin, Meng Xiaowen, Guo Shizhu, Wang Deren, Bing Yuanzhen, Yang Wang, etc. Except for Lang Feng and Song Mengqiu, Wang Shichong Apart from the loyal dog, all the generals with foreign surnames are devoted to the young commander, and hope that in the future, he can follow the young commander to conquer the world, enter Guanzhong, and cut off Li Yuan's stinky head."

Hearing Ba Yegang's contemptuous tone towards Li Yuan, he knew that because of the casualties of comrades-in-arms and subordinates in Luoyang, the generals with other surnames in Luoyang had formed an inextricable deep hatred with the Tang Dynasty in Chang'an.Otherwise, there is no need to surrender to Shen Mu, all you need to do is open the city gate to welcome Li Yuanji, and you will surely be granted the title of Marquis.

Shen Mu asked, "How is the condition of your soldiers?"

Shan Xiongxin snorted coldly and said: "Wang Shichong's direct lineage has suffered a lot. Except for more than 6000 imperial guards loyal to him, the other nearly [-] generals are all from us. As long as the young commander gives an order, we can break into the palace. , kill Wang Shichong without leaving a piece of armor."

Shen Mu shook his head and said: "This is the next strategy. Since you are brothers, I don't need to hide it from you. We have already dug three tunnels. When the situation is critical, we can escape from Luoyang without waiting to die in the city."

The two were both happy and surprised.

Shan Xiong said: "The young commander is not optimistic about Dou Jiande?"

Shen Mu asked back: "Do you like him?"

The two shook their heads at the same time.

Ba Yegang said: "It turns out that the young marshal has already decided what to do later, how should we cooperate?"

Shen Mu said: "We must study the details of the evacuation first, so that everyone knows what measures to take when the situation is critical. It is precisely to keep the green hills, so that there is no fear of no firewood. It is senseless for the wise to do what they know is impossible. The sacrifice is even more meaningless. But one day Dou Jiande has not lost the battle, Wang Shichong still shares our interests, and I must be one step ahead of Wang Shichong to grasp the situation in the Hulao, so the initiative is on my side, not Wang Shichong's hands, you two can rest assured .”

After discussing details such as how to deal with the current situation and even the retreat plan, the three of them quietly dispersed.

……

Shen Mu went to the southern guard station to find Xu Ziling and Ba Fenghan who were testing the tunnel. The two were talking at the entrance of the tunnel, while the construction soldiers were busy under the command of Chen Laomou. to the secret place.

Seeing Shen Mu coming, Ba Fenghan happily said, "How about we go to the other end and take a breath of the fresh air outside the city?"

Shen Mu smiled and said, "Of course I'll accompany you."

The three of them entered the tunnel with a feeling of admiration, and entered a world supported by thick solid wooden pillars horizontally and vertically. A wind lantern was hung every dozens of steps. Life gives birth to a gloomy and strange feeling.The fortification soldiers were still using special tools to drill the earth to extract mud and install wooden supports in the other two tunnels, but the three of them leisurely walked through the tunnels that were eight feet high, one foot deep and more than a mile long.

The exit under Gaozhai is a space as wide as a hall.

This is the intersection of three tunnels, there are stone steps to climb up, and there is still a section of soil that is as thick as one zhang that has not been penetrated. It is supported by a strong wooden frame, but with the ears of the three of them, they can faintly hear the horseshoe men camping above. The sound of footsteps.

There are deep grooves around the basement to accommodate the soil that falls when the breach comes out. The design is impeccable.Wang Shichong stored a large amount of wood in the city, which was originally intended to be used for building palaces, but it was unexpectedly used by Chen Laomou to build tunnels.

The three of them browsed and studied, and continued their journey, still walking towards the south exit of the first tunnel.

Shen Mu said in surprise: "It's so strange, I still don't feel stuffy after walking here."

Xu Ziling said: "It all depends on the fact that the enemy's trench has vents at the bottom. Air blowers are used to send air into the tunnel, and the dead air in the tunnel is forced away. After the first tunnel is completed, an air vent must be added at the end, otherwise we will Stop breathing and walk."

Ba Fenghan said: "Young commander is very charismatic, so you can attract so many outstanding talents to work for you, like Chen Laomou, there is a great chance to become the second Lu Miaozi, without him, even if you think of the method of building tunnels, there is no way The ability to put it into practice."

Shen Mu laughed and said, "Mr. Chen is at least half of Master Lu. Together with Brother Lei, the other half of Master Lu, he must be a complete Lu Miaozi, ha!"

Talking and laughing, the three of them arrived at the exit at the end. The stone steps stretched up two feet to the thick iron cover of the tunnel exit, which looked heavy and abnormal.

Xu Ziling was the clearest about the situation at the exit, explaining: "The cover itself weighs more than a hundred catties, and the upper cover is covered with thin soil and weeds. It is located in a clump of miscellaneous trees and is very concealed. When it is opened, it is supported by wooden pillars, which is convenient for us to go out calmly." .”

Shen Mu happily climbed up the steps, tried his hands, and said, "It's at least 200 catties."

With both arms, one side of the iron cover was lifted upwards, the wind whistling across the Yiluo Plain, and the sound of trees shaking leaves came from above.

Shen Mu looked outside the exit and sighed: "Why is the night sky seen from Luoyang City different from the night sky seen here? They are all the same sky!"

Ba Fenghan smiled and said: "The sky is the same, but the state of mind is different. One is trapped in an isolated city, but here is a world where I can freely and freely."

The three of them drilled out one after another. The exit was located on the slope of a small hill, surrounded by luxuriant weeds and sparse forests. After closing the iron cover, the exit became the same part as the grassy slope.

The three of them moved cautiously to the top of the hillside, leaned on the slope and waited and watched. The lights of Gaozhai came into view from two hundred feet in front, and Luoyang was directly in front of them more than a mile away.

(End of this chapter)

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