Because there was no news from Xiangzi City, Lintao City felt like it was facing a formidable enemy. Troops and horses were frequently mobilized in the city, and groups of soldiers on the top of the city were patrolling the city.
There was also a chilling atmosphere in the White Tiger Festival Hall in Lintao City.
Although Zhang Yue and Wang Shao are not here, the White Tiger Festival Hall is still surrounded by soldiers from the Economic Strategy Department. Hundreds of soldiers under Gao Zunyu outside the door are constantly making noises, trying to break into the White Tiger Festival Hall, but they are firmly guarded. stop.
Upon seeing this, Xing Shu, the magistrate of Lintao County, came forward with several civil servants to appease Gao Zunyu's soldiers. However, these soldiers were all very angry. Now that both the chief and deputy generals had left, all the soldiers in the city should return to Gao Zunyu. The general manager of troops and horses is responsible for the dispatch, and the White Tiger Festival Hall is no exception.
Xing Shu tried his best to comfort him with a smile on his face outside.
In the festival hall, when Gao Zunyu saw Zhang Yue's seal, he looked in disbelief. After a pause, he immediately reacted and said: "Jinglue envoys dare to leave the seal. You are really cheating on your fate!"
At this time, Cai Yanqing said: "The manager of this matter once told me that he was worried that the soldiers and horses were outside and he was not in the department, so no one could command the military. For example, the senior general manager was also an experienced officer, and it was difficult to control the generals, so he granted the seal In the Department, it is for expediency.”
Lu Shengqing took a step forward, but was only two steps away from Gao Zunyu, and said aggressively: "General Manager Gao, now that Commander Cao has said so, you can't refute it!"
The rest of them were concerned about the identity of Gao Zunyu's relatives and did not dare to make mistakes. Only Lu Shengqing showed a tendency to fall out if they disagreed with each other, which made Gao Zunyu sweat on his forehead.
After all, this White Tiger Festival Hall is not his Gao Zunyu's territory.
Cai Yanqing said: "I will be your guarantor for this matter, and I will go to Shu to plead guilty to the officials afterwards. Now I immediately order Zhang Shouyue to send five thousand troops to rescue Xiangzi City! What do you think, General Manager Gao?"
Gao Zunyu rolled his eyes. He was just greedy for credit and wanted to avoid responsibility. There was no need to offend so many people.
He said: "In this case, Gao has nothing to say, but Gao still said the same thing, if you insist on sending troops, I will not stop you, but if Xixia comes to attack, you will bear all the consequences yourself!"
After saying that, Gao Zunyu rolled his sleeves and left the White Tiger Festival Hall.
Zhang Yue, who was in Xiangzi City, was also in danger.
Overnight, there were 20,000 to 30,000 more Fan troops outside Xiangzi City. Zhang Yue looked at so many Fan troops surrounding the city, like a vast ocean surrounding a lonely boat.
At this moment, his scalp was also numb.
Li Kui climbed up the city wall and said to Zhang Yue: "Teacher, although the Fan army is large in number, they do not have any weapons to attack the city, so there is no need to worry. As long as our army works together and holds on to the city, we will be able to wait until reinforcements arrive."
Zhang Yue was pleased to see that Li Kui was calm. He had improved a lot since he was a defeated general.
However, as a dignified military envoy, he was surrounded by tens of thousands of soldiers, which was really embarrassing.
While they were talking, the Fan army set a fire under the city. Then the Fan army greased the arrows with oil to set the fire and shot them into the city from all sides.
Zhang Yue secretly shouted that something was wrong and ordered his soldiers to put out the fire.
Xiangzi City is full of wooden-walled houses with thatched roofs, which are easy to burn when exposed to fire. The Song army also saw the tricks and scolded the peasants who were scurrying around like headless flies. The soldiers poured water on the felt blankets they carried with them and covered it on the roof, successfully preventing the Fan army from setting fire to the city.
At the same time, the Song army also installed various flying cannons and firearms on the top of the city and attacked the Fan army below the city, causing many casualties to the Tibetan army. The two armies fought for a day, and the Fan army retreated at nightfall.
However, at night, a lot of movement could be heard in the Fan army camp. It seemed that they were planning to attack the city for the second time.
Zhang Yue and his armor were resting against the wall of the city. At this time, Zhang Sai came to him and reported: "Your Majesty, my men have just discovered traces of someone climbing over the wall into the city from the outside!"
When Zhang Yue heard this, he immediately became alert. Li Kui on the side said, "Have you already sneaked into the city? What should we do? Do we want to clear out all the people in the city from their houses and question them?"
Zhang Yue stretched out his hand and said: "We don't know the details of the people in the city, how can we ask them? What if there is too much movement and the people in the city are forced to rebel?"
"What's that good?"
Zhang Yue said: "These agents who entered the city must be acting as internal agents. They will either set fire to the city or seize the city gate. You will send people to lie in wait on the streets tonight. Tomorrow, if you see anyone moving in the streets, kill them on the spot without asking for any reason." !”
Zhang Sai said yes and immediately went to arrange it.
Zhang Yue continued to take a nap at the top of the city. He had actually not slept for two days and two nights since the siege, but strangely, he was not sleepy at all.
The reason seems to be that when fighting, adrenaline hormones will be secreted throughout the body, making people tireless and painless.
I heard that the famous general who commanded the Huaihai Campaign stayed awake for seven days and seven nights.
Zhang Yue was in this state at the moment, so he leaned against the city wall as if he was still awake, listening to the movements of the whole city, except for the Song army on top of his wall.
Like Zhang Yue, they wore blankets and guarded the city. Occasionally they took a sip of wine and kept their armor with them.
On the second day, the drums sounded, and the Fan army surrounded the city on all sides and fired arrows at the top of the city.
Xi Qi, who was guarding the outer city, immediately lined up his soldiers on top of the city. After two days of fierce fighting, the Song army also suffered hundreds of casualties. However, seeing the Fan army mass attacking the city, they could only hold on.
Fan's army mainly attacked the west of the city, where arrows rained like rain. Zhang Yue personally led his troops to the west city to supervise the battle.
The Fan army's arrows were shot so fast and densely that the Song army who was defending the city could hardly find their heads. Zhang Yue wore two layers of armor and rushed to the west of the city. He was hit by two arrows. Fortunately, each arrow only penetrated one layer of armor.
Just when the Song army was at their wits' end, Zhang Yue said: "What are you still doing? Take apart the wooden houses under the city and use the wooden walls to block arrows!"
After Zhang Yue finished speaking, the Song soldiers immediately began to demolish the house.
The boards of the house with wooden walls were torn down piece by piece. As the homeowners, who dared to say anything? They watched helplessly as Song Jun demolished the house.
After the planks were removed, they were erected directly at the top of the city to guard against arrows, but the arrows fired by the Fan army were still fast and fierce. The arrows were constantly nailed to the wall, like a big leather drum being beaten with a hammer.
However, the Song army's casualties were small.
The two armies fought until noon, when there was sudden movement in the city.
Zhang Yue ignored the city, but kept staring at the Fan army outside the city and continued to supervise the battle. After a while, Zhang Sai hurriedly climbed up the city wall from the footpath and said: "All the details in the city have been solved."
Zhang Yue immediately stood up and said, "Take me to have a look."
Zhang Yue came to the city and saw more than a dozen corpses. He took off the clothes of these people on the spot and saw that they all had swords and gunpowder on their bodies.
Zhang Yue nodded and said: "Leave them all behind the city!"
Zhang Sai said that he threw all the troops of the Fan army on top of the city with a single voice. After knowing that the internal response failed, the morale of the Fan army that attacked the city was greatly reduced.
At this time, the horn sounded outside the city. Zhang Yue climbed to the city and looked around, only to see a group of soldiers and horses bearing the banner of the Song Army coming towards Xiangzi City from the direction of Hezhou.
The Fan army under the city was in chaos at the moment.
Zhang Yue said to the left and right: "Open the city gate and kill the thieves!"
