On the day Longzhou City was broken, the first person to rush up to the city was named Yue Wenyuan. Later, he and his brother Yue Wenkui took the lead in rushing into the state government office.
The two brothers came from a family of hereditary military officers in Zhuanglangwei, and later became rural army officers in the five towns of Hehuang. Jing Xiaoliu made meritorious service while guarding Zhuanglangwei City, and was respected because of his family's reputation, so he was promoted to the army by the military office. Huben Camp.
They are the descendants of Yue Fei.
However, this bloodline is not uncommon. The Yue family has been in the army for generations, and with the military deployment, it has spread everywhere. Gansu is also a military town, and the descendants of Yue Fei under Liu Chengzong gathered together to form a Yue family camp.
This time, the two of them originally wanted to invade the Yamen and capture Zhizhou alive, but unexpectedly there was no one alive in the Yamen.
When Liu Chengzong entered the city, the soldiers and horses of the commander-in-chief had already taken over the defense. The horse soldiers and the streets in the city loudly read the notice of peace and security for the people, ordering the residents of the city to stay behind closed doors and not to leave their homes. They also asked people to keep an eye on their livestock and not let big birds take them away.
The vultures that followed the army all the way from Qinghai actually gave Liu Shizi a headache.
There are more than thirty groups of vultures following him, each group can have as few as five or six, as many as eleven or two. They will hover in the sky as far as the army can spread out.
The Tang soldiers in the Marshal's Mansion did have the idea of taming vultures. After all, the vultures have become dependent on them. Hovering in the sky will expose the position of the Marshal's army to a certain extent. However, if the situation is taken advantage of, it can also serve as a deterrent and help them discover the situation. enemy.
But later people discovered that there was no need to tame it... This thing is too familiar to people, it is completely familiar with it. As long as it is not hungry, it will not actively attack living creatures, and even if it is hungry, it will not attack the army.
However, when they are hungry, they pose a greater threat to lone small animals, so when the various units of the Marshal's Army are stationed in the camp, they will rob, no, share the vulture's prey.
This actually made their relationship with them even closer.
After all, this is the way vultures live in groups. If one vulture attacks a small animal, other vultures will share in the attack. Then everyone will perform face changes, and their necks and heads will turn red to scare each other.
The marshal's army also knows this skill. Their cloth-covered armor is red. They rush over on horseback and drive away the vultures. They clean the prey, take the best meat, and then cut the rest into strips. Give it to the vultures, make sure nothing is left.
It is very consistent with the vulture’s no-waste lifestyle.
The Marshal's Army has changed the life of the vultures to a great extent. In the past, they would go hungry for a meal, often for several days, and then eat a meal that would make them unable to fly. Marshal, if you go hungry for ten meals in five days, you will have food every meal, but you will not be full every meal.
After all, an eagle cannot be full. If it is full, it will be far away, and if it is hungry, it will devour its owner.
Liu Chengzong's attitude towards vultures was very complicated. He specifically gave orders to the soldiers that even if they were feeding vultures, they could not get close to them.
This order resulted in the marshal's army and the vultures getting along with each other as if they were guests.
Mainly because vultures are big, he is afraid that soldiers will eat vultures. After all, vultures eat carrion and have strong immunity. No one knows whether they will carry other germs. On the other hand, there are also advantages. In this era, rotting corpses are often seen in Shaanxi, and vultures All possible sources of infection that may cause the plague can be eliminated.
When Liu Chengzong entered the Longzhou Yamen, there were only twelve corpses in the Yamen besides his soldiers.
Seven objects were placed in the main hall, and two mats were covered by the brothers of the Yue family. Before they entered the Yamen, there was already chaos in the city. Some people broke into the Yamen and attacked the property, released the prisoners, opened the state treasury, and... Beat to death several government servants and six subordinate officials who remained in the government office.
There were three coffins of different specifications in the back hall, which had also been pried open, but the corpses inside were intact, so they did not disturb Deng Qi's sleep.
Liu Chengzong only took one look and asked someone to cover the coffin again - Deng Qi had fallen so ugly that he covered his body with a thick layer of powder to cover it up, which made it even more ugly.
As for the innermost Zhizhou Residence, according to the brothers of the Yue family, the thieves seemed to have just escaped when they entered and had not had time to enter the back house, so it was not robbed. However, Hu Erchun did not bring his family with him when he took office, and there was nothing inside.
Liu Shizixin said that if he came to be the magistrate of the state, he would not bring his family.
A magistrate is considered a high-ranking official. In other provinces, bringing a family means enjoying the glory and wealth; but in Shaanxi in these days, those who dare to come and take office are desperadoes with their heads hanging from their belts. They are more dangerous than bandits and robbers. There are too many. Unless they are from Shaanxi, it would be more dangerous for their family members to be placed elsewhere. Otherwise, how many people dare to take their family members to office?
Hu Erchun and Li Qimao were at the back house of Zhou Yamen.
On the table in the room were half a jug of wine, two glasses, and a long letter.
The rich magistrate and the eggless eunuch are all the same at this time, with six feet of plain cloth hanging on the left and right on the beam.
When Liu Chengzong saw Li Qimao hanging on the beam, his heart was not disturbed. However, when he saw Hu Erchun hanging on the beam, he became very angry and frowned.
The two brothers Yue Wenyuan and Yue Wenkui, who were leading the way, looked at each other, wondering why the commander suddenly became somber.
Yue Wenkui thought that Liu Chengzong had not seen the seal of Zhizhou, so he quickly pointed to the table and said: "Commander, the seal of Zhizhou is still there. Under the tree in the courtyard where it is hidden, in the newly dug soil, you can tell at a glance that something is hidden."
"well done."
Liu Chengzong rested his left hand on the handle of the knife at his waist, walked to the table, picked up Hu Erchun's letter, and started chopping it up.
This Hu Erchun died with no dignity. Before the war, Liu Shizi wrote to him to persuade him. He made it clear that Longzhou City only had people and no officers and soldiers, so it was impossible to defend it. Even if it was defended to the death, the three Without reinforcements within a few days, the city will be destroyed. It is better to surrender early so as not to harm other people's lives.
So as soon as the city was broken in the morning, Liu Shishi had one thing in his mind: I had to give him a good scolding when he entered the city.
If I had known today, why would I have to surrender in the first place?
He was still thinking about the war between heaven and man in his mind. He was thinking that if Hu Erchun would cry bitterly and regret his mistake, he should surrender and then give him an official position. After all, this man is also a talented and capable official, and he has a strong backbone, which suits Liu The lion has all the requirements for wearing official robes.
As a result, as soon as he entered the city, Liu Shizi had all his curse words ready, so he hanged himself.
Now he was only looking forward to this final letter, hoping that Hu Erchun would repent when his life came to an end. However, he opened the letter and read it, and was disappointed.
This Hu Erchun was really pure and tougher than Liu Chengzong imagined. The letter was written to his old mother and son in his hometown. He only mentioned him at the end and asked him to be kind to the people.
Li Qimao was even cooler. He left without leaving a single word.
Liu Chengzong had no temper at all towards these two people. He waved his hands impatiently and said to the Yue brothers in the house: "Put down these two pendants of loyalty, and have someone prepare two more coffins. Together with Deng Qi in the main hall, give them both to the left. No. , send them all to Tang Jiuzhou hidden in the mountains to the north."
In fact, Hu Erchun regretted it.
When the moat outside the city was filled in last night, Hu Erchun regretted why he didn't open the city directly.
But war is like this. Sima Yi said that if you can fight, fight, if you can't fight, defend, and if you can't defend, leave. The other two things can only be surrendered to death.
However, the moats had been filled in, and Hu Erchun felt that it was inappropriate to surrender at this time.
With two armies facing each other, when is the best time to surrender?
When the gap between the two sides is smallest, the cost to the enemy is greatest.
Liu Chengzong was outside the city, and Hu Erchun was inside the city. There were city walls, moats, and moats in between. Even if the victory was not fought, the outcome would be determined. There were 300 defenders, so the attackers would have to make a mental decision in advance to pay the price of 600 lives. preparation.
It is most advantageous to surrender at this time.
When the city was actually attacked, the marshal's army suffered three casualties. Two of them were killed by the three-eyed blunderbuss. One of them was frightened by the sound and light of the fire blunderbuss when he was riding his horse to the city. The defenders were defeated - there was no threat at all, so why surrender?
If a person is not a threat, he has no value.
Hu Erchun thought to himself, instead of surrendering and being humiliated and bringing disaster to his family, it would be better to be a loyal minister and I would die!
Soon two seals were presented by Yue Wenkui. Liu Shizi was looking at the two seals when he heard Yu Linqi report that General Bee Tail Needle was asking for an audience.
Liu Chengzong asked people to come in and said with a smile: "If you don't pick up cannonballs in the city, what are you doing here at the state government office?"
Attacking a strategic location is just tiring. Attacking a city is so refreshing, but cleaning it up after attacking it is so hard.
Liu Chengzong also had to use this Longzhou City. After all, this was not the front or rear, but behind the enemy's lines. Therefore, the filled trenches had to be dug again, the built hills had to be removed again, and bricks were even built outside the city. Factory, we need to repair the parapet wall at the top of the city and the sheep and horse wall outside.
Bee Tail Needle Zhang Zhen carried a long bundle into the back hall and pouted. All he saw along the way were corpses. He thought that the city head was not the place where the fiercest resistance was, but the state government office was.
Seeing Liu Chengzong from a distance, Bee Tail Needle hurriedly ran two steps, stepped forward and said with a smile: "Commander, I found the cannonball. I came here to present a good thing to the Marshal."
What can I say, this guy's two steps of running were quite fake, but it made people feel quite comfortable watching him. Then he handed the black satin baggage in his hand to Liu Chengzong.
Liu Chengzong took the baggage, which weighed four or five kilograms. When he opened it, he saw a short blunderbuss, which was very finely made.
While he was examining the workmanship of this self-generated fire gun, he heard Bee Tail Needle beside him, looking at the two people lying in the hall, and asked: "Hey, Marshal, this one with the hairless mouth is the guard eunuch Li Qimao, right?"
Liu Chengzong handed the self-made fire gun to Yu Linqi and asked them to keep it first and send it to the Ordnance Bureau after the battle. Then he turned to the Bee Tail Needle, nodded and asked, "Is there anything else?"
"Commander, that bludgeoning weapon is not a fun thing for a humble job."
Bee Tail Needle said with a smile: "When I was looking for cannonballs in my humble job, I bumped into some Jinyi fans hiding in a private house. I killed several of them, and they were all Li Qimao's personal followers. I left one alive and said that there are more than 4,000 horses in Yaozhou, and the seal is As for Li Qimao, just write a letter over there asking them not to move, and we can go over and get the horse."
"The imperial court has raised horses for the commander-in-chief again. More than four thousand horses are being kept in Yaozhou, waiting for the commander-in-chief to pick them up."
As soon as Beetail Needle finished speaking, he saw Liu Chengzong throwing something casually. He caught it in his hand without even reacting. After a moment of confusion, he saw that it was the seal of the guarding eunuch.
"You've been promoted."
Frightened, Bee Tail Needle felt a chill on her crotch.
"You take care of this. Write to them and ask them to take good care of my horse."
After saying that, Liu Chengzong turned to look at the two brothers of the Yue family. His eyes roamed over their faces repeatedly, and finally settled on his brother Yue Wenyuan's face: "Have you read a book?"
Yue Wenyuan was stunned for a moment, not understanding what the generalissimo meant... They all had to study before entering Huben Camp, and there were no illiterate soldiers in Huben Camp.
After realizing that Liu Chengzong was still waiting for his answer, Yue Wenyuan quickly said: "Come back to the commander-in-chief, my little brother has been studying in the military academy since he was a child, and he was favored to study at Huben Camp."
Liu Shizi nodded and pondered: "In that case, take the reward for being the first to get there...and I will dispatch a hundred people from each camp to help you."
The seal was thrown into Yue Wenyuan's arms, and then he heard Liu Chengzong say: "I will know the affairs of Longzhou temporarily. If you do well, you will come. If you don't do well, I will wait until Zhang Yuanheng takes over later."
Yue Wenyuan was stunned for a moment, looking at Liu Chengzong in a daze, then looking down at the official seal, then looking up at Liu Chengzong, and then he suddenly realized what he was doing and quickly bowed down to express his gratitude.
Even when he prostrated himself, he didn't understand how the official position of magistrate, who could bring glory to his ancestors, could fly into his arms so easily.
But Liu Chengzong obviously didn't care about this matter. Longzhou was a scattered state with no counties. It was a checkpoint with several inspection departments under its jurisdiction. There were only more than a thousand households under its governance, so it was not a difficult place to govern.
"You don't need to worry about military matters. A senior counselor will temporarily station a battalion in Longzhou, so you can stabilize Longzhou."
After Liu Chengzong finished speaking, he reminded again: "However, there are many things to worry about when governing a place. You just took over and it was very difficult. I won't make it difficult for you. I don't ask for merit, but I ask for no faults."
"Yes! I will obey the commander's instructions carefully!"
"As for Wen Kui, do you want to stay here to help your brother, or continue to stay in Huben Camp?"
Before Yue Wenkui could speak, Yue Wenyuan had already raised his head and said, "Follow the Marshal, Wenkui will follow the Marshal."
However, when Yue Wenkui saw Liu Chengzong looking over, he thought for a while and said, "I listen to the commander-in-chief."
Liu Chengzong smiled: "Then continue to follow me."
After leaving the yamen, Liu Shishi calculated the time and estimated that Mianyang and Baoji in the south had also surrounded him. Zhang Yichuan in the west of Qinzhou should also fight Zuo Liangyu. If he didn't come to support, he might not be able to hold on for long. He called to Yu Linqi and planned to let Gao Yingdeng clean up the mess here and send someone to give the order to break camp.
However, they did not expect that before the waiting Yu Linqi could reach them, they heard the sound of a cannon from the northern suburbs of Longzhou City while they were in the city.
"what happened?"
As soon as Liu Chengzong asked this question, he already had the answer in his heart.
Because the sound of artillery fire from the north did not stop, but became more intensive, mixed with the sound of gunshots.
There was no doubt that a fight started.
Soon, a sergeant rode into the city outside the north gate. It was General Bai Yingshanhong of Gao Yingdeng's department. He rolled off his saddle and prostrated himself and said: "Commander, the enemy is trying to break out to the south. It seems that they want to go to Liupan Mountain. They have been captured by our troops." Blocked at the mountain pass."
Breakout?
Going to Liupan Mountain?
Liu Shizi wondered if there was such a good thing?
This is not seeking death.
"Wen Kui, go in and tell your brother that Deng Qi is not looking for Tang Jiuzhou anymore."
After Liu Chengzong finished speaking, he turned to Ying Shanhong and said: "Don't stop him, let him go up... Come here, tell Brigadier Wang on the mountain to guard the mountain road for me. If Tang Jiuzhou comes in, don't even think about going back!" ( End of this chapter)
