Li Yuan and others were aware of the fire at the other side's military camp on the Tanzhou City Tower as soon as possible. Everyone stood on the tower and looked at the fire in the distance. They saw that the fire turned into a blazing fire in a short time, and the camp opposite was in chaos. Li Yuan was very calm, but Peng Qingying was surprised.
Li Yuan chuckled and said, "Did you see that? I'm not lying to you. Is the camp on fire? This is the big drama tonight. The fire is the storage yard of the other party's mid-camp grain and grass supplies."
Peng Qingying asked in surprise: "How did your Majesty know that there would be a fire in the enemy's camp? When did you arrange this strategy?"
Li Yuan smiled and said: "I will clear up your doubts later, but now I have to save people, otherwise the person who set the fire may not come out alive."
Li Yuan turned his head and ordered in a deep voice to the guards not far away: "Send a signal and order Wang Jingguo and Zouping to lead cavalry and crossbowmen to meet Liu Chengwu and others to ensure their safe breakout."
Three signal bombs soared into the sky, and the three city gates in the north, south and east of Tanzhou suddenly opened. The Chu cavalry who had been waiting in the square inside the city gate swarmed out of Tanzhou City from the three city gates. After a while, 10,000 cavalry gathered on the battlefield outside the east city. They didn't waste any time, and after arranging the team for a while, they rode their horses and charged towards the opponent's front camp.
Not long after the cavalry was dispatched, Zouping led five thousand crossbowmen and ran out of the east city gate, followed the cavalry and rushed towards the enemy camp.
Liu Chengwu, Zhang Yaoxian, Li Zhong and others led hundreds of soldiers to quickly rush to the entrance of the rear camp entering the front camp. The soldiers guarding the camp gate had no suspicion. Seeing that Li Zhong and others were burned, dozens of soldiers guarding the camp gate quickly opened the camp gate to let them in. At this moment, thousands of pursuers came from behind and shouted loudly towards the camp gate from a distance.
"Stop them, don't let them in, they are arsonists! His Royal Highness King Huai has an order, Li Zhong, Liu Chengwu, Zhang Yaoxian are the enemy's arsonists, behead them without mercy! Behead them without mercy!"
The defenders at the camp gate were a little confused, and while they were in astonishment, Liu Chengwu and Zhang Yao knew that the incident had been exposed first, and immediately attacked, raising their swords and slashing.
Hundreds of people chopped down dozens of defenders and rushed into the front camp, heading straight to the southwest corner of the camp along the road between the tents. That is the direction where his troops are stationed. A dozen of his captains, leading a total of 8,000 troops, are ready to defect. If they rush there, they will have enough manpower to stand out from the front camp.
But at the same time, a dozen of Zhang Wenbiao's men rode on horseback to convey Zhang Wenbiao's order to the former camp general Zhang Gu. Zhang Gu was frightened and angry, and ordered to intercept them while shouting curses. He was so angry that he cursed and ordered to besieged and killed.
The horse's hooves were faster than the legs. The news that Liu Chengwu, Zhang Yaoxian and Li Zhong were enemy soldiers and the arsonists quickly spread throughout the front camp. At this time, Liu Chengwu and others were still more than two miles away from their camp in the southwest.
Soon, Liu Chengwu and others were surrounded by blockades from all directions. No matter how capable Liu Chengwu and others were, they could not break through the encirclement of tens of thousands of soldiers and horses. In desperation, Liu Chengwu and others rushed to a small slope in the camp, hoping to take advantage of the terrain to resist.
The furious Zhang Gu led his guards and horses to the bottom of the slope, raised his head and cursed at Liu Chengwu and others on the slope.
"Liu Chengwu, Zhang Yaoxian, and Li Zhong, you three scoundrels, the imperial court treats you badly. You dare to betray the imperial court and work as a spy for the traitor Li Yuan and burn the army's food and fodder. I treat you well and treat you as brothers. You How dare you make trouble in my tent. If you don't come down and surrender immediately, you may leave your body intact."
Liu Chengwu poked his head out from the small slope, laughed loudly and shouted down: "Zhang Gu, who do you call brother and sister? Who is your brother? Apart from your last name, you are nothing? Besides, you don't want to Think about it, who betrayed the imperial court?
Li Congjia forced the late emperor to kill his brothers, and both humans and gods were outraged that his position was unfair! Now the real imperial court is in Langzhou! The Duke of Chu State in the Tang Dynasty accepted the mandate from heaven and was the real emperor! Li Congjia is a traitor who has usurped the throne and murdered all the princes. Zhang Wenbiao is also a rebellious traitor with arrogant ambitions who threatens the emperor and the princes. You are Zhang Wenbiao's lackey. What qualifications do you have to speak here?
If you want to persuade me to surrender, I will give you a piece of advice. If you go against me, His Majesty the Emperor of Chu, you will die! If you are aware of current affairs, you should immediately defect to my Majesty. I will protect your prosperity and wealth. "
Zhang Gu cursed: "Sons of bitches, you are still stubborn and misleading the public with your evil words. You are seeking death on your own, so you can't blame me. I wanted to give you a whole corpse, but now I want to cut you into thousands of pieces." "
Zhang Yaoxian also raised his head and shouted loudly: "Zhang Gu, my grandfathers have not planned to get out alive for a long time. It doesn't matter if we die, you will be finished soon. You have also seen the methods of my Majesty, not to mention the 150,000 here." Even if we have twice as many troops and horses, you will still be no match for us. Surrender quickly if you have the sense, and we can put in a few good words for you in front of Your Majesty, and we may be able to save your life."
"What Lao Zhang said is absolutely correct. I have something to explain to you. Tonight, all the army's granary supplies have been burned down by us. The mountain road leading to Jiangbei has also been destroyed by my son, the Chu Army. There is no food and grass sent in now. , there is no food and grass to sustain it, think about it, how many days can you still run around? How long will it take if you don’t surrender quickly?" Liu Chengwu laughed loudly.
The soldiers who were surrounded by the slope heard it clearly and were all horrified. What Liu Chengwu said was blocked information, so the soldiers naturally had no way of knowing it. But tonight there was a fire in the direction of the granary of the middle camp. In the afternoon, the army mobilized tens of thousands of people out of the camp to go to Shishan Road. They were doing something mysterious and unknown.
Now, judging from these two pieces of news, I am afraid that something happened to the food channel. Liu Chengwu's words may not be full of nonsense, but there is truth.
"Brothers below, what I said is true. You are still kept in the dark. The army has run out of food and will soon be unable to withstand it. Why are you still here working hard for Li Congjia and Zhang Wenbiao? He, Li Congjia, usurped the throne. Rebel, my Majesty was the number one general in the Tang Dynasty in the past, and he was a god in his military skills. You should stop working for these traitors, otherwise you will lose your life in vain!" Liu Chengwu shouted loudly.
The soldiers looked at each other, frightened and restless, and some whispered to each other.
Seeing this scene, Zhang Gu cursed at the soldiers around him: "What are you doing? What are you talking about? Do you believe what these three rebels say? They are just talking nonsense when they are desperate. They don't let me shoot arrows. Let's kill them." Shoot them all.”
The soldiers didn't dare to listen. A group of archers bent their bows and nocked arrows, and started shooting arrows toward the top of the slope. This small slope was originally a raised land in the camp. When setting up camp, a lot of sand, soil and stones were piled on it to make it higher and wider. It was used as a lookout in the camp and for command during war.
There are many high platforms with accumulated sand in the camp, which are used for lookout and for generals to stand on and give orders during war. Therefore, these slopes are not completely defenseless. A half-man-high sand wall is piled on the edge to surround the wall, leaving an up and down earth step. During war, archers and spearmen can defend themselves on the earth platform to prevent enemy assassination. The commanding general.
Arrows were coming like rain at this moment, so this simple fortification could serve as a shelter for Liu Chengwu and others. However, the area above the earth platform was too small. There were hundreds of Liu Chengwu's men. Only about 300 people could hide safely in the place where the arrows could be safely hidden. The remaining 200 people could only squeeze in and could not be completely protected. The dense area The arrow fell, and hundreds of people were hit by arrows, and screams could not be heard.
Liu Chengwu, Zhang Yao, Li Zhong and the others hid by the earthen steps in the southwest corner. They had tried not to take up too much space, letting Li Zhong hide in the innermost position. Liu Chengwu and Zhang Yao huddled outside first, blocking the arrows with their weapons. The brothers around them were shot many times and screamed in agony, but the three of them could do nothing.
"Brothers, there is nothing we can do. I can't save you. Everyone, go on your way first. We will come to look for you in a moment. We will just bring a few people to accompany you." Liu Chengwu sighed.
The soldiers who were hit by arrows knew that they had no chance of survival. Many of them had arrows stuck in their bodies but were not dead for a while. The pain was unbearable, so they wiped their necks themselves. Others simply climbed over the edge of the platform and jumped off, hoping to kill one or two people to support them, but the moment they jumped, they were cut into pieces with random knives.
After several rounds of arrows were fired, the soldiers below began to approach the steps on the southwest side of the platform, intending to attack them and kill them all. Liu Chengwu lay on the sandbag and saw clearly, and said with a wry smile: "Old Zhang, Brother Li, I'm afraid we won't be able to escape today, and everything will be handed over here. Don't you regret it later?"
Zhang Yaoxian smiled bitterly and said: "What do you regret? In fact, my brothers and I surrendered to the rebels before. Although it was a helpless move, we were really sorry for the Tang Dynasty and the late emperor. We should have died long ago. I have made money by living for more than half a year. In these six months, I I also took a concubine and gave birth to a son, I am quite capable."
Liu Chengwu laughed loudly and said: "Old Zhang, you are indeed good enough. It's a pity that the one in my family is a tigress and won't let me take a concubine. If I had known this, I wouldn't have listened to her. At least my sweetheart in Qingxifang, Jinling I want to marry my little flower home."
Zhang Yao laughed loudly when he heard this. Liu Chengwu looked at Li Zhong, who was silent and said: "Brother Li, are you afraid? You, too, have to wade through this muddy water. We all have a low life, but you are different. You were born as a Jinshi, and now you are in vain." What a pity!"
Li Zhong shook his head and said: "What are you talking about? How can you call this a trip into troubled waters? I am not afraid either. Don't forget that although I am a scholar, I have practiced martial arts and swords since I was a child. I am not afraid of death! I study hard in the cold window but serve the country. Wumen, what's the use of the title of Jinshi? I'll kill a few people today to provide support."
Zhang Yao first raised his finger and praised: "Brother Li Zhong is the toughest scholar I have ever seen. Although I am a rough man, I also know Brother Li's name and your masterpiece. That song 'Favours must be repaid in time,' isn't it? He almost committed suicide. When the divine sword soared into the sky, who would be the one to blame!' The writing is really powerful. Sure enough, the poem is just like the person it was written. Brother Li abandoned his official position and walked around the world with his sword. Such courage and momentum! We warriors are all excited after reading this."
Li Zhong shook his head and smiled bitterly: "What's the point? A person like Emperor Li Yuan of Chu is born to be a general and victorious. This is the real power. When I met him at the Yangzhou Poetry Society in the past, his literary talent was also extremely good. Extraordinary, compared with a versatile man like him in both civil and military affairs, he is simply insignificant. Hey, I thought I could see him this time, and I also wanted to ask him for advice, but unfortunately I didn’t have the chance."
Liu Chengwu smacked his lips and said: "It is indeed a pity. Otherwise, you two must have hit it off very well after meeting each other. Your Majesty has promised to send troops to rescue, but why is there no movement? The fire in the camp is so lively, Your Majesty will not You can’t see it.”
Li Zhongdao: "I seemed to have seen a signal bomb coming from the city just now. Didn't you see it? I don't know if it was a signal to rescue us."
Liu Chengwu and Zhang Yao were stunned for a moment, then asked at the same time: "When was that?"
"When we rushed to the back camp gate, you were busy killing people and might not have noticed." Li Zhong said.
Liu Chengwu and Zhang Yao looked at each other first, with surprise smiles on their faces. Liu Chengwu shouted: "Great, then His Majesty should send troops to rescue us. Haha, maybe we don't have to die here, and we don't have to fight desperately. We can hold the slope here and delay it for a while. Reinforcements may be available soon. arrive!"
