The siege of the city has reached March, and the roads inside and outside the city are covered with slush, which has melted into water. Relying on his familiarity with Jiang Li's terrain, Zuo Wen secretly crossed the valley and blocked Jiang Li's last retreat. The news leaked, and people in the city were panicked. Ren Lian's food supply was already stretched thin, and it was difficult to feed the entire army, let alone the people in the city. Rich businessmen drove up prices, making food on the market more expensive than gold.
In this predicament, countless people chose to take risks and escape, and countless people rebelled and surrendered.
In order to calm down the public anger, Ren Lian had no choice but to choose a few wealthy businessmen to operate, and then he was barely stable, but this was not a long-term solution after all.
Why have the reinforcements in the rear been holding back for so long? Ren Lian's eyes are almost looking forward to bleeding! If this continues, Jiang Li will belong to others sooner or later, and once the defense line here is broken, the entire Bingzhou will no longer have natural dangers to defend.
As for the imperial army, Gao Yu followed Yu Jitao's advice and focused on attacking the heart. Spies were often sent everywhere to lobby and distribute notices: "Anyone who captures Ren Lian alive will be rewarded with a hundred taels of silver." After Ren Lian learned the news, he immediately conducted a large-scale manhunt and copied the same words: "Anyone who captures a tall fish alive will also be rewarded." One hundred taels of silver."
While spreading in the city, they did not forget to order the archers to shoot into the Gaoyu military camp.
I don’t know how long this war of attrition can last.
Late at night, a group of soldiers outside the city continued to dig tunnels quietly in the darkness. This tunnel has been excavated for several days and leads directly to the inner wall of the other side's city wall. In order to prevent collapse, trees in the forest were cut down as support.
They thought it was perfect, but on the first day of construction, they were watched by Ren Lian. When everyone asked to stop it, Ren Lian said with a smile: "Let them dig, I will use this plan to make sure they never come back!"
Ren Lian's technique was extremely clever. He dug large pits on both sides of the city, and then placed dozens of large urns covered with leather. He selected a few people who were good listeners to listen to the sound. As long as the other party dug, there would be a loud noise.
At the same time, he ordered people to shovel away the surrounding slush and pour water again. Where the water seeped out too quickly, it was most likely the entrance to the cave. Ran Shu was shocked and praised him endlessly. Ren Liang simply smiled and said, "It's not worth mentioning a small skill."
After predicting the possible opening of the other party, Ren Curtain set up the stove on the spot and prepared the blast box with the chimney mouth facing downward. Once the hole is opened, it can be installed directly and inserted into the hole.
The city is patrolled day and night to prevent surprise attacks at any time.
But today, Gao Yujun thought that victory was in sight and accelerated the excavation process. Soon, a ray of sunlight shone into the cave. The soldiers were nervous and no one dared to be the vanguard. Still a brave man, he held out his chest, held a long sword, and stepped on the ladder to slowly open the hole. He was just unearthed and explored the surroundings.
"Come, brother?"
"I go!"
I saw dozens of big men with weird smiles on their faces, and with a heavy punch, they scattered the human ladder in the cave, and shouted loudly: "The bandit army is here!"
Under Ren Lian's mobilization, countless soldiers threw mugwort, firewood, and torches into the cave, and suddenly thick smoke billowed out.
In order to increase the intensity, Ren Lian personally added firewood to the stove, installed the inverted chimney, inserted it into the hole, and blocked the chimney with mud boards. In this way, all the thick black smoke was dispersed in the tunnel, and the bellows were pulled. , the fire became more and more fierce, seeming to reach the sky, and the black smoke also increased. For a time, the tunnel was in panic, and countless people were trampled to death.
There were a thousand people entering the tunnel, but only about twenty people escaped...
Yu Jitao opposed taking the initiative to attack. According to his judgment, if the opponent no longer had reinforcements and food supplies, he would die within a month.
But Gao Yu didn't believe in this evil either, and he insisted on fighting this bastard Ren Lian to the end.
"If that's the case, then I'll dig down your city wall too!"
Gao Yu ordered people to dig tunnels around the city wall and deliberately selected extremely fragile wood for support. In the end, he planned to collapse the entire city wall with just a fire.
As the saying goes, heroes meet when they meet on a narrow road. Ren Lian also ordered people to dig tunnels and deliberately cut off Gao Yu's return route, causing him to return defeated. At the same time, people were asked to reinforce the tunnel, hoping to use this road to get out of the city for a decisive battle. Gao Yu ordered people to block the entrance of the cave with huge rocks, and the tunnel battle failed again.
Ren Lian, on the other hand, is always looking for opportunities to counterattack.
Gaoyu suffered heavy losses during the several-day siege and was forced to retreat. Yuan Hang, Zhang Batian and Zuo Wen were left behind to continue the siege. It is said in the art of war that "a besieged army must be surrounded". Zuo Wen deliberately left the northeast gate open to intercept the fleeing soldiers, gather the fleeing people, and distribute food. When word of these good deeds spread to the city, people's hearts surged.
In this desperate situation, how can we get a glimmer of hope?
Burn food and grass!
Ren Lian patted the table, and spies were released to inquire about the enemy camp. According to reports from spies, the chief of the military ration guard was Zuo Biao, Zuo Wen's grandson, and his deputy was Shi Xuan. After receiving the news, Ren Liang stretched his eyebrows and laughed with joy: "Fortunately, the military advisor's suggestions were rejected, and two boys were asked to guard the granary. Gao Yu'er is nothing more than that!"
Ran Li said: "There is a shortage of arrows in the city, and the production speed is far from keeping up with the needs of the war. How can we fight back even if we leave the city?"
"Don't worry, I will solve it..."
Ren Lian remembered the story of Zhuge Liang borrowing arrows from a straw boat during the Three Kingdoms period, and came up with a plan. The army was ordered to collect straw, tie them up into more than a thousand straw men, cover them with black cloth, and hang them down from the tower with ropes at night. Yuan Hang thought that the enemy was about to attack, so he ordered his crossbowmen to fire at once. The loud sound of pulling strings suddenly disappeared, and the arrows were as fast as a shower, and most of them hit the straw man. Ren Lian "borrowed" hundreds of thousands of them without spending a single soldier. Yuan Hang finally realized that he had fallen into the trap and was furious.
For several days in a row, Ren Lian still sent people to test him, but Yuan Hang had already seen through it and ignored him. It was like this for several days.
"The bandit army has been paralyzed. I will select three hundred warriors from the army and follow me out of the city to surprise the granary!"
Ren Lian and three hundred warriors braved the night, each holding a bundle of firewood, and quietly landed outside the city, easily dodging the paralyzed Yuan Hangjun. Ren Lian held a wooden stick in his mouth and a double sword in his hand, bending down and walking quickly like an assassin.
As for the troops stationed in the granary, Zuo Biao quickly became corrupted as soon as he took office. Not only did he allow his soldiers to extract military rations, but he also drank and talked all night long, drunkenly and dreamily.
The staff on the side advised: "The young general is so lax, is he going to repeat the lesson of Chun Yuqiong's drunkenness and unpreparedness, which led to a disastrous defeat?"
"Huh?" Zuo Biao's face was red from drunkenness, and he was stinking of alcohol. He tugged his stiff tongue and cursed angrily: "In the entire military camp, my grandfather has said the same thing, and no one dares to offend him. How dare you, a sour scholar, borrow the help of a drunkard from Wuchao to come here?" If you humiliate and ridicule me, you should be beheaded! You should be beheaded!"
"The defense of the granary is the key to the war. The major general drinks and becomes decadent all day long, which really chills the soldiers!"
Zuo Biao cursed loudly, raised the wine jar and threw it at the staff member. The pottery shattered with a huge sound. The staff member's head was covered with blood and he died on the spot.
"Throw him out and keep drinking!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a soldier in ragged clothes hurriedly rushed in, knelt down and reported: "Major General, the granary... the granary has been burned!!!"
"You fart! The city gate has been sealed by molten iron. How can Ren Lian leave the city?" Zuo Biao stood up unsteadily, supporting the table.
The soldier didn't need to explain. An arrow suddenly struck him, hitting his turban and nailing him to the wall behind his head. He was so frightened that he collapsed on the ground and was mostly sober from the wine.
I saw Ran Shu holding a spear in his hand and shouting loudly: "Zuo Biao, surrender quickly!"
Dozens of warriors broke into the military camp and assassinated all the drunken defenders. They wanted to seize Zuo Biao as a bargaining chip and force Zuo Wen to give in.
At this moment, Shi Xuan rode a fast horse and rushed into the military camp with a sharp sword in hand. His horse was flying high, and three or four people were killed in one collision. Ran Shu ordered the warriors to surround him, and his sharp long sword reached the horse's belly.
Zuo Biao took advantage of the chaos and ran away quickly. Ran Su wanted to pursue him, but Shi Xuan whipped his horse whip desperately, so that everyone did not dare to take a step. But the horse was frightened, so he left Shi Xuan behind and rushed out of the camp alone.
Ren Liang came after hearing the sound and led all the warriors to surround Shi Xuan in the center of the military camp. Several tried to go up and kill them, but Shi Xuan was unusually calm and killed five or six of them.
"Isn't this brother Shi Xuan? You haven't forgotten the lesson of peeing your pants last time?" Ren Lian laughed loudly, and the warriors also encouraged him.
Shi Xuan gritted his teeth and held the sword tightly.
"I didn't kill you last time, and I will do the same this time. As long as you are willing to surrender, I might be merciful and spare your life!"
"Bah!" Shi Xuan spat: "The last time I surrendered, I don't know how many people treated me coldly. My father entrusted me with a dream and called me a traitor, calling me unworthy of being a member of the Shi family. My father told me... tell me I……"
Shi Xuan's eyes were filled with tears and he shouted loudly:
"A man from the Shi family will never bend his knees and be humiliated!"
After saying this, Shi Xuan's sword touched his neck, a cold light flashed, and the blood from his neck skyrocketed.
His expression after death showed no trace of pain, and was even somewhat calm. The smile on the corner of his mouth seemed to be telling his father: "See, I am also a member of the Shi family..."
Everyone was silent...
Ren Liang was extremely shocked. He slowly stepped forward, wiped away the blood on Shi Xuan's cheek, and closed his eyes, as if to apologize for his rude attitude.
"Bring him back to the city and bury him alive!"
…
