A skinny camel is bigger than a horse. Although Zhu Zhicang belongs to a clan that has been in decline for many years, he is different from ordinary people after all. Since he fights for the clan's children, he will not be inferior in equipment.
At this time, he heard the sound of drums coming from the Ximen Tower, and he hurried to the Ximen Tower. Less than three hundred warriors were gathering here, most of them unarmored.
Many people even signed up to be willing to lower the city to kill thieves just to covet the ten taels of silver. In fact, what they wanted was similar to Zhu Zhicang's. They wanted to get the ten taels of silver to give to their families first.
At this time, most of the people who can be enlisted as social soldiers are poor people in Kaifeng City, and there are also many refugees who have fled from other counties. They are willing to risk their lives and fight for a way out for the old and young at home.
After all, as long as you become a soldier and a brave soldier, you will get a piece of money to settle down. Now, as long as you sign up, you will have ten taels of silver regardless of the outcome of the battle after going to the city. The poor people in the city and the refugees from outside the city are even more enthusiastic.
Gao Mingheng finally encouraged these brave men who were preparing to lower the city to kill the thieves: "Now that you have received the money, you must not retreat. After you go down to the city, you must fight hard to kill the thieves. If you cannot kill the thieves, you will not be able to do so." Go up to the city.
Do you understand everything? "
"Understood, kill the thief with all your strength, and there will be no retreat until death!"
"Okay. Kill the thieves and I will wait for you to come back and celebrate the New Year together."
After Gao Mingheng finished speaking, he turned around and said to the soldiers and civilians standing on the city wall: "You must hold on to the rope in your hands and lower it slowly. Never let go."
"yes!"
He shouted again: "Tie the ropes. Listen to my orders and prepare to throw firewood, lamp oil, and 'enemies of ten thousand people'. Burn a bunch of thieves first, and when the smoke starts, the warriors will go down to the city to kill the thieves."
The soldiers and civilians on the top of the city immediately became busy. Soaked cloth towels were wrapped around the mouths and noses of the suicide squad members, and bundles of dry firewood were thrown down from the base of the city wall.
Then buckets of lamp oil poured down, and along with the torches fell dozens of enemies.
"Boom...boom...boom..."
A fire dragon ignited again at the base of the city wall south of Kaifeng's west gate. Along with the roar and explosion of tens of thousands of enemies, there were waves of cries and howls of thieves.
…………
Liu Chengzu and Wu Bocai grabbed the third city brick. When they ran back to the rugged ditch with the city bricks in their arms, there were roars and explosions behind them. Liu Chengzu was shaken on the spot and fell down in the ditch.
He looked back and saw that the place where he had just been digging out bricks from the city was already a sea of fire. There were a dozen hungry people and two thieves running towards him, crying and burning.
Liu Chengzu had no time to rejoice that he had run away a dozen steps earlier, when he heard Uncle Wu yelling beside him: "Run...run...don't dare to wait stupidly..."
But he seemed to be caught by something and couldn't get up for a while. He looked down anxiously and saw that he was pressing on a frozen corpse of a starving man. The corpse's stiff left hand was tightly hooked on his belt.
The more Liu Chengzu struggled to get up, the tighter the hook became, as if the corpse in the dark wanted to keep him here. In his panic, he happened to see the hideous and terrifying face of the corpse, and his heart became more and more uneasy. Become frightened.
Uncle Wu was carrying a broken wooden board and holding city bricks and had already run five steps away. However, he heard no footsteps coming behind him. When he looked back, he saw that Liu Chengzu was still lying in the ditch and did not get up.
Gu was so angry that he ran back again and cursed angrily: "Are your legs weak from fear?"
As he spoke, he grabbed the collar of Liu Chengzu's neck and tried to lift him up. Unexpectedly, he was not moved this time. When he lowered his head and looked closely, he discovered that his belt was caught.
In his desperation, without thinking too much, Uncle Wu took the city bricks he had snatched and threw them at the stiff arm that was hooked on Liu Chengzu's belt. There was a crisp "click" sound, and the already strong arm broke apart.
The moment Liu Chengzu stood up, he seemed to see black shadows on the city wall descending in the smoke of burning firewood. He raised his finger and pointed at the city wall and said: "Someone, Uncle Wu... someone is coming down..."
"Run, get up and run!"
Uncle Wu shouted loudly. He didn't have time to look back. He just wanted to carry the city brick back as soon as possible. This was already the third city brick. He could exchange it for steamed buns if he took it back.
He picked up Liu Chengzu and ran back without his life.
…………
Zhu Zhicang held a waist knife in his mouth, wore cotton armor, and carried a leather shield on his back. His feet were in a hemp rope sleeve, his left hand held the hemp rope tightly, and his right hand kept pushing. Hold the city wall and keep a distance between yourself and the city wall.
Although they were covered by thick smoke, they were still spotted by bandit soldiers when they reached half the height of the city wall, and bursts of arrows flew towards them.
Arrow after arrow hit the city wall beside him, making a muffled sound, and he even heard a scream not far away from him, but he did not dare to be distracted and look.
He felt that he was not far from the ground. When he looked down, he saw that underneath him was a wooden shed with a broken door and propped up. There were still a few remaining sparks around, and thin smoke was still rising upwards around him.
Zhu Zhicang saw that there were shouts of killing coming from below, and there was a wooden shed less than three feet away. He pushed the city wall hard with his right hand, and pulled down the hemp rope with his left hand at the same time, and his feet were freed from the hemp rope. come out.
The temporary wooden shed built with broken door panels was really strong. Even the bricks and large logs thrown from the city could not collapse it. Zhu Zhicang jumped onto the roof of the wooden shed with a "pop".
The wooden shed shook for a while, and at the moment when it was about to topple over, Zhu Zhicang jumped off the wooden shed with a loud sound, rolled on the ground, and then jumped up.
Before his body could stand still, a wooden stick hit him on the back. Fortunately, he was protected by the leather shield he was carrying. Zhu Zhicang stumbled forward and almost fell into a dog-gnawing position. He held on with his left hand. On the ground, his right hand immediately grabbed the waist knife from his mouth and swung it backwards.
Then he dodged to the left and rolled twice, not stopping until he hit the city wall. He waved the sword in his right hand wildly and stood up, pressing his back tightly against the city wall.
He saw a mass of fighting all around. He took a closer look at the situation. There were about a dozen thieves here, and the rest were nearly a hundred hungry people. The warriors they lowered down from the city all had red cloth tied on their heads. There are only less than twenty people.
"Kill...kill...ah..."
But he had already reached the bottom of the city, and now he couldn't go back even if he wanted to. At present, he could only return to the top of the city by killing this wave of thieves. He shouted suddenly and rushed into the battle group.
He didn't even have time to take off the leather shield on his back. He swung the sword in his right hand and rushed forward, slashing several hungry people one after another. Suddenly, a thief rushed towards him with his shield on his left and his sword on his right.
