In a blink of an eye, it was September 14th, and the intruders captured several officers and soldiers who escaped from the fire shop.
Li Guo immediately interrogated them personally and learned that the food in Huoshaodian Village had been eaten up as early as the twelfth day. In the past two days, they had relied on slaughtering mules and horses to satisfy their hunger.
Li Guo asked one of the deserters, "If this continues, how many more days can the army last?"
The deserter replied: "All the mules and horses are about to be killed, and the bark and grass have been obtained long ago. At this rate, we can hold on for another three days at most."
Li Guo asked again: "How much gunpowder is left?"
The deserter replied: "Not much. There is no sulfur in the camp. Even if there is, no one here knows how to make gunpowder, so use a little and get a little less."
"What about the arrow?" Li Guo continued to ask.
The deserter from the army was kneeling on the ground, his body still shaking, obviously extremely frightened, and he hurriedly replied: "It's almost over, General."
Li Guo saw that he had almost finished asking questions, and seeing that the deserter's attitude didn't seem like he was lying, he stopped questioning him. Instead, he ordered people to take the escaped officer and soldier away, and ordered him to be given something to eat and treat him well. Kill them.
That night, he sent people to pretend to attack the burning shop, and even once reached the ditch outside the village wall, forcing the officers and soldiers to fire cannons and fire arrows.
In a blink of an eye, it was the seventeenth day. It was only five o'clock in the morning, and the intruder army launched a feint attack.
However, they discovered that this time the officers and soldiers in Huoshaodian Village no longer fired cannons or fired arrows, but only made bursts of roaring and howling sounds.
After Li Guo heard the report, he came to the vicinity of the camp in person. The shouts he heard in his ears did not have any majesty or majesty. Instead, they were sometimes scattered and sometimes even feeble. They seemed to be the desperate shouts of the officers and soldiers. .
He smiled slightly and confidently said to the generals and generals around him: "Break the fire shop in one fell swoop and capture Fu Zonglong alive today!"
After daybreak, Li Guo ordered all the soldiers in the army to have a good rest today. At the same time, each battalion should prepare more and enough hemp ropes for the purpose of capturing prisoners.
Throughout the whole day, he continued to send out small groups of intruders to harass the defenders of the Huo Shao Shop, and also withdrew many of the thieves who besieged the Huo Shao Shop in the east, so that the strength on this side was significantly weaker than elsewhere.
When they arrived at Shen, Li Guo ordered the whole army to have dinner. He even called Liu Tichun and Tong Shoushan to him and whispered secret strategies to them.
After dinner, he came to the fire trench and listened carefully to what was going on inside. As soon as he returned to the Chinese army's tent, he immediately summoned the generals and said to them: "Dear brothers, I ordered people to withdraw from the east." The soldiers and horses in front of us have even concluded that Fu Zonglong, this old fox, must break out of the encirclement tonight. Kill the general, seize the flag, and capture Fu Zonglong at this moment."
Having said this, he stood up and continued in a majestic voice: "Generals, listen to the order!"
All the generals in the military tent stood solemnly, their eyes focused on Li Guo's face, waiting for his military orders...
…………
In fact, on the night when Fu Zonglong was surrounded by the burning shop, he took advantage of the fact that the siege by the intruders was not secret, and sent his most loyal servant Lu San to rush out with several elite cavalry.
Of course, when he and his slave Lu San broke out of the siege, there was also a handwritten letter from Fu Zonglong to He Renlong and Li Guoqi, asking them to return troops quickly to rescue them.
However, that night, with the flames outside and the shouts of killing, Fu Zonglong did not dare to tell whether Lu San had rushed out. He even thought that Lu San did not rush out at all, but died in the formation of the thieves who besieged the Huoshao shop. .
The following days were spent in fear. The rebels attacked three times a day. Although it seemed that they did not attack with all their strength, the officers and soldiers did not dare to neglect. They took it seriously every time and defended with the whole army. Bows, arrows and artillery were firing at each other.
Even later, the rebel soldiers did not allow the officers and soldiers to rest even at night. They often attacked the officers and soldiers' defense lines in the dark. The artillery fire continued, so that the officers and soldiers had to defend themselves. In short, under such rounds of attacks, the officers and soldiers were already exhausted.
Since the siege, the few houses in the village have been destroyed due to constant artillery fire by the bandits every day.
At first, some people in the army lived in houses. However, as the houses were destroyed, everyone now slept in tents, and some soldiers did not even have tents. They dug walls next to the village walls. They slept in ditches, and some people dug nests in the ruins of the walls.
However, with the artillery bombardment by the rebels, those military tents were continuously hit and destroyed. In addition, it was not safe to live in the military tents. In desperation, even Fu Zonglong, who was the governor, had to move into the trenches. rest.
Of course, the trench he was in was still very wide. Compared to the trenches where other soldiers lived, this was already a mansion.
Because sometimes artillery shells fell in the trench, which would still cause casualties to the officers and soldiers, so they found wooden boards, door panels and other objects that could be found and spread them on top of the trench, and even covered the boards with another layer. earth.
In this way, those cannons no longer jumped repeatedly, and due to the shock-absorbing function of that layer of soil, the cannons never fell into the trench again.
In recent days, Fu Zonglong has been doing everything in the trenches whether he is sleeping, handling official duties, or planning military affairs. In fact, this is not the first time he has led troops to fight, but now he is so embarrassed that even This was the first time he tasted some despair.
On this day, he had not eaten even a drop of rice all day long. The embarrassment and despair made him mentally and physically exhausted, and his feeling of exhaustion and weakness increased sharply every day.
Dragging his exhausted body, he fell asleep at midnight. However, in his daze, he seemed to hear a burst of noise outside the village, which seemed very different from the past.
Just when I was confused, I heard the report that the two generals, He Renlong and Li Guoqi, had led their men to kill and were fighting fiercely with the bandits outside the northeast corner. The sound of killing was loud.
Fu Zonglong didn't have time to put on his battle armor, so he put on his woolen cloak and went up to the wall of the village. He saw a fire outside the northeast corner tower, and the shouts of killing shook the sky and the earth, especially loud in the silent night.
Looking at the flash of fire in the bandit formation, they couldn't help running around. It was obvious that the main cavalry of the two generals, He and Li, had come back, and the attack was very fierce.
Suddenly, the soldiers rushed to report, and another group of people came to kill from the south.
Fu Zonglong was overjoyed, and he hurried towards the south wall of the village. Looking at it, he could vaguely see the banner of the general Zuo Liangyu in the firelight.
He couldn't help being very excited, and immediately said loudly: "Heaven is above, heaven is above! Reinforcements from both sides have arrived. We can take advantage of this opportunity to attack from both inside and outside. As long as we can kill the tens of thousands of thieves outside, Henan Province will be defeated." The situation will change for the better!"
Here, as soon as Fu Zonglong finished speaking, he had to report to the northeast that the two generals, He and Li, had defeated the bandits and were chasing them. When the officers and soldiers inside and outside the burning store saw this, they all cheered.
Fu Zonglong didn't have time to think. He immediately mounted his horse and led his Biaoying soldiers out of the fire shop. He wanted to join forces with the three commanders He, Li and Zuo to attack the bandits.
He just rode out of the fire shop and saw a thief general in front of him. He kept shooting arrows backwards while running away. Fu Zonglong immediately turned around and shouted to several generals: "Whoever kills this thief in formation will be promoted to two levels. If he succeeds, If you capture this thief alive, you will be promoted to the third level!"
Several generals looked overjoyed when they heard this. Fighting with favorable winds was their specialty. They immediately rode in pursuit, leaving Fu Zonglong behind.
Suddenly, a horse stumbled, causing Governor Fu Zonglong to fall from the saddle.
He had just stood up from the ground when he saw a troop of thieves and horses rushing towards him. They roared with their teeth and claws open, and several spears were stabbed at him almost at the same time.
Fu Zonglong was shocked and shouted urgently: "Save me...save me quickly...save me!"
Several soldiers and servants heard his screams, and they all rushed to his side and called out: "My lord, my lord, don't be afraid. The traitors outside the stronghold are just bluffing and have never invaded the stronghold."
Fu Zonglong didn't suddenly wake up until this moment, only to realize that Shicai had actually had a nightmare, but even so, he broke out in a cold sweat.
He looked out the window and murmured: "Do He Zhen and Li Zhen have any backup?"
A leader of the soldiers stepped forward and replied: "My lord, only thieves and soldiers were seen pretending to attack outside the stronghold, but no officers and soldiers were seen."
Fu Zonglong still seemed unwilling to give in, and murmured again: "So Commander Zuo's troops are coming from the south to kill?"
"The bandit army in the south is about to attack. There is silence and no sign of any officers or soldiers." The leader of the soldiers continued to reply.
Fu Zonglong sat slumped on the simple bed made of wood, his eyes were deep and lifeless. It seemed that he was much older at this moment, and he was still muttering: "It's Nan Ke Yimeng, they really won't come back to help. Well?"
After all this trouble, the sky became brighter. Fu Zonglong actually found his slave Lu San among the soldiers and servants in front of him. He saw that his clothes were in tatters and he was very haggard, as if he had changed. Similar.
Fu Zonglong looked at him doubtfully and asked softly: "Are you Lu San? Am I not dreaming?"
Lu San knelt down with a pop and replied: "The villain is Lu San. Sir, you didn't dream. It's Lu San who is back."
Fu Zonglong was already a little decadent, but when he saw Lu San, he seemed to have some energy. He hurriedly asked: "When did you come back?"
Lu San replied: "The villain came back a few days ago, but the bandits continued to attack every day and did not get the chance to enter the stronghold. It was not until the fourth watch today that I found the opportunity to come in from the east and then go around to the south. Only then was he let up on the wall of the village by the military master.
Seeing that the master was sleeping soundly and not waking up, I didn't dare to disturb him. I originally wanted to wait until the master woke up before paying my respects to you. "
Fu Zonglong stared at him with eyes full of hope, and even his voice trembled a little: "Have you seen Ershuai He and Li?"
Lu San calmed down his mind first, and after making some preparations, he said: "In reply to the master's words, the villain chased to Shen Qiu, and then he saw the two commanders He and Li, and handed over the master's handwritten letter.
They fled all the way from the two towns, like frightened birds. They rushed to Xiangcheng and did not dare to stop. They fled to Shenqiu in one breath. Most of their infantry fled, but the cavalry was still intact. They were now going out to gather the fleeing infantry.
After the two marshals read the master's handwriting, they both said that they had to rectify their troops before coming to the fire shop to rescue the master. However, despite their words, no action was taken.
The villain stayed in Shenqiu for two days, but couldn't find anything. In the end, it was impossible to even see them. Their subordinates even said to me, "You can stay here, and don't go back to the fire shop."
Anyway, now that there are no soldiers to return to put out the fire, the store will not be able to hold the place for long. Even Governor Yang has fled, leaving only the governor and thousands of lone soldiers to defend the place. It seems that it will only be broken by the bandits in a few days. '
No matter what he said, the villain wanted to see He Shuai life and death, but he still failed to do so. Later, he finally met Li Shuai with great difficulty.
But Li Shuai said to the villain, "I don't have many troops left. He Shuai has no intention of rescuing me. I am also alone and can't do anything." You might as well stay here and wait for the news. If we can gather more people, we can then go back to put out the fire and burn the shop. '
The villain did not expect that these two commanders were so afraid of thieves. They saw that the store was about to be attacked by thieves, but they still sat back and did nothing. They were really heartless!
The villain cried loudly and left Shen Qiu, thinking of repaying the master, but the bandit army outside was tightly surrounded, so it was not until tonight that he found the opportunity to return to the stronghold and return his life to the master. "
Fu Zonglong was still unwilling to give in and asked about the news about Yang Wenyue and Hu Dawei, but Lu San didn't know much about it and simply dictated some of the news he heard.
Fu Zonglong sighed and said: "It is indeed difficult to persist here. You don't actually need to come back. Why do you need everyone to die together?"
Lu San cried and said: "I am a slave of the Fu family, and I must die in front of the master. No matter how difficult it is, I will return to the master."
Fu Zonglong couldn't help but shed his eyes. He shook his head, waved Lu San to withdraw, and only said: "You can have a good rest."
In order to stabilize the morale of the officers and soldiers in the fire store, Fu Zonglong had a simple breakfast, then came out of the trench and inspected various parts of the stronghold.
Then, he summoned the generals to his trench and briefly explained to everyone that He Renlong and Li Guoqi had fled to the vicinity of Shenqiu at this time. They were all waiting and watching, timid and did not dare to return to the army for rescue.
Then, Fu Zonglong talked about the security guard Yang Wenyue. He only said that he had led his Biao battalion to escape to Chenzhou. The real security commander Hu Dawei was originally stationed in Shenqiu, but he heard that Yang Wenyue had gone to Chenzhou, so he also Rushing from Shenqiu to Chenzhou.
After talking about these situations, Fu Zonglong said angrily: "They are all greedy for life and afraid of death. Of course they will not come back to rescue the burning shop, but how can we be as afraid of death and cowardly as they are?"
At this moment, someone also made suggestions to him, thinking of breaking out early while the army supplies were not exhausted.
However, Fu Zonglong understood that it would be difficult to successfully break through the siege at this moment. He said: "Zonglong is old. Unfortunately, he is now trapped in the siege of thieves. He should lead all the princes to fight to the death with the thieves. He must not imitate others and flee with armor!"
After saying that, he burst into tears and his fingers trembled. He looked very excited, but his despair was beyond words.
(End of chapter)
