Laiyang.
The originally blue-grey city wall has now completely turned red.
It was the result of countless people's blood staining.
The White Lotus cult bandits came one after another, seemingly endless.
The defense on top of the city also tried its best.
Everyone in the entire county participated in the defensive battle, regardless of men, women, old or young.
Everyone knows what it means once the city is broken by the White Lotus Sect.
After the stones were thrown, the house was torn down and thrown with bricks and tiles; when the gold juice was gone, the wood was wrapped in kerosene and thrown down.
The White Lotus Cult bandits rushed to the top of the city again and again, and were beaten down again and again, and then they rushed up again and were beaten down again.
Viewed from the air, Laiyang County is like a rock in the huge waves. It looks shaky but always stands firm.
Who would have thought that a small county town could persist for thirteen days?
But today, the strength of the city defenders has reached its limit.
A scholar in his late thirties held a scribe's sword in his hand and kept running and shouting, asking everyone to cheer up and persevere.
Once there was a breakthrough, he would rush over with the people around him to provide reinforcements.
Taking advantage of the fierce fighting at the top of the city, the bandits pushed some newly made wooden carts closer.
After a while, large rocks weighing dozens of kilograms were thrown up the city wall, smashing and rolling, causing a stream of blood.
The scribe saw this and was furious. He ran to the cannon and shouted, "What are you doing standing there in a daze? Why don't you fire the cannon quickly?"
The defenders were busy bombarding the trebuchets with artillery and quickly destroyed several of them.
However, the reloading speed of the artillery could not be compared with that of the trebuchet. Seeing the flying stones sweeping across the city, the scribe became anxious and stepped forward to operate the cannon himself.
"boom……"
The cannonball flew out, but the barrel also flew up.
The artillery... exploded.
The tumbling barrels immediately swept away all the people nearby. Even the scribe was injured in the shoulder by the flying gravel and fell to the ground.
When the bandits below the city saw this scene, they immediately shouted.
"The cannon exploded!"
"The cannon at the top of the city is gone!"
The morale of the rebels was greatly boosted, and their momentum became even stronger.
Xu Yaqing and others who were watching the battle from a distance also saw this scene and laughed heartily.
"Tell the sons and daughters and fight with all your strength. Attack the city and reward them for three days."
Li Mengming couldn't help but move forward, just waiting for the city to be broken so he could plunder.
The city was completely in chaos at this time.
The explosion of the artillery made the defenders frightened and did not dare to operate other artillery.
"Zhongji, are you okay?"
Several people rushed over, helped the injured scribe up, and quickly stopped the bleeding, but all of them looked sad.
The scribe ignored his own injury and shouted: "Leave me alone, go and fire quickly, don't let the bandits climb up."
Those people quickly dispersed and joined the defense of the city. Only one person was left to bandage him.
This scribe was really tough. He was wounded, but he didn't care. He returned to the cannon and shouted to the cowering soldiers: "Today, if the city is destroyed, you will die, and if you are blown up by the cannon, you will die. Anyway, you will die, and you are afraid What?"
The soldiers were so excited by what he said that they lost all fear and ran back to start firing the cannon.
But no matter what, after such a delay, many bandits have already swarmed to the top of the city.
The scribe looked around and saw more and more bandits climbing up, and he couldn't help but feel helpless.
Just as they were helpless, there was a loud commotion in the distance, and then many defenders began to run around.
"Chief Jiang County is dead!"
The scribe was struck by lightning and almost lost his balance.
There was no county magistrate in Laiyang, and there was only a county magistrate named Jiang who temporarily acted as county magistrate.
When the White Lotus Sect attacked Laiyang, it was Jiang County Prime Minister who saw through the internal conspiracy and then tried his best to organize the defense.
It can be said that Laiyang was able to defend an isolated city for more than ten days, and this Jiang County Prime Minister was indispensable.
Now that the Dinghai Shenzhen has fallen, can Laiyang really not be able to defend it?
Several scholars ran over in confusion, grabbed him and wanted to leave.
"Zhongji, leave quickly, we can't hold on any longer."
"Zhongji, it's too late if you don't leave now."
The scribe looked bitter and pointed at the boundless bandits outside the city.
"Go? Where to go?"
The few scholars couldn't help but pause, knowing that there was no way to escape.
One of them picked up the knife casually and shouted: "Since there is no way to save the world, let's die here today. We have read the books of sages and taught the sages, and died today to protect the country and the people. It is a fitting death."
The other man also had a determined face.
"It is a pleasure to get to know you all. I regret that I could not compete with my colleagues from the south of the Yangtze River. I will take a step ahead and wait for you at the foot of the spring."
After saying that, he ran towards the wall, obviously planning to jump to his death.
But as soon as he put his hand on the brick pile, he couldn't help but froze. Still afraid that he had seen it wrong, he rubbed his eyes again and pointed it out to everyone.
"Then...what is that?"
Several other people were waiting to die. After hearing this, they followed his instructions and immediately lost their will to die.
The scribe rushed to the wall and saw a troop of soldiers and horses approaching Gongjiazhuang from the southwest.
"There...there are some over there too."
The scribe looked further and saw a troop of soldiers and horses approaching in the southeast direction against the Wulong River.
After a while, the soldiers and horses approached. Blue jersey, big hat and helmet, although there are not many flags, his identity is clearly visible.
The scribe was overjoyed and called frantically.
"Reinforcements are coming!"
Several other people narrowly escaped death and were equally surprised and shouted after them.
"Reinforcements are coming! We are saved!"
The shouts quickly spread throughout the city walls, and many of the frightened defenders looked outside the city and became ecstatic.
The White Lotus cult bandits who stormed the city also saw the officers and soldiers appearing. They were so frightened that they immediately jumped off the city without caring about anything.
The top of the city is higher, so you can see far away.
The people on the city discovered the reinforcements and their morale changed, but the people below the city didn't know it yet.
Seeing that the bandits who had finally attacked jumped down again, Li Mengming was furious.
"Why did you retreat? You are not allowed to retreat without a military order!"
But soon, he knew why.
More than a thousand officers and soldiers appeared in the southeast and southwest directions. They have begun to organize their formation in the open area and prepare to attack.
On the White Lotus Sect side, Xu Yaqing was really frightened.
Looking at the familiar military uniforms, the familiar arrays, and the even more familiar guns, how could she not know that it was Zuo Mengeng who had arrived.
But precisely because she knew it, she couldn't accept it.
"How is this possible? How is this possible? Zuo Mengeng is obviously in Qingzhou Mansion, why did he suddenly come here?"
No one could answer her question, except the person she saved who sneered beside her and said, "You should think about how to escape, right?"
Xu Yaqing was startled and rushed to find Li Mengming and Dong Dacheng.
"Hurry up and retreat. Otherwise, you will all die here."
Dong Dacheng sneered and pointed at the surrounding terrain.
"The Holy Aunt said it lightly. With so many people, how can it be so easy to retreat?"
They are located south of Laiyang County. The roads to the west and south have been blocked, and the Clam River is to the east. The river is ten feet wide and it is impossible to swim across it without tools.
To the north is Laiyang County, which blocks all directions.
Li Mengming didn't feel there was any danger at this moment.
"There are only over 3,000 officers and soldiers. They don't even have armor. They are all armed with firearms. I should gather them together and annihilate them."
Xu Yaqing is going crazy.
"This is Linqing Zuo Menggeng, you are no match for him."
She tried to persuade him with good words, but Li Mengming immediately realized that this was an opportunity.
A good opportunity to take back power and undermine Xu Yaqing's prestige.
Xu Yaqing was completely wiped out by Zuo Mengeng in Dongchang Mansion and became a lonely person. If it weren't for the name of Holy Aunt Bailian, Li Mengming would have rebelled long ago.
If he defeated Zuo Mengeng this time, wouldn't it be a show of force against Xu Yaqing?
Thinking of this, he immediately became energetic and shouted: "Send the order, the whole army will form a team and kill all these officers and soldiers."
He also glanced at Xu Yaqing provocatively.
"Avenge our holy aunt."
Xu Yaqing understood.
Li Mengming was rebellious. He was preparing to take the opportunity to build up his prestige so that he would deal with himself later.
It's a pity that we still don't know when death is coming.
She has a vicious nature and sees that she can't do anything, so she won't persuade her. After returning, he said to Xue Ji and the maid: "Let's find a way out. We can't be buried here."
The maid was worried.
"Holy Aunt, where are we going? Looking for Protector Guo?"
Seeing the new army forming up and starting to press forward step by step, Xu Yaqing was at a loss.
He caught a glimpse of the man he had saved from the corner of his eye, and couldn't help but ask: "Liang Yue, tell me, where should we go?"
The man's eyes were just staring at the approaching line of new troops, as if he wanted to engrave the strict formation in his heart.
"Go to Shanxi and find those rebels in the northwest. After we build a strong army, we will come to Zuo Mengeng to settle the score."
Xu Yaqing thought for a while and couldn't help but smile: "I happen to have a senior brother in Shanxi, which is also a good place to go."
At that moment, several people rode horses and quietly left the group, ran along the base of the city wall to the east gate, crossed the bridge and disappeared in the distance.
Everyone inside and outside the city was waiting for the war to break out, but no one noticed their whereabouts.
