The defenders at the head of Nanyang City naturally would not sit back and watch the moat being filled in, and immediately fought back.
Suddenly, human life outside Nanyang City was extremely worthless. Every minute and every second, almost all lives disappear from the world.
These people who were brought here saw their companions being shot to death one by one by arrows, wounded by firecrackers, or even hit by artillery, falling to the ground and wailing in pain. Many people couldn't stand it anymore, and threw down their bags of earth and hurried to Run behind.
However, they were greeted with punches and kicks, and some of the elite bandits at the head of the camp even stabbed people with knives. Either die immediately, or rush forward, maybe you can survive, or even get a lottery, and you can get a steamed bun to eat later.
In fact, the routines used by these thieves are similar to each other. First, give these people who are brought here some food to eat, and then carry the bags of soil to pour down the moat. When you pour a bag of soil back, you can get a stick, which can be exchanged for steamed buns. What is different in different camps is that the number of sticks for a steamed bun will be different.
By noon, the bandit battalions finally withdrew their troops. The moat under Nanyang City was already filled to the brim with soil and corpses. In this battle alone, about five thousand people were estimated to have died outside the city.
The bandit leaders from all walks of life looked at the condition of the moat outside the city, and many of them were a little surprised. Because it can be seen with the naked eye, the section of the moat that Li Zicheng's and Zuo Liangyu's departments are responsible for is the best filled.
There is nothing to say about Zuo Liangyu's department. He is from the army and there are people in the army who know how to fire artillery. The cannons were pushed over and blasted at the city head, and there were also gunmen to cover the city, so the city could not deal with the thieves filling the moat with impunity.
However, Li Zicheng did not have artillery, and his conditions were similar to those of other bandits. But it can be clearly seen that even the cannon fodder filling the moat has higher morale than them. For this reason, they were all surprised and started to inquire.
Of course, this matter was easy to find out. Soon they knew the reason and couldn't help but praise Li Zicheng for being treacherous.
"Look, you are doing the same thing as us, but just by saying a word, you win people's hearts and you don't even know they are sold. It's really amazing!"
"Isn't that why we let the old and weak die like us, wasting the defenders, and reducing food consumption, and by the way filling up the moat, but still making them grateful. Tsk tsk, awesome!"
"Hehe, this trick is very useful, I have to learn it too!"
"..."
The bandit camp was temporarily quiet again. Under the scorching sun at the end of August, Sun Hanqing took off his only coat, covered his head, and lay motionless on the ground. It was obvious that he was exhausted.
Suddenly, he saw someone approaching from the side. When he saw it, he realized that he was an acquaintance. He sat up and said hello, "Congratulations, Wei Chao, you have lived another day!"
Wei Chao was also very tired and nodded a little tiredly in response.
"I said Wei Chao, do you still believe what you said now?" Sun Hanqing couldn't help but ask.
After hearing this, Wei Chao asked with some confusion: "Why don't you believe it?"
"Haha!" Sun Hanqing couldn't help but sneered after hearing this, "What's the difference between you and me just now? Both of us are lucky, so we didn't become part of the moat. See for yourself, if King Chuang is If you are a good person, how many of you still come back alive? They are all just like everyone else, taking our lives as fate!"
After hearing this, Wei Chao finally froze for a moment, turned around and looked around him, his expression seemed a little sad. Because Sun Hanqing was right, many of the people sitting with him this time were new faces. Many of those I knew before have filled in the moat.
Sun Hanqing looked up and saw that there were no bandit leaders around, then looked at Wei Chao and whispered: "Let me tell you, if it weren't for these bandits, how would we be here and risk our lives to touch Nanyang City? Although I am also a tenant, so the days before now would have been at least much better than now, right?"
Hearing this, a person next to him suddenly interrupted and said, "Yes, they burned down my house, robbed everything, and had to work hard for them. How can these thieves still be good people?"
This person's words resonated with several people. This time, everyone from Luo Rucai to Li Zicheng's camp agreed.
Wei Chao was obviously hesitant, but in the end he shook his head and said, "I think King Chuang is different."
When he finished saying this, someone from the leader of Luo Rucai's army came over and shouted loudly for everyone to hear: "Brother said, from now on we will also share the land without food. Let's work hard and conquer the country." , everyone will have a share of land in the future..."
Wei Chao was a little surprised when he heard this, while Sun Hanqing's mouth was more sarcastic.
As soon as the bandit leader left, he said to Wei Chao: "Now, can I say that Cao Cao is also a good person?"
"What if we really have to divide the land?" Wei Chao couldn't help but retorted after hearing this.
At this time, an older student sighed and said, "Just listen to this. Can you really believe it? You don't even think about it. If the land is equalized and the tax is exempted, then I ask you, what will their flowers do in the future?" Where does the pin come from?”
"Of course they are those corrupt officials!" Wei Chao heard this and replied casually, "Those corrupt officials in our county were killed by King Chuang and their homes were ransacked!"
This matter was actually famous in later generations, and was called "chasing stolen goods and providing subsidies."
When the older man heard this, he couldn't help but asked in a sarcastic tone: "What then? Kill a few corrupt officials, and then they don't spend money? They eat meat and drink wine, they Where else can the money come from?”
"Of course it starts from..." Wei Chao wanted to say to continue killing corrupt officials and ransack their homes, but then he realized that there were not so many corrupt officials in the world who could be killed. In this case, it would be impossible for Chuang Wang and the others to farm their own land. Where would their money and food come from?
Equalizing land and exempting from taxes suddenly became unrealistic at this moment.
In fact, the bandits were still bandits after all, and they could not turn around. Even in the original history, after occupying the capital, they continued to pursue stolen goods and subsidies, which resulted in the resistance of the powerful landowners and ultimately benefited the Manchus.
At this time, Wei Chao still said stubbornly: "At least it can equalize the land. If there is land in the future, that is also a good thing!"
"There must be a future!" Sun Hanqing stabbed him in the heart after hearing this.
After hearing this, Wei Chao didn't reply and lay still.
The others stopped talking. In fact, they didn't have any strength, so they could only lie down and try not to move, hoping that they would be less hungry.
In the afternoon, the bandits' camps began to gather a large number of old and weak people, the common people who had been brought here, to attack the city and consume the defenders' defensive equipment. This time, neither Wei Chao nor Sun Hanqing had their turn.
"Look, is there any difference?" Sun Hanqing pursed his lips and said as he looked at the common people who were driven by the elite bandits to attack the city.
Wei Chao looked at the bloody massacre at the foot of Nanyang City without saying a word.
"There is no good thing among thieves!" Sun Hanqing came to this conclusion decisively, and then lay back down.
The older man sighed and said in a low voice: "Before these bandits came, life was easy to live by, but once they came, no one could live a peaceful life wherever they passed. The village They burned them all, and the fields were laid waste. Pity my...my..."
At this point, a grown man started to cry softly.
Although he didn't finish speaking, everyone around him knew that his family must be gone. Because this kind of thing is too common.
This time, Wei Chao lowered his head and didn't even dare to look at the older man.
The next day, they were rushed to the battlefield again. Fortunately, Wei Chao and Sun Hanqing survived again, but there were many faces they had just met that they would never see again. Including the older one, they all died under Nanyang City.
This time, the leader of the bandits came over and said to them with a smile: "You have done a good job. King Chuang has an order. From now on, you will be real brothers. Let me go. From now on, you will have steamed buns for every meal!"
The same is true for Luo Rucai. After several days of siege, the old and the weak have died under the city, and the young and strong who can survive will often become the elite of the bandits. Through this method, rogue thieves can often eliminate the weak and keep the strong without much effort.
In a den of thieves, you can't help yourself. Sun Hanqing glanced at Wei Chao, and Wei Chao happened to look over as well. The two of them looked at each other without much excitement, with dull expressions on their faces, and each followed the bandit leader away.
Nanyang City is the capital city of Nanyang Prefecture. It contains the vassal kings and is also a big city. The city walls are tall and strong. Although they are not as good as the capital, they are at least much stronger than ordinary cities.
After the bandits attacked for three days, they had to gather together again to discuss matters.
This time, the seats of the thieves from all walks of life are particular. Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai, Li Zicheng, Prime Minister Hui Deng and Zuo Liangyu were lined up in the middle, with other bandit leaders on both sides. From this glance, it can be seen that among the current bandits, these five are the leaders.
"We have been fighting Nanyang for three days. I believe that the surrounding Ming troops must have learned that we are attacking Nanyang." Zhang Xianzhong said with a stern expression, "The emperor is in the city. The surrounding Ming troops are afraid that no matter how many of us there are, they may not be able to attack Nanyang." Coming to the rescue!"
Hearing this, Zuo Liangyu took over and said: "My troops will stay overnight. Governor Chen Qiyu leads the Yongwei camp, including a total of 30,000 troops. The vanguard has already left Hubei and entered the border of Nanyang."
Li Zicheng also introduced: "Over in Luoyang, I have brothers who rushed back to report that more than 10,000 brave guards have arrived, and they are expected to arrive soon for rescue. The leader of the general is Lu, the former commander of the Tianxiong Army. Da, the commander-in-chief of Xuanfu, Yang Guozhu, was once a subordinate of King Lu Yan."
These news, one after another, are not good news.
Cao Cao and Luo Ru just listened and sighed: "These are actually nothing. The most important thing is, how can we capture Nanyang as soon as possible? As long as the Dog Emperor falls into our hands, the situation will change drastically and everything will be fine."
Hearing their words, the bandit leaders on both sides couldn't help but sigh. Although their troops were strong, they also knew that their elites were actually very limited. Otherwise, if the two hundred thousand were elites, Nanyang City would definitely be captured.
"Actually, isn't it just what we expected that the Ming army came to help?" Seeing that the morale was a little low, Prime Minister Hui Deng said more optimistically: "Or if you want me to say, if Nanyang cannot be defeated in a while, , we can ambush all the way, it would be good if we can eat all the way!"
When Zuo Liangyu heard this, he glanced sideways at him, wondering in his mind, could it have been your idea to ambush this commander?
"If you ask me, this method is good!" Zhang Xianzhong immediately agreed after hearing this, "We spread the word and said that Nanyang will be conquered soon, and the imperial officers and soldiers will definitely rush to help, and they will definitely not be able to take care of it in a hurry. If there are many, it will be easy for us to ambush you!"
Upon hearing this, many bandit leaders immediately applauded loudly and shouted that this is what to do. In fact, the most common trick they used to defeat the imperial army was to first exhaust the imperial army and then introduce an ambush circle, relying on their large number of people, to start the exchange. Anyway, they first used the people who had been brought in to consume the strength of the army, and finally the elite bandits swarmed up to resolve the battle.
They relied on this move to defeat the brave general Cao Wenzhao and Zuo Liangyu...
However, Li Zicheng shook his head and said: "There is a steady stream of officers and soldiers from the imperial court, how many ways can we defeat him? Let me tell you, it is better to conquer Nanyang City as soon as possible and capture the Dog Emperor!"
After hearing this, someone else felt that what he said was reasonable, and they agreed on the spot. But some people agreed with Zhang Xianzhong's statement, and the two sides started to argue.
Just like that, there was no result in this discussion, which made Li Zicheng very angry after returning.
Li Guo saw it and comforted him: "Uncle, as my nephew said, each family has its own small calculations and will not really consider the overall situation. Doesn't Huang Hu know that it is better to capture Nanyang City first? It's just that he I don’t want to listen to my uncle, otherwise I won’t be able to compete with my uncle for the alliance leader!”
"Five families have only five thoughts. If anyone could help anyone, the alliance leader would have been chosen long ago." Gao Yigong also nodded, his face suddenly became a little ferocious and said: "If you ask me, I found an opportunity to capture the other four families. , Only in this way can the orders be unified, and the strength of nearly 200,000 troops can be reflected! Otherwise, this siege is even more careful. I have seen it. Luo Rucai, who is near us, is attacking the city. They didn't pay enough attention at the beginning, thinking that the defenders at the top of the city would be attracted to us, so they stepped up their offensive!"
After listening to their suggestions, Li Zicheng nodded thoughtfully. Before coming over to join Zhang Xianzhong, he actually had the idea of annexing other rebel armies and quickly growing his own strength.
He was thinking about this idea, and it was similar after Zuo Liangyu returned to his army.
