The apocalypse was the beginning of troubled times.

In such a world, nothing is as good as the sword in one's hand, and power comes out of the barrel of a gun, and as for the mouths of civilian officials, it is already thankful that it does not add to the chaos.

Is Ma Hong guilty, he is indeed guilty first, but it is precisely because of this crime that more than 100,000 soldiers and civilians in Chongqing City have been saved.

Zhu Youxiao knew this, so he tried his best to protect this general manager called Ma Hong in full view.

This time, it was not him who was protected, but all the officers and soldiers in Chongqing.

But as soon as the words landed, the civil officials were not convinced, they have always been fearless in making direct admonitions, and they should be scolded regardless of whether you are the Son of Heaven or not.

Sun Haogu struggled to get up and said in a loud voice:

"There is no evidence, but the emperor treats his ministers like this, and he does not accept it! Chilling heart!! ”

When the words fell, all the ministers echoed in unison.

"You're chilling!" Zhu Youxiao was stunned suddenly, and then he laughed angrily and said, "What do you want the southwest soldiers who are fighting against the rebels?" ”

Zhu Youxiao pursed his lips, his eyes flashed with a cold murderous aura, but after all, he still held back, took his hands behind his back, and said lightly:

"If you don't accept it, you don't accept it..."

"Well, I will give you a chance, if you are escorted back to Beijing this time, Dongchang will not find out what is the reason, you will be reinstated, and I will issue an edict for my own crimes!"

"How...?"

The emperor had already said that to this point, Sun Haogu raised his head, with complicated emotions in his heart, but he could only look at his back.

"Your Majesty—"

As soon as he said two words, he heard Zhu Youxiao say lightly: "You, stand down." ”

Sun Haogu seemed to be twenty years old in an instant, sighed heavily, trembled and bowed, and left with Jinyiwei.

After a while, Zhu Youxiao turned over and got on his horse, staring at him and said:

"Jiangjin General Soldier Wang Shouzhong, Chongqing General Soldier Huang Shoukui."

"The minister is here!"

In a moment, the two of them came out together.

"The two of you, conniving at your subordinates and making trouble in the city, should have been punished, but you will remember your past exploits, and you will not be blamed for the past."

"However, the capital crime can be avoided, and the living crime is unforgivable, so you will continue to guard the southwest for the imperial court and make meritorious contributions to the crime!"

"As for the arrears of military salaries for many years, from now on, they will be issued together!"

Everyone originally planned for the worst, but they didn't expect this result, they all cried with joy, Wang Shouzhong and Huang Shoukui looked at each other, happy and convinced.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, long live, long live!"

Zhu Youxiao glanced at them, snorted coldly, rode on the horse, and his back gradually disappeared into the depths of the street.

In the area of Chongqing, when the silver taels brought from the Fuwang Mansion in Luoyang were in full swing, the siege of Chengdu had entered the final stage.

......

Since July, Zhang Tong's rebel army has been overwhelming in Xichuan, capturing eleven counties in three prefectures in succession, and breaking through Hezhou in early August and arriving in Chengdu.

So far, Chengdu has been besieged for more than a month.

Although Chengdu is an important place in the southwest, due to the ineffective officials, there is not much grain in Cangli, and the siege of the city has been exhausted for a month.

In order to intimidate the defenders in the city and take Chengdu as soon as possible, Zhang Tong almost tried his best.

At night, he ordered the Tusi soldiers to hold two torches in each of the hills outside the city, and to set fire to the two sections of each torch to create the momentum of an army of 400,000.

"You see, a lot of people..."

The defenders of the city stood at the head of the city and looked into the distance, and sure enough, the hearts of the people were shaking.

I saw that within a few miles around, the rebel camp was shouting and neighing, and soldiers and horses were constantly coming in and out, and even the mountains were lit with fire, which was endless and terrifying.

But after that, the rebels outside the city did this almost every night, and when the defenders saw it, they were not surprised, but they felt unremarkable.

A few days later, the rebel camp suddenly began to beat drums, accompanied by rumbling footsteps, countless Tusi soldiers waved their banners and attacked again.

It's just that this time, Zhang Tong, who has been attacking the south gate for a long time, attacked the west gate instead.

Hou Liangzhu, the new Sichuan commander-in-chief, pressed one hand on the city bricks and kept giving orders, but soon, he noticed a problem and pointed ahead:

"How is there a boulder there?"

The place he pointed to was more than thirty steps away from the West Gate.

There is a stone slope there, which is blocked by huge boulders in front of it, and the stone is covered with grass and trees, which is strong and hidden, and it is simply a natural offensive position.

Sure enough, as soon as Hou Liangzhu's words fell, a rebel army discovered this place, quickly led his troops to occupy it, and fired arrows at the head of the city.

Soon, Hou Liangzhu ordered the defenders to concentrate their shots on the stone slope.

But the boulder was very strong, the rebels hid behind the slope and threw it at the head of the city, the battlements were useless, the defenders were helpless, the casualties were not small, and the army was panicked.

"It's hard for them to be hit by firecrackers..."

One of the generals frowned, and as soon as he finished speaking, he heard a sound of breaking through the air, and an arrow fell at his feet.

"It can't go on like this!"

Hou Liangzhu looked around and saw that the defenders' hearts were shaking, and immediately made a decision, saying: "Send someone to transfer troops, and transfer half of the fire guns from the rest of the gates!" ”

"Shoot intensively with firearms to suppress the enemy forces behind the slope."

After occupying the stone slope, the rebels briefly suppressed the Ming army at the head of the city, but before they had time to rejoice, a steady stream of bird-gunners were transferred from the other three gates.

As soon as they entered the city, they fired their firearms, and the rubble flew everywhere, roaring incessantly, and the rebels were suppressed again.

During this time, the Ming army was not idle.

Hou Liangzhu transferred the people in the city, and when the fire of the firecrackers suppressed, he demolished some houses in the city and stepped up the construction of pheasant towers.

When the rebels got up again, they were surprised to find that pheasant towers had been piled up at the head of the city, which were several feet higher than their own dirt slopes.

The Ming army stood in the pheasant tower, shot downward, killed and wounded the rebels in a large area, and soon killed the attacking rebels and retreated in a hurry.

Hearing the cheers of the Ming army, Zhang Tong pulled out his saber, and after the whole army, he attacked again.

The Ming army built a pheasant tower, condescending, and the rebels were not idle in these days, they stepped up to make a local siege equipment - wings.

The wing tower is a kind of siege tower, which is higher than the pheasant tower piled up by the Ming army, and is made of local materials outside the city of Chengdu by the rebels in recent days.

On this day, the rebels installed wheels at the bottom of the wing, and dozens of people, under the defense of shield carts, pushed the wings forward, followed by the army.

Once someone is knocked down by the Ming army, another person will soon be added and desperately advance.

As for Hou Liangzhu's method of breaking the enemy, it is even more simple and rude.

On the one hand, he called on the people to continue to build pheasant towers, piling them higher than the wing buildings, and on the other hand, he selected Jiaojian soldiers to form a death squad, carrying gunpowder, oil and grass and other things, and sacrificing their lives to burn them.

These soldiers are agile and have the cooperation of the Ming army at the head of the city, and although the rebels try their best to stop them, there will still be fish that slip through the net.

A little gunpowder and oil grass ignited on the wing, at first the rebels could not find it, but when the rebels in the wing, the fire intensified and could not be extinguished.

There was no way, Zhang Tong had to give up the wing building, looking at the pheasant tower at the head of the city that had been piled up by the Ming army into the clouds, looking at the sky and sighing.

It was impossible for the West Gate to establish an advantage, and after a few days of repairing, Zhang Tongfu changed direction again and attacked the North Gate.

This time, the rebels took a different approach at the South Gate and the West Gate.

They took the form of little girls, stayed in the camp all day, and actually made tens of thousands of bamboo cages, which were filled with earth and stones, and used them to build a high platform, and jumped into the city condescendingly.

Hou Liangzhu was in a hurry, and ordered the demolition of the bell tower of Yongxiang Temple in the city, mobilized the army and civilians, and rebuilt it on the north gate to seize the commanding heights.

The rebels piled up a high platform outside, and the Ming army hurriedly built a bell tower on the city, and the two sides played a construction game at the four city gates of Chengdu.