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"Mr. Lu, the land of a hundred miles ahead is Lai'an County, which is not far from the boundary of Chuzhou, as long as we pass through the border of Lai'an County, we can enter the sphere of influence of the rebel army, so we don't have to be so careful." Luo Biqing said to Lu Shaobei on the horse, and pointed to a road on the left side of the three-way intersection in front of him.

After hearing this, Lu Shaobei sighed and said, "Xiao Luo! When we left Dadu, Xianglan'er had already determined that the Yuan court had organized an army of one million people from all over the country, ready to recover the granary in Jiangnan with a thunderous force, and this time our business alliance must unite all the righteous armies and gather strength to resist this large-scale counterattack by the Yuan court. ”

After hearing this, Luo Biqing said with some puzzlement: "The generals of the Yuan army belong to different factions, and there is no unity of mind, and the rebel armies in various places are currently also electing Han Lin'er as the master?" How could they be powerless to resist the Yuan army? ”

"Xiao Luo, the Yuan court sent the prime minister to take command this time, only he came forward to make the generals of the Yuan court return to their hearts, we have traveled thousands of miles, all the way to watch the Yuan army march and move, the gathered soldiers and horses are not comparable to the previous several times, the Yuan court after many years of civil strife, the treasury is empty, only those armies still maintain considerable combat power, this time it must be to make the greatest adjustment, in order to reluctantly gather all the soldiers and horses together."

"The key is to get rid of this person, he has supported two emperors to ascend the throne, and once led hundreds of thousands of troops and horses to fight in the north and south of the river, and has never been defeated! Although he has a blood feud with our Han people, this person can be regarded as a military and political genius. ”

"At present, the rebel army is occupied by Liu Futong, Fang Guozhen, Chen Youliang, Zhang Shicheng, Guo Tianshu and others. On the surface, they still serve Han Lin'er as the main force, but they are suspicious of each other and cannot trust each other, and with the current situation, it is difficult to resist the Yuan court army. ”

"Xiao Luo, do you know why Yuan Ting took Zhang Shicheng first?" When Lu Shaobei said this, he suddenly threw a question at Luo Biqing.

"Sir, Bi Qing doesn't know anything about this kind of military and political affairs, I think that Zhang Shicheng was once recruited by the Yuan Court, but he rebelled again after more than a month, which caused the Yuan Court Emperor to be angry, right?" Luo Biqing thought for a while before saying.

More than a dozen riders, all dressed in dart master costumes, silently protected a troika with a very ordinary appearance, following behind the two.

"Wrong! Xiaoluo, Zhang Shicheng is not based on Han Lin'er, but also in Gaoyou called the king, although this person has the name of righteousness, but he does not really have the heart to dominate the world, and a little arrogant, and the foundation is not stable, if the Yuan army attacks him, Zhang Shicheng will inevitably ask for help in a panic, but there must be very few people who can respond. ”

"And the first to respond, I expected that it would inevitably be the Guo family's righteous army, but Chuzhou is vast and sparsely populated, how can it have the ability to send troops? This is one of them; If the Chuzhou rebels are defeated, then several rebels in the south of the Yangtze River will be divided one by one, and then there is a risk of being completely annihilated. This is the second one. ”

"Now we should rush to Chuzhou as soon as possible, if we can urge Guo Tianxu to join forces with the Zhulu Righteous Army to resist the enemy as soon as possible, then we can be invincible!" When Lu Shaobei said this, he sighed again.

Along the way, he passed by various state capitals, and the news reported to him by members at all levels under the Economic and Commercial Alliance proved that the Yuan court had sent almost all the troops that could be used to the area south of the Yangtze River, preparing to recover the entire territory of the south of the Yangtze River and end the situation of unimpeded rule between the north and the south for nearly 20 years.

Although Xiang Lan'er once said that the Yuan court would make a plan to deal with the prime minister of the Yuan court, but Na Tokh was an important minister of the Yuan court, and his power and prestige were that Emperor Di Yuan Hui would also respect him for three points, Lu Shaobei did not believe that what Xiang Lan'er said could really pose a threat to Toto, so he was very worried about the current situation.

When Luo Biqing heard Lu Shaobei say this, he suddenly felt heavy, and when he was about to answer, he saw a dart master galloping towards everyone on a horse galloping towards the town in the morning.

"Sir! Yan Jiuqi is back, we can listen to the situation ahead. Luo Biqing pointed to the dart master who had already run fifty paces away.

Lu Shaobei nodded, raised his hand and signaled that all the riders and carriages were parked on the road, and the dart masters and carriages behind them immediately stopped.

After counting the breaths, Yan Jiuqi stopped in front of Lu Shaobei, clenched his fists and said respectfully: "Sir! Most of the Lai'an County in front has fallen into the control of the Chuzhou Righteous Army, but I heard from the people in the market town in front that the current Lai'an County has been attacked for nearly ten days and still has not been captured, and at present, Zhu Yuanzhang, the left deputy marshal of Chuzhou, is mobilizing troops and horses to besiege outside Lai'an County. ”

After hearing this, Lu Shaobei immediately said in surprise: "So fast? If Lai'an County can be captured, Chuzhou will have a natural barrier, which is enough to resist the onslaught of hundreds of thousands of troops, quickly, we will rush to Lai'an County immediately! ”

Just when Shang Yu thought that he was going to die, he heard a very familiar voice say: "Uncle Cousin! What are you doing? My heart couldn't help but be shocked, and I immediately opened my eyes and looked out of the prison, but there was only a dim oil lamp in the ground, and I couldn't see who that person was at all, and I could only see that the other party was not tall, as if he was a teenager.

"Son, why are you here? This is a place of heavy prisoners, how can you enter without permission? The jailer immediately stopped his movements in some surprise and addressed the boy.

"Uncle Cousin! Why are you so ruthless when you become a jailer? If I hadn't seen it myself, I wouldn't have believed that you were so vicious. The young man's voice continued to reach Shang Yu's ears.

"Son, I am following the orders from above, and if I don't carry them out, it will be regarded as disobedience. Not only will you lose your current job and you will be punished, do you want your cousin to be guilty and therefore unable to take care of you and your cousin? Why don't you get out of the dungeon quickly? The jailer immediately retorted.

The young man couldn't help but be stunned, remembering that after arriving in Chuzhou, he and his grandmother had been taken care of by this cousin to a great extent, and their lives were much more comfortable than Yong'an, so he became a little gloomy.

"Uncle Cousin! Grandma and I would rather beg in the street than see you do such a bad thing, and if grandma knew that you had done such a thing, she would be very sad. The young man gritted his teeth but did not go out, but said more resolutely.

"Bastard, the prisoners in this water prison are guilty of felonies, and they will die of disease if they are not starved to death. What's more, the whole body will gradually festering in this water, I am not doing this to harm him, but to help him, and he will talk to you when I finish dealing with it. The jailer said with a gloomy face.

When Shang Yu heard this, he had already determined who the young man was, and immediately opened his mouth and said in a weak voice: "Brother Weibi, save me!" Someone harmed me to do this, and your cousin didn't know the inside story. ”

The young man was immediately startled when he heard Shang Yudi's voice, but then he remembered this voice and immediately said in a trembling voice: "Brother Mu! Is that you? Is it really you? ”

"It's me, Brother Weibi! Save me. After saying this, Shang Yu fainted unhappily.

"Deng Yu, Li Wenzhong, and Hu Dahai listen to orders!" Guo Tianxu proudly stood up from the handsome case, holding an arrow in his hand and shouted loudly.

"The last general will wait for the order!"

"With General Deng Yu as the main general, General Li and Hu Dahai as the left and right deputy generals, the three of them quickly led 3,000 soldiers and horses to gallop to the aid of the left deputy marshal, and passed on the order of our marshal to send troops to Xuyi and Tianchang immediately after capturing Lai'an County to contain the left army of the Yuan army."

Deng Yu, Li Wenzhong, and Hu Dahai couldn't help but be shocked after hearing this, this time they left Chuzhou, Zhu Yuanzhang's generals were exhausted, and no one controlled the city for Zhu Yuanzhang in Chuzhou, if they didn't listen to the commander's order, it would be a crime.

"The last general will obey!" All three reluctantly agreed.

Guo Tianxu was secretly happy in his heart, handed over the order arrow to the three of them, and then picked up another arrow and shouted: "Ma Xiuying listen to the order!" ”

Ma Xiuying was secretly anxious in her heart, and only hoped that the discussion in the Shuai Hall would end, and she would wait until the back hall to explain the stakes to her younger brother, but she didn't expect Guo Tianxu to look at the military plane

The big thing was like a child's play, and she actually gave an order, obviously eager to transfer the three generals and her out of Chuzhou, but she couldn't stop it.

"The last general will obey the order!" Ma Xiuying had to reluctantly agree, but thought in her heart: "I must reason with him in the back hall later, so that the tired army is sent to the mouth of the Yuan army, isn't it a sheep into the mouth of a tiger, or if you want to control the whole army, there is no such masochistic method, the soldiers in front of you will be exhausted after fighting for many days, how can you run thousands of miles again?" ”

"General Ma led the people in hiding in the south of the Yangtze River to Xuyi and Tianchang to carry out a sneak attack on the army of the Yuan army transporting baggage! Whether it is burned or flooded, as long as the left army of the Yuan army cannot form an encirclement of Zhang Shicheng, the king of Zhou. Guo Tianxu said loudly.

"The last general obeys!" Ma Xiuying had no choice but to agree.

The Yuan army is known as one million, and Ma Xiuying's hidden people are only a few hundred people, what role can they play in the face of an army of at least tens of thousands of people transporting grain? And Zhu Yuanzhang only had tens of thousands of soldiers and horses under him at this time, how could he resist the left army of the Yuan army, which amounted to hundreds of thousands?

In the county seat of Lai'an, Jin Dejin, the county magistrate stationed in this city, was sweating on his head at this time, listening to the thousands of households in the city, Morunoda, report to him about the city's defense.

"My lord, most of my safety has been occupied by the Chuzhou Red Turban thieves, and the county seat has been besieged for seven days, the water source in the city from the front of the mountain has been cut off, although the grain and grass in the city can still support for half a year, but there is no water to keep the soldiers to maintain their strength, and there are hundreds of persuasion letters from outside the city every day."

"There are many people in the city to pick up, although the last general will send people to catch some people who spread rumors, but I am afraid it will be difficult to last, I hope that the county government can come up with a way as soon as possible, otherwise the four thousand soldiers in my city will protect the county and kill the general to go out and retreat to the north." At this time, Morunoda completely lost the prestige of the countryside that was rampant on weekdays.

"Morunoda! The county is trapped, but if you can't wait for our army to come to help and break through and kill, then you and I will be beheaded according to the law, don't you have any other way? "Jin Dejin is not friendly with Morunoda on weekdays, he has always advocated treating the people kindly, but Morunoda is just the opposite of him, but at this time, the Chuzhou Red Turban Army attacked, and they had to stand together to resist.

"Lord County, I also have a way to make the thief army retreat temporarily! It's just that I'm afraid that you won't, so I want to discuss it with you. Morunoda said with a cold glint in his eyes.

"How? Please come quickly. When Jin Dejin heard that there was a way, he couldn't help but immediately show a glimmer of hope on his face.

Zhu Yuanzhang stood in front of the tent on a horse, holding his hands to cover the sun and looking at the city, but his face was full of worry.

"Deputy Marshal Zuo, what Brother Shang said is really good, you see that after cutting off the water source in the city, there will be no soldiers in the city willing to come out to fight, plus continue to persuade the city to surrender, I think they will surrender out of the city soon." Xu Da said thoughtfully beside Zhu Yuanzhang.

"Brother Xu Da, it's just that I'm worried that as Brother Shang said, the Yuan army will take the people in the city out of anger, and now if it is attacked, our army will suffer heavy casualties, and the grain and grass in the army will also be exhausted, but there is no grain and grass in the direction of Chuzhou, it seems that Guo Tianxu really does not allow me, and the good chief is really not wrong! At this critical moment, the army was trapped in a state of lack of food. Zhu Yuanzhang said without joy on his face.

"A few days ago, when we discussed attacking this city in Shiguan Town, the Shang brothers and the good elder brother both said that this city could not be attacked, but cutting off its water source and messing with its army was the best policy, and when they killed the people, it would definitely cause chaos within the Yuan army in the city?"

At this time, I saw a sudden commotion above the city head two hundred steps away, and I saw dozens of people who were tied up and looked like people being escorted to the top of the city.

Behind them were all soldiers who were clinging to steel swords, and a sense of slaughter came.

I saw a general of the Yuan army standing at the head of the city, shouting loudly: "I am Morunoda, a thousand households in Lai'an County, standing in front of the battle, but the thief surnamed Zhu in the red scarf?" ”

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but be furious after hearing this: "You Yuan dog, my army is tens of thousands of people outside the city, and you are all turtles in the urn, what are you doing to fight for the benefit of your tongue?" If you don't surrender quickly, as long as you surrender to our army, you will not be killed. ”

I saw the Qianhu at the head of the city laughing loudly: "Little thief surnamed Zhu, if you withdraw from the army, tens of thousands of people in this city will not have to suffer from the lack of water. ”

"If you don't retreat, there will be more Khan people who will die because of your siege, I have heard that you are pretending to be benevolent and righteous, claiming to love the people like a son, I want to see if you are really as rumored!"

As he spoke, he stretched out his hand and waved it and said, "Kill!" Morunoda immediately grinned and gave the order to kill.

I saw that the people all let out a cry of fear, but then it stopped abruptly, and after dozens of steel knives slashed down with a blinding cold light, the heads of these people flew over the city, and the blood was scattered in all directions at the city.

Zhu Yuanzhang immediately said angrily after seeing it at this time: "Xu Da, pass on my general order to attack the city immediately!" At this time, it is the best moment for the Yuan army in the city to completely lose the morale of the army and the people! Call me the thousand-strong men of the five-stringed bow to the front, shoot at the head of the city a hundred paces away, advance the siege ladder, and never stop until the city is taken. ”

"The last general will obey the order!" After Xu Da heard this, he immediately rode his horse backwards.

In a short time, the sound of neat footsteps could be heard in the camp, and a thousand soldiers with five-stringed bows with solemn faces rushed to a hundred paces in front of the city, scattered, leaving a large gap in between.

Behind them, there were hundreds of soldiers of the Righteous Army wearing leather armor, all of them were in groups of three carrying a siege ladder that was four zhang long in a hurry, and hurriedly forced towards the city wall, and behind them were densely armed with wooden shields and thick iron knives Chuzhou infantry soldiers, this kind of thick iron knives are easy to make, and the cost is cheap, although it is easy to damage, but it is easy to equip.

These soldiers had just witnessed the Yuan army's wanton killing of the people in the camp account, which had already aroused their infinite anger, and even these Chuzhou rebels and relatives and friends were in Lai'an County, if they could not capture this city, it was likely that the next group of people who were ordered to be killed by the thousand households would be them.

These days, the rear of the camp tent has been stepping up the production of siege ladders, and those five-string archers who have arrived from Shiguan Town are constantly re-adapting to the range and power of the new bow and arrow, and are ready to suppress the Yuan army defending the city head during the siege, so as to buy time for the siege soldiers to stand at the head of the city.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the city head nervously at this time, this new method of fighting is due to the five-string bow This kind of arrow with a long range comes, the city wall of Lai'an County is one and a half zhang higher than other cities, and the siege ladder in the past does not work at all, so it took a few days, and according to the strategy of attacking the city in consultation with Li Shanchang and Shang Yu, in order to minimize the losses of the side.

"Brother Shanchangming Shang has been back in Chuzhou for a few days, and I don't know if I can bring the military grain, but if I can take this city today, I don't have to worry about the grain and grass anymore, and I can make comprehensive arrangements for the whole territory of Anxian County in the future. The Yuan army sent a million troops to Zhang Shicheng, I must prepare the affairs in the territory, and then act with the camera, if I can help, I will help, otherwise I can intercept the million army here by virtue of Lai'an County. Zhu Yuan thought of this on weekdays, and looked at the city with even more concern.