The Zhao battalion army ordered and forbade it, and it was extremely efficient. The day after Hou Dagui's order, Zhang Xianbi and Zheng Shixin sent the corpses and artillery trucks collected from the surrounding areas to the army one after another. Hou Dagui did not stop for a moment, and deployed the Changhong Front Battalion and the Yichong Battalion to be distributed in the south and east of Fucheng, the two most densely defended directions of the Shun army, and immediately began to throw the corpses with artillery carts.

In the rain, the slightly prepared return cannon can still be used effectively. Wearing gloves and thick cloths, the soldiers tied the two bodies together with fishing nets and threw them into the nets of the artillery carts and threw them into the castle.

Seeing this, the Shun army in the city thought that the soldiers and horses of the Zhao battalion were going to smash the city with big stones, as if they were facing a great enemy. The small black dots that crossed the sky fell into the city, and at most they knocked over the eaves of the houses, and there was no power, and I couldn't help but wonder greatly. Several artillery trucks fired several times, and the Shun army also found several corpses that had fallen to the ground. The officer did not know what to do, and reported this unseen and unheard situation to Ren Guangrong, Wang Wenyao and others. They were also confused and at a loss at first, but Shen Wandeng reacted quickly and broke Zhao Ying's abacus with one word. The generals of the Shun army panicked at the beginning, and hurriedly ordered the soldiers and civilians not to approach the corpse, and sent a special force to search and destroy the corpse in the city.

Zhao Ying's return artillery was scattered and widespread, and the angle of the projectile changed at any time, coupled with the heavy rain, which was very easy to confuse the line of sight, and the noise was difficult to distinguish, which brought great difficulty to the search work. The cannon cart was thrown, the corpse flew in the sky and could not be seen clearly, and the horns that fell into the city were even more like a needle sinking into the sea, and it was difficult to find a trace. It is easy to deal with being seen by the army, but it can be bumped into by unsuspecting people, and it is absolutely difficult to control whether the two sides are in contact or not. Although the Shun army did its best to prevent it, in less than three days, there was a large-scale plague epidemic in the city that was difficult to contain. Moreover, from the fourth day, as Zhao Ying collected more corpses, the frequency of corpses entering the city also greatly increased, until later, the number of corpses had already exceeded the hundred that Hou Dagui had requested at the earliest, almost reaching two hundred.

Seven days later, there was a massive outbreak of plague symptoms. As if overnight, the lookouts of Zhao Ying, who were in charge of observing the defense of the Shun army in Chengtou, found that the number of defenders had decreased sharply. Although other Shun troops soon came up to replace them, after this small turmoil, the epidemic situation in the city must be tilting in the direction of favoring Zhao Ying. At the same time, Hou Dagui stopped the action of throwing the corpse, mobilized troops and horses with Huang Degong, and began to set up ambushes on various dangerous roads outside the city. In the early morning of the eighth day, the Shun army really took advantage of the night to go out of the city and wanted to break through, but was ruthlessly killed by the soldiers and horses of the Zhao battalion who were waiting for him day and night, and returned defeated. Xiong Wanjian, the right sentry officer of the Wuqi battalion, was brave, and even once led his troops to chase the rout and rushed into the urn city, but was blocked by the Shun army. The Shun army closed the city gate tightly and continued to hold on, and at noon one day, the rain passed and the sky was clear. The Shun army from the west, south, east three city gates in a big way to try to break through, Hou Dagui cut off the west and south gates, Huang Degong intercepted the east gate, held for more than half a month useless Zhao Ying's cannon finally broke out on this day the most fierce firepower. The morale was low, and the Shun army was pressed under the root of the city to fight, and the fierce battle lasted for half a day, leaving countless corpses, and retreated back to the city again. Hou Dagui was not in a hurry, he did not pursue, only asked the soldiers to operate the cannons, and destroyed the city tower at the south gate to demonstrate, and let out a vicious breath.

That night, in the dark of night, Hou Dagui, who was still in the big tent of the Chinese army to discuss the battle situation with the generals, received a messenger. The envoy claimed to be the general of the Shun army in Runing Mansion Ren Guangrong, Chen said that Ren Guangrong knew the general trend in the Ming, hoping to change the evil and return to the right, and the anti-Shun returned to the Ming, if Hou Dagui agreed, then open the south gate in the middle of the night to receive the Zhao Ying army into the city.

Hou Dagui was overjoyed, and agreed, and sent the right post of Xiong Wanjian and the rear post of Chang Guoan as the vanguard to attack the city. Ren Guangrong kept his promise, first tied up his deputy Lieutenant Ye Yunlin, and then attacked the south gate at night with his own soldiers. The guard of the door was Wang Wenyao's subordinate Captain Zhang Li, who was caught off guard and was killed on the spot, and the guards scattered in all directions. Ren Guangrong opened the city gate, held the lantern as a signal, Xiong Wanjian, Chang Guoan pioneers, and the main army of Zhao Ying then marched forward, searching and killing the Shun army who were terrified all night, and the Shun army grabbed the door and ran away on the way, and was also wiped out by the Huang Degong army who was ambushed outside the city. In the early morning, the generals of the Shun army, Wang Wenyao and Feng Xiong, were captured. Xie Yinglong was infected with the plague, and he vomited blood and died in his dream. Shen Wandeng surrendered with honor, and none of the soldiers and civilians in the city escaped. Hou Dagui said that he captured Runing Mansion on the 10th, and it was really not bad.

Hou Dagui rode outside the city, saw Ren Guangrong lying there with a big belly, and shouted: "Get off the horse!" ”

When Ren Guangrong heard this, where could he not know what was going on, he crawled over with his hands and feet, propped himself up next to Hou Dagui's horse and said, "Please dismount Mr. Hou!" ”

Hou Dagui didn't say anything, stepped on Ren Guangrong's back and landed, and deliberately pressed Ren Guangrong on his feet during the period. Ren Guangrong was eager to protect himself, Rao is face was flushed, and he didn't dare to say a word.

Ren Guangrong didn't listen to the order and didn't dare to move, Hou Dagui glanced at the row of people kneeling on the side of the road, and suddenly saw a young woman in a blue robe trembling inside. ”

The woman didn't answer, and Ren Guangrong, who turned her head to look, gritted her teeth and said, "It's the villain's daughter." ”

Hou Dagui changed his face when he arrived, first helped the woman up, and then walked two quick steps to help Ren Guangrong up, reproaching: "The ground is dirty and cold, let the old brother do something on his stomach!" ”

Ren Guangrong patted the soil and got up, blushing and speechless, Hou Dagui waved his hand, beckoned Zhang Xianbi and said: "General Ren has merit anyway, the family needs to take care of it, don't leave it out in the snub!" ”

Zhang Xianbi agreed loudly, and instructed the soldiers to lead Ren Guangrong and Ren's family members, and then leaned in front of Hou Dagui and whispered: "When my subordinates cleared Ren Guangrong's family out of the mansion, I learned that the blue-robed woman was actually Ren Guangrong's concubine. ”

Hou Dagui paused slightly, then glared at him and said, "Nonsense, can you know Ren Guangrong's family better than him?" Whatever he says is what he says, you know? ”

Zhang Xianbi was stunned: "Understand, understand......"

Hou Dagui was about to move, and Chang Guoan hurriedly ran out of the city. Seeing that his face was tightly wrapped in a thick cloth, only a pair of small eyes were exposed.

"What's going on inside?" Hou Dagui asked.

"The city gates, the treasury, and the key roads of the guard towers are all in the hands of our army." Because his mouth was wrapped in cloth, Chang Guoan's voice was muffled, "There are more than 16,000 thieves and soldiers, and now they are all concentrated in the urn city and are on standby, and I have no soldiers from the battalion to take care of them." In addition, there were more than 20,000 people, and they were also in the city of urns. ”

"Why do you mix the people with the thieves?"

Chang Guoan sighed: "The epidemic in the city is too serious, the military and civilians are mixed, and it is really not clear who is sick and who is not. ”

"How heavy is the epidemic?" Hou Dagui frowned.

Chang Guoan replied: "The subordinates have a rough look, whether it is the military or the civilian, at least two or three of the ten people are already terminally ill, and the other half are not sick, but they basically have the early signs that the medicine shop said. Thinking that the streets and alleys in the city are cramped, people are close to each other, and the air is ventilated, I am afraid that there will be no symptoms of boiling gas into the body, and it is not an exaggeration to say that the army and civilians in the city have epidemics. ”

Although the siege method of throwing corpses into the city worked, the aftermath was not within Hou Dagui's expectations. Wang Guangtai, the counselor of the camp on the side, said: "If this is the case, don't say that the army enters the city, and even recruit soldiers. ”

Chang Guoan nodded and said, "At this time, Officer Xiong has assigned soldiers to strictly guard the urn city and prevent anyone from entering or leaving. The epidemic in the city is not stopped, and the risk of the army entering is too high. ”

Hou Dagui pondered for a moment and said: "The treasury in the city is in hand, it doesn't matter whether the army enters or not, if the epidemic is as serious as you said, I will order the whole army to be stationed in the northern suburbs of the city." I will also send someone to spread the word there. ”

Chang Guoan responded: "Obey the commander's order. He added, "What should the soldiers and civilians in the city of Urn do with it?" But wait for the doctor in the medicine shop to come and treat you? ”

Speaking of this, Hou Dagui's expression changed suddenly, Chang Guoan looked at him, didn't dare to say any more, lowered his eyebrows and waited for him to speak. But listening to Hou Dagui's deep voice, he said: "There are only about ten people in the medicine workshop, and it's okay to treat three or four hundred people, how can thirty or forty thousand people take care of it?" And the medicinal materials are precious and rare, they must be kept to heal the children in the army, and they must be used by thirty or forty thousand people, I am afraid that it is not enough to dig three feet into the family of the medicine workshop, and if there is an epidemic spread on the way of our army in the future, what should we do? ”

Chang Guoan said tentatively: "What does the chief mean?" ”

Hou Dagui tightened his face and said word by word: "Mobilize bows, crossbows, and guns and deal with them all." ”

What that means, it goes without saying.

At that moment, Wang Guangtai, Chang Guoan and others were all shocked when they heard this, and Hou Dagui said: "Don't say that the allocation of doctors and medicinal materials to save these 30,000 or 40,000 soldiers and civilians, just taking care of them will also cost our army a lot of energy, money and food." The war is urgent, and there is no delay for a moment, so don't have half of a woman's kindness. ”

This time, the number of Shun soldiers was huge, and they were seriously ill with the people, so they had to wait for the Huguang Governor Yamen to mobilize enough people to come and take over, and the army would be stationed in Runing Mansion for ten more days. Moreover, Hou Dagui had dealt with the Huguang Admiral Yamen or the Henan Admiral Yamen before, and knew that such a big matter was on the stall, and it would be difficult for the Huguang Admiral Yamen to deal with it alone, according to the temperament of those Confucian students, he would inevitably be cheeky to ask his soldiers to stay and assist. Hou Dagui's patience was exhausted early in the siege of the city for more than half a month, and he was unwilling to delay any longer.

"Killing prisoners is ominous, and killing civilians is clearly forbidden by military discipline, so think twice." Even after galloping across the battlefield for more than ten years, Wang Guangtai and Chang Guoan have never started such a large-scale massacre of soldiers and civilians, and military discipline has repeatedly ordered that no one should offend the people.

Hou Dagui said irritably: "The war is not over, Ma Li has done this thing, who dares to say half a word?" At the same time, he said to Wang Guangtai, "You are the establishment under the unified power inspection institute, if you don't poke out the matter, how can the unified power inspection institute know?" "The three courtyards of Zhao Ying are separated, and the army is under the jurisdiction of the Soldiers and Horses Unified Yuan, but the counselors and superintendents in the army are subordinate to the Unified Power Inspection Institute and are responsible for supervising the army. Wang Guangtai is different from other Confucian scholars, he is a military general, and he has always been regarded by Hou Dagui as his own person, so Hou Dagui is outspoken.

Wang Guangtai hesitated, Hou Dagui said: "Huang Degong is still on the periphery, the rest of the battalions are distributed all over the city, and only the Wuqi camp supervises the urn city. These people have helped the thieves resist our army for more than half a month, so it can be seen that they have long been with the thieves, how can they be good people? Keeping them can only lead to endless troubles. If someone asks in the follow-up, they only say that the thieves in the city of Wengcheng will resist stubbornly and suddenly launch a counterattack, and our army will have to kill them in order to defend themselves, and it will be fine. "Wu Yan Battalion is the most intimate war battalion brought up by Hou Dagui, Hou Dagui's authority in the camp is far from being comparable to other battalions, Hou Dagui spoke, Rao is Wang Guangtai and Chang Guoan were worried, but they still did not dare to speak out against the order.

"Lao Chang, you go back and get things done with Lao Xiong quickly. I'll take care of the rest. Hou Dagui said anxiously. What he is most afraid of now is that once the illness of the soldiers and civilians in the city is known by others, it will be difficult to suppress it, and it is only a matter of time before Hu Guangti leads the yamen to come over and take over, and he has to spend a lot of time and energy for these prisoners before and after, and the plan to march quickly will inevitably be forced to run aground. Seeing that Chang Guoan was still reluctant to move, he couldn't help scolding, "Thief, don't go quickly!" ”

Chang Guo was relieved and walked away as promised. Wang Guangtai looked at his back, his face full of embarrassment. Hou Dagui patted him on the shoulder and said, "It's okay, the sky can't fall." As a counselor and overseer, Wang Guangtai is very clear about his responsibilities, he will not stop Hou Dagui today, and he will be guilty afterwards, and his guilt will not be less than Hou Dagui. But as Hou Dagui said, at the moment, several other battalion leaders do not know, Chang Guoan and others are the people involved, and they are firmly tight-lipped, as long as they and Hou Dagui are of the same mind, the entire Wuqi battalion will work together, and it will not be difficult to cover up the killing of prisoners.

"Our army has been trapped in Runing for too long, and if it continues to grind, it will only affect the lord in the west. What do you do in exchange for you? Hou Dagui's two thick eyebrows slanted slightly, "For the sake of the overall situation, I, Hou Dagui, am willing to bear this blood debt!" ”

When Wang Guangtai heard this, he sighed and said, "I should follow the orders of the governor." ”

It didn't take long for the sound of cannons to be heard from the end of the urn city in the distance. Hou Dagui stood with his hands behind his back to the wind, listening to all this quietly, pursing his lips and saying nothing. Bai Wang, the commander of the Wu Battalion, quickly galloped to Hou Dagui's side and asked, "The city is fighting again?" ”

Hou Dagui said lightly: "There are still many thieves in the city, and the trapped beasts are still fighting, which is normal." ”

Bai Wang was skeptical, but he didn't say anything more, and everywhere he looked, green smoke shrouded the sky above the city.

About two quarters of an hour later, the continuous sound of guns gradually stopped, and Hou Dagui's tense face eased, and he secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Just as he was about to mount his horse and return to the camp, he saw a horse come out of the hole in the city gate and gallop towards him. When he got closer, Hou Dagui saw that Chang Guoan was riding a horse, and there was a middle-aged man in front of him.

Chang Guoan dismounted and dragged the middle-aged man off the horse, and when the middle-aged man stood up straight, Hou Dagui found that he was wearing a gray robe and a nude bun tied on his head, looking like a Taoist priest who told fortunes.

"Who is this man?"

Chang Guoan said: "He is a fortune teller, and his subordinates bumped into him in the city, and he said that he wanted to say something to the governor." ”

"The villain lingered in the sea of corpses and blood for a while, just to say a word to the manager." The Taoist priest was covered in blood stains and dirt, his hair was messy, and he was downcast, but he was standing upright, and his eyes were like cold sharp knives, sharp and sharp.

Hou Dagui was stared at by him very uncomfortably, and looked at him impatiently and said, "What are you going to say?" ”

The Taoist priest said in a loud voice: "Just give the chief manager a secret divination, a big murderer." If the boss kills too much, he will not die well! The words were impassioned, and the eyes seemed to be about to erupt with fire.

When Hou Dagui heard this, he became furious, and without waiting for the Taoist priest to say another word, he took out his saber, stabbed it straight into the Taoist priest's arms, gritted his teeth and said: "Bastard, look who can't die well!" ”

The Taoist priest fell to the ground with a whining and wailing, blood splattered several feet around him. Bai Wang, Chang Guoan and the others looked at Hou Dagui in astonishment, but when they saw Hou Dagui take the knife, he took a bite of the Taoist priest's body, stepped on the horse, and roared: "Return to the camp, tomorrow at noon, pull out the army and follow Lao Tzu to kill the thief again!" ”