The next day, Wu Shengzhao and Li Benshen acted separately, and after a while, they colluded with the more than 300 rogues who wanted to escape, and agreed to act at dusk. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Unconsciously, the sun was setting, and Wu Shengzhao, Li Benshen and others began to act separately.

They deliberately walked all the way to the north gate in a wandering attitude, and when they saw that the Tang soldiers seemed to be defenseless, Wu Shengzhao and Li Benshen were both overjoyed.

The two looked at each other for a moment, then glanced at the rogue soldiers who were following behind, and then let out a loud cry and rushed forward to snatch the defenders' weapons.

More than 300 rogues acted in unison, and in an instant, the momentum was extremely strong, and those Tang soldiers guarding the city gate seemed to be caught off guard at all, and seven or eight defenders immediately lost their weapons and fled in all directions.

Seeing that the Tang army fled instantly, Wu Shengzhao was extremely happy, and he shouted loudly: "Everyone! The Tang army is in chaos, I will rush out of the city as soon as possible, and go straight to the border mountain! ”

A group of rogues howled and hurriedly rushed out of the inner city gate Yuedao, everyone knew that next, as long as they rushed through the urn city and the suspension bridge, now that the sky was already dark, it was impossible for the Tang army to pursue them.

It's just that when all the rogues rushed to the urn city, and before they could rush out of the outer city gate, there was a bang behind them, and the gate of the inner city was already slammed shut.

At this time, at the gate of the outer city, suddenly a team of heavily armed spearmen shouted and went straight in, blocking the moon road of the outer city gate.

The Tang army's hidden surprise attack made these 300 or so rogues who were about to flee in a hurry suddenly become turtles in the urn.

"! It turned out that the Tang army had already taken precautions, and they were hiding at the outer city gate, waiting for us to come to the net, but we were in the middle of the plan! Wu Shengzhao covered his head in annoyance.

"Shengzhao, what should I do now?" Li Benshen's voice sounded anxiously.

Unexpectedly, while they were still discussing, a slogan came from the city wall, and the spearmen who rushed from the outer gate immediately shouted a little more and rushed forward, slaying these rogues who had neither armor nor weapons.

The dull popping sound of knives and guns entering the flesh, the porphyry sound of stabbing bones, and the screams of the rogue dying suddenly rang out, making people feel toothache.

"Tang army soldiers, don't kill, I'm willing to surrender, willing to surrender!"

Wu Shengzhao laboriously used the steel knife he snatched in his hand, pulled out a spear that pierced sharply, and shouted loudly at the Tang soldiers who were fiercely attacking.

At the same time, a large number of rogue infantry behind them had already fallen to their knees, kowtowing and begging for mercy.

"Brother Tang Jun, I was confused for a while, and I really regretted it. Be gracious and let us go. The rogue who kowtowed on the ground like pounding garlic cried loudly.

And Gao Jie's nephew Li Benshen also knelt in the middle of these rogues in fear, and also kowtowed like garlic, and the heroism of discussing escape last night was gone.

At this time, a young general of the Tang Army standing on the tower of the city gate saw that Liukou had already knelt on the ground and begged for mercy, and a smile suddenly crossed the corner of his mouth.

This general is Liu Wenxiu, deputy commander of the Dingbei Battalion.

He shouted loudly, and the spearmen of the Tang Army, who were brutally killing like machines, stopped one after another, giving the remaining 200 or so celebrities a chance to live.

Seeing that the Tang army had stopped killing, Wu Shengzhao sighed, the steel knife in his hand clanged to the ground, and he seemed to have no more strength, pounced and knelt on the ground.

Soon, a large number of Tang army auxiliaries came over and tied up these rogues who begged to surrender tightly with ropes.

At this time, hearing the sound of killing at the north gate, the soldiers and horses in the middle city of Jintang also moved, and a large number of rampant sentinels and horses dressed in triple armor like mecha monsters also hurried over.

And Gao Jie and the others, when they heard the shouting of killing at the city gate, they were immediately shocked, and he and Li Chengdong, accompanied by several personal soldiers, also hurried to the north gate.

At this time, the inner gate of the north gate was reopened.

When Gao Jie, Li Chengdong and the others saw that there were at least seventy or eighty corpses of rogue gangsters piled up in this urn city, and the blood was spilling all over the ground, they all gasped.

Next, they saw that the remnants of the rogues, including Wu Shengzhao and Li Benshen, were all kneeling on the ground, and they were all tied up like a zongzi, and when they were trembling under the tip of Tang Jun's gun, they suddenly felt that their faces were hot and panicked.

"W-what's going on?" Gao Jie asked with a pale face and stammered.

"General Gao, this Wu Shengzhao and Li Benshen wanted to snatch the weapons of my gatekeepers and led the crowd to escape. Fortunately, our army discovered their conspiracy in time, so that they could plan and capture them all. Liu Wenxiu's face crossed a faint smug smile.

"Wronged! Wronged! We really don't have the heart to do that. Wu Shengzhao and Li Benshen shouted in unison.

"Hmph, you still have a face to scream! Last night, the two of you plotted to defect late at night and left, and our army's security department secretly spied on them, and they heard it clearly. Liu Wenxiu sneered: "Two, do you still want Liu, and you can't tell the whole story of the secret discussion between the two of you here?!" “

Hearing Liu Wenxiu's majestic and sharp words, Wu Shengzhao and Li Benshen immediately lowered their heads and said nothing.

Gao Jie on the side, his face was even more embarrassed, and he sighed, feeling deeply ashamed that his subordinates were going to defect and flee.

He suddenly thought of something, raised his head and stared at Liu Wenxiu opposite for a long time, feeling that this person was very familiar, as if he had seen it before.

"General Liu, you, are you Liu Wenxiu, the third general under the Eight Kings that day?" Gao Jie had a look of sudden recollection, and he asked in a very uncertain tone.

Unexpectedly, Liu Wenxiu immediately replied: "Exactly, Liu was the third son under Zhang Xianzhong in the past. However, as early as a few years ago, Liu had broken with him and turned to Tang Guogong. Fortunately, Lord Li appreciated it, and now Liu is the deputy battalion commander of the Dingbei battalion. “

"Oh, ......I see," Gao Jie looked thoughtful, but he couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

This Li Xiao can also give such a lot of credit to Liu Wenxiu, who was once a thief, and be promoted to an important general, this person is really quite knowledgeable and tolerant.

"Then, Battalion Commander Liu, what are you going to do with them?" Gao Jie's face was very ugly, and he had to force himself to squeeze out a smile.

Liu Wenxiu had a smile on his face, but he saw Gao Jie and the others chill in their hearts.

"Originally, according to the regulations of our Tang Army, anyone who defected should be beheaded immediately to set an example. But you have just come to vote, and you are not yet a member of our army, and if you slaughter them all like this, you will also be suspected of not being punished. Therefore, all these people will be detained for the time being, and they will first be in the sulfur mine of our Jintang City, mining and labor reform, and then make arrangements after they perform well. Liu Wenxiu said with a sneer.

Hearing Liu Wenxiu's arrangement, although Gao Jie's face was ugly, he was secretly relieved in his heart. Alas, in any case, their lives were saved for the time being.

Unexpectedly, when they heard that Liu Wenxiu was willing to save their lives, the captives were overjoyed, and they kowtowed on the ground like pounding garlic, and loudly thanked Liu Wenxiu for his grace not to kill.

Gao Jie sighed lightly, then walked in front of Wu Shengzhao and Li Benshen, and looked down from the bottom to the ground, kneeling on the ground, tying up a zongzi-like two.

"General Gao......"

"Uncle ......"

Wu Shengzhao and Li Benshen didn't have time to finish, but they were kicked by Gao Jie respectively, and they rolled to the ground with two sounds.

"You two cowards, you have simply lost my Gao Jie's face! Listen, from now on, you will transform yourself in this golden soup city, and you will never regenerate different hearts! Otherwise, don't say that Battalion Commander Liu can't tolerate you, even the general, he will cut off your heads with his own hands, do you understand! Gao Jie scolded with a hideous face.

"Got it!"

Wu Shengzhao and Li Benshen hurriedly knelt down again and again, kowtowing again and again.

Gao Jie didn't look at them anymore, turned around and left.

And Li Chengdong, who had not spoken all this time, looked at them again with a complicated expression, and left with Gao Jie with a sigh.

Subsequently, these gangsters were sent straight to the sulfur mines, where they began a painful and arduous life of labor reform.

Gao Jie Li Chengdong, as well as more than 2,600 other people, after another day of rest, led by Liu Wenxiu, set out from Jintangcheng and headed for Shandong.

When Liu Wenxiu took Gao Jie and others to Shandong, in the palace of the capital, Emperor Chongzhen was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot.

Behind the imperial table in the Qianqing Palace, Chongzhen, who was pacing back and forth, was like a trapped beast. His expression was very hideous and anxious.

And above the Dan Rank, Zhou Yanru, the latest first assistant who had just been reinstated, knelt on the ground with a high degree of nervousness.

In the past few years, because of the country's eventful and war-torn events, the position of the first assistant has also been rotated like a marquee.

First the first assistant Liu Yuliang, after the Qing army withdrew from the Guanwai, he was dismissed and returned to his hometown because of lying about his military exploits and then the crime of fear of the enemy's cowardice, and then Xue Guoguan, Fan Fucui, Zhang Sizhi and others were rotated in general, basically changing the first assistant every year.

It's just that with the further deterioration of the domestic situation and the irreproducible poison of the rogues, Chongzhen was extremely disappointed in these new chiefs, and Emperor Chongzhen at this time began to miss Zhou Yanru, who was ousted by Wen Tiren earlier.

The emperor believed that although Zhou Yanru was at fault, he had not broken the fundamentals, and this person still had a certain ability to govern, and the country was much better during the period when he was in power than the current deteriorating situation, so the emperor naturally had the idea of recalling him.

At this time, the Donglin Party took the opportunity to exert influence on Emperor Chongzhen, and people like Zhang Pu, Ma Shiqi and others began to build momentum one after another, spreading inside and outside the court: "If Zhou Yusheng is the prime minister again, he will be able to change his course and save the Ming Dynasty in danger." ”。

So, at the beginning of the fourteenth year of Chongzhen, Emperor Chongzhen finally issued an edict and re-employed Zhou Yanru.

It's just that the wishes are beautiful, but the reality is cruel.

The re-ascension of this Zhou Shoufu did not bring about a new political change in Chongzhen's imagination, but the country is still eroding day by day, and the rogues are still rampant.

Chongzhen was very anxious about the situation in the world, and he gave Yang Sichang, who was supervising the war in Sichuan, a death order, asking him to immediately eliminate Zhang Xianzhong's troops who were raging in Sichuan.

Unexpectedly, Yang Sichang, who was already lacking in skills, was unable to stop the onslaught of Zhang Xianzhong's troops, who had more than 100,000 troops.

After Zhang Xianzhong's troops got the Kuizhou Mansion, they went all the way up the river, and defeated the Ming army all the way, first Kewan County, then Zhongzhou, Fuzhou and other places, and finally surrounded Yang Sichang's headquarters under the command of Chongqing.

At this time, Yang Sichang was already seriously ill, and his subordinates persuaded him to break out of the city immediately, but Yang Sichang refused.

In the end, the famous Yang Gebu at the end of the Ming Dynasty, in his own home, supported his sick body, put on official uniforms, and in the direction of Beijing, bowed three times in a row and shouted to the emperor to take care, then took arsenic and committed suicide.

After his death, the Ming army in Chongqing no longer had the heart to fight, but surrendered the city.

Zhang Xianzhong entered the city, in addition to immediately ordering more than 100,000 people in Chongqing to be packaged and sold to the Tang army, he hated Yang Sichang very much, and ordered Yang Sichang to be crushed and scattered to ashes to relieve the hatred in his heart.

And Zhang Xianzhong's subordinates, after getting the entire eastern Sichuan, became more and more arrogant, so they took advantage of the situation to attack the western and northern Sichuan, and the land of Sichuan, which was already very dangerous.

Now, after the news of the loss of Chongqing, an important town in Dongchuan, and the suicide of Yang Sichang, who was extremely trusted by the emperor, reached Chongzhen's ears, Emperor Chongzhen was almost mad.

Frightened and so frightened that he didn't know why, in this Qianqing Palace, after pacing like a trapped beast for a long time, he remembered to send a eunuch to urgently summon Zhou Yanru, the first assistant, to urgently discuss the current national and military situation.

Chongzhen, who had been pacing back and forth, finally stood still. His face was filled with unspeakable anxiety and anger, so much so that his whole face was distorted. It was as if he was like a humanoid gasoline barrel at this time, as long as he threw a match, he could explode immediately.

"Jade Rope, I ask you, now the situation in Sichuan is so urgent, and thieves are so rampant, as the first assistant, what is the best way to control it?"

Chongzhen forcibly suppressed the sadness and anger in his heart, although he asked Zhou Yanru in a calm tone.

Zhou Yanru heard Chongzhen's inquiry, and he sighed in his heart.

Originally, as the first assistant, if he talked about political and economic matters, he could still give a lesson or two, but if he talked about marching and fighting, he was far worse than Yang Sichang, and he could be described as an inexperienced rookie, so he couldn't answer at all.

It seems that the emperor is in a hurry by the rogue! Otherwise, how could he ask such a pure civil servant as himself about this militaristic matter?

It is said that if the emperor wants to ask about military affairs, Chen Xinjia, the secretary of the military department, should be the best candidate. It's just that Chen Xinjia, who has now become a firefighter, is in Kaifeng, Henan, commanding all kinds of reinforcements to fight against Li Zicheng's rogues, and he is not in Beijing at all. Therefore, the emperor, who was forced by the news of the loss of Chongqing and Yang Sichang's suicide, could only arrest himself, a rookie, and ask about it.

It's just that what advice can I give to the emperor?

However, after Zhou Yanru pondered for a while, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he immediately replied: "Your Majesty, such a major military matter, Weichen is a civilian official, and he doesn't dare to say anything, but why didn't the emperor immediately summon Li Xiao, the Duke of Tang Guo, who was accustomed to fighting, to come to the capital to inquire?" ”

After listening to Zhou Yanru's answer, Chongzhen's face froze instantly.