The defenders at the head of Nanyang City naturally did not sit idly by and watch the moat being filled, and immediately returned fire.

All of a sudden, human life was outside Nanyang City, and it was worthless. Every minute and every second, almost a life disappears into the world.

When these coerced people saw their companions killed by arrows one by one, wounded by firecrackers, or even hit by artillery, and fell to the ground wailing in pain, many of them could not stand it anymore and threw down their dirt bags and hurried to the back.

However, they were greeted with punches and kicks, and even some camp leaders, those elite thieves who supervised the formation, even directly cut people with knives. Either die immediately, or rush up, maybe you won't die, and you can even get a lot, and you can change it to a bun to eat when you turn around.

These thieves, the routines between each other, are actually the same. First give these people a little food to eat, a little cushion their stomachs, and then carry a bag of soil to pour the moat, pour a bag of soil back, you can get a stick, this stick can be exchanged for buns to eat. Different camps are different, and the number of sticks in a bun will be different.

By noon, the bands had finally collected their troops and returned. And the moat under Nanyang City has been filled with mud and corpses. Just this battle, it is estimated that about 5,000 people died outside the city.

The leaders of the thieves from all walks of life, looking at the moat outside the city, many people were a little surprised. Because it can be seen with the naked eye, the section of the moat that Li Zicheng and Zuo Liangyu are responsible for is the best filled.

On Zuo Liangyu's side, there is nothing to say, people are from the official army, and there are people in the army who know how to shoot artillery. The cannons were pushed over, and the city was bombarded, and there were firecrackers to cover it, so the city could not deal with the thieves who filled the moat with impunity.

However, on Li Zicheng's side, he doesn't have artillery, and the conditions are similar to those of other bandits. But it can be clearly seen that even those cannon fodder who fill the moat have a higher morale than them. For this reason, they were very strange, so they inquired.

Of course, this matter is still easy to inquire about, and soon they know the reason, and they can't help but praise Li Zicheng for being treacherous.

"Look, doing the same thing as us, but just saying a word, buying people's hearts, selling people and not knowing it, it's amazing!"

"It's not like us to let those old and weak die, consume the defenders, and reduce the consumption of food, and fill the moat by the way, but still make them grateful to Dade. Tsk, awesome! ”

"Hehe, this trick is easy to use, I have to learn it too!"

“……”

The camp of thieves has been quiet again for the time being. Under the scorching sun at the end of August, Sun Hanqing took off his only coat and covered his head, and lay motionless on the ground. Clearly, he was exhausted.

Suddenly, he saw someone coming over on the side, and when he saw it, he found that it was an acquaintance, so he sat up and greeted: "Congratulations, Wei Chao, you have lived one more day!" ”

Wei Chao was also very tired, nodded a little tiredly, and responded a little.

"I said Wei Chao, do you still believe what you said?" Sun Hanqing couldn't help but ask.

Wei Chao listened and asked a little puzzled, "Why don't you believe it?" ”

"Huh!" When Sun Hanqing heard this, he couldn't help but sneer, "What's the difference between you and me just now?" Both of us were fortunate to not be part of the moat. See for yourself, if King Chuang is a good person, how many people around you will come back alive? It's not all like everyone else, taking our lives instead of taking our lives! ”

Hearing this, Wei Chao was finally stunned, turned his head to look around him, and his expression seemed a little gloomy. Because Sun Hanqing is right, many of the people sitting with him this time are new faces. Many of those who knew each other 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: "I'll tell you, if it weren't for these thieves, we would have come here and use our lives to touch Nanyang City?" Although I'm also a tenant, the days before were at least much better than now, right? ”

Hearing this, a person next to him suddenly interjected and said: "Yes, I burned my house, robbed everything, and worked for them, can these thieves still have good people?" ”

This person's words resonated with several people. This time, whether it was Luo Rucai or Li Zicheng's camp, there were people who echoed it.

Wei Chao was obviously a little hesitant, but in the end he shook his head and said, "I think King Chuang is still different." ”

When he finished saying this, the leader of Luo Rucai's army, someone came over and shouted loudly, so that everyone could hear it: "Big brother said, in the future, we will also want to give free grain to the land, everyone work hard, and after laying down the country, everyone will have a ...... of land in the future."

Hearing this, Wei Chao was a little surprised, and the corners of Sun Hanqing's mouth were more of a little ironic.

As soon as the leader of the thieves left, he said to Wei Chao: "This time, can I say that Cao Cao is also a good person?" ”

"What if there really is a share of the land?" Wei Chao listened to it and couldn't help but retort.

At this time, a relatively large grade sighed and said, "Just listen to this, can you really believe it?" You don't want to think about it, if it is really Juntian exempt, then let me ask you, where will their expenses come from in the future? ”

"Of course it's those corrupt officials!" When Wei Chao heard this, he replied casually, "Those corrupt officials in our county were killed by King Chuang and raided their homes!" ”

This matter is actually famous in later generations, called "recovering stolen goods".

When the older man heard this, he couldn't help but ask in a sarcastic tone, "And then?" How many corrupt officials are killed, and then they don't spend money? They eat meat and drink wine, where else can their money come from? ”

"That's naturally from ......" Wei Chao wanted to say that he would continue to kill corrupt officials and corrupt officials and raid their homes, but then he understood that there were so many corrupt officials in this world who could be killed. In this case, it is impossible for King Chuang to farm the land by themselves, and where will their money and food come from?

Juntian is exempted, and at this moment, it suddenly becomes unrealistic.

In fact, the thieves are still thieves in the end, they can't turn the corner, even in the original history, after occupying the capital, they continued to chase stolen goods, which caused the landlords to resist and finally cheapened the Manchu Qing.

At this time, Wei Chao still said stiffly: "At least it can be Juntian, and if you have a field in the future, that's also a good thing!" ”

"Then there will be a future!" Sun Hanqing heard this and stabbed him in the heart.

Wei Chao listened, didn't reply again, and lay still.

The others stopped talking, and in fact, they had no strength, so they could only lie still as much as possible, hoping that their stomachs would be lighter.

In the afternoon, a large number of old and weak people began to gather in the camps of the thieves, that is, the people who had been coerced, and let them go to attack the city and consume the defenders' defensive equipment. This time, Wei Chao and Sun Hanqing didn't have their turn.

"Look, is there a difference?" Sun Hanqing looked at the people who were driven by the elite thieves to attack the city, and said with a snug mouth.

Wei Chao looked at the flesh and blood strangulation under Nanyang City and didn't say a word.

"Rogue, there is no such thing as a good thing!" Sun Hanqing categorically concluded this, and then lay back down.

The older man sighed and whispered, "Before these thieves came, they would be able to live their lives, but when they came, who could live in peace wherever they passed, the village was burned down by them, and the fields were deserted." Pity my ...... My ......"

Speaking of this, a big man actually cried in a low voice.

Although he didn't finish speaking, everyone on the side knew that his family must be gone. Because things like this are all too common.

This time, Wei Chao's head was lowered, and he didn't even dare to look at the old one.

The next day, they were caught up on the battlefield again, fortunately, Wei Chao and Sun Hanqing survived again, but there were many faces they had just met, and they would never see each other again. Including the older one, they all died under Nanyang City.

This time, the leader of the thieves came over, and said to them with a smile: "You have done a good job, the king has an order, you will be real brothers in the future, go with me, there will be buns to eat at every meal in the future!" ”

On Luo Rucai's side, the same is true, after a few days of siege, the old and weak have died under the city, and the young and strong who can survive will often become the elite of the thieves. Through this method, the thieves are often able to eliminate the weak and retain the strong without much effort.

In the den of thieves, I can't help myself. Sun Hanqing glanced at Wei Chao, and it happened that Wei Chao also looked over, and the two glanced at each other, without much excitement, with a blank face on their faces, and each followed the leader of the thieves.

Nanyang City is the capital city of Nanyang Prefecture, there are vassal kings in it, and it is also a big city, the city wall is tall and strong, although it is not as strong as the Jingshi, but at least it is much stronger than the ordinary city.

After three days of attack, the thieves had to meet again to discuss matters.

This time, the seats of the thieves from all walks of life are exquisite. Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai, Li Zicheng, Hui Dengxiang and Zuo Liangyu were lined up, all sitting in the middle, and on both sides were the leaders of other bandits. From this glance, it can be seen that among the thieves today, these five people are the heads.

"We have been fighting Nanyang for three days, and 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, and the surrounding Ming army is afraid that no matter how many of us there are, it is estimated that they will come to the rescue!" ”

Hearing this, Zuo Liangyu took over and said: "I sent a total of 30,000 horses, including the Yongwei battalion, led by Governor Chen Qiyu, and the striker has already left Hubei and entered the Nanyang territory. ”

Li Zicheng also introduced: "Over there in Luoyang, my brother rushed back to tell him that more than 10,000 Yongwei battalions had arrived, and it is estimated that they will come to the rescue soon." The general army led by Lu Da, the commander of the original Tianxiong Army, and Yang Guozhu, the general soldier of the Xuanfu, were all former subordinates of King Lu Yan. ”

None of these news, one after the other, are not good news.

Cao Cao Luo Rucai listened, sighed and said: "These are actually nothing, the most important thing is, how can we take Nanyang as soon as possible?" As long as the Dog Emperor falls into our hands, the situation will change dramatically, and everything will be fine. ”

Hearing these words, the leaders of the thieves on both sides couldn't help but sigh, although the troops were strong, they actually knew that the elite was actually very limited. Otherwise, if 200,000 are all elites, this Nanyang City will definitely be defeated.

"Actually, isn't it what we expected when the Ming army came to help?" Hui Dengxiang saw that his morale was a little low, so he said more optimistically: "Or if you want me to say, if Nanyang can't be defeated for a while and a half, we may ambush all the way, and it is good to eat all the way!" ”

When Zuo Liangyu heard this, he glanced sideways at him, thinking in his heart, should it be the time when he ambushed Ben Shuai, it was also your idea with this news, right?

"If you want me to say, this is a good solution!" Zhang Xianzhong immediately echoed when he heard this, "When we let out the news, we said that we will soon take Nanyang, and the officials and soldiers of the imperial court will definitely rush to help, and in a hurry, we will definitely not be able to take care of a lot, so it will be easy to ambush us!" ”

As soon as they heard this, many of the bandit leaders immediately applauded loudly and shouted that they would do just that. In fact, the most common trick they used to defeat the official army was to first exhaust the imperial court officials and soldiers, and then introduce an ambush circle, relying on their large number of people to start exchanging. Anyway, they first used the people who were coerced to consume the strength of the officials and soldiers, and finally the elite thieves swarmed up to settle the battle.

It was with this trick that they defeated the brave general Cao Wenzhao and Zuo Liangyu......

However, Li Zicheng shook his head and said: "The imperial court officials and troops are endless, how many ways can we defeat him?" If you want me to say, I still want to take Nanyang City as soon as possible and catch the Dog Emperor! ”

Hearing this, some people felt that he was reasonable, so they echoed it on the spot. But some people agreed with Zhang Xianzhong's statement, and the two sides argued.

That's it, there was no result in this discussion, which made Li Zicheng very angry after going back.

When Li Guo saw it, he comforted: "Uncle, as my nephew said, each family has its own little abacus and will not really consider the overall situation." Didn't Huang Hu know that it was better for Nanyang City to fight down first? It's just that he doesn't want to listen to his uncle, otherwise, he won't be able to fight with his uncle for this alliance leader! ”

"Five families have five minds, if anyone can let whom, this alliance leader would have been elected a long time ago." Gao Yigong also nodded, and his face suddenly became a little hideous: "If you want me to say, find an opportunity to arrest the other four, so that you can unify the order, and the strength of nearly 200,000 horses can be reflected!" Otherwise, let's just say that this siege is still careful, I have seen it, our nearby Luo Rucai side of the siege, at the beginning was not attentive enough, thinking that the defenders at the head of the city were attracted by our side, they increased the offensive! ”

Listening to their suggestions, Li Zicheng nodded thoughtfully. Originally, before coming over to join Zhang Xianzhong, he actually had such a thought, annexing other rebel armies and rapidly increasing his strength.

He was thinking about this idea, and after Zuo Liangyu returned to his army, it was about the same.