At the head of Ezhou City, the arrows swept by, Fan Changheng's eyes did not blink, for him, the soldiers could not be killed, this was much better than the humiliation and scolding of the hotel guests when they were down. The villagers were huddled together in the war shed, and their faces were as white as earth. Arrows rained down and smashed on the roof of the tent. Just a few days ago, they were still standing on the city wall, with the mentality of a bystander, watching the liveliness of the Xiangyang officials and troops bombarded by the gunboats on the river, but when the Xiangyang soldiers really arrived in the city, especially after the deaths and injuries of the partners around them, the morale of the township soldiers suddenly plummeted.

Fan Changheng stood on the edge of the tent with courage, and said loudly: "The Xiangyang army has suffered a lot of losses outside the city, Ezhou has been against them for many days, and the traitors hate us to the core. Looking at the shrunken subordinates, a burst of happiness swelled up in his chest for no reason, and he continued, "Under the nest, there are no eggs, once the city is broken, we will all be dead, not only will we not be killed, but everyone's wives and children, old and young, must be counted as the relatives of traitors, the tragic incident in Hanyang a few days ago, do you know?" You all know that, right? You all know that, right? ”

Fan Changheng asked three times in a row, but these villagers were silent, and they couldn't beat a single sullen fart with three sticks, which made him particularly troubled. When he arrived in Ezhou, after entering the military department, his ambition to govern the country and level the world burned like wildfire, however, everything must first get through the current difficulty, otherwise, God will kick him back to the days when he was not even as good as a dog. Fan Changheng stood up and wanted to raise his legs and kick people, this was the way he watched those big officials deal with those entangled scoundrels when he was running the hall. From the beginning of the appearance of the Xiangyang army on the periphery of Ezhou, the heart of the Ezhou army began to float, not only the township soldiers were unwilling to fight with the imperial court officials, but even the commanders from those states and counties were not effective, and the soldiers slacked off and fled in an endless stream. Chen Dong had no choice but to follow Zhao Xingde's method and send the scribes of the six yamen to the state and county battalions to be the war supervisors. The DPRK and the Chinese party are at odds with each other, and when these scholars enter the council, they will be both prosperous and lossless. Chen Dong didn't want them to defeat the enemy, he just wanted to firmly grasp these township barracks, don't break up, and wait for Zhao Xingde to come from Jiangzhou to clean up the situation.

The resistance to the Xiangyang Imperial Court, Chen Dong and other scholars of science was much stronger. Since ancient times, good and evil have not been separated, it is conceivable that once the Xiangyang army conquers Ezhou, the imperial court may pardon military generals like Han Shizhong and Yue Fei, and even allow them to make meritorious contributions, but civil officials like Chen Dong and Zhao Xingde, even if they can save their lives, they will be exiled to Lingnan and will never be used. The so-called Hanyang tragedy refers to the fact that the Xiangyang army invaded Hanyang more than ten days ago and plundered it, and then the gunboats on the river and the artillery in the city bombarded each other, which also caused many casualties. Many people who originally lived in the suburbs fled into the city, and under the deliberate exaggeration of the Ezhou government, ordinary people did not have much rejection of the Xiangyang army, but now they also began to worry.

Fan Changheng held back his anger, put on a smiling face again, and said loudly: "Don't look at the fierce trouble in the city, General Zhao is rushing back with reinforcements in the starry night, and as soon as the reinforcements arrive, they will immediately wipe out these dogs." Hearing the "reinforcements", the faces of the township soldiers were moved, Fan Changheng observed the words, his heart was happy, and said, "These dogs retreated all the way from Hebei to the southeast, and were beaten by the Khitans to lose their armor, and our officials and soldiers in Ezhou even beat the Khitans, and it is even more common to beat them." ”

Hearing that General Zhao was leading reinforcements to arrive, the expressions of the villagers eased a lot, and some even couldn't help but look to the east, as if the reinforcements would appear in the lower reaches of the river in the next moment. Since the exposé case, Zhao Xingde has been known to many ordinary people, and there have been many articles that have been handed down, but there has been no actual whereabouts. When the Northern Captives invaded, he suddenly appeared again and led his army to repeatedly inflict heavy losses on the Liao soldiers. Under the deliberate rendering of people with intentions, his deeds were rumored to be miraculous. The Baoyi Army is called "Protecting the Territory and the People". I only heard that General Zhao led the army to station, and the villagers celebrated, thinking that they could live in peace temporarily.

Fan Changheng said as he spoke, and he couldn't help but look to the east, and said in his heart: "I wonder when General Zhao will arrive?" This Ezhou City, I don't know if it can be held until that time? Suddenly, the arrows in the sky were sparse, Fan Changheng's heart tightened suddenly, he leaned on the window of the war shed and looked out, only to see thousands of forbidden troops holding shields and waist knives carrying ladders close to the city wall, in an instant, "bell" sound, more than a dozen ladders have been set up on the city wall, cast iron barbs on the battlements, each ladder is surrounded by a group of soldiers, several people hold a shield in one hand, the steel knife in the mouth, ready to climb up.

"Oh my God!" Fan Changheng shouted, picked up a shield to cover his head, ran out of the battle shed, turned around and shouted: "Quick, quick, throw the stone," he waited for the stunned villagers to come back to their senses, and shouted again: "Take the pole and push the ladder down!" These guys come up, can you kill them? After this voice, Fan Changheng threw down his shield, picked up a push rod first, and fixed one end to the top of the ladder. He took the risk and glanced out, and there were already seven or eight people climbing up the ladder. Fan Changheng "snorted", his shoulder stubbornly resisted the place where the push rod was forced, this cloud ladder was extremely heavy, a person's strength was not enough at all, he was waiting to turn around and shout again, suddenly felt that the push rod shook a few times, and when he looked back, several villagers had put their shoulders on the putt.

Some of the villagers worked together to move the stones and smash them down, some put the wolf's teeth down, and some were scattering the lime jars down, although they were all in a hurry, but the whole city wall was full of busy figures.

"I finally know what to do." Fan Changheng's heart is slightly wider. There was a "bang" above his head, and the arrow smashed on the shield, Fan Changheng let out a cold sweat, and looked back at the soldier holding the shield gratefully, he lowered his head and shouted: "One, two, three—hard!" ”

The villagers were born with great strength, and when they heard the words, they shook, and the ladder shook, but the iron claws were firmly hooked to the city wall, making a tooth-aching "squeak" sound.

"Squat, short! Short! Fan Changheng couldn't stop shouting loudly, "Go up!" Push it up a little! Fan Changheng, like other scribes, is like the imperial examination, his mind is full of things that are in a hurry, and how to push the push rod to push the ladder away is the most important thing.

These township soldiers have also gone through a little practice, but ordinary and fighting are two different things, when the end, everyone is busy, at the last moment, Fan Changheng shouted so anxiously, the strength finally made the right place, everyone shouted "one, two, three", and then "hey-" A loud roar, pushing the ladder away from the city wall, the soldier who climbed the ladder couldn't stand still, and suddenly fell down two.

"Good!" Fan Changheng was overjoyed and said loudly: "Just follow it like this!" He was rolling up his sleeves, looking left and right from the corner of his eyes, most of the first dozen or so ladders were pushed down, only a few Xiangyang soldiers jumped up to the city, and the defending military academy rushed forward with the strong battalion, and surrounded the Xiangyang soldiers who attacked the city, the arrows broke through the air, and the swords intersected sonorously.

Fan Changheng bit his tongue, forced himself not to think too much, and shouted loudly: "Stones, throw stones down!" ”

The village soldiers were not good at bows and arrows, and they had the strength to throw down the rolling wood and stones under the supervision of the officers. The rolling wood and stones are so powerful that even the shield can't resist them. The Song army that was hit screamed again and again. From a distance, the rocks at the head of the city fell like raindrops, and the soldiers besieging the city had no place to stand.

Three miles away from the city of Ezhou, a group of heavily armored foot riders surrounded the middle, and Zhao Qi held a clairvoyant mirror to watch the progress of the siege. Since the ant annex attacked the city, he didn't say a word, but the haze on his face became thicker and thicker, until more than a dozen cloud ladders were knocked down one after another, and a burst of cheers sounded on the city.

"Ridiculous! Ridiculous! Zhao Qi put down the clairvoyant mirror. He turned his head to look around, and the faces of the generals on duty in the imperial front were very unfamiliar. They are Cao Di's henchmen, and they are not close to Zhao Qi. Cao Di did not let Zhao Qi personally supervise the battle in front on the grounds that he could not guarantee the safety of the Son of Heaven.

Zhao Qi glared at these people fiercely, turned his face to Deng Su, and said sharply: "What's the matter?" It's just some local soldiers, with the elite of the camping army, they can't beat a single Ezhou? The forbidden army is not as good as the village soldiers, what is the use of the imperial court raising soldiers? ”

Hearing this, although the left and right generals were silent, there was indignation on their faces.

Deng Su secretly said in his heart that the Son of Heaven still needs to nourish his energy, and said quietly: "Your Majesty, don't worry, the so-called township soldiers may be bewitched by others, and they will be brave for a while." And the camp army did not know its reality and had not yet used all its strength. Now it seems that although they are evenly matched, Your Majesty only needs to wait for a while, and the blood of the township soldiers will be exhausted, and it will be clear which is stronger and which is weak. ”

Zhao Qi listened to Deng Su's words, calmed down a little, nodded, and raised the clairvoyant mirror again to watch the battle. Deng Su turned his head, but there was a hint of worry in his eyes. The front had been delayed for a few days because of the sudden gunboats, and the Liao soldiers unexpectedly and quickly captured Xiangyang. According to common sense, the township soldiers can not fight for a long time, Ezhou will be able to capture sooner or later, this time is already a thousand moments, if you can't enter Ezhou before the Liao army is killed, I am afraid that hundreds of thousands of troops will be destroyed, the emperor will be cut off, and the last hope of the Great Song Dynasty will be over. It is fortunate that Zhao Yue and Han Zhu can defeat Brother Temu, and they must not be able to match Yelu Dashi's imperial army.

"If that's the case," Deng Su sighed in his heart, "the princes of Ezhou are loyal ministers of one person, but they are sinners through the ages." ”

The shouts outside the city resounded in the sky, every street corner in Ezhou City could be heard clearly, the war came together, although the government did not prohibit it, the shops of all sizes were almost invariably closed, and the ordinary people hid in the house, praying to God and Buddha not to suffer from the military disaster, but Ezhou City is so big, even if you want to hide, there is nowhere to hide.

A group of uninvited guests came to the Ezhou treasury. In the face of the mountains of silver coins, the eyes of many of the prime minister's office scribes were full of shock, but Chen Dong sighed: "The money in the treasury is enough to make people rich in the world, but it is less than three months of soldiers and civilians to consume." His face turned pale, and he said in a deep voice: "The matter has come to this point, what is the use of leaving money and silk, and moving these out to reward the soldiers of the army!" ”