The siege of the Jurchens began again in the afternoon, and it was still the Tianlei cart that threw iron ore slag bombs and a large number of black oil bombs into the city, this time targeting the block between the north city wall and the Weizhou Gate about five miles. This time, the soldiers and horses defending the city of Bianliang and the people were already on guard, and when the opponent's thunder car drove to the location and began to arrange, the city issued an early warning, and the defenders of the city and the people in the opponent's attack area evacuated one after another, and the loss of personnel was greatly reduced. But even so, the destruction of the streets, houses, and the defenses and supplies on the city walls was inevitable.

It's just that this time the bombardment of the Tianlei car was not long, and after dozens of rounds of slow bombardment, it ended hastily in the afternoon. But even so, it was still devastating, but it was much less intensive than yesterday and last night's bombing. The buildings in the neighborhood were not completely destroyed, and some of the city's defenses remained, and in short, the Jurchens seemed to be a little absent-minded.

In fact, it was not that the Jurchens did not want to replicate yesterday's onslaught, but because the iron slag bullets and black oil bombs of the Tianlei car that they arrived later had almost all been sold out. Hundreds of catties of things were completely transported from Zhongjing Road, although a large number of Liao people and thousands of carts have been requisitioned to transport all kinds of materials with the army, but the road is really far away, and the road is extremely difficult to pass after the snow, so in fact, there are actually less than 6,000 black oil bombs and more than 1,000 iron slag bombs available in the entire Jurchen army. More than 4,000 carts, tens of thousands of mules and horses, and tens of thousands of men were used to transport these ammunition here.

Yesterday's multiple attacks in one day and one night had consumed most of the two types of ammunition, and only 1,000 black oil bombs and 200 iron slag bombs were available for today's bombardment. It is obviously impossible to achieve comprehensive coverage in an area of up to five miles and eight hundred paces deep. Therefore, we can only use a hammer in the east and a stick in the west, delay time as much as possible, bloom everywhere as much as possible, and try to create greater momentum and effect. After the last ammunition was dropped into the city, it had to be silenced.

But the soldiers and civilians in Bianliang City didn't notice this abnormality. The bombardment of the entire Beicheng area has caused panic among the soldiers and civilians in the city. This panic has been fermenting since yesterday, and the people are also in panic all day long. The people of the North City have all begun to evacuate spontaneously now, because they have heard too much about the tragic situation near the wall of the North City in the past two days, and they are almost frightened.

Many of the people who escaped from the Jurchen-bombarded area recounted what they had seen with their own eyes. They say it's already hell on earth. Houses and streets were covered with the dirty ashes of the burning fires, and the air was filled with a pungent smell of gagging. Between the ruins and the houses in the streets, there were black, charred corpses. They are hideous and twisted, and they are extremely terrifying. Many people, they say, were not even burned to death, but suffocated by the thick black smoke. The burning objects thrown by the Jurchens emit thick black smoke, which will make you feel tightened in the chest and abdomen, and inhaled in the brain will poison you and fall to the ground. Many people could have escaped, but after being smoked and falling to the ground, they were burned to the ground in the fire. Fortunately, it's only February, and the weather is still cold, otherwise the smell of rancid would have permeated the city.

The people were able to endure the intimidation, and they saw the smell of black smoke. Yesterday day and night, all the black flocculent things fell from the sky in Beicheng, and there was a disgusting and pungent smell in the air. Now it seems that it was all the result of the burning things left by the Jurchens.

Beicheng must not stay, staying here is a death. The Jurchens will first start from the north city after breaking through the city, and they were confident that the forbidden army would defend the city, but now it seems that the forbidden army is running faster than the people, so what hope is there?

As a result, not long after the bombardment in the afternoon, the people living in the northern part of the outer city of Bianliang began to go spontaneously

Other urban districts fled. The north city of the outer city is divided by the Wuzhang River from east to west, and there are only six bluestone bridges on the Wuzhang River, corresponding to six longitudinal streets. Normally, these stone bridges are enough to pass, but suddenly more than 100,000 people are in a hurry to flee the northern outer city area, and suddenly the six stone bridges are congested and crowded. The key people will not leave empty, they will pack up everything that they think is valuable and necessary to use, the key is that in the eyes of the people, there is nothing at home that is useless.

Under such circumstances, the streets were full of peaceful carts carrying boxes and cages, pushing piles of things, driving flatbed carts with their own piles of parcels like hills, and people driving mules and horses in all kinds of carts. When they arrived at the narrow crossing of the Wuzhang River, they were naturally crowded together, and it was difficult to walk an inch.

However, because the materials in the northern city were seriously damaged by the Jurchens, the reinforced materials and reinforced soldiers and horses that arrived in the northern city from the south also had to rush to the northern city, and such a congested situation paralyzed the entire traffic. Those in the south can't get by, and those in the north can't get through. The officers shouted at the useless explanations, no one wanted to listen to them and turn back, and no one was willing to give way for the soldiers and horses to go first. Under these circumstances, a conflict broke out near the Wuzhang River Bridge on Fengqiumennei Street.

For the more than 4,000 soldiers and horses of the forbidden army who went to Fengqiu Gate to escort supplies and reinforcements, the military order was like a mountain, and they would never dare to delay time. Being stuck here, and not being able to arrive in time will be punished by military orders. That's not all, on weekdays, the forbidden army walks sideways on the streets of the capital, and today it is blocked here by these people, how can the soldiers of the forbidden army pay attention to this account, if the soft one does not work, the hard one will come, there is nothing to say at all.

The leader of the army will take the lead by giving the order to whip the people and open a road, which is also the usual way to deal with congestion on the streets on weekdays. There's nothing big about it. The people were driven off the bridge by the whip and fell into the icy water, and it was nothing. The Wuzhang River is not too wide, and the water is not too deep, so generally speaking, it will not kill people. However, the fuse was an old woman who jumped into the river in horror after being whipped a few times, but the old woman could not swim, and the river was cold and biting, and she could not stay awake in panic. By the time the old woman's son arrived, and her son, who jumped into the river, dragged her to the shore, she had died of exhaustion from the cold and choking water. This incident angered the old woman's son, who was already a stunned young man, who was originally a pig-killing businessman, pulled out the pig-killing knife on his waist and stabbed a few times in the body of a nearby forbidden soldier, and the forbidden soldier was killed on the spot.

The rest of the forbidden army generals and soldiers were red-eyed when they saw this. When one of the people moves a knife, the nature of the matter changes, and that is the mob. So they put away their whips and raised their long knives. All those who were crowded in front of them were regarded as thugs, and the officers and soldiers slashed dozens of civilians in an instant. The people are also enraged, and there is no way to live anyway, so what do they care? So angry counterattack. The streets were in chaos, and there were bloody riots and bloodshed.

When Lu Zhongtian and the others received the report and rushed to calm the situation in person, several streets were already full of corpses. The clash between the common people and the officers and soldiers was clearly a great loss for the unarmed people, hundreds of civilians were killed by the soldiers of the forbidden army in the clashes, and thousands more were trampled and killed and wounded in the chaos. Dozens of officers and men were wounded, three of them were wounded by stones, and three unlucky people were dragged into the crowd by the people and beaten to death with sticks, fists and feet. However, the situation was already clear, and all the people were forced to retreat to the north of several bridges, and the forbidden army had already blocked the bridgeheads.

When Lu Zhongtian arrived with Chen Jue and others, several generals who led the army hurriedly stepped forward to report, Lu Zhongtian's face was gloomy and he didn't speak, Chen Jue stepped forward and gave several generals a few slaps, and scolded angrily: "At this time, you still dare to do this, do you think the situation is not chaotic enough?" Bastard stuff. ”

Several generals covered their faces and did not dare to speak. Lu Zhongtian sighed repeatedly, he knew this

In fact, the main reason for the conflict was the high pressure of the Jurchens outside the city. The people's hearts are fluctuating, and their psychology is on the verge of collapse. Everyone is in a state of anxiety, which is why this conflict is happening. If something like this happens, it's useless to blindly blame the forbidden army, and in the current situation, the army's spirit can't be dispersed, otherwise there will be nothing to talk about. The people did need to be strongly restrained, and the more they indulged, the more chaotic the city became.

"Well, don't blame them. They went a little too far, but there was nothing wrong with that. Go and tell the people that the court will give compensation to the dead and wounded, but let them go home separately, and no more congestion and roaring here. Tell them that the court will hold the city, and there is no need to panic. At this time, the troublemakers will be severely punished. Lu Zhongtian commanded in a deep voice.

Chen Jue hurriedly agreed to go, and Lu Zhongtian went on to make some specific arrangements and measures, such as allowing the people to use the two special passages on the east and west edges of the six stone bridges, and the forbidden army soldiers and horses to use the four bridges in the middle, so as to avoid conflicts between the people and the forbidden army again.

While he was busy, suddenly there was the sound of horses' hooves behind him. Guo Xu rode a horse and led dozens of attendants to arrive after hearing the news.

"What's going on? What's going on? I heard that the forbidden army is killing civilians, what happened? Lu Zhongtian, what's wrong? Guo Xu shouted loudly.

Lu Zhongtian frowned and said, "Your Majesty, why are you here?" At this time, the emperor should not come to add to the chaos. ”

Guo Xu said angrily: "What is the chaos? The people are my people, and my soldiers and horses are killing my people, how can I not care? Lu Zhongtian, you have gone too far. ”

Lu Zhongtian forcibly suppressed his anger and reported what happened, Guo Xu listened to it and said coldly: "Even if it is to support the defense of the city, it can't open the way by killing the people, what is the difference between it and the enemy?" Lu Zhongtian, the generals who ordered the killing of people today must be severely punished, the matter must be thoroughly investigated, and the soldiers who participated in the killing must also be severely punished. I will never allow such a thing to happen. There is nothing to be done against the enemy, but he is as ruthless as a tiger and a wolf to his own people. Lu Zhongtian, this matter is also a dereliction of duty on your part as a privy envoy, how did you lead the soldiers. ”

Lu Zhongtian looked at Guo Xu with some surprise, Guo Xu sat on the horse and stared at him uncompromisingly, with a sense of determination in his eyes. Lu Zhongtian understood that Guo Xu should no longer be at his mercy, he wanted to be tough, so he deliberately said these words. Deliberately reprimanding oneself in public.

Lu Zhongtian smiled and arched his hand: "The emperor is angry, and he will do what the emperor wants, but the thorough investigation of the matter will not wait until after the Jurchens withdraw from the army." This is not the right time to do this. ”

Guo Xu knew that he couldn't go too far, Lu Zhongtian's soft tone was already the best result, it seemed that once he became tough, Lu Zhongtian still had some scruples.

"Okay, remember your words." Guo Xu rode away and rushed across the bridge.

On Qiaotou Street, the corpses of hundreds of people have been parked on both sides of the street, Guo Xu jumped off the horse, regardless of everyone's obstruction, rushed to the family members who caressed the corpses and cried bitterly, beating his chest and crying loudly: "It's me who is incompetent, but my people are hurt, it's me who is incompetent, I can't live with my ancestors and ancestors, and I can't live with the people of the world." …… Don't worry, I will make decisions for you, and I will avenge you. Rest assured, people, it is not wrong for you to leave the dangerous place of the northern city, and I will allow you to go to the inner city. Even if I vacate the Ouchi Palace, I will settle you. Do not put you in danger. If the Jurchens break the city...... They have to step on my corpse before they can hurt you. You can rest assured that I will live and die with you......"

The people were moved in their hearts, and they knelt on the ground and shouted long live, crying bitterly with Guo Xu.

On the bridge, Lu Zhongtian and others saw all this. Lu Zhongtian had a sneer on his face. Snorted coldly: "Hmph! Now if you want to play the game of buying the hearts of the people, I'm afraid it's too late. ”