In the first year of Song Longxing, the eighth year of Southern Jin Zhenglong, the third year of Northern Jin Dading, on April 16, in the north of Jinan City, Shandong Volunteer Army Camp.

"My lord, the secret passage has been dug into the city, and judging from the length of the secret passage, it leads to a house in the city, right under one of the houses. Excuse me, when will I be able to dig through the last foot of soil? A commander covered in dirt stood in front of Yao Chang, his excited expression hiding the exhaustion on his body.

"Good! Are the secret passages strong? Yao Chang got up when he heard this, and couldn't hide his excitement.

"The secret passage is seven feet high and six feet wide, and the last general personally walked it all the way from the city to the end of the secret passage, and there was no soil on the top, which was very solid!" The commander replied.

"Good! After taking Jinan City, you will be rewarded for a great achievement! As soon as he heard that the secret way was correct, Yao Chang was excited, and immediately promised a reward.

"Thank you, brothers, last general!" The commander clasped his fists and saluted.

"Don't dig directly up the last road, find a way to dig diagonally to facilitate the army to sneak in." Yao Chang suddenly remembered something and explained it specifically.

"The last general understands!" The commander immediately asked, "When will the brothers dig through the last section?" ”

"Don't dig just yet, wait for my orders."

"Yes."

The commander in charge of digging the tunnel was ordered to leave.

Yao Chang immediately sent an order and asked Luo Cong to come over to discuss the siege plan.

As soon as Luo Cong arrived, Yao Chang informed him of the good news of the secret passage.

As for when to attack, the two coincided with each other, and it was better to do it sooner rather than later.

After a little discussion, they jointly decided to launch an attack on the second watch in the evening, and the four gates of the southeast, northwest, and northwest attacked the city at the same time!

Subsequently, the left and right governments issued an order at the same time: Attack the city tonight!

At dusk, Yao Chang found the leaders of the three volunteer armies, Li Tiegun, Wang Dazhui, and Zhu Yidao, to arrange the siege task.

"Attacking the city tonight, you must already know, but you have another task tonight, don't participate in the attack outside the city, the three of you have to lead your brothers to sneak into the city from the secret passage, whether you can take Jinan City in one fell swoop this time, it's up to you!" Yao Chang got straight to the point and arranged the task directly.

Then he continued: "The three of you are in the forefront of the rebel army, this is a recognized fact, your brothers can also work hard, the secret passage is narrow, the time is limited, at most there can only be more than 8,000 people from your three armies can enter the city, after entering the city, whether you can contain the defenders in the city and form a joint attack inside and outside depends on you." If you capture the city of Jinan, I will give you the first credit! ”

"Yes, I promise to complete the task and take Jinan City!"

"Don't worry, my lord, the brothers will definitely rush to the front!"

"Yes, the lives of the brothers were given by the Shandong Righteous Army, even if they fight for this, they will take this city down!"

Li Tiegun, Wang Dazhui, and Zhu Yidao have taken orders to express their positions.

"There are people from our rebels at the exit of the secret passage in the city, but be careful. This is the map of Jinan City, the place marked is the location of the exit of the secret passage, after entering the city, do not attack rashly, wait for a thousand troops, or gather an army, and then drive the army out of the courtyard. If the front army is not discovered and recognized by the enemy, do not attack for the time being, wait for the two armies behind to enter the city, and the three armies will storm the northern city at the same time! Yao Chang took out the map and made further arrangements.

"My lord, how big is the courtyard at the exit, and how many people can gather?" Li Tiegun asked.

"Judging from the map, it's not too big, at most it's a three-entry courtyard, more than a dozen rooms, and can gather about 1,000 people. So after entering the city, you must be careful, especially when going out from the courtyard, be sure to guard the hospital door, do not let the enemy find out, and do not let them get close to the courtyard! Otherwise, the consequences are unimaginable! ”

"We can only gather a thousand people, so if we gather a thousand people, won't we have to go out of the courtyard? What should I do if I am discovered by enemy troops? ”

"Don't worry, our armor and weapons are no different from the defenders in the city, and even if they do, it will be difficult for them to tell if you are a rebel or one of their own. In addition, once the southeast, northwest, and northwest attack the city at the same time, the troops in the city are frequently moved, it is difficult for anyone to notice which army you are, after all, there are 30,000 defenders in the city, and it is impossible for anyone to know them all, let alone at night when the lights are dark. Yao Chang was relieved for the three of them.

"Understood."

"Who is the front, who is the center, and who is the rear?"

"I'm a pioneer!" Li Tiegun, please refrain from it.

"Then I'm for the Chinese army." Wang Sledgehammer raised his hand.

"Since the two of them are in front, Zhu will be the queen." Zhu Yidao raised his hand to receive the order.

"Okay, then it's decided, Li is in charge, and after entering the city, he quickly set up defenses at the exit and the courtyard gate to ensure that the secret passage is unblocked. The king is in the center, and Zhu is in the rear. If everything goes well, after all of them enter the city, the secret passage should not be exposed, and other troops will enter the city in the future. Yao Chang added again that he attached great importance to this siege and could not tolerate half a mistake.

"The last general understands!" Li Tiegun clenched his fists and took his life.

"Okay, hurry up and prepare, enter the city around the second watch!" Yao Chang ordered.

"Yes!"

Li Tiegun, Wang Dazhui, and Zhu Yidao clenched their fists and quickly returned to the camp to prepare.

After dark, the order to dig the last section of the secret passage reached the moat, and the rebel soldiers who were waiting under the wooden bridge heard it.

Armed with hoes, shovels, and earthen baskets, the rebel soldiers quickly drilled into the secret passage, and in the dim firelight, quickly ran towards the end of the secret passage in the city.

"Dig an upward ramp from here, not too steep."

As soon as they reached the end of the secret passage, the leader gave an order, and the soldiers immediately began to dig, load, and transport soil.

The soil transported out of the secret passage was poured directly into the moat under the wooden bridge, and because there was too much soil dumped, the moat under the bridge had been filled in more than ten zhang wide, filling in a dirt road.

Eight or nine feet high on the dirt road was a wooden bridge made of 100 logs.

The second watch, the bright moon hangs high.

A trumpet sounded in the camp of the rebels, and an army suddenly rushed out of the open camp gate, holding shields, holding ladders, and shouting "kill" in their mouths, and slowly advanced towards the moat.

Under the moonlight, the Shandong Righteous Army launched a huge attack on Jinan City almost simultaneously in the four directions of the southeast, northwest, and northwest.

When the defenders of the city saw this formation, their hearts were inexplicably excited, and it was time to win the battle and be rewarded!

Without waiting for the order of his superiors, he opened his bow and arrows one by one, preparing to attack, and for a while he forgot to report the military situation to the marshal's office.

"Everyone be careful, don't be careless, these rioters have been preparing for more than half a month, and they should still have something in their hands." A leader stared at the city, looking at the rebels who were advancing in formation and slowly advancing towards the moat, and his heart trembled inexplicably, tonight's attack may be different.

But what was different from the previous attack, he couldn't say for a moment.

"Don't be afraid, as long as they dare to come to the city, a few barrels of tung oil will go down, not all of them will die in the fire, the chaotic people are chaotic people, there is nothing to be afraid of." Another leader next to him smiled, looking at the formation of the rebels under the city, he was not half nervous.

"It's better to be careful, I always feel that this attack is unusual, too urgent, too slow, what the specific problem, I can't say." The leader stared at the city, his mind spinning.

"What's the problem, I thought I had built a siege ladder, so I wanted to attack the city, it was really so easy to get it, and I wouldn't have died tens of thousands of people last time. It's just a bunch of chaotic people, there's nothing to worry about, just wait for them to cross the river and come down to the city. The other leader laughed.

"I hope so." Looking at the formation of the rebels under the city, the leader's face became more and more worried.

A quarter of an hour later, there was an uproar in the city.

"Let's let go, tung oil is coming, be careful, within five feet, don't approach the torch!"

When the rebels attacked the city, barrels of tung oil went to the city again.

Seeing that the weapon to defend the city has arrived, the defenders in the city are all excited, it seems that tonight is another battle of the great enemy and the people!

Who knows, when the rebels under the city slowly advanced to a distance of more than 20 zhang from the moat, they suddenly stopped.

A moment later, in the darkness, sharp arrows flew up the city like rain, and in an instant, many defenders were injured by the random arrows.

"Take care to protect tung oil! In case they attack with rockets! In the panic, the city did not know who shouted.

As soon as the words fell, I saw a piece of fire flying in the darkness under the city, flying straight towards the city.

"Rockets! Protect tung oil! One of the leaders shouted.

At the same time, he hurriedly snatched the shield from the soldiers' hands and blocked it in front of the barrel containing tung oil.

Rockets rained down, hitting soldiers who couldn't dodge, and shields that were also blocked from the barrels.

"Protect tung oil! Protect tung oil! "Knowing that the rebels were attacking the city, the defenders came from under the city, and when they saw the fire on the city, they immediately roared loudly.

"Fight back! Shoot them! "The guard, hiding behind several shields, took a look at the situation under the castle and immediately ordered a counterattack.

The defenders were given the order and, under the cover of their shields, immediately opened their bows and arrows to return fire.

The city and the city began to suppress each other mainly with bows and crossbows, and the situation in the four directions was roughly the same, almost all of them were separated by bows and crossbows dozens of zhang away, most of the random arrows were blocked by shields, and a few got into the soldiers' bodies.

Around the four gates of the southeast, northwest and northwest, when the city was shooting nervously above and below the city, the northern camp of the Shandong Righteous Army, three armies, two people in a row, lined up the marching formation.

All the soldiers had a circle of white gauze wrapped around their necks.

"My lord, the secret passage has been dug through, and someone in the city has already answered it!" The commander in charge of digging the secret passage was sweating profusely and ran over to report the good news.

"Good! Enter the city! Yao Chang immediately ordered.

"Yes!" Li Tiegun clenched his fists and received the order.

Then he walked quickly to the front of the line and waved his hand: "Let's go!" ”

With the order, Li Tiegun took the lead, and quickly set off with his brothers, and walked into the dirt pit after piling up a hill of wood from more than a dozen zhang away.

The soil pit is more than one zhang wide, nearly one zhang deep, the pit is flat, and the top of the pit is full of logs piled horizontally, which is equivalent to the whole pit being covered by logs.

Li Tiegun led his brothers to run quickly in the dim firelight, until they ran into the wide moat, and then saw a cave with fire in front of them.

Li Tiegun didn't say a word, and ran directly towards the entrance of the cave into the city, and the soldiers behind him held weapons and followed closely.