What makes the officers and soldiers in the city even more frightened is not how prosperous the military appearance of the Xingtian Army is, how many soldiers and horses are, what makes them most shocked and afraid is the various types of artillery that the Xingtian Army has placed in a row outside the city, and the experienced people have found the difference between the artillery of the Xingtian Army and the artillery of the official army defending the city. Instead of the messy miscellaneous cannons such as bowl-mouth guns, tassel cannons, general cannons, and tiger squat cannons that are commonly equipped in the inland officers and armies, just from the polished shiny barrels pulled out by the Xingtian Army, they can guarantee that the cannons used by the thief army will definitely be much more powerful than these tattered cannons placed on the city wall of Ruzhou in terms of range and power.

When the officers and soldiers who knew the number counted the various types of cannons pulled out by the thieves outside the city, their jaws almost fell to the ground, they didn't expect that the thieves army of thousands of people outside the city could actually pull out seventy or eighty cannons of all kinds, the number was only a lot more than the various miscellaneous cannons that Ruzhou City had, and these cannons were concentrated at the south gate of Ruzhou City, and the muzzle of the black hole hole was aimed at the southern city wall.

When the defenders in Ruzhou City saw this scene, they began to turn pale one by one, and then turned their heads to look at the wooden standing cards and other guards that they placed on the city wall to block arrows, and they couldn't help but be very depressed, and many people secretly shouted in their hearts, "It's over, it's over, this time it's over, when did the thief army actually come out with such a bad god, it can just fight, and it can still create such a big killing weapon, Ruzhou City is now over"

When looking at the formation of the Heavenly Army, even if the morale of the defenders is contained, after the Ming Dynasty official army arrives in this era, the soldiers and horses that can really fight in the field are actually quite limited, and some of the existing officers and soldiers have been put together for a long time, but they are just mixed up to eat, and under normal circumstances, they do not dare to fight with the enemy in the field, the reason why they can still fight with the righteous army from time to time, and often force the righteous army to run around, not because they can really fight, but because the righteous army is often too poorly equipped, The training is even more rigid than that of these officers and soldiers.

This is also the reason why the righteous army often gathers quite a lot of troops, and the siege of some state capitals and counties is often unable to be conquered in a short time, just because the equipment of the righteous army is too poor, except for relying on the homeless ants with wooden sticks and hoes to attack the city, there is no decent siege equipment at all, and the Ming Dynasty after two or three hundred years of operation, the old foundation is still there, the walls of each city are often built quite strong, and attach great importance to the application of firearms, although the financial resources are not good these years, However, there are still a lot of miscellaneous artillery in the cities, although these cannons are far behind the development of this era, but they are still quite powerful for the rebel army composed of displaced people with extremely poor equipment.

Therefore, it is often the rebels who attack the city, and they will pay a considerable price, sometimes even dozens of times the number of defenders, and they cannot conquer a city.

But today, after looking at the siege lineup of the Xingtian Army, the defenders of Ruzhou are all cold in their hearts, if they are just ordinary thieves today, with the various guards stored in the city, the defenders still have considerable confidence to fight to the death, but today it was replaced by this Xingtian Army, which can be said to be armed to the teeth, and the defenders suddenly felt worried in their hearts.

When the two armies meet, the brave wins, this is an unbreakable truth since ancient times, and once the morale of one side is greatly weakened, then the outcome of this battle can be predicted.

When he learned the news that the Xingtian Army had begun to prepare to attack the city, Zhao Tianci also personally climbed the gatehouse in the south of the city surrounded by Hu Servants, and stopped to look outside the city, but after he saw it, like the other defenders, his face became pale, and he said to He Zigang, the garrison of Ruzhou, with a trembling voice: "Prepare quickly, you must block the thief army, and don't let the thief army capture the city!" This official has already sent someone to report to Supervisor Xiong, and Supervisor Xiong will definitely send troops to rescue Ruzhou! ”

This He Zigang is the garrison of Ruzhou City, and he is now the highest-ranking military general in the city, but after he saw the lineup of the Xingtian Army, he couldn't help but shake his head secretly, after hearing Zhao Tianci's words, He Zigang smiled bitterly and clenched his fists and said: "My lord doesn't need to say that he will do his best, but it's a pity that the soldiers and generals haven't received their salaries for several months, so how can they be willing to die!"

If you want to defend the city of Ruzhou, you must find a way to raise money in the city as soon as possible, and give a heavy reward to boost morale, otherwise, the soldiers will not use their lives, how can this city be defended! ”

He Zigang said that it is also the truth, although Yang Sichang invited Emperor Chongzhen to increase the number of troops and give salaries, but when the real gifts were given, most of the money was not in place, even if some of the salaries were allocated to the local army, the middle had to go through the layers of exploitation of the officials at all levels, and at least half of them were floating on the way, and when they were sent to the hands of the soldiers, they were often pitiful, and Ruzhou City had also increased a lot of troops in the past six months, but in addition to being hungry and full, the soldiers could eat some food, but the money was never put in place. So much so that many soldiers have been without pay for three months, which is also the reason why the defenders outside the city have no fighting spirit and rush into the city after hearing that the Xingtian army is coming.

In the past two days, the generals have already mentioned Zhao Tianci many times because of the salary, but Zhao Tianci, as a governor, how can he come up with so many arrears to pay it?

Zhao Tianci then consulted with some big families and rich people in the city, wanting them to take out some money to deal with the current situation and survive this time, but the results were very bad, and there were very few rich people who were really willing to take out the money.

Now the Xingtian Army is about to attack the city, but the matter of military pay has not been resolved, He Zigang brought up this matter at this time, in fact, it is to tell Zhao Tianci, I'm sorry, the soldier can't get the military salary, I have no choice, at most I can only do my best, as for not being able to hold it, don't count on me!

Zhao Tianci was really anxious, he was unlucky, not only had to deal with all kinds of taxes and salaries that the imperial court had to send down every year, but also had to deal with these Qiu Ba who only recognized money, seeing that Liu Ruming said clearly, if there was no money, it would not be possible, Zhao Tianci stomped his feet and said: "That's it!" In the past two days, the Japanese officials have raised 5,000 taels of silver, and they will be distributed for the time being, and the officials will immediately go to the city to continue to raise salaries, and they will not owe it to the soldiers! There's a place to guard you! You must do everything you can to stop the thief army! ”

As he spoke, he sent someone to carry out the five thousand taels of silver raised in the house, and handed it over to He Zigang for distribution.

But before He Zigang could distribute the silver, a knight of the Xingtian Army outside the city held a small flag and galloped outside the south gate, shouting to the many defenders in the city: "The people in the city have listened! We have something to say to you! You have also seen these cannons that we have put out, today our army wants to take Ruzhou City, if you want to live, you will quickly surrender the city, our marshal has the fate of being a soldier in you is also for food, never hurt your life, if you don't know how to lift, you will not blame us for being polite, swords, guns and guns are ruthless, and when we attack the city, we will be killed and a chicken and dog will not be left!

Speaking of you officers and soldiers, how can the current imperial court and government treat you as human beings? The officials deduct your food and salary, so that you don't have enough food and clothing, so why bother to give them your life, it's better to surrender early, our commander will ensure that you have land and food, and if you don't surrender quickly, when will you wait? Could it be that you really want to burn the jade with those dog officials? Don't be stupid......"

Listening to the noise of this Xingtian Army under the city, the faces of the officers and soldiers in the city turned green one by one, who said that this was not the truth? Aren't they talking about joining the army just to get a little food, get a few salaries, and let their families live? But after being a soldier for so long, he didn't eat much, and he didn't receive the promised salary a few times at all, and the old and young in the family were hungry and dizzy, and the officials earned a lot of brains, so many people's shoulders drooped, and they turned their heads and looked cautiously at the generals.

And He Zigang, the guard, listened to the thief below being so arrogant and making such nonsense in front of him, of course he knew that if he was allowed to shout like this again, this battle would not have to be fought, so he immediately snatched a bow from one of his archers, aimed the arrow at the subordinates of the Xingtian Army under the city, and scolded angrily: "Ah! Shut up, thief! As a citizen of the Ming Dynasty, you don't want to be loyal to the court, but you want to rebel and cause chaos in the world, how can I, Liu, tolerate you? Look at the arrows ......"

Before he could finish speaking, he let go of his hand and loosened the full bowstring, and a carved arrow flew straight towards the people of the Heavenly Army under the city.

And the Xingtian army who was ordered to come to persuade him to surrender, of course, also paid attention to the reaction in the city, as soon as he saw someone with a bow and arrow aimed at him, he was on guard early, and after Liu Ruming shot an arrow, he immediately raised his left arm, knocked the arrow away with the small shield on his left arm, sneered and shouted: "Good dog officer!" See how long you can run wild! Brothers and soldiers in the city, I am really not worth it for you! I actually want to follow these dog officials to accompany the funeral in vain! Hum! ”

He Zigang missed an arrow and yelled: "Release an arrow to this official and shoot this dog thief!" ”

So after the generals in the city were ordered, only those generals began to shoot arrows with bows and arrows towards the city, but the number of arrows was limited, and the arrows shot down were also a little sparse.

However, the subordinates of the Xingtian Army were very clever, and anyway, they had all said and said, and they turned their horses and left, and when the arrows fell, he had already slapped his horse and ran away, leaving behind him a burst of mocking laughter.

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