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From Deyang to the south, there was not much resistance along the way, the Mandate of Heaven army was bloodless, Hanzhou, Jintang, Xindu, Xinfan counties, almost all surrendered without a fight, the Mandate of Heaven army not only got a large piece of land, the grain and silver collected by the counties have not yet been handed over to Chengdu Prefecture, and they have also been directly taken over by the Mandate of Heaven army.

Li Zicheng Chen soldiers in Chengdu and set up camp outside Dongcheng.

Along the way, apart from marching, Zhao Guangrui's only thing was to train soldiers.

Chengdu Mansion was originally stationed in Chengdu Left Guard, Chengdu Right Guard, Chengdu Central Guard, Chengdu Avant-garde, Chengdu Rear Guard, Ningchuan Guard, there were 30,000 or 40,000 soldiers, but the soldiers of the guard were not satisfied, Wang Weizhang and Hou Liangzhu were defeated in Deyang and Luojiang respectively, with heavy casualties and great losses in military strength, and the Ming army had to retreat in Chengdu Mansion and use the solid city wall to confront the Mandate of Heaven Army.

In addition to the thousands of defeated soldiers brought back by Wang Weizhang from Deyang, there were only some Tuntian army and Shu Wangfu guards left in the city, Wang Weizhang mixed the defeated soldiers with the Tuntian army, and there were still 8,000 soldiers, but he had no right to transfer the guards of Shu Wangfu.

Although there were 8,000 soldiers in his hands, Wang Weizhang knew that the Tuntian army had no combat effectiveness at all, and it was about the same as the common people, and the defeated soldiers who came back from outside the city were even more demoralized.

Wang Weizhang sent a war report to the imperial court, accusing the general soldier Hou Liangzhu of disrespecting military orders and attacking alone without authorization, resulting in the defeat and killing of the army (after Hou Liangzhu was captured, he died of serious injuries, Wang Weizhang thought he died on the battlefield), and the soldiers suffered heavy casualties; At the same time, he asked for help from garrisons in various parts of Sichuan.

However, the imperial court and the garrisons in various places have not yet replied, and the main force of the Mandate of Heaven Army has already arrived in Chengdu and surrounded the four gates of Chengdu.

On the first day, Li Zicheng only sent 400 households from the Song Ministry of Culture to four gates, regardless of priority, taking advantage of the range advantage of rifles, constantly strafing the city, and all soldiers who showed their heads had the opportunity to be killed or wounded.

In the afternoon, the Ming army learned to be obedient, and no longer dared to probe, only occasionally from the battlement of the daughter wall, secretly showed his face, monitored the movements of the Mandate of Heaven, and then quickly retracted, as long as the Mandate of Heaven Army did not approach the city wall, they hid behind the city wall to bask in the sun.

The soldiers of the Mandate of Heaven are also helpless, the bullets of the rifles will not bend, let alone penetrate the solid city walls!

Idle and bored, they had to carry rifles outside the city, walk up the queue, and demonstrate to the Ming army at the head of the city, but unfortunately, the Ming army was afraid of the rifle and did not dare to show their heads at all, only the people outside the city watched this army with strange clothes and strange behavior from a distance.

In the evening, this group of soldiers called it a day and went back, and Song Wen changed four hundred households and continued to patrol outside the four city gates.

The Ming army at the head of the city suddenly became nervous, in case there was any military action at night, it would not be visible when it was dark...... They lit countless lanterns and torches on the top of the city, and they lit the walls on all sides as if it were day.

Although he can only see the city wall clearly, he still can't see the figure of the Heavenly Mandate Army, and the lights can only give him courage.

But as soon as the lights turned on, the Mandate of Heaven Army in the shadows found the target instead, and gunshots came from the four city gates from time to time, followed by the creepy screams of the Ming army, which looked particularly terrible in the dark and silent night!

The Ming army defending the city had no choice but to extinguish the lights, or as in the daytime, although the lights were on the city, the people hid in the shadows behind the city walls, only occasionally probing for movement outside the city.

Although the Mandate of Heaven army did not stop, it did not attack the city, whether they saw the Ming army on the city or not, every once in a while, they would put a few shots on the city head, so that the Ming army in the city could not sleep well.

In one day and one night, the Ming army at the head of the city suffered 100 casualties, but the Mandate of Heaven army suffered no casualties.

Wang Weizhang was so anxious, 8,000 old and weak soldiers, how to keep Chengdu if he tossed like this?

Others don't know that he fought against the Mandate of Heaven Army outside Deyang City, and the firearms of the Mandate of Heaven Army, as well as the combat effectiveness of the Mandate of Heaven Army...... Not only is he the governor, but even Hou Liangzhu, the chief soldier who has always commanded the army, and 5,000 soldiers were eaten clean by the Heavenly Mandate Army in Luojiang!

Reinforcements outside the city, for a while and a half will not be able to rush over, to increase the number of soldiers, can only recruit soldiers, but recruit soldiers need money and food, weekdays are better, no money and food to fool, can also deal with a period of time, now the war is imminent, not only to pay food, but also need to pay silver, clearly send to death, no silver, who will be a soldier?

Wang Weizhang was in front of the soldiers, although he barely maintained his composure, his heart was becoming more and more uncalm, and he walked to Dongzheng Street and found Chen Tingmo, the procurator of the punishment.

Chen Tingmo is also worried, he, like Wang Weizhang, has no money on hand, and the taxes of various prefectures and counties have not been paid, he is a good woman, and he can't make a rice cook.

However, Chen Tingmo put forward an idea to Wang Weizhang, you can ask Zhu Zhishu, the king of Shu, "the king of the world, only Shu Mansion is the richest", the King of Shu is not only in Chengdu, that is, in the whole of Sichuan, but also one of the few large households, the fertile land near Chengdu Mansion basically belongs to the Shu Palace, not to mention that the rich can rival the country, take out tens of thousands of taels of silver, tens of thousands of stone grain to recruit troops, is not a drop in the bucket?

Besides, if the Liukou attack Chengdu, the rent of the Shu Wangfu will not be collected, and the loss will definitely not be small.

Wang Weizhang frowned, Zhu Zhishu, the king of Shu, is a famous iron rooster, let him pay for food, isn't that cutting his heart?

However, except for Zhu Zhishu, there is really no way, Chengdu is besieged, it was originally there, and it is difficult to enter the city, except for Zhu Zhishu, who else can help defend the city?

Wang Weizhang took Chen Tingmo and visited the palace of the king of Shu together.

Zhu Zhishu, the king of Shu, was very surprised when he heard that Wang Weizhang and Chen Tingmo were visiting together, he was the prince of the clan, and since he was born, he had never seen a foreign minister, let alone left the compound where he lived.

How big the Shu King's Mansion is, how big his world will be!

What are these two people visiting at the same time? Zhu Zhishu thought about it, and couldn't guess the clue for a while, so he had to let them in first.

Wang Weizhang and Chen Tingmo, followed the mansion into the Shu Palace, walked through two wide corridors, and came to the main hall, where Zhu Zhishu was already waiting in the main seat.

"The ...... of the Minister Wang Weizhang"

"Chen Tingmo......"

"Knock on the prince!"

"Get up, you are all members of the Sichuan side, so you don't need to be polite," Zhu Zhishu drove the tea foam with the lid of the cup, and didn't look up, just let them sit in the guest seat, "The two adults visited the Shu King's Mansion at the same time, is there anything important?" ”

Wang Weizhang saw Zhu Zhishu's cold attitude, and his heart was already half cold, but he had already come to the door, if he didn't speak, he was really unwilling, so he arched his hand and said: "Does the prince know that the Liukou has recently gone south into Sichuan and has surrounded Chengdu ......."

"Although this king is not out of the palace, if you don't know about such a big thing, is this king deaf and blind?" Zhu Zhishu said angrily: "Don't beat around the bush, just say anything!" ”

Wang Weizhang was deflated, so he gestured to Chen Tingmo with his eyes, Chen Tingmo was helpless, the idea was his, so he had to bite the head and say: "Lord, the outflow outside the city is rampant, the defenders in the city are insufficient, and Lord Wang seems to be recruiting soldiers......"

"Recruitment?" Zhu Zhishu suddenly raised his eyes, "How many rogues are there outside the city?" ”

"Back to the prince, there is a ...... outside the city 20,000 Liukou ......" Although Wang Weizhang knew the approximate number of the Heavenly Mandate Army, in order to force Zhu Zhishu to submit, he directly doubled the number of the Heavenly Mandate Army.

If he knew that the surrendered troops had joined the Heavenly Mandate Army, he could puff up his chest at Zhu Zhishu: there were indeed nearly 20,000 Heavenly Mandate troops outside the city, and he didn't lie!

"Twenty thousand?" Zhu Zhishu stared and said: "Inside and outside Chengdu, there are a total of six guards, Chengdu left guard, Chengdu right guard, Chengdu middle guard, Chengdu avant-garde, Chengdu guard, Ningchuan guard, isn't it even less than 20,000?" After a pause, he said: "Liukou crisscrossed several provinces, and I have never heard of a general who cowered in the city and did not dare to attack when he had the advantage of troops!" ”

"My subordinates once personally ......" Wang Weizhang suddenly felt that something was wrong, he suffered a defeat in Deyang, and the soldiers suffered heavy casualties, Zhu Zhishu was afraid that he already knew, so he changed his words: "The Mandate of Heaven army outside the city has strong combat effectiveness, and it is not comparable to ordinary rogues, and the chief soldier Hou Liangzhu has been killed......

Chen Tingmo continued: "So Lord Wang is ready to recruit troops in the city, if the prince can reward tens of thousands of stone grain, plus tens of thousands of taels of silver...... Soldiers must fight to the death to ensure that Chengdu does not lose ......"

"Tens of thousands of stone grains? Tens of thousands of taels of silver? Zhu Zhishu changed color and said angrily: "Do you let the old and young of this Wang family drink the northwest wind?" ”

Wang Weizhang said carefully: "Lord Wang, if there are not enough soldiers, Chengdu will be difficult to preserve, and even the Shu Wangfu will be implicated......

"This king was entrusted by Taizu to establish a vassal in Chengdu, which was to protect the territory and the people, and to report what happened in Sichuan to the imperial court as it was......"

"The taxes of the local governments and county governments are too late to pay, we really can't ......" Wang Weizhang understood that Zhu Zhishu was a naked threat, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead unconsciously, and he hurriedly whispered: "Lord Wang, the Liukou block the city gate, and the Shu Wangfu can't even collect the rent......"

"This king is about to ask you," Zhu Zhishu said: "How to deal with the rogues, that's your business, you can't affect the palace's rent collection, the thousands of people in the palace are counting on these rents to live, if the rogues make trouble to affect the harvest of the palace, this king will definitely fold his son to the court!" ”

Chen Tingmo saw that things were hopeless, so he lowered his head and sighed, Wang Weizhang still didn't give up, "The Shu Wangfu has always been rich, how can you rely on rent to survive...... It is the 'Ten Thousand Silver Pawn' in the city, temporarily raising tens of thousands of silver...... It should be borrowed from the prince, once the rogue is withdrawn, the taxes in various places will be handed over, and the minister must return the original amount! ”

"Bold!" Zhu Zhishu drank loudly.

Because of the restrictions of the ancestral system, the feudal kings in various places were not allowed to engage in any profession, including business, so he was the "shadow owner" behind the scenes in various industries in the city, and each property had a nominal treasurer.

This time, Wang Weizhang took the initiative to mention the "Ten Thousand Silver Pawn", not only hoping that he would donate food, but also faintly coercing, how could he not be angry?

Chen Tingmo saw that things were not harmonious, so he hurriedly put on a smile and said, "Lord Wang is angry, Lord Wang has no other meaning......

"There is no money, only this hall, you can sell it as military salary!" Zhu Zhishu puffed and said.

"Lord ......"

"You are important ministers in Sichuan, and you should also know the laws of the imperial court," Zhu Zhishu said: "Once people with ulterior motives know, you have been to the palace...... You can shirk it, but this king can't afford to be guilty! He picked up the teacup in front of him and stared at the bird's nest on the roof.

Wang Weizhang wanted to say something more, but Chen Tingmo touched the corner of his clothes with his hand, and the two left.

Just out of the Shu Palace, Wang Weizhang looked up to the sky and sighed: "No one can afford this hall, I'm afraid only Li Zicheng can afford it......"

"Be careful!" Chen Tingmo pulled Wang Weizhang and hurriedly left the Shu Palace.