Chapter Fifty-Four: Bombarding Zong Min Li Guo Escapes

Zhao Jinli commanded the soldiers defending the city to fire a batch of crossbow mines, and after the explosion of thunder, a batch of oil lasers was fired down the city. There are far fewer bows and arrows that can shoot at the city, so that the defenders of the city can shoot the ** and stones very accurately. The ladders that had been erected were also overturned one by one. However, these soldiers of the Dashun Army, who were not afraid of death, fell down one group and another group would rush up with ladders, and the soldiers who were killed in the bombing under the city were quickly stacked. The defenders of the city are really soft at this time.

Suddenly, there was a loud explosion outside the northern wall, and the soldiers defending the city knew that it was the heavy mortars of the kiln hill that were in support. For a while, the morale was greatly boosted. However, the soldiers of the Dashun army attacking under the city were not affected in the slightest, and still flocked to the city in a steady stream. It's just that the soldiers of the Dashun Army under the northern city wall were shocked by the violent explosion of heavy mortar shells, and began to retreat for a while. The shells were so terrible that no one survived within a few feet of the shells where they landed. Either they were blown up or they were shocked to death, and their ears were so shocked that they couldn't hear the sound.

The officers defending the city kept shouting to the soldiers, don't be soft, they won't be soft on us when they come up, kill them all, don't let them come up.

The most fierce place in the battle is still a few city gates, and a large number of cave carts are mainly pushed to these places, but those cave carts can still work against the bows and arrows shot down from above, but if they resist the hand ** and the boulder, it is really not good. Therefore, in front of several city gates, there were broken carts and corpses everywhere. Fortunately, the defenders have passed the threshold in their hearts, and they don't care about the dead anymore. As long as someone rushes to the city gate, both bows and ** will be fired at them at the same time. In front of several city gates, dead bodies had been piled up into a mountain of people.

At this time, the heavy mortar artillery in the city sent someone to Zhao Jinli, told him that there was a situation, and asked him to go.

Zhao Jinli came to the heavy mortar position, and the heavy mortar pointed at him and said: "Look at the regiment commander, there is a group of horseback riders on the small hill in the distance who are watching the battle there, is it the old thing of Li Chuang's thief?" ”

Zhao Jin looked at it with a telescope and said, "Many of them are wearing cloaks, not Li Zicheng but also a big official. It's up to you this time. ”

The heavy mortar man was overjoyed and said: "We have already measured the distance to the target, you just wait!" ”

This time, Li Wei sent two heavy mortars to Xiurong City, and they set up to shoot Zhu Yuan together, and the gunner told Zhao Jinli and the people around him to stay away, and then each cannon fired two shells with a "dong dong". Zhao Jin used the binoculars to look at the target and was directly covered by several shells, and shouted happily, "Hit!" Hit! Then a few dull explosions followed.

When the smoke cleared, there were no more centaurs on the hillside of the target hill, except for a few craters.

The battle fought for a while, and the horn sounded behind Liu Zongmin's Dashun army. The besieging troops began to retreat after hearing the sound of the horn. Zhao Jinli in the city hadn't figured out why the Dashun army had retreated, and the soldiers and civilians defending the city cheered.

Looking at the countless corpses lying under the city, Zhao Jinli knew that today's battle had been won. Although it was only noon, it was impossible for such a large-scale battle opponent to organize a second attack in the afternoon.

Zhao Jinli immediately sent the good news back to Yaogang by telegram, but Zhao Jinli sent a report saying that the retreat of the Dashun army today was a little strange, although they suffered heavy casualties, but they should still be able to hold on. In addition to the kiln gang calling back to congratulate, let Zhao Jinli reward the soldiers. Zhao Jinli ordered to cook more meat today, so that all soldiers and civilians participating in the war could eat meat.

A telegram came from Yaogang, saying, "In the evening, I will send wine and meat to Xiurong and ask them to prepare to open the door to greet them." ”

Zhao Jinli did not immediately tell Xiurong's soldiers about this matter, he informed his soldiers at night, with muskets and only rifles, quietly took the carriage to deliver goods to Xiurong City, and then quickly closed the city gate. He was afraid of danger when he opened the gates.

It was the soldiers from Yaogang who delivered the goods, and they said to Zhao Jinli: "There are too many dead bodies in front of the city gate, and they have moved for a long time to move out of a road, otherwise they would have come a long time ago." Hurry up and unload the cargo, we have to go back. There are wounded people that we can take back. ”

"Great, it's much easier for us to hand over the wounded to you. It was also a comfort to the soldiers. Zhao Jinli said. In fact, he understood that Xiurong was not short of supplies for the time being, and the wine and meat sent by Yaogang was to tell Xiurong that Yaogang had been in contact with them, which was very morale-boosting.

However, the next day, the people on the Yaogang side became clear about the reason for the retreat of Liu Zongmin's army yesterday. Because as soon as the morning dawned, they got the news from the tongue and mouth that Li Jing and the others caught, and yesterday Liu Zongmin personally commanded the battle in front of the battle, and when they were inspecting the front line, they were shelled, most of the people accompanying them were killed, and Liu Zongmin was wounded in the left arm.

This Liu Zongmin was also unlucky, their headquarters in Tongguan was blown up by the guns of Yaogang, fortunately, he went to Li Zicheng's old camp for a meeting and escaped, but almost all the people in his headquarters were killed. This time, his entourage was killed again.

Of course, the Dashun army will not be able to attack the next day. When Yaogang sent the situation to Zhao Jinli, he suddenly realized that those cannons yesterday turned out to bomb Liu Zongmin.

Li Zicheng's Dashun army stopped attacking that day, but the people of Yaogang were not idle, and that night, Li Jing's people came to Li Yan's camp and shot a letter to Li Yan with a ringing arrow, which was a letter written by Ouyang He to Li Yan on friendship and persuasion of Li Yan to defect to Yaogang.

That night, a big incident happened, that is, Li Guo ran away.

In the special prison in Yaogang, Li Guo slowly learned that the two people who came in later were all meticulous works of the Dashun Army, one was named Wang Wu, who infiltrated Li Zhi's intelligence department, and the other was his liaison, called Qiao Feng, who was responsible for external liaison. After Li Guo repeatedly forced them, they didn't say anything useful. However, soon Li Guo discovered that these two people were a little mysterious, and later Li Guo finally discovered that they sometimes quietly poured soil outside, although each time it was rare, but every day. Li Guo understood that they must be quietly digging tunnels. Later, Li Guo found an opportunity and threatened them to denounce them, and the two of them had no choice but to tell Li Guo that the two of them were indeed quietly digging tunnels, and they had already dug a little eyebrows.

Li Guo knew that digging the tunnel was not a matter of one or two days, until this Spring Festival, the two of them told Li Guo that the tunnel was about to be dug, and the tunnel could be led to the outside of the barbed wire fence outside the house. Li Guo nodded yes. Until they heard artillery in the distance, they knew there was a battle outside. At this time, the number of prison guards also increased.

Li Guo looked for an opportunity to say to the two of them, "Did you hear the sound of artillery outside? I can't figure it out, it's King Chuang who brought someone over. If there are fewer people, there will be no such dense cannonball, we have to run out as soon as possible, this is an opportunity. ”

Wang Wu also said excitedly: "Yes, we have to be fast." Otherwise, if they feel that they are invincible on the battlefield, they will definitely kill us first. However, the first important thing for the two of us to go out is to pick up a letter, we live for this letter, and we must personally hand over this letter to Lord Chuang. It doesn't matter if we live or die, this letter is too important. ”

Li Guo asked: "It's all this time, you two will tell me what kind of letter it is." ”

Wang Wu hesitated for a moment and said, "General Li, I'll tell you." My immediate supervisor was in charge of the old battalion. I was in the intelligence department of the kiln the year before last, and our mission was to stay dormant for a long time and generally be inactive. But by chance, I found a secret letter from outside the Intelligence Department, and I quietly opened it to see that it didn't scare me to death. ”

At this time, Wang Wu looked at Li Guo and didn't dare to say anything. Li Guo said: "Look at what I'm doing, say it quickly!" ”

Wang Wuyou hesitated and said: "I saw that this is a reply letter written by Li Yan to Ouyang He, the military master of Yaogang, the letter says..."

Wang Wu hesitated a little again, and the angry Li went up with a mouth and said, "You fucking finish it once." ”

Wang Wuyi gritted his teeth and said: "Li Yan said, I can also see that King Chuang is just a grass king, he will not be the world, and he will already be disappointed with King Chuang." But now I can't make up my mind to leave King Chuang, because I have to be grateful for King Chuang's kindness after all. Please give him a moment to think about it. ”

Li Guo grabbed Wang Wu's clothes and said, "You are talking nonsense, how could General Li Yan write such a letter." ”

Wang Wu said: "I stole the letter, as long as we go out and take out this letter, there is no need to say anything else." I thought it was too big to decide to steal the letter. Soon after I handed the letter to him, I was discovered, and I thought he would be able to deliver it, but I didn't expect him to be caught here. ”

Li Guo asked this person again, "Is it true?" ”

The man said: "It's true, every time they interrogate me, they ask about the whereabouts of the letter, I know that if I say it, I will be useless, and Wang Wu and I will not survive." ”

Wang Wu said: "The first thing we must do when we go out must get this letter, otherwise without this letter, go back and tell King Chuang about it, and we will be pushed out and cut down immediately." ”

Li Guo said: "I want to kill you now." Without this letter, I'll kill both of you when I get out. ”

Wang Wu said: "Without this letter, the two of us would have exposed our identities that had spent a lot of energy lurking for no reason, and we wouldn't be able to live if we went back." So it's this letter that can save our lives. ”

Li Guo said: "Don't talk nonsense, you two will dig the tunnel as soon as possible." Tell me. ”

Wang Wu said: "Soon we will be able to dig through here, but how did you get to our side?" ”

Li Guo said: "You two don't have to worry about this, I have my own way." ”

That night, after the end of the day, Wang Wu shouted softly to Li Guo through the iron railing: "General Li, General Li!" ”

"Stop shouting! I heard it. Li Guo replied softly and leaned over, and said to Wang Wu, "You get out of the way a little." ”

After Wang Wu got out of the way, Li Guo pulled an iron railing with one hand, and pedaled the other one next to this railing with his foot, and with one force, he actually pulled the two railings apart. Li Guo tried it with his head, and when he could pass, he took off his cotton clothes and handed them to Wang Wu on the other side, and then his whole body squeezed over. Touching the black king five and taking Li over to the hole under the shop, he shouted softly inside: "Qiao Feng! ”

After a while, Qiao Feng poked his head out of the cave and said, "It's not good, the entrance of the cave is facing the watchtower, when we go out, we must be careful." ”

Li Guo was a little anxious, "Don't talk nonsense, go out and talk about it." ”

Wang Wu said: "General Li, after you go out, you can run for your life directly, Qiao Feng and I must go back and get the letter back." Qiao Feng said that he hid the letter under a large rock at a construction site, and now that the construction site is stopped, no one will move there. ”

"Don't talk nonsense! Let's talk about it later. After Li Guo finished speaking, he went into the hole.

Li Guo climbed forward with Qiao Feng in front of him in the dark, I don't know how long he climbed, he felt that there was a cold wind coming in front, and Li Guo knew that he had reached the exit in front. When Qiao Feng in front of him left the entrance of the cave, Li Guo saw the white light reflected from the snow in front of him, and his heart was excited, and he accelerated his movements and climbed out of the hole. As soon as he went out, Qiao Feng outside pulled him down into a ditch next to the entrance of the cave, and after a while, Wang Wu climbed out of the hole and turned over into this ditch. Qiao Feng and Wang Wu hugged excitedly, wanting to hug Li Guo, but they didn't dare, Li Guo put one arm around Wang Wu and Qiao Feng and said, "Good brother, now is not the time to be happy, I'll go quickly." ”

The three of them looked in the direction and ran westward with their waists bent. But they had barely taken a few steps when the searchlights shone in, and then the musket bullets "snapped" at them. Three people ran for their lives. Since Li Guo is now an arm, coupled with the slippery road and constant falling, Wang Wu and Qiao Feng still have to support Li Guo to run.

Li Guo said: "None of us can run in this way, so you two can run first." ”

But Wang Wu said, "No, General Li, if we want to die, we will die together." ”

The three men stumbled forward, but in a moment the cavalry behind them caught up. The muskets also kept shooting at them, and suddenly Wang Wu was shot and fell, but he struggled and shouted to Qiao Feng: "Leave me alone, run away with General Li." After speaking, he lowered his head and was silent. ”

Li Guo's heart was hot, but he knew that he couldn't stop now, so he and Qiao Feng still ran forward.

At this time, Qiao Feng said, "General Li, we can't run away like this." At the turn in front, you climb behind the tree, and I lure them away. When we got back, our family asked General Lee. ”

Without waiting for Li Guo to speak, as soon as he turned a corner, Qiao Feng pushed Li Guo into the ditch, and Li Guo hurriedly climbed behind a small tree. Qiao Feng still ran forward desperately, and after a while, the cavalry behind chased in front of Li Guo's eyes, and kept shooting forward, and after a while, Li Guo heard the cavalry chasing after him shouting: "It's hit, it's hit." ”

I heard someone from afar, "No, there is one less." ”

Someone said, "I saw two, but I didn't see a third." Maybe they ran apart. ”

Someone else said, "Tie them with ropes and drag them back." ”

Li Guo saw the cavalry dragging Qiao Feng's body with ropes through the bushes, and passed in front of him. At this time, Li Guo felt a sharp pain in his heart, and tears poured out. He knew that Qiao Feng covered himself with his life, and if he ran by himself, it would be much more convenient than himself. The pursuing cavalry stopped for a while at the place where Wang Wu fell, and it was estimated that they would also drag Wang Wu's body back.

When the cavalry was gone, Li Guo took out a little dry food from his arms and swallowed it in his stomach. Then look in the direction and run south. He bypassed the defense of the kiln, and at daybreak he saw a camp with flags on it telling him that it was his own camp.

Li Guo struggled to the front of the camp and shouted, "Open the door!" Open the door! ”

The soldier guarding the gate asked, "What are you doing?" ”

Li Guo sighed and said, "Little rabbit, open the door quickly." Lao Tzu is Li Guo. It's late, Lao Tzu peeled your skin. ”

Seeing that the people were so arrogant, the soldiers in the city did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly reported to the officer who led the squad. When the officer heard that it was Li Guo, he said, "No, I heard that Li died early." There must be something wrong with the people who come. Let's put it in first. Anyway, he is still afraid that he will not succeed. ”

Li Guo entered the camp and shouted: "Hurry up and get some hot for Lao Tzu, Lao Tzu is going to freeze to death." In addition, he hurriedly sent a letter to Lao Ying, saying that Lao Tzu had returned. ”

This person who led the class, at this time, was blinded, it wasn't that Li Guo didn't have such courage, but he didn't know Li Guo either. He had no choice but to report the matter to his commander. It turned out that Li came over by coincidence, and this was Li Yan's camp. As soon as Li Yan heard that Li Guo was back, he hurriedly rushed over with the red lady.

Li Yan and the red lady saw that it was really Li Guo, and Li Yan happily hugged Li Guo. But as soon as Li Guo saw Li Yan, his heart shrank, but he immediately squeezed out a smile on his face and said, "General Li, I escaped death, and it is difficult to say anything." Send someone to take me back to the old camp. ”

Li Yan said: "Don't be in a hurry when you come back, take a rest and talk about it, what's going on with your arm?" ”

Li Guo was already dissatisfied in his heart and said: "I don't want to stay for a moment, send someone to send me back to the old camp." ”

Li Yan and the red lady looked at each other, and they both felt a little strange, but they had no choice, so they immediately arranged vehicles and a team of cavalry to send Li Guo back to Li Zicheng's old camp.

In Li Zicheng's old camp, the atmosphere was very depressing. Originally, full preparations were made to prepare for the battle of Xiurong, but Liu Zongmin was injured by artillery fire and had to stop. However, after the battle, although the siege was half fought and retreated, more than 15,000 brothers were killed and wounded.

Niu Jinxing broke the gloom and said: "Fortunately, General Quan was not seriously injured. He was just stunned by the explosion of the shell, and when I saw him yesterday he said that it was fine except for a little dizziness. The wound on the arm is also a flesh wound, and after the wound is treated, it will be fine. ”

Li Zicheng asked: "Why are their cannons so accurate, Zong Min and they are not too close." ”

Song Xiance said: "Your Majesty, in the future, we will remind the generals to be careful when they go to the front line. The kiln gang people have come up with clairvoyance, which can see far away. According to intelligence, the Yaogang people also gave clairvoyance to Zhang Xianzhong, the eighth king. ”

Hearing Zhang Xianzhong, Li Zicheng put the cup in his hand heavily on the table, and said: "Let's study it, who will command Xiurong next?" We can't fight so hard, and if we continue to fight like this, there will not be enough people to fight Beijing. ”

"The biggest problem now is that our artillery can't beat their artillery at all, and their artillery is like long eyes. And the explosion was very powerful. The shells given by General Daquan were the heavy artillery they used in Tongguan. This time they used this kind of heavy artillery against us to attack the northern wall. Song Xiance said.

"Can we dig a tunnel from the ground to the city and then blow up the city wall with **?" Niu Jinxing said.

Song Xiance shook his head and said, "No, all the stones under Xiurong City are stones, and we can't dig them." I went to see it. ”

A few people were discussing it and couldn't come up with a reason, so they came from outside to report and said, "General Li Guo has arrived!" ”

Li Zicheng listened to the report, and the bowl he had just picked up fell on the table all of a sudden, ignoring the water bowl, Li Zicheng, Niu Jinxing, and Song Xiance all stood up.

Li Guo opened the curtain and came in, Li Zicheng saw that it was really Li Guo who came in, and he couldn't move his legs in excitement, Li Guo saw Li Zicheng and rushed over, hugged Li Zicheng and said, "Father, I'm Guo'er." I am back. ”

Li Zicheng touched Li Guo's empty sleeve and said, "Guo'er, what's going on?" ”

Before Li Guo could speak, Li Zicheng had already burst into tears. Needless to say, Li Guo, who lost an arm, must have suffered a lot.

Niu Jinxing came over and persuaded: "Your Majesty, it's a good thing that you're back." We sat down and talked. ”

Li Zicheng took one of Li Guo's hands and sat on the chair.

Li Guo simply told him how he lost an arm, was later imprisoned by the kiln gang, and escaped last night.

Li Zicheng pondered for a while and said, "Strategist, you implement it." What is going on with Wang Wu and Qiao Feng that Guo'er said. ”

The intelligence department of the Dashun Army was under the direct command of Song Xiance, and he called the officer in charge of the intelligence of the kiln gang. This intelligence officer usually can't easily see Li Zicheng, and when he saw Li Zicheng and the others, he was still very nervous, Song Xiance said: "Don't be nervous, did we send a person named Wang Wu and Qiao Feng to Yaogang?" ”

The intelligence officer said, "Yes, we sent it out very early. The pseudonym Wang Wu entered the intelligence department of Yaogang, and the pseudonym Qiao Feng was his liaison. At first, some information was sent back, but last year they lost contact. Probably has already been discovered. ”

Tell me, "What do these two look like?" ”

After the intelligence officer finished talking about the appearance characteristics of the two, Li Guo said: "Yes, it's these two people." They were killed last night. I saw them being tied with ropes and dragged by horses in the snow, and I dragged them before my eyes. ”

In addition to not talking about Li Yan, Li Guo told the two of them and his own affairs. At this time, the intelligence officer hurriedly praised Wang Wu and Qiao Feng for how good they were, and so on.

After listening to this, Li Zicheng said to the intelligence officer: "Such a hero, you will take good care of their families." ”

When everyone's greetings are over, they are all out. They knew that Li Zicheng and their son Li Guo would definitely have a lot to say.

When everyone went out, Li Guo grabbed Li Zicheng's hand and said, "Father, Li Yan has two hearts. ”

=======================

Paragliding, rubber model airplanes, piano making, and building an air force. --Progress of "Memories of the Southern Song Dynasty".