After nightfall, news kept coming that the thieves had begun to set off and rushed in the direction of Fucheng overnight.

This made Li Yan both happy and worried. Happily, the thief still came after all, and he had a chance to fight the thief. What is worrying is that so far, there has been no news from Li Mu, and the tiger squat cannon has not arrived. He lured the enemy this time was a temporary decision, and there was no detailed plan, if he could not communicate with Li Mu well, it would be difficult to achieve results in this operation.

Before Zishi, Li Yan finally received news from Li Mu that he had arrived in Li Zhuang.

Li Yan ordered: "Send a letter to Li Mou, and at noon tomorrow, attack the thieves at the same time." Regardless of whether the tiger squat cannon arrives or not, it must attack. He was asked to control the direction as much as possible and drive the thieves to the edge of the Yellow River. ”

"Yes!" Sun Sifu immediately sent someone to deliver the order.

Li Yanding's time, although it is a little tight, is also a last resort. In the past, when thieves besieged Xiayi and Yucheng, they basically succeeded in two days. He was reported to have trebuchets among the thieves, but he did not know the range and power of the trebuchet. If the power is strong enough, Wu Ding and they may not be able to defend for long, so it is better to start attacking as soon as possible.

After that, he instructed: "Let the men prepare meals and dry food in advance, and before noon, be sure to let the soldiers have eaten and bring dry food and water." ”

"Yes." The soldiers immediately went to the room to inform.

This time, they not only have to fight outside the city, but also pursue them all the way, and they want to eliminate these thieves as much as possible. And took advantage of the situation to control the three counties of Yucheng, Xiayi and Yongcheng, which can be regarded as taking down the entire territory of Guide Mansion. Of course, as for whether Tian Yong can survive in this process, this is not something Li Yan has to consider for the time being. If Tian Yong hadn't been able to escape, then he would have found another person to work with, and it would not be a big deal.

As the news continued to come, the direction of the thieves was very clear, that is, they were coming in the direction of Fucheng, and they were getting closer and closer to Fucheng.

"General," Sun Sifu reported, "the latest report, the thieves are about 20,000, and they should arrive in the capital city before dawn." ”

Li Yan nodded and said, "Well, a few of you take turns to rest, and there will be a big battle tomorrow." ”

"The general will go to rest first, and if there is any emergency, his subordinates will inform the general." Sun Sifu said with his fists clenched.

Early the next morning, Fucheng.

The defenders at the head of the city found that the thieves were far outside the city, and began to divide their forces and circumnavigate from both sides, intending to surround the city.

"The thieves are coming! There are thieves coming! The officer at the head of the city shouted loudly.

The herald immediately went to the city gate, beat the drum, and alerted the city. Fortunately, before, the city was not besieged by thieves once or twice, and the defenders at the head of the city were not panicked. Moreover, after Li Yan's training, their self-confidence and discipline have improved, and they will naturally not be afraid.

At this time, the city gate had not yet opened, and there were not many people waiting outside to enter the city. They were all pounding on the gates of the urn in terror, trying to get the defenders to open the door so that they could let them in.

"Open the door! Open the door! ”

"I'm the shopkeeper of the restaurant in the city, open the door quickly!"

……

Wu Ding came to the head of the city and looked out, but he turned a blind eye to the crowd shouting under the city.

At first, he could still watch calmly, because the number of thieves was not large, only more than 10,000 people, and for Fucheng, he could still cope with the attack of thousands of people. But after a while, he couldn't calm down, on the contrary, he was a little flustered.

Because he saw that the thieves were assembling trebuchets, and three huge trebuchets were being assembled, and the trebuchets were more than three feet long, and the hanging basket in front of them was also very large, and there were many counterweights that could be put in it.

This kind of return artillery has long been discontinued, and the current troops all use artillery. However, this thing is still very threatening to the city wall. If you are hit a few times, it is difficult to guarantee that there will be no collapse.

He immediately ordered: "Transfer all those little Franky, it seems that the thieves are going to attack this side." ”

The Franky they used were all trumpets and could play four hundred paces from the city. However, there are two Hongyi cannons with a caliber of more than two inches, and they can fight 800 steps in the city, but they weigh nearly 700 catties. There can be no wheeled gun carriage at the head of the city, only a fixed gun mount, which is really inconvenient to move.

After waiting for a while, the six Frankie guns and the gun carriage were carried by the soldiers with great difficulty, followed by the soldiers who were transporting the ammunition.

"See those trebuchets?" Wu Ding commanded: "After a while, they will move, as long as they are in range, you will fire the cannon for me!" Be sure to keep them out of the way! ”

According to his memory, large stone projectiles should rarely be able to throw a hundred steps. If you throw small gravel, you don't know how far you can hit.

"Understood!" The gunners replied loudly. These days, they have also been constantly trained, although they are not up to the level of Li Yan's artillery, but they are much stronger than they were before. Moreover, there were a lot of live ammunition, and the gunpowder was also custom-packed, and the fear of exploding was also reduced a lot, and the operation was much more serious.

"Which one to fight, discuss it in advance, and then concentrate on it!" Wu Ding continued to instruct: "This section of training cannot be in vain, if you can break the thief's trebuchet, I will give you credit." I believe that General Li will be rewarded! ”

"General Xie, we will go all out and live up to the general's expectations." The gunners clenched their fists loudly in agreement.

Wu Ding nodded with satisfaction and said, "Okay, you can find a place to set up a cannon." ”

After that, he had been watching the city to the south, waiting for the thieves to attack. This is more than an hour.

Assembling a trebuchet is not an easy task, although it looks simple, it takes a long time to assemble. This is still the simplest type that the thieves do, and they have had a few previous assembly experiences, and it took more than an hour to almost complete the assembly.

At this time, I saw a thief riding close to the wall, dismounted at a distance of a hundred paces from the wall, and shot a feathered arrow into the city with a bow and arrow. After that, he didn't say anything, got on his horse and ran back.

The feather arrow flew over the city wall and into the urn city. Wu Ding commanded: "Go and find it, see what it says." ”

His men immediately descended the walls and looked in the general direction. After a while, I finally got the letter.

Wu Ding opened it and saw that there were only two simple lines of words on it, "Within an hour, hand over two thousand stone of grain, otherwise after the city is broken, the officials will be rich, and the chickens and dogs will not be left." ”

Wu Ding ordered: "Take this to Fu Zun to see." ”

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard the thieves outside the city shouting. There were thousands of people shouting in unison, so it was very real.

"The people in the city listen to the truth, we only need 2,000 stone of food, and we have nothing to do with the civilians. Within an hour, if you can't hand over the food, you will attack the city immediately! After the city was broken, civilians were at home with peace of mind. We only kill the gentry and the rich, and we don't offend the common people! ”

"People in the city listen to the truth, we ......"

……

The thieves outside the city shouted over and over again, so that the civilians in the city could hear them.

...