"Report to the general, the commander of the Xuanying Guard has arrived outside the tent." In the big tent of the Tiance Army under Ningzhou City, Yang Tiancheng was discussing the plan to conquer Ningzhou City with Li Tianyi, Chen Yu, Qian Ning and Lu Yi, when he suddenly heard the report of the guards outside.

"Could it be that the lord is over in Xiazhou?" When everyone heard that Hu Xiaosi was coming, they were surprised inexplicably. Chen Yu turned his head and said with a smile: "Let him come in." ”

"I've come in." Before Chen Yu's words fell, Hu Xiaosi had already walked in by himself, complaining as he walked: "I said Tiancheng, your personal guards are stunned enough, even I stopped me, really make my Hu Ye's face so small?" I didn't even bring notice to my lord's house. ”

Except for Qian Ning, the rest of the people were acquaintances, so they were not surprised by his temper, Li Tianyi stepped forward and gave him a fist, and scolded with a smile: "We are having a military meeting here?" It's not bad if I didn't treat you for trespassing, but you're still going to beat you up? Anyway, you Hu Ye slipped all the way from Fengzhou to Xiazhou, and in Ningzhou, are you planning to draw a map? Anyway, isn't this kind of trivial matter already arranged for someone to do it? Why do you still have to drive your Commander Hu to go out in person? ”

Hu Xiaosi hammered back without showing weakness, and the two of them giggled and turned around for a long time before they were caught by everyone.

"Little Si, are you separated from your lord in Xiazhou?" Finally, everyone quieted down, Yang Tiancheng asked.

Speaking of business, Hu Xiaosi's face became solemn, and said: "Xiazhou has been perfectly resolved, the lord has sent a message to Tianxiang, I came directly, it is estimated that Tianxiang's order to you is already on the way." The lord asked you to take Ningzhou quickly, and then join forces with Houchun, fight a decisive battle with Yang Fugong and Li Maozhen, take Guanxi in a battle, and then go out of Chang'an. After speaking, he paused and continued: "The lord has already gone north to Fengzhou to deal with the grassland affairs, and will go south to join you later." ”

Yang Tiancheng clapped his hands and said with a smile: "It's just right, we are also discussing this matter." I've got an idea, and I still need your Xuanying Guard's help. ”

Hu Xiaosi's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he was silent as he listened to Yang Tiancheng finish his strategy. Yang Tiancheng is talking about the strategy of exhausting the enemy, using his 50,000 troops to more than double the strength of the city, attacking the city in batches without interruption, so that the enemy is in a tense battle all the time, so that the rest can be rotated, but the other has to continue to fight, and after a long time, there will inevitably be mistakes, and Yang Tiancheng is waiting for this mistake.

"Why don't you bring in the Hellfire Brigade and bring down all the walls after a pack of explosives, isn't that much faster?" Hu Xiaosi knew what Yang Tiancheng asked him to help. Xuan Yingwei planted an important chess piece in Ningzhou City, waiting for it to be detonated when necessary, but at this time, it made him a little unwilling.

Yang Tiancheng shook his head and said solemnly: "According to the plan of the General Staff, Ningzhou City is the front line of the battle with the Kwantung Alliance after this battle, and the city wall cannot be destroyed, it must be just in case." And the lord means that Hellfire should not be exposed too much at the moment, and must be activated at a critical time. Therefore, explosives packs cannot be used in the Ningzhou offensive battle. What do you think? I know that your shadow is very useful, and I don't want him to change his door now, but just provide me with opportunities when necessary. After the Battle of Ningzhou, our progress will be very fast, and basically no one will have time to investigate this matter. ”

Yang Tiancheng's words made Hu Xiaosi suddenly think of the deduction designed by the General Staff some time ago, so he nodded and said: "In this case, I will find a way to sneak into Ningzhou tonight and arrange it myself." It's good for you to go out and attack the city as planned. If I'm ready, I'll try to notify you or signal you. ”

Qian Ning, who had not spoken because he was not familiar with it before, was a little surprised: "Now that the gate of Ningzhou City is closed, and even a bird can't fly in, how can you get in?" ”

Yang Tiancheng waved his hand and said, "Qian Ning, you don't care how he gets in, is this city wall still a problem for Xuan Yingwei?" After speaking, he ignored Hu Xiaosi's resentful eyes and said: "Since the plan has been decided, then from tomorrow onwards, all departments will take turns to attack the city, according to the order of the first battalion, the second battalion, the sixth battalion, and the seventh battalion, each battalion will be two hours to three hours, and when the time comes, it will be automatically replaced. The battalion was left as a reserve, ready to take on the junior four. Such a long period of independent combat has allowed Yang Tiancheng to exude the demeanor of a mature commanding general, and the task is well organized, Hu Xiaosi on the side nodded, and stood up and said with a smile when he saw that everyone was preparing for the task after receiving the task: "I accompanied the lord to watch a grassland field battle commanded by Chen Fan in Fengzhou, and it seems that you have made rapid progress." The lecture on martial arts is really useful, and I will listen to it when I have time. ”

"Come less, those of us who lead the troops are compulsory, and we must enter the lecture hall to listen to the lectures according to the arrangement of the General Staff, as long as you have the permission of the lord, you can not go, and don't talk cool here."

"Do you have anything to tell me when you stay?" Yang Tiancheng saw that this guy was talking nonsense here if he didn't leave, and immediately asked.

"It's nothing, I'm just thinking about what will happen after we take Guanzhong and occupy Chang'an." Hu Xiaosi suddenly came out of nowhere.

Yang Tiancheng didn't hear what he meant at first, but he suddenly understood what he meant, his face became serious, and he pondered for a while before he said: "Isn't the lord planning to marry Qiaoxi after taking Chang'an?" It is estimated that it is useless for us to discuss this matter, and I think we have to communicate with the civil affairs chief in advance. You also know what kind of temper the lord is, and what Mr. Cen says is sometimes more effective than what our brothers say. ”

"I'm here to talk to you, and you're responsible for Tianxiang's side to talk to him. I'll be in charge of the civil affairs chief, but if I can't do it, I'll go to Ma Teamzheng and Zhang Yingzheng. As long as these two great gods, there will be basically no problem. Hu Xiaosi nodded, and no longer dwelled on this topic and smiled: "Okay, I'm going to prepare, you can borrow some personal guards for me in the evening, and a dozen people will do." I'll have to arrange it, and then I'll go into town and try to get you out of this trouble in three days. After speaking, Yang Tiancheng walked out without waiting for Yang Tiancheng to speak.

Hu Xiaosi's words also made Yang Tiancheng fall into contemplation, but some things need time to precipitate before they can gradually appear, so Yang Tiancheng is different from Hu Xiaosi, he just thinks more about things within his ability, and is unwilling to think more about others.

The next day, the Tiance army, which had only swept the counties under Ningzhou for more than half a month, suddenly rumbled with war drums, and the soldiers of the brigade suddenly attacked under the cover and support of many ballistas and catapults, breaking the tacit understanding between the offensive and defensive sides of Ningzhou. And what made the soldiers defending the city unbearable was that the Tiance army suddenly went crazy, and almost non-stop raising troops to attack from morning to night. All kinds of siege weapons appeared on the battlefield one after another, and the soldiers poured towards the city wall of Ningzhou like a tide one after another.

The soldiers of the Shence Army almost didn't even bother to eat a bite of food all day, and they have been on the city wall to resist the attack of the Tiance Army. And this kind of large-scale siege warfare also allowed the defenders of Ningzhou to draw a small reserve force and other defenders to support Beicheng in the face of the huge pressure from Beicheng.

Originally, I thought that this kind of strong attack strength Tiance Army could only hold out for one day, but what I didn't expect was that Yang Tiancheng actually attacked Ningzhou City frantically for three days regardless of urging the soldiers and horses.

The defender of Ningzhou is Yang Chongben, the righteous son of Li Maozhen, and he can be regarded as a general who can fight under Li Maozhen, but in the face of Yang Tiancheng's dense attack, he can only run for his life. Finally waited until it was dark, and the last wave of attacks of the Tiance Army retreated, and Yang Chongben was also relieved.

Looking at the continuous military camp outside the city, Yang Chongben stared for a long time. For so many years, he didn't think about going out of the city to take the initiative to attack and repel the other party, but several field battles and sneak attacks out of the city were blocked by the other party in a good time, and later Yang Chongben knew that the reason why the other party did not do it to himself was waiting for the news of the western attack on Guyuan and Longzhou. And the letters for help sent to Fengxiang and Chang'an by himself have passed for more than ten days, and there has been no reply. According to today's siege intensity, it only takes a few more times, and the soldiers under his command will not be able to hold on at all.

Could it be that Feng Xiang was also attacked? A trace of gloom flashed in Yang Chongben's mind, and then he shook his head, Fengxiang is in the south of himself, even if he is taken from Guyuan, he needs to capture Jingzhou to reach Fengxiang. Others don't know, but Yang Chongben knew that Hu Jingzhang, the general of Jingzhou, was much more powerful than himself, and he helped Li Maozhen snatch it from Li Ya'er in Pizhou. But a few days ago, the spies also said that there were no soldiers and horses of the Tiance Army outside Jingzhou City.

With these questions, Yang Chongben dragged his tired body down the city wall and returned to his mansion to prepare for rest. But just after taking off the armor, he didn't even have time to take a sip of water, and the guards rushed in, "Report to the general, the Tiance army is attacking the city, and the northern city is almost unbearable, General Xiao Yang asks the general to send reinforcements quickly." ”

"Damn, are the Celestial Army crazy these days? Hurry up to be reincarnated. Immediately ordered the dispatch of the city patrol team to reinforce the northern city. Let Yang Yanlu resist me. "Yang Chongben now completely doesn't understand what the Tiance Army outside the city wants to do. Attacking the city at night, do you really think you are a heavenly soldier? Can their soldiers see at night? But now is not the time to talk about this, Yang Chongben thought about it for a while, and immediately asked the guards to convey the order, and he immediately went out.

"General, the patrol team has been exhausted." The guards did not leave when they heard the general's order, but reminded in a low voice on the side.

"Gone?" Yang Chong suddenly remembered that he had already let all the city patrol teams go to Beicheng during the day, but under the opponent's continuous boulders and crossbow arrows, he suffered heavy casualties and had already collapsed.

There are only more than 20,000 defenders in Ningzhou City, and the original 5,000 people in Beicheng have held out for three days, and they basically have no strength except for those who died in battle, and now they can only draw troops from other directions.

"Immediately let the garrisons of the eastern and southern cities immediately reinforce the northern city. Guards, follow me up to the wall. Yang Chongben dropped a sentence and hurriedly got on his horse and galloped towards Beicheng.

When Yang Chongben arrived at the city tower, the Tiance army was shooting at the soldiers below the city and above the city, and the whizzing crossbow arrows brought bursts of screams from time to time, and the stones fired by the catapults did not set off a bloody storm.

"Yanlu, how's the situation?" Yang Chongben took his personal guards and quickly found his son Yang Yanlu who was hiding behind the city tower.

"Father, the situation is not good. The soldiers of the Tiance Army are different from us, they don't seem to have night blindness. The accuracy of the archers who shoot arrows below is not much different from that of the day, they did not attack at night in the first two days, we don't know, we suffered a big loss just now, and there are only a thousand people who can fight in my hands now. Father, send someone to Fengxiang and Jingzhou for help. Yang Yanlu was shot with an arrow in his arm, and he had just been bandaged, and he gasped and said, "If the Tiance Army still maintains such siege strength tomorrow, we won't be able to bear it at all." ”

"Have you seen the offensive flag below? Aren't they tired when we're tired? We still have the walls to cover, how did they do it? Yang Chongben was suspicious when he heard his son's words and asked.

Yang Chongben's words made Yang Yanlu also stunned for a while, and said with a wry smile: "Father, the Tiance Army is different from us, they basically have no banner. However, I vaguely remember that their commanders and generals changed from time to time. Father, what's wrong? ”

"Different? Did you see the opposing cavalry appear? Yang Chongben muttered a few words to himself and suddenly realized something, grabbed his son's hand and asked.

Yang Yanlu was taken aback by his father's actions, and replied with a loud voice: "No, the siege cavalry is not very useful, and it will definitely not appear." What's the matter, father? Is something wrong? ”

"Damn, these cunning Tiance Army, they're playing tricks to divert the tiger from the mountain." Yang Chongben pointed to the Tiance army below who was still firing: "This is to attract our army to concentrate in Beicheng, and they will detour to other directions." Yanlu, I will hand over the personal guards to you, and I will take the others back to prevent the other party from taking advantage of the situation, you be careful yourself. ”

After speaking, he didn't even bother to look at his son, and hurried away to meet the reinforcements of the army. It's just that what he may not know is that after this time, he will never have the opportunity to see his son again, and he will not have the opportunity to know that he will be killed by his own son.

And just when Yang Chongben hurriedly changed his deployment, in a dark corner of the city, a pair of eyes were also quietly watching everything in front of him.

"Commander, Yang Chongben has been fooled, when will we do it?" After Yang Chongben left, a slight voice suddenly came out of the darkness, and no one was alert at all in the shouting and killing sound of the city tower.

"What's the hurry, you go and inform the army outside the city, just tell them not to stop, and the action should be increased. It's best to go to the other gates and make a little noise. We will set off fireworks during the fourth watch. At this time, another voice sounded, and it was Hu Xiaosi who had sneaked into Ningzhou before.