The drums became thicker and thicker, Yang Lian stood at the head of the city, staring at the more and more Zhou troops outside the city, pondering for a moment, he knew that Guo Wei was going to fight to the death. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 Although I don't know the reason, for Yang Lian, only by sticking to Rencheng can he have any hope of survival.

The people of the city were all gathered, they were busy boiling water, and more than fifty were carrying crockpots, which were filled with cooking oil, and at the right time, Yang Lian would use it.

The soldiers of the Tang Army wiped their blades, for more than a month, they have experienced a wealth of combat experience, and they are no longer as panicked as at the beginning, and now they are calm enough in the face of war. With the efforts of the people, the few stone slabs were moved to the city, and the soldiers of the Tang Army were ready to fight.

Yang Lian saw a tall figure on the high platform outside the city at this time, it was Guo Wei, the son of heaven of the Zhou State, Guo Wei obviously also saw Yang Lian, and he made a killing gesture in the distance.

Yang Lian smiled faintly, stretched out his finger, and hooked towards Guo Wei. A look of nonchalance.

Guo Wei pursed his lips, glanced down majestically, and shouted: "Attack!" ”

The Zhou army received the order, the departments under the leadership of the main general, rushed towards Rencheng, the arrow feathers poured down, fell on the red land, the Zhou army raised the wooden shield, made a defensive gesture, there are still many people who fell to the ground with arrows, the robe behind them crossed, and continued to rush forward to kill, at this time the moat of Rencheng has been seriously blocked, the Zhou army easily crossed the moat, put the ladder on the city wall, at the same time, the Zhou army in front of the attack on the city gate struggled to clear a road, the city car under the impetus of the soldiers, rushed towards the city gate.

Yang Lian commanded the soldiers to attack, the crossbowmen shot arrows, trying their best to hinder the besieging soldiers, and the rushing vehicles were also desperately slamming into the city gates, making a crisp sound. The stone slammers fell, and the Zhou army's rushing cart shook, but it was not smashed. The body was covered with wet cowhide, and the rocket fell on it, and it didn't have much effect.

Chen Tie said loudly: "Smash, smash it for me!" However, more and more stones fell, the effect was still not obvious, and Zhou Jun was still desperately ramming.

The general of the Zhou army shouted loudly, the morale of the Zhou army was greatly boosted, Yang Lian made people take the hook, tied it tightly with hemp rope, when the city car rushed again, the hook was thrown out, left and right on both sides of the city car, and pulled hard, the city car was pulled to the ground, the soldiers inside were startled, and when they hurriedly wanted to dodge, the rocks fell, and they were immediately smashed into meat paste.

Although the Zhou army's car was destroyed, it still could not stop the Zhou army's determination to take Rencheng, and the battle became more and more intense, from early morning until noon, the fighting at the head of the city did not stop, and both sides paid a lot of price.

The situation of the Tang army became more and more critical, Yang Lian personally went into battle, killed five or six Zhou soldiers in a row, and drove Guo Chong, the general of the Zhou army, down from the city. Guo Chong was also injured, he was slashed in the shoulder by Yang Lian, and he was dripping with blood.

Since Guo Wei decided to fight to the death, he naturally would not choose to give up, he continued to send troops to support, the Zhou army always maintained the offensive, giving enough pressure to the defenders, Guo Wei believes that after this month's fighting, the defenders must be very tired, at this time the two sides rely on willpower, who is stronger, can have the last laugh. And in the Great Zhou, the troops are relatively sufficient, and as long as they continue, they can find flaws.

The losses of the Tang army are getting bigger and bigger, and the strength of several city walls is already stretched, so that Yang Lian had to send the last force - a group of temporarily organized people to the city, but Yang Lian didn't dare to think about how big the role of this group of people was.

The sun is gradually moving westward, Guo Wei, who has been supervising the battle, can't help but stand up, on the city, there are more and more Zhou troops, with Guo Chong as the center, the Zhou army has occupied a piece of territory and is killing towards the city. The Tang army was desperately resisting, but in Guo Wei's view, the Tang army's resistance was getting weaker and weaker.

At the head of the city, Chen Tie was guarding Yang Lian's side, and after several hours of fighting, the physical strength of the two had been exhausted, and it was only the belief in their hearts that supported them at this time.

Chen Tie's face changed, and he said, "Yang Jiedu, after I come to break it, you go first!" "Since Ren Cheng can't hold it, then retreat to Yanzhou and wait for a counterattack in the future.

Yang Lian naturally did not want to, although the city was breached, but it could still fight in the streets, the advantage of the Tang army was field warfare, because they did not have finch eyes, on the contrary, the Zhou army had been avoiding night battles, proving that their eyes were not good. Yang Lian planned to hold until night, and then try to counterattack and recapture the city. Seeing that he was unwilling, Chen Tie had to follow him, and the two fought side by side, killing more than a dozen Zhou soldiers.

The battle at the head of the city, the victorious scales were tilting towards the Zhou army, Guo Wei narrowed his eyes, couldn't help but clenched his fists, captured Yang Lian, and the negotiation between his adopted son Guo Rong and Datang was a little more confident. At this time, there were less than 500 soldiers around Guo Wei, and the reason why Guo Wei was relieved to send all the soldiers was because he knew that there was absolutely no possibility of reinforcements from the Tang Army in this vicinity.

Just when Guo Wei was imagining, in Liangshanbo, north of Rencheng, more than thirty ships were moving fast, heading straight for the canal. Lin Renzhao stood on the deck, urging the soldiers to go quickly, he took the boat north last winter, along the current, but lost along the way, to an island with a radius of hundreds of miles, there were more than 10,000 people on the island, about 500 soldiers, saw Lin Renzhao's ship were frightened, they came out with weapons to scare Lin Renzhao.

At this time, Lin Renzhao needed supplies, so he had to send troops to attack, easily took the island, and captured their king, only to know that this small island is called Tamna Island, also known as Tamna country, once flourished, a few years ago took refuge in Goryeo, forced by the obscenity of Goryeo, the people of Tamna country were taken away a lot, and the army was greatly reduced, only more than 500 people, otherwise it would not be easily broken by Lin Renzhao today.

Knowing that he had traveled so far and almost arrived in Goryeo, Lin Renzhao was taken aback, and ruthlessly replenished grain and grass supplies on Tamna Island, and Lin Renzhao continued to sail westward, this time, he spent another two months before he arrived in the Dengzhou area.

After arriving in Dengzhou, Lin Renzhao finally found the junction into the Yellow River, he pretended to be a merchant ship walking, while sending people ashore to inquire about the news, when he learned that Guo Wei was storming Yang Lian who was stationed in Rencheng, he hurriedly found a guide, and entered Liangshanbo from the Yellow River along the canal, at this time Liangshanbo has a radius of hundreds of miles, the area is very large, there are reeds along the way, and there are many beautiful scenery, but Lin Renzhao is not in the mood to appreciate, and repeatedly urges the boatman to row the boat.

The sun was gradually setting in the west, Lin Renzhao was not sure if Yang Lian could hold Rencheng, but he had to arrive as soon as possible, and finally, Lin Renzhao walked out of Liangshanbo and entered the canal when the sun was about to set. More than thirty warships lined up along the canal and advanced rapidly.

Finally, after working hard for half an hour, Lin Renzhao could already faintly hear the sound of fighting from Rencheng, Lin Renzhao did not dare to slack off, and immediately led his troops ashore and marched quickly towards Rencheng. At this time, Guo Wei had already taken the city, and most of the soldiers around him were also sent out.

Lin Renzhao learned about these situations through the scouts, and did not hesitate to lead the troops to kill, and Lin Renzhao's sudden attack attracted the attention of the Zhou army scouts, and they quickly reported the military situation to Guo Wei.

Guo Wei hesitated a little, after all, it was only possible for Datang's reinforcements to appear from the south, and at this time, it was obviously unreasonable to appear from the west. As for the possibility that it was Yang Lian's ambush, Guo Wei felt that it was impossible.

However, Guo Wei still believed the scout's words, these soldiers were not from the Tang Dynasty, and it was very likely that they were Khitans, "It's really hateful!" Guo Wei scolded in his heart, at this time, standing on the high platform, he could already see the enemy constantly appearing from afar, roughly calculated, the enemy was at least two or three thousand people, Guo Wei felt very inappropriate, how many enemies suddenly appeared, he had no bottom in his heart, but at this time his soldiers and horses had all been sent out, and there were only five hundred people around him, which was very dangerous.

One of the soldiers said, "Your Majesty, let's go quickly, otherwise it will be too late." ”

Guo Wei gritted his teeth, he was really unwilling and wanted to fight, but soon he saw Lin Renzhao's army springing up like mushrooms after a rain, and the front was at least more than a hundred cavalry, and the enemy had cavalry that was even more unfavorable to Guo Wei, so he finally had to shake his head and Mingjin retreated.

Zhou Bing, who was fighting with the Tang army and engaged in street fighting, heard Ming Jin's voice, and was puzzled, Guo Chong looked back at the rear, the Son of Heaven has led the troops for many years, it is impossible to make such a mistake, did he encounter any danger and had to Ming Jin withdraw his troops?

The military order was like a mountain, Guo Chong had to lead his troops to retreat, and the rest of the Zhou soldiers saw it and retreated one after another. Yang Lian didn't know why the Zhou army retreated, but experience told him that something must happen outside the city, so he immediately took the elite and chased it out, and the Zhou army was busy retreating, where could he care about anything else? Seven or eight people were killed by Yang Lian, Yang Lian caught up with the city, and the Zhou army quickly slipped off the city wall, very embarrassed.

Yang Lian stared out, Guo Wei was no longer on the command platform, could it be that something happened to him? Yang Lian continued to observe, Chen Tie walked over, wiped his eyes, pointed outside the city, and said, "Yang Jiedu, that seems to be Renzhao?" ”

Yang Lian looked carefully, and finally determined that it was Lin Renzhao who came, he immediately asked people to open the city gate, and more than a hundred cavalry chased out, killing people when they saw them, and along the way, people were rolling. Although there were not many more than 100 people, the Zhou army had no intention of resisting, and the harvest was still not small.

With Guo Wei's retreat, the Zhou army also withdrew from Rencheng. Guo Wei turned around and stationed in the camp and counted the people, but the number was less than 20,000. During this period of time, the loss of besieging Rencheng was very great, and it was more than worth the loss, which made Guo Wei very frustrated, and he couldn't figure out how the Tang army that suddenly appeared rushed to Rencheng.

Outside the city, Yang Lian used a long knife and pestle on the ground to support his body, during this time he was tired, his mental and physical strength were greatly overdrawn, and he wanted to sleep well.

Lin Renzhao pursued and killed the Zhou army, and did not return until outside the camp, and his strange soldiers beheaded more than 300 people in this battle, and the harvest was not small. Seeing Yang Lian waiting for him outside the city, he hurriedly took a few steps forward, supported Yang Lian, and said, "Yang Jiedu, I'm late." ”

"But it came anyway." Yang Lian smiled.

Lin Renzhao sighed, and the two slowly approached Rencheng, Lin Renzhao looked around, secretly surprised, the city wall of Rencheng had been soaked in blood, and he couldn't distinguish the original color of the city wall. Some of the blood stains on it are dark red, some are bright red, and some have condensed into pieces of solid, hanging on the head of the city, you can imagine how tragic the battle of Rencheng was.

Lin Renzhao felt a little guilty, if he hadn't taken the wrong path, he would have been able to cut off the Yellow River last winter and prevent Guo Wei from crossing the river, even if it was late, at least he could cut off Guo Wei's return route and threaten Guo Wei's old nest Yedu. Now that Guo Wei has been proclaimed emperor, the matter is irreparable.

Yang Lian didn't mind, Datang snatched Liu Chengyou and occupied the mountain in his name. In most of the counties in the east, this harvest is still not small. Wait until the mountain. If the situation in the east is stable, troops can be sent in the name of the Han Dynasty to recover the Central Plains.

While the two were talking, the Tang army came back one after another, and Lin Renzhao defended the city with a new army, taking over Yang Lian's troops. Yang Lian temporarily handed over the defense of Rencheng to Lin Renzhao, he fell asleep, and slept until noon on the second day, and after waking up, his stomach was growling.

A soldier had already prepared rice porridge, Yang Lian drank two large bowls in a row, Lin Renzhao received the news and hurried over to tell him the news that Guo Wei had retreated early in the morning, and at the same time he left a letter for Yang Lian.

Yang Lian ate two bowls of rice porridge, his stomach was a little calm, he put down his chopsticks, opened the letter, and couldn't help frowning. Yang Lian was trapped in Rencheng, and the news was naturally not as well-informed as Guo Wei, and then Yang Lian knew that there was a reason for Guo Wei's retreat.

When the Khitan people went south, they always burned, killed and robbed, and the people were not able to make a living. Guo Wei hoped that Yang Lian could remember the national righteousness, give him a little time to breathe, and let him go north to resist the Khitans, and in the future, the grievances between the Great Zhou and the Tang Dynasty would still be resolved on the battlefield.

After Lin Renzhao read the content of the letter, he said: "Yang Jiedu, now the counterattack in Kaifeng is a great opportunity. ”

Yang Lian groaned for a long time, now is indeed a good opportunity, but in fact, there is also a war in Xuzhou, before he left, Wu Yueguo also sent troops to Changzhou, how is the war now? Datang uses troops everywhere, on the one hand, it consumes a lot of grain and grass, and on the other hand, it will also make soldiers war-weary.

Datang in the mountains. The battle in the east actually didn't get much cheap, at least Liu Renzhan's army was forced away by Guo Wei, and Xuzhou was also taken by Wang Yanchao The outer city, if Yang Lian hadn't let Li Jinquan send Fu Yanqing away in time, maybe the inner city of Xuzhou would have been breached long ago.

Although Yang Lian forced Guo Wei back, his newly built army was almost defeated, and only Lin Renzhao's sailors did not lose. Yang Lian is not strong enough to go to war, he needs time to digest the mountain. The eastern counties once stabilized the mountains. In the situation in the east, with sufficient food, it is a good choice to go north to Hebei and west to the Central Plains.

Yang Lian thought for a while, made a decision, and said, "No, I promised Guo Wei's conditions to let him go north and resist the Khitans!" ”

Lin Renzhao and Yang Lian have been friends for many years, and after a little thought, he understood what Yang Lian thought, since it was Yang Lian's decision, he would naturally support it, so he nodded and said: "This is also very good, but it is imperative to recapture Qizhou, Yunzhou and other places!" ”

"This is nature!" Yang Lian nodded in agreement, stood up, went to the study, and wrote a letter to Guo Wei. (To be continued.) )