Liyang, the county seat closest to the Yangtze River in Jiujiang County, was once the seat of Yangzhou. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Liyang City guards the exchange of the two sides of the Yangtze River, where to cross the river from the place of Huainan, it is inevitable to pass through Liyang, and to cross the river from the southeast of the river to the north, but also to cross the river from the quarry rock to land in Liyang. It can be seen that Liyang City can be described as the gateway of Huainan, and the guarantee of Jiangbiao has been a battleground for soldiers since ancient times.

There are two Yangtze River ferries outside Liyang City, one is Hengjiangpu and the other is Danglikou. After these two ferry crossings, you will enter the Cao Canal Road in Liyang City.

Many cities in the south of the river have water gates, and Liyang City is no exception, and the east gate is a water gate. Similar to the land gates, which were used for people and vehicles, the water gates were used for ships to enter and exit. Boats can enter the city directly from the river through the Cao Canal Road.

There is an iron gate at the front and back of the water gate, and after passing through the first iron gate, the ship enters the water gate hole, where there is a tax collection point to facilitate the inspection or tax registration of ships entering and leaving the city. Then through the second iron gate, you will enter the urn city. The urn city of the water gate is similar to the land gate, and it is also a checkpoint to enter the city, and only when you get out of the urn city can you really enter the city.

In the early morning of this day, before the opening time of the water gate of Liyang City, several big ships came in front of the iron fence outside the water gate, and at the bow of the first ship stood a middle-aged businessman with an oily face and a big belly, who was anxiously shouting to the city.

"Please be accommodating, General, and let us into the city first. I sent this cargo, and I have to transfer a batch of goods out today, if I enter the city late, there will be not enough time! ”

At this time, the head of the city was a tun chief, who had just been woken up by his subordinates, and looked at the ships and merchants below with a pair of sleepy eyes.

The opening time of the city gate is fixed every day, and it stands to reason that it is absolutely impossible to open the door before the opening time. But since it is operated by people, there will be exceptions. Similar situations have occurred before, often such are merchant ships in a hurry. The city gate guards are a little more accommodating, and if they are allowed to enter the city, they can get a lot of benefits.

Some time ago, a city gate guard put a caravan into the city ahead of schedule, and he was paid two gold. Because of this, the tun chief had been envious for a long time, but he didn't expect that he would encounter such a good thing today, and his heart was on fire. If he can also get two gold for personal gain, plus his previous savings, he can buy a decent courtyard in the city.

So the tun chief had a plan in his heart, and said slowly: "Do you know that if you open the city gate in advance, if it is known from above, I will be punished." ”

"I understand, I will compensate the general, and I will never let the general suffer!" The merchant said flatteringly.

It seems that these treacherous merchants are acquaintances, Tun Chang thought to himself. He suppressed the excitement in his heart, pretended to be a business-like attitude, and said: "It's not to give me personal compensation, but compensation for violations, and I also need a little benefit to make the above accommodating." ”

"I understand, how about paying a gold per boat?" The merchant took a cloth bag, took out a few gold nuggets from it, and shook it to show the chief.

Tun Chang was overjoyed, he didn't expect this merchant to be so generous, one gold per boat, there are four boats here, that is, four gold. With these four golds, he was able to buy a mansion without spending any more savings.

The tun chief no longer hesitated, waved his hand and ordered: "Open the outer water gate first!" ”

With the sound of "click", the outermost iron fence slowly opened, and the tun chief immediately turned around and went down from the passage at the head of the city to the tax collection point.

At this time, the ship with the middle-aged merchant standing had already entered the water gate hole and was slowly approaching the tax collection point.

The tun chief stood quietly, but his heart was not at all calm, he only hoped that the boat would come quickly, so that he could receive the money sooner, so that everything would be complete.

In the captain's anticipation, the boat finally approached, and the merchant handed over a cloth bag with a smile. Tun Chang trembled slightly and took the cloth bag, hurriedly opened it, and touched it inside, and he knew it. However, he still took out a piece of gold and looked at it carefully, then smiled, and then shouted to the passage behind him: "Release!" ”

He didn't notice the strange smile on the merchant's face.

The sound of "click" started again, and a metal grating in the water gate cave was slowly pulled up.

"Stop, put down the gate!"

Suddenly, there was a loud shout from the top of the city. The shouting was particularly clear in the quiet of the morning.

The tun chief was shocked in his heart, he heard it, this turned out to be the voice of the county lieutenant.

"It's over, I can't keep the four golds." This was the first thought of the tun chief, and he couldn't help but sigh bad luck.

Little did he know, however, that something even more unfortunate awaited him.

When the shouts came from the city, a big man rushed out from behind the middle-aged businessman. The big man flashed and came to the side of the chief, and the next moment, a short sword 'poof!' The ground pierced into the heart of the chief.

The incident happened too quickly, and the tun chief didn't react at all, he only felt a pain in his heart, and he only had time to scream before he lost consciousness.

However, his screams still had some effect, and the soldiers at the head of the city no longer hesitated, and scrambled to close the gate while ringing the alarm bell at the head of the city.

In the Watergate Cave, the middle-aged businessman's face changed greatly, he didn't expect that he was about to succeed, but he fell short. He didn't have time to care what went wrong, so he immediately pointed to the road where the tun chief came down, and instructed the big man on the side: "You take people to kill the city from here, and I will find a way to open the gate at the back!" Also, signal to the outside! ”

The big man nodded, drew a big knife and rushed into the narrow corridor, followed by many soldiers.

About two miles or so of the Cao Canal Road, there are hundreds of ships docked densely, and they are almost full of stubborn soldiers.

On a large ship at the head, Zhou Ang realized that something was wrong when he heard the alarm bell from the city, and then saw the fire signal from the ship that deceived the city gate, and he knew that the plan had been discovered.

Zhou Ang scolded: "Waste! ”

Then he shouted: "Rush to kill me all and storm the water gate!" ”

For a moment, the drums beat loudly, and all the ships set sail and rushed down the river to the water gate.

Above the water gate of Liyang City, Qi Ji looked at the dense boats on the Cao Canal Road, wiped the cold sweat on his forehead, and glanced at a sergeant beside him ashamedly. This is the brocade guard of Liu Miao's cronies, if it weren't for this brocade guard to send a warning to Qi, Liyang City would have been lost.

At this time, there was already a fierce battle at the exit of the city gate, Qi Ji was very clear about the key points of attack and defense at the head of the city, and he sent troops to guard the exit of the road as early as the first time.

"Hasn't the gate been closed yet?" Qi Ji asked.

"The inner gate has been closed, but the outer gate is stuck by the enemy ship and cannot be closed." A soldier replied.

Qi Ji thought for a moment and decisively ordered: "Speed up and drive the enemy soldiers out of the Yongdao, and then seal the Yongdao." ”

At this time, at the exit of the narrow corridor, the battle had entered the white heat, and the screams were heard one after another. In the beginning, the Liyang soldiers could still shoot arrows inside, but now they can only be hand-to-hand.

The big man who killed the bribe-taking tun chief was extremely brave, he held a big knife in his hand and slashed forward, and several Liyang soldiers had already died under his knife. Although the soldiers behind him also suffered heavy casualties, they still kept trying to fight their way out. Under the cover of the big man, two enemy soldiers really rushed out.

Seeing that the situation was wrong, Qi Ji personally raised his gun, knocked the two enemy soldiers to the ground, and then went up to entangle the big man, so that the Liyang soldiers had the opportunity to block the exit again.

When the big man saw that the opening that had been cut with great difficulty was blocked again, he was furious, and swung his knife and slashed at Qi Ji.

"Whew!"

At this moment, a cold arrow suddenly pierced Dahan's throat. The big man immediately fell into the Yongdao, bringing down all the soldiers behind him, and the exit of the Yongdao was suddenly empty.

Qi Ji looked behind him and saw the brocade guard who had put away his crossbow.

Qi Ji nodded to him to express his gratitude, and instead shouted: "Quickly seal the Yongdao!" ”

The soldiers who had already prepared threw the stones in their hands into the corridor.

"Ahh

Bursts of screams rang out from the corridor, and all the attacking enemy soldiers fled.

The road was finally completely sealed by the stone.

Qi Ji let out a sigh of relief, he came to the Jinyi guard's side, and asked, "There are not enough troops in the city, and I'm worried that I won't be able to defend it for too long." Can the brother send a message to Liu Fujun for help? ”

Jin Yiwei looked at Qi Ji and said lightly: "Lord, you don't have to worry about it. Do your best to defend the city! ”

"Good!" Qi Ji didn't care about Jinyiwei's attitude, and said: "I have ordered someone to inform the county magistrate of Qin to recruit people in the city to help defend the city, and I will desperately defend the city before the arrival of the Fujun reinforcements." ”