Yangzhou City is not a dangerous city, because the Great Song Dynasty has been peaceful for a long time, Yangzhou is rich, but the city defense is a little disrepair, when the Manichaeism started an incident, pursued Zhao Ji, Suzhou Manichaean incense master Shi Sheng was the vanguard, and took Yangzhou City first, so it became the Yangzhou Taishou appointed by Fang La, and the two Huai system envoys. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

As a native of Suzhou, Shi Sheng prefers to return to his hometown to show off his might, but Yangzhou is also rich, especially the salt merchants of Lianghuai gather here, and the north-south trade road meets in Si, even if it is only for two months as the Yangzhou Taishou, Shi Sheng has scavenged more wealth than he dreamed of in his most beautiful dream.

It is the looting of wealth!

Although when Manichaeism took action, the slogan of calling on the poor was to oppose the raiding of the Great Song Dynasty in Jiangnan, especially Zhu Mian, who had been dead for several years, was brought out to talk about the matter, and Zhu Mian later took over as the person who should be served, coupled with the exploitation of Cai Jing and his son in Jinling and Hangzhou, all became the reason for the Fangla uprising. But, like many revolts of the poor, without a cadre of highly conscious, truly self-disciplined, even almost saintly cadres, they quickly degenerate into a more evil being than those they hate. The same is true of Manichaeism, which in just two months completed the process of degeneration.

Fang La himself slept on a golden couch with a jade bowl, not to mention, it was the incense masters of all places under him, that is, the Taishou of all parties appointed by him, which one of them did not have luxury and lewdness in his pocket now!

After receiving Fang La's order, Shi Sheng, who was not very sure of his mission, settled down.

Fang La's appeal in Manichaeism is incomparable, especially when he first forbears and then attacks, so that the Manichaean movement has made sufficient preparations in advance, therefore, although Shi Sheng is afraid of Zhou Quan, but after all, the two sides have not officially fought each other, this fear has not turned into fear, nor has it made him frightened.

Therefore, he still has the determination and confidence to fight.

Standing at the head of the city and looking around, Shi Sheng nodded with satisfaction. Half of the people in Yangzhou City were now driven by him to strengthen the city's defenses, and the city's defense materials were piled up, and there were even six cannons - this kind of bronze cannon was also made by the Manichaeans with great effort, and the faceless ones who were thrown at the side of the vultures played a key role.

"Zhou Quan can hold Bianjing with artillery, I can hold Yangzhou with artillery, anyway, I don't have to hold it for too long, as long as Yue Fei's 30,000 new troops are contained under Yangzhou City, and give the Holy Sect allies a chance to surround it...... At most, it's three to five days. ”

Shi Sheng was pondering in his heart, and then he saw a ride outside Yangzhou City, galloping along the canal.

With him came smoke billowing in the distance.

Although Shi Sheng was not from a military background, he fought several battles with officers and soldiers, especially many of his subordinates who took refuge in the Song army, and the minimum military arrangements were still very clear. He knew that Yue Fei's troops must have come along the canal when they went south, so there were police posts on both sides of the canal, as long as there was a slight movement, then the police posts would burn horse manure, and at night it would be a fire, and at the same time send fast horses to Yangzhou to warn.

"Whew—so close!"

It's just that although he was prepared, Shi Sheng still gasped.

His police post has been spread out for more than 40 miles, but the place where the black smoke is burning now is less than 10 miles away from Yangzhou City, which proves that the Eastern Navy is coming very quickly!

"It's not good, the envoy, isn't it just the newly recruited Minzhuang, how can it be so fast, could it be that there is something wrong with it?" Next to Shi Sheng, one person was holding the battlements, and his face changed.

This is the mastermind of Shisheng, originally a person from Yangzhou, surnamed Lin Minghe, because he had a grudge with the government, he came to Shisheng after the Manichaean incident. He is not good at military affairs, so he is a little drumming in his heart when he sees this.

"Soldiers are not tired of deceit, how can Zhou Quan's rumors released in the newspaper be believed, and even if it is 30,000 people, Anzhi Yue Fei will not bring 3500 elite soldiers?" Shi Sheng calmed himself: "Don't worry, now that the city is fully prepared, when the news is found, I will immediately send someone for help...... Our reinforcements are behind us, and in just three or five days, they will cut off the canal and surround Yue Fei under the city of Yangzhou! ”

Shi Sheng is really confident in this, after all, Manichaeism is very powerful at this time, thanks to the blessing of Zhao Ji and Zhao Huan's father and son, there are many people who come to take refuge in them, and the troops in Shi Sheng's hands alone are as many as 100,000. And the generals who were named by Fang La to come to support him had nearly 200,000 troops, and 70,000 or 80,000 troops, adding up to 600,000 troops!

Of course, there is also the "credit" of Zhou Quan, since Zhou Quan launched the Industrial Revolution, many of the original handicraft workshops have gone bankrupt and closed, and a large number of urban civilians have been reduced to the point of being unemployed, and they are unwilling to leave the city where they grew up, and they have also become supporters of Manichaeism.

Although Shi Sheng understood that most of the so-called 600,000 troops were farmers who had just thrown their hoes and weavers who had lost their looms, and Fang La had also given them some training, but without a qualified grassroots non-commissioned officer corps, this kind of training would only become a formality. But, after all, it's 600,000 people, 600,000 vs. 30,000, even if it's 600,000 trees, standing there and letting the other side cut down, the other side has to cut it to exhaustion.

Soon the knight who rode galloped came to the city of Yangzhou, at this time the city of Yangzhou has already been locked all the gates, that is, the water gate, have been closed, the ride to the front of the suspension bridge, the city confirmed that there is no pursuer behind him, then he was taken over, and then hung it on the city with a rope.

"Yue Fei's army of 30,000 has already set up camp twenty miles away from the city, and his elite rangers are scattered to patrol and hunt, and most of our police posts have been uprooted!"

Hearing the words of this die-hard Manichaean loyalist who risked his life to report the news, Shi Sheng's heart sank, and he encouraged the other party a few words, and then immediately sent a messenger to report to Fang La, who had already moved his troops to Zhenjiang.

"The enemy army is new and the camp is unstable, why don't you attack first and frustrate the opponent's spirit?" Lin He, who had settled on the gods, suggested.

Shi Sheng hesitated for a moment, and then shook his head: "I don't want merit in this battle, but I want no fault, as long as I can hold Yangzhou, it will be a miracle, as for other things...... It's better to seek stability. ”

He didn't send troops to invite him to fight, which made Yue Fei a little uncomfortable.

At this time, it was already the fifth year of Xuanhe of the Great Song Dynasty, that is, December of the first year of Jingkang, since the outbreak of the Song-Jin conflict in July, it has been exactly half a year now, and the situation has changed in half a year, and Yue Fei has also gone from the north to the south.

He was actually not very satisfied with his mission this time, in Yue Fei's opinion, most of the Manichaean people were people who had been deceived, and killing these people could not bring him more merits, so he should be appeased. But he hated the upper echelons of Manichaeism, and in his opinion, the simple people were coaxed into thugs by these liars and careerists, and if the people were pitiful, then these people were unforgivable.

Yue Fei preferred that he could be sent to expand his territory and fight against foreign tribes rather than his own people.

"Post the proclamation nearby, let the people know that we are a team sent by King Ji, and we are here to protect the people." After confirming that Shi Sheng showed no signs of attacking, Yue Fei ordered.

Yue Fei believed that the content of this proclamation would soon spread to the "holy army" of Manichaeism, although it may not have any effect at first, but when the battle situation is almost decided, its effect will be revealed.

Zhou Quan has said to him more than once that a good announcement can be worth the victory of a battle.

The next day, Yue Fei's division advanced to the city of Yangzhou.

After the reinforcement, Yangzhou City can be regarded as a majestic city in the south, if there is no artillery, if you want to break the city, you must pay a heavy price. When Yue flew to the bottom of the city, the sound of cannons immediately sounded at the head of the city, as if to remind him that the Manichaeans also had the most powerful courage on the battlefield in their hands.

A cannon pellet even landed on Yue Fei's side, and the dust that splashed almost hit him, but he didn't raise his eyelids, he just held the binoculars and looked at the defense of the city.

"A rabble of rabble, the elder brothers...... King Ji has no other arrangements, and I can break the city in three days. After looking at it for a while, Yue Fei said in his heart.

Then he saw a great banner raised at the head of the city.

This banner is Lin He's masterpiece, seeing that the Eastern Navy does not come to attack the city, but only peeks outside to see the reality, he asked people to raise this flag.

There is a line of large characters embroidered on the flag, which can be seen clearly when it is separated by a few miles.

"Zhou Quan died under the city of Yangzhou!"

Shi Sheng also looked at this flag, and then said with a smile: "I don't know if the other side will be fooled, Yue Fei is Zhou Quan's righteous brother, young and vigorous, and he has just earned a great reputation in Yanjing, maybe he can be fooled by your radical general." ”

Lin He himself didn't have such a high level of self-confidence, he smiled bitterly: "I'm afraid this trick can't hide from Yue Fei, but he can see through it better, and if we can delay it for a day, it will be a day." ”

"Exactly, if he can't see through it, let's take advantage of Yangzhou's city defense to frustrate his sharpness, if he can see through it, we can also delay it for one more day...... I guess the order of the Holy Father has already reached those fellows. The Chinese New Year is coming soon, if they hurry up, they may be able to negotiate with Zhou Quan while celebrating the New Year! ”

"If all goes well...... That's good! Lin He muttered.

At this time, although the center of the Great Song Dynasty has established a new order, and the territory assigned to Zhou Quan has also been peaceful, but Yangzhou is close to the left, but it is extremely unstable. One is worried about Manichaeism, and the other is that he doesn't know what his future will be, so when he learned that the Manichaean generals Qiu Daoren, Huo Chengfu, Zheng Mowang, and Lu Shisang attacked Gaoyou's army, Chuzhou and Xuyi respectively, the local magistrates abandoned the city and left, and in just five days, Yue Fei's department fell into a heavy siege, with more than 30,000 men and horses, with the Jiancheng of Yangzhou in front and 300,000 Manichaean troops around.

At this time, Fang La, who had gathered troops in Zhenjiang, finally crossed the river in person, led 200,000 troops, and joined Shi Sheng, preparing to complete the last step.

Fang La was convinced at this time that he had finally defeated Zhou Quan once, and he could force Zhou Quan to sit down and negotiate. (To be continued.) )