If those Yellow Turban troops from Qingzhou were not frightened by the bluff of the county soldiers, they would attack the city with all their might. Cheng Li estimates that in ten days at most, Dong'e City will be broken!

However, the strategic geographical location of Dong'a is not of much importance. Thinking from this point of view, there is a faint trace of luck in Cheng Li's heart.

-- Cangting in the southwest is the place where soldiers must fight. I hope that these leaders of the Qingzhou Yellow Turban Army know some of the art of war. Don't waste your troops by going to Dong'a......

These problems were originally not the turn of Cheng Li, who had neither an official position nor family wealth, to worry about. Helplessly, when the last time Wang Du's army attacked the city, in order to boost the morale of the defenders, Cheng Li read "Spring and Autumn Dew" aloud at the head of the flesh-and-blood city1, and the officials and large families in the city regarded Cheng Li as the most reliable protector of Dong'e City.

This identity is both an honor and a pressure, which makes Cheng Li's heart often feel heavy and burdened. However, even if you don't consider the fame that comes from this, it will help you to "raise filial piety" in the future. Cheng Li must also find a way to save his hometown from the poison of those brutal outsiders.

- So, if the Qingzhou Yellow Turban arrives, how to resist it?

This Yellow Turban Army from Qingzhou, how strong its combat effectiveness is, Cheng Li naturally does not know. However, the Yanzhou Prefecture Division under the command of Bao Duwei has been fighting in the south and the north these days, and there are not 10,000 Yellow Turbans and 8,000 of them. Its combat effectiveness is so strong that it is simply incomparable compared to the county soldiers in Dong'e.

But such a powerful Yanzhou Prefecture Division could not stop the Qingzhou Yellow Turban Army, which numbered more than 10,000 people. The combat effectiveness of these Qingzhou Yellow Turban Army can be seen!

Cheng Li stared at Zhu Jian and thought for a while, but his mood became more and more disturbed.

It seems that tomorrow we must first visit Xue Gong [Xue Fang], and then go to see the county order, strengthen the city defense, and talk about doing our best.

"Bangbang ......"

There was the sound of a husband in the street. The time has reached the second watch day [21:00-23:00], and it is late at night. Cheng Li sat upright on the straw mat for so long, and felt that his body was a little sore, so he got up and moved two steps.

The noise in the house seemed to disturb the rest of the family. A plainly dressed middle-aged woman appeared outside the door and said to Cheng Li:

"Husband, it's night, Xiao Wu'er and Xiao Yan'er have also slept for a long time. Rest in peace! ”

Cheng Li said "hmm" and was about to blow out the oil lamp. However, at this moment, Cheng Li was inexplicably startled in his heart, and listened carefully, as if he heard someone screaming not far away!

"Husband, what's wrong?"

Seeing Cheng Li suddenly froze, the woman couldn't help but ask with concern. However, immediately after, a louder scream made her face suddenly turn pale!

The woman involuntarily took two steps forward, took Cheng Li's hand, and leaned close to the eight feet three inches tall body of the person in front of her, before she felt the stability in her heart.

"Let's go!"

Cheng Li took the woman's hand and walked out of the house quickly. At this moment, the third scream, and the sirens mixed with the dull air, began to sound continuously.

"Enemy attack!"

"It's a moth thief!"

In a panic, Cheng Li suddenly turned to face the woman. Although the starlight was dim and the moonlight was cloudy, the woman could still feel the firmness in Cheng Li's eyes.

"Wake up Xiao Wu and Xiao Yan immediately, don't care about the softness at home, just bring bread and water, go through the back door, go out of the east gate, and go straight to Quqiu Mountain! Remember?! ”

"What about you?"

Although the woman knew her husband's habits, she could not resist asking questions. Cheng Li took off the long sword hanging on the wall with one hand, and said resolutely:

"The people of a county are expected to do their best!"

Glancing at the bloodless woman on her face, Cheng Li gently touched her face, smiled and said:

"And relax. A servant doesn't 'do what he knows he can't do.'" If the thief is powerful, the servant will not die in vain! ”

The screams on the street are getting closer. Cheng Li gently pushed the woman away and shouted in a low voice:

"Don't go yet!"

Seeing the woman turn around and enter Xiao Wu and Xiao Yan's room, Cheng Li straightened his clothes, drew his sword out of its sheath, pushed open the door, and came to the street.

On the streets, there is no one for the time being.

The screams are still approaching.

Cheng Li turned around, carrying the direction from which the screams came, and ran wildly.

He's not running away, he's just looking for someone. In the face of such a sudden night attack, what is most needed is nothing else, but qualified fighters who have been effectively organized and regained their fighting courage.

Fighters who meet such conditions are not absent in Dongge County, but they are very rare. However, Cheng Li believes that as long as he organizes properly, he may not be able to successfully pull out a counterattack force of about 100 people.

With such an army as the base, whether you choose to attack, hold the city, or withdraw from the city, you can make a difference. If the number of the enemy is relatively small, perhaps the county officials who have come to their senses when they support it until dawn will spontaneously follow behind them and wipe out the perpetrators of these night riots.

Cheng Li ran briskly. His first target was his brother's house, which was forty-eight paces away from his home.

Cheng Li's brother passed away two years ago. However, the elder brother's four sons still lived together and did not divide the family. Because Cheng Li's brother had a good business during his lifetime, his family had some land. Today, the fields have been abandoned due to war, but the seven or eight guest tenants who are responsible for cultivating the fields have not been dispersed.

At the suggestion of Cheng Li, the second uncle, several of his nephews organized and armed all the Ding Zhuang in the family. At this critical moment, as soon as Cheng Li arrives, the Cheng family, who has the backbone, can pull out a team of at least fifteen people.

The night breeze is cool.

Just when Cheng Li was still twenty-five steps away from his brother's house, he had already made a clear plan for all the measures that should be taken tonight.

After pulling out Cheng's team of fifteen to twenty people, Cheng Li's second target was the Xue Fang family, a big family one hundred and thirty-seven steps away from his brother's house. Xue Fang, as the third most powerful clan in Dong'e County, can mobilize at least sixty strong people in his family.

With these people as the basic, Cheng Li only needs to coerce dozens of brave and courageous warriors in the city, which is enough to rely on these personnel, with the advantage of being familiar with the terrain, to deal with the thieves who come to attack until dawn!

Outside the gate of his brother's house, Cheng Li stretched out his hand and slapped more than ten times vigorously on the door. Hearing the noise in the courtyard gradually sounded, Cheng Li took a few steps back, suddenly exerted force under his feet, kicked three steps, relied on his height and arm length, and borrowed strength on the courtyard wall next to the door, and actually jumped onto the courtyard wall of his brother's house!

"Who?"

The Cheng clansmen, who were woken up by the sound of the huge knocker slapping, were about to go to the courtyard to open the door sleepily. Suddenly, a man appeared on the wall, startling the man.

"It's your second uncle, little four!"

The people in the courtyard were not sure for a while. It wasn't until Cheng Li strode up to him that the little four confirmed the identity of the person who came by the dim light.

"Uncle, why is it so urgent?"

Cheng Li glared at Xiao Si, scaring Xiao Si for a moment.

"What's the matter? Soldiers! Thieves have entered the city! Hurry up and hang up, and call everyone up! ”

Cheng Li's voice startled several men who were awakened. However, this second uncle has always been very dignified, and his speech is accurate. Although the clansmen of the Cheng clan had doubts in their hearts, they had no time to ask, so they just quickly got up and listened to Cheng Li's deployment.

"All the old and weak, go out the back door, go east out of the city, and go to Quqiu Mountain to meet! Others, etc., try to be armed, is there any bread at home? Take one for each person and fill your stomach later......"

At this time, the people who were awakened from the sweet dream heard the screams and exclamations from time to time outside, and finally figured out the situation they were in now. They silently distributed their weapons, put on their armor, and gathered together, ready to meet the unpredictable future under the command of Cheng Li.

However, before the Cheng clan could finish their preparations, a scream suddenly came from near the pigsty in the backyard!

ps: 1 The book "Spring and Autumn Dew" is a political and philosophical work of Dong Zhongshu, a great Confucian in the Western Han Dynasty, and an extension and play of the righteousness of Confucius's "Spring and Autumn Period". In the Han Dynasty, this book was one of the important classics of Confucian learning.

As for the content of this book, it expounds the philosophical/theological theories with the skeleton of yin and yang and the five elements, and the induction of heaven and man as the core, and advocates the theory of human nature of the "three qualities of sex", the ethical thought of "the three outlines of the royal road can be sought from heaven" and the historical view of the cycle of red, black and white, which laid a theoretical foundation for the centralized feudal rule system of the Han Dynasty.