On August 30, the thirteenth year of Tianbao, Raoyang County, Shenzhou, Datang River North Province, under Raoyang City, the Youzhou rebels have besieged the city for four days.

Under the city wall, in the moat, scattered everywhere, layer upon layer, floating up and down in the water, all these Youzhou beast soldiers are crooked, dead corpses of different shapes, more than a dozen ladders, have been attacked and scrapped under the city wall, burned to the point that only the remains remain, at this moment there are still wisps of black smoke.

Outside the moat, thousands of Youzhou elite cavalry galloped across the city, from time to time to pour a rain of arrows on the city, behind them, tens of thousands of Youzhou infantry or arrays ready to fight at any time, or on the side to supervise those who were plundered by the Han family Ding Zhuang to make a variety of siege equipment.

Due north and due west of Raoyang City, is the 37,000 Youzhou rebels set up a camp, due north of the camp and Raoyang City in the middle of a small mound, tens of thousands of cavalry layer by layer, the banner rolls up in a forest, a red background in the mound, a big historical word on the book, is the first general of the Youzhou Army, Shi Siming's Chinese army.

The battle situation in Hebei changed drastically in one day, and even Shi Siming, who was originally in Fanyang, had to lead tens of thousands of light cavalry south overnight to quell the chaos, and before Shi Siming arrived, Raoyang had been fighting for almost two and a half days, and the Youzhou army suffered heavy casualties.

Raoyang City is located in the hinterland of Hebei, about 400 miles south of Fanyang, and Changshan is one middle and one west, just blocking the rebels' southward road.

An Lushan's rebellion was unpopular with the people, and under the call of Yan Gaoqing, the Taishou of Changshan and Lu Quancheng, the Taishou, Beijia, Sima, county commanders, and county lieutenants of Hebei counties responded one after another, killing the rebel guards appointed by An Lushan, and recruiting volunteers to fight against An Lushan's rebels.

Almost in a day, the rebels in Youzhou were in an embattled situation. Not to mention that the guards and defenders left behind in An Lushan in the state and county towns were all killed, the grain and grass collected by the rebels were also seized by the rebels in these counties and counties, the strong men captured by the rebels were rescued by the rebels, the gold, silver and jewelry looted by the rebels were robbed, and the most serious thing was that the passage of the rebels was cut off. Except for the fact that the main forces of the large army are still able to cross and cross, the small troops do not dare to run around at all

Although Tian Qianzhen said a good thing about An Lushan, the fact is that the Youzhou army is currently in an extremely passive and unfavorable situation, and the army's morale is extremely unstable. But the more this is the case, the more crazy and unscrupulous this army of beasts and soldiers who have completely become beast soldiers because of burning, killing and plundering!

Since the situation is unfavorable, since I am surrounded by enemies on all sides. Since there is no way back, let's just fight to the death! Then let's go and kill! Even if it is death, it will drag more people to hell together.

Based on this mentality, the attack and defense of the two cities of Changshan and Raoyang, which were besieged by the Hebei rebels, became more and more tragic!

Generally speaking, the Youzhou army has been fighting with the Khitan and Xi cavalry on the grassland for a long time, and is very good at field warfare, and the positional warfare is relatively weak, and the siege of the city is even weaker. But Rao was so, under the onslaught of 40,000 elite rebels led by Shi Siming himself. Raoyang City is still precarious.

Raoyang City is located in the hinterland of Hebei Province, has not heard of war for a long time, and the military affairs are slack, which can be summed up as the city's defense is relaxed, and the city wall is neither high enough nor thick enough. More than half of the rammed earth city wall has fallen bricks, the battlements on the female wall have also collapsed, the moat is not wide, the water level is extremely shallow to reach the thighs, and the auxiliary defense facilities outside the city wall, such as the sheep and horse wall. It's even more useless.

The reason is simple, An Lushan, as the envoy of Fanyang Jiedu, not only manages the army, but also manages the finances of Hebei, plus the Hebei Provincial Interview Envoy, and also manages more than half of the personnel power.

The entire Hebei Province is basically An Lushan Emperor, he has been plotting to rebel for so many years, on the one hand, almost all the taxes have been looted by him to Fanyang; On the other hand, he didn't want the cities of the Hebei counties to be built stronger.

So, after more than three days of fighting, although the rebels in Youzhou under Raoyang City suffered heavy casualties, but Raoyang City was also enough to choke, half of the moat was filled, half of the battlements of the female wall were damaged, and there were many casualties among the rebels on the city wall.

However, what made the Raoyang rebels on the city wall feel strange was how the originally fierce offensive of the Youzhou soldiers had weakened since Shi Siming.

On the city wall, Raoyang guarded Lu Quancheng's eldest son, eighteen-year-old Lu Weichen, wearing a black steel strip armor similar to a lobster shell, leaned his back against a battlement, turned his head to look outside from time to time, and scolded in his mouth: "Mother, what are these Youzhou rebels playing?" Are you ready to build more trebuchets to storm and then siege? ”

Beside him was a Tiance military captain named Mo Qiufeng, who was wearing the same armor as him, he glanced outward, and said indifferently: "This is better, when the time comes, let them know the power of Tiance's new Eight Bull Crossbow, and if they want to compare the advanced weapons with our Tiance Mansion, they are looking for death." ”

He was right, as early as the same day that An Lushan raised his troops, Gu Xiaojun brought a hundred military supplies to Changshan City and Raoyang City.

Now on this city wall, each sergeant defending the city holds a strong crossbow of the Tiance army in his hand, and the officers above the brigade commander are equipped with hand-cranked Tiance crossbows, and each sergeant is equipped with two civilian men who are responsible for winding the crossbow machine, or when these Youzhou troops are approaching, they obey the order to smash the clay pot with fire oil below.

The crossbow arrows of the strong crossbows that were transported from the arsenal of Tiance Mansion were piled up at the head of the city one by one, and if five arrows were used to eliminate a Youzhou rebel, there would be a surplus of more than twice as many Youzhou rebels under the city!

In addition to crossbow arrows, fire oil and other weapons to defend the city, there are also large supplies of military dry food produced by various Sihai trading companies, fried noodles, biscuits, meat muffins, and roasted whale jerky, plus the grain and horse food seized by Raoyang City from the rebels in Youzhou, the food support is enough for two or three months.

In addition, in order to prevent the Youzhou army's trebuchets and other siege weapons, Changshan City and Raoyang City were also equipped with twenty-four eight-bull crossbows this time, and Li Qi had an order that gunpowder crossbows could be used in case of emergency, so the captain of Tiance named Mo Qiufeng was full of confidence in holding Raoyang City.

Lu Weichen thought about it, he gently stroked the Tiance crossbow in his hand, as if he was caressing his beloved little lady: "Speaking of which, this time it's really thanks to your Tiance Mansion for bringing so many supplies early in the morning."

But I'm really a little curious, how do you know that the Youzhou mongrel Hu will rebel in a few days, and you know that my father will definitely not be a thief, and he has prepared so many things early? ”

Mo Qiufeng looked at him and said, "An Lushan will rebel, and even fools in the whole world know it." My Tiance Mansion swore to surround Datang to the death, so naturally I sent many secret agents in Fanyang early in the morning.

At the same time, he had already thought of various ways to deal with it, and Lord Lingzun, as Raoyang Taishou, was naturally within the scope of our Tiance Mansion's investigation. ”

Lu Weichen smiled bitterly and said, "But Your Majesty doesn't know that An Lushan has been clear about this period of time. My father risked his head and wanted to tell His Majesty that An Lushan would rebel within a few months.

But when Mi Zhe didn't find someone to send out, he heard the news that there were thirteen people who would rebel on An Lushan, but His Majesty sent them to An Lushan together with Song Zhe, and all thirteen people were disemboweled, and their hearts were dug out and died.

Now An Lushan is really the opposite, you said that Your Majesty can finally wake up. Reinvigorate yourself and refresh the dynasty, right? ”

Mo Qiufeng was stunned for a moment, sighed and said, "I hope so......"

When Mo Qiufeng, Lu Weichen and others on Raoyang City seized the time to rest, more than a thousand miles away, Luoyang City, the eastern capital, was still a prosperous scene.

At noon on this day, there was a group of more than 50 people. Out of the east gate of Luoyang, and then walked into the Luoyang New City between the old city of Luoyang and the Tiance Mansion.

The people in this group were all dressed in great luxury. The man at the head was about forty years old, majestic and handsome, handsome, with a noble temperament that came out of his bones, and a majesty that people did not dare to offend.

On his left and right, half a position behind. One of them was in his fifties, handsome, and although he was also majestic, he gave people a feeling of extreme frivolity, and his bones turned out to be more like a gangster; The other was an old man of almost seventy years old. He is tall, with a white face and a steady gaze.

The fifty people behind the three of them, all dressed as extremely fierce guards, looked around vigilantly with a pair of eyes, and were shining; There are three other people who are introverted, their gods are also extremely relaxed, they walk lightly, and there seems to be no interval between breathing and breathing.

Originally, the old city of Luoyang gave people the feeling that it was prosperous enough, but when they arrived in the new city, they found that the prosperity here was completely incomparable to the old city.

Different from the loess rammed earth road in Chang'an City, Luoyang City is all bluestone roads and square brick roads, and the streets are still very wide, but there is no small merchants and vendors on both sides, and instead they are all large shops with extremely grand and luxurious decorations.

The exterior of these large shops was covered with all kinds of colorful billboards, as well as cloth banners made of silk, on which were still large and small advertisements, and all the high walls on both sides of the street were hung.

The houses on both sides of the street, the bottom floor is naturally all big shops, but the top is four or five storey buildings, and there is a big yard behind the building, which is a lawn and garden, as well as a playground, there are many children playing here, and the rotating wood ~ immediately came a familiar melody, which is the favorite "Canon" of the Tang Emperor Li Longji.

At this moment, it was time to eat, and Li Longji and his party were about to go to the largest drunken immortal restaurant here to eat, but when they were on the way, they saw that a teahouse was full of people at the moment, and a storyteller was talking about the wonderful things at the moment, which won the applause of the whole house.

So Li Longji walked in, came to a table in the corner and sat down, there was originally a person sitting at the table, looking at such a powerful aura opposite, and looking at the pomp behind him, he was so frightened that he quickly got up and sat at the table next to him.

At this moment, the storyteller is telling the story of Jianning's king Li Qi's defeat of the Youzhou army in Julu County, and the storytelling career in Luoyang Mansion has begun to develop vigorously since Xiao Quai's arrival in Tiance Mansion.

At this moment, this storyteller is an old storyteller with more than two years of experience, and his clever mouth is naturally a lotus flower, and he will be brutal and evil in the Youzhou army; The benevolence and wisdom of the king of Jianning, the brave champion of the three armies, is vividly said;

At the same time, a large number of sensational clips were added, how King Jianning encouraged Tiance recruits, how King Jianning shared weal and woe with the soldiers, how King Jianning personally braved the arrows, how King Jianning comforted the wounded soldiers and comforted the soldiers who died in battle, and the perfect image of King Jianning. Rendered extremely heroic and great.

Then Li Longji heard that everyone in the audience in the teahouse was emotional, and praised King Jianning loudly: "The world is in danger, but fortunately, King Jianning led his troops to quell the chaos......

"That Youzhou mongrel Hu and Youzhou beast soldiers are really not human......"

"The Han people in Hebei Province are really miserable, at least a million people have died, and the Youzhou Hugou...... Thanks to the Tiance Mansion and the King of Jianning, ......"

"We can live such a good life every day now, and we really should be grateful to Tiance Mansion and King Jianning. Always loyal to Tiance Mansion, forever grateful to King Jianning ......"

"King Jianning and Tiance Mansion are the saviors of the Tang Dynasty...... King Jianning lives a long life, and the gods and Buddhas of the heavens will be blessed, and the hundred spirits will protect the body......"

In this kind of discussion, the fifty guards all looked natural and did not react much, but for the three people sitting on the table drinking tea and eating, their expressions were different.

Yang Guozhong had a frivolous expression that was not afraid of the excitement, and Gao Lishi was full of worry but did not dare to speak. And the Tang Emperor Li Longji's face was gloomy, as if he was about to drip water.

Hmph, Li Qi, my good grandson, is a good calculating! Such a blatant incitement of the people's hearts, raising their own prestige and prestige, and winning the hearts of the people is really reprehensible!

After a private visit to Weifu along the way, I heard many people in Gyeonggi Province who were grateful to Tiance Mansion and King Jianning. And although he didn't dare to say it explicitly about the Youzhou mongrel who favored him, many people said it outside of his words. But it is quite a complaint; After arriving in Dugi Province, the prestige of King Jianning was even higher to the sky, and he was loved by almost everyone in Dugi Province, which was simply praised by all the people!

Even those three or five-year-old children are all a good Jianning Wang, and then Li Longji specially asked a few children, what do you think of the Tang Dynasty. One by one, those children even said that His Majesty the Emperor was a fool.

Then Li Longji couldn't help but get angry and asked why, the answer was that An Lushan, the big villain, wanted to rebel, even a fool knew it, but the emperor didn't know; and Yang Guozhong, the prime minister appointed by the emperor, is not a good person...... made Li Longji angry.

It seems that what Colliers said about the human heart is still here, which is completely wrong. This Li Qi now has such a high reputation and is supported by so many people, if he completely quells the rebellion of the Youzhou Army and has a great contribution to Jiangshan Sheji, it will be even more incredible!

Moreover, the Tiance Army has such a strong force, and Li Qi is quite unruly, so I don't know what unspeakable things will happen at that time! That's really ...... Li Longji's brows wrinkled into a Sichuan character, and then he gritted his teeth and scolded: "What a vertical daring!" ”

"What did you say?" Just as he was gritting his teeth, Li Longji heard a questioning voice beside him, he has been the emperor for so many years, and no one has ever dared to question him, and he didn't react for a while that person was asking him, until the person asked the second sentence: "What do you say, you dare to scold King Jianning!" ”

Li Longji reacted at this time, looked up, and looked up to see that it was the person who was driven away from this table by himself before, and he was glaring at him angrily at this moment, Yang Guozhong on the side was simply stupid, and Gao Lishi's expression was also very embarrassed.

Li Longji thought that the purpose of his trip was to emulate the story of Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, who seized Han Xin's military power, and naturally he couldn't easily expose his identity, although he had all kinds of anger in his chest at this moment, he could only laugh: "I ...... I really didn't say anything. ”

Unexpectedly, that person was a dead brain, he used to see Li Longji's pomp and circumstance was scary, not angry and self-threatening, he avoided it with interest, but now he saw and heard these two people slandering King Jianning - when Li Longji was pondering, Yang Guozhong was still arching the fire on the side, and immediately stopped doing it, because his aunt was seriously ill, and King Jianning found a doctor to cure it.

The man was a little scared before, but now when he saw Li Longji laughing, his courage suddenly grew: "What's nothing, I heard it, you are scolding King Jianning!" ”

Then he actually stood up and said loudly: "Everyone, everyone, there is a group of bad people here, I heard the two of them scolding King Jianning, one said that Li Qi had ill intentions, and the other said that the erector dared to erect!" ”

Then the teahouse suddenly became silent, and all the eyes of the people looked this way, and after a while, the pot exploded.

"Why do you want to scold King Jianning, are you spies sent by the mongrel Hu of Youzhou?"

"Said that King Jianning has ill-intentioned intentions, I think you are suspicious, that frivolous-looking person is not a good person at first glance!"

"You are not allowed to leave, call the internal guards to see if you are bad people......"

A group of people were furious, Li Longji and the others fled, but fortunately the internal guards did not come, otherwise when they knew that it was the Tang Emperor who was difficult to hold accountable, they would not be frightened one by one!

At the same time that Li Longji and his entourage escaped in embarrassment under everyone's questioning, the battle on the Raoyang battlefield, more than a thousand miles away, also underwent unexpected changes in Mo Qiufeng, Lu Weichen and others. (To be continued.) )