"Bang Bang Bang"

A low sound of gunfire peculiar to the Minnie rifle sounded on the official road, and dozens of rogues fell to the official road, but more rogues knelt on the official road with their heads in their hands, and some rogues scattered and fled on both sides of the official road.

Ignoring the fleeing rogues, hundreds of black-helmeted and black-armored cavalry rushed forward like an inky torrent.

As the vanguard of the Fifth Legion, the task of this cavalry was different from that of the night, and what they had to do was to move forward and forward, until they reached the front of the large army of the rogues, and as for these prisoners kneeling on the side of the road, it was better to leave them to the follow-up troops behind.

"Newspaper"

A long voice sounded from behind, and a sentry with a command on his back came behind Liu Zongmin on a fast horse and reported loudly: "General Qiyu, the men and horses in charge of the rear of the palace five hours ago have already caught fire with the advance of the Great Zhou army, and our people have suffered heavy losses, General Zhao ordered the villain to ask the general for reinforcements." ”

Liu Zongmin asked with a dark face, "How many people are there in the enemy army?" ”

The sentry hesitated for a moment before he said, "The enemy army is estimated to be about a thousand people, but they are all cavalry, and it is difficult for our brothers to resist their onslaught." ”

When Liu Zongmin heard this, he only felt that his head was rising, and his eyes were flowering, and he took a few steps forward and grabbed the collar of the detective, and shouted angrily: "How much? Turtle son, you tell Lao Tzu again! ”

The sentry's face turned purple, and he struggled and said: "Mr. Liu, the enemy army is only more than a thousand people, but they are all cavalry, and the brothers can't resist it!" In a hurry, this detective shouted out Liu Zongmin's official position before the reform.

"Zhao Zhongjie, you turtle son, can't more than 20,000 people even withstand more than 1,000 cavalry?"

After hearing the news, Liu Zongmin was angry for a while, and the sound of shouting loudly because of anger shook the sky.

Seeing Liu Zongmin's angry appearance, Hao Shaoqi on the side saw that Liu Zongmin was already a little out of shape, so he reminded softly on the side: "General, the question now is not to hold General Zhao responsible, but how to resist the pursuit of the Great Zhou." ”

Hearing Hao Shaoqi's words, Liu Zongmin took a few deep breaths, then calmed down, turned his head and said: "Old Hao, the goods we have here are to be safely transported to Shaanxi by name, and we must not go on a business trip." Now if you want to count on Zhao Zhongjie's waste, it is impossible, besides, the soldiers behind are all old, weak, sick and disabled, it is impossible to expect them to resist the pursuers of the Great Zhou Army, if you want to resist the pursuers of the Great Zhou Army, only you have worked hard to go out in person, what do you think? ”

Hao Shaoqi nodded without hesitation and said, "It's okay, then I'll go, but I have a request, you have to transfer eight thousand young soldiers and horses to me, and the horse team also has to transfer two thousand to me." ”

"You even want a horse team?" Hearing this, Liu Zongmin couldn't help but hesitate, now the Ming Dynasty is generally short of horses, and it is even more lacking for a team like Liukou who lacks everything, although Liu Zongmin claims to have more than 100,000 troops, but the number of horse teams is only more than 3,000, this is Liu Zongmin's baby bump, and now Hao Shaoqi is about to go more than half as soon as he opens his mouth, and Liu Zongmin also hesitates.

After a while, Liu Zongmin said: "Okay, I can give it to you the horse team, but you have to promise me that you must preserve their strength, but you can't fight them out, this is our last family." ”

Hao Shaoqi said with a smile: "Don't worry, my Mr. Liu, I will definitely help you take care of your family, and I won't let them lose too much, if it really loses too much, I won't have the face to see you." ”

Liu Zongmin also smiled when he heard this: "Okay, that's it, go back quickly, teach them a lesson, just let them not catch up so close, don't have to fight with them, and after Yongshun Division, they will go to Sichuan, as long as they enter the territory of Sichuan, Zhang Xianzhong's men and horses will come to meet us, and then Zhang Xianzhong will have a headache." ”

"Got it, then I'll go first." Hao Shaoqi turned around and shouted to several generals around him, then turned his horse and galloped back, behind him were two thousand cavalry and eight thousand foot soldiers

The road of pursuit became more and more troublesome with the stubborn resistance of the Chuang army, although the Great Zhou army relied on the sharp firearms to defeat the Chuang army, but the Chuang army also changed its tactics under the command of Hao Shaoqi, they no longer blocked the Great Zhou army on a large scale, but divided into small teams of men and horses to block in various dangerous areas, which made the casualties of the forward of the Great Zhou army began to increase, in just two days, as the vanguard of the cavalry casualties hundreds of people, when Wei Jiang received this result, he couldn't help but feel a little distressed.

The army lacks horses, they also lack horses, although Pang Gang, as the master of the Ming Dynasty, naturally has no shortage of silver on hand, but there is also a lack of war horses, and the price of training a cavalry is expensive, even the fifth army is only more than 3,000 people, and now it is reduced by one percent, Wei Jiang is also a little unbearable, as long as the cavalry is ordered to withdraw first, let the foot soldiers follow. But in this way, the speed of the pursuit was greatly reduced, and it took another three days to go back and forth, and in these three days, the 8,000 foot soldiers under Hao Shaoqi's command were almost lost, and the 2,000 horse team also lost hundreds, and finally covered Liu Zongmin's entry into the territory of Sichuan.

Looking at the intersection in front of him that slowly retreated into the border of Sichuan, Wei Jiang sighed lightly, the plan always couldn't catch up with the changes, after the Liukou retreated into Sichuan, his plan to completely annihilate the remnants of Liu Zongmin was in vain.

Hao Dayong hurried from the front and said for Wei Jiang: "My lord, do we still want to continue the pursuit?" ”

Wei Jiang shook his head: "No, Sichuan is now Zhang Xianzhong's territory, and the terrain in Shu has been dangerous since ancient times, if our 20,000 horses enter Sichuan rashly without sufficient preparation, we will suffer a big loss." ”

The terrain of Sichuan is dangerous, almost all the way are lofty mountains, the firearms of the Great Zhou army will be greatly limited in that kind of terrain, Wei Jiang is an old and serious person, naturally unwilling to take this risk.

Looking at the white mist between the mountains and mountains in the distance and the blocking force of the looming thieves in the mountains, Wei Jiang reluctantly led his troops back to Hunan, anyway, his task has been completed, as for the pursuit of Liu Zongmin is just a passing task, it is naturally good to be able to complete it, and it doesn't matter if it can't be completed.

Just when Weijiang regained Hunan, Pang Gang also led 40,000 troops to invade the boundaries of Jiangxi, Jiujiang is the gateway of Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi, if Jiujiang is lost, the north gate of Nanchang is suddenly open, so the Great Zhou army from top to bottom attaches great importance to the battle of capturing Jiujiang, and Cheng Kai, the commander of the Third Army in charge of attacking the fortification, is even sharpening his sword, and he musters up his strength to capture Jiujiang in one go.

Facing the pressure of tens of thousands of troops of the Great Zhou Army, Xue Zhishou, the prefect of Jiujiang, was as anxious as ants on a hot pot, although his Jiujiang City had a population of more than 33,000 households and more than 100,000 people, but there were only more than 6,000 soldiers, and most of them were temporarily recruited villagers. It was these villagers who were recruited by the wealthy squires of several provinces in the south of the Yangtze River a few years ago in order to resist the rogues, otherwise there would be fewer people.

At this moment, Xue Zhitao, who was wandering in the backyard of the prefect's yamen in Jiujiang City, was anxiously waiting for a person, but seeing that the sky had gradually darkened, there was no one to be seen.

Just when Xue Zhitao was anxious, his wife Xue Wang walked into the room with two maids with food boxes and persuaded him: "Official, you better have dinner first, Lord Chen estimates that he will not come back tonight, and it will not be too late for you to wait for Ming'er." ”

Xue Zhitao turned his head and glared: "Shut up, what do you know as a woman?" Lord Chen's trip is to bear the net worth of 100,000 people in Jiujiang, if there is a mistake, I will be the sinner of Jiujiang for the ages, you and quickly retreat! ”

After speaking, Xue Zhitao waved his sleeves and walked to the front yard.

Looking at the anxious husband, Xue Wang sighed, and had to lead the two maids to bring back the meal that had been heated.

At this time, outside the city of Jiujiang, countless dense armies have already surrounded Jiujiang City, there is a big tent in the military camp outside the north gate of Jiujiang City, this big tent is the most huge, there are more than 100 square meters, hundreds of guards outside the big tent are swords out of the sheath bow on the string of the strict guard, the strict defense is estimated that even a fly can not fly in.

Dozens of candles as thick as children's arms were lit in the big tent, and Pang Gang sat in the big tent, dozens of generals of more than 1,000 generals sat on both sides of his hands in turn, and in front of Pang Gang stood a middle-aged man about forty years old with a white face and no beard.

Looking at the man standing in front of him pretending to be calm, Pang Gang asked in a deep voice: "Who is here, report your name!" ”

"Report your name!"

With Pang Gang's voice, dozens of generals in the big tent also shouted in unison, and a murderous murderous aura suddenly emerged, surging towards the middle-aged man in front of him.

Facing the murderous generals and Pang Gang, who was sitting in the center of the big tent with an unkind face, this scholar, who usually said that he could only do anything, was so frightened that his legs trembled a little, and he said in a trembling voice: "General Pang, if the two countries do not kill each other, if you kill this official, you will be laughed at." ”

"Oh!" Pang Gang smiled playfully, "How do you know that this king is going to kill you, but this king sees that although you are a talent, your guts are really too small, and you can't even afford to get off the horse a little, it's really boring, it's just that, come on, give him a seat!" ”

After the visitor sat down, Pang Gang asked casually: "Okay, you can report your surname and intention." ”

The person who came looked at Pang Gang and asked boldly: "This official is Jiujiang Tong sentenced Chen Zhi, and he is ordered by the prefect to come to ask your lordship, our Jiangxi Yu adults have always come to the well water and do not violate the river water, I don't know why the adults want to invade my Jiangxi territory?" ”

"Huh?" Pang Gang was stunned for a moment, and then laughed.

"Hahaha"

Not only Pang Gang, but even the generals in the big tent also laughed forward and backwards, and even Cheng Kai and Bin Shiqian, who were sitting on Pang Gang's left and right, were no exception, and they all laughed breathlessly. This general judge surnamed Chen is really interesting, and the well water does not violate the river water, doesn't he know that the imperial court has listed the huge people as rebels and thieves, and the adults have also established themselves as kings, and it is normal to attack Jiangxi now, and it is really funny to have this righteous and righteous question.

Everyone laughed like this, but the original atmosphere of slaughter was swept away, but Chen Zhi's anger was aroused, originally Chen Zhi was indeed startled by the murderous atmosphere in the big tent, but after hearing everyone's laughter, Chen Zhi was not happy, a trace of shame and anger flashed in his eyes, he looked at Pang Gang and asked: "General Pang, I don't know what is ridiculous about the words of the lower officer, which makes you laugh so much." ”

Pang Gang slowly stopped laughing, held Chen Zhi, his face slowly became cold, and said slowly: "Chen Tongju, as the saying goes, the emperor will take turns to come to my house next year, and the old Zhu family has been the emperor for hundreds of years, and now it has made me full of wolves in China, and the rogue is raging, it can be seen that the Zhu family is no longer worthy of sitting on which throne, so what's the matter with changing people!" ”

"Bold!"

When Chen Zhi heard this, the hairs on his body stood up, and he struck a wit, and couldn't help but stand up and pointed at Pang Gang in shock and anger: "As a citizen of the Ming Dynasty, you are just from a small military family, how can you make such a big rebellious remark, this is a big crime of the Nine Clans, aren't you afraid of being beheaded all over the house?" ”

"Hahaha"

Pang Gang raised his head and laughed a few times before waiting for Chen Zhisenran to say: "Ming Taizu was just a cow herd back then, since he can be the emperor, why can't this king be?" Could it be that a herding cow is more noble than a soldier? ”

"You, You"

Chen Zhi was so squeezed by Pang Gang that he couldn't speak for a while, and his body trembled with anger, but he forgot the purpose of coming here.

Looking at Chen Zhi, who was standing in the original speechless, Pang Gang said impatiently: "Okay, since you have come here, you can say that if you have a fart, you can let it go, otherwise you will go back, this king wants to see if it is your city walls are hard or this king's artillery is sharp, let's compete on the battlefield!" ”

Facing the cold and ruthless Pang Gang, Chen Zhi found that he couldn't say a word of the bunch of words he had prepared at the moment. I'm afraid I haven't said that people have already spit on themselves and used their fists against others? Ten of them are not opponents, it is said that this guy was killed by him even to the blood, not to mention his weak scholar who has no power to restrain chickens.

"Well, gentlemen don't care about villains."

Chen Zhiqiang endured his anger and asked: "Then dare to ask General Pang, what is the purpose of your attack on Jiangxi this time, if it is for money and silver, although Jiujiang is not rich, you can also make up some silver taels with you, if it is for food, the prefect and the rich squires in the city can also make it up for you, as long as you withdraw from Jiangxi, everything is easy to discuss." ”

Pang Gang smiled coldly, stood up and walked slowly towards Chen Zhi, staring at him with sharp eyes and saying word by word: "Listen well, this king doesn't want anything, this king wants all your officials in Jiujiang to go out of the city to surrender to this king, and if you don't go out of the city to surrender after noon, this king will bombard Jiujiang, do you understand?" ”

"You"

Looking at Pang Gang's firm eyes, Chen Zhi understood this person's determination in an instant, he slowly bowed and bowed and walked out, he couldn't be the master of this matter, the only thing he could do was to report to the prefect in the city, and let the prefect decide

"What, he said that we should go out of the city and surrender, otherwise we will bombard Jiujiang?"

In the study in the backyard of the prefect's mansion, Xue Zhitao looked at Chen Zhi in front of him, and his face turned pale.

At this time, Chen Zhi no longer had the composure in Pang Gang's camp, his face was tired, and he said weakly: "Yes, Xiaguan heard what Pang Gang said with his own ears, and Xiaguan also saw dozens of Hongyi cannons in the camp, Xiaguan believes that if we don't go out of the city to surrender, they will definitely bombard Jiujiang." ”

"Bombarding Jiujiang, how dare they!"

Xue Zhitao suddenly only felt very thirsty, he picked up the teacup on the table and wanted to drink fragrant tea to moisten his throat, but his hands were too trembling due to too much nervousness, and he knocked over the teacup in his hand on the ground and made a crisp sound.

"Boom"

There was a crisp sound, which was very harsh in the silent night.

"Your Excellency."

Chen Zhi looked at Xue Zhitao with some concern, he didn't have the slightest intention of laughing at Xue Zhitao at this time, because his mood was the same as Xue Zhitao at this time.

Xue Zhitao was stunned for a moment before gritting his teeth and said, "Lord Chen, do you estimate that if Pang Gangming comes to attack with all his might, how long can we Jiujiang last?" ”

Chen Zhi gritted his teeth and said: "At most, two days, not even one, after all, the power of the Hongyi cannon is too great, and our soldiers are improvised patchwork, and the next official"

"Enough!"

Xue Zhitao interrupted Chen Zhi's words, as if the bones of his body had been removed, he collapsed on the chair, waved his hand helplessly and said sadly: "Okay, you don't have to say it anymore, you give an order, let's open the city gate and surrender!" ”

"What, open the door and surrender!"

Although he was already mentally prepared, Chen Zhi couldn't help but remind in a low voice: "My lord, you have to think twice, if you come to this point, you will have no way out!" ”

Xue Zhitao said bitterly: "The official naturally knows that after surrendering to Cheng, the official will become a rebel minister and thief of the Ming Dynasty, the world is so big, except for that Pang Gang, I'm afraid no one will be able to tolerate the official, but if you don't surrender to Chengming, the entire Jiujiang City will be destroyed." ”

"Adult"

Listening to Xue Zhitao's words, Chen Zhitao knelt on the ground and cried sadly.

The next day, Pang Gang led a dense army to slowly approach Jiujiang City, and Dong Guo led the gunners of the artillery battalion to push more than 120 artillery pieces to a place more than 500 steps away from Jiujiang City, and the high muzzles were also aimed at the city wall.

The time was slowly approaching noon, and Pang Gang's face slowly became grim, and just as he was about to order the artillery camp to prepare, the gate of Jiujiang City slowly opened

(To be continued)