The waning moon hangs high, the night, silent, there are less than two hours before Gao Jie launches a surprise attack on Yangzhou City, all the artillery and heavy firearms have taken the lead in marching towards Yangzhou City, weighing about 3,000 catties and improving the ten invincible generals, all concentrated in Yangzhou City, where the defense is the weakest in the west gate, two miles away, and another thirty Huzun cannons are lined up along a slightly raised soil slope not far in front of the general's cannon.

Because Gao Jie was an important military general stationed in the Huai River defense line for a long time, his troops focused on defense and were only equipped with a small number of cavalry, so the cavalry was not arranged by Gao Jie to capture the city, and the war horses were all used as a traction source for artillery without exception.

The second siege echelon of 5,000 people also walked out of the Jigong Mountain camp one after another, and the soldiers marched in two directions in unison, heading towards the west gate of Yangzhou, which was mainly a short weapon used for melee combat in the city.

A thousand of Gao Jie's favorite firearms soldiers with a water of 'Hundred Tigers Running Together' (commonly known as Divine Arrows) are all lying on the side of the artillery position, as long as the artillery collapses the city gate or city wall, they will rush up, with these thousand artifacts alone, they can completely shroud the western section of the city wall in a moment under the dense gunpowder arrows, and completely suppress the defenders, so that the second echelon can smoothly rush into the collapse.

Another hundred selected climbers also arrived at the front line, their purpose was to try not to let the artillery fire, secretly climbed up to Yangzhou City with ropes, grabbed the battle of the city, and let the whole army enter the city, but the success rate of this siege method in history was too low, and Gao Jie did not have much hope for this.

Everything has been prepared properly, just wait for the night to fall, the defenders of the city when they are asleep before attacking, Gao Jie in order to distinguish the two Ming armies inside and outside the city, ordered all the siege troops to have one sleeve exposed, tonight, after the city is broken, for the Yangzhou defenders who refuse to surrender, Gao Jie has only one order, kill!

At this time, in the Gaojie camp of Jigong Mountain, there were less than 3,000 soldiers left, the heat during the day gradually faded, and the night was slightly cool, except for the soldiers who came out to patrol one after another, most of the rest of the people were scattered in hundreds of tents large and small in the camp to avoid the infestation of mosquitoes in the mountains.

In the center of the camp, a large tent many times larger than other tents is eye-catching, the lights are bright, but it is unusually quiet, this is Gao Jie's Chinese army tent, but it is also just as Xu Dingguo said, here he never enters, an empty tent, but where there is a person who does not know the details of the camp at night, the other party can attack the front of the Chinese army tent without much effort, but it is easy to get in and difficult to get out, around the tent and underground are full of gunpowder, nitrate and sulfur, which can burn the sneak attack into a pile of black charcoal in an instant.

Gao Jie, on the other hand, was calm and silent, and spent the night at the very edge of the camp, in the most vulnerable place, no different from the tent of the soldiers, and he always thought that the most dangerous place was the safest.

Judging from such a siege layout, if it is an unsuspecting Yangzhou City, it is likely that it will not be able to hold out overnight and will be broken.

The main reason why Wang Lanping did not attack Gao Jiejun first like he did with the Huai'an army was that he did not know much about the inside of Gao Jie's army, and Liu Zeqing's army was gathering at the beginning, and the troops were not concentrated, and at this time, Gao Jie's army was completely screwed together, and it was still camped in the mountains, Wang Lanping's 3,000 cavalry was difficult to deploy, and all signs showed that if you wanted to attack Gao Jie, it was undoubtedly self-defeating.

Knowing from Xu Dingguo that Gao Jiebu has such a strong offensive power, Wang Lanping was also surprised, if his hands really arrived at the moment of the bloody battle under the city, how many Ming soldiers would have died in vain in this infighting in the same room.

The secret lurking of Gao Jie's army outside the city has long been discovered by Wang Lanping, at this time he is mobilizing all the forces defending the city with Shi Kefa overnight, Yangzhou can not be thrown into the hands of Gao Jie, with the Manchu army going south, he is likely to learn Wu Sangui, surrender, Yangzhou is lost, Nanjing is directly exposed to the iron hooves of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the current Nanjing troops are seriously insufficient, the miasma of black smoke and miasma, and the generals who defend everywhere outside are scattered, each of them only cares about expanding their own strength, and it is impossible to resist the footsteps of 300,000 Manchurians.

Although Shi Kefa did not approve of the killing of Gao Jie, a senior commander of the Ming army, he was afraid that this would cause other Ming army generals to feel cold and the hearts of the people were in turmoil, but as the highest military commander of Yangzhou, he had the responsibility to protect Yangzhou.

The Yangzhou defenders are in place, but Wang Lanping is very disappreciative of this, Shi Kefa's Yangzhou defenders are all temporarily transferred from Nanjing, many people have never fought a battle since the day they became soldiers, or they have been charged with crimes, and the combat effectiveness can be imagined, on the other hand, Gao Jiejun, most of the soldiers in his army are old men who rebelled with Li Zicheng, and have experienced more than ten years of war tests, and since they surrendered to the Ming army, they have had many confrontations with Li Zicheng, each with victory and defeat, after Gao Jie was named the general soldier of Fengyang in Huaihe, It was prepared as a border army, well-equipped, not comparable to the defenders of the inland city like Yangzhou, no matter from which point of view, Yangzhou's fate hung by a thread.

In the Yangzhou Governor's Mansion, the lights were bright, all the generals were sent to the city wall, and there were only Wang Lanping and Shi Kefa in the hall, quiet and silent, and the air was condensed.

As the horses returned one by one, one would say where Gao Jiejun had added troops, and the other would show signs of Gao Jiejun's activities outside the city gate, Wang Lanping was also nervous for a while, and Shi Kefa was sweating profusely and fidgeting.

In response to this kind of defending power, Wang Lanping did not intervene, the difference in strength between the two sides is too great, rather than pinning his hopes on the high and deep pools of the city, it is better to think of other methods, it is best to avoid direct war.

For this reason, Wang Lanping on the one hand asked Xu Dingguo to take 500 people to smash Gao Jie's camp and capture the thief and capture the king, on the other hand, he divided Song Xian's 3,000 cavalry into ten teams and detoured to both sides of Gao Jie's army, which was also a helpless move.

Before the war, Wang Lanping's biggest hope was the sneak attack of Xu Dingguo, a veteran who was bent on revenge, as long as he took Gao Jie before the war, the big thing would be decided.

Xu Dingguo led five hundred people, people picked up the bell with horses, quietly touched all the way, a few times they almost encountered the troops of Gao Jie's army who came to ambush in advance, Xu Dingguo, who was hiding in the shadows, saw these soldiers marching in with their arms open, he could finally be sure that Gao Jie's rebellion was an indisputable fact, and if he didn't do it, Yangzhou City would fall into the hands of such chaotic ministers and thieves.

Xu Dingguo accelerated the speed of the march, and finally rushed to the vicinity of Jigong Mountain Dazhai, with the help of the fire and lanterns in the camp, Xu Dingguo carefully observed for a while, and couldn't help but laugh secretly, it is really a thousand-year-old king 80,000-year-old turtle, Gao Jie, this kid just doesn't grow in, so many years, the marching array has never known how to be flexible, set up a village by the mountain, three in and three out of the camp, the combination of virtual and real, if it is someone else to rob the village, it may suffer a big loss, but Xu Dingguo knows this well, compared to the camp wooden fence, he quickly caught a clear and dark post at a specific distance, set out the password in the camp tonight, and came to the gate without any effort.

Xu Dingguo asked all the soldiers who came with him to show their arms, but compared to the high-ranking people, the exposed position was less, and asked all the soldiers to take some dirt and smear it on their faces so as not to be recognized.

Xu Dingguo was surrounded by these hundreds of people, and swaggered towards Yuanmen, as if he was a soldier returning to the camp.

"Stop, what's going on?" More than a dozen soldiers guarding the gate stopped them.

"What are you bluffing, you don't recognize my clothes" Xu Dingguo's people pretended to be casual and pushed away the people in front of them.

The man looked sideways at the long line and couldn't help but smile, "Yes, of course I know, but I haven't heard that there are brothers returning to the camp at this time, which one is your head?" ”

"You can manage it, we have been turning around for a long time, we haven't found the way, we are lost, we sent us back to ask the general, do you want to send a guide, this black light is blind, look, make me mud"

The person on the other side laughed when he heard this, "Look at your bag, yes, it's not difficult for you, password"

"Sparrow!"

Everyone rushed in, and as soon as they entered the barracks, Xu Dingguo went straight to the tents that were most likely Gao Jie.

From time to time, patrols walked by along the way, and after the password, they passed safely.

After a short walk, bypassing a heavy camp organ, Xu Dingguo came to these tents not far away, and after dozens of steps, he could see at a glance that there were eight strongest warriors in the army standing guard in the tent It was none other than Gao Jie's military tent, the candles in the tent flickered, and Gao Jie's figure appeared on the tent from time to time.

Gao Jie was unaware of the danger coming, and five heralds gathered in the narrow tent.

Gao Jie was drinking wine and laughing with two army staff officers, everything was arranged seamlessly, just waiting for dawn, he could enter Yangzhou generously, and grab a lot of money to rob women.

Suddenly, a shout from outside the tent began, "Stop, who's coming, password!" ”

Xu Dingguo squeezed out of the crowd, pulled out his waist knife, and shouted, "Send you to the western sky, brothers, capture Gao Jie alive"

Five hundred people rushed up, and in the blink of an eye, they cut down eight guards to the ground, Gao Jie didn't know what was going on, just poked his head out of the tent, and didn't allow Dingguo to kick it back again and again, and was covered by the collapsed cloth tent.

"Gao Jie, I Xu Dingguo followed you to birth and death, you didn't even think of a trace of comradeship, forced to kill my father and mother, today my family and the country are looking for you together, come, take it"

Two staff officers died on the spot, and at this time, battalion soldiers from all sides of the camp gathered in this direction, and the camp was in chaos, and Xu Dingguo's 500 people fell into a heavy siege in a blink of an eye.

Gao Jie was beaten with a blue nose and swollen face, tied up strongly, and was pushed in front of both sides by Xu Dingguo, Xu Dingguo stabbed Gao Jie's thigh with a knife in his hand, and shouted, "Those who dare to step forward will take Gao Jie's life, I am Xu Dingguo, I don't want to kill each other with my brothers, now Gao Jie is plotting to seize Yangzhou, the deeds are lost, Shi Inspector is waiting for him, Wang Admiral's 30,000 champion army and Huai'an army are coming day and night, you have no chance of winning, Shi Inspector has an order, this rebellion is selfish for Gao Jie, only the head of the evil, and the cooperation will never be investigated, Lay down your arms"

Thousands of Gao Jie's troops were in a dilemma, looking forward to each other, most of them were lower-level soldiers, and almost all of Gao Jie's loyal generals were sent outside Yangzhou.

Gao Jie fell to the ground, screaming in pain, gnawing a mouthful of soil in his mouth, he scolded, "Xu Dingguo, why didn't Lao Tzu see it earlier, you will betray the Lord for glory, you dare to kill me?" Lao Tzu outside Yangzhou City has already laid out heavy troops, and he can take it within an hour, and when the time comes, neither you nor your master will survive."

Xu Dingguo stepped on his back, "You can't live for your own evil, order your troops, lay down your weapons, for the sake of the old feelings, I ask Shi Inspector for a favor for you, and leave you a whole corpse" In the great dynasties, the end of the rebel loser was not only death, but also had to exterminate the nine clans, and suffer the punishment of 3,600 knives.

Gao Jie is also a man, and shouted, "Fart, Lao Tzu has died a hundred times, never begging for mercy, I regret it, I didn't kill your whole family, brothers, go on, kill Xu Dingguo, Yangzhou City is yours, there are gold and silver treasures, some are beauties, break Yangzhou City to avenge Lao Tzu"

But in terms of life and wealth, most people often choose to die better than to live, once Gao Jie is dead, the whole army has no owner, and immediately scattered, that is a decisive battle against Yangzhou City.

'Dangdang! One by one, the weapons fell to the ground, and Gao Jie's men fell to their knees.

Xu Dingguo smiled with relief, "Order all the armies, withdraw all the siege troops, return to the camp with the whole army, wait for the imperial edict, come, escort Gao Jie back to Yangzhou"