Jiang Tao thought for a long time and said, "General Hui, this person has been here in the morning, but he has already gone to Bashu with the caravan. ”

Where was Zhang Zhong willing to believe his words, he snorted coldly, and shouted: "Search me thoroughly!" ”

With his order, a hundred heavily armed soldiers rushed into the firm and began to search the firm, at this time Zhang Zhong remembered the Yang firm, if not here, it must be in the Yang firm, and he also ordered a military marquis: "Bring a hundred brothers to me to search the Tao firm, give me a careful search!" ”

Yang's firm is located in the south of the city, and it is also a big warehouse, but the warehouse looks very dirty, this is because the main business of Yang's firm in Xiliang is coal, followed by grain, and behind the warehouse is a house covering an area of two acres, which is also the industry of Yang's firm.

At this time, in a room in the inner house, Jiang Qi was discussing with an officer who had come in advance to attack the city, and Wei Yan used a large number of people to send soldiers to Baocheng one after another, and more than 150 people had been dispatched, basically dressed as men from the three major commercial houses in Jingzhou.

Today, Jiang Qi entered the city, which was the last to lead these one hundred and fifty people as an internal response, in fact, the Xiliang army had already captured Dingjun Mountain silently, preparing to launch an attack on Baocheng, this time they could not have any defeat.

The officer who arrived early was named Jiang Min, Jiang Qi's brother, the two of them defected to Wei Yan at the same time, and they were the generals of the Yamen Gate first, because of their brave combat and suitable for assault, but the strain and strategy were insufficient, so their brother Jiang Qi came to command the internal response.

Jiang Min said: "Brother, the brothers are well arranged in the three firms, and the weapons are hidden in the Yang firm, so they can act at any time." ”

Jiang Qi nodded: "The time for action is tonight at the two watches, we must concentrate on the first watch, and seize the east city gate at the second watch." This action is very important, and it is also a great opportunity for us to make contributions, we can only succeed, not fail! ”

"Brother, don't worry!"

Suddenly, the steward of the Yang Clan Commercial Bank hurriedly ran in and said urgently, "There are more than a hundred soldiers outside. To search the trading house, it seems that they want to catch the leader of the Yongliang Green Forest, so the two generals hurry up to the cellar to hide! ”

Jiang Qi frowned, did the defenders of Baocheng get any news? He immediately said to the steward: "No need to hide, you can get me a set of man's clothes!" ”

Jiang Qi pulled off his long beard, washed off his burnt face and thick eyebrows, and changed into a coolie's short coat, which was very different from the appearance when he entered the city, but he was worried about weapons. Then he asked the steward, "My brother said that the weapon was hidden in the trading house, and it was hidden?" ”

"General Jiang rest assured, the weapons are hidden in the mud hole under the pond in the backyard, even if you dive, it is difficult to find it, and it is foolproof."

Jiang Qi was relieved, and hurriedly came to the front yard, mixed in the crowd of more than fifty guys, judging from the appearance. He was exactly like these guys, and he couldn't see anything unusual at all.

By this time a hundred soldiers had already stormed the trading house. They were not interested in the shabby-dressed men, and they ran separately into the tent and the inner room, rummaging through the boxes and cabinets to search for the suspects, and the soldiers knew very well how they could let go of such an opportunity to make a fortune

The search of Jiang's firm was over, and the search results were nothing. Not long after, the military marquis who went to search the Li family firm also came back to report, "No suspect was found!" ”

At this time, Zhang Zhong had received news from the guards of the West Gate that the people of the Jiang Merchant House had indeed driven the cattle out of the city gate in the morning and went to Ba County. The soldiers defending the city did not pay attention to the people who went out of the city.

Zhang Zhong secretly wondered in his heart, 'Is it really that he is suspicious?' ’

He couldn't find evidence or clues, and he didn't want to offend a few big trading houses too much, so he ordered: "Order the east and west gates to strengthen their defenses, especially at night, and not to be careless!" ”

The night is getting deeper, the thick dark clouds obscure the moonlight and the stars, the city is dark, but also very quiet, as the oil lamp of the last house is blown out, the whole county falls into a deep sleep, only occasionally there are wild cats and wild dogs passing through the streets, the whole city only two torches are lit in front of the barracks, like the two eyes of the county seat.

In the charcoal warehouse of the Yang Firm, one hundred and fifty elite soldiers lined up neatly, they all changed into the armor of the Xiliang Army, only black feathers were inserted in the helmets as a difference, they held spears, war knives and bows and crossbows, and quietly listened to the arrangement of the leader Jiang Qi.

"The defenders of Dongcheng have about two hundred people, and if we are surprised, a hundred people can deal with it, but the key is that the barracks are only three hundred steps away from the Dongcheng Gate, and the rescue will be very fast, so we must block the rescue of the barracks."

Jiang Qi said to Jiang Min again: "Gongxiao can lead fifty crossbowmen to block the rescue of the soldiers in the barracks, and try to delay the time!" ”

Jiang Min hurriedly clasped his fists and saluted: "The last general will obey the order!" ”

After speaking, he waved to the fifty crossbowmen on his left: "Follow me!" ”

Jiang Qi saw that the hour was almost two watches, he turned over his horse and said to the hundred soldiers: "Let's go!" ”

Two groups of people dispersed in the Yang Firm, pouring out of the east and west streets respectively.

There are generally only 100 soldiers on duty in Xicheng at night, but today Zhang Zhong ordered to strengthen the defense, so two hundred soldiers were added, the city was tightly defended, and the defense under the city was still the Ma Tun chief during the day, he was reprimanded by Zhang Zhong, he didn't dare to be lazy anymore, and the spirit of beating patrolled back and forth in front of the city gate, at this time, there were soldiers around him shouting; "Commander, there is a team of sergeants in front, will it be here to change the guard?"

Ma Tun Chang felt a little strange in his heart, he didn't hear that there would be a change of guard tonight, could it be that General Zhang Mi wanted to increase his defense? He felt that the latter was more likely, two hundred people were not enough, and another team of soldiers was added to ensure that nothing went wrong. ”

"Exactly!" Jiang Qi replied casually.

When approaching Ma Tun Chang, Jiang Qi moved the spear in his hand a little forward, the head of the gun was as fast as lightning, as fast as thunder, and ran to Ma Tun Chang's throat, Ma Tun Chang just found that something was not right, he didn't even know the other party, but before he could react, "poof" hit Ma Tun Chang's throat, and a shot was killed on the ground, and he was killed on the spot.

Jiang Qi made a spear move and roared, "Kill!" ”

A hundred soldiers swarmed up like wolves and slaughtered the defenders, and there was a great chaos under the city gates, and the defenders hurriedly met the battle.

One side is the elite of Xiliang who has been fighting on the battlefield for a long time, and the other side is the bear soldiers of Hanzhong who drink and blackmail, and the two sides are in contact. The Xiliang army slaughtered the Hanzhong army and retreated, the defender tun chief died, and the hundreds of soldiers under the city were leaderless, and soon they had no intention of fighting and fled in all directions.

At this time, the sound of fighting on the head of the city was 'Dang! While! 'Knock. Resounding throughout the city, the defenders of the city shouted: "The enemy has entered the city!" ”

Jiang Qi grabbed a shield and held a gun in one hand, "Follow me!" He shouted, clamped his horse between his legs, and led more than 30 people to rush to the road, and dozens of defenders above his head fired arrows together, and the arrows rained down, and the soldiers of Zhang Lujun were caught off guard. They were hit by arrows one after another, screaming and rolling down the city.

Jiang Qi was furious, jumped up to the city, threw away his shield, brandished his spear and killed the defenders at the head of the city, assassinating five people in a row, the defenders retreated again and again, and the soldiers of the Xiliang Army behind seized this momentary opportunity to ease the arrows. They rushed to the head of the city and closed the gates of the urn city tightly.

The sound of fighting on the head of the city woke Zhang Zhong up. He jumped up from the bed and hurriedly put on his armor, he knew that his guess during the day was actually very correct, but in the end he was careless, thinking that the city would be lost, Zhang Zhong was in a hurry. shouted repeatedly: "No need to assemble, go to support the East City Gate immediately!" ”

Hundreds of Hanzhong soldiers rushed to the camp gate before they had time to form a group, but as soon as they arrived at the camp gate, they were greeted by a dense array of arrows like a torrential storm, and dozens of soldiers fell to the ground screaming one after another. The Hanzhong army was unprepared, and they were so frightened that they retreated to the camp one after another.

In the dark, in a forest dozens of steps opposite the barracks, Jiang Min led fifty crossbowmen, and after the first round of arrows were fired, he quickly opened his bow and pulled the crossbow, aiming at the door of the barracks.

He looked back at the head of the east city, there was still no agreed fire on the head of the city, Jiang Min couldn't help but be anxious in his heart, why hasn't the eldest brother taken the city yet, isn't it smooth?

At this moment, the soldiers next to him shouted: "General, kill again!" ”

In the night, I saw a large group of black shadows rushing out of the camp gate, among which there were war horses behind to supervise the battle, this was the enemy army prepared, Jiang Min shouted, "Damn, shoot for Lao Tzu, even if you die, you have to buy time for General Jiang Qi, let the grandsons of the Bingzhou army take a good look, our Xiliang army is no worse than them"

Since Lu Bu entered the four counties, the Bingzhou army has regarded itself as a descendant, and sneered at the Xiliang army that they had served, so every Xiliang general was very bitter in their hearts, and they actually wanted to prove that their Xiliang people were also known for their toughness.

As soon as Jiang Min's words fell, fifty arrows whistled and shot at the enemy group again, this time in front of the sword and shield army opened the way, holding the shield high, the dense arrows crackled and shot on the shield, only a few soldiers fell to the ground with arrows, the bow and crossbow had lost their deterrent, and a large group of enemy soldiers surged up.

Jiang Min held a sledgehammer in his hand and roared, "Brothers, kill me with me!" ”

Fifty soldiers threw away their bows and crossbows, drew their ring-headed knives at their waists, and followed Jiang Qi to kill the enemy group without obscenity

The battle for the opening hub at the head of the city has reached a fever pitch, there are two hundred Hanzhong soldiers guarding the east city, facing the fierce impact of the enemy general and more than 60 Xiliang elites, they resist desperately, and hold the city gate winch, they are also anxious, why the reinforcements from the military camp have not come, they are about to be unable to withstand it.

At this time, the shouting of killing outside the city shook the sky, Wei Yan led five thousand Xiliang troops to kill more than a hundred steps away, Jiang Qi was so anxious that his eyes were almost red, once the two thousand reinforcements from the enemy's military camp were killed and the city wall was controlled, there was no hope for the Xiliang army to capture Baocheng, Baocheng could not be taken, and the eastern army was tripped by the Hanzhong army in the valley, which would damage the entire battle situation.

At this time, Jiang Qi finally found out that the general who commanded the desperate resistance of the Hanzhong army should also be a tooth general, so he stood in front of the winch of the city gate and shouted loudly to command, Jiang Qi took off his bow, pulled out an arrow from the back quiver, and violently opened his bow and set up an arrow, and shot an arrow at the enemy tooth general from the gap in the crowd.

This arrow hit the neck of the enemy general, the tooth general screamed, and fell on his back, and the Hanzhong army was suddenly in chaos, and at the same time, the Hanzhong army had rushed out of the barracks and killed at the east gate under the leadership of Zhang Zhong.

Jiang Qi saw that the situation was extremely critical, he shouted, urged the horse to rush forward, brandished the gun and beat indiscriminately, the Xiliang army was full of anger, killed the enemy more than a dozen steps back, and finally grabbed the city gate winch.

"Open the gates!"

Jiang Qi roared, and the five soldiers pushed the winch together, and the heavy city gate finally creaked open, and the thousands of Xiliang troops waiting outside the city swarmed up and entered Baocheng.

Zhang Zhong is only twenty steps away from the city gate, in this last short twenty steps, the Hanzhong defenders fell short, and Baocheng missed, will change the whole overall situation, looking at the countless Xiliang army soldiers surging into the county, Zhang Zhong knew that the general trend had gone, he was heartbroken, so he had to look up to the sky and sigh, "Let me go to the main bus generation!" ”

He turned his horse and ran towards the west gate, only leading hundreds of people to flee from Baocheng in a hurry, and fled in the direction of Wuxiang County, Baocheng finally fell, and Lu Bu finally opened up a second front. (To be continued......)