Although the autumn harvest has just ended, no matter how heavy the government collects taxes, the people also have some grain reserves, Li Jiancheng was ordered to open the Yongfeng warehouse in the name of Li Yuan to release grain, Yongfeng warehouse or hula came to tens of thousands of people, smiling to accept the rebel relief, to the general and lieutenant Li Yuan is grateful to Dade, on the spot to ask to join the rebel army countless, for Li Yuan rebels to provide a large number of high-quality cannon fodder, Li Jiancheng took the opportunity to announce some light taxes, Policies such as bought conscription have brought another round of cheers and cheers from the people receiving assistance.

Today, in the surging crowd of people receiving relief, several officials and military spies dressed in civilian clothes and disguises were mixed in, and they took the opportunity to spy on a lot of much-needed information.

This cowardly spy is very unlucky, spreading shameless rumors happened to run into a few upright people, heard his obscene words and was furious, first quarreled with him, and then fists and feet against him, this unlucky spy did not dare to mess around in the enemy camp, so he could only pull his feet and flee, and was even more unlucky to be held by the rebel soldiers, and then under the report of those upright people, he was immediately beaten on the spot by the more angry rebel soldiers, and then he was escorted to the front of Sima Liu Wenjing, the rebel left wing army who supervised the relief, It was handed over to Liu Wenjing to deal with the fall.

What is very unusual is that after listening to the soldier's report, Liu Wenjing not only did not get angry, but on the contrary, he was shocked, and quickly ordered the unlucky spy to be shut up, escorted to a secluded place and held in solitary confinement, waiting for him to be interrogated alone when he was free. It was also a coincidence that Chai Shao and Li Xiuning, who had been reunited for a long time, happened to come here to inspect the relief situation, and saw a person with a blue nose and swollen face being pressed and kneeling in front of Liu Wenjing. Why did this people become like this? ”

"No ......, no ......, it's fine." I don't know why, Liu Wenjing, who has always been articulate, suddenly became a little distracted, and it took a long time to explain: "This person spread rumors among the crowd, saying that he received our relief food, and he will be buried alive by the officials and soldiers in the future, and was discovered by our people, suspecting that he was a fine work sent by the officials and soldiers, and brought here for me to interrogate." ”

When he said this, Liu Wenjing's expression was obviously a little abnormal, and most of the rebel soldiers next to him also had strange faces, and many soldiers quietly peeked at the heroic and delicate Li Xiuning, but Chai Shao did not find these details, and said kindly: "Liu Sima, if you are busy with the relief work, you can hand him over to me, and I will interrogate him for you to see if he is an official and a soldier." ”

"No need!" Liu Wenjing was so shocked that she stood up, hurriedly shook her head and waved her hand, and said in a loud voice: "No need, no need, I'm not busy, I'm not busy, General Chai, Li Niangzi, if you and you virtuous couple have something, please go and get busy, I have a lot of things to do here, I'm too busy, I don't have time to accompany you, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." ”

"This Liu Wenjing, why can't he speak before and after?" Chai Shao and Li Xiuning looked at each other, they couldn't understand why Liu Wenjing was so nervous, and his speech would be so contradictory, but it was inconvenient to ask more, so he took his hand in hand and said goodbye, leaving the present Chai Shao turned back by chance, but was stunned to find that the Sui soldiers around Liu Wenjing were all looking at their husband and wife, and their expressions were very strange, Chai Shao couldn't help but be suspicious, and said secretly: "The people around Liu Wenjing have problems?" ”

By the way, I will explain the fate of the unlucky meticulous work, when I was interrogated by Liu Wenjing alone, this unlucky meticulous work knew that once he confessed the truth, he would definitely lose his head - Chai Shao might even skin him with his own hands, so this unlucky spy gritted his teeth and became a revolutionary party, let the rebels torture him, but he didn't tell the truth, he insisted that he was the people of neighboring Hedong, and when he heard the news, he came to join the army, and the rumors spread were also heard among the rebels, and he boldly expressed his willingness to identify the rebel soldiers who muttered rumors. As a result, he succeeded in saving his life, and Liu Wenjing, who was afraid that the matter would make a big fuss, not only did not dare to let him identify him, but only ordered him to be expelled from the army immediately, forbidding him to stay on the battlefield in Tongguan, and issued a gag order to all insiders, prohibiting anyone from talking about this matter again - but there is no impermeable wall in the world, and this is a matter of whether the broad masses of the people like to see the wind and snow, idle anecdotes, and whether the gag order can work, that is only a matter that God knows.

At the same time as this episode was staged, the main force of the rebels was not idle, while building a large number of siege weapons such as trebuchets, ladder trucks and ramming vehicles, while continuing to dispatch shrimp and toad carts to fill in the trenches of Tongguan that were about to be filled by the rebel soldiers, but no one expected that in the case of a huge disparity in strength, Li Jing boldly sent a death squad out of the city to raid, killing many rebel soldiers who were transporting soil and filling trenches, and then retreated to the pass before the rebels counterattacked, showing the rebels the courage of the Tongguan defenders who were not afraid of strong enemies. It also sounded the alarm for the rebels, knowing that the defenders of Tongguan would not just passively defend and would take the initiative to attack when they had the opportunity, forcing the rebels to allocate huge manpower and material resources to strengthen their defenses.

The next morning, which was also the morning of the 10th day of the ninth month, the rebels who had prepared a large number of siege weapons launched the siege again, and Li Jiancheng, the governor of the rebel left wing army, personally came to the front line to direct the siege, and sent a messenger before the battle, waving a white flag to the city of Tongguan to surrender, claiming that as long as the defenders of Tongguan surrendered, no one in the city would be killed, and all would be rewarded with official positions.

"Don't talk nonsense, come if you have the ability, unless your corpses are piled higher than the walls of Tongguan, don't think about stepping into Tongguan."

This is Li Jing's calm answer, answering the rebel envoy to surrender, as well as Liu Gang's greeting Li Yuanzu's scolding, and Zhang Jixun's sharp arrow shot by pulling the bow with his own hand, one arrow pierced the chest of the rebel envoy with a white flag in his hand, and also made the rebels roar like a landslide and tsunami sound. Seeing this scene, Li Jiancheng could only shake his head and muttered a sentence of loyalty and righteousness under the command of the virtuous brother, and then waved his hand and ordered: "Let's start." ”

The war drums sounded, the cruel offensive and defensive battle equivalent to the meat grinder started again, and the well-prepared rebels used various siege weapons including trebuchets, crash cars, building cars and ladder cars, and the offensive was very fierce, but unfortunately they ran into Li Jing and Zhang Jixun, two tenacious opponents, with trebuchets against trebuchets, with yaksha and eye-piercing boulders against city cars, with rocket dovetails to entertain building cars and ladder cars, the response was very good, although the rebels had many siege weapons, but they could never form a fatal threat to the Tongguan city wall, still can only rely on the flying ladder as the main force, with the lives of countless rebel soldiers, to launch an ant-attached siege.

Arrows and stones in the sky are endless, the huge and heavy siege weapons on the ground are burning, in the smoke of the fire, the rebel soldiers are carrying all kinds of siege weapons and struggling to advance, a huge number of flying ladders continue to set up the wall, the rebel soldiers shout and step on the ladder, densely covered with the wall, the flying ladder is constantly knocked over, with the soldiers on the ladder to roll back, the soldiers on the ladder are constantly smashed down by falling stones, screaming and falling down the crowd, the hot and foul-smelling gold juice is splashed on the heads of the rebel soldiers, and the scalps of the rebel soldiers are directly burned everywhere, However, the rebel soldiers, who had absolute superiority in strength, continued to charge.

Finally there began to be rebel soldiers rushing up the city wall, but these lucky ones did not wait for the follow-up companions to follow, they had been stabbed and cut down by the wolf-like Sui army soldiers, and the city wall was torn down.

Seeing this scene, the rebel commander Li Jiancheng was inevitably a little anxious, Chai Shao was even more anxious to take the initiative to ask Ying, to personally participate in the ant-attached siege, Li Xiuning hurriedly pulled him down, but the thief on the other side He Panren suddenly spoke, and said in a more blunt word: "Zuo Dudu, Li Niangzi, should let a general participate in the ant-attached siege, there has been no progress for more than two hours, our morale has been somewhat exhausted, the general personally led the army to join the ant, which can re-boost morale." ”

Chai Shao nodded his head and took the initiative to ask for help again, but Li Jiancheng still hesitated and did not agree - there is nothing more dangerous than an ant-attached siege to the city, an arrow shot by a small soldier may kill Chai Shao, Li Jiancheng's brother-in-law. In the end, it was Qiu Shili, a famous fierce general of the Guanzhong rebels, who stood up and volunteered, and Li Jiancheng nodded in agreement, and asked Qiu Shili to lead the headquarters to attack the city and replace the previous tired army.

As the so-called no coincidence does not make a book, it is an incomparable coincidence that Qiu Shili personally led the army ants to attack the city, although it did boost the morale of the rebels, but what he wanted to die or not was that in the blink of an eye, he didn't know that the Sui army soldier had taken the **** luck, and the arrow released casually happened to hit Qiu Shili's right shoulder, and it passed directly through the shoulder, almost killing Qiu Shili, and Qiu Shili, who was injured in his muscles and bones, could not fight anymore, so he could only obediently escape under the cover of his own soldiers. As a result, Li Xiuning had something to say, and said in Chai Shao's ear: "Do you see it?" Do you think that the ant-attached siege is your past recreational hunting, and there is not much danger? As a general, personally participating in the ant attachment is not brave, it is stupid. ”

Chai Shao nodded, but He Panren over there said: "Governor, we have to send a general to go up, Brother Qiu's arrow is just a coincidence, we can't be so unlucky every time." Chai Changshi, didn't you just want to go up? How are you doing this time? ”

Chai Shao was silent, and Liu Wenjing on the other side was full of suspicion, and quietly glanced at He Panren, who was tall and tall, and Li Jiancheng, who had already received Liu Wenjing's secret report, was inevitably moved in his heart, but fortunately, Li Jiancheng was kind-hearted, and he didn't believe that there was such a thing, and he didn't care about it.

The brutal meat grinder-style battle is still continuing, although the defenders of Tongguan have not shown any flaws to give the enemy a chance to break the city, but after all, the disparity in strength is too huge, no matter how difficult the rebel attack is, there is also a chance to rotate and rest, and the Sui soldiers on the wall can get little rest time, so in the afternoon, the Sui army on the wall will gradually show fatigue, and the rebels' new force can rush to the city wall The situation has increased significantly. Sensing this situation, Li Jiancheng and the others were all overjoyed, and immediately began to arrange the night battle, preparing dry food and torches.

Hearing this cheer, Li Jiancheng immediately jumped up from the handsome chair, Liu Wenjing and Wang Changhuan and other rebel generals also got up one by one, widened their eyes and stretched their necks to observe the closing situation, looking for the source of the cheers, but the rebel generals' faces soon changed dramatically and found that these cheers were not signals for the rebel soldiers to succeed in the city, but from the team of the Sui army defending the city. Immediately afterwards, Li Jiancheng, Wang Changhuan and others were desperate to see that a large number of new Sui army banners poured into the north and south of Tongguan, marking the arrival of Sui army reinforcements, and also marking the complete failure of the rebels' dream of dragging down the Tongguan defenders with exhaustion.

The reinforcements of the handsome flag also appeared on the city of Tongguan, the front-line generals sent someone to report, saying that the handsome flag was written with a horse character, just when the rebels racked their brains to recall that there was a general surnamed Ma in the eastern capital, the fine work of the sentinel who took the mountain road to the territory of Ruxiang also rushed back, and reported to Li Jianchengyu: "The governor of the left capital, the villain, etc., have found out that it is the Eastern Capital Huyalang general Ma Sanbao who led the army to reinforce Tongguan, and the strength is about 10,000 people. ”

"Ma Sanbao? How could it be him? Li Jiancheng and Chai Shao were all speechless, they never dreamed that there would be such a coincidence, the first support army sent by the Eastern Capital turned out to be Ma Sanbao who Chai Shao expelled from the house back then?

"Governor Zuo, what's wrong? Let you be so surprised, is this Ma Sanbao very powerful? The thief He Panren asked curiously.

Hearing this question, Li Jiancheng and Chai Shao were a little embarrassed and did not answer, He Panren continued to ask reluctantly, Liu Wenjing next to him couldn't stand it, and hurriedly grabbed He Panren and whispered in his ear the general situation of Ma Sanbao. As a result, He Panren was already amazed before he heard it, and lost his voice: "This Ma Sanbao is the house slave of Li Niangzi and Chai Changshi, because he beat Chen Yingliang's third uncle, he was kicked out of the house by Chai Changshi?" Then how did he now serve as a general under Chen Gouguan, and climbed to the position of Huya Lang General? ”

Li Jiancheng and Li Xiuning were even more embarrassed, but Chai Shao was eager to tear He Panren's stinky mouth apart, and Liu Wenjing was also helpless, so he hurriedly said: "After Chai Changshi expelled Ma Sanbao from the door, Ma Sanbao was homeless, Chen Yingliang took him in with pretense of benevolence and righteousness, and took him to fight in the south and the north, and he was promoted to this position. ”

He Panren finally closed his stinky mouth, but his gaze at Chai Shao became extremely strange, but He Panren might be better to say some words directly, the more he looked at Chai Shao with such a strange gaze, the more embarrassed Chai Shao became.

At this time, the new force brought by Ma Sanbao had already joined the battlefield of the city wall, killing the rebel soldiers who had been able to gradually rush up the city wall, rolling down and falling down the city wall countless times, and at the same time throwing a large number of dovetail torches, turning the rebel ladders that were barely close to the wall into a fire ball, pulling strong bows and arrows, and jumping the rebel soldiers under the city to the ground one after another. Seeing this scene, Li Jiancheng also knew that it was hopeless to break through the pass, so he could only shake his head weakly and ordered: "Mingjin, retreat." ”

The retreating gong sounded, and the rebel soldiers fled backwards with rolling and crawling, leaving behind the remains of corpses all over the ground, as well as dozens of large siege weapons that had been turned into ashes or were still burning, and the Sui soldiers on the wall were thunderous with joy, and they shot the rebel soldiers with arrows even harder, and shot over more than a dozen of the rebel soldiers who were fleeing, until the rebels completely fled away, and the Sui soldiers on the wall gradually calmed down.

"The enemy's reinforcements have arrived, and it is almost impossible for us to break through head-on, so we can only start by chance." Shaking his head helplessly, Li Jiancheng turned to Chai Shao and Li Xiuning, and said, "Brother-in-law, third sister, you are familiar with Ma Sanbao's situation and know his personality characteristics, is there any way to lure him out of the pass for a decisive battle?" ”

Chai Shao and Li Xiuning agreed, and while they were racking their brains, Wang Changhuan pointed in the direction of Tongguan and said, "Look, what is that?" What the hell are the officers and soldiers doing? ”

Chai Shao and his wife followed the sound and saw that there was really a strange thing on the side of Tongguan, I don't know who asked the Sui soldiers to put down the three straw men, a straw man wearing a Hu man costume, and a straw man wearing a red women's dress face to face tied together, hanging and shaking with a rope, a straw man wearing ordinary men's clothes fell on the other side, and some Sui soldiers could be vaguely heard on the pass, but they were too far away to hear clearly.

Chai Shao and his wife and most of the rebel soldiers were confused about this situation, they didn't know what the Sui army was doing and what tricks they were playing, Li Jiancheng and Liu Wenjing were also very confused at first, and then Li Jiancheng was the first to wake up, and immediately shouted in a low voice, "Not good!" Something is going to happen! Then Liu Wenjing's face turned pale all of a sudden, knowing that it was difficult to deal with the aftermath.

Sure enough, some of the rebel soldiers who were carrying the wounded soldiers in front of him rushed back, and they wanted to report the situation to Li Jiancheng, and the kind-hearted Li Jiancheng hurriedly stopped, first asked the soldier to whisper to his ear, and then his face changed, and he immediately whispered a few words to the soldier, and asked him to rush back to give orders.

At this time, the straw man on the other side of the wall has been dragged back onto the city wall, and a Sui army general stood next to the arrow stack to show up, seemed to shout something, seeing this scene, Chai Shao and his wife and the rebel generals were inevitably even more confused, but fortunately, soon another soldier rushed back to report, Li Jiancheng continued to let him attach it to his ear to report, the soldier played in a low voice: "Yu Zuo Dudu, the officer and army general who shouted on the wall claimed to be Ma Sanbao, saying that he had a fight with Chai Changshi's master and servant, and would not use such a means to slander Chai Changshi." The matter of the straw man just now was not what he meant, he didn't know it in advance, he asked Chai Changshi to rest assured, he promised that what happened just now would not happen again. ”

Li Jiancheng nodded, and once again issued a ban order to the front, and then ordered to retreat, Chai Shao's wife and the rebel generals saw this series of strange things, and it was inevitable that they were all suspicious, and when they asked Li Jiancheng about the situation, Li Jiancheng was silent and did not answer, but urged them to quickly collect the troops and return to the camp to rest, and then re-study the strategy of breaking the customs.

At the same time, under the city of Tongguan, Li Jing and Ma Sanbao were of course complaining about Liu Gang's private affairs and insulting the enemy with such a subordinate method, but Liu Gang retorted eloquently, "The soldiers are not tired of cheating, and there is a distinction between upper and lower on the battlefield?" Chai Shaopif was treason and traitor, and talked to him about the upper and lower works, when he took the traitors to kill the soldiers, why didn't he care about the upper and lower works? There are good ways to make the enemy chaotic without a fight, why not? I did this to repay the kindness of the monarch and the country, worthy of the conscience of heaven and earth, even if the emperor knows it, he will definitely only praise me for doing a good job and doing it right! ”

The erudite Li Jing and the eloquent Ma Sanbao were completely unable to refute in front of Liu Gang, and Zhang Jixun, who was loyal to Emperor Yang of Sui on the other side, also echoed: "General Liu said well, right!" Don't be polite to these traitors who are traitors to the country and the king! General Liu, I support you, next time I will work with you! ”

Liu Gang laughed and shook hands with Zhang Jixun, Li Jing and Ma Sanbao shook their heads helplessly, looked at each other and smiled bitterly, and then Ma Sanbao asked: "Uncle Li, will General Liu's method just now be effective?" ”

"It definitely works, even if Chai Shao didn't hear those shouts just now, it works, there is no impermeable wall in the world." Li Jing replied with a wry smile: "This kind of thing can't be endured by a man, let alone Chai Shao's temper." ”

Thinking back to Chai Shao's temper and cautious eyes, Ma Sanbao smiled even more bitterly, looked at the direction of Chai Shao's departure helplessly, sighed and said: "Chai Gongzi, I'm really sorry, General Liu belongs to the Western Capital Daxing, and Uncle Li and I belong to the Eastern Capital Luoyang, we can't control him, all I can do is that I don't spread rumors myself." ”

As if he had a heart, in the rebel team at the same time, Chai Shao also glanced back at the Tongguan wall, doubted in his heart, and said secretly: "What does it mean that Chen Xiaothief's lackeys put down those straw men just now?" Three straw men, why are there two men and one woman? One of the straw men, why is he still wearing the clothes of the Hu people? ...... still tied up with the straw man in a woman's clothes? Wait, Hu ......, Hu people, ......? ”

"Hu Ren?!" Poor Chai Shao finally came to his senses and hurried to see someone in the army, but saw that he had a high nose and deep eyes, and his hair was curly, which was a typical Hu bloodline! Thinking of the person closest to him, forming an alliance with him to join forces against Sui, Chai Shao's heart seemed to have fallen into the abyss, and his whole body suddenly became cold.

At the same time as his whole body was cold, Chai Shao suddenly found that there were many soldiers in the army who were quietly peeking at him, and their eyes were all very strange, and many soldiers seemed to want to laugh but didn't dare to laugh. Then Chai Shao immediately remembered that with such a look, he seemed to have seen it once yesterday............ Let the soldier whisper in his ear, and then his face changed, and he immediately whispered a few words to the soldier, and told him to rush back to give the order.

At this time, the straw man on the other side of the wall has been dragged back onto the city wall, and a Sui army general stood next to the arrow stack to show up, seemed to shout something, seeing this scene, Chai Shao and his wife and the rebel generals were inevitably even more confused, but fortunately, soon another soldier rushed back to report, Li Jiancheng continued to let him attach it to his ear to report, the soldier played in a low voice: "Yu Zuo Dudu, the officer and army general who shouted on the wall claimed to be Ma Sanbao, saying that he had a fight with Chai Changshi's master and servant, and would not use such a means to slander Chai Changshi." The matter of the straw man just now was not what he meant, he didn't know it in advance, he asked Chai Changshi to rest assured, he promised that what happened just now would not happen again. ”

Li Jiancheng nodded, and once again issued a ban order to the front, and then ordered to retreat, Chai Shao's wife and the rebel generals saw this series of strange things, and it was inevitable that they were all suspicious, and when they asked Li Jiancheng about the situation, Li Jiancheng was silent and did not answer, but urged them to quickly collect the troops and return to the camp to rest, and then re-study the strategy of breaking the customs.

At the same time, under the city of Tongguan, Li Jing and Ma Sanbao were of course complaining about Liu Gang's private affairs and insulting the enemy with such a subordinate method, but Liu Gang retorted eloquently, "The soldiers are not tired of cheating, and there is a distinction between upper and lower on the battlefield?" Chai Shaopif was treason and traitor, and talked to him about the upper and lower works, when he took the traitors to kill the soldiers, why didn't he care about the upper and lower works? There are good ways to make the enemy chaotic without a fight, why not? I did this to repay the kindness of the monarch and the country, worthy of the conscience of heaven and earth, even if the emperor knows it, he will definitely only praise me for doing a good job and doing it right! ”

The erudite Li Jing and the eloquent Ma Sanbao were completely unable to refute in front of Liu Gang, and Zhang Jixun, who was loyal to Emperor Yang of Sui on the other side, also echoed: "General Liu said well, right!" Don't be polite to these traitors who are traitors to the country and the king! General Liu, I support you, next time I will work with you! ”

Liu Gang laughed and shook hands with Zhang Jixun, Li Jing and Ma Sanbao shook their heads helplessly, looked at each other and smiled bitterly, and then Ma Sanbao asked: "Uncle Li, will General Liu's method just now be effective?" ”

"It definitely works, even if Chai Shao didn't hear those shouts just now, it works, there is no impermeable wall in the world." Li Jing replied with a wry smile: "This kind of thing can't be endured by a man, let alone Chai Shao's temper." ”

Thinking back to Chai Shao's temper and cautious eyes, Ma Sanbao smiled even more bitterly, looked at the direction of Chai Shao's departure helplessly, sighed and said: "Chai Gongzi, I'm really sorry, General Liu belongs to the Western Capital Daxing, and Uncle Li and I belong to the Eastern Capital Luoyang, we can't control him, all I can do is that I don't spread rumors myself." ”

As if he had a heart, in the rebel team at the same time, Chai Shao also glanced back at the Tongguan wall, doubted in his heart, and said secretly: "What does it mean that Chen Xiaothief's lackeys put down those straw men just now?" Three straw men, why are there two men and one woman? One of the straw men, why is he still wearing the clothes of the Hu people? ...... still tied up with the straw man in a woman's clothes? Wait, Hu ......, Hu people, ......? ”

"Hu Ren?!" Poor Chai Shao finally came to his senses and hurried to see someone in the army, but saw that he had a high nose and deep eyes, and his hair was curly, which was a typical Hu bloodline! Thinking of the person closest to him, forming an alliance with him to join forces against Sui, Chai Shao's heart seemed to have fallen into the abyss, and his whole body suddenly became cold.

At the same time as his whole body was cold, Chai Shao suddenly found that there were many soldiers in the army who were quietly peeking at him, and their eyes were all very strange, and many soldiers seemed to want to laugh but didn't dare to laugh. Then Chai Shao immediately remembered that with such a look, he seemed to have seen it once yesterday............