The distance between Guwonju and Jingning City is not far, it can be reached in one day by fast horse, and it is only three days away on foot.

Xu Liang was concerned about the safety of Jingning City, and he couldn't wait for 10,000 officers and soldiers to fly to Jingning City immediately to help Luo Rucai defend the city. Fortunately, the general who commanded the army, He Huchen, the general of Yansui, was worthy of being a famous general in the northwest, understood Xu Liang's situation, agreed to Xu Liang's suggestion, bypassed Longde, which was between Guyuan Prefecture and Jingning Prefecture, and the army went straight to Jingning Prefecture, treating the thieves occupying Longde as nothing, making the thief generals defending the city have a false alarm.

The three-day journey took only two and a half days to complete. Halfway through, he encountered the vanguard battalion and cavalry battalion of the Liang army that had retreated from Jingning City. The officers and men of the two battalions did not look like they had lost the battle, their clothes and armor were generally neat, and the military flags were still bright.

Listening to the news reported by Luo Rucai and Wan Wenshan in front of Xu Liang and He Zongbing, He Zongbing was shocked, and Xu Liang couldn't cry or laugh.

Jingning City is lost! It's just that the process of losing is more peculiar. When more than 30,000 thieves were about to attack Jingning City, Luo Rucai, the pioneer officer who was still defending Jingning City, and Wan Wenshan, the owner of the cavalry battalion who stayed in the city to rest, thought that with more than 3,000 people in the city alone, they would not be able to resist the attack of 30,000 thieves at all, although the walls of Jingning City were built very high.

Luo Rucai didn't want to make this senseless sacrifice, and said that Wanwen Mountain was moved, and the two of them led their soldiers to open the city gate and ran away at the moment before the 30,000 thieves arrived at the city!

Jingning City was recovered by the Liang army, and in less than a month, it was lost again.

General He was so angry that his beard trembled for a while, and he pointed at the vanguard officer Luo Rucai and said angrily: "The soldiers who defend the city have rules for guarding the land, and you actually abandon the city and flee!" "If it weren't for the fact that Luo Rucai and Wan Wenshan were the generals in the Liang army, General He would have to take down the two of them and ask them for the guilt.

However, it is precisely because Luo Ru is the general in the Liang army. Luo Rucai was not afraid of this Yansui general soldier, and said seriously when he heard this: "Lord General Soldier." This is not called abandoning the city and fleeing, this is called strategic retreat! ”

Mr. He's face was even more angry. He shouted in a deep voice: "Cunning! ”

Luo Rucai smiled and was about to respond for two sentences, when he suddenly saw Xu Liang's face sank, he stopped, looked at Xu Liang, and his face was scornful.

Xu Liang couldn't believe it, and asked, "Did you two really run out of Jingning City without doing anything?" ”

Luo Rucai said with a bitter face: "My lord, the last general has inquired, there are more than 30,000 thieves dispatched this time, and more than half of them are the officials and soldiers in the original Guyuan City. There are only 6,000 cavalry in the city plus the cavalry of General Wan, an average of five to one, and the last general is not sure of winning, rather than all die in the city, it is better to simply let it out. When the adults arrive with reinforcements, we'll fight back. ”

"As long as you hold on for two days, General He and the reinforcements of this official will arrive!" Xu Liang regretted the authenticity.

"My lord, the Jingning city wall is very high and big, and the three thousand Liang army can't hold it at all. Moreover, the adults will not tell the soldiers of the cavalry battalion to abandon their horses. Climb the castle tower and fight, right? That would be damned. ”

He Zongbing said: "Even if the Liang army in the city is only 3,000 people, there are tens of thousands of people in the city, as long as they are mobilized, they will not be able to wait for us." ”

Luo Rucai sneered: "People? We've only been recovering Jingning for a month. When defending the city, it's good that the people won't stab them in the back! ”

He Huchen was silent, and Xu Liang said regretfully: "No matter what, you two shouldn't run out empty-handed......"

Looking at Xu Liang's regretful eyes, only He Zongbing didn't understand. Luo Rucai and Wan Wenshan both understood, Xu Liang did not blame them for abandoning the city and leaving. Instead, blame them for not doing some work and grabbing something out before they fled.

Wanwen Mountain is ashamed. Luo Rucai smiled and said, "My lord." In fact, we didn't come out empty-handed, and before leaving Jingning City, the last general ordered the destruction of all weapons, arrows, and artillery that could not be carried in the city. Hehe, we don't need it, and we can't leave it for others to use! ”

“……”

No matter how ridiculous Luo Rucai and Wan Wenshan are, they must be generals under Xu Liang, although the Liang army belongs to the Ming court, but the Liang army is self-sufficient, and the promotion, appointment and dismissal of generals in the army are all decided by Xu Liang. At this point, even Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty could not change this fact, let alone the General Army of Yansui?

Seeing that Xu Liang didn't seem to be very angry, General Soldier He didn't say anything more, and the vanguard battalion and the cavalry battalion converged into the marching procession.

Now that Jingning City has fallen, there is no need to march in a hurry. General He's soldiers do have their own uniqueness in marching and fighting. More than 16,000 officers and soldiers camped a few miles away from Jingning City, and the next day, the morale of the whole army was high, and General He commanded the army to launch an attack on Jingning City, where the four gates were closed.

The trumpets are loud, and the drums are loud. The siege battle under Jingning City was in full swing.

As mentioned earlier, the walls of Jingning City are too tall. Although He commanded the troops well and even beat the drums himself to boost morale, the offensive of the officers and troops still did not make the slightest progress, and the number of casualties continued to increase.

In just one morning, the total number of soldiers killed in the army reached more than 2,000. And most of the dead were Liang soldiers, this business is unbelievable!

Xu Liang sat in the carriage, looking at the straight figure on the city tower from a distance, Xu Liang knew that this person was Zhao Yongyong. Xu Liang watched leisurely, and when he saw that General He's soldiers were about to attack again, Xu Liang finally couldn't help but stop: "General He, our army has never carried artillery, it seems that if we charge like this, how many people will die?" He pointed to the tower in the distance and said, "You see that in the morning our army suffered two or three thousand casualties, and the thief defenders on the tower of the city have been reduced?" ”

He Zongbing was stunned, looked at the city tower in the distance, shook his head helplessly, and asked, "What is Lord Xu's good plan?" ”

Xu Liang said: "This Jingning city is too insidious to build, the flood can't be flooded, the fierce fire can't burn, the city wall is still so high, the thieves are still cowering in the city and don't come out of the city, except for shelling with artillery, the official can't think of any other good way." But even if there is no way, it is better than having soldiers walk barefoot to dig such a high wall. ”

He Zongbing thought for a while, nodded, and said hatefully: "No matter how high Jingning City is, after all, it is just a city, as long as there are people in the city, you must eat food!" The general will surround the entire city, and even if he can't defeat it, he will starve them to death! ”

Xu Liang nodded slowly, and suddenly asked Luo Rucai, the vanguard officer of the Liang Army on the side, "When you went out of the city, you burned the armory, did you burn the grain store?" ”

Luo Ruzhu scratched his head and said ashamedly: "No ......"

Xu Liang sighed: "I can't even burn something." Next time, remember that when you shoot people, you shoot horses first, and you burn food before you burn houses! ”

“……”

Mr. He coughed again and again, and Luo Rucai glared at him and complimented: "An adult is worthy of being an adult, and his speech is really subtle!" ”

Immediately, General He ordered the whole army to stop the attack, surrounded the four city gates, and ordered the cavalry battalion to wander around to prevent the thieves in the city from leaving the city to meet the enemy.

The thieves on the tower of the city were a little flustered at first when they saw that the city gates were surrounded, and then gradually calmed down, and looked coldly at the court army outside the city.

Xu Liang and He Huchen both thought that the army of thieves would inevitably send troops out of the city to meet them, or at least curse on the city tower for a while, and withdraw urine from the city tower and pour urine below...... However, the thieves in the city were very strange, the officials and soldiers did not attack, and the thieves ignored them, and they were separated by a stone's throw from afar, staring at each other with big eyes.

Three days have passed, and the shape shì is still the same. The army of the court is approaching the city, and the thieves in the city don't seem to see it, so what should they do.

It seems that they don't worry about this at all.

General He was puzzled, walked around in front of the main formation of the Chinese army with his hands behind his back, and muttered to himself: "Why don't they go out of the city?" ”

Xu Liang asked, "What now?" ”

He Zongbing paused for a moment and spit out a word: "Wait." ”

Xu Liang was stunned, more than 30,000 thieves cowered behind the high Jingning city wall, and they didn't leave the city when they died, and the court army surrounded Jingning Prefecture, and the combat policy given by the generals who led the troops was actually an equal word.

General He's Yansui army can wait, they have a military department to pay, but Xu Liang's Liang army can't afford to wait, waiting one more day means that Xu Liang has to bear the burden of consuming one more day of people eating horses! If Li Xinbei is among the thieves, Zhao Yongyong has made up his mind to be a turtle with a shrunken head, and he has always been guarding the city wall, and he will not leave the city if he is killed.

That Liang Jun of Xu Liang, didn't he eat himself poor?

Xu Liang thought about it, but there was no good way, and he couldn't help but be even more bored.

Xu Liang calculated carefully to reduce the wear and tear of the Liang army as much as possible, and he thought that the Ming army would wait outside the city for many days. However, only three days later, General He and Xu Tongzhi, who were on the expedition, received an urgent report from the Trilateral Governor's Palace.

Xu Liang looked at General He in surprise and said, "Is this the result of waiting?" (To be continued......)