In order to protect Xingluocang, the Sui Dynasty had built a city wall with a circumference of more than 20 miles, which was for Xingluo City. Later, Li Mi broke through Xingluocang, did not want to forge ahead, and only wanted to rely on the massive grain storage here to establish a king, so he expanded Xingluo City, making it more than 40 miles in circumference.

However, later Xingluo City was destroyed in the war, Xingluocang was also abandoned, in the twenty-first year of Kaiyuan, Li Longji ordered the rebuilding of Xingluocang, transshipment of Jianghuai grain, supply Luoyang, Chang'an and the northern border, so although not yet fully restored to the old scale, but also accumulated a lot of grain.

Previously, Ye Chang was still very sure of the situation in the Central Plains, and a key was the existence of Luokoucang. He sent people to check the grain stored in Luokoucang, which was seven million stones.

Yuan Ying looked at the walls of Luokou City and let out a creepy laugh.

"This, why is Fifth Brother Yuan laughing?" A thief next to him asked.

Yuan Ying looked back, after the fiasco outside Luoyang City, the flying and domineering on his face had long since disappeared, and it was replaced by a kind of yin owl and coldness.

After the defeat, he was able to maintain a team of tens of thousands, which was considered to be a bit of skill, and after meeting with the rebels in Henan Province, his momentum was revived, and there were fifty or sixty thousand people.

"Do you see it, what is that, Luokoucang, when the Wagang army broke Luokoucang, ruined the foundation of the Great Sui, this time we broke Luokoucang, and we will also break the Tang Sheji" Yuan Ying responded with a cruel smile: "After the warehouse is broken, the warehouse is opened and the grain is released, and the people of Henan and Hebei will inevitably flock to it, and we will choose young and strong people to join the army, and major events can still be expected."

Everyone looked at each other, and it was a good idea to fight Luokoucang, but after the fiasco outside Luoyang, everyone didn't have such a high spirit, and they just thought that they could survive the most difficult time in front of them, and support the main force of the righteous army in the south to go north. Even if Yuan Ying led everyone to the east, they only thought that it was to join the Henan Daoyi Army in Xingyang, but they never thought that Yuan Ying would actually fight this idea

"But...... Can we beat it? Someone asked in a trembling voice.

After failing to attack Luoyang City, but instead routing on the whole line, the thieves were a little bold, and they really didn't have much confidence when they saw the tall Luokou Cangcheng.

"The attack is broken, there are only more than 1,000 defenders in Luokoucang, and they are all errand soldiers, not Ye Chang's elite soldiers." Yuan Ying couldn't help but shudder when she thought of the elite soldiers who suddenly came out, and then continued: "In the past, Li Mi of the Wagang Army used 7,000 people to capture the heavily guarded Xingluocang, and now we have 50,000 or 60,000 coalition troops, and breaking this city is like digging for something."

"What if Ye Chang leaves Luoyang and comes here?" Someone else asked.

"Didn't I say that Ye Chang only has a few thousand elite soldiers in his hands, how dare he come out to fight with us? We just stand still and let him kill, and we can exhaust him to death" Yuan Ying gritted his teeth and said: "Unless he can conjure up more elite soldiers like last time, he can only obediently shrink in Luoyang City"

Having said that, Yuan Ying also understood in her heart that this was just to cheer up her accomplices, Ye Chang really might have come here with the elite, if he was attacking the city at that time, and he was under the enemy's back, it was very likely that he would not even be able to escape. Therefore, he attacked Luokou, not as reckless as he attacked Luoyang, but first dug a trench on the periphery, leaving 30,000 troops to guard, ready to face Ye Chang's sneak attack, and then waved his army eastward, preparing to attack the city.

"How's the defenders of the city?" After coming to the city, Yuan Ying asked Qianfeng.

"Messengers were sent, but they were all shot back"

"Who's the guard?"

"The guard's surname is Yan, and his name is Zhenqing, which is the order of Gong County."

"I seem to have heard this name in Chang'an......" Yuan Ying muttered.

Yan Zhenqing was originally in Yushitai, but he didn't want to rely on his old friendship to attach himself to Ye Chang, and he couldn't get used to Yang Guozhong's generation, so he repeatedly wrote books and admonished him, offended Yang Guozhong, and was demoted from Chang'an. However, Ye Chang stretched out his hand somewhat, and did not let him be relegated to remote places such as Yongzhou, but to Gong County, which is not far from Luoyang.

"In my opinion, kill it directly, regardless of whether he has a reputation as a dog official, just break his head." Someone shouted.

This is the leader of the thief army in Henan Province, they have won battles in a row, and even captured Xingyang, so they are quite proud, and even some don't take Yuan Ying in their eyes. Yuan Ying shook her head and sighed: "Wu Dalang, our number one enemy is still Ye Chang, it would be best to let the brothers have fewer casualties...... In this way, didn't you bring that thing, take it out, seal it in a box, add a letter, and give it to that Yan Zhenqing."

Not long after, in Luokou Cangcheng, Yan Zhenqing got the news that the thief sent another messenger, saying that a letter was sent.

"Let the messenger in." Yan Zhenqing was a little strange and said at the moment.

But the messenger did not dare to enter, but put a letter and a box in a bamboo cage hanging from the city, and then ran away. Seeing him running away, Yan Zhenqing scolded with a smile: "The thief has rat gall, but he has a pair of rabbit feet - bring the things up, let me see what they are"

After the thing was pulled up, it was presented to Yan Zhenqing, Yan Zhenqing first opened the letter and glanced at it: "The thief has no text, this word is written like a dog, it is really insulting to Cangjie"

The letter was just a threat and intimidation, but Yan Zhenqing was not surprised, only the last sentence was to let Yan Zhenqing open the box and know what it meant. Yan Zhenqing didn't care, and ordered someone to open the box, and after looking inside, he couldn't help but be angry

There's a human head in there

After a closer look, he recognized: "It's Lu Gong"

This human head belongs to Lu Yi, the father of Lu Qi. He was ordered by Ye Chang to recruit troops in Henan Province, but he was surrounded and killed by thieves in Xingyang, and the thieves knew that he was a big official, and cut off his first achievement, and kept it with lime, and took it out to scare Yan Zhenqing at this time.

"Lu Gong accidentally fell into the hands of a thief and died unyieldingly, and the martyr of the country must not be disrespected" After recognizing that it was Lu Yi, Yan Zhenqing said solemnly, and then took the wooden box of the first achievement, respectfully placed it on a stone, and bowed to himself.

After Yan Zhenqing got up, he looked back at everyone, and saw that everyone looked a little panicked and hesitated, so he said: "Although Duke Lu is martyred, the court will have mourning and glory, and his descendants will be overshadowed, and Duke Ye is sitting in Luoyang, and he has recently defeated the thief, and he will inevitably behead the thief to avenge him." Ladies and gentlemen, the thieves saw that the walls of Luokoucang were high and the garrison was heavily guarded, and there was nothing they could do, so they used the deeds of Duke Lu to scare us. How can my sons be succumbed to this?"

When everyone heard him mention Ye Chang, they were all in good spirits, Gongxian County was not far from Luoyang, and everyone knew very well about Ye Chang's defeat of thieves in Luoyang.

"I have already detected that the thieves want to attack Luokoucang, so I have sent people to ask for help, Luokoucang is the national grain depot, in the department of Sheji's safety, I, Ye Gong's old friend, once taught Ye Gong to learn calligraphy, in public and private, Ye Gong will send elite soldiers to come to the rescue, you don't have to worry about ......"

Before he finished speaking, he saw in the distance, the thief's camp was in chaos. Yan Zhenqing hurriedly raised his eyes to look, and saw the sound of shouts and screams in the thief array one after another, and its array was chaotic, and then like a wheat field swept by the wind, it separated to both sides, and a team of people broke into it

"This is the officers and soldiers, the reinforcements sent by the imperial court, and the people of Ye Gong" Seeing the banner of this team, Yan Zhenqing couldn't help but raise his arms and shouted.

It was indeed the reinforcements sent by Ye Chang, and the leader was Shanzhi.

Monk Mang finally caught an important feat, and he was really like a tiger, leading the troops to break through. Although he was reckless, he followed Ye Changnan to fight in the north over the years, and fought several key battles, and his knowledge and strategy had been cultivated, so he seized the opportunity of the thieves to stand up and attack before they wanted to attack, and the thief army was caught off guard, and broke through the siege with more than 1,200 people.

Seeing that he was going to kill under the city of Luokoucang, and the thieves reacted, they also followed suit, although Yan Zhenqing in the city ordered people to prepare bows and arrows, but the enemy and I were mixed together, and he did not dare to give the order to shoot arrows easily. Shanzhi looked back and grinned: "Good thief, I haven't killed the courage yet, let's see the monk grandpa kill again"

He roared, led the twenty monks around him, abandoned his horse and held his stick, and rushed back into the thief army in a sharp formation. They struck diagonally, leaving a deep mark in the thief, forcing the thief to retreat.

Shanzhi and bravery, Yan Zhenqing and others in the city were stunned, Shanzhi killed for a while, saw that the situation was a little wrong, and shouted sideways: "Shoot the enemy formation"

Yan Zhenqing came back to his senses and ordered: "Release the arrow, release the arrow"

The arrows on the head of the city flew out without money, especially the eight bed crossbows erected at the head of the city, and the shots were not arrows at all, but iron spears, each of which had to penetrate two or three thieves before it would stop and land.

"Tsk, this Yang Yuki is really powerful," someone in the city smacked his tongue.

"That's nature, Ye Gong made this bed crossbow, if it is not powerful, how dare he name it after Yang Youji," said the person who operated the bed crossbow.

This kind of bed crossbow is one of the masterpieces of the Liaodong Iron Field. Lushun has a special mechanical research institute, which was formerly the craftsmen who studied table clocks, and after the eleventh year of Tianbao, some young students who graduated from Lushun College were added. The new bed crossbow they designed is lighter and more powerful than before, and more importantly, because it is made of assembly line parts, the parts can be interchanged, which is easy to move and install. After its birth, Ye Chang strongly advocated that some soldiers should be replaced with this kind of bed crossbow for guarding, not only in Luokou Cangcheng, but also in Luoyang City.

However, Ye Chang only launched the "Yang Youji" type bed crossbow, and then stopped the research in this area, and transferred almost all of his strength to another important research.

"I heard that the essence of Liaodong machinery, a in the world, hydraulic machinery, is even more exquisite, so you can use irrigation trucks, water drainage and wells to divert water to dry land, not afraid of water and drought ......"

"What's this, I heard that in the past few years, Ye Gong has allocated more than 100,000 yuan every year and raised more than 100 craftsmen to specialize in the art of driving machinery with firepower."

Yan Zhenqing at the head of the city was a little speechless, those crossbowmen who controlled the bed crossbow were specially sent to Lushun for training, and what they saw and heard in Lushun has always been a topic of conversation. Yan Zhenqing himself is a little unconvinced, no matter how great Ye Chang's skills are, can he still use fire instead of water to drive machinery? But these people have to say that, and he doesn't bother to care.

"Gather your minds, this is wartime, don't gossip," he reprimanded.

"Why should Ming Gong worry, don't you see that the thief has retreated?"

Yan Zhenqing looked outside the city, and sure enough, because the city head was isolated from the rain of arrows, the thieves' backup could not keep up, and the reinforcements were killed and dispersed, and a vacant land had been cleared at the head of the city.

"Yan Gong, Yan Gong, it's a monk and I," Shanzhi stepped on a corpse and shouted at the head of the city at the top of his voice

Yan Zhenqing recognized him well, and the two of them had more than one banquet at the beginning, and he was happy: Ye Chang really sent reinforcements

"Open the gates, and invite the good master to enter," he ordered.

In order to prevent the thieves from taking the opportunity to seize the city, the city gate was not opened, but it was just a one, after more than 1,000 people entered the city, the number of people was counted, and he grinned: "How, I said that those thieves are just some chickens and ducks, we 1,200 people entered, and there are 1,187 people left, and only 13 people were broken."

All the sergeants exhaled in unison, their faces full of excitement.

Yan Zhenqing walked down from the city quickly and looked at Shanzhi: "Shanzhishi, Ye Gong sent you?" ”

"Ye Gong's own family wants to sit in Luoyang, and he can't leave lightly, so he sent me." Shanzhi looked up and said: "When Ye Gong comes, let me tell Yan Gong, just rest assured, he will send more reinforcements to come, and the siege of Luokoucang will not be solved in a long time."

Yan Zhenqing was overjoyed when he heard this, but when he saw Shanzhi's eyes flickering, his heart jumped suddenly.

He thought of a question, Ye Chang was precisely because of the lack of troops, so he sent Lu Yi and others to recruit troops everywhere, but now Shanzhi said that there were more reinforcements...... Where did the reinforcements come from?

However, in front of so many people, it was not the time to ask, and when he saw that the thieves had no intention of continuing to attack the city after a small defeat, he asked people to cook food and wine, and placed these soldiers who came with Shanzhi.

Pulling Shan until he was secluded, Yan Zhenqing said: "Shanzhishi, you tell me the truth, are there any reinforcements?" ”

"Yes." Shanzhi replied in the affirmative: "But I can't get there in a hurry." ”

"I can't get to it in a hurry...... What does this mean? ”

"Ye Gong was worried that the thieves would become rogues, and he failed to capture the thief when he was outside Luoyang City, because the thieves scattered as soon as they saw that the war was unfavorable. This time, the thieves attacked Luokoucang, and they couldn't wander around, it was a good opportunity to catch them all, Ye Gong was already spreading the news, and he was trying to gather the thieves in Dugi Province and Henan Province together."

When this news made Yan Zhenqing admire Ye Chang's arrogance, her brows jumped: "This ...... If Ye Gong's troops are insufficient, even if he can win, it will only be like Luoyang City. ”

In the Battle of Luoyang, although Ye Chang won a great victory, he failed to eradicate the thieves because he did not have enough troops to encircle and suppress them. Shanzhi scratched his head when he heard this: "Heshan, I don't know where he wants to conjure up soldiers, anyway, no matter how much, he said that there are soldiers, then there must be soldiers"

"I hope so......" Yan Zhenqing said with a little bitterness.

The imperial court focuses on the border and ignores the interior, and the troops are concentrated in the hands of the frontier generals, and the hidden worries of this are already aware of by Yan Zhenqing's brothers, and his brother Yan Gaoqing has said more than once that if An Lushan is not contained by Liaodong, it will inevitably rebel. Although An Lushan has not rebelled now, the civil unrest in the interior has overstretched the imperial court, and there is no force to suppress it

However, it is better not to have troops to suppress it, and not to transfer An Lushan and other Hu cavalry inside