When Khalid returned to Luoyang City the next day, he still remembered the words relayed by Yuan Ying.

At this time, he realized that although he and Ziad tried their best to figure out Ye Chang's style of leading the troops to fight, it was the Tang people who really understood Ye Chang.

"When the dagger is only taken out when it is critical......"

When he returned to the city, he happened to see Ye Chang personally supervising the group of recruits to go out, and seeing these soldiers who had been practicing for a day and still didn't look good, Khalid had some doubts in his heart: In this case, did Ye Chang still hide a dagger, and where did he hide?

It's another day of exercise outside, and these newly recruited soldiers are already full of grievances, if it weren't for the cronies sent by Ye Chang to serve as team leaders, I'm afraid that they will all start to be passive and slacking off.

And the news that came on this day was even worse, the traffic around Luoyang City was completely cut off, the number of people who fled into the city reached the highest, and the atrocities of the thieves were also spread by word of mouth among the people of Luoyang. Originally, because Ye Chang was here, the people were quite at ease, but now, even Ye Chang's prestige was a little irrepressible.

"The thieves have clearly arrived at the outskirts of Luoyang, but they don't come to attack the city, and they approach the city for more than ten miles every day, which should be shocked by Ye Gongwei's reputation" Li Cheng followed Ye Chang's side, and said to Ye Chang a little stiffly.

Ye Chang looked at him and laughed.

"This ...... Why is Ye Gong laughing? ”

"Li Gong has always been Gengjie, so Yang Guozhong is not tolerated, and he is reprimanded to Luoyang. Previously, the people of Luoyang were in turmoil because of the golden ticket, although it was mainly to meet me, and Yang Guozhong also wanted to drive Li Gong out of the temple by the way. Ye Chang turned his head to look at these recruits: "I am different from Yang Guozhong, I am not an intolerant person, Li Gong can say anything directly, this kind of flattery is not your style." ”

Li Cheng's face suddenly looked like a pig's liver, but it was not because Ye Chang saw through his intentions, but because he acted like this, which really violated his own insistence.

"If that's the case, then so-and-so is telling the truth." He took two deep breaths before he said slowly: "The thieves are powerful, Ye Gongyao is outside the city, I am afraid that the situation will backfire, and the thieves will not dare to come, and there will be fraud among them."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I don't know anything about the military, but I also know that these recruits in the hands of Ye Gong are really useless, and they are the yamen officers under Luoyang Ling, and most of them will only drive away the good and catch two thieves, so they will be miserable." When Li Cheng said this, he sighed: "The elite soldiers of the imperial court are all in the frontier......"

"The soldiers of the frontier, the distant water does not quench the thirst of the near, and don't talk about him, talk about the present."

"Yes, since you can see it, the thieves' meticulous work can naturally also be seen, in the past few days, the thieves have plundered the four towns and driven a large number of people into the city, how can there be no thieves' meticulous work? Ye Gong's bluff, where can scare them, they must pounce on them. But now they are so cautious, and there must be a reason for that.

can climb to a high position, normal people always have wisdom, and what Li Cheng is worried about is no different from what Ye Chang is worried about.

"What do I do?"

"Although Luoyang has thick walls, there are really few troops in the city, and the bigger the city, the more difficult it is to defend." Li Cheng hesitated slightly: "Or can you land the people in Heyang and guard the three cities of Heyang?" ”

Moving to Heyang, it is not far from Luoyang, and it is divided into three cities, from a defensive point of view, it is indeed more suitable for Ye Chang's current situation: the troops are insufficient, and the combat effectiveness is not strong.

"I understand what Li Gong means, but things haven't come to this point yet." Ye Chang rejected Li Cheng's suggestion.

Li Cheng was silent, this was the only way he thought of dealing with the current crisis after exhausting his efforts, and if he wanted to save the people, this was the only way. But Ye Chang vetoed this suggestion, did he have another good plan, or was he arrogant?

"The Central Plains should not be chaotic for a long time, I must fight quickly." Ye Chang explained slightly.

Their conversation did not continue, because at that moment, billowing smoke suddenly ignited in the distance.

It was a beacon fire

Although Ye Chang was unable to pay attention to the affairs in the suburbs of Dugi Province, it did not mean that he did not send people to monitor the actions of the thieves, and the limited manpower he used was scattered within a radius of dozens of miles, and sixteen beacon fire posts were prepared, as long as the thieves entered the distance of fifteen miles from Luoyang, they would immediately light the beacon fire

A few days ago, the thieves did not come, and the beacon fire never burned, but now, the thieves have finally come

"More than one place," someone exclaimed.

There was indeed more than one place, the first smoke was from the southeast, then to the northeast and due north, and then in all directions, all sixteen beacon fire posts emitted black smoke

"It's finally here," Ye Chang breathed a sigh of relief.

"How should this be good, it's over, even if you want to go to Heyang, you can't go" Li Cheng paused again and again.

"Li Gong, please go back to the city first, and organize the people to go to the city to help defend it." Ye Chang squinted his eyes and said, "I'm going to ......

Before he finished speaking, he saw that among the recruits who were exercising, someone shouted: "The thief is coming, run for your life."

With this shout, the group of recruits suddenly went into chaos, and they ran around like headless flies. Most of the blades in their hands were thrown away, and even the armor they wore was too heavy to be thrown down. In the blink of an eye, there was a pile of discarded weapons on the ground.

Seeing this scene, Ye Chang didn't even care about Li Cheng.

"Blow the trumpet of military law." Li Cheng heard Ye Chang say coldly to a soldier beside him.

Li Cheng had long noticed the soldier, and he followed Ye Chang almost every step of the way, no matter what time it was. I saw that the soldier took off a trumpet from his waist, puffed up his cheeks and began to blow, and the sound of four short and four long trumpets sounded immediately, and it was repeated three times, and then there was a roar all around

The veterans among the recruits shouted angrily, scolding their subordinates for squatting down and holding their heads, and the bamboo whips in their hands were fiercely pumped over and whipped on the recruits who did not react. Most of the recruits crouched down with their heads in the frenzy, and a few tried to break out of the drill field, but the veterans on the edge of the drill were already in groups of five.

Then I saw a series of slashing swords.

More than a dozen recruits who tried to escape were directly beheaded

This bloody scene made those squatting recruits scream hoarsely again

But this time, no one dared to get up and run around, because as long as any of them moved, it was a bamboo whip followed by a kick, and a shout: "If you want to die, get up"

Li Cheng was stunned, and at this time, Ye Chang tilted his face before telling him the rest of the words: "Li Gong will go back to the city first, let the people close the door, and no one is allowed to wander on the streets except for those who go to the city to help guard." In addition, the errand servants in the city were all handed over to Li Gong, and they shuttled through the streets and alleys, and at least three people were to watch at each intersection, and Hugh wanted to let the thieves take advantage of the opportunity to make trouble."

"Thieves, thieves will take the opportunity to make trouble?"

"Just in case, but I expect these people to be more honest before the thieves officially attack the city." Ye Chang said: "I asked Liu Changqing Sasuke Li Gong to coordinate the meals, tea, soup and medicine, and send them to the city at any time." ”

"Yes, Yes"

Perhaps it was Ye Chang's composure that infected Li Cheng, he also quieted down at this time, and after answering, he immediately rushed to the city with his relatives.

The school yard is still more than two miles away from the city gate, and it will take some time to get there. After Ye Chang left, he turned around and ordered: "The whole team"

"Get up, whole team," shouted the veterans who were in charge of the team.

Although this time it was still a bit chaotic, no one dared to drag it out as before. Previously, they were passive and slack, and although they would be reprimanded and might even receive two lashes, no one had their heads cut off.

Seeing that they were in good shape, Ye Chang nodded: "This is a bit of a soldier's appearance... It is Ye's order to carry out the military law just now, you may think that the thieves more than ten miles away are terrible, but Ye wants to tell you that Ye Mou, who is beside you and in front of you, is more terrible than those thieves."

Although his voice was not loud, it made these rogue rangers who were originally slippery and slick their hands tremble

"Fighting with thieves, at most, you will lose your life, your parents, children, and family, there is still Ye Mou's pension. But if you don't obey Ye's order and are afraid of the enemy and death, then not only will you die faster, but your parents, children, and family will also be burdened by you."

Those recruits didn't dare to look at Ye Chang, they were both afraid and unconvinced. At this moment, I heard Ye Chang say again: "The more than ten soldiers who were killed just now were treated as deserters on the battlefield, and their families not only did not pay for them, but also wrote down their origins to me. "

The recruits were in an uproar, and couldn't help but raise their faces to look at Ye Chang, and found that Ye Chang looked indifferent, as if what was announced was just an insignificant disposition.

In the eleventh year of Tianbao, after Ye Chang defeated the allied forces of Dashi and the countries in the river in Talas, the power of the Tang Dynasty gained a firm foothold in the area of the Broken Leaf River, from the Broken Leaf River to the Qiuzi, thousands of miles of land boundary, along the two foothills of the Tianshan Mountains, nearly 20 military cantonments were built. These military cantonments were based on one or two forts, opening up thousands or even thousands of hectares of fertile land around them, cultivating them in normal times, and taking refuge in the forts if there were policemen. The garrisons of the military cantonments are not equal, the few are only dozens, and the most are hundreds or nearly thousands, they are all professional soldiers who are out of production, and the work of farming is handed over to the attached city soldiers and tun slaves.

The so-called cantons are prisoners who have been sentenced to exile over the years, and according to the length of the crimes they have committed, they must work in the military cantonments. It is almost impossible for them to cross the long yellow sand and return to the Central Plains, even if they don't mention the sentry posts along the way, even if they are thousands of miles away, it is definitely not a scattered tunnu who can come back.

"Do you understand now?"

"Clear, Clear"

After discovering that this Ye Jungong was even more terrifying than the legend, where did these recruits still not understand what the other party meant?

No matter what plans they still have in their hearts, at least for now, they have been subdued and dare not disobey military orders.

"Retreat with me first, don't enter the city, just outside Luoyang City, and fight the enemy." Ye Chang said again.

The recruits were all frightened, but since Ye Chang had made a decision, how could they have the courage to express their different opinions? Everyone picked up their weapons again, put on their discarded armor, and followed Ye Chang to the front of Luoyang City in despair.

Although the city gate was open and the drawbridge was not closed, Ye Chang did not allow them to enter the city, but lined up outside the city, waiting for the arrival of the enemy.

After waiting for more than an hour, food and water were brought from the city, and they saw the thieves arrive.

As far as the eye can see, the thieves are like a tide, boundless, forming a long line, surrounding the entire Luoyang City tightly. The thieves did not rush to attack, they stopped more than a few miles away from Luoyang City, and this group of soldiers outside the city became the focus of their attention, and soon, Ye Chang saw more than ten horsemen galloping away.

A slight smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"Lang Jun, why don't you enter the city?" Seeing this situation, Li Yuan beside him was a little worried, and whispered beside him: "Lang Jun's daughter's body, you can't be in danger, and you can't hope for these rabble. ”

"Don't worry, if I'm not here, I'm afraid that with a few veterans, I can't suppress these scoundrels. And only here can I catch a big fish. ”

"Big fish?"

"Yuan Ying, the head of the thief."

"Huh?" Although Li Yuan is a close confidant of Ye Chang's side, and he has also seen Ye Chang deployed in most places, he has only been by Ye Chang's side for the past two years, and he is not very good at military strategy, so he is a little puzzled by Ye Chang's thoughts.

"You just look at it." At this time, Ye Chang didn't have the heart to explain.

On the top of the city, Li Cheng stomped his feet again and again, and pulled a soldier in: "Go down quickly, please Ye Gong enter the city quickly, please don't be careless to underestimate the enemy, quickly"

He is in the city, he can see farther and more real than Ye Chang, but he has seen the momentum of the thieves with his own eyes, and he is afraid of no less than 100,000 people

These 100,000 people each have their own blades, and it will take a long time to line up to enter Luoyang City, and Ye Chang only took more than 2,000 rabble, so he dared to face the battle outside the city - this is either stupid to the extreme, or arrogant to the extreme. If it was just Ye Chang alone, according to Li Cheng's temperament, let him die, but Ye Chang was concerned about the safety of the whole city of Luoyang, and it could even be said that under the current situation of flames on all sides, he could not die outside Luoyang City at this time

The soldiers who went down to urge sent three batches, but none of them were able to get close to Ye Chang, and they didn't even go out of the city, so when they arrived at the city gate, they were stopped by Ye Chang's own soldiers and rushed back. This made Li Cheng even more worried, he raised his eyes to look at the thief army again, and found that the thief army began to move, and the originally scattered everywhere now began to gather.

Although some of the thief troops remained on the east and west sides of Luoyang, the main forces began to assemble towards the south of Luoyang City.

Ye Chang was at the south gate of Luoyang City.

"Damn, damn it, such a character is actually a famous general of the dynasty" In Li Cheng's heart, he has already begun to scold, there are so many thieves, but Ye Chang is still outside the city, which is not in line with the art of war at all. Even the thieves knew that there were three ways to enclose them, but Ye Chang was still so careless

His eyes flickered, and gradually became deep: Ye Chang was looking for his own death, but Luoyang City couldn't accompany him to find his own way to die, and after a while, the thief army would attack the city, as long as Ye Chang showed a little defeat, he had to let his cronies and officials seize the lock at the head of the city, put away the suspension bridge, and put down the jack gate

Even if Ye Chang is allowed to die under the city, he can't let the thieves enter the city