On the 14th day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar, outside the north gate of Xiuwu City, the Li family's army gathered here, and the soldiers approached Xiuwu City.

At the same time, the city defense battalion of Xiuwu City was ready to fight, and it seemed that it had absorbed the lessons of the Shanxi officials and soldiers, knew the power of the Flying Dragon Chariot, and after summing up the experience, knew that without the deployment of artillery, it was difficult to prevent the attack of the Flying Dragon Chariot.

Obviously, judging from the layout of the city walls, the defenders in the city already have a way to deal with the Wyvern Chariot.

Unlike the adviser of Xu Dingchen, the governor of Shanxi, Zhang Zaiti did not use rockets, but adopted other methods that were somewhat stupid. The officers and troops on Xiuwu City not only had archers ready to go, but also had many shields, just to resist the archers on the flying dragon chariot.

In this case, although the Wyvern Chariot still occupies the commanding height, it cannot throw the wooden ladder between the two to throw the soldiers above the city. Just because of the existence of those shields, it just happened to dissolve the threat of bows and arrows on the dragon chariot invisibly. It can also be defended by a shield, and the city defense battalion can counteract. Pass through the gaps between the shields and counterattack with a bow and arrow!

At this moment, when the big war was about to break out at any time, Li Zicheng was standing a hundred meters away from Xiuwu City, looking at Xiuwu City from afar, looking careless.

Dang Shousu stood aside and asked puzzledly: "Boss, we have been blocked outside the north gate for several hours." Didn't you say that we would attack Xiuwu City today? How long will it take for us to start the siege? ”

"Don't ......be in a hurry" After a long time, Li Zicheng's mouth popped out of these two words, and then he looked at Tian Jianxiu and asked, "Captain Tian, how is the arrangement in the city?" ”

It seemed that he had known that Li Zicheng would ask such a question, and there was almost no hesitation, Tian Jianxiu opened his mouth and replied: "Boss, the brother who is lurking in Xiuwu City is ready." However, the city defense of Xiuwu City was extremely strong. Since they knew that we had entered Huaiqing Mansion, the guards of Xiuwu City had strengthened the intensity of their patrols, and the patrol teams were constantly patrolling day and night. Moreover, all the houses near the city gate of more than ten meters were cleared by the government, and no one was allowed to approach. Therefore, it will be difficult to get close to the city gates. ”

Hearing this, all the generals around him secretly gasped, and secretly said, Xiuwu City is worthy of martial arts, and the guards are decisive and resolute, which is generous enough!

In order to avoid the mistakes of the guards of Shaanxi and Shanxi, the defenders of Xiuwu City directly cleaned up the houses near the city gate!

Before the arrival of the Li family's army, the city defense battalion had cleared the vicinity of the inner city gate, vacated a buffer zone, and arranged an isolation layer with a horse blocking and moving fence to prevent the internal thieves from colluding with the rebel army outside, attacking inside and outside, and capturing the city gate.

Wu Ruyi gasped, and when he was secretly stunned, he couldn't help but say worriedly: "The city defense of Xiuwu City is so strict, and there are thousands of troops in the city, so we might as well change the target and attack Huaiqing Mansion." Otherwise, even if we capture Xiuwu City, we will suffer heavy losses. ”

However, Li Zicheng smiled disappreciatively, and said nonchalantly: "Captain Wu, things have come to this point now, do you think it is realistic to change the goal?" Moreover, the movement was so big that it had already shocked the various counties of Huaiqing Mansion. At this time, no matter which one we attack, the difficulty will not be much less than that of Xiuwu City? ”

"But ......"

Wu Ruyi only said two words, but was stopped by Li Zicheng with a wave of his hand, and then said lightly: "Don't worry." Since he was preparing to attack Xiuwu City, if he was not completely sure, how could he choose this target? How could I have allowed my brothers to die in vain and make senseless casualties. And, for this situation, I had expected it. After all, the officers and soldiers are not fools, and with the lessons of the cities of Shaanxi and Shanxi, it is impossible for the officers and soldiers not to accept the lessons? ”

Wu Ruyi wanted to say something, as if he felt the confidence in Li Zicheng's words, and swallowed back the words that came to his mouth.

Immediately, Li Zicheng didn't say anything more, just dropped a sentence and turned away.

"Okay, don't say more, you all prepare well, rest a lot, and start attacking Xiuwu City tonight."

In the middle of the night, about ten o'clock in the evening, the autumn wind hunted, the temperature dropped sharply, the cold wind swished, the city of Xiuwu was dark, only the light at the four city gates flickered, like day, the figure trembled, the officers and soldiers widened their eyes and were standing guard.

Especially at the north gate of Xiuwu City, there are more braziers on the city wall, and the officers and soldiers are more energetic, staring at the direction of the Li family's army position on the opposite side without blinking. Not only that, the city of the north gate, with the city gate as the center, is a fan-shaped structure, illuminating the buffer zone of more than ten meters.

If someone gets close to the city gates, they will be spotted in an instant!

In the dark night, the wind was blowing, and suddenly, outside the north gate, a bright light flickered, and torches shook everywhere, like stars in the night sky.

"Not good! The rebels are besieging the city! ”

There was an uproar, in the process of Li Jiajun's continuous approaching, under the rumbling chaotic sound, the spirit of the officers and soldiers was lifted, and those officers and soldiers who were resting all stood up, bowed slightly, lying on the top of the city, pillowing and waiting, swords, guns, swords and crossbows were ready to go, pointing directly in the direction of Li Jiajun.

Thundered......

A dull sound echoed in the darkness, and the silhouette of a big guy's black shadow kept approaching the north gate of Xiuwu City, getting closer and closer, and becoming clearer and clearer, it was the Flying Dragon Chariot, and the sound was formed by the Flying Dragon Chariot crushing the ground.

Whoa...

Arrows rained down and were as dense as a forest, with bursts of sound breaking through the air, and the archers on both sides began to shoot at each other.

"Kill!"

Li Jiajun changed the previous siege strategy, no longer close to the flying dragon chariot to obtain the commanding heights, and projected troops to the city. Instead, with the help of the cover of the archers on the Wyvern chariot, they exchanged shots with the city defense battalion, and the two were at a standoff for a while.

At this time, the other Li Jiajun began to rush to kill, a team of Li Jiajun swarmed to the city gate, dozens of people pushed a long flatbed car, on which a giant tree of more than ten meters was fixed, one end was sharpened into a sharp shape, and slammed into the city gate.

Knock knock...

The dull sound of a knock on the door rang out rhythmically, echoing around it, mixing with other sounds and rumbling.

More than ten meters away from the north of the Flying Dragon Chariot, Li Zicheng held a telescope and watched the battle at the north gate of Xiuwu City from afar, his expression was unwavering, very quiet, as if he was waiting for something?

For a while, as a source of noise, the sound of fighting at the north gate spread rapidly and spread to the city, causing the sleeping people to wake up suddenly and panic. Everyone was shivering, cowering, staying in their own room, not daring to make any sound.

There is still silence in Xiuwu City, on the streets and alleys, except for the footsteps of the city defense camp that are patrolling, there is no other noise, quiet and quiet, black hole, but the air is filled with a tense and depressing atmosphere.

Suddenly, there were more and more points of fire in Xiuwu City, far different from the officers and soldiers who were patrolling, and the torches in their hands.

The fire is getting more and more intense, the scope of the spread is getting wider and wider, there are fires everywhere in Xiuwu City, the flames are soaring, so that the people have fled from their homes, and they come to the street in fear, all kinds of noisy sounds come and go, and the city immediately becomes chaotic, and the streets are full of people.

The thick and pungent black smoke made Xiuwu City even more chaotic, and the people who were irritated coughed indiscriminately.

At this moment, the patrolling city defense battalion is struggling to roam the streets, and no matter how much they shout, they still can't change the chaotic reality. You can only weave through the crowd and walk slowly.

However, as the fire in the city grew larger and more people gathered in the streets, the patrol officers and soldiers had to stop and join the team to extinguish the fire. Because, the streets are already crowded with people, and it is almost impossible to walk an inch.

At this moment, there was a riot near the north gate, and there was a faint tendency to intensify. Immediately afterwards, a group of black shadows scurried wildly, shouting incessantly: "Oh no, the thieves have broken through the city gate, and they are entering the city through the north gate, run!" ”

In an instant, this group of black shadows squeezed into the crowd and kept running towards the other three city gates, knocking the people on the street to the ground, and the scene became even more chaotic.

For a while, with the help of the light of the fire and listening to all kinds of similar sounds, the people who fled to the street were even more panicked, like frightened birds, subconsciously running with the flow of people.

Gradually, among the fleeing people, there was a mixture of people, some wearing pajamas, some unkempt, and even more officers and soldiers who fled in the wilderness. Especially the latter, the people saw that they were all embarrassed, their armor was torn, and their bodies were covered with blood, and the people were even more panicked!

"Run! Escape from the other city gates, once the rebel army breaks into the city, stay for a while, and your life will be lost! ”

In an instant, the chaos in Xiuwu City became a pot of porridge, and there were people fleeing everywhere, thick smoke and flames, whether it was the patrolling city defense battalion or the panicked people, they had long lost their minds and fled to the other three city gates.

Although Xiuwu City is not large, there are more than 100,000 people, all of whom flock to the streets, a panicked scene. Even if the gods descend to earth, they can't calm the situation and stop people's desire to survive, let alone the city defense camp with only a few thousand people?

The flow of people was like a tide, and with the memories in their minds, whether it was the people in the city, or the city defense battalion, or those well-intentioned people disguised as officials and soldiers, they all mixed together, divided into three torrents, and headed towards the east, south and west gates of Xiuwu City.

At the same time, the north gate of Xiuwu City is still tightly closed. As the main battlefield, the north gate was not lost, and even if it was knocked by a giant tree, it was still not knocked open.

The Li Jiajun on half of the flying dragon chariot no longer shot at the officers and soldiers on the city wall, but pulled the bow and arrows full, and the arrows were obliquely upwards forty-five degrees, and with a bang, ten thousand arrows were fired in unison, shooting into the sky, and the flames of the arrow scissors were not affected.

As the arrows fell into the city, the houses near the north gate were set on fire, and then the flames soared into the sky, and the fire spread, which corresponded to the other fires in Xiuwu City!

Li Zicheng stood on top of a flying dragon chariot, away from the battlefield, quietly watching this scene. Seeing that there were fires everywhere in Xiuwu City and people running in all directions, the corners of Li Zicheng's mouth showed a satisfied smile, and he asked without looking back: "Captain Tian, have the other three city gates been arranged?" ”

"Boss Qiyu, everything has been arranged, Wu Ruyi, Dang Shousu, and Gao Yigong led a team of men and horses respectively, and they were ambushed outside the city gate. Once the people open the gate and run out of the city, they will take advantage of the chaos to enter the city, take control of Xiuwu City, and come to the north gate to meet us. ”

As he spoke, Tian Jianxiu looked admiring and was impressed by Li Zicheng's strategy.

At this time, Xu Xiake on the side had a heavy look on his face, hesitated, and finally asked in a deep voice: "Boss, if you do this, is the price too great?" Even if we successfully take Xiuwu City, the city will become a scorched earth. Moreover, the people who died in the fire are by no means a minority, so it is our original intention to capture Xiuwu City like this? Is it worth it? ”

Obviously, Xu Xiake's heart was really angry, and he was very dissatisfied with what Li Zicheng had done and the siege strategy he had taken.

In the face of Xu Xiake's questioning, Li Zicheng's reaction was very calm, and when he looked back and wanted to explain something, Tian Jianxiu preemptively defended himself: "Mr. Xu, you misunderstood. Don't look at the fire in the city, it's still under our control, and it can't continue to spread. Moreover, those places where the fire was very large were the houses of the powerful, and there were not many houses of the people that were burned down. ”

Hearing this, Xu Xiake's expression improved a lot, eased a little, and did not say anything, but raised his eyes and looked carefully. With the impression in his mind, thinking about what Tian Jianxiu just said, he realized that the burned place in the city was really concentrated in the homes of the rich and the powerful.

In an instant, Xu Xiake's heart suddenly relaxed, no longer so heavy and depressed, but he still had a difficult look on his face, he still couldn't be happy, his brows frowned slightly, his eyes flashed, and he looked at Li Zicheng: "But, boss, even so, according to the chaotic situation in the city, it is still late at night, and the people in the city will still have a lot of casualties." ”

Tian Jianxiu couldn't help it, and was very dissatisfied with Xu Xiake.

But because of the past feelings, they got along well, Tian Jianxiu still resisted the restlessness in his heart, and couldn't help but say: "Mr. Xu, are you a little too kind of a woman?" This is a war, how can there be immortals? Moreover, as long as we can capture Xiuwu City and open a warehouse to release grain, countless people will be saved. If we do what you say, we don't have to fight, we all have to starve to death. ”

Xu Xiake was stunned for a moment, of course he heard Tian Jianxiu's dissatisfaction, and asked puzzledly: "Captain Tian, why did you say this?" ”

"A weak scholar is a weak scholar, and he is too naïve to take things for granted." Tian Jianxiu slandered, and then asked: "Mr. Xu, do you mean that when attacking the county seat, try not to harm the people and not let the people have casualties?" ”

"Well, yes, that's exactly what it means. Captain Tian, is there anything wrong? Xu Xiake asked angrily, still puzzled.

"There's a problem... Is it? It's a big problem! Tian Jianxiu laughed angrily, couldn't help but roar angrily, and then continued: "Mr. Xu, if you attack the city according to your intentions, the actions of our Li family army will become constrained. Mr. Xu, let me ask you, whether it is the siege of the city, or the confrontation with the official army in the open field, the official army pushes the people to the front, how can we still fight? ”