Xiao Jiu nodded with a smile and said, "Order the generals not to fight, and you follow me to the south gate to see how arrogant the Song generals are." ”

The two of them came to the city tower of Changzhou South Gate, and the guard observed the official Zheng Jian and said angrily after seeing the salute: "These Song people are insulting outside the city every day, but it is really infuriating. ”

Xiao Jiu followed his gesture and looked, only to see about a thousand Song troops lined up outside the south gate, nearly three hundred stout soldiers with swords, shields and spears in the middle lined up in a phalanx, and there were three hundred archers on each wing, holding a domed parasol high in front of the formation, a general sitting on a high horse under the umbrella, his demeanor was very arrogant, and about a dozen sergeants with loud voices spoke with a Bianjing accent and shouted loudly to the city head in turn. Behind the Song army was a huge camp, large enough to hold more than 20,000 soldiers, and a three-foot-high low wall was built around the camp, on which stood a fence made of sharpened wooden piles, and in front of the low wall was a trench three feet deep and six feet wide. Stretching out from the Song army camp to the east and west, thousands of Wu and Yue troops were sweating and digging trenches and low walls under the sun.

Xiao Jiu saw that Yu Wancheng and Zheng Jian were terrified when they saw that the Song army was trying to besiege the whole city, and remembered Wu Yingying's explanation to him before leaving, pointed to the trenches under the city and said with a smile: "It is very unwise for Wu Yuejun to dig these trenches. The Jiangnan battalion of the Song army consumes grain and grass every day, and now the transportation with Jiangbei is inconvenient, and it is difficult to last. Wu Yuejun wanted to use a long siege to reduce casualties, but I am afraid that Cao Bin would be the first to do it. I think that soon they will abandon these trenches and forcibly attack the city, and it will be a joint attack on all sides, and inform the soldiers to try to put more rolling wood and stones on the top of the city, and this time all the fierce fire oil brought from Jinling will be placed close to the inside of the city wall. The Song army did not begin to attack the city for a day, and without my order, not a single bullet or arrow was allowed to be fired on the city, so as not to let the enemy spy on the reality of our army. ”

After he explained this, he felt some emotion in his heart, this scene seemed to go back to the past, in the face of the Song army soldiers coming to the city, 100,000 Shu troops disarmed and surrendered, who expected that the Song people were greedy and murderous, provoking a mutiny, the Song army took this opportunity to kill the whole family of the leader of the Shu army, and also occupied his daughter, forcing him to rebel, for a time the sixteen states of Xichuan responded to the group, helpless, and the Shu army was finally defeated and poured into the village. Xiao Jiu was seriously injured in the chaotic battle and was rescued by the people of the Erlang Sect, and soon after the news came, the Song army actually slaughtered 20,000 Shu troops who had surrendered in Chengdu, and Xiao Jiu's relatives died in the army, and he felt that it was better to die on the battlefield, in order to repay Zhang Alang for saving his life, he changed his name and surname to enter the Erlang Divine Sect.

Xiao Jiu closed his eyes tightly, erased a pair of resentful and resolute eyes from his heart, looked at the Song army who was still showing off his might under the city, and asked: "Back then, under Jinling City, there were also such a group of people who didn't know how to live and die outside the city every day, do you know what happened to them now?"

"Dare to ask General Xiao, what's wrong?" Zheng Jiandui said with a smile.

"All of them became dead. Let them be arrogant for a few days, and when the time comes, it will be the time for these turtle sons to be beheaded. Xiao Jiu replied with hatred, as if the enemies who were slaughtering Xichuan were standing under the city, he looked at Zheng Jian beside him, and ordered: "I saw that there are still some houses in the city wall that need to be demolished as soon as possible, in case of fire or collapse affecting the defense of the city." Seeing that Zheng Jian Weiwei agreed, Xiao Jiu hesitated for a moment and then said: "Write down the name of the owner of the demolished house, and after this battle, the Changzhou Treasury will take out money and grain to compensate them." ”

With a snap, Ding Deyu threw a scroll of silk books in front of Qian Yu, the king of Wuyue, and the commander of Zhenguo was so that Wang Ge was enraged by his arrogance, and pressed his sword and was about to step forward to theorize, but was stopped by Qian Yu's eyes. Qian Yu stabilized his mind and asked with a smile, "General Ding, what is this?"

Ding Deyu said proudly: "This is General Cao's military letter, Jinling City is tight, our army must speed up the siege of the city, be sure to take Changzhou City within ten days, and go north and southwest as soon as possible." ”

"What?" Wang Ge was so anxious that he almost jumped up when he heard this: "Although Changzhou City is not big, it is an important town in the south of Gongwei Jinling, and the city has been continuously strengthened for hundreds of years since the Sui Dynasty, and it is also a place where grain merchants from nearby prefectures and counties gather, not counting the accumulation of the government, the grain store in the city alone is enough to support the defenders for a long time. If you say that you want to take this city in ten days, isn't it a fool's dream? Or you can only fill it with the lives of soldiers? ”

"The military situation is urgent, how can you wait for delay. If King Qian was afraid of losing Wu Yue's military strength, the last general would write to the imperial court and send additional troops and horses to fight Changzhou. Ding Deyu knew that what Wang Ge said was true, but he did not back down, and his eyes were fixed on Qian Yu.

"General Ding, if it weren't for the king's deliberate delay, Changzhou was an important town in the Tang Kingdom, and the king expected that he only needed to surround the city, Cai Yu would inevitably send someone to the rescue, and our army could ambush the reinforcements and fight with the Tang army in the field, wouldn't it be more cost-effective than throwing the lives of the soldiers to attack the city, not to mention that as long as the defenders in the city understood that foreign aid had been cut off, surrender would be a matter of time. Qian Yu suppressed his anger and explained to Ding Deyu lightly.

Ding Deyu said in his heart, you, the king who was almost left in Bianjing and couldn't come back, actually dared to teach me a lesson, and said in a deep voice: "King Qian's far-sighted plan will be admired by the general, but the southern expeditionary army is mainly led by General Cao, and the east and west roads are all strategies, and now General Cao urgently needs me to go to the round, if the military period is delayed, and the joint attack on Jinling is delayed, even if the battle under Changzhou City is beautiful, I am afraid that it will not be easy to explain to Your Majesty in the future." ”

Qian Yu pondered for a long time, and said in a deep voice: "Okay, send an order to the whole army, attack the city from all sides tomorrow, and move our army's battalion outside the south gate of Changzhou, I will personally beat the drum to help the soldiers." After speaking, he waved his hand to stop Wang Ge, who was about to argue.

Ding Deyu smiled at this time: "King Qian is really the virtuous king of the Gongzhong country, and the last general has already repaired a big camp outside the south gate, and King Qian can lead his subordinates to enter tonight." After saying that, he laughed and walked out of the tent.

Wang Ge glared at his back angrily, turned around and knelt down to Qian Yu and said, "King Qian thinks twice, I am afraid that the soldiers will be killed and injured in the siege of the city." ”

Qian Yu sighed and said: "I don't know this, just because of small things, I will inevitably suffer some losses and suffer some anger." It is inconvenient to be like the Cai family in Jinling, and bring about your own destruction. ”

The next day, the day was not transparent, the Zhenguo army in the south and east of Changzhou City, the catapult erected by the Zhenwu Army on the northwest side began to continuously throw stone projectiles and arson into the city, for a time Changzhou City was like a fierce stone rain, several thatched houses that had not had time to be demolished were on fire, and Ding Zhuang in the city had to hurriedly use the prepared water dragon soil ash and other fire-extinguishing things to remedy. King Qian personally supervised the formation outside the south gate, and set up thousands of bed crossbows.

A group of Wu Yue sergeants rushed towards the city wall with huge ladders on their shoulders, and it was not until they rushed close that Xiao Jiu ordered the soldiers to go up to the city wall and release arrows, and put down the thick rope covered wood again and again, smashing many Wu Yue soldiers who had climbed half up and fell down screaming. Occasionally, some Wu Yue soldiers who climbed to the top of the city were also stabbed to death by the soldiers defending the city.

Outside the south city gate, Qian Yu frowned and looked at the tragic siege battle, and ordered in a low voice, the bed crossbow was fired quickly, and five thousand elite soldiers of the Zhenguo Army carried the ladder and pushed the crash car to the city. For a time, the arrows on the south city wall rained down, and the thick crossbow arrows could directly pierce the shield in the hands of the defenders, and there were no people standing on the city wall, so the defenders had to hide in the city tower or the corridor next to the wall, and it didn't take long for the thick crossbow arrows to nail a city wall like a hedgehog. The besieging Wu Yue army was huddled under the city under the cover of crossbow arrows, some desperately pushed the crash car to crash into the city gate blocked by the defenders, and some dug holes under the city wall with shovels, and the erected ladders were full of soldiers, just waiting for their crossbow arrows to stop, they were about to rush to the city.

Xiao Jiu piled up more and more enemy soldiers in front of the city wall, and the secret Dao Lord in his heart was really a god, so according to the law taught by Wu Yingying, he ordered the catapults placed in the city to launch stone bullets, these catapults had already measured the direction, most of the stone bullets fell in a narrow range less than 100 steps away from the south city wall, and for a time the Wu Yue army gathered here was smashed into a blur of flesh and blood, and even some stone bullets directly hit the erected ladder, and even the ladder came down.