After the inspection Ma Hou was defeated by Zhang Huangyan in Tong'an Town, he fled back to the inspection department in embarrassment, he knew that he really encountered the Praetorian Guard, because the firepower of ordinary caravans was simply fierce, whether it was its well-trained or equipped with a large number of elite firearms, not to mention the caravan, even most of the troops in Jiangxi did not have it.

Ma Hou naturally didn't dare to hide such a big thing, he didn't even dare to stay in the yamen of the inspection department, first ran to Xincheng County to report the news, and then rushed to Jianchang Mansion City to report the news to the defenders of Jianchang City.

The name of the rebel Jianchang prefect is Liu Mingzhi, and after receiving the report, he immediately sent someone to call the guard Niu Yonggui.

"Impossible, Jianchang Mansion and Fujian are separated by hundreds of miles of mountains, how can the Praetorian Guards come from the opposite side?" Niu Yonggui didn't believe it at first. Li Yanzhi, the general soldier of Fujian, participated in the last battle of Nanjing, but he led the fleet from the Yangtze River to Nanjing. Most of his subordinates are naval divisions, even if they come to attack, they should still take the waterway to join the Nanjing Praetorian Guard, and then attack Jiangxi along the Yangtze River waterway.

"Tell me what the truth is." Liu Mingzhi said to Ma Hou.

"General Niu, it's true." Ma Hou hurriedly told the story of the incident, of course, he did not dare to say that he was going to Tong'an Town for the caravan's money, but said that he received a report that the Praetorian Guards were there, so he took people to arrest him.

"There are only 100 of them, and only more than 20 of them stayed in Tong'an Town, but Xiaguan brought more than 100 people, and was defeated by more than 20 people, and they were equipped with a large number of firearms, and they were very sharp. Mahou Road.

"Maybe it's really the Praetorian Guard." Niu Yonggui touched his chin and said, "But with only a hundred people, what can you do?" ”

"Maybe it's the vanguard of the Praetorian Guard, with its brigade behind. General Niu, we can't let it move, you should lead the men and horses of your headquarters to Xincheng County quickly and block the Shanguan main road. Liu Mingzhi thought about it and said to Niu Yonggui.

Niu Yonggui hesitated: "Fuzun, it's not clear whether the other party really sent troops over, so it was a little hasty to lead the troops to attack in such a hurry?" ”

"There's nothing hasty, if you get the news, I'm afraid the other party will also kill you." Liu Ming's way.

"Okay, just listen to you." Niu Yonggui said stupidly. Niu Yonggui was originally a general of the Jiangxi official army, but because he was not a descendant of Yuan Chonghuan and was not reused, he was assigned to a remote place like Jianchang Mansion. The Ming Dynasty has a tradition of literary and imperial martial arts, and the same is true of the Jiangxi rebel court, the status of the military generals is very low, although Niu Yonggui is a general all the way, but he has to obey Liu Mingzhi's prefect.

However, Niu Yonggui didn't want to lead his troops to a remote place like Shanguan, so he hesitated and tried to drag it out because of the lack of money and food. However, within two days, news suddenly came that a large number of young and strong people were attacking Xincheng County under the coercion of the Praetorian Guards, and the Xincheng County had been defeated.

"It's just a few people, Xincheng County didn't even hold on for half a day, and let it be easy to take it, what is the Xincheng County Order for!" The prefect Liu Mingzhi was furious and scolded angrily, and the subordinate officials did not dare to speak.

"General Niu, you immediately lead your troops to Xincheng County, and you must quickly recapture Xincheng County." Liu Mingzhi looked at Niu Yonggui.

"Yes, sir." Niu Yonggui hurriedly agreed. Because he also knew that once the Praetorian Guards controlled Xincheng County, they would have a foothold, and their brigade could easily enter the territory of Jianchang Mansion, and then the entire Jianchang Mansion would not be able to defend it. Only by recapturing the county seat of Xincheng can it be possible to hold the main force of the Praetorian Guard outside the borders of Jianchang Mansion. Regarding the Fujian Janissary Army's attack on Jianchang Mansion, Niu Yonggui at this time did not dare to doubt it anymore.

With the full support of Jianchang Mansion, Niu Yonggui quickly raised enough money and food for the army, Niu Yonggui left 1,000 troops to guard the city, led 5,000 rebels to kill the county seat of Xincheng, a distance of 60 miles, under the forced march, the next afternoon rushed to the outside of Xincheng County, five miles away from the city and set up camp.

In the next time, Niu Yonggui began to send troops to cut down trees, build siege equipment, and make preparations before the siege.

Early in the morning of the third day, Niu Yonggui began to attack the city.

Five thousand troops were not enough to attack the city on all sides, so Niu Yonggui only chose to attack the western city wall.

Under normal circumstances, Niu Yonggui did not dare to attack the city in a hurry, because his army was not a strong army, but the original Weisu army, and its combat effectiveness was not very good. But one is the military emergency, the main force of the Praetorian Guard is likely to be killed from Wuyi Mountain at any time, and it is necessary to quickly take the new city and county, in order to be able to block the attack of the Praetorian Guard, although the news of the Praetorian Guard's attack has been reported to the Nanchang Imperial Court, but far water can not quench the thirst of the near, and when the reinforcements come, maybe the entire Jianchang Mansion will be lost.

Another reason is that Niu Yonggui has already figured out the situation in Xincheng County, and knows that there are only 100 people in this group of Praetorian Guards, and the rest are peasants in Tong'an Town and other places, and the combat effectiveness of the peasants is not worth mentioning, and what they really have to deal with is the 100 Praetorian Guards. With only a hundred people, and not even a single battlement of the city wall, how can they resist the attack of the army? Therefore, Niu Yonggui is confident that he can quickly conquer the county seat and annihilate the Praetorian Guards.

So after preparing the siege equipment, Niu Yonggui immediately waved his army to attack, in order to boost morale, he gave a heavy reward, announcing who was the first to attack the city wall, ordinary soldiers were immediately promoted to 100 households, and officers were all promoted to three ranks, and a reward of 100 taels of silver. Whoever kills a Praetorian guard will be rewarded with fifty taels of silver, and whoever kills one of the people who defend the city will be rewarded with twenty taels of silver.

Under the stimulation of the heavy reward, the morale of the rebel officers and soldiers was high, and they all wanted to be promoted and make a fortune, not to mention the promotion, the huge reward alone was enough to make people crazy.

So under Niu Yonggui's order, the rebel soldiers carried the ladder and bravely rushed towards the city wall and launched a fierce attack.

As Niu Yonggui expected, the defenders' combat effectiveness was very weak, and the rebel soldiers all attacked under the city wall, only throwing some bricks and stones from above, and only a few soldiers were injured.

The defenders were so weak that the rebel soldiers were so demoralized that they set up ladders on the walls and climbed up with weapons in hand.

It was only by this time that the defenders gained some more firepower and began to drop their guns.

There were scattered clangs, but most of them missed, not causing much damage to the rebel soldiers who were climbing.

Seeing that the rebel soldiers were about to climb the city wall, Niu Yonggui had an excited smile on his face.

"That's it, it's just a rabble, and I don't know how the county town was lost, so is the new city county order-eaten." Niu Yonggui said with a smile.

"Generals can't be careless, their combat effectiveness is not bad." Ma Hou, the inspector of the inspection department of the army, reminded.

"It's not a bad fart, your inspection department is even more waste, more than 100 people were killed by more than 20 people, what are you eating?" Niu Yonggui said disdainfully.

"General, their firecrackers are really powerful." Ma Hou said aggrievedly.

"What a fart, do you think Lao Tzu hasn't seen a fire gun? The fire gun has a short range, a slow rate of fire, and it will explode from time to time, so the Lao Tzu Army simply disdains to use it! Niu Yonggui sneered.

"That's what the general said." Niu Yonggui didn't dare to say more.

"Lao Tzu ......." Niu Yonggui continued, he stopped suddenly, and saw the men who were originally going to attack the city crying wolf and falling down from the ladder, and there was a large string of them. Then all the attacking men threw down the ladder and fled.

"General, the defenders are despicable, they actually use boiling water, the brothers really can't stand it." An officer who had fled back wept with a frothing face.

"Defend the city with gold juice and operate normally, don't panic." Niu Yonggui said in a flat tone.

"What about the general? We can't attack it at all. The subordinate said.

"Don't panic, it's all in my hands." Niu Yonggui stroked his beard, looking like he was holding a wisdom pearl. 、

After pondering for a while, Niu Yonggui said slowly: "Order, mobilize all the shields in the army, and then raise all the leather armor, the soldiers besieging the city are wearing leather armor and attacking with shields, which should be able to cover the boiling water." ”

"General, good way." His subordinates raised their fingers and praised.

After some more preparations, the rebels attacked again. This time, all the rebel soldiers who participated in the siege of the city were each wearing leather armor and helmets, tightly covered, and holding shields in their hands.

With a sharp blade in his mouth, he held a shield in one hand and a ladder in the other.

When they were halfway up, boiling water fell on the city again, but most of the boiling water was blocked by shields, and they were wearing leather armor, so even if they were splashed, they could not cause substantial damage.

Seeing that his subordinates were about to climb to the top of the city, Niu Yonggui showed an excited smile on his face.

"General, it's better to be careful." Ma Hou couldn't help but say again.

"Shut up, if you dare to be verbose, you will give Lao Tzu to attack the city!" Niu Yonggui said angrily.

Ma Hou hurriedly closed his mouth and didn't dare to say more.

Under Niu Yonggui's gaze, many rebel soldiers successfully climbed the city wall and climbed to the top of the city, and then the sound of fighting sounded on the top of the city.

"Quick, the follow-up people will quickly ascend the city, and the city will be broken." Niu Yonggui jumped up excitedly and shouted loudly.

However, as soon as the words fell, they heard the sound of guns on the top of the city, and the rebel soldiers who had already climbed the city retreated towards the ladder crying wolf, and many of them had no time to retreat, and were caught up by the defenders, and were pushed down from the city wall.

"General, the defenders are equipped with a lot of firearms, and the brothers were fired at by their firearms as soon as they landed on the city wall, and many brothers were killed, and they couldn't withstand it at all." The officer who fled back cried.

"Waste, they can have a few firearms, and it takes a long time to reload after the firecrackers are missed, if you take advantage of the rapid attack of the firearms, you have already taken down the city wall, but you are frightened one by one, and you only know how to flee back, but you have lost so many brothers." Niu Yonggui was furious and scolded loudly.

The officers who fled back were scolded one by one with their heads bowed, and they did not dare to speak out at all.

"General......" Ma Hou said suddenly.

"Shut up, you will be the first to attack the city next time, and if you dare to flee back, you will immediately engage in military law." Niu Yonggui pointed at Ma Hou and scolded angrily.

"General, I mean I have a solution." Ma Hou said aggrievedly.

"Huh? What's the solution? Niu Yonggui said impatiently, what do you know about the inspection of a patrol department?

"General, we can prepare some quicklime, wrap it in paper or cloth, and let the besieging brothers hold it, and when they are about to climb the city wall, throw it on the city wall, which will inevitably cause chaos on the defenders, and then the brothers will take the opportunity to kill the city head, and they will definitely be able to capture the city wall in one fell swoop." Ma Hou said.

"Well, this one looks pretty good, you can give it a try." Niu Yonggui touched his chin, thought about it, and decided to adopt Ma Hou's strategy.

"General, then do you see if I ......" Ma Hou looked forward to it.

"Okay, you don't need to be the first to attack the city, just watch under the city, if you have any ideas for attacking the city, tell General Ben." Niu Yonggui waved his hand.

In the following time, Niu Yonggui let his subordinate army rest for half an hour, and at the same time let people look for quicklime, there are many houses outside the city wall, there are many people, the battle makes these people have already fled without a trace, but many things in their homes have not had time to take away, such as lime. Sent out to find more soldiers easily found a lot.

"Brothers, it's almost dusk, this is the last siege today, we must fight morale and win Xincheng County in one battle! Brothers, if anyone is the first to climb the city wall in this battle, Lao Tzu said, the reward will be 100 taels of silver, and the official will be promoted to the third level. If anyone dares to retreat in this battle, Lao Tzu will personally watch from under the city, escape back and kill one by one, and will not be tolerated! Niu Yonggui jumped on his feet, boosting morale.

"Brothers, after several of our attacks, the defenders are exhausted, as long as we hold on, we will definitely be able to take the city wall." Niu Yonggui said loudly.

The rebels were beaten again, screaming and attacking.

And this attack went a lot smoother, maybe it was really as Niu Yonggui said, the defenders were exhausted, the bricks and stones thrown on the city wall were much thinner, and the boiling water that fell was much less, and until the rebels were about to climb the city wall, the fire bolt did not even sound once.

"The quality of the guns in the army is very poor, and they will explode after a few uses, so we will not hesitate to use them. It is estimated that the firearms in the hands of the Praetorian Guards have been abolished. Niu Yonggui smiled and said to Ma Hou.

"The general is wise, and he really knows the art of war." Mahou complimented.

"That is, Lao Tzu has been learning the art of war since he was a child, and he is very familiar with these things in the army, but unfortunately he offended the people under Yuan Ge's department before and was not reused, otherwise Lao Tzu would have become the chief soldier a long time ago." Niu Yonggui said triumphantly.

"Now that the Yuan Pavilion has been delayed by the emperor, as long as this battle can hold the Jianchang Mansion, and the general's exploits will be transmitted to Nanchang, he will inevitably reuse the general." Ma Hou said with a smile.

"Haha." Niu Yonggui laughed.

"The brothers have already stormed the city wall, and the city will be taken by us." Ma Hou pointed to the city wall and exclaimed in surprise.

"Hahaha......" Niu Yonggui smiled even more heartily.

However, at this moment, the gate of the county seat was opened, and an army suddenly rushed out of the city.