The remnant sun is like blood, after the war, the smoke of gunpowder has not dissipated for a long time, and countless sun, moon and star flags have been broken, but they are still flying high on the city.

Counting today, the Tang army has been besieging the city for five days.

Li Jinquan stood on the city tower, frowning and looking at the soldiers and people who were busy repairing the fortifications on the city walls, and his heart was restless. In the distance, the Bagong Mountain shrouded in the afterglow, at a glance, the lush grass and trees are full of Tang character military flags, and the camp of the Southern Tang Dynasty army has been continuously rooted from the mountain pass to the outside of Shouzhou City, in which the war horses can be faintly seen galloping back and forth, and the earth-shattering noise and dust that sometimes sounded, all this can not help but give people a great deterrent.

In the previous battle with Liu Renzhan in the south of the city, Li Jinquan received a report from the defenders in the city, thinking that the Tang army was attacking the city after going around, so he adopted the persuasion of Ming Hanrong, and hurriedly led the army back to the city, but later learned that all this was just a trick of the Tang army, in fact, the Tang army in the east of the city had already retreated, so he missed the great opportunity to annihilate Liu Renzhan's department, so angry that Li Jinquan directly beheaded several guards, and regretted it in his heart.

Since when Shouzhou City was empty, the Tang army did not attack the city with all its might, but only made a feint to rescue Liu Renzhan's troops, which at least showed that the main force of the Tang army had not arrived, so Li Jinquan immediately decided to send troops to Bagong Mountain and concentrate on eradicating the trouble by the pillow.

And at this critical time, Ming Hanrong appeared at the right time, and once again analyzed Li Jinquan, mentioning the appearance of Li Yuan and the defection of the Qinghuai army, and after some bitter persuasion, the commander who has always been suspicious quickly wavered, and it was difficult to guess whether it was a suspicious soldier or an ambush soldier of the Tang Army on Bagong Mountain, which made him unable to make up his mind.

But the situation waits for no one, and when Li Jinquan hesitated, it seemed to begin to take a sharp turn for the worse.

Ten days ago, at the foot of Bagong Mountain, which was only a stone's throw away from Shouzhou City, a large force of Tang cavalry suddenly began to gallop, which seemed to be a sign of reinforcements. After receiving the report, Li Jinquan no longer hesitated, and decisively ordered to abandon the two places of Gwangju and Luzhou, concentrate all his troops in Shouzhou City, and once again sent an envoy to Zhou to ask for help.

Seeing that the Tang Army's company camp gradually settled outside Shouzhou City, and when he brazenly launched an attack on the city five days ago, Li Jinquan completely woke up.

Although he was calm and calm on the surface, and even said to the generals and soldiers under his command that he would annihilate all the Tang army, he didn't understand in his heart that no matter how strong Shouzhou City was, it was just a city, and it could be defended for one day and a month, even if it could be defended for a year? What he wants to fight against is the entire Tang Kingdom.

Now that he is openly rebellious, how could Li Jing let him go? No matter how embarrassed the Tang State is, if it really tries its best to attack it, it will be tantamount to shaking a tree, and it will only be a matter of time before the city is broken. And what he did was definitely not to sit still for himself.

In this troubled era where the strong soldier and the strong man are kings, Li Jinquan has always firmly believed that only the power of the city is the most stable guarantee, and as for who is the emperor on his head, it does not mean anything to him. Since he rebelled against the Tang Kingdom, the only way to survive was the Zhou Kingdom in the north. As for establishing himself as a king, or hovering between the two countries, relying on the current strength alone, that is just wishful thinking.

At this time, Li Jinquan was quietly listening to the generals' reports on battle losses, and his heart became more and more tormented. In the past few days, the Tang Army's various siege methods, the rebels in the city have seen it, ants, rockets, stones, and even crossbows have been moved out, and the resolute attitude of the siege is staggering. The walls of Shouzhou are still strong, but the casualties of the soldiers in the city have exceeded 5,000.

Although the casualties of the Tang army must have been not small, Li Jinquan did not dare to take it lightly at all, and was ready to rotate attack and defend at any time, just because the opponent he had to deal with now was no longer the indecisive Liu Chongjun, but two famous generals in the world, one Li Yuan and one Liu Renzhan.

The tradition of the Tuyuhun tribe, Li Jinquan dare not forget, that is the admiration of heroes. Li and Liu joined forces, once they were a little careless, they would usher in the city and die, and everything would be empty.

"Dashuai, Zhou Guo is here!"

After Li Jin's body, Ming Hanrong, who was dressed in a black robe, hurriedly stepped on the stone steps, and said with excitement on his face: "It's not in vain that we have waited for so long, handsome, take a look!" As he spoke, he hurriedly presented a silk book in his hand.

Li Jinquan wanted to go down to the city to greet him in person, but when he saw this, he said suspiciously: "This is?" ”

Ming Hanrong smiled awkwardly: "The envoy came and went in a hurry, and he didn't stop after entering the city, but just left this silk book......"

Li Jinquan didn't think much about it, and took a look at it, the handwriting on the silk book was neat, just a few lines, in addition to commending Li Jinquan for abandoning the secret and surrendering to the court, it was nothing more than an official encouragement, giving the loyal army the title of the envoy and the history of Shouzhou, adding the right servant of the school, and serving as the envoy of Huainan to attack the Tang State.

I saw Li Jinquan quietly close the silk book, and then asked, "What else did the envoy say?" When will reinforcements arrive? ”

Ming Hanrong replied hesitantly: "This person, there are not many words, only that His Majesty hopes that the marshal will continue to hold on to Shouzhou, and after the army conquers Yanzhou, he will definitely go south to join our army......"

This Ming Hanrong is conscious, and the "Guo Wei" a few hours ago has now become the word "Your Majesty". And Li Jinquan obviously didn't pay attention to details, and he didn't have the patience at this time, so he directly slammed the silk book on the ground and scolded angrily: "Stick to it, in the end, it's just an empty word!" He Guo Wei just wants to wait for us and the Tang Army to be defeated and injured, so that we can sit back and reap the benefits! What kind of festival is made, Lao Tzu is not rare! ”

Regarding Li Jinquan's statement, Ming Hanrong knew that he couldn't deny it, after all, which emperor in the world would trust the generals who rebelled twice and held military power? just continued to arch his hand: "Also, the Northern Expedition of the Tang Kingdom has been defeated under the city of Xuzhou, and now it is isolated and helpless in Xiapi City, and it will be destroyed sooner or later." Dashuai, now the situation is only to belong to the Zhou State, there is no other way! ”

Unexpectedly, Li Jinquan was not half happy, and was still angry: "Fart's attachment!" What is the use of Zhou Guo not giving a single soldier? Even if the Northern Expedition of the Tang Kingdom was defeated, the Tang army under the city of Shouzhou had no intention of retreating! Han Rong, you have also seen in the past few days, the Tang army's siege momentum is becoming more and more fierce, and our army's casualties are increasing day by day! I only hate that Ben Shuai was negligent for a while, and actually let this important place in Bagong Mountain be occupied by the Tang army, so that its grain and grass can run freely, but our army can only be trapped here......"

Speaking of this, Li Jinquan suddenly clenched his knuckles, gritted his teeth and said: "It's better to let go of relying on others!" Ben Shuai will gather his troops and horses tomorrow and go out of the city to fight a decisive battle with the Tang Army! ”

"Don't be impulsive! This Shouzhou city is impregnable, with plenty of grain and grass, as long as our army holds on to the city, the Tang army can't help us at all! The Tang army has been attacking fiercely for days, don't they expect a quick victory, and the marshal went out of the city, didn't he fall for them? Ming Hanrong said anxiously.

"That's it!" Li Jinquan stared at the busy situation in the Tang army camp outside the city, and then spoke: "Pass on my military order, requisition men over the age of 14 and under 60 in the city, the young ones will all go to the city to defend the city, and the old ones will be used as soldiers to repair the city walls!" Those who dare to disobey will be beheaded! ”

Ming Hanrong hurriedly obeyed the order and turned around and went down to the city. After a while, heart-rending cries rang out all over Shouzhou City......