On the tower of Tanzhou City, as soon as the other party's military camp caught fire, Li Yuan and others had already found out. Everyone stood on the tower and looked at the fire in the distance, and saw that the fire would become a fire in a moment, and there was chaos in the camp opposite. Li Yuan was very calm, but Peng Qingying was surprised.

Li Yuan smiled and said, "Did you see it? I didn't lie to you, did I burn down the company camp? This is the big show tonight. The fire started in the other side's Zhongying grain and grass yard. ”

Peng Qingying asked in surprise, "How did Your Majesty know that there would be a fire in the other party's military camp?" When was this plan arranged? ”

Li Yuan said with a smile: "I will explain your doubts later, but at this moment, I have to save people, otherwise the person who set the fire will not be able to come out alive." ”

Li Yuan turned his head and ordered in a deep voice to the guards not far away: "Send a signal and order Wang Jingguo Zou Ping to lead cavalry and crossbowmen to meet Liu Chengwu and others to ensure that they break through safely." ”

Three signal flares rose into the air, and the three city gates in the north, south and east of Tanzhou suddenly opened. The cavalry of the Chu army, which had already been waiting in the square inside the city gate, rushed out of Tanzhou City from the three city gates, and after a while, 10,000 cavalry gathered on the battlefield outside the eastern city. Without delay, they rode their horses and charged in the direction of the opposing camp.

Soon after the cavalry was dispatched, Zou Ping led 5,000 crossbowmen out of the east gate and rushed to the enemy camp behind the cavalry.

Liu Chengwu, Zhang Yaoxian, and Li Zhong led hundreds of soldiers to rush to the gate of the rear camp that entered the front camp. The soldiers guarding the camp gate did not suspect it, and seeing that Li Zhong and others were burned, dozens of soldiers guarding the camp gate quickly opened the camp gate and let them in. At this moment, thousands of pursuers from the rear chased after them, shouting loudly towards the camp gate from afar.

"Stop them, don't let them in, they're arson! His Royal Highness King Huai has an order, Li Zhong, Liu Chengwu, and Zhang Yao are the enemy's first meticulous work, and there is no forgiveness immediately! No mercy! ”

The guards at the camp gate were a little dazed, and when they were surprised, Liu Chengwu and Zhang Yao knew that the matter was exposed, and they instantly became troubled, and they raised their knives and cut them.

Hundreds of men cut down dozens of defenders and rushed into the front camp, following the road between the tents and heading straight for the southwest corner of the camp. There was the direction in which his soldiers and horses were stationed, and a total of 8,000 soldiers and horses led by a dozen lieutenants under his command were ready to defect, and there would be enough men to break out of the front camp when they rushed there.

But at the same time, more than a dozen of Zhang Wenbiao's subordinates rode horses to convey Zhang Wenbiao's order to Zhang Gu, the former battalion general. Zhang Gu was shocked and angry, and ordered to intercept him in the midst of the scolding, and he was so angry that he ordered a siege and killing.

The horse's hooves were faster than their legs, and the news that Liu Chengwu, Zhang Yaoxian, and Li Zhong were the enemy's troops and arsonists quickly spread throughout the front camp, and at this time, Liu Chengwu and others were still more than two miles away from their camp in the southwest direction.

Soon, the blockade in all directions made Liu Chengwu and others fall into a heavy encirclement, and it was difficult for Liu Chengwu and others to break through the encirclement of tens of thousands of soldiers and horses no matter how capable they were. In desperation, Liu Chengwu and others desperately rushed to a small dirt slope in the camp, hoping to resist with the advantage of the terrain.

The angry Zhang Gu led his guards and horses to the bottom of the dirt slope, and raised his head and scolded Liu Chengwu and others on the dirt slope.

"Liu Chengwu, Zhang Yaoxian, Li Zhong, you three dog thieves who eat inside and out, the court treats you well, and you dare to betray the court and act as a traitor Li Yuan to burn the army's grain and grass. I have treated you well and treated you as brothers, and you dare to make trouble under my account. If you don't roll down and surrender immediately, you may be able to wait for the whole corpse. ”

Liu Chengwu poked his head out of the small slope, laughed and shouted down: "Zhang Gu, who do you call a brother and a brother?" Who are your brothers? You are an egg except for a surname? Besides, you don't want to think about who betrayed the court?

Li Congjia forced the first emperor to kill his brother, and the people and gods were angry that the position was not right! Now the real court is in Langzhou! The Tang Dynasty Chu State is the real Son of Heaven! Li Congjia is a usurper and a murderer who kills the princes, and he Zhang Wenbiao is also a rebellious minister and thief who has the ambition of a wolf to coerce the princes of the Son of Heaven, and you are Zhang Wenbiao's lackey. Who are you qualified to speak here?

You have to persuade Lao Tzu to surrender, Lao Tzu will give you a piece of advice, go against my Majesty the Emperor of Great Chu, and there will be a dead end! Those who know the current affairs immediately defected to my majesty, and Lao Tzu will protect you from glory and wealth. ”

Zhang Gu scolded: "The son of a bitch is still obsessed, and the gossip confuses the public, you are looking for death by yourself, so it's no wonder to me." I wanted to give you a whole corpse, but now Lao Tzu wants to break you into thousands of pieces. ”

Zhang Yaoxian also shouted loudly: "Zhang Gu, grandfathers have long planned to get out alive. If we die, you will soon be finished. You have also seen the methods of my majesty, don't say that there are 150,000 soldiers and horses here, even if it is twice as much, you are not an opponent. Acquaintances surrender quickly, and we can say a few kind words for you in front of Your Majesty, or we can save your life. ”

"Lao Zhang is right. I have something to explain to you. Tonight, all the supplies in the army's granaries have been burned by us. The mountain road leading to Jiangbei has also been destroyed by my Chu army. Now that there is no grain and grass to send in, and there is no food and grass to sustain inside, think about it, how many days can you still jump? If you don't surrender quickly, when will you wait? Liu Chengwu laughed loudly.

The soldiers besieged around the dirt slope heard it in horror. Liu Chengwu said that these were all blocked news, and the soldiers naturally had no way of knowing. But tonight there was a fire in the direction of the granary of the camp, and in the afternoon the army mobilized tens of thousands of people to go out of the camp to go to and from the mountain road, and the gods mysteriously did not know what to do.

Now judging from these two news, I am afraid that something really happened to the grain road. Liu Chengwu's words may not be full of nonsense, but they are really true.

"Brothers below, what I said is true, and you are still in the dark. The army was already out of food, and soon it could not stand it. What are you still doing here for Li Congjia and Zhang Wenbiao? He Li Congjia is a usurper traitor, His Majesty is the first general of the Tang Dynasty in the past, and he is like a god with soldiers, don't die for these traitors, otherwise you will definitely lose your life in vain! Liu Chengwu shouted loudly.

The soldiers looked at each other in horror, and some of them whispered to each other.

Seeing this scene, Zhang Gu scolded angrily at the soldiers around him: "What are you doing? What are you talking about? Do you believe the words of these three thieves? They were desperate and, and they didn't let me shoot them all. ”

The soldiers did not dare to listen, and a group of archers bent their bows and arrows and began to fire their arrows above the dirt slope. This small earthen slope was originally a raised place in the camp, and a lot of sand, soil and stones were piled up on this basis when the camp was set up, and it was used as a lookout in the camp and for wartime command.

There are many such high platforms in the camp, which are used to watch and guard and for the generals to stand on them to give orders during wartime. Therefore, these dirt slopes were not completely defenseless, and a half-man-high sand wall was piled up at the edge, leaving an up-and-down earth staircase, which could be defended by archers and pikemen on the earthen platform in case the enemy army assassinated the commander of the general.

At this moment, arrows are coming like rain, and this simple fortification can also be used as a shelter for Liu Chengwu and others. However, the area above the earth platform is too small, Liu Chengwu's men have hundreds of people, and they can only hide more than 300 people where they can safely hide the arrows, and the remaining 200 people can only be crowded next to them, and they can't be completely sheltered.

Liu Chengwu, Zhang Yaoxian, and Li Zhong hid next to the dirt steps in the southwest corner, they had tried not to take up too much space, so that Li Zhong hid in the innermost, Liu Chengwu and Zhang Yaoxian shrank outside, blocking the arrows with the blades in their hands. The brothers around him were shot a lot, and the screams were endless, but there was nothing the three of them could do.

"Brethren, there is no way, I can't save you. You go on the road first, and we will come to you in a moment, and we will pull a few cushions to accompany you. Liu Chengwu sighed.

The soldiers who were hit by the arrows knew that there was no way out, and many of them had arrows on their bodies and did not die for a while, and the pain was unbearable, so they wiped their necks themselves. There are also some who simply jump over the edge of the earthen platform, trying to kill one or two people on their backs, but the moment they jump, they are dismembered by the knife.

After a few rounds of arrows, the soldiers below began to approach the steps on the southwest side of the platform, intending to attack and kill them all. Liu Chengwu looked at it on the sandbag, and said with a wry smile: "Lao Zhang, Brother Li, I'm afraid I won't be able to escape today, and I'm going to explain everything here, don't you regret it later?" ”

Zhang Yaoxian smiled bitterly: "What do you regret? In fact, my brothers and other brothers were attached to the rebels before, although it was a helpless move, but I am sorry for the Tang Dynasty and sorry for the first emperor, I should have died a long time ago, and I have earned more than half a year, and I have also taken a concubine and got a son in this half a year, Lao Tzu is enough. ”

Liu Chengwu laughed and said: "Lao Zhang, you are indeed enough, but unfortunately the one in my family is a tigress and does not let Lao Tzu marry a concubine." I knew this was the case, I didn't listen to her, at least my good little flower in Qingxifang, Jinling, was going to marry home. ”

Zhang Yaoxian laughed when he heard this. Liu Chengwu looked at the silent Li Zhong and said, "Brother Li, are you afraid?" It's hurt you, you also waded into this troubled water, we are all cheap, you are different, you are a Jinshi, and now it is a pity that you have broken in vain! ”

Li Zhong shook his head and said, "What are these words?" How is this called wading through muddy waters? I'm not afraid, don't forget, although I am a scholar, I have also practiced martial arts and swords since I was a child, I am not afraid of death! Studying hard in the cold window but there is no way to serve the country, what is the use of asking for this Jinshi fame? Today, I will also kill a few people. ”

Zhang Yao first picked his fingers and praised: "Brother Li is the toughest reader I have ever seen. Although I am a rough person, I also know Brother Li's name and your masterpiece. The song 'Grace will be repaid during the reward period, is it a suicide life.' Excalibur rushes into the sky, who is uneven! 'It's really imposingly written. Sure enough, the poem is like his person, Brother Li abandoned the official sword and went to the world, good backbone, good momentum! We warriors were all enthusiastic when we read it. ”

Li Zhong shook his head and smiled bitterly: "What is this?" A person who is really like Emperor Li Yuan of Chu is born to win all battles, this is really powerful. In the past, when I saw it at the Yangzhou Poetry Society, his literary talent was also extremely extraordinary, and compared with his all-round talent in civil and military affairs, it was simply insignificant. Hey, I thought I could see him this time, and I thought about asking him for advice, but unfortunately I didn't have the chance. ”

Liu Chengwu smacked his lips and said, "It's a pity." Otherwise, the two of you will be very close to each other when they meet. Anyway, Your Majesty said that he would send troops to the rescue, why didn't there be any movement, the fire in the camp was so lively, Your Majesty wouldn't be invisible. ”

Li Zhongdao: "Just now I seem to have seen a signal flare from the city. Don't you see? I don't know if it's a signal to come to our rescue. ”

Liu Chengwu and Zhang Yaoxian were stunned for a moment, and asked in unison, "When was that?" ”

"Even when we rushed to the back camp gate, you were busy killing people, and you probably didn't pay attention." Li Zhongdao.

Liu Chengwu and Zhang Yao glanced at each other first, and both showed surprised smiles on their faces. Liu Chengwu shouted: "Great, it should be Your Majesty who sent troops to save us." Haha, maybe we don't have to die here, we don't have to fight hard, hold the slope here, drag on for a while, and the rescue may be there soon! ”