The barracks were in a large courtyard with seven or eight bungalows. Fan Botong led the two brothers to the door of a room, pushed open the door and invited them in, and said a little apologetically: "Our conditions here are too simple, so let's invite the two princes to take a break." When Li Zhiyun saw it, the room was about ten square meters, with two beds, a desk and chairs. The second brother nodded with satisfaction: "Not bad, not bad." ”

Soon after Fan Botong left, a soldier brought food. After they had eaten, it was dark. After a brief wash, the brothers lay down on the bed and rested all night.

The next day, after breakfast, the second brother went to Fan Botong to talk, and Li Zhiyun walked out of the yard alone and came to the street. After all, there are more than 1,000 households in Dongjiabao, and although everyone has come to take refuge, life has to go on, so there is an open-air market on the street. Judging from the goods sold in the market, the supply is quite sufficient. Also, so many people live in the castle, so it is natural to store enough supplies. After Li Zhiyun left the bazaar, he continued to walk forward, and suddenly heard someone shouting, "Big rice bucket." He turned his head and looked, it turned out to be Fan Shuxiang.

Fan Shuxiang was still dressed in military uniform, with a sword and a sword, and walked over with a smile. This girl is not like an ordinary woman from an official family, and she doesn't know much about etiquette. However, Li Zhiyun admires her martial arts. In his previous life, he liked to read martial arts novels and had an unusual liking for the maid, so he didn't mind her rudeness. He smiled: "Miss Fan, where are you going?" ”

"Go to the head of the city to inspect the city defenses, what about you?"

"Come out and hang out."

"Since you're fine, why don't you go with me to the city?"

Li Zhiyun agreed, and the two talked as they walked. Li Zhiyun said: "Miss Fan, your father named you Shuxiang, that's too funny." I see that not only does you not have the smell of books at all, but you are full of murderous energy. Fan Shuxiang didn't get angry when she heard this, but smiled: "You said it well, I like to fight and kill." My family used to open a martial arts gym and a dart shop, and my father thought that a girl was not suitable for learning martial arts, so he gave me such a name, and asked Mr. Jiaoshu to teach me to read and break words. But my brain is too stupid to read......

As they spoke, they climbed to the top of the city and patrolled along the walls. The circumference of the city wall of Dongjiabao is about seven miles, and there are corner towers built at the four corners. In the early years of the Sui Dynasty, wars were frequent, thieves swarmed, and the people built castles to avoid thieves in order to protect themselves. Therefore, there are many castles like Dongjiabao in various places.

Li Zhiyun walked to the battlements of the city wall and looked under the castle. It was good that he didn't look at it, but when he saw it, he couldn't help but "chuckle" in his heart, only to see that the group of enemy cavalry that had chased them yesterday had not left, but had been guarding the outside of the castle. Moreover, the enemy army seems to have increased, and in addition to the cavalry, there are many foot soldiers, and the whole castle is surrounded. Li Zhiyun originally thought that he would be safe when he entered the castle, but he didn't expect to be trapped here.

Li Zhiyun didn't have the heart to inspect the city defense with Fan Shuxiang, but hurriedly returned to the barracks. As soon as he walked into the courtyard, he met his second brother. As soon as the second brother saw him, he said, "Fifth brother, where have you been?" I'm looking for you. Pack up, let's get out of here. Li Zhiyun whispered: "Second brother, we can't leave." The second brother saw that his expression was wrong, and he was surprised: "What's wrong?" ”

Li Zhiyun explained the situation again. When the second brother heard this, his brows tightened, he pondered for a moment, and said, "Let's go to the city to have a look." Li Zhiyun returned to the city with his second brother. Outside the castle, the enemy forces increased again. In the distance, flags were waving, dust was flying, and a steady stream of enemy troops were heading towards this side. The enemy must have known that they were chasing a big man yesterday, although it was not necessarily clear that it was the commander of the Tang Army, but they must have known that it was an important general. Otherwise, they would not have sent so many troops in such a large number of places.

After Fan Botong learned of the situation, he also climbed to the top of the city. After he saw Li Zhiyun and his second brother, he hurriedly walked over and comforted: "The two princes don't have to worry, the enemy army can't get in!" ”

Fan Botong was born in a martial arts family, practiced good martial arts since childhood, and made a living by teaching martial arts and darts as an adult. After Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty was trapped in Jiangdu, the world was in turmoil, and thieves swarmed, and he also pulled up a team and started to rob houses. After Abba raised troops in Jinyang, he controlled the entire Hedong, he surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, and was appointed by Abba as the head of the Jiangzhou march.

The second brother turned his head to look at Fan Botong, and said a little apologetically: "General Fan, I'm sorry, it's our brother who has caused you trouble." Fan Botong said disapprenously: "Your Highness, what are you talking about?" As soldiers, it is our duty to kill the enemy in battle, and it is a big deal to die with the enemy! ”

By noon, five or six thousand enemy troops had gathered outside the castle, and there were only five or six hundred Tang troops in the castle, and with the organized strong men, there were only a thousand people. Soon the enemy began to attack, using wooden ladders, long wooden poles and planks to build bridges, cross the ditch outside the castle, rush to the bottom of the city wall, and build ladders to climb up the wall. The soldiers in the city threw stones and logs down, and the enemy screamed and fell down.

The city wall of Dongjiabao is about one zhang and five feet high, and the castle is stocked with sufficient materials to defend the city, so the battle is extremely fierce. Although the soldiers guarding the castle were very tenacious, due to the huge disparity in the number of our two armies, a section of the wall was lost after an hour. Hordes of enemies poured up at the top of the castle and opened the gates of the castle, allowing a large number of enemies to enter the castle.

When the castle was captured, Li Zhiyun was on the street. Since he didn't know martial arts and didn't have much strength, before the enemy began to attack, the second brother asked him to go back to the barracks and wait. When he went to Liyang Town yesterday, he didn't carry a pistol because he was going to play, so now he is a person who is powerless to protect himself. He was restless and anxious in the barracks, and at last he couldn't help it, and wanted to go to the city to check on the situation. When he walked out into the street, he suddenly saw a large group of soldiers in front of him, all dressed in vermilion leather armor. Isn't that the enemy? Li Zhiyun knew that it was not good, so he turned around and ran.

He ran along a fork in the road for a while, and when he turned back, he was relieved to see that the enemy had not caught up. However, as soon as he slowed down, he was confronted by another group of enemies, and he had to turn around and flee again. As he was running, an enemy soldier rushed at him, raised his knife and slashed at him, and at the last moment, an arrow "whish" through the enemy's neck. The steel knife in his hand slipped and fell to the ground.

Li Zhiyun turned his head and saw that Fan Shuxiang was standing ten steps away, holding a longbow in his hand. After she carried the bow, she ran over and grabbed his hand and said, "Quick, follow me!" Fan Shuxiang dragged him all the way, and from time to time he encountered scattered enemies on the way, but she repelled them with a sword. The two of them ran to a cyan brick building, and Li Zhiyun looked up and saw that it was a bell tower.

At that time, the night to tell the hour by the husband to watch, during the day by ringing the bell to tell the hour, this bell tower is Dongjiabao used to tell the time. The wooden door of the bell tower was locked, and Fan Shuxiang kicked the door open, and then pulled him and ran in. They climbed up the wooden ladder to the top of the building, where three enemies spotted them and chased them into the bell tower. Fan Shuxiang stood at the top of the stairs, and all the enemies who climbed up were stabbed to death by her sword.

Li Zhiyun was so tired that he almost collapsed, and he had to squat down and gasp for air. On the top of this bell tower, they are safe for the time being. However, the enemy has already stormed the castle, and sooner or later they will attack the bell tower as well. Thinking of this, Li Zhiyun couldn't help but feel extremely worried. He couldn't help but recall the situation when he and his third sister were surrounded by the Sui army in the mountains of Wugong County. At this moment, it is much more dangerous than then. It seems that this prince is not so easy to be, and he may face a sword disaster at any time.

He was thinking to himself when he suddenly heard a "rumbling" sound in the distance, like the sound of thunder, one after another, and it came uninterruptedly. Fan Shuxiang, who was holding a sword, looked up at the sky and said strangely: "How can there be thunder on this sunny day?" Li Zhiyun held his breath and listened carefully, and the voice came more and more clearly. He suddenly stood up excitedly and exclaimed, "That's right, it's the sound of cannons!" ”

"Cannon, what is a cannon?" Fan Shuxiang asked strangely.

Li Zhiyun didn't care about explaining, ran up and grabbed one of her hands, and excitedly said: "My new army is here!" We're saved! Fan Shuxiang's eyes widened in surprise: "Your army? Are you talking about the Tang Army? Li Zhiyun nodded, pulled her to the side of the bell tower, and looked into the distance. However, the bell tower is only three floors, and it is in the middle of the castle, so far from the city walls, there is no view of the outside of the castle.

There was another sound of footsteps on the stairs below, Fan Shuxiang thought that the enemy was coming up, so he hurriedly ran back to the side of the staircase, raised his sword to slash, and the people below shouted: "Miss, it's me." Fan Shuxiang looked at it and it turned out to be his own person. When the soldier climbed up, he said, "Miss, the enemy has retreated. When Fan Shuxiang heard this, he was a little disbelieving: "Really? The soldier nodded vigorously. Fan Shuxiang turned his head to Li Zhiyun and said, "King Chu, let's go down and have a look." ”

The three men descended from the bell tower and came out into the street. Sure enough, not a single enemy on the street was gone, only some Don soldiers were carrying the corpses. Outside the castle, the sound of "boom" was still coming. Li Zhiyun was eager to go to the city to see what was going on. He took Fan Shuxiang and ran up to the city, looked outside the castle, and saw that a large number of enemy troops had gathered in various places near and far below the city, and from time to time there were shells exploding in the enemy group, and the scene was very spectacular.

The battle lines of the enemy and us were four or five miles away. In the distance, a cloud of smoke rose up, and that smoke and dust filled the place that might be an artillery position. Due to the distance, Li Zhiyun couldn't see clearly, and could only see some vague shadows.

The second brother and Fan Botong walked over from the other side of the city wall with more than a dozen soldiers. The second brother saw Li Zhiyun and happily: "Fifth brother, this is your cannon?" Li Zhiyun proudly: "How is it?" Awesome, right? The second brother nodded with a smile and said, "It's not bad." ”