Qi Lu informed Dao that it was useless, he drew his saber and shouted to all the soldiers in the hall: "The brothers have seen it, it's not that I'm unkind, but that Liu Gong is unrighteous and wants to live, follow me up and kill them!"

There was an uproar in the hall, and more than a dozen men drew their blades and rushed up the steps. They know that what Qi Lutong said is the truth, King Yan is not a good man and a woman, since ancient times, he has become a king and lost a king, and it is already a capital crime to follow Emperor Chongwen, if Emperor Chongwen is let go again, it will be a crime on top of a crime, and the nine clans will be connected. If you want to live, you can only take Emperor Chongwen and dedicate it to King Yan, which is not only innocent, but also has great merit.

The Pao Ze brothers, who were still fighting side by side just now, instantly turned into enemies, both sides raised their swords and spears together, roaring, roaring, slashing and killing each other like beasts, trying every means to kill each other.

The hand-to-hand combat with the white blades was extremely fierce, and at this time both sides had no armor, and the blades were wounded when they touched. Although Liu Li and the others were less than half of the enemy, they took advantage of it, the bluestone steps were 2 feet high, and Liu Li and the other 5 people stood on the steps condescendingly, and instantly cut the heads of the two enemies.

Liu Li and the others were back to back, blocking the door of the second hall. The Liu brothers are proficient in martial arts, deep in battle formations, and fast and fierce in their sword skills, needless to say. What is surprising is that the eunuch Wang Hui is holding the candlestick in his left hand and a chair leg in his right hand. He was tall and long-armed, and he was so condescending that 3 or 4 people couldn't get close.

The blades collided violently, blood and flesh splattered, and from time to time someone let out a scream of pain. Although the number of leopard Taowei was large, it was too crowded, and the people behind couldn't go up at all, and there were 7 or 8 people who met the enemy head-on, and Liu Li and others took advantage of the location, and for a time the two sides were inseparable.

Qi Lutong saw that he couldn't attack for a long time, and became anxious, after all, this is the office of the elephant taming guard Zuo Qianhu, in case Luo Hong still has someone left, and he rushed to hear the news, then the strength and weakness will be reversed, and he must fight quickly. Qi Qianhu shouted, holding the big knife in both hands, slashing Wang Hui's chest and abdomen, as long as he cut off one of the other party, there would be a gap immediately, and at least the backs of the two people would be unprotected.

Wang Hui's right chair leg was blocking a short spear, and when he saw the big knife coming, he couldn't avoid it, so he had to parry it with a candlestick. The big knife is made of refined iron, the knife is extremely fast, how to resist the thin candlestick, the big knife cut the candlestick into two sections, the knife is not stopped, along Wang Hui's right rib stroke, cut off a piece of meat on the waist and crotch.

Wang Hui shouted, flew up and kicked Qi Lutong's head, the six-in-one hat was kicked and flew up, Qi Lutong felt as if he had been hit by a heavy hammer, and fell backwards. At this moment, a black shadow beside him rushed over like lightning, and the long sword stabbed in the chest, it was Lin Yanghao!

Qi Lutong's center of gravity was unstable and he was unable to parry, and he watched as the long sword pierced through his chest, and he fell like a stone, and the sharp pain made him howl like a wolf. He finally understood that Lin Yanghao was still loyal to Liu Li, seeing that Liu Li was weak, he pretended to change the court, and then took advantage of his unpreparedness to suddenly attack and lay the victory in one fell swoop, this guy is so calculating.

Qi Lutong was not dead at that time, Lin Yanghao took a step forward, brandished his long sword and slashed downward, cutting off Qi Lutong's head. He reached out with his left hand, lifted Qi Lutong's blood-drenched head in his hand, and shouted: "Stop! The rebel Qi Lutong has been ambushed, who dares to force the king to commit a crime!"

The situation suddenly changed, and the two sides who were fighting to the death stopped one after another, and everyone looked at the head in Lin Yanghao's hand, at a loss for a while. Liu Guan, a tall and thin man, shouted: "Qi Lutong is dead, do you also want to accompany him to die? ”

A snake can't fly without a head, a bird can't fly without a head, and any team needs a leader. Without this man, they are a rabble, with different minds and unable to fight.

A leopard guard man threw his saber to the ground and shouted: "Tie up today's son to the king of Yan, what is the difference between this and killing the king?

Another man asked, "Gong Liu, are you allowed me to wait until I go back to Nanjing?"

Liu Li tore off his robe and wrapped up his wounds, and shouted in a deep voice: "Put down the blade and go and stay for yourself." The guy didn't hesitate to throw down his weapon and said loudly: "Fellow cannibalists, what is this?!"

Seeing that the general trend had gone, the Leopard Tao Guards surrendered one after another.

Liu Li bandaged his wound and said loudly: "Brothers, I am a man of my word, I am willing to follow me to protect Long Live, I welcome, I am willing to go home and live a solid life, and I am not reluctant." Although King Yan is violent, he can still destroy all of the 200,000 soldiers in the Beijing camp? As long as all of you don't leak tonight's events, who knows that you have escorted the present day? Everyone rest assured, it doesn't hurt to go home. ”

A military man strode forward and knelt down, bit his finger with his teeth, and swore to the sky: "Liu Gong, if I leak the whereabouts of the Son of Heaven Chongwen, I will let my whole body be like this, and I will die of inch-splitting." ”

A group of leopard Taowei men swore one after another, and to Liu Li's surprise, there were actually two leopard Taowei who volunteered to stay behind to protect Emperor Chongwen. The leopard Taowei man named Li Qiqian said: "I have been serving for a few years now, and I don't want to be a subordinate of King Yan, anyway, I am also a homeless and unemployed person, so I will sell this life to the son of Chongwen." ”

Liu Li said: "Okay! If you want to stay, rest here for a while, and if you want to go, go back, just before dawn to return to Nanjing." ”

The leopard Taowei men stood in a row and said goodbye to Liu Li and the others. Liu Li returned the salute with his fists, and the man who bit his finger said: "I don't have the face to say goodbye to Grandpa Chongwen, and Liu Gong will kowtow to Long Live for us to apologize." ”

Liu Li said heroically: "It's all wrapped up in Liu, the mountains are high and the waters are long, there will be a period in the future, and you will cherish it all the way." ”

The Leopard Tao Guard Han turned around and strode into the darkness. Liu Limu saw these people leave, turned around and patted Lin Yanghao on the shoulder, and said, "Good job." "I don't know, I thought that Lin Yanghao's rebellion was discussed by the two of them.

Liu Li looked at his team of only 8 people, almost all of them were injured, Wang Hui's injuries were particularly serious, and it was impossible to walk with Emperor Chongwen on his back.

He said firmly: "Brothers, you can't stay here, pack your things immediately." Liu Guan, long live on your back, Yanghao, you take care of Wang Hui, support each other with injuries, let's go to the stable. ”

There are elephants and good horses, and the group came to the stable, pulled out a war horse, struggled to jump on the horseback, and Liu Li rushed out of the left thousand households first.

Although the city of Nanjing is tall and strong, Emperor Shenwu still realized the weakness of the city defense, that is, the city of Nanjing is mountainous, east and west, and hilly in the south. In this way, once the city of Nanjing is besieged, the commanding heights around it will be mastered by the enemy, what if the enemy moves the cannon to the surrounding mountains?

So he ordered the construction of Waiguo City, including the surrounding mountains, and the expansion of the defense area, which was equivalent to making up for the weakness of Nanjing's defense. The outer Guo city wall is mainly built by using the loess of the hills outside the city, only a part of the city bricks are added in some weak defensive sections, and 16 city gates are opened, commonly known as "the head of the earth city". The outer Guo is claimed to be 180 li, and the brick part is less than 40 li.

The group rushed to Zhonghe West Street on the bank of the Qinhuai River, which is the avenue leading to the Nanguo City Wall. The streets were full of people fleeing, and the flow of people was very slow. The good sign is that there has been no movement in the direction of the upper gate so far, indicating that Luo Hong has not encountered the northern army, and Nanguo is still safe now. A group of people protected Emperor Chongwen and moved towards the city gate step by step.

Liu Li shook his horse's head and turned onto Gaoqiao.

Liu Guan squeezed to his side and said in a low voice: "Big brother, I took the wrong way, the bridge above is still 4 miles southeast." ”

The Qinhuai River passes through Nanguo, Nanjing, from the upper bridge to the upper gate, and from the high bridge to the high bridge gate. Liu Li and Luo Hong agreed to meet at the upper gate, and going out of the upper gate is the avenue leading to Moling Pass, according to this plan, Liu Li did go the wrong way.

Liu Li said in a deep voice: "I didn't make a mistake, your head is wrong." ”

Liu Guan was confused, and Lin Yanghao on the side said: "Liu Gong is very calculating, if those guys from Leopard Taowei leak our whereabouts, they will only tell King Yan that we go out of the upper door and go to the direction of Moling Pass." We now go out of the city from the Gaoqiao Gate, through the valley between Qinglong Mountain and Fangshan Mountain to Maoshan Mountain in the east. If King Yan pursued in the direction of Moling Pass to the south, we would have fought for a few more days. ”

Liu Li no longer minded Lin Yanghao's smart appearance, it was this clever man who saved the lives of several of them just now. He said in a deep voice: "Anything that three people know, it's not a secret, sooner or later three hundred people will know." There are more than 10 of them, even if they are all men who are true to their word, they will inevitably not leak it to their relatives and friends, and how many relatives and friends do they have? ”

Liu Guan said: "Then Luo Hong, aren't they... Aren't we trapping us?"

Liu Li said coldly: "We are running for our lives, not going on a safari, since ancient times, there have been dozens or hundreds of people gathered together to escape the pursuit?"

Liu Guan shook his head and sighed: "From the beginning, you didn't expect the upper gate to converge with Luo Hong, after dawn, the northern army entered the city in a big way, and they only had a dead end." ”

Liu Li said coldly: "From the day Luo Hong took over Emperor Gao's sword, he was a dead man, and he knew it himself. If they can hold off King Yan for a few hours, it won't be a vain death. ”

As they spoke, the group had crossed Gaoqiao and entered Zhonghe East Street, and the avenue leading to Gaoqiaomen was still crowded. Liu Guan asked again: "Since my brother doesn't trust those people of Bao Taowei, why do you want to let them go back? He made a slight gesture with his right hand around his neck.

Liu Li sneered: "If they were smart, they wouldn't go back, do they really think that King Yan can let them go?"

This time, Lin Yanghao couldn't figure it out, he asked, "How do you say this?"

Liu Li said: "If they go out of the city, sooner or later King Yan will know that they are the people around Emperor Chongwen, and he will definitely threaten and lure them with their families, and if King Yan can't find Emperor Chongwen for a day, their families will not have to worry about their lives, but what if they go back?"

This time, even Liu Guan understood: "When they go back, they will be useless to King Yan, His Royal Highness King Yan just uses their heads to establish authority, in this case, why should we create more killing karma, and our conscience is disturbed." ”

When I think of the separation between my brother and the Leopard Taowei brothers, it was so sincere. At that time, he also admired his brother's open-mindedness, and he killed you and me just now, and in the blink of an eye, he regretted saying goodbye, in fact, his brother sent them to death.

He didn't continue to ask another question in his heart, why didn't his brother leave these heroes behind, these people are good hands, and staying is a powerful help on the way to escape. He already knew the answer, and his brother said it very clearly, dozens of people could not escape, not to mention that these people might mislead the direction of Yan Wang's pursuit, and it was obviously more beneficial for the fugitives to let them go back to Nanjing.

But in order to reduce the goal, just watch these simple men send them to death, isn't this too harsh? Is my brother doing something wrong? Of course not, there is only one way to survive, but Liu Guan still has a heavy heart.

Lin Yanghao suddenly asked: "Gong Liu, only Luo Hong knows where to go next, if we are separated from Luo Hong, wouldn't the route arranged by Emperor Gao be... Isn't it broken?"

Liu Li said calmly: "Emperor Gao has helped us too much, and we can only rely on ourselves in the future." There is no unchanging plan in the world, and if Emperor Gao blindly sticks to the rules, he will not be able to accomplish such a great cause. ”

Lin Yanghao said, "Then where do we go next?"

Liu Li looked up at the sky, the moon was already tilted to the east, and it was already the fourth watch. It was early in the dawn of early autumn, and I was afraid that I might not be able to get out of the Gaoqiao Gate before dawn if I continued to rub it down, so he whipped his face and said heavily: "Let's go out of the city first." ”