weaving

Hundreds of hungry civilians with sallow faces were groping forward cautiously under the threat of the bandits in Xiao Yunshan's camp.

They thought that after they filled the first trench, they could at least take a breath and have some food. However, they never expected that another military order came down and they could only go to the battlefield again with empty stomachs. Who made them soldiers of King Chuang?

Although these servants had the lowest status in the rebel army, they were also given the title of soldiers!

Only in this way could King Chuang force them to do the hard labor of digging trenches, and be cannon fodder of filling trenches and shoveling cities. Even in battles and sieges, they would be forced to go to the front line to die if they were given a sword or a gun.

  Because they are using their lives to exchange for their families’ three meals a day!

…………

Although King Chuang gained countless money and food after conquering Luoyang City, he opened the granaries and released grain, which really won the hearts of the people of Henan. Moreover, under the instigation of Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance, Li Yan and others, he began to have the idea of ​​becoming emperor and fighting for the world.

After that, every time he captured a provincial capital in Henan, he would take out a portion of the grain and fodder to distribute as relief in order to win the hearts of the people in Henan. However, the unproductive army of King Chuang grew stronger day by day, and its consumption of grain and fodder was also extremely alarming.

Therefore, although King Chuang's relief efforts continued, the amount of food and fodder released was constantly decreasing, and in the end it became just a formality.

After all, Henan was a province where drought and locust plagues were concentrated, and there were already starving people everywhere before King Chuang came. It was precisely because of this poor foundation that when they heard the news that King Chuang was distributing relief in Luoyang, they flocked there.

At the beginning, King Chuang thought that Henan was full of money and grain. He thought that with so many cities and prefectures, it would be enough for him to just break into a few of them. However, he never expected that each city was worse than the last. The more cities he broke into, the poorer they were, and the government granaries were almost empty.

Now Li Zicheng was determined to capture Kaifeng City. His biggest goal was to get the food and money in Kaifeng City. Because there was King Fu in Luoyang, there were countless amounts of money and food, and there was King Zhou in Kaifeng, so there must be countless amounts of money and food as well.

Although King Chuang's army has not yet reached the point where it needs to rely on the money and food in Kaifeng City to save its life, this is related to King Chuang's future development. He is counting on the money and food in Kaifeng City to further expand his power so that he can officially announce his intention to dominate the world.

Moreover, after breaking through Luoyang and capturing and killing Prince Fu, if he could break through Kaifeng and capture and kill Prince Zhou, then in the circle of bandits, he would be the big brother with absolute prestige and strength, and would be the only leader among many bandits.

…………

At this critical moment, the camp of the Yongyi Army was still silent, like a deserted dead camp. Even when the soldiers of the Chuang Army rushed through the passage over the trench cautiously, there was still silence.

The few servants walking in front had expressions of disbelief on their faces. They had half of their bodies bent on the ground and were crawling forward slowly and tiptoeing, as if they were afraid that any big movement would wake up the god of death.

After crawling forward about ten steps, he saw that there was still no movement in the government army camp opposite. At this time, a servant who was a little braver suddenly stood up. An older servant next to him wanted to pull him back but failed.

The servant stood up and looked across for a while, then suddenly whispered, "No one is here, the government troops have run away."

As he spoke, he waved his arms to encourage everyone to stand up. Seeing that everyone still looked unmoved, he couldn't help but show disappointment on his face. He no longer cared about others, but walked towards the low earth wall in front of him.

The servants stared at his moving forward figure as if they were watching a monkey show, but they did not notice anything unusual.

Gradually, a few more servants followed his example, stood up and walked slowly forward. Following their lead, the rest also crouched and moved forward quietly. Their speed obviously increased.

Seeing this scene, Xiao Yunshan, who was pressing from behind, was dumbfounded. He looked at Fang and muttered, "No way, did the government troops really run away?"

The distance of twenty steps was not long. The servant walking in front quickly came to the outside of the low wall. Although he was braver than others, he was not dumber than others.

When he came to the low wall, he suddenly rushed to the foot of the wall, crouched there without daring to move, and then put his ear lightly against the low wall and listened carefully.

The servants following behind him saw how cautious he was, and as they didn't know the truth, they all slowed down their pace unconsciously. Even the few servants who were standing upright and walking forward bent down.

Seeing this, Xiao Yunshan was about to shout at them to speed up, but he saw the fellow squatting at the foot of the wall suddenly jump up and climb over the low wall.

Everyone calmed down, and all eyes were fixed on the servant. Time passed by, but the servant did not show his head again.

But just as everyone was surprised, they saw a big hand suddenly raised high, and then half of the guy's body appeared from the other side of the low wall. He slowly turned around and waved his arms towards the crowd here, as if he was calling on everyone to rush over.

Many servants then breathed a sigh of relief. They looked at the people next to them, encouraged each other, and then rushed forward like crazy.

Seeing this, Xiao Yunshan also smiled happily and shouted: "Damn it, it's my fault for this achievement. Damn it, we only fired the cannon for an hour and scared away these bandits!"

"Liu Xingshan, take two hundred men and rush over to see if all the government troops have fled."

Xiao Yunshan was originally blaming Tong Shoushan for sending his team to take the lead, but now when he thought that he was about to take the first credit, he couldn't help feeling happy.

"Master... well... it seems... something is not right."

When Xiao Yunshan was feeling happy, the words of a personal soldier beside him made his face change color immediately. He waved his hand and hit the personal soldier's head hard, and said angrily: "Stinky boy, tell me...what's wrong?"

At the end, he added: "If you mess up my happiness, I will make your head explode!"

The soldier was frightened by him and trembled all over. He said incoherently: "That...that man...he..."

"He what?"

"He...he...his smile is so...so strange...it's like...like..."

"Fuck it, hurry up, like what?"

"Like...like...like a dead person!"

Xiao Yunshan was stunned when he heard this. At this moment, he suddenly remembered the servant's actions, which seemed to be a little unnatural. Anyway, he looked weird and uncomfortable.

Moreover, the soldier beside him was famous for his outstanding eyesight, so what he saw was naturally more real than what he saw. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but ask, "Can you see it clearly?"

As soon as he asked this question, he saw a series of changes occurring on the battlefield ahead.

Those guys who rushed to the low wall became silent after climbing over the low wall as if they were possessed by a demon, as if they had never appeared.

That unremarkable low wall seemed to have infinite magic power at this moment, constantly attracting servants and bandits to rush towards it. But once they really rushed towards it, it was as if they had gone to another world, and no sound came back.

However, the hungry civilians were so hungry that they didn't care about these things. All they wanted was to rush over so that they could go back to the camp to eat! As for what was behind that ordinary low wall, they no longer cared.

Even the two hundred bandits who kept pouring up behind them did not notice the changes in those who jumped over the low wall. They had also been hungry for a day and had lost the ability to think.

  In particular, every bandit soldier saw with their own eyes the first servant who jumped over the low wall and the gesture he made towards them. Didn’t that clearly indicate that there were no officers or soldiers behind the low wall?

They had already rushed through the passage over the trench and were chasing the footsteps of the servants in front of them, shouting and cursing at them, urging them to rush forward quickly and not block their way.

Xiao Yunshan is Xiao Yunshan after all. To be able to sit in the position of deputy commander of a battalion in the fiercely competitive Chuang Army, he must be a man of some ability. With the reminder of the personal soldier, he has discovered something wrong behind the low wall.

"Bang! Bang! Bang..."

There was a very rapid sound of musketry exploding, like firecrackers during the Chinese New Year, crackling non-stop. Although not very orderly, it was particularly rapid.

"It's over... It's all over!"

Xiao Yunshan could no longer see what was on the other side of the low wall. It was covered by a thick layer of white smoke and dust, which was beyond the reach of the naked eye.

In fact, Xiao Yunshan was not concerned about those servants. What he cared about were the 200 soldiers who rushed forward from his own camp. They were the foundation for him to gain a foothold in the Chuang army.

At this point, even the servants below were spreading rumors that "King Chuang was going to be the emperor." Of Xiao Yunshan's status, he naturally knew about this, and he also heard that after taking Kaifeng City, King Chuang would ascend the throne and become emperor.

Therefore, considering his own future, Xiao Yunshan now wants to both gain military merit and strengthen his own strength, so that after King Chuang ascends the throne and becomes emperor, he can create a good future for his family.

But now, two hundred vigorous and brave soldiers were killed at once. His heart felt like it was being stabbed by a knife. At such a close distance, there were such dense sounds of musketry. He watched with his own eyes as his men fell to the ground one by one.

Xiao Yunshan's mouthful of steel teeth made a clattering sound, which frightened the soldiers around him into silence, not daring to make any sound.

…………

"Yunshan, this is not your fault. It's just that the government troops are too cunning."

Tong Shoushan also rushed to the front line of the battlefield after hearing the news. Looking at the tragic scene in front of him, those rebel soldiers who were not completely dead yet were his subordinates the second ago, but now they were lying on the ground struggling in pain.

Listening to the screams and wails coming from the front, an unprecedented feeling of helplessness suddenly came over Tong Shoushan. He felt waves of sadness and his eyes were filled with tears.

However, what no one knew was that he was secretly shouting in his heart at this moment: "Fortunately, it is really fortunate. Fortunately, I am not the mortal enemy of Earl Yongning!"

Tong Shoushan could only use this method to secretly remind himself not to become complacent like a thief and forget his mission and his roots.

"General, I...I hate it. I want to kill all these evil officers and soldiers."

Tong Shoushan grinned miserably, but he still tried to comfort Xiao Yunshan, "Yunshan, it's never too late to take revenge. Anyway, he is surrounded by us, and I don't think he can escape."

At this time, Zhang Nai also came up and looked at the scene in front of him and said, "This group of officers and soldiers are really patient."

He went on to say, "The firearms battalion bombarded for almost an hour, yet they were able to maintain their composure and wait until our soldiers rushed close before they opened fire."

Zhang Nai turned his head and looked at Tong Shoushan, shaking his head and said, "Not simple, this group of government troops is not simple."

Tong Shoushan nodded and said, "It's really not easy. However, we have also gained something. At least we have found out that the government troops have about four to five hundred muskets on this side, which can be regarded as their bottom line."

"I just don't know if there are any artillery deployed!"

Zhang Nai was particularly concerned about whether the government army camp had artillery deployed. He could not calm down because he had never seen the government army fire artillery.

"We bombarded him like this today, but he didn't fight back. I don't think he has any guns."

As soon as Tong Shoushan finished speaking, he saw a personal soldier of Liu Zongmin riding a horse and informing him and Zhang Nai to go to General Liu's central military tent as soon as possible to discuss tomorrow's battle.

…………

On May 22nd, at the hour of You, the sun had already set, but the afterglow was still there, and the earth was still golden.

In the main camp of the rebel army south of the critical juncture, General Liu Zongmin was discussing military affairs with generals including Liu Tichun, Bai Minghe, Xie Junyou, Tong Shoushan, Zhang Nai, and Li You.

"Tong Shoushan, you are the main attacker, tell me what happened today."

Seeing that the general called his name directly, Tong Shoushan hurriedly clasped his fists and said, "Young Master Zhang has too many artillery pieces. We have to arrange and adjust the artillery positions one by one, and test fire. We were busy until noon. We fired for almost an hour, but the government troops didn't react at all."

"Oh!"

Liu Zongmin also had an expression of disbelief on his face, and asked, "No movement at all? Have you sent anyone to test it?"

"My Lord, I have discussed this with Master Zhang and both of us feel that it is a bit strange, so we sent hundreds of men to fill the trenches, but they only filled out seven or eight passages and there was no movement from the government troops."

Liu Zongmin nodded without saying anything, motioning him to continue.

"Seeing that the trench filling was going so smoothly, I sent Xiao Yunshan and his soldiers to rush in and see what was behind the earth wall. But I didn't expect..."

After listening to Tong Shoushan's report, Liu Zongmin was not surprised. He just asked, "You said the government troops have four or five hundred muskets?"

Tong Shoushan glanced at Zhang Nai and replied, "About the same, at least 400, no more than 500."

"The government troops have not fired any artillery?"

"No cannon fire!" (End of this chapter)