weaving

Chapter 984
Liu Guoneng clearly knows the situation he is in now.

Tens of thousands of thieves outside Ye County were besieged on all sides. With his two thousand officers and troops alone, it would be difficult to break through. Although defending the city is also very difficult. Also determined to fight to the death and wait for help.

However, he also knew that the people in the city might not be able to guard the city with him, so he issued a notice: If anyone dares to hook up with the thieves outside the city without authorization, the whole family will be beheaded!

At the same time, he strictly ordered the civilian soldiers and soldiers who participated in the defense of the city not to speak to the bandits outside the city.

However, the soldiers under his command were afraid that excessive persecution would stir up changes among the people in the city. Not to mention the opposite, it was even more likely that they would all die without a place to bury them.

Therefore, even if the people who participated in the defense of the city were found on the city wall, when they dared to chat with the bandits outside the city, they would just keep scolding and yelling, and even threatened to behead their heads, but they never drew out their waist knives. Sheath, didn't really move her hands.

In the morning of the next day, on the eve of when the rebel soldiers formed formation outside Ye County to attack the city, Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai also came to the moat at the south gate together, and ordered someone to shout for Liu Guoneng to come out and answer.

Liu Guoneng, the deputy general, was also on the city wall at this time, but he refused to show up because he didn't want to have anything to do with bandits like Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai.

Therefore, when the left and right relatives persuaded him to come forward to answer the question, and heard what Li Zicheng was saying, he said angrily to everyone: "What more can I say to the rebel?

Today's matter, if you can fight, you will fight, if you can't fight, you will die. Anyway, we have no friendship with the rebels in the past, and we can only fight to the death to serve the country. "

A relative was unwilling to reconcile, stepped forward and continued to persuade him: "General, although we are doing our own things, we are all from Yan'an Mansion after all, not to mention that the general, King Chuang, and Shuai Cao are all subordinates." Brother, there is always a little old love left.

Maybe they can still be grateful for the old friendship, show some loyalty, and let us live? "

After Liu Guoneng listened, he shook his head and sighed, "Don't say such stupid things again. I, Liu Guoneng, have been appeased by the court, and I am a king's minister. I drive with the rebels in cars and horses. Everyone does what they want, and they are masters.

Now that the differences are clear, the friendship has been severed long ago, and the grievances are met with swords and guns, what kind of loyalty will he say to my surname Liu when he waits for a thief! "

Another general also stepped forward and said, "General, even so, you have never harmed King Chuang and Shuai Cao. After we were recruited, we have never fought against them, and there is no hatred to speak of."

Liu Guoneng said with a sneer: "How come there is no hatred? Do you still remember that after the battle on Manau Mountain, I can no longer have any friendship with these thieves.

Although we were fighting the old thief Zhang Xianzhong at the time, Cao Cao and the thief were screwed together back then. Could it be that he doesn't hold grudges? "

At this time, another relative said in a puzzled way: "King Chuang and Xian Thief have always been at odds, and there is some suspicion. Even if we beat him Zhang Xianzhong, what does it have to do with him Li Zicheng?"

Liu Guoneng said with a sneer: "You are so confused! Although King Chuang and Cao Cao were at odds with the thief, they still had a grudge against me for being sincerely appeased by the court. Now they are wearing the same pair of pants and hate me. Don’t want to be a thief with them to the end.”

The relatives on the left and right were not reconciled, and persuaded him again: "During the battle on Manao Mountain, although Cao Shuai was twisted with the thief, but later the two of them broke up, and now Cao Shuai is working with King Chuang. together.

Cao Shuai had a good relationship with the general in the past. Today we are in a crisis, and he may be able to help us with a word. As long as Cao Shuai can make King Li Chuang suspend the siege and let go of a way out, we can try to escape the city.

As for whether this Ye County can hold on, it depends on their own fortune! "

Liu Guoneng sighed and said: "You are so confused! You can see that Cao Cao has completely obeyed the intruder today and is under the threat of the intruder everywhere. How can he speak for us?

Today's matter is to fight to the death and wait for help. There is no other good strategy. If the city defense is not good, once you are attacked by bandits and break the city defense, you can do what you want, but I am willing to die for the country, and I will never Be a thief for the bandit again.

Liu Guoneng will only be a loyal minister of Ming Dynasty in this life, and he will live forever! "

After he finished speaking, he glanced to the left and right again, stamped his feet hard, and said loudly, "Not firing the cannon yet."

The soldiers and generals gathered around him were still hesitating, Liu Guoneng couldn't help shouting angrily: "Hurry up!"

All of a sudden, the soldiers and generals didn't dare to hesitate any more, they took action one after another, and adjusted their muzzles to aim at the positions where Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai were.

…………

Li Zicheng, the Chuang Wang outside the city, saw the rapid movement of the muzzle on the city wall. He glanced at Luo Rucai beside him, and first waved his hands to ask everyone to avoid the artillery bombardment.

At the same time, he smiled at the people around him and said, "As expected!"

The crowd immediately followed him to hide behind the ruined house, and Li Zicheng shouted to Zhang Nai who was about [-] feet away: "Little Nai, fire the cannon and blast his mother!"

After all, the thieves started first, and the artillery on the Yexian city wall made a roar first, but they only hit two dilapidated houses outside the city, and did not hurt the thieves at all.

Zhang Nai's side had already repaired the fort at night last night, and at dawn, more than a dozen cannons had been fired, knocking down a corner of the tower and creating several craters of different depths on the battlements.

Now, the three cannons on his side were ignited almost at the same time, and the cannons roared and flew out quickly, hitting Ye County City.

Liu Guoneng saw only a flash of flames on the city wall, so he waved his hand, ordering everyone to disperse in all directions, and leaned over to avoid the cannon fire. As a result, both cannons hit the city wall, leaving only two people behind. A useless shallow pit.

However, a cannon jumped over the city wall, flew straight into the city, and fell into the house of a commoner in the city, causing a commotion of moderate size immediately.

Chuang Wang Li Zicheng stood under the city and ordered to continue firing more than [-] cannonballs before sending an order to temporarily stop the cannonballing, so as not to accidentally injure the people in the city.

At the same time, he also sent out cavalry to start along the south city, shooting arrows into the city one after another from all sides, and the arrows were tied with King Chuang's "Xiaoyu".

The content is written like this: King Chuang has made an announcement, and the army and the people of Yanger will obey it.Within two days, incense was offered to the city.The army did not commit any crimes, and saved the lives of the whole city.When the volunteers entered Ye County, they only punished the traitor general Guo Neng.

When the people in Ye County first saw the arrows shooting from outside the city, they rushed to avoid it.

Sure enough, after a while, there was a rush of horseshoes, and at the same time, a loud shout: "Everyone, wait, you must not pick up the thief's arrow, and those who violate it will be punished as a thief!"

But before Liu Guoneng's soldiers rode their horses to collect the arrows, some bold people had quietly put the arrows in their arms and hid them.

There were also some loud arrows that fell into some houses inside the city wall, and they also secretly hid them, so it was impossible to collect them all.

What's more, Liu Guoneng has only been in Ye County for more than two months, and his prestige has not yet been established. Although the people in the city are afraid of his soldiers, they do not obey his orders in private.

Soon all the officials and gentry in Ye County saw these Chuang Wang's "enunciation", and the above content was quickly spread around the city, and private discussions arose everywhere, which could not be stopped at all.

For a while, the people in Ye County were panicked, and the soldiers had no fighting spirit.

After all, even Luoyang, with high moats and deep moats, and sufficient food and soldiers, could not resist the attack of bandits, let alone a small Ye County, with only Liu Guoneng's more than [-] capable soldiers?
At the same time, the news that Xiangcheng of Linxian County was saved from suffering due to its surrender has also reached Yexian County.

It is said that Cao Sizheng, the county magistrate of Xiangcheng, called a meeting of the gentry in the city overnight after receiving the "enunciation" from King Chuang, but Zhang Yongqi's family refused to surrender, and the people did not stop him from fleeing the city.

There are even more rumors that after Xiangcheng Cao Sizheng personally surrendered to King Li Chuang two days ago, King Chuang did not send a large army into the city, only a few elites entered the city to maintain law and order, and there was not much killing or looting.

The gentry and the people in Ye County were willing to surrender to the bandits, and there was already a commotion everywhere, and Liu Guoneng naturally knew everything.

He hastily summoned several trusted subordinates to discuss countermeasures, but none of them could come up with any good ideas. Some even persuaded him very tactfully to leave the city and surrender, thinking that King Li Chuang would definitely not harm him because of his friendship in the past.

Liu Guoneng rejected the proposal affirmatively. After everyone withdrew, he stayed in the room alone and thought hard, but he couldn't think of any better way.

At this time, there was another rumble of cannons outside the city, and Liu Guoneng couldn't help heaving a long sigh. He hesitated around the pillar and said to himself, "Oh, I didn't expect that Liu Guoneng would end up like this!"

Just before noon, the officials, gentry, and elders of Ye County came to the gate of Liu Guoneng's mansion to ask for an audience. He ordered someone to welcome them into the conference hall to meet them. The atmosphere was deserted and awkward, but it was very different from when they first came. same.

He vaguely remembered that when he first arrived in Ye County two months ago, he set up his deputy commander-in-chief's office in this mansion, and it was also in this conference hall at that time.

In addition, just ten days ago, Liu Guoneng also called the local officials and gentry in this hall to discuss matters such as strengthening the city defense.

At the banquet after the discussion that day, the guests and the host had a good time. At that time, everyone thought that the intruder Li Zicheng would not come in person. Even if a small group of thieves came to invade, and happy that Liu Guo could bring 2000 troops, Ye County would be safe.

That night, the officials and gentry in Ye County were chatting and laughing even more, vigorously saying that Liu Guoneng's department was clean up, and the place was leaning on the Great Wall.

But once upon a time, who would have thought that the situation would suddenly change. Today, the hall is full of sad faces, and the atmosphere is extremely heavy. It seems that the city is about to be broken by bandits, and everyone is dying.

After the guests were seated, the leading gentry took the lead and said: "Now the officials, gentry, and elders of the city come to see the general, not for anything else, but to ask the general to try to save the lives of the officials, gentry, soldiers and people in my city."

Liu Guoneng naturally understood their intentions in his heart, but he deliberately said on the face: "This town is focusing on strengthening the city defense, defending with all our strength, and preparing to fight the bandits to the end.

The purpose is to preserve the wealth and lives of the officials, gentry and common people in the city! "

Another gentry then said: "Looking at the internal and external situation today, there are many thieves and soldiers, but I have few troops. I will never win a deadly battle, and I will never be sure of defending the city. If I stick to it, I will not only fail to protect the officials, gentry and people. , On the contrary, the city will be massacred.

Has the General ever thought about this? "

After Liu Guoneng heard the words, although he was very angry in his heart, he didn't show it on the face, he said impassionedly and loudly: "As a king's minister and a general, there is absolutely no reason for me to surrender to the bandits.

All I think about is how to hold on to the city and lead the soldiers to fight the thieves to the death. The town doesn't care about other matters! "

At this time, there was an older gentry who was originally a member of the county and had taught in other counties. Now he is at home. After hearing Liu Guoneng's words, he asked disapprovingly: "The general is one of his own. For the sake of the word 'loyalty', have you ever thought about the wealth and lives of the people in Hecheng?"

Liu Guoneng was speechless for a moment, he was stunned for a moment, then he sighed and said firmly, "As a general in this town, I only have three words in my heart."

The old Juren couldn't help but blurted out, "Which three words?"

"Not afraid of death."

Liu Guoneng, deputy commander in chief, had a resolute look on his face, and he emphasized three words firmly in his tone. Although his voice was not very loud, all the officials and gentry in the room could hear him clearly.

But today's goal has not been achieved, how could these gentry let him go?

I saw another gentry immediately said indignantly: "General, the three words 'not afraid of death' will involve the lives of the people in my city."

He stood up abruptly and shouted loudly: "Has the general forgotten the original meaning of 'love the people and protect the people'?"

Liu Guoneng was not frightened by him. Instead, he glared at him angrily and said in a deep voice, "This town loves the people, so it was ordered to station in Ye County. The soldiers under the command of this town have never disturbed the people for no reason since they entered the city. .

This... is obvious to all of you. "

Seeing that the atmosphere became tense, a gentry said, "The general has never disturbed the place when he came here, and he loves the people very much.

But today is different from the past, now the bandits are in great danger, for the sake of the people of the city, whether to surrender or fight, today must make a decision.

If you surrender, the whole city will be preserved, and if you fight, the whole city will be slaughtered.What is the general thinking? "

Although Liu Guoneng was very disappointed with them, he still insisted: "From the point of view of this town, Ye County can last for a long time, and the intruders will never stay here for too long."

Zhang Woyi, the magistrate of Ye County, didn't want to talk at first, but now the gentry couldn't persuade Liu Guoneng at all.

Seeing this, he had no choice but to say: "General Liu, please think twice. Right now, the soldiers have no fighting spirit, the people have no firm will, and the city is isolated without support.

This county is also an official appointed by the imperial court. If Chengfei comes here, he is naturally responsible for guarding the land. The general is loyal to the imperial court. Isn't this county not loyal?
The county was also born as a Jinshi. He read the books of sages and learned from Confucius and Mencius when he was young. The four characters of "loyalty to the emperor and love of the country" have always been kept in his heart since he was a child.

however……

However, now the people in the city are waiting to make a decision, and their safety depends entirely on the general. If the general and the county can take the safety of the people into consideration, temporarily surrender to the bandits and save the lives of the people in the city, It was a good deed. "

(End of this chapter)