Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

The first year of Jianwu in Qi Dynasty and the first month of the third year of Xuanhe in Song Dynasty.

Emperor Zhao Ji's edict of guilt was issued from Jiangning Prefecture, along with an edict to dismiss Zhu Zhen and his son from their posts and to abolish the Suzhou and Hangzhou Yingfeng Bureaus. Naturally, the "Huashi Gang" that was deeply hated by the people was also clearly notified to the southeast to stop collecting it.

The three edicts were issued simultaneously and spread to nearby military states and counties within a few days. The people were so happy that they cried. Many people ran around to tell each other and celebrated. Rich families bought firecrackers and set them off with a crackling sound.

For a while, there were constant noises everywhere, giving a feeling of New Year's Eve. Tong Guan, who had been preparing for a long time, also showed his claws towards Fang La in the south.

This time when he went south, Tong Guan transferred all his usual generals and troops. Xin Xingzong and Yang Weizhong of the Western Army led the Xihe troops, Liu Zhen led the Jingyuan troops, Yang Keshi and Zhao Ming led the Huanqing troops, Huang Di led the Fuyan troops, Ma Gongzhi led the Qinfeng troops, and Ji Jing led the Hedong troops.

Liu Yanqing, a general who commanded six armies in history, was directly thrown by Tong Guan to serve under Xin Xingzong to make amends for his crime.

Just as Tong Guan had deployed before, Wang Bing led Wang Huan, Xin Xingzong, Yang Weizhong and other generals of the Western Army to take the eastern route, while Liu Zhen led the Jingyuan troops to join Yang Keshi and others to go west.

The two armies advanced simultaneously, allowing the local people who knew about the situation to move their homes away immediately. It would be a bit unworthy if they were robbed by these bandits before Fang La arrived.

At the end of the first lunar month, Wang Bing passed Runzhou and entered Changzhou. Shi Sheng from Suzhou had just assembled his troops at that time and did not dare to confront him, so he quickly led his troops to evacuate towards Xiuzhou.

Fang Qifo, who was named the great general, was frowning at Jiaxing.

hum-

Arrows that blocked out the sun rose into the air and collided with the arrows that were shot down. The arrows with flames pierced into the wooden tower on the top of the city, and immediately black smoke rose.

"Put out the fire!" a hoarse shout was heard, and many young men in ragged clothes came running over with basins of water and sand, put out the fire that had just started, and then ran away in a hurry.

Extending forward from this line of defense, the rebel soldiers who were lacking in armor and manpower charged forward fearlessly. Many generals of all ranks with colorful ribbons tied on their heads led the way and bravely attacked the city wall in front of them.

The flames destroyed two of the four towers. The broken charcoal-like buildings emitted bursts of smoke. A crossbow had been shot too many times and its bowstring had broken in two. Craftsmen carrying replacement parts were sweating profusely as they repaired it under the cover of shields.

From time to time, an arrow would fly by with a sharp sound, causing the busy figure to shiver, and then speed up his movements.

After several days of continuous fighting, Wang Ziwu lost a lot of weight, but his hand holding the knife was still steady. He kept running back and forth on the four sides of the city walls, commanding the soldiers to fight in an orderly manner and in formation. As time went by, the small formation composed of several people gradually became dilapidated, but they were still able to firmly occupy the place.

The Pofeng Knife was knocked out of his hand, and the sound of killing footsteps came from the left. Qian Zhenpeng, who had just climbed up the city wall, spat and did not dare to be stubborn anymore. He dodged the stabbing spear and jumped backwards. He put his hands on the wooden ladder twice to stop his falling momentum a little before landing heavily on the ground.

"Dead bird catches the knife!"

Bai Yanshou shouted, and Qian Zhenpeng instinctively turned around and saw his commander throwing the fallen Pofeng Knife towards him. He quickly reached out to catch it, but before he could say anything, he felt something was wrong above his head and blocked it with the knife in his hand.

when--

"what--"

His wrist was bent by the huge force of the blow, and a stone as big as a human head hit his head with a bang. The brave Qingxi young man suddenly saw stars and stepped back repeatedly. A hot current flowed down from the top of his head and quickly entered his eyes, making everything in his sight turn blood red.

"Let's go——"

A roar was heard, and then a strong force pulled his arm back, "bang, bang--" a beam hit the place where he had just stood, making the person who was pulled away break out in a cold sweat.

"...Damn it." Qian Zhenpeng cursed and tried to stand up straight. His head was dizzy and he felt a little stagnant. For a moment, his legs were out of control.

Bai Yanshou, who was dragging him, yelled, "Cover!"

A soldier of the Righteous Army ran over holding a wooden board to block the arrows. The commander dragged his men forward with difficulty, cursing angrily, "You... you have fought so many battles but you are still not careful. Now you are beaten in the head, you feel good now, right?"

Arrows flew over his head in a disorderly manner. Qian Zhenpeng smiled bitterly. Now he was dizzy and unable to speak, so he could only let others scold him.

The square battlefield stretched for several miles. The roar of more than 20,000 people shook the entire sky. The rebel army led by Zhang Jinren and Gao Keli suffered setbacks at the other two gates. The front line of the fierce battle was in disarray. The two men were so anxious that they shouted repeatedly and led their troops forward personally, but they still could not climb up the wall of Jiaxing.

In the sea of ​​people, the tall Bei Yingkui was panting and holding his spear, with his other hand holding a shield casually placed at his side. An arrow shot towards him from the air, but he stood still and watched it fall into the ground.

My arms felt so heavy that I could hardly lift them. The sounds of shouting, yelling and screaming in my ears were almost turning into a vague bass.

Blood mixed with sweat, wet hair stuck to his forehead. The strong man took a breath and let out a wild cry, "Ah——" "We have been attacking the city for three days, but we are still lingering outside the city. How can we be worthy of the thousands of heroic souls who died!"

With a ferocious face, he raised his spear and said, "If you are a man, charge with me again and kill the dog official above!"

Hundreds of people around him screamed upon hearing his words and struggled to stand up with all their might. It seemed as if their tired bodies were injected with new energy.

Then they followed Bei Yingkui and ran away. They were one of the first teams to follow the former to attack Hangzhou. The prosperous city of Hangzhou had been captured, but this small Jiaxing hindered their progress. Isn't it ridiculous?
Those on the city wall are just some sheep that have eaten tiger's gall. Once their gallbladders are taken away, they will become lambs to be slaughtered.

After several hours of fighting, some of the tens of thousands of rebels fell to the ground, and the rest took turns to fight forward, running wildly across the ground with rumbling sounds, and under the cover of door panels, shields, and homemade regimental shields, they launched another charge towards the city wall.

"kill--"

The footsteps and shouts were like huge waves sweeping up. The next moment, the figure in front raised a shield above his head, and his comrades behind him opened their mouths wide, with white saliva hanging from the corners of their mouths, their eyes red, and followed closely behind with machetes and spears in hand.

Whoosh whoosh—

The rain of arrows arrived as expected. The figure holding the shield stopped at the moment of falling. Many rebels following from behind swarmed behind him. As the arrows rose high into the sky, they began to fall down at an accelerated speed, and blood flowers bloomed in the crowd.

A hard arrow pierced through some old wooden boards. The man holding the shield below screamed as he was stabbed in the arms and thighs. When he could no longer hold on, more screams rang out around him.

However, this is just a drop in the ocean. If you raise your sight, the rain of arrows shot over is like raindrops falling into the sea, splashing ripples but still unable to stop the rolling waves.

The surging waves hit the city wall, splashing blood-red waves, and the stiff human figures fell down, stirring up even louder shouts and continuous crashes.

The arrows shot and stones thrown by both sides instantly knocked down countless figures. A brave figure jumped onto the top of the city wall from the wooden ladder, and while shouting, he stabbed a spear into the mouth of the figure on the top of the city wall. Then he was stabbed by more spears, and was hung on the top of the city wall before being picked up and flew away.

"Send the message to the front not to retreat easily, hold on for me!"

Fang Qifo rode on his horse, looking at the city that looked like a reef from afar. His beard on his chin kept trembling. He waved his hand and gave an order to the messenger beside him: "Go and find out if there are any civilians nearby. Drive them forward in the next round. Unless the people on the city walls are made of rocks, otherwise it will definitely shake the morale of the army."

These people did not have much psychological burden about driving the people to attack the city. Fang La's development was fast, and many people were forced to do so. The meaning of their existence was to consume arrows and enemy physical strength for the elite troops in the army. If they could kill one of them, it would be a huge profit.

The reason why he didn't use it at the beginning was that Fang Qifo thought that with his 60,000 troops at his disposal, it would be a piece of cake to take Jiaxing. However, he didn't expect that he was blocked here for three days and couldn't make any progress.

This is the last resort.

After a moment, the messenger disappeared nearby. Fang Qifo looked into the distance, and the figures running on the top of the city wall were reflected in his pupils. He tapped the sword hanging on his waist with one hand and murmured, "It's been delayed for too long..."

The sounds of shouting and killing continued to be heard.

……

The cold wind blew, and the sleeves of the clothes swayed along with the branches. A few birds flew over, looked at this place, and then suddenly turned and left.

"Fang La's army is not strong enough..."

Shi Qian, who was also looking into the distance, stood on the treetop and slid down swiftly, mumbling something. The sailors around him came over and said, "Shi Sima, what happened?"

"It's a lively fight, but not much to watch." Shi Qian spread his hands and said, "I just watched people sacrifice their lives to fill the gap, and there was not even a splash of water." Two of the five sailors who came with him were old men from the mountain. Hearing this, they laughed strangely and said, "We may be caught up by the government troops. It's not fun to just keep fighting here."

Shi Qian shook his head: "Seeing them everywhere in the mountains, I'm afraid they are not afraid of the government troops. But with so many people, there is no way to figure out their internal situation... Hmm? Wait!"

Then he turned his eyes, stroked his long beard with one hand, and narrowed his eyes slightly: "Those damn devils went north from here to inform the government troops, which means that there are still government troops nearby."

The five sailors were stunned for a moment, then nodded in sudden realization.

"Let's go and find them first." Shi Qian clenched his right fist and smashed his left palm: "Fang La still has a way to sneak in, but they are different. The rats in the sewers are the most annoying."

He was about to leave when he suddenly stopped: "Wait a minute, I'll go to a higher place to take a look."

The five naval soldiers raised their heads, retreated, and then put them down again, looking up at Shi Qian who climbed up the tree in a few "swishing, swishing, swishing" steps. They looked at each other and stood below waiting for him.

It didn't take long before the flea on the drum slid down the tree smoothly. A sailor who saw it couldn't help but touch the bark with his hand, probably wondering why the tree was so easy to climb.

"Don't touch me. This skill of a man was acquired by being beaten with sticks. If he couldn't get up high, he would be beaten with a stick. If he made a little noise, he would be beaten with a stick again. Do you think this is a game in the countryside?"

Shi Qian looked at his actions and scolded him with a smile: "I just took a look and have some ideas about a few places. Let's go and take a look."

At that moment, six figures jumped into the forest and disappeared.

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……

"This bandit army is no good!"

Similar words came out of different mouths. Wang Xun squatted on a distant hill and looked in the direction of Jiaxing. He was eager to try, but he suppressed his urge and spat to the side: "Let's not talk about how we can't take Jiaxing with so many people. We have been observing the same place for three days and found nothing. Don't the enemy troops have scouts?"

"The vanguard overestimates them." The deputy general laughed at the side and said, "These rebels were once common people. It's good enough that they have some courage. How can they know how to judge the terrain?"

Wang Xun nodded, then stroked his chin: "I don't know when the army will arrive, they should have arrived in Jiangning Prefecture by now."

The deputy general calculated the time and nodded: "It's almost time. If we move quickly, we should have set off."

Wang Xun said "hmm" and didn't say anything else. He just stared at the Shura-like scene in the distance without much expression on his face.

The hilltop suddenly became quiet. Some of the Song army soldiers hiding behind the trees and rocks closed their eyes to rest, while others gathered together and talked quietly.

The young general who was looking far away suddenly stood up and stretched his neck to look forward: "It's just past noon, why did the enemy army retreat?"

In the distance, a huge open space appeared in the direction that was originally covered by the crowd, and then receded like the tide. Faintly, the sound of a gong was heard, making the vanguard of the Song army feel as if a cat's paw was scratching his heart, making him feel very itchy.

"What happened?"

The sound of talking to oneself was blown away by the wind.

……

a moment ago.

Under the banner of the Yongle Army.

"No?!"

Fang Qifo's eyes bulged, he jumped off his horse, and grabbed the messenger who reported back: "There are dozens of villages near Jiaxing, can you tell me if there is a single villager?"

He was tall and strong, and the soldier was thin. Once he was grabbed, his whole body was suspended in the air, with only his two feet half an foot off the ground and shaking constantly.

"General, General, I am telling the truth." The messenger waved his hands in the air like a chicken. "I and several of my comrades asked the former commanders and they all said that there are only a few people in the village here, and the few remaining people were chopped off because they angered them."

"No one... No one..." After muttering to himself, Fang Qifo's eyes widened suddenly and he threw the soldier in his hand out.

"Ouch——"

The person who fell to the ground held his butt and groaned.

The figure standing under the big banner suddenly looked towards the Jiaxing city wall: "Fortify the city walls and clear the fields! This Wang guy is quite capable."

Then he waved his hand and said, "Send the order! After noon, another group of people will come up."

Dangdangdang——

The sound of the golden bell echoed in the sky, and the retreating figures were cursing, with occasional voices of "Where is the doctor? Is there a doctor!" and "Who is the doctor, save my brother!"

Suppressed crying was heard in the crowd. Someone shouted "Brother——" and then burst into tears. It was so heartbreaking that it was heartbreaking to hear.

Fang Qifo stood there expressionlessly, not disappointed as he watched the retreating army. The rebel army grew too fast and was full of all kinds of people. He didn't have time to select people one by one, and the court would not give them time to train them. Therefore, they could only be sent to the battlefield to fight. If you survive, you are a soldier, and if you don't survive, you are consumables.

And if you can survive three major battles, you are an elite.

Now there are only a few thousand of these elite troops, and they are all his favorites. Even if they are blocked by Wang Ziwu outside the city, he is reluctant to send them up.

Let's wait and see. It's already been three days. There's no point in being anxious. We might as well just treat it as a training exercise.

Thinking of this, the big man climbed onto his warhorse, pulled the reins and rode away to the rear.

The expressionless guards behind him followed calmly. They didn't know what the general was thinking, they only knew that they enjoyed following him and killing officials.

……

"...let's go."

Wang Xun turned around and went down the hill first. The deputy general called out to him, and the hiding figure slowly retreated, going down from the back without attracting any attention.

The young vanguard officer walking along the way also looked relaxed. Although it was worth being happy that Jiaxing had not fallen, it was a fact that the number of enemies and us was far greater than that of each other. With such a gap in numbers, it was only a matter of time before the city fell.

Should we send someone back to urge them...

He rubbed the hand guard with his hand, feeling the cold and hard touch of his fingertips, and finally shook his head. He had already sent people back. It would be useless to urge them again and again. Instead, it would cause his own army to misjudge the situation here.

Since Wang Ziwu can still hold on...

Let's wait a bit.

The retreating Song army did not notice that a head popped out from behind the trunk of a thick tree not far away.

Shi Qian squatted at the root of a thick tree branch, holding the rough, cold bark with one hand and pinching the thin beard on his lips with the other hand, white air wafting from his lips: "I found you."

Then he waited until the figures in front of him were all gone, then he slid down the tree and walked to where the army had just passed. He lowered his head, looked back, and stood up to chase after them. (End of this chapter)