Thief Emperor

Chapter 410 Qi Tiandeng Flying High

At the beginning, in order to gather the defeated troops under General Su, Li Yun led his troops into Luzhou, and successfully broke into the city of Luzhou, almost completely wiping out the rebels in Luzhou.

Moreover, in order to gather the rebels, Li Yun also ordered Zhao Cheng to stay in Luzhou for a period of time, posted notices to reassure the people, maintained the order and situation in Luzhou, and allowed Luzhou, which had been ravaged by the rebels, to barely return to normal.

Although Zhao Cheng did not have any outstanding performance or remarkable political achievements during the short period when he was in power in Luzhou, it was precisely because he did not make trouble, did not take bribes, and did not abuse the people that the time when Li was in charge of Luzhou became the best time for the people of Luzhou in the past decade.

This means there is no harm without comparison.

By the same token, in today's world, if you become an official at a local level, you don't need to be a great official, nor do you need to make great contributions to the people. As long as you don't make trouble or bully others, you are already a very good official for the people.

In addition, during the time in Luzhou, Li Yun actually saved many people from the rebels, including the young lady of the Lu family in Luzhou.

Miss Lu is still grateful for Li Yun's kindness, but she didn't know his real name at that time. Afterwards, she made inquiries from many sources and finally found out Li Yun's name.

Of course, the name she found out at that time was "Li Zhao".

Nowadays, Luzhou has basically been taken over by the Pinglu Army, but the Pinglu Army has just suffered a small loss in Yangzhou. In addition, after all the troubles in recent times, they are now short of money. After occupying the prefectures and counties in Huainan Road, they are bound to squeeze some oil and water from these prefectures and counties.

Moreover, the setbacks suffered in Yangzhou also needed to be vented in other states and counties.

Therefore, since the second half of last year, the people of Luzhou and all walks of life have had a hard time.

Although the Pinglu Army would not kill people indiscriminately like the rebels, they would not show mercy when it came time to take something, and would not be afraid to draw their swords if they encountered resistance.

At this time, the people of Luzhou were all angry but dared not speak out.

Now, as soon as Li Yun's army arrived, people came to visit immediately. Among them, the middle-aged man surnamed Lu was the uncle of Miss Lu who was rescued by Li Yun at the beginning.

The Lu family of Luzhou was once one of the largest families in Luzhou. However, when the rebels occupied Luzhou, only a few people including Miss Lu escaped from the Lu family of more than 300 people, while the rest were trapped in Luzhou city.

Fortunately, although the rebels were killing people everywhere at that time, they did not really kill all the members of the Lu family. Afterwards, when Miss Lu returned to Luzhou, there were still nearly a hundred people left out of the more than 300 people in the Lu family.

This old man was a citizen of Luzhou. When the Pinglu Army entered Luzhou, there were some conflicts between his family and the Pinglu Army. The result is self-evident.

Half of the family died at the hands of the Pinglu Army.

Su Sheng looked at the two men thoughtfully, and after assessing the situation, he asked, "How many soldiers are there in the Pinglu Army stationed in Luzhou City?"

The middle-aged man surnamed Lu bowed his head and said without hesitation: "General, about 1,500 people."

"One thousand five hundred..."

Su Sheng frowned slightly.

If what the man in front of him said was true, this number was indeed not small. With his five thousand soldiers, if he wanted to storm down fifteen hundred people, even if he managed to do so, he would probably suffer heavy casualties.

Su Sheng thought for a moment and asked, "How are you two going to help me?"

"General, just attack one gate of Luzhou City."

The middle-aged man surnamed Lu whispered, "I will think of a way to open another city gate at night. Before we do anything, we will use the prayer lanterns as a signal. When the prayer lanterns are raised, the people in the city will start to take action."

The so-called prayer lanterns are the Kongming lanterns in this world, except that there seems to be no Wu Hou in this world, so they are mostly used to pray for blessings from heaven.

Su Sheng narrowed his eyes, but did not rush to speak.

The Lu family member bowed his head and said, "General, I will go back to the army after I make the arrangements. If things don't work out, I am willing to die."

"Besides, Luzhou City is not particularly large. The general should have an estimate of how many Pinglu troops are in the city. Once the city gate is opened, the general will charge in. Even if there are ambushes of the Pinglu troops in the city, the general can at least escape unscathed."

Su Sheng rubbed his brows and said, "It seems that you have already discussed how to persuade me."

"It's true."

The middle-aged man surnamed Lu bowed his head and said, "When the rebels captured Luzhou, it was Envoy Li who saved Luzhou from the water and fire, and even saved my niece from the hands of the thieves."

"Luzhou is in dire straits now. If the general doesn't come, we will go to Nanjing and beg Envoy Li for help."

Su Sheng thought about it for a while and asked softly, "How long will it take you guys?"

"It can be as short as one or two days, or as long as three to five days."

Su Sheng nodded slightly and said, "Don't do it in the next one or two days. The earliest will be three days later. During these three days, I will focus on attacking the East Gate of Luzhou, and at the same time, I will place troops at the other three gates to wait for you to complete your task."

The middle-aged man from the Lu family and the old man surnamed Chen looked at each other, then bowed their heads and said to Su Sheng, "Just do as the general wishes!"

After that, they retreated one by one.

After the two men left, Su Sheng pondered for a moment, then asked, "Meng Qing, when Envoy Li rescued Luzhou, were you with him?"

Meng Qing thought about it and shook his head slightly: "At that time, the envoy only brought more than a thousand people to rescue Luzhou in order to gather... gather the defeated troops from the Central Plains who retreated to the south of the Yangtze River. He left in a hurry, and I didn't go with him at that time."

"But I heard that the envoy did save a lot of people in Luzhou." Su Sheng said "hmm", stood up and stretched his body, then walked out of the tent, looked towards Luzhou City, and said: "The siege will begin tomorrow."

"I will direct it myself."

Su Sheng’s thoughts now are very simple.

These two people who came to help on their own initiative can be trusted, but we cannot rely on them completely. We should fight them first and see what the Pinglu Army defenders in Luzhou look like.

At the same time, attack the west gate fiercely. If the people in the city really want to help, it will be easier for them to find opportunities to take action at the other three gates.

Meng Qing lowered his head and replied yes.

"Send someone else..."

"Rush to Jinling on horseback and ask Envoy Li whether he saved anyone from the Lu family. Report back to me as soon as you have any news."

Meng Qing lowered his head again.

"Yes!"

…………

The next day, Su Sheng's troops began the work step by step. The young general Su personally put on armor and went into battle. However, as soon as the shield soldiers entered the range of an arrow, they were forced back by arrows from Luzhou City.

Looking at the rain of arrows, Su Sheng had a blank expression on his face and shouted, "Shield soldiers, hold the front, keep pushing forward, keep pushing forward!"

He took a large shield, held it in front of him, and advanced towards Luzhou City little by little.
From the wooden shield, a "thump thump" sound kept coming. Some of the arrows were so powerful that Su Sheng felt he could hardly hold up the shield.

Taking advantage of the gaps between arrows, Su Sheng took the time to look at the Luzhou City in front of him.

In comparison, the Pinglu Army's weapons were obviously more abundant than those of the Jiangdong Army. At least when Li Yun was defending Yangzhou, he did not dare to waste arrows like this.

After finally advancing to the foot of Luzhou City, the rolling stones on the city wall fell down on time, accompanied by smelly gold juice and boiling oil.

Su Sheng did not intend to fight them to the death. After a stalemate under the city for a while, he ordered a retreat.

In this way, the pretense of siege lasted for three full days.

During these three days, Su Sheng's troops inevitably suffered some casualties, but a lot of Luzhou's city defense supplies were also consumed accordingly.

On the evening of the third day, Su Sheng ordered the troops to withdraw again.

At this time, the casualties under his command had approached 500, and the morale of the entire army was somewhat low.

After all, for most of the soldiers, this was their first battle. They fought so miserably in the first battle and suffered considerable casualties. Naturally, it was hard for these recruits to accept it.

While Su Sheng ordered the lighting of a fire and cooking, he inspected the army. Soon, smoke from the army's cooking slowly rose.

This is also a way to confuse the enemy, telling the enemy that the Jiangdong soldiers outside the city are no longer prepared to attack, at least today.

Soon, the sun sets in the west.

The sky gradually darkened.

As night fell, Luzhou City became quiet.

Apart from the chirping of birds and insects, there was no other sound in the night.

Even the moon was hidden behind the thick clouds, as if ashamed to see people.

At this time, a touch of fiery red slowly floated up from near the south gate of Luzhou.

The fiery red lights swayed all the way up to the sky, and they looked quite eye-catching in the silent night.

Not long after the sky lantern took off, the south gate of Luzhou creaked and was slowly pushed open by the people inside.

Almost at the same moment, Meng Qing, who had been lurking near the South City Gate, slowly stood up.

He was less than an arrow's throw away from the South City Gate.

There are less than 200 people around Meng Qing.

After he stood up, he strode towards the city gate without hesitation, his voice firm and excited.

"Follow me! Follow me!"

Meng Qing drew out the heavy sword in his hand, and charged forward with both hands holding the sword, shouting, "The city gate is open, occupy the city gate, occupy the city gate!"

(End of this chapter)