There is no better way to buy people's hearts than to open a granary to release grain. Individuals like to take advantage of it. Although the autumn harvest has just ended and the government collects heavy taxes, the people still have some grain. When Li Jiancheng was ordered to open the Yongfeng warehouse to release grain in Li Yuan's Outside Fengcang, tens of thousands of people cheered and accepted the relief from the rebels. They were grateful to the general and captain Li Yuan. There were countless young and strong people who asked to join the rebels on the spot. They provided Li Yuan's rebels with a lot of high-quality cannon fodder. Li Jiancheng took the opportunity to announce some policies to buy people's hearts, such as light taxes and low corvee, in exchange for another round of cheers from the people receiving relief.
People's hearts are certainly available, but what Li Jiancheng and the rebel generals never expected was that although their move bought people's hearts, it also gave some ill-intentioned youngsters a chance to steal. Among the crowds of people receiving relief, several government and army spies in plain clothes were mixed in, and they took the opportunity to spy on a lot of urgently needed information. The designated rumors spread among the people receiving aid.
This cowardly spy was very unlucky. When he was spreading shameless rumors, he happened to meet a few honest people. Hearing his obscene words, he was furious. He first quarreled with him, and then punched him. The battalion didn't dare to act recklessly, so they could only run away, only to be caught by rebel soldiers even more unluckily, and then, under the report of those honest people, they were immediately beaten up on the spot by even more angry rebel soldiers After a while, he was escorted in front of Liu Wenjing, Sima of the rebel left-wing army who supervised the release of relief, and handed over to Liu Wenjing to deal with it.
The strange thing is that after hearing what the soldiers reported, Liu Wenjing not only didn't fly into a rage, on the contrary she turned pale with fright, and quickly ordered that the mouth of the hapless spy be gagged and sent to a secluded place for solitary confinement until she was free. Interrogated alone. It was also a coincidence that Chai Shao and Li Xiuning, who had been reunited for a long time, just came here to inspect the relief situation. They saw a commoner with a bruised nose and a swollen face kneeling in front of Liu Wenjing. Naturally, Chai Shao and his wife had to ask Liu Wenjing why, "Liu Sima, what happened?" Why did the people become like this?"
"No..., no..., nothing." For some reason, Liu Wenjing, who has always been articulate, suddenly became a little hesitant, and it took him a long time to explain: "This commoner spread rumors among the crowd, saying that after receiving our relief food, in the future He will be buried alive by the officers and soldiers, and discovered by our people, who suspect that he is a spy sent by the officers and soldiers, and bring him here for interrogation by me."
When he said this, Liu Wenjing's expression was obviously a little abnormal, and most of the rebel soldiers next to him also had strange expressions, and many soldiers secretly peeked at the heroic and charming Li Xiuning, but Chai Shao didn't notice these details, so he kindly said : "Liu Sima, if your supervisor is busy with relief work, you can hand him over to me, and I will interrogate him for you to see if he is a secret agent of the government and the army."
"No need!" Liu Wenjing stood up in shock, shaking her head and waving her hands in a hurry, and said repeatedly: "No need, no need, I'm not busy, I'm not busy, General Chai, Mrs. Li, if you have something to do Just go get busy, I have a lot of things here, too busy, I don't have time to accompany you, sorry, sorry."
"This Liu Wenjing, why did you say something so inconsistent?" Chai Shao and Li Xiuning looked at each other, unable to understand why Liu Wenjing was so nervous and contradictory, but it was inconvenient to ask more questions, so they handed each other goodbye and left the present room Chai Shao Turning around by chance, he was surprised to find that all the soldiers of the Sui Army around Liu Wenjing were looking at their husband and wife with strange expressions. Chai Shao couldn't help feeling suspicious, and secretly said: "Everyone around Liu Wenjing has problems?"
By the way, let me explain the fate of the hapless spy. When Liu Wenjing was interrogated alone, the hapless spy knew that once he confessed the truth, he would definitely lose his head—Chai Shao might even peel his skin with his own hands, so the hapless spy gritted his teeth. Became a revolutionary party, let the rebels torture you, just didn't tell the truth, insisted that he was a citizen of the neighboring Hedong, and came to join the army when he heard the news, and the rumors he spread were also heard among the rebels, and he was very bold Liu Wenjing expressed his willingness to identify those rebel soldiers who whispered rumors, but managed to save their lives. Liu Wenjing, who was afraid that things would become serious, not only did not dare to let him identify them, but ordered him to be expelled from the army immediately, and he was forbidden to stay in the Tongguan battlefield. A gag order was issued to all insiders, and no one was allowed to talk about this matter again—it’s just that there is no impenetrable wall in the world. God knows the problem.
While this episode was playing out, the main force of the rebel army was not idle. While rushing to build a large number of siege weapons such as trebuchets, ladder vehicles, and crash vehicles, they continued to dispatch toad vehicles to fill in the land that was about to be destroyed by rebel soldiers. However, no one expected that in the case of a huge disparity in military strength, Li Jing would boldly send a death squad out of the city to make a surprise attack, killing many rebel soldiers who transported soil to fill the trenches, and then robbed them. Withdrew to the pass before the rebels counterattacked, showing the rebels the courage of the Tongguan defenders who are not afraid of powerful enemies, and also sounded the alarm for the rebels, knowing that the Tongguan defenders will not just passively defend, but will still take the initiative to attack if they have the opportunity , forcing the rebels to allocate huge manpower and material resources to strengthen their defenses.
Li Jing's small tricks could not change the fact that the strength was disparity, nor could it change the determination of the rebels to take Tongguan. Li Jiancheng, the governor of the left-wing army of the army, came to the front line to command the siege, and sent envoys before the battle to surrender under the Tongguan city with a white flag in his hand.
"Stop talking nonsense, come here if you have the ability, unless your corpses are piled higher than the city wall of Tongguan, don't even think about stepping into Tongguan."
This is Li Jing's calm answer, the answer to the rebel envoy's surrender, Liu Gang's greetings to Li Yuanzu, and the sharp arrow shot by Zhang Jixun himself, which pierced the chest of the rebel envoy with the white flag in his hand. A roar like a landslide and tsunami sounded in the rebel formation. Seeing this scene, Li Jiancheng could only shake his head, and muttered that there is so much loyalty under the command of the virtuous brother, then he waved his hand and ordered: "Let's start."
The war drums sounded, and the brutal offensive and defensive battle equivalent to a meat grinder started again. The well-prepared rebels displayed various siege weapons including trebuchets, ramming vehicles, building vehicles and ladder vehicles. The offensive was very fierce. It's a pity that they ran into two stubborn opponents, Li Jing and Zhang Jixun. They used trebuchets to fight trebuchets, used nightshades and eye-piercing boulders to collide with city vehicles, and used rocket swallowtail torches to entertain building vehicles and ladder vehicles. Although the army had many siege weapons, they were still unable to pose a fatal threat to the Tongguan city wall. They still had to rely on flying ladders as the main force to launch an ant-attached siege with the lives of countless rebel soldiers.
Arrows and stones were flying in the sky, and huge and heavy siege weapons were burning on the ground. Amidst the flames and smoke, rebel soldiers marched forward with all kinds of siege weapons. On the wall, the rebel soldiers shouted and climbed up the ladder, densely covered the wall, the ladder was knocked over continuously, and the soldiers on the ladder were thrown backwards, and the soldiers on the ladder were constantly smashed down by falling rocks, screaming and falling into the crowd , The hot and smelly golden juice was poured on the heads of the rebel soldiers, and the scalps of the rebel soldiers were directly scalded everywhere, but the rebel soldiers who had an absolute advantage in strength continued to charge forward.
Finally, some rebel soldiers began to rush up the city wall, but none of these lucky ones could wait for their follow-up companions to catch up. They were already stabbed and chopped down by the wolves of the Sui Army soldiers, and they fell off the city wall. The rebels refused to give up and continued to invest in fresh troops to strengthen the attack, but it was still of no avail. There were still very few rebel soldiers who could successfully charge up the city wall, and even none of them could persist until their companions came to the city for reinforcements.
Seeing this scene, Li Jiancheng, the leader of the rebel army, was unavoidably anxious, and Chai Shao was even more anxious to volunteer to personally participate in the siege of the Ants. The words said: "The governor of the left, Mrs. Li, should let a general participate in the siege of the ants. After more than two hours of siege, there is no progress. Our morale has been a little bit exhausted. The general personally leads the ants to reinvigorate the city." Morale."
Chai Shao nodded his head and took the initiative to ask for Ying again, but Li Jiancheng still hesitated and did not agree—there is nothing more dangerous than ants attacking a city. An arrow shot by a small soldier may kill Chai Shao, Li Jiancheng's brother-in-law. . In the end, it was Qiu Shili, the famous general of the Guanzhong rebel army, who stood up and volunteered. Li Jiancheng nodded in agreement and asked Qiu Shili to lead his headquarters to attack the city and withdraw the exhausted army.
As the saying goes, there is no book without a coincidence, and it is a very coincidental coincidence that Qiu Shili personally led the army ants to attack the city. Although it did boost the morale of the rebel army, the most important thing is that in the blink of an eye, he did not know that the Sui army soldier had left. Shit luck, an arrow released casually happened to hit Qiu Shili's right shoulder, and passed directly through the shoulder, almost killing Qiu Shili. The injured Qiu Shili could no longer fight, and could only be Obediently escaped back under the cover of the soldiers. As a result, Li Xiuning had something to say, and said in Chai Shao's ear: "Did you see that? Do you think that the siege of Yifu is your past recreational shooting, and the danger is not great? As a general, participating in Yifu personally is not brave, but stupid. "
Chai Shao nodded, but He Panren over there said: "The governor, you have to send a general to go up. Brother Qiu's arrow was just a coincidence. We can't be so unlucky every time. Chai Changshi, didn't you just want to go up?" How about you this time?"
Chai Shao remained silent, while Liu Wenjing on the other side was full of suspicion, and quietly glanced at the tall and burly He Panren, and Li Jiancheng, who had already received Liu Wenjing's secret report, was also moved in his heart. I didn't care about it.
The brutal meat grinder-style battle continued. Although the defenders of Tongguan had not revealed any flaws to give the enemy a chance to break through the city, the disparity in their strength was too huge. There was very little rest time for the soldiers of the army, so in the afternoon, the Sui army gradually showed signs of fatigue after closing the door, and the number of new forces of the rebel army that could charge up the city wall increased significantly. Realizing this situation, Li Jiancheng and others were all overjoyed, and immediately set about arranging night battles, preparing dry food and torches.
The sudden cheers on the wall gave the rebels more hope. Hearing the cheers, Li Jiancheng immediately jumped up from his handsome chair. Liu Wenjing, Wang Changxie and other rebel generals also stood up and opened their eyes wide. Stretching his neck to observe the closing situation, he looked for the source of the cheers, but the rebel generals soon realized that the cheers were not a signal that the rebel soldiers had successfully ascended the city, but came from the Sui army defending the city. Immediately afterwards, Li Jiancheng, Wang Changxie and others saw in despair that a large number of new Sui army flags flooded the north and south cities of Tongguan, marking the arrival of Sui army reinforcements, and also signifying that the rebels wanted to wear down the Tongguan defenders with exhaustion. The dream was completely shattered.
The reinforcement Shuaiqi also appeared on Tongguan City, and the frontline generals sent someone to report that it was the Shuaiqi with the word "horse" written on it. Just as the rebels were racking their brains to recall that there was a general named Ma in Dongdu, they walked up the mountain. Jian Xiaolu's sentry work in the territory of Yan Township also rushed back and reported to Li Jiancheng: "I report to the governor of the left, the villain and others have already found out that it is the Eastern Capital Huyalang General Ma Sanbao who led the army to reinforce Tongguan, with a strength of about 10,000. around people."
"Ma Sanbao? How could it be him?" Li Jiancheng and Chai Shao and his wife were all tongue-tied. They never dreamed that there would be such a coincidence. The first support army commander sent by Dongdu happened to be Chai Shao who was expelled from the house back then. The horse three treasures
"Captain Zuo, what happened? You are so surprised, is this Ma Sanbao very powerful?" Hu thief He Panren asked curiously.
Hearing this question, Li Jiancheng and Chai Shao were both a little embarrassed and didn't answer. He Panren continued to ask, but Liu Wenjing who was next to him couldn't stand it anymore, so she hurriedly grabbed He Panren and whispered the general situation of Ma Sanbao in his ear. . As a result, He Panren was overwhelmed with surprise before he finished listening, and lost his voice: "This Ma Sanbao is the slave of Mrs. Li and Chai Changshi. He was kicked out of the house by Chai Changshi because he beat the third uncle of Chen Yingliang's dog official? Why is he now serving as a general under the command of Chen Gouguan, and even climbed to the position of General Huyalang?"
Li Jiancheng and Li Xiuning were even more embarrassed, but Chai Shao wanted to tear He Panren's stinky mouth apart. Liu Wenjing was also helpless, so she hurriedly said: "After Chai Changshi expelled Ma Sanbao, Ma Sanbao was homeless, and Chen Yingliang took him in under the guise of benevolence and justice Leaving him, leading him to fight in the north and south, Jigong has risen to this position."
He Panren finally closed his mouth, but his gaze towards Chai Shao became extremely strange, but it might be better for He Panren to say something directly, the more he looked at Chai Shao with such a strange gaze, the more embarrassed Chai Shao would be Feel ashamed.
At this time, the new force brought by Ma Sanbao had already joined the battlefield of the city wall, killing the rebel soldiers who had gradually rushed up the city wall, howling ghosts and wolves, rolling and falling countless times on the city wall, and at the same time threw a large number of swallow-tailed torches, killing those who barely approached the wall. The rebel ladder turned into a ball of fire, drew a strong bow and drew a sharp arrow, and the rebel soldiers in the city jumped and fell to the ground one after another. Seeing this scene, Li Jiancheng also knew that there was no hope of breaking through the barrier by force, so he could only shake his head weakly, and ordered: "Ming Jin, retreat."
The retreat gong sounded, and the rebel soldiers fled backwards, leaving corpses all over the ground, and dozens of large siege weapons that had been reduced to ashes or were still burning. The soldiers shouted with joy, and fired arrows harder to kill the rebel soldiers, and shot down more than a dozen rebel soldiers who were fleeing. It was not until the rebel soldiers completely fled that the Sui soldiers on the wall gradually calmed down.
"The enemy's reinforcements have arrived. It is almost impossible for us to break through the barrier head-on. We can only get up by chance." Shaking his head helplessly, Li Jiancheng turned to Chai Shao and Li Xiuning, and said, "Brother-in-law, third sister, you are familiar with Ma Sanbao's situation. Knowing his personality traits, is there any way to lure him out of the prison for a decisive battle?"
Chai Shao and Li Xiuning agreed, and while racking their brains, Wang Changxie pointed in the direction of Tongguan and said, "Look, what is that? What the hell are the officers and soldiers doing?"
Chai Shao, his wife and the others followed the sound and saw that a strange thing happened at Tongguan. I don't know who made the soldiers of the Sui army put down three straw figures. The people were tied together facing each other, hanging and shaking with a rope, and a straw man wearing ordinary men's clothes fell on the other side. Some Sui soldiers could vaguely hear shouting at the pass, but they were too far away to hear them. clear.
Chai Shao, his wife and most of the rebel soldiers were confused about this situation. They didn't know what the Sui army was up to and what tricks they were playing. Li Jiancheng and Liu Wenjing were also very confused at first, and then Li Jiancheng was the first to wake up and immediately She cried out in a low voice, "Not good! Something will happen!" Then Liu Wenjing's face turned pale, knowing that it would be difficult to deal with the aftermath.
Sure enough, someone from the rebel soldier who was transporting the wounded soldiers rushed back and cupped his hands to report the situation to Li Jiancheng. Immediately, he whispered a few words to the soldier and told him to rush back to deliver the order.
At this time, the grass man on the other side of the wall had been dragged up the city wall again, and a general of the Sui army stood beside the arrow pile to show himself, and seemed to shout something. Seeing this scene, Chai Shao, his wife and the rebels The generals were inevitably even more confused. Fortunately, another soldier rushed back to report soon. Li Jiancheng continued to let him listen to his ear to report. Claiming to be Ma Sanbao, saying that he had a relationship with Chai Changshi's master and servant, and would not use such low-handed means to slander Chai Changshi. The straw man thing just now was not his intention, and he didn't know it beforehand. He asked Chai Changshi to rest assured that he would I promise that what happened just now will never happen again."
Li Jiancheng nodded, issued a ban on the front again, and then ordered to retreat. Over there, Chai Shao, his wife and the rebel generals saw this series of strange things, and they were all extremely suspicious. When they asked Li Jiancheng curious about the situation, Li Jiancheng But he remained silent and didn't answer, just urging to withdraw the troops and return to the camp to rest, and then re-study the strategy of breaking the level.
At the same time, in the city of Tongguan, Li Jing and Ma Sanbao were of course complaining about Liu Gang's private actions and humiliating the enemy with such low-handed means, but Liu Gang retorted plausibly, "Soldiers never tire of deceit. On the battlefield, is there a distinction between superiors and inferiors? Chai Shaopifu was a traitor to the country and the emperor. When talking to him, he led the traitors to kill our soldiers. Why didn’t he care about the superiors and the inferiors? There are good ways to make the enemy fight without fighting, why not? I do this It is to repay the kindness of the king and the country, and is worthy of the conscience of heaven and earth, even if His Majesty the Emperor knows, he will definitely only praise me for doing a good job and doing it right!"
The erudite Li Jing and the eloquent Ma Sanbao could not refute in front of Liu Gang, and on the other side Zhang Jixun, who was loyal to Sui Yang Emperor, also echoed: "General Liu is right, he is right! To these traitors You traitors, don't be polite to them! General Liu, I support you, and I will work with you next time!"
Liu Gang laughed and shook hands with Zhang Jixun. Li Jing and Ma Sanbao shook their heads helplessly, looked at each other with wry smiles, and then Ma Sanbao asked, "Uncle Li, will General Liu's method just now be effective?"
"It's definitely effective, even if Chai Shao didn't hear the yells just now, it will be effective. There is no impenetrable wall in the world." Li Jing replied with a wry smile: "Such things can't be tolerated by a man, let alone Chai Shao's temper."
Recalling Chai Shao's violent temper and narrow-mindedness, Ma Sanbao smiled even more bitterly, looked helplessly at the direction Chai Shao left, sighed and said, "Mr. Chai, I'm really sorry, General Liu belongs to Daxing, the western capital, and Li and I Uncle belongs to Luoyang, the eastern capital, and we can't control him, all I can do is to stop spreading rumors."
As if there was a tacit understanding, Chai Shao, who was in the rebel army at the same time, also looked back at the Tongguan wall, wondering in his heart, and said to himself: "What does it mean that Chen's lackeys let go of those straw people just now? Three straw people, why are you here?" Two men and one woman? Why is one of the straw figures still wearing barbarian clothes? Still tied to that straw man wearing women's clothes...? Wait, barbarian, barbarian...?"
"Hu man?!" Poor Chai Shao finally came to his senses, and hurried to see someone in the army, but saw that he had a high nose, deep eyes, curly hair, and he was a typical barbarian bloodline! Thinking of the person closest to him, and forming an alliance with him to fight against the Sui Dynasty, Chai Shao's heart seemed to have fallen into an abyss, and his whole body became cold all of a sudden.
While his whole body was cold, Chai Shao suddenly found that there were many soldiers in the army secretly watching him, their eyes were all very strange, and many soldiers seemed to want to laugh but didn't dare to laugh. Then Chai Shao immediately remembered that he seemed to have seen such a reaction yesterday...