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No matter how the left army outside the city clamored, Qin Mu ignored them and treated them as a group of mad dogs barking outside the city.
The general who commanded the 5,000 vanguards under the city was called Wang Yuncheng. He was once the garrison commander of Qizhou. When Zuo Liangyu was retreating from Xiangyang to Jiujiang, Wang Yuncheng attached himself to Zuo Liangyu and looted on a large scale. He and his deputy general Yan Mao broke Jiande, robbed Chiyang, and went 40 miles to Wuhu. They moored their boats at Sanshan and Digang, seized all the grain and salt ships to carry soldiers, and killed countless civilians. Their notoriety was known far and wide, and the two of them were collectively called "Yan Wang" by Zuo Jun.
Chongzhen ordered Zuo Liangyu to kill Wang Yuncheng, but Zuo Liangyu turned a deaf ear to him and sheltered him in the army.
Now Lü Daqi had no soldiers to use and could only rely on Zuo Liangyu, and he dared not punish Wang Yuncheng at all, which made Wang Yuncheng even more fearless.
As they marched south, they looted and plundered everywhere. The people of every prefecture and county they passed through fled for safety, fearing them like a tiger. Local officials dared not speak out, and would be insulted and beaten if they were not satisfied.
When had Wang Yuncheng ever been ignored like this? Unfortunately, his 5,000 troops came in a hurry and did not bring any siege equipment, so it was impossible to attack the city immediately.
But Wang Yuncheng could not swallow this anger. He was furious and ordered the army to cut down trees immediately, make ladders, siege vehicles and other equipment, and prepare for a full-scale attack on the city early the next morning. He secretly vowed that when the city was captured, he would kill all the Ganzhou soldiers in the city.
However, the next day, when Wang Yuncheng had built siege equipment and was preparing to attack the city, he suddenly received a report from scouts saying that Zhang Xianzhong's vanguard was less than 20 miles away from Yuanzhou, and that the enemy had twice as many troops as his, a total of 10,000 troops, led by the rebel general Hu Yansan, and were marching non-stop towards Yuanzhou.
Now Wang Yuncheng was in a dilemma. If he continued to attack Yuanzhou, Hu Yansan's army would probably arrive before he could capture Yuanzhou. This would be tantamount to seeking death.
If they did not attack the city, there were only two options left: one, to fight a battle with Hu Yansan's 10,000 rebels; two, to withdraw and let Hu Yansan deal with the Ganzhou soldiers in the city first.
But the problem is that if time goes on, Lü Daqi will arrive with his army, and by then Yuanzhou will no longer belong to Wang Yuncheng. Although Yuanzhou is not as prosperous as Nanchang, it is at least the gateway to Jiangyou, and there must be a lot of good things in it. He worked so hard to come here, but in the end he was unable to swallow the benefits. He was really unwilling.
Qin Mu stood on the tower, watching the helpless left army, and spit out a tangerine seed with a sense of satisfaction, just like a young man standing on the attic watching a big show. He said leisurely: "Guess, is Wang Yuncheng going to retreat? Or is he going to retreat?"
"Hahaha... Sir, I guess Wang Yuncheng has no choice but to retreat." Huo Sheng swallowed the whole orange in one gulp, and it went down his stomach without even swallowing it. "Sir, why don't we wait for Wang Yuncheng to retreat and have me chase him out of the city. I don't think he can still be so arrogant."
"If your skin is itchy, just rub the wall." Qin Mu said unhappily, "Don't forget your identity. We are also soldiers. How can soldiers fight soldiers? Unless they fight us first. Do you understand?"
"Sir, these bastards already shot arrows at us yesterday. Doesn't this count as attacking us?"
"Huo Sheng, how can you be so petty? People just shot a few arrows for fun, how can you remember this overnight grudge? I remember Hanshanzi once asked the monk Shi De: In this world, there are people who slander me, deceive me, insult me, laugh at me, look down on me, despise me, hate me, and cheat me. How should I deal with them? Shi De said: Just tolerate them, let them be, let them be, avoid them, respect them, ignore them, and see what happens to them after ten years! Listen, what a broad mind you have, Huo Sheng, do you feel a little ashamed now?"
"My Lord, I am deeply ashamed. Extremely ashamed."
The conversation between the two made Liu Meng, Su Jin and others stunned and they rolled their eyes.
However, Wang Yuncheng's reaction was somewhat unexpected. He did not lead his troops to escape, but retreated to the east of the city to dig trenches, rebuild the walls, and further reinforce the temporary camp that was hastily built yesterday.
When Wang Yuncheng had almost finished setting up his camp, Hu Yansan arrived with 10,000 rebels.
Ten thousand troops may not sound like a lot, but it is another matter when viewed intuitively. Standing on the city wall, Qin Mu could feel a slight vibration on the top of the city wall. He saw a huge torrent coming from the west, with smoke and dust rolling into the sky. The flags and rows of swords and spears were like a thorny jungle growing on the earth. The army had not arrived yet, but the noise was already overwhelming.
If ten thousand troops were so spectacular, what if there were two hundred thousand? Wouldn’t it be like a dark cloud pressing down on the city, threatening to destroy it
No wonder wherever Zhang Xianzhong's army passed, the officers and soldiers of Huguang surrendered or fled!
Without seeing the scene of the army rushing towards them like a monstrous torrent, everyone would scold the officers and soldiers for being cowardly for not resisting. This is somewhat like easy talk. When you really face this monstrous torrent, most people’s first thought would probably be: escape!
Although Hu Yansan's status in Zhang Xianzhong's army was not as high as that of the four great generals, Sun Kewang, Liu Wenxiu, Li Dingguo, and Ai Nengqi, he was also highly valued by Zhang Xianzhong because of his bravery in combat.
Zhang Qi was annihilated by Qin Mu among the 20,000 vanguards. The rebels who escaped described Qin Mu as having three heads and six arms and being extremely ferocious. The 2,000 Ganzhou troops were even called the "devil army" who killed people without blinking an eye and eat people without leaving any bones.
Hu Yansan scoffed at this. If a defeated army does not describe the enemy as stronger, wouldn't it make him look incompetent? He did not believe that Qin Mu was that strong, but thought that Zhang Qi was too incompetent.
He had already found out that Qin Mu had only a thousand men in Yuanzhou City. Hu Yansan did not take this small number of troops seriously. He only left two thousand men to guard Qin Mu. Then he immediately led his army to attack Wang Yuncheng's camp.
Hu Yansan did what he said without any hesitation, which made Qin Mu look at him with new eyes. Looking at the 8,000 rebels rushing towards Wang Yuncheng's camp like a tide, he sighed without any reason: "Damn it, we are despised."
Liu Meng replied in a rare moment of fluency: "That means the Jingguan we built is not tall enough."
"Okay, let's build higher next time."
"It would be great if we could put Zhang Xianzhong's head on top of the Jingguan."
Qin Mu and his companions looked relaxed. They chatted and joked while watching the two armies fighting outside the city, enjoying the pleasure of sitting on the mountain and watching the fight between two tigers.
Wang Yuncheng's camp was five miles away from the city. Standing on the top of the city wall, one could roughly see the situation over there, but the view was somewhat blurry. Qin Mu changed the subject and sighed, "Damn, what a great show, but it's a pity that I can't see it clearly. Why didn't I think of getting a telescope before?"
"Telescope? What is that thing your Excellency is talking about?"
"Don't ask anymore. Wait until I have someone make them. Then I'll give one to each of you."
As soon as Hu Yansan's rebels arrived, they launched an attack without even setting up camp. This was probably beyond Wang Yuncheng's expectations. His 5,000 troops had been working hard to build the camp and had just finished. He thought he could take a break, but he didn't expect Hu Yansan to be so murderous that he didn't even have to wait and see. He had no choice but to fight hastily.
From a distance of five miles, people were as small as ants, and no blood was splashed everywhere. But from time to time, there were puffs of arrows rising from the sky, as dense as flocks of birds flying across the sky, and bursts of shouting and killing came with the wind, like surging waves constantly hitting the cliffs in the distance.
Eight thousand rebels surged towards Wang Yuncheng's camp in wave after wave, as if they could break down the small camp at any time. The more Qin Mu looked, the more he regretted not getting the telescope out earlier. He looked at the scene five miles away with his naked eyes. Although he was standing on a high place, it was still quite blurry, like scratching an itch through a shoe, making him feel uncomfortable all over.
After a whole hour had passed, Hu Yansan's rebels still had not been able to break through Wang Yuncheng's camp. Seeing that it was already the hour of Yin, they had to retreat. Despite this, he still seemed to not take Qin Mu's troops in the city seriously, and retreated westward from a mile south of the city.
It's no wonder. If Qin Mu dared to leave the city, he would have gone out to fight when the two armies fought just now. At least that's what Hu Yansan thought.
Qin Mu stood on the top of the city wall and took a closer look. Hu Yansan's losses in this battle were not that great, with only about three or four hundred men missing. Wang Yuncheng's casualties must have been similar, because the morale of the retreating rebels did not seem to be very low, which showed that they did not suffer any great losses. On the contrary, they might have made a small profit.
Huo Sheng suddenly said, "Sir, why don't we attack the camp tonight and fight a night battle? We can see, but the enemy can't. Hehe, we can kill Wang Yuncheng and Hu Yansan in one go. Wouldn't that be great?"
"Pigsy, look in the mirror."
"My Lord, what do you mean?"
"Damn it, both sides are defeated, you are happy, but I have become a rat crossing the street, is it worth it? War is just an extension of politics, do you understand?"
"I am ashamed, extremely ashamed... (To be continued...)
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