In fact, when Li Banghua and Xue Laoer began to persuade, Zhou Shixian had already seen the unusual movement in Pang Lun's camp in the east of the city through the telescope.

Therefore, what he said to Wu Xingye later was not at all that he was thoughtful and knowledgeable. It was just that after seeing the results, he went ahead and found a reason to explain it.

However, this reason is irrefutable, and the fact is indeed the case.

As the soldiers in Pang Lun's camp started to make noises one after another, and he himself felt that the Ming Dynasty was over, and the imperial envoys went south, there would be no shortage of gold and silver rewards, so he followed the trend and led his soldiers and horses, planning to "show off"

Show off your muscles and give the city's outdated "imperial minister" a show of strength.

After all, this group of rebel soldiers are the only remaining elites in the capital camp, and they still have battlefield experience. If they can avoid attacking the city, they will naturally not take this risk.

Besides, don’t you need equipment to attack a city, don’t you need preparations, don’t you need more soldiers and horses?

Not to mention artillery, they also had ladders, and they had no clue where to look for the crashed car. If Zhou Shixian hadn't been worried about the Shun army catching up and couldn't wait any longer, defending the city well would have been enough to make these people helpless and disintegrate on their own.

As Pang Lun led his troops to the city, Li Banghua, Xue Laoer, Zhang Hong, Wu Xingye and others were all speechless. Now there was no other option but to fight.

Moreover, they are not completely at a disadvantage. Although in addition to the troops and horses that protect the holy cavalry, there are only more than 250 men and horses that can be sent to fight in the city. However, the weapons, equipment, and soldiers are integrated, and the escort troops and horses under Zhou Shixian have all

An absolute advantage.

When Pang Lun was provoking the city, as long as Zhou Shi showed no weakness, other groups of troops would not dare to take the opportunity to attack the city. They would all wait until the winner was decided before deciding which side to stand on.

This is why Zhou Shixian chose to go out of the city to fight, but Li Banghua, Xue Laoer, Zhang Hong, and Wu Xingye did not stop him at all - they all knew what was thinking in the minds of these military leaders.

You must know that only military victory can bring political strength, otherwise all the so-called "strategies" and "means" are just fake.

This sentence is useful for the struggle between state powers, and it is also applicable to Zhou Shixian's current situation.

At this time, at the foot of Yongqing City, Pang Lun rode his horse to a place more than 300 steps away from the city gate. Looking at the "imperial envoy army" leaving the city, he couldn't help but feel a little surprised.

There are two ruthless characters like Zhang Hong and Wu Xingye in this army of imperial envoys. Naturally, their combat effectiveness will not be much worse. However, everyone is from the Beijing camp, and Pang Lun doesn't think the other party can be much stronger, so he

Those who dare to show off their power.

Of course, it was just a show of force. As long as old man Li was sensible and met his requirements, he would not actually attack the city.

Although Li Banghua had led the Beijing camp, there were indeed many people who favored him, but at the same time, there were also many people who looked down upon this civil servant. In this world, only knives are useful, what can a pen do?

And Pang Lun was the one who didn't give face. It was by relying on the knife that he went from a hundred generals to a "hero" with nearly a thousand troops under his command.

Well, it was because of the uneven distribution of the spoils that day. After he cut off a hundred bosses, Pang Lun was very impressed by the flattery he had given him, and he really felt that he had the potential to be a tyrant.

However, the soldiers and horses in the city actually dared to go out of the city to form an array, which was completely beyond the expectations of the huge hero.

But even if all the soldiers and horses in the city came out, he was not afraid. There were nearly a thousand soldiers and horses in the camp, and he brought out seven or eight hundred. On the opposite side, although the queues seemed more orderly and the armor was more complete, there were only more than two hundred horses.

.

Moreover, he still doesn't know what the virtues of the Ming army are and whether the old brothers on the opposite side can fight. When the time comes to attack, if he shouts twice in front of the formation, he is afraid that he will defect before the battle.

However, after Pang Lun looked at the escorting soldiers and horses in front of him who had all left the city, and then turned to look at the loose soldiers behind him and the dozens of thin horses beside him, he couldn't help but feel a little guilty.

Even though these soldiers and horses are officially under his control, after all, most of them are new recruits. Everyone gives him face and praises him as the leader. He should not ask for too much, lest he be backlashed.

After all, although Pang Lun is not a so-called "hero", he is still a veteran and has led dozens of people. He still understands this truth.

In fact, this was also an important reason why he wanted to lead troops to besiege the city and show off his power - it was just to accomplish something and enhance his prestige.

Moreover, if he can seize the opportunity to subdue the other four groups of defeated troops, whether he goes north to invade, or coerces the refugees all the way, and goes south to seek an official position, he will have more capital, and he will be able to play defense at some point.

Even as a general.

The famous so-called "Four Towns in Jiangbei" in history are based on this routine. It is hard to say whether there are two thousand elites under the command of Gao Jie, Liu Zeqing, Liu Liangzuo, Huang Degong and others!

This is why in the original history, after the Manchu army defeated Li Zicheng, Duduo was able to sweep across the south of the Yangtze River with only 20,000 bannermen and 30,000 traitor troops.

Zhou Shixian, who knew this period of history very well, naturally knew this. This was why he dared to go out of the city to fight Pang Lun, and why he had to take so much money with him on his escape.

If you don't train a strong army of your own, it will be useless even if you run to the ends of the earth. Nanming's military power is unreliable.

"Damn it, let's see if I don't kill you all today!" Pang Lun spat and said viciously.

"Brother, why don't you take advantage of this moment to rush up and kill them?" an officer next to Pang Lun said eagerly. He also felt that he had a great advantage and did not take the imperial envoy team in front of him seriously.

Similarly, all the other soldiers couldn't bear it any longer, and even rushed to the front, hoping to be the first to rush into the city and steal money and women.

At the same time, in the Yongqing County government office, Emperor Chongzhen, Empress Zhou, Princess Kunxing, and Princess Zhaoren, who had never shown up, were also frowning and looking nervous. Emperor Chongzhen was even more anxious and restless.

Princess Kunxing's eyes were full of worry. As soon as she heard the news about the rioters besieging the city, she began to worry about Zhou Shixian again, especially after knowing that the enemy was on the city wall.

But now I want to ask, but I don't know who to ask. No one in the county government seems to know what is happening on the city wall.

Princess Kunxing was thinking wildly when she suddenly heard the sound of hurried footsteps. A surprise flashed through her heart. She quickly looked up and saw Wang Chengen running in in a hurry. She almost stumbled and fell on the threshold.

I wanted to lift my foot forward, but then pulled it back.

Wang Chengen ran all the way back from the city gate. He was so tired that he was out of breath. He could only hear him saying intermittently: "No... it's not good, it's not good..."

Emperor Chongzhen stepped forward quickly and asked anxiously after hearing this: "What's going on on the city wall? The rebels have begun to attack the city?"

Wang Chengen took a breath, but he knelt on the ground, tears streaming from his eyes: "Hey, the prince-in-law, the prince-in-law, the prince-in-law, he took two hundred people and went out of the city to suppress the chaos!"

"Ah!" Queen Zhou stood up in shock when she heard this. They had just heard that there were at least two thousand rebels outside the city.
Chapter completed!