Since crossing the river, the special combat troops have lost only more than 60 troops, but they have completed the blows against the local defenders and grain transport teams in Jiangyou area, and the loss of more than 30,000 troops and horses. The Jingwang army has lost more than 20,000 troops.

On the ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, all the special troops except the scouts gathered in Maoxian County, with 3,200 troops. Liu Yu left the five troops of Lianhusheng to guard Maoxian County, and led the other five troops to march towards Lianzhou on the same day. Before that, Liu Yu ordered the more than 1,000 captured King Jing's army to be dismissed on the spot.

Because this trip was extremely ostentatious, the Huai Army cavalry led by Huaji'an in Lianzhou had long received news that they could withdraw before Liu Yu led his army to Lianzhou. The prefect of Lianzhou and part of the troops stationed in Lianzhou were also fled first, resulting in the entire Lianzhou being unprepared. When the bandits arrived, the gate of Lianzhou was closed and the bandits fired a round of guns below to intimidate them. The garrison troops in the city who had time to escape opened the city gate and offered the city.

The county and city were lost by bandits. This was the first time since the founding of the Dashun Dynasty. It was sensational, especially a strategic city like Lianzhou.

Lianzhou is the northern gateway to the Jiangyou area. It has developed water and land transportation. It can go east to the direction of Jiankang City, the capital of Huai, and north to the hinterland of the Central Plains. The idea of ​​withdrawing troops in Huaji'an is very simple. I don't want to lose troops and generals for Prince Jing for no reason. I want to withdraw from Huai and cooperate with the defenders of Huai to completely block this group of bandits from outside the Huai area.

Originally, Hua Ji'an thought that if this bandit entered Lianzhou, he would have rested for a few days. If it was a real bandit, it would definitely rob. If it was really related to the court army, the next target of this bandit would either be to reinforce Xuzhou in the north or to go east to the rear of Huai Di. Now the main forces of the Huai Di are all in Jiangbei, and the defense force of Huai Di is weak.

But on the night of the ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, Hua Ji'an, who was on the way to withdraw, received the latest battle report, saying that the bandits passed Lianzhou City and did not enter and rushed south quickly. Their approach was the direction of the capital of Jingdi Yingzhou. Do they want to break through Yingzhou in one fell swoop?

As the capital of King Jing, Yingzhou is larger than Xuzhou City, regardless of population or city wall. A Xuzhou City has made nearly 100,000 Huai Army Northern Army unable to advance or retreat. Now, only three or four thousand bandits have the intention of attacking Yingzhou. Perhaps the leader of the bandits has not encountered great resistance along the way. He is too confident!

Hua Ji'an immediately realized that this was an opportunity to wipe out the bandits. With his calmness, he couldn't help but want to surround the bandits' retreat, cooperate with the King Jing's army inside and outside, and eliminate all the bandits under the city of Yingzhou. The opportunity was fleeting, Hua Ji'an sent a large number of whistle horses to find out the news. While stopping retreating, he followed the bandits, not too close, and the two sides were more than 100 miles away, so that the Huai Army would not be suddenly attacked by bandits.

But Hua Ji'an underestimated the speed of the bandits' advance, and the 350-mile journey from Lianzhou to Yingzhou. The bandits finished their journey overnight. When Hua Ji'an received the battle report from the front line at noon on the tenth day of the twelfth lunar month, the bandits' vanguard army had already launched an attack on Yingzhou City since the morning of that day.

"Although King Jing is in his twilight years, the army in Yingzhou is above 30,000, and 30,000 attacks 30,000. What is the idea of ​​the bandits?"

Hua Ji'an has rich combat experience and has many wisdom and tricks. This battle has exceeded his knowledge from the beginning, and no military book will record such a horrifying way of combat. If you marching quickly and overestimate yourself, Hua Ji'an thought carefully, it is a blessing that the bandits were not annihilated by the Huai Army in one fell swoop. The biggest purpose outside the city is probably to fight reinforcements. That is, the four thousand elite cavalry of the Huai Army led by him.

Thinking of this, Hua Ji'an was more cautious and his marching speed gradually slowed down, trying to avoid leaking water. He did not give bandits a chance to attack suddenly.

But Hua Ji'an didn't know that Yingzhou City, which was first taken, was experiencing a siege that would be unforgettable to the whole city's defenders and the people. The fierce battle and the casualties of the defenders were also unexpected by the military and civilians of Yingzhou City.

This starts from the morning of the ninth day of the twelfth lunar month.

This year, not only did the emperor die, but drought occurred in Guanzhong, but floods also occurred in Jiangnan. The floods in Jiangnan were mainly in the area of ​​Jing, which is the Jianggan area. Originally, King Jing also wanted to withdraw food to provide relief to the victims, and the food reserved in Jingdi was sufficient in the past year. However, because the Huai King suddenly raised troops to rebel, King Jing needed to fulfill his promise to transport food as military rations. In addition, military rations were repeatedly hijacked, so the local disasters were not alleviated five months after the flood. Many victims gathered under the city of Yingzhou, Jingdu, and relied on the porridge farm that only opened once a day to receive porridge to survive.

The advantage of Jiangnan over Guanzhong is that the vegetation in the south of the Yangtze River is that it has lush vegetation and no water shortage, which makes the victims of disasters unable to live, but they have been bark outside Yingzhou City for nearly half a year, leaning against leaves, bark, wild vegetables and porridge outside Yingzhou City. Recently, because King Jing was seriously short of food, the porridge farm suddenly closed, causing a large-scale commotion among the victims outside the city. On the ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, the city gates were closed and no longer open. The victims felt that there might be no way out and had already started to clamor outside the city, and more than 100,000 victims would riots at any time.

Originally, the riots of the victims were easy to deal with. After all, the walls of Yingzhou City were so high that even tens of thousands of regular troops might not be able to conquer it. It was unlikely that more than tens of thousands of hungry people would cause trouble. But just on the tenth morning of the twelfth lunar month, a black vortex surged under the city of Yingzhou.

Most of the victims had heard of the troubled bandits around Yingzhou, but they just heard and did not see them. The bandits came and went without a trace. Even groups of refugees were not interested in visiting them. When they first saw the bandits, the victims instinctively dispersed and fled, emptying the north of Yingzhou City where the bandits occupied.

Everyone, including the defenders in the city and the hungry people outside the city, thought the bandits were aisles and found that Yingzhou City was under high alert and would leave immediately. However, no one expected that the bandits did not rest for a moment after they arrived at Yingzhou City and immediately launched a siege. The means of siege were unheard of by the military and civilians inside and outside Yingzhou City. They saw robbers wearing black clothes and masked objects, taken down from the black cloth covered on the horse, and circular objects of about half a foot were placed obliquely on the open space outside the city. They were about four hundred steps away from the wall of Yingzhou City, and then they began to line up black tubes, with two people following each black tube, one squatting and looking at the black tube, while the other stood behind them, all looking at a row of red flags in the hands of the first bandit.

As the red flag fell, all the standing bandits issued a command, while the squatting bandits lit a lead with a fire sniff, and then a row of bandits fled back quickly.

The bandits' actions like playing magic attracted the attention of the defenders on the city wall and the victims under the city wall. They all thought it was fun, as if they were lighting firecrackers, but then they felt that it was not fun. The sound of the sky seemed to be layered, and it seemed to be sounding in the open space at the same time. After a violent firelight, the black tube emitted a black smoke stream, which flew high into the sky, and then landed on the city tower in a parabola.

"Coax! Coax! Coax!..."

Immediately afterwards, there were loud explosions on the city wall, and many battlements on the city wall had been blown out of gaps. As this round, the casualties and injuries of the defenders on the city tower were a little astonishing. Looking at the original open space, there were already soil pits that had been blown out, and almost all the black pipes were blown up or exploded, scattered inside and outside the soil pit.

"Luckily it's over!"

The defenders on the city wall and the hungry people under the city were still in shock, and this idea came to their minds at the same time, but it was obvious that they had made a conclusion too early. Another group of black bandits rushed out, and the two were carrying the same black tube just now. This time, the military and civilians inside and outside the city could see clearly that under the coordination of the two bandits, they were stuffing something into the black tube.

The red flag fell, and the bandits fled back like a shadow. The defenders who escaped by luck just now felt cold. How could they live?

"coax……"

Rounds of artillery fire continued to attack the northern wall of Yingzhou City, and the wall seemed to be shaking under the continuous artillery fire.

After more than a dozen rounds of attacks in succession of bandits, the army in the city could no longer sit still, and then cavalry rushed over from the east and west sides of the city wall. It was obvious that the defenders did not want to be beaten passively.

The bandit's artillery attack stopped slightly this time, and a group of bandit's cavalry were ready to go, but they did not rush to attack. The infantry under the horse held something thin in front and thick in the back like a wood and an iron pipe, and the cavalry that counterattacked in the city had been damaged on a large scale, and only scattered cavalry were left after rushing over.

The bandits' formation was very solid. After one round of gun laying, they immediately retreated to the back and prepared for loading. Another group of ammunition had already loaded up had already stood behind the temporary shield wall. Another burst of fire was crackling. The sound of horse hooves gradually sporadically. The remaining cavalry wanted to resist stubbornly. The bandits' cavalry had launched a round of charge and took away the cavalry of the King Jing army in one round.

The remaining defenders on the northern city wall were frightened, fearing that the bandits would attack the city immediately. At this time, reinforcements were not allowed, and the northern city wall was easily lost, but the bandits did not rush to attack the city, and instead continued to use black tubes to fire the remaining defenders on the city wall.

At this time, the hungry people who were hiding outside the city were watching in the distance, and were also worried about their future and destiny. Now it was time for them to make a choice. Perhaps joining the defending party to help the defenders resist these bandits is tantamount to seeking death. The other way is to escape and leave this place of failure quickly, which will mean that they will continue to embark on the road of migration, and the road will inevitably be full of thorns.

I have an idea that they dare not think about, but many people still think of it. I wonder if I can join the bandits and break through Yingzhou City together, and then become a bandit for the bandits to enjoy the delicious food in the future?

The victims were a little discouraged when they thought of this. How could they easily accept a group of victims if they are well-trained? What's more, if they join the thief, they will be thieves for the rest of their lives, and they may end up not favoring both the government and the thief in the future. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian (.) to vote for recommendations, monthly votes, and your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile phone users please go to m.. to read.
Chapter completed!