There were loud gongs and drums and firecrackers in Kaifeng City. People rushed to tell each other and walked into the streets and alleys in groups. Although there were some soldiers and civilians on the towers on all sides, they were all patrolling with smiles on their faces. The atmosphere was tense.
It was gone in an instant.
Many officials also went down from the city tower and organized the soldiers and civilians to open the four city gates that were completely sealed. At the same time, the north gate of Kaifeng was opened, and Liang Bing, the chief envoy from the left, was riding out of the city in a sedan chair to appease the officers and soldiers from all walks of life who came to help.
Only the Henan patrol commander Gao Mingheng and the Taoist Su Zhuang were still standing on the southwest corner of the Kaifeng city wall, looking at the war in the distance. Su Zhuang said to Gao Mingheng with concern: "Master Gao, have you sent out capable personnel?"
Recall Zhang Cheng from Xuanzang, and don't fall into the bandits' trick of luring the enemy."
"snort!"
Gao Mingheng snorted angrily and turned to look at Su Zhuang aside. Seeing his lowered eyebrows, his anger became even more intense. He said in a deep voice angrily: "Su Shoudao has already gone out of the city to beg for help. Now he is an intruder."
If you don’t retreat, if you don’t quickly organize the people in the city to carry out military work, how can we wait!”
After he finished speaking, he walked towards the North Gate Tower without looking back.
A middle-aged staff member named Cao accompanied him and asked softly: "Su Zhuang can take the initiative to ask for help and go out of the city to ask for help. He always has merit. Why do you treat him like this?"
Gao Mingheng slowed down slightly and said softly to the staff member surnamed Cao: "That Zhang Cheng has always been domineering and domineering, as everyone knows, when he was relying on Qin Wang's merits and just when he was favored by the Holy One.
Now, he had just repelled the intruders, and he was more ambitious and arrogant, so he chased the thieves and fought like this. Su Zhuang tempted me to order people to call him back to the army, hoping that the mission would be blocked, so that he would be more likely to ask for help.
If you say you have no other intentions, no one will believe you!"
Although the staff member surnamed Cao thought in his heart that Su Zhuang might not have such an intention, he did not dare to say it on his face. He could only mutter: "You have ulterior motives, you really have ulterior motives!"
…………
In the southwest direction outside Kaifeng City, the intruder cavalry were scattered in all directions. They did not know the direction at all. They went wherever there were fewer officers and soldiers rushing towards them.
Many of the cavalrymen in the bandits' cavalry came to join the bandits because they wanted to hug the big trees to enjoy the shade. The reason why the bandit king Li Zicheng took them in was, firstly, to increase his power and reputation, and secondly, to act like he was recruiting talents.
For other thieves and bandits everywhere to see.
They were actually making use of each other. Now that they saw King Chuang losing power at the gates of Kaifeng City, and now that they were surrounded by ferocious officers and soldiers, the most important thing to do was to escape in a panic.
Occasionally, some brothers from the eighth team of Chuang Wanglao who were placed among them to act as sentinels were even killed on the spot by the horse thieves who were eager to escape. The whole situation was in chaos.
Although Xie Junyou shouted loudly, the situation was completely out of control. Let alone his little Xie Junyou, at this moment, unless King Chuang personally arrived, or the general sentry Liu Zongmin arrived, he might still have some effect.
Otherwise, even such well-known old thieves as Liu Fangliang and Liu Tichun will no longer be able to organize effective resistance!
A sentry guard next to him said tremblingly: "Master Xie, the officers and soldiers arrived in such a hurry. I'm afraid this situation will be overwhelming. How about we rush out first and report a message to the boss!"
Xie Junyou's face turned pale. At this moment, he was still thinking about how he had just lost the cavalry camp before the dawn. The commander-in-chief Liu Ye had not yet blamed him. Now if he loses the 800 cavalry team in front of him again, what will happen to him?
Meet King Chuang and Mr. Liu!
Seeing Xie Junyou's hesitant expression, another slightly thin sentry leader hurriedly rode forward and reminded him softly again: "Master Xie, charge out now. Maybe you can bring back one or two hundred men and horses for King Chuang. If you don't make a decision,
, I’m afraid even our brothers won’t be able to escape!”
His words really reminded Xie Junyou that actually he didn't want to rush out right away, but he also needed a reason in his heart to rush out.
After all, being a deserter is not something you can just do, there are some skills involved. Just like what happened now, Xie Junyou devoted himself to fighting the officers and soldiers and refused to give in, but the officers and soldiers were really outnumbered, and he was powerless.
Therefore, under the persuasion of all the sentinels, in order to leave some more cavalry seeds for King Chuang, he led his team to fight to the death and fight their way out of the siege, so that they could serve King Chuang again.
Seeing that the time had come, he hurriedly shouted: "Fight out, go west first, then run south to find the boss!"
In fact, as early as when Chen Dakuan, who was in the middle, led the infantry battalion to charge forward, Xie Junyou was still secretly happy in his heart. The official infantry charging into the formation so quickly would not last long, and it would be easier for the army to scatter.
He thought he had an opportunity. Although he saw Li You in the middle leading 300 bandit soldiers to fight back, he still tried his best to organize the bandit soldiers to shoot arrows on their horses, intending to suppress Zhang Guangda's officers and soldiers on the opposite side.
After the official infantry in the center breaks through the protection of the cavalry, I can cooperate with Li You in the center and Ren Rongguang on the left to attack the official infantry together.
Unexpectedly, the situation suddenly changed completely, and everything was reversed. I became the one who stood out, and was given a sweet hug by the elite soldiers.
…………
Xie Junyou's reaction was not unpleasant, but it was still a little late after all. When Lin Fangping led the tiger guards to rush over to intercept Ren Rongguang, Zhang Cheng and Chen De also rushed towards Xie Junyou non-stop.
Hundreds of them rode horses and galloped wildly. Naturally, the sound of hoofbeats was loud and loud, almost covering up the roar of muskets and cannons fired in the distance by Lin Fangping.
Here, Zhang Cheng and Chen De were also on guard against Xie Junyou's desperate attempt to jump over the wall. They were not heading straight for Xie Junyou's two or three hundred horses, but they continued to run westward, intending to block Xie Junyou's escape route.
As long as Xie Junyou doesn't go south to join Liu Zongmin, Ren Rongguang and the others, then he will definitely not be able to escape. After all, the army cavalry brigade is a single person and a single horse, and Zhang Cheng's side is almost always a single person and two horses. Even if Xie Junyou heads west
If you run away, you can catch up with it sooner or later.
Now, only the two or three hundred cavalry around Xie Junyou were somewhat of a threat. Therefore, Zhang Cheng, Chen De, and Zhang Guangda all set their main attack direction on him.
As the saying goes, a big tree attracts the wind!
Although Xie Junyou was also panicked, Liu Zongmin's ability to entrust these eight hundred cavalry bandits to his command showed that he trusted him and that he must have some abilities.
Since he decided to break out of the encirclement, he immediately ordered the sentry leader who was the first to persuade him: "You lead a hundred cavalry to the northwest side first, briefly block the officers and soldiers in the north, and then run south to join me."
Then he shouted to the thinner sentry: "Go to the southeast, go around the back of the officers and soldiers, come back from behind them, and meet us there."