Chapter 238: Breaking through the fire shop is today
In a blink of an eye, it was September 14th, and the intruders captured several officers and soldiers who escaped from the fire shop.
Li Guo immediately interrogated him personally and learned that the food in Huoshaodian Village had been eaten up as early as the 12th, and he had relied on the slaughter of mules and horses to satisfy his hunger in the past two days.
Li Guo asked one of the deserters, "If this continues, how many more days can the army last?"
The deserter replied: "All the mules and horses are about to be killed, and the bark and grass have been harvested long ago. At this rate, we can hold on for another three days at most."
Li Guo asked again: "How much gunpowder is left?"
The deserter replied: "Not much. There is no sulfur in the camp. Even if there is, no one here knows how to make gunpowder, so use a little and get a little less."
"Where are the arrows?" Li Guo continued to ask.
The deserter from the army was kneeling on the ground, his body still shaking, showing that he was extremely frightened. He hurriedly replied: "It's almost over, General."
Li Guo saw that he had almost finished asking questions, and seeing that the deserter's attitude didn't seem like he was lying, he stopped questioning him. Instead, he ordered people to take the escaped officer and soldier away, and ordered him to be fed and treated well.
Kill them.
That night, he sent people to pretend to attack the burning shop, and even once reached the ditch outside the village wall, forcing the officers and soldiers to fire cannons and fire arrows.
In a blink of an eye, it was the seventeenth day. It was just five o'clock in the morning, and the invading army launched a feint attack.
However, they discovered that this time the officers and soldiers in the Huoshaodian Village no longer fired cannons or fired arrows, but only made bursts of roaring and howling sounds.
After Li Guo heard the report, he came to the vicinity of the camp in person. The shouts he heard in his ears did not have any majesty or majesty. Instead, they were sometimes scattered and sometimes even feeble. They seemed to be the desperate shouts of the officers and soldiers.
.
He smiled slightly and confidently said to the generals and generals around him: "Break the fire shop in one fell swoop and capture Fu Zonglong alive today!"
After daybreak, Li Guo ordered all the soldiers in the army to have a good rest today. At the same time, each battalion should prepare more and enough hemp ropes for the purpose of capturing prisoners.
Throughout the whole day, he continued to send out small groups of intruders to harass the defenders of the Huo Shao Shop, and also withdrew many of the bandit troops besieging the Huo Shao Shop in the east, so that the strength on this side was significantly weaker than elsewhere.
When they arrived at Shen, Li Guo ordered the whole army to have dinner. He even called Liu Tichun and Tong Shoushan to him and whispered secret plans to them.
After dinner, he came to the fire trench and listened carefully to what was going on inside. As soon as he returned to the Chinese army's tent, he immediately summoned the generals and said to them: "Dear brothers, I ordered people to withdraw from the east."
The soldiers and horses in front of us have even concluded that Fu Zonglong, this old fox, must break out of the encirclement tonight. Kill the general, seize the flag, and capture Fu Zonglong at this moment."
Having said this, he stood up and continued in a majestic voice: "Generals, listen to the order!"
All the generals in the military tent stood solemnly, their eyes focused on Li Guo's face, waiting for his military orders...
…………
In fact, on the night when Fu Zonglong was surrounded by the burning shop, he took advantage of the intruders' siege and sent his most loyal servant Lu San to rush out with several elite cavalry.
Of course, those who broke out of the siege together with his slave Lu San also had Fu Zonglong's handwritten letter to congratulate Renlong and Li Guoqi, asking them to return troops quickly to rescue them.
However, that night, with the flames outside and the constant shouts of killing, Fu Zonglong did not dare to conclude whether Lu San had rushed out. He even thought that Lu San did not rush out at all, but died in the formation of the thieves who besieged the Huoshao shop.
.
The following days were spent in fear. The rebels attacked three times a day. Although it seemed that they did not attack with all their strength, the officers and soldiers did not dare to neglect. They took it seriously every time and defended with the whole army.
Bows, arrows and artillery were firing at each other.
Even later, the rebel soldiers did not even allow the officers and soldiers to rest at night. They often attacked the officers and soldiers' defense lines in the dark. The artillery fire continued, so that the officers and soldiers had to defend themselves. In short, under such repeated attacks, the officers and soldiers were already exhausted.
Since the siege, the few houses in the stronghold have been destroyed due to constant artillery and shelling by the bandits every day.
At first, some people in the army lived in houses. However, as the houses were destroyed, everyone now slept in tents, and some soldiers did not even have tents. They dug walls next to the village walls.
They slept in ditches, and some people dug some holes in the ruins of the walls.
However, with the artillery bombardment by the rebels, those military tents were continuously hit and destroyed. In addition, it was not safe to live in the military tents. In desperation, even Fu Zonglong, who was the governor, had to move into the trenches.
rest.
Of course, the trench he was in was still very wide. Compared with the trenches where other soldiers lived, this was already a mansion.
Because sometimes artillery shells fell in the trench, which would still cause casualties to the officers and soldiers, so they found wooden boards, door panels and other objects they could find and laid them on top of the trench, and even covered the boards with another layer.
earth.
As a result, those cannons no longer jumped repeatedly, and due to the shock-absorbing function of that layer of soil, the cannons never fell into the trench again.
In recent days, Fu Zonglong has been doing everything in the trenches whether he is sleeping, handling official duties, or planning military affairs. In fact, this is not the first time he has led troops to fight, but now he is so embarrassed that even
This was the first time he tasted some despair.
On this day, he had not eaten even a drop of rice the whole day. The embarrassment and despair made his mental strength become increasingly haggard, and his feeling of fatigue and weakness increased sharply every day.
Dragging his exhausted body, he fell asleep at midnight. However, in his daze, he seemed to hear a burst of noise outside the village, which seemed very different from the past.
Just when he was confused, he heard the news that He Renlong and Li Guoqi, two generals, had led their troops to kill and were fighting fiercely with the bandits outside the northeast corner. The sound of killing was loud.
Fu Zonglong didn't have time to put on his battle armor, so he put on his woolen cloak and went up to the wall of the village. He saw a fire outside the northeast corner tower, and the shouts of killing shook the sky and the earth, especially loud in the silent night.
Looking at the flash of fire in the formation of bandits, who couldn't help running around, it was obvious that the main cavalry of the two generals Li had returned, and the attack was very fierce.
Suddenly, the soldiers rushed to report, and another group of people came to kill from the south.
Fu Zonglong was overjoyed, and he hurried towards the south wall of the village. Looking at it, he could vaguely see the banner of the traitor general Zuo Liangyu in the firelight.
He couldn't help being very excited, and immediately said loudly: "Heaven is above, heaven is above! Reinforcements from both directions have arrived. We can take this opportunity to attack from inside and outside. As long as we can kill the tens of thousands of thieves outside, Henan Province will be defeated."
The situation will change for the better!"
Here, as soon as Fu Zonglong finished speaking, he had to report to the northeast to congratulate him. The two generals Li had defeated the bandits and were chasing them. When the officers and soldiers inside and outside the burning store saw this, they all cheered.
Fu Zonglong didn't have time to think, he immediately mounted his horse and led his Biaoying soldiers out of the fire shop, intending to join forces with the three commanders He, Li, and Zuo to attack the bandits.
He just rode out of the fire shop and saw a thief general in front of him. He kept shooting arrows backwards as he ran away. Fu Zonglong immediately turned around and shouted to several generals: "Whoever kills this thief in formation will be promoted to two levels. If you win,
If you capture this thief alive, you will be promoted to the third level!"
The generals looked overjoyed when they heard this. They had always been good at fighting with favorable winds. They immediately rode in pursuit, leaving Fu Zonglong behind.
Suddenly, a horse stumbled, causing Governor Fu Zonglong to fall from the saddle.
He had just stood up from the ground when he saw a troop of thieves and horsemen rushing towards him. They roared with their teeth and claws open, and several spears were stabbed at him almost at the same time.
Fu Zonglong was shocked and shouted urgently: "Save me...save me quickly...save me!"
Several soldiers and servants heard his screams, and they all rushed to his side and shouted: "My lord, my lord, don't be afraid. The traitors outside the stronghold are just bluffing and have never attacked the stronghold."
Fu Zonglong only woke up suddenly at this moment, and realized that Shicai had actually had a nightmare, but even so, he broke out in a cold sweat.
He looked out the window and murmured: "He Zhen, does Li Zhen have any help?"
A leader of the soldiers stepped forward and replied: "My lord, only thieves and soldiers were seen pretending to attack outside the stronghold, but no officers or soldiers were seen."
Fu Zonglong still seemed unwilling to give in, and murmured again: "So Commander Zuo's troops are coming from the south to kill?"
"The bandit army in the south is about to attack. There is silence and no sign of any officers or soldiers." The leader of the soldiers continued to reply.
Fu Zonglong sat slumped on the simple bed made of wood, his eyes were deep and lifeless. It seemed that he had become much older at this moment, and he was still muttering: "It's Nan Ke Yimeng, they really won't come back to help.
Well?"
After all this trouble, the sky became brighter. Fu Zonglong actually found his slave Lu San among the soldiers and servants in front of him. He saw that his clothes were in tatters and he was very haggard. He seemed to have changed.
Similar.
Fu Zonglong looked at him dubiously and asked softly: "Are you Lu San? I'm not dreaming!"
Lu San knelt down with a pop and replied: "The villain is Lu San. Master, you didn't dream. It's Lu San who is back."
Fu Zonglong was already a little decadent, but when he saw Lu San, he seemed to have some energy. He hurriedly asked: "When did you come back?"
Lu San replied: "The villain came back a few days ago, but the bandits continued to attack every day and did not get the chance to enter the stronghold. It was not until the fourth watch today that I found the opportunity to come in from the east and then go around to the south.
Only then was the military master let him up to the wall of the village.
Because I saw that the master was still sleeping soundly, I didn't dare to disturb him. I originally thought that I would pay my respects to you after he woke up."
Fu Zonglong stared at him with eyes full of hope, and even his voice trembled a little: "You have seen He, have you met Li Ershuai?"
Lu San first calmed down his mind and made some preparations, then he said: "In reply to the master's words, the villain chased until Shen Qiu, and then saw the two commanders He and Li, and handed over the master's handwritten letter.
They fled all the way from the two towns, like frightened birds. They rushed to Xiangcheng and did not dare to stop. They fled to Shenqiu in one breath. Most of their infantry fled, but the cavalry was still intact. They were now going out to collect the escaped infantry.
After reading the master's handwriting, the two commanders both said that they had to rectify their troops before coming to the fire shop to rescue the master. However, despite their words, no action was taken.
The villain stayed in Shenqiu for two days, but couldn't find anything. In the end, it was impossible to even see them. Their subordinates even said to me, "You can stay here, and don't go back to the Huoshao restaurant."
Anyway, now that there are no soldiers to go back to put out the burning shop, we won’t be able to defend the place for long. Even Governor Yang has fled, leaving only thousands of governors and lone soldiers to defend the place. It seems that it will only be broken by the bandits in a few days.’
No matter what he said, the villain wanted to see He Shuai life and death, but he never did. Later, he finally met Li Shuai with great difficulty.
But Li Shuai said to the villain, "I don't have many troops left, and He Shuai has no intention of rescuing me. I am also alone, and there is really no other way. You might as well stay here and wait for the news first." Once we can gather more people, we can go back to put out the fire and burn the shop.'
The villain did not expect that these two commanders were so afraid of thieves. They saw that the store was about to be attacked by thieves, but they still sat back and did nothing. They were really heartless!
The villain cried loudly and left Shenqiu, thinking of repaying the master, but the bandits outside were tightly surrounded, so it was not until tonight that I found the opportunity to return to the stronghold and return my life to the master."
Fu Zonglong was still unwilling to give up and asked about the news about Yang Wenyue and Hu Dawei. However, Lu San did not know much about it and simply dictated some of the news he had heard.
Fu Zonglong sighed and said: "It's really difficult to persist here. You don't actually have to come back. Why do you need everyone to die together?"
Lu San cried and said: "I am a slave of the Fu family, and I must die in front of the master. No matter how difficult it is, I will return to the master."
Fu Zonglong couldn't help but shed his eyes. He shook his head, waved his hand to Lu San to withdraw, and only said: "You can have a good rest."
In order to stabilize the morale of the officers and soldiers in the Huoshao store, Fu Zonglong had a simple breakfast, then came out of the trench and inspected various parts of the stronghold.
Then, he summoned the generals to his trench and briefly explained to everyone that He Renlong and Li Guoqi had fled to the vicinity of Shenqiu at this time. They were all waiting and watching, timid and did not dare to return to the army for rescue.
Next, Fu Zonglong talked about the security guard Yang Wenyue. He only said that he had led his Biao battalion to escape to Chenzhou, and the real security general Hu Dawei was originally stationed in Shenqiu, but he heard that Yang Wenyue went to Chenzhou, so he also Running from Shenqiu to Chenzhou.
After talking about these situations, Fu Zonglong said angrily: "They are all greedy for life and afraid of death. Of course they will not come back to rescue the burning shop, but how can we be as afraid of death and cowardly as they are?"
At this moment, someone also made suggestions to him, thinking of breaking out early before the army supplies were exhausted.
However, Fu Zonglong understood that it would be difficult to successfully break through the siege at this moment. He said: "Zonglong is old. Unfortunately, he is now trapped in the siege of thieves. He should lead all the princes to fight to the death with the thieves. He must not imitate others and flee with their armor rolled up!"
After saying that, he burst into tears and his fingers trembled. He looked very excited, but his desperate mood was also palpable.