The knight raised his hands and said: "Back to my lord, the gates of Handong City are wide open, and there are no guards on the city walls. We can only hear the faint sound of wailing coming from the city."
Liu Ziqiu frowned and said: "It must be thieves who are causing harm to the people in the city. Sons and gentlemen, without further ado, everyone is going to move forward at full speed and rush into the city to rescue your fellow villagers!"
This army composed of fleeing people shouted and rushed towards Handong City like a tide. The information reported by the knight was indeed good. The city gate was wide open and there was no one. Liu Ziqiu took the lead and rushed into the city effortlessly.
.
There was chaos in the city. From time to time, thieves could be seen rushing out of the houses along the street, carrying property plundered from the houses in their hands and on their shoulders. There were also some young women who were being driven away and crying.
Go to the center of the city.
Looking at the mob, Liu Ziqiu shook his head gently and ordered: "They are all common people who are held hostage by Zhu Can. As long as they are willing to surrender, we will spare them from death."
What they were facing were only bandit soldiers, not regular troops. Such a battle did not require Liu Ziqiu to do it himself, and Liu Ziqiu did not want blood victory and killing to pollute his son's eyes, so he picked up the reins and led Gao Xiuer to the side of the road.
A large house. This house must be owned by a wealthy family in Handong City. Now it has long been empty and has become Liu Ziqiu's temporary command post.
Liu Ziqiu was teasing his son in the temporary command post. He finally coaxed his son to get closer to him and was willing to give him a hug. Then he heard a "bang" as the door was pushed open.
Daleng took long strides, his face full of contentment, he raised his hands and said: "My lord, the battle is over!"
There was no suspense in this battle, but it ended so quickly, which really surprised Liu Ziqiu, and the result of the battle surprised him even more. There were only a thousand thieves in the entire Handong City, and these thieves were killed a few days ago
They were ordinary people without any combat experience. Such a band of thieves, whom Daleng looked down upon, actually frightened the Handong prefect to abandon the city and flee.
Liu Ziqiu was silent for a long time, and then asked: "Did you get any useful information from them?"
Daleng bowed and said: "Back to my lord, my subordinates have already interrogated the prisoners. According to the prisoners' confession, Zhu Can has personally led the army to leave Xiangyang and attack Nanyang."
Liu Ziqiu had just passed through Nanyang two days ago and knew that there was a large population and sufficient money and food. If Zhu Can could really conquer there, it would greatly increase Zhu Can's strength. Liu Ziqiu couldn't help but nodded and said: "It seems that Zhu Can is not too powerful."
Stupid, he resorted to a strategy of claiming to attack the east and attack the west, using a small number of troops to invade the east, but leading the main force to the north."
Daleng clasped his fists and said: "Back to my lord, according to the prisoners, Zhu Can also had two staffs, one was Lu Congdian, the Zuo Lang who wrote the Sui Dynasty, and the other was Yan Minchu, the general secretary. Many things were planned by these two people behind the scenes.
.”
Liu Ziqiu sneered and said: "If it weren't for these people who helped him do evil, how could Zhu Can have caused so much trouble! Write down the names of these two people, and you will never be lenient!"
Daren agreed blankly, but then hesitated and said: "Please tell me, my lord, that Zhu Can's march to Nanyang has blocked our army's way back to Chang'an from the north. Please make a decision, lord!"
Liu Ziqiu smiled and said: "It doesn't matter, Zhu Can will attack in the east and attack in the west, so let's give him a blow! Send an order to the three armies to take a rest and set off overnight to take Xiangyang!"
Gao Xiuer was shocked and said repeatedly: "Husband, I heard that the walls of Xiangyang City are high and the pond is deep. It is easy to defend and difficult to attack. It is far from comparable to Handong. I hope you will think twice."
Liu Ziqiu glanced at his ignorant son, reached out and gently covered his ears, and then said: "I know Zhu Can well. He has brute strength but no strategy. What he is best at is moving around.
Wherever he goes, he eats food when there is food. When the food is gone, he eats people. When the people eat up, he moves to the next place. Now that he has left Xiangyang, there must be not much food in Xiangyang. And he
It is impossible to leave many soldiers and horses in Xiangyang, Xiangyang should be an empty city."
Gao Xiuer believed Liu Ziqiu's words, but Da Leng was secretly surprised. He had been following Liu Ziqiu for a long time, and often heard Liu Ziqiu talking about the heroes of the world, but he had never heard Liu Ziqiu mention Zhu Can's name. And now, Liu Ziqiu actually expressed his feelings towards Zhu Can.
Knowing the situation clearly, Daleng was so impressed that he was further convinced that he was the patron saint descended from heaven to the mortal world.
The facts were just as Liu Ziqiu expected. When he led his army to Xiangyang City, it was already an empty city. The miserable scene in the city was unbearable to watch. It was simply a hell on earth. Except for the solid city walls that still stood stubbornly behind the moat, the entire city was empty.
The entire city was burned to ashes, and white bones could be seen everywhere.
Liu Ziqiu sighed, and while organizing the people to bury the bones, he sent people to Nanyang to inquire about Zhu Can's movements.
Soon, the news came back that Zhu Can had led his army to surround Nanyang City. He spared no effort in attacking day and night. There was no food left in Zhu Can's army. The soldiers of both sides who died in the siege battle, as long as they fell under the city,
They were all dragged away by Zhu Can's soldiers and eaten as food. Just because they saw this barbaric behavior of Zhu Can's army, the morale of the defenders on the city began to waver, and it was only a matter of time before the city was defeated.
Hearing such tragic news, even Gao Xiuer, who had always been bold, turned pale and held Liu Ziqiu's hand shaking slightly.
Liu Ziqiu was furious and shouted: "Here comes someone! Prepare your horse and raise your sword!"
Gao Xiuer was shocked and said: "Husband, I heard that Zhu Can has a hundred thousand men. How can you defeat them with these people?"
"Haha, haha..." Liu Ziqiu looked up to the sky and laughed, and said loudly with great pride, "Although there are many thieves, the biggest culprit is Zhu Can! Don't worry, Zhang Yide can take the rank of general in an army of thousands of horses. I, Liu Ziqiu,
We will never lose to him! As long as we capture Zhu Can, the rest of us will collapse without a fight. What's the point?"
Liu Ziqiu knew very well that unless the Hexi Army or the Changshan Army had troops here, it would be impossible to defeat Zhu Can with a temporary army composed of these ordinary people alone. Every day of delay, no one knows how many lives would be lost. Gao Xiuer said
Yes, many unjust deeds will be punished by God. In the Mobei grassland, he committed too many killings and his hands were covered with blood. Now he can only wash away his sins by saving more living beings.
…
The battle outside Nanyang City has lasted for two days. The defenders on the city saw the thieves cooking human flesh with their own eyes, and no one was frightened. Ma Yuangui, the prefect of Nanyang, even wanted to leave the city and ask for surrender, just to protect his family from being attacked.
People eat it. But I am worried that it will be self-defeating and I can’t make up my mind for a while.
At dawn that day, gongs and drums sounded again outside the city. This was the unique attack signal of Zhu Can's bandit army. Zhu Can didn't care about what he heard. He entered when he heard the drum and retreated when he heard the gold. He beat whatever he caught. There was a commotion outside the city.
, there were drums, gongs, and horns, plus all kinds of messy shouts. It was noisy and unpleasant, and it made the defenders on the city wall panic.
But the people who were brought here by Zhu Can were already numb. The fate waiting for them was either to eat people or to be eaten. If they can capture Nanyang City, they can eat people. If they cannot capture Nanyang City, they can only be eaten.
.In fact, if there is food to eat, who would be willing to eat people? The only one who really likes to eat people is Zhu Can, and everyone else is forced by Zhu Can.
Hearing this noisy sound, the already numb people picked up various weapons and rushed towards the city.
Zhu Can held up his long spear and stood under the big blue flag, waiting for the news ahead with a proud face. He didn't know how many times he had experienced siege battles like this. Even a fortified city like Xiangyang could only
However, after holding on for three days, the will of the defenders completely collapsed. It is not easy for Nanyang City to persist until now. However, Zhu Can believes that after today's battle, Nanyang City will be defeated.
At this moment, he suddenly heard a shout from behind him. When Zhu Can turned his head to look, he saw a man and a horse galloping towards him. The horse was black, and the man was also black. Looking from a distance, it looked like a black whirlwind.
The man on the horse was wielding a sword in his hand. He was invincible wherever he passed and was running towards him.
It turned out that when Liu Ziqiu rushed outside Nanyang City, Zhu Can had already launched an attack on the city. Liu Ziqiu first walked around the south gate, captured two thieves and asked about them. Only then did he know that Zhu Can was at the east gate, so he quickly attacked.
He came towards the east gate again.
These thieves were originally a mob. Even when marching and fighting, they did not follow ranks. They were noisy and disorganized, and it was impossible to distinguish between ourselves and the enemy. Moreover, their attention was focused on Nanyang City, and no one noticed that they were riding alone.
Liu Ziqiu. Liu Ziqiu arrived at the east gate smoothly without any hindrance.
The scene was the same outside the east gate, but the difference was that there was a large green flag with a group of cavalry. Although Liu Ziqiu didn't know Zhu Can, he had experienced hundreds of battles, so he could naturally guess that Zhu Can was there.
Under the big flag, he immediately roared and charged forward on horseback.
The bandit soldiers along the way never expected that someone would be bold enough to break into thousands of troops alone. When they realized it, Liu Ziqiu was only fifty steps away from the big flag. The bandit soldiers swarmed over, dancing with swords and guns. Unexpectedly, Liu Ziqiu's horse was running fast.
The man was as sharp as lightning and killed dozens of people in the blink of an eye, only thirty steps away from the banner.
Some of the bandit soldiers also began to fire random arrows, but these bandit soldiers were all trapped people from the Central Plains, not the nomads on the grasslands. Although they had bows and arrows, they could only barely draw them, let alone the accuracy.
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Liu Ziqiu sat down on this black horse. Although it was not as good as the Pegasus Snow Leopard, it was still a divine horse that could be chosen among ten thousand people. It jumped freely in the crowd, and the arrows fell behind it. Those thieves failed to shoot Liu Ziqiu, but accidentally injured him.