Suzhou Prefecture has three counties and five counties under its jurisdiction. Shuning County is located at the southernmost end of Suzhou Prefecture. Through Shuning County, you can enter Jiaxing County under the jurisdiction of Hangzhou Prefecture.
Among the three states in the south of the Yangtze River, Hangzhou is the first. Hangzhou has jurisdiction over six counties and seventeen counties. Business exchanges between Suzhou and Hangzhou have always been frequent. There is an official road with easy transportation from Suzhou to Hangzhou. The caravans on this trade road have always been frequent.
Shuning City, located on this official road, has become an important hub for trade between the two places and the only way for land transportation between the two states.
Shuning County has always been very prosperous due to its favorable geographical location. Although the city wall is not as tall as Suzhou City, it is also very strong.
After the Queen Mother's congregation spread throughout Shuning County, commercial roads were instantly cut off. Countless checkpoints were set up along the official roads, making it difficult to pass through.
Shuning County does not have four gates like Suzhou. This county only has a north gate and a south gate. The gates are also very strong. However, these two gates are closed tightly these days and no one is allowed to enter or exit. The north gate is also very strong.
On the top of the city gate, dozens of human heads were hung in a row, which was extremely terrifying.
Only ten miles away from the north gate of Shuning County is the rebel camp. The endless tents are as busy as the stars in the sky. The camps more than ten miles away are set up in a semi-arc shape, like a cover covering the north gate of Shuning.
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In addition to some of the rebels being congregants who had already joined the Queen Mother Society, most of the rebels were young men who were forcibly pulled into the team.
After the Queen Mother Society rebelled, they not only quickly looted all the money and food from the surrounding villages for military use, but also forcibly incorporated young and strong people into the rebel ranks. Although they were just a mob, they were as dense as ants and were chilling.
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Two thousand people were deployed in the camp outside the north city gate. Most of the rebels were untrained. The scene was very chaotic in the first two days, but after a few days, the camp was considered orderly.
As the star general of this rebel army, Kui Mulang knew that the best way to frighten this rabble was to let them see blood. He killed more than a dozen people in the chaos, and the others immediately fell silent. Kui Mulang ordered
No one dares to disobey every order.
Kui Mulang is under the command of General You Shen, and he is also a believer who joined the Queen Mother Society very early. There are so many followers of the Queen Mother, so Kui Mulang can stand out and become a star general, so he has his own merits.
Less than fifteen miles northwest of the camp is a mountain forest.
It was dusk, Kui Mulang, surrounded by more than a dozen followers, was on horseback, inspecting the wood farm here.
Ghost Golden Sheep fell into Dong Guangxiao's trap, You Shen General was furious, and Kui Mulang was ordered to take over the Shuning County congregation. He knew very well that in order for You Shen General to regain his face, Shuning City must be captured.
It's just that Shuning City has been well prepared and the city is strong. It will not be easy for a group of ragtag men under his command to capture this county town.
He understood more clearly that in attacking Shuning City, he could only succeed and not fail. Once he succeeded, his reputation would be greatly enhanced, and his position in the society would be unshakable in the future. However, if he failed, whether he could keep his star general was aside.
I'm afraid that General Right will be so angry that his head will be moved.
Therefore, either we don't attack the city, but once we do, we must attack it and conquer it.
To attack a city, siege weapons are indispensable, but in a county town, as long as a large number of ladders and crash carts can be created as soon as possible.
Not only did he gather all the craftsmen in the general group, but he also had all the craftsmen around him captured by force. He set up a temporary lumberyard at the foot of the mountain and ordered the craftsmen to build ladders and crash carts as quickly as possible.
Inside the woodyard, there are all busy figures.
Someone was cutting wood on the mountain, and a large number of craftsmen were making siege weapons in the woodyard. The manufacture of the crash car was more complicated, but in a few days, many ladders had been built.
Riding through the lumberyard on horseback, Kui Mulang looked grim.
He was over forty years old, his hair was spread loose, and he only wore a fiery red belt on his forehead, and a ghost-headed sword on his waist. All the followers behind him also wore swords, and they all looked very proud.
"General Xing, in two days, one hundred ladders can be built." A person next to him said: "When the ladders are ready, we can order the siege."
Another person laughed and said: "Xingjiang is really a martial arts star from the sky who has come down to earth to strategize. He can even draw the drawings of ladders and car crashes by himself. If it were us, we would not be able to draw such things in another hundred years."
"If you could draw it, it would already be a star in the sky." Another person laughed and said: "Everything is ready, and the star general will give the order, and within half a day, Shuning City can be conquered, and when the time comes, they will enter the city.
If you catch Dong Guangxiao and that gang, I will shave him alive one by one."
Kui Mulang frowned and said coldly: "Ghost Golden Sheep fell into a trap and a group of people were wiped out. Do you really think Dong Guangxiao is that easy to deal with?" He reined in his horse, turned over and dismounted, and everyone behind him dismounted one after another.
Kui Mulang walked to a ladder, squatted down and took a closer look, then stood up and said: "Dong Guangxiao has been traveling around the world for many years, making friends, and he is very good at swordsmanship. This time the entire Ghost Golden Sheep army was wiped out.
It's impossible for just a few green onions in Shuning County to do it. In Shuning City, there must be assistants that Dong Guangxiao invited in advance, and the number will not be small." After a pause, he sneered: "He dares to hold on.
When you are waiting for help, you are naturally confident and must not be underestimated."
Everyone under his command nodded.
"Star general, I'm sorry for my blunt words. It's said that it's hard to defeat four people with both hands. Even if Dong Guangxiao really invites experts from all over the world to help him, how many people can he have?" One person said: "We have thousands of people under our command, and we have to take care of them."
There will be a steady stream of people gathering here, and when we attack the city, we will have at least five or six thousand men and horses, so we have a lot of strength. When the time comes, we will fight one out of ten, and we will not be able to kill them?"
Kui Mulang snorted coldly and didn't say much.
At this moment, they heard shouts. Kui Mulang and others looked around and saw several followers of the Queen Mother with red scarves on their heads escorting two craftsmen towards this side. Behind Kui Mulang
One person asked in a deep voice: "What happened?"
"Reporting to General Xing, these two people escaped before the battle. They tried to escape from the back mountain with a convenient excuse." A member of the congregation raised his hand and said, "We didn't run very far before we caught up with them."
Kui Mulang's face turned cold, and he walked slowly over. The two craftsmen had already knelt on the ground, and one of them begged: "Please, let me go home. My mother is ill in bed. If she doesn't go back, she will be killed."
Sick to death...!”
Kui Mulang stretched out his hand to help the man up, his expression softened, and he asked, "Who else is at home?"
"There is also a sick mother and a pair of underage children at home." Seeing Kuimulang's kind face, the craftsman begged: "The child's mother got sick and passed away the year before last. The mother is now seriously ill and cannot take care of the child. The villain has been working day and night these days.
I try my best, but if I don't go back to take care of my mother, she will...!" Tears were already falling.
"So he is a filial son." Kui Mulang patted the craftsman on the shoulder and said warmly: "The person I respect most is a filial son. Where is your home?"
"The villain is from Chenjia Village, Shuning County, which is only more than thirty miles away from here." The craftsman said: "The villain will go back and make arrangements. He will definitely come back and continue working."
"Chenjia Village?" Kuimulang turned around and asked, "Do you know this place?"
"I know." One person replied: "I've been there before."
Kui Mulang's originally gentle expression suddenly turned cold, and he ordered: "Take a few people there and send his family 10%." Then he looked at the craftsman with a smile and said: "I will send people to kill them.
They're all dead, so you don't have to worry anymore."
The craftsman's face changed greatly, but Kui Mulang suddenly reached out and grabbed the craftsman's neck, his eyes like a knife: "Serving the Queen Mother is the way of heaven. If you run away from the battle, you are betraying the Queen Mother. Anyone who betrays the Queen Mother
, are all enemies of the Queen Mother Society, and we never show mercy to our enemies." With a strong force on his hand, there was a "crack" sound, and the craftsman's throat had been cut. Kui Mulang let go of his hand, and the craftsman's body was revealed.
Suddenly it fell softly.
Another craftsman who was kneeling on the ground was so distraught that he couldn't even make a sound of pleading.
"I'll give you a chance." Kui Mulang squatted down in front of the man and said with a smile: "From now on, by this time tomorrow, if you can build five ladders by yourself, I will spare your life.
If you don't hand over the five ladders, I will have your limbs chopped off and you will bleed to death."
The craftsman's face was ashen.
Kui Mulang stood up, ignored him, and ordered to the people behind him: "Send someone to guard the woodyard. If any craftsman escapes, kill him immediately."
Everyone bowed their hands and said yes.
"It's getting dark, so we need to step up our defenses at the camp." Kuimulang said, "Also, the checkpoints on the roads leading to Hangzhou must be strictly guarded."
"General Xing is worried that She Yue will go to Hangzhou?"
"We have to be on guard." Kui Mulang said calmly: "If she really goes to Hangzhou from our territory, the general will be furious and we won't even be able to save our heads."
Everyone looked solemn, and one person said cautiously: "General Xing, She Yue and Qin Xiao are not fools. They know that the road to Hangzhou will be blocked. If they still dare to go to Hangzhou, wouldn't they be throwing themselves into a trap?"
"Just because this possibility is extremely small, we must be more careful." Kui Mulang said: "Use the truth with the truth, and use the truth with the truth. She Yue and Qin Xiao were able to escape from Suzhou City, which shows their cunning. For such a
People cannot make inferences based on common sense."
"The star general is indeed extremely wise." Everyone praised him one after another.
Kuimu Lang looked up at the sky and murmured: "No matter where they go to escape, at least they must not escape from under my eyes. Shuning County is already a dragnet. If they really want to come, it will be a great achievement."
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At this moment, due east less than twenty miles away from the lumberyard, Qin Xiao and She Yue were on a high slope, lying in the dense grass on the high slope, looking down at the rebel camps as the sun set.
, under the afterglow, you can even faintly see the outline of Shuning County bathed in the sunset.