On December 20th, the cold wind was biting in Tongcheng. People were rushing to and fro on the road, transporting all kinds of materials to the city wall. On the top of the city, soldiers gathered around the fire to warm themselves up, and white smoke billowed out.
Around the official road outside Zilai Bridge, large and small deep pits were dug. The enlisted civilian workers were working hard, and a circular position with deep trenches and high fortifications was taking shape.
The news of the rogue bandits entering South Zhili spread to all directions with the reports, and the entire Jiangbei area was put on alert. There were few common people on the road. Except for those who entered the city, most of them had fled to places far away from the official roads. Yingtian Governor Yamen's Secretary
Delivered from Jiangnan every day.
The garrison battalion strictly guarded Beixia Pass. The cavalry continued to go out of Shucheng and had many battles with the bandits who were hunting for food. One after another news was transmitted back to Tongcheng.
On the map in front of Pang Yu, the location of Luzhou Prefecture has been surrounded by blue. There are also a few blue arrows prepared on the table, but they have not been able to affix them.
"Sir, the first thirteen branches of the bandit camp are currently confirmed, including the largest Gao Scarzi, the Eight Bandits of Xiying, General Li Chuang, Sweeper King, Guo Tianxing and other troops. In the past, Shucheng was filled with bandits hunting for food all over the mountains and plains, and they were surrounded by water.
I don’t know if Luzhou Prefecture can hold on.”
Pang Yu nodded and took another look at the map. The rogue bandits were coming from the west and north. News from Luzhou City had been cut off. Facing such a large scale of rogue bandits, a small group of officers and soldiers simply could not cope with it. They had to be gathered at the governor level.
Only the troops can rescue.
There must be more than 100,000 rogue bandits, but whether there are 200,000 or 300,000 bandits, I'm afraid even the bandit leader doesn't know.
This is the biggest crisis Pang Yu has ever faced. Both Shouzhou and Luzhou survived at the beginning of the year. The bandits need to obtain enough supplies in winter. The rural areas are no longer satisfied. Only cities have enough supplies. This determines that they will endure higher
casualties in attacking the city.
If Luzhou succeeds in holding on, the nearby cities that are still intact include Shucheng, Tongcheng, Wuweizhou, Hanshan, Hezhou and other places. Going west is the way back, and it is impossible to obtain resources. Going north may encounter Fengyang garrison. Since the rogue bandits have arrived
In Luzhou, there are only two directions left: east and south.
Beixia Pass is a key point, but it is not the only key. With the strength of the rogue bandits, they can attack Beixia Pass while detouring from Lujiang River and attacking Tongcheng from the relatively flat east. If they want to defend along the way from Lujiang River to Tongcheng,
This will inevitably cause the garrison battalion to be dispersed.
Pang Yu has no plans to give up Beixia Pass for the time being. It is an extremely advantageous pass. If the rogue bandits destroy this place, it will be difficult to maintain the garrison in the future, and Tongcheng will lose an important barrier, which will have a profound impact on Anqing's future defense.
But the more important thing is Tongcheng. As long as the official roads of Tongcheng County are blocked, most of the grain-producing areas in Anqing can be preserved. If the scale of the rogue bandits is too large, Pang Yu will have to abandon Beixia Pass and give up the northeastern sides of Tongcheng.
out.
The position outside Zilai Bridge controlled the official road. The position was connected to the city through Zilai Bridge, and the two places protected each other.
The infantry of the garrison battalion are practicing in the position, and the artillery is debugging the gun positions.
The bandits' team is very long, their organizational skills are not very high, and there are a large number of vehicles in the team, so they are very dependent on the road.
If the rogue bandits were not large in scale, Pang Yu planned to block the official road in this circular position to prevent the rogue bandits from entering Anqing.
Yang Xueshi brought back the news that the rogue bandits were preparing to head towards Yangzhou. Liuhe was a must-pass area and was under Zhang Guowei's jurisdiction. The garrison battalion needed to go to the rescue, but there were more than one bandit. That only meant the possible movement of shaking the sky. The other battalions
It is possible to take a separate route to Anqing.
With Anqing's current military strength, if the garrison battalion is transferred, it will only be able to guard the city, and other areas within the territory will inevitably rot, which is not in Pang Yu's interests.
Mr. Hou's voice sounded from behind, "Sir, do you want to report the news that Mr. Yang brought back to Mr. Daotai?"
Pang Yu thought for a moment. Shi Kefa and Yang Erming had to talk it out, and even Pi Yingju, because rescuing Jiangpu would probably mean giving up Anqing.
"It's five hundred miles to send an urgent report to Zhang Duye. Let the messenger go to Jurong and Shidaotai first and let me tell you."
Pang Yu reached for the Tang newspaper and glanced north again, "I don't know if Luzhou can be defended."
...On December 21, thousands of figures were crawling outside the city wall of Luzhou Prefecture. Under the wall were crooked bamboo ladders and tattered desks, and various corpses were mixed in. The sound of cannons on the city wall was like thunder.
, white gunpowder smoke kept spraying out of the city, and raindrops of stone and grass fell toward the city.
As several pots of kerosene fell down, several fires ignited at the base of the wall. A flood of people screamed and ran away. Another round of offensive failed.
It was getting dark now, so we couldn't fight anymore today.
"You can't win if you don't have luck."
The little boy withdrew his gaze, turned around and walked out. There were shacks all over the mountains and plains outside the city, and smoke was rising everywhere. The rising white smoke filled the sky, as if it was integrated with the low-hanging clouds in the sky.
After wandering around the shacks for a while, the little kid came to a shack built against a half-dirt wall.
There was a fire burning outside the shed, but the fire was a little small. The little kid turned around and took a look, strode towards a group of people in front of him, and grabbed a bundle of grain and straw beside their fire.
"Hey, you..." A servant in the crowd stood up to stop him, but the boy kicked him away. The man couldn't dodge, and he fell to the ground with his hands on his stomach. The boy pulled out his sword with a swipe.
The crowd dispersed in a coax, and the little kid pointed a knife at the man on the ground. Siyang didn't bother to cover his stomach, and waved his hands in front of his face and said, "Sir, please forgive me, you can take those firewood as you please."
Under the horrified gaze of everyone, the little boy stared at him for a moment, and finally slowly put away the knife, and walked away with a handful of grain and grass in each hand. He returned to the outside of his shack, pulled a handful of grain and grass and threw it in, and the fire immediately started.
Got up.
There were two coughs coming from inside. The little boy looked down and saw the old man driving the car lying inside. He turned over and was about to get up.
"Master, please take care of me. Don't come out. I have a servant to feed you and cook for you."
The old man still sat up and looked out through the open curtain. The little boy handed over a tattered sheet on the floor, and the old man took it and put it on his lap.
"It's almost the end of the year as we speak, and another year has passed."
The wrinkles on the old man's old cheeks became deeper and deeper. A small snowflake fell down and touched his nose. It quickly melted again. "At this time in previous years, it was time to kill the New Year pig and the rice cakes were ready."
There was silence beside the fire, and the burning grain and grass made a soft beeping sound.
The little boy added a handful of grain and grass, took out half a wheat cake from his arms, heated it on the fire, broke it in half, and handed a piece to the old man.
"Master, please eat first. When Hanshan is destroyed, I will find you a rich family to live in. We have to cook some meat for New Year's Eve."
The old man took a bite of the pancake and chewed it slowly in his mouth, "We can't conquer Luzhou, but it doesn't matter if we can't conquer it, those people can still celebrate the New Year."
As he spoke, he turned to look at the Luzhou city wall. Lanterns were being hung on it, and there was one every few steps. It looked like a halo of light on the city wall.
At this time, a red flag happened to come from outside the city wall. Everyone knew that Master Zhang Xianzhong had returned to the camp, and everyone on the road gave way.
Zhang Xianzhong was not riding a horse. He wore a guala hat on his head, a satin jacket, and a dark green vest. The hem of the robe was exposed on his lower body, just like a landlord.
The Eighth Master turned a blind eye to the people around him, and several generals and Gao Zhao followed him. Zhang Xianzhong walked with his head buried in scolding, "Fuck your mother, this shitty Luzhou is a city of people during the day and a city of lights at night."
, Damn it, you’ve got hundreds of people here and you haven’t even been able to spare a few bucks. I’ll tell my fourth brother tomorrow to find another place that’s easier to fight.”
The few people were talking and walked further to the west. There was an undamaged mansion over there, which was the residence of the Eighth Prince.
The crowd returned to their original state and returned to their shacks to warm themselves by the fire.
The little boy shook his head and said to the old man, "I didn't capture Luzhou last time. I thought I could capture it this time with Gao Scarzi, so I might as well go on another trip in vain.
The person in charge just now told me that we don't want to attack Luzhou anymore. Gao Scarzi wants to attack Hanshan and Hezhou, and General Li Chuang will also go with him. I don't want to go with General Li Chuang, so we are going to attack Quanjiao."
The old man said, "Those who were beaten last time are already prepared. I think it will be easier to fight those who have not been beaten before."
The little kid nodded, "I was looking forward to going to Tongcheng, but I won't go this time. The spies saw tens of thousands of Jiangnan soldiers coming from the south in Anqing City. Gao Scarzi said that all the Jiangnan soldiers have arrived in Anqing, so we will go to Yangzhou.
Go, seize the boat, cross the river, and take away the Jiangnan soldiers’ lair.”
The old man knew that Xiaowazi's brother died in Tongcheng, and he always wanted to go back and kill everyone in Tongcheng for revenge. He sighed lowly and said, "Xiaowazi, no matter where you attack, when it's your turn to attack the city, don't fight for whoever gets there first.
Thanks to the credit, everything is life-saving."
The little boy picked up a fragment of a window lattice in the shed, with half of the carving of auspicious clouds on it. He didn't even look at it and put it directly into the fire.
A spark was thrown out of the fire, adding a little more warmth to the shed.
"Master, please don't worry about these things. If you don't take credit, you won't be beaten to death, but you won't be able to take care of him, and you will end up starving to death in the end."
The little boy pointed to the wing room outside the city gate, "The old camp, generals, Gao Zhao, and each are in charge of dishes and teams. We can live in the wing room and light the fire. We can only build a straw shed by ourselves. Look at this place. It was frozen yesterday."
Hundreds of people have died, and so are the people on the left and right. Why don’t we try to make a contribution and let me be the leader of the team, so that we can survive."
The old man sighed again, "The world will always change, and everyone will celebrate the New Year at home."
"I won't survive that day."
The little boy lowered his head, and the auspicious clouds on the window lattice had been engulfed in flames.