2-in-1)

At the time of the third watch, Guo Kun, Wei Dakui, Zhao Youji and others arrived at the place where the fire was ignited. Although the fire had been extinguished an hour earlier, the fire that had been burning violently for two hours had scorched the ground within a radius of dozens of paces to the left. The leaves and grass on both sides were charred. As soon as you turn the corner and face the embers of the fire, you immediately feel like you are in a steamer.

However, at this time, there was no obstruction to the line of sight, and the two sides were talking loudly from a distance of hundreds of steps.

"Is it Lin Jue?" Guo Kun shouted.

"Uncle, it's us. Hahaha, I guessed that my uncle had arrived with the cavalry. Uncle, it's hard work. Lin Jue's voice came from the opposite side of the road where the smoke and dust lingered.

"I'm ashamed, I'm ashamed, I knew I should have listened to your advice. I didn't work hard, if it weren't for you this time, I'm afraid I would have made a big mistake. Guo Kun shouted.

"If you don't say it, if you don't say it, how can you be infallible if you are not a sage? Let's talk about these things later. What I want to know, can all the bandits be annihilated? I'm afraid you won't dare to attack. Lin Jue laughed loudly.

"How can you let your thoughts go to waste? You burned such a big fire, didn't you just want me to attack? As you wish, all the bandits will be annihilated. Hahaha. Guo Kun laughed.

"Hahaha, congratulations to my uncle, this is a great achievement. The five counties in northern Beijing, which had not yet marched into the rebellion of the bandits, had already annihilated all the bandits. It has only been a few days since the troops were dispatched, and they have already achieved success. After that, you can easily sweep the five counties. Congratulations. Lin Jue also laughed loudly.

Guo Kun was stunned, and then suddenly realized that the victory in today's battle was actually the end of the matter of the bandits in the five counties. Because these two or thirty thousand bandits were gathered from the five counties, and after all of them were annihilated, the five counties could sweep through and recover them in one fell swoop. The task of quelling the rebellion in the five counties turned out to be a complete victory tonight. A burst of ecstasy surged up in Guo Kun's heart.

"Hahaha, if you don't say it, I haven't realized it yet. It is indeed a victory in one fell swoop, and this is the credit of everyone, especially the credit of your soldiers and horses defending the city. When I go back, I will write a report with His Royal Highness the King of Jin, detailing your achievements in defending the city. In particular, you and your three hundred cavalry brothers have been brave and fearless, and have done a feat that shocked the world. This battle will surely be famous in the world, and the court will also praise it. Hahaha. Guo Kun laughed loudly.

Lin Jue laughed and nodded, and the more than a hundred cavalrymen standing behind him also laughed happily. In the past few days, it has been like a dream, and incredible things have been accomplished. A great merit fell from the sky, and it was all due to the planning of Lord Lin. If there was no Lord Lin to take the lead, make decisions for everyone, and guide the way to act, there would never be such a result. Everyone admired Lin Jue's five bodies, and Bai Bing, who was standing next to Lin Jue, also looked at his husband with reverence, and quietly put his little hand into Lin Jue's palm and held it.

Lin Jue said loudly: "Thank you for the compliment, it's not easy to get praise from my uncle." By the way, did Meng Xiang catch it? ”

Guo Kun was stunned and said, "Meng Xiang? Who is Meng Xiang? ”

Zhao Youji, who was on the side, hurriedly whispered the previous situation to Guo Kun quickly. Guo Kun was stunned in a daze, and suddenly laughed and said, "Is this Meng Xiang actually a bandit on Peach Blossom Island?" It's bizarre. Could it be that these people from the Qingjiao are actually our old acquaintances? ”

Lin Jue laughed and said, "Does the eldest brother actually know now?" That's right, it was a group of pirates on Peach Blossom Island back then who were bewitching trouble. The leader of this Qing Sect, who claims to be the Holy Father, is the pirate Hai Dongqing who escaped back then. This Meng Xiang was the head of the Eight King Kongs under him back then. I also met Meng Xiang to find out about this, which simply surprised me, these guys can really make trouble. ”

Guo Kun laughed and said: "It's unbelievable, this world is too small." It's unbelievable that these pirates are still alive and making such a big fuss. Meng Xiangke hasn't caught it yet. may be unwilling to surrender and go into the depths of Bolangsha. Wait until I go back and ask the captives to see if they know their whereabouts. ”

Lin Jue said loudly: "This person can't run, he wants to see people in life and corpses in death, he runs away, and there will be endless troubles." This time, we can't let them run away like we did back then, this time we will eliminate the evil, otherwise this group of people may have to make some name again. ”

Guo Kun nodded and exclaimed, "I see." I will search and search with all my might, alive to see people, dead to see corpses. Lin Jue, the ground is hot, I'm afraid you won't be able to come over until tomorrow morning. I see you rest on the spot, and tomorrow we will meet and talk in detail. I'm going to make arrangements here, my brothers are tired enough, I haven't closed my eyes for two days and two nights, and I can sleep well tonight. ”

Lin Jue smiled: "Why don't you send us some water and food, but we are hungry and thirsty, and we can't sleep when we are hungry." ”

Guo Kun stretched out his hand to hit his forehead and said with a smile: "Look at me, I'm confused." Come on, hurry. ”

The soldiers wrapped the dry food and water bladders and threw them far away over the most scorching embers in the middle, and Lin Jue and the others finally drank clean water and ate a decent meal for several days. After eating and drinking, they fell down on the road, relaxed their minds, and fell asleep.

The next morning, when the sky was bright, Lin Jue and the others were awakened by a strange smell and a noisy sound. When I got up to look, I saw dozens of soldiers filling wooden buckets with water from the mud puddle next to the road and watering it on the road. The ground was still hot, and the water sprinkled on the road suddenly made a sizzling sound, emitting a foul stench of mud. It was the smell and sound that woke everyone up.

Lin Jue was speechless, frowning and exclaiming, "What is this doing?" ”

The soldiers shouted: "Lord Lin, it is still hot and difficult to show up, Du Yu Hou asked us to pick you up, saying that we have found the body of the bandit leader." But we couldn't go this way, so we wanted to pour some water to cool the road. ”

Lin Jue waved his hand and shouted, "You can't do this." Why don't you cut some branches and spread them on it. The ground is just hot, but it won't catch fire. ”

The soldiers scolded themselves for being stupid, they made a terrible smell, and the water poured on the road did not have much effect at all, and after evaporation, the ground was still hot and difficult to settle. It's still Lord Lin's idea. At that moment, everyone immediately cut down dozens of miscellaneous trees and paved dozens of steps of the road, and Lin Jue and everyone ran over with the tree trunk jumping and jumping.

When passing through the middle section, Lin Jue found that the ground around him was burned blue-gray, and even a layer of smooth enamel was applied. The clay and sand roads are about to be burned into glass, which shows the power of the burning of the pile of miscellaneous trees yesterday. This section of the trail has become the strongest section of the entire trail. Since then, the water will not be washed away, the chariots and horses will not be broken, but the eternal life will not be destroyed.

In later generations, archaeologists excavated this section of the roadbed of Bolangsha and proposed that this was the site of the ancient Bolang City wall, which was recognized by everyone for a while. didn't know that this was just the result of Lin Jue setting a fire in order to block the retreat of the Qingjiao bandits. It can be seen that unless you have experienced the truth of some things, speculation and speculation, and even the words of experts and scholars cannot be fully believed. (PS: This is nonsense, don't take it seriously.) ）

Lin Jue and others rushed to the bend of the gallop where Guo Kun and others were, Guo Kun and others were standing beside the gallop and pointing at the quagmire below, seeing Lin Jue's arrival, Guo Kun, Zhao Youji, Wei Dakui and others hurriedly came forward.

"Hahaha, brother-in-law, did you sleep well last night? I was covered in bags from mosquito bites, and I didn't sleep much all night. Guo Kun laughed.

Lin Jue smiled and arched his hand: "You should be like me, sleeping on that hot road." The fire smoked away all the mosquitoes in the vicinity, and I didn't know how good I slept last night. ”

Guo Kun patted his thigh and said, "Oops." Why didn't you say it earlier? This is a miscalculation. ”

Lin Jue laughed, and Wei Dakui and Zhao Youji, as well as several generals, bowed and saluted. The eyes of these people looking at Lin Jue were full of admiration, and Wei Dakui did not hide it at all.

"Lord Lin, Lord Lin, I'm really convinced. I've never seen anyone as powerful as Lord Lin. Lin Da is the champion in the humanities, and the martial arts can retreat from all enemies, Wei Dakui has never been convinced by anyone in his life, but this time, I really admire the five-body cast. Please accept my worship. Wei Dakui bowed to the ground and respectfully gave Lin Jue a big salute.

Lin Jue smiled and said, "Wei Dutou doesn't want to be like this, I can't afford it." This time it was the result of our cooperation, and I didn't do it alone. It's not just me, but this group of cavalry brothers behind me is what really deserves to be admired. Wei Dutou, this time I must give them all military merit awards, but I promised them. ”

Before Wei Dakui could answer, Guo Kun smiled and said, "Do you need to say this?" Let's go back to these things in detail, but let's see who this is? ”

Guo Kun pulled Lin Jue to the side of the gallop road surrounded by everyone, pointed to a black thing in the mire below, and said, "Look, who is that?" ”

Lin Jue looked at it fixedly, and suddenly vomited in disgust. Bai Bing beside him only glanced at it and then turned his head and walked away, never daring to take a second look. But he saw a corpse lying in the mire, black and full of stinking mud, his mouth was open, his eyes were open, and a large swarm of flies were crawling around on his mouth and eyes, and he was extremely disgusting. After a closer look, Lin Jue found that the corpse's bare arms and half of his cheeks were crawling with mosquitoes, sucking blood and sucking his own pleasure.

"Is this ......," Lin Jue asked with a frown.

"Meng Xiang, the guy you are talking about is him. Last night I went back and questioned the captured bandits, and they told me that Meng Xiang had fallen into the mire. Early this morning, my brothers followed their instructions to find this place. This guy didn't die when he fell down last night, and he just lay in the mud all night, looking like he had been bitten by a mosquito. Behold, his cheeks and arms were sunken, and they must have been sucked out of flesh. The mosquitoes here are really poisonous, they are all these long-legged flower mosquitoes, and the big ones can be eaten as vegetables. Haven't you sucked up the flesh and blood this night? Guo Kun pointed to Meng Xiang's corpse.

Lin Jue's heart chilled, this kind of death was the most miserable way to die. Being trapped in the mire and bitten to death by mosquitoes is the equivalent of being tortured to death. According to Lin Jue's knowledge, there is a punishment that is the punishment of insect devouring. For the most heinous people, cut the wounds on his body, sprinkle sugar water, and tie the person to the dense woods of ants and mosquitoes, and come overnight, the flesh and blood are empty, which is not much better than Ling Chi. Meng Xiang is actually such a way to die, but it is also obvious.

"Get him out and clean him, this man is one of the bandits, and he can be transported to the capital to report to the imperial court. Hey, that's a pity. Lin Jue frowned.

"Pity? Do you still feel sorry for him? Guo Kun rolled his eyes and said.

Lin Jue said: "I'm not sorry for him, I'm sorry I couldn't capture him alive." If you can capture him alive, you can ask him something. He is the high-ranking leader of the Youth Sect, and he must know the secrets of the Youth Sect, and I am eager to ask him something that I am puzzled about. ”

"What's that? You seem to be quite interested in this Qingjiao. These guys should be caught and slaughtered, and he should be allowed to live? Guo Kun said.

Lin Jue said: "I want to know how the Qingjiao can develop so much in a short period of time, and the Qingjiao actually has a large number of weapons and equipment, and at first I heard that they spent money to buy people's hearts. It would require a lot of gold and silver. I don't know how Hai Dongqing has so much money and food. At the beginning, he was kicked out of Peach Blossom Island by us like a dog. I suspect someone funded him to do that. Meng Xiang must know these inside information. ”

Guo Kun nodded slightly, this is indeed a bit strange. What is known so far is that the development of Qingjiao relied on sprinkling gold and silver money and grain to buy people's hearts. This money is not a small amount, and where it comes from is a question. There are also these equipment blades, although there are not many, but they are not folk native crafts, and they must have been learned from some source. These things are worth looking into. Meng Xiang is not dead, maybe he really asked for some inside information.

"People are dead, and there is nothing to be done. I think it is only right that we should quickly clean up the battlefield, withdraw our troops and return to the city to rest, and recover the five counties in a few days. Guo Kun said.

Lin Jue nodded and said, "That's right." There are also dozens of cavalry brothers trapped in the bolangsand and mire and need to be rescued. Those who have fled into Bolangsha are likely to encounter them, so they need to be searched for quickly. Without further ado, let's do it right away. ”

……

Just when the battle of Yangwu County was over, and Guo Kun, Lin Jue and others exterminated the bandits led by Meng Xiang, the tragic siege battle under Yingtianfu City, more than 900 miles away in the southeast, had been carried out on the third day.

Three days ago. Guo Xu, the king of Huai, led 50,000 forbidden troops and a large number of siege equipment, heavy grain and grass, and set off for Jingxi Road in a mighty manner. After taking Xiangyi and Ningling without blood, the soldiers came to the city of Tianfu.

From the very beginning, the goal of Guo Xu, the king of Huai, was Ying Tianfu. Yingtianfu is the largest city on Jingxi Road, with a population of nearly one million, and is one of the top five state capitals in the Great Zhou City. Taking Ying Tianfu can not only greatly alleviate the current situation of rebellion of the bandits, but also stabilize the people's hearts and let the imperial court see the effect of quelling the rebellion immediately. Moreover, Yingtianfu is located in the south of Jingxi Road, and after capturing Yingtianfu, it can effectively prevent the bandits from going south and spreading to the area of Huainan East Road.

Therefore, both Guo Xu himself and the strategists who were personally selected for him by Lu Zhongtian who followed Guo Xu reached a high degree of consensus, that is, to take Ying Tianfu in one fell swoop and fight a beautiful siege battle.

For the combat operation to capture Ying Tianfu, everyone is still full of confidence. Everyone saw the bandits as a rabble, believing them to be vulnerable. With 50,000 well-equipped and well-trained forbidden troops and a large number of siege equipment, there was no chance of losing this battle. Even, for the entire counterinsurgency operation, in the minds of many people, this is a great credit to Guo Xu for nothing. Because no matter in terms of the quality of soldiers and horses, equipment and material support, the officers and soldiers of the imperial court have no reason to fail.

Three days ago, in the early morning, the siege officially began. Starting with the bombardment of 300 catapults, under the cover of catapults, tens of thousands of forbidden military carts carried a large number of earth, stone and sand bags, and forcibly filled in more than a dozen passages for the moat of Yingtianfu to be more than five zhang wide, which was convenient for the army to attack the city.

After that, more than 50 cloud chariots loaded with nearly 5,000 forbidden troops attacked the city. The cloud car is a unique new siege weapon in the Great Zhou army. It is a behemoth that is three feet tall and has eighteen huge wheels. Inside the rectangular arctic rover is a series of platforms, connected by steps. When such siege vehicles approached the walls, the drawbridges laid down at the top could be erected on the walls, and the soldiers hiding inside could climb to the top from ladders and rush directly down the drawbridges to the walls. Each of these vehicles could hide hundreds of soldiers, and once they reached the edge of the city wall, not only could these 100 people quickly enter the city to fight, but it was also equivalent to erecting a passage connecting the city below the city. This was the latest siege weapon in the Great Zhou, and it was originally an extremely confidential siege weapon, but at this moment, it was first brought by Guo Xu more than fifty planes. That's all the Praetorian Army has.

In addition, tens of thousands of forbidden troops carried hundreds of ladders to charge on the side of the ladders, and another five giant chariots drove towards the west gate of Yingtianfu, ready to smash the city gate. In addition, 5,000 archers shot arrows at the head of the city to suppress, and the new siege methods were combined with the traditional siege methods, forming a three-dimensional siege method that combined the old and the new, and the combination of far and near.

In addition to the 10,000 reserves, Guo Xu mobilized more than 30,000 forbidden troops. His goal is very clear, that is, to break through Ying Tianfu and take this city in one go. Never mud and water.

However, the facts slapped Guo Xu hard. He thought that he could successfully capture the Battle of Yingtianfu, but encountered fierce resistance from the bandits. In the battle personally supervised by the Holy Father, the 20,000 Guardian Army and tens of thousands of bandits defending the city were extremely brave, shouting the slogan of the Holy Father, and the means were endless.

Nearly 6,000 apologists armed with bows and arrows condescended to shoot arrows, inflicting massive casualties before the Forbidden Army could reach the walls. Thousands of forbidden soldiers were shot and killed on the way to the charge. In the face of the siege of the cloud siege vehicle, the defender did not let the opponent take advantage. As the chariot approached the city wall, the bandits at the head of the city threw a bottle of fire oil into the huge upper exit of the siege car. This is how more than 20 siege engines were burned near the city walls. While the raging fire took the lives of the forbidden army, it also burned down the extremely valuable cloud carriage.

The cathars at the head of the city clamped down on the city walls, preventing the officers and soldiers from having the slightest chance to climb the city. Moreover, they obviously made careful preparations, the city head was abundant, the number of archers was large, and the dozens of bed crossbows installed on the city wall were originally all the bed crossbows of the Great Zhou army, which effectively became a sharp weapon to stop the attack of officers and soldiers.

The first siege lasted more than an hour and finally ended with the bandits repelling the attack of the officers and soldiers. With a large number of casualties and an underestimation of the situation, Guo Xu had to order to stop the offensive and find another good strategy.

In the three days that followed, Guo Xu launched nine sieges, none of which were successful. The most likely one was the attack on the night two days ago, when part of the city wall had been taken, but a group of bandits appeared out of nowhere on the other side, and they fought hand-to-hand with the besieging officers and soldiers, and finally regained control of the city wall by virtue of their absolute numerical superiority.