Dark clouds cover the moon, the river surface is dark and heavy, and the lights of Ezhou City in the distance are dazzling and brilliant.

In the middle of the night, the night shop outside the bamboo gate not only did not close the stall, but entered another climax.

In the autumn wind, the singing of nothingness came with the wind, as if it was still with the joy of spring, and a song and dance were leveled.

Cao Gu stood on the ship's floor, staring at the silhouette of Ezhou in the distance, his eyes were uncertain, his eyes were red as fire for a while, and cold as ice for a while. "How can you spare yourself if you plan for great things," he said secretly, "If you can't eat five tripods, you must cook five tripods." "Taking advantage of this opportunity to lead troops to aid Guanghui Division, he suddenly approached Ezhou, which was negotiated between Cao Di and the one in the palace. These 15,000 soldiers and horses are the elite selected in the Xiangyang camp. Although there are 30,000 soldiers and horses in Ezhou, the military power is scattered, and the eight armies outside the city and the twenty battalions of city guards in the city are not subordinate to each other. The Cao family is elite against rabble, prepared against unprepared, fast and slow, and there are internal responses in the city, so why worry about big things. The only thing to worry about is the pass of the city gate, the city wall of Ezhou is high and thick, if it is forcibly attacked, the damage will be heavy and it will delay for time.

As long as the army enters the city, controls the palace, and then spreads the word to the world in the name of His Majesty, the big thing will be decided!

"General Cao, the army has arrived outside the Zhuyan Gate!" The tooth general Guo Jizhong stepped forward and said, "How to act?" ”

"Salute first and then soldiers," Cao Gu's eyes were slightly cold, and he shouted, "I will have something important to meet the prime minister and let the city guards open the city gate." ”

He glanced at the generals around him, and everyone's faces were a little nervous.

Everyone knows that tonight's major event will either ascend to the sky in one step and make a contribution to the establishment, or lose one's head and ruin one's reputation.

All kinds of plans, the generals have already known. Guo Jizhong greeted, and the two hundred tooth soldiers landed in line one after another.

The tooth soldiers were all bloody soldiers, and their one-color brocade robes were covered with stainless steel chain mail and snowflake iron knives. According to Guo Jizhong, one tooth soldier is enough to overthrow the chicks of eight city guards. The city guards are mainly firecrackers, and the commanders are either non-commissioned officers trained by Zhao Xingde, or civilian officials sent to the army by the military department, although the court is relieved, but there is not much experience. If you can open the city gate, all the tooth soldiers will rush up to seize the city gate, and the successor army will rush in, even if the surname of Ezhou City is Cao, there will be many bloody disasters.

Two hundred guards surrounded the young marshal, and the team burst out with a faint murderous aura, and went straight through the grass market outside the bamboo gate.

The people in the market have avoided it, although the people are frightened and inexplicable, but no one thought that this is a rebellion, but they are afraid of these fierce and vicious soldiers, the hawkers have moved their stalls away, no one dares to block the road, the people on both sides of the road are closed, and the women hurriedly pull the children to hide in the house, for fear that the children will be unscrupulous and cause great trouble. Cao Gu didn't take these ants in his eyes, put up the frame of the general of the court, and led a group of tooth soldiers straight to the city gate. The soldiers are very fast, even if someone reports secretly along the way, the imperial court may not have time to react. Several large lanterns in the front team were raised high, and the tooth soldiers pulled their throats and shouted loudly.

"Uncle Cao Jiaguo has something to do and go to the city to meet the Prime Minister!"

"Hurry up, open the city gates, and let me wait to enter the city!"

"If you miss a big thing, be careful that Lord Cao plays in the military department and picks your skin!"

There was a lot of noise under the bamboo gate, Cao Gu was the identity of the uncle of the country, ranked one of the leaders of the eight armies outside the city, and was one of the most arrogant inside and outside the city of Ezhou. The soldiers pointed at the city and shouted, or verbally threatened, or scolded with halberds. Cao Gu sat upright and didn't say a word, and when the lanterns and torches above and below the city shone brightly, his face looked gloomy and uncertain, so that he really had a little bit of anger and self-authority.

The soldiers patrolling the city did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly found the guards of the bamboo gate who were sleeping in the city tower.

"His grandmother's, don't say Uncle Cao Guo, it's Cao Guozhang who is here, and this city gate is also said to be open?"

Yang Chengwu, the commander of the battalion, was woken up from his sleep, and he was angry, put on a helmet, glared and scolded: "Provoke Lao Tzu, don't say open the city gate and bombard his mother." After scolding, Yang Chengwu rolled his eyes and ordered, "What's the use of just calling Lao Tzu, hurry up and invite the guards over." "Send your own soldiers to immediately ask the army envoy Dian Bogu, although the two are competing openly and secretly in the camp, at this juncture, Yang Chengwu has not forgotten the talent sent by the military department. Before Dian Bogu arrived, Yang Chengwu only looked at the people in the city coldly, let him shout, and did not make a sound. He was born in the head of the artillery of the Xiangfu Guard, and when he besieged the Xiangfu, he was the first to open artillery bombardment, so he was promoted to battalion commander and transferred from the Xiangfu Guard to the City Guard.

This son of the Cao family, he is not very afraid, but he just doesn't want to offend this person plainly.

"Below, if there is a military order from the Prime Minister and the Ministry of War, the city gates will be opened immediately. If not, go back into town tomorrow! ”

Yang Chengwu looked at Cao Gu Tieqing's face under the lantern, and said leisurely: "Roar louder, let them stay honest first." ”

Such a big look, yelling and screaming under the city, there must be no arrows from the army. "Your face doesn't look like Da Ling!" Yang Chengwu sneered. Uncle Cao Guo was okay to be powerful and prosperous elsewhere, but here in the city guards, he found the wrong person. The battalions of the city guard army have been trained by Yue Fei and Zhao Xingde, and the habits left behind, the military law in the city guard army is greater than that of the sky. Officers above the capital head have a background, and although they compete for power and profit internally, they are monolithic externally, and they cannot be inserted with a needle or splashed with water. The eight armies outside the city are the elite of the big battalion, but if you want to pass through the Ezhou City Gate Cave, you have to coil if you are a dragon, and you have to lie on your stomach if you are a tiger.

"Uncle Guo is a bird," Yang Chengwu looked at the city and muttered, "Go to the Prime Minister's Mansion to complain, I'm still afraid of you?" ”

It didn't take long for Dian Bogu to come from the barracks, he was disheveled, he hurriedly looked at the city, and couldn't help but pour a "swoop" breath in his mouth, "This uninvited guest, it's not simple-" Hurriedly turned his head to Yang Chengwu and said, "Commander Yang, don't open the city gate!" ”

"The gates are tight!" Yang Chengwu was a little impatient, and glared at Dian Bogu, "What do you mean by Lord Dian?" ”

As the saying goes, one mountain does not tolerate two tigers, and the battalion commander and the army guard make the two officers of the same level in this battalion not subordinate to each other, and the relationship is quite awkward. The city guards' regard for military regulations is also related to this, once one side is slightly worse, maybe the other side will immediately report it behind their backs, or take advantage of the situation to suppress it. A reminder blurted out by Dian Bogu was very harsh in Yang Chengwu's ears, as if he was planning to sell Cao Gu a favor and open the city gate for him. The commander of the army knows the law and violates the law, and this crime can be minor or serious.

"It's abrupt," Dian Bogu said anxiously after apologetically, "The stakes are very high, let all the soldiers go to the city to be on guard, and report to the military headquarters as soon as possible." ”

He looked down at the city, and a layer of worry appeared on his face.

Dian Bogu knew that the Northern Expedition was when Ezhou was empty, and the Cao family had heavy troops outside the palace, and Cao Gu commanded the reinforcement of the Guangzhou army, which was enough to shake the overall situation. He suddenly appeared under the city of Guangzhou now, and there was no news from the military department in advance, I don't know if he only brought back a few hundred personal soldiers, or did he coerce the whole army to support the Guangzhou army to rebel and force the palace?

"Is it going to be too much movement?" Yang Chengwu wondered. At first, he just thought that the emperor's relatives were showing off their might.

The children of the powerful had a bad habit of not following the rules for good, but taking pride in transgressing the law, and if others were afraid of his power, perhaps they would have offended him and risk opening the gates of the city and letting him in. But he didn't expect Dian Bogu's reaction to be so fierce. Yang Chengwu looked at Dian Bogu with a look of hesitation on his face. If he didn't open the city gate, Cao Gu would have a big deal to return to the post house outside the city to stay overnight, and if he reported to the military department, it would make a big deal out of it, and his small battalion commander would have a mortal enmity with the Cao family of Jiangmen. Dian Bo was born as a civil official, he couldn't get along in the army, it was a big deal to go back to be the imperial history, Yang Chengwu was a military household for generations, and he planned to work in the army until he died.

At this moment, there was a sudden uproar in the city, and it seemed that there were people making trouble in all directions at the same time, and there was a faint flickering fire.

"Echoing inside and outside," Dian Bogu's face changed, and he said sharply, "Someone wants to rebel!" ”

"Listen to the Guardians!" The faces of the soldiers at the head of the city also changed, and Yang Chengwu ordered: "The city gate is locked, go to the head of the city to be on guard!" ”

He looked at the crowd of people surrounding Cao Gu under the city, hesitated for a moment, and said in a deep voice: "The iron bucket cannon is ready to fire, let the people under the city get out of the way, otherwise, if there is any misunderstanding, don't blame us for the death and injury!" "There was such a commotion under the city just now, the defenders of Zhuyanmen had already woken up, and the teams immediately took fire guns to the city, and the gunners uncovered the oilcloth jackets caged on the barrel cannon and filled them with ammunition. When Zhao Xingde presided over the defense of Ezhou city, he added a convex corner in the front of the city tower, built a corner fort at both ends, and the artillery emplacements arranged had no dead angles at all. Cao Gu's tooth soldiers are also stationed in Ezhou all the year round, and they know it very well, and when they heard the movement in the city, they hurriedly hugged Cao Gu and retreated, until they withdrew from the cross-firing boundary.

"Young marshal, let's attack the city!" Guo Jizhong pointed to the head of the city and scolded, "Rush in and kill him without leaving a piece of armor." ”

"Wait a little longer," Cao Gu hesitated for a moment and ordered, "Send someone to Qingyuan, Wuchang, and Hanyang to try again!" ”

The bamboo gate tower has been lit with three times the usual lanterns, illuminating the city as bright as day. From time to time, the figures of the defenders are revealed on the gun emplacements and battlements at the head of the city, and it is obvious that this place has been heavily prepared, and if it is forcibly attacked, the damage will be heavy. Cao Gu only had more than 10,000 soldiers and horses, and his capital was not strong, so he had to act cautiously. What's more, although they can't control the city guards, there are some other dark chess pieces in the city, and if they can play a role, they can enter the city without paying a major price.

"Murder, fire!" "The GI is in town!"

In various places in Ezhou City, countless drum noises suddenly sounded, and fires were lit in many people's settlements.

Although the city gates of Ezhou City are closed at night, there is no curfew in the markets inside and outside the city, and the night market is full of small traders and hawkers and customers from the north and south, no less than the daytime bustle will continue until the morning market. The sudden outbreak of chaos everywhere suddenly caused the people in the night market to flee in all directions, and the panicked crowd poured into the alleys. Before the Ezhou government could react, the turmoil and riots soon spread throughout the city.