Zhang Huangyan's original idea was to hold the county seat of Xincheng and attract the rebels of Jianchang Mansion here.

According to the plan, Li Yanzhi's army would arrive in a few days, and as long as it could hold out for five or six days, it would be able to wait for the arrival of the army, and when it arrived, it would be able to easily annihilate the thousands of rebels outside the city.

Therefore, after he took Xincheng County, he began to rectify the city defense, and guarded the city walls with the young and strong tenants of various towns and towns accompanying him, and placed more than a dozen Praetorian Guard soldiers as the backbone of the city defense in each city wall, actively making various preparations for defending the city.

However, today's attack by the rebels made Zhang Huangyan have other thoughts. From the beginning when the rebels lined up outside the city to the fact that they organized an attack, it seemed to be orderly, but in fact there were too many loopholes. Whether it is the march of its besieging army or the formation of reserves, it looks extremely loose, and there is no appearance of elite soldiers at all.

Zhang Huangyan has seen too many such troops before, and the Ming army in most places is like this, and it is not capable of fighting a hard battle at all, let alone attacking a city. And this rebel army came outside the city for only two days, and then thought about attacking the city, who gave them the courage?

After thinking about it carefully, Zhang Huangyan also figured it out, maybe the rebel generals were too arrogant, or maybe the other party didn't take himself and others in his eyes at all. Thinking about it, he only brought a hundred men with him when he entered Jiangxi, and the rest were hastily assembled tenants from various towns, which was simply a rabble, and no one would take such an army in their eyes.

Perhaps in the eyes of the rebel generals, it would be easy to conquer the city.

But......

Zhang Huangyan sneered, Siege and field warfare are completely different things. In the field, no matter how many the rabble is, it will not be a few elite opponents. In the past dynasties, countless peasant uprisings, often hundreds of thousands of troops, but were easily defeated by thousands of elite soldiers of the imperial court.

However, defending the city is different. Because there are tall and strong city walls, occupying an absolute geographical advantage, the defenders are condescending, and have an absolute psychological advantage in the face of the besieging side, they don't need to be too elite, as long as they can move bricks and stones, they can easily kill the attacking enemy army.

In another time and space, on the 81st day of Jiangyin, in the face of tens of thousands of Qing soldiers attacking, the people of Jiangyin led by Yan Yingyuan held out for nearly three months, killing tens of thousands of Qing soldiers. It wasn't until the Qing soldiers finally transferred red-coated cannons and blasted through the city wall that Jiangyin Cheng fell. And the rebels outside the city, it is impossible for them to have such a siege weapon as a red-coated cannon, in this case, how can they hit the new city and county?

Of course, the rebels also had other methods, such as inducing the squires in the city to surrender, and the inside and outside should join forces to take the city. But since the rebels arrived and began to attack the city, they did not even persuade them to surrender, which shows that the other party is a fool and will not use such a strategy at all.

Therefore, Zhang Huangyan has absolute confidence in defending the city and being led by Li Yanzhi to lead the army.

Then, Zhang Huangyan had other thoughts......

Why not take advantage of the defense of the city to kill and injure the opponent's living force as much as possible? Or even defeat each other completely.

Therefore, Zhang Huangyan deliberately showed the enemy weakness and ordered the defenders not to show their weakness too much, so that the rebels felt that the siege would be very smooth. So at first, the defenders didn't exert their strength, and even the ash bottles prepared on the city wall were useless, but some didn't have to throw some bricks and stones under the city, and as for the fire guns, they didn't even use it, so they let the other party easily put the ladder on the city wall, and then climb up.

It wasn't until he was about to attack the city wall that Zhang Huangyan ordered boiling water to douse it, thwarting the opponent's first wave of offensive.

To tell the truth, the boiling water was not boiling oil, it could only bring some burns to it, and it did not cause major casualties, and it did not cause much damage to the casualties and morale of the rebels, but made the rebels think that they saw the weakness of the defenders, so Niu Yonggui quickly organized a second wave of offensive.

In the second wave of the city, the boiling water did not have much effect, and the rebels soon climbed to the top of the city. In order to avoid casualties among the tenants, Zhang Huangyan ordered the Praetorian Guards to bombard them with firearms, easily defeating the second wave of their offensive.

Zhang Huangyan knew that if the rebels still attacked, they would inevitably do their best, and the offensive would be even more fierce. And this kind of time is also a time to inflict heavy damage on them and demoralize them. And this is Zhang Huangyan's original plan, relying on defending the city to inflict heavy casualties, demoralize him, and buy time as much as possible.

However, the strength shown by the rebels made Zhang Huangyan have other ideas, maybe he could take advantage of the rebels to attack the city, suddenly lead the army to kill, and directly attack the location of the army, which may have an unexpected effect.

If you are an old bearer, you will never take such a risk, after all, there are only a hundred real elites under your command. Once the attack fails, the county is in danger of falling.

But Zhang Huangyan was young and vigorous, less than twenty years old, he didn't think so much at all, and he naturally did what he said when his head was hot. When he ordered to gather a hundred elites under his command.

"General Zhang, let's defend the city well, why take the risk?" After learning of his intentions, Squire Lu hurriedly persuaded him.

"Don't worry, you just need to hold the city wall, don't let them attack the city wall, when the siege is at its peak, I will lead the army to kill, and I will definitely be able to break it in one fell swoop." Zhang Huangyan commanded.

"General Zhang, what if you can't defeat the other party?" Lu Xiangsheng hesitated. You are a hundred, but there are 5,000 troops outside the city, and 100 people attack 5,000 people, it is really crazy, and Squire Lu does not have much hope for the result of Zhang Huangyan's initiative to attack out of the city.

"Yes, General Zhang, think twice, didn't you say that General Li will lead the army over soon, let's just defend the city honestly, why take the risk?" The other squires also persuaded bitterly. Once Zhang Huangyan is defeated, the county seat will definitely not be able to hold it, and these squires who betrayed the Nanchang Imperial Court and subdued the Praetorian Guards will definitely not be pleased, and they will all die.

"Don't worry, thousands of rebels haven't been put in the eyes of General Ben!" Zhang Huangyan said contemptuously.

"General, think twice!" The squires persuaded bitterly.

"The big war is ahead, do what you are told, and don't say it again." Zhang Huangyan said coldly. He had always had the right idea, how could he change his mind because of the persuasion of a few squires?

The squires had no choice but to watch Zhang Huangyan lead people down the city wall and line up at the city gate.

The rebels attacked again, more fiercely than ever, and this time sent a full 3,000 men carrying hundreds of ladders to rush over like a tide. Without the Praetorian Guard soldiers as the backbone, the squires were at a loss and did not know how to command. The young tenants were also terrified, and some even thought that the Praetorian Guard was going to abandon them and flee the city.

"Everyone, don't think about anything, let's defend the city wall first." At the critical moment, it was Squire Lu who stood up and said to everyone, and then took the initiative to pick up a stone and put it on the battlement, and then pushed it down.

"Everyone, don't let the rebels kill them." The other squires also came to their senses, knowing that if the rebels were allowed to storm the walls, everyone would die, and the rebels would cut off everyone's heads in exchange for a bounty.

Suddenly there was a sound of fighting on the city wall, and under the leadership of the squires, the tenants were desperately throwing bricks and stones under the city, splashing boiling water, and the battle was extremely fierce.

At this time, Zhang Huangyan ignored everything, and just quietly lined up at the city gate with his elites.

"General, the rebels have sent most of their forces to attack the city." The watchman on the wall shouted.

"Kaesong, attack!" Zhang Huangyan suddenly lifted his spirit and said quickly.

Two soldiers stepped forward, removed the bolt, and quickly opened the city gate, Zhang Huangyan held a long knife, and without saying a word, the first one rushed towards the outside of the city, and a hundred Praetorian Guard soldiers followed without saying a word.

The defenders suddenly opened the city and killed, which made the rebel general Niu Yonggui really surprised, thinking that the defenders were going to counterattack in a big way. However, when he saw that only a hundred people had been killed, he couldn't help but be happy.

"Haha, just this person, and still want to sneak attack, it's a joke." Niu Yonggui is unstoppable.

"This is the work of those Praetorian Guards, perhaps they saw that the city could not be defended, and abandoned the bewitched people and fled." Ma Hou on the side said jokingly.

"Niu Er, you lead a thousand people to meet you and destroy these 100 people for me!" Niu Yonggui ordered, whether the other party wants to attack or flee, he can't let the other party succeed. Not to mention anything else, if the other party really wants to sneak attack, it can still bring some trouble to the army that is besieging the city.

At this moment, Niu Yonggui sent half of his troops to attack the city, and there were more than 2,000 people left around him, but more than 2,000 people had seen the first two sieges, and they were a little tired, but despite this, it was no problem to send a thousand people, ten times the number of troops, to defeat the opponent's 100 enemy troops.

What made Niu Yonggui happy was that the other party's 100 people did not attack the besieging men, but went straight to their side. This does not affect the siege, seeing that the sun is setting in the west, if it attacks the besieging army, the attack will be blocked, and it may not be possible to take the city today.

"These Praetorian Guards are really bold, thinking that they can defeat Lao Tzu's Chinese army with just these 100 people, it's really whimsical, thinking that they are all Zhao Zilong!" Niu Yonggui sneered.

"That's it, one by one, rushing to death." Ma Hou said with a smile.

Niu Yonggui glanced at the direction of the city wall, and saw that because of the sudden attack of the Praetorian Guards, some of the attacking troops were a little panicked, and the offensive slowed down a lot, and hurriedly ordered: "Beat the drum, continue the attack, and take the city wall in one go!" ”

The rousing drums of "Knock Knock Knock ......" sounded, and the morale of the rebels was greatly boosted, and the fighting suddenly became fierce.

After glancing at the city wall, Niu Yonggui focused on the meticulous work of the attacking Praetorian Guards, wanting to see how long they could last under the siege of his own 1,000 troops.

"I bet that it only takes a stick of incense to defeat these people." Ma Hou said with a smile.

Niu Yonggui nodded and did not speak.

The two armies approached rapidly, one side was a thousand men, and the other side was only a hundred, but it looked so thin.

Just when the distance between the two sides was only thirty or forty paces, I saw that the Praetorian Guard suddenly stopped.

Well? Niu Yonggui was stunned for a moment, and he heard a sound like firecrackers coming from afar, and then saw Niu Er's 1,000 troops in a commotion.

The sound of firecrackers sounded twice, and then Niu Yonggui was surprised to see that Niu Er's army had collapsed, and he turned around and ran away in panic one by one.

His grandmother's, what the hell is going on? Niu Yonggui's eyes widened.

"General Niu, they should have used a firecracker!" Ma Hou suddenly remembered something and hurriedly reminded. When he was in Tong'an Town, he led more than 100 of his men to fight against more than 20 Praetorian Guards, but he was also directly defeated by a round of firecrackers.

"Fire guns, where did you get such a sharp fire gun?" Niu Yonggui muttered.

"General, don't think about it, they're about to flee back, hurry up and set up defenses." Ma Hou hurriedly reminded.

"Yes, yes, everyone immediately sorted out the formation, raised the big shields and lined them up in front, and ordered the defeated troops to run on both sides, and they were not allowed to rush into battle!" In the end, Niu Yonggui was born in a hereditary military family, Niu Yonggui still had a certain military literacy, and after a short panic, he immediately began to arrange defenses. Blocking the front with a shield should be able to block the enemy's firebolt shots.

"The order was given to suspend the siege, and the besieging army was assembled and covered from behind." Seeing that the other party drove the rout soldiers to continue to kill, Niu Yonggui continued to order. At this time, he could no longer care about continuing to attack the city.

It didn't take long for the rout to flee back crying, Niu Yonggui immediately ordered to shoot arrows, and a row of feather arrows shot in front of the rout, which immediately frightened these routs, and they all bypassed the array and fled from the left and right to the back, and after a while, the rout fled one after another, revealing the pursuing group of Praetorian Guards.

Looking at the formation of the rebel army that was waiting for him, Zhang Huangyan nodded slightly, the ability of this rebel general is not bad, in this case, he did not flee directly, and he could organize a defense in a short time.

However, with such a formation, it is not enough to stop yourself.

"Everybody take a break." Zhang Huangyan did not directly order the attack, but let his subordinates rest for a while. From going out of the city to coming down, after fighting for a stick of incense, the big guy ran for more than half a mile, and he was a little tired.

Seeing that the other party had a fearless look, Niu Yonggui's expression became even more solemn, but he did not dare to order a direct attack, but ordered the archers to shoot a round first.

More than 100 feather arrows were shot, but Zhang Huangyan and his subordinates ignored them, just lowered their heads slightly and covered the front door with their helmets.

Sure enough, most of the feather arrows missed, and a few of them did not cause much damage at all.

After just adjusting his breath slightly, Zhang Huangyan ordered to continue the attack, and a hundred people lined up in a not so tight formation, forcing towards the array of more than 1,000 people on the opposite side.

"Bang bang bang" dozens of firearms were fired, but most of the projectiles were blocked by shields, which did not bring much damage to the opponent.

"Donkey skills are exhausted." Seeing that the shield array had worked, Niu Yonggui sneered, and had already eased up from the rout of Niu Er's army.

Seeing that the fire gun could not break through the defense, Zhang Huangyan simply ordered to load the spear, and then forced towards the other party, preparing for a hard battle.

The two sides quickly approached, and when the distance was only ten steps, Zhang Huangyan suddenly shouted: "Grenade! ”

As soon as the words fell, dozens of black dots fell towards the rebel array, and then exploded into a "boom".

"Kill!" Zhang Huangyan raised his long knife and took the lead in rushing towards the rebel array in the chaos of the bombing.

"Kill!" More than 100 Praetorian Guard soldiers followed closely behind Zhang Huangyan and fiercely charged towards the rebels.

The explosion caused a great confusion in the rebel array, and after the fierce charging of the Praetorian Guard soldiers, it was immediately unbearable and collapsed at once.