Qin Shuhuai accepted the picture and said appreciatively, "Ancient altar master, brothers and sisters, thank you for your hard work! ”

Everyone was immediately surprised when they heard this, and they knelt down and said, "My subordinates are willing to die for the sect master!"

Qin Shuhuai thought for a moment and asked again, "By the way, how many brothers and sisters do I teach in Shangluo City?"

Gu Leishan sighed and said, "Originally, there were more than 1,000 people, but since the high thieves came, they somehow began to hunt and kill people in my sect, and now there are only about 300 people left. Among them, there were about two hundred strong men who could fight. Our previous altar master was killed by a thief! Sect Master, you must help us avenge this revenge!"

Qin Shuhuai said, "The time of the high thief is short, and this seat will kill him sooner or later to sacrifice the heroic souls of my sect disciples." Lord of the Ancient Altar, you have secretly contacted these two hundred strong people, and it will be of great use to turn around. ”

Gu Leishan immediately said, "Subordinates obey orders!"

After Qin Shuhuai finished arranging, he immediately went out of the silk village and led a group of masters to follow the map, first to familiarize themselves with the location of the key departments marked on the map below.

After going round and round, they returned to the silk village and discussed the plan of arson as they had just seen.

It was dawning soon. In order to avoid startling the snakes, they have been hiding in the silk village all day, and the food and drink are personally delivered by Gu Leishan, which also saves a lot of trouble.

Let's say that after dawn, Hong Chengchou immediately ordered 67,000 troops and set off for Shangluo. The 67,000-strong army, commanded by He Kegang and 15,000, was a left-wing battalion. Zhang Xiao commanded 15,000 and was a right-wing battalion. He Renlong commanded 20,000 as a general, and was the forward battalion. And all the rest are led by Hong Chengchou himself, which is for the Chinese army.

The army set off in a majestic manner, without avoiding the eyes and ears of others, and rushed in the direction of Shangluo.

On a small mound outside Xi'an, several black-clothed men saw the boundless army coming out of the south gate of Xi'an like a torrent, and immediately rode their horses to Weinan City.

Inside the city of Weinan.

Li Zicheng and Liu Guoneng were both surprised when they learned that Hong Chengchou led the army south, but then their reactions were different.

Li Zicheng strongly suggested that he first send a fast horse to inform Gao Yingxiang, let Gao Yingxiang set up an ambush outside Shangluo City, and send another 50,000 troops to follow the Ming army in Weinan City. At the same time, they also notified the various "allies" entrenched in the area from Weinan to Shangluo and asked them to come to help. At that time, once the official army enters the ambush area, then it will be attacked from the front and back, and the "breaking army" can take this rare opportunity to complete its work in one battle and completely defeat the official army.

But Liu Guoneng thought it was too risky to fight like this. One of them has as many as 60,000 or 70,000 officers and troops, and even if they gather more than 100,000 troops to fight, they may not be able to fight. Second, if Weinan City sends troops to follow them, will they be discovered by the officers and soldiers? If they find out and lie in ambush in front, how many of these 50,000 people will be able to come back in the field? You must know that in the field, the combat strength of the officers and troops is far superior to that of their own. Also, for the troops of the "allies" of the 36th Road, he Liu Guoneng does not expect anything, those people are all rabble, who still doesn't know who?

The two had a heated argument over this.

In fact, it's hard to say who's right and who's not.

Li Zicheng's method is more radical, but if he wins the bet, he will do it once and for all, and if the official army loses again this time, it is estimated that he will not be able to lose troops to suppress Gao Yingxiang in a few years.

Liu Guoneng's idea is conservative, he thinks that it is safe to let the official army attack the city first, consume part of the troops, and then send troops to rescue Shangluo. Naturally, there was a theoretical basis for his thinking, because the official army had suffered heavy losses when attacking Weinan before, and Shangluo's city was larger than Weinan, with more soldiers than Weinan, and better equipment for defending the city than Weinan. When the time comes, when the morale of the officers and soldiers is low and the strength of the troops is greatly damaged, wouldn't it be the best policy to gather heavy troops to fight a decisive battle with them?

The two argued, and Liu Guoneng said that he would not send troops at all. In this way, Li Zicheng has no choice. He has more than 30,000 soldiers and horses in his hands, and if Liu Guo can not help, he would never dare to follow 60,000 or 70,000 officers and soldiers.

Hong Chengchou led the army, and after two days and two nights of forced march, finally arrived at Shangluo at noon on the third day. At this time, Gao Yingxiang in Shangluo City had already received a reminder from Weinan and deployed the city defense.

After Hong Chengchou arrived in Shangluo, he was not in a hurry to attack, but first let the soldiers besiege the city, and after the siege, they set up a village on the spot, and the soldiers repaired on the spot.

There was a great chaos in Shangluo City, and the common people were afraid that the war would affect them, so they stored grain and vegetables one after another. For a while, all the rice and vegetables in the city were snapped up, Gao Yingxiang did not forcibly recruit military rations, first, his military rations were well prepared, and secondly, this was his old nest, he was determined to be in the world, how could he do things to grab grain and lose the hearts of the people?

Soon, all the shops in the city were closed, and everyone went back to their homes to find their mothers, waiting for the officers and soldiers to fight with the "breaking army" to decide who they would pay for in the future.

And Qin Shuhuai and the others in the city also learned the news that Hong Chengchou had come to the city through the White Lotus Sect. According to the agreement, Hong Chengchou will besiege the city for a day in order to make various engineering tools. By the second day, Qin Shuhuai would lead a group of masters to act in the city first, and after getting the signal that they had succeeded, Hong Chengchou would begin to send troops to attack.

Between Shangluo City and Weinan City, there is also a surge of rogues at this time. Although Liu Guoneng did not agree with Li Zicheng's radical plan, he still cooperated with Li Zicheng and contacted all allies in this area, asking them to immediately go to the vicinity of Weinan to assemble so that they could support Shangluo at any time.

As for the fact that Weinan would gather heavy troops to rescue Shangluo, the officers and soldiers naturally expected it. Hong Chengchou had been prepared for this for a long time, and he sent thousands of elites of factory guards to arrange a large number of open posts and secret posts along the road from Weinan to Shangluo, so as to keep abreast of their movements at any time.

Both sides are full of ambition, and an expected showdown is about to begin.

At midnight the next day, Qin Shuhuai and others came out of Wangji Silk Village, each of them carrying a large bamboo bag, which was full of bottled fire oil, and each of them went to various important places in the city with light skills.

Among them, Qin Shuhuai, Meng Wei, and Meng Hu rushed to the most important A-word grain depot, and Wang Datong, Chang Wuji, and Tang Sanniang ran to the B-word grain depot, these two grain depots were relatively hidden, if it weren't for the White Lotus Sect's gang of people who had been entrenched in Shangluo City for a long time, Qin Shuhuai and others might not be able to find it for ten days and a half months. In addition to them, the rest of Zhiren and the others rushed to the armory.

These three places are related to the supply of the guards of the city, and even more to the morale of the army, so they are naturally the first targets to be eliminated.