Chapter 347: Playing tricks
Zhu Gui's family was still in Yingtian, and his brother Zhu Fu stayed in Weizhou, so when he heard Wu Yong's questioning, he immediately became nervous.

He suspected that I had defected to the enemy?

It's worth it!

I have to explain quickly, otherwise with Wu Yong's cruelty, my family will be in danger.

"Military Advisor, this is none of my business. I didn't say anything!"

"I'm asking, why are you here?"

Wu Yong cursed inwardly, "What a fool!" He immediately tried to help Zhu Gui: "You broke military discipline, and the general spared your life. Shouldn't you return to your hometown to serve the people? Why did you come to Luzhou?"

"Ah I"

Zhu Gui was surprised when he heard this, but he quickly understood the other party's intention. However, he had already been exposed, and there was no point in trying to make up for it now.

It's a pity that even in this situation, Wu Yong still didn't forget to mislead others.

Seeing Zhu Gui's hesitation, he continued to scold him, "Why don't you say anything? Yang Chang declared himself king and was identified as a traitor by His Majesty. He finally surrendered and escaped the crime, but now he is joining the thieves again? Are you addicted to being a thief?"

"I"

"What are you?"

"Hey, there's no use for last names! Are you done?"

Just as Wu Yong was performing, Gu Dasao suddenly called him to stop, and then gritted her teeth and cursed: "Poisonous woman, you are not worth much at this time. What can you achieve by associating with him?"

"Is it fun?" Mrs. Gu teased coldly, "Zhu Gui has already told you, so stop pretending."

"Zhu Gui, do you dare to surrender to the enemy?"

"It's none of my business. As soon as the news from Fengyue Pass came, I was arrested by them. It's because the subordinates don't like to be beaten."

Zhu Gui told the truth and cried out that he was wronged. Wu Yong was so angry that he blew his beard and glared at him. He pointed at his nose and continued to scold him: "It must be you who exposed your flaws, which caused my plan to fail. Don't you think you are experienced? Is this it?"

"I do not know"

"Stop arguing, you're all trash!"

Mrs. Gu interrupted them harshly and snorted at Wu Yong: "Your accomplice has been captured. Now the city has sufficient food and grass, and there are nearly 10,000 young and strong men who can defend the city. What can you use to capture the city? With your mouth?"

"Nearly ten thousand young men, impossible!"

"Don't believe it? Just ask Zhu Gui. He's not blind."

"Indeed, there are many civilians helping to defend the city. Military Advisor, you must not be careless."

Although Zhu Gui's reminder was well-intentioned, he was actually assisting the defenders in a desperate situation.

Wu Yong's face turned pale and he said nothing, but Mrs. Gu obviously did not humiliate him enough and immediately added sarcasm.

"Wu Yong, don't take yourself too seriously. What do you mean by wise guy? You are just a teacher. How much strategy can you have? And you brag about yourself as Mr. Jialiang, lighting lamps for people at night? Don't think too highly of yourself!"

"You evil woman! How could you know the depths of my heart? One day you will beg for mercy!"

"Come on."

Mrs. Gu wiped the sweat off her cheeks, shook her hands with contempt, and sneered: "Back and forth, it's just a few moves. You either make money by taking people or the city. You shouldn't be called Tianji Star, you should be called Tianzhuan Star!"

"Stop talking, evil woman! The truth will be revealed on the battlefield!"

"I have to say that when Liangshan attacked Zhujiazhuang, if we hadn't infiltrated as spies, would you have been able to take over? The guy next to you should have died long ago!"

"What did you say?"

Today, Mrs. Gu was too aggressive. Qin Ming was originally sympathizing with Wu Yong, but unexpectedly she turned around and scolded him. Fortunately, Mrs. Gu quickly ignored it and continued to attack Wu Yong.

"I have been an undercover agent for many times and failed. How dare I let Zhu Gui show off his skills? If I don't catch him, who will be caught?"

"Also, when you attack a city, do you only use internal forces? You have been using this trick for so many years, and you have not made any progress at all. Do you still call yourself a smart guy? But you are also right. Smart guys are useless, shameless!"

"you you."

Wu Yong was so angry that he covered his chest and coughed up blood. Then, while he was still conscious, he held on to the saddle tightly to prevent himself from falling off the horse.

Qin Ming saw this and hurriedly stepped forward to support him, and asked with concern: "Military Advisor, what's wrong with you?"

"I feel a little dizzy, maybe I've been exposed to the sun for too long. I'll retreat today."

"Alright, call it a day!"

Hearing Qin Ming's shout, Sun Xin and his wife in the city were relieved.

Sun Xin reached out to touch Mrs. Gu's face and praised her in an ambiguous way: "Madam, you are really amazing. You scolded Wu Yong so hard that he vomited blood and retreated. He is nothing but Mr. Jialiang. You should call him Mr. Jialiang."

"Come on."

Mrs. Gu slapped the 'dirty pig's hand' away and said, "I know what I am doing. You should suppress Zhu Gui quickly. This fellow has done a great deed today."

"Eh"

"If you say that today, my family will surely suffer. You might as well just kill me!"

Zhu Gui looked like he had lost all hope in life, but Mrs. Gu patted him on the shoulder and said meaningfully, "You helped us repel the invading enemy, so why would we kill you? Boss, send a pot of wine to brother Zhu Gui later, maybe he can be of use to you."

"Okay, let's go, Brother Zhu!"

Sun Xin grabbed Zhu Gui's arm and strode towards the rear of the city.

Mrs. Gu turned around and took a glance, thinking that maybe next time Song Jiang came, she would still be able to use him.

Looking back, he saw Wu Yong slowly walking away. The soldiers beside him were tanned and left in a listless manner.

The hope of finding an insider has been dashed, and he was scolded to the point of vomiting blood today. This should delay the siege, right?
What Gu Dasao was thinking was also what Wu Yong was thinking.

Taking advantage of the opportunity of vomiting blood, he returned to the camp and ordered the army to rest, not planning to continue the attack for the time being.

When Qin Ming heard that he had to rest for a few days, thinking about the fight with Sun Xin and his wife, he paced back and forth in the big tent, feeling annoyed, which made Zhang Qing and Wu Yong a little annoyed.

Suddenly, Qin Ming stopped where he was and reminded Wu Yong, "Military Advisor, we have been away from She County for three days. Should we take the initiative to inform the Grand Commandant of the situation here? Moreover, we traveled lightly, with only seven or eight days of food and fodder."

"Rest for a night first, and then send someone to inform them tomorrow."

Wu Yong stroked his chest with his left hand and gently waved his feather fan with his right hand. He first gave a reply and then explained slowly: "That evil woman can recruit the people to defend the city. As the deputy general manager of Luzhou's army, Sun Li's appeal should be stronger. I am afraid that the general is fighting hard at this time. If I rush back to deliver the message, it will affect the morale over there."

“Yeah, I didn’t expect that.”

Qin Ming slapped his forehead, then kept his posture and sat aside with an embarrassed look on his face.

The originally boring tent suddenly became quiet, with only the chirping of cicadas outside. Wu Yong then closed his eyes and rested, waving the feather fan in his hand slower and slower, as if he was about to fall asleep.

"Military advisor, military advisor!"

"Ok?"

Wu Yong was just beginning to fall asleep when he was suddenly awakened by someone calling him. When he opened his eyes, he saw Gong Wang standing at the door, being stared at by Zhang Qing and feeling at a loss as to what to do.

"What's up?"

"Well, the weather has been too bad these past two days. Commander Yan's body cannot be left for too long. It will probably stink if left for too long. The brothers who are keeping vigil would like to ask when the body will be buried."

"hiss"

When Wu Yong heard Gong Wang mention Yan Shun, he remembered this troublesome matter. He immediately showed an awkward expression and murmured, "Ordinarily, he should be buried underground, but the general has not seen him for the last time. I feel that this is not appropriate."

“Then” “Wait two more days?”

"I have no idea."

Gong Wang was speechless and thought to himself, I can't make the decision.

At this moment, he heard the sound of horse hooves behind him. He turned around and saw that it was Huang Xin. He immediately reminded him, "Military Advisor, Commander Huang is here."

"Huang Xin?"

Qin Ming stood up with a start, rushed out with a few big strides, and soon returned with his apprentice.

Huang Xin clasped his fists and greeted them as soon as he entered the tent. "Military Advisor, brothers, the commander asked me to check the situation. Why haven't you taken the city yet? Isn't there Zhu Gui as your accomplice?"

"General Qin, you speak."

Wu Yong didn't want to answer at this time, so he threw the question out. Qin Ming didn't have the psychological burden he did, so he answered, "That idiot was quickly caught by Sun Xin and his wife, and now there is no accomplice."

"How could this happen?" Huang Xin was surprised.

Qin Ming sneered: "I didn't see it before, the Sun Xin couple are treacherous and cunning, especially the woman is extremely vicious, Yan Shun was thrown from the tower by him and fell to death."

"what?"

Huang Xin was stunned and asked, "No, how did Yan Shun get to the tower?"

"He was fighting with Sun Xin and his old injury accidentally flared up during the battle, so he was captured." Qin Ming answered disapprovingly. When he heard Zhang Qing frowning, he thought to himself, is that really the case?
"hiss"

"How's the commander doing?"

Wu Yong took the opportunity to change the subject and ask about Shexian County while Huang Xin was taking a deep breath. Huang Xin immediately replied, "The Grand Commandant has been attacking fiercely for days, and Sun Li is defending very tenaciously. It may take several days to break the city."

"It's similar here. Although Licheng only has 1,000 defenders, Sun Xin and his wife recruited civilians to defend the city. In addition, Zhu Gui was accidentally exposed and captured. The weather was too hot at the time. After attacking for two or three days, there was no effect. We were too anxious to take it down."

"Then what"

"correct."

Before Huang Xin could finish his words, Wu Yong interrupted and reminded him, "Sun Li must have used civilians. The defenders' fighting power is actually limited. You should hurry back and tell the Taiwei to use a rotating battle day and night to wear down the defenders, and then use the advantage of manpower to wear down the defenders. Use the remaining shells if necessary, and don't be reluctant to use them!"

"I don't need to worry about it. I'll leave right away."

"Let's take a rest first. The weather is still very hot. Let's wait until the sun goes down before leaving."

"Ok."

Wu Yong didn't let him leave immediately. In addition to the fact that both the man and the horse needed rest, he also planned to bury Yan Shun later.

It was such a hot day, and keeping the body like this for a long time could cause accidents. Huang Xin's presence here was a witness, and it was a good opportunity for him to go back and tell Song Jiang about it.

Logically speaking, the attack on Licheng was not going well and the food and grass would soon be exhausted. Wu Yong should not have continued to consume them and should have gone back to help Song Jiang capture Shexian County, but he could not turn back.

Firstly, morale would be greatly damaged. Secondly, without the threat of heavy troops, the subsequent reinforcements from nearby states could easily enter the city and join the defenders, which would become a tough nut to crack. So Wu Yong planned to stay behind to monitor and fight the reinforcements.

Six or seven days had passed since Fengyue Pass was breached, and the news had been brought back by scouts on fast horses. Yan Qing had now received the intelligence and had responded positively.

Yan Qing had a small garrison in Shangdang. In order to maintain local stability, he could not give all his support, so he asked Li Zhong to lead a thousand people to the north first. While he urgently recruited soldiers, he sent people to ask Lin Chong for help.

At this time, Lin Chong in Zezhou had a total force of more than 30,000 troops under his command, which was more than the garrison in Yangqu, but Hu Yanzhuo pretended to attack Taihang Xing to divert Lin Chong's attention.

Hu Yanzhuo pretended to attack for several days. Wen Huanzhang noticed that there was something strange about the battle situation, so he suggested to send people to Luzhou to confirm whether Song Jiang was making a feint to the east and attacking in the west. The messenger from Zezhou met the messenger from Luzhou halfway, and Lin Chong later sent troops to rescue him.

Li Zhong then sent a thousand men to rescue Licheng. Yan Qing gave him such a small number of soldiers not to let him go to die, but Li Zhong had thirty cannons and hundreds of shells, which could be enough to defeat ten thousand people if used well.

He set out from Shangdang on May 5th, but he moved very slowly while pulling the heavy artillery and shells, and it took him two days to reach Lucheng.

There are many mountainous roads between Lucheng and Licheng. Li Zhong roughly estimated that it would take three or four days to walk there. He was afraid that the enemy would ambush him along the way.

This batch of artillery was supervised by Ling Zhen. After many improvements, its accuracy is extremely high. It was intended to be taken to the north to fight the Jin army in the future. But now it is being used against Song Jiang. It would be a pity if it was destroyed.

After much deliberation, Li Zhong ordered the rear troops to transport according to the plan, and he himself led fifty cavalrymen to lead the way.

On the afternoon of May 9th, he had just passed the winding mountain road between the two cities and arrived at the bank of the Zhang River, thirty miles southwest of Licheng, where he stopped to water his horse and rest.

Li Zhong was lying by the river drinking water, but he vaguely heard the sound of horse hooves behind him.

Just as he was surprised, the lieutenant colonel beside him hurriedly reminded him: "Commander Li, there is a group of troops approaching from our northeast!"

"Ok?"

Upon hearing this, Li Zhong suddenly turned around and saw a group of cavalry in the smoke and dust in the northeast direction. The number of people did not seem large, probably only about a hundred people.

He guessed that they were Song Jiang's scouts, so he thought that if he defeated this team, he might be able to seize some horses and bring them back to help pull the artillery.

"Everyone mount up."

"Yes!"

After a while, the cavalry team approached, and the leader was an acquaintance, Gong Wang.

"Li Zhong?"

"Gong Wang?"

The two men started the fight by calling each other's name, then looked at each other without saying anything more, nor did they threaten to fight.

In the seating arrangement of the Liangshan Grand Gathering, Gong Wang ranked 78th and Li Zhong ranked 86th. In other words, in the eyes of Song Jiang and Wu Yong, the two men's martial arts skills were actually similar, and they were basically just noobs fighting each other.

One was a general who surrendered from the government and served as Zhang Qing's deputy general for a long time; the other made a living by using guns and selling medicine. In the middle of his life, he became the leader of Taohua Mountain and was also Shi Jin's first apprentice. His resumes were similar.

The two men hesitated for a long time, and Gong Wang couldn't wait to speak first, "I heard that you are under Yan Qing's command? You only have a few dozen cavalrymen with you. Are you scouting with him?"

"You don't have many soldiers and horses. Are you serving as scouts for Zhang Qing?"

Li Zhong's precise answer made Gong Wang frown and feel nervous, fearing that Yan Qing's rear troops were nearby.

Gong Wang was not sure he could defeat Li Zhong, so he tentatively suggested: "Since we are all scouts and have discovered each other, why don't we say goodbye and go back to report?"

"I agree."

Li Zhong raised his gun and clasped his fists in response.

Gong Wang also said goodbye politely, as if the two of them were really going to leave, but the moment they pulled the reins and turned their horses, they urged their mounts to run towards each other.

Whoosh.

The flying spear flew past Li Zhong's ear. He cried out inwardly, "That was a close call!" and then he galloped on his horse with the spear in hand, aiming at the opponent's heart.

Seeing that his special skill failed, Gong Wang hurriedly raised his spear to deflect Li Zhong's pear blossom spear, but because he was slow and his strength was insufficient, the opponent pushed it away instead.

When Li Zhong drew his gun and retracted his attack, he struck Gong Wang in the waist and ribs with a sweeping strike, causing him to sweat on his forehead due to the pain.

Gong Wang's martial arts skills were originally slightly higher, but Li Zhong also received guidance from Yang Chang, and his own foundation was not bad. His strength was half a point higher than Zou Run, so he had the upper hand at the start of the fight.

Li Zhong succeeded and pursued Gong Wang, stabbing him in less than three rounds. The frightened man turned his horse around and tried to escape.

However, the tiger-fighting general learned Yang Chang's riding skills and quickly caught up with Hua Xianghu and shot him in the waist. If his followers had not rescued him, he would have died on the spot on the bank of the Zhangshui River.

Seeing that he had few soldiers and Gong Wang's cavalry followers were quite well-trained, Li Zhong had to give up the prey and go back.

When he saw Gong Wang appearing here, it meant that Licheng had been completely besieged and his thousand men could not rescue it at all. He could only report to Yan Qing and ask for further instructions.

(End of this chapter)