It was already dark, and a full moon rose high, hanging in the ink blue sky. Silver moonlight covered the earth, and the entire wilderness was illuminated brightly and transparently.

The north gate of Shouzhou City was wide open, and a long winding black belt extended into the city under the moonlight. This was the Shandong government army entering the city. No one shouted the hustle and bustle of horses. Every soldier, including the civilians of the baggage camp, had wooden sticks in his mouth, and the war horses had rings in their mouths. Nearly 500 cavalry were divided into several teams and did not gather to marches in order to prevent loud noises.

Huang Degong and Liu Zhiyuan stood at the top of the city and quietly watched the slightly tired army enter the city. Five thousand officials and two thousand civilians who drove the car and carried the loads, it has not been all entered the city for more than two hours since the vanguard entered Shouzhou.

As the main general, Huang Degong took the lead in the city to contact Liu Zhiyuan and others, and learned about the specific situation inside and outside Shouzhou City. He declined the banquet arranged by Liu Zhiyuan. After rushing to use the meal, he took his personal soldiers to inspect the three camps arranged by the state government. These three were all near the south gate and the site was wide and flat. Seeing that the three were piled with large amounts of rice, flour, vegetables, firewood, and huge water tanks filled with clear water. Each camp also had ten live pigs, live fish and several bags of salt that had just been slaughtered, Huang Degong was very satisfied. He marched continuously in the hot day. Although the soldiers did not dare to say it openly, they still had a lot of complaints in his heart. He only had a good meal tonight and then had a safe sleep. After getting up tomorrow, all his dissatisfaction would disappear.

After communicating with Huang Degong's personal soldiers, Liu Zhiyuan immediately sent Wang Wei to select a camp. After that, Wang Wei led a large number of civilians and soldiers to prepare the necessary materials for the army. When the reinforcements arrived, the gentry and people in the city rushed to donate grain and materials again. The state yamen used the official silver of the treasury to buy dozens of live pigs and a large number of live fish for the army to eat. They came to work hard, what is the calculation of eating a little money? As long as they can save the lives of the whole city, it is worth spending more.

The soldiers in the camp arrived one after another under the leadership of the generals. Because the baggage camp was at the end, the soldiers who arrived first could not set up a tent. The exhausted soldiers found a place to lie down with their clothes, and the weapons and bows were also placed around them, and they were not arranged neatly in the camp.

This march was not like when he was rushing to Fengyang from Shandong to hand over all the armor and weapons to the baggage camp. Because he had reached the range of activities of the bandits, although there were probing horses dozens of miles ahead, Huang Degong still asked the soldiers to wear neat clothes and marched in case of precautions, which made the soldiers who had been accustomed to moving forward lightly for more than 20 days feel a little uncomfortable. Therefore, although the march was similar, the feeling of fatigue was stronger.

After inspecting the camp, Huang Degong came to the south gate wall, watched the thieves' camp, and then went to the north gate. Shortly after standing at the top of the city, Liu Zhiyuan also came over. After the two of them exchanged greetings, they silently watched the army moving in the moonlight.

Liu Zhiyuan took the lead in breaking the silence and said, "The thieves outside the city are coming with hundreds of thousands of troops. Once they attack with all their strength, will General Huang be sure to defend it?"

Huang Degong smiled slightly, and his mouth was covered with yellow teeth under his beard and emitting a faint golden color under the moonlight: "Sir, this time it is not a problem of being able to hold on, but a problem of how to severely damage Gao Chuang!"

Liu Zhiyuan was stunned and asked hurriedly: "What do you mean by General Huang? Is it because of the thousands of people under General Huang who want to severely damage hundreds of thousands of thieves? And they are the strongest thieves and thieves among the thieves? I'm afraid that this is a bit too arrogant!"

Huang Degong shook his head and said, "Sir, don't misunderstand it. Hu Zi is not so arrogant! Hu Zi has just seen the thief camp. Lord, Hu Zi is blunt, you are so arrogant, you are so arrogant!"

Liu Zhiyuan nodded and said, "But it is so! The bandits arrived in Shouzhou for a few days, and except for the soldiers plundering the village, they did not gather to attack the city. Until today, people have been sent to attack, and the bandits sent are not as good as strong soldiers, and they will be defeated in one blow. I, the two masters Wang, Xu, and Commander Li, were also puzzled. General Huang has been in the army for a long time and has a lot of knowledge about the battle formation. Can you solve my doubts?"

Huang Degong looked puzzled and said frankly: "I didn't understand it even though I heard that there were more than 200,000 thieves, so why did the bandits gather outside the south of the city instead of splitting the four gates and attacking together! If this is the case, Shouzhou City may be broken in an instant! But Gao Chuang only sent people to attack the south city wall, and it was just a feint! Could it be that the bandits were waiting for something?"

Liu Zhiyuan shook his head and said, "If you can't figure it out, don't think about it. Just now General Huang said that he would severely damage the thief. Could it be that the general has what he can rely on? Could it be that the reinforcements of Governor Chen? "

Huang Degong looked around and lowered his voice and said mysteriously: "If it were only the subordinates of Beizhi and Lord Chen, there would be no problem in defending the city, but if you want to severely damage the thief army, you would be unable to achieve it! Not only is the reason why there are many thief soldiers, but also the thief subordinates have many elite cavalry. We have the most infantry soldiers and the horse team is weak, so the field battle is not the enemy!"

Liu Zhiyuan rolled his eyes secretly and said to himself: You still need to say, don’t you know what kind of virtue the Ming official army is? When you meet a weak thief and chase it hard, you will be furious when you meet a strong thief!

Seeing that Liu Zhiyuan was impatient, Huang Degong hurriedly talked to the main topic: "When he was ordered to come to Shouzhou, Lord Chen told him that Lu Xiangsheng, the military affairs of the Prime Minister of the five provinces, had led his troops to wipe out the enemies who besieged Chuzhou and were on his way to Shouzhou!"

Liu Zhiyuan's heart suddenly jumped, and he forgot about his official power in an instant. He grabbed Huang Degong's robe with both hands and asked repeatedly: "Is what you said true? Don't deceive me! Duchen Lu is coming? Is it really Duchen Lu?"

Huang Degong gently spread Liu Zhiyuan's finger and said to himself: "This old man is so powerful! I'm thick in skin and flesh, so painful it is! Aren't civil servants unable to tie up their hands? Could this old man be a trainer?"

"Sir, don't be anxious! Don't be anxious!" Huang Degong said with a smile.

Liu Zhiyuan ignored his rude behavior and wanted to change the normal situation. The civil servant held the arm of the general with his hands, which was called showing his relatives; if the general was unwilling, it was called insulting his ethics, and he must definitely participate in the report.

He coughed and asked with his hands on his back, "What General Huang said seriously? As far as I know, the governor has been in Henan for nearly half a year. When did he suddenly arrive in Nanzhili?"

Huang Degong said: "Director Lu received the news that the thief was wandering south last month and led his troops out of Henan. At the same time, he issued a letter of transfer to Bei Yi and ordered Bei Yi to help Fengyang. When Bei Yi came to help from Huaiyuan, he sent someone to contact Duke Lu, so he knew that Duke Lu was on the way to come!"

Liu Zhiyuan was finally completely relieved this time. Not only are there more than 5,000 Huang Degong troops in Shouzhou, but nearly 6,000 reinforcements from Fengyang are probably coming soon. Although I don’t know how many official troops Lu Xiangsheng can have, Lu Xiangsheng’s reputation as good at fighting is enough to calm people’s hearts.

Before Huang Degong finished speaking, he continued, "There are still good things. I'm afraid that there is a Liaodong horse team behind the thief. I'm aware that the reason why the thief did not dare to attack with all their strength was that the Liaodong official army suddenly attacked the back when siege! When Duke Lu and Lord Chen arrived, the five soldiers and horses fought together, and the 200,000 thieves outside the city were expected to be defeated!"

Liu Zhiyuan was secretly happy. First, Shouzhou was able to be protected, and he and his family were finally spared, and the people of Shouzhou were also spared from the disaster; second, Shouzhou soon became the focus of attention of the court, and tens of thousands of officials and soldiers would fight against 200,000 thieves here. If this battle was won, his name would appear in front of the emperor without any surprise. In the future, the Ministry of Personnel's examination will be a rare qualification and lay a good foundation for future promotion.

The pessimism of the thief soldiers who were in danger of danger was wiped out. He smiled and said, "I have long admired the reputation of Lu Duchen Lu, but unfortunately, I finally had the honor to meet the most warlike civil servants of my Ming Dynasty. It's really gratifying! General Huang! In your opinion, what will the situation of the thief attacking tomorrow? How should the official army deal with it?"

Huang Degong pondered for a while and said, "If the thieves come to attack like perfunctorily today, then let the soldiers of the Shouzhou Guards fight with them; if the thieves send elite troops to attack fiercely, the humble officials will send a group of soldiers to help the battle, but the troops of the Guards are still the main ones. Our troops will help the battle mainly to prevent the thieves from breaking the city."

Liu Zhiyuan asked in confusion: "The combat power of the garrison is worrying, and the civil war is not trained. If the bandits gather to attack fiercely, even if your troops assist in the war, I am afraid that there will be huge casualties! Why not use reinforcements to replace local soldiers and civil war to defend the city? Could it be that you want to preserve your strength?"

Huang Degong asked back, "Did you forget what you said just now? This is an excellent opportunity to severely damage the thief! Now, Duke Lu and Lord Chen have not arrived. If our troops suddenly appear, the thief attack is blocked. Judging from the nature of the thief being good at evacuation, the thief may abandon Shouzhou and leave! If the thief goes to other prefectures, even if Duke Lu and Lord Chen lead a large army to arrive, the thief has already fled to other places, the official army can only continue to follow. Tens of thousands of troops consume countless money and food every day, and the thief moves erratic and plunder all directions for their use. The official army can only rely on the food and grass they carry themselves. The ending will be that the thief will be rampant, and the living beings will be tragic, and the official army will be exhausted and will eventually find it difficult to annihilate them!"

Liu Zhiyuan was ashamed when he heard this. He only wanted to reduce the casualties of the military and civilians in Shouzhou, but instead ignored the root of suppressing the thieves. It was really a waste of reading the books of sages, and it was not as good as a martial artist's vision and mind.

He bowed to Huang Degong and said, "I am thinking a little bit! General Huang is the one who plans the overall situation! Only by showing the enemy as weak can we avoid scaring the bandits away. I apologize to General Huang!"

Huang Degong's favor for Liu Zhiyuan rose sharply. He knew the virtues of civil servants. They were all above the top. He thought that he had done everything after reading the books of sages and never took military generals into consideration. In their eyes, soldiers were synonymous with vulgarity and the source of chaos. The actions of the person in front of him were really an alternative to civil servants.

He hurriedly returned the courtesy and said, "My lord is just eager to defend the territory. What the chief officials care about most is the lives of the soldiers and civilians under their rule. Don't do this, it will ruin me!"

Liu Zhiyuan continued: "The matter of defending the city is fully handed over to General Huang! I only hope that this time I can take down the head of the thief to eliminate the hatred of the emperor!"
Chapter completed!