Nanming Engineer

Chapter 205 Dilemma
Liu Yun took a sneak peek at the guards who were getting far away from the two, and then looked around. After confirming that no one else in the camp could hear the conversation between the two of them except him and Li Dingguo, he felt relieved. He advised: "Since the emperor has a plan, the prince, as a courtier, only needs to do his best to persuade him. It is not up to the emperor to decide how Daxi Kingdom will go in the future. It is useless for the prince to think too much. Maybe it will fall into the eyes of those who are interested. It doesn’t necessarily increase suspicion.”

Li Dingguo's footsteps became heavier and heavier, as if he wanted to step into the soil with his feet and feet, but he smiled sadly on his face: "You are right, the future of Daxi Kingdom is determined by the father, what should I do? ? As a warrior, just do your part and fight.”

Liu Yun has been with him for a long time, and he knows that Li Dingguo was born in a poor family and experienced sufferings in the world when he was young, but he understands righteousness, knows right and wrong, hates the Ming Dynasty's misrule of exploiting the people, and can't stand the tragedy of rich people's wine and meat, and roads with frozen bones Since he joined the Peasant Army, he has always hoped for a day when the world will be stable and the people can live in peace. For this wish, he recognized Zhang Xianzhong as his adoptive father, and he fought with all his strength for the establishment of Daxi Kingdom. He was injured countless times and almost died several times. Realize the long-cherished wish in his heart, but in the end, his full hopes were shattered. At the beginning, Zhang Xianzhong, who was full of ambitions for the common people, turned into a naked warlord who only wanted his own self-interest. The appearance of the leader of the rebel army, so Li Dingguo was a little disheartened.

He thought for a while and said cautiously: "My lord, you can't be like this. The state of the country has its own determinants. There are ups and downs. Victory and defeat are common things for military strategists, not to mention the fate of the country? Daxi was established not long ago, the Ming Dynasty was not finished yet, and the Tartars and the Qing Dynasty were renewed. Standing, there must be battles, this moment is the time when the prince cheers up and makes great achievements, how can he worry about some trivial matters? As long as he helps the emperor win the world, isn't the prince's idea how to govern the country?"

Li Dingguo stopped and looked up at the night sky. The sky was dark without a single star, and the moon was also blocked by thick clouds, so he could not see a ray of light. His face became cold, his eyes were full of confusion, and he murmured: The world? Can we really get the world?"

He stood where he was, without moving forward. Liu Yun stood a step behind him, quietly accompanying him. The night wind blew past, lifting the skirts of the two of them, and there was a sound of hunting in the wind.

"A general dies in a hundred battles, and a strong man returns in ten years." Li Dingguo said softly: "Ten years, how many ten years does a person have?"

Liu Yun's heart was heavy, and he suddenly remembered that he had followed Li Dingguo for almost seven or eight years, and Li Dingguo had followed Zhang Xianzhong for a longer time, which must have been more than ten years.

Ten years of displacement and ten years of bloody battles. Li Dingguo has spent ten years in a life of blood and fire.

The thin beggar in Luoyang City has grown into a general with an army in his hands. What he longed for in his heart is also sublimated from a steamed bun that can satisfy his hunger, to the wish that all the refugees can eat steamed buns and the world will be peaceful.

Liu Yun didn't know how to start a conversation, and Li Dingguo's sigh also hit the wound deep in his heart. Who would not want to live in peace, and who would want to do such a dangerous job as rebellion? People want to live a life like this where they don’t know if they will die after eating the last meal.

Think about it carefully, what Li Dingguo said is not unreasonable,

After standing for a while, Li Dingguo turned around, his lonely face had returned to his usual calm and calm look. He smiled, patted Liu Yun on the shoulder, and said: "You should be a hero in life, and a hero in death. I think. There are so many useless things. We are military generals, and our priority is to kill the enemy. When it comes to running the country, only those who are capable will do it. Whether we can win the world or not has nothing to do with us. Go back and sleep. We will attack the mountain tomorrow and we will win. Busy."

Liu Yun quickly responded and followed Li Dingguo back to the tent.

Liu Yun didn't sleep well that night, tossing and turning on the bunk, Li Dingguo's words always echoed in his ears, triggering his thoughts: "Can Daxi Kingdom really win the world? If not, what should we do?" Where are you?

"How do I deal with myself?"

"How do I deal with myself?"

Question marks echoed in Liu Yun's mind. To be honest, Liu Yun had never thought about this question before. When he was a soldier and fought, he was doing business with his head pinned to his waistband. Died on the battlefield, the future is illusory, can't think so far, if you have wine today, you will be drunk today, and you will worry about tomorrow.

But Li Dingguo's words moved him deeply. Yes, how many decades are there in life? How is it different from an old farmer in the field after a life of being confused?

Liu Yun stared at the top of the low tent without feeling sleepy. He thought a lot, but the more he thought about it, the more chaotic he became. Is Daxi Kingdom really going to become a thief again step by step like Li Dingguo said?Isn't it a pity that the situation that was finally established is so messed up?Listening to King Anxi, following the emperor will return to the old road of running around, robbing and plundering. Wouldn't that be the same as a bandit?

Thinking about it, Liu Yun suddenly felt extremely sad, how could he be so troubled while he was alive?
In Liu Yun's troubles, the night gradually faded, and a new day came.

As the sun rose and illuminated the land, the soldiers of the Great Western Army faced the rising sun, carrying the ladders, shield vehicles and other equipment that they had built in the past few days, lined up to the camp with the sound of horns, and approached Longquan Mountain City in good spirits.

Li Dingguo placed six battalions in formation one mile away from the foot of the mountain, and drove ten miscellaneous battalions in front as the main force for attacking the city.

Ten dark camps were lined up neatly under the city, with towering ladders, heavy shield vehicles, countless weapon blades reflecting the sun, and screaming soldiers, all of which burst forth with an aura as if Mount Tai was overwhelmed.

"The thieves are very arrogant." Zu Bian poked his head out from the battlement and said with a smack of tongue: "So many people, do they want to complete their merits in one battle?"

Li Tingyu looked down at the city solemnly, and said in a deep voice: "Li Dingguo seems to be in a hurry, has Zhang Xianzhong already set off?"

Wang Huan nodded: "It should be almost the same. It is already the middle of January, and it has been nearly 20 days since He Zhen surrendered. He Luohui's army has probably entered Hanzhong. He has only 8000 troops. He Zhen's soldiers were less than [-], and Zhang Xianzhong still had the advantage, but if it dragged on, it would be too late when Hauge's army came from Beijing. Even Zhang Xianzhong can’t stand it.”

Li Tingyu looked at Wang Huan and asked, "Then when do we have to start from here? There are only 3000 people in Ma Xintian, can we hold the Jiange?"

He was not at all worried about whether Ma Xintian would be able to occupy the Jiange, but only asked whether Ma Xintian would be able to hold it under the attack of more than [-] Tartar Manchu and Han troops. His confidence was evident.

After the battle with Liu Jinzhong, Li Tingyu was overwhelmed with confidence after witnessing the vigor of the Kuizhou army and the power of the extermination bombs. With such a powerful weapon, he felt that he could fight all the way to Beijing.

Three thousand versus 10,000+ was not enough. Li Tingyu still felt that it was a bit overwhelming, so he asked this question.

"The terrain of Jiange is clear to the general." Wang Huan replied: "As many people as you want to come to the narrow pass of one road, you can only line up one by one to rush up. 3000 people are enough. As long as Ma Xintian Beware of the Tartars taking the path to break through, we will definitely be able to persist until we pass."

He said relaxedly: "As for when we leave, it depends on how much patience Li Dingguo has. If my guess is correct, he is more anxious than us at the moment, and he will leave in ten days and a half months at most. It's going north here."

"Oh? How can you see that?" Li Tingyu asked. When facing Wang Huan, he had a habit of asking the question to the end.

"Because he is Zhang Xianzhong's adopted son, Li Dingguo values ​​loyalty the most, and he leads the most powerful soldiers and horses in Daxi Kingdom. With him or without him, the bandit army's combat strength is at least very different, so Li Dingguo thought Hanging on the north side, as long as we make him feel that there is no hope of breaking through, he will give up soon, and instead of going to Baoning Mansion, he will turn around and go north from Chengdu." Wang Huan explained patiently.

Li Tingyu and the generals standing around said repeatedly, with a look of understanding, they were also thinking in their hearts, so to speak, Li Dingguo is still not as important to the bandit army as Wang Huan is to the Kuizhou army. If the state army did not have Wang Huan, it would be tantamount to going back to the past, and it would be impossible to get to where it is today. It can only guard the stone pillars.

The generals of the Kuizhou army on the top of the city chatted leisurely, but the city began to move. Li Dingguo gave an order, and ten thousand soldiers and horses from ten battalions stepped forward together, and moved forward to a place five hundred steps away from the front of Longquan Mountain City. Two more battalion heads were separated, carrying ladders, pushing carts, and rushing towards the front of the mountain city with shouts.

The soil slope is not long, but not short either. The slope is about [-] degrees. There are several stone walls built on it. The front one is more than ten feet away from the bottom of the slope. The trees and rocks on the slope have been cleared. The clean, bare soil slope is very neat, probably done by Kuizhou soldiers.

Although Li Dingguo didn't quite understand why the Kuizhou Army wanted to do this, he didn't think too much about it. With a wave of his hand, the battle drums sounded behind him, and more than a dozen cowhide drums were beaten by the drummers, motivating the two battalion leaders who were charging to move forward quickly. .

The remaining eight battalion leaders who remained in the formation dispatched all their archers to line up on the sloping ground, draw their bows and shoot upwards, shooting waves of arrows into the stone wall to cover the charging soldiers.

When the rain of arrows fell, round shields were immediately raised on the stone wall to protect the Kuizhou army behind the wall. It seemed that the soldiers behind the stone wall were all soldiers with swords and shields.

Seeing that the Kuizhou army was so suppressed that they did not dare to show their heads, the soldiers of the Daxi army who charged were even more courageous. They shouted and tried to run upwards, like swarms of ants, all over the slope.

The Daxi army rushing to the front had already reached the half-hillside, but there was still no sound and no reaction behind the stone wall. The Kuizhou soldiers in white robes huddled under their shields as if they were dead, neither shooting arrows nor throwing stones. Just do it and wait.

Seeing that the stone wall was right in front of them, and the Kuizhou army hiding behind the stone wall was poking around, as if they would turn around and run away at any moment, the generals of the Great Western Army were even happier. Okay, if we really fight, we're just a bunch of cowards.

"Kill the officers and soldiers!" Daxi's army roared habitually, unaware that there was something wrong with this slogan. Daxi had already established a country, and he was considered an official army. Who did he want to kill by shouting to kill the officers and soldiers?
Just when the No. [-] Daxi army soldier had rushed to less than two feet away from the stone wall, the originally stable stone wall suddenly moved.

No, it didn't move, but suddenly collapsed!
The thick stone walls, like huge stone rollers, rolled down the slope quickly, faster and faster, rolling and hitting Daxi soldiers all the way. Those stone rollers were enlarged stone rollers, which were the same as usual The rollers on the millstones in the village are several times larger, and each one weighs four to five hundred catties, as big as a wheel. When hit by such a huge object, bones and tendons break, and when pressed, it turns into meat paste.

The stretch of stone wall fully occupies the entire front of the slope, and there are hundreds of stone rollers rolling down, with no gaps to dodge. The soldiers of the Western Army rushing up the slope stared dumbfounded at these cylindrical boulders. However, some of them forgot to dodge after being shocked, and were directly crushed into meatloaf. The people behind reacted and wanted to hide, but only then realized that the Kuizhou soldiers had made the hillside so clean so that they had no place to go. Hide, the smooth hillside can also make the stone roller roll faster and more fiercely.

The screams rang out, and countless people turned back and ran, crying in horror. How could people's legs pass the rolling stones so fast, and flesh and blood stretched under the rolling stones. There were almost no wounded soldiers. Only the dead.

The archers who were standing at the foot of the hillside were no longer interested in shooting arrows. Judging from the posture of the stone roller, it was likely that it would come down the slope and hit here. They shouted and turned around and retreated in a swarm.

The remaining battalion heads of the Great Western Army behind the formation were stunned. It turned out that those that looked like stone walls were actually round boulder rollers. Kuizhou soldiers fixed them on the slope of the hillside with wooden wedges. When using it, you only need to hit the wooden wedge with a hammer, and the stone will automatically roll down, not to mention that some Kuizhou soldiers even kicked it.

There was a dead silence in the formation, staring blankly at the terrifying scene on the hillside, even the person who beat the drum was stunned and forgot to beat the drum.

Li Dingguo immediately stood in front of the formation. He was standing far away from the slope, and those huge stone rollers could not touch him, so he was safe.

He was also in a daze. The 2000 people in the two battalions disappeared in an instant.

Less than 500 people retreated, and more than 1000 soldiers were smashed to death on the hillside in just a few breaths. They haven't touched the wall of Longquan Mountain City yet.

Li Dingguo's teeth were almost broken. He opened his eyes wide and saw the Kuizhou soldiers on the hillside taking advantage of the Daxi archers to escape and jumping behind the second stone wall. Their movements were as light as a group of monkeys.

Needless to say, the second stone wall must also be made of stone rollers.

Li Dingguo suppressed the anger in his heart and counted the number of stone walls. There were four more. Where did these damn Kuizhou soldiers get so many stone mills?

He didn't know that the Daxi Army was busy building siege equipment these days, and the Kuizhou Army was not idle either. The 6000 troops in the army turned into stonemasons, quarrying stones on the Longquan Mountain according to local conditions, using rough tools to simply It was polished into a cylindrical shape and stood on the soil slope. Because the stone is thick, it looks like a stone wall from the bottom of the slope. No one knows that these stone walls are actually composed of stone rollers.

"Send the order, retreat!" Li Dingguo shouted expressionlessly. He knew that using human life to consume those stones would not be worth the candle.

(End of this chapter)