The defenders at the city of Nanyang naturally would not sit by and watch the moat be filled, and immediately counterattacked.

For a moment, life is outside Nanyang City, and it is worthless. Every minute and every second, life disappears into the world.

Many people who were brought in the crowd could not stand it and saw their companions being shot to death by arrows, injured by muskets, or even hit by artillery. They fell to the ground and cried in pain. Many people could not bear it and threw down their soil bags and ran back.

However, what greeted them was punching and kicking, and even some camp leaders, the elite bandits who supervised the formation, even cut people with swords. They either died immediately or rushed forward, and they might not die, or even exchanged for a sign, and could eat with a bun.

The tricks of these thieves are actually similar. First, give some food to the people who are brought in, and then take a little food, then carry a bag of soil and pour a moat. When you pour a bag of soil, you can get a tag. This tag can be exchanged for steamed buns. The difference between different camps is that the number of tags for a bun will be different.

By noon, the bandits finally withdrew their troops. The moat under Nanyang City had been filled with soil and corpses. Just this battle, about 5,000 people were probably killed outside the city.

Many thieves were a little surprised when they looked at the moat outside the city. Because they could see with the naked eye that the moat sections under the responsibility of Li Zicheng's troops and Zuo Liangyu's troops were filled in the best.

There is nothing to say about Zuo Liangyu's tribe. Some people are from an official army, and some of them know how to fire cannons. They pushed the cannons over, slammed the city heads, and covered the musketeers, so they could not deal with the bandits who filled the moat without scrupulously on the city heads.

However, for Li Zicheng, he had no artillery, and his conditions were similar to those of other thieves. But it was obvious that even the cannon fodder that filled the moat had a higher morale than them. For this reason, they were all very surprised and started to inquire.

Of course, this matter is still easy to inquire about. They soon knew the reason and couldn't help but praise Li Zicheng for being treacherous.

"Look, it's amazing that we do the same thing, but just say something, and you've bought people's hearts. You don't know if you sell them. It's so amazing!"

"Isn't that just? Isn't it just like us that the old and weak have killed themselves, which consumed the defenders and reduced food consumption. By the way, they filled the moat, but they still made them grateful. Tsk, awesome!"

"Hehe, this trick is easy to use, I have to learn it too!"

“…”

The thief camp temporarily returned to quiet. In the scorching sun at the end of August, Sun Hanqing took off his only coat and covered his head, and lay motionless on the ground. Obviously, he was exhausted.

Suddenly, he saw someone coming from the side. When he saw that he was an acquaintance, he sat up and said hello: "Congratulations, Wei Chao, I have lived another day!"

Wei Chao was also very tired and nodded a little tired, which was considered a response.

"I said Wei Chao, do you still believe what you say now?" Sun Hanqing couldn't help asking.

Wei Chao heard this and asked in a little puzzled manner: "Why don't you believe it?"

"Haha!" Sun Hanqing couldn't help but sneer, "What's the difference between you and me just now? We both have good fortunes, so we haven't become part of the moat. Look at it yourself. If King Chuang is a good person, how many people around you come back alive? They are all the same as others, and they don't take our lives as a matter of life!"

Hearing this, Wei Chao was finally stunned, turned to look around him, his expression seemed a little sad. Because Sun Hanqing was right, many of the people sitting with him this time were new faces. Many of the people who knew him had filled in moats.

Sun Hanqing looked up and saw that there were no thief leaders around him, then looked at Wei Chao and whispered: "I'll tell you, if it weren't for these thieves, we would use our lives to touch Nanyang City here? Although I am also a tenant, the days before it will be much better than now, right?"

Hearing this, a man next to him suddenly interrupted and said, "Yes, I burned my house and snatched all the things. I have to work hard for them. Can these thieves have good people?"

This person's words resonated with several people. This time, no matter whether it was Luo Rucai or Li Zicheng's camp, there were people who agreed.

Wei Chao was obviously hesitant, but in the end he shook his head and said, "I think the King of Chuang is still different."

When he finished speaking, someone from Luo Rucai's army came over and shouted loudly, making everyone hear it: "Brother said that we will also equalize the fields and free grain in the future. Everyone will do their best to conquer the country, and everyone will have fields in the future..."

Wei Chao was a little surprised when he heard this, while Sun Hanqing's mouth was more ironic.

As soon as the thief leader left, he said to Wei Chao: "Can I say that Cao Cao is also a good person?"

"What if there is really a lot of land?" Wei Chao couldn't help but retort.

At this time, a senior in the grade sighed and said, "It's fine to listen to this, can you really believe it? You don't think about it. If it's really a free tax, then I'll ask you, where will their expenses come from in the future?"

"Of course they are those corrupt officials!" Wei Chao replied casually as soon as he heard this, "The corrupt officials in our county were killed by the King of Chuang and their homes were raided!"

This matter was actually famous in later generations, and was called "recovering stolen money and helping pay".

The older man couldn't help but ask in a sarcastic tone when he heard this: "And what? There are a few corrupt officials who have been killed, and then they will not spend it? They eat meat and drink alcohol, where can their money come from?"

"Of course it's from..." Wei Chao wanted to continue killing corrupt officials and scam their homes, but he then understood that there were not so many corrupt officials in this world who could kill them. So, in this case, the King of Chuang and the others could not go farming on their own, where did their money and food come from?

At this moment, the equalization of fields and exemption of taxes suddenly became unrealistic.

In fact, the thieves were still thieves, so they couldn't make a turn. Even after occupying the capital in the original history, they continued to recover stolen goods and provide wages, which caused the resistance of the landlords and powerful people, and eventually made the Qing Dynasty cheaper.

At this time, Wei Chao still said stubbornly: "At least you can equalize the fields. If you have fields in the future, that's a good thing!"

"Then there must be a future!" Sun Hanqing heard this and stabbed him in his heart.

Wei Chao heard this and did not reply again, and lay down and stopped moving.

Others stopped talking. In fact, they had no strength to lie down and try not to move, hoping that their stomachs would be hungry more gently.

By the afternoon, the bandits began to gather a large number of old and weak people, the people who were brought in, and asked them to attack the city and consume the defending equipment of the defenders. This time, neither Wei Chao nor Sun Hanqing's turn was available.

"Look, is there any difference?" Sun Hanqing looked at the people who were driven to attack the city by elite thieves and said with a gambler.

Wei Chao looked at the flesh and blood strangulation under Nanyang City and said nothing.

"There is no good thing in the thief!" Sun Hanqing made this conclusion decisively, and then lay back.

The older man sighed and whispered: "Before these thieves came, they would live their lives, but when they came, who else could live a peaceful life, the village was burned by them and the fields were deserted. Poor me... mine..."

Speaking of this, a big man actually started crying in a low voice.

Although he didn't finish speaking, everyone around him knew that his family must be gone. Because such things are so common.

This time, Wei Chao's head lowered and he didn't even dare to look at the older one.

By the next day, they were rushed to the battlefield again. Fortunately, Wei Chao and Sun Hanqing survived again, but there were many faces they had just met and could never see again. The older one died at the city of Nanyang.

This time, a thief leader came over and said to them with a smile: "You have done a good job. The King of Chuang has an order. You will be real brothers from now on. Let me go. There will be steamed buns for every meal in the future!"

The same is true for Luo Rucai. After a few days of siege, the old and weak have died under the city, and the young and strong who can survive will often become the elite of the thieves. Through this method, the thieves can often eliminate the weak and retain the strong without any effort.

In the thief's den, he couldn't help it. Sun Hanqing glanced at Wei Chao, and Wei Chao also happened to look at each other. The two looked at each other without much excitement. They had a muddy look on their faces and each followed the thief's leader.

Nanyang City is the prefecture of Nanyang Prefecture. It contains vassal kings and is also a big city. The walls are tall and strong. Although they are not as strong as those of the capital, they are at least much stronger than ordinary cities.

After three days of attack, the thieves had to get together to discuss matters again.

This time, the seats of various thieves were given particular attention. Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai, Li Zicheng, Hui Dengxiang and Zuo Liangyu were lined up in a row, all sitting in the middle, and the other thieves were the leaders on both sides. From this glance, it can be seen that among the thieves today, these five people were the heads.

"We have been fighting Nanyang for three days. I believe that the Ming army around us must have learned that we are attacking Nanyang." Zhang Xianzhong said with a serious expression, "The emperor is in the city. Even if the Ming army around us is afraid that no matter how many of us are, we will probably come to rescue us!"

Hearing this, Zuo Liangyu took over and said, "My mission will not accept it at night. Governor Chen Qiyu led a total of 30,000 troops, including the Yongwei Camp. The forward has already left Hubei and entered the Nanyang territory."

Li Zicheng also introduced: "In the Luoyang side, I have brothers who rushed back to report that more than 10,000 Yongwei Battalions arrived, and they would probably come to rescue soon. The generals led by Lu Da, the former commander of Tianxiong Army, and Yang Guozhu, the general of Xuanfu, were all under the former subordinates of King Lu Yan."

These messages, one after another, are not good news.

Cao Cao Luo Rucai heard this and sighed, "There is nothing in this. The most important thing is, how can we conquer Nanyang as soon as possible? As long as the dog emperor falls into our hands, the situation will change drastically and everything will be fine."

Hearing their words, the thieves on both sides couldn't help but sigh. Although the troops were strong, they actually knew that the elite was actually very limited. Otherwise, if 200,000 were elite, Nanyang City would definitely have been defeated.

"Actually, isn't it just our expectation that the Ming army came to help?" Hui Dengxiang looked at the low morale and said optimistically: "Or, if Nanyang cannot be defeated for a while, we may be ambushing all the way, and it is good to be able to eat all the way!"

When Zuo Liangyu heard this, he turned his head and looked at him, thinking in his heart, would he have ambushed me that time, it was your idea to get the news?

"I want me to tell you, this method is good!" Zhang Xianzhong immediately agreed after hearing this, "We made a sound of wind and said that we would soon conquer Nanyang. The imperial army would definitely be in a hurry to come to help. In a hurry, we would definitely not care about a lot, so we would easily be ambushed!"

When they heard this, many thieves' leaders immediately shouted loudly and shouted that they would do it. In fact, the most common trick they used to defeat the government army was to exhaust the imperial army, then introduce them into an ambush circle, and rely on their large population to start exchanging. Anyway, they first used the people they brought to use the strength of the government army, and finally rushed forward from elite thieves to resolve the battle.

It was through this move that they defeated the brave general Cao Wenzhao and Zuo Liangyu...

However, Li Zicheng shook his head and said, "The imperial government army is constantly coming, how many ways can we defeat him? If I want to say, I would rather think about capturing Nanyang City as soon as possible and catching the dog emperor!"

Hearing this, some people thought that his words were reasonable, so they agreed on the spot. But some people agreed with Zhang Xianzhong's statement, and the two sides started arguing.

Just like that, there was no result in this discussion, which made Li Zicheng very angry after returning.

When Li Guo saw this, he comforted him: "Uncle, I want my nephew to say that each family has its own little plan and will not really consider the overall situation. Don't Huang Hu know that it's better to fight Nanyang City first? It's just that he doesn't want to listen to his uncle, otherwise he can't compete with him for this leader!"

"The five families have only five thoughts. If anyone can give in, the leader of the alliance will have been selected long ago." Gao Yigong nodded, and his face suddenly became a little ferocious and said, "I want me to find an opportunity to capture the other four families so that the order can be unified. The strength of nearly 200,000 troops can be reflected! Otherwise, if we say that the siege of the city is still small, I have seen that Luo Rucai, who is close to us, was not attentive enough at the beginning. Thinking that the defenders on the city were attracted by us, they increased their offensive!"

Listening to their suggestions, Li Zicheng nodded thoughtfully. He had actually had such a thought before coming to join Zhang Xianzhong to annex other rebels and quickly strengthen his strength.
Chapter completed!