My vicious dog, my horse, I can do whatever I want with it

Zong Yanli waited for two days, and then the temperature dropped suddenly in the summer. A rain fell on the ground baked by the scorching sun, as if evaporating water vapor.

Zong Yanli originally thought that Gongsun Pu's plan was for our army to take advantage of the rain to attack the city, but the rain was not only falling in Xiaozhuang, the whole sky was raining, and our soldiers would also be blocked by the rain. How could they attack the city?

"Pu certainly doesn't want the general to attack the city in the rain." Gongsun Pu laughed and watched the rain fall for a while and then the sky cleared up. It rained again in the afternoon.

The changing weather made the air feel gloomy. Gongsun Pu stood behind Zong Yanli. Seeing the rain, he seemed to be relieved. He leaned over to Zong Yanli and said, "My plan is to have the general attack the city tomorrow morning."

Zong Yanli turned his head and looked at him, with a questioning look in his eyes.

"When the morning fog is about to rise, it is the best time to advance." Gongsun Pu smiled and said, "However, Pu's plan is to have the general perform a feint attack, put a straw man in front, and pretend to attack."

"The enemy will surely shoot arrows to stop us when they see us attacking the city. When the morning fog clears, they will see that our army is full of straw men. The next day, they will do the same thing, using the morning fog as cover to launch another feint attack."

"Repeat this three times and it will be enough. When it comes to the fourth time... we will replace the soldiers and generals. The enemy will think that our army is feinting again. We will take advantage of their carelessness to force our way into the city. This plan is a cover-up and a fabrication!"

Gongsun Pu smiled and said, "The straw man is light, and can not only block the rain of arrows, but also save the enemy's arrows for your own use. If we march in the rain, the straw man will be soaked and heavy, and it will be difficult for the soldiers to push it forward. Pu thought that only when the fog rises is the best time to march."

Gongsun Pu pointed to the sky and said with a smile: "When the weather changes from cold to hot, the morning fog is the heaviest. If you want to see the morning fog in summer, you need to wait for a rain to ensure that there is no risk of any disaster!"

Zong Yanli listened to Gongsun Pu's words, his eyes gradually brightened, he looked up and smiled, "What a brilliant idea!"

Zong Yanli hurriedly turned around and called Gao Feilin, ordering him to invite all the generals to come to the tent to discuss matters!

Empress Xiaozhuang was very anxious. Zong Yanli's troops had been besieging the city for several days but there had been no movement. She thought that Zong Yanli, who had won the first battle, would soon launch another offensive, but she did not expect that after several days, Zong Yanli had not made any movement at all.

"General Chen praised Zong Yanli as a very brave warrior, but he did the stupidest thing. Is he planning to surround the city and trap us?" Ying Hongwei said with a sneer as he sat under the tent.

"Haha." Chen Hanjing said with a smile, "You are stupid but you laugh at others. Zong Yanli naturally knows that it is difficult to attack Xiaozhuang by force. This time he must be thinking about how to attack the city. A surprise attack or a clever attack is the best strategy."

"Instead of spending your free time here making sarcastic remarks, why not go to the lookout towers in the east and west of the city to see if the enemy is making any moves." Chen Hanjing snorted and chuckled.

"What's so great about this!?" Ying Hongwei said with a sneer on his face, "If Zong Yanli dares to come, I will definitely beat him back!"

"Since General Ying is so confident, the defense of the city gate will be left to General Ying." Chen Hanjing was too lazy to talk to him and directly handed over the responsibility of guarding the city gate to him. If the city gate was broken, it would be your incompetence, Ying Hongwei!

Ying Hongwei could not bear such provocation, and immediately said: "I will defend it if you want! General Chen's merit is delivered to me, I won't refuse it!"

Ying Hongwei asked for 10,000 elite soldiers to guard the city gate. Chen Hanjing's face turned black and he argued with him. The city gate was important, but the west of the city and other places should not be relaxed. Finally, the two of them went to the King Shou to make a fuss.

Prince Shou made the decision and gave Ying Hongwei 8,000 elite soldiers to guard the city. Even though Chen Hanjing was dissatisfied, he had to accept it.

Although Ying Hongwei is a little arrogant, he still has some abilities.

As soon as he got the military power, he went to the city wall to deploy defenses, carefully estimated the enemy's strength, and arranged the defense of the city. Since he held an important position, he had to make some achievements, otherwise he would be laughed at! ?

Chen Hanjing ordered his men to observe and saw that although Ying Hongwei's words were disrespectful, he was serious in his work and did not show any contempt. He snorted twice and sent the men back.

As the sun sets in the west, Chen Hanjing stands on the observation deck, watching from afar the smoke from the cooking stoves of the army besieging the city rise up on time. He becomes more and more puzzled as to what Zong Yanli is planning. Many days have passed, and there is not even any sign of an offensive?

"The defenders must be alert at night to prevent the enemy from attacking the city at night." Although Chen Hanjing had never worked with Zong Yanli, he had heard that Zong Yanli led the Ghost Camp to attack Nankang in a surprise attack at night!

"Yes!" The soldier beside him bowed and responded.

The night was still quiet. The soldier on guard couldn't help yawning, and was whipped by the leader next to him: "Be alert!"

The defending soldiers shuddered with pain and dared not slack off any more. They stared at the dark city wall with wide eyes until the replacement soldiers arrived. They spent a long and dull night like this, watching the sky gradually become brighter.

"Hiss, the temperature difference between day and night is really quite cold." The patrolling soldier walked up the steps to the city wall, turned his head and looked outside the city, and saw a little morning mist.

"What a horrible weather..." the person next to him muttered.

His eyes swept towards the city, and suddenly he seemed to think of some figures moving in the morning mist.

The next moment he suddenly stopped and turned his head, shouting in panic: "Enemy is here!"

The howl suddenly woke up the soldiers within a hundred meters. They opened their eyes wide and looked down at the city wall. The wind blew away the fog, and they saw the neat and orderly enemy army formation hidden in the morning mist.

The defending soldiers hurriedly turned around, swung their drumsticks and beat the war drums.

Ying Hongwei, who was sleeping in the house, sat up suddenly with an extremely excited look on his face. He put on his armor neatly and stepped directly onto the city wall.

"Why is there such thick fog?" Ying Hongwei couldn't help but frowning when he saw the morning fog that blocked everyone's view.

"It rained yesterday and the temperature was hot, so there was no way to prevent the morning fog during the day and night." The general next to him said, "The enemy is also hindered by the morning fog!"

"Humph." Ying Hongwei snorted coldly, turned his head and shouted: "We have the advantage of terrain and are in a high position!"

"Come on! Archers, get ready!" Ying Hongwei called the archers and pointed at the vaguely discernible military formation in the fog and said, "Shoot!"

Whoosh whoosh!

Arrows were flying like drizzling rain towards the front army formation. Ying Hongwei squinted his eyes and saw that some soldiers in the front row of the enemy had fallen under the rain of arrows, and the speed of the army formation was also slowed down. He laughed and said, "Did you call back Zong Yanli to lead the troops? There are no shield soldiers yet, but they are advancing so recklessly?"

Ying Hongwei called out again: "Archers! Keep shooting!"

"Don't let the enemy get even a step closer to the city wall!" Ying Hongwei shouted angrily.

As several rounds of arrow rain fell, the sky brightened and the morning fog dissipated under several rounds of arrow rain, and with the sunrise.

Ying Hongwei suddenly saw clearly that the army formation that had been attacking for half a day was actually composed of a bunch of scarecrows wearing helmets and tied with wood!

Many soldiers on the city wall were dumbfounded when they saw this scene. No wonder some people were muttering that all the generals under Zong Yanli's command were brave generals. They were hit by several arrows but did not fall down and were still rushing forward. They were frightened in their hearts, but who knew that when they suddenly took a look, they found that the man who was hit by several arrows was not a brave general at all, but a straw man!

"General Ying, this..." The expression on the face of the general next to him changed again and again.

As the morning mist dissipated, the enemy sounded the horn to retreat.

Ying Hongwei saw a group of cavalry coming out from the rear of the enemy army. They came forward at a very fast speed, dragging the straw men covered with arrows and retreating. It looked like they were transporting some goods!

A soldier in black armor stepped out from the front of the army below, riding high on his warhorse. He shouted in a voice as loud as a bell: "Prince Shou is so polite! You know my suffering and give me arrows! Hahahaha!"

The arrogant words were heard clearly by the soldiers on the city wall. Ying Hongwei's face turned pale instantly, and he clenched his fist in anger and smashed it hard on the stone bricks of the city wall.

The enemy troops withdrew quickly. Ying Hongwei was summoned by Prince Shou. He tried his best to defend himself, saying, "Zong Yanli is too cunning! He used the morning fog to deceive us and launched a feint attack. This time I was careless!"

He Xingliang's expression was not good, but he did not scold him too much. He just asked Ying Hongwei to wait and see carefully.

After suffering this loss, Ying Hongwei hated Zong Yanli even more. He expected that Zong Yanli would attack the city again tomorrow, so he would definitely respond carefully this time.

Sure enough, at dawn the next day, the enemy attacked the city again, using the morning fog as a cover. How could Ying Hongwei be fooled again? He stared at the morning fog with his eyes fixed. Sure enough, after the fog dissipated, he saw straw men in front of the army again!

"You fooled me once, and you want to fool me again?" Ying Hongwei sneered and did not shoot. He just shot a few arrows randomly to intimidate him, or perhaps to tell Zong Yanli that he had seen through his plan!

"Hahahaha! Do you think the next time we attack the city, those who come here are real or fake?" The black-armored general appeared again and said such a sentence.

These words immediately made Ying Hongwei's heart skip a beat. His brows furrowed tighter and he stared at the enemy's movements even more closely.

Unexpectedly, Zong Yanli, who had threatened yesterday, showed no signs of attacking the city for two consecutive days. Ying Hongwei became anxious, and finally on the third day, he saw the enemy attacking the city again.

Ying Hongwei was overjoyed and said, "Zong Yanli must be planning to attack us this time! He is pretending to be like this in order to make me let down my guard!"

Ying Hongwei was extremely confident and immediately ordered the archers to shoot.

In no mood--

Again, again, another straw man!

"How ridiculous!" Ying Hongwei felt that he was being fooled and was extremely angry. He almost wanted to jump off the city wall to fight Zong Yanli!

"He is clearly teasing us! How can he be attacking a city?" Ying Hongwei cursed for a long time. Seeing the enemy army returning with a full load, he seemed to wake up and said, "Zong Yanli wants to use this to consume our arrows! To prepare for a strong attack in the future!"

Ying Hongwei gritted his teeth, feeling somewhat distressed. He had only just figured it out now!

Now that he had detected Zong Yanli's movements, the next time he saw the enemy's formation in the morning mist, Ying Hongwei sneered and said, "How can I let you succeed again? Forget about him!"

The many soldiers on the city wall also felt that the enemy's repeated feint attacks and use of straw men to borrow arrows were consuming their military supplies, so they could no longer shoot arrows.

But they never expected that when they slacked off, they saw the "straw man" that was supposed to move slowly rushing out of the morning mist at such a rapid speed, and in an instant it was already under the city wall. How could that black and white thing that could run and jump be called a straw man?

"Attack, attack the city——!"

"The enemy is attacking the city! General!"

"Shoot, shoot quickly!" It was obviously too late to shoot arrows at this time. The ladders on the city wall made the soldiers' scalps numb.

The siege came suddenly and swiftly. As one soldier after another jumped onto the city wall, cries of killing rang out!

At the city gate, many soldiers carried huge wood and rammed the gate again and again while shouting slogans. When the city gate was shattered, Zong Yanli, holding a long sword, gave an order and led his soldiers to charge into the city gate.

Unfortunately, it was too difficult to break into the city in one fell swoop. Chen Hanjing led his troops to the rescue and forced Zong Yanli and others who had just managed to enter the city to retreat again. The two sides fought fiercely for a day, and finally Zong Yanli ordered a temporary withdrawal.

The 8,000 defenders led by Ying Hongwei were completely wiped out!

"Congratulations, General, this is a great victory!" Zong Yanli returned to the camp covered in blood. Gongsun Pu was already waiting in front of him. He stepped forward and bowed.

"It's a pity that we were unable to attack Xiaozhuang and capture Prince Shou in one fell swoop." Zong Yanli wiped the blood stains on the long sword and strode into the tent and said.

"There is no need to rush in the siege." Gongsun Pu smiled and said, "The enemy has suffered heavy losses this time. Not only has their combat power been greatly weakened, but their arrows and weapons have also been reduced. This is the key."

"Thanks to your advice, sir." Zong Yanli smiled when he heard this and looked up at Gongsun Pu.

There was chaos in Xiaozhuang, and Ying Hongwei was not much better off, also seriously injured.

He felt that he was responsible for the failure, so he ignored his injuries, gritted his teeth, and knelt before Prince Shou to apologize.

He Xingliang could no longer maintain a good expression. He stared at the blood-stained and shaky Ying Hongwei with a stern face and said, "Since you have no ability to lead an army, then stop talking nonsense. This defeat is all due to your arrogance! Such a heavy loss is really undeserved."

"General Ying has worked hard, go down and recuperate." He Xingliang looked like he didn't want to see him again.

Ying Hongwei's face was pale and he was about to collapse.

Finally, he was helped to stagger away. The generals nearby saw this scene with some sneering and disdain, some helpless and some disapproving and sighing.

Chen Hanjing said with a worried look on his face: "Your Highness, not only has our army lost its advantage this time, but our military supplies are also in urgent need..."

"Hmph." He Xingliang's face became even uglier. Isn't this an emergency?

Zong Yanli "borrowed" them all with a straw man!

He Xingliang took a deep breath and said, "The city gate needs to be repaired and reinforced urgently. Please allow me to write a letter to ask for help."

Chen Hanjing responded in a low voice without saying anything more. Looking at He Xingliang's back as he left with his sleeves swung, he felt a little sad. He felt that this task would be very difficult. Zong Yanli was really too difficult to deal with!