Cao Yu showed an unbelievable expression on his face and said, "General, you shot that letter with the intention of letting Dongxing City expel the people from the city?"

Wang Siyi and Shen Yi looked at Lei Shaoxuan in surprise and confusion.

"Lord Cao, since ancient times, there have been countless examples of defending the city. If the defenders hold on and there is a shortage of food, what will be the final outcome?" Lei Shaoxuan said lightly.

After pondering for a moment, Cao Yu shuddered slightly, and sighed: "Not to mention far away, Ma Xiu, a famous general of the former Southern Dynasty, guarded Ancheng, surrounded by enemy troops several times his size, and defended Wujiang City alone for nearly a year. When the food was scarce, he killed all the old and young women and children to replenish the army's rations, and even his own wives and concubines and children could not be spared, achieving the name of a generation of famous generals. ”

"Cannibalism?" Wang Siyi was shocked and said angrily: "It's just a demon, and he has become a generation of famous generals?"

Lei Shaoxuan shrugged his shoulders and nodded, the names of famous generals are all written in rolling blood.

"There are only two thousand defenders in Dongxing City, so it shouldn't be able to hold for that long, right? It won't be to the point of killing people and eating meat, right?" Shen Yi said with a nervous expression.

"Defending Dongxing City cannot be to the point of killing people to fill the army. However, it is conceivable that after the catastrophe, there was a shortage of food, and in order to defend the city, they would forcibly seize the people's food to replenish the army's food, and if they starved for a few days, the old, young, women and children would inevitably starve to death. Lei Shaoxuan said coldly, "Zhang Suqi is ruthless, so he has to guard against this." The road to famous generals is paved with white bones. ”

Shen Yi breathed a sigh of relief and said, "So your letter is to see the extreme shortage of food for the defenders, and force them to prepare early." Either surrender as soon as possible, just in time to avoid killing, or expel the people from the city and reduce the consumption of food in the city, and the people are expelled to avoid starvation?"

Lei Shaoxuan nodded and teased: "How is it? Am I a bodhisattva? Such a good person, warm my bed at night?"

When Shen Yi heard this, he didn't get angry unexpectedly, but blushed slightly, and said, "Come at night!"

Looking at Lei Shaoxuan's somewhat surprised gaze, Shen Yi said in a low voice: "I have a good relationship with your princess Yi, after warming the bed, I can just recommend you to her as a eunuch." I promise that it doesn't hurt at all to cut your life. ”

Lei Shaoxuan was stunned, Wang Siyi was stunned, and Cao Yu laughed.

Cao Yu breathed a sigh of relief and said, "It turns out that the first letter of the Lord was not a letter of persuasion, but the intention was to force the defenders to expel the people from the city. In that case, will you write a second real letter of persuasion, or will you besiege the city directly?"

Lei Shaoxuan shook his head.

Of course, I will write a second letter of persuasion, but I have to think about how to write the second letter of persuasion. Lei Shaoxuan smiled slightly.

Seeing that Shen Yi was looking at herself with expectant eyes, she quipped, "Little girl, if you don't write this letter, just say that if you don't surrender, you will all cut chickens (chickens) and send them to the palace as eunuchs." ”

"Phew!" Shen Yi blushed and ran away.

At night, outside the city of Dongxing.

Piles of lit bonfires, like dotted stars, adorn the earth, adding a piece of vitality to the dark suburbs, and forming a sharp contrast with the dead silence of Dongxing City.

The Northern Wei army was lone and deep, and naturally there would not be enough tents to accommodate thousands of old and young women and children, so they built piles of bonfires in the wild, used bonfires as tents, and at the same time set up an iron pot on the bonfire to cook rice and boil medicine for the victims.

After leaving the city, the flood of disaster victims, who had been chaotic, was shouted by a group of Northern Wei sergeants, and they were quickly separated into roughly equal teams, which were orderly assigned to different camps, and then quieted down.

The conditions for hastily rehousing the victims are naturally very simple. However, the fiery bonfire, the boiling hot soup and the sturdy steamed buns drove away hunger, cold and fear. The tired and miserable expression vanished, and the helplessness and despair in his eyes turned into bursts of surprise. The wailings, curses, and scolding of expulsion from the city quickly turned into silence and whispering, except for the occasional cry of a baby startled by a frog.

There was a faint hint of peace in the camp.

"Xiao Lei, you really did a good deed!" Wang Siyi sighed lightly. I haven't seen him for a few years, and the little death row prisoner back then still has good thoughts in his heart.

"The master said: Good will be rewarded with good, and evil will be rewarded with evil, which is for the way of heaven. I can't imagine that you are still a good person, and you will definitely live a long life and be prosperous and rich in the future. Shen Yi said.

Hearing this, Lei Shaoxuan smiled bitterly.

Don't say that it is impossible to live a long life, but you can live a long life of 100 days at any time.

Lei Shaoxuan looked at Shen Yi Zhengse and said, "What does it mean to live a long life, be prosperous and rich? You see I'm young and promising, kind-hearted, we're talented and good-looking, why don't you warm up the bed tonight?"

"A dog's mouth can't spit out ivory!" Shen Yi glanced at Lei Shaoxuan and said triumphantly, "Without those two pills, I can consider considering warming your bed; ”

Lei Shaoxuan said stupidly: "Hmph, good people are not rewarded, and they are ungrateful." ”

Wang Siyi gloated and laughed.

Late at night, Dongxing City, West Gate Tower.

In the darkness, several pairs of eyes were staring out of the city.

During the day, a sudden long arrow shot Wei Jihai, the general judge of Lianzhou. Therefore, He Ji led several officials, but he did not dare to turn on the lights, and quietly climbed the city tower to observe everything outside the city.

"The Northern Wei Army actually took in all the victims, could it be that what kind of bodhisattva can't do it?" said an official.

"Hmph, fake benevolence and false righteousness, just buy people's hearts!"

"Maybe they're not short of food?"

“......”

Several officials next to He Ji whispered.

"There is no shortage of food?" According to the report, there are no signs of other Northern Wei army activities in our state, and this army in front of me is clearly a lone army, where can I get so much food?" He Ji said contemptuously, "Continue to expel the people in the city who are unable to participate in the defense of the city from the city, I don't believe that he has the ability to contain all the victims in the city." ”

"Lord He, no!" Zhang Su hurriedly stopped, "When the people were expelled from the city during the day, not far from the city gate, the elite of the Northern Wei army had already been discovered, and it was obvious that the enemy army had already prepared. Open the city gate again, when the people pass, if the Northern Wei army raids, in an emergency, the people panic, the city gate can not be closed in time, in case it is broken through by the enemy, Dongxing City will be dangerous, and you must not risk opening the city gate again. ”

"A large number of old and young women and children went out of the city and were resettled by the Northern Wei army, and the defenders in the city saw it in their eyes, and they would also shake the hearts of the army, after all, there were their relatives in it. An official objected.

Hearing this, He Ji nodded noncommittally.

"General Zhang, a lot of people have been sent out in the city, and you should be able to save a lot of military rations, and you have recruited thousands of young and strong men to help you defend the city, do you think Dongxing City can hold it?" He Ji looked at Zhang Su and said in a low voice.

Zhang Su pondered for a moment and said, "Generally speaking, it takes more than five times the strength to storm a well-defended city, and the enemy forces outside the city are obviously insufficient. My command is well-trained, and if you don't hold back, Dongxing City will be solid. ”

Looking at the campsite with a bright bonfire outside the city, Zhang Su blurted out: "Although there are a lot of men recruited, they are all rabble, and it would be good not to hold back." ”

When He Ji heard this, an inexplicable anger rose in his heart, and his face sank.

"General Zhang, what do you mean by not taking Lord He and us in your eyes? What do you mean by holding you back? Could it be that defending Dongxing City is the business of General Zhang's family?" said an official dissatisfied.

"General Zhang, don't forget, He Dacai is the highest military and political chief in Dongxing City," Lianzhou Gong Cao Shi Songzhe sneered.

"Well, at the moment of the great enemy, you must be sincerely united and united with the outside world. He Ji suppressed the anger in his heart and said.

Zhang Su has always regarded himself very highly, and he didn't take He Ji and others in his eyes at all, and he was pressed to death in the past, probably because he had been suppressed for too long, but the current situation had to rely on him, and he was proud for a while, and blurted out the words in his heart.

"I mean, under the supervision of Lord Ho, we need to have a clear division of labor and not interfere with each other. Zhang Su realized that he had lost his words for a while, and forcibly explained the unhappiness in his heart. His heart is still full of contempt, but the enemy is at present, and it is not appropriate to make too much trouble with He Ji and other officials.

He Ji's face softened slightly, and he asked, "General Zhang, with the military strength in your hands, how long can Dongxing City be defended? What if it can't be defended?"

As soon as these words came out, the audience was silent. Everyone stretched their necks and looked straight at Zhang Su.

"Hold until reinforcements arrive. The enemy army outside the city is a lone army, as long as there are reinforcements, the inside and the outside should be combined, and the enemy army can be forced back. ”

Zhang Su glanced at He Ji and said in a deep voice: "The enemy's strength is not enough to surround the four gates, and it is really impossible to hold it, so you can wait for the opportunity to seize one gate and break through, as long as the speed is fast enough, the enemy army will not be able to catch up with us." ”

When He Ji heard this, a chill rose in his heart, his face changed, and he said with a forced smile: "General Zhang, don't talk about breaking through lightly, so as not to shake the morale of the army." ”

Full of concern, He Ji walked down the city tower and walked side by side with several cronies.

The official of Lianzhou Mansion muttered in a low voice: "My lord, Zhang Su doesn't take us seriously, it's really hateful. ”

When He Ji heard this, he waved his hand impatiently and said, "When is it?

"My lord, Zhang Su has bad intentions, so I have to guard against it!" said a close confidant.

When He Ji heard this, he suddenly stopped.

He said that to defend the city, it was necessary to support it until reinforcements came. Hmph, even the main force of the Henghe Water Division has retreated, how can there be reinforcements? After the flood, Qingzhou and Yangping are too busy to take care of themselves, even if we ask for help, they will never come to help. Can Zhang Su not know this? It is clear that he is lying. ”

"It's not a lie. He Ji said quietly, "Whether there are reinforcements or not, you have to defend them until you can't hold them, don't you?"

"Have you thought about it? If you can't hold it, Zhang Su will lead the army to break through at any time, do you think he will take us to break through? No, will he notify your lord and me to break through?" Shi Songzhe flickered, "He said that if he can't hold it, he will break through." ”

"Of course he won't notify us!" Zhang Su can't wait for us to die, how can he notify us?" said humanely, "I'm afraid that in three days, Zhang Su himself will quietly break through the siege and leave us to hand over to the Northern Wei Army." ”

"You think so too?" He Ji said slowly.

Sleepless nights.

He Ji woke up early, reclining on the couch, his fat body leaning against the railing, and the railing fell into the body, as if passing through the body, which was awkward and uncomfortable to watch.

He Ji seemed to be unconscious, staring blankly at the cup of hot tea with a curling aroma on the tea couch.

Suddenly, a junior colonel hurriedly ran in and said, "Report to your lordship, a letter has been shot from outside the city." ”

He Ji was shocked when he heard this, sat up, and said hurriedly: "Quickly bring it over." ”

The letter reads:

"The commander of the Eastern Army of the Great Northern Wei Dynasty, the prefect of Beichuan and the leader of Jin Wuwei Zheng Sipin with a sword, and General Anton Lei, have the following special orders:

The defenders of Dongxing City let the old and young women and children sick out of the city to avoid being slaughtered by the war, which is a benevolent and righteous act and deserves to be commended.

The general specially ordered that the city be attacked after three days, and after the siege of the city, all the officers and soldiers defending the city who surrendered could be given preferential treatment, and the rest of the local officials above the eighth grade should be executed. ”

After seeing it, He Ji gasped, almost jumped up from the bed, and shouted: "Quick......! Come to the house to discuss matters. ”