He Mansion is the largest private residence in Dongxing City, spanning three streets, with high walls and green tiles, which is extremely magnificent. It was originally a famous local garden mecca, called "Yichun Garden", which was the family mansion of a wealthy merchant. After He Ji took office, in order to curry favor with him, the wealthy businessman sold half and gave it to He Ji.

South Vietnamese wealthy families like garden landscapes and do not hesitate to spend a lot of money to build their own homes, and He Ji is no exception. After getting the Yichun Garden, I asked the master to add and change the garden landscape, and the scenery was more beautiful.

Looking at the courtyard from afar, the shade of the willows, the swaying of green bamboo, the reflection of water and stones, being in the middle of it, can make people feel refreshed, however, at this time, the garden is a panicked, tense atmosphere of escape.

In the room, the servant girl was busy, packing things, packing boxes, and packing......

He Ji paced in the study in distraught, looking at the beautiful garden outside the window, full of unwillingness and reluctance.

With such a beautiful scenery, and I don't know who tomorrow belongs to, He Ji's heart is full of deep sadness, full of helplessness about the impermanence of fate.

"As the saying goes: helplessly, the flowers fall, and it seems to be like the return of the swallow. After today, all the beautiful scenery will be helpless and the flowers will fall, and the garden will change owners, I don't know who is here in the future, and I will see the return of similar swallows. He Ji thought.

He Ji looked at the canna in the corner of the courtyard blankly, for a long time, touched his head, and laughed at himself with a wry smile: "Good head, will it still be tomorrow?"

Just when he was feeling sorry for himself and feeling sad, suddenly a small colonel hurriedly broke into the study and said: "My lord, the Northern Wei army has set up three large iron pots outside the city to cook meat for the victims outside the city. Lord Yu, please come to the city immediately to watch!"

When He Ji heard this, he frowned and said, "Cooking meat? Are they buying people's hearts and making a show for the people in the city?"

Xiao Xiaoxiao's face was panicked, and his voice trembled slightly: "Humble duty...... I don't know, Lord Yu ordered the humble to come, please go and see what is going on immediately. ”

Seeing the little school's panicked expression, He Ji was puzzled, knowing that something was wrong, and hurriedly followed the little school to the city tower.

At this time, Yu Changjing and the others were waiting for He Ji with gloomy faces, Zhang Su stood aside expressionlessly, everyone saw He Ji and saluted one after another, He Ji nodded and looked outside the city.

Not far from the castle tower, under the gray sky, three piles of blazing fires were lit, and three huge iron pots were set up on the fire, and the hot soup in the iron pot was boiling and tumbling, and the soup color was very bright and very attractive.

In the aftermath of the floods, food is extremely scarce, let alone meat and vegetables. Therefore, these three boiling milky white broth are nothing less than a heart-warming landscape.

Probably because of the wind, although the distance is a little far, you can still smell the faint smell of meat on the castle tower. The soldiers on the castle tower who smelled the broth couldn't help but relish, full of envy.

After the disaster, the sergeants could only eat enough food, and they did not see meat for a long time!

Seeing this, He Ji said dissatisfiedly: "Lord Yu and Master Zhang, aren't they just a few iron pots? What is there to see? Although there is a shortage of food after the disaster, it will not shake the army's heart with a few mouthfuls of broth, right?"

Zhang Su said with a cold face: "Don't worry, my lord, I'm in the city!"

Yu Changjing glanced at Zhang Su, handed a letter to He Ji, and lowered his voice nervously: "Outside the city, the Northern Wei army threw a number of letters with the same content into the city, spreading rumors to confuse the people, in an attempt to shake the hearts of our army. I have already had people collect and destroy it, so please cut it off as soon as possible. ”

He Ji took the letter, read it, only felt that the cold air penetrated through the bones hit his whole body, his legs trembled, and he could barely stand.

The letter reads:

“...... It is reported that after the flood, the officials of Lianzhou exploited even more, especially the prefect He Ji, Shi and other officials did not care about the lives of the people, knocked out the bones and sucked the marrow, causing the land of Lianzhou to starve all over the wilderness, and the people wailed day and night. The special frame of three ruthless iron pots, He, Yu, and Shi will be chopped into meat puree, boiled into fragrant soup, for the people to eat, to the people's anger, to show the public's heart.

He, Yu, and Shi should obey the will of the people, and if they fall before sunset, they can still be regarded as having a trace of conscience, and they can be guilty of meritorious service......"

"Lei Shaoxuan wants to ...... You want to chop the three of us into minced meat...... Butcher!" He Ji was so shocked that his teeth chattered up and down, and cold sweat broke out dripping out, "Cannibal flesh......? Not people!"

A trace of unnoticed disdain flashed in Zhang Su's eyes, and he said lightly: "It is rumored that Lei Shaoxuan was born on death row, exiled to the Sea of Bitterness, and was selected into the forward battalion by killing, and accumulated military exploits. This kind of person kills like hemp, human life is like a pig and a dog in his eyes, and cannibalism is nothing. ”

He Ji was terrified in his heart, and he could barely move his fat body.

A feeling of schadenfreude rose in Zhang Su's heart.

The tighter Lei Shaoxuan pressed, the more He Ji and the others could only rely on themselves.

Zhang Su believed that He Ji and the others would never surrender before sunset tomorrow, because the power to defend the city was firmly in his hands.

It's a pity that the more He Ji is persecuted, the more he relies on himself to defend the city to save his life, and the more he supports himself, however, the better the city is defended, why is it not forced to better protect He Ji and others?

Zhang Su thought about it, and sighed in his heart, if there was a better choice, he would also like to chop He Ji and the others to pieces, but now he is actually forced to protect He Ji.

Seeing this, Shi Songzhe was quite dissatisfied, and said: "At the moment when the great enemy is about to cooperate sincerely, General Zhang is alarmist and intimidates Lord He, what does it mean?"

Zhang Su said disappreciably: "I'm just telling the truth, how could I have any intention of intimidation? It shouldn't be that I really scared Master Shi?...... right?"

"This official is not scared. Shi Songzhe said coldly, "It's General Zhang who has a bad heart......

"Shut up!" He Ji's heart was inexplicably angry, he glared at Shi Songzhe, and reprimanded: "The head hangs on the blade, and there is still a fighting spirit?"

Turning his face to look at Zhang Su, he forced himself to soften his tone and said: "Dongxing City is full of people, but it all depends on General Zhang, I hope that General Zhang will not care about past grievances and grievances, and will serve the country wholeheartedly!"

"Grievances are just personal feuds, defending the city is a matter of national affairs, how dare Zhang forget his public affairs because of his selfishness?" Zhang Su said angrily.

He Ji breathed a sigh of relief and forced a smile: "Okay! Please leave the defense of the city to General Zhang, and I will wait for the support wholeheartedly." ”

He Ji led the crowd away.

In the study of He Fu, there was silence for a while.

He Ji held the teacup in his hand and his eyes were glazed; Yu Changjing did not say a word, his face suddenly flushed, suddenly gloomy, and uncertain; Shi Songzhe was terrified, like sitting on pins and needles, standing up from time to time and pacing around the room.

The beautiful scenery outside the window did not make the three of them feel happy in the slightest, and their faces were full of anxiety and worry.

"Don't walk around, it's dizzy!" Yu Changjing said irritably.

Shi Songzhe said angrily: "Death is coming, Lord Yu still cares about dizziness?"

Seeing He Ji sitting motionless on the chair in a daze, Shi Songzhe sneered: "In the past, he was so sure that he was dying, but he sat back and waited to die?"

He Ji didn't raise his eyelids, and said lightly: "If you don't sit still, what else can you do? Now the only way to do this is to surrender or defend the city." If you surrender, you can't kill Zhang Su, but is Zhang Su so easy to kill? If you can't kill Zhang Su, you can only help him defend the city wholeheartedly. But once Zhang Su has mastered the power of the whole city, can he still tolerate us?"

He Ji snorted coldly: "Hmph! What a 'never forget public service for selfishness'." In the final analysis, what is not forgotten in my heart is selfishness. When the time comes, we will take care of both public and private, and we will definitely die. Kill us, and then push the enemy, and in the chaos of the battle, it is normal to kill a few people. ”

He Ji looked at the silent Yu Changjing, and said meaningfully: "Lord Yu, do you want to bet that Zhang Su will not kill you? Or bet that Lord Yu has the ability to save his life? The grudge between Zhang Su and Lord Yu is not as deep as ours and his, maybe Zhang Su will not deal with you." ”

Yu Changjing calmed down, and said with a straight face: "Lord He, now the three of us are grasshoppers on a rope, why should we test each other? Everything is arranged by Lord He!"

Seeing He Ji's cold face, Yu Changjing said ruthlessly: "Yu has worked in Lianzhou for most of his life, and the family is in the city. How many people hate us to the core, can you expect them to defend the city wholeheartedly? Zhang Su's hope that the people will defend the city wholeheartedly is nothing but wishful thinking, and at most those under his command will listen to him with all their hearts. ”

"If you don't surrender, in the end we will become the broth in the pot!" Yu Changjing said.

He Ji Huoran stood up, his face was hideous, and said: "The Northern Wei Dynasty's southern expedition is a foregone conclusion, Dongxing City can hold on for a while, but it can't hold for a lifetime! If you can hold it for a while, you can achieve the name of Zhang Su, and you can have a better status if you surrender in the future. ”，

He Ji looked at Yu Changjing and said: "What Zhang Su wants is to keep for a while, and what we want is to keep for a lifetime or surrender if you don't keep it." Therefore, fundamentally speaking, Zhang Su and the three of us are in a life-and-death relationship!"

"But surrendering without a fight is a capital crime! Zhang Su guards the city gate with heavy troops, and he can't get out of the city at all without killing Zhang Su! Kill Zhang Su ......" Yu Changjing shook his head and smiled bitterly.

At the moment of the great enemy, is it so easy to kill the heavy guards around the general?

Shi Songzhe hesitated for a moment and said: "Can we directly order the city gate to be opened and come out under the pretext of patrolling the city?

He Ji looked at Shi Songzhe like an idiot, and said: "The county officials are not as good as the current management, without Zhang Su's order, who would dare to open the city gate? What's more, do you think Zhang Su will not guard against us? As long as we leave the mansion, when will our every move not be closely monitored? What's more, we will leave our family and go out of the city and surrender by ourselves?"

When Shi Songzhe heard this, his face turned red, his eyes showed a crazy look, and he said, "Since this is the case, kill him!"

"Only by killing Zhang Su and leaving the dragons leaderless can they take over a city gate. Yu Changjing's face was solemn, and he said slowly, "Lord He, don't worry about anything anymore, let's discuss how to kill Zhang Su!"

He Ji nodded, what he was waiting for was Yu Changjing's words.

Yu Changjing is the second-in-command, if he can't break the cauldron and act with himself, take luck in his heart, sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, watch himself fight with Zhang Su or put all the responsibility on himself afterwards, then there will be endless troubles.

Now, Yu Changjing himself proposed to kill Zhang Su, and in the future, he will only be tied to himself.

He Ji perked up and said: "The big war is imminent, Zhang Su is heavily guarded by his side, and he must not be forcibly killed, otherwise it will inevitably cause a mutiny in the army, and he must think of a safe way." ”

"Zhang Su was accompanied by two hundred elite guards, all of whom were soldiers of a hundred battles and outlaws. If you want to kill Zhang Su, you must separate him from his personal guards. ”

Shi Songzhe hesitated for a moment and said, "Isn't this simple? There is a banquet in the mansion, Zhang Su is invited to the banquet, and the guards stay outside, and the banquet is killed!"

He Ji's eyes kicked and he said dissatisfiedly: "Simple? Banquet Zhang Su, although the guards can't attend, they will also enter the mansion, at that time, what can the mansion do to resist the two hundred crazy guards? And if the guards find that the situation is not right, they can also send a signal, if the defenders know that Zhang Su was killed, the first thing they will do is to kill us." ”

In the face of two hundred crazy elite guards, it is impossible to annihilate without hundreds of troops, and the most elite troops in the city are in the hands of Zhang Su, although He Ji has the power to mobilize troops to ambush, but it is impossible to hide from Zhang Su to transfer thousands of troops into the mansion.

"Banquets are necessary, but they must not be indiscriminately invited. He Ji's eyes were full of murderous intent, and his eyes became deep, "Today is my birthday, the war is coming, everything is thrifty, so I invite Lord Zhang to eat a bowl of longevity noodles." ”