Early the next morning, Zhang Xiang and the slave walked onto the street with a yawn.

Last night, the horn outside the city sounded all night, and Zhang Xiang remembered that it should have been six o'clock before the light was faintly brightened.

For he has not fallen asleep since the trumpet sounded.

These horns were made by the Sijin cavalry outside the city.

As for what they were going to do, Zhang Xiang quickly understood.

On the streets, many patrolling soldiers lie on the streets, sleeping in the corners or alleys, and since these soldiers entered the city, they have not disturbed the normal life of the people in the city.

Although it was hard work, for so many years, there were people on duty every night, and the rest was not bad.

It was only this morning, after walking some way, that he found many soldiers yawning and feeling sluggish.

It seems that they, like themselves, have not rested well because of the sound of the horn last night.

Zhang Xiang understood that those horn sounds were a means to interfere with the soldiers in the city.

The arrival of the Xijin army under the city has added extremely heavy psychological pressure to the soldiers in the city, coupled with the non-stop sounding of the enemy's horn all night, who can sleep when they are upset?

Some early risers passed by the soldiers and handed them the buns in their hands, and then received a burst of thanks from the soldiers.

The slave followed Zhang Xiang, and when she saw Zhang Xiang's tightly knit brows, her slightly tired face became nervous: "Donkey, it seems that these soldiers have not rested well, they don't seem to have any energy at all, and the slave didn't sleep well last night, and I don't know why those horns sounded all night." ”

Zhang Xiang pouted at those soldiers Nunu: "Oh, this is the effect that those Xijin people want, slave, you go back first, I have to go to the city gate to have a look." ”

Coming to the city gate, Ji Ke had already taken the first step.

Like Zhang Xiang, he didn't rest well, so he hurriedly came to the city gate to check when he got up early this morning.

"These Xijin people are really despicable, they actually use this method." Ji Ke scolded angrily while referring to the situation he knew: "Donkey, the last general has already checked around, most of the soldiers basically haven't slept all night, and their mental state is extremely poor. ”

Zhang Xiang nodded: "On the way I came, the same is true for the soldiers on the street, if Xijin attacks the city, the combat power of our soldiers will be greatly reduced." ”

Ji Ke said: "The last general will notify me to let the soldiers cheer up, but if there are those who are tired, they will be killed." ”

"It's useless." Zhang Xiang shook his head: "If the soldiers are tired and sleepy, even if they dare not show it because of the military order, but once the fight really starts, the state is still not good, this will not play any role, the top priority is to let the soldiers recover their mental state as soon as possible." ”

"How can this be recovered?" Ji Ke wondered, this sleepiness is not like eating and drinking, you can carry it when you are hungry and thirsty, how can you recover from this sleepiness in addition to sleeping well?

Zhang Xiang thought for a moment and said: "When I came here before, I saw three big camphor trees in the northwest of the city, and the age of the trees should not be enough. ”

Ji Ke nodded: "Those are all three thousand-year-old camphor trees, why is the horse asking this?" ”

"The thousand-year-old trees are even better." Zhang Xiang smiled and said to him: "Commander Ji, you send a team of people to dig out the roots of this camphor tree, grind it into powder and soak it in wine for the soldiers to drink, the amount is not too much, one bowl per person." ”

"Huh? Is this okay? Ji Ke looked puzzled.

Zhang Xiang said: "There is no problem in dealing with today, you can do it according to me, as soon as possible!" ”

"Okay, I'll do it."

After Ji Ke left with the people, Qin Fu also came, and he didn't sleep all night.

People with internal strength like Zhang Xiang and Lin Feihong don't have much of a problem even if they don't sleep at night, and they can be mediated with internal force, but ordinary people like Qin Fu are extremely obvious.

Listless, dark circles under the eyes, walking a little shaky, worse than those soldiers, soldiers at least perennial training, strong and strong, except for the bad mental state, there is basically no other problem, if they are allowed to hold on, they can still survive.

It's just that Qin Fu, as a Zhizhou, can't go to rest now, he also wants to come to the city gate to see the situation.

After learning the situation from Zhang Xiang's mouth, he was also very curious: "Donkey, does this method really work?" ”

Zhang Xiang said with a smile: "This camphor root has a strong pharmacological effect, the older the tree root is, the better the medicinal properties, which can stimulate the central nervous system, after the soldiers drink this camphor root, the brain can be in an active state in a short period of time, and the spirit recovers to the best." ”

Qin Fu felt very fresh: "I didn't expect the colt to understand pharmacology?" ”

"That's what I read from books, too." Zhang Xiang dealt with it casually, and then said seriously: "But this state can only last for one at most, after the medicinal properties, the soldiers still need to rest and sleep to replenish it, and they can't use it continuously, otherwise it will be counterproductive." ”

Qin Fu also hurriedly said: "Then the subordinate also led some officers and soldiers to help the Ji Commander envoy, and by the way, prepare the wine, so that the soldiers can take it as soon as possible, and the city gate will be bothered to watch the horses." ”

Zhang Xiang nodded.

Then, in less than two hours, the soldiers in the city drank the wine that the camphor tree roots had participated in.

Sure enough, soon, the spirit of the soldiers gradually recovered, and many people began to get excited, and even had the courage to open the city gate and rush out to fight with the Xijin army.

But they were all strictly stopped by Zhang Xiang, he knew that the effect of this effect for a short time was good, but on the contrary, after the medicinal properties, the state of all the soldiers would also be doubled down, and at that time, they would have to need a good sleep to make up for it, otherwise, without the enemy to fight, they themselves would be like the walking dead, and they would exhaust their physical strength.

Therefore, next, in addition to preparing for the Xijin people to attack the city at any time, Zhang Xiang had to think about how to let the soldiers have a good rest environment.

This Yingzhou City still has to rely on these soldiers to hold on, and they can't be disturbed anymore.

In this way, it lasted until the evening, and the Xijin army did not take any measures to attack the city.

This one, Zhang Xiang also stayed at the city gate, and the Xijin cavalry in the distance did not make any moves except for training soldiers and horses.

This couldn't help but make Zhang Xiang, who was originally worried, even more worried.

If there is a strange thing in the battle between the two armies, there must be a reason, and the Xijin people blew the horn all night to interfere with the soldiers in the city, and the second could never do nothing.

Since they didn't do anything, there was something else.

Night gradually fell, and a bonfire was lit in the Xijin military camp ten miles away.

And the soldiers in the city who held on to it with such a high degree of spirit also gradually subsided after nightfall, and many soldiers could not bear it and fell asleep on the city wall.

Qin Fu couldn't stand it anymore and said goodbye and went back.

Ji Ke also looked anxious: "Donkey, what do these Xijin Randi want to do?" ”

Zhang Xiang frowned, shook his head, and didn't say anything.

About half an hour later, in the Xijin camp, patches of horns sounded again, resounding all over the world.

Then, the horses' hooves came, and a group of hundreds of cavalry with torches rushed towards the city gate, and the sound of trumpets became louder and louder.

"Enemy attack, enemy attack, rejection of the enemy, rejection of light"

Ji Ke's eyes cracked and he roared.

However, there were not many soldiers who were woken up by this roar, many of them had already slept to death after the medicine had subsided, and they couldn't wake up at all, and those soldiers who woke up also staggered and hurriedly raised their bows in their hands in panic, and staggered at the hundreds of cavalry rushing under the city.

Zhang Xiang also sank in his heart, could they be trying to attack the city at night?

This shouldn't be!

Attacking the city at night, as long as the 7,000 cavalry of Xijin were shot down by the Southern Chu soldiers with a round of bows and arrows, it was impossible for them to occupy anything except losses.

Sure enough, soon Zhang Xiang saw clearly that they were not going to attack the city, the hundreds of cavalry rushing over, each with a horn in their hands, running left and right on the city wall, such a formation was even bigger than last night.

Looks like they're still going to play that horn jamming game from last night.

As if he had figured out something, Zhang Xiang hurriedly stretched out his hand to stop Ji Ke, who was about to wake up the soldiers with an iron fist: "Commander Ji, let them sleep, don't worry, the Xijin people will not attack the city." ”

"And what are they doing here?"

"They're going to blow the trumpet."

"Huh?"

Zhang Xiang explained solemnly: "They know that these 7,000 cavalry are not capable of quickly capturing the city, so before their follow-up more than 20,000 soldiers and horses come, they will never attack the city, they do this, just want to consume the spirit of our soldiers, one night is not enough, just two nights, three nights, to ensure that our soldiers are in the most exhausted state during the siege, this is the second night, their follow-up more than 20,000 soldiers and horses will not arrive later?" ”

Ji Ke nodded: "According to the scout's report, their marching speed is about this time. ”

Zhang Xiang said: "That's right, then there should be one more night tomorrow night, when will the reinforcements from Fengyang Mansion arrive?" ”

"About five days away." Ji Ke hurriedly replied.

Zhang Xiang understood: "Then they will attack the city after tomorrow night." ”

Ji Ke said: "But if they do this every night, our soldiers will really not be able to carry it at that time, and the horses will be gone, and the medicinal properties of the camphor roots will not last long." ”

Zhang Xiang nodded: "Yes, so these soldiers let them sleep now, they have drunk the roots of the camphor tree, after the medicinal properties have subsided, they are now in the most tired and sluggish state, just enough to sleep very dead, this horn sound can not interfere with them, Ming can still have enough spirit, this, the enemy does not know, so tonight, Commander Ji can also go back to rest first, I will stay here tonight." ”

"How's that going to work? Let's go back! This is the duty of the last general. Ji Ke hurriedly shook his head.

Zhang Xiang said with a smile: "Commander Ji, now the enemy has not yet attacked the city, I don't matter, when the time comes, if the enemy attacks the city, Commander Ji is the most important commander, so now, it is the most important thing for you to go back and cultivate your spirit." ”

He then analyzed: "The sound of the horn of Xijinrao is so loud, in addition to affecting our army, they are not afraid of affecting their own soldiers, then they must have a way to isolate this sound, if they have one more night tomorrow night, then I will think of this way tonight, so that our soldiers will not be disturbed by their horn tomorrow night." ”

Zhang Xiang insisted so much, Ji Ke naturally couldn't resist him, he was indeed quite sleepy, so he had to say goodbye to Zhang Xiang and go down to rest first.

This night, the horn of Xijinrao also sounded all night, and Zhang Xiangpan sat and listened to the horn sound in the first half of the night.

In the second half of the night, his eyelids finally couldn't stand it anymore and started fighting, so he tore his clothes, rolled them into two earplugs and stuffed them into his ears, although the effect was not very good, but it was still a sleep.

On the seventh day of the sixth month, the Xijin people really did not attack the city, and they were still training their soldiers and horses.

Zhang Xiang asked Qin Fu to lead the officers and soldiers to search for quilts in the city.

At this time, there were no quilts, and most of the quilts were sewn together with linen cloth and some fur.

Most of the people have them at home, and they don't need too much, so it is easy to search, and most of the people are enthusiastic to donate.

After searching for the quilt, Zhang Xiang asked the soldiers to dismantle the quilt, and then rub it into earplugs, and each soldier prepared several, so that he could sleep in his ears at night and isolate the sound of the horn.

In the evening, a wire report also came that more than 20,000 follow-up people in Xijin were less than fifty miles away from Yingzhou City.

Sure enough, this night, the horn of Xijinrao sounded again.

It's just that this night didn't affect the soldiers in the city, they took turns on duty, and everyone slept peacefully.

Zhang Xiang stayed up for two nights, and finally couldn't survive, when he left the city gate, he specially told Ji Ke: "Ji commander, tomorrow after the more than 20,000 soldiers and horses of Xijin converge, they will definitely attack the city, tomorrow morning, you let the soldiers show a sluggish and tired look, you must let them pretend to be very similar, so that the Xijin people mistakenly think that we have been affected by their horn for three nights, in this way, when they attack the city, they will also be triumphant, lose their guard, and wait until their wariness of us is eliminated, Then let the soldiers launch a fierce attack and take them by surprise. ”

"The Admiral remembers..."

……

On the eighth day of the sixth month, at the beginning of the morning, the follow-up army of Xijin came to the outside of the city from the west.

The 30,000 people in Xijin, in addition to the 7,000 cavalry brought by Qiu Xingjian at the beginning, the remaining 20,000 people were also marching in a hurry, and they didn't bring much baggage at all, but their speed was not as fast as the cavalry, so they were delayed for two days.

This is similar to what Zhang Xiang expected.

With more than 20,000 people came, there were also many siege equipment, crash cars, ladders, catapults, etc.

Seeing the majestic converging Xijin soldiers and horses, Ji Ke and Qin Fu, who were standing on the city wall and commanding the defense, sank to the bottom.

This means that the real war has just begun...