Handan, the temporary headquarters of the Zhao State.

At this moment, the Zhao State command was full of a solemn atmosphere.

Since Handan City was besieged, more than 50 days, nearly two months, have passed.

In the past two months, hundreds of thousands of Zhao soldiers in Handan City have been united in resisting wave after wave of attacks by the combined forces of Wei and Qi.

But these are not without a price.

Zhao Dan sat there with a serious face, listening to Pang Xuan and Ji Xin's reports.

"My lord, the Wei army has been attacking the city with auxiliary troops such as arrow towers, trebuchets, and rushing carts for several days, which has posed a great threat to our army! Now the four walls have been damaged to varying degrees, and they may be taken advantage of by the enemy at any time. ”

"King, the food in the city is starting to run out, and after calculation, it can only last for a month and a half at most!"

"King, there are too many wounded soldiers in the city, and there is a lack of manpower to take care of them!"

……

One trouble after another was placed in front of Zhao Dan, waiting for the supreme leader of Zhao to make a decision, but fortunately, Zhao Dan's expression looked very calm, quite a bit of wisdom beads in his hand, but let these originally nervous courtiers slowly calm down.

But don't look at Zhao Dan like this on the surface, in fact, he is very unconfident in his heart.

In previous wars, Zhao Dan was usually in the center as the monarch, even if Zhao Dan himself was not good at military affairs, but he was able to make some targeted measures through the feedback of front-line generals.

But now due to the siege of Handan City, although Zhao Dan is still in the center, all news and ears have been cut off.

Now Zhao Dan has not received intelligence and news from the outside world for a whole month.

And the latest information received a month ago only told Zhao Dan that Li Mu had led his troops to surround Daliang City.

What stage the battle of Daliang City has reached, and whether it can be broken or not, Zhao Dan doesn't know all of this.

In addition, what happened to the war in Guanzhong, whether Lian Po could faithfully carry out Zhao Dan's orders and take all the Kunhan passages, and whether the Qin State would give in under the arrangements made by Zhao Dan in advance, these Zhao Dan were also not clear at all.

So Zhao Dan sometimes really regretted it, wouldn't it be better if he had withdrawn directly to Shangdang County or simply returned to Jinyang at that time......

But now, it is nonsense to say anything, Zhao Dan knows very well that what he can do and what he should do is to solve these problems in front of him as much as possible, so that Zhao Guo can run all the way on the road to victory and finally reach the end.

So Zhao Dan thought for a while and asked, "How long can the city wall hold up?" Can you send more people? ”

Pang Xuan replied: "It can't be supported for too long, it must be strengthened immediately!" However, if the reinforcement progress is to be accelerated, then more young men must be requisitioned, and it will also lead to more casualties, which may cause instability among the people in the city. ”

Zhao Dan pondered for a long time, and finally gritted his teeth and said: "Then levy!" Let's strengthen the walls first! Otherwise, once the Wei army breaks through the city, everything will be over! ”

Pang Xuan responded when he heard this, and said, "The minister will send someone to do it immediately, but it's just ......."

Zhao Dan knew the meaning of the song when he heard it, and immediately asked, "What's it?" ”

Pang Xuan looked left and right, and said, "King, the young and strong people in this city are not a big problem. But there is a better source of troops that can be used by the king. ”

"Oh?" Zhao Dan said: "What soldier source? ”

Pang Xuan hesitated for a moment and said, "The doorman is a guest houser!" Merely...... If you want to recruit these doormen, I'm afraid it's a bit troublesome? ”

"Trouble?" Zhao Danleng paused for a moment, and then understood under Pang Xuan's explanation.

Handan City has been the capital of Zhao for a long, long time, which has led to one thing, that is, there are too many families in this city.

Many of these big families have been calling for wind and rain in the political arena of Zhao since the founding of Zhao State, and even now they also have great energy in the political arena of Zhao State.

It is not easy to get these families to willingly hand over the doormen to fight for the protection of Handan City, after all, these doormen are to some extent the private armed forces raised by these families, where can they be handed over so easily?

In addition, there are also many core figures in the political arena of Zhao State today, who also have the behavior of raising people.

For example, Zhao Sheng, the king of Pingyuan, raised 3,000 guests, and Zhao Bao, the king of Pingyang, although there were fewer, and brought some of the guests to Jinyang, but now there are almost a thousand people left in Handan City, and the other big families also have a few hundred.

If all these dozens of big families and nobles were organized, then Handan City would be able to instantly add a team of almost 10,000 people.

This team is far superior to the people in terms of physical fitness and force, and it is obviously a better choice and source of soldiers.

And these doormen basically have a certain amount of force, so as long as they have a little training, they can also select a group of people to fight in the city.

Zhao Dan nodded after hearing this, and said, "The widow understands, so Pang Qing is afraid of being resisted by those big nobles?" ”

"Exactly." Pang Xuan nodded with a wry smile and said, "Great King, in fact, it's just like those ordinary nobles, but this Plains Monarch and Pingyang Monarch ......"

Zhao Dan finally understood.

Pang Xuan is now one of the seven ministers of Zhao State anyway, the person who stands at the top of the power pyramid of Zhao State, and the highest military governor in Handan City now, as well as Zhao Dan's full support, most of the aristocratic families are actually not a big trouble for Pang Xuan.

There are actually only two people who really make Pang Xuan jealous, that is Zhao Sheng and Zhao Bao.

Although Zhao Sheng and Zhao Bao belong to the core leadership of Zhao State like Pang Xuan, they seem to be nominally equal.

But Pang Xuan is not as good as Zhao Sheng and Zhao Bao in terms of ranking and power, and secondly, Zhao Sheng and Zhao Bao are Zhao Dan's own uncle, and they are related to Zhao Dan by blood, so it is inevitable that Pang Xuan will be restrained in this matter.

Zhao Dan thought for a while and said, "It's okay, this matter will be solved by no one." ”

Pang Xuan has talked about this, and Zhao Dan is naturally going to make a move.

In fact, Zhao Dan also knew that except for himself, there was really no one in the entire Zhao Kingdom who could deal with Zhao Sheng, the Plain King.

Pang Xuan immediately breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this, and hurriedly said, "The king is wise. ”

With the first problem solved, it's time for the second one.

Grain.

Zhao Dan asked, "What is the food situation in the city now?" ”

Pang Xuan replied: "Judging from the information reported by Xiangbang, even at the very least, it can only be eaten by the soldiers and civilians in the city for forty days. ”

"Forty days, minimum?" Zhao Dan's brows furrowed again.

This so-called minimum is actually to keep people from starving to death, that is, two or three points full.

In such a situation, not to mention work, even walking hundreds or thousands of kilometers may not be able to bear it.

But that's it, but it can only last for forty days?

This situation is much worse than Zhao Dan thought at the beginning.

But this is also a matter of no way, although Zhao Dan has mobilized almost all the food that can be mobilized from the nearby counties as much as possible before the war, but after all, there are hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians in Handan City, and in front of these hundreds of thousands of mouths, how much food is only a matter of time.

Pang Xuan saw that Zhao Dan's expression was ugly, hesitated for a moment and said, "King, actually...... The distribution of food to civilians could be stopped. ”

Ever since the Battle of Handan began, Zhao Dan had been demanding that the civilians in the city of Handan be given a minimum amount of food rations that would allow them to survive.

This is completely impossible in other countries.

In fact, in the conquest of this continent, once the city is besieged, the civilians will either take the risk of joining the defenders to work for the defenders and get a little ration, or they will have to resign themselves to fate.

Zhao Dan thought for a while and said, "If the distribution of food to civilians is suspended now, how much more time can it be supported?" ”

Pang Xuan immediately replied: "At least one more month." ”

From the speed of his answer alone, it can be seen that Pang Xuan has actually wanted to do this for a long time, and he has already prepared to do so.

But this is actually a matter for Pang Xuan, after all, as the supreme military commander, Pang Xuan's task was originally to do everything possible to make Handan City hold on for a longer time.

After all, now that Handan City's external communication channels have been completely cut off, neither Pang Xuan nor Zhao Dan knows what the situation outside is.

Under such circumstances, a month's time is absolutely precious for Handan at the moment.

Not even a month, even ten days, eight days, or even three or five days, one or two days are very precious.

Pang Xuan looked at Zhao Dan with expectant eyes, waiting for Zhao Dan's decision.

Zhao Dan fell into deep thought, and it took a long while before he gave the answer.

"Nope."