The summer rainstorm came and went, intermittently, sometimes big and sometimes small, and it rained for three days without stopping.

The rain curtain was blown by the wind, like milky white gauze curtains fluttering in the wind, and like a fog rippling in the air. Looking at Jinyang City from afar, the city wall seems to be shrouded in deep smoke clouds. The rain doused the smoke and washed away the blood stains left by the casualties on the city walls.

The battle was put on hold, and fortifications were erected outside the city to besiege the city. Behind the fortifications, there were only a large number of tents, like countless umbrellas on a rainy day.

After the rain, the weather became cooler, washing away the heat of the hot summer; But in addition to the coolness, the dampness also made people miserable, because there were not so many houses for all the soldiers to live in. The tent could not completely block the rain, and there was a shortage of dry firewood, so the soldiers' wet clothes and armor could only be roasted half-dry by fire, and the half-wet clothes were not so comfortable to wrap around their bodies.

The most inconvenient thing is the muddy road, the road connecting the camps is trampled to a pulp, and people and horses walking on it are like walking in a swamp, and it is like walking in the mud of a rice field, and it is difficult to walk an inch in the mud, and the mud directly covers the ankles with one foot...... The post road is better, the land has been crushed by the carriages and horses for a long time, and the rain has not soaked too deeply; However, a thin layer of mud adheres to the surface of the hard soil, like a lubricant, and people and horses are very slippery when walking on it, and they will fall if they are not careful.

The generals of the Zhou army went to the camp of the Chinese army every day, and seemed to be arguing endlessly about whether to fight or retreat.

General Xiang Xun sent someone to ask Guo Shao to meet him in his big tent again, this time Xiang Xun looked a little embarrassed, and retreated. Judging from the days when Guo Shao got along with him, Xiang Xun was actually a real person. But it is inevitable that people will occasionally pat their chests with brain fever and say something like "I will take you to the official family and let the official family give you another official"; Seeing Xiang Xun's current look, Guo Shao knew that this matter might not be so easy.

The Zhou Dynasty is not as unified as the Han and Tang Dynasties, but it is also the strongest Central Plains regime in the world, and Chai Rong is also an emperor recognized by the world...... Even if the lord of the Northern Han Dynasty and others do not admit that Chai Rong is the co-ruler of the world, they will definitely take Chai Rong, the emperor, seriously in their hearts.

Is the emperor so nice to see?

Seeing this, Guo Shao hurriedly said: "Corporal Lixian to the general, I have met with the last general many times, and the last general is already flattered. In the end, the court will reward the meritorious deeds, but there is no need to ask for an official position. ”

Guo Shao said this not to pat Xiang Xun's sycophants, nor to be modest, it is true that the gap between Xiang Xun's status and his own is too big, and people have met alone a few times, which is indeed very face-saving and gives enough respect.

Xiang Xun asked: "By the way, last time Zhang Du commanded the envoy to show merit for you, what position did you want to promote?" ”

"Commander." Guo Shaodao.

Xiang Xun frowned and said: "How big is the commander, and there are no more than five hundred soldiers under his hands, and I don't know what kind of soldiers they are." It's too low! ”

Guo Shao replied truthfully: "Before the last general's battle, he had only done the capital. Not only did he answer truthfully, but he didn't explain specifically: Dutou had only been a day before, and he was actually a squad leader.

Xiang Xun shook his head: "The name of Zhang Yuanhui is inconsistent with a commander. What's more, if others don't understand, can they not understand it in the future? Xinkou rescued Shi Yanchao, if Guo Lang was not there, Shi Yanchao would be dead. With these merits, not to mention the accumulation of military achievements in Wuzhen Town, Luzhou, it is not just for you to be a small commander. ”

Although Guo Shao also wants to get ahead, he hasn't thought about reaching the sky in one step, and there is a sentence in his heart: If the step is too big, it is easy to pull the egg.

Xiang Xun pondered for a moment and said: "I have always been good friends with Prime Minister Wang Pu, so I will talk to him about this matter first and give you news in a few days." ”

Guo Shao didn't shirk it, and said in his heart that a few months ago, he was a nobody, a squad leader who no one cared about, so he could have something to do with the prime minister?

Xiang Xun patted his chest again and said, "I can't guarantee anything else, you should never just be promoted to a commander!" The merit of beheading the first fierce general of the Northern Han Dynasty and saving Shi Yanchao, just be a commander, I really want to laugh off the big teeth of the people in the world......" He lowered his voice slightly, "The official family killed more than 70 generals in Luzhou, and they have to govern the armies when they go back, there are a lot of vacancies at this time, you can rest assured, I will talk to Prime Minister Wang Cheng, as long as he nods, this matter is easy to do." ”

Guo Shao hurriedly thanked him.

However, Xiang Xun is indeed a bit exaggerated, and it has not reached the level of laughing at the world's big teeth. Killing Zhang Yuanhui, fighting the Liao army in Wuzhen and saving Shi Yanchao, these things can be big or small, and the credit depends on what the emperor thinks and what others say.

If you put it mildly, these things have not reached the level of affecting the battle situation at all, and they are not great achievements; If you talk about it in a big way, you can make a "qi" that is pretentious and mysterious, and the army needs heroes and specific deeds that can be talked about, and those who have the reputation of being the first fierce general, or those deeds that are easy for the low-level soldiers to understand, can affect the morale of the army.

……

The rain still fell from time to time, and Guo Shao returned to Jinyang outside the city for many days, and the Zhou army never attacked the city again. Finally, after a few days of continuous sunshine, news came from the army, and the emperor ordered the troops to retreat in batches.

The battle of besieging Jinyang should be over here. Although the Zhou Dynasty did not directly destroy the Northern Han, it severely damaged its main force in Gaoping, and after arriving in Jinyang City, it swept all the territory of the Northern Han Dynasty again, except for Jinyang City, all other states and towns did not surrender to the Zhou army. This time, the Northern Han may have to stop for a long time, and they dare not take any more action, and it remains to be said whether they can recover their vitality.

The infantry army of the small bottom army is no longer organized, and only some stragglers are left; But the losses of the horsemen were not large, and the main forces remained. Guo Shao and the others attached to the army, and the horsemen of the Xiaodi Army all commanded their subordinates and retreated with them.

The class teacher still walked when he returned to the court, and the horse had to carry something, but he rarely rode it. Guo Shao couldn't calculate, but he felt that he had walked thousands of miles in a few months. He soon found that no one was in charge of his small group of men and horses, Shangfeng had neither a head nor a commander, and no one cared about the troops that were not under his control, and they only had one main general, who was the commander of the horsemen of the Xiaodi army.

When the army arrived in Luzhou, there were chaotic troop formations in front of the road that blocked the road, and some ministers were going to coordinate, and the armies behind temporarily stopped to rest.

The weather in Luzhou has cleared, and Guo Shao beckoned the two brothers to visit their hometown again in the vicinity, but no one cared about them anyway.

The three of them rode to the outside of Wuyan Town, and Luo Mengzi asked, "Do you want to go in and have a look?" ”

Guo Shao thought about it for a while, and found that there was no one he wanted to see in Wuzhen Town. See Lee Tak Victory? The town general Li Desheng is actually not a bad person, but Guo Shao has no interest in making friends; There is some intimacy with the people in the town, but when it comes to a specific person, there is no very familiarity and concern. Thinking about it this way, I can't find a reason to be nostalgic after the blood has been shed here. Then what do you want to do when you go in and see if the people have erected a monument for themselves and sang praises of virtue?

He shook his head, and the horses and the two of them continued their slow march south.

By noon, due to the hot weather, the water in the water bags of the three men had run out of water, and there was no well nearby, so they decided to find a village to replenish some water, and then eat some dry food and return to the station.

I saw smoke on the slope not far from the road, and it seemed that there were several families, so they led their horses up the road.

As soon as I approached, I heard someone commotioning on the slope, and then I heard the voice of a little lady calling for help. The three of them heard it clearly, and when they looked at each other, Guo Shao hurriedly took down the two-stone bow and prepared an arrow; Yang Luo and the others did not bring long soldiers, and immediately carefully drew their waist knives to guard against them.

As they continued to walk upward, they heard someone shouting in the dirt courtyard above, "Grain! Where is the grain stored? Another voice said: "Guys, my family really has no food, the government requisitioned it again at the beginning of the year, and the soldiers from Jinyang came to collect it again, and I can't wait to scrape away a layer of land...... The children and their mothers are sick and starved to death, and our family can only eat bark and roots, so the heroes will let us go......"

"Can you live so long eating tree bark? Grain! Cook this little lady without food! ”

Guo Shao and the others followed the sound into the broken courtyard, where there was a small earthen dam and a few thatched huts. There were two ragged and skinny people standing at the door, who looked very much like homeless people, and when they saw Guo Shao and others wearing armor, their expressions changed greatly, and they hurriedly shouted inside: "The officers and soldiers are here!" ”

As soon as the words fell, Yang Luo and the others stepped up with an arrow, and put knives on the necks of the two homeless people, and the two of them were so shocked that they stared at each other and did not dare to move. At the same time, Guo Shao had already rushed into the house.

There were four people inside, an old man knelt on the ground and turned his head to look at Guo Shao in a daze; Nearby, two ragged homeless people were grabbing a little girl and pressing it on the stove. The little girl was dressed in a patched ragged dress, unbelievably thin, her head was facing a pot on the stove, and the water in it was boiling so much that it was only bubbling, and it was already boiling, and she was so steamed by the water that she cried to herself, and her face was dirty and black and white.

Yang Luo and the others immediately escorted people into the house. The old man kneeling on the ground moved over with his knees and hugged Guo Shao's legs: "Master Jun save us!" ”

Seeing this, the people at the stove said in a fierce voice: "Don't move! Otherwise, as soon as Lao Tzu let go, he cooked her! ”

"Don't be impatient, I'll put the bow and arrow down first." Guo Shao carefully lowered the arrow first, then collected the arrow on the string, and then said, "We have grain and three fast horses. It's all in the yard. ”

"Let them go!" The expression of the person who spoke out was the most fierce, and the other homeless people were so frightened that they did not dare to come out.

Guo Shao said: "You let go of that little lady, and my people will let them go." ”

The man said, "You're stupid!" Let go of the little lady, can we beat you, can we live? ”

Guo Shao kept calm and said: "If you let her go, she will immediately beg for mercy and still live, if you kill her, will she live?" Do you think we have something to do with this family, we just came up to beg for water. ”

The person who was held by the neck was busy and scared: "The military master spares his life, spares his life!" ”

Guo Shao ignored it, and only stared at the person with a fierce expression: "Beware of slipping your hand and hurting innocent lives, it is not easy for you to live." ”