No matter how close the relationship between the Ji family and the prince is, it is the identity of the subordinate after all; And the subordinate relationship between them is also well known to everyone in the court. It can be said that once there is a problem in Jishui City, the Ji family will inevitably fall, and the prince's reputation and status will also be fatally implicated.

Considering that the fourth prince, Zhou Chang'an, is fighting to the death for the country in front of the battle; Once the affairs of Jishui City were revealed to the world at this time; Under the advantages of one another, his four-clawed yellow dragon robe may not fit so well anymore......

Others may not dare to assert it, but the princelings know better than anyone else in their hearts: whether it is Ludong Road or Jishui City, there will definitely be problems!

Jishui City, the capital of eastern Ludong, what is so boring?

In fact, it is nothing more than some cliché questions. Raising redundant personnel, eating empty salaries, greedy for armaments, hanging empty warehouses, etc...... These messy things are naturally not obvious on weekdays; But now that the war is imminent, how can the city wall that cut corners resist the offensive of the Qinnan coalition army?

On the surface, the walls of Jishui City are majestic enough, at least they are good; You can peel off the thin layer of green bricks on the outside, and the inside is full of broken grass and tiles!

So where did the money saved go?

The prince befriended the courtiers in Beijing and won over important officials from all over the country, so he couldn't just talk in the vernacular, right? A few warm words of self-appreciation, in exchange for the simple era of bowing to the head, has been completely reduced to yesterday's yellow flower with the rise of the Nankang Dynasty. Nowadays, the officials of Beiyan officialdom are all shrewd people who don't see rabbits and don't scatter eagles! There is no shortage of etiquette, but the benefits that should be taken are also indispensable!

According to the previous officialdom atmosphere, courtiers raised princes; But now it's very different, and he has become the prince's minister......

Therefore, the city defense of Jishui City has a few catties and taels; Looking at the whole world, only the father and son of the Ji family and the crown prince Zhou Changyong have the deepest experience! How much silver Cai Xi approved, and how much silver they spent, can they still count in their hearts?

Now that the hundreds of thousands of soldiers of the Qinnan Coalition Army are coming to the city, Governor Xiao Ji, who is fully responsible for the garrison work of Jishui City, is anxious like ants on a hot pot, "turning and grinding" back and forth in the study:

"The circumference of this dog's day is eternal, crossing the river and demolishing the bridge, unloading the mill and killing the donkey! You took seventy percent of the silver, and now it's coming to an end, but you don't want to take any responsibility! The little bastard with a black heart and lack of morality, how nice it sounded before! Decades of classmates' affection, the righteousness of the lord and minister, must allow Lao Tzu to be an assistant to the throne, in order to repay one or two! But now at this critical juncture, Lao Tzu is directly pushed to Jishui City to plug the hole! This stinky and shameless dog thing, compared to Zhou Changan, you, you, you, you...... You're far behind you! ”

No matter which aspect is considered, Governor Xiaoji must surrender, and can only surrender! Because once the enemy launches an offensive, not to mention the bad Jishui City, how many hours can it hold; Even if the green bricks outside the city wall fall and leak out the broken tiles and rotten grass inside; His father, who was the secretary of the Ministry of Industry at the time, was also destined to die in front of him!

And the old man Ji De, who came with him, was originally his father Ji Lin's personal scholar. Now that he is old, he has relieved himself of the errand of the head of the Ji Mansion and has become half of the master of the Shangshu Mansion. This time, he came to Jishui City with his eldest young master, named a servant, but actually a staff member; If it weren't absolutely reliable, Ji Qin wouldn't dare to scold the treacherous prince Zhou Changyong in front of him.

"Young Master, don't worry. At present, the four princes are fighting on the front line again, and being undefeated is a great achievement; The prince's foothold is unstable, and he may not dare to cross the river and tear down the bridge. Moreover, the prince also knew in his heart that the young master had the talent to stabilize the country, but he did not have the ability to kill the enemy. Therefore, according to the old slave's guess, the prince sent you to Jishui City, and he may not have the idea of letting you fight to the death. It is also a matter of course. ”

Since the news that the Qinnan coalition army was preparing to attack the city was transmitted back to Jishui, Ji Qin rushed out with a mouth full of fire blisters, but he couldn't stop cursing for a moment; Now as soon as he heard Ji De's words of consolation, the grievance and panicked powerlessness in his heart immediately exploded!

"Uncle De, what you said is light! Down, how do we descend? Cai Donkey's eyes are vicious, you don't know! Now that he has set his sights on the shipwreck of the Northern Yan Dynasty, who would dare to sing against him in the Manchu Dynasty? The big ship of the Northern Yan Dynasty is unsinkable, so if I open the city and surrender today, it will be equivalent to treason before the battle! The reputation of the Ji family has been discredited, but it is still secondary, but my father can't escape the pain of Ling Chi! Besides, my Ji family's father and son bet at both ends, this is not the way to survive in death at all, and it is inevitable that both ends will not be able to buy well! The prince played this hand, and clearly pushed our Ji family to the front of the stage! ”

As Ji Qin said, there seem to be countless choices in front of him now; But no matter what he chooses, the result must be wrong.

If he leads his army to fight until the last moment, then in the end the city is broken and defeated, and the name of his loyal minister is certainly innocent and complete; But Ji Lin, the father who is an official in the court, is bound to be responsible for the "tofu scum" in Jishui City; At that time, the prince ascended to the top and shouted, and personally came forward to bring down Ji Lin; Later, regardless of the previous suspicions, he will be forced to be implicated, and bury his best friend who sacrificed his life for the country! In this way, the two ends are sold well, and the big trouble of Jishui City is solved, which can really be described as killing three birds with one stone.

If he imitated Chen Shijie of Luojing and surrendered to the enemy's Kaicheng, the prince would inevitably defect in front of the court, torture his father with many tortures, write down a "mountain of ironclad evidence", and then torture him to death to kill him. At all times, he has become a traitor, and no one believes what he says; And the prince also stained all the dirty things on the Ji family's father and son, and he ended up clean.

So Ji De naively thought that the prince was threatened by Zhou Chang'an, so he still needed the assistance of the Ji family; As everyone knows, the current situation of Prince Zhou Changyong has reached the point where he must cut off his tail to survive......

And the two fathers and sons of the Ji family are the tails he gave up!

After Ji Lin's explanation, Ji De, an old slave in his sixties, also understood what kind of poisonous trick the prince had played. He pondered it carefully, and suddenly burst out laughing:

"Young master, since we are wrong in how we choose, let's find the most correct "wrong way"! ”

If it is the wrong way, how can it be "correct"...... Uncle De, what do you mean by that? ”

"It's simple, as long as I wait like this......"

After the two whispered, Ji Lin's eyes lit up, and they quickly darkened again:

"Although this plan is good, I can't ......bear to pay such a heavy price and only get back a "maybe" in exchange for it."

"Young master, under the nest, are there any eggs? Besides, our Ji family has been forced to the point of exhaustion, and there is no other way to go......"

In the early morning of the next day, Chen Ziling and Pang Qingshan met at the south gate of Jishui City; This is the main battlefield agreed by the two sides. The batch of new siege equipment that had been resold by Qi Hui had already been assembled before the battle; The soldiers on both sides are waiting for their commanders to issue the order to attack the city......

After some verbal arguments, the two coaches decided the offensive order by "throwing copper coins". Chen Ziling's troops attacked first, and the offensive lasted for about two quarters of an hour, and then the Southern Kangshu army took over and continued to attack; And so on and so forth, until the capture of Jishui City.

Don't take advantage of anyone.

After the negotiation is over, both sides return to their own teams; Chen Ziling was ready to order his subordinates to wave flags and drums and prepare to launch the first assault on Jishui City. But just when the war was about to start, the south gate of Jishui City, which was the target of everyone, unexpectedly opened a gap......

Chen Ziling looked up at the city tower, and saw a general with a crown and armor, holding a pair of red drumsticks, standing in front of the skin drum in the city tower; As he waved his arms vigorously, a quaint and deep voice came to his face, sweeping away all the noise near the battlefield......

An old man with a white beard and a thin upper body walked out of the wide open south gate of Jishui; Behind him, in addition to the Jishui city guards wearing armor leaves, there were countless ordinary people wearing coarse linen clothes and holding farm tools and kitchen knives......

Whether it was Chen Ziling or Pang Qingshan, when they saw that the enemy army had abandoned the city and did not defend it, it seemed that they were still dragging their families and mouths, and fighting to the death with their own side in the field, they all immediately panicked......

"Sentry, sentry! Let me release all the sentries out of the ten miles at once...... No! Twenty miles! Carefully search for news of ambushes and reinforcements! ”

If something goes wrong, there must be a demon, and this group of mixed military and civilian troops in front of them, although they look fierce and everyone's faces are angry, but they are not regular troops who have been trained for a long time after all! Not to mention compared to these Qindi tiger wolves who have survived a hundred battles under their own hands; Even the Nankang Relief Army, which has always been known for being weak and ridiculous, can clean them up without much effort!

Such a disparity in strength that is visible to the naked eye is obviously beyond the scope of arrogance and underestimating the enemy...

Knock Knock...... Knock Knock...... Knock Knock......

As the drumbeat on the castle tower gradually accelerated, the white-haired old man who took the lead also raised his stride forward; At this time, if he didn't send troops to fight the enemy, it would only take thirty breaths for the old man to get into the Qin army's main formation......

Chen Ziling's eyes rolled and he quickly made a decision:

"Pioneer battalion, line up to meet the enemy!"

As the commander in chief of the army, he must be in charge of the overall situation and always pay attention to the changes in the battlefield situation; But for the 500 soldiers of the first battalion of the vanguard, fighting is fighting, no matter what kind of opponent he is, as long as he takes the guy and sets foot on the battlefield, there is only the result of life and death!

Seeing the enemy's 500 vanguards coming out to meet the enemy, Ji Qin, who was on the top of the city tower, breathed fire with his eyes, gritted his teeth and flew the two drumsticks up and down in turn, and the heavy drum beat and sound went straight into the hearts of the people......

"Kill!"

After a shout, Ji De, the old slave who took the lead in killing out of the city, raised the steel knife in his hand high, and the whole person was like a hungry tiger pounced on food, and rushed towards the battalion of the Qin army's vanguard camp......

only heard a "poof" sound, a sparkling, cold as autumn water Yanling knife, cut in from Ji De's right waist, slid out of the left rib, and cut off this "old general" diagonally at the waist; After the internal organs and blood were splashed, the Qin military camp that almost didn't cut Ji De with that knife scared out of his nerves!

Where's the old man? Could it be that he knows how to demons? Could it be that the legendary blood escape technique is not successful?