February 13, Deng County.

Early in the morning, Deng Dian got up early and chopped firewood in the yard of his house.

Soon after, his wife, Jing, also came out of the couple's house and boiled water and cooked rice as usual.

"Where's Ah Fei?"

Deng Dian asked his wife.

"I'm still asleep."

Jing replied, and then said worriedly: "Yu'er is only seven years old, do you really want to take him to the mountains to hunt together?" ”

Hearing this, Deng Dian smiled and said, "What's that?" I followed my dad up the mountain hunting when I was six years old......"

Jing Shi frowned when he heard this, and said with some displeasure: "That's you, even if I don't allow you to take him there, he's still young, let's go in a few years." ”

Hearing this, Deng Dian spread his hands and said with a smile: "What can I do?" It's our son pestering me to take him to hunt together, and I've promised him, I can't go back? I've heard that the only one who keeps his promise is a big husband......"

Jing glanced at her husband, and said in a low voice with a straight face: "Anyway, I just won't ......"

Deng Dian glared at his wife when he heard this, and said unhappily: "How can you get a ...... woman?"

"What's wrong with me? I feel sorry for my son, is there something wrong? ”

"Good good ......"

Facing his more serious wife, Deng Dian quickly lost the battle, and said with a smile: "I'll go see my mother's ......"

"Don't make fun of me, don't take Yu'er anyway, Deng Dian, did you hear clearly?"

"Good ......" Deng Dian, who loved his wife, softened.

The Deng family is the oldest family in Deng County, after all, it is the descendant of the Deng State, but later the Deng State was annexed by the Chu State, and the Deng family disintegrated and fled, most of them fled to other countries, but a few branches remained in Deng County and became the Chu people, including the ancestors of Deng Dian.

Deng Dian, the Deng family, when it was passed down to this generation, there were only two brothers left, the eldest brother Deng Rong was selected as a sergeant, lived in Li County all the year round, and returned to Deng County every three or five days, so only Deng Dian and his wife and children were left in his hometown, taking care of the brothers' old mother together.

After all, the brothers' father died early, and the mother raised her two sons independently when she was young, so that now she is getting older, and her legs and feet are becoming more and more difficult, and she needs to be taken care of from time to time.

After a while, Deng Dian helped his mother, who had no legs and feet, to the hall, and by this time Jing had already woken up his son, and then came to the hall with food.

The old man naturally loves his grandchildren the most, and Deng Dian's mother, Fan, saw her grandson, her wrinkled old face was full of joy, and she beckoned her grandson to his arms again and again, so that she could get close to her.

"Grandmother, today my father is going to take me to the mountains to hunt." The little one said happily.

Fan Shi was stunned for a moment when he heard this, turned his head to look at his youngest son, his face was a little unhappy, seeing this, Jing Shi took the opportunity to say: "Mother, you also comment, is Xu'er still young?" But your son will take him to the mountains......

As soon as she heard this, the Fan family was also anxious, after all, there were many jackals, tigers and leopards in the mountains, what if those harmful beasts took her grandson away?

So, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law counted Deng Dian together, which made Deng Dian very helpless, and cast a helpless look at his son.

Deng Fei was also disappointed, but the nature of a child made him quickly forget about the matter, and after breakfast, he ran to the yard to play, while Deng Dian, with the help of his wife, sorted out the hunting equipment needed to hunt in the mountains in recent days.

I don't know how long later, the son shouted in the courtyard, "Father, uncle is here." ”

"Uncle?"

Deng Dian was stunned, hurriedly walked out of the house, and saw a burly man in the courtyard holding his son.

It was none other than his brother Deng Shu.

"Brother, why are you here?" Deng Dian hurriedly stepped forward.

"Haha." Deng Shu teased his nephew a few times, and then said with a smile: "Uncle has something important to tell your father, and he will play with you later." ”

As he spoke, he gave Deng Dian a look.

Stunned, Deng Dian followed his brother to the firewood room.

At this time, I saw Deng Shu lower his voice and said eagerly to Deng Dian: "Brother, you and your brother-in-law quickly packed up your things, and the Qin army called......

"Qin, Qin Jun?" Deng Dian's face changed greatly, and he said with a little uneasiness: "Really? ”

"Can you still have a fake?" Deng Shu lowered his voice and said: "Lixian and Sui County have all been captured by the Qin army, when I came, the Qin army was attacking "Gaohu", and the next one will be our turn in Deng County, you quickly pack up, I will take you to Fangcheng." ”

"Fang Cheng?" Deng Dian was stunned when he heard this, and said puzzledly: "Isn't Fangcheng occupied by the Wei State?" Why don't you go to Fancheng? ”

Deng Shu said angrily: "When our Deng County is captured by the Qin army, Fancheng will be the next to suffer, do you think the Qin army will miss Fancheng?" Although Fangcheng was occupied by the Wei State, the new Fangcheng was ordered to ...... Alas, I can't tell you clearly, in short, as long as we defect to Fangcheng, we can survive! ”

Deng Dian nodded, and then asked, "Sister-in-law, ...... they?"

"Your sister-in-law has gone to Fangcheng with her neighbors, and I specially came to Deng County to take you to Fangcheng. …… Soon, if it's too late, it will be blocked by the Qin army. ”

"Good, good."

Deng Dian nodded again and again, and immediately informed his wife Jing of the matter, and Jing's face changed greatly after learning the reason, and immediately packed up with her husband.

At this time, Deng Shu went to visit his old mother.

Mother Fan was also very happy about the arrival of her eldest son, and Deng Shu did not dare to reveal the truth, so as not to frighten the old man, but repeatedly asked Deng Dian and Jing to hurry up and pack their things.

Deng Shu and Deng Dian have long since declined, and they are no different from ordinary civilians, except for some fields in Deng County, there are no valuable things at home, at best, some fragmentary coins, the couple packed up these coins and brought the surplus food at home.

Subsequently, Deng Dian carried his mother, while Jing took the package, pulled his son Deng Fei, and went straight to the North City Gate under the leadership of Deng Shu.

During this period, the old mother asked puzzledly: "Shu'er, what's the matter, where are your brothers going with their mother?" ”

Deng Shu didn't dare to reveal the truth, and said with a smile: "Mother, my son just took you to live elsewhere, it's okay, you close your eyes and rest for a while." ”

Fan didn't know what was going on, and nagged: "I have nothing to do when I move somewhere else, and I still have fields at home......"

"Mother, don't worry, when you stay in the new city, our family has countless fields." Deng Shu smiled and reassured.

However, unexpectedly, when they ran to the North City Gate, the North City Gate had already imposed a ban, and after asking, they learned that the Qin army had arrived outside the city.

"How did it come so quickly? Could it be that Gaohu has fallen? Deng Dian was taken aback.

At this time, Deng Shu's face was also gloomy, and he was secretly annoyed that he was a step too late, so that he was still blocked in the city by the Qin army.

"Go to the East Gate!"

After thinking about it, Deng Shu immediately took his family to the East City Gate, but unfortunately, the guards on the other side of the East City Gate also refused to open the city gate and let them out of the city.

After asking, I learned that there were also Qin troops wandering outside the East City Gate.

Seeing this, Jing put his arms around his son and said to Deng Shu with a panicked face: "What can I do about this, uncle?" ”

Deng Shu frowned and thought for a moment, then lowered his voice and said, "Now there is only ...... to wait."

As he spoke, he took his family to rest in the open space around the East City Gate.

A moment later, an earth-shattering shout suddenly sounded outside the city, as if the Qin army had launched an attack on Deng County.

In Deng County, more and more county citizens learned the news of the Qin army's attack on Deng County, packed up their things, dragged their families and poured to the East City Gate, and tried their best to force the guards of the East City Gate to open the city gate, so that they could escape from the city and flee to other cities.

On the side of the East City Gate, there were also local young people among the soldiers defending the city, and when they saw this situation, they disobeyed the orders of the commander and opened the city gate without authorization, so that the villagers gathered around the East City Gate could escape from the city.

And taking this opportunity, the brothers Deng Shu and Deng Dian also took their homes and poured out of the city with the crowd.

After following the crowd out of the city, Deng Shu really saw several groups of soldiers holding high the military flag of "Qin" in the eastern suburbs outside the city, so he immediately stopped his younger brother: "Adian, slow down!" ”

Deng Dian, who was carrying his old mother on his back, stopped, turned around and asked puzzledly, "What, brother?" ”

I saw Deng Shu staring at the Qin soldiers in the distance, shook his head and said, "No, I can't leave now!" ”

As he spoke, he couldn't help but pull his younger brother and sister-in-law, and the family hid under the wall outside the city gate.

Seeing this, Deng Dian was puzzled and asked, "Brother, why do you want to hide?" ”

I saw Deng Shu explain in a low voice: "The Wei army has not yet arrived, and the Qin army on the opposite side has no scruples, if we flee at this time, we will inevitably be chased and killed by those Qin troops......"

Before the words fell, a scream sounded in the distance, and Deng Dian, whose face had changed greatly, stood up and turned his head to look, and then saw that there were soldiers of the Qin army chasing and slaughtering those county citizens who had fled out of the city, and at the same time, after killing people, looting the belongings they carried.

Hearing those screams, Jing hugged his son with a frightened face, and the old mother Fan, who was not very good at ear, was not much panicked at the moment, she just wondered why so many people ran out of the city.

Only the two brothers, Deng Shu and Deng Dian, witnessed the massacre of the people of Deng County by the Qin soldiers, it was really a merciless massacre, and few of the people of Deng County were able to escape from the hands of those Qin soldiers, which made the people of Deng County, who had already escaped a certain distance, forced to turn back.

"Brother!"

Deng Xian's heart became more and more anxious, because he found that the Qin soldiers in the distance were approaching the city wall.

And Deng Shu also saw this scene, gritted his teeth and said: "If you really can't do it, go back to the city first, in short, without the Wei army by your side, you must not escape from the city......" As he was speaking, suddenly his face showed a little joy, and he lowered his voice and reminded: "It's here!" The Wei army is coming! ”

“……”

Deng Dian was shocked, and looked at his brother's gaze, only to see hundreds of soldiers on horseback slowly galloping in the distance, these soldiers held high the banners with the words "Wei" and "Fangcheng".

He asked his brother, "Brother, ...... those soldiers on the back of war horses?"

"That's cavalry!" Deng Shu interrupted his younger brother and explained, "It's the cavalry under the command of Meng Zhong under the Fang Cheng Order of Wei State. ”

Deng Dian nodded, looked at the Wei cavalry slowly coming in the distance for a moment, and then frowned and asked, "Why are you so good?" ”

Indeed, compared with the Qin army of three or four thousand people in the eastern suburbs of Deng County, the number of the Wei army was really small, and it was roughly estimated that it was only two or three hundred.

However, what puzzled Deng Dian was that there were obviously three or four thousand Qin troops on that side, but after these people noticed the arrival of the Wei cavalry, these Qin soldiers retreated to both sides.

Those Qin troops...... Afraid of that Wei army?

That's not right either!

Although it was quite far away, Deng Dian could still vaguely hear those Qin soldiers making a stroke or someone scolding in the direction of the arrival of the Wei army.

can be scolded and scolded, those Qin troops still avoid this Wei army.

At this time, the two or three hundred Wei cavalry also stopped at a position about two hundred zhang away from the city wall of Deng County, and immediately, several knights turned over and dismounted, put two flags painted with the words "Wei" and "Fangcheng" on the ground, and immediately stopped moving.

"Brother, what does Wei Jun mean by this?"

Deng Dian asked his brother.

Hearing this, before Deng Shu could explain, someone in the crowd where they were shouted out: "Everyone run away, as long as you escape to those two banners, the Qin army will not chase and kill us again!" ”

"Huh?"

Deng Shu turned his head to look in the direction where the voice came from with some surprise.

He knew that among these people, there must be insiders who fled from Lixian, Suixian, and Gaohu, and it was very likely that just like him, they risked coming to Deng County to protect their families.

"Brother, is what that man said true?"

In his ears, his younger brother Deng Dian asked eagerly.

Deng Shu nodded and said: "Yes, although I don't know what is going on, it should be that the high-level generals of the Qin and Wei armies have made an agreement, as long as my Chu people can escape to those two banners, the Qin army will no longer chase and kill us, otherwise the Wei army will attack them......"

Just as he was explaining, the crowd nearby had fled towards the two flags in the distance, and seeing this, Deng Shu also urged his younger brother: "Quick! With our mothers on our backs, let's move with the crowd. ”

"Hmm."

I saw that under the guidance of some insiders in the crowd, thousands of Chu people in Deng County fled towards the two banners with the words "Wei" and "Fangcheng" in the distance.

During this period, there were still Qin soldiers chasing and slaughtering them along the way, but unlike before, at this time, the Qin army was only chasing and killing them on both sides, and did not send people to block the way for these Chu people to flee head-on, obviously thinking about something.

But even so, a large number of Chu people still fell under the weapons of the Qin soldiers.

And Deng Dian, who was carrying his old mother on his back, was almost stabbed by a Qin soldier with a short ge, but fortunately, his brother Deng Shu, who was a soldier in Lixian, immediately drew his sword and bounced off the Qin soldier's weapon.

"Brother......

"Let's go!"

While drinking and ordering his younger brother to leave with his mother, wife and children, Deng Shu stared at the three Qin soldiers who were slowly approaching him with a serious expression.

To say that he is not panicked at the moment, this is naturally false, after all, he was a soldier in Lixian, and as early as when the Qin army attacked Lixian, he had already understood how powerful these Qin soldiers were.

However, compared to the panicked Chu people nearby, Deng Shu knew very well what the Qin soldiers on the other side wanted, so he immediately threw the burden on his back on the ground, and took out a bag of coins in his arms and threw it on the ground, then tightly held the weapon in his hand and slowly retreated along the crowd.

Sure enough, when the three Qin soldiers saw this scene, after thinking for a while, they gave up attacking Deng Shu and turned to hunt down the other Chu people.

It's no wonder, after all, Deng Shu is armed with weapons and armor, and he is very familiar with the burden he carried with him, this glance knows that the defeated soldiers of the Chu State who fled here from Lixian County and Sui County, instead of spending a lot of energy to force a Chu soldier to a dead end, and even prevent being injured by his counter-attack before death, those Qin soldiers will naturally choose better targets to deal with, such as those Chu people who only care about fleeing with their heads, one knife is one, and it is effortless.

"I'm sorry......

Seeing that those Qin soldiers turned their heads to attack the other Chu people, Deng Shu secretly apologized in his heart, and immediately caught up with his younger brother Deng Dian.

The distance of about 200 zhang is not short, but it is not long, and Deng Shu, who escaped with his wit, quickly fled to the two flags with his family.

At this time, Deng Dian asked breathlessly, "Is it ...... Is it really safe to escape here? ”

"Well, see for yourself."

Deng Shu, who escaped, also had a smile on his face for the rest of his life.

Hearing this, Deng Dian turned his head to look, and it was indeed as his brother said.

He even saw that a Qin soldier was about to stab a Chu soldier with the short song in his hand, but he suddenly withdrew his hand and frowned as the Chu soldier ran past the two flags in a few steps.

It's as if there is indeed some ulterior agreement between the two armies of Qin and Wei.

At this time, a young Wei cavalry slowly came to the crowd and said in a deep voice: "I am Sima Huahu, the army under the command of the Fang Cheng Order, presumably you are willing to defect to our city before fleeing here, I have to say, this is a very wise choice, as long as our city army is there, the Qin army will not dare to wantonly hunt and kill you...... Now, you can follow this road to Fangcheng, I will send a few knights along the way to protect you, you can rest assured, on your way to Fangcheng, there will definitely be no Qin army who dares to chase you and others. …… Go ahead. ”

With Hua Hu's assurance, the Chu people who escaped slowly headed towards Fangcheng under the guidance of several knights.

I have to say that in fact, Qin pawns are not far away from them at this time, if the other party has the intention to chase and kill, they will not be able to escape far at all, but the strange thing is that there is indeed no Qin pawn to chase and kill them again.

Most of the Qin pawns had already begun to rummage for money and belongings on the corpses of Chu Min on the ground at this moment, turning a blind eye to those Chu Min who were lucky enough to run out of the "attack range" just two hundred zhang away.

As Deng Shu guessed, this is exactly the tacit understanding that has gradually formed between the Qin and Wei armies in recent days: as long as the Chu people flee to the banner range of the Wei army, the Qin soldiers will no longer be allowed to pursue and kill those Chu people.

On the other hand, the Wei army at least had to leave a little sweetness for the Qin soldiers, so they came and went, and gradually formed a tacit understanding of "two hundred zhang distance": within this range, the Wei army must not interfere with the Qin army; And if those Chu people went out of this range and fled near the banner of the Wei army, the Qin army would not be allowed to continue the pursuit.

Of course, this tacit agreement was only implemented in the presence of the Wei army, which is why Deng Shu had previously found that the Wei army had not yet arrived, so he dragged his younger brother and sister-in-law back to the base of the wall.

"I'm afraid that there are thousands of dead people, right?"

Under the banner of the Wei army, Hua Hu frowned and looked at the corpse of Chu Min in the distance.

"Almost."

Deputy General Cai Cheng shrugged his shoulders, he also sighed at the contempt of human life, no, in the blink of an eye, more than a thousand Chu people died innocently under the blade of Qin soldiers.

This does not include those Chu people who have not yet escaped from the city at this moment - if these Chu people want to escape and ascend to heaven, they must survive the pursuit of them by the Qin army within a distance of two hundred zhang.

"Slaughtering civilians, it's really not a thing!" Hua Hu scolded coldly in a low voice.

Adjutant General Cai Cheng was stunned, blinked and did not speak.

In fact, the slaughter of civilians in other countries by various ** teams is not an uncommon thing in this era, in fact, even Cao Chun and Cai Cheng have done similar things - of course, this refers to conniving at the looting and slaughter of the soldiers under his command before becoming Wei Wu's pawn.

As for after becoming Wei Wushu, he almost never did such a thing again, mainly because Wei Wushu was not short of money.

Wei Wushu of Wei, after receiving the reward from the state, basically became small landlords with farm houses and servants, and it was still hereditary, so he naturally disdained to rob anything from the commoners.

But Meng Zhong, Hua Hu, and Mu Wu are indeed Zhuangzi disciples and Taoist disciples, so they naturally can't get used to slaughtering civilians - it is precisely for this reason that the Fangcheng Wei army has strict military discipline, and there will never be a matter of slaughtering civilians for personal interests.

Subsequently, there were still groups of Chu people who escaped from the east gate of the city, some of the Chu people died under the weapons of the Qin soldiers on the way to escape, and some of the Chu people escaped to the side of the Wei army and were protected by the Wei army.

From beginning to end, the Qin and Wei armies did not have the slightest contradiction and conflict, as if they had gradually adapted to this tacit understanding.

Of course, I believe that in the hearts of most Qin soldiers, Wei soldiers like Menghu, Huahu, and Mu Wu have already been scolded by them, after all, the existence of these Wei soldiers has caused the "post-war interests" of the Qin soldiers to shrink a lot, even if they can still scrape some from the houses in the city, at least more than half.

When it was close to noon, Deng County was completely captured by the Qin army, and the east city gate tower and the east city wall of Deng County were also full of Qin soldiers.

Seeing this, Hua Hu ordered his cavalry to put away their flags and prepare to return.

After all, in this case, even if there were still some Chu people in the city, it would be impossible for these people to break through the obstacles of the Qin army and escape to their side, and there was no point in waiting any longer.

In less than ten days, the Qin general Bai Qi led tens of thousands of Qin troops, captured the four cities of Lixian, Suixian, Gaohu, and Dengxian, and then marched towards Fancheng.

In the face of these Qin troops, whose morale was gradually at their peak, the Chu troops everywhere were vulnerable and could hardly cause any effective obstacles to the Qin army.

During this period, Fangcheng, where Meng Zhong was located, took the opportunity to sweep away about 60,000 or 70,000 Chu people, accounting for about 70% of the total population of the four cities of Lixian, Suixian, Gaohu, and Dengxian, which is also the reason why Bai Qi and his Qin generals gritted their teeth with hatred for "Fangcheng Ling Mengzhong".

You must know that during this period of time, the Fangcheng Wei army not only got great benefits, but more importantly, it got a good name, just like Deng Shu and other Chu ** people in the Hanshui area, more and more Chu people know the name of "Fangcheng Ling Mengzhong", and deeply remember one thing: the hateful Qin army will wantonly slaughter them, and the venerable Wei army will shelter them.

Fangcheng didn't pay at all, but not only got sixty or seventy thousand Chu people, but also got the good name of "sheltering Chu people", which greatly improved the impression of the Chu people in the Hanshui area of Fangcheng Wei army, I have to say that this matter is all due to the foil of the Qin army.

Otherwise, since the Battle of Chuisha, the impression of the Wei army in the hearts of the Chu people is actually not much better than that of the Qin people.

In this regard, although Bai Qi also knew that he was taken advantage of by Meng Zhong, he could only grit his teeth and endure it for the time being.

On 17 February, the Qin army captured Fancheng.

On 22 February, the Qin army captured Yanxian and prepared to attack Yanyi across the river.

Xiong Heng, the king of Chu, finally realized the severity of this crisis, and he couldn't care about being accompanied by beauties anymore, so he summoned Ling Yin (the minister of state), that is, his younger brother Chu Gongzi Zilan, to discuss organizing soldiers and horses to garrison Yanyi to resist the Qin army.

After all, Yanyi must not be broken by the Qin army, once Yanyi is breached, Chu Ying will be completely exposed to the eyes of the Qin army, or there is a danger that the country will be breached. 8)