In the few days after blowing up the gunpowder workshop, Xu Da has been attacking frantically, many Zhu soldiers have climbed the city wall, and some have even entered the city, but it is useless, all of them have been killed and retreated by Zhang Jun.

It's not that Pingjiang coach Zhang Shixin is wise and martial, it's not that Zhu Jun is not brave, but that Zhang Jun is too tenacious and crazy, and seriously injured Zhang Sergeant and Zhu Jun jumped directly under the city wall while holding Zhu Jun on the city wall.

Xu Da, who was unfavorable in the siege, did not move for more than ten days, and seemed to consume Zhang Shicheng to death. Ma Du was anxious for him, how could a famous general in history not be able to kill the destined lloser.

He didn't know that Xu Da's losses were too serious, in addition to a large number of casualties among the soldiers, he also lost two generals. Liao Yongan's old brother Yu Tonghai was killed in a direct battle when he was in Chaohu, and Tang He was injured by an arrow and could no longer be a director, so he was sent to Huitian to recuperate, and he was afraid that he would not organize a siege in a short time.

It's not easy to live outside the city, and it's not easy to live inside the city, more and more people are begging for food on the streets, and no one is better off than anyone else, and the landlord's family has surplus grain, but they are all waiting to sell it for money, and a pound of rice will be sold for 800 wen.

Is this price high? It's not high, it's not high at all, and a slightly larger mouse will sell for 300 yuan. But in this way, he did not see any common people who were going to be rebelled by Zhang Shicheng, Ma Du could see many people starving to death in the streets every day, and when 600,000 people besieged Hongdu, he had never seen such a tragic scene in the city.

Zhang Shicheng couldn't stand it anymore because he was soft-hearted, and while letting the big households open a porridge shed to give porridge, he himself took out the already small amount of military rations to distribute relief, which was just a temporary urgent need. As time goes by, more people will lose their food rations, and it will increase exponentially, and Dahu and Zhang Shicheng will not be able to bear it after all, and more people will only starve to death.

Ma Du was irritable, and there was no way to tell anyone about this kind of thing, so he slipped into the warehouse and chatted with a few people. When I arrived there, I was shocked to see that two houses in the warehouse had been smashed into large holes in the roofs by shells from outside the city.

After all, this place is too close to the city wall, and I didn't expect that the battle would be so fierce, and there would be shells falling in such a remote place, but fortunately there was no upper part of the cellar, otherwise it was very likely that several people would be buried alive.

When he arrived at the cellar, Madu was startled again, the cellar, which was originally only the size of a house, was now half expanded, and when Madu went down, five people and a shovel were still digging.

"What kind of trouble are you going to make, you have to dig it up!"

Liao Yongan said: "A few of them think that the place is small, and they say that they are not comfortable to live in, and they should dig bigger to be spacious, anyway, they are idle and idle, so they will be an activity!" ”

Ma Du said casually: "Heh, if you really have this spare time, you might as well dig a tunnel and go out directly, anyway, here and the city wall are not far away." ”

The five of them stared at Ma Du in unison and said, "That's a good idea!" At that moment, the five of them discussed where to excavate, how wide and how deep to dig.

Looking at their serious looks, Ma Du felt that he might have said the wrong thing, the geology here was far from Jizhong, and it was not suitable for tunnel warfare.

"I'm just talking casually, don't take it seriously, if it really collapses, it will be troublesome, and where to put the soil you dug up."

Yang Shuping said: "There are some waste wood in this warehouse, which can be used as support, and it should not collapse." ”

Mao Xiang also said: "The excavated soil can be piled into the room, anyway, there are many rooms here, and there are big iron bullets falling from time to time in the remoteness of this place, and no one will come." ”

Hearing him say this, Ma Du patted his head and felt that this was a good idea, no matter whether these guys could dig it out or not, Ma Du thought of a big move, but the city wall was heavily defended, how should he tell Xu Da.

When he returned to the Song Mansion, he saw Guan Jia lying on the small table in the hall fiddling with something, and he was doing it very seriously, and he didn't know when Ma Du walked over, only to see that there were bamboo strips, paper and paste on the small table.

"Guan Jia, what are you doing?"

Guan Jia hurriedly got up, "Uncle is back, and the villain is making river lanterns for Miss." ”

"River lanterns?"

"Well, it's the river lantern put on the Midyear Festival, and Miss has to put it every year, but Miss can't do it, so I have to do it." Poor child, it is really unlucky to have such a master in the stall.

Guan Jia took out a basket from under the low table, there were already more than a dozen river lanterns in it, with bamboo strips as skeletons, and papier-mâché hulls, in addition to the style of ordinary boats, there were also lotus-shaped ones.

Guan Jia took a small piece of candle and put it in the hull, "It's lit like this, just put it in the river!" ”

"Aren't you afraid of soaking and burning?"

Guan Jia shook his head, "As long as the candle is placed in the right position, it will generally not burn." As for the bubble rotting, yes, but it can be waxed on the bottom of the boat, which will be delayed for a long time. In particular, this kind of paper used by villains is both waterproof and fireproof, and it is no problem to float in the water for an hour with wax.

"Can it still be fireproof?" Madu took the paper on the table and looked at it, it was a little harder, and when he took a picture of it in the sun, he could see that there were a lot of fibers in it.

"This is the paper used by the master to write, and it is generally used when there is a masterpiece or writing to send to friends, and a knife costs more than a dozen taels of silver!"

"You dare to use such paper, I'm not afraid that your master will beat you!"

Guan Jia hurriedly waved his hand, "This paper is not taken by the villain, and it can't be found on the villain's head!" ”

Ma Du sighed: "It's really a loser, Guan Jia, don't be busy pasting the river lantern first, help me get something else first." ”

The folk call the 15th of July the Ghost Festival, also known as the Midyear Festival, and the Buddhism calls this day the Bon Festival, whether it is the ordinary people or the monks and Taoists will be busy on this day.

Although there is a war, the Midyear Festival still has to be passed, who made too many people die in the city. The palace also has to sacrifice the souls of the people who died in battle, the ordinary people have to sacrifice to their ancestors, and the monks and Taoists are busy taking the opportunity to collect money.

Recently, Xu Da has not attacked the city, and it is rare to be calm, but there is still some festive atmosphere, but it is not as grand as in previous years. As long as it is a festival, there are indispensable interesting activities, the Shangyuan Festival will be a lantern, the middle of the festival will put the river lantern, the river in Suzhou is longitudinal and horizontal, it is definitely a good place to put the river lantern.

As for why the river lantern is released, some people say that it is to drown in the river and people to cross the bridge, and some say that it is to guide the unjust soul to cross the bridge, no matter what the reason, this river lantern is indispensable to be released.

As soon as the sky was dark, Song Shuang took Guan Jia out, and several of Song Ke's children also wanted to follow, but Song Ke didn't allow it, saying that the world was too chaotic. As for the sister-in-law, he can't control it, anyway, she has her man with her.

Song Shuang did not go to the river near her house to put on the lights, but walked two or three miles to a farther river, where there was her good friend Miss Xu.

"Xiaopei, you're here, Guan Jia has made ten more lanterns this year than last year!" Song Shuang showed the basket in her hand to Miss Xu, Xiaopei was Miss Xu's maiden name, "How many did you bring this year?" ”

Xu Xiaopei had a finger as white as a green onion in the depths, "Xiao Dong and I only brought one." She looked at Ma Du again, "I didn't see that Ma Gongzi also came to transcend for the undead with compassion." ”