The soldier guarding the gate laughed, knowing in his heart that he was much more important in the eyes of the old general than the guys who tried to escape from the city just now. Although Youwuhou lost the battle, it was one of the original twelve elites of the Great Sui after all. And what are those county soldiers? In which battle did they not rush to the last and retreat to the front? Compared with the right marquis who defends his honor with blood, those county soldiers can only be regarded as decorations, garbage, and pets for the ladies to play with!

"Wait, guard this door." Seeing that the brothers understood what they meant, Feng Xiaoci stretched out his big skinny hand and patted the doorkeeper's shoulder vigorously, "No matter whether Liyang City is attacked or not, as long as we are nailed here, Zhang Thief will not dare to march south." As soon as the reinforcements from the imperial court arrive, everyone should cooperate with the outside and will definitely be able to avenge the fallen brothers! ”

"No!" A stream of heat surged in the hearts of the soldiers, and their legs stood straight. They believe that every word that their master will say, and the right military guard has not yet collapsed, and if they persist, they will have the hope of washing away their shame.

Feng Xiaoci nodded with satisfaction again, put his hands behind his back, and slowly walked along the road to the city wall. Outside, there was an empty field of snow, white and smooth. The wind from the north howled, kicking up thousands of feet of white smoke and dust, and slammed down at the foot of the city wall, but could not take another half step forward. Fuyang County is like a wedge, firmly nailing the seven inches of the violent snowstorm. Can't pass Fuyang County, even if the white devil has great ability, he can only struggle in vain on the north bank of the Zhangshui River.

This imaginary sight lifted his spirits even more. Braving the biting cold wind, the old general patrolled from the north side of the city wall to the west side, and from the west side to the south side and east side, until he had inspected all the battlements and enemy towers, and then turned around and returned to the county government with unfinished intentions.

"Take out all the money from the yamen of the city office, and from today onwards, the military salaries of the brothers will be doubled!" While hurrying, he gave instructions to Wu Wenzhong, the auxiliary general. "I have enough for all three meals a day, and I try my best to ensure that I eat meat once every three days!"

Without waiting for Wu Wenzhong to agree, he turned his head to the other generals, "Everyone is working hard, take turns to inspect." Day or night, let the brothers see that we, who are generals, are still living and dying with them! ”

These were all regular practices to boost morale, and the generals agreed to carry them out separately. Feng Xiaoci hurriedly walked a few more steps, before entering the county office, turned around, and whispered to Jiang Yanlin, the lieutenant of Guoyi who was still following him, "Transfer all your subordinates to station near the county government, and be at my disposal at any time!" ”

"Yes...... Yes, subordinates understand! Jiang Yanlin hesitated for a moment, and then bowed down to receive the order. Temporarily transferred to the side of the main general, this order means that he has been appreciated, or does it contain other meanings, he is a little dizzy. But instinct told him that the old general's confidence in sticking to Fuyang was definitely not as strong as it appeared.

"All down!" Feng Xiaoci waved his hand and drove the last few generals away from him. He needs a moment to gather his thoughts, and he needs to think quietly about what to do next. The cunning and toughness of the enemy generals in the last few battles were far beyond his expectations, and such an opponent deserved more attention from his research.

In addition, he also needed to reconsider the placement of the county soldiers. Previously, the replenishment of the county soldiers into Youwuhou was just a contingency strategy. Judging from what happened today, there is a huge gap in this strategy. The soldiers recruited in those places not only could not compare with the strength of Youwuhou in terms of training, but also had too much worse morale and courage. As for the staffing of low-level officers, it is even more troublesome. Sending an officer who is not familiar with them may not win the respect of these people in a short time. And the current captain Zhou Wen, judging from his heart, Feng Xiaoci doesn't have much of a good impression of this person.

The reason for his disgust was not that Zhou Wen was stupid, in fact, after many days of observation, the old general found that Zhou Wen was very intelligent and had a great talent for fighting with soldiers. Although this person rarely has the opportunity to perform, every time it is his turn to speak, he can always get to the point. Even some places that the generals of the county army could not think of, this person can think of them, and can come up with a preliminary response plan.

But being smart is not all there is to a good general. Indeed, as a good general, keen judgment is one of his essential qualities. But in addition to this, a sense of responsibility, honor, cohesion to peers, and a grasp of the overall situation are also indispensable. Feng Xiaoci believes that a qualified general needs to put away his cleverness at the necessary moment, and even know how to sacrifice himself to take care of the overall situation. And it is precisely in this aspect that Zhou Wen's quality and ability are far from enough.

The young man was too proud, too self-righteous. It's clearly just a local rich family, and I haven't seen much of the world. But he always regarded himself as a prince and nobleman, lest he despise his own blood. It is probably more difficult to make such people pay and sacrifice for others than to make a stone bloom. In the eyes of such people, it is right for a colleague to do anything for him, and he dusts off the dust on his armor for his colleague, which is self-defeating.

After hesitating, Feng Xiaoci was never able to make a decision. If the Right Marquis did not suffer losses before he suffered losses, he could assign a few people to take over the command of the county soldiers. But now, the proportion of county soldiers has accounted for more than half of the total number of defenders, and all measures against county soldiers must be taken carefully.

"The old man needs to have a good chat with this young man tomorrow and teach him some principles of how to behave and behave!" Sighing, Feng Xiaoci comforted himself helplessly. "Anyway, it's not in a hurry, after all, he still lacks experience!"

Thinking of this, he saw the figure of the young man again. The eyebrows are clear, the face is handsome, the corners of the mouth are slightly upturned, and there is a faint coldness in the eyes.

……

"These dogs look down on people and rats!" Captain Zhou Wen gritted his teeth, not letting his anger show in front of the brothers. are all trapped in the lonely city, and those right Wuhou generals are still five and six people, as if they have just won a big victory. If you really have the ability, go out of the city to find Cheng Mingzhen and go desperately? I'm afraid I didn't wait for the gate of the camp, and I fell into the trap again!

Outside, in the snow, there must be traps everywhere. Thinking of the tragic situation of those guys who looked down on themselves in the blink of an eye and were pierced into a sieve by bamboo sticks in the trap, Tuesday Gongzi felt extremely happy in his heart. What do these stupid guys, despicable guys, know other than obey the old stuff?! These guys can actually be generals in the government soldiers, no wonder the Chen soldiers of the Great Sui Dynasty can't take a small Goguryeo?!

If I were to take command of the million-strong army...... There have been countless times, Captain Zhou Wen thought passionately. What a sight to behold, O army of millions. One person can spit at the mouth, and Liaodong City can be crushed. Throw the whip to break the stream, spread the flag into a cloud, and with them, you can easily seize the fame and worship the general. At that time, not only the enemies Cheng Mingzhen and Zhang Jin said that they would be crushed into powder, but also those bastards who had failed the Zhou family, did not save them when they saw death, and fell into the well, they would rush to him, cry bitterly and repent, and beat their chests and feet to apologize.

And then he will be generous in forgiving the ungrateful. He is not guilty of all betrayal and indifference. As long as they can change their ways, be grateful to him forever, be loyal to him, and become his help to continue to improve, he is willing to share his glory and wealth with everyone.

Similar dreams, he would take the trouble to have them almost every night. Sometimes it's done while lying in bed, sometimes it's done in front of an oil lamp with your eyes open. Every time he dreamed, he would get hot all over his body and his back would stiffen. And when he woke up the next morning, he could refresh himself and face the mediocre and bleak reality.

The dream is very vain, and Zhou Wen himself knows it. But if he didn't even have a dream, he didn't know if he would go crazy immediately. The reality in front of me was so bleak, so bleak that it was impossible to breathe. It takes at least five to seven years to move from a county lieutenant to a lieutenant. And the distance between Duwei and Juncheng and Tongshou is not much closer than from Lingnan to Liaodong. If he can't do it, he won't have the opportunity to command an army alone. If he didn't even have the opportunity to command an army alone, what would he do to avenge the unjust death of the Zhou family?

Cheng Mingzhen, the enemy of the exterminating clan, has already achieved the position of the leader of Julu Zejiu. In time, this person may be able to take charge of the entire Juluze. And he, Zhou Wen, has been hovering at the rank of captain. Even this captain was bought with his wife's money, with endless humiliation!

That was the money Cheng Mingzhen gave to his wife. And the reason why Cheng Mingzhen was kind enough to let himself go and gave himself and his wife a sum of gold, silver and jewelry as the capital of life was because his wife slept with him. Although he has never confirmed his speculation to Xiao Xinghua, Captain Zhou Wen trusts his own judgment. There are no treasures in the world that have been picked up for nothing, if it weren't for Xiao Xinghua sleeping with him, why would Cheng Mingzhen be so kind? Why would he risk offending Zhang Jincheng to open up the net?

Every time he thought of this, Zhou Wen's mind would become very calm. He can calmly face all the white eyes of the world, quietly ignore Feng Xiaoci's distrust of himself, and quietly endure the cynicism of the generals of the government soldiers. Because of these humiliations and patience, it is nothing compared to Xiao Xinghua rolling on the bed with Cheng Mingzhen behind her back. He believed that sooner or later, he would double these humiliations, defeat Cheng Mingzhen, capture him alive, dismantle the two of them in front of Xiao Xinghua, and tie the two of them to the pyre and burn them to ashes together. No, they should be burned separately, so that these two dogs and men can no longer walk together, and even if they turn to ashes, one must be thrown into the sea, and the other buried on the top of the mountain.

At some point, hatred can be as much a motivator in life as dreams. With the dual support of hatred and dreams, the current Zhou Wen has long been reborn. He is no longer the Tuesday boy who only knows how to please women, he already knows how to manage his sphere of influence, how to win the rank for himself. Just like now, the death of a large number of Youwuhou generals is equivalent to opening a window above the head of him, the county military captain. As long as he seized the opportunity to win the appreciation of the old guy surnamed Feng, he could leap over the extremely difficult road of the county military captain, the capital lieutenant, the county cheng, and the Tongshou, and squeeze into the army of the Great Sui Prefecture and become one of the generals, or even generals.

And the best way to win the old guy's admiration is to save this stumbling remnant. During the day, he failed to give up Fuyang as soon as he wished, and at night, he could communicate with the old guy in private. I believe that the reason why the old guy is trapped in the lonely city now is only because he didn't find a suitable step. If someone told him that the retreat was to save the fire of Youwuhou and find an opportunity to make a comeback, I believe that the old guy would happily get off the donkey.

Zhou Wen is a man who has the courage to act. Once you've thought about the details, you're ready to put them into practice. But just as he walked out of the sleeping compound, he was blocked by several county soldiers.

"Captain, are you going to go out so late?" In the darkness, several county officers with local accents in Liyang whispered greetings.

"Well, I'm going to go to the county office!" Regarding the fact that he can enter and leave the county government at will, Zhou Wen does not hide it from everyone. On the contrary, he has always used it as a kind of show-off, taking the opportunity to force the county officers of the same rank to bow to him.

This time, his ostentation had the opposite effect. Xu Huzi, Huang Jianwu, and Ruan Junming came out of the shadows one after another, and pushed them back to the gate of the courtyard with their chests.

"What are you guys doing here?" Zhou Wen was caught off guard, and while parrying, he scolded and questioned. Although everyone is of the same level, these colleagues are very tolerant of him. And today, several guys seem to have taken the wrong medicine, and their nostrils and eyes can erupt on fire at any moment.

"What for?" Xu Huzi took another step forward and nailed Zhou Wen's eyes with his eyes. It was a very uncomfortable feeling, like being bitten by a mad dog in the throat, and I couldn't breathe evenly. Zhou Wen could only continue to retreat until his heels had touched the wall, and he barely supported his body.

"Do you have something to say? I'll wait with you without injustice or hatred! Keeping your posture as low as you can, he muttered.

"Liyang City has been lost, do you know?" Xu Huzi stared at his red eyes, panting like a cow.

Lose it, lose it, anyway, the food in Fuyang City is enough for everyone to eat for half a year. Time, Zhou Wen thought in his heart. However, he immediately feigned a sympathetic look and responded in an extremely deep voice: "I, I don't know. If, if the rumors are true, I'll wait, I'll wait, this damn thief. Actually used such a vicious trick! ”

"How could it not be true? Master Zhang used to have a messenger contact here every three days, but this time, the messenger hasn't seen him for more than half a month! Xu Huzi moved his head away slightly, hatefully. Judging from Zhou Wen's performance, he believed that this person could share the same hatred with himself. After all, the delicate little lady of Zhou's family is also in Liyang City, if the thief army breaks through the city, the little lady of the Zhou family will definitely be plundered.

"So, what are you going to do?" Zhou Wen immediately put on a panicked face and continued to put on everyone's words. Xu Huzi and the others definitely didn't come to chat with him, he firmly believed this. As for whether Liyang City is broken or not, will the people inside be killed by bandits, and what does it matter to him? The people of his Zhou family have long since died, and they can't be sad for irrelevant guys.

"Old thief Feng's home is not in Liyang, of course he doesn't care. We are ready to go back to Liyang and take our family back! Ruan Junming took Xu Huzi's words and introduced them to Zhou Wen without reservation.

"No way!" Zhou Wen's cold hair stood up, and he jumped to his feet and shouted.

"If it doesn't work, it has to work!" Huang Jianwu took half a step to the side and pressed the handle of the knife with his hand. "The surname is Zhou, we know that you are close to Old Thief Feng, so we came to you first. Tonight, you will go to the old thief Feng and say, he will guard his Fuyang, and the gentlemen will return to the liyang of the masters, and we will go our own ways from now on, and no one will hinder anyone? ”

"No way!" Zhou Wen got out from under Xu Huzi's body, his hand pressed the handle of the knife, and his footsteps kept moving. "He wouldn't say yes. If he doesn't agree, but instead transfers the government soldiers to arrest us and others, no one will get a good result. After that, the imperial court would never blame a third-grade general for a few county soldiers. We don't have a place to cry out when we die! ”

"Then don't tell him, let's gather Liyang's brothers and go first!" Huang Jianwu, Xu Huzi, and Ruan Junming spread out the character fonts, trapping Zhou Wen in the middle. Fighting alone, none of them was sure to win Zhou Wen. But with three against one, Zhou Wen couldn't do a few rounds.

"No, no!" Zhou Wen had no way to retreat, and his face stiffened with a smile. "Brothers, don't be reckless, let's think about it in the long run, think about it in the long run!"

"It's not a discussion, it's a chance for you!" Xu Huzi laughed and was ruthless. "Surnamed Zhou, haven't you always wanted to be promoted, everyone will give you a chance! If you come out and go with everyone and return to Liyang, we will work together to nominate you as a captain. No matter who the new county guard is, he can't help but give everyone this face. If you don't say yes, hum ......"

The implication of the words can be guessed without saying it explicitly Zhou Wen. His face turned pale with fright, but his eyes were leaping with rare flames. Troubled times are coming, and those who have strength can be dominant. To persuade Feng Xiaoci to abandon the city and leave, he was not absolutely sure. However, it is not too difficult to show favor to the soldiers of Liyang, and then control the three reckless men in front of them. Slowly pulling out the horizontal knife from his waist, he pressed the blade into the palm of his hand, "This matter is not trivial, once the old thief Feng is investigated, ...... will be investigated."

"I'll wait until I'm gone, with the few people left, can I keep Fuyang?" Huang Jianwu gritted his teeth.

"He wants to kill himself, but he has a wife and children at home!" Xu Huzi added in a low voice.

"Then the four of us make an oath, advance and retreat together, and from now on, we will lose and prosper!" Zhou Wen dragged the blade out of his palm, dripping beads of blood. "Either don't do it, do it cleanly, don't leave yourself with trouble!"

"What should I do, you have a lot of ideas, a few of us can listen to you!" Ruan Junming also slit his palm and dripped his own blood with Zhou Wen's.

Huang Jianwu and Xu Huzi looked at each other and swore blood one after another. The reason why they forced Zhou Wen to act together was because they took a fancy to the advantages of this person's cautious thinking and decisiveness. Since the other party is willing to join, it is not too much to give him some sweetness for the time being.

Looking up at the dark sky, Zhou Wen suddenly felt that the world was ridiculous. A quarter of an hour ago, he was still thinking about how to help Feng Xiaoci get out of trouble, but now, he had to trample the other party under his feet. But the thirst for revenge soon calmed his heart again, as calm as a pool of stagnant water.

"Do you have a solution?" Xu Huzi had an impatient temperament, and when he saw that Zhou Wen didn't speak for a long time, he stared at him and asked.

"Gather your henchmen first and set fire to the city!" Zhou Wen turned his heart sideways and hissed like a poisonous snake from between his teeth. "With the fire, Feng Xiaoci must have transferred his descendants to Nancheng to prevent thieves from taking the opportunity to attack the city. We happened to gather our subordinates in the name of fighting the fire and kill them directly from the east gate! ”

"This ......" the three colleagues looked at each other. They knew that Zhou Wen's plan was absolutely feasible. But after doing that, it was tantamount to completely pushing Feng Xiaoci to a dead end. The people are not stupid, and when the soldiers and horses in the city are in chaos, they must be competing to avoid them. At that time, not only the east gate, but I am afraid that all the non-key defense gates except due south will be wide open. And Zhang Jincheng and others will be like wolves that smell blood......

"The more chaotic it is, the greater the chance that we will get out!" One does not do, and the other does not stop, Zhou Wen simply explained his words thoroughly. "Only when the people of Youwuhou are all dead, can we say that we have killed the thieves and broke out. Otherwise, if we are identified, the court will not let us go! ”

With that, he sneered and wiped the bloody blade on his boot repeatedly. "If you don't dare, it's too late to go back to sleep now. Since I came up with the idea, I'm definitely not going to expose myself! ”

"Who wouldn't dare to be a grandson!" Xu Huzi couldn't be excited, and immediately jumped up again. The four of them looked at each other and smiled, inserted the blood-stained horizontal knife back into their waists, and overlapped the red palms again, "!" Someone took the lead.

"!" The rest of the few eerie repetitions. In troubled times, the most important thing is to live yourself. As for the others, whoever becomes a stepping stone can only be considered unlucky.

Half an hour later, sparks rose from the houses of the city. Soon, the fire became uncontrollable, lighting up the entire street as if it were day. The well-trained Right Marquis immediately assembled and rushed up the city wall under the command of a junior general to prevent the enemy from taking advantage of the weakness. The burden of fighting the fire really fell on the county soldiers, although Feng Xiaoci was full of doubts about it.

"They won't be able to do this little bit of a thing!" The old general pressed his hand on the battlements, worried. The thieves were so vicious that they actually sent spies into Fuyang to set fire, and regarded the people of the city as a bet to win. After losing the surname Cheng, he didn't even care about the only bit of morality .......

Suddenly, the old general's heart twitched, and Tie Qing looked back with a blushing face. He remembered what happened in the afternoon, and the unwilling appearance of those county soldiers. If......

He didn't dare to think about it anymore. But the north wind blew the noise of the city to his ears. The cries, the shouts, the cries, the clashing of swords and spears, the release of the bowstring, were mixed with the howls of the dying and the desperate cries of the wounded......

The eastern, northern, and western parts of the city were in chaos. There was just no one to put out the fire. The old general instantly understood what was going on behind him, and his fingers buckled into the city bricks little by little, scratching blood marks on the bricks little by little. "Go down to the city, prepare for battle!" Raising his gray head with his last strength, he shouted at the panicked brothers, "Right Marquis, go down to the city and prepare for battle"

"Right Wuhou, prepare for war!" Wu Wenzhong, the general of the auxiliary state, Jiang Yanlin, the commander of Guoyi, and others all guessed who betrayed the right Wuhou, followed behind Feng Xiaoci, and shouted loudly.

"Right Wuhou, prepare for war!"

"Right Wuhou, prepare for war!"

In the shout, one of the twelve elites of the Great Sui Dynasty, the remnants of the Right Wuhou gathered, pushed open the south gate, and slowly met the opponent who was attracted by the firelight. The enemy army was dozens of times that of them, but they stood with the white-haired Feng Xiaoci and never gave up.