The capital of the Liang State was Jiangling, and the army outside the city besieged the city.

The siege battle has been going on for half a month, and the defenders of Jiangling have also struggled to support it for half a month, their casualties are getting bigger and bigger, and the Chen army outside the city is also increasing.

In the southern suburbs outside Jiangling City, in the military tent in the base camp of the Chen army.

The commander of the Chen army, the king of Shixing, Chen Shuling, stood on the main position, and looked at the generals of the Chen army on both sides of the head.

"How long will it take to take the inner city of Gangneung?" He looked at the generals present and was very dissatisfied, it had been half a month since he besieged the city, and he had taken the outer city of Gangneung, but he still failed to attack the inner city.

"Great King, the enemy defenders are very tenacious, especially the Zhou army in Xicheng," one of the generals tried to explain.

"Rubbish!" Chen Shuling interrupted him with a roar, "I can't take the siege for half a month, do you think it's a wild tour!" ”

"The king is angry, the other party has carried heavy casualties for half a month, and the morale of the soldiers without foreign reinforcements will not last long, and the last general thinks that the Xicheng Zhou army is indeed a little tricky." Another general made a statement to ease the atmosphere.

The man was about forty years old, General Chen Guo Xuanyuan, Jingzhou Assassin Shi Fan Meng, Chen State's Jingzhou, Xinzhou on the south bank of the Yangtze River and Liang State's Jiangling, Zhou State's Kipzhou across the river, so this battle was the governor of Jingxin Erzhou Military, concurrently Jingzhou Thorn History Fan Meng also went out as the main general, the previous water battle defeated Liang, Zhou Shuijun is also his handiwork.

Jiangling City is divided into east and west cities, the west city is set up by the Great Zhou Dynasty in the Liang State, and the location of the Jiangling governor is guarded by the Zhou army, and the combat power is much more fierce than the Liang army, so what Fan Meng said is not unreasonable.

Fan Meng used to deal with military and political affairs under Chen Shuling, and he was considered an old subordinate, and Chen Shuling saw that he had no interest in continuing to be mad, so he changed the conversation:

"What's the situation on Huang Hua's side? The guards should be careful, don't touch the Anzhou army! ”

Huang Hua was located forty miles east of Jiangling City, an important place east of Jiangling, where Chen's army repelled reinforcements from Jianli County of Liang, but had to defend against another important enemy army: the army of the Anzhou Governor's Office to the east.

The Liang army from the north to the south has been defeated, and the Zhou army from Kip Zhou in the west has been blocked by the Chen army on the west side of Jiangling.

"Please rest assured, the last general has sent someone to supervise today." Xiao Maha, the general of the Right Guard, replied that he and Fan Meng were both among the generals of Chen Guoneng, and now they assisted Chen Shuling, the king of Shixing, in attacking Jiangling.

To the east of Jiangling, it borders Yingzhou and Fuzhou of the Xiangzhou Governor's Office, both of which are under the control of Yu Wenliang, the governor of Anzhou, and the main force of the Anzhou Army and its subordinate Xiangzhou Army is fighting fiercely north of Fancheng and the Southern Army of the Great Zhou Dynasty, so it will not be able to pull out for a while and a half to come from the east, which is also a good time for Chen to take Jiangling.

Four years ago, the state of Qi was destroyed by the state of Zhou, and the state of Chen in the south also took advantage of the situation to attack and take the line of the Huai River and the Jiangbei state of the Huangzhou governor's office, and the troops of the Jiangbei states once pointed directly to the south bank of the Yellow River, which can be described as a good situation, but in the next few years, under the attack of the Zhou army, they lost ground one after another, and finally lost all the states and counties north of the Yangtze River two years ago.

The territory of the Zhou State has advanced to the north bank of the Yangtze River, resulting in the situation of the Chen State deteriorated instantly, but God has an eye, the wise and martial emperor Yu Wenyong of the Zhou State died of illness, and the successor of the Tianyuan Emperor Yu Wenyun was absurd and unreasonable, which made the court chickens fly and dogs jump, he suppressed the clan and used the ministers to drive all the powerful vassal kings to the field, and as a result, he died violently within two years of ascending the throne, resulting in the political contradictions of the Zhou State instantly intensified, causing civil strife.

The civil strife in Zhou was an opportunity for Chen State, but they failed to grasp the opportunity, and from June to August last year, they attacked repeatedly but did not achieve anything, and the Huainan prefectures could not be attacked for a long time, and the Jiangbei prefectures of the Huangzhou Governor's Office only captured two prefectures and failed to hold them.

Seeing that the form was becoming more and more unfavorable, Chen Guo was also worried, but now that the civil strife in the Northern Zhou Dynasty had broken out again, it was time for them to reap the benefits of the fishermen, and Liang Guo was the most sure of eating a piece of fat.

"Ladies and gentlemen, now that the civil strife in Zhou has broken out again, it is an opportunity for our army, and it is impossible for the governors of Anzhou and Xiangzhou to support the Zhou court in the confrontation." Chen Shuling looked around at the generals present with an expressionless face, "Now there are only the remnants of the Jiangling Governor's Mansion of the Zhou State trapped in the western city, don't you have to live outside the city for a month!" ”

For the Chen army, as long as the Zhou army trapped in the west city can be captured, Jiangling, if the Zhou court or the Anzhou governor Yu Wenliang sent a large army to attack, and they can't resist it, they can also move the people to the south bank of the Yangtze River, Pingbai has more than 200,000 people, no matter how you look at it, it is a profitable deal.

"Pass the order, the soldiers of all departments must not stop attacking day and night, and the city must be broken within three days!" Chen Shuling saw that there was no excuse to be mad and didn't bother to talk nonsense, "After breaking the city, it will be plundered for three days, but after three days, if you can't break the city, you will kill people!" ”

"King, on the day of the departure of the army, His Majesty once said that if the city is broken, the people must be appeased, and the troops cannot be arranged," a general cautiously reminded the commander, he didn't finish his words, and when he saw the other party's gloomy gaze, he immediately stopped talking.

"The city must be broken within three days, and after the city is broken, it will be plundered for three days, but if the city cannot be broken after three days, then one out of ten will be drawn to set an example!" Chen Shuling looked around coldly at the generals present and made an order, and the generals just nodded silently when they saw this, and said nothing.

Ten draws one, every ten people (even) randomly draw one person out to kill the head, this is a very cruel military law, and only people like Chen Shuling, the king of Shixing, like to use it.

If it is replaced by someone else as the coach, the generals will have to 'fight according to reason', but the current coach is Chen Shuling, so don't provoke it, so as not to cause trouble to themselves.

Chen Shuling, the king of Shixing, is the second son of the current emperor of Chen State, cruel and easy to kill, many injustices, nine years ago the nineteen-year-old Chen Shuling was appointed by Emperor Chen to supervise the military of Xiang, Heng, Gui and Wu, which made the people miserable.

After he came to Xiangzhou Prefecture to govern Changsha and took office, he ignored political affairs and only cared about having fun with his wives and concubines, and if he committed a crime or angered him, he was thrown into prison for a few years, and as long as the woman he liked in the state, whether he was married or not, he was all caught in the mansion to enjoy, and even the daughters of his left and right subordinates and state and county officials were not spared.

The officials and people of the four states complained about the important ministers in the court, but not many people dared to speak out, this is because the emperor is very doting today, for more than ten years, he has done all the bad things for the wrong, but he is safe and sound, and he is still rising step by step, committing many evil deeds, and the defendants are gently brought by some insignificant punishments in front of the emperor.

Therefore, no one wants to provoke this fierce god, lest he be unlucky, with his status in the emperor's heart, even if he kills the generals present on the spot, he is afraid that he will only lose money and bury the matter.

"Zhiwu, how is this good." Xiao Maha stood beside Fan Meng and looked at the back of Chen Shuling's departure, worried, and didn't know whether to talk to himself or talk to the other party and whispered: "I really don't know why Your Majesty sent him as the boss."

"Yuan Yin said cautiously, be careful that the wall has ears." Fan Meng looked back left and right, and then talked to Xiao Maha in a low voice, Chen Shuling, as the commander of the Liang, was involved in the battle for the throne this time, which was not something that these generals could mix.

Fan Meng's word Zhiwu and Xiao Maha's word Yuanyin, the two have a good relationship, so they call each other the words when they talk.

"Then if you break through the city," Xiao Maha was still angry about the 'three days of plundering', he felt that this kind of behavior was no different from the rogues who killed people and set fires, if Jiangling could be taken down and defended this time, it would be the land of the Chen State, and the people in the city would be the people of the Chen State, how could the soldiers be so indulgent to keep the hearts of the people.

"Then let's see the opportunity to act" Fan Meng sighed and shook his head and left, this King of Shixing can dare to do anything, he is greedy for money and greedy to the idea of robbing tombs, all the large-scale cemeteries in Xiangzhou were dug up by him in order to get those burial belongings, and even took the bones home to play or put them out for people to 'appreciate'.

Two years ago, Chen Shuling's mother died, he went to Meiling, which has excellent feng shui, to find a burial place, and finally dug up the cemetery of Xie An, a famous minister in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and threw aside the coffin of the commander-in-chief of the Jin army in the battle of Weishui, and then buried his mother to a magpie's nest dove.

Compared to this kind of thing, what kind of mass plundering for three days is nothing......

Ten miles north of Jiangling, the city of Jinan, five steps, one post, ten steps and one sentry at the head of the city, surrounded by soldiers and horses outside the city.

In the palace in the city, Emperor Xiao Yue of Liang was talking to Empress Zhang, who fled to the southern city of Ji for refuge after the Chen army attacked the city half a month ago and was escorted by the Jiangling Governor to take refuge.

In the third year of the Great Zhou Dynasty (thirteen years ago), the Chen army attacked Jiangling and broke through the outer city, and Xiao Yue, who had been on the throne for six years at that time, fled to Jinan City for refuge under the 'escort' of the Jiangling governor, and waited until the Zhou army repelled the Chen army before returning to the city.

"Your Majesty, how is the battle going?" Empress Zhang asked worriedly, just now, Xiao Yue was discussing with the ministers about the battle situation in Jiangling, and when she saw her back, she would make a noise.

"Chief Hobal said to wait a few more days, saying that it was temporarily unfavorable and might have to go west." Xiao Yue said to his queen with a wry smile.

"What about Gangneung?" Empress Zhang's face turned pale when she heard this, when will she be able to come back after this trip.

Xiao Yue shook his head and sat down, he looked at the south sky with blank eyes, and was silent, Liang Guo is already too small to be small, and even the national capital Jiangling has been lost, which is not a country.

Twenty-seven years ago, the Western Wei Dynasty broke through Jiangling, and the Liang clan Xiao Jing who took refuge in the Wei State was supported as a puppet emperor, and he only governed the surrounding areas of Jiangling.

After this catastrophe, the Southern Liang had no power to return to heaven, and within two years was replaced by the general Chen Baxian to establish the Chen Dynasty, and Xiao Jing's Liang State (known as the Western Liang in history), which was only a projectile land, became a vassal state of the Western Wei Dynasty.

During this period, the Western Wei Dynasty became the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and the Jiangling Governor's Office, which was located in Jiangling to monitor the Liang State, assumed the responsibility of protecting and repelled the Chen army again and again.

However, this time it was different, because the Chen army was strong and the Zhou army was weak, and the Anzhou and Xiangzhou governors' offices, which could have been strongly backed by, had become rebels, and Liang was attacked by the Chen army and the rebels from the north and south, and had no power to return to heaven.

"Will the rebels attack Gangneung as well?" Empress Zhang asked again.

Xiao Yue thought for a while and replied: "Impossible, as of noon today, the Jizhou guard general has also reported that the rebels have no movement." "Jiju is an important place to resist the rebels' southward or westward advance, and since everything is normal, there is no need to worry about the rebels suddenly appearing under Gangneung or Jinan.

This time the Chen army attacked, according to the usual practice of Jiangling governor He Ba Zhonghua 'escorted' Emperor Liang and his royal family and Liang important ministers to the north of Jiangling City to take refuge in Jinan City, and now He Ba Zhonghua has decided to retreat west into Pingzhou under the rule of Liang if the war is not good, and if it is not good, he will withdraw to the Great Zhou Xinzhou Governor's Mansion further west.

Anyway, Emperor Liang can't be allowed to fall into the hands of the Chen army or the Anzhou rebels, as for the people of Jiangling Mancheng, it is not the focus of consideration, this is the people of Liang, not the people of the Great Zhou, and He Ba Zhonghua, as the governor of the Great Zhou, does not need to be responsible for this.

As a puppet emperor, Xiao Yue could only helplessly watch others fight on his own land, and he was helpless to watch the lives of his subjects stained.

"At least, you and I, as well as our children, will be able to escape." Xiao Yue comforted the queen with a strong spirit.

"But there's one more person out there." Empress Zhang covered her mouth with one hand and whimpered, "No matter how unlucky, she is also our daughter"

"She" Xiao Yue wanted to say something, but she couldn't say anything, she could only pat the queen on the shoulder, "Uncle Guo will take care of her." ”