The snowflakes were falling so hard that it was impossible to see anything from a few feet away. On top of the snow that had just frozen hard a few days ago, it was now covered with a thick layer, almost up to the feet and necks. In such weather, even dogs will find a corner to curl up in a sheltered corner and try to maintain their body temperature without wandering around in search of food as they would at other times.

Except for the silent falling snowflakes, there seems to be nothing else in this world that has life and vitality to move in such a harsh environment.

Look at the appearance of this snow, if it does not stop all night, I am afraid that tomorrow the snow will be several feet deep.

On the Shuanglian City, Lian Zhaowen, the general of the Qin State, stood at the head of Weng City, looking at the dense crowd in Weng City, and the corners of his eyes kept twitching. There are also people who keep entering Weng City from the city, squeezing the city into a dense area.

Most of these people are the people in the Shuanglian City, and there are some wounded soldiers who have lost their combat effectiveness, these people are carried, carried, and supported by the people, and they all look up at the head of the city with some despair, looking at Lian Zhaowen, the main general who is like a statue above the city.

He had been standing there for a long time, and when the first man came in from this city, he had already stood there, covered with a layer of snowflakes, and now he had become a snowman, with some ice chips on his eyebrows, beard, and even some ice chips.

The Shuanglian City is one of the acropolis of Yongdu. It is also the first barrier at the front, although the city is not big, but the specifications of the construction are extremely high, the city walls of more than ten meters high are all made of rocks, every gap is filled with glutinous rice soup, usually some of the less important county towns are not in the Weng City, but the Shuanglian City has.

The Ming army has been besieging the city for almost two months. Either because of the weather, or because of something that even Shaowen didn't know, anyway, the Ming people didn't launch a large-scale attack, but organized a harassing attack every three or five days. It's not dangerous, but it's annoying.

Shuanglian City is not big, but it is very strong, and the biggest threat to Lian Shaowen is not the Ming army outside the city, but the severe cold weather, and the increasing shortage of food.

Transporting grain from Yongdu here is a journey of death. Transporting a thousand catties, it would be good to arrive here with a hundred catties, and it would be necessary to pay the price of blood. Since this kind of operation started half a month ago, every time Yongdu City has to pay dozens or even hundreds of lives to send some limited food into Shuanglian City.

There are many people and little food, so Lian Shaowen has to make a decision. In the Shuanglian City, there can be no more idlers, including those wounded soldiers who have lost their combat effectiveness who have been injured in previous battles.

This was a cruel decision, but Lian Shaowen had to make it.

Outside of Weng City, no one came in again.

Lian Shaowen finally moved, and when he moved, the snowflakes on his body fell in a flutter.

"Fathers and fellow villagers, brothers, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Standing on the top of Weng City, Lian Shaowen took off his helmet and knelt down on one knee. "There is not much food in the city, and they can only leave it for those brothers who can still fight. You remain in the city, and you are starved to death. ”

In Weng City, there was a low sobbing sound, and above the city, there were also soldiers covering their mouths and letting out a wolf-like howl of pain, because most of the women, children and children in Weng City were their family members.

"Staying in the city can only lead to death, either freezing to death or starvation." Lian Shaowen stood up: "And everyone will die together, so I can only let everyone out of the city." ”

"If you get out of the city, you may die, but you may have a way to live. You are not soldiers, and you have no obligation to fight, and you have done your best, brothers of wounded soldiers, and the future battles have nothing to do with you. Lian Shaowen's voice was a little choked.

"Get out of the city and find a chance of life on your own. Whether you go to Yongdu or somewhere else, it's better than staying here. Lian Shaowen said: "I know that there are many scouts of the Ming army outside, but you are just ordinary people, and if you want to come, they will not embarrass you." Perhaps, they can help you a little. ”

Speaking of this, Lian Shaowen's voice involuntarily lowered. Will the enemy scouts help them? This hope is only afraid of the small number, the two armies are facing each other, how can they help the people of the enemy country.

But so what? Staying in the city, these people will not be half of the help to defend the city, but they will consume a lot of food every day, even if it is a bowl of porridge a day, and the current Shuanglian City cannot afford it. Now every grain of grain is carefully calculated, and even he, the main general, only drinks two meals of porridge a day. If anything, he is different from ordinary soldiers, it is that his porridge is slightly thicker.

He couldn't help but be ruthless in expelling these people.

Or also to liberate these people.

There is very little life outside, but at least there is a glimmer of life, and staying in the city, this glimmer of life is afraid that there is no life. He didn't know how long Yongdu could last with this bloody way of delivering food, and when Yongdu City felt that the gains outweighed the losses, the only food would not be there.

"Open the gates and send them out!" He waved his hand helplessly and closed his eyes.

The gates of Weng City were opened in the sound of trumpets, and inside, countless women and children raised their teary eyes and looked at the rows of soldiers at the head of the city, trying to find familiar faces from inside. But the snow was so great that the only thing they could see was rows of black shadows. The only thing I could hear was crying from above.

In troubled times, human life is as cheap as a dog.

"Let's go, let's go, leave a bite to eat for them." An old man hunched his waist and took off a tattered padded jacket on his body, still in Weng City. Although it was broken, it still sheltered a little from the cold wind, and now, he didn't want it, he left him to his son, who was still in the city. "Big dog, I left my jacket here, you can come down and get it later."

He raised his head and howled, then shrunk and strode towards the gates of the city.

Food is scarce in the city, and heating is even more scarce. In such a harsh winter, the only way to heat the city now is to crowd people tighter. Although the house can still shelter from the wind and snow, it can't shelter the pervasive cold wind. It's not much better inside the house than outside.

Above the city, there was a heart-rending cry. "Daddy!"

But the old man turned a deaf ear and disappeared into the city.

In Weng City, many people took off their tattered cotton jackets, or discarded the felt blankets wrapped around their bodies, and then walked towards Weng City crying one by one.

At this time, walking out of the city wall means death.

There was no need for the Ming army to kill them, the cold weather was enough to freeze them into ice sculptures one by one. Within dozens of miles around, in addition to Shuanglian City, there is only the military camp of the Ming army.

The city was soon emptied. The heavy gate was re-closed, and there was no one inside, but a layer of cotton clothing, felt blankets, or cotton wool that had been left behind by these men.

The gate of the outer city was opened, and those who came out of Weng City walked out of the outer city gate without hesitation, and slowly disappeared in Lian Shaowen's field of vision.

Retracting his gaze to look outside, Lian Shaowen looked at the warm clothes in Weng Cheng, his legs were weak, and an eight-foot man actually cried bitterly, tears crossed his face, and in a blink of an eye, they condensed into ice, and then fell on the stone slab in front of him, making a crisp ding dong sound.

"Defend the family, defend the country!" He stood up with his knife in hand, his eyes red, and roared like a wounded wolf out of the snowy city.

"Defend the family, defend the country!" The soldiers of the city howled in unison.

Outside the city, in the midst of the snowstorm, a small group of cavalry slowly walked in the snow, this was a patrol of the Ming army. Ten men, ten horses.

Cheng Xiaoyu was originally a soldier in the Tiger Prison, after the Tiger Prison Incident, he turned into a Ming soldier again, he has a good block, equestrian, archery, and individual combat are all the best choices, such a person is naturally the object of welcome by the Ming Army, and after the reorganization, he became a scout team leader.

Cheng Xiaoyu didn't have any feelings for the emperor in Yongdu City, before, he only knew that they all listened to the general Xiao Qiang. The treatment of the border army of the Qin State has always been not very good, and naturally it will not be any different in the Tiger Prison. In addition to General Xiao's descendants, the other troops are also like flowers, and compared with ordinary people, the only thing they are better at is that they can still fill their stomachs.

Sometimes he was envious of the General's descendants, with their beautiful armor, sharp weapons, and, of course, a salary that would never be in arrears. So he has been working hard to use his abilities to become one of those people one day.

He doesn't care if he is loyal to the emperor or anything, as long as he can eat and dress warmly, and then he can save a little money and marry a little lady at a suitable time, this day will be satisfied.

But before his dream was completed, the tiger prison changed. He took part in the reorganization of the army in a vague way, and at this time, his ability finally brought him good luck, and he was not only retained, but also selected into the most elite scout team.

He felt that his good days were coming.

In the scout camp, he received all his equipment, which was a whole box of things, armor, short knives, long knives, crossbows, and many other strange things that he couldn't even name.

And, of course, his first month's salary. It's the kind of colorful ticket of the Ming people. Cheng Xiaoyu is no stranger to this kind of ticket, because in the past year, this kind of ticket has been circulating in the Tiger Prison and is as popular as silver.

Ten taels, ten taels. This made Cheng Xiaoyu feel like he was in a dream. In the past, he had a salary of one or two silver per month, but this was only theoretical, because the border army of the Qin State would never be able to pay the salary in full, even if the officials at the top did not deduct it, it was impossible to pay it in full.

Now, he has done nothing, and he has been paid for the previous year. He ate white steamed buns and braised pork. That day, for the first time, he felt like he was holding up.

There is nothing wrong with becoming a soldier of the Ming Kingdom, at least he has a better life, this is his first thought.

Of course, in the following months, he finally realized that this generous gift was not given to him in vain. The captain of the scout team is a newcomer to the Ming Kingdom, and he has taught Cheng Xiaoyu what price he needs to pay if he wants to keep this generous treatment.

After three months of training, many people who entered the scout team with him were eliminated, but he persevered. Ten taels of salary every month, in the training camp for three months, it was paid on time, and there was never any arrears, let alone deductions.

In the past three months, Cheng Xiaoyu has learned a lot of things and learned a lot about the outside world, the captain who was extremely cruel in training is actually a very good guy in private. He even secretly took Cheng Xiaoyu and a few team leaders who performed particularly well into the Tiger Prison City to visit the Qinglou when he was resting, of course, he was a treat.

Cheng Xiaoyu finally saw the taste of a woman that time.

It's good to be a Ming country person and a Ming country soldier. For the first time, Cheng Xiaoyu had a great impression of this country.