Cheng Yong used all his strength to raise the bladed long knife flat, which also made the ironclad soldier who had previously provoked Cheng Yong secretly surprised in his heart. He didn't know what kind of strength supported this thin man to lift a long knife weighing more than fifty pounds. However, he still pretended to be disdainful and said: "I don't want to look like a short man, but my strength is okay." But that's it......"

As soon as the words fell, he pointed the long knife in his hand at Cheng Yong obliquely: "Come on, come on, two moves!" After saying that, he put on a posture, and he was about to attack Cheng Yong.

Li Yanzhi walked out of the shadows behind the city tower at the right time, and shouted straight at the eardrums of everyone present: "Stop!" ”

The ironclad soldiers followed the prestige, and when they saw Li Yanzhi coming slowly, they hurriedly stood up and saluted. Li Yanzhi walked around Cheng Yong and the ironclad soldier opposite him a few times, before he opened his mouth and said slowly: "Chen Shan! You're a fucking bully again! ”

When Chen Shan heard this, he hurriedly lowered his head and said, "Li Sima, it's not that I bullied this person. You see he is thin and small, can he use iron armor and long knives? If his subordinates don't practice and practice his words, and they go to the battlefield in the coming day, do we care about him or ignore him? ”

"Less nonsense!" Li Yanzhi stood still and reprimanded: "It's not like you've bullied the soldiers in the camp once or twice. You don't fucking want to think about it, how long have you been practicing, how long has he been practicing? If you have thought of two tricks for a while, why don't I accompany you? Li Yanzhi said, and then made a gesture to take the long knife in Cheng Yong's hand, this action made Chen Shan's heart tighten, and he hurriedly said: "Sima forgives the sin, and his subordinates know their mistakes......"

"It's good to know what you're wrong!" Li Yanzhi said, already holding the long knife in his hand, and then pointed out of the city, and said: "Next time I see you bullying the soldiers, you will report to the auxiliaries." Then follow them to cut down trees every day! ”

Chen Shan heard Li Yanzhi say these words without seeing joy and anger, his heart tightened, and he hurriedly waved his hand again and again: "Sima is angry, his subordinates remember it in their hearts, and they will never dare to do it again in the future...... Don't dare......"

Li Yanzhi nodded, and then threw the long knife in his hand back to Cheng Yong: "It's better." Outside the city, the enemy army does not want to enter at any time. If you want to save your life, you have to kill the enemy on the battlefield! ”

Cheng Yong took the knife and said in a deep voice: "Don't worry, Sima, if the thieves dare to enter the city, I will fight to the death with the team." After killing the enemy's head, he will repay his merit with Sima! ”

When Li Yanzhi heard this, he pointed at Cheng Yong and said with a smile: "I haven't been in the army for a few days, and my tone is not small. I'm on the tower of the city, waiting for you to kill the enemy to repay the merits, if you are promoted in the future, you can return to your hometown and say goodbye to your lady......"

Cheng Yong hugged his fists and said: "Thanks to Sima for his love." Li Yanzhi laughed twice, then turned around and walked to the side of the city wall, and began to inspect the defenses. Cheng Yong looked at Li Yanzhi's back and watched him go away, until he traveled far away and disappeared in the sea of people composed of generals, and there was no trace of him, so he turned his head and looked at the ironclad soldiers in front of him with a little embarrassment.

Chen Shan looked at Cheng Yong, turned around and leaned the long knife in his hand against the battlement wall, turned his head and pointed at Cheng Yong with his chin: "Little man, have you ever killed someone?" ”

Cheng Yong looked at Chen Shan with some hesitation and shook his head vigorously.

Chen Shan laughed when he saw Cheng Yong being so frank. He stretched out a finger and shook it in front of him, and said, "Tomorrow, at most tomorrow." On this wall, either you kill the thief, or the thief kills you! ”

Chen Shan looked at Cheng Yong, who was shocked, and said, "And Sima must be the first in every battle." If you are afraid of retreating, you will be court-martialed......"

Cheng Yong arched his hand and said: "Thank you for the reminder of the veteran, the villain remembers." ”

Chen Shan nodded: "The long knife in your hand will be kept for your own use." There is also no excess iron armor in the arsenal. Why don't you go to the former camp and get a round card from Captain Zhang? When the city is defended tomorrow, the medals will be placed on the wall to defend against arrows. After saying that, Chen Shan pointed to the city tower full of arrows behind him: "These are the masterpieces of today's thieves." ”

Cheng Yong looked at the dense arrows on the city tower, and his expression began to become extremely solemn.

Chen Shan patted Cheng Yong's shoulder heavily: "I'm afraid, short man." He sneered twice: "Above the battle array, you don't have much effort to be afraid." ”

Cheng Yong was still carefully understanding the big call that Chen Shan had just told him, Chen Shan had already sneered and walked to the city tower on the side and lay down to take a nap.

At night, from the outside, it seemed that the entire city fell silent. However, under the sporadic torches in the city, you can still see several soldiers guarding the battlement wall every other section of the city. By the dim light of the scattered torches, these soldiers faithfully carried out their duties.

Li Yanzhi went to Nancheng to inspect the circle, and the conscientiousness of his subordinates ordered him to rest assured. I haven't closed my eyes for nearly two days, and the unstoppable sleepiness finally hit me in a hurry. Li Yanzhi rubbed his eyes and walked down the city tower lightly, planning to return to the camp and sleep for a while.

However, halfway through the journey, Li Yanzhi guessed and pondered in his heart about the possible actions of the enemy army tomorrow. The expected enemy movements were nothing more than a few of them: either they would continue to storm the southern city, or they would turn to the eastern city. or contain the southern city and attack the eastern city. Anyway, with the current strength of the enemy's army, it is indeed unrealistic to besiege from all sides. In addition to the city walls on the southeast side, the other sides are surrounded by water on one side and backed by mountains on the other, which is really not suitable for gathering troops to attack.

As soon as he thought of this, Li Yanzhi turned to the east side of the city. All he had been worried about was facing the southern wall of the enemy camp, and he didn't pay much attention to the eastern city. The enemy suffered a heavy defeat in the southern city on the first day, and it is likely that the eastern city was selected for attack the next day. If Dongcheng is not well prepared, the consequences will be unimaginable.

The only thing that reassured Li Yanzhi a little was that the general who was guarding Dongcheng was Cao Jian. Although on his own ups and downs, there have gradually been disagreements between him and Cao Jian, and there have been such things as parting ways. However, Li Yanzhi still fully affirmed Cao Jian's ability to govern the army and military command.

Walking to the bottom of Dongcheng City, when he was walking up, Li Yanzhi suddenly heard a shout on the city wall and asked, "Who?" Password! ”

Li Yanzhi stopped, thought for a while, and said, "Ping, return order!" ”

The voice in the darkness replied without thinking: "Captive! Li Yanzhi climbed the stairs. Walking to the top of the stairs in the hazy moonlight, I saw a soldier holding a crossbow machine behind the female wall at the top of the stairs.

Li Yanzhi tried to make some changes to the password on his own. In order to prevent the fine work from infiltrating the city, he first asked questions to obtain the password after encountering the patrol, and he divided the password into two parts according to the form adopted in the later army. Today's password is "Pingyu". The sentry asked the first question, and the person being questioned answered the first word, and then asked for a reply. The sentry then replied with a word. This minimizes the leakage of passwords during delivery. And once one party can't answer, the other party can take down the other side as a spy and then interrogate it carefully.

The soldiers guarding the stairs with crossbows unexpectedly came to the head of the army, Li Sima, who hurriedly put down the crossbow machine and clenched his fists to confess. Li Yanzhi waved his hand and said, "It's okay, you have done a good job, and you should be vigilant on duty." Seeing that the sentry's expression relaxed, Li Yanzhi asked again, "I don't know where you Cao Sima is now?" ”

The sentry arched his hand and said, "Back to Li Sima, Cao Sima is now on the city tower." ”

Li Yanzhi nodded, and asked again, "When will Cao Sima come to the city tower?" ”

The sentry thought for a moment and replied, "A few days ago, Cao Sima led his troops to the city to carry armaments, and he never went down to the city again. ”

"Okay, I got it. You are on duty. Li Yanzhi instructed the sentry a few words, and then immediately turned around and walked towards the city tower. He thought that he had worked hard enough to defend Ling Ju, but he didn't expect that Cao Jian, a subordinate, would work harder than himself. Li Yanzhi walked to the vicinity of the city tower. Then he heard several people shouting in the darkness and asking, "Who?" ”

Li Yanzhi said: "I, Li Yanzhi." ”

When they got closer, the soldiers who shouted and asked shouted shook the fire fold in their hands, lit a torch and lit a radius of two or three zhang, only to see that the general who came leisurely was Li Sima.

A figure stood up at the corner of the tower, stretching his waist, and his voice was obviously extremely tired and sleepy: "Who? What's the big night, what's the shouting? Didn't I tell you not to be surprised if you haven't met the enemy? ”

"Cao Jian!" Li Yanzhi listened to the voice and hurriedly called. Cao Jian, who was still stretching his waist, suddenly heard Li Yanzhi's voice, and his sleepiness suddenly disappeared. When he looked closely and saw the area where the torches were shining, a familiar face appeared, and he was also caught off guard.

"The last general, Cao Jian, meet Li Sima." After sobering up, Cao Jian was not ambiguous at all, and immediately walked to Li Yanzhi's body to step forward and knock on the ground with his fists. Li Yanzhi hurriedly stepped forward to help him up: "No need to be polite, please get up quickly." We have a great responsibility, but I didn't expect Cao Sima to take the city tower as his home, and he had to say his admiration to fulfill his responsibilities. ”

Cao Jian clenched his fists and bowed his head: "Where is it." Sima Mu praised. The subordinates were only worried that these soldiers were derelict in their duties, so they guarded the city every day. Today's thieves have failed to storm the southern city for a day, and tomorrow they will definitely take action against my eastern city. I also had to be cautious and guarded...... Please rest assured that the construction and Dongcheng coexist. If it is built, the east city is there, and if the east city is dead, then the construction is dead! ”

When Li Yanzhi heard Cao Jian's firm determination, he couldn't help but sigh with emotion: "As the saying goes, 'one general is incompetent, and the three armies are exhausted. 'It's also that Li has no ability and can't pull more teams, so he tires the army and stays in the lonely city, and the future is unknown......"

Cao Jian raised his head and looked at Li Yanzhi, but there was an inexplicable emotion in his eyes. He arched his hand: "Please Sima move, my subordinates have something unclear, I want to consult Sima." ”

Li Yanzhi nodded, and then followed Cao Jian down to the city. When he arrived at the city gate, Cao Jian stopped, grabbed Li Yanzhi's arm, and asked eagerly: "Please tell Sima truthfully." Can we wait for reinforcements? ”

Li Yanzhi didn't know that Cao Jian actually asked this question, his heart moved, and he guessed, and he also knew that Cao Jian was now restless, probably because he had been a little shaken in his heart. However, it is difficult to see any hope for the lonely city and the absence of reinforcements. Cao Jian had this kind of emotion, and Li Yanzhi didn't think it was strange.

In just a moment, Li Yanzhi had already weighed and thought about it in his heart. Facing Cao Jian's urging, he finally shook his head with a wry smile and said: "Cao Sima, if there are any reinforcements outside, even if it is me now, I don't know ...... in my heart."

He looked up at Cao Jian: "Earlier, when our troops withdrew from the south bank to the county seat, and when the sentry cavalry went out to find the traces of Liu Yin's main force, I sent several messengers to the county seat, counties, and even Guzang, Wuxing and other counties to report the military situation and ask for assistance. However, the county magistrates and others were vague, and I privately speculated that most of them were unwilling to come to help. As for the reason, I don't know......"

Hearing this, Cao Jian slowly let go of the hands that were holding Li Yanzhi's arms, and sighed deeply: "Li Sima, I have been friends for many years. To tell you the truth, now in the city and under the city, the sergeants and soldiers look like this, and they think that it is a miracle that they can defend the city for ten days. If there are no reinforcements from outside, it is very likely that they will not be able to hold out for even this ten years......"

In this way, it is not a cowardice to fight and fear death. It's just that Sima has been diligent for many years to have this strong army under his command now. Cao Jian beat his chest and said: "Whether it is a cavalry pawn in the county or an ironclad infantry pawn, don't say that if you put it in the county soldiers, it is compared with the elite of the state governance led by Han Pu, and it will not fall behind at all." Sima worked so hard to manage this strong army, could it be that all of them were lost in this city? This is not built by one person, nor is it what the whole army is happy to see! I implore Sima to make plans as soon as possible, for Sima and for the three thousand generals in the city! ”

Li Yanzhi slowly shook his head: "Cao Jian." When we actually fled from Guanzhong and came here, we had no choice. Whether the choice of joining the army is right or wrong, I don't care now. It's just that now that he is in his position, he has to seek his own government! We abandoned the garrison and led our troops to break through the siege, although we can keep this county army. However, if the thief is ordered to live, he can stay here. With 20,000 people and the power of all counties, what can you do to get him? ”

Cao Jian lowered his head and began to fall silent. Li Yanzhi continued: "If it comes to that time, the captives can make the residence the foundation, enter to coerce Guzang, and retreat to sweep Guangwu. You and my family, can there be a day of peace? ”

"If you are greedy for life, I can use our relationship to appoint another person to replace you, and you will go out of the city and return to the county before dawn. Don't come back......"

When Cao Jian heard Li Yanzhi say this, he was immediately anxious, and hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed: "Sima Xi is angry!" The last general had no intention of escaping alone, but just wanted to point out a clear path for Sima and the army! If Sima decides to defend the city, Jian will live and die! Please Sima be relieved, built in the east city, and if the east city dies, it will be destroyed! ”

Li Yanzhi looked at Cao Jian, who was kneeling on the ground and kowtowing, and his heart was full of thoughts for a while, and he muttered for a long time before he said leisurely: "Get up, Cao Jian." Your wife and children are all there, different from me, but you don't have to worry about it. You have the intention of survival, and it is also human nature. I won't ask you tonight, but if you want to escape, you can go out of the city with my token. But tomorrow at sunrise, I will come to the east city, and if you are still here, I will see you as willing to stay here with me. If there are words like this today that shake the hearts of the army, I will do it in military law! ”

When Cao Jian heard this, he was already trembling: "The last general will not dare, after tonight, he will swear to follow Sima ...... to the death."