Under the same sky, it was not only Wang Jian who couldn't sleep this night, but also Zhao Jie who was in a foreign land inn.

Sitting in the inn, a small room, a table, a candle, a map, in the dimly lit room, Zhao Jie was lying on the bookcase, writing and drawing, and was studying something.

The candle flame burned quietly, and the candle tears were all around the candle. Suddenly, there was a faint movement outside the window, and then the candle flame was moved by the wind, and the light in the room was dimmed, which alarmed Zhao Jie, who was concentrating on writing.

"You're here." Zhao Jie suddenly spoke, "What happened to the matter I asked you to investigate." ”

In the darkness, there was no figure in sight, only a gloomy voice came from it: "If you go back to Your Highness, the general situation has been mastered." ”

"Then tell me about the bandits outside the city!" Zhao Jie was still writing and drawing, and asked without raising his head.

The man in the darkness replied, and then said, "According to the news reported by the secret agents we bought, we have a general understanding of the situation of the army outside the city. The commander of the army outside the city was a man named Xuba. ”

"Who is this man?" Zhao Jie interrupted the words of the invisible man in the darkness.

After claiming to be the original Xu royal family, he was the 25th grandson of King Xu Yan, the virtuous monarch of Xu State, and the people believed him. In these years, the government of Pengcheng was corrupt, and the people were miserable, so he led a group of believers to establish a cottage in Xushan, self-sufficient, and resisted the rule of Chu. ”

"It turns out that it is also after the nobles. Sometimes it is ironic that the nobles became bandits. Zhao Jie sighed: "You continue." ”

"We recently got some new news, it is said that about half a month ago, hundreds of elite soldiers came to Xu Ba's cottage, and these soldiers conducted a 10-day training for more than 3,000 soldiers under Xu Ba. Ten days later, Xu Ba tried his hand and easily destroyed a few cottages that had been against him, and also laid down one or two towns near Xu Mountain. ”

"Where did those elite soldiers come from, have you found out?" Zhao Jie interrupted the stealthy man again.

"Back to Your Highness, according to our spies, he doesn't know where those people came from, but he only knows from the gossip that the leader of those people is a person named Wang Qian." The Invisible Man replied.

After hearing the name Wang Qian, Zhao Jie felt a little strange, and the pen in his hand stopped.

"Your Highness knows about Wang Qian." The stealth man noticed Zhao Jie's change and asked tentatively.

Zhao Jie hurriedly covered up, continued to devote himself to the work in his hands, and replied calmly: "I don't know." Haven't heard of this name. "Zhao Jie really doesn't know Wang Qian? That's impossible.

Zhao Jie has always clearly remembered a piece of history in his mind: in the last years of Zhao State, Wang Jian Shuai Qin army attacked Zhao State, and Zhao State sent Li Mu and Sima Shang to lead the army to resist. Wang Jian used a counter-plot to make King Zhao kill Li Mu and Sima Shang. Subsequently, Wang Jian led a large army to attack Zhao, broke through the Jingchengkou, captured Handan, captured the king of Zhao, and the state of Zhao died. From the moment he was reborn, Zhao Jie had already regarded Wang Jian as the most important opponent in this life, how could he not know the name Wang Qian.

Things in the world are so accidental, unexpected, Zhao Jie never expected that his life would intersect with Wang Jian for the first time in Pengcheng.

"What is the route of the march of the army outside the city this time, and what is the configuration of the army's equipment." Zhao Jie skipped the topic of Wang Jian and asked again.

"From Xu Mountain, pass the good city and swear, and then go all the way to the north, cross the big city without entering, and break the city after the small town. The army has enough soldiers and food, 2,000 elite soldiers are all one person and one horse, and there are more than 3,000 people and slaves. From Pengcheng to Liangcheng, one hundred and fifty miles, the army arrived in three days......"

"What a formidable enemy! Pengcheng is worried. Zhao Jie sighed. Zhao Yin, you did a good job. Your ability is not enough to display in the Chu State, if we can retreat from the Pengcheng War this time, you can accompany me back to the Zhao State, I have a great task to hand over to you. But now in the Chu State, you don't have to show up, I want you to help me do things in the dark, it's more convenient. ”

"Your Highness." Said the Invisible Man.

"Stand down! Wait for my orders at any time, the old rules, and take the Hou board as a token. Zhao Jie said. The invisible man replied, and then there was another subtle movement outside the window.

As for why Zhao Yin went to Zhao Jie's room in the middle of the night to report the news, the matter had to start a few hours ago.

Ever since he had witnessed the battle with his own eyes on the city wall, Zhao Jie had begun to worry about the comfort of their group. Back at the inn, he told everyone his rational inference that Pengcheng would never be able to hold it. But in fact, in the bottom of his heart, there was an intuition that told him that this battle would not be a simple end, and Song Yu, the county commander of Pengcheng, must still have a backhand; His intuition also told him that the besieging side was by no means a simple group of bandits, and that there must be an extraordinary backstage behind them.

So after talking with Gao Le and the others, Zhao Jie walked out of the inn and found the secret base of the internal guard in Pengcheng. In the secret base, Zhao Jie met Zhao Yin, and Zhao Jie asked him to find a map of Pengcheng County, and instructed him to inquire about some news about the army outside the city.

Now, with the information provided by Zhao Yin, Zhao Jie can roughly sort out the entanglement of forces in this upcoming battle. The army outside the city ostensibly represents the power of the bandits in Pengcheng, and behind it is the power of the Qin State, while the inside of the city represents the power of the Chu government and the power of the local people in Pengcheng. Obviously, this was an operation planned by the Qin people behind their backs to disrupt the rear of the Chu State and attack the Chu State.

After figuring out the situation of the competing interests of the various forces on the table of this upcoming war, in this deep night, Zhao Jie made up his mind without hesitation and made a decision. Zhao is in the north, Chu is in the south, and Zhao and Chu do not border, so since the establishment of Zhao, there is no big contradiction between Zhao and Chu, but there is a lot of cooperation. In recent years, the Qin State has continued to attack the six eastern countries and conquer cities. In order to deal with the common enemy of Qiang Qin, Zhao and Chu had to huddle together to keep warm, but they got closer and closer. Therefore, it is in the interests of Zhao to help Song Yu repel the bandits outside the city who have the figure of Qin behind him, and a strong Chu State can reduce the pressure exerted by Qin on Zhao and can have more time to recuperate.

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In the early morning, the temperature is still the same cold as yesterday, the morning glow also appears in the sky as it was yesterday, and everything in the sky and earth seems to be no different from yesterday. Heaven and earth are unkind, all things are dogs, the gods have not sown their righteousness on the earth, they have done nothing, they have not rained or snow on this day to prevent the people on the earth from waging war, bloodshed is inevitable. The people of Pengcheng looked at the bewitching color on the edge of the sky, and their expressions were gloomy.

Tatsuki, a time that went down in history, was made extraordinary by the war.

At the end of the hour, the drums of the generals sounded almost simultaneously inside and outside the city. The loud sound of Peng woke up all the people inside and outside Peng City.

In the county government in the city, many subordinate officials and gentry have already gathered in the county government, and the county prince Song Yu walked out of the inner courtyard with a military uniform.

"I don't talk any more nonsense with you, those who are not willing to obey the orders of this father unconditionally, and who are not willing to stay and spend the difficult times with this public, I will give you the last thirty breaths to consider, or go or stay, and decide for yourself." As soon as he entered the county office, Song Yu said bluntly. After speaking, he turned his back on his body, did not look at the officials and gentry, and let him live.

"Ten, nine...... Three, two, one, the time is up. "Thirty breaths of time is fleeting. Song Yu turned around and swept the remaining subordinate officials and gentry with his eyes, he didn't say anything, he bent down, and the meaning of please was in between.

After finishing it, Song Yu changed the romantic state in the eyes of the world over the years, and once again showed the talented, capable and resolute appearance of his youth in front of the world.

"Peng Chong, I order you to organize all the people in the city who are not participating in the war, take soil on the spot, and build another wall for me ten miles away from the current east city wall to dig a moat, I will give you two days, can you do it?"

"Peng Chong took the order."

"Xu Wei, I order you to cooperate with Peng Chong and call on the people to respond to our actions. At the same time, you are to tear down all the buildings in the distance of ten miles between the two walls and use them as materials for repairing the city. There is also the diversion of water into the newly dug moat. One thing you must remember when doing things is that you must tell the people the facts and reason, and you must not persecute the people, otherwise you will not be spared. Like Peng Chong, two are done, can it be done? ”

"Xu Wei took the order."

"Song Zhuang, I order you to open the arsenal and issue swords and armor to the people defending the city. In addition, take a hundred soldiers from my house, and go to the houses of all the other officials and wealthy families present at the present time, and gather all their household members compulsorily, and those who hinder you will act cheaply. At noon, he led this group of family members to report to me. ”

"Song Zhuang takes the order."

"The person who received the order chose 10 subordinates and 10 gentry at will, and the rest followed me to the city to guard the pool. At that point, I'll have another assignment. ”

Song Yu assigns tasks between breaths, and then the subordinate officials and gentry live everywhere and begin to fulfill their duties.