On the wall of the eastern city, Song Yu stopped and looked, stopped and listened, and stopped and thought.

In the first battle of Pengcheng, most of the people of Pengcheng were killed and wounded, especially the young and middle-aged people suffered the most war losses, and almost every household had people killed in the war. After the war, after statistics, only a little more than a thousand people survived intact, and about twice as many were wounded, but only about half survived. The casualties of more than 100 people who followed Zhao Jie to the battle were similar, only about 20 people were intact and more than 40 were injured, but more than 20 of them are estimated to be unable to come down.

As night fell, the intact soldiers returned to their homes, some of them found that their homes were gone, and their relatives were also dead, I have to say that Wang Qian's final destruction was very powerful, killing people when they saw them, burning houses when they saw them, and they created a ruin belt from Dongcheng to Xicheng. Seeing this situation, the soldiers who lived for the rest of the festival lost their excitement of chasing away the thieves, and most of them couldn't help crying. However, they were not the only ones who cried this night, and Pengcheng was crying all over the city this night. Since then, almost every year on this day, Pengcheng will cry almost all over the city.

The cries of the whole city, the devastation, and the miserable Pengcheng after the war. "Rebuild, must rebuild, let you rest for a night tonight, and tomorrow everyone will follow me to rebuild Pengcheng." Looking at the ruins in front of him, Song Yu immediately gave orders to those surviving subordinate gentry.

The subordinate officials and gentry even claimed that they did not dare to disobey the orders of the high-flying Song Yu and Song County Princes.

"Peng Wei, you are responsible for the post-war liquidation, you work hard, give me an overnight investigation and find out those thieves." Song Yu ordered again.

Peng Wei, who was already deeply impressed by Song Yu, responded to the promise, and then led several of his guards out of the Dongcheng city wall.

At the same time, on such a dark night, Zhao Jie was not idle. Under Xicheng City, accompanied by Zhao Yin, Zhao Jie found all the bodies of his partners who died in battle from the battlefield and cremated them one by one.

"Send their ashes to their relatives, give each household 10 taels of pension, and build a "Baozhong Temple" at your headquarters, write down their names, set up a tablet, and then enshrine them in the shrine, and continue to worship at four o'clock. Looking at the burning corpse in front of him, Zhao Jie bowed and said to Zhao Yin beside him.

"Obey Your Highness's orders." Zhao Yin responded.

"Also, you don't have to go back to Zhao with me first. After this battle, I estimate that Pengcheng's intelligence system will all collapse, you stay here to rebuild the intelligence system first, and then use our relationship in Chu to push Song Yu into the court of Chu State, tell Zhao Mou, let him hug Song Yu's thigh tightly, understand? After you have done this, you will come to Zhao to find me, I still have important things for you to do. Zhao Jie continued.

"I understand that in order to push Song Yu to power, in fact, Zhao Mu was allowed to enter the court." Zhao Yin nodded.

"Also, usually help me pay attention to see if you can help me find a stand-in." Zhao Jie said again. Although Zhao Yin didn't understand Zhao Jie's request, he still agreed.

Hundreds of miles outside Pengcheng, some improvised tents were erected, which was the makeshift camp for the defeated five Xu brothers. This night, the five brothers of the Xu family, who fled from Pengcheng, were not idle. Due to Xu Ba's accidental death on the battlefield, in an extremely simple camp, Xu Yan was ordered to take over the position of the head of the Xu family. At this time, in front of Xu Yan was a chaotic stall, and there were only more than 1,000 soldiers left who still followed him, many of whom were not fully clothed, many of them had lost their horses, and many of them had lost their spirits. The problem of the soldiers is not the most serious problem, the most serious problem is that all the food and grass accumulated for many years are lost, and nothing is grabbed, which makes the living materials for the coming year have no whereabouts, if this matter is not solved quickly, it will not be long before the soldiers and their families in the cottage will go hungry.

Xu Yan didn't have a good way, but fortunately, Wang Jian was still in the army, so he found Wang Jian and asked for help.

"Military advisor ......" Xu Yan just wanted to speak, but Wang Jian covered his mouth.

"I understand what you're trying to say, I'm thinking about it too, don't interrupt my thinking." Wang Jian stared at the whole map of Chu State in front of him, and said without looking back.

After a few minutes, Wang Jian suddenly slapped his head, shouted "Ah", and then said to Xu Yan happily: "I have thought of a way out!" We can attack Zhongwu County, that hoof has a handle in our hands, and he doesn't dare to act rashly. ”

Xu Yan praised when he heard this: "That's right! How I didn't expect that! I think this plan is feasible, and the military advisor is really a wise man! ”

Under the same night sky, three forces, three sleeplessness, three thoughts, three moods. Time is still passing, life is still going on, and after this night, those who survive will continue their lives. Many years later, Zhao Jie, Song Yu, Wang Jian and others, who had a new life and new encounters, were all embarrassed when they recalled this experience.

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The next morning, before the sun rose, the smell of blood was still in the air. Bidding farewell to Zhao Yin, Zhao Jie left the city that gave him a deep memory early. Looking back at Pengcheng, Zhao Jie found that there were already some ordinary people on the city wall, they stood there early, monitoring everything around, no one forced them, no one lured them, they were all voluntary, just because of a heart to protect the family. Looking at all this, Zhao Jie suddenly realized: the city is not high, but it is also; The wall is not solid, but it can also; The soldiers are not strong, but they are also. If the people's heart is solid, the city will be strong, and if the people's heart is strong, the country will be strong, and the people's heart will be the treasure of the country.

"Let's go." Xu Yang's urging interrupted Zhao Jie's thinking. Zhao Jie turned his head, settled down, took a step firmly, and then shouted loudly: "Let's get on the road!" Hearing Zhao Jie's shout, the carriage that had stopped and waited in the distance creaked again, and continued to march towards the west, and Zhao Jie also turned over and rode away.

Since then, Zhao Jie has never been to Pengcheng again. A few years later, in the thousands of intelligence, I learned the fate of the five Xu brothers: Xu Yan led the survivors to attack a small city in Zhongwu County in order to relieve the pressure of the cottage for the winter, although the battle was won, but Xu Ren died unexpectedly and bizarrely, at the hands of an ordinary person. Xu Ren's death laid the foundation for Xu's civil strife, and a year later, Yu Yu launched a rebellion and killed Xu Yan, who was then exterminated by Xu Fu and Xu Ji. Xu Fu and Xu Ji fought for the position of the head of the family, and finally Xu Fu killed Xu Ji, but the power of the Xu family, which had just recovered, was weakened. Soon, in an invasion, Xu Fu was unfortunately killed by the enemy general. At this point, the Xu family, which once crisscrossed the northern part of the Chu State, was completely wiped out.

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Three days after leaving Pengcheng, Zhao Jie and his party arrived safely in Yongcheng. Yongcheng is not big, nor is it famous, it belongs to the kind of border area of the city defense, fortress-like ordinary town. When Zhao Jie and his entourage arrived at the gate of Yongcheng, Yongcheng was still under martial law.

The soldiers at the gate of the city carefully searched every citizen who entered the city as if they were facing a great enemy. The speed of the soldiers was slow, which caused a long queue to be formed outside the city, and it took a long time for people to take a step forward. Because he needed to go into the city to replenish food and water, Zhao Jie also had to queue up.

"Little brother, what the hell is going on? Why do you need to be so strict! Zhao Jie asked a young man in front of him.

The young man turned his head, glanced at Zhao Jie, and then whispered to Zhao Jie: "Lord County Guard is stationed in the city, and I heard that this person is as timid as a mouse. Since he heard that Pengcheng was besieged by bandits, not only did he not dare to save Pengcheng, but he even hid in the city for fear of death. According to relevant information, he does not even dare to go out of the door now, and hides in the county government all day for fear of being assassinated when he goes out. The search at the gate is said to have been the idea of the county guard for fear of spies infiltrating the city and assassinating him, and it is not known how the county guard's brain grew. In short, encountering such a county guard is really the misfortune of our Pengcheng County, and it is really the sorrow of our little people. The youthful tone was full of complaints and disdain.

"I just came from Pengcheng, and I heard that Pengcheng Song County Gong won a big victory, didn't the county prince hear the news?" Zhao Jie asked again.

"Who knows? These big people are acting mysteriously! How can I guess if I and other small people can guess? The young man cautiously continued: "The affairs of our Chu State are in trouble! I don't know how many moths will come out! ”

Just when Zhao Jie and the young man were talking, there was a loud "boom", and a burst of thunder suddenly came to mind in the sky, and the young man raised his head and looked at the sky, and then said to himself: "It seems that it is going to rain soon." ”

Zhao Jie also raised his head when he heard this, looked at the sky, and then said, "Yes! What an unforeseen situation! ”

"Little brother, according to the current situation, it's too late to enter the city, I want to ask, there is a place to shelter from the rain nearby." Zhao Jie continued.

"There is an abandoned temple in 1 mile, and we can go there to take refuge from the rain." The young man said.

"Please lead the way." Zhao Jie thanked him, and then led everyone to follow the young man to the temple.