Ma Lan's 150,000 troops arrived at the north side of the Western Capital five days later, thirty miles away from the Western Capital, and set up camp, in order to prevent Ma Xun from such a tragedy, and in order to prevent Wang Xu from using that mysterious weapon again, Ma Lan set up three large camps thirty miles away, and each battalion formed a corner between each battalion, which could deal with any emergency.

Ma Lan's concept of such a formation is that once any battalion is attacked by a sneak attack, or is attacked by a mysterious weapon, the other two battalions can still be rescued in time, and if they take 10,000 steps back, even if they can't be rescued, then at least two battalions are okay and will not be wiped out.

After Ma Xun's incident, Ma Lan was very careful, thinking twice about everything, and striving to be foolproof.

At the outermost part of the three large battalions, Ma Lan had his soldiers dig a deep trench as wide as a zhang, and there were sharp thorns covered with it, in case Wang Xu's cavalry attacked.

After dinner, Ma Lan took a group of soldiers to patrol the barracks, he did not dare to be careless, his eyes were bright and attentive to all the soldiers standing guard, as long as the slightest slack will be arrested and punished.

After the patrol, he called his three lieutenants to discuss the matter in the big tent of the Chinese army.

Ma Lan asked everyone to sit down, and then said: "The walls of the Western Capital are five zhang high, and our siege equipment can't reach them at all, what do you think should be done?" ”

Deputy General Zhang Kan sighed and said: "It's a pity that Qian Ling and others didn't handle things well and were discovered by Wang Xu. ”

Speaking of the killing of Qianling, Ma Lan is still in a cold sweat, as soon as he left the city with his front foot, people began to arrest people with his back foot, fortunately he ran fast, otherwise it would have fallen into Wang Xu's hands now.

Deputy General Pei Qing said: "The last general thinks that we should immediately repair the siege equipment now, only the height of the siege equipment has increased." in order to attack the city strongly. ”

"During this period of time when the siege equipment has not been repaired, we can go to the city every day to challenge them, lead them out to the field, and also take the opportunity to understand the strength of the enemy army."

What Pei Qing said was very close to reality. It is also very practical, Ma Lan nodded slightly, and said: "Raising all the siege equipment, this is not something that can be completed in a day or two, and it will take at least a month; Now the general is still blocked from Languan. Should we send someone to pick it up right away? ”

Zhang Kan said: "We can't help if we go, the terrain of Languan is very special, he is mainly guarding against the west, so there is no way up the mountain in the west, if you want to cross Languan, only the general himself can find a way." ”

Ma Lan said: "I knew this was the case, I should have asked the general to take a detour from Beijun with us, the general has already explored clearly, and there are only more than 10,000 defenders in the direction of Nalan Pass." How can it be reasonable to block my army of 300,000! ”

The crowd discussed until midnight and drew up several phalanxes.

First, it is necessary to get in touch with Yu Yuan immediately, report the situation here, and at the same time, strongly persuade the general to make a detour from Beijun.

Second, craftsmen worked day and night to raise all kinds of siege equipment, which is very important, and it is related to whether or not the western capital can be stormed, and it must be completed as soon as possible.

Third. Every day, he went to the north gate of the Western Capital to challenge, and while hitting the enemy's morale, he led Wang Xu out of the city to fight.

..............

Half a month later, the imperial capital.

The emperor was in a pretty good mood today. Because the 'Jingshui Palace' is almost completed, it is magnificent and beautiful, but it was built after he exhausted the national treasury, and it can be described as a thousand years of industry.

The Crystal Water Palace is very delicately constructed. The entire empire of the nine counties is built here, it is a miniature version of the continent, covering an area of nearly 100 miles, in addition to these, there are various scenic spots in the palace, the skyless city, the water galaxy, and so on, anyway, you can't finish shopping for a month.

The emperor is now in the Heavenless City, this city is very small, only a mile in diameter, however, this city has no daytime, and the sky is all inlaid with extra-large night pearls, which makes people feel like they are living in a dream.

The emperor was appreciating the energy, and the sixth prince Zhou Xie hurriedly came, and when the emperor saw it, he felt disappointed; Heart, hey... It's a state affair again, when is this a head?

Zhou Xie saluted and said: "Father, the son has something important to play." ”

The emperor came to the dragon chair and sat down: "Say, is it another anti-thief matter?" ”

Zhou Xie nodded and replied: "There is the latest battle report coming from today, and the sons dare not deal with it without authorization, so they have come to ask their father." "Zhou Xie was just recruited by the emperor to the Jinluan Palace two days ago to learn to handle state affairs.

Zhou Xiedao: "General Yu Yuan is still outside Languan, not moving an inch, General Ma Lan is attacking the Western Capital, but there is no progress; Our imperial army sent troops for a month, and nothing was accomplished. ”

"Lu Yang, the rebel of Beijun, fought a decisive battle with Zhou Kai three days ago, Zhou Kai fell into Lu Yang's plan to divert the tiger from the mountain, the royal city was lost, the army was lost, and the army of 100,000 was trapped in a small county town, and now it is being attacked by Lu Yang, Zhou Kai is short of grain and grass, and he is anxious for the court to help."

When the emperor heard this, he almost didn't turn his back on it, the anti-thief is too pale, Zhou Kai has more than 40,000 elite iron horsemen, he knows this, but he was defeated, it can be seen that Lu Yang's anti-thief is more terrible than Wang Xu, and he must be eliminated as soon as possible!

The emperor said: "You go and draft an order, let Yu Yuan lead the army to the north and destroy Luyang; In addition, let Ma Lan continue to attack the Western Capital and destroy Wang Xu within two months, otherwise, he will be punished for the crime of defeat! ”

Zhou Xie did not leave, and continued: "There is also a battle report from Qingyuan County, the anti-thief Hu Ling and the thief Miao Zang, the two have captured all the cities in Qingyuan County, gathered tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, and now they have besieged Wangcheng, and the prince of Qingyuan County has written to beg for help. ”

Hu Ling and Miao Zang were not so powerful, since Sun Yu and Zhang Meng left, both of them had a little difficulty recruiting troops, but Hu Ling listened to the advice of the military advisor under the account, and every time he went to the city, he burned all the houses in the city, robbed all the property in the city, and controlled all the food under his jurisdiction in his own hands.

Of course, there are also some people who are afraid of death and do not want to join the army, these people can only fend for themselves, and Hu Ling can't control so much.

Zhou Xiedao: "There is also Bao'an County, the former Languan Marquis Zhu Huan and Huai Mountain thieves, the two forces frequently attack the government in Bao'an County, although there is no threat yet, but its military power is better than one day, and it must be guarded against." ”

The emperor took a deep breath, it's really the opposite, now even the bandits dare to make trouble, okay, if you dare to rebel, I will dare to fight, but I want to see, whether you are powerful, or the elite of my court.

Zhou Xie didn't seem to have finished speaking, and when he saw that the emperor was angry, he stiffly held back, and when the emperor saw it, he immediately said: "Xie'er has something to say." ”

Zhou Xiedao: "Back to my father, according to the convention, at this time of year, the princes of each county should offer 10,000 taels of gold and 100,000 deniers of grain and grass, but now there are frequent wars, and the offerings cannot be delivered." ”

The emperor frowned, this is not good, now the treasury is empty, and millions of troops are still waiting to eat, the emperor said: "Hexi County, Guxi County, Qingyuan County, North County, these four counties can not be offered for the time being, but the four counties of Nanjun, Wu County, Bao'an County, and Dongjun must pay 100,000 taels of gold and 100,000 deniers of grain on time." ”

The emperor thought for a moment and said, "No... Now there is a lot of war, so let them pay 20,000 taels of gold and 200,000 deniers of grain per county! ”

Zhou Xie arched his hand: "Obey." (To be continued.) )