Chapter 208: Building Momentum

In the city of Dry Tunnel, a few ragged people walked on the road with difficulty on the branches, and when they met someone who was dressed more decently, they stopped, and begged for food pitifully. Most of them were wounded, and the strips of cloth they were wrapped in seemed to have been soaked with blood, turning light black. Judging by the tattered clothes, they were no ordinary beggars, but rather wounded soldiers who had escaped.

The owner of a shop took out some food and distributed it to them, looked at their appearance, and asked, "Let me tell you, look at your appearance, you are not begging along the street, what is this...... How did it become like this? ”

Those few people sighed, and one of them said: "Alas, it's hard to say, a few of us, who were originally officers and soldiers who followed the king to attack Chu, who would have thought that they would fight smoothly in Chu and return to Wu, but they were killed by His Royal Highness Qingji." ”

When the boss heard this, he suddenly came to his senses, and surrounded a group of idlers next to him, and asked in a gossipy manner: "I heard that His Royal Highness Qingji has returned to China, and he has brought tens of thousands of troops to ride a winged flying ship, is it true?" ”

"I heard that the king lost the battle? How's it going? ”

"I heard ......"

One of the wounded soldiers sighed, "Alas, you have only heard about this, but we have seen it with our own eyes." Let's go back to Wu on a dry road, the waterway is tortuous, it is impossible to be faster than us, why His Royal Highness Qingji arrived before us, it is to take the kind of warship that can resist the wind. ”

"Ride against the wind!" The villagers were amazed.

"But no, we heard that after His Royal Highness Qingji was assassinated in Dajiang last year, he once had to meet immortals and teach three volumes of the Book of Heaven, so he was invincible and invincible, under Tianmu Mountain, our king's 100,000 army was invited by His Royal Highness Qingji to bring the god's mount to breathe fire and the sacred cow, and the five camps were washed into falling flowers, and in that battle, we will kill more than half of our men and horses!"

"Wow! That's not fifty or sixty thousand? ”

"But it's not, the blood is flowing like a river, the blood is flowing like a river, I tell you, because I am a wounded soldier, His Royal Highness Qingji didn't kill me, I saw it with my own eyes, the corpses are piled up, higher than the flagpole on the chariot, it's really miserable!"

A soldier sighed.

"So what's going on now? His Royal Highness Qingji really got divine help, so why didn't he take Gusu City directly? ”

"This ...... This is a heavenly opportunity, I told you, but don't talk nonsense. A wounded soldier looked around mysteriously, fully arousing the curiosity of the audience, and then said: "Gusu City is a royal city, and the royal city has its own royal spirit, and there is also the protection of the gods." If His Royal Highness Qingji does not completely defeat the king and take the king's breath, he will not be able to enter Gusu City. But outside the city of Gusu, His Royal Highness Qingji is calling for wind and rain and is omnipotent. ”

The villagers gathered more and more, and they were stunned one by one, and the wounded soldier said: "The king is defeated again and again, and now he is defeated and retreated to Dongtiaoxi, and is blocked by His Royal Highness Qingji on the way back to Gusu, this country...... Alas! It's hard to say......"

"Why are you talking about this, kind-hearted folks, give us some food, the king can't take care of us anymore, we are all injured, and I don't know if we can live, I just hope to ...... I can struggle to go back to my hometown and see my parents, wife and children......"

As he spoke, the wounded soldier choked up.

The audience was sympathetic and gave alms as much as they could, and one asked, "Where do you live?" ”

"I'm from Amagi."

"I'm from Yanling."

"I'm from Nanbu Castle. Thank you, folks, don't talk about it, we still have to beg for some entanglements everywhere, so that we can rush back to our hometown, thank you for all the kind-hearted. ”

A few of the wounded soldiers spoke sadly, bowed their hands to them one by one, and then staggered forward with crutches, leaving the group gathered around and gossiping their opinions.

A few wounded soldiers limped out of the alley, turned to see that no one was coming, looked at each other, and walked towards another alley, and the same show was soon repeated in another place......

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In Gusu City, the husband was worried. He had received the news of his father's defeat and retreat to Dongtiaoxi, but Qingji's army was between Dongtiaoxi and Kasawa, blocking his father's way back to Gusu. He was worried about his father's safety, and he had the heart to lead the army out of the city to help, but ...... Gusu is the foundation of his father, how can he not know, if he really loses here, the consequences will be unimaginable.

What's more, two more messengers rushed back to the city with his sword, and strictly ordered him not to fall for Qingji's plan to divert the tiger from the mountain, and to defend Gusu City. The only way to do this is to hope that the husband of Hanyi and the defenders of Yu'er City can come back in time to relieve his father's siege.

"Boom!" There was another loud bang, and the tremor gradually died down. After a while, someone hurried into the cave under the city wall, it was a young man, with a thin face with an eagle nose and a thin face, a solemn expression, sharp eyes, and vigorous skills.

He hurried to Fucha's side and arched his hand: "Your Royal Highness the Prince, the enemy has stopped throwing stones. ”

The husband hummed, awoke from his reverie, and glanced at the young man. This person's surname is Yi, but he is young but he is the Sima of Wu Guo, and he is ranked as the secretary. More than a year ago, he was an ordinary civilian, and he didn't even have three ridges of land. However, when his father was snare by Wu Zixu and assassinated the former Wu Wang Ji for Ji Guang, the only condition put forward was that after the matter was completed, his son should be crowned as Shangqing. Ji Guang also agreed to him, and after Zhuzhu assassinated the king, Ji Guang ascended the throne, and sure enough, according to his promise, Zhuan Yi, the son of Zhuanzhu, was named Shangqing and served as the Sima of Wu. Zhuan Yi was also like his father, and served King Wu's father and son loyally.

Zhuan Yi is young, has no talent, and has a shallow foundation, although the official position is Da Sima, in charge of the Wu army, but the actual military power is in the hands of Xiangguo Wu Zixu, he is just a false name. Fortunately, he is also self-aware, knowing that what he is good at is only the swordsmanship and martial arts he learned from his father, and it is enough to be a guard, and he is incompetent to be Sima of Wu Guo, but he never grabs merit and power, so his husband also appreciates him.

Fu Cha followed Zhuan Yi out of the Tibetan Soldier Cave, shocked a cang, these Jinglin outside the city every time to fire stone bullets and mud bombs, outside the city dug ravines vertically and horizontally, almost three feet to the ground, the city is three feet higher out of thin air, the stone close to the city wall within a hundred steps can be smashed everything that can be smashed, the ground is full of gravel and mud, because it is said that so, no one has cleaned up and cleaned up, at a glance, it is like an empty city that has been barren for many years, it is very difficult to walk on the road.

The people outside the city also have to rest every day, even if they take turns to ride the stone throwing machine, there will be some time to stop the "air raid", as soon as the air raid stops, the husband will climb the city wall, observe the situation of the army outside the city, and dare not relax for a while.

Today, he climbed the city wall again, leaning on a smashed female wall and looking into the distance, only to see smoke rising from the cooking smoke everywhere in the Jinglin army, and from a distance, he saw more than a dozen strong men with thick wooden sticks carrying a few big fat pigs that had lost their hair and released their blood, and entered the camp from the stream.

The husband was stunned for a moment, pondered for a while, and suddenly became furious, and his hands on the city wall trembled a little.

Seeing this, Zhuan Yi hurriedly asked, "Your Royal Highness the Prince, what's wrong with you?" ”

The husband pointed his finger outside the city, and after a long time, Fang said fiercely: "Kill!" A bunch of thieves who deserve to be killed! ”

Zhuan Yi was stunned, and his husband didn't explain, so he brushed his sleeves and left, scolding angrily: "When the thieves are retreated, the prince vows to find out these people, and he will never let them go." ”

It turned out that the food carried by the army outside the city was gradually insufficient, and the husband could often see the army outside the city going down to the river to fish and digging wild vegetables in the field for food. Because Jinglin mainly attacked the Changmen, it was impossible to close all the 16 gates of Gusu City, so the husband often sent scouts to inquire about the news at night, and learned that Qingji's army did not plunder the people everywhere in order to win the hearts of the people, but only used silver money to buy rice and grain, but the small city and Xiaoyi had limited grain storage, and the property carried by the Qingji army was also limited.

But yesterday there were fewer people fishing and digging vegetables, and the husband was still a little strange at that time, and at this time, seeing that they still had fat pork to eat, how did the husband still not understand? In order to win people's hearts, Qingji's people and horses refused to plunder the common people, and their wealth and grain and grass were gradually insufficient.

It is clear that the gentry of the family in the Sifang City saw the wind and made the rudder, thinking that the general trend of King Wu had gone, so he threw his arms to the Qingji side, secretly lost the money, and secretly gave them rice, grain, meat and poultry, in order to make friends with the upstart. Unexpectedly, my father had just lost a battle, and the Wu people were so ruddered! Fu Cha did not know that Sun Wu sent people to the cities and countryside to start a propaganda war, and had established in the hearts of many Wu people the belief that Qingji was blessed by the gods and would be the lord of the Wu country, and he hated this betrayal.

Fucha was furious and was about to go down to the city, when suddenly a general who patrolled the city hurried to him and said, "Your Royal Highness the Prince, the last general will patrol the city and catch someone projecting a book outside the city. ”

"Huh?" The husband raised his eyebrows, his eyes shot fiercely, and he said with a hideous face: "Who is it, what does the book say?" ”

"This, yes...... It's a family member of Dr. Zhe's house. Book...... Here is the book. When the general saw the appearance of his husband, his heart was cold, and he couldn't even understand the words, so he hurriedly put the book on the slip and said timidly: "The book slip hasn't been shot out yet, please ...... Your Highness, please take a look. ”

The husband grabbed it, and tore it open with a "bang" to read, the book did not confess the deployment of the city defense, in fact, the philosopher doctor did not know anything about the city defense. This letter is just a nagging to tell the deep relationship between the Zhe family's family and the Qingji family, the assassination of the prince, Qingji's escape, how he Zhe Dafu was heartbroken, looking at the river, and earnestly hoping that Qingji would return to Wu and ascend the throne as soon as possible. The implication is that he is no longer optimistic about Ji Guang and his son, and has begun to pave the way for the new master.

Now that he has been defeated and taken to Dongtiaoxi, the army is panicked, the people's hearts are fluctuating, as the prince of the prison country, the pressure in the heart of the husband is so heavy, this letter to buy a good slander just touched his sore feet, he fought with his arms, and actually tore off the seal of the book, and the bamboo pieces were sprinkled all over the ground with a loud bang.

Fucha slowly raised his head, and the general who patrolled the city couldn't help but take a big step back in shock, only to see Fucha's face was pale, his eyes were red, his eyebrows were raised, and his nostrils were open, like a fire-breathing dragon. He gritted his teeth and said word for word: "Go!" Arrest Dr. Zhe's family for me, gather the city's ministers, doctors, and family heads, and kill all the men of Dr. Zhe's family, regardless of age or age, in front of them, and then feed them to the dogs! The female dependents are sent to the army as a camp record, and they will never die! ”

The general said in a trembling voice: "Your Highness, even if Dr. Zhe collaborates with the enemy, he is not guilty of beheading, not to mention, not to mention that Dr. Zhe's family and His Royal Highness are in-laws, and they are still your uncle according to their generation......"

The husband waved his hand and roared violently: "Whoever he is, do as I tell him, do it immediately!" You must do my commands to the letter, or you will be guilty of the same crime. ”

"Yes! Yes, yes! The general responded with a trembling voice and hurriedly turned away.

The husband took two steps down the stairs, tripped over the earth and almost fell, he jumped up in a rage, turned and walked up the stairs again, and almost collided with the Zhuan Yi who came down with him. Zhuan Yi hurriedly flashed to the side, and the husband strode up to the city, seeing the smoke in the barracks under the city, and suddenly twisted his eyebrows and said: "Zhuan Yi, find some people to come and shout outside the city, Jing Lin is attached to the rebellious Qingji, and he is the enemy of my Wu State." But those who can behead their heads and send them into the city will be rewarded with 10,000 gold, sealed Qingqing, worshiped generals, and awarded fiefdoms! ”

The class of the world, the Son of Heaven, the princes, the kings, the doctors, the scholars, the common people, and the slaves. can be directly named qing, that is a steady progress, all of a sudden become a master, not to mention that in addition to the knight, there is also the wealth of ten thousand gold and the official title of the general, of course, Fucha as the prince of Wu will say such a thing, and then by Zhuan Yi to show up to say, Fucha believes that even if no one in the city really has the courage to hit the head of Jing Linxiang, it can also make Jing Lin sleep restlessly, and guard against plots at night.

Zhuan Yi hurriedly went to select a soldier with a loud voice to go to the city to shout, and the husband drove down the city and went straight to the Zhe Dafu's mansion. Fucha is really a resolute and resolute surname, the princess of the city, the head of the wealthy family is concentrated, even if the royal family pleads, the husband will never let go of any one in the Zhedafu Mansion, a moment of effort, the street has been pressed down, up to the septuagenarian, down to the baby under the age of one, but all men, are all inched.

The screams of the torture were as terrible as a group of ghosts, and the onlookers were colorless, but the husband looked calm, and said to the onlookers: "The survival of Gusu is related to the Jiangshan Sheji of Wu State, if Gusu is broken, the prince will burn the whole city to accompany the funeral, and the ministers of the city have no way to live, so you should defend the city with the imperial court and resist the strong enemy." Those who rebel against the enemy in battle, this is the end, and you should take this as a warning. Come on, all the women sent to the army, all of them are used as camp notes! ”

A group of wolf-like soldiers rushed forward and dragged away all the women who were crying in Nazhefu, Fucha's fierce gaze swept over the faces of the spectators, and the people he could see slowly lowered their heads, Fucha sneered three times and brushed his sleeves away. In front of the Zhefu, a group of ministers and doctors and family heads were left behind, trembling in the terrible screams......

The husband returned to the gate tower, and Zhuan Yi was ordering a group of soldiers to shout to the city and attack the Qingji army. I don't want the defenders of the city to shout until they are hoarse, the soldiers in the camp under the city are well fed, and they lazily pace out of the gate, lined up outside the gate, and many people are still holding a willow branch in their hands.

These are some ruffians who stand in the middle of the road and have no military appearance, and they are lined up and shouted to the city: "Listen to the people in the city, His Royal Highness Qingji has defeated Ji Guang and is about to ascend the throne and become king." Who can kill the husband, raise the head and surrender, His Royal Highness will reward ten thousand gold, give good land, and worship the marquis! ”

When the husband heard this, he was so angry that he almost immediately raised his spear and led the troops out of the city, and Jing Lin was so shameless that he directly copied his words, and the lion opened his mouth widely, and made a wish to the official for Qingji.

Fucha endured and endured, paced in the city for a long time, turned his head, and saw that Zhuan Yi was standing aside waiting for his order, Fucha thought for a while, and beckoned: "You come!" ”

Zhuan Yi immediately moved forward, and the husband said: "My father does not allow me to leave the city to support, but I really can't rest assured of my father. By my side, you have the best skills, tonight you sneak out of the city in the dark, and go to Dongtiaoxi to see my father, at this time, the defenders of Yu'er City must have rushed to meet my father, and their two armies converged, enough to confront Qingji. You can tell my father, my husband and Uncle Wang are rushing to relieve the siege in the starry night, and when Uncle Wang arrives, Qingji will suffer the enemy on his back, and the three armies will be defeated, at that time, please ask my father to rush back to Gusu as soon as possible, I and my father will attack inside and outside, and I will be able to destroy Jinglin in a battle, and then my father will sit in Gusu, I will go out on behalf of my father to exterminate the bandits! ”

When he said this, he slammed his fists and said hatefully: "Every time I stand at the head of this city, my heart hangs on the safety of my father in the distance, and the enemy is close but I can't fight, it's really anxious!" ”

"No!" Zhuan Yi is ready to retreat.

"Wait!" The husband suddenly called him again, and said in a deep voice: "Take that Li Han, this person is calm and wise, and he understands some Qingji's actions in the Lu country, maybe ...... Father needs him. ”

"No!" Zhuan Yi clenched his fists and retreated.

The husband turned to look at the city, but unfortunately it was a stone's throw away, but he couldn't help the lowly people who challenged him, he spat fiercely, and slammed his fist on the city.

(To be continued)