In the darkness, the defenders at the head of the city gradually saw clearly the approaching merchants, about twenty people, driving more than two hundred horses, each horse carrying two large boxes, the horses snorted, looking very difficult, the boxes were obviously containing heavy goods.

Since the Qi army captured Luojing, the tax inspection office of the Tiger Prison Pass has also been cancelled, but the tax still has to be recruited, by the army, that is, the additional income of the five hundred defenders, so the town guarding the Tiger Prison Pass is definitely a fat difference, the guard is a Du Lieutenant surnamed Jiang, he was Luo Qiyu's personal army, and at this time, this Jiang Du Lieutenant is also sleeping, and a captain surnamed Qiao is on duty.

Captain Qiao was transferred to the Tiger Prison for only a month, but he had already made a windfall of 1,000 taels of silver, but this was still because the war affected business, if it was the previous peaceful years, he could at least earn 5,000 taels of silver, of course, in peacetime, the tax silver would not enter their pockets.

Not only Captain Qiao, all the soldiers have income, at least a hundred taels of silver, hearing the caravan's horse bell, more than 20 soldiers on duty rushed to the head of the city, leaned over and looked down, Captain Qiao 'Shhhhh He scolded in a low voice: "You fools, you have alarmed other people, you take fart money!" ”

The soldiers were suddenly silent, and the defenders had more than 500 people, and the more people who woke up, the more people who came to share the money, and everyone understood this truth.

Captain Qiao didn't ask, he waved his hand lightly, "Go down alone." ”

The soldiers had accumulated a wealth of experience in making money, and in the middle of the night, they had to keep quiet, not shouting loudly, but going down to interrogate quietly, and immediately a captain was hung down sitting on a basket.

"Where are you from?"

The first businessman hurriedly stepped forward and nodded, "Report to the military master, we are from Jingzhou and go to Luojing to do business." ”

In fact, it doesn't matter where these merchants come from, and the soldiers are not there to check anything, they only care about two things, have they paid taxes? How much is the goods worth?

If they have not paid taxes, they can be taxed in the open, and the higher the value of the goods, the heavier the tax.

"What about tax bills? Show me! ”

"Back to Master Jun, we haven't paid taxes yet, and we're going to Luojing to pay taxes."

Wu Chang's eyes suddenly lit up, and he was secretly happy in his heart, the fat sheep came, he walked to a horse, patted the big box on the horse, "What's inside, open it and see!" ”

"Back to the military master, they are all Jingzhou specialties, and it is inconvenient to open."

As he spoke, the merchant stuffed a heavy piece of silver into the hands of the Wu Commander, and the Wu Chang shook it, which was ten taels, and he was secretly happy in his heart, and took the silver and said with a smile: "That's good, just open one box." ”

It is customary to inspect the goods before entering the customs, this is the custom, the merchant opened one of the boxes, only to see that the boxes were all good Ayaluo, Wu Chang's eyes narrowed, he will make a fortune tonight, he immediately made a switch gesture to the city, the captain Qiao on the city head was looking at the probe, he saw that Wu Chang's gesture contained a sign of heavy profit, he was overjoyed, and immediately ordered, "Switch!" Be quieter. ”

The gate of the Tiger Prison Pass was slowly opened, the caravan began to enter the city, the Tiger Prison Pass is not big, the two city walls before and after, hundreds of steps apart, the ground in the city is level, the bricks are paved, and dozens of buildings have been built, mainly the post station, the tax office, the military camp and several inns, more than 3,000 troops can be stationed, now there are only 500 garrisons, and the city is very empty.

After entering the city, the caravan stopped in the city cave, and did not enter the square, the long and dark city cave was the best place to hide, and the men unloaded the large boxes from their horses.

At this time, Captain Qiao ran down from the city, pulled the captain over and asked in a low voice, "What is it?" ”

Wu Chang whispered in his ear: "It's all good silk, and I haven't paid taxes." ”

Both of them couldn't help but laugh, their eyes were full of pride, and Captain Qiao immediately said to Wu Chang: "Go and ask the brothers to come down and stock the goods." ”

Wu Chang rushed away, and at this time, two merchants stepped forward, holding a few ingots of silver with white flowers in their hands, and handed them to him, "This is a little heart, please accept it!" ”

Captain Qiao smiled and squinted, and just reached out to take it, when suddenly a snowy dagger was pressed against his waist, "Don't make a sound, otherwise I will kill you!" ”

The other person moved quickly, snatched the knife from Captain Qiao's waist, and the sudden change stunned Captain Qiao, and he couldn't say a word for a long time.

"Tell everyone to come down and line up, do you hear me!"

As soon as the dagger was sent forward, it pierced into his flesh, and Captain Qiao reacted at this time, and the pain in his waist frightened him into weakness in his legs, so he had to obediently shout: "Everyone come down, line up!" ”

More than 20 soldiers ran down from the city gate and quickly stood in line, and the merchant stood behind Captain Qiao and whispered: "Tell them to put down their weapons and go to check the goods." ”

Captain Qiao had no choice but to follow the order: "Brothers, put down the guys and go to stock the goods, don't scare the guests away." ”

The soldiers laughed meaningfully, took off their swords one after another, and ran in the direction of the city cave, and the rich ** burned in the hearts of each of them, and they all heard that it was a good silk.

More than 20 soldiers ran to the city gate, but they were all stunned, the big boxes were on the ground, opened, and the inside was empty, and more than 200 Chu soldiers held flintlock pistols and aimed them coldly, and more than 20 men copied behind them, and also raised flintlock pistols to cut off their retreat.

The general of the Chu army shouted loudly: "Squat down all, otherwise there will be no forgiveness for killing!" ”

More than 20 soldiers were stunned, the desire to make a fortune was shattered by a basin of cold water, the sudden change made them look at each other, no one thought that it would be like this, no one knew what to do, the time had reached the most critical juncture, the merchant strangled Captain Qiao's neck, and the dagger stabbed into his vest, "Order them to squat!" ”

Captain Qiao had no choice but to shout: "All squat!" ”

More than 20 soldiers had to squat down at the order, and the sneak attack of the Chu army immediately launched, rushed to the city, seized the control of the city gate winch, and a rocket flew into the night sky with a 'boom', and exploded in the air, sparks flew everywhere.

Lin Yuanyang, who was hiding two miles away, saw that he had succeeded, and immediately shouted, "Kill in the pass!" ”

Three thousand Chu troops swarmed up and rushed murderously towards the Tiger Prison Pass.

At this time, the bright light and explosion of the rocket also alarmed the Qi army in the city, and the Qi soldiers in several military camps got up one after another, but they were rushed into the barracks by the Chu soldiers, 'Bang! With a shot fired at the ground, the soldiers shouted, "No one is allowed to move, and whoever dares to move will be killed!" ”

The huge gunfire shocked the Qi soldiers, and no one dared to move, at this time, Jiang Duwei of the Qi army rushed out of the room with a knife, shouting, and ordering the soldiers to rise up and resist, but was shot to the ground by a row of more than a dozen Chu soldiers.

In an instant, 3,000 Chu troops entered the Tiger Prison Pass and occupied this dangerous pass, and at this time, the Xingyang granary in the east was in a fierce battle, and the reinforcement vanguard in the west had arrived ten miles away.

．．．．．．．． The sky gradually brightened, and the 50,000 troops led by Luo Wei finally arrived at the Tiger Prison Pass one after another, and the 50,000 troops lined up in front of the Tiger Prison Pass, and the Tiger Prison Pass, which had been ignored, blocked the way of the Qi army at this moment, leaving the 50,000 army helpless.

Luo Wei looked at the pass with dangerous terrain, and the banner of the Chu army flying high on the pass, his heart was full of helplessness, although he knew that the Chu army would attack Xingyang in a big way, although he had already arrived at the fastest speed, he was still a step late, he already knew in his heart that the Xingyang granary had been conquered.

At this time, Luo Wei was not worried about how dangerous the situation in front of him was, he knew better than anyone that the Qi army had been dragged down by Huangfu Chen, and now that the general trend had gone, even if he entered Xingyang County, it would be useless, and he was powerless to return to the sky.

The only thing he worries about is his son's surname, will he be able to escape this fate? It made Luo Wei worried.

"General, is the army attacking Tiger Pass?" A general stepped forward and asked.

Luo Wei glanced back at the soldiers behind him, and saw that everyone's eyes were full of confusion, no morale, no hostility, only deep fatigue, he couldn't help but sigh, what about the tiger prison, the general trend has gone, why bother to let these soldiers die?

He lost his spirit, and waved his hand in great frustration, "Order, withdraw the Yanshi!" ”

'Woo-' At the sound of a whimpering horn, the 50,000-strong army began to turn around and withdraw in the direction of the Yanshi, and their withdrawal was accompanied by the head of the Tiger Prison Pass 'Boom! Boom! The sound of the drums seemed to be seeing them off, and it seemed to announce the end of the short era of King Qi.

．．．．．．．． In mid-October, from the Tiger Prison Pass in Xingyang County to Chengxiu County in Xiangcheng County, 200,000 Chu troops completed the semi-encirclement of Luojing, and the Chu army immediately marched into Jingzhaofu.

On October 20, the Chu army's naval division arrived at Yanshi, thousands of warships, 50,000 troops, and artillery bombarded the county town of Yanshi, and the defenders of 20,000 Yanshi surrendered to the Chu army under the leadership of the general Zhao Mingyang, and the 100,000 Chu troops on the southern front also entered Jingzhaofu, and the three counties of Luhun, Xingtai, and Yique surrendered to the Chu army successively.

The situation in Luojing City was chaotic, food prices were soaring, public order was deteriorating, and during the day, groups of troops were raiding homes and houses, and a large number of people fled the capital, and the capital, which had a population of one million in the past, had dropped to less than 300,000, shops were closed, restaurants were closed, and the streets and alleys were depressed.

And the army is also disheartened, and all the good promises that Luo Wei promised, 'Go back to your hometown!' ''Reward according to military merit!' And so on, as the 200,000 Chu army approached Luojing and disappeared, the morale of the army was so low that it was as if the disease was like a terminal disease and began to fester, more and more soldiers became deserters, and every day thousands of soldiers looked for various opportunities to escape, and in just five days, the army of 100,000 had shrunk to 30,000.

And at the moment when the Qi army was about to finally collapse, the Ziwei Palace was particularly lively, more than 30 ministers supported the Qi King Huangfu Shen officially ascended the throne, Huangfu Shen worshiped the Taimiao, worshiped heaven and earth, ascended the Ziwei Palace, and became the new emperor of the Daning Dynasty, he named more than 30 ministers all as high-ranking officials such as Shilang Shangshu, but he didn't even have a person to engrave, so he had to order someone to go to the printing workshop and ask the printing carver to carve the official seal with wood.

What made Huang Fu Long Live frustrated was that in the last dynasty, only five of the thirty-five ministers remained, and the rest were nowhere to be found, what they wanted was an official position, and they had already obtained it, so there was no need to accompany Huang Fu to the funeral.

Huangfu sat alone on the main hall, eunuchs, palace maids, guards, there was no one, Huangfu felt desolate, he deeply experienced the feelings of his brother Huangfu Heng's last days.

On October 25, 200,000 Chu troops surrounded Luojing City.

．．．．．．．．．

(To be continued)