"Why hasn't the envoy sent troops to save Shancheng, it's been more than two months, and there's no news ...... there," a woman cried.

In the state ya, everything seems to be in the twilight, and these houses may have to be many years old. The mottled brown paint on the pillars should have been red, but it had long since lost its original color; The carved windows seem to be covered with a layer of black ash, but there is no dust on them, and it is dirt that cannot be wiped clean. The season is also in the winter moon, and the trees in the yard are bare without a trace of green, and the huge trunks seem to show the traces of time.

In this old-fashioned environment, the crying woman decorated this place vividly and vividly, only to see that her face with melon seeds is very delicate, at first glance it is the face of a southerner, with a pointed chin, thin and curved eyebrows from the distant mountains, and a slender body that seems to be weak. This strange woman was born beautiful, with tears on her face, and she was pitiful for a pear blossom with rain.

Standing in front of her was Cheng Ting. Cheng Ting also saw this little lady for the first time, but she already knew that she was Zhang Wulang's crush Cai, so she saw her.

Cai is a native of Lingnan, half a head shorter than Cheng Ting, her shoulders trembled slightly, and she looked helpless. Cheng Ting was sympathetic, so she was relieved: "Wulang has military affairs, so he can't take care of personal affairs, don't be too sad." My family Langjun regards Gorou as closer than his own brother, and he will definitely not let go, so you should relax your heart. ”

Cai cried: "I dreamed of Gorou last night, and he ...... Did he come to say goodbye to me, or never to see each other...... Woo woo, what should I do? ”

Cheng Ting frowned and said, "Lang Jun's affection for Zhang Wulang is no less than yours. ”

"I ......" Cai's tearful face showed an extremely complicated expression, and he lowered his eyes and whispered, "I have Goro's flesh and blood in my belly......"

"Huh?" Cheng Ting's eyes widened and she complained, "You haven't married yet, how can you do such a thing without telling your parents?" ”

Cai just cried, not knowing what to do.

Cheng Ting sighed and said, "You come with me, let's go to the front signing room to see Lang Jun and ask him what the situation is." ”

When the two women walked into the second hall signing room, Xue Chongxun and Wang Changling were really sitting there to handle official business, and there were some scribes and servants around. Xue Chongxun saw the two women coming, and a strange beautiful lady crying, and couldn't help asking, "Ting'er, what's the matter?" ”

Cheng Ting said softly: "She is Wulang's person." ”

"Oh......" Xue Chongxun already understood the reason why they came over, and his expression suddenly became a little gloomy.

The officials stood up with amusement and saluted, "The lowly rank will retire first." Seeing Xue Chongxun nodding, everyone avoided it.

Cai said pitifully: "Wulang has been on the expedition for more than two months, and I shouldn't have come to disturb the assassination history as a woman, but I have always been restless these days, and I dreamed of Wulang yesterday...... I saw that he was covered in blood......" Cai Shi said and cried again, and finally stopped, she rubbed her eyes with a handkerchief and said, "I heard that Shancheng has been surrounded by enemy soldiers for a long time, Wulang, are they out of food?" ”

Xue Chongxun knew in his heart: Zhang Wulang must have nothing to eat. More than 4,000 soldiers, more than 600 horses, and 1,800 mules and horses carrying things had to eat, and the military rations lasted for a month at most. It's been more than two months now, and I'm afraid the horses have all been eaten.

People in the countryside may store their own harvested grain for a year and a half of rations, but not many people in the city will save so much, after all, funds need to be turned, what is the use of saving so much grain in normal times?

The Shanzhou army has been able to maintain until now, and Xue Chongxun already feels that it is not easy.

He said truthfully: "There is a shortage of supplies, I'm afraid there is no food." ”

Cai asked, "Why didn't the assassin send troops to relieve the siege?" ”

"I don't have any soldiers." Xue Chongxun said dejectedly, "The eight thousand Jiannan Army stationed in Shanzhou are directly under the orders of Cheng Jiedu's envoy, and they are responsible for the defense of the state government headquarters, and I have no right to transfer. And the main force of Longyou Jian'er is confronting Tubo in Jishi Mountain, and now he can't transfer troops and horses to Shancheng. ”

"Could it be that Thorn Shi wants to see Gorou in a desperate situation and see death and not save him?" Cai suddenly fell to his knees, "I kowtowed to you, I know you must have a way to save Gorou." ”

"Hurry up." Xue Chongxun stretched out his hand and made a gesture of helping, but it was not good to really help her, so he had to turn back to Cheng Ting and say, "You help her up." Xue Chongxun still has some principles, and he is not very willing to touch the women of his brothers and friends. But what righteousness is completely useless to him, he is a person who does not care about the rules of morality at all, it is just a habit.

Cheng Ting went to help her, but she refused to get up, just crying.

Xue Chongxun was depressed, and Cheng Ting also said helpfully: "Lang Jun might as well go and ask his uncle (Cheng Qianli), he may be able to think of a way." ”

Xue Chongxun said in his heart: Damn, do you think Lao Tzu is willing to give up a henchman who can be used? Isn't this qiē all the work done by that old thing of your Cheng family?

He thought so in his heart, but he didn't sprinkle his anger on the woman's head, although Cheng Ting was also a member of the Cheng family. He thought for a while and shook his head and said: "It's useless, Cheng Qianli wants to rely on the 100,000 Tang Army in his hand to build a great cause that will last for a hundred generations, and I am afraid that he will not change the established battle plan lightly." ”

Cheng Ting said: "But my uncle also has to rely on Lang Jun's relationship in the court, and he doesn't want to grudge with you." ”

"A yard is a yard." Xue Chongxun frowned and said, "He can specially set up a 'Li Yi' to protect my safety in Shanzhou, but he will never care about the life or death of one of my subordinates." ”

Cheng Ting saw that Xue Chongxun was very calm, and she was already a little angry: "Wulang and you are like brothers, and now you have been besieged for more than two months, Lang Jun doesn't even want to do anything!" I don't want to see you a ruthless and unrighteous person......" Speaking of the last sentence, Cheng Ting herself felt a little excessive, and a kind of apology gradually appeared in her anger.

Xue Chongxun was really a little angry, and said coldly: "Why didn't I think of a way? The thousands of recruits who are training in the snow in the north of the city were not recruited by me after a lot of fundraising? But can these people break through the defense line of the Tuyuhun army? Now that the Forces nouvelles are struggling to maintain, they must be levied on you merchants. ”

Cai grabbed the hem of Xue Chongxun's robe and said, "As long as I can rescue Wulang, I will definitely find a way to persuade my father to do his best to support the official army." ”

Xue Chongxun saw that she was sincere and pitiful, and his tone softened again: "This is no way, I'm afraid it won't work." I used to be waiting for a turnaround......" Both women asked eagerly, "What turnaround?" ”

Xue Chongxun turned his head to look at the snowflakes outside the door: "It's only in the winter moon, and it has snowed so heavily in Longyou." Winter is very difficult for the Tubo people, if the Tubo army is assembled for a long time and cannot move to the hinterland of the Tang Dynasty to feed the war, their livestock will be short of fodder, and the Tubo road will be rugged and it will be very difficult to replenish, and sooner or later the army will be withdrawn. If Zhang Wulang can hold out until then, there will be no need for Cheng Qianli to send reinforcements at that time, and the Tuyuhun army will automatically retreat......"

He looked at the crying women, and said depressedly: "But until now, the southern front has not ended, and I don't know the specific situation, what are they doing?" ”

"When will it be, Gorou......" Chai cried.

Xue Chongxun sighed and said: "The soup group practice has gone, if Zhang Wulang has a mistake, who will lead me again?" He was silent for a long time, and suddenly said with a condensed expression, "You go down first, and I'll go to Langzhou in a hurry." ”

……

Zhang Wulang is not dead, he led people to rush out of the city and was hit by an arrow, his subordinates rescued him back to the city, at the beginning he was still alive and jumped out of the city again to fight to the death, and later Lang Zhong pulled out the arrow and bled out and fainted. Unexpectedly, he didn't wake up from this coma, the wound seemed to be infected, the high fever did not go away, and he was carried to Xingyuan for healing.

Unable to command the army, Chen Tuanlian naturally took over the command; He was born in a family of local military generals in Shanzhou, and he has always followed the path of martial arts, and his connections and prestige in the Shanzhou army are qualified, so he was elected to preside over the overall situation without any suspense.

After Chen Tuanlian took over the command, he did nothing, and first ordered the two Tuyuhun envoys to be skinned and released out of the city, and the brutality was simply outrageous. Enraged, the Tuyuhun army launched a siege of the city overnight, but it was still difficult to enter an inch of land.

The Shanzhou army also repelled the enemy's attack hungry, but the situation still did not improve, and there was still no food.

Seeing that they were going to starve to death, the generals gathered together to discuss countermeasures, and most of them built a decisive battle in Kaicheng, but some people also said: "We are dead in battle, and the Tuyuhun people have to slaughter the city." ”

"Do you want to surrender? But we have just skinned the emissary and asked for peace talks, isn't it nonsense? ”

It was a mess, and now it's killing the messenger...... At first, when Chen Tuanlian killed people, he only wanted to be happy for a while, and he didn't think about it at all...... He's often doing this kind of reckless thing, and now he's even more at a loss.

At this time, I heard a lieutenant remind Chen Tuanlian and said: "The general has given an order, asking us to do our best to take care of the lives of the people in the city, in case the city is slaughtered, how can you explain to the general?" ”

Another general said in a mocking tone: "Tell some, let's go out of the city and do it, beat everyone up, everyone go on the road together, and give an egg?" ”

Chen Tuanlian held his breath and scolded: "He, ancestor, eighteen generations!" When did Lao Tzu go soft in front of the Tugu Hun wild monkey? If it weren't for the lack of food, a million people would not be afraid! ”

"Before the soldiers and horses move the grain and grass, isn't fighting a war just fighting food? What's the way now! I don't know what I'm doing, I've been besieging the city for more than two months, and I haven't even seen a single chicken feather, so I just leave us here? ”

Chen Tuanlian sat on the top and said with a dark face: "Sanwa is right, what do you have to explain when everyone is dead?" But I just can't bear this idle breath, when I think of those monkeys stepping on our corpses, as if he is very capable, Lao Tzu is angry! ”

"What's the solution?" When the people heard this, they were speechless.

There were more than 20 people in the building, and for a while it was silent and silent. After a long time, Chen Tuanlian asked with a gloomy face, "Have you ever eaten human flesh?" ”

The generals looked at each other after hearing this, and then a thin man said: "I'm not afraid that you will be too careful when I say it, I have eaten it when I was a child." ”

Everyone's eyes suddenly turned to the thin man, and he said: "At that time, there was no food due to natural disasters, and hunger could be seen all over the mountains, so my father changed my sister's stone eggs with my neighbor's brother, and their family ate my sister, and my family ate the brother called the stone egg......" The thin man wiped his face, tears in his eyes, "At that time, he made me a slingshot...... How can I eat it, I forgot it. ”

Chen Tuan said: "There are tens of thousands of people in the city, anyway, if the city is broken, they will be killed, let's eat some, maybe we can still live." ”

As soon as these words came out, many people shuddered, and the building became dead and silent again.

Chen Tuanlian said: "Human flesh is not meat? Go and catch someone to cook, and I'll see if I can eat it. His dark face showed a trace of crazy excitement, and everyone didn't dare to make a sound.

"You go, take your own soldiers to arrest someone."

The general who was pointed out was helpless, and stood up slowly to receive the order. At this time, one of the generals said: "Slow! If you go to arrest people, don't make a big fuss, let alone leak the news, in case it causes panic among the people, how to clean up the chaos? ”

Chen Tuanlian approvingly: "This is very true, things should be done cleanly." ”

The captain took the order, went down to the city, and went to the barracks near the city gate and called four soldiers who were resting in rotation to go to work together.

The captain is a strong man with five big and three thick, there is a Peng character in his name, and the soldiers around him don't call him his surname, they all love to call him Captain Peng: "What errand are we going to do?" ”

Captain Peng couldn't speak, so he had to say with a straight face: "Is the rabbit cub too full of food and talking too much?" Do whatever you are told to do, and don't talk nonsense! ”

The sergeants had no choice but to keep their mouths shut and silently follow the lieutenant through the snow, their necks hunched, and occasionally they could hear the "clucking" of their teeth, and their stomachs seemed to be frozen when they were hungry. The sound of iron shoes "crunching" in the snow was as heavy as his mood in Lieutenant Peng's ears.

He led the sergeant around the streets and alleys, walking for a while without choosing a target. This kind of thing is already challenging Captain Peng's view of right and wrong, so he seems to be extra hesitant.

Everyone didn't have much strength, and they were out of breath after walking for a long time, and they all looked weak with their brains.

Captain Peng finally stopped, pointed to a door on the side of the street and said, "Knock." A sergeant did as he was told, and the door was opened.

Because the person who knocked on the door was wearing Tang Army clothes and armor, the people seemed to trust them very much. When Zhang Wulang was in charge of the overall situation, it was strictly forbidden for soldiers to disturb the people without authorization, and those who entered the people's houses without a military order would be killed.

It was an old woman who opened the door, and when she saw that four or five men were listless and were so cold that their mouths were black, she kindly greeted: "What a descendant of iniquity, come in quickly, there is a fire burning inside." ”

Captain Peng walked in without saying a word, and the sergeants saw that there was indeed a charcoal fire in the center of the room, and hurriedly squatted over and stretched out their hands to bake the fire. The old woman brought a cloth and enthusiastically swept the snowflakes off their backs.

At this time, an old man with a piece of cloth wrapped around his head came out from behind, and said with a dark face: "He, mother, go and scoop out the paste from the pot to entertain the guests." ”

The woman was stunned and stood still. The lieutenant looked at the things in front of him and naturally understood: the people had nothing to eat.

"Don't go yet!" The old man snorted, "Our sons are hungry and bleeding from the enemy, what are you going to do?" ”

After a while, the old woman came out with five bowls of black and mushy things on a wooden plate, and divided them into five portions, not even half a bowl in each bowl, and I don't know what was cooking, but it was enough to make the sergeants' saliva water, and at this time, as long as they could swallow it, they were hungry when they saw it.

Seeing this, Captain Peng stood there in a daze with a sad face.

The sergeants looked back at the captain, and one of the junior asked expectantly, "Shall we...... Can we eat it? ”

"Eat...... Eat it......," said the old woman with a smile.

The captain frowned and hesitated for a long time, and said, "Eat!" Hurry up and finish eating and leave! ”

A few soldiers came out of people's houses after eating, and the sergeants had something to put on the bottom of their stomachs, and their mood became better, and they also instigated: "If there is such a good errand in the future, don't forget us, captain." ”

The captain didn't say a word with a gloomy face, and several people looked at each other, so they had to shut up.

After walking for a while, Captain Peng in front of him stopped, pointed to the door, and said, "Knock." The sergeants had gained experience and jostled to knock on the door, thinking that they would have another meal.

Unexpectedly, the door had just been opened by a man, and Captain Peng suddenly pulled out his saber without saying a word and slashed it over. The man was stabbed in the neck, and the blood rushed straight to his head, and he was kicked in the chest again, and he was kicked on his back and fell into the door, fell to the ground, covered his neck with both hands, and his legs were tense and straightened, and he kept twitching.

The sergeants were dumbfounded and stared into the door. A sergeant couldn't help but say, "If we kill the people, the top will ask for our heads!" ”

The captain said coldly: "It's an order from above!" You two are here to keep watch, and the gate is closed, and the others will come in with me. ”

As soon as they entered the door, they saw a little lady in the courtyard, probably the wife of the person who had been cut off, and came out when she heard the movement.

The little lady was wearing an earth-colored jacket on her upper body and a long skirt on her lower body, looking like she was more than ten years old. When she suddenly saw the man lying in a pool of blood, she immediately exclaimed.

Captain Peng ran over with a knife, grabbed the little lady's arm with one hand, and covered her mouth with the other: "What are you two doing standing stupidly?" Dogan went to find a leash...... You, look around, and cut down when you see a living person! ”

"Yes...... It's ......" The two sergeants responded with pale faces and stiffness.

After a while, the three of them were busy tying up the little lady and gagged their mouths. The little lady couldn't move her limbs, and she was still struggling desperately, staring at the corpse on the ground with big eyes, tears flowing.

The lieutenant then ordered: "Call the two brothers outside, shovel the bloody snow into the well, and burn the corpse along with the house!" ”G