The first round of siege began on the seventeenth day of the lunar month and lasted for one day and one night, and did not stop until the eighteenth day of the lunar month.

This round of siege, although it did not conquer any of the gates of Jinling City, was very adequate in terms of deterrence. In the siege battle for more than a day, the Sun of the besieging side was not as big as the defenders in the city, which was also because of the strong suppressive force of artillery, because it was a tentative siege, so in some aspects, the besieging army did not do its best, and many advanced sieges have not yet been implemented.

The siege of the day was completed under the supervision of Han Jian.

Han Jian's first step was to besiege the city and send reinforcements, and defeat the reinforcements that Zhu Tongjing had arranged in the cities around Jinling City.

But less than two days after the end of the first round of siege battles, the tables of surrender from all walks of life had already been handed to Han Jian. Zhu Tongjing lost the hearts of the people, no one was willing to serve him, and the offensive of the Northern Dynasty soldiers and horses was too fierce, and many cities were afraid that they would be the next turn, so they were very active in surrendering.

Han Jian specially convened a meeting of military advisors to discuss the issue of surrender.

At this meeting, Han Jian not only let the generals of the army participate, but also included Wenchen, and even Han Jian invited Xiao Zhan to observe.

The result of the discussion at the meeting was to accept the surrender, but these surrendered troops must wait in their own cities, waiting for the soldiers and horses of the Northern Dynasty to receive them, and send scouts to observe, but if the defenders of any city go out of the city, they will be considered Zhu Tongjing's accomplices, and it will be attacked next.

This can be regarded as a deterrent, and it is also Han Jian's relief from worries. In this way, Han Jian could first suspend the offensive and grind Jinling City for a while longer, until the defenders in the city felt the thorn in their backs and surrendered themselves.

The soldiers and horses of the Northern Dynasty were not Diyi after all. will not slaughter the city, even if it surrenders, the order in the city can be roughly maintained, Han Jian has already set an example for Jinling City in Suzhou City, if Su Tingxia's soldiers and horses come, there may be looting. But Han Jian is the king of the Northern Dynasty, and it is impossible for him to rob under his command and ignore it, and Han Jian also has to win the reputation of the other counties of the Southern Dynasty to collect the surrender of other counties and counties in the Southern Dynasty.

Therefore, after the first round of siege, Han Jian began to continuously throw letters of surrender into the city, flying arrows, Kong Ming lanterns, and even simple hot air balloons were all used by Han Jian as public opinion propaganda, first breaking the will of the defenders in the city to resist and letting them know. This time, the imperial division of the Northern Dynasty outside the city, there will be no tyranny, as long as they surrender, they can still enjoy glory and wealth, and even ordinary soldiers can continue to remnants of the army, or unload their armor and return to the field.

Han Jian was basically satisfied with the effect of the public opinion war, because after the public opinion war began, every night in the city. There will be people who will come down from the city wall or escape from the water gate of Jinling City. Join the ranks of the deserters. Han Jian didn't use these deserters to do anything, just gave them good food and drink, and some things didn't need Han Jian to promote, and the people in the city would also know that these people were doing well outside the city, and more people would join in.

After the wax moon, the Jiangnan region also entered the ice and snow.

Han Jian didn't know why it was so cold this winter. For the soldiers besieging the city, the cold weather also brought them a certain slack mentality, and after a long expedition, they would think of their relatives at home.

In order to reassure the officers and men in the army, Han Jian inspected the barracks every day. Use practical actions to show that he and his soldiers are of the same mind. At the same time, he also asked the soldiers to write a letter back to their hometowns, even if this would leak some military information, but Han Jian didn't care too much in order to make the soldiers feel at ease, after all, now that the soldiers were in the city, there was no need to leak many things, and others also knew that the soldiers and horses of the Northern Dynasty at this time had to take Jinling City first.

Even Han Jian himself is writing family letters. It's a pity that for him, the family letter is very difficult to write, because Jiang Du is waiting for the news of his canonization of the crown prince.

On the twenty-second day of the lunar month, the outside of Jinling City was already full of soldiers and horses of the Northern Dynasty. The entire Jinling City was not trapped except for the south of the city, and the other three sides were already besieged, and the defenders in the city did not dare to fight, so they could only hide in the trenches and wait for the final result. For ordinary soldiers, the sooner the war ends, the better, as for the loyal monarch and patriotism, meritorious deeds or something, it is nothing to the defenders, what they want is a stable life, if they can live an ordinary life after the war, even if it is unified by the Northern Dynasties? In the end, they are still Chinese, the same bloodline, as for the great truth of those who have lost their land, it is only those in power who like to say, and it has nothing to do with ordinary people.

And that night, Han Jian asked the intelligence system to send his first batch of family letters to Jiangdu, but Han Jian still did not mention anything about the establishment of the crown prince in his family letters. But Han Jian knew that even if he really wanted to make Han Xi the crown prince now, I believe Yang Rui would be understandable, at most, Han Jian would pass Han Xi to Yang Rui's name as an adopted son, but this would be unfair to Yang Qian'er.

That night, Xiao Zhan went to Han Jian's Chinese army tent to inquire about the further movements of the war.

Now Xiao Zhan has no will to die, what she has to do is wait, if Han Jian can't capture Jinling City before the fourteenth day of the first month, then the soldiers and civilians of Hangzhou City will get another 200,000 stone of grain, although this batch of grain was also looted by the soldiers and horses of the Northern Dynasty from the territory of the Southern Dynasty, but now it can be retrieved, which means that Sima has a greater chance to help her succeed in King Qin.

"The eldest princess asked in vain, you can see the situation outside, as for when the city will be broken, I can't answer you now." Han Jian doesn't have a very good attitude towards Xiao Zhan, because the two of them are still gambling against each other, if Han Jian wins, he can justifiably have Xiao Zhan, and he believes that Xiao Zhan will not play tricks on this issue.

Xiao Zhan said: "If you can't answer me specifically, can you tell me if the king of the east can't conquer Jinling City within a month, will you send me back to Hangzhou?" ”

Han Jian looked at Xiao Zhan and thought: "What you think is really beautiful, I sent 200,000 stone grain over for no reason, and I also made a bet with you, if you win, I will not only post another 200,000 stone of grain, and then send you back, then I will lose 600,000 stone of grain in vain, but I haven't caught anything?" ”

Han Jian raised his head and said, "If things really develop like this, the eldest princess is willing to go, and it is up to you to ......."

Just when Xiao Zhan's face showed a slight relief, Han Jian added, "But forget about the dowry." ”

"You...... How can you not believe in your words? Xiao Zhan immediately glared at Han Jian angrily.

Han Jian smiled and said, "It's you the eldest princess who don't believe it, right?" When did I say I would send you away? ”

"That'...... Is it inside and out. Win or lose, it's 200,000 stone of grain, you can always ......"

"Can you get you after all?" Han Jian got up and said, "But the eldest princess forgot that the original condition was that Ruo I could conquer Jinling City within a month. will use 200,000 stone grain as a dowry to let the eldest princess marry willingly. If you lose, 200,000 stone of grain will be given, and the eldest princess is still alone, no one will force you, isn't this a condition? ”

Xiao Zhan was a little angry, she originally thought that she could exchange her freedom for a "gentleman's appointment" with Han Jian, but now it seems that her hope has been dashed.

"Then how will you let me go?" Xiao Zhan had some pleading in his tone this time.

People always have the idea of greed for life. She was unwilling to continue to be a proton in the Northern Dynasty, when Han Jian made a bet with her, she felt that the conditions were good, so she directly agreed, and did not = think about it carefully. But after she went back and thought about it carefully, she realized that Han Jian could have ignored her life and death, and even Han Jian could forcibly marry her, he didn't force her to do anything. This shows that Han Jian is still a little weak to her in his heart, and she originally wanted to take advantage of this. But now it seems that Han Jian is still very principled in some things.

Han Jian shook his head and said, "If the eldest princess really wants to leave, she can only wait for Sima Yi to personally bring the troops here, if he can take Jinling City away, then I don't mind returning the eldest princess." ”

"It's a deal." Xiao Zhan thought about it, this is not bad. At least there is hope. She still has a lot of confidence in Sima Yi. Now she just doesn't want to give Han Jian a chance to change her words.

Han Jian shook his head and said, "This is the second bet." If the eldest princess can win, it will indeed be a happy thing for everyone, but I don't know...... What if I win? ”

"What else are you going to do? Didn't I agree to get married? ”

Han Jian shook his head and said, "That's when Jinling City can be conquered within a month." If it can't be conquered, the princess will still be unmarried, and when the time comes, Sima will really capture Jinling City. I still want to send you away, what does it make if you marry or not? ”

Xiao Zhan was still very angry, Han Jian seemed to be saying, even if you get married, I will take possession of your body, and finally send you away, and I will suffer the same loss. But Xiao Zhan felt angry no matter how she thought about it, she was her daughter's family.

Xiao Zhan gritted his teeth and said, "Then what do you want?" ”

"If Sima Yi can really capture Jinling City again, I have a request for you, but I don't want to explain it to you. But I'll definitely send you away when the time comes. ”

Xiao Zhan smiled and said, "Okay, I hope your request is not too excessive." ”

Han Jian didn't reply to her, and watched her leave.

When the others left, Fa Yicai walked in from the back tent and asked, "What does Your Majesty want her to promise?" ”

Han Jian shook his head: "It's not that I deliberately want to hide it from you, it's that I haven't thought about it myself." I'm just trying to find an excuse to tie her down, or to take advantage of her in the future. In fact, I don't believe that Sima Yi can take Jinling City back from my hands. ”

Fa Yi thought about it, but shook his head and said, "There are no absolutes in everything." ”

Han Jian smiled bitterly, Fa Yi really didn't even say a word of comfort to him, this is also what Fa Yi wants to say, she won't deliberately think about it, whether it's good or not, she will feel that any deception is a harm to Han Jian, even if some words are not very good, she is still willing to say it, she will feel very uncomfortable in her heart.

Han Jian did not continue to discuss this issue with Fa Yi, but said with some emotion: "In the past few days, large-scale siege battles will continue, and to my surprise, none of the defenders in the city surrendered. I don't know if Zhu Tongjing did a good job of precaution, or did he say ...... What's wrong with it. ”

Han Jian was also thinking that Zhu Tongjing would never sit still like this.

Zhu Tongjing must have left something behind, otherwise Zhu Tongjing would not have agreed to cooperate with the Northern Dynasties at the beginning, even if he got the capital of the Southern Dynasties? In the end, if he gives it up again, he will still die, and the gains outweigh the losses. And if he continues to be loyal to Xiao Zhan, he can help the Southern Dynasty to defend against foreign enemies, with Xiao Ling's lax management of military power, and Xiao Zhan wants him Zhu Tongjing to balance Xiao Ling, his position in the Southern Dynasty will be very stable.

Fa Yi also shook his head and said, "Maybe I'll know about it later." ”

Fa Yi is actually a politically minded person, but she is not good at using it, and she is more accustomed to obeying orders. At the beginning, Yang Rui used Fa Yi's superb martial arts to spy on a lot of information, and Fa Yi knew a lot about the general situation of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, but there were also limitations, that is, the information was four or five years ago, not now.

In these four or five years, the political core of the Southern and Northern Dynasties underwent earth-shaking changes, the most important being the rise of the Eastern King forces led by Han Jian, and the rise of Zhu Tongjing and Xiao Ling of the Southern Dynasties. Although Xiao Zhan was the emperor of the Southern Dynasty, she had been controlled by Zhu Tongjing and Xiao Ling before, and she did not have any real power in her hands.

Han Jian didn't think much about it.

After these days of rest, even the soldiers and horses led by Lin Zhan have recovered. It's time to launch a large-scale attack on Jinling City, even if the defenders in the city refuse to surrender, it will not affect the attack of the Northern Dynasty soldiers and horses, and the war is still stable enough to be fought with real swords and guns, otherwise even if the city surrenders, there will be certain changes afterwards, because the people's hearts will be dissatisfied, and they feel that the soldiers and horses of the Northern Dynasty are not victorious.

In the second round of siege, the number of soldiers and horses increased from 30,000 or 40,000 horses in the first round to nearly 100,000 soldiers and horses.

This siege is no longer a tentative siege, but a real onslaught.

As in the attack on Yangzhou City, this round of the offensive will be launched from three directions, and it will be carried out simultaneously. This is to find the weakness of the defense line of Jinling City, as long as there is a problem in the defense of Jinling City, the siege army will take the opportunity to kill the outer city, and even have the possibility of directly entering the inner city.

The attack on the city wall and the city gate was also carried out at the same time, and while trying to cross the city wall with ladders and siege vehicles, they tried to start from the weak city gate and try to knock on the city gate to enter the city.

All of this requires the bloody struggle of the soldiers.

Han Jian is also prepared to lose a large number of soldiers in this war, which can be regarded as an inevitable loss in the war, if he can capture the city in one fell swoop, the loss of the siege army is acceptable at about one-third, but according to Han Jian's estimate, the loss is not such a large number. It's mainly a matter of whether the offense can be more efficient.

On the twenty-sixth day of the twelfth lunar month, ten days after Lin Zhan's troops arrived at Jinling City, the second round of offensive was finally launched. (To be continued.) )