Xuzhou has been under siege for ten days and ten nights. Xuzhou Taishou Min Shaoqing was also anxious for ten days and ten nights, because of the ten days of siege, his life was very difficult.

Ordinary siege warfare emphasizes the siege of three and one, leaving a way to retreat, and the defenders in the city will not fight desperately, which is to take advantage of people's psychology of survival. But this time, the Huai army besieged the city from all sides, making it clear that they did not want to give the defenders of Xuzhou City a way to live.

Either fight to the death until the city is broken, or surrender, there is no third way.

The Min family is a wealthy family in Huaibei, and it was a meritorious family that once established the Great Shun Dynasty, and Min Shaoqing was also extremely grateful to the imperial court, only this time, his loyalty was somewhat shaken.

"Min Taishou, the imperial court has not sent reinforcements until now, such a imperial court is not worthy of allegiance!"

"Min Taishou, King Huai is also the royal family of the Dashun Dynasty, and he will definitely not change the name of the country if he wins the world!"

"Min Taishou, for the sake of the soldiers and civilians of Xuzhou City, think twice!"

Similar persuasion is what Min Shaoqing has heard the most in recent days, as if all his subordinates have become lobbyists for King Huai in an instant, constantly lobbying him to surrender the city. He also knew that in fact, his subordinates were just greedy for life and afraid of death.

The strength of King Huai's siege of Xuzhou, from the initial 30,000 to the last 80,000, the Huai Army's Northern Route Army has all been piled up under the city of Xuzhou. The siege of the Huai army is not limited to the rules, today from the north gate, tomorrow from the south gate, maybe at night from the east gate, the next day at dawn the west gate also began to attack. Fight hard, and attack the four walls together.

This is an unheard of siege method by Min Shaoqing, it is simply the craziest siege, and the loss of such a siege is also very heavy. But the Huai army deliberately lowered the pace of the siege. By the beginning of the ninth day. The siege had been stalled for two days in a row, and it seemed that reinforcements from the imperial court were also approaching.

But the news that he got later made Min Shaoqing a little helpless, the imperial court did not send reinforcements, but only asked the cities around Xuzhou to send a "joint defense army" to come to the rescue, and the imperial court also set up a "joint defense area" to help each other.

"This is nonsense!"

After getting the news from the imperial court, Xuzhou Thorn Shi Ma Feng directly threw the imperial court's order on the table. This was not only Ma Feng's idea, but also the other Xuzhou guards and officials attending the meeting. All have this idea.

Ma Feng said: "The Huai army has been besieging the city for a long time, and it is clear that this is to besiege the city for reinforcements, and at this time, the imperial court actually sent reinforcements from the surrounding counties to help, isn't this sending sheep into the tiger's mouth?" There is such a group of wine bags and rice bags in the imperial court, who is the opponent of King Huai? ”

Although what Ma Feng said was the truth, and many people said the same in private, it was not appropriate to say it in public now.

Min Shaoqing waved his hand to stop Ma Feng from continuing to speak, and said, "There is no need to say more about the history of Spurs. ”

Although Min Shaoqing didn't show anything on the surface, he was still very disappointed in his heart, in his opinion. Even if the imperial court does not send a large army to help, it must come up with some practical means. For example, encircling Wei to save Zhao, cutting off the grain and grass of the Huai army, and so on. This kind of rescue alone obviously cannot be effective. On the contrary, it will make the momentum of the Huai army rise.

Needless to say, the geographical situation of Xuzhou is an important town in Jiangbei, and even the former king of Dingwang also set this place as the national capital, and later the capital of the king of Dingzhou was moved from Xuzhou to Huizhou.

"Xuzhou is in danger." Min Shaoqing closed his eyes and sighed in his heart.

At dawn on the eleventh day of the siege, the outside of the city was still peaceful, although the grain and grass in the city were quite sufficient, but with the advance of the war, the number of wounded and sick increased, and there were many mottled traces on the city wall, and the gap caused by the catapult was difficult to repair in a short time, and the place where the city wall was seriously damaged would also be the direction of the Huai army's key attack.

Min Shaoqing went to patrol the city wall and looked under the city wall, although the Huai army outside the moat in the distance was quiet, but it would launch a new round of attacks at any time.

"Min Taishou, come down." Ma Feng followed Min Shaoqing and persuaded him again.

Min Shaoqing was silent for a long time, and suddenly asked, "Zhong Ning, are you from Huizhou?" ”

Ma Feng was stunned for a moment, and he didn't understand Min Shaoqing's intentions, so he said truthfully: "Xiaguan's ancestral home is indeed from Tan County, Huizhou, and he has migrated to Xuzhou from his father's generation, but occasionally, Xiaguan will still go to Tan County to see, and there are many people of the same clan surnamed Ma. ”

Min Shaoqing sighed: "Brother Zhong Ning Xian is different from other colleagues, they are either greedy for life and afraid of death and dare not fight with the Huai Army, or they are bought by the Huai Army, they have already decided in their hearts that this battle will be won or lost, Brother Wei just doesn't understand, how can Brother Zhong Ning be so easy to give in after he is loyal?" ”

The Ma family is also a big family of the Huizhou generation, such a family is famous in the local area, and there are many children and grandchildren, and Ma Feng has been an official in Xuzhou since his father's generation, and is one of the hereditary officials in Xuzhou. Ma Feng has always obeyed all the decrees of the imperial court, and has never shown resistance to the imperial court, but this time his attitude surprised Min Shaoqing.

"Although he is a loyal minister, he must also be loyal to the Daoming King."

The change in Ma Feng's attitude towards the imperial court is mainly because Ma Feng had a relationship with the new emperor Su Yan, and when Su Yan went to Huaibei to collect grain, Ma Feng wanted to visit him as a special envoy for local grain patrols, but he didn't expect to see a faint King Yu. And the king of Chu is a diligent and self-denying prince, he can't understand why the first emperor would pass the throne to King Yu instead of the king of Chu, which is what makes him feel sorry for the court.

When Ma Feng said his reason, Min Shaoqing sighed: "The new emperor is a concubine after all. ”

Sister-in-law!

Indeed, after the new emperor succeeded to the throne, in order to justify himself, he reaffirmed again and again that he was his son-in-law. What about sisters-in-law? The second prince is not still a son-in-law? is also a royal bloodline, and King Huai is still the eldest son, but now he has become a thief in the eyes of the court.

Min Shaoqing was silent for a moment, then looked into the distance and said: "Nanlin is not far from here, the order of the imperial court should be to Nanlin the day before yesterday, why haven't you seen them come to the rescue?" ”

Ma Feng smiled bitterly: "Min Taishou is really waiting for the so-called reinforcements of the imperial court? These are extraordinary times, and no county guards or county lieutenants will risk the safety of their own cities when they control their military power. They are civil ministers, not military generals, and they think about their own safety first, just like those civil officials in our Xuzhou City. ”

Min Shaoqing said: "Liu Taishou of Nanlin should not be such a person, and it doesn't matter if other cities don't send reinforcements, Liu Taishou ...... He should come. ”

Ma Feng sighed, it seemed that Min Shaoqing still had hope for the imperial court and those of his colleagues, he knew that Min Shaoqing and Liu Taishou had a good relationship, and they had been classmates and friends before. Now that it is in danger, maybe Liu Taishou has already fornicated with King Huai, who would care about the life or death of his classmate.

"Min is too shou, or down, there is no other way." Ma Feng once again persuaded bitterly, "After today, maybe tomorrow when the city is broken, there will be no more chances, and the fate of my sister-in-law and the Min family is also in your hands." ”

As a representative of the family, you must not only consider your own safety, but also the future of your family.

This is exactly what these children from the family have to worry about. (To be continued......)