The next day is the first day of the first lunar month, and the city is even more noisy and joyful, and even the defenders at the head of the city have changed their new military uniforms and flags, which appear to be more energetic and inviolable.

In the county seat, I don't know which person lacks morality, he put forward a bad move to Xu Rong and Zhang Qi, the two temporary chiefs of Wen Yiwu, so that four or five hundred meat buns were steamed in the city and thrown down from the city wall, wanting to see the chaos of the defenders outside the city fighting for the buns.

Xu Rong was a person who had no idea, and he listened to this suggestion and was noncommittal; Zhang Qi is a person who has really suffered from the Lingnan Army before, and now he has finally gained the upper hand, of course, he wants to show the evil anger in his heart, thinking that there is more than enough food and grass in the city now, so he agreed.

The county seat of Shanyin is completely prepared for a long-term siege, not only dry food such as rice and noodles, but also pork, beef, fish, etc., which are also pickled and prepared, and there are more than a dozen deep wells in the city, and there is no shortage of firewood, grass and charcoal - after Zhang Qi gave the order, after only a while, dozens of drawers of fresh meat buns were steamed in the county town and transported to the city wall.

Zhang Qi had already been dressed neatly, waiting on the city wall, when he saw the buns being delivered, he personally grabbed one and stuffed it into his mouth, and suddenly the fresh soup overflowed, and his lips and teeth were fragrant.

Zhang Qi ate one and then another, and was a little reluctant to throw these delicious meat buns down for nothing, and finally made up his mind, and called his soldiers to throw the buns in the cage drawer to the city while they were hot.

The soldiers of the Lingnan Army besieging the city under the city, smelling the smell of steamed buns, had already surrounded thousands of people, and when they saw the steaming buns thrown down from the city, they all rushed forward to grab them. A few strong and lucky people grabbed a few buns in their hands and were about to put them in their mouths, but they heard someone shouting: "Don't eat them, be careful of poison!" ”

Now is the time for the two armies to fight, and it is difficult to guarantee that the defenders of the city will not poison it - this sentence obviously reminds the few people who grabbed the buns first, so that they don't know for a moment whether it is better to swallow the buns in their hands or throw them away.

Zhang Qi saw that the soldiers of the Lingnan Army under the city hesitated, so he laughed a few times: "Anyway, I have also fought in battle, but I don't have the courage to do this." This is Lao Tzu for you for the New Year, if you have the guts, you will eat them, and if you don't have the guts, throw them away. I don't want to be poisoned, and I don't want to be a starving ghost, how can there be such an easy thing in the world? ”

The soldiers of the Lingnan Army under the city were provoked by him like this, and they were immediately aroused, and one of the more courageous soldiers gritted his teeth and said: "Eat it, what's the big deal, it's a blessing to be a full ghost when you die!" ”

After that, he broke a bun in his hand, didn't eat the bun skin outside, picked out the piece of cured meat the size of a peach pit in the core, put it in his mouth and chewed it carefully, and then swallowed it into his stomach, but his mouth was not idle: "This bun is delicious, delicious!" ”

He finished eating the rest of the meat bun, and felt that it was not enjoyable enough, so he snatched the bun that a companion next to him held in his hand but did not dare to eat it, and did not chew it slowly, but swallowed it directly into his stomach, and his face was suddenly filled with a happy and satisfied look.

The rest of the Lingnan Dao sergeants, who were still watching, saw that the buns thrown down from the city were indeed not poisoned, and their eyes immediately lit up, and they didn't care about any military discipline and decency, so they rushed forward to snatch the buns to eat—for a while, the scene became extremely chaotic.

And the soldiers in other parts of the besieging camp, hearing such news, also hurried over, lest they would not be able to pick up a bargain, and suddenly rushed a fairly well-organized military camp to pieces.

Zheng Yu, who was sitting in the big tent of the Chinese army, was discussing things with the veteran general Sun Hao, when he heard an inexplicable commotion outside, and thought that it was an enemy attack, so he sent someone to inquire about the news while putting on the tent.

And when the reason for the commotion reached Zheng Yu's ears, the second prince of Lingnan, who was a distinguished person, was immediately furious and scolded: "We are besieging the city, not begging for food. Wouldn't it make people laugh at this kind of indecency? ”

After saying that, he stretched out his hand to summon a herald: "Pass my general order, all the soldiers are in place, to prevent the enemy from sneaking attack, no onlookers are allowed to make noise, let alone snatch food, and those who violate the order will be dealt with by military law!" ”

As he spoke, Zheng Yu summoned the soldiers who went to inquire about the news, and asked him to lead the way and lead him over to check the situation.

Zheng Yu originally thought that after he gave a strict order, the sergeant who snatched the buns should also be restrained, but when he ran to the place of the incident, what he saw was a chaotic scene - as far as the eye could see, there were five or six hundred soldiers, fighting for a few buns, and a few were lying on the ground moaning.

Seeing such a scene, Zheng Yu became more and more angry, and strictly ordered the personal guards around him to immediately drag away the soldiers who were still fighting for food, tied them up one by one, and pulled off their pants in front of everyone, "crackling" and beating the military sticks.

Zhang Qi, who was watching the excitement at the head of the city, gloated when he saw it, and shouted loudly to the city: "Brothers of the Lingnan Army, Lao Tzu kindly invites you to eat steamed buns, but the second prince of your family is inviting you to eat sticks." Forget it, it's better to surrender to our army, the buns in the city - there are! Tube full! ”

Zheng Yu was furious when he heard it under the city, and shouted towards the top of the city tower: "Zhang Qi, you are my defeated subordinate, how embarrassed you were when you fled, have you forgotten yourself?" Now as a shrunken turtle, what is there to be arrogant? ”

Zhang Qi listened to Zheng Yu's shortcomings, his face turned red, and then he said, "The second prince is right. I am a defeated general, and I can only be the life of a turtle with a shrunken head. No, we didn't even have a good New Year, so we had to borrow wine to drown our sorrows in the midst of the heavy siege of the second prince. ”

As soon as he spoke, he ordered his soldiers to carry a few jars of wine up the tower. The military orders on Qiuyi's side are strict, and those who drink and make mistakes in the battle between the two armies are beheaded. Therefore, Zhang Qi did not dare to let go of his belly and drink, so he only asked the sergeant to open the seals of the wine jar, and let the aroma of the wine slowly drift along the city wall to the enemy army under the city.

Zheng Yu asked about the smell of wine, and he was a little intoxicated, and seeing that the generals and officials around him also had intoxicated expressions, he hurriedly shouted: "Zhang Qi, this coward, has become such a bastard with Qiu Yizhi." Come on, don't shoot him to death with arrows! ”

Only then did the Lingnan officers react, and they hurriedly organized their archers, and fired a volley into the city.

The city wall of Shanyin County is deliberately heightened and strengthened by Qiu Yizhi, and a lot of fortifications to defend against arrows have been built on the city wall, and the Lingnan Army is shooting towards the sky, so although these bursts of arrow rain are violent, it is "thunder is loud, rain is small", and it was fired for a while, and it did not kill and wound several defenders in the city.

Zhang Qi dodged for a while, and when he saw that the rain of arrows in the city was gradually thinning out, he got up and popped his head out again, grabbed an arrow, and said to Zheng Yu under the city: "The second prince is really polite, these arrows are of good quality, and they didn't kill any of our soldiers, I'm afraid they are a gift for us for the New Year, right?" That's the end of the thanks. ”

When Zheng Yu heard this, he was even more angry, and was just about to discuss with Sun Hao how to take revenge on Zhang Qi at the head of the city, but he heard a soldier hurriedly running up next to him, kneeling down on one knee and saying: "Second Prince Qiqi, the situation in the mountains behind our army is different!" ”

Zheng Yu was taken aback when he heard this, and hurriedly asked, "What's the situation?" Tell me clearly! ”

The soldier replied, "Second Prince, you can turn around and see......"

Zheng Yu was stunned again, and quickly twisted his fat body, looking at the mountains behind him, but saw a wisp of cooking smoke rising from the mountains, as if someone was cooking.

Zheng Yu knew in his heart: After such a military disaster, the peasants and hunters in the mountains and wilderness, those who fled and those who entered the city entered the city, where would there be fires in the wild; And it's rare for a soldier in his own army to have a full meal, so who would go out for a picnic? Thinking about it this way, the group of people who lit the fire must have no one else except for Qiu Yi's place.

As soon as he thought of this, Zheng Yu's already very fat body was almost angry-Lao Tzu was starving here, and you Qiu Yizhi still had such leisure!

He really wanted to send troops to capture Qiu Yizhi's thorn in the eye according to the direction in which the smoke rose. But he also knew that he was not familiar with the terrain, and just looking at a general direction, where could he easily find the person who started the fire? And that Qiu Yizhi has always been scheming, and it is difficult to guarantee that this is not a trick to lure the enemy.

After careful consideration, Zheng Yu's anger that had just been mustered suddenly vented, sighed, and said to those soldiers who were still executing: "Okay, don't fight, it's useless to fight these killings no matter how much they fight, and let them strictly abide by military discipline in the future." With that, turn around and leave.

But another soldier caught up with him and asked, "What should we do if food is dropped in the city again?" Please also ask the second prince to show it. ”

This well-deserved question made troubles and helplessness come to Zheng Yu's mind again, and he said hatefully: "Such a trivial matter, should my dignified second prince of Lingnan worry about it?" What am I raising you waste for? As he spoke, Zheng Yu raised his eyes again and glanced at the smoke that went directly to the heavens and the earth, and he didn't know what to scold in his mouth, so he lowered his head and walked towards his Chinese army tent.

The person who makes a fire and cooks in the mountains is really Qiu Yizhi.

Since he led the army out of the city, he has been sleeping in the mountains around Shanyin County for a month, and his life is actually not very easy. Although the winter in the south is not too cold, and there is very little rain and snow, Tiangong can be regarded as a help, but eating a hot meal has become a big problem - every time you light a fire, you must always be cautious, lest Zheng Yu catch the trace, or scare away the convoy that rushed to deliver grain and grass.

However, today is the Chinese New Year's Eve, and Qiu Yizhi completely scared, subdued, and frightened Zheng Yu a few days ago, expecting that even if he knew his whereabouts, he might not dare to lead the army to attack, so he confidently and boldly asked his soldiers to raise a bonfire, and went to the wild to hunt many wild beasts, feasted beautifully, and spent the first day of the New Year in peace.

After resting like this for a few days, Qiu Yizhi began to lead the army to plunder the transport team of the Lingnan Army again. They have done more such tasks, and they are more handy, and the teams that come from all over the country to transport grain and grass may not be able to reach the bottom of Shanyin City.

The supply of grain and grass in Zheng Yu's camp has become more and more tight, and it has reached the point where he often runs off from cooking and is hungry.

Zheng Yu discussed with Sun Hao, he couldn't starve to death under Shanyin City like this, for the sake of today, he had to make a desperate bet, either use all his strength to defeat Shanyin County, or simply admit the defeat in this battle, gather the army and return to the Jinling camp.

At this point today, the arrogance in Zheng Yu's heart has long been gone, knowing that no matter how hard he tries to attack the city, it is just useless work, so he got up and patted Sun Hao on the shoulder, and said: "Old General Sun is a person who was born and died with his father, and he has always been called a brother and a brother, and it is natural for me to call the old general 'uncle'." It's a pity that I didn't listen to my uncle's teachings at the beginning, so I ended up like this! ”