The Seven Princes were defeated, the city lord of Luoming City rebelled, the Great Prince gathered a million troops, Chu Jing summoned and went to the secret realm with Qin Jian Qin Yue Zirui Shen Xiaoye, Shangguan Xiaobai successfully refined Hongyan Yongzhu Dan, and once again prepared to hunt the gods, and began to prepare to seize the power of the Xinguo to establish a country, fight against the world and provoke a second war.

Li Shi's military camp suddenly broke into a lot of soldiers, and under the black light, Li Xi was startled, thinking that Jinning City had attacked the camp at night, but it turned out that it was just a false alarm.

There was no robbery on this side, but Zhang San's side was miserable, and the defeated soldiers all ran to the north of the city.

After Li Xian hurriedly pacified for a while, he quickly gathered troops to support Zhang San's military camp, after all, they had a huge advantage in numbers, and Xiao Jing didn't dare to fight hard when he wanted to.

By the time his army felt from outside the northern city to the southern city, Xiao Jing and the soldiers of Jinning City had already retreated, leaving only the ground in disarray, corpses, and burning siege equipment.

"Damn! I have long said that we will join forces together, but now it's good, when His Highness arrives, how will I explain it?"

Zhang San couldn't avoid punishment, Li Shi couldn't avoid it either, in desperation, Li Shi began to collect the remaining remnants of the soldiers nearby, and there were really a lot of them, more than 20,000 people, and there was no trace of Zhang San inside, thinking that he had fled to Lu Yaocheng.

Li Shi didn't think that Zhang San would choose to fight to the death, with his own understanding of him, he would definitely hide in a safe place, and the safest place nearby was only Lu Yaocheng.

I hope he took enough soldiers with him, and we can't afford to lose them.

Li Shi sighed, and then chose to go to Lu Yao City, as for Wanggui City, in this scene, there is no difference between dividing troops and looking for death, as for whether Xiao Jing will be interested in Wanggui City, Li Shi wants to give him away for nothing, so that the already small soldiers in Jinning City can be dispersed, and the benefits to him will be greater.

When he arrived at Lu Yao City, Zhang San was like a frightened bird, guarding the city wall with his soldiers, and he was very alert when he saw a large group of people coming.

Zhang San opened the city gate and went out of the city to greet Li Shi.

"You are finally here, we underestimated the strength of the Xiao family before. Zhang San said, looking hard behind Li Xian, seeing many soldiers he was familiar with, and the breath he was holding in his heart was relieved.

"How many?"

Li Shi naturally knew what Zhang San was asking, and replied, "Twenty-four thousand one hundred and twelve." ”

"It's okay, it's okay. Zhang Sanchang exhaled.

"It's okay, do you know how to explain the losses caused this time to His Highness, and besides, in order to come to the convergence, I am still outside Jinning City. ”

Li Xian was very depressed, and it took many days to build the large-scale siege equipment, because he rushed to support Zhang San, it was destroyed in one fell swoop, and now it has become a trophy of Jinning City.

Zhang San was not as distressed as Li Xian, but said: "Those are just a few days of hard work can be made, talent is important, this time the camp was robbed, I was ready for the soldiers left, I didn't expect that there was still a general, and the other party also had dead and wounded, this is nothing." ”

At that time, after all, it was too dark, just the light of the torches could not be completely seen, and some soldiers could escape as long as they lay on the ground, so Xiao Jing's initiative this time was not as successful as imagined, mainly to burn the equipment and hit morale.

"What now?" asked Li Xian.

Zhang San has been thinking of a way since he fled to Lu Yao City, he said: "I decided to recruit a group of soldiers nearby to make up for the losses, since you brought 10,000 to Wanggui City, there are still 20,000 defenders available in this Lu Yao City, we are temporarily recruiting a batch, enough to cover the previous losses." ”

Li Shi was a little displeased when he heard that Zhang San was going to ask for his army, but not only did the two of them not make meritorious contributions when they came, but also caused a lot of losses, which would definitely reduce the impression of the two of them in the minds of the Seven Princes.

In the end, Li Xi agreed to Zhang San's proposal, and the two gathered soldiers and stationed them outside Luyao City, patrolling closely, and did not dare to slack off.

Li Xi and Zhang San began to recruit troops and horses, whether it was a mountain village man or a street beggar, as long as they were not disabled, they all looked like they wore military uniforms.

Soon, the team of the two returned to 200,000, but the army was not very good, and the combat effectiveness became even more sluggish.

The two of them had no choice but to be strict with military orders, hoping that they would adapt to the environment of the army as soon as possible.

After waiting for a few more days, the Seven Princes finally came to Luyao City with the newly recruited and borrowed 100,000 soldiers.

What happened these days, Zhang San and Li Xi have made a simple report, although they cut corners and the report is not very detailed, but it also makes the Seven Princes understand that it is impossible for 200,000 people to capture Jinning City. Therefore, when the Seventh Prince saw that they did not have much to lose, he did not blame them, but politely praised them.

The Seven Princes sat on the upper seat of the City Lord's Mansion, Zhang San and Li Xian, the two generals, were on the left and right sides of the seats, and the big fat man Lu Yaocheng City Lord was the bottom, if this was not Lu Yaocheng, he would not even be qualified to sit down.

Even so, the city lord of Lu Yao City was still restless, because he could see that the Seventh Prince was not very happy, this time there were a lot fewer women around him, and the white-clothed women who had opened the road in front of him had also been replaced by majestic cavalry.

Thinking about Zhang San, who is a subordinate, is so domineering and arrogant, how can this Seventh Prince be an idle person.

"City Lord Lu Yaocheng, I remember the last time we met, you weren't so reserved. The Seventh Prince said to the City Lord of Lu Yao City with an expressionless face.

The city lord of Lu Yao City hurriedly pretended to have a painful expression, covered his big belly, and said: "I didn't eat breakfast well, it seems that I have eaten my stomach badly, and I neglected His Highness the Seventh, and I ask for forgiveness." ”

The Seventh Prince said lightly: "It's okay, since the city lord is sick, it's better to go down and rest first." ”

Finally hearing this, the city lord of Lu Yao City hurriedly trotted away.

The Seventh Prince didn't care about this city lord, he looked at Zhang San and Li Xian, and asked, "You have already dealt with Jinning City, you should have some opinions, right?"

Zhang San first said: "Your Highness Qiqi, the last general thinks that we may have misestimated the number of defenders of Jinning City, the Xiao family has been running Jinning City for a long time, and there are a lot of private soldiers who want to come and have it, before we only thought that they only had 100,000 people to defend the city, but now it seems that it is a big mistake." ”

"Oh?"

The Seventh Prince was a little suspicious, you must know that the first emperor was not so relieved about the Xiao family on the surface, and often monitored both openly and secretly, if the Xiao family really had too many private soldiers, the first emperor would have been attacked by the Xiao family a long time ago.

Zhang Sandao: "A few days ago, Xiao Jing personally led the troops to rob the camp, and when he was caught off guard, he let him take some advantage, but at that time, there were as many as eighty or ninety thousand soldiers who came to rob the camp, and the 50,000 people in Jinning City were still defending Li Xian's army in Beicheng, and their total number must reach 150,000. ”

Li Xi hurriedly said: "I am sure that there were 50,000 soldiers defending Beicheng at that time, and the building car was burned by the other party with catapults. ”

The Seventh Prince is still skeptical, but even if there are 150,000 people in Jinning City, it is still half less than his own side.

"It seems that this Jinning City can only be outwitted, not attacked. ”

The Seventh Prince thought about it, he really didn't have a good plan, and he was still far worse than the Third Prince in terms of military affairs, so he had to ask, "What do you two think?"

Zhang San thought for a while, and said, "This time Xiao Jing robbed the camp and won a small victory, otherwise we are luring them out to rob the camp and waiting for an opportunity to ambush, as long as we can eliminate 70,000 or 80,000, the few remaining defenders will definitely not be able to hold Jinning City." ”

Li Xian hesitated: "Can this be successful? Xiao Jing will not be easily fooled, besides, the place where you set up camp last time was too close to Jinning City, if it is that distance, Xiao Jing can advance and retreat freely, and we have no possibility of ambush." ”

Li Xi expressed his doubts and expressed his thoughts: "According to my opinion, it is better for us to build a circle of fortifications outside Jinning City and besiege Jinning City inside, as long as the construction is completed, we can also leave only 100,000 people to defend, and it will not be long before the Xiao family will be trapped inside." ”

Li Xian is not evil, if you want to defend the city, you can, you lock you in the city, I won't attack, but you can't get out, ten days and half a month are fine, wait until three or five months, the food is all eaten, see what you want to do, even if you don't surrender, those hungry soldiers can't be on the defensive with a strong army of 300,000 to attack the city.

The Seventh Prince was really a little moved, after all, he couldn't think of a better idea, but he ......

"It's going to take a lot of time, I can't stay here for too long. ”

It has been a month since the third prince returned to the north, and it was only a month before he had gathered 800,000 troops, this time he didn't know how long it would take to make a move, and the seventh prince felt that he couldn't wait, maybe when the third prince and the eldest prince went to war again, it would be the day to decide the belongings of the country.

It's a pity that the Seventh Prince wants to gather the army by himself, but it is far from that simple, not to mention that all the city lords who flatter him refuse to lend him the soldiers in his hands, and even recruiting soldiers has become extremely difficult, this throne is really not good.

Li Xi said: "Your Majesty doesn't need to come in person, as long as there are 300,000 soldiers watching outside, even if Xiao Jing has great ability, it is impossible to play any tricks, as long as the fortifications are in one city, and the 300,000 army leaves 100,000 or even 70,000 or even 70,000, he can be trapped in the lonely city." ”

Seeing that Li Xian was very confident, and that he was only building a fortification to enclose Jinning City, it was not too troublesome, so he simply agreed to this opinion.

"Since General Li is confident, then I will hand over this task to you, General Zhang will assist by the side, if you succeed, you will both be rewarded, if you fail, then you two will also be punished together. ”

"The last will obey!" "The last will obey!"

Zhang San and Li Shi knelt down and accepted the order.

When the Seventh Prince left, Zhang San stepped forward and complained to Li Xian: "You really have a bad idea, Jinning City is not backed by mountains, rivers and other dangerous places, there are exits on all sides, we want to build fortifications but we have to build them on all sides, you know how long it will take, what if the people of Jinning City come out to interfere, the unfinished fortifications are not only defenseless, but also interfere with our attack." ”

Li Xi was also stunned, hesitated, and asked, "Why didn't you stop me then?"

Zhang San can't say that he doesn't have any clue at all, and he doesn't want to be scolded by the Seventh Prince.

"Now that you and I have both been ordained, we are now grasshoppers on a rope, and we have no choice, now we will go separately to the nearby city to recruit some masonry craftsmen, try your method, maybe it will be successful." ”

Li Xi no longer hesitated, and directly led troops to Wanggui City, from there to recruit hundreds of masonry craftsmen, but it was still too few, a city did not need too many craftsmen at all, and could not find more for a while, so he simply began to temporarily recruit ordinary people as workers.

After giving a lot of wages, the speed of recruitment is much faster than recruitment.

Li Xi returned to Luyao City with 3,000 craftsmen, and Zhang San only got about 1,000 people at this time.

Zhang San said to Li Xian: "You have broken the money for the Seventh Prince this time. ”

Li Xi replied: "If you lose, you will be called a broken fee, and if you win, you will come back with everything." ”

Zhang San hesitated for a moment and said, "It's better to let the soldiers exert their strength, you can't let them watch from the side." ”

After some discussion, the first fortification began at the south gate of Jinning City, and these people began to dig a large trench a stone's throw away, and all kinds of fired bricks and tiles were carried over, preparing to build a small city wall.

This situation had already been discovered in Jinning City, and in fact, after Li Xi and Zhang Sangui retreated into Lu Yao City, they had been inquiring about their information.

Xiao Jing smiled: "Are they joking? are they going to build four city walls to enclose Jinning City?"

Xiao Yuning and Xiao Qianfan also came to the south city tower, there was no enemy in the north, and all the soldiers were assembled in the south to deploy.

Xiao Yuning also felt that this idea was a bit too ridiculous, after all, Jinning City was not small, and it took a lot of time to build Jinning City, and it took a day to ride a horse around Jinning City.

"Father, we can't make it too easy for them, let's go out and harass them. ”

Xiao Yuning sensed that this was an opportunity, the other party was building fortifications so close to the city tower, he really didn't take them seriously, and he could just go out and kill their sharp spirit.

Xiao Jing nodded, he also had this idea, "I have to interfere with it, when they build it, it will be a trouble to demolish it, and we can't accompany them to drag it slowly." ”

The people and businessmen receive the compensation of the Xiao family every day, and if this lasts too long, the Xiao family will be hollowed out sooner or later.

Xiao Jing glanced at Xiao Yuning and Xiao Qianfan, stayed on Xiao Qianfan for more time, and finally said: "Leave this task to Qianfan to do, his strength is not low, I believe he can do it." ”

Xiao Qianfan has followed Xiao Jing since he was a child, teaching martial arts hand in hand, when Xiao Yuning has not yet comprehended the mystery of the Wind Sword Technique, Xiao Qianfan's strength has always been above Xiao Yuning, but now there is a gap.

Xiao Qianfan naturally knew what to do, so he ordered him to go down the city tower, lead a thousand cavalry, open the city gate, and kill the craftsmen who were building fortifications outside.

Zhang San and Li Xian were overjoyed, they had long known that they would not be able to sit still, but they didn't expect to be hooked so soon. Even though there are only a thousand people, let them have no return.

Xiao Qianfan led a thousand cavalry to rush but a few dozen steps before they scattered, pulling a bow and shooting arrows at the craftsmen in the distance, killing and wounding many people in an instant.

Zhang San and Li Xian secretly scolded, but they didn't expect the other party to be so cunning, they refused to approach, and hurriedly let the soldiers hiding in the masonry and trench rush out, draw their bows and return fire with the other party.

Some of the soldiers rushed too quickly, and when they came within range of the walls of the city wall, they were immediately shot into hedgehogs by a rain of arrows.

"Don't wait, while the other party is opening the city gate, we will rush over, maybe there is still a chance. ”

After Li Xian finished speaking, he directly sounded the horn of the attack, which was no longer in the original plan, but the plan could not catch up with the changes, so it had to be like this.

When the 300,000 army pressed to the side of the city wall, the arrows shot by both sides were more dense than the heavy rain, Xiao Qianfan saw that the army was pressing, and immediately turned his horse's head and ran towards the city.

All the cavalry that came out were not very numerous, although some unlucky cavalry died under the bow and arrow, but relatively speaking, there were not too many losses, and the city gate was closed in time, not giving the enemy the slightest opportunity.

When the army of the Seven Princes saw that the city gate was closed, they immediately retreated.

Xiao Qianfan returned to the city tower, and Xiao Jing praised: "You did a good job just now, just a short engagement just now, and thousands of people were killed and injured outside." ”

Xiao Qianfan smiled: "We also killed hundreds of craftsmen. ”

The cavalry brought out were all masters of accurate archery, and under the first wave of shots, many craftsmen were killed and wounded.

On the other hand, the army of the Seven Princes lost some, although not much, but it also made those craftsmen fearful, some fled directly at night, and others became restless and slow to work.

The Seventh Prince called the two of them again and reprimanded them.

"Your Highness, don't panic, maybe there will be a plan at the end?" Zhang San said.

"Oh?" said the Seventh Prince, "and what is the best plan?"

Zhang San replied: "Although the construction of our fortifications is slow, we have succeeded in some of them, and they are built a stone's throw away from the city wall, and we can dig tunnels from the ground and defeat them from the inside." ”

"Authentic?" The Seventh Prince did not express his opinion directly, but looked at Li Shi, "Does General Li think it is feasible?"

"You can give it a try. Li Xi knew that he couldn't say more this time, and gave an ambiguous answer.

"In that case, give it a try. ”

In this way, the craftsmen worked under the protection of the soldiers, holding shields, and even if there were cavalry out of the city to harass them, they would not hurt too many people, and they would soon be returned by the archers, but the progress of the project was much slower.

And under the cover of this fortification, the tunnel below has already been dug.

"Are you sure this map is authentic?" asked Zhang San, an old man who looked like an old farmer.

The old man said: "My ancestor built Jinning City, how can the small one lie to you." ”

"The construction of Jinning City was still a matter of Liang State at that time, hundreds of years!"

The old man said, "The map in my lord's hand is an old antique handed down by my family. ”

Not to mention, the yellowed map really looks like something from hundreds of years ago.

Zhang San didn't ask again, but went to find the soldiers of Lu Yaocheng who had been to Jinning City nearby, and asked, "Do you have a problem looking at the location on this map?"

The soldier took it and looked at it for a while, and said, "General, the small ones don't go to many places, but as far as the little ones know, they are all clearly marked on this map." ”

"That's good. ”

Knowing this, Zhang San relieved himself.

Fortifications were slowly being built, and tunnels were being dug, but the people of the city were beginning to lose their seats.

Xiao Qianfan inadvertently saw the Xiao family's running bills, and instantly became calm, tens of thousands of taels of silver were distributed every day, and if it continued like this, this Xiao family, Xiao Qianfan would not have much to inherit.

"No, I can't go on like this, I have to persuade my father!"

Xiao Qianfan quickly ran to Xiao Jing and said urgently: "Father, do you know that the Xiao family is about to be emptied!"

Xiao Jing was stunned for a moment, not knowing what Xiao Qianfan was talking about, and after hearing his explanation, he calmed down, "Oh, what are you talking about, I know this, you don't have to worry about it." ”

"Father, it's all my Xiao family's things, how can I give them to others for nothing. ”

Xiao Jing said with a headache: "Those are indeed the things of the Xiao family, but in the future, the entire country of faith will belong to our Xiao family, so why bother with that little bit of wealth." ”

"But ......"

Xiao Qianfan still wanted to argue, but was organized by Xiao Jing, and said: "If you want to save for the Xiao family, then you should think about how to defeat the Seven Princes, as long as they are gone and the siege of Jinning City is lifted, then the Xiao family does not have to compensate them." ”

Xiao Qianfan nodded yes, but of the 300,000 army, he only had more than 100,000, and the initiative was completely in the hands of the other party.

Xiao Qianfan thought about leaving his father's room and came to the place where Xiao Yuning lived.

Xiao Yuning looked at Xiao Qianfan unexpectedly and said, "You don't usually come to me, but you have something to do today?"

Xiao Qianfan's face turned red and said, "I'll ask for advice on how to break the siege of Jinning City." ”

Xiao Yuning didn't expect Xiao Qianfan to come this time for this matter, and after thinking about it, he said: "Now the Seventh Prince is very vigilant, and it is difficult to find an opportunity for the time being, all we have to do is wait." ”

"Wait?" Xiao Qianfan hurriedly asked, "How long will you have to wait?" ”

"I don't know, it depends on whether the Seventh Prince makes a mistake. ”

There was no answer found from Xiao Yuning, Xiao Qianfan had to leave in a huff, but his anxious mood did not change in the slightest.