This is the first snow of the year, the white of the snow against the black and gray of the streets and walls, there are almost no pedestrians on the streets, and all the shops are closed, making the already withered Xijing City look even more bleak and gloomy.

At dusk, the snow stopped, and Zhao Mingtao, wearing heavy armor, stood on the city tower and looked out worriedly. But in the white wilderness, cooking smoke was everywhere, and everywhere were the tents of King Rui's soldiers and the cooking smoke lit by cooking.

Xijing City has been an isolated city for two whole months, and the food in the city is about to run out, and there are still no reinforcements from the puppet emperor.

Unable to attack for a long time, due to the restrictions of food and grass and the battle situation, King Rui's army withdrew more than half, but sent a new commander, who is said to be a rising star, and has a good set of sieges.

As soon as the new commander-in-chief arrived, he changed his strategy. It was very annoying to harass and attack every few days, either at night, early in the morning, or at dusk, and it was really annoying to kill a few people each time before leaving. After a long period of time, the soldiers in Xijing City have accumulated a lot of losses, and the mental pressure has gradually increased, coupled with the shortage of food and the cold weather, many people have become war-weary.

If it goes on like this, Zhao Mingtao doesn't know how long he can hold on.

He has been having nightmares lately, and he always feels that the other party will not just want to trap him to death, and it is as simple as a small fight, there must be a more powerful aftermath. For example, digging tunnels and the like, there is no moat in Xijing City, if the other party really adopts this method, it is really impossible to prevent it.

"Master, it's getting late, will you go back?" Li Yue bowed down and asked him to go back.

Zhao Mingtao sighed, turned around and walked down: "Send more people at night, especially to carefully check the surroundings of the city wall, if you hear strange noises, you must report it in time." ”

The two of them took a pair of personal soldiers to ride around Xijing City slowly, and Zhao Mingtao's mood became heavier and heavier.

There was a foul stench in the air, the stench of dead people and feces. Someone has already begun to starve, there is no food, there is no charcoal fire for heating, and there may be more people to die next.

It was dusk, when every family was cooking dinner, but not to mention that there was no smoke rising on the roof, and even the lights were scattered.

Zhao Mingtao felt that his future was unprecedentedly bleak, and he stood in the empty street in a daze, almost at a loss.

Li Yue hesitated for a moment, and said softly: "Master, if it really doesn't work, are we ......?" Stay in the green mountains without worrying about no firewood. ”

Zhao Mingtao didn't say anything. He didn't think about the question of surrender, but isn't it too late to surrender now? After a long time, he said, "Wait a few more days." Those we sent out should have arrived. He still had some hope for the puppet emperor.

Xia Ruibei didn't eat rice, only surrounded the smoke cage in a daze, Fang'er stood aside and complained softly: "This charcoal is so bad, a big smell of smoke." I don't know what they do, and the meals they deliver are getting worse and worse. ”

Xia Ruibei said impatiently: "If you are useful and have food, you should be content." There are many people who are dying of cold and starvation outside. ”

Fang'er knew that she was in a bad mood, so she was busy silencing and hid in the shadow of the lamp.

Xia Ruibei stood up, walked to the window and probed, and it was snowing again. Because Zhao Mingtao didn't come, there was only one lantern in the courtyard swaying in the wind, and it was quiet everywhere, and there was not half a shadow.

She sneered, these people, when she was in power, wagged their tails like dogs, just to make her smile. Now that she is unlucky, not to mention the people outside, even the servants in her yard are a little lazy.

She regrets it now, regrets it.

Zhao Mingtao is not as easy to coax as she imagined, so much money, she is just managing it for others, but she, the bookkeeper, also has a duty to accompany him to bed for recreation.

In the past, Zhao Mingtao was in a good mood, and when the war was not up, he would listen to her nagging a few more words, and would give her a few thin noodles, and she offered to send some silver tickets back to Xia's house, but he did not object, and he would often give her something small and praise her a few words.

But since Xia Ruixi's incident, he always thought that she was jealous and sent someone to set the fire, thinking that Xia Ruixi was burned to death by her. It's just that Xia Ruixi was picked up by him under the guise of her, and the matter was not put on the table, and he couldn't find the credentials, so he didn't have a good seizure.

But in the end, there was a fire in her heart, so she lost her temper by a little thing, she just confessed a few words, he slapped her face hard, and kicked her a few times, so painful that she lay on the bed for more than half a month before she could get up, and now her body is still faintly painful.

He didn't look at it here, and he didn't ask anyone to ask him. Instead, she let people come to her and took 200,000 taels of silver to let people go to the capital to give a dowry, and renovated the Shouwang Mansion to prepare to marry the main room. From that time on, the direction of the wind in this yard began to change.

At that time, she realized that what Xia Ruixi persuaded her was true, and it was really not a good thing to be small. Whether you love it or not, being treated like this, using your own money to ask for a big wife for him, is really hard to say.

After she got better, she had to apologize to him and bow her head. If he hates her and burns Xia Ruixi to death, and doesn't like her, just don't come, but it's good for him, either he doesn't come for a few days, or he comes for two things, asking for money, going to bed, torturing her in bed, and humiliating her.

She didn't know whether Zhao Mingtao was angry with her that he couldn't get Xia Ruixi, or whether he disliked her and didn't like Xia Ruixi.

Once, when she couldn't stand it anymore, she cried and begged him to let her go, and simply divorced her, and he said viciously, "Aren't you going to make money for me?" Want to leave before you can do it? Don't you think! Then he pushed her down on the bed, tore at her clothes, and threatened her: "You want to die too, don't you?" It's good to die, I'll kill your whole family! ”

After the battle started, Zhao Mingtao couldn't take care of her, she lived a good life for a few days, and one reaction was to be happy. Before I was happy, I began to worry about the war again. If Zhao Mingtao wins, Miss Fei still has to come, her life is even more sad, if Zhao Mingtao is defeated, what will happen to the defeated general? The family members must also be unable to escape the fate of being humiliated and dying.

She wanted to plan for herself, but she didn't know what she could do in such a situation. Xia family, she can't go back. Xia Ruixi, I don't know if it's dead or alive. Escape? How to escape? Where can you escape? Die? She was not reconciled.

She leaned against the window, and the cold wind blew in and out on her face, blowing the candles in the room flickering on and off, and she did not react, like a wooden clay sculpture.

Someone quietly poked at the door, and Fang'er went out for a while and came back: "Madam, someone is at home." ”

Xia Ruibei turned around with a "swoop", her eyes burning: "Really? Come in, please. "Master Xia has always ignored her, why did he suddenly let people come to look for her today?