Lin Qingwan nodded and praised: "Loyalty is commendable, worthy of being a soldier brought out by General Xiang, then have you ever thought about who you are fighting for?" ”

"Da Chu for me!"

"Da Chu?" Lin Qingwan chuckled, "Is it for Emperor Chu, or for the people of Great Chu?" ”

"Naturally, it's both," a soldier secretly glanced at the general and said, "In short, we won't let the Chu State perish." ”

Lin Qingwan followed his line of sight, stared at Xiang Shandao, and said, "If you are asked to choose the person you are loyal to, are you choosing the general or the Emperor of Chu?" ”

The soldier was tangled.

Lin Qingwan laughed, asked people to bring them stools, and directly dropped the chess pieces and said, "General Xiang doesn't mind if I chat with your soldiers, right?" ”

Xiang Shan looked down at the unfinished chessboard, bowed his head, the longer she spoke, the longer they could delay, and he was happy to see it.

As if she hadn't noticed his attempt, Lin Qingwan sat down in front of a few wounded soldiers and asked, "What's your name?" ”

"My name is Pillar."

"My name is Ercai."

"My name is Jiabao."

Lin Qingwan said: "There is also a soldier named Zhu in my Liang camp, and his name is Wang Zhu. ”

Zhu Zi was surprised, "Such a coincidence, I also have the surname Wang." ”

"That's really a coincidence," Lin Qingwan looked him up and down, and said, "He is younger than you, only nineteen, but unfortunately he has already died on the battlefield." ”

A few people laughed.

"He is the eldest in the family, and there are two brothers under him, and he was recruited when the court conscripted for military service, what about you, how many brothers are there in the family?"

"I'm the only one in my family."

"I also have an older brother, and his name is Dacai."

"I have a younger brother."

Lin Qingwan asked, "The family is all farming?" ”

Several people nodded.

Lin Qingwan sighed, "Then if you die on the battlefield, there will be one less strong laborer in the family." ”

Several people were silent.

"By the way, how is the tax levied in your Chu State, and how much land tax and population tax do you have to pay every year?"

Several people quietly looked at Xiang Shan, Xiang Shan bowed slightly, and they talked to Lin Qingwan.

The standard of taxation is different in each place, and they only talk about the taxes and donations they have to pay in memory of the year they left.

Lin Qingwan listened, and told them the tax standard on Liang Guo's side, and finally concluded: "Your tax is lighter than ours, but the tax is a little heavier, and the donation is more, so there is not much left after a year's work." ”

"Yes, but life has to pass, in fact, if it weren't for the war, life would still be very good."

Lin Qingwan nodded, "I live in Suzhou, and we basically don't fight in that area, but if the imperial court wants to fight, it will still recruit troops from there and pay military taxes, of which there are two years without military taxes, and I am lucky, the wind and rain are still peaceful, and the family has saved some surplus grain, but it has been almost tossed in the past two years." ”

"It's the same all day."

"Yes, I don't know when the world will be calm, there will be no more wars, and the people will have a peaceful life for a few years."

The three of them pursed their lips and said unhappily: "Since Lord Lin doesn't want to fight, why does he still lead troops to fight our Chu State?" ”

Lin Qingwan smiled, "This is going to ask your general." ”

Lin Qingwan turned her head and asked Xiang Shan, "General Xiang, you might answer this question to them?" Why did Da Liang fight the state of Chu? ”

Xiang Shan pursed his lips, "For unification." ”

"If Liang doesn't fight Chu at this time, will Chu fight Liang in the future?"

The corners of Xiang Shan's mouth pursed tighter, but he still responded: "Yes!" ”

"For what?"

"For unification!"

Lin Qingwan looked at the stunned few people and said, "Do you understand now, no matter who fights whom, as long as the country is still torn apart, war will always happen." This battle of unification has been fought for one hundred and seventy-eight years, counting from the beginning of the melee in the Later Tang Dynasty, General Xiang, I am not wrong, right? ”

"Nope."

"Forty years in a generation, nearly five generations, almost the length of a dynasty, General Xiang, isn't this chaos long enough?"

Xiang Shan's heart stirred, clenched into fists and was speechless.

Lin Qingwan asked step by step: "You know that this battle is inevitable, and you also know that the Chu State will be merged into other countries sooner or later, but now you are still stubbornly defending this city?" ”

"What can it do for you? It's just a time to delay the demise of the Chu State, but my Liang is not the Liao State, and the Chu State will not slaughter the city, nor will it treat the people of the Chu State harshly, in our eyes, whether it is the people of Chu or the people of Liang, they are all the same people. Lin Qingwan said: "And you delayed for two days for the monarch who left his capital and fled alone, and took the lives of 20,000 soldiers to fill it." ”

"General Xiang, what are the benefits of sticking to the capital besides fulfilling your name of loyalty and giving Emperor Chu two days?" Lin Qingwan pointed to those Baba eyes and asked, "Isn't this one life?" A person has only one life, but there is still a family behind them, do you want to destroy 20,000 families to do something that will never be possible? ”

Xiang Shan's face changed drastically, and he clenched the chess pieces in his palm and was silent.

His soldiers couldn't see him so embarrassed, and hurriedly said: "Lord Lin, don't embarrass our general, we are willing." ”

"Yes, we're definitely not going to surrender."

Lin Qingwan stared at Xiang Shan tightly and said, "General Xiang can see their intentions for you?" ”

"They don't know the so-called general trend of the world, don't the generals know either? And you know that you have wasted their lives, and you are just a person who sells fame and reputation. Lin Qingwan threw down the chess pieces in his hand and said, "If General Xiang insists on this, I will lose this game of chess, so what if I give you a night?" It should be given time to these 20,000 soldiers to feel the warmth of the world again. ”

Xiang Shan lowered his head and looked at the chessboard silently, and Lin Qingwan sat with him until the sun was about to set, and the clouds on the horizon were illuminated orange, and as soon as the wind rolled, the clouds on the horizon relaxed and changed into many appearances.

When Xiang Shan looked up, he saw Lin Qingwan looking at the clouds in the sky with his back to him, he couldn't help but get up and walk to her side, and also looked up.

But when he looked down again, he saw that his soldiers were hiding behind the ravine, holding a small piece of dry food and slowly grinding their teeth, and the firehead soldiers were carrying baskets and giving them rations one by one.

That was their last bit of food, but it was very small, and each person was only half the size of a palm, or a black flour bun mixed with bran.

They are already at the end of their crossbows, and after tonight, tomorrow the Liang army will attack in a big way, and this last line of defense will definitely not be able to hold.

This is the only last meal in their lives.

Xiang Shan's heart ached slightly, and he opened his mouth halfway before he asked hoarsely: "Liang Guo can really treat everyone equally?" ”

Lin Qingwan's heart was agitated, but she said without revealing a single expression on her face: "What does General Xiang think of my Liang State's Guangnan County?" ”

Guangnan County is a county established after Liang subdued the Southern Han Dynasty, and the other half of the Southern Han Dynasty was occupied by the Chu State, and their lives have not been so easy in recent years, but the Guangnan County of Liang is not bad, in order to be stable, Emperor Liang has been greatly reducing taxes, Xiang Shan also knows, when the two countries did not fight before, I heard that the Han people on their side often sneaked to the Liang side.

If you stay at a relative's house, you won't come back.

He smiled bitterly and said, "It's their luck to meet the Ming monarch and good ministers." ”

"General Xiang can also have this luck, and even bring this luck to more people."

Xiang Shan closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, there was no fluctuation, he looked at Lin Qingwan and said, "Mr. Ji is right, Lord Lin's chess is indeed very good, and Xiang is willing to bow down." ”

With that, he untied the sword from his waist and handed it to her, "Please let Lu Du come in." ”

Lin Qingwan took the sword and smiled, "General Xiang, everyone will remember your merits today." ”

General Xiang smiled bitterly, turned around and summoned the adjutant general, and asked them to gather the soldiers, lay down their weapons, and open the fence to let the Liang army in.

When the soldiers of Chu who were still guarding the city tower heard that there was no need to fight, their eyes were hot for a while, and they slowly put down their weapons and followed their respective commanders down the city tower.

Only General Xiang and his personal guards were still standing on the city tower, looking at the soldiers who slowly came out of the trenches, he sighed slightly, and said with some sadness: "Time also, life also!" ”

After a word, he turned around and pulled out the sword in Lin Qingwan's hand and was about to kill himself, Lin Qingwan was startled, and reached out to grab the blade without thinking about it, "General Xiang!" ”

Xiang Shan is with a mortal heart, so the sword is very fast and powerful, as soon as the sword is wiped, Lin Qingwan's hand will see blood, or Yi Han beside her is fast, one sword to hit Xiang Shan's wrist, and the other hand to catch Lin Qingwan's hand......

This sword almost cut off half of Lin Qingwan's palm, Yi Han's face turned pale, and while covering her hand to stop the bleeding, he wanted to take her to the doctor.

Lin Qingwan stopped him with a white face, turned his head to Xiang Shan, who was slightly pale, and said, "General Xiang, don't you want to see what it is like to be too peaceful and stable in this world?" ”

"My grandfather, father, and brother are only the ones they wish to win, but they don't have a chance to see it, and you have a chance, but you don't want to see it?"

"Grandma," Yi Han couldn't stop the bleeding, picked her up, and directly ordered the guards to arrest Xiang Shan, saying, "Don't worry, even if he wants to die, he can't die." ”

After that, immediately take Lin Qingwan down to the city tower.

Lu Zhen counted the Chu army below, and saw that the movement on the city tower was not right, so he hurriedly caught up, and saw that Lin Qingwan's hands were full of blood, and his face was pale, so he was immediately startled, and hurriedly asked the military doctor to call.

The military doctor is very good at dealing with external injuries, and quickly cleaned the wound, applied hemostatic medicine after simple sutures, and bandaged the palm of his hand before giving Lin Qingwan a pulse.

The military doctor touched her pulse, frowned slightly, looked at her face, touched it again, and finally shook his head and said: "It's really strange, I think the county lord's body is very good, but he has lost too much blood, so he should eat more blood-tonifying things." ”

The military doctor thought that he was not good at learning, after all, he was good at external injuries and not good at internal adjustment, Lin Qingwan's pulse was stable, maybe he was wrong.

The military doctor wiped a handful of cold sweat, prescribed the prescription and handed it to Yi Han, and said, "This is a medicine to stop bleeding, take it first, and I'll take a look tomorrow." ”