An army of 100,000 is about to cross the Helian Mountains.

The forward team was hit hard in the old forest.

Of the 30,000 people, only 10,000 are alive.

The rest of the people returned in embarrassment and joined the army, and everyone couldn't believe it, what kind of enemy it was, it could do it to such an extent, the 30,000 forward army, even if it encountered the Chu army, it could have the strength to fight.

But they only encountered a team of a few thousand people, and it was so miserable.

The spies sent to investigate were also shocked, and the corpses of more than 20,000 Shang soldiers were piled up in the mountains and forests, mixed with the corpses of thousands of strangely dressed people.

There were nameless insects gnawing on the corpses, all of them were terrible, and the blood under the soldiers turned black, and their faces were full of pain.

After the spies returned, the main general also felt strange, but it was not good to go out like this, and he had lost so many soldiers before he saw the Shang people, how could he explain to the regent and the queen.

The news quickly spread back to the palace.

Cui Yue saw the description in the letter and guessed that this was the legendary Gu worm, which was probably related to the Dian man who saved him.

Others regard the Gu worm as a legend, but they have seen it with their own eyes, and there is one in their body, and it has saved themselves twice.

Thinking of what the old woman said that day, Cui Yue couldn't help but connect them.

This peculiar ethnic group must have reached some kind of agreement with the Chu State in the present world.

The events of that day resurfaced in front of me again, when she was dying, it was the old woman who saved herself with the treasured Gu worm, and later it was this Gu worm that allowed her to crawl back from the pile of dead people.

At the beginning, he seemed to have promised to protect the Dian people once when necessary.

Just as he was thinking about it, the maid came to report, and the regent asked to see him.

Cui Yue gathered her thoughts and walked outside.

"Niangniang has already received the news, the army was defeated in the Helian Mountains, and 20,000 were lost. ”

Cui Yue raised her hand and motioned to the maid to serve tea, "The palace already knows, what does the regent think?"

"I'm afraid I can't hide it anymore, but now that the matter has come to this, we should still give it a go, otherwise the current situation will be difficult to alleviate. ”

"Hongu thinks it should be withdrawn. ”

The regent frowned and said, "This was originally proposed by Niangniang, and now it has not crossed Helian Mountain, and it is going to be returned?"

"Doesn't this battle show that the state of Chu has long been prepared? The people who ambushed our army in the mountains should be the legendary Dian people, who have lived in seclusion for many years, and now they dare to come forward to be the enemy of our merchant country, they must have taken refuge in the state of Chu, no one knows how much strength their clan has now, and the palace does not want to use 100,000 troops to test their strength, this method does not work, then we will find another way. ”

"I heard that they have a unique poison technique, killing people invisibly, it is indeed tricky, but if you retreat like this, wouldn't it be a waste of time. ”

"It's better than folding all the 100,000 troops into it, even if we destroy the Dian people and cross the Helian Mountains, I'm afraid the Chu army over there will have already prepared a trap and waited for us to step in. ”

It's not that the regent doesn't understand this truth, it's an adventure in itself, but he didn't expect that the Chu State had already been prepared, what is the point of this?

Cui Yue said, "My Shang State is not weak, it's just that I was a little caught off guard before, the Jin State took advantage of the fire to rob, as long as we force the Jin State to retreat and concentrate on dealing with the Chu State, this battle is not unstoppable, as long as we are given a chance to breathe, everything is still possible." ”

"Our manpower is constantly losing every day, I don't know how long we can hold the Chu army, we can't drag them to death. ”

"Don't forget, the State of Chu and the State of Jin are not allied, they still have heavy troops in Yuyang Pass, and they don't dare to attack our Shang State with all their might, not to mention that the State of Jin is still at war with the State of Qin, and they don't dare to let go of their hands. ”

The regent said, "Then do as you say, deal with the Jin State first, and then confront the Chu State." ”

Although they had a goal, they still couldn't relax in their hearts, because the situation in the Shang Kingdom was not good, because many people and cities had been abandoned, and there were dissatisfaction within the Shang Kingdom.

During the war, the demand for grain and grass was greater, but the grain reserves of the Shang countries were not enough, and now they could only increase taxes, so they fell into a bad circle.

But in times of war, who can take care of these ordinary people.

Xie Yuan knew the situation of the Chu army, and he wanted to go to the army to see the children, but he knew that no, their emperor was a general and could not be vulnerable.

So he can only communicate with them with money and secretly stabilize the commercial market.

The war started, and everyone in the Xie family was also busy.

The old lady is old, and she can only watch the children hurrying in the house, and she always falls asleep when she reads, and she always coughs from time to time.

The children sent back the letters, always read and read, and then cherished them in the box.

The military rations in southern Xinjiang were transported to the front line, and the Chu army could hold out for a while.

The Shang State fought against the Jin army with all its might, and the Jin army suffered heavy losses, and the Qin State took advantage of the fire to loot and intensify the offensive.

The Jin State realized it afterwards and wanted to negotiate peace with the Qin State.

It's a pity that the Qin State is not a fool, how could it be possible to withdraw its troops, so the Jin State can only temporarily retreat and leave the crazy merchant army.

In mid-October, the grain and grass of the Chu State were delivered, and the Chu army launched a fierce offensive again.

The negotiations between the Jin State and the Chu State have also made progress, and the two sides of Yuyang Pass have withdrawn their troops, and the Jin State will no longer pursue the cities outside Yuyang Pass.

The state of Chu withdrew its troops a hundred miles outside Yuyang Pass.

On the one hand, the Jin State transferred troops to the front line and attacked the Shang State again, and on the other hand, it was also beaten out of anger and sent a large army to fight a decisive battle with the Qin State.

In the end, the Qin State was weak, the army was not strong, the military expenditure was not enough, and it wanted to be aggressive, but its strength was insufficient, and it formed a confrontation with the Jin State, so the Jin State dared to attack the Shang State with its hands and feet.

Shang did not expect that Chu would compromise with Jin, and now he understands that Chu did not want to attack Shang alone, and did not want to form an alliance with others, so he lured Jin to attack Shang, so when Jin retreated, Southern Xinjiang retreated.

In the spring of the fourteenth year of the Great Chu Qiyuan, the two countries of Chu and Jin divided their battlefields and attacked the Shang State.

With the cavalry as the vanguard, the state of Chu followed the eastern road and approached the Shang capital.

For various reasons, civil strife was set off in the Shang country, and the Korean remnants of the year set off a war of resistance, and the Shang country was too busy to take care of itself for a while.

During the disappearance of Xie Ling and Tianshen, in addition to contacting the imperial uncle of Qi and exploring the deployment of troops in the Jin and Shang states, they happened to encounter the organization of the Korean remnants, and after Korea was captured by the Shang and Jin countries, the Korean remnants became slaves, so some people were not convinced, so they established a resistance organization, but the strength was not enough, and they did not dare to openly call out to the Shang court.

Thanks to Xie Ling's efforts, they reached a cooperation with the state of Chu, and when the time was right, they overthrew the state of Shang and made the remnants of Korea no longer speak of slaves.

Although Sister Yan and Tian Shen are both in the army, they each lead a large army, so they can't see each other a few times a year, and they can only meet when Xie Ming summons the generals of the battalions to assemble, and they can only meet each time, and they will be separated after saying a few words every time.

Even so, the relationship between the two is getting deeper and deeper.

As long as there is a glimmer of free time, both will write letters to each other.

Because of the march and war, the letter could not be delivered in time, but this also became the sweetest expectation of the two.

In the summer of the sixteenth year of Qiyuan, Emperor Chu's health became worse and worse, and at the suggestion of the national teacher, he changed the era name to Jingyun.

In the same year, the old lady fell ill, and the family letter was sent to the army, but everyone could not go back, so they could only pray over and over again that grandpa could wait for them to go back.

In the spring of the second year of Jingyun, the war reached a white-hot stage, and the Chu and Jin states had occupied most of the mountains and rivers of the Shang State, especially the Chu State, which had approached the capital of the Shang State.

Shang's counterattack also became more and more crazy.

In April, Sister Yan and her army had already attacked the last pass outside the Shang capital, Yanshan Pass.

Before leaving, someone suddenly wore a white scarf and sent a letter home.

When Sister Yan saw that white, she knew that there was bad news.

"Miss Nine, the letter from home has arrived. ”

The Xie family has never easily used the so-called privileges, even if it is to send a letter to the family, it is also a normal way, and now that the Xie family's servants appear in the army, the letter must be terrible news.

Just thinking about it, my sister's eyes were already filled with tears.

The man knelt in front of his sister, took out two letters from his arms and a piece of filial piety, "Miss Nine, the old lady has gone, and the fourth master ordered me to come to deliver a letter and ask Miss Nine to mourn." ”

There was silence all around.

Old lady? Is the old lady gone?

Everyone looked at their sisters, unable to speak.

Sister Yan stood with her eyes closed for a long time, swallowed her tears, took off the crown of her hair, took the filial piety cloth, wrapped it around her bun, knelt down in the direction of Su Yue, and kowtowed three times.

The people around him also knelt down slowly and didn't say a word.

The person who delivered the letter was already crying, and Seventeen knelt down and kowtowed behind his sister, and the old lady went, which was a big blow to the young lady.

Sister Yan took the letter, only to see that one was signed by her grandfather, and the other was signed by her father, and she understood that this was a letter left by her grandfather.

turned around and entered the camp, and the moment he entered, tears rained down.

I always feel that my grandfather will always wait for him to come home, and he always makes the children forget his old age, and I have not done what I promised you, how can you abandon our son?

I opened the envelope with trembling hands, but my eyes were always blurry, and by the end, the letters were wet.

Even in the end, the grandfather didn't ask the children for anything, he just regretted that he couldn't finish the game of chess, he couldn't see his grandson-in-law, and he couldn't help his favorite granddaughter.

Even if he is used to seeing life and death on the battlefield, his heart is still like a knife at the moment, and his grandfather has been partial to himself since he was a child, but he always makes him wait.

Now he can't even do filial piety before his spirit.

No matter how sad she is, Sister Yan still has to fight her spirits, because the most important battle of the Chu army is about to begin.

It is imperative to attack Yanshan Pass.

Sister Yan was in pain, but she still led the troops to go.

Xie Ming also received the news, he was away from home for several years, first guarding the border, and then going on a campaign for the country, he hadn't seen his grandfather for 14 years, but when he was a child, his grandfather's patient teaching was engraved in his memory, and he couldn't erase it.

I always thought that when the Chu army broke through the Shang State and returned to his hometown, I would let my grandfather see that I had lived up to his teachings, but unfortunately, it was too late.