Zuo Lie changed into the outfit of the patrol of Panlong City with Zu Jia, and came to the north gate, originally wanting the defenders to open the city gate and get out of the city in a muddle, but who knew that the defenders actually recognized Zu Jia, and attracted the enemy to surround him, and countless armor connected a wall of death, squeezing Zuo Lie and others, showing the strong combat effectiveness of the imperial army of the Shang Dynasty.

Dozens of Zu Jia's personal soldiers and five horseless cavalry led by Lie quickly lined up in a circle and protected Zu Jia in the middle. Zu Jia looked around and saw that there were few soldiers on the city, so he roared and rushed towards the steps connecting the city, and the circle around him also quickly moved forward in his direction, and when he reached the steps, the soldiers on the city head had also rushed down, and the two sides crashed together. The circle was like a tiny quail egg, bursting at the touch of a button.

Zuo Lie was knocked to the ground, and more than a dozen enemy soldiers stepped over his body and attacked Zu Jia's own soldiers.

Zuo Lie was just about to stand up when he was knocked to the ground by the wall of people who were squeezed over, so he had to turn around and roll out a few feet, and only got up after a gap. Seeing Zu Jia roaring, he broke into the enemy formation, raised his blade and cut down several people in succession, the enemy was afraid of his momentum, and actually flashed out of a passage, Zu Jia led the remaining one or twenty personal soldiers around him to rush to the city, and jumped out of the city in a blink of an eye.

Zuo Lie searched for the cavalry he brought in the crowd, but he didn't see any of them, and said that Zu Jia had jumped outside the city, whether he was dead or alive, he was always out of the encirclement of the enemy, but he didn't see Zu Jia holding a rope in his hand, and the city wall was as high as four or five zhang, and he didn't know if he was still alive after jumping down. He saw that there were enemy soldiers all around, and he could not go outside the city for a while, only when these enemy soldiers were scattered and then thought of going out of the city to find Zujia, he took refuge in the shadow of the city wall, trotted to the outside of a courtyard, listened carefully to the sound of no one inside, and did not see any fire candles, so he jumped over the wall into the courtyard.

The courtyard is full of all kinds of copper utensils, with two large water tanks in the middle, and two copper hammers, one large and one small, on the half-human-high copper anvil, which seems to be a coppersmith's shop.

Zuo Lie bypassed the water tank and came to the door of the main hall, and saw that the door was locked by a copper lock, and knew that the master had gone out to avoid the war, and there must be no one at home. He reached out and twisted the brass lock. The brass lock is very strong. Zuo Lie was not good at breaking the door of someone's house, so he turned around and came to a window, tried to stretch out his hand, but the window was opened, and through the faint light of the day, he saw that there was a table under the window, and there was a bed next to the table, and the bedding and pillows were very neat. After running for most of the night, Zuo Lie was already very tired, and when he saw this bed, he felt even more sleepy, so he went through the window and entered the house, holding his weapon and falling on the bed.

He remembered that Zu Geng had sent himself here to welcome Zu Jia's return to the north, but he suddenly ordered the defenders of Panlong City to hunt and kill Zu Jia, could it be that Zu Jia really surrendered to the enemy country during this period, but who returned to the king during this period to tell Zu Jia the news of his treason? Even with the fastest horse, it would take five days to reach the royal capital from Panlong City non-stop, plus it would take at least ten days to return, and it was only four days for him to come here after accepting the king's order. There is also a possibility that Zu Jia was framed by the enemy spy under the pretense of Zu Geng's order, and killed people with a knife.

Zuo Lie knew that there must be something else hidden in this. And to find out these questions, only by looking for the leader of the merchant army defending the city can ask clearly, because the ordinary soldiers only obey the above arrangement, and only the leader can contact the person who issued the decree, as long as he finds the person who issued the decree, these mysteries can be easily solved. In the past, the leader of the defenders of Panlong City was Zu Jia, but now that he is regarded as a traitor to the enemy, the authority of this leader must have been transferred to others.

Who is this person who holds the power of life and death in Panlong City?

Zuo Lie fell asleep with these questions, about an hour or two passed, smelled a few roosters in his dream, opened his eyes and saw the dawn outside the window, so he got up and went to another room to go around, in the kitchen saw a big steamer on the stove, opened the lid and saw that there were twenty or thirty white bread left, thinking that the master went out in a hurry and did not take it away, he couldn't help but be overjoyed, gobbled up five or six of them, and carried a dozen or so in that military uniform, before returning to the table in the bedroom and going out through the window, just walked to the courtyard wall, and heard someone open the courtyard door with a key, Walked into the courtyard and hurriedly walked out of the wall.

Zuo Lie's foothold is a stone street, the shops on both sides have reopened, some people are holding brooms to sweep the remaining snow on the ground, and several boys are building snowmen on the ground, chasing with snow balls.

Zuo Lie walked all the way down the street, and when he saw a tea house, there were three or five soldiers sitting around the fire and talking, so he went in and sat at the table next to him, and asked for a pot of tea, and heard those people say that it was the last night.

With Zuo Lie sitting with his back to a tall and thin man, he said, "You can see clearly, is it really Zu Jia who jumped out of the city last night?" ”

The one who sat on his left replied: "Look clearly, that Zujia is really ruthless, so many of us can't catch him, so let him escape." ”

The sergeant sitting opposite him said, "I can't escape, I'm blocked in the hole in the east city gate." ”

The thin and tall man said: "This morning, I saw more than a dozen people lying under the outer wall of the city, I wonder if Zu Jia is among them?" ”

The man sitting across from him said, "There was a man in the hole who poked his head out and was shot back by our crossbow arrows. The city gate was supposed to be opened this morning, but the order from above was that the city gate should not be opened. Presumably trying to freeze them and starve them there. ”

The first person on the left said: "It's not strange if you say it's strange, the current city lord is actually Zu Jia's wife." And his wife actually ordered Zujia to be hunted and killed. ”

The tall and thin man looked around vigilantly, and whispered: "The royal family fights, siblings are frying, and there are still fewer cases of husband and wife killing each other?" What's so strange? After taking a sip of tea, he said: "I also heard that the lady was originally from the courtyard outside the city, and she had already promised a family before marrying Zu Jia, and she also had a child. That Zujia was greedy for his beauty, seeing that he was alone with a child, pestering him every day, and finally hugged the beauty, who knew that this woman suddenly turned into a poisonous snake and opened her mouth to bite, which is really ridiculous. ”

Zuo Lie was surprised when he heard that the current city lord was Zu Jia's wife, but he heard a sigh from one person: "Ah, the city lord is here." Everyone hurriedly left the table and bowed to the ground.

Zuo Lie turned his head and saw a group of people in the center of the street, embracing a richly dressed woman walking towards the tea house. When the noble lady came closer, Zuo Lie saw that the woman's skin was white and even, and his phoenix eyebrows and starry eyes were astonished, this noble lady actually looked the same as his wife Wan'er, who was worried about him day and night, and saw that she was wearing a narrow-sleeved brocade robe, a gold mink jacket, a pair of gold silk silks hanging from her waist, a crimson bead on her forehead, and a string of shining gold-inlaid jade chains hanging on her chest.

But the coarse linen clothes in Zuo Lie's memory, thin and delicate, and this woman's plump waist, golden jacket and brocade robe, and rich and rich, there is a huge difference between the two, and I thought, maybe this woman is just similar to Wan'er's appearance. But seeing that the woman's demeanor and demeanor were really no different from Wan'er's, I said in my heart, is there really such a similar person in this world? I thought again, if she was really Wan'er, she wouldn't be recognized by him like this.

But the woman had seen him by this time, and when she saw the soldier's old cheeks and mutilated countenance, she looked at her in a daze, and felt that the crippled old man was very pitiful, and did not feel the slightest disgust, but on the contrary had a sense of déjà vu.

Zuo Lie was afraid that she was really Wan'er, so he recognized herself, and hurriedly lowered her head, but remembered that her appearance was ruined, and even Wan'er couldn't recognize herself even when she was there.

Beside the noble lady, a guard stepped forward and pressed him on the shoulder, and rebuked, "Be bold, don't kneel down yet!" ”

Zuo Lie remembered that he was still wearing a merchant uniform, and when he saw that the city lord naturally knelt down to give a salute, he hurriedly left the table and bent his legs and knelt on the ground.

The lady stepped up to the second floor.

Zuo Lie and the other soldiers who were eating tea together got up and walked out of the tea house, and the soldiers walked away, so Zuo Lie walked to a corner across the street and stopped, turning around and looking under the window on the second floor of the tea house.

The noble lady sat at the table facing the street, slowly eating snacks and drinking tea, and after a while, she saw the young man Yan who she had seen the day before also enter the tea house, go up to the second floor, and sit beside the woman. The woman took the fruit of the refreshment and put it in his hand, and it was very intimate.

The young man was respectful, and at a glance he knew that he was a pair of mothers and sons.

Zuo Lie recalled what Zu Jia said in the stone room, and recalled that the soldier who was drinking tea just now said that this woman was from the courtyard mountain, so he dared to believe that this woman was his wife Wan'er, and the young man should be his own son-in-law. Zuo Lie secretly thought that he had been busy fighting for merit for many years, fighting everywhere, and had not left home for ten years, it was not easy for their orphans and widows to live at home, and Wan'er was willing to marry someone else's wife, but she was able to be the city lord of Panlong City, which really surprised her.

Thinking that Zu Jia has supported her mother and son for many years, she is also a benefactor no matter what, but she ordered the slaughter of Zu Jia, this is really not like Wan'er was a person in the past, could there be another secret in this?

After noon, a north wind blew in the streets, and the snow that had begun to melt turned into ice again, making it difficult to move an inch. Zu Jia didn't dare to recognize Wan'er's child, but he remembered Zu Jia's kindness to help him raise the child and wanted to save him. Because he had just heard the soldiers in the tea house say that there were still a few people alive in the cave of the North City Gate, he wanted to give them some food so that they would have the strength to escape.

Zuo Lie saw that it was still early, so he walked around the street, bought a few catties of cooked beef, found a bag and wrapped the original ten buns and beef on his body, hung them on his shoulders, and turned around the streets twice, and saw that it was evening, so he walked slowly to the north gate, which was still a stone's throw away from the city gate, and saw that the city was densely packed with crossbowmen, but there was no one at the gate of the city, and sat at the corner of the street to rest and wait for the sky to get completely dark.

When the lantern was in hand, the soldiers in the city changed their guards, the voices were boiling, but the city was still silent, Zuo Lie ran to the dark shadow under the door hole, put his ear to the city gate to listen to the movement outside the door, faintly heard some coughing sounds, ** sounds, guessing that the living people had been freezing and starving all day, must have been dying, so he bent his fingers and gently knocked on the heavy city gate a few times, and gently called the ancestral armor twice.

There was no response from outside the door. Lie's heart rang out, could it be that Ancestor Jia had been killed.

Worried about being discovered by the patrolmen, Zuo Lie didn't have time to think about it, took off the baggage, and wanted to stuff it outside the door from the gap under the door, but the gap was only a finger wide, and he couldn't pass through it at all. Perhaps his voice was heard on the other side of the door, and he knocked on the plank on the door, and although the voice sounded weak, it finally had an echo, indicating that there were still people alive there.

Zuo Lie lowered his voice and asked if Zu Jia was still alive, only to hear two rustling sounds in the hole he had just dug with his blade, and a hand stretched out from outside the door. Zuo Lie clutched that hand tightly, as if grasping his conscience. He heard a faint voice coming from the other side of the cave: "Help—me!" ”

Zuo Lie heard that it was Zu Jia, and knew that he was still alive, and a force suddenly rose in his heart, so he shook his weak hand vigorously, and said: "I will definitely save you out......" Just as he was saying this, he saw a team of patrols coming from a distance, and hurriedly retracted his hand and hid in the dark corner where the city gate and the city wall intersected, and only came out again when the patrolmen walked away, and crouched down at the mouth of the cave that was not full of feet: "You wait and eat your stomach first, and then you have the strength in your body, and then you want to get out!" With that, he ran away along the base of the wall.