When the young man disappeared from sight, Zuo Lie passed through the moon gate on the side, wanting to climb over the courtyard wall to find his subordinates, but he heard the door of the first room on the right squeak, and a person walked out of it. The man carried a food box and walked through the remote alleyway.

It's the middle of the night, and who wants to eat?

Zuo Lie was curious, and carefully followed behind the man by the hazy moonlight. The man came to a courtyard wall, looked back, and jumped out of the courtyard wall.

Zuo Lie also climbed over the wall, and saw that the man walked to the lake in the shade of a giant willow tree with a waist circumference of several feet and disappeared, he stepped forward, circled around the giant willow and did not find any entrance, then turned around and beckoned to the dark place behind him, and a few people jumped out of the dark place, which were his subordinates.

The men put their ears to the wrinkled willow tree, and heard a faint human voice from the tree, like a ghost whisper from the underworld, buzzing and unrecognizable. After a while, they heard footsteps, as if they were going up the stairs, and the sound became louder and louder, and they realized that they had come to them, and they hurriedly jumped behind the rock beside the willow, and saw a hole suddenly flash at the root of the tree, and a bright light shot out of the hole, and a dark shadow came out of the hole, and then the hole was closed, as it was, and there was no crack to be seen.

It was only when the dark shadow walked past the rock that they recognized it as the man who had just entered the cave.

When the man went away, he came to the foot of the willow tree, and tried to find a way to open the door, but he saw that the tree was tightly fitted, and could not find any way. At this time, the moon was close to the middle of the sky, and countless dragon-like rhizomes were exposed under the shadow of the tree, and Zuo Lie had an idea, causing everyone to trample on those rhizomes with their feet.

The people walked around the tree for half a circle, and a half-man-high hole was carved out of the trunk, and by the light of the hole, they saw that there were stone steps extending down to the ground.

Zuo Lie was the first to burrow into the hole, standing on tiptoe and climbing down the steps, and the rest of the people followed him into the hole. Walk thirty or fifty steps, the cave suddenly becomes spacious, can accommodate several people side by side, the foot also becomes flat, on the cave wall on both sides every ten steps is lit a pine oil lamp, crackling, there is a strong pine fragrance floating in the hole, what is more amazing is that the top of the cave is crystal clear and transparent, it is clearly the wisps of moonlight into the water, you can clearly see the fish swimming shrimp walking, the jade clam is the pearl, the aquatic plants shake their hands, just like to the Dragon Palace. Only then did everyone know that they had come to the bottom of Panlong Lake. The snake walked dozens of steps, saw a fan-style vermilion lacquer copper door not far ahead, stepped forward and pushed, it was very heavy, could not move it a bit, turned to see a disc next to the door, held it in his hand and rotated, the door slid into the stone wall, a stone room flashed out in front of him, there is a room on each side of the east and west sides of the stone room, there is an open door on the north side, there is a jade round table and round stool inside, a tall middle-aged man sits cross-legged on the round stool, there is a pot of wine in front of him, several dishes, there is still hot air coming out, I think it was sent by the one who just entered the cave.

The man didn't look this way, but said, "Why did you turn back again?" ”

Zuo Lie stepped forward and saw that the man had a pale face, a thin physique, a wide forehead, high cheekbones, thick eyebrows and big eyes, a lion nose and a square mouth, and had the air of a king. ”

Zu Jia opened his eyes and looked at everyone, and asked vigilantly, "How did you find this place?" ”

Zuo Lie then made clear the matter of tracking.

Zu Jia said: "At the behest of the king of Shang, there must be a king talisman, and it will be presented to me." ”

Zuo Lie got up and presented the king talisman, Zu Jia took it in his hand and looked at it carefully for a while, and said, "How is my brother Wang feeling lately?" ”

Zuo Lie reported Zu Geng's illness in detail, and the current situation of rebellion in the world.

After listening attentively, Zu Jia bowed his head and sighed: "Hey, it's almost a big thing in the world for women." ”

Zuo Lie was already full of questions, and couldn't help asking, "The minister dares to ask." ”

Zu Jia looked at him and said, "The general came to save me, and Zu Jia is very grateful." I wonder what the general wants to ask? ”

Lie said: "Why are you hiding at the bottom of Panlong Lake? ”

Zu Jia laughed loudly: "This is a long story. Eighteen years ago, the biological mother of the former king Zu Geng, the current Shang king, slandered my eldest brother Zu Ji and made the Shang king abolish the throne of Zu Ji's crown prince. I know that the inheritance of the throne should follow the ancestral system: the father passes on the eldest son, and then the second son, and I have two brothers above Zu Ji and Zu Geng, if I succeed to the throne, there will be a betrayal of the ancestral system, and the two brothers will categorically disagree, which will inevitably cause strife in the royal family. In order to avoid Xiao Wall's trouble, I left Panlong City alone. ”

Zuo Lie said: "When you go, let everyone from all over the world see that you are kind-hearted and have the style of a true king." ”

Zu Jia smiled slightly: "After I arrived in Panlong City, I went to the Dragon Boat Race to play, and I met a woman who was looking for her child in the crowd. It so happened that I saw a young child sitting on the ground crying under a willow tree, so I picked it up and gave it to the woman, who wept with joy when she saw that her beloved son had been found, and held the child tightly in her arms, crying and kissing. The woman saluted me, and I saw that her eyes were bright and bright, her face was shy, and there were still tears in the corners of her eyes, like pear blossoms with rain, and there was a deep dimple on the corner of her delicate lips, and her soul was snatched away for a while. ”

Everyone said that although this woman is a beauty, she has already had a child, and she must have a name, but she is afraid that it will be empty and happy.

Zu Jia's eyebrows danced and said: "I followed the woman to her house, and I saw that she was the only one in her family and her young son who was still babbling, so I sent some money and food every now and then. But the woman didn't accept anything, and threw out all the things I had given. I saw that the mother and son were pitiful, so I went to her house every three or five days. As time went on, the woman accepted me, but asked me to stop thinking anything wrong with her, because she had always believed that her husband would return to her alive from the north. ”

When everyone heard this, they really thought that their guess was good.

Zujia continued: "Later, a neighbor who was in the barracks with her husband came back and told her that he had died in battle. He also took out one of his husband's severed hands and gave it to her, so frightened that she fainted on the spot, and when she woke up, she went crazy, smashed and smashed the house full of household objects, and made a miasma of dirt, and only cared about holding her husband's severed hand all day long, and repeatedly said that her husband was coming back. ”

When Zuo Lie heard this, he palpitated, thinking of his wife, whose whereabouts were unknown, lonely with a child, and inevitably suffering from the world.

I also heard Zu Jia say: "I saw that the woman was delirious, and her young son had no one to take care of her. took the mother and son back to the palace and taught an old slave to wash and cook for them and raise young children. After four or five years, the woman's madness gradually improved. Finally willing to agree to marry me. ”

When everyone heard him hug the beauty, they applauded repeatedly.

Zu Jia listened to the applause of the crowd, but lowered his head and sighed, and said: "After the woman married me, she found a craftsman to make a beautiful box, put the severed hand that had dried and blackened in the box, and held it in her arms every night on the couch and pillow, teaching me that I could not get close at all. My so-called husband and wife with her are really in name only. When her son was ten years old, she made a vacant room in the palace, put incense wax paper candles, and made a mourning hall for her deceased father-in-law, so that her son could worship in the morning and evening, and pray for the ancestors to appear and ensure that her son grew up safely. ”

When everyone heard this, although they sympathized with Zu Jia's infatuation, they felt that the woman was affectionate and righteous to her deceased husband, which was really rare in the world, and they all sighed and sighed. Zuo Lie felt the same way, and his heart was like a knife.

One soldier was curious: "Then who built this secret room at the bottom of the lake?" ”

Zu Jia turned his head to look at him and said, "I was about to talk about this secret room. Ever since I met that beautiful woman, many killers have suddenly appeared around me, and wherever I go, they follow me, and the ghost is generally impossible to get rid of. I suspected that her mother and son had secretly provided the killer with my traces, so in order to protect myself, I secretly asked someone to dig out this secret room at the bottom of the lake from her mother and son, so that I could rest, and the daily meals were brought by my cronies in the palace. In this way, I was able to live a peaceful life for a few years. ”

Another soldier next to him praised: "This lake bottom fish and shrimp play is also a good place for self-cultivation." ”

Zu Jia sighed: "It's warm in winter and cool in summer, if you still live here quietly and leisurely like in the past, it's really good." But now I heard the general say that the world is in chaos and the royal family is in trouble, if I am still here to cultivate myself and cultivate virtue, wouldn't I be reluctant to make a living, and how can I live in peace in my heart? Zhengse said: "Now if you can save me from danger and escort me north to succeed to the throne, you and others can be added to the official rank, the fief will be rewarded, and the wealth will be passed on to future generations." ”

Everyone said in their hearts, isn't it just for fame and fortune, and now the opportunity is in front of him, before Zu Jia finished speaking, his blood was already boiling, and his chest was full of vigorous male blood.

Zu Jia stood up and said, "I'll sneak out of the city while this night is shining." He led everyone out of the secret room, followed the narrow alley to the entrance of the cave, put his ear to the door and heard that there was no one outside the cave, and gently swirled the door mechanism of the cave, and the fish came out. Everyone climbed to the shore of the lake, and saw a round of jade hooks hanging on the west city tower, and the stars were sparse and the clouds were flying, and it was already early in the morning.

Zuo Lie said: "At this time, the city gates on all sides have not been opened, so we can only take a boat to the place where Panlong Lake meets the river, go out from the gap in the broken wall there, and then row a few miles to the east, fold into the surface of Tangrenhai Lake under Mozi Mountain, leave the boat to land, and find a few horses to go north." ”

One of the soldiers pointed to the reeds on the shore of the lake and said, "I hid a fishing boat there." ”

They went down to the beach with the soldier, and the soldier got into the tall reeds, and pulled out a boat from it. Two other soldiers ran forward and pushed them into the lake, holding down the bow of the boat and causing the group to jump on it.

Yesterday, the little leader of the dragon boat picked up a penny and put it on the beach, and the boat broke the waves and sailed southward with a soft sound, and when it reached the middle of the lake, the shadow of the boat, the shadow of the man, the shadow of the moon, and the shadow of the cloud were all reflected on the water, and there was a white mist like smoke rising on the water, which was very beautiful.

Everyone had no intention of receiving this boundless moonlight, and changed their hands and rowed straight to the place where the lake and river meet, not wanting to walk for a while before they saw the city wall at the end of the lake, which showed that the gap had been blocked.

Zuo Lie ordered the soldiers to turn the bow of the boat, and approached the fishing port, and the people left their boats to go ashore, burrowed into the dense reeds on the shore, and walked about two or three miles to the root of a city wall. Due to the rain and snow for several days, the surface of the city wall was very slippery, and everyone drew short knives and daggers, inserted them into the wall, and supported the wall up. Seeing that as soon as he stretched out his hand to catch the battlements on the head of the city, the top of the city wall suddenly clanged with a golden gong, and countless crossbow arrows poked out from the wall to shoot at everyone, Zuo Lie and all the soldiers were each hit by an arrow in their shoulders, and they were busy dancing their waist knives to protect the ancestral armor, but their hands were loose and slipped under the root of the wall.

Zuo Lie shouted to the head of the city: "Brother Wang's ancestor is here, all the soldiers in the city put down their weapons, don't hurt Brother Wang by mistake." Before the words fell, the arrows were still whizzing like a torrential rain, much denser than before. Fortunately, everyone was on guard, and the waist knives were rounded into a circle, and the rain of arrows was swept to the ground.

Zuo Lie led everyone back into the reeds.

Everyone rushed out of the yellow reed forest for half a mile before slowing down. Zu Jia was carried on the shoulders of two soldiers, his feet dragged on the ground and he ran, but he was also tired and out of breath, he stroked his chest and let out a few long breaths, and said to everyone: "As soon as Zu Jia's name is reported, the soldiers at the head of the city shoot harder. It seems that all the soldiers in this city have been controlled, but I don't know who is so bold as to openly harm me. ”

Zuo Lie and the others broke the arrow shaft stuck in their shoulders and threw it on the ground, saying: "I am too strong to be weak, and it will be more than lucky to stay in the city, so I must find a way to escape from the city." ”

Everyone couldn't find a perfect solution for a while, and they were all silent, but they heard the sound of rustling in the reeds behind them, as if there were chasing soldiers coming, Zuo Lie hurriedly signaled everyone to run towards the port where they came. When they got there, they led the crowd to hide in the fishing nets on the tidal flats.

After the group of pursuers finished searching away, Zu Jia asked everyone to follow him to the shore of the lake quickly, and ran along the shore to the outside of a courtyard wall in the palace.

Zuo Lie remembered that the person who brought food to Zu Jia came out of this courtyard wall.

I saw Zu Jiaqu's finger knock on the wall a few times, and a person swept out of the wall. Zu Jia whispered to him for a while, and the man entered the courtyard again, and after a while he jumped down from the wall, followed by twenty or thirty people who jumped out, all holding long weapons such as knives, guns, spears, and halberds. Zu Jia asked everyone to pick a suitable one to hold in their hands, and ordered everyone to walk along the street towards the gate of the North City. About half an hour later, I saw a patrol coming towards the crowd from a distance, and the one in front of him was riding a horse, obviously a small leader.

Zu Jia and the others hurriedly flashed into the dark corner next to them, only to hear the little leader on horseback say: "It's strange to say, that Zu Jia is the brother of the King of Shang, although he and the King of Shang are not the same mother, but they are also the sons of Wu Ding, how can he join forces with Fang Guo to deal with his brother?" ”

A person behind him said: "Wu Ding has a group of wives and concubines, and there are more children and grandchildren, so those children and brothers have no brotherhood in order to seize the royal power." ”

The little leader said, "Then there won't be a rebellion?" ”

When Zu Jia heard this, his heart was on fire, and his heart said, When did I rebel?

I only heard another person in the team say disdainfully: "I don't understand, Wu Ding liked Zu Jia at the beginning, and set up Zu Jia as the prince, but he was robbed of the throne by his second brother Zu Geng, Zu Jia was unhappy in his heart, Zu Geng was alive and jumping over the years, he didn't dare to rebel, and now Zu Geng has a strange disease and can't live for a few days, of course Zu Jia wants to take the opportunity to regain the throne." ”

Zu Jia frowned, and heard a person snatch Bai and said: "You don't make sense to say this, Zu Jia was afraid that Zu Geng would pass the throne to his son, so he joined forces with that country to oppose Zu Geng." ”

Zu Jia scolded the guard for talking nonsense.

I heard the little leader sigh again: "Hey, I heard that Zujia has disappeared in Panlong City for three years, but tonight I suddenly heard someone shouting 'Zujia is here'. Now that he has rebelled, where is there room for him in this city, and what will he do when he returns? ”

The man behind him said, "Yes, the king of Shang has already ordered the guards of the whole city to kill him. ”

Zuo Lie heard this, and understood that it was originally a chase and kill order issued by the Shang King Zu Geng, no wonder as soon as he reported Zu Jia's name just now, it attracted a rain of arrows. On the one hand, he wanted Zu Geng to send himself here to greet Zu Jia, but he didn't expect that this Zu Jia would become a traitor, so Zu Geng ordered Zu Jia to be killed again. If so, then of course I can't protect him anymore and return to the north, so it's better to take the opportunity to hold him, which can be regarded as removing harm from the king. But then he thought about it, if this ancestor had secretly colluded with Fang Guo, how could he wait for death alone in this dragon city? Intuition doesn't make sense. He looked back at Zu Jia, who was so angry at the patrolmen's slander that he was about to jump out and kill him in ten thousand pieces.

Zuo Liexin said, look at Zu Jia's generous appearance, he doesn't look like a rebellious person, will there be a traitor in that country to take his life, if he kills him, wouldn't it be the enemy's trick, wouldn't the huge empire not even have a legitimate heir......

Zuo Lie thought about it in his heart, but he couldn't determine the truth, and said in his heart that he had to keep his life for now, and after he was rescued from the city, it would be too late to make a decision.

Just as Zuo Lie was thinking about it, the patrol came a lot closer, only to hear a person behind the leader: "Thinking of Zu Jia, this person himself is not bad, he was prosperous in this city, the people were rich, and there was no crime between the soldiers and the people. ”

The leader said disdainfully: "Who made him treasonous?" ”

The man behind him said: "For the sake of royal power, you deceived me, who knows the truth or falsehood." Isn't there the Ninth Rebellion in the history of this empire? ”

When Zuo Lie heard this, he felt more and more that he had to find out the truth and not act recklessly.

The leader said: "What do you want to do so much, we just do what we are ordered to do, and we just want to keep our jobs." ”

……

The patrol gradually walked to the place where everyone was hiding.

Zuo Lie counted the heads by the moonlight, there were fifteen people in total, the leader was riding a horse, holding a Fang Tian painting halberd in his hand, and the one who walked at the end carried a sword in his hand, and a gong tied to his waist, thinking that he was walking behind to be on guard.

Zu Jia couldn't hold it anymore, so he took a crossbow from his subordinate and shot it at the leader's throat. The leader clutched his throat and fell to his horse without saying a word. Zu Jia jumped out and cut off the heads of the patrolmen who were walking in front, and the rest of the patrolmen were frightened and retreated, but they were stopped by Zu Jia's own soldiers and killed them to the ground. Finally the patrolman turned and fled, raising his gavel and striking the gong. Two of Zujia's sturdy soldiers caught up with him in three or two steps, and stabbed him in the back with a single shot.

The rest of the twenty or thirty soldiers hurriedly threw the dead bodies lying on the ground into the grass behind the neighborhood, changed the clothes of the dead bodies, and returned to the street to line up. He quietly led the crowd forward. Because at night, the patrolmen could not see his face clearly, so they only asked, "Who struck the gong just now?" ”

One of Zu Jia's personal soldiers was tying the gong around his waist and said with a smile: "I accidentally dropped the gong on the ground just now and rang it." ”

The patrolmen said angrily, "You bastard, you beat us, and we almost broke our legs." They cursed and scattered to other places.

Zu Jia led everyone to look at Dongcheng and walked, and on the way he encountered several patrols, and the other party saw that they were dressed exactly like himself, so he let them advance freely. After a short time, they came to the east gate, and Zu Jia looked at the dozen or so soldiers guarding the gate and ordered them to open the gate. The soldiers, thinking that he was one of their own, went up the tower and hung the gates, but one of them, when he peeked past him, recognized him, and cried out: "Here is the leader of the traitors!" He raised his spear and stabbed him.

Zu Jia's personal soldiers hurriedly stepped forward to protect Zu Jia.

Because these soldiers were on guard, they couldn't kill them all for a while, so everyone had to protect Zujia and retreat to the city.

When the guards of the city heard the cries, they poured down the gates like a tide.

Seeing that the situation was critical, Zu Jia roared, jumped to the front of the team, and slashed several people with all his strength. The guards in the city were afraid of his momentum and were bluffed backwards. Zu Jia scolded loudly again: "I am the brother of the current king of Shang, and you dare to obstruct me. Beware of the Nine Clans. ”

The guards in the city were about to pounce again, but when they heard his words, they hesitated in their hearts, and did not dare to move forward.

Zu Jia took advantage of the situation and led everyone to rush out of a passage in one go, went straight to the city, and came to the battlements. One of the soldiers took out a long rope from behind him, tied one end to the battlements, and threw the other end outside the city. Zujia jumped onto the battlement, grabbed the rope, and jumped down. The one or twenty men behind him also pulled the rope and slid out of the city, and the first few people reached the ground, and the one behind them was still hanging in the air, and the rope could not bear the weight, so it made a muffled sound and broke in two, and the one or twenty people who were still climbing on the rope all fell to the city.

When the soldiers defending the city saw that they were about to flee, they rushed in, and those who had not had time to climb up the battlements were pulled out of countless bloody holes by countless spears and fell to their deaths in pools of blood.

There were wails at the base of the outer walls of the city, some of them broke their legs, some of them broke their waists, and some of them broke their arms.

The defenders at the head of the city could not see the situation under the wall, so they raised their crossbows and crossbows at the root of the wall and fired indiscriminately, Zujia danced his sword and shouted loudly for everyone to stick their bodies against the city wall, those who broke their arms and legs, and were far away from the city wall did not have time to dodge the rain of arrows were shot into thorns, and those who were a little closer to the root of the wall gritted their teeth and rolled their bodies into the grass under the root of the wall, and a few people were not killed by the arrows, and their screams were heard in the darkness, and there was a rain of arrows on the head of the city, and several people were hit by arrows, wailing.

Zu Jia pressed the mouth of a pro-soldier beside him, lowered his voice and said, "Don't make a sound!" Then the people gritted their teeth and said no more, and some of them felt a handful of grass in the grass and stuffed it into their mouths, and some simply buried their heads in the dirt and bit their mouths full of mud, forcing themselves to be silent.

Zu Jia put his eyes on the ground, and through the faint light, he saw a black hole not far ahead, and knew that it was the door hole of the North City Gate, so he led more than a dozen people who were still able to move to climb into the hole against the root of the wall.

Everyone ran all night, already exhausted, and their bodies were scarred and sore, and they all bared their teeth and groaned. Fortunately, the cave gate is several feet deep, and the arrows of the defenders in the city can't shoot here, so you can rest assured that you can hide for a while. When everyone got used to the pain, they felt cold, their teeth rattled, and their stomachs began to drum.

The next day, it rained and snowed again, and the cave became more and more damp and cold. The gray morning light fell from the city gate and hit Zu Jia's face, he clasped his hands on his knees, his chin rested weakly on his knees, and sat against the wall, his hair, eyebrows, and mustache were frosty, and his lips were black.

Zu Jia opened his somewhat swollen eyes, and saw the corpses of his own soldiers lying in the hole of the city gate, a few feet away were still alive and snuggled together against the wall, three of them were close to him, one of them had a broken calf, and the white bones pierced the trouser tube and exposed it; One waist is broken, and the upper body and lower limbs are twisted to one side; There was also four arrows stuck in his back, one of which pierced through his shoulder well, and the blood flowed from his body to the ground, and had turned into a black stain, and he pressed one hand on his shoulder, and looked at Zu Jia with white eyes, his gaze was fixed, as if his soul would slip away from him at any moment.

Zu Jia witnessed the tragic situation, remembering that 140 years ago, the royal family and nobles killed each other in order to seize the royal power, and there was a rebellion in the ninth generation, and the chaos was not eliminated until after Pangeng moved to Yin. When Zu Jia thought of this, his heart was panicked and chaotic, there was a cramping pain in his abdomen, and beads of sweat the size of beans oozed from the corners of his forehead. He gritted his teeth, pressed his hands on his abdomen, and stood up to move his numb limbs despite the pain. When the pain was a little lessened, he carefully bypassed the remains of the warriors, and went to the city gate to check the terrain, a few feet away was the moat, across the moat, about a mile away in the clearing, and then a raised hill, if he could pass through the clearing, sneak into the hill, the chance of escape would be greatly increased. He tentatively leaned out of the city gate, and immediately heard the crossbow arrows in the city breaking through the air, and quickly retracted.

All the arrows that fell from the sky went into the grass seat.

Zu Jia estimated that there were still defenders in the city who were monitoring the city in shifts, and if they left the doorway, they would inevitably be shot by arrows. However, if the defenders opened the gates from the inside, they would be completely exposed to the enemy formation, and they would not be able to escape.

At this time, a woman in the city was heard shouting: "All the soldiers listen to the order, and whoever beheads the head of the ancestral armor will receive a heavy reward, a hundred hectares of land, and fifty domestic slaves." The woman shouted several times. Listening to this voice, it was Zu Jia's wife Wan'er.

After Zu Jia and Wan'er got married, assassins often appeared around him, and the shadow generally followed him and could not get rid of it. Zu Jia once imagined that Wan'er was the killer's insider, but she couldn't find the reason why he provided information for the killer, and now she openly called on the defenders to kill herself, so that Zu Jia suddenly understood that Wan'er was actually Zu Geng's minion. Listening to her words just now, she was extremely fierce, and she had been with her for many years, and she didn't know it at all. Thinking of this, Zu Jia couldn't help but shudder.

Zu Jiaxin said that if Wan'er ordered the soldiers to open the city gate, she would definitely ask Wan'er, what benefits did Zu Geng give him, so that she could kill her husband?

It was nearly noon, and the people who were still alive in the cave of the city gate could hear the sound of the defenders changing their guards, but the gate was still locked and did not move. After coming out of the stone chamber at the bottom of the Dragon Lake, Zu Jia did not eat a drop of water and rice, and his intestines were so hungry that he knotted, and at this time, his body became more and more weak. He sat on the ground against the heavy city gate and thought to himself that even if the defenders did not open the door to attack, he would starve to death if he was trapped here like this. Perhaps the defenders knew that if we opened the door to attack, we would fight to the death, so they trapped us with crossbow arrows and taught us to freeze and starve to death here.

Those soldiers lying on the ground groaned for a while, and then felt that their bodies began to become numb, and their consciousness gradually blurred, and they were intuition hungry in the fog, and slowly opened their eyes, and felt that the pain in their bodies was unbearable, and they felt that there was nothing edible on their bodies, and they regretted that they had left in a hurry yesterday and did not bring some food with them, and when they saw Zu Jia sitting in the corner of the city gate, they crawled to him and sat together.

These soldiers in the door cave are all children of the royal capital, who have fought with Zu Jia for many years, and have a very strong relationship with Zu Jia, which is extraordinary, if Zu Jia succeeds in taking the throne, they will also be able to become the emperor's favorite generals. Therefore, they bet their youth and life and death fate on Zu Jia, advancing and retreating with him, sharing glory and disgrace, and living and dying together, without them by his side, Zu Jia, who was in exile in the south, would not be alive now. Human life or defeat is also a word of loyalty for these pro-soldiers - only loyalty can make oneself stand out, only loyalty can make oneself have a place in the power map of the empire, and even death for this word of loyalty is worth it.

This is also the reason why most of the fighters died generously on the battlefield.

In the past, these soldiers have also faced thousands of enemy troops, and their lives are hanging by a thread, but they have never faced the situation in front of them: they are weak and isolated, and even survival has become a luxury. They knew that no help had arrived, because this time the enemy was the Shang king, who owned the world, and he wanted Zu Jia to die, and the whole country would punish Zu Jia, and Zu Jia didn't even have the slightest chance of survival. This is a game of life and death between the children of the royal family, far more cruel than war, sibling affection has become a bullshit in front of the royal power, and has become a prop that can be used and thrown away if it cannot be used. In such a situation where the whole country wants to kill, it seems that if you want to save your life, you can only rely on life itself, not on negligible personal strength.

The days of winter are short, but the people in the doorway feel that the day seems to be as long as the whole winter, and they can't stay up at night. Finally, the sky outside the doorway darkened, and a flock of jackdaws cooed and swept over the mountains and forests that were gradually turning gray. A mountain eagle swooped down from the sky and landed on a pile of corpses at the entrance to the doorway. Some of those corpses were guards guarding the city, and some were Zujia's own soldiers.

The crowd was so angry that they couldn't get up and drive forward, and someone felt a stone and threw it at the eagle's feet, and the eagle jumped two steps away, looked around, and then approached the pile of corpses. Zu Jia also threw the block over, but he fell to the ground more than a few feet away from the beast, and he couldn't reach it. The eagle looked sideways into the doorway, swaggered up to a corpse, jumped on his chest, opened its sharp beak, and inserted its sharp-beaked pincers into the corpse's eye sockets with the same precision as sharp noses, and pulled out the hardened eyes, swallowed them into his belly, and then tore the nose, cheeks, and mouths that were once alive and healthy into pieces with his hooked mouth, and swallowed them in a gulp. Then several jackdaws landed on the pile of corpses, tearing the corpses' intestines, liver, hearts, and lungs all over the ground. These beasts found pleasure in these once-invincible human beings, deaf to the rebuke of the people in the doorway, unscrupulous, fast, accurate and ruthless, as if every stroke pecked at the tips of the hearts of the living, making the living feel terrified, torn and disgusted to the point of disgusting, while the corpses moved, as if they were very happy to be mutilated, enjoying the pleasure of primitive celestial burial, without any resistance—while those living people could not stop thinking of their own body organs, calculating how long they had left, a day? An hour? Or half an hour later, it will be a fragment under the claws of these sky killers.

Bleeding is terrible, especially on a bitterly cold winter night, because the cold accelerates the body's transformation into a corpse.

Everyone clearly saw the way they walked through the final end, the flesh and blood were blurred, and it was unbearable.

……

By this time, the gate was becoming more and more thick and majestic, and the people in the gate beneath the city were becoming more and more insignificant.

A gray-eyed veteran, with one arm propped up under his cheeks, lying on his side with his back to the city gate, perhaps trying to drive away the fear in his heart, hummed the ballad of his hometown softly, and his voice came and went, fluttering, very illusory, and effortlessly took everyone's thoughts into the distance.

The veteran was close to several young soldiers of similar age, one of whom had a stiff neck and could not move, and an arrow stuck in his neck, but he could speak. He smiled and said, "Brothers, I'm going to die, let's talk and say goodbye." ”

The other man was wearing a broken arrow in his leg, and the bridge of his nose was cut off, and he closed his eyes and laughed heroically: "What do you say—ouch, it hurts!" Why don't you kill it with a knife? After a long time, he stopped and said, "Dao, don't?" No, is it alive, alive, alive? ”

The person who was back to him was stabbed in the abdomen, and his intestines were pulled out, and he stuffed the intestines back into his stomach and wrapped the cloth around his abdomen, but the blood still could not stop oozing out. The strips of cloth were soaked in blood and gradually froze into black ice strips, but the pain in his abdomen gradually became clearer and stronger, and the pain made him scream loudly, until his throat was completely hoarse and dumb, and he could not make a sound with his mouth open, and his tense nerves gradually numb, and he breathed a sigh of relief. Then when he heard the people talking, he remembered the woman he had not yet passed through the door, and then the words of the man in front of him said, "Have you all married, daughters-in-law?" The last two words sounded like mosquitoes and flies, obviously afraid that the words would affect the abdomen, so he lowered his tone.

The one who was close to the bridge of his nose was cut off and said, "You, yes, daughter-in-law, daughter-in-law?" ”

The former said proudly: "That's, of course, there is!" ”

When Zu Jia heard this, a wry smile crossed his face.

The bridge of the broken nose asked again: "Third, what about you?" The third child in these words obviously refers to the first person to say goodbye to everyone. After asking three times, there was no reply, and when they looked back, they saw that he had fallen to the ground, his eyes rolling, and he was no longer breathing when they touched his snort with their hands.

A soldier of only fifteen or sixteen years old, his legs broken and his hips broken like two stakes dragged on the ground, he moved inch by inch to Zu Jia's heels, and sent a blood-stained dagger forward with his right hand, and struggled to open his lips frozen in blood and frost, and sobbed tremblingly.

Zu Jia couldn't hear what he was saying, so he put his ear to his lips and vaguely heard him say, "Help-help-me!" ”

Zujia recognized the soldier, whose father was a distant relative of his mother. When his mother was alive, in order to help him become the crown prince and seize the throne, she helped him find many people from his own clan to settle around him and cultivate him. The young soldier's father died in the heart after being shot in the heart by a cold arrow during a Northern Expedition, and he joined the army in his place. In order to take care of him, Zu Jia kept him by his side until he brought him to Panlong City.

The young soldier still stiffly clenched his dagger and stretched forward......

Zu Jia knew that the young soldier could not bear the pain and begged him to help him end his life, but Zu Jia could not do it, he looked too young in front of the others.

Zu Jia pulled him into his arms and hugged him tightly, just like hugging his son, wanting to warm him up with his body temperature, but he helplessly felt that his body was getting cold little by little......

Snow began to fall outside the city gate.

Zu Jia remembered that the lame general Zuo Lie had never been seen in this cave, and he didn't know whether Lie had died in the chaos of the enemy's knives, or fell to his death while jumping from the city, or had been shot by a rain of arrows in the barren grass under the base of the city wall. He couldn't remember where Lie had started and suddenly disappeared. The heart said, if it's gone, it's gone, since he claims to have been sent by Zu Geng to welcome him back to the north, and now Zu Geng is the one who ordered him to be killed, then Zuo Lie is naturally his minion. No wonder he has been in danger every step of the way since he came ashore from the stone house at the bottom of the lake.

Thinking like this, Zu Jia felt that it was better for Zuo Lie to die, but he guessed that it was impossible for him to die, and he might hide somewhere.