Not long after, the news that no one expected came that the barbarians had captured a county town in the north of Xiangzhou and were moving south, and the target was suspected to be Xiangzhou City.

Xiangzhou is located in the southwesternmost part of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, is the poorest state of the eight states, its west is a forest that stretches for thousands of miles, this primeval forest is rumored to be rampant with monsters; the south is bordered by the eight thousand mountains of the Southern Dynasty, there is only one winding mountain road to pass, the caravan leading to the caravan along the winding mountain road is difficult to be inhabited for a hundred miles, robbers and bandits are numerous.

Xiangzhou is neither a strategic place, nor a heavy place for money, grain and taxation, not only the barbarians rarely patronize it, but even the Southern Dynasties are not very interested in it, so it suffers less from wars and wars. It has Chi Road in the east and north, which is the main passage between Xiangzhou and the outside world.

Now the barbarians are galloping along the northern road, and if they are really coming towards Xiangzhou, the remaining distance will be less than three days.

The bell in the center of the city was struck nine times, and every other hour for an hour, when the alarm bell rang for a long time, and a rider with a letter for help galloped out. All the Yunmeng troops stationed in Xiangzhou canceled their vacations and issued weapons and armor to arm.

In the middle of the night, people slept soundly. A huge sound of horses' hooves came from outside the city of Xiangzhou Prefecture, which quickly entered the city, and the alarm bell rang for a long time and the horn sounded. Soon after, many cavalrymen with torches galloped along the streets of the city, repeating loudly: The whole city is under martial law, and no one is allowed to go out without an order, otherwise they will be killed immediately.

The sound of the words went away with the sound of hooves, from big to small, and gradually disappeared, except for the faint sound of neat shouts outside the city. Martial law is an upgraded version of the curfew, because the punishment for violating the curfew is "beheading", which means that according to the seriousness of the circumstances, you can be beheaded, detained, and fined silver.

The location of Xiangya Pavilion belongs to the Osmanthus Fang, with a total of more than 300 households and a population of more than 1,000. Lan Kwai Fong usually opens the door at the end of the day, and the lock is locked at four o'clock at the end of the day, and the curfew during the war is four o'clock, and the person in charge is called Fang Zheng. The curfew for the former starts at 23 o'clock and lasts until dawn at the current time, and the latter at 21 o'clock.

When the government built the city, it had planned to build various squares, and the osmanthus square cleverly enclosed the houses belonging to it with stone and street buildings to form a small simple fortress, leaving two or more entrances and exits as residents to enter and exit, and it was the entrance and exit gate that should be locked.

In peacetime, to prevent theft, in wartime to prevent spies and rebels, when needed, the fang will beat gongs and drums to gather the strong men of each household, and hold sticks to take thieves or defend. Of course, there is nothing wrong with guarding against a few small thieves and a few rangers, and it is scum to meet a master or a small army of more than a small scale.

The people who needed to help defend the city had been transferred to the city wall, and Fang Zheng, who had not received the order to move from the upper peak, must also keep no one in the city to break the ban.

The sleeping people in the osmanthus workshop were woken up, and most of them dressed in a panic and shivered at home praying for safety. The shouts and the sound of fighting came from time to time, the irresistible war came, and the Xiangzhou Mansion was slaughtered.

In the room in the backyard of Xiangya Pavilion, Shi Keqi and several colleagues who woke up were talking, the atmosphere in the room was depressing and tense, and the topic focused on whether the city wall could be defended, which was also the life of the people of a city. According to the gossip flying all over the sky, only more than 10,000 barbarian cavalry attacked this time, while the Yunmeng army in Xiangzhou had more than 30,000 people.

I also heard that nearly 100,000 troops from several nearby states had come to help, and that the army of the Tu people, who were strong in battle, had been dispatched, and the situation was very favorable to the defenders.

On the one hand, a lone army came from a long distance, and on the other hand, preparations were made, and there was an endless stream of reinforcements from all walks of life. The defenders are three times the number of attackers, with countless weapons to defend the city, and it only takes a few days to hold at least one or two reinforcements to arrive, and the time and place are all on the side of the Northern Zhou army.

Several people analyzed these factors and felt a lot more relieved.

The original deputy general Li Sicheng was messed up in the army, because of his deep background, as long as he didn't do anything too out of line, the main general was not easy to manage, and after being beheaded, the army's heart was more united.

Although the sound of fighting continued, several people chatted and relaxed, the tense atmosphere disappeared, Yun Mengjun's usual drills were quite powerful and good-looking, and the combat power should be good.

I don't know how long it took, and the time was not announced, the sky was still dark, and a few people were no longer interested in chatting too much, and they were drowsy.

Suddenly, a loud sound was approaching. Skech jumped to his feet, opened the door and walked out into the courtyard, his ears pricked up.

"The city is broken, everyone run for their lives!"

"I'm grass, Yunmengjun. Shi Keqi was shocked, more than 30,000 people couldn't even stay for a night? He was a little unconvinced, and opened the courtyard door to see what was going on.

In the streets, there are already groups of people running with sticks and torches.

"Come out quickly, take your sticks, spears, and kitchen knives, and the rest of the family will pack up their valuables and gather at the gate of the archway. Someone shouted anxiously.

It was Fang Zheng, Shi Keqi went up to ask if the city was broken, but he unceremoniously grabbed the placket of his clothes, and he shouted fiercely: "Why don't you have a weapon, go get it quickly, gather immediately." Saliva almost squirted all over Scoke's face.

The osmanthus shop soon became chaotic, the young man turned out the guy who took advantage of it and went out, the old man, the woman and the child were shaking their hands and feet to pack up their things, the child was running around, and the baby was crying on the mother's back.

Fang Zheng was rude, Shi Keqi could have easily put him down, but when he saw the blue tendons on his forehead and a blister on his lips, he hesitated. Fang Zheng had already let go of his hand and continued to scold a young man running around like a headless fly.

The northwest side of the city has been blazing, reflecting half of the sky. Seeing this scene, the fool knew that something was wrong, Shi Keqi ignored him, went back to the house to pack his things, and several guys had already packed their bags. A few pieces of clothes were wrapped, the huge burden was still very empty, he grabbed the package and was just about to leave, the corner of his eye unintentionally swept under the bed to reveal something, he hooked it out with his foot, it was the strange stone, he had been lying under the bed and almost forgotten. He kicked the stone back, went to the door, thought about it, and then folded it back and took it out and stuffed it into his bag.

"Senior Brother Shi, are you there?" shouted Li Dashi outside the courtyard. Shi Keqi responded and hurriedly walked out.

"The master asked you to help out the lonely Granny Liu, her house is in the innermost part of this alley, and the door is posted with a big happy word, which is very easy to find, remember to gather at the gate of the archway, try to hurry. ”

Li Dashi and Shi Keqi took a look at each other, and after the explanation, they left in a hurry.

Shi Keqi trotted up, and every house passing by turned on the lights, rummaging through the cabinets and shouting noisily. After a while, I arrived at the door of the house that Li Dashi said, and there was a light inside, but it was quiet, completely different from the noisy and panicked surrounding environment. He knocked on the door and called Granny Liu, but no one answered. After a few more knocks, the door opened, and someone slowly walked out with a lamp.

"Granny Liu?" The dim light shone on the gray hair of the person carrying the lantern, and Shi Keqi asked again.

The old woman didn't answer, squinted her eyes and took the oil lamp to shine on Shi Keqi, and said, "I haven't seen you, young man, you should come here soon." Her voice was old and hoarse.

"Yan ...... Master Yan Zhenbei asked me to pick you up and go to the archway. Shi Keqi originally wanted to say Master Yan, and it was not good to call the master a bad name, but he was afraid that Granny Liu would not know which Master Yan it was, so he used his full name.

"No, kid. ”

"The city is broken, and if you don't go, you will die. Seeing her resolute attitude, Shi Keqi couldn't help but tell the truth.

"No, I'm going to wait here for Brother Hao to come back, if I go, what if he can't find me when he comes back. ”

"Who is Brother Hao?"

"Brother Hao is Brother Hao. ”

Shi Keqi saw that her speech was entangled, and she was slow to come out, and it was estimated that her legs and feet were not flexible. Putting the burden on his shoulders in his hands, he squatted down and said, "Mother-in-law, you have put away your things, if you are okay, I will carry you away." ”

Granny Liu's face covered with thick wrinkles sank and said, "I told you that I won't leave." ”

In this section of the alley that can be seen in the field of vision, there are already many people dragging their children and daughters, helping the old and the young to go outside. It's not good to drag like this, Shi Keqi squatted and moved closer to Granny Liu, grabbed her clothes with his hands and led her back, intending to forcibly carry her back.

Who knew that Granny Liu was desperately slapping Shi Keqi's hand, and at the same time let out a miserable cry, which attracted several people to turn their heads and look sideways.

Shi Keqi hurriedly let go, Granny Liu put down the lamp, cried and entered the house, as if looking for something, and then took out a wooden spoon with a liquid form and splashed it at him. Skech dodged, and a commotion filled the air.

It's urine, Shi Keqi was speechless, he came to the door to ask someone to flee for his life, he didn't drink a cup of tea, and almost tasted a spoonful of thin urine.

Granny Liu threw away the wooden spoon and sat on the threshold crying: "I won't leave if I am killed." I cried for a long time, I don't know if I had no strength or felt that this was too crazy, I stopped crying, choked up and said: "Zhenbei is a good person, you are a good boy, you go, I really don't go, if you pull me again, I will die here." The half-bright light shrouded the half-tears in her dry eye sockets.

Shi Keqi saw that she was a brother Hao, this should be her relative, it would be good if someone picked it up, and he was splashed with urine with good intentions, or not, he opened his mouth and squeezed out a few stops from his throat, saying goodbye and leaving.

Granny Liu leaned against the door and didn't answer, and read the words a little slurred: The starry eyes are open, the sword eyebrows are raised, and the red powder attracts the Longquan sword...... The curtain of the sky is deep, the shallow world, and the river is full of green smoke...... Waiting for you for half a life, I will never see the face of the starry eyes and sword eyebrows, I played the west wind and waited year after year.

When Shi Keqi walked away, the voice of "I waited for a year and a year" still echoed in the alley, old and hoarse.

Shi Keqi found Li Dashi in front of the crowded Fang and told him about Granny Liu's situation, and he originally wanted to find Master Yan, but he saw that Fang was waiting for a group of people to talk around him and couldn't squeeze in.

Although Master Yan is not from this workshop, he has high prestige and knowledge, and his martial arts are powerful.

"Granny Liu's husband's name has a Hao character, and she has always called him Brother Hao like this. Li Dashi said.

"Didn't the senior brother say that she lives alone and has a husband?"

"It's a long story, but seeing that the master didn't finish the discussion so quickly, I'll briefly tell the story of Granny Liu. ”