Although the peaks and mountains are stretched and the roads are rugged, the Chengdu Plain in its core area is flat and open, with vertical and horizontal rivers, fertile land, suitable for cultivation and livability, and deserves the reputation of the country of abundance.

Chengdu City is located on the west side of the Chengdu Plain, as the core essence of Shu, only as the main city of Taicheng and Shaocheng city wall circumference is more than ten miles long, in addition to the south of the city there are Jinguan City, Cheguan City and other small cities, and the main city is separated by a Jinjiang River.

With such a large city complex, the more than 10,000 infantry and cavalry soldiers under Wei Chi Yuan's headquarters alone are far from enough to form a siege, and even with the tens of thousands of soldiers and forced labor that have been recruited one after another, it is still insufficient.

Therefore, the so-called siege is to build a long siege outside the city, restrict the entry and exit of the city's soldiers and people, and carry out key fortifications on some arterial roads and key places, isolating the entire area.

The Wei army arrived outside the city and set up a long perimeter, and it was already more than a month in the blink of an eye, and the time also came from early summer to midsummer, and the climate was extremely hot. There was a disgusting smell near the city walls, and the Wei army outside the city had organized several attacks before, and although they were all repulsed, the defenders in the city also suffered heavy casualties.

The bodies of those who died in battle were thrown up and down the city walls, and because the outside of the city was blocked by the Wei army, even if the defenders wanted to clean up the battlefield, they had to risk being exposed to the blades of the Wei army's arrows.

In the evening, a team of hundreds of elite armor suddenly rushed out of the southern gate and rushed towards the Jinjiang bridgehead. A few miles away there was a Wei army barracks, and after noticing this change, the sound of drums and horns suddenly sounded in the barracks, and the sergeants in the camp were busy putting on their armor and preparing to fight.

Both sides are racing against time to move, although the Shu soldiers rushed out of the city took the lead, but after all, the foot strength is not as good as the galloping war horse, although the first step to arrive at the bridgehead, is waiting to draw the knife to chop the fence erected at the bridgehead to reject the horse, but a hundred horses of the Wei army team has rushed over, a round of arrow rain shot killed more than a dozen Shu soldiers who broke the fence and refused the horse, and then the other armor soldiers held the horse lance and jumped forward to continue to kill.

Although the Shu soldiers in the fence were also counterattacking, they were not as fierce as the enemy soldiers in one man, and seeing that there were enemy soldiers rushing from other directions, they had to leave behind their casualties and retreat to the city before the arrival of Wei soldiers elsewhere.

Similar scenes were played out frequently during the siege, especially in recent times, and the number of breakouts by the defenders of the city has increased dramatically, day and night, almost several times a day.

Such frequent actions also show that the situation in the city is not good. Although the Wei army still did not break through the city, such a long siege also brought great psychological pressure to the defenders and residents of the city.

In particular, Chengdu City is one of the most densely populated areas in Shuzhong, and there must be tens of thousands of people among the cities, such as scholars, slaves, and maids. With so many people gathered in the city, the daily consumption of food is very huge.

Since Xiao Ji led the army to the east before, the grain and rice reserves left in the Chengdu treasury will not be too much, and now after more than a month of siege and consumption, the food in the city must also be exhausted, which should also be one of the reasons why the defenders have tried to break through the siege.

"Although the Wei army is fine, there are few, and the people who come from afar have no heavy weapons, and they are helpless in the face of my Chengdu Jiancheng. All we need to do is hold on to the city, wait until the Supreme Army comes back to help, and force the enemy army under the city! ”

Although Xiao Yu, the Yizhou assassin who was in charge of defending the city, was wearing a gorgeous dress, he was crumpled and wrapped in his body, and his clothes were not untied for many days, and his robe was no longer bright, and his spirit was also very tired, but he still cheered up to inspect the defense of the city, and repeatedly encouraged those soldiers who defended the city.

While patrolling the city, Xiao Yu was also recruiting warriors who still had the courage and courage to go out of the city to attack the enemy army, and personally arranged for these people to be treated with wine and meat, and then sent them out of the city to fight.

Now that the food reserves in the city are exhausted, even the food of the defenders of the city can not be supplied as usual, and a full meal of wine and meat can attract many hungry defenders to go out of the city to sell their lives. The reason why the city defense can still be maintained is because of the fear of these martial artists in the Western Wei Dynasty, and the second is that it is still looking forward to the return of the army of the previous Eastern Expedition to rescue.

When Xiao Yu returned to the city, he saw that the streets were full of people running in a disorderly manner, and some of the defenders were so hungry that they simply left the defense area, rushed into the houses of the people in the city with knives, drove the people into the streets, and then rummaged through the boxes and cabinets in search of food and goods.

Xiao Yu couldn't prohibit this, fearing that if the punishment order was too strict and harsh, it might stimulate the ferocity of these hungry soldiers even more, so he could only turn a blind eye to these scenes, and in the face of the people who rushed up to cry and complain, he just hid his face and left, if there was too much entanglement, he would let the soldiers draw their knives and expel them, which really didn't see people suffering.

When he returned all the way to the state capital, he saw Xiao Yuanzheng, the king of Xiyang, walking around in front of the mansion with a cross-sword in a military uniform.

"It's just in time for the envoy to return, I have something to discuss with the envoy!"

Xiao Yuanzheng saw Xiao Yu returning, so he hurriedly greeted him, and said to Xiao Yu with a fist.

Although he is Xiao Ji's second son and is closer in blood, he is not loved by his father, and not long before Xiao Ji set out on the expedition, he was punished for interfering with the trade of brocade goods in Fuzhong.

Although he stayed in the city now, Xiao Yuanzheng was not appointed to any official position, and even his younger brother, Xiao Yuansu, who was only a teenager, was appointed as the Taishou of Shu County and the deputy of Xiao Yu, which shows Xiao Ji's alienation and distrust of this second son.

It was only after the Wei army came to attack and successfully entered Shuzhong, because the city was in urgent need of personnel, Xiao Yuanzheng was appointed by Xiao Yu to defend Shaocheng.

Because Shaocheng was not the main direction of attack of the Wei army, and Xiao Yuanzheng himself also had experience in civil and military service, he was able to gather tens of thousands of troops in the middle reaches of the river when he was under the orders of the Jiangling Military Government earlier, and it can be seen that the ability is also good, but it is a pity that he lost everything in the first battle when he met a hard stubble like Li Boshan of the Western Wei Dynasty, and was exchanged back to Shu as a prisoner.

But now Xiao Yuanzheng has done a very good job in defending Shaocheng, and he is a rare person in the city who can share Xiao Yu's worries. So when he heard Xiao Yuanzheng say this, Xiao Yu also had a lot of expectations in his heart, first introduced Xiao Yuanzheng into the state palace, and then said: "What plan does the king have, but please speak up." Now that the enemy army is fierce and the situation is critical, it is time to work together to tide over the difficulties! ”

Xiao Yuan is gaining rare recognition here in Xiao Yu, and his mood is also quite happy, when he said: "That's the case, I inspected Shaocheng the day before yesterday, and saw that there are thousands of criminals in Chengdu County Prison, among which there are many brave criminals. ”

The Chengdu County Office is in the Shaocheng to the west, and the Chengdu County Commander also serves as the city supervisor, managing the commercial market in the city. However, a considerable number of the prisoners in the county prison were the family members of Shuzhong officials who had previously opposed the Wuling King's claim to emperor and the Eastern Crusade, so only a few thousand people were imprisoned.

Originally, the city was under siege, and it was a stopgap measure to release prisoners and sinners to help defend the city. However, when Xiao Yu thought of the chaos he had seen in the city before, he felt that releasing these prisoners might exacerbate this chaos, so he frowned again and said: "At present, there is a shortage of reserves in the city, and there is no material to raise, once those poor criminals are released, I am afraid they will not obey the control!" ”

"That's what I think of too, so I'm not going to keep these sinners in the city. Now the city has been besieged for a long time, and waiting for reinforcements is just a plan, I see that the defense of the Wei army in the West Mountain is weak, if you can break through from there, you can enter the mountain to attract the Qiang and the barbarians to come to the rescue. ”

Xiao Yuanzheng said again, he is now in charge of the defense of Shaocheng, but there are no more than 1,000 soldiers available under his command, and from time to time he will be transferred to other places, even if he has any ideas, it is difficult to execute.

After hearing this, Xiao Yu said with some hesitation: "But wouldn't it be too dangerous to do this?" The official family entrusts me with this inheritance and the king, how can I bear to drive the king to make danger! ”

After Xiao Yuanzheng heard this, he said with a straight face: "No matter how dangerous it is, can you still be in danger of becoming a prisoner of the Wei people?" I was humiliated by the Wei people before, and I endured humiliation and did not die just to donate this body and strength to serve my father and brother! Now trapped in the city and not fighting back, once the Wei people break the city and then cling to it, I am afraid that they will die without a place to bury. ”

He was defeated and captured by Li Tai's army outside Runan City before, although he did not suffer any torture, but there was no preferential treatment, so he was very resistant in his heart and became a prisoner again. And because he has not been in Shu for a long time, he also feels that there is really no need to die with this city, if the real city is not defended, it is better to fight elsewhere and start again when the time comes.

Xiao Yu was still a little hesitant after hearing this, in the end, he was still worried that he would not be able to explain to His Majesty the Emperor, so he gently appeased Xiao Yuanzheng a few times, but still did not agree to this proposal.

If more than ten days have passed, the long-awaited reinforcements have been missing, and the chaos in the city has been worse day by day, and sometimes even Xiao Yu can't find the location of his troops when he wants to dispatch the city defense, and in order to defend the city, even some official slaves and Jinhu have been driven to the city.

Faced with this situation, Xiao Yu also felt haggard, but a bigger blow came.

In the evening of this day, the Wei army suddenly shouted in the long wall, Xiao Yu climbed to the top of the city to watch, and saw that there were 100 dejected, ragged soldiers who were forced forward by the Wei army, these people turned out to be the soldiers who had accompanied Xiao Ji in the Eastern Expedition, they fled from the gorge to Shu, and were held by the Wei army scouts, bringing back the news that the Eastern Expeditionary Army had been wiped out.

After learning of this situation, Xiao Yu only felt that all his energy seemed to be drained, and the whole person fell softly on the city wall, and was carried off the city wall by his cronies.

(End of chapter)