As soon as Ye Tianhuai's words fell, Gu Shihai's face immediately darkened completely, he frowned and raised his eyes, a pair of black eyes like a falcon staring at the emperor on the throne with a calm demeanor.

There was anger in his eyes, but he couldn't do it.

For a long time, Gu Shihai pulled the corners of his mouth as if he didn't have any, a sneer squeezed out of those dangerous black eyes, and he looked at Ye Tianhuai, as if he knew her for the first time.

Ye Qianhuai also looked back at him without evading, his expression was peaceful, as if he had not checked the chill in his eyes.

"Elder Gu Ge has something to say?" Ye Qianhuai asked.

"Your Majesty has made a decision, and the minister has nothing to say. It's just that with such a big personnel change, the cabinet didn't even hear the news. Chen Ge Lao, according to the minister's view, this cabinet is afraid that there is no need for it to survive. Gu Shihai suddenly changed his words and started talking to Chen Yuansi.

Although Chen Yuansi didn't look at him squarely, his face was visibly gloomy.

"Elder Gu Ge, that's not what I said. No matter what the cabinet says, it is also His Majesty's cabinet. He was still in such an unhurried tone, and deliberately dragged out the word "Your Majesty".

——

The morning party ended in an atmosphere where the mountain rain was about to come and the wind was full of buildings.

In addition to the five cabinet members and the secretary of the military department, Lu Yanchen and Gu Haiwang were also named by Ye Tianhuai to stay and discuss the war in Beidi together.

"He Qing, how did Wushi Pass fall?" Ye Tianhuai asked straight to the point.

He Qingchang didn't look up at Ye Tianhuai, he paused, lowered his eyes and said in a deep voice: "There is a plague in Wushi Pass. ”

As soon as he spoke, all the people in the palace looked at him in unison, and their eyes could not hide their fear.

The plague is placed in peacetime, and it is also a first-class major event in the DPRK and China, and once it is not handled well, it will shake the foundation of the country, let alone in front of the army pressing the border.

He Qingchang took out a folded book from his sleeve, held it above his head with both hands, and said, "Your Majesty, this is the last battle report sent back by Hu Changcheng from the front line. ”

For some reason, as he spoke, his voice weakened, and he seemed a little unbearable.

Li Baoquan took the fold and put it on the dragon case in front of Ye Tianhuai.

Everyone was silent, looking at the book in Ye Tianhuai's hand.

On the dull Taihe Palace, there was only the sound of Ye Tianhuai slowly flipping and folding.

The report was succinctly written, but well organized.

In fact, ten days before the siege of Beidi, there were sporadic soldiers in Wushi Pass, and the symptoms were similar to wind and cold. The spring is cold in the north, and the climate is hot and cold this spring, so Hu Changcheng didn't care about it at first. However, this "wind chill" soon swept through the entire Wushi Pass, and in just five or six days, seven or eight adults in the Wushi Pass could not afford to be sick.

Hu Changcheng realized that this was not an ordinary wind and cold, and he suspected that there was a plague in the army, so he immediately ordered the entire Wushi Pass to be blocked, and sent a secret report to Xu Ye, the envoy of Yunzhou Jiedu, overnight to explain the matter.

However, Wushiguan did not wait for the reinforcements of grain, grass and medicine from Yunzhou, but first waited for Beidi's 30,000 troops.

There was no text, no pre-battle calls, not even temptations and feints. Beidi attacked in the middle of the night, and poured out of the nest that night, and the fire and thunder and trebuchets were all used, and they were bound to take Wushiguan in one fell swoop.

Hu Changcheng led the only two remaining adult horses to fight for a day and a night, and the sick soldiers in Wushi Pass went to the city as long as they could get out of bed, and finally tried to protect the city gate.

But this battle was a tragic victory, most of the personnel and ordnance on the pass were damaged, and Wushi Pass was already crumbling in the wind, and it was difficult to block the next wave of Beidi's offensive.

On the one hand, Hu Changcheng summoned the Yunzhou army to ask for reinforcements, and on the other hand, he convened a meeting of the generals to discuss the next countermeasures.

Although it was not stated in the battle report, Ye Qianhuai also wanted to know that there should be two roads in front of Hu Changcheng at that time.

The first is to abandon Wushi Pass, lead the army to retreat to the south bank of the Baishui River, and join the defenders on the south bank. The first is to fight to the death in the epidemic-ridden Wushi Pass.

In this regard, Hu Changcheng only had a brief conclusion in the war report: On the night of the twenty-eighth day of April, the 23 people at Wushi Pass decided not to retreat, blow up the main road behind the pass, and were willing to drag the fighters for a while by virtue of the moat.

Wushiguan is located on the edge of the Baishan rift, which is hundreds of miles long and bottomless, like a moat split between the mountains by a god with a giant axe. If Beidi wants to go south to Yunzhou from the snowfields in the north, he must cross this Baishan rift. Wushiguan is built on the north cliff mouth of the Baishan rift valley, behind the towering pass is two trestle bridges that can be used for eight carriages in parallel, the thick wooden pillars are firmly rooted in the canyon rocks, the wooden beams are scattered, the two bridges span the valley of a hundred zhang high, majestic and majestic, the ghostly axe is amazing.

Wushiguan was built during the reign of the founding emperor Ye Yunhan, and it took more than ten years before it was built to its current appearance, which can be said to bring together the wisdom and manpower of the entire Ministry of Industry of Dajing. Although there is more than this bridge in the Baishan Rift Valley, there is only this black stone bridge that can transport ordnance and walking chariots and horses.

Because of this, Wushiguan can be described as a veritable gateway to the north of the Great Jingbei to defend against foreign enemies.

Hu Changcheng blew up the Wushi Bridge, but he cut himself off from the back road, and he didn't want to live.

This is the end of the battle report, but there is still a piece of paper in a different style from the fold, which is darker yellow than the folded paper, folded twice, and a little wrinkled.

Ye Qianhuai pulled out and opened the paper.

It is a life and death certificate, which says that he is willing to live and die with Wushiguan and agrees to blow up the Wushi Bridge behind him. Densely signed underneath are many names with different handwritings.

Ye Tianhuai swept them one by one, including Hu Changcheng, there were exactly twenty-three names.

These people should have died in battle by now. These handwritings should be their last handwriting.

Ye Tianhuai's solemn expression darkened again. Then she saw that there was a folded section under the paper.

She opened it and saw Hu Changcheng writing a line underneath -

The loss of the stone is the only one who will be guilty of the crime. As a guard, the city failed to perceive the end of Qingping, but it was a negative grace, although it was difficult to escape its sin after death, and it was shameless to survive in the world. However, there are no 5,000 soldiers in Guanzhong, and the safety of the family and country is in danger, and no one is cowardly.

This nearly 1,000-word war report is a straightforward statement throughout, and only the last two lines are what Hu Changcheng said for himself.

To be precise, it was said for these martyrs.

He did not ask the emperor to forgive himself, but only to ask the emperor to forgive his subordinates.

Ye Tianhuai looked at it for a long time before handing the war letter to Li Baoquan and motioning him to show it to several ministers.

Sure enough, several old ministers looked at each other after seeing it, and they all looked heavy.

"Qingchang, did the Wushi Bridge really blow up? Is it possible to be fixed quickly? After Gu Shihai finished reading it, he immediately asked He Qingchang.

(End of chapter)