After hearing the words of the imperial doctor, Yang Lan immediately made a decision and summoned Yuan Muzhi and Xiao Yi.

Seeing Yang Lan's heavy face, the two of them secretly said in their hearts. Then Yang Lan told the two with tears in her eyes: "Your Majesty's dragon body is not safe, it is caused by hard work day and night, and now everything depends on the will of heaven." ”

Hearing the three words of God's will, the two of them already knew in their hearts that Xiao Ju's illness was not trivial.

Then Yuan Muzhi said: "The only way to do this is to block the news first, just say that Your Majesty is overworked and needs to recuperate, and the kings who rebelled before are all locked up in the palace, and they should be strictly guarded at this time to avoid anyone contacting them." ”

What Yuan Muzhi is worried about is that someone will take this opportunity to make trouble, after all, now that the imperial army is outside, the highest combat power in Jiankang City is Xiao Ju's Imperial Forest Army, if someone pretends to use Xiao Ju's warrant, no one in the city can contend to fight.

After seeing Yang Lan nodding, Yuan Muzhi said again: "Everyone is not allowed to enter and leave the palace at will, and it is also troubled that King Xiang lives in Zhongshu Province during this time. ”

Although Xiao Yi was slightly dissatisfied, he could only nod his head at the very moment. Now that Xiao Ju is seriously ill, Xiao Yi is the easiest person to ascend to the throne, so it is normal for Yuan Muzhi and Yang Lan to be wary of him.

"Recruit the King of Qin back to Jiankang, first of all, the King of Qin is seriously ill, and His Majesty is seriously ill. It is also human nature to return to the court, after the king of Qin returned to Jiankang, presumably there are suspicious people who do not dare to act rashly, and then fall off the Jingkou, Stone City, the soldiers of the East Mansion enter Jiankang, arch the gate of the guard, during this period of time Jiankang City is under martial law, and the people who enter and exit Jiankang must be carefully interrogated, and the rumors must not be leaked. ”

At this time, Wei Ran was besieging the Hanging Gourd City, since the defeat of the Wancheng reinforcements, all the counties around the Hanging Gourd fell into Wei Ran, and the Hanging Gourd is now a lonely city.

The Southern Qi army attacked the city day and night, which made the defenders of the hanging gourd tired, and even some soldiers fell down the city wall because of overwork when guarding.

Yuan Bao was also terrified in the city, Wei Ran had dug tunnels before, and even killed them in one fell swoop, but fortunately they were discovered by the defenders in time, and they repelled the Southern Qi soldiers, otherwise the situation would be extremely difficult now.

The reason why Wei Ran did not use the siege method of destroying the city wall in the past here is because the hanging gourd is a strategic point, this place is close to the Qin army, far away from the Qi army, if the city is destroyed, it is difficult to build the city in a short time, so it can only be attacked.

But he couldn't attack for a long time, Wei Ran was also quite anxious, and in desperation, he turned his attention to the earth-shattering crossbow, which was transformed from the giant crossbow developed by Zhou Xun in Panyu in order to assassinate Wei Ran.

Wei Ran thought about it and decided to use this crossbow to shoot Yuan Bao, which confused the heart of the Hanging Gourd Army, so Wei Ran asked people to repair a book and shoot it into the city, wanting to talk to Yuan Bao.

Yuan Bao received Wei Ran's letter, and he didn't know what to do for a while, he himself was an unassertive person, and began to ask for opinions from the left and right.

Some people think that the Southern Qi army must be short of food and grass, and only need to hold on, and the Qi army will retreat by itself, and there is no need for peace talks.

Some people also think that now the grain road has long been opened by the Southern Qi, but its own grain road has been cut off by the Qi army, and now the grain in the city not only has to feed the soldiers, but also to feed the people who moved into the city, and it will not last long, and they can negotiate with Wei Ran.

The two sides disputed His Majesty, and Yuan Bao couldn't make up his mind, and after discussing for a long time, someone suddenly came to report that Wei Ran was alone near the city wall, and asked Yuan Bao to see the city tower.

When Yuan Bao heard this, he immediately had an idea: "If I take this opportunity to shoot Wei Ran, won't the army retreat by itself." ”

Therefore, Yuan Bao personally climbed the city tower, and then saw that although Wei Ran was alone, there were still some chariots not far away, so he thought in his heart that Wei Ran must have planned to retreat when there was a chariot blockade cavalry to pursue.

Yuan Bao immediately ordered the archers to hide behind the city walls, and when he lured Wei Ran forward, he shot him.

Sure enough, Yuan Bao shouted loudly: "Wei Ran, you and I are far apart, such a distance, how can we talk to each other!" ”

Wei Ran said with a smile: "After taking a few steps closer, this king is afraid that he will enter the range of the archers." It is enough for the herald to shout. ”

Then Wei Ran beckoned, and in an instant, several strong men came out of the back tent, and passed Wei Ran's words into the city in unison.

Yuan Bao also had a headache when he saw this, although there were also archers, he could shoot Wei Ran at this distance, but Wei Ran was not an ordinary person after all, and he was afraid that it would be difficult to succeed.

Wei Ran said at this time: "Yuan Bao, I called you today, just to ask you if you surrender." ”

Yuan Bao was furious when he heard this, and shouted: "There are many soldiers and horses in my city, and there is plenty of grain and grass, so you can come here." ”

Wei Ran laughed after hearing this, and then said to the herald: "Scold this king severely." ”

At this time, Wang Xian commanded the earth-shattering ballista to slowly approach, and then slowly aimed the crossbow arrows at the city tower, and the eight chariots began to lock the position of Yuan Bao.

Yuan Bao was scolded by Wei Ran for no reason, and he was in a daze, and then he was suddenly angry, and he was about to start scolding back when he approached the city wall.

Wei Ran saw that Yuan Bao was already excited, and then turned around and gestured to Wang Xian with his eyes.

Wang Xian understood and found the opportunity to shoot the crossbow arrow with a crossbow cart when Yuan Bao was defenseless.

The furious arrows of the earth-shattering crossbow were comparable to long lances, and the eight long arrows broke through the air, sinking with great force and extremely fast speed.

Yuan Bao only saw a foreign object suddenly flying out behind Wei Ran, and his curiosity drove him to take a closer look, and it was this hesitation that made Yuan Bao lose the best time to dodge.

Seeing this, the deputy general beside Yuan Bao hurriedly shouted: "The prince is about to lie down." ”

Then he rushed over to pull down Yuanbao, but it was too late, the sharp arrow broke through the air, directly penetrating Yuanbao, and the powerful impact force actually nailed Yuanbao directly to the city tower behind him.

Yuan Bao looked at the long pole on his chest in disbelief, blood spilled from his mouth, and he just wanted to say something, but found that he couldn't say anything.

As Yuan Bao's head drooped, the Hanging Gourd defenders suddenly panicked, and everyone shouted: "The general is dead!" ”

Seeing this, Wei Ran knew that the matter had been successful, and he didn't talk nonsense, so he turned around and ordered Wang Xian to start attacking the city.

The defenders of the Hanging Gourd City who lost the main general had no fighting spirit at the moment, Wang Xian led the army to storm the eastern city wall of the Hanging Gourd City, and soon smashed the city wall out of a hole, with the penetration of the Southern Qi soldiers, the Hanging Gourd City Wall was in vain, and the two sides fought from the city tower to the city.

Seeing this, Wei Ran immediately ordered an army to storm the southern city wall, at this time the garrison of the hanging gourd had no fighting spirit, and it was not long before Wei Ran had conquered two city gates, as the shouting and killing of the Southern Qi army in the city intensified, the defenders in the city also knew that the general trend had gone, and most of the Qin troops laid down their arms and surrendered.

Only Yuan Bao's henchmen and generals, with hundreds of people, snatched Yuan Bao's body, rushed out of the west gate of the Hanging Gourd City, and began to flee in the direction of Wancheng.

Just as Wei Ran conquered the hanging gourd and was about to take the next step, an urgent message came from Jiankang.