In the afterglow of the setting sun, the wind howled, blowing a cloud of dust outside the city. Frightened, a few lizards and small snakes roaming the wilderness went straight to the bones of those beast souls on the side of the road.

When the wind passed, they dared to cautiously stick their heads out from between the bones and look left and right.

On the city tower, the ghost's lieutenant black kite didn't know what to do, frowning slightly, and the confusion in his eyes became a little heavier.

Just a month ago, he had traveled with the ghosts and led a large army to this place. With the advanced firearms in hand, as well as novel tactics, it only took one day for the army of the Nine Shadows Kingdom to beat the 20,000 enemy troops in the city to the head of the rats, and the city surrendered.

But after entering the city, the ghost captives did not say a word about advancing eastward, but began to repair the city in a hurry, and let the soldiers cooperate with the local people to mine, and then send them to Yankong County, without any idea of wanting to enter the army again.

During this period, the three Shouguo launched several surprise attacks, trying to recapture the Tibetan Wind City with a quick attack, but they were all defeated by the Nine Shadows Army and ended up with heavy casualties.

The clear-eyed ghosts all know that this is a good time to enter the army, and they can take advantage of the victory to pursue the enemy country and press forward step by step, but the ghost captives still do not move, and still practice and train the troops every day, repair the city, and urge the troops to drop and the local people to dig and mine.

Then the three kings sent several groups of envoys to negotiate peace, and after the ghosts were all entertained with delicious food and drink, no matter how tempting the terms of the peace were to be discussed, they did not agree to the discussion. directly and forcibly withheld the gold and silver treasures they brought, and let them get out.

The black kite counted down, and today it was the fifth group of missions that had been driven away. He finally couldn't help but be puzzled and curious, and opened his mouth to ask questions, but the answer he didn't want to get was a simple and clear word "wait".

What are you waiting for? timing, backup, or money?

If we talk about timing, although the Jiuyou Army missed a lot of opportunities, but at this time, the three national soldiers suffered heavy casualties, and they could still advance eastward; if we want to talk about backup and money and food, Hu Hui sat in the rear of the army, and the arrangements were in a good and orderly manner. The Nine Shadows Army is neither paid nor a lot of food. But the ghost captives still didn't attack.

Unbeknownst to him, the doubts in the black kite's eyes became more and more serious.

"That's what the lord meant. Just when he couldn't think of a tall and ugly man, and was about to ask, the ghost captives had already spoken before him, and said lightly: "Let me fight steadily, take a city first, and then attack when his order arrives." ”。

This not only failed to make the black kite relieved, but made him even more confused; he was a veteran of the Chengdong Guard, the old foundation of the Xiao family's army, and followed Xiao Shizhu to conquer Wu Zhiqi, fighting bulls and horses, and cutting down the ghost kingdom that did not fall a single step.

In the past, Xiao Shizhu was extremely decisive in military strategy, but this time, why did he give a cringe order? Let a lot of opportunities quietly flow away?

Not to mention that the black kite thought so, even the ghost captives couldn't figure it out, and it was understandable to fight steadily, but at this time, the Tibetan Wind City had been rebuilt and was stronger than usual.

Not only did they lay stone slabs on the outside of the city walls to make them much stronger, but they also rebuilt many tall towers at the top of the walls, which were enough to resist the large-scale siege of the three kingdoms.

As long as some soldiers are left here to ensure the logistical supply of the army, the well-equipped Jiuyou Army can drive straight in, kill the three capitals, and capture the three kings alive. This kind of faith, the ghost captives still have.

At the thought of this, a flash of excitement appeared in the ghost's eyes, which made his eyes gleam, but then slowly dimmed.

If Xiao Shizhu doesn't give an order, he can't rush into the army.

The ghost captive's heart was cold, and suddenly a burst of grievance rose, and he couldn't help clenching the five fingers of his right hand, and clenched the handle of the long knife at his waist.

As everyone knows, Xiao Shizhu is not a change of sex, but he thinks farther than they think, and it is not unreasonable for them to stay and stick to it first.

Although the Three First Countries are small countries, they also have thirteen cities, and there are three other small countries around them, which are also eyeing the Nine Shadows Kingdom. And the Nine Ghost Army that entered the enemy territory to fight was only 20,000 ghosts. If they wanted to conquer these thirteen cities with only this amount of troops, Xiao Shizhu was sure that they could do it and do it perfectly, but to defend these thirteen cities with such a small number of troops was simply a fool's dream.

In this way, if you only conquer the three countries but cannot defend them, then this battle of the Nine Shadows Kingdom will be in vain, and it will be impossible to achieve the role of deterring the other three small countries.

And he should have sent troops to the ghost captives a long time ago, but Wu Hui in the west tried to do something again; Xiao Shizhu wanted to defend Wu Hui, and he couldn't send a surplus army to support the ghost captives for a while, so he could only let him wait.

Wait until Xiao Shizhu can draw up the extra troops, and then let them attack.

After a while, Xuanshui's rough voice suddenly came from the left side of the city tower: "Lord Hu, Lord Julong, please come here." ”。

In the past, Hu Hui only arranged the logistics in the rear and never came to the front line, but today he came, and brought the water conservancy expert Julong, which made him feel shocked, and at the same time he was also very curious, what are these two ghosts doing?

Just as he was pondering, he saw that Hu Hui and Xuanshui had already walked towards him, followed by Julong who was dragging the long snake tail under his waist.

"General. The three ghosts stood still in front of him, saluted in unison, and when the ghosts returned the salute, Xuanshui smiled and said, "Lord Hu has brought good news." ”。

"Oh?" said the ghost captive, his tone unfazed, obviously not any surprise or surprise. Now in his opinion, unless Xiao Shizhu allowed him to attack, it was not good news.

"The lord asked the minister to convey to the general, please rest easy, he has mobilized 800 elite soldiers from Sanxing Island and Shuoyue Island. In addition, 2,000 recruits were transferred from Heilong County and Zhentou County. Hu Hui smiled and took a step forward: "Plus the five hundred recruits that can be adjusted in Shizhu City, and the fifteen thousand Zhurong troops in Changqin, after these reinforcements are in Shizhu City, they will rush here overnight for the general to deploy." ”。

"So many troops?" the ghost's eyes suddenly lit up, and his calm face suddenly showed excitement, and he said excitedly: "Is it possible that when they arrive, I can continue to go east?"

"Of course. Hu nodded back and said in an affirmative tone: "At this time, the reinforcement army has been mobilized, and after arriving, you can show your skills, general." But we must also refrain from making great achievements, but advance step by step. These are the exact words of the lord. ”。

"No. The ghost captives hurriedly bowed their hands and answered. The color of joy swept away the previous gloom on his face.

"In addition, I will secondment five thousand strong men in the city of Tibetan winds. At this time, Julong also took a step forward and stood beside Hu Hui: "Help me build a canal to lead the water of Zhanyun Lake on the border of Yankong County to the east of Tibetan Wind City, and enter this place and ring it outside the city." ”。

"It can be used as a moat, and it can be used to irrigate wasteland so that it can grow drought-tolerant crops such as corn. After sticking out his tongue and licking the slightly chapped corners of his mouth, Julong said again: "Make some preparations for you to guard this place in the future, general." ”。

"No problem. The ghost captives agreed without thinking about it: "There are 30,000 people in this city, not to mention 5,000, 10,000 can be transferred to you." He laughed heartily.

"That's right. At the end, he seemed to remember something, and hugged Xuanshui and Hu Hui's shoulders with a big grin, and said proudly: "I'll take you to see the money I saved for the lord this month." ”。

As he spoke, he beckoned to Julong and led them to the city gate and walked briskly.

In the streets and alleys of the city, the strange buildings with rammed earth walls and animal skins on top of them painted with various beast patterns with various colored paints on the walls shuttled forward, heading towards the middle of the city.

When I came to the middle place, I saw that there was a spring that was nearly 100 zhang long from north to south, only 30 zhang wide from east to west, deep in the east and shallow in the west, and the outline was like the shape of a human ear.

Julong looked curiously, but saw that although the spring was surrounded by a barren place, the water was clear and bottom-of-the-bottom, and the soft eye grass and wheel algae could be seen in the flow of the waves, paving green and green in the spring, full of intoxicating greenery, and gently swaying with the water.

The inhabitants of the city gathered in twos and threes and drew water from the spring with buckets in their hands. And the residents are curious about the sentences and huhui of the eyes, and they keep looking around, but there is no fear and fear.

It seems that after the ghost captives entered the main Tibetan Wind City, Anmin's work was still doing well.

"Because this spring is like a human soul's ear, the local ghosts call it the ear spring. The captives ignored the stares of the people, and led them around the spring, heading westward: "It is the only source of water in the city." I have inquired, and the thirteen cities of the Three Capital Kingdoms are all built around this inexhaustible water source in this way. ”。

"Well, the construction of the city around the water has solved the problem of water shortage and difficulty in obtaining water in wasteland. Julong bowed his head slightly and complimented.

"If there is a spring, it means that the earth is dry and there is water underground. Julong didn't think about it, so he casually asked: "Then why don't you dig wells? Wouldn't it be more convenient to dig a few more wells?"

"When the old gods created this place, it was deserted except for the springs. In a place where there is no spring water, even if the well is tens of thousands of feet deep underground, not a drop of water can be produced. The ghost captive turned his head, glanced at Julong, who happened to be looking at him, and smiled lightly: "It is said that this plain was the place where the ancient gods used to punish greedy ghosts; It is enough to make the greedy ghosts, guarding a large amount of wealth, can only die of thirst. Only a ghost who has sincerely reformed can encounter a clear spring in the wilderness. ”。

As soon as they had finished speaking, they had reached the west side of the spring, but they saw that there was an earthen pedestal, and up the wooden staircase they could see a small round two-story building, located in the middle of the pedestal. Although it is also topped with animal skins, it is a stone for the wall. The ground around the base of the wall was also filled with huge ivory tusks with pointed teeth.

Hu Hui followed the ghost captives to the abutment, stood still in front of the closed gate in front of the small building, and was suddenly taken aback after looking around.