Xiong Hong hurriedly took the bow of the King of Chu, and the soldiers who were watching from all sides had already heard that Xiong Qu had the ability to "shoot stones without feathers", which was comparable to Gu Houyi, but they had never had the opportunity to witness it with their own eyes. This man looked at his king with wide eyes.

Xiong Qu bent his bow and arrows, and with all his strength, he pulled the bow in the shape of a full moon, and the arc of the bow cast by copper and tin made a unique "gurgling" sound of metal being stretched strongly. People held their breath and heard a "whoosh" sound, and a bow and arrow plunged deep into the boulder, and sure enough, only the feathers of the arrow were exposed. "Okay, the king is so powerful!" The whole army erupted in thunderous cheers, which shook the valley.

Xiong Qu was not satisfied, he stepped forward and shook the exposed arrow feathers, not moving at all, and there was an indescribable frustration in his eyes. It seems that this method will not work!

He asked a general of the Hubei state: "If you take a detour, how long will it be delayed?" ”

"This mountain stretches for more than 30 miles, if you take a detour, you still need to cross the river, and it will take at least half a month to travel to Tonglu Mountain."

Xiong Qu groaned for a long time, his brows tightly frowned into the word "Sichuan". On the ground, a plan came to mind, and the eyebrows were slightly soothed. He began to give orders: "Five hundred men are to cut down trees and pile them up around this boulder." Another 500 people went to the mountain to find the thick bamboo, cut it in half, and made a trough to draw the spring water from the mountain spring on both sides of the boulder. Before dark, it's all done. ”

People all looked at each other, not knowing what the king of Chu was going to do. Only Xiong Hong understood his father's meaning, and the young man's eyes flashed with joy and admiration: "Father, are you trying to crack this boulder?" ”

Xiong Qu smiled and said, "Follow the example of the ancients and try it." ”

When the sun was twilight, the high firewood of Qi was densely piled up in front of the boulder. More than a dozen sergeants stood in front of the stone with torches in hand, waiting for an order from the king of Chu. As soon as Xiong Qu raised his hand, Xiong Kang shouted: "Burn!" ”

The sergeants threw torches into the firewood, and the fire burned so brightly that the whole valley was reddened. After about an hour, this side of the boulder was burned red by the fire, and there was a sound of "peeling". Gradually, the flames fell, and all the firewood turned to ash or whitish ashes. Xiong Qu clapped his hands: "It's now!" ”

As soon as he gave the order, the sergeants on the mountain began a series of operations, they let go of the earth blocking the bamboo trough, and four clear springs were poured over the boulder that had just been burned red. It had just been scorched by the flames and poured with cold water, and after this cold and heat, the inside of the boulder could not stand the pain of intense expansion and contraction, and made a painful "cooing" sound.

Xiong Qu picked up the bow and arrow in his hand, shot more than a dozen arrows at the stone in one go, and shouted "Open!" ”

This was the last straw that broke the camel's back! The boulder groaned in pain like a sick person, and more than a dozen cracks appeared in the stone, and the cracks grew bigger and bigger. Eventually, with a bang, the boulder fell apart! The valley erupted in a shout of victory: "Great king's divine power, open the mountain and crack the rock!" My king is mighty! ”

All this, the Fanguo spies crouching on the top of the mountain are all in sight, he sighed, left the hill quickly, and reported back to the Fanjun in front.

Since coming to Tonglu Mountain, Zhao Bohu has developed the habit of standing on the top of the mountain at dusk every day to watch the sunset. It's summer, the days are long and the nights are short, but no matter how long the days are, there will be an end to them. The sunset in the west is like a burning phoenix bird in the totem of the Chu people, reflecting the sky in the west red. Gradually, the firebird burned out, leaving only pieces of brilliant red gems, inlaid in the clouds shaped like ashes, the light of the gems became fainter and fainter, the red receded, from gray to black, and finally drowned in the vast twilight.

Zhao Bohu watched the sunset in the west, and his brows were tightly twisted into the word "Sichuan", which could not be calmed down for a long time. The little Ji Hu beside him stared intently at his gloomy face, and he couldn't wait to reach out to soothe his frowning brows, but finally he didn't have the guts. I had to ask softly, "Young Master, do you have something on your mind?" ”

"Call the eldest brother." Zhao Bohu's stern gaze swept over, and Ji Hu lowered his head and softly admitted his mistake: "Yes, eldest brother." ”

Looking at his aggrieved look, Zhao Bohu couldn't bear it and touched the bun on top of him. These days, apart from this half-versed child, he has no second person to confide in.

"Alas—" he sighed, "It's been almost a month since we came to Tonglu Mountain, and the Chu army will definitely come to attack this place." But where are the soldiers? In addition to the army of Cheng Zhou and Shenhou brought by ourselves, so far there are only the right countries in the Jianghan and Han countries, and the Luo country has sent a few people, adding up to only about 30,000 people and less than 400 military vehicles. The combat effectiveness of the sergeants is inferior to that of the Chu State, but the absolute number is not even superior in battle, how can they be sure of victory? ”

Ji Hu also didn't seem to understand these things, and he racked his brains to persuade him: "Didn't the eldest brother install copper thorns on every military chariot? When the time comes, it will definitely be able to crush the Chu State army! ”

Zhao Bohu smiled bitterly: "This method can only be used for a while, and it can't save the poor." If you can't kill with one hit, it will be difficult after that. What's more, the Chu army has captured Echeng for a long time, but I am afraid that before the combined army of the Jianghan and Han countries, the iron hooves of Xiongqu have come to the foot of the Tonglu Mountain. ”

As he was talking, suddenly there was a burst of smoke and dust at the foot of the mountain to the south, as if a large group of people were driving towards this side. Zhao Bohu's heart tightened, what? Could it be that the Chu people came to Tonglu Mountain so quickly?

"No, no. Eldest brother, the flag is embroidered with the word 'Fan', which is my uncle's army. Ji Hu's eyes were sharp, and he saw the flag standing on the cart at the front of the queue.

Zhao Bohu carefully observed this group of men and horses, except for the first flag chariot, the entire team did not have a single military chariot, and all the warriors were on horseback. This is purely a cavalry corps! There is a middle-aged general standing on the flag car, and it is estimated that it is Fanzi.

"Have you met your uncle?" Zhao Bohu asked Ji Hu.

"My father and queen mother and I have been confined to the palace and have not been allowed to see anyone. Therefore it has never been seen. ”

"Go back to your lodging and take refuge, and don't come out until you're called." Zhao Bohu's eyes were majestic. Ji Hu bowed his head helplessly and responded: "Okay! ”

Fanzi is a tall middle-aged man with a long beard, and when he saw his face at first glance, Zhao Bohu inexplicably felt familiar. Thinking about it again, it turns out that he does have similarities with his sister Fanji. In particular, the silhouette of the thin eyebrows and long eyes is the same, which is also the imprint engraved by the bloodline.

There was no time to salute, Fanzi looked flustered, and when he saw Zhao Bohu, he pulled his sleeve and hurriedly said: "As soon as the minister received the queen's secret order, he led the whole country to come to help." Master Young Master should know that our country is small and the people are weak, only in the position of viscount, and with the strength of the whole country, we can only get five or six thousand armor soldiers and one hundred military vehicles. How can such a small number of troops resist the Chu army? It can only do harassing things and slow down its attack. But ------"

He swallowed his saliva, summoned Bohu to help him sit down, served another cup of tea, and comforted him softly: "Uncle Guo doesn't have to be in a hurry, speak slowly." ”

Compared with the title of "Fanzi", the title of "Uncle Guo" is naturally more dignified and noble. Fanzi sat down, stroked his beard and said: "In the past few days, our army has been constantly attacking and disturbing the Xiong Canal, cutting pontoon bridges, sinking ferry boats, and even pushing huge rocks to block mountain passes. It's a pity ------"

He shook his head regretfully, and recounted the experience of the latest failed attack: "------ could not have imagined that Xiongqu would burn stones to lead springs and shoot stones to open the way, and in less than a day, the mountain road would be reopened." Instead, they came out to pursue our army, and their troops were very sharp, and they had no choice but to order all the military chariots to be unloaded from their horses and abandoned on the road. All our troops were converted into cavalry and came to Tonglu Mountain to report the news lightly. ”

Zhao Bohu asked a key question: "According to Uncle Guo's calculations, how far is Xiongqu's army from Tonglu Mountain?" ”

Fanzi seemed to have palpitations: "In fact, if our army hadn't abandoned the military vehicles, they would have caught up." The Chu people picked up our chariots, and then put on the horses and saddles, how could it take a day or two. The minister estimated that tomorrow evening or before noon the day after tomorrow, the Chu army would definitely be able to rush to the foot of Tonglu Mountain. ”

"Ahh The troops in your hands are obviously insufficient? And what about the enemy? He asked, "How many centaurs are there in Xiongqu?" ”

"At least 30,000 horses, originally 200 military vehicles, but now that we have 100 chariots from our country, the Chu army already has 300 chariots."

Zhao Bohu calculated in his heart that the enemy's strength was more than 30,000, which was equivalent to his own; There are 300 enemy vehicles, and there are slightly more of them. What's more, as long as you make good use of the Fa, you may not be sure of victory. Thinking of this, he felt a little relieved and began to arrange a strategy.

At this time, the troops of Shenhou and Quanguo and Luo were already camped at the foot of the mountain, with the Shen army in the east and the two countries in the west. Zhao Bohu also incorporated the cavalry of Fanguo into the two armies of Quanluo in Xiying, but transferred all the military vehicles to Tonglu Mountain, leaving only the infantry and cavalry at the bottom of the mountain. Only a Zhou army and 300 military chariots remained on the mountain.

Everyone was puzzled by this arrangement, but because of the identity of the envoy of the King of Zhaobohu, they did not dare to ask. Only Ji Duoyou and Ji Hu understood his intentions, and everyone acted separately according to their assigned tasks.

Never before has it been a busy night in Patina. All the furnaces were burned red, and the last furnace of copper water flowed out of the trough and injected into the copper fan under his feet, which was used to make the last batch of copper thorns.

The mountain is also full of people, and thousands of torches illuminate the night sky red. The soldiers took out the still hot copper thorns from the bamboo baskets that had just been hoisted up from the valley and scrambled to install them among the wheels of the troop wagons. In an instant, the unremarkable military vehicles were like bayonets loaded with bayonets, pointing at the heart of the enemy.

E Shizi drove the square to work hard, he suddenly went down the valley, suddenly went up the mountain, busy with sweat, his eyes red. Seeing so many soldiers and horses coming to guard Tonglu Mountain, but as the original master, he has already ruined the country and his family, and he can't gather a single soldier, how can he not work harder than others?