In the middle of February of the third year of Xuanhe, the weather in Tokyo was different from the previous year, and it was still a little cold.

As soon as the northwest wind blew, the sky was covered with clouds, gloomy and gloomy, and a heavy snow of goose feathers fell one after another.

The splendid palace city everywhere suddenly became the Qionglou Jade Pavilion, the city of Tokyo was covered in silver, thousands of trees and silver flowers bloomed, and the pedestrians got lost, and the homeless people who had nowhere to hide from outside were frozen and hungry and fainted on the royal street.

Emperor Daojun enjoyed the snow in Yanfu Palace, accompanied by some young concubines Yiyuan, these women Yingying Yanyan, the national color Tianxiang, wearing a light fur goose velvet jacket inside, covered with a splendid robe, playing in the snow and enjoying the scenery on the Shengping Tower.

The women saw the goose feather snow fluttering in the air, like the rain of pear blossoms in March, and like the silver butterflies flying in the sky, so they giggled and laughed, stretched their sleeves lightly, and beckoned jade hands to catch snowflakes in the air.

Emperor Daojun was also in high spirits, catching snowflakes in the air with his hands, feeling as if he was twenty years younger.

"Caught, caught! Your Majesty is caught! A Wanyi screamed, and more than a dozen women gathered around to watch.

Emperor Daojun proudly stretched out his hand, holding a snowflake in his palm, shining with crystal light.

"It's so beautiful! The snowflakes caught by His Majesty are big and beautiful, and they are still hexagonal! The concubines were amazed.

After a while, half of the snowflakes in the palms of Emperor Daojun melted away.

"It's a pity, the slave family melted away before they saw it!" The woman standing at the back didn't wait for the snowflakes to melt before she could see clearly.

Emperor Daojun smiled and said: "All the concubines, I want to watch you compete to catch snowflakes, see who catches snowflakes big and bright, I will have a heavy reward." ”

When the concubines heard this, they became interested for a while, stretched their skirts and sleeves, fluttered everywhere, and danced wildly on the upper floor for a while, and the Emperor Daojun laughed.

The imperial concubines were having a good time, and Concubine Xiao Wu Xian stepped forward and said: "The snow falling from the sky is an auspicious omen for a good year, why don't Your Majesty arrange a banquet to enjoy the snow and enjoy the music and dance?" ”

Emperor Daojun nodded: "The concubine played, it is exactly what I want!" ”

Then the decree ordered the imperial dining room and the teaching workshop to prepare, not long after the servant led the Daojun Emperor to the Paiyun Pavilion, the concubines had already waited there, the Daojun Emperor sat down, the concubines raised the dust and danced, and the Daojun Emperor sent a decree to sit.

Liu Yu, the great musician, ordered the priest of the church to sing "Yangchun and White Snow" first, and the dancers danced with the four major music.

In the carved corridor of the palace, the singing voice is tactful like the yellow oriole singing willows, between the jade building Qiongyu, the silk and bamboo curl, the aftersound lingers, the dance of the dance of nine into three changes is finished, the music conductor patted the boundary, and then stopped.

Emperor Daojun was looking at Zai Xingtou, and when he saw that the dancers were not dancing, he suddenly felt a loss, and turned to Concubine Xiao Wu Xian and said: "When I heard about Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, Yang Guifei stole the jade flute of King Ning, and played the Liangzhou song for Xuanzong on the upstairs of the Qinghua Palace. ”

Xiao Wu Guifei was originally versatile and good at singing and dancing, but when she heard this, she moved the golden lotus lightly, and stepped forward and saluted: "I'm afraid that the slave family will not blow well, and I hope that Your Majesty Haihan." ”

Emperor Daojun shook his head and said, "Concubine Ai doesn't need to be humble, just listen to the flute." ”

Concubine Xiao Wu Xian took the flute, came over and stood under the right of Emperor Daojun, and used bamboo shoots like spring onions to jade fingers, skillfully playing the jade flute, and played the Liangzhou song.

The flute sound is crisp and melodious, lingering and sympathetic, wandering between the palaces, or crisp and bright like the deep mountain birds, or high-pitched and magnificent like broken jade cracked silk, the aftersound is lingering, making people intoxicated.

After Concubine Wu Xian finished blowing the Liangzhou song, Emperor Daojun couldn't help but praise: "Emperor Tang has Yang Guifei, and I have Concubine Wu Xian!" ”

Concubine Xiao Wu Xian was flattered, her willow waist swayed, she was charming, she lifted her dress, and Gong E had already put down the brocade felt next to her, and Concubine Xiao Wu Xian knelt on the brocade felt, and said in a coquettish voice: "What talent does the slave family have, worthy of Your Majesty's praise?" ”

Huizong looked at the little Concubine Wu Xian again, she was really charming, with a beautiful appearance and a moon-like appearance, and she hurriedly descended to the throne and held it with her hands, and said: "Concubine Ai is free of courtesy!" ”

Concubine Xiao Wu Xian stood up weakly and snuggled tightly beside Emperor Daojun, who was about to continue to have fun, when suddenly the palace official hurriedly reported: "Qi Guan's family, Zhang Zhong, the main envoy sent by the former to Jiangnan to recruit Fang La, was beheaded by the thief chieftain, and the existing deputy envoy Bi Cheng was summoned outside the palace gate. ”

Emperor Daojun was taken aback when he heard this, and immediately restrained his smile, and the realm party fell to the ground with a "snap", and only said after a while: "Spread my will, and announce it to come over!" ”

The deputy envoy Bi Cheng was led over, with tears on his face, prostrate himself on the ground, and cried: "The officials, ministers and other leaders left Beijing, did not dare to slack off along the way, hungry and thirsty, stayed overnight in Xiaoxing, and rushed to Hangzhou at the risk ......of death, but saw that the thief army had besieged the city, so he had no choice but to pass the word from outside into the thief camp, and handed over the edict of surrender to the anti-thief Fang La, but unexpectedly, when Fang La saw the edict, he was furious, and immediately ordered Lord Zhang to be beheaded, and insulted him in every way, and beat us out of the camp with random sticks."

When Emperor Daojun heard this, his face turned white and red, and finally suddenly gloomy, and asked, "How did that thief insult me, to tell the truth!" ”

Where did Bi Cheng dare to speak, and hurriedly said: "The minister dare not say, the minister deserves death." ”

"I forgive you for your innocence!" Emperor Daojun snorted coldly.

Bi Cheng hesitated and said: "The thief chief Fang La said that even if the faint king came by himself, he would have to kneel down and kowtow when he entered the camp, and also said that he would enter Tokyo sooner or later and take the life of the faint king......

"Bold!" Emperor Daojun was so angry that his eyebrows were raised, his face turned iron-blue, he shook it a few times, shook it a few times, his eyes were bloodshot, his lips were blue, and his limbs trembled.

The concubines, chamberlains, and palace maids hurriedly supported them, beating their backs and rubbing their chests at the same time. ”

The chamberlain hurriedly went out of the temple to deliver the decree.

Emperor Daojun took a few breaths and shouted again: "Chuan Qin King, Yun Wang, Li Bangyan, Cai You, Gao Yu, Tang Ke, Xue Anglai!" ”

Another chamberlain said yes, run out......

In the city of Hangzhou, the prefect Zhao Ting was convening civil and military officials to discuss countermeasures, he was flustered in his heart, but he pretended to be calm on the surface, and said lightly: "The military situation report that this government got before, that party broke through Qingxi, and seized Muzhou, Shezhou counties and other places, everywhere, first searched for officials and gentry, slowly cut them with knives, and then hung their heads to show the public, or cut off eight pieces of their limbs and threw them to feed the dogs, it was really flesh and blood everywhere, the corpses and bones were messy, and the tragic situation made people's hair stand on end. ”

When the civil and military officials heard these words, many of them looked at each other in fright, opened their mouths, and trembled.

Zhao Ting continued to say slowly: "Now that the thief chief is besieging the city and storming for several days, what is your best plan? Or quickly offer it, so that the calamity can be eliminated. ”

The officials have long been out of their minds, and they are like wooden chickens, where is there any good plan? No one spoke for a long time.

Zhao Ting sneered and flicked the sleeves of his robe, "Since there is no way, there is nothing to say in this mansion, let's go back!" ”

The civil and military officials were suddenly ashamed, and they were about to retreat, planning to go home and pack their bags to find an opportunity to hide and escape, but at this moment, they only heard shouting outside the door: "Zhejiang Xi's pacification envoy Chen has arrived!" When the officials heard this, they were all shocked.

Zhao Ting's face changed, and he hurriedly got up and led everyone to greet him, Chen Jian frowned and walked into the hall and sat down in the center, after everyone finished worshipping, Chen Jian said: "Fang La is now besieging the city, the thief army has been attacking for a few days, and the imperial reinforcements have not yet arrived, I don't know what is the best strategy for Zhao Governor's Mansion to retreat from the enemy?" ”

His heart was on fire at the moment, although the capital begged Chen Yu and received a response, but the reinforcements had not arrived for a long time, that is, he had not even heard the news, and the other three ways of pacification had already returned, but he did not send a single soldier to support.

"Dashuai." Zhao Ting bowed his head and said: "The lower officials and the civil and military have been discussing for a few days, and there are different opinions, and there is no consensus, it seems that it is the best policy to guard the city gate and wait for the arrival of the imperial court's rescuers." ”

After hearing this, Chen Jian was moved in his heart, stood up "ho", squinted at Zhao Ting with his eyes, and then looked at the officials, and said angrily: "Raise an army for a thousand days, and use it in one day." The enemy chief has arrived, but you have no plan, isn't it a shame to the emperor's grace and a waste of food! ”

Before his words fell, Peng Pei, the chief of the soldiers and horses in Hangzhou, got up and said: "Dashuai, Fang La thief Kou, originally a rural sectarian, a thief in the mountains, although he claims to be 150,000 or 60,000 at the moment, I see that there are actually only 70,000 or 80,000 rabble, and there are many old boys inside, who can't fight, use bitter bamboo as a gun, make armor in a cloth, and the march is not in accordance with the law. ”

Zhao Ting frowned on the side and said: "In the previous battle of Xikeng, the entire army of the capital eunuch Cai Zun and Yan Tan was annihilated, the first battle of Muzhou, Ye Juzhong and Tong Shu were martyred, and the thief army took down more than ten of our cities, and Chief Peng must not despise these thief army." ”

When Chen Jian heard this, his face was as cold as ice, and he looked at Zhao Ting and said, "Then according to Governor Zhao, how to retreat from the enemy?" Do you just hold on to the city, or leave it and run away? Hangzhou is such a heavy land, if Hangzhou is lost, once the official family is guilty, you and I will definitely lose our heads! ”

Zhao Ting didn't dare to make a sound, Chen Jian continued: "Cai Zun and Yan Tan are not incompetent, but they were defeated because they were not able to take advantage of the location, Qingxi Chen Guang fled without a fight, and Muzhou Zhang Huiyan abandoned the city and left first, and there were no strong enemies in the cities along the way, so the thief flame was even more arrogant. ”

Peng Pei, the chief of soldiers and horses, and Cao Bao Miao stepped forward and saluted: "Marshal, a certain two people are not talented, and they are willing to guard the city day and night with the soldiers and civilians of the city, and if there is any mistake, they are willing to be the military commander." ”

Chen Jian nodded and said: "There is no good strategy, it can only be like this, from today on, the entire city of soldiers and civilians will be dispatched by the two of you, if you don't comply, beg to report!" The two received military orders and went out to arrange for the army and civilians to defend the city together.

Chen Jian's words were finished, and he felt a little tired, so he went back to the house, used some snacks indiscriminately, drank a bowl of ginseng and white fungus soup, fainted and fell asleep.

I slept until sunrise the next day, and then I woke up, listened to the movement outside, didn't find anything abnormal, and calmed down a little, so I asked someone to prepare a carriage to go to Zhao Yue's house to negotiate.

Walking outside, Chen Jian lifted the curtain of the car and looked at the battlements in the distance, and saw that the soldiers on the city were brave, the swords and guns were brilliant, and there was no tension and majesty, and he couldn't help but think in his heart, this Peng Pei and Bao Miao were also considered to be good at governing the army, and the high walls of Hangzhou City were thick, even if there was no good strategy to retreat from the enemy, it was safe for a while.

Before coming to Zhao Yue's mansion, Chen Jian got out of the car, and Zhao Yue came out of the hall and said with a wry smile: "Lord He Lao is here, and he will call the officials to go to the mansion." ”

Chen Jian shook his head, entered the hall and sat down, Yahuan offered Longjing fragrant tea, and set up some snacks on the table, Chen Jian picked up the tea bowl, tasted it and said, "Is there any inappropriate news recently?" ”

Zhao Yue stretched his neck and said: "Before the siege of the thief chieftain, there were many officials and eunuchs who transported their property and dependents to other places, and the officials in the yamen abandoned half of them, and the people were panicked. ”

Chen Jian was immediately furious when he heard this, and scolded: "Zhao Ting wants to escape first, and he must be dealt with strictly to follow suit." ”

Zhao Yue shook his hand and said: "My lord is angry, this is a visit from the lower officials, whether it is true or not, we have to investigate it in detail." ”

Chen Jian sighed, summoned the chief attendant around him, and ordered: "Go and monitor Zhao Ting's actions, and if there is any movement, report it quickly." ”

After a while, the banquet was set up, the two of them sat down to drink, just raised their glasses, Peng Pei sent someone to report: "The thief will Fang Baihua Pioneer has killed the city, go to the foot of Phoenix Mountain, and the door of the meeting is tight......"

Chen Jianzhao was immediately shocked, and looked at each other, Hangzhou has a sub-city, and Phoenix Mountain is surrounded by a sub-city, which means that the sub-city is broken!

Chen Jian pushed away the cup in front of him, calmed down a little, and said to the comer: "You quickly pass on the commander's order, let the officers and soldiers of the three armies, officials and ordinary people, all adult men, take turns to go to the main city to guard the battlements, regardless of day and night, they are not allowed to leave without permission, and they are strictly guarded against spies everywhere, if there is anyone who disobeys the military order and fornicates with bandits, they will be beheaded and shown to the public, and they will not be tolerated!" ”

After sending the people away, the two hastily ate a few mouthfuls of food, and then asked the outside to prepare the car, and planned to go to the main city wall to watch.

But as soon as he walked halfway, the chief who had been sent to monitor Zhao Ting, Yu Hou, chased after him, saying that the Hangzhou Mansion was cold, and the people in the mansion were fleeing.

Chen Jian was so angry that he couldn't speak for a long time when he heard this, and Zhao Yue was even more worried, and said: "Lord Chen, it's better to hurry up and go to the city to suppress it, otherwise the news of Zhao Ting's disappearance will be transmitted, and I am afraid that people's hearts will be in turmoil, and it will be difficult to hold on!" ”

Chen Jian nodded, and the two hurriedly came to the inner wall, and then climbed the city tower, only to see that the battlements were covered with strong bows and crossbows, and the battlements were full of rolling wood and stones, and the city walls were hung with antlers.

Chen Jian's heart calmed down slightly, and Peng Pei, the chief of soldiers and horses, stepped forward to salute, and accompanied the two of them to climb the Dysprosium Tower to look at the bottom of Phoenix Mountain, only to see that there were about four or five thousand people and horses over there, and they were arranging wooden fences and walls.

Chen Jian said with a solemn expression: "This meeting gate must be strictly guarded, and there must be no slackness. ”

Peng Pei said: "Marshal, now the soldiers are guarding the city day and night, and it is very hard, can the marshal first take out some silver to reward the three armies and motivate the soldiers?" ”

Chen Jian nodded and said: "The soldiers should be rewarded for defending the city with their lives, pass on my order, each soldier will be rewarded with a consistent amount of money, and the officers above the head will be rewarded with one or two silver, and the book will be withdrawn from the Xicheng treasury. ”

Peng Pei and the surrounding generals bowed together and saluted: "Thank you for your grace." ”

Chen Jian said: "Two meals a day, there should be some meat soup in the middle, even if it is a chicken for a hundred people, they will be sent to the city to eat." After that, there was another cheer.

Then Chen Jian and Zhao Yue turned to Qingbo Gate, and after a while, they suddenly heard the drums of war outside the Jiahui Gate, and the sound of killing broke out.

The two were frightened, and rushed back to see, it turned out that Fang La personally supervised the army to build more than ten pontoon bridges on the moat.

After a while, the Fang La army rushed across the pontoon bridge, the arrows on the city were like showers, the rolling wood and bluestone flew in the air, and the Fang La army was difficult to get close to the city wall, so they slowly retreated.

On this day, although the main city of Hangzhou was safe, but at dusk, all the sub-cities of Hangzhou were trapped, and the people of Fangla surrounded the main city to cut down trees and build fortifications.

Fang La led the generals to climb to the top of Phoenix Mountain, and looked at the city of Hangzhou together, and couldn't help but be slightly silent, Hangzhou is a heroic city, and at this moment, looking at the heights, it is almost solid.

Fang Ladao: "If you can't attack it in a few days, do you have a good plan to attack the city?" ”

General Lu said on the side: "Holy Prince, the other party has few soldiers, and the people are panicking, now we only need to prepare more climbing equipment such as ladders, bamboo ladders, climbing poles, flying claws, etc., and then take it by surprise, attack it unprepared, and directly take it by force." ”

Fang La nodded, there was no other way to think of it, but to rely on more people to attack.

Everyone talked for a while, the sky was dark, and then looked at the tall lantern torches on the city wall of Hangzhou, like a silver dragon, the lights of thousands of homes in the city, like the night sky dotted with stars, the banner on the head of the city fluttered with the wind, the soldiers were next to each other, the swords were like a forest, Fang La and the generals sighed for a while, and then walked down the Phoenix Mountain.

However, he said that Peng Pei, the chief of the soldiers and horses in Hangzhou, discussed with Cao Bao Miao: "Although there are many thieves, there are only a few thousand people stationed under the Phoenix Mountain, and all of them are female soldiers. ”

Bao Miao immediately said: "Adults can't! In my humble opinion, I still hold on to it, and I can't move lightly! ”

Peng Pei shook his head: "At the moment, there is no good way to break the enemy, then there are some rural village girls under Phoenix Mountain, and they only rely on the large number of troops on the side, and now that the two sides are separated, why not sneak attack?" In the middle of the night, I will take two thousand elite soldiers to attack, and you will answer the city gate, and it will be foolproof. ”

On the third watch of the night, Peng Pei led 2,000 elite soldiers out of the Genshan Gate, went straight to the Baihua camp in Phoenix Mountain, came to the outside of the village, saw that the lights in the village were sparse, and everything was silent, Peng Pei shouted, jumped into the village with a knife and jumped into the village, and went on a rampage, but saw that there was no soldier inside.

Peng Pei was shocked in his heart, and hurriedly ordered the army to retreat, at this moment, the sound of killing on all sides suddenly rose, and the lampballs and torches were illuminated together, there were Fang Baihua in front, Pang Wanchun on the left, Zhou Jingbao on the right, and Hong Tianqu in the back, surrounded and killed on all sides.

No matter how hard he struggled for his life, how could he be four opponents, he was beheaded under his horse in an instant, and the two thousand elite soldiers died and fled, only half of them were left, and they ran towards the city gate.

Bao Miao over there was shocked when he saw this, and he had the intention to close the city gate and put down the jack gate, but he couldn't bear to see the more than 1,000 elite soldiers, but when he hesitated arbitrarily, the chasing soldiers had already arrived, and it was too late to close the city gate again.

Bao Miao didn't think that the other party would be so fast, and regretted it too late, so he hurriedly transferred troops and started a battle at the city gate.

How could Chen Jian sleep soundly in the mansion over there, suddenly someone came to report, but it was Bao Miao who passed the message, he listened to the messenger Ding Ding's statement, and couldn't help shouting: "Peng Pei mistook me!" ”

Chen Jian immediately changed his clothes and mounted his horse and went to the city gate to supervise the battle.

The sky was getting brighter over there, and the city gate was glued, but Fang La was happy, and he didn't wait for anyone to say, he knew that it was a good time to attack the city.

He ordered one by one to storm the four cities and thirteen gates, and to take Hangzhou City today.

Chen Jian was flustered at the moment, although the city gate was not lost, but he transferred other soldiers from three sides to block it, but the troops on those three sides were weak, and there were not many soldiers in Hangzhou City.

I saw that the army of Fang La rushed to cross the moat, and then the soldiers set up a ladder to attack the city, the city and the city beat the war drums, "dong dong dong" shook the sky, the shout was earth-shattering, the Song army put down the rolling wood and stubborn stones at the head of the city to hit the ladder, most of the ladders were knocked over and smashed, but there were also those who went up to the city wall, it was a good kill.

At this moment, the military division Lu General, with a thousand soldiers through the foot of the Phoenix Mountain, walk the Qingbo Gate, Yongjin Gate to watch, here the city wall is close to the West Lake, the city is a narrow strip of land, in which the waterway is vertical and horizontal.

This Lu Jiang is a native of Shezhou, originally a student, only because of the book criticizing Hua Shigang was rejected by Emperor Daojun, ordered not to be an official, so he returned to his hometown in a fit of anger and entered the Ming Sect, because of his resourcefulness, he got the identity of a scattered person in the teaching, and was one of the six scattered people of the Ming Sect in the Central Plains.

He looked at the gate of the west city, there are water gates not far from the two gates of Qingbo and Yongjin, and at this moment the siege on all sides is urgent, and the water gate is a little negligent in defense.

Seeing this, Lu Jiang took it to heart and hurriedly went back to look for Fang La, at this time, although Fang La saw that the soldiers climbed to the city from time to time, but it was always difficult to gain a foothold, and he was anxious, and saw that Lu Jiang was back, so he asked for advice.

Lu Jiang said: "Xicheng Qingbo, Yongjin next to the two water gates can be navigated by boats, the minister from the book, the King of Qian set up a triple protection there, the outside is a sluice, weighing a thousand catties, the middle is an iron gate, are wrapped in gold nails and iron leaves, the inside is a row of gates, very strong, but at this moment for some reason have not fallen, if the martial arts are strong people to enter first, occupy these two gates, then Hangzhou will break! ”

Fang La was overjoyed when he heard this, and hurriedly dispatched Chen Fan, Fang Nineteen, Zhou Jingbao, Fang Jie, Xu Fang, Wang Yin and others, and quietly went over with the courage of being familiar with water, and attacked the two water gates.

At this time, Chen Jian was supervising the battle at Genshan Gate, and suddenly someone came to report: "The water gate next to Yongjin Gate has been attacked tightly, the sluice gate has long been rusted to death and cannot be put down, and the iron gate cannot be opened, only the gate can be used, but it has been broken by the thief army." ”

Chen Jianli was taken aback, his whole body was cold, his hands and feet were at a loss, and he shouted after a while: "Come on, follow me to see!" ”

Halfway through, someone came to report that Fang Lajun had opened the Water Gate and captured the Yongjin Gate from the inside, and was killing this side at the moment.

Zhao Yue's face was frightened when he heard this: "My lord, how is this good?" ”

Chen Jian was silent, and he was stunned for a moment when he rode on the horse, but for a moment, there was a shout of killing in front of him.

Zhao Yue trembled all over, and said in a low voice: "My lord, I see ...... Why don't you drop it? ”

Chen Jian was a little shaken when he heard this, but for a moment his eyes flashed outside the Donghua Gate of the year, the golden palace played right, the hairpin flower tour Mayu Street, a good old dirty and not enough to boast, now the debauchery is endless, the spring breeze is proud, one day to see all the Tokyo flowers, can't help but flash a trace of violence on his face.

He drew his sword sharply in his hand, and stabbed it to the side with a "whoosh", hitting Zhao Yue's chest socket, and shouted angrily: "Escape and not escape, how can you come down?!" ”

Then, his eyes were blood-red, he pulled out his sword from Zhao Yue's body, looked back at the five hundred soldiers behind him, and roared: "Obey the orders of this commander, follow me to kill the thief!" ”

After saying that, he urged his horse to sit and rushed forward with his sword......

(End of chapter)