The moment the bell rang, Guangling City seemed to fall into a state of stillness.

The atmosphere in the city has become more and more tense in the past few days, and although neither the government nor the defenders have said anything explicitly, many measures have unmistakably told the people that the enemy's surprise attack on Guangling is likely to become a reality.

Huaizhou Chengping has been peaceful for more than six years, but Guangling's peaceful years are longer.

After the fierce battle thirteen years ago, Guangling had not suffered from military disasters, and the war between Qi and Yan was limited to the northern border to secure the defensive line.

This melodious and deep bell awakens the memories of many adults, and the tragic scene of corpses everywhere appears in their minds.

The bells continued to ring, and more and more people came out of their homes and into the streets, looking at the distant city walls with melancholy faces.

In a mansion in Xicheng, an old man with white hair closed his eyes and listened to the bell, and suddenly let out a sigh.

His name is Xu Jingsheng, the old lady of the Xu family, who was famous for being good at business decades ago and earned a rich family business for the Xu family. Although the descendants are not very competitive and cannot carry forward the family business like Lu Tong, they can barely keep it.

Today's Xu family is naturally not comparable to the Lu family, but fortunately, the foundation is relatively deep, and there are no signs of decay.

Xu Jingsheng slowly opened his eyes, looked at the juniors standing solemnly under the hall one by one, and finally stayed on the face of Xu Leshan, the head of the long house, and his tone was extraordinarily vicissitudes: "Leshan, did the young master of the Lu family come to you the day before yesterday?" ”

Xu Leshan replied respectfully, "Yes, grandfather." ”

Xu Jingsheng said in a deep voice: "What did he say? ”

Xu Leshan said: "Lu Ganban said that the defenders in the city are not many, in order to deal with the possible enemy army, the warp weaving department hopes that the squires and wealthy merchants can send their own guardians to serve as a reserve for the defenders, and fill the vacancy in the city defense at any time." ”

Xu Jingsheng glanced at his eldest son Xu Yan next to him: "You didn't agree?" ”

Xu Yan hurriedly said: "Father, please rest assured, how could my son anger the warp weaver for such a trivial matter?" Twenty-three good men have been sent to the warp weaving department, and everything is at the mercy of the other party's arrangement. ”

Xu Jingsheng was silent for a moment, and said to Xu Leshan again: "Let all the people in the family who know how to use fists and kicks go to the warp weaving department, and tell the young master of the Lu family that this is all the manpower of the Xu family, and if they are disabled or dead while defending the city, the Xu family will bear the silver for the bereavement." Then withdraw 5,000 taels of cash from the account room and send it to the government office, if the government asks, it will be said that this is the Xu family's modest efforts to defend the city. In addition, he immediately counted the food stored at home and reported the accurate figure to me. ”

Xu Leshan responded one by one, and the second brother Xu Huanshan, who was standing next to him, had always been thoughtful, and couldn't help but persuade: "Grandfather, do you want to wait and see how the other families are-"

"Shut up!" Xu Yan hurriedly stopped.

Xu Jingsheng shook his head slightly, got up and walked inward, and there were two more angers in the old man's voice: "Ground Huan Mountain, so as not to cause disaster to the Xu family at this time." ”

Xu Yan glared at his second son viciously, then bowed down and said, "Yes, father." ”

……

Compared with the solemnity inside the Xu family, the Xue Mansion a few streets away seemed much more peaceful.

Xue Huaiyi's eldest son, Xue Zhong, cautiously persuaded while sorting out the medicine box: "Father is already in the spring and autumn period, let's let my son go this time." ”

"Of course you're going." Xue Huaiyi's expression was warm, and he said, "Not only are you going, but your junior brothers and nephews are also going." The ringing of the bell means that the enemy army has approached Guangling, and the battle is about to begin. Although there are Langzhong in the army, the number is too small, and Guangling has not fought for ten years, so their craftsmanship is probably a lot unfamiliar. ”

Xue Zhong said: "What my father said is extremely true. ”

Xue Huaiyi muttered: "I'm afraid this battle will be very difficult, the sons and daughters in the army don't know what a tragic price to pay, and my generation of doctors can only do their best." By the way, let your juniors and disciples go to the pharmacy to collect all the wound medicines that need to be used, and send them to the vicinity of the four gates, so that they can be easily picked up on the spot. ”

Xue Zhong nodded in response, and seeing that he deliberately diverted the topic, he repeated: "Father, just leave this matter to your son." ”

Xue Huaiyi shook his head and said a little helplessly: "You all go to help defend the city, what do you leave me alone to do at home?" Needless to say, you must know that more than ten years ago, my father and Lu Tong fought under the city wall for 27 days. ”

Xue Zhong had no choice but to give up.

Xue Huaiyi recalled the past and said leisurely: "Although Lu Tong is not in Guangling, his kid is not bad, hey...... It's a pity. ”

Xue Zhong was slightly puzzled, not knowing where the word pity came from.

When he wanted to ask again, Xue Huaiyi had already gotten up and walked outside, compared to his upright posture back then, he was now a little rickety.

……

Some distance further south from Xue's house, you will enter the area of Guangling South City.

Most of the people living here are civilians, which can be clearly identified by the size and shape of the buildings.

In the courtyard of a family facing the street, a man in his thirties changed into a short beat, but was about to go out when he was stopped by his wife.

"What are you going to do?" The woman's face was unkind, and she asked.

"Fang Zheng said yesterday that the government posted a notice to recruit people to carry things for the soldiers on the city wall, and pay back the money for food. Now that the city gate is under martial law, I think it's okay to stay at home, so I might as well sell my strength. The man said honestly.

"You're thinking about it! It's almost the same as looking for death! There's going to be a war in the city, what are you going to do at this time? ”

"It's just moving things, it's not a big deal."

"Don't think I don't know what you think, what can you do at this time, stay at home and don't go anywhere!"

The man looked at her fierce appearance and smiled suddenly.

The woman's eyes were slightly red, but she insisted on not letting go.

The man said, "I've heard that those soldiers in the north are so wicked that if they let them into the city, I don't know how many people will die." The two babies are so young, if there is a good one, what do you think we should do? Don't worry, I promise not to wander around the walls, just to move a few more rocks and kill those shit. ”

The woman looked at him steadily, turned around and left after a moment, leaving a cold sentence: "Come back early." ”

"Huh!"

The man smiled in response, and strode out of the house.

……

On the city walls, a fierce battle has begun.

Jing's army was extremely decisive and launched an offensive in the shortest possible time.

They galloped back and forth with their skilled cavalry, holding down the archers of the city with their strong bows, while the elite foot soldiers approached the walls under the cover of shield men, and then climbed up the ladders of the annexed city.

There were battles on all sides, and the west and north sides were the center of gravity of the Jing army's attack.

Standing on the city wall and looking down, I saw the surging tide of banner hunters, like a flowing iron curtain from the bottom up, and the murderous aura went straight to the sky.

During this period of time, Lu Shen had read the briefings within the Warp Weaving Division on the war in the north, and had a vague idea of the war in this era.

Probably on a certain day of a certain month, the enemy invaded a certain place, and the officers and men of our army fought hard for a long time and finally repelled the enemy, and roughly counted how many enemy casualties and how many casualties our army had suffered.

He knew that the numbers in the briefings were real people, and that a few strokes could send hundreds of families into grief.

However, on paper, he finally felt shallow, until this moment, he looked at the Jingchao army array under the city, and the vanguard army clinging like ants, as if some instinct in his blood was being awakened.

Because the Wangmei Ancient Road was too narrow, the main force of the Jing army could not carry large siege equipment, and could only carry the simplest ladder attached to the city, which meant that they could not storm the city gate, and they had to climb the city to seize the city gate area.

But even with such rudimentary equipment, the pressure on the city's defenses rose rapidly after the battle began.

The outer city of Guangling has been repaired and strengthened over the years, and there are urn cities outside the four city gates, Lu Shen is now located under the tower of the urn city, and the man on the side of the wall in front of him is the commander of the regiment who commands the defense of the city under the protection of his own soldiers.

Lu Shen turned his head to look at Xi Jun beside him, and said in a low voice: "There is Brother Lao Xi." ”

Xi Jun bowed slightly, lowered his head and said, "Master Lu doesn't have to be polite. ”

Lu Shen looked at the longbow and those specially made arrows in his hand, and said solemnly: "Please shoot these arrows near the enemy's general-level people, and make sure they can see the kraft paper tied to the arrows." ”

"I will live up to the trust!"

Xi Jun's expression was calm, and after finishing speaking, he walked to the side of "You Pu".

Lu Shen took a few steps back, turned his head to look at the slightly cramped area inside the urn city, and then moved his gaze to look at a certain area in the city in the distance.

Everywhere his eyes fell, there was a medium-sized handicraft workshop, which would have been temporarily closed in the current situation, but it was extremely busy and in full swing.

People kept coming in with half-foot-tall clay pots, and then carefully transported the filled clay pots to the designated area for placement.

Li Chengen sat here and reminded loudly: "Be careful, be careful, don't be careless, you must not spoil the young master's big thing!" The young master said, there will be a lot of rewards after the deed! ”

"Yes!"

The crowd responded in unison.