In July, the weather is getting hotter and hotter.

After a month of siege in Plains City, food and supplies became increasingly scarce.

Xue Bai glanced at himself in the mirror by chance after many days, and what he saw was a man with a sloppy beard, a bloody face, and a fierce look.

He doesn't have the meticulous elegance of Lu Yi before he died, the water source outside the city has been cut off, and he only relies on the well in the city to drink, and no one will fetch water to wash his face. Xue Bai finally lost the memory of his pampered body, and began to get used to surviving in the absence of materials.

At dawn, he walked out of his quarters, walked along the rammed earth road to the city, and raised his lookout to look at Shi Siming's camp. Many ragged people were scattered around the periphery of the camp, looking for food on the ground with their heads bowed.

Whether it was the rice millet that leaked out of the baggage, or the grass left over from the horses, the rebels were very willing to pay for raising horses, and there were a lot of beans, sorghum, and even some salt in the forage, and the soldiers trapped in the plain city could no longer get enough salt.

Refugees outside the city picked up grain by grain from the dirt and stuffed it into their mouths with eagerness. Suddenly, arrows "whizzed" at them, and a small group of cavalry came out of the camp and drove them away.

The refugees were too tired to run, staggered into the woods on either side, and after leaving behind a few corpses, the camp was quiet.

Xue Bai was still looking, and after a while, he saw that a refugee came out again, and dragged the corpses on the ground into the woods with difficulty, and after that, a smoke rose from the woods.

The trumpets sounded, the antlers in front of the rebel camp were removed, and groups of rebels marched towards the plain city and began a new day of siege.

They did not rush to the bottom of the city and build a ladder to climb up, but set up a shield cart to dig under the city.

Shi Siming did not want to enter the city through the tunnel, but to hollow out the foundation under the city wall. He even thoughtfully asked his soldiers to support the holes they had dug with wood until they dug under the city wall, and set fire to the wooden support, and the wall was about to collapse.

The defenders had no choice but to try to demolish the houses in the city, throwing stones and earth to smash the entrances of the rebels and the caves.

At night a few days ago, Wang Rare even secretly led his army out of the city, filled in the hole, filled up half of it, encountered the attack of the rebels, and retreated into the city after paying a lot of casualties.

The rebels would also use trebuchets to throw stones at the Plains, or find sections of the walls where the defenders were under-fortified and shoot rockets into the city.

In short, they used all means to drain the physical strength and will of the defenders, and they were sure that the city walls or the defenders would collapse one day.

All Xue Bai could do was boost morale, and then take the soldiers to repair the city wall, the process was so much like flood relief that he thought more than once of his father chasing a pig swept away by the flood.

"Xue Taishou."

Xue Bai turned around and saw that it was a lieutenant in the Jingsai Army, named Fan Dongfu. He deliberately memorized the names of many soldiers, although some of them died not long after.

"Captain Fan, what's the matter?"

"Just now, Helan Taishou had a private conversation with the general, and the last general heard something with General Li." Fan Dongfu lowered his voice a little.

The "General Li" here refers to Li Zejiao, the Jingsai military envoy temporarily appointed by Yan Gaoqing.

Xue Bai's face did not change, patted him on the shoulder, pulled him down the stone steps, reached no one, and asked, "What about the specifics?" ”

"General Li actually knew that the rebels had captured Luoyang City, but he didn't tell the soldiers, the problem is that Helan Taishou said that if the rebels got Luoyang, they got Hanjiacang, so there was no shortage of food at all, and it was meaningless for us to cut off the rebels' grain routes."

"It won't be meaningless, even with Hanjiacang, their foundation is still in Fanyang." Xue Bai first comforted Fan Dongfu and told him not to worry, before asking them what else they had said.

Fan Dongfu admired his calm and cordial attitude, and said in a low voice: "Helan Jinming said that he believes that Xue Taishou will stick to it, and there is only one way to die, so please ask General Li to break through with him." ”

"Where to break through?"

"Chang Shan, he said that Xue Taishou knew that Hebei couldn't hold it, so he secretly sent his family to Taiyuan."

Xue Bai went to Taiyuan to see Li Guangbi at that time, and by the way, he settled Li Tengkong and Li Jilan. I don't know how to get to Helan into Ming's ears, which became the reason for his arrangement.

Fan Dongfu accentuated his tone, and said with some resentment: "Be careful, Helan Jinming took advantage of the current unstable military spirit to seize your power......"

At this moment, seeing Li Zejiao coming from a distance, Fan Dongfu hurriedly shut up and walked away.

"One! Two! ”

The soldiers at the head of the city shouted trumpets and threw earth and stones with all their might.

In such a background, Xue Bai and Li Zejiao climbed to the top of the city tower.

"Helan Jin made it clear that after breaking through, he used Yan Taishou and Xue Taishou to attract Shi Siming's pursuit, and he and I led the troops to leave you."

"Why did General Lee tell me this?"

"Xue Taishou knows my name?"

"Choosing a friend?"

"Not bad." Li Zejiao said: "My grandfather always said that in life, choosing friends is the first priority, the so-called 'living with unkind people, such as entering the abalone, and not smelling its smell for a long time', Helan Jinming seems to be elegant, but in fact he is arrogant and jealous, selfish, and cannot be friends. ”

Xue Bai said: "I've been busy lately, and I don't have time to get to know General Li better, you can trust me." ”

Li Ze said: "Why bother? The look in the eyes already says a lot of things. ”

He prides himself on being a person who knows how to choose friends very well, and he can see the sincerity in Xue Bai's eyes.

~~

Evening.

A servant woman carried several buckets of water from the well in a row, poured it into the kitchen cauldron and lit firewood to heat it, and brought it to Helan into the Ming house.

After washing, Helan Jinming straightened his beard, walked to the courtyard with Helan Zhijia to enjoy the coolness, raised his head and listened to the movement in the distance, and muttered: "The rebels are not yet in gold today, I really don't know when this city will be breached." ”

Helan Zhijia said: "I'm afraid that if we don't wait for the city to break, some soldiers will sacrifice our heads to surrender to Shi Siming." ”

"I didn't expect that we would be able to hold out for so long under Shi Siming's offensive."

"That's because he wasn't in a hurry at all, and he didn't do his best to attack the city."

"I talked to Li Ze today." Helan Jinming lowered his voice and got down to business, "He promised that I would persuade Yan Gaoqing and Xue Bai to break through, and when the time comes, he will follow me to Changshan." ”

"Great."

Helan Zhijia had no doubts about Li Zejiao's reaction, his brother had always been a charismatic man, and he was best at persuading others to follow him.

This time, the reason why they chose to support Pingyuan County with Xue Bai was because the situation was good at the time, and they thought it was an opportunity to make meritorious contributions, but they didn't expect to be under siege in the end.

But if he can break through, especially if he gets rid of Xue Bai and Yan Gaoqing and then returns to Changshan County, then looking at the entire Hebei, Helan Jinming will be the one with the highest merit and the most significant prestige.

There is one thing that is very strange, this time Xue Bai has made such a big contribution, originally thought that the imperial court would reward an official position such as a Hebei envoy, but now he has not waited for the reward from the imperial court, I don't know why it was delayed. When Helan Jinming arrives in Changshan, maybe it can just make up for this que.

"The question is, can you persuade Xue Bai to break through?" Helan Zhijia groaned: "If he doesn't agree, it will be rare for the king to be there, and Brother I'm afraid he won't be able to be the master." ”

"In this situation, do you really think Xue Bai can still hold on? Li Zejiao only needed to tell Xue Bai that the morale of the Jingsai army was already low, and complaints were everywhere, and they were about to be unable to suppress it. ”

At this moment, in the distance, the sound of the rebels finally sounded, and Helan Jinming breathed a sigh of relief, glad that he had survived the day safely. He didn't want to rebel again, fearing that Plains City would be breached before his actions could take effect.

It was night, and it was Wang Tian's turn to take the Yunzhong Army on duty, and Helan Jinming ordered the Northern Navy to rest early. His soldiers need to wait until the breakthrough time to kill the enemy, but now it is time to replenish their strength to avoid casualties.

Of course, the camp defense still had to be done, and the night watchman heard a commotion on the side of the city wall at night, as if the rebels had attacked him once.

……

Early the next morning, another refugee ran to the rebel camp in search of food, knowing that it might cost them their lives, but if they could not find food, they would lose their lives.

Helan Jinming soaked the hard cake with hot water under the bamboo garden and drank the last drop of wine in his wine bag.

He hadn't heard the sound of silk and bamboo for forty-nine days, and he felt that he had become vulgar, and he sighed deeply for it.

Before the rebels attacked, Yan Gaoqing sent someone to invite him to discuss the war. Helan Jinming guessed that it was probably Li Zejiao's persuasion that worked, but he also remained vigilant, so he ordered a team of henchmen to go with him.

Fortunately, there was no sabre-rattling and cannibalism, Yan Gaoqing and Xue Bai really agreed to break through, but Xue Bai's reason was to surprise Helan Jinming with his thick skin.

"Good news."

Xue Bai and other generals came, walked to the map, and said: "Last night, a messenger from Changshan County broke through to the city to deliver the news. ”

Helan Jinming glanced at the hall, but did not see the messenger.

Xue Bai seemed to know his thoughts, and said: "This strong man has been hit by three arrows of the rebels, has fainted, and is being treated, but he has successfully delivered the news." ”

As he spoke, he picked up his saber and clicked a little on the map to hit Fan Yang's location.

"We have rebelled against the rebel Fan Yang to stay behind Jia Xun, this person is a native of Jingzhaofu, who defeated the Tubo army in Jiannan, and also served in Pingyuan County Yingtian, both civil and military, and later a general under Zhang Shouqi. Ten days ago, he had already taken Youzhou, raised the banner of righteousness, returned to the imperial court and spread it to all parts of Fanyang! ”

A letter was passed to the generals, with Jia Xun's generous statement and Fan Yang's seal left behind.

The generals were pleasantly surprised.

Xue Bai was calm, except for Yan Gaoqing, he had not mentioned this matter to others in advance, so as not to leak the news. When it is done now, the morale boost is huge.

"Not only that, but we also rebelled against the Pinglu general Liu Kenu, who has now killed Lu Zhizhi, the queen of Pinglu Jiedu, appointed by An Lushan, and responded to Jia Xun according to Yuyang. In addition, there is also Wang Xuanzhi, the general of Anton, who also raised the flag to help Liu Kenu! ”

"Good!"

The generals in the army who already had a quick son clapped their hands and shouted: "Take An Lushan's lair, see what else he is messing with!" ”

"The imperial court recovered Fan Yang so quickly?"

"The siege of the plains will soon be solved, right?"

In this piece of discussion, naturally some people don't believe it, and some people are skeptical.

Helan Jinming didn't believe it at all, in his mind, An Lushan had been running Fanyang for so long, with a deep foundation and popular aspirations, so once the army was raised, Luoyang would be broken through in more than 30 days, and he would be invincible, in this case, how could there be a fire in the backyard? It doesn't make sense at all!

Moreover, Xue Bai has always been a liar, in order to deceive the soldiers Luoyang did not lose it, he denied the deaths of Li Xin, Lu Yi, and Jiang Qing, and buried the heads of loyal and righteous men in mass graves at will, and future generations could not pay tribute. A person who is so untrustworthy in his words, in such a sudden way, announces such a momentous news must be false.

"Out of an abundance of caution, there was no warning at all, is it possible to ......?"

"What kind of signs? If Jia Xun, Liu Kenu and others were aware of their loyalty to the imperial court, how could they still have today's righteous deeds?! ”

Xue Bai stopped the doubts of others in an unobstructive tone, and immediately entered the next agenda.

"Presumably, at this time, or even earlier, Shi Siming has already gotten the news, so he must rush back to Fanyang as soon as possible, and this is also an opportunity for us to break through and concentrate our troops in Changshan."

This inspired the morale of the army, and Xue Bai was willing to mention the breakout, and he supplied the military food and salt that were originally divided into many days to the soldiers normally, so that the soldiers could be fed.

Helan Jinming didn't believe Xue Bai's set at all, thinking that the situation must not be so gratifying. He immediately found Li Zejiao to discuss, thinking that after breaking through, he would definitely march and leave Xue Bai and Yan Gaoqing behind to contain Shi Siming's main force.

Li Zejiao then asked, "If Helan Taishou doesn't believe it, why don't you go and confirm with Xue Taishou?" ”

"What's the use? Listen to his rhetoric a little more, and will I recognize him? ”

However, there was a sudden burst of cheers at the head of the city.

Helan Jinming was stunned for a moment, hurriedly rushed to the head of the city, and looked closely, and in the distance, he really saw that a part of the rebels was heading north.

"Actually."

He muttered, reluctant in his heart, but he had to admit that what Xue Bai said was true.

Although Jia Xun's rectification of the chaos was obviously unreasonable, after thinking about it carefully, Helan Jinming still figured out the reason.

This Tang Dynasty, the erosion of the imperial court is true, and the emptiness of Gyeonggi is true, but it is also true that many officials in all parts of the world still belong to the Tang Dynasty.

In such a prosperous world, how can no one want to protect it?

~~

At the same time, Xue Bai and Yan Gaoqing were sitting opposite each other in the city tower, listening to the cheers on the city.

"It's a pity that Jia Xun, Liu Kenu and others are loyal to the Tang Dynasty, but the situation still disappoints them."

Yan Gaoqing's face froze with joy and asked, "What do you mean?" ”

"Husband, please take a look."

Xue Bai took out a blood-stained letter and handed it over.

Yan Gaoqing hurriedly opened it, quickly glanced at it a few times, and sighed: "The good situation has plummeted." It's a waste of Jia Xun's blood. ”

This letter was sent from Changshan County along with Jia Xun's inscription.

Yuan Luqian received the text first, and was happy, so he wrote a good news letter to Xue Bai, and before he could send it, the new news had already arrived. It turned out that Jia Xun had already agreed with Deputy Fan Yang to return to the imperial court, but Xiang Runke agreed to this matter because he saw that the counties of Hebei had fallen to the imperial court. However, on the day of their incident, the news that An Lushan had captured the eastern capital of Luoyang also spread back to Youzhou, and Xiang Runke killed Jia Xun and returned to the rebels.

"If Luoyang guards for another half a month, the rebellion will be quelled!" Yan Gaoqing said with regret.

"I'm still the same." Xue Bai said: "No matter how many right things the loyal ministers do, they can't offset the faint monarch doing a wrong thing." ”

Tired of his appearance, he leaned back against the wall and rubbed his eyes.

"I did a lot to stop this rebellion, but it was all to no avail. The root cause of the chaos is the land system and the tax system, it is very difficult to reform the system, and it will affect the whole body, the saint is old and does not want to worry about this heart, so neither Yu Wenrong nor Li Linfu can do it. Speaking of the most basic thing, the sage does not even listen to 'diligence and thrift', diligence and thrift is to lead by example, is the beginning of restructuring and rectification, if we don't start, we, the loyal ministers, are noisy and shouting at the branches all day long, and we can't touch the fundamentals, what's the use? ”

Since the siege of the city, Yan Gaoqing has been accustomed to hearing these words of reprimanding the public opinion, and he was very calm when he heard the words, but sighed: "At this time, what's the use of complaining? It's better to be practical. ”

"Okay, I have two more letters here, which were brought by the messenger from Changshan County last night."

The paper used in the two letters was not the same, one of them was a snow-white teng paper pasted on the cloth, and Xue Bai handed it over first.

"This is the secret decree given by the imperial court to Helan Jinming, let's take a look at this first."

Yan Gaoqing took it, only to see that there was a seal symbolizing top secret, which said "Helan Jinming personally opened", once torn up, it is impossible to restore it. He was stunned and looked at Xue Bai.

"This?"

"I demolished it." Xue Bai said, "There is still a letterbox, and I lost it." ”

Yan Gaoqing opened it and looked at it, and his face changed again.

This secret decree actually appointed Helan Jinming as the envoy of Hebei, and ordered him to capture Xue Bai and escort him to Chang'an.

"Is the will true?!"

"Not bad." Xue Bai said: "Fortunately, Yuan Luqian did not demolish it, but sent people to Pingyuan County. Fortunately, last night the king handed it over to me, not Helan Jinming. ”

"But why?"

"The saint is deaf." Xue Bai said: "Do you believe it?" If you don't kill all the capable ministers and don't wait for the rebellion to overthrow the throne, the saint will not wake up and stop. ”

Yan Gaoqing still didn't believe it, shook the secret decree in his hand, and muttered, "But why is this?" You defended Tumen Pass, rescued Changshan County, and called on Hebei Counties. Why are heroes not rewarded, but suspected? ”

"I am the prince's person, and the sage suspects that the reason why the rebels are so loud is that the prince is bluffing for the rebels......"

"Nonsense!"

Yan Gaoqing slapped the table case violently, his face turned red with anger, and he didn't know whether he was scolding Xue Bai or scolding the saint.

The room was quiet for a while.

The sunlight came in through the small arrow window and shone on Xue Bai's face, he did not avoid it, and looked directly at Yan Gaoqing in the sunlight.

"I'm in Changshan County, attacking and calling on the counties of Hebei to cut off the rebels; You can return to Taiyuan and return to King Qin. But I led my troops to the plains, because I really didn't expect the situation to deteriorate so quickly, but I knew why, and I had a plan. ”

"What?"

"As I said before, I have a private army in Shouyang Mountain." Xue Bai said: "They should have ambushed the rebels and helped Gao Xianzhi defend Luoyang. Maybe, Luoyang sticks to it for half a month, everything may be different, maybe...... In short, it was planned like this at the beginning, guarding Luoyang, according to Hebei, and plotting against Fanyang. But Luoyang is lost, and my private soldiers have not moved, do you know why? ”

"Why?"

Xue Bai handed over the third letter he had received last night.

This was handed from Shouyang Mountain to Changshan, and then from Changshan to his hands, and he traveled many ways.

Yan Gaoqing opened it and looked at it, and at the same time, Xue Bai also said the answer.

"The reason why Gao Xianzhi abandoned Luoyang was because he found ...... The grain in Hanjiacang is gone. ”

"How is that possible?"

Yan Gaoqing stared at the letter in his hand in disbelief.

However, the content on the letter paper about this matter is very brief, only "enter the city to see Xianzhi, say that the big warehouse is empty, Luoyang cannot be defended, and Lushan has not passed the Yanshi, so there is no ambush".

He looked left and right, and couldn't see more, and at the end, he stroked his beard and muttered: "As far as the old man knows, Tianbao has stored 12 million stones of grain in the world, including 5.83 million stones in Jiacang, how can there be no grain in such a big warehouse?" Impossible. ”

Xue Bai said: "Then I don't know, maybe Gao Xianzhi didn't have the confidence to defend Luoyang and made an excuse." ”

Yan Gaoqing asked, "You just said that there is a plan from this?" ”

"Not bad."

Xue Bai seemed to have a mailbox in his arms, and took out a small map and spread it out on the table.

Although this map is small, the area drawn is very wide, including the entire Tang Dynasty.

"At present, Luoyang is lost, and Tongguan is in danger. On the Hebei side, Shi Mingsi returned to the division, and the rebels were in flames. The imperial court did not send troops to Hedong to support, but also captured me and returned to Chang'an. In this case, we broke through and returned to Changshan County, led the Hebei righteous army through Jingcheng, and passed through Hedong to Guanzhong Qinwang, how about it? ”

"What is King Qin?"

"Support the crown prince and ask the saint to abdicate."

Yan Gaoqing suddenly changed color, stared at Xue Bai, shook his head and said, "Absolutely not!" ”

It's still not the right time.

Xue Bai then said: "The second plan." ”

He raised his hand and pointed to the map, and said, "Suppose, there really isn't enough food in Hanjiacang. We must put down the rebellion as soon as possible, and what we have to do is to cut off the rebels' food routes. But Henan is like this, the eastern capital has been left behind, Gao Xianzhi has retreated to Tongguan, and the rebels have other ways to get food. ”

"JAC."

"Not bad." Xue Bai said: "The saint is mediocre, the court is panicked, and he will definitely not be able to take care of Jianghuai at the moment, and he can't even figure out whether Hanjiacang has food or not." Once the rebels are allowed to go south and take grain from Jianghuai, the rebellion will continue indefinitely. ”

Yan Gaoqing immediately understood and said, "We will break through to the south and guard the important town of the canal." ”

His eyes fell on the map and he quickly pointed to a place.

"Yes, but that's not all."

Xue Bai pointed to the location that Yan Gaoqing had just pointed out on the map, and continued: "We lead the troops here, first of all, to ensure that the grain and grass are sufficient, and if there is an opportunity, it may not be impossible to surprise the eastern capital." Although the rebels are numerous, the main force attacks Tongguan, plus Shi Siming returns to the north, Luoyang is empty, and I still have arrangements in Shouyang Mountain. ”

Yan Gaoqing nodded and said, "Yes, but how to break through?" I guess Shi Siming seems to have withdrawn from the army, but he will never let you go easily. ”

"yes."

Xue Bai took the secret decree given to Helan Jinming by the imperial court and rolled it up.

He has been reprimanding in front of Yan Gaoqing, and now is the time to see the effect.

"Helan Jinming is the envoy of Hebei, and he wants to detain me. If we need his soldiers and horses, and ask him to help us fight the world, do you think he will agree? ”

Yan Gaoqing understood the meaning of Xue Bai's words, he was an upright person, if it was usual, he would never agree to kill Helan Jinming. After all, Helan Jinming is also a person who advocates righteousness at a time of national crisis.

"Old man Rong will talk to him again? How is it? ”

"Li Zejiao has already talked to him, how about he choose?"

(End of chapter)