Zhu Xiang knew that King Zhao would not send him off. If King Zhao doesn't come, other high-ranking officials of Zhao State will also be afraid of King Zhao, so they shouldn't come. He didn't expect that Pingyuan-jun and Pingyang-jun would actually come.

Zhao Sheng took out a gorgeous sword.

Zhao Bao took out a piece of jade like mutton fat.

The sword is given to the warrior, and the jade is given to the hero.

"Whether this mission is successful or not, I will do my best to save your life." Zhao Sheng promised.

Obviously, he also knew that King Zhao was trying to make Zhu Xiang bear his faults.

Although Zhao Sheng was stunned in the matter of going to the party, he was indeed a person who followed the moral spirit of the nobles and scholars. Otherwise, so many princes and nobles are raising scholars, why can he be among the four princes? So he promised to do his best to protect Zhu Xiang.

"Precious." Zhao Bao said.

Zhao Bao is a cautious person, so he will not promise like Zhao Sheng. But he gave away the jade jue that was close to him, which also symbolized his secret determination.

Zhu Xiang's lips twitched.

He thought that Pingyuan-jun and Pingyang-jun already knew that he had taken the initiative to request to send Changping. The two of them should also know that they are very aware of King Zhao's careful thoughts, but they still choose to go to Changping. That's why they're so moved.

But they don't know what they're thinking.

Zhu Xiang only cared about the hundreds of thousands of Zhao people in Changping, and didn't care about the King of Zhao and the State of Zhao. If his plan succeeds, Zhao may not necessarily be better.

Zhu Xiang watched the two princes of Zhao condescend to see each other, and he still took the sword and the jade jue.

"I will live up to the trust." Zhu Xiang promised and set off again.

When Zhu Xiang and the long line of grain and grass set off again, Lian Po pulled out the long sword at his waist, tapped the long sword and shouted: "I will get out of my car, and I will be herded." From the Son of Heaven, I am here! ”

Lian Po sang "The Book of Songs, Xiaoya, Out of the Car".

"Out of the Car" describes the situation of the general Nanzhong's crusade against the Xuan Li during the period of King Xuan of Zhou, the first half of the book is written about the expedition, and the second half is written about the triumph.

Lian Po used the sword as the piano and sang "Out of the Car" for Zhu Xiang to say goodbye. In his heart, Zhu Xiang's envoy this time was no different from leading his troops to fight. He hoped that Zhu Xiang would also be triumphant.

Cai Ze put down the piano on his back. Xun sat on the ground, put the piano on his lap, and played music for Lian Po.

Cai Ze and Lin Zhen echoed Lian Po's singing loudly, and Pingyuanjun and Pingyangjun also whispered and reconciled.

Only Lin Xiangru coughed, stood on tiptoe and stretched his neck to watch Zhu Xiang leave, tears flowed out, and his eyes didn't blink.

Xue leaned down, took the crying Ying Xiaozheng into her arms, and choked up: "Zheng'er don't cry, your uncle will come back soon, Zheng'er won't cry......"

The old farmer next to him quietly watched this scene and asked the people around him: "Where is Zhu Xianggong going?" ”

The man said: "The Qin people may want to kill the prisoners of war, and Zhu Xianggong will go to Changping and rescue the prisoners of war." ”

The old farmer couldn't believe it: "What you said is true? ”

The man said: "Of course it's true, it's spread throughout the city...... Alas, what are you doing? ”

The old peasant threw himself on his knees, kowtowing to the distant carriage, and knocking his forehead to the point of blood.

Zhu Xiang vaguely heard the singing voices of his elders and friends. He endured it for a long time, and finally couldn't bear it anymore and stuck his upper body out of the car window.

The car had already traveled a long way, and there was a long queue of grain transportation behind it, and Zhu Xiang didn't see the elders and friends. He only saw a lot of people gathered on both sides of the road, who were crumbling, ragged, skinny, and had dirty faces that he couldn't see their faces.

These are civilians outside the city. There are old and young among the common people, there is not a single young man, and there are very few young women.

During the Warring States period, the population was small, and there were many wars in which the whole country was strong. In later generations, women were rarely allowed to serve in the military because they attached more importance to women's chastity. The Warring States did not care about women's chastity, and women did not usually serve in the military, but when there were not enough men, women went to war.

It is recorded in the "Book of Shang" that "the fruit is collected to support the army's food, and the sewing is also ordered", and the logistics are almost all in the responsibility of the women. If it is a defense battle, the female will also go to battle. The story of "conformism" in "Mozi" uses female soldiers.

In addition to the Battle of Changping in Zhao State, some women were requisitioned. Zhu Xiang escorted the grain and grass for the rest of the month to Changping, and King Zhao could not find soldiers to escort him in a short time, so except for the hundreds of private soldiers of Ding Ding who were given to Zhu Xiang by Lian Po and Lin Xiangru, the rest were all women and young men who did not become Ding.

Therefore, the only people who knelt on both sides of the road to see them off were the elderly and children.

Most of the civilians don't know the Book of Songs. They are not like Zhu Xiang's elders and friends, who can send each other off with music and singing.

All they gave to Zhu Xiang was kneeling, kowtowing, and only the mottled blood stains on his forehead mixed with mud and sand.

Zhu Xiang jerked back his body that had leaned out of the window. He sat upright in the carriage with his eyes closed.

……

Changping.

The Zhao army stopped breaking through and had been encamped for half a month.

Zhao Jun only brought ten days' worth of dry food. Even if the valley is rich in water and grass, it can still catch wild things, hundreds of thousands of mouths, no matter how much you save dry food, you will almost be able to eat it.

Today, the Zhao army had its first riot.

There was a team of Zhao soldiers who tried to drown their horses, wanting to pretend that the horses died unexpectedly, so that they could eat horse meat, and they were exposed.

According to the military order, this Zhao soldier should be executed. However, now that the morale is low, Zhao Kuo did not execute this Zhao soldier, but only whipped him.

But this Zhao Bing is still dead. He was already sick with hunger, his back was blurred with blood, and there was no medicine in the army, so he developed a high fever that night and did not see the sun the next day.

Perhaps it was because of the death of the rabbit and the sorrow of the fox, Zhao Bing finally began to waver in the general's orders.

Several veteran soldiers were elected to ask Zhao Kuo that now that there was no food, some of the horses should be killed.

Zhao Kuo scolded: "The Qin army will come to harass our army's position every few days, how can the cavalry and chariots go out without horses?" Do you use two legs to pass through the rain of arrows of the Qin soldiers! ”

The veteran soldier stammered: "But when a man dies, what is the use of a horse?" Horses are still fighting people for food, and we have even less to eat. ”

Zhao Kuo sneered: "Our army is stationed in the river valley, and the water and grass are abundant. Horses only drink water and eat grass, how can they compete with people for food! ”

Listening to Zhao Kuo's words, the veteran soldier was dumbfounded, and was speechless for a while.

It's not that he can't argue, but he didn't expect the general to say such a thing!

Horses only drink water and eat grass, and we have no food, so we only drink water and eat grass! Whether it's the hay that horses eat or the grass that grows along the valley, it's also food for our stomachs!

The veteran wanted to refute, but before he could speak, he was dragged out and dealt with by military law.

Several veterans were also whipped, and they also developed a high fever at night, and they were not able to see the sun the next day.

When they went to see Zhao Kuo, they didn't expect that they would be beaten to death by this beating.

Because they are really very old Zhao soldiers, they have experienced many wars and followed many generals. So they know that it is indeed difficult for the low-level soldiers to talk to the generals. But if they have enough reasons, after the generals agree, they can also give advice to the generals.

Some generals will state in advance that they are not allowed to speak, and violators of military orders will be dealt with, such as when Zhao Hao paralyzed the Qin army. At this time, middle and low-level generals and soldiers must be prepared to be killed and punished if they want to speak.

This is an unspoken rule in the military.

Zhao Kuo did not give the order in advance, and the veterans also thought that they had sufficient reasons to speak.

But Zhao Kuo was not willing to follow the bad customs of the army.

When a commoner stops a nobleman's frame, he will be beaten first for whatever reason - in fact, the commoner does not bow his head or kneel down when the nobleman's frame passes by, and once he is at eye level with the nobleman looking outside, the nobleman also has the right to scold the commoner.

The soldiers overstepped the level and made remarks to the generals, but they still made such ridiculous remarks, so naturally they could not be exempted from punishment.

Now that the Zhao army is surrounded, the grain and grass will be exhausted, and the people are panicking. If military orders are not carried out more strictly, the army will definitely mutiny. Zhao Kuo deliberately agreed with the old soldier's words, and then punished him so that the other soldiers would strictly abide by the military order.

Zhao Kuo has read a lot of military books, and he is not wrong with this trick. In times of desperation, harsh orders and absolute force suppression can indeed calm people's hearts.

The Zhao army set up camp, the Qin soldiers besieged but did not attack, and only occasionally harassed, Zhao Kuo's pressure was reduced a lot, and he was able to think clearly again.

He believed that King Zhao had received the news of his siege and must have been recruiting soldiers and sending people to support. He only needs to hold his position and wait for reinforcements to come, so that he can join forces with the reinforcements inside and outside and break through the encirclement of the Qin army in one fell swoop.

The art of war says that encircling the enemy requires ten times the enemy's strength. The strength of the Qin army was comparable to that of the Zhao army, and as long as there were reinforcements, Zhao Kuo was very confident in breaking through.

What he needs to do now is to use all means to stabilize the morale of the army and maintain the combat strength of the Zhao army, waiting for rescue.

After killing chickens and making an example of monkeys, Zhao Junzhong really had no objections.

Zhao Kuo readjusted the location of the barracks and redistributed the weight of grain and grass.

He and his generals were given priority to be fed, and fish and game could only be eaten by him and his generals; The soldiers can eat five points full, and gather the excellent horses in the barracks, and live with his soldiers in the most abundant places of water and grass, so as to maintain the combat effectiveness of the war horses; The rest of the food is divided by the soldiers, and if you have military merits, you can get a food reward, and you may also get the leftover bones and internal organs eaten by Zhao Kuo and the generals.

Zhao Kuo also killed the wounded and old horses, and salted the meat as food for him and his generals, as a reward for the warriors.

As soon as he gave this order, the army was really in order, no one was noisy, and the soldiers fought more bravely, and many people died bravely every day.

When a soldier dies in battle, their comrades will fight to get their bodies back.

When Zhao Kuo saw this for the first time, he was very moved.

His lieutenant couldn't help it and said, "They snatched the corpse back, not to love their comrades, but to eat meat!" ”

Zhao Kuo was stunned. Then, there is no then.

Soldiers, once they enter a desperate situation, it is common to use human flesh as military food. As long as Zhao Kuo didn't eat it, he didn't feel that there was a problem.

However, he deliberately adjusted the layout of the barracks again, separating himself from the ordinary soldiers on the outside. Although he knew that it was common to use human flesh as military rations, he was kind-hearted and could not see this.

Under the strict command of Zhao Kuo, the Zhao army returned to order, and no soldiers complained.

Zhao Kuo had confidence that he would definitely be able to hold on until the time when the Zhao army was supporting.

At this time, Bai Qi released a few Zhao people into the camp of the Zhao army.

"General, reinforcements from the Qin army are coming, but King Zhao hasn't moved at all!" Zhao Ren cried bitterly, "King Zhao has given us up!" ”

Zhao Kuo was extremely angry, thinking that this was the person sent by Bai Qi to disturb the hearts of his army.

He beheaded the man and questioned the second man.

The second person still answered the same way.

He killed these people sent by the Qin army one after another, and sent scouts out to inquire about the news.

The Qin army generously gave them a way, and after they collected the news, they released them back very kindly.

The scout gave Zhao Kuo the same news - not only did King Zhao not send reinforcements, but the reinforcements of the Qin army had arrived!

Zhao Kuo faltered.

Why didn't King Zhao send reinforcements? Because there are no soldiers? No, there are still soldiers in Daijun, there are soldiers in Yanmen, and there are soldiers in the clouds! As long as King Zhao sends the soldiers of Daijun, Yanmen and Yunzhong at the foot of Yin Mountain, wouldn't the siege of Changping be solved in an instant?!

Could it be that King Zhao was annoyed by his defeat and really gave up on him?

No, it won't be like this, I am Ma Fuzi, my father Ma Fujun has made such a great contribution to Zhao Guoguo, how could King Zhao give up on me!

Just when Zhao Kuo was panicking, there was a commotion in the army.

Zhao Kuo thought that the news that King Zhao had no reinforcements spread out, and the military camp mutinied, so he hurriedly went to suppress it.

When he went, he found the soldiers dancing and looking very happy.

Zhao Kuo called a man who was more pleasing to the eye and the strongest and asked, "What happened?" ”