The dust was fierce and rose with the night wind, and a small sandstorm seemed to rise in front of the Ghost King's palace. After waiting for a long time, when the dust settled, I saw that the palace gate and the city gate building on the gate had turned into countless broken tiles and scattered on the ground in the gap in the palace wall. There are also many broken beams and columns, obliquely inserted in those ruins, messy in one place.

Fortunately, after the battle began, the ghost king and his daughter hurriedly left the city gate building under the escort of the guards and hid in the deep palace, otherwise they would have ended up either dead or wounded.

And not far from the shore of the lake, Xiao Shizhu, who was looking left and right at the Ghost King Palace behind the telescope, but after seeing the rubble and broken walls in that place, he suddenly smiled. His open eyes burst with greed, and through the binoculars, he looked into the palace of the ghost king, like a veteran miser who opened his treasury and saw the mountains and seas of gold and silver piled up in it.

As a modern human soul, or a modern human soul with a lot of knowledge, although Xiao Shizhu does not have any high education, he also knows that in addition to the two purposes of defending and expanding the territory, starting a war is also for resources and money.

It's better not to fight for these things. Therefore, after listening to Wu Zhiqi talk about how brilliant the ghost king's palace is, how luxurious the ghost king's life is, and even the night pot is either gold or jade, Xiao Shizhu is itchy about this ghost king's palace.

After two big wars, although he didn't empty the ghost mother's pocket, he also spent a lot; if he didn't pull some money back, he was afraid that it would be difficult to explain to the ghost mother.

And this war is mainly to annex the ghost kingdom, and unlike the last attack on Wei to save Zhao, the people's will is very important. Otherwise, even if it is included in the territory of the ghost mother country, there will be a rebellion in the cold, so that the ghost mother country will be in danger of catching fire in the backyard at any time.

So the idea of the commoner couldn't be beaten, so Xiao Shizhu hit the idea on the ghost king. Therefore, he could have destroyed the only way to enter and exit the Ghost King's Palace, but he never did so.

As everyone knows, he hit the right again and hastened the end of this war. If he chooses to destroy the bridge and trap the ghost king in the first place, with the sufficient food and grass in the ghost king's palace, he will have to be trapped for more than a year and a half before he can starve the ghost king to death. At that time, the ghost king was still there, and there was no edict that he was willing to surrender to all parts of the country, even if other cities outside the national capital were occupied by the ghost mother country, there would be good things and ghosts rebelling in three days, and there would be angry young ghosts shouting for the ghost king Qin Wang in five days.

After the Heavenly Soul Army in Linglong City retreated to the East and West Cities, Xiao Shizhu divided the Xiao family army into three, and Yingzhao and Qianhu Loess led one and led ten chariots to attack the East City. And Wu Zhiqi and Xuanshui led another one, taking ten chariots to Xicheng.

He, along with Qin Yuan and Yu Rong, led the remaining soldiers to guard the southern city with thirty vehicles on the battlefield, guarding the steady stream of supplies, but whenever he saw that there were defenders in the Ghost King's Palace who wanted to rush out, he forced them back with artillery bombardment.

Just after Ying recruited them to attack, Xiao Shizhu was not idle. He asked Qin Yuan and Yu Rong to fly quietly into the air, flying as high as they could, and after flying straight into the air beyond the range of the bed crossbow, he used a telescope to observe the terrain and landforms in the Ghost King's Palace among the clouds, and drew down the location of the bed crossbow used in the defense of the arrow tower and air defense. When another batch of solid shells arrived, they began to reload and bombard these places.

But the troops never dared to attack and entered the palace.

Two days later, the Temple of Heavenly Evil.

The ghost king sat on the throne with a distressed face, looking at the palpitations and panicked ministers below, listening to the roar of artillery fire from time to time outside the hall, the roots of his teeth itched, his knuckles were numb, and he had to clench his fists hard.

"I called you here today to make a decision. After a long time, seeing that the ministers were silent, the ghost king swept his gaze over them one by one, and asked in a calm tone: "The jade is broken, or is it complete?"

He didn't know what method Xiao Shizhu used to keep the artillery from high temperatures, and he actually dared to put the cannon on the shore. And the artillery in Xiao Shizhu's hand was the farthest he had ever seen. In just two days, the fortifications in his palace were completely dismantled by the other party with the artillery in their hands.

Not only that, but the defenders outside Linglong City were almost wiped out by the Xiao family's army, and a day ago he received a message from Feige, which mentioned that Huju Pass had been besieged by Xia Xing's army, and there was no news afterwards.

At this moment, the Ghost King's Palace has become an island, there is no barrier in front of it, there is no way to retreat, and all kinds of disadvantages are placed in front of the Ghost King and his ministers, it is time to decide whether to fight or surrender.

"At the beginning, if the king had listened to my advice and concentrated his forces to attack one point, instead of scattering his troops in various places to defend the main roads, he would not have been defeated by the Xiao family's army one by one. ”。 Hu Hui, the head of the civil official, sighed, stood up and saluted the ghost king, and said unhurriedly: "Now that all kinds of disadvantages are ahead, the only way to surrender is to have a chance to fight back; The king might as well emulate the king of Yue in the world, seek satisfaction with grievances, endure humiliation, maintain obscurity, and make a comeback. ”。 The implication is to let the ghost king bow down to Xiao Shizhu and the ghost mother.

Hu's plan is indeed the best policy at present. But the purpose of this brother's plan at this time is not so simple. He just thought that if the ghost king surrendered now, he could be inserted into the ghost mother country as a vassal, and then secretly control the ghost mother country just as he secretly controlled the ghost kingdom back then.

At that time, the ghost mother country will already have Shuoyue, Samsung, and Heilong Island, and he will take the ghost mother country by himself, not only recovering Sanxing Island for the giant lord, but also bringing Shuoyue and Heilong Island under the control of the Mo family.

His plan is indeed feasible, and half of the few ministers left in the palace are ink masters, and as soon as this statement came out, it was immediately echoed by everyone. The ministers all thought that this plan was very good, so they all advised the ghost king to surrender!

The ghost king looked at them chattering, and his heart suddenly had mixed feelings. He originally thought that he could negotiate peace, at least so as to save the life of his only heir, the lord of Linglong County, Ghost Qian'er, so he only asked the ministers whether it was a broken jade or a complete tile, but he never thought that these ministers who were loyal in the past actually wanted him to surrender instead of negotiate peace, and used the example of Gou Jian to talk about things, which made his heart feel chilled as if it fell into an ice fountain in an instant.

Whether in the underworld or in the human world, it is a great shame for the lord of the country to surrender. If it is a daughter, the ghost king is willing to surrender, even if he is better than death in the future, he will not regret it. But when he saw that the ministers were so admonished out of fear to save their lives, he was reluctant to rise.

If it's for this group of cowards, the ghost king won't die!

So after slamming the armrest of the throne with his right fist, he stood up and raised his eyebrows and said angrily: "The decisive battle is tomorrow! If you want to surrender, you can go out of the city now, and the widow will not force you, but if you want to stay, I hope you will do your duty and fight side by side with this king again." ”。

"The city is dead or dead, we will swear to defend the ghost king's palace to the death! Although it is death, we will not be in the bag!" After finishing speaking, he took a deep breath, and without waiting for the ministers to open his mouth to refute, he slowly said to the ministers in a slightly milder tone: "You are precious, if you can survive, we will see each other in wealth and wealth in the future." ”。

In just a few words, although there was not much emotion, it was also said that the ministers who were not ink masters instantly dispelled their worries and fears. Even some ink artists were excited. They were silent, their bodies trembling slightly, and they all cast decisive glances at the Ghost King, just to repay the Ghost King's kindness to them in the past.

Even Hu Hui thought twice for a moment after hearing the words, and sighed silently in his heart: "That's it, I, Hu Hui, have done all the things that lack virtue for Lord Juzi;

"Let's get busy. A grateful look appeared in the Ghost King's eyes, and after sweeping them across their faces, he waved his hand to signal them to stand down......

In the early morning of the next day, as soon as the sky was bright, Xiao Shizhu, who was sleepy, was shouted by Yu Rong.

Xiao Shizhu, who was angry about getting up, sat up, scolded and rubbed the corners of his eyes that were still stained with, but when he saw a herald kneeling in the big tent, he yawned and asked, "What's the matter?"

"Yingzhao and Xuanshui Qianhu have solved all the defenders in the city outside the enemy's capital, and they are on their way back to the Chinese army at this time. Our army suffered less than three hundred casualties. The herald surrendered to him.

"These two losers, there are less than three hundred dead and wounded?" Xiao Shizhu stood up with a scolding scolding, put on his clothes and walked out of the big tent, his face was indeed full of joy.

As soon as he came out of the tent, he saw a messenger riding a tame tiger rushing into the camp and galloping towards him. Judging from the dress, this signal soldier is a soldier of the Ghost Mother Army led by Xia Xing.

The signal soldier came to him, hurriedly tightened the reins and forced the tiger under his crotch to stop, then turned over and dismounted from the tiger, knelt down in front of him and said in a loud voice: "Report, Lord Xia Xing has conquered the Tiger Pass, leaving 20,000 soldiers and horses to guard the key road, according to your requirements, march to the west of the Ghost Kingdom." ”。

As the signal soldier spoke, the cloudy day had risen over the western horizon. In a short time, the morning glow sprinkled the earth around Linglong City, reflecting the hot magma in the lake.

"Okay, good, the defeat of the Ghost King is decided!" The red light of the cloudy day shone on Xiao Shizhu's cheeks full of excitement and excitement, reflecting his cheeks red. After a while, he said excitedly to Yu Rong: "The whole army will make fire and make food, and when Ying recruits them back, we will take an hour's rest, and we will enter the palace and capture the ghost king alive!"

As soon as his voice fell, there was a noise from the forward position.

"What's going on?" Xiao Shizhu frowned slightly when he heard this, and pulled his legs and walked towards the front line. When he left the gate and stood on the position in front of the camp, a soldier said to him: "The ghost king organized the defenders in the palace and suddenly rushed towards us. ”。 At the same time, he pulled the telescope in his hand open and handed it to Xiao Shizhu.

Xiao Shizhu took the binoculars, raised them and looked to the north, but saw that on the only passage leading to the Ghost King's Palace, the crowded enemy forbidden army was shouting and rushing towards them.

"The ghost king really doesn't have a long memory, he has to use his mantis arm as a car, dying and struggling, Lao Tzu is just as you wish!" Xiao Shizhu showed disdain, snorted lightly, put down the binoculars, and ordered Yu Rong: "The infantry is arrayed, block in front of the bridge, and don't let go of the soldiers who just got off the bridge." The artillerymen loaded the cannons on the chariots with shotguns and bombarded the southern exit of the Oni King's Palace, preventing the enemy from increasing their troops!".

"Remember, don't blow up the bridge to Lao Tzu, otherwise we can only sigh at the treasure of that palace. When Yu Rong was about to leave, Xiao Shizhu told him again.