Xiao Shizhu took the main force of the Xiao family's army, went straight down the Danshui, attacked from the east to the west of the country of Zhentou, and captured two cities in a row in three days, so that all the land in the east of the country of Zhentou fell. And the head army that defended the territory in the east, Xiao Shizhu, who did not surrender, ordered to be beheaded as an example.

On the fifth day, the Xiao family's army marched westward in the morning fog, and when the fog began to fade, it was approaching Danshui City.

More than 30 sea falcons lined up and stopped outside Danshui City, where the red waves beat the sky, blowing the cool breeze on the surface of the Danshui. The flag is in the air, it is very spectacular!

They surrounded the east, west and south sides of Danshui City, but they did not attack for a long time, but whenever any of the leading soldiers dared to fly out of Danshui City, the Xiao family army would shoot them with firearms.

Although the country was equipped with firearms for its sergeants, there were not many of them, and they were not popularized on a large scale, and most of them were old-fashioned firearms, and the flint cannons that could shoot 200 paces were only carried on the head of the city. There is nothing to be done about the Xiao family army, which is close to the opposite bank of Danshui and never approaches the foot of Danshui City. In addition, those arrow tower sentry posts at the head of the city were greeted by the ship's artillery as early as when Xiao Shizhu first arrived here. Therefore, although the Xiao family army did not enter the city at this time, it also made Danshui City fall into the predicament of not being able to get out and not be able to enter.

Xiao Shizhu stood at the bow of the flagship, looking at the two sides of the Danshui River, the hills stretching for hundreds of miles. The top of the mountain is mostly a place with high trees and dense forests, and the mountains and mountains are intertwined along the mountain terraces, and they go from the foot of the mountain to the halfway up the mountainside. The mountain mist is shrouded, poetic and picturesque, like a fairyland.

Among the danmu and nanmu trees on the shore, there are many laurel trees with blue leaves like lotus flowers, and there are green flowers blooming between the leaves, which are very beautiful; if it were not for the imminent war, he really wanted to pick a basket of that kind of blue flowers to bring back to the ghost mother.

Driven by curiosity, Xiao Shizhu asked Lu Wu, who was close behind, "Third child, what kind of tree is that?"

"This is cinnamon. Lu Wu followed his gaze, and after observing the place where his gaze fell for a while, he said: "Big brother, you see that the leaves of this tree are like lotus flowers, and the body of the tree is like a laurel tree, but the most strange thing is that its flowers change color with the four seasons, green flowers in spring, and fall at the end of spring; red flowers in summer, wither at the end of summer; white flowers in autumn, and wilt in autumn; in winter, it is purple flowers, and in case of cold, thank you." Therefore, there are flowers all year round, and it is also called the periwinkle tree. ”。

"Oh. Xiao Shizhu's eyes lit up, and after staring at that kind of tree for a long time, he nodded slightly after a little recollection, and said with his eyebrows fluttering: "It turns out that this is the Changchun wood planted by King Yan Zhao in the legend." ”。

"King Yan Zhao?" Lu Wu frowned slightly after hearing this, and then looked a little puzzled, and asked him, "Big brother, who is that?"

"A prince and king in ancient times, I saw a record about this tree in the ancient book "Shu Wei Ji" in the world, saying that King Yanzhao planted a periwinkle tree, and the record is similar to what you said. It's just that the periwinkle tree in the world, also known as the stinky tree, is different from the underworld. Xiao Shizhu had just finished speaking, and then turned around. Then he met Dongyue, who was anxious, out of the cabin and walked quickly towards him.

"The ghost who can't sit still is coming. Xiao Shizhu smiled at Lu Wu, turned his head to look at Dong Yue, who had just stood in front of him, and said with interest: "Dong Yue, you are here to ask me when I will attack, right?"

Dongyue was slightly stunned, opened her lips with an incredible look, and only after a moment did she ask in a daze, "Do you know again?"

"When you went out with the army this time, you were in charge of the position of quartermaster before the defeat of the Toutou country; when I saw that you were anxious and hasty, I learned that you must have counted the amount of military rations just now, and when I saw that there was not much left, I became worried, and asked me to come to the battle as quickly as possible. Xiao Shizhu smiled indifferently, his eyes looked at Dongyue's round face, soft facial features, small and straight nose, and short and smooth chin, the more he looked at the other party, the more he felt that she was like a porcelain doll, he smiled slightly, and said very confidently: "Dongyue, the more unfavorable it is, the more you must be steady." You can rest assured, the east of Danshui has been occupied and defended by the army sent by the ghost mother, the rivers and sea routes are unblocked, and the supply of military rations and firearms will arrive immediately. ”。 As his words sounded, the incredible color on Dongyue's face became heavier and heavier.

As soon as he finished speaking, before Dongyue could come to his senses, he saw a soldier rushing towards them, and said to him: "Report to the general, the grain and grass collected from the second island of the three stars of Shuoyue, as well as the newly cast firearms of Linglong City on the Black Dragon Island, have been transported to the east of the country of Shentou under the escort of the sailors, and they are coming towards this side by the Danshui, and they can arrive here in the afternoon." ”。

"Good work. Xiao Shizhu waved his hand to the herald, signaling that he could go down, then turned his head to Dongyue and smiled indifferently, and said, "Now you can keep your heart in your stomach, right?"

"Yes, I saw that the military rations were running out, so I came to ask the general to fight quickly. Dongyue listened to him patiently, and also smiled, with a hint of embarrassment in her smile. But then he put away his smile and said urgently: "Even if the military rations come now, we should fight a quick battle; In addition to the southwest of the Tou Country, there is also a Communist Labor Country. Their ships can reach Danshui City in a day and a half along the Danshui tributaries; although they will not help Danshui City to relieve the siege, our country also has enmity with them, and when the time comes, I am afraid that our army will be in a dilemma. ”。

"As early as when I was in Xiaoyu Mountain City, I received a secret report that Gonggongguo and Zhurongguo have been in constant friction recently, and it is unlikely that they will come to the country to join in the fun, otherwise how could I bring more than 20,000 soldiers to kill them?" Xiao Shizhu was excited, walked to Dongyue's side and stood side by side with her, regardless of the difference between men and women, he hugged her shoulders, looked at the direction of Danshui City, and said triumphantly: "There is a military art in the world, which is called one drum, then declines, and three is exhausted." At this time, we have enough food and grass, and when will we wait for work instead of leisure?" At the beginning, he arranged Ah San in Zhu Rongguo, not only to do business, but also to monitor and inquire about all the movements of Zhu Rongguo. And the secret report of friction between Gonggongguo and Zhurongguo was also transmitted by Ah San.

However, Dongyue was stunned by his sudden move of hugging his shoulders, he didn't dare to move for half a minute or dare to gasp, his mind was blank, his ears were buzzing, and he didn't listen to a word of what he said; ”。

"Huh. Xiao Shizhu realized that he was rude, and hurriedly scratched his head and sneered: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm excited to treat you as a man." ”。

"yes, yes. Lu Wu saw that Dongyue's face was gloomy, and he hurriedly relieved him, and said to Dongyue: "My eldest brother is just excited for a while; ”。

Seeing that they were so sure, Dongyue naturally stopped accusing, but slowly put away her gloom and nodded, and said with a red face: "My lord specially explained that I must not interfere arbitrarily in the military; Dongyue went to do what Dongyue should be busy with. After finishing speaking, he hurriedly turned around and walked away quickly.

"Big brother, just get started. After seeing Dongyue leave, Lu Wu frowned at Xiao Shizhu and asked with a smile: "Have you taken a fancy to Dongyue?"

"Nonsense, I was so excited that I forgot that she was a daughter. With her childlike baby face, liking her makes me feel guilty that I am molesting a young child. Xiao Shizhu laughed, finished speaking, put away his smile, turned his head to look in the direction of Danshui City, and said solemnly: "After nightfall, we will start the general attack. ”。 But he involuntarily raised his right hand and carefully looked at the palm that was still on Dongyue's shoulder a few seconds ago......

Danzhu sat in the main hall with a sad face.

Just one day before Yingcheng was besieged, there were farmers in the vicinity of Danshui City who dug out a lot of stone tablets from the ground, which were all engraved with the words "Heavenly Death and Righteous Danzhu". The country is not big, and this news quickly spread among the country. Immediately after Yingcheng was attacked, most of the ignorant people thought that this was God's punishment for Danzhu and it was the will of heaven. As a result, Danzhu, who didn't have much popular support, lost the support of the people even more.

Not long ago, the Toutou country fought a war with the Communist Workers' State, and the domestic army was already in short supply. At this time, Yingcheng was besieged again, and Danzhu sent most of the troops to aid Yingcheng at the first time, but he never thought that Xiao Shizhu would give him a sound to attack the east and west, and the construction started on both sides, but the main force of the Xiao family's army attacked from the east of the country. In just three days, the troops came to the capital city of Danshui. It also made Danzhu lose sight of one or the other, and he was anxious.

In the face of the opponent's strong guns, Danzhu already regretted that he shouldn't have injured King Kong in the first place. What's even more infuriating is that Xiao Shizhu ordered countless white silk threads to be erected on the warships, with the letter: "Others don't ask, only kill Danzhu!", or "Kill people to pay off debts and pay money!". There were also slogans such as "Those who lay down their arms will not be killed!" and "Those who surrender to Kaesong will be rewarded with 1,000 taels of gold!" and so on, which greatly shook the morale of the leading army. As a result, whenever the head army clashed with the Xiao family's army, it seemed to be somewhat cowering and passive in battle, and its combat effectiveness was greatly weakened.

Danzhu hurriedly summoned Tanuki Tianying and other ministers to discuss countermeasures. And the ministers came to the temple, but they did not speak. Now they all know the situation, and the wings and air raids that the head army relied on in the past were just a fart in front of the feather soldiers and advanced firearms of the Xiao family's army. Although the number of the Xiao family's army is not as good as that of the Communist Army, it is well-equipped, brave and good at fighting, and does not lose one.

And the tactical literacy is by no means comparable to that of the Tou Army, the first battle in the morning lasted for several hours, and the dead and wounded were all the Tou Army. However, the Xiao family army did not lose a single soldier, and it was clear who was superior and who was inferior. In addition, Xiao Shizhu obviously came for their king, not for himself, so that some ministers were ready to divide their belongings and surrender to Cheng.

"The army sent to Yingcheng can't withdraw to help for the time being. After looking around at the ministers and generals below for a long time, Danzhu slowly spoke, breaking the silence: "There are currently less than 50,000 soldiers in the national capital, but there are four gates to defend. Earlier, under shelling, several thousand more died. And the sergeants sent by the king to kill out of the city were all shot by the Xiao family army with firearms. Chong can't rush out, and after the first war with the Communist Workers, there is not much grain and grass in the city, so what should be done for now? In his tone, there was a sense of helplessness, and he had lost his former arrogance.

If there is a ghost, there will naturally be a ghost rejoicing, and this happy ghost is Tanuki Tianying. On the surface, he was not shocked, looked at Danzhu and sighed, but said in his heart: "Let me say, Xiao Shizhu is here, and you Danzhu will not have a good life." ”。

"At the beginning, the minister strongly recommended the king not to provoke Xiao Shizhu. Tanuki Tianying stepped forward and sighed at Danzhu: "If the king had not done such an unrighteous thing as wounding the envoy that day, our country would not have the disaster it has today. ”。

"Shut up. Before Dan Zhu could speak, a young man wearing armor, thin lips and light eyebrows stood up, pointed at Tanuki Tianying's nose and scolded: "Don't be ambitious and destroy your own prestige! I saw them in the city just now, and they only have more than 30 sea falcon warships, but more than 10,000 soldiers and horses, what is there to fear?" Speaking with a high spirit, it is quite the style of Danzhu in the past.

"What's there to be afraid of?" Tanuki Tianying sneered and asked in a deep voice: "That Tanuki Tiancai, isn't that General Tanuki also hugging his head and running away under the intensive shelling?" Tanuki snorted angrily, turned his head to look at Danzhu again, and said righteously: "King, at this time, for the sake of national security and the people in the city, you can only open the city and surrender! If you are sincere, he Xiao Shizhu will not be too aggressive." ”。

As soon as these words came out, the hall broke out into an uproar after a brief silence. Almost all the ministers and generals had a tacit understanding and scolded, and the spearhead pointed at Tanuki Ying. Even if they think that surrender is definitely the best way to save their lives, they still have to be sufficient, scold the "rising bird", and show their loyalty.

Danzhu, however, was unusually calm, and none of the soldiers he sent out to the south and west to transfer troops rushed out. There are still some troops in the north who are guarding Yingcheng, but they are held back by a small force of the Xiao family's army, and it is difficult to return to help. And even if he returned to help, in the face of those powerful firearms in Xiao Shizhu's hands, he would only be beaten when he came.

Danzhu, who has always been arrogant and boundless, realized for the first time what a painful lesson his arrogance was. But he didn't want to stop there, so he had to calm down and think about it.

Earlier, he also went to the city wall to supervise the battle, and saw that although the Xiao family army had a Yu militia, they could control the air but there were not many of them, which was nothing more than to prevent his army from fleeing north.

Based on this, he thought about it for a long time, then got up and shouted at the chattering ministers in a firm and unquestionable tone: "Shut up the king, go to your own duties, and attack the Xiao family army in the dark after nightfall." ”。