The commander of the Meng State was furious when he learned that the transport ship had been attacked, and sent people to search for the Shaodian people overnight, and on the second day, he tied up hundreds of old and young women and children arrested in the surrounding villages and towns, and forced them to loudly persuade the defenders of Juyang City to surrender.

Most of the villagers living in the countryside had fled their homes by the time the fires lit up in the city, and those who remained at home were those who could not afford the long journey.

The family members of the defenders of Juyang City have left with the team escorted by Qi Nan, and now this man of less than 5,000 people can be said to be careless, and the plan of the commander of Meng's Third Army has not worked. Annoyed and angry, he asked the troops to escort the people of Shaodian to attack the city and let them walk in the forefront.

Zhang Xun's eyes burst into anger and he leaned on the wall and shouted: "Folks, if you can't go back today, you will all die for the Shaodian Kingdom! For every one of you who dies, I will kill ten Meng soldiers and beasts to commemorate you!" After speaking, he bit his middle finger and smeared blood on his forehead.

The main general made a blood oath, and the defenders silently cut their palms with weapons, smeared blood on their faces, and met the enemy with blood.

The offensive and defensive battles on this day were very tragic, and in order to save a few captured civilians under the city, the Meng army was deliberately put on the head of the city, and later in order to avoid the long-range attack of the Meng army's magicians, they simply started hand-to-hand combat at the head of the city.

The casualties on both sides increased greatly compared with the previous day, with more than 3,000 casualties in the Meng army and more than 1,000 casualties in Juyang City.

The fact that the Mon army drove the people to attack the city made the people in the city known, and more and more people strongly demanded to join the defenders, just to be able to kill one or two Mon troops.

The craftsmen in the city worked tirelessly for days to make the work, and finally built 50 catapults, which were enriched into the city defense at a critical moment.

Zhang Xun ordered the demolition of the city lord's mansion, claiming that all the bricks and tiles must be smashed on the head of Meng Jun; his family all climbed the city tower, ate and lived on the city wall, the city was at home, and the city was ruined.

A faint move by the commander of the Meng army aroused the indignation of the soldiers and civilians of Juyang City, making the besieged city even more difficult to breach.

The main army of the Meng State that landed at the water village of Chunlu Bay made good progress, and in more than a day, it successively occupied five Shaodian cities near the Tongyuan River, which of course had something to do with Di Tanglong's retreat order.

If it weren't for Di Tanglong's order to retreat into the county town by all the armed forces of the cities east of the county, no city lord would be willing to retreat without a fight, and it would be no problem to lead the army and civilians to resist for a day or two.

The remnants of the 120th Division and the city defense armies of the seven cities to the east were gathered, and the defenders in the city reached more than 30,000 people.

The county guard Xu Dong and his guards constantly patrolled the city, and he issued a military order to Nannuma Prefecture to hold on until reinforcements arrived.

Di Tanglong led the 111th and 112th Divisions on the road to join the 118th Division, which was the first to come to reinforcements, and the three divisions were about 500 kilometers away from Nanqiu County and were approaching at full speed.

On the Tongyuan River, Hua Song's fleet fought with Cao's naval army for two days and one night, fighting evenly with fewer troops and opponents, and finally killed the main force of the Meng's naval army from the downstream.

The naval armies of Meng and Cao joined forces and pursued Huasong's fleet fiercely, so that the main force of the naval army of Nannuma Prefecture could not retreat to Shuizhai and fled all the way upstream.

Not long after Hua Song's defeat and retreat, news came that Cao's army had landed in Jinping County.

Di Tanglong was in a dilemma, he wanted to concentrate all the forces of the 12th Army Corps to Nanqiu County, then Jinping County might be lost, and if he divided his troops to defend Jinping County, then Nanqiu County might not be protected.

Just as he hesitated, the 196th and 197th Divisions of the Twentieth Army joined him, and Di Tanglong immediately ordered the 114th and 115th Divisions to retreat to the Jinping County Defense Area, and he himself rushed to Nanqiu County with five divisions.

When the war entered the fourth day, the Shaodian Kingdom ushered in another day of defeat due to lack of preparation.

The five divisions led by Di Tanglong were blocked by the Seventh Army of the Meng State at the Shovel Slope, and the forbidden magician of the Meng army suddenly appeared on the battlefield and successfully released the forbidden spell of "Burning the City".

The commander of the 12th Army, Di Tanglong, was defeated and retreated to Yanling County with more than 10,000 defeated troops.

Two legions of Cao had successfully landed in Jinping County, and the army had already surrounded the three cities near the river bank, and it was only a matter of time or two before they were captured.

With the besieged military camp on the outskirts of Nanqiu County out of sight, Xu Dong found the banners of three legions appearing outside the city, and the seventh, thirteenth, and ninth legions of the Meng State participated in the siege.

The only news that can encourage Shaodian is that the Hump Mountain Pass is still holding on, and there is still a beacon fire flying in the sky above Juyang City, and the city that everyone thought has long been lost is still holding on.

The local corps formed in Zhongwangzhou has not yet been assembled, the fleet of the Eighth Army is still in Hexi Prefecture, the vanguard of the Lindi First Army Corps and the Lindi Second Army Corps has reached Zhennan City, and the advance of the Haitian First Army Corps is said to have almost arrived in Zhennan City.

Four corps of the Meng State and two corps of the Cao State had already landed in the territory of Nannuma Prefecture, while the defenders of the Shaodian State had only two and a half legions, because half of the twentieth legions could not leave their own defense area.

After the defeat of Di Tanglong, there were not even two and a half legions, and if it weren't for the local city defense armies, half of Nanmarsh Prefecture would have fallen.

The Hump Mountain Pass and the Giant Sheep City held back an entire army of Meng's army, and more than 10,000 people were killed in the battles of the past few days. The Commander's Office issued a commendation order, and Yan Xun and Zhang Xun reported the national commendation and won the title of "heroic model".

The king sent envoys carrying the "Medal of Valor", which was intended to be awarded to Yan Xun and Zhang Xun.

The defeat of Di Tanglong and Hua Song was personally reprimanded by Shao Dianzhang, mainly criticizing them for their misjudgment of the situation, and the commander's office expressed understanding of the defeat due to insufficient troops.

The news of the outbreak of the great war between the kingdom and Meng and Cao had spread to Zhongwangzhou, and the local lords began to collect war taxes openly, and Pingzhong County, because it was far away from Nannuma Prefecture, did not ask for troops to form a local army, but was asked to levy people to assist the army in transporting supplies.

On this day, the old money received a special guest in the old house of the Ding family.

"My daughter worshipped Master Rong Ci as her teacher and is studying magic?" Ruan Jizu couldn't believe his ears, "Then where is she now?"

"Where Miss Ruan and the young master are now, I really don't know. Miss Ruan's senior brother has not returned from the Ding family for a long time, and only he knows Miss Ruan's whereabouts; The old man was very helpless, and he also wanted to know where Ding Kui had gone.

General Shi did not rush back to the Ding family's old mansion with the old man, but was sent to the vicinity of Zhenjing to find Ding Kui, who was missing in the capital, and the scope of the search for him was locked in Zhenwangzhou.

"That means I can't find them now. Ruan Jizu looked worried.

"What are you looking for the young master?"

"Well, this matter is a bit troublesome, and it's best to have the little marquis come forward. Our village is deep in the mountains, but it happens to belong to the territory of Wangshan City, and the lord of the city, Tian Dan, requires us to give 500 people to be people's husbands, and also asks us to pay back the taxes for the past 50 years.

Our Ruanjia Village is a small mountain village, where can we meet the requirements of the Tian City Lord. We have always been in a state of seclusion, and we have no contact with the outside world, so we cannot be regarded as Earl Tian's subjects.

However, Count Tian did not listen to our explanation at all, and threatened us to send troops to attack Ruanjia Village if we did not agree to the request. This time, I hope that Hou Ye or Xiao Hou Ye will come forward to intercede for Ruanjia Village, and I can reduce Wangshan City's requirements. Ruan Jizu explained the intention.

The old man couldn't help frowning when he heard this, "It's really unfortunate, the Hou Ye and the young master are not here, and the housekeeper Ding Kun also went out to do things for the Hou Ye." I can write a letter to Tian Dan for you, but I'm afraid it won't work. ”

"Then it's a trouble for the money housekeeper, and I thank you in advance if it's useless. "Ruan Jizu, this is a dead horse, a live horse doctor.

At this time, a round-faced girl ran in and said, "Oh, Sister Xingzhu is in trouble at home." I remember that Count Tian seems to be a relative of Sister Li Fei, or I will go find Sister Li Fei and see if I can help. ”

Ruan Jizu was overjoyed when he heard this, and hurriedly saluted the girl, "Thank you Miss Ding, and I hope Miss Ding will help." ”

"Uh, my surname is Ding, my name is Lu Ying. Lu Ying saw that Ruan Jizu recognized the wrong person, and hurriedly explained.

"She's the daughter of Baron Ruchi, not my young lady. The old man couldn't help but smile and relieved Lu Ying, "Miss Lu, then please go to Miss Li to talk about this matter." ”

Lu Ying patted his little chest proudly and said, "Okay, this matter is on me, tomorrow I will go to the county town to find Sister Li Fei." ”

Although Ruan Jizu couldn't understand why Lu Ying could come and go at will in Ding's house, the enthusiastic help gave him a glimmer of hope, and thanked Lu Ying again and again.

Lu Ying would run every once in a while to see if there was any news of Ding Kui, and by the way, he avoided training and played in Ding's mansion, this time he happened to hear the conversation between Lao Qiantou and Ruan Jizu outside the door, and took the initiative to help Sister Xingzhu's family.

Ruan Xingzhu's mother and second uncle also came to Xiaxi Town, but they were strictly ordered by Ruan Jizu to stay in the inn and not to go to the Ding family's old house.

"Hey, it's troublesome this time, Xingzhu, Ding Kui and Ding Qi are not there, and the three of them don't know where to go. The only good news is that Xingzhu has become a magician, and her teacher is one of the most famous people in the country. Ruan Jizu said.

"Really? That's great, let's tell Tian Dan that our Xingzhu's teacher has a lot of background, and let's see if he dares to make trouble in Ruanjia Village. Ruan Xingzhu's mother was overjoyed.

"Don't be too happy, when we talk about Xingzhu at this time, Tian Dan may not believe it, and he has a relative who is a disciple of Gonglianggu, so it's hard to say if he can scare him. "Ruan Jizu is not so optimistic.

(A lot of ink has been spent in the last few chapters in Juyang City, in order to commemorate the Tang Dynasty minister Zhang Xun, who defended Suiyang, and the story in the text is different, which cannot be replicated.) Just to express my personal respect, please count it free in parentheses. ）