He Simu patted the battlement and said, "This city wall is really solid."
So many people attacked the city but failed repeatedly, so they could only shout and curse outside the city.
"The city wall of Shuozhou Prefecture is one of the few remaining city walls on the north bank of Guanhe River. When the Huqi people invaded, the previous dynasty relied on the city wall fortifications to block the Huqi people in many ways. After the Huqi people took over the 17 states on the north bank, they resented this incident and ordered the city walls to be demolished in various places. As a result, there were rebellions in many places at the beginning of Danzhi's dynasty. After the city walls were demolished, the rebels attacked the city with great momentum, so Danzhi stopped this order. The city wall of Shuozhou Prefecture was preserved." Duan Xu pulled He Simu back a little from the battlement and explained.
He Simu turned his head and looked at him: "There were many rebellions at the beginning of the Danzhi Dynasty, but it only lasted for about ten years. Now Danzhi seems to be very peaceful."
"When the Han people in Danzhi revolted, Daliang was afraid that Danzhi would be isolated in a corner, so it did not respond. The people on the north bank were naturally disappointed. The Huqi army was indeed powerful, so the rebellion gradually subsided."
After a pause, Duan Xu lowered his eyes, his expression unclear. He smiled and said, "It is the same now. Daliang thinks that it can rest easy as long as the river is clear. It does not think about recovering the north bank, let alone the homeland and people on the north bank. If it were not for the invasion of the Huqi people, it would probably still be indulging in the dream of internal strife."
When he said this, it seemed as if he was really a general who was concerned about his country and his people, and his lifelong wish was to recover the 17 states on the north coast.
If he was Duan Xu, the third son of the Duan family, a third-generation imperial scholar and a relative of the emperor, then this wish would be perfectly normal. But considering the intricate relationship between him and the Dan branch, this wish was not reasonable.
He Simu thought for a moment, then pointed at the enemy camp and said, "I just seemed to see a soldier carrying a letter into the third tent in the south. I can see the words on the envelope, but they are in Huqi language, which I cannot understand."
Duan Xu immediately waved his hand and had someone pass him a pen, ink, paper and inkstone, and asked He Simu to imitate it.
He Simu rolled up her sleeves and quickly wrote a few lines of strange characters on the paper. When she finished writing and handed the paper to Duan Xu, a strange color flashed in Duan Xu's eyes, and then he raised his eyebrows and turned his eyes to her inquiringly.
He Simu studied his expression carefully and then burst out laughing.
"Hahahaha, you really do recognize this sentence."
This sentence is an insult in Huche language, and its Chinese meaning is equivalent to - you turtle bastard.
"You know everything from the Cangyan Sutra to the dirty words of the market. General Duan is really knowledgeable and talented. Nandu doesn't need to teach these things."
So far, his position, identity, and everything he said are questionable.
Duan Xu's eyes flickered, knowing that He Simu was just trying to trick him. He was not angry, but just said: "It's a long story. One day when I was crossing a bridge, an old man deliberately threw his shoes under the bridge and asked me to pick them up and put them on him. This happened three times..."
This is a very familiar story.
He Simu's temples throbbed, and she continued, "You did it every time, and then he said that the boy was teachable, and asked you to find him on the bridge at dawn. But every time he arrived first and scolded you, until one day you went to wait in the middle of the night, and finally arrived before him. Then he took out a copy of Taigong's Art of War and gave it to you?"
"It's the Cangyan Sutra." Duan Xu corrected.
"I didn't know your name was Zhang Liang?"
“Hahahahahahahaha.” Duan Xu laughed while holding onto the city wall. He said with a slightly serious expression, “But I do have a very powerful Huqi master. I am his most proud disciple.”
"Oh, where is he now?"
"He was blinded by a wild goose, so he retired."
"… "
He Simu felt that there was not a single word of truth in this person's mouth. Duan Shunxi, he was really unpredictable.
"What did you see just now? Did you really not see anything?" Duan Xu brought the topic back on track.
"I saw the soldier enter the third battalion on the left, but he didn't hold a letter in his hand, but some small redtail fish."
Duan Xu's eyes suddenly fixed, and he asked, "The third battalion on the left?"
"That's right." He Simu was a little puzzled by his sudden seriousness.
Duan Xu crossed his fingers around his lips. He thought for a moment and then smiled slightly, whispering, "He's there."
After that, he saluted to He Simu and said, "Miss, you have good eyesight. Thank you very much."
He Simu didn't know what help her words had given him. Judging from Duan Xu's performance, it seemed that she had done a great job. He even smiled and wanted to send her back. It seemed that he could not only take a breath these few days, but also had some free time.
But as the saying goes, if you don't look for work, things will find you - mostly bad things. He Simu had just followed Duan Xu down the tower when he saw black smoke rising from the city.
Duan Xu's face suddenly changed. He saw Captain Han running over from the tower with a serious look on his face, reporting: "General! The granary... the granary is burned!"
Duan Xu lifted his clothes and quickly climbed down the stairs. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he took the reins, pushed the stirrup with his left foot, jumped on the horse, and ran away with his clothes flying in the air, heading straight for the granary.
All the soldiers stood there in a daze, watching him go away. Duan Xu's speed was so fast that no one had time to react.
Only at this time could He Simu see a little bit of the truth about Duan Xu.
Whether the grain was burned or not was really irrelevant to He Simu, the man-eating devil. When she went to join in the fun, the fire had been put out and only thick smoke remained. The culprit who set the granary on fire had also been caught. The soldiers formed a circle to prevent people from approaching the granary, but the onlookers were still three layers inside and three layers outside.
He Simu pushed aside the crowd and looked inside, and found that the culprit was actually a delicate woman.
The woman was about 17 or 18 years old, with a pretty face, but her face was covered with bruises, and her hair was shaved halfway, revealing her eye-catching white scalp. Her clothes were made of fine material and had delicate patterns, but they were stained and tattered, and the cotton wool in her jacket flew out of the cracks in her clothes. She looked downright miserable.
He Simu put his hand on his mouth and asked the old man watching the fun, "Who is this person?"
The old man said, "Hey, don't you know? The top lady of Qingyu Garden is He Yan."
An old man at this age who still likes to watch the fun is most likely very keen on gossip, and once he starts talking, he will start talking with great interest.
According to the old man, He Yan was originally the daughter of a wealthy family, but her family fell into poverty and became a prostitute in a brothel. She was beautiful, literate, proficient in singing and dancing, and scheming, and soon she hooked up with Hu Qi's noble master. The noble master kept her in the capital of Shuozhou, providing her with food, clothing, servants, and a house. Her sponsor was also very close to the Danzhi royal court. With this series of relationships, even the prefect did not dare to offend He Yan.
Once He Yan gained power, he became domineering and took advantage of his position to bully others. He acted tyrannically and abused his power in the capital of Shuozhou. The people could only swallow their anger because of the power of the powerful.
As a result, when the Daliang army arrived, they not only drove away the Danzhi army, but also killed He Yan's financial sponsor who was in the city at that time. He Yan suddenly lost his backer, and everyone came to avenge new and old grudges and stepped on him one by one.
"She was driven out to the street. The women in Qingyue Garden looked down on her and spit on her. They even grabbed her and shaved half of her head. She had no choice but to pick up her old livelihood. But in her current state, how many patrons would be willing to look for her? It's really karma, retribution in this life."
He Simu thought of the huge army outside the city, and wondered if the people in the city would still be as tough as they are now if they saw the Huqi people trying to make a comeback.
"In the past, in Shuozhou City, was she the only one who took advantage of the power of the Huqi people to bully others? Did you single her out as a target because she is a woman of low status who is the easiest to bully?"
As soon as He Simu finished speaking, he heard He Yan lying on the ground laughing softly. She supported her body with her slender arms, raised her chin, her hair was messy, the corners of her eyes were bruised, and she looked crazy.
"Why do you all come to abuse me? Why! Am I wrong? I just want to live a good life, not so hard. If I don't rely on the Huqi people, who can I rely on? Being a Han Chinese is lowly, it means not having enough food to eat and being bullied, and a few sheep can exchange for a person's life. If you have the opportunity to get close to Master Huqi, won't you do it? His Lin family can do business in the capital, so why don't they curry favor with the Huqi people? I am right!"
In Danzhi, the people are divided into four classes, and the Han people who had resisted Danzhi most fiercely were the lowest class of people, bearing the heaviest taxes, strict restrictions on knives, and human life was as cheap as cattle and sheep. As a "fourth class of people", He Yan was naturally very unwilling.
He Yan glared at the crowd around her and said viciously, "You are all waiting to see me make a fool of myself. You all want me to die. Don't even think about it! If we want to die, we will die together!"
He Simu was silent for a moment, and then added to the old man: "However, based on this mouth, she really deserves it."
Just as He Yan was cursing hysterically, Lin Jun, who was originally standing in front of the granary, walked over and slapped her in the face with his hand.
The granary that was burned was precisely the charity granary built by Boss Lin's family. The Lin family was a rice merchant, and most of the grain that the Tabai Army brought into the city came from the Lin family's charity granary. Later, the grain and fodder that the Tabai Army brought when they joined the city were also placed in the Lin family's charity granary.
I don’t know how much was burned today because of He Yan’s fire.
When she saw Lin Jun rushing over just now, her face was pale and her breath was disordered. Now she was so angry that her whole body was shaking. After he beat He Yan, he pointed his finger at her and said sternly: "Yes, that's right. My Lin family is groveling and flattering, just to make a few dirty money under the noses of the Huqi people. I feel disgusted. You and I are like this, don't you want to hold your head up and be a human being? Are the Huqi people born noble?"
He Yan's lips were bleeding from the beating. She looked up at Lin Jun with hatred and said, "Hold your head up and be a human being? Who am I, and who are you? Once I become a prostitute, how can I hold my head up in my life? Anyway, both the Han and the Huqi people look down on me. People go to higher places, and water flows to lower places. Naturally, I will go to where there is prosperity!"
"You!" Lin Jun pointed at her, his originally pale face turned red with anger, and he couldn't utter a word.
Duan Xu patted Lin Jun on the shoulder to calm him down. He bent down and looked into He Yan's eyes, and said calmly, "How did you trick the guards and get into the granary?"
He Yan lowered her head and smiled sinisterly: "So what if he's a guard? A guard is also a man."
The old man who was watching the scene saw that he had touched upon a secret that he knew well, so he whispered to He Simu, "Xiao Xie, the foreman on duty at the granary today, had been in a relationship with He Yan for a while. I'm afraid he was moved by sympathy, but who knew that this woman would be so crazy."
Duan Xu's eyes gradually darkened, and he looked at He Yan without saying anything. He Yan shrank under Duan Xu's gaze, and suddenly became even crazier. She laughed and cried at the same time, and tears flowed from the corners of her swollen eyes, which was funny and pitiful.
"You arrogant guys... Even if I die, I will never let you go! I will turn into a fierce ghost and tangle with you!"
She suddenly rushed towards the wall of the granary, pretending to bang her head against it and die.
Duan Xu did not try to stop them, but in an instant he saw a figure running out from the crowd, passing by him and pulling out the sword from his waist, and with a flash of cold light, he grabbed He Yan who was about to hit the wall.
Then the man changed the direction of the sword in his hand and accurately and without hesitation wiped He Yan's neck, blood splattering everywhere.
In the silence of the crowd, He Simu held the sword of Polusion, He Yan fell to the ground, and blood dripped down the sword into the pool of blood flowing from her body.
Want to turn into a ghost? Forget it.
To be honest, she had no objection to He Yan's request for death, but she had a lot of opinions about her last words that she wanted to become a ghost.
This crazy girl has a lot of resentment and is deeply repressed. If she commits suicide, she will become a wandering soul. After a hundred years or so, she will most likely turn into an evil ghost.
But no matter what, if He Yan wants to be an evil ghost, it depends on whether He Simu is willing to accept her, right? The fewer such troublesome subjects, the better.
The master of the Sword of Breaking Delusion is merciful. It is a sword that kills people and also a sword that saves people. The people killed by it will have their resentment dissipated and will be reborn immediately, instead of becoming wandering souls.