Since the founding of the Sui Dynasty, the Luoshui area has never experienced such a tragic war. When the emperor marched in person, there were sailors opening the way and Li Yuanshan deliberately led the army westward, so there was almost no resistance when crossing the river. The last blood-stained war in Luoshui dates back to more than a hundred years ago when the founding emperor of the Sui Dynasty, Taizu Yang Jian, led his army to pacify the northwest. In that battle, the Yang family general wiped out the 160,000 Northwest Army of the Zheng State on the banks of the Luoshui River. According to records, the corpses of the defeated Zheng army were scattered for dozens of miles, and the Yang family army rushed to Jinyang City in one go.
This time, the soldiers who followed the Yang family did not have the same morale as they did more than a hundred years ago.
Wang Yiqu was the great general of the Sui Navy. This man has led the army for more than 20 years, and no one knows how to lead the navy to fight better than him. More than 20 years ago, he led the navy into the Shang Kingdom and became famous in the first battle, which also established his position as the number one in the Sui navy. Because of this, breaking through the Luoshui River, which he led his troops to fortify, was as difficult as climbing the sky.
It's not that the emperor didn't think about dividing his troops to cross the river and spread the battle line to disperse the troops of Wang Yiqu's water army. But the army around the emperor was not as strong as Wang Yiqu and Gao Kaitai's. The stronger side defended, while the weaker side attacked, and every battle was doomed to be extraordinarily tragic.
The brilliance of the setting sun turned red and was no longer dazzling.
The river broke down on the big boat in the middle of the river. The soldiers of the former Sui Navy watched the soldiers on the west bank come to carry the corpses, and everyone's expression was not very good. To be honest, they don't want to kill each other like this. But the banner of rebellion has already been raised, and there is no turning back.
The soldiers of the Sui Army were carrying the corpse of their comrades expressionlessly, while another group of people were digging a hole in the distance. For the past two months, this has happened almost every day. So the soldiers have become numb, and they don't even have any fear of the corpses all over the ground.
The soldiers bandaged Ma Lilian's wound and went to fetch water. Ma Lilian looked at the soldiers mechanically walking over with a dazed look, carried the body back and threw it into the big pit. There are tens of thousands of corpses buried in dozens of huge graves not far away. Since it was blocked on the river bank, many people died every day.
Ma Lilian knew that the main theme of war was never life but death, but she still felt a little confused.
Just two years ago, when the emperor's personal conquest team crossed the Luoshui River to the west, she saw warm smiles on the faces of the navy soldiers, and even gave the infantry and navy soldiers back the smiles when they parted. A firm hug. They exchanged blessings and waved goodbye.
Two years later, we meet again.
It's already facing each other with swords and guns, and they will never die.
It all came so suddenly, so suddenly that she couldn't adapt.
The wound hurt, but Ma Lilian didn't care at all. The light of the setting sun sprinkled on her face, and then gradually receded. She just sat there blankly, watching a big pit gradually filled up by corpses and then covered with soil to become a grave bag. When it got dark, the soldiers brought over a bowl of porridge. After looking at it, Ma Lilian shook her head slowly: "I'm not hungry, you should drink."
The soldier opened his mouth, but in the end he just put the bowl of porridge beside her helplessly and turned away.
As night fell, the smell of blood in the wind was still so strong.
Ma Lilian turned her eyes to the huge imperial chariot in the distance, and she could vaguely see those Jinyi schools still standing there upright. The lights on the imperial chariot were very bright, but the people inside could not be seen. From time to time, people came in and out, and they seemed to be in a hurry. It was only then that Ma Lilian remembered that she hadn't seen the emperor for nearly a month. The last time I saw the emperor was the day when the thousand warriors bloodied the east bank.
Is the emperor's illness getting worse
Ma Lilian frowned slightly, but couldn't find the answer.
It should be like this... If it weren't for the serious illness, the emperor shouldn't even leave the imperial chariot for nearly a month. I saw the imperial doctor go in and out several times a day, perhaps because the rebels' blockade was too tight, the emperor's mood became worse and worse, so his health became worse and worse.
She looked at the bowl of porridge, and although her stomach ached from hunger, she had no appetite.
It has been more than a month, and each person only has two bowls of rice porridge every day. She is now a fifth-rank general and can drink three bowls a day.
If it goes on like this, I am afraid that it will be completely out of food in less than half a month. At that time, the rebels who blocked the river didn't need to come and kill them at all, they just had to walk over and watch them starve to death. There is only a river across the river, and the smoke from the cooking of the rebels on the east bank of the river can float over every day, making people fantasize about a whole bowl of white rice and pork stewed until it falls apart when touched.
"Do not waste."
I don't know when someone sat down across from her. Ma Lilian looked up and got up quickly to salute. The person opposite waved her hand and said softly, "Sit down and drink the porridge."
He sniffled and said with a smile: "On the other side, tonight we ate stewed pork and cabbage. It's really fragrant, and it smells good for dinner."
Ma Lilian gave a wry smile, picked up the porridge bowl and took a sip.
"Lord Hou, is Your Majesty..."
She hesitated for a while and finally asked, "Are you feeling unwell?"
Sitting opposite her was a middle-aged man in brocade clothes. Even in such a difficult environment, he still kept his clothes neat and clean, and his boots were not stained with mud. His hair was combed straight and tied back. The beard is clean and meticulous.
His name is Hou Wenji.
Originally, the emperor left him to assist Jin Shixiong in suppressing the rebellion, but at this point, Jin Shixiong's affairs are no longer important. The emperor changed his mind and planned to take him back to Chang'an City. Because Hou Wenji's experience is unmatched by anyone. If there are rebels in Chang'an City, he can find them all one by one. The emperor often changed his mind. For example, he really wanted to let Fang Jie be the prince's junior teacher and enter the East Palace to assist the government. But later, without hesitation, he asked Fang Jie to guard the Langrushan Canyon. For example, he wanted to die in the Northwest just like that and stop worrying about government affairs, but he changed his mind in the end.
"Uncomfortable?"
Hou Wenji's smile was a bit bitter, he shook his head and said, "Maybe..."
"Even you don't know."
Ma Lilian sighed, staring at the gruel in the bowl in a daze.
"Drink the porridge first, or you may lose the desire to drink it later."
Ma Lilian gave Hou Wenji a surprised look, then raised her neck and poured the porridge into her stomach. Because she was too hungry, the porridge rushed into her stomach and broke away the stomach wall that had been stuck together. She immediately frowned in pain. It took a while to recover, and then she smiled apologetically at Hou Wenji.
"What do you want to tell me, my lord?"
Marilyn asked.
"Choose a few of your cronies to protect you and leave tonight. I will order someone to let you go. You are the only woman in this camp. War...women should never be involved, and women have never belonged to the battlefield After going out, go straight south, take off the battle robes on your body, and change into civilian clothes. If you are lucky enough to escape the rebels, go back to Chang'an, and don't think about going to the battlefield again in the future."
Ma Lilian was stunned: "Why...why?"
Hou Wenji looked at the empty bowl beside her, and said after a moment of silence: "How long has it been since you saw the emperor?"
"It's been a month."
"How long has it been since you saw Bingbi Eunuch Su Buwei?"
"It's been a month too."
Hou Wenji got up, looked at Ma Lilian with some pity and said, "Let's go, that's why I told you to finish the bowl of porridge before I tell you, if you know, you will feel sick, and you will have no strength if you can't eat. Run away, you shouldn't have come here. The emperor has been away for a long time, and the army can't cross the river, but it is not difficult for the great practitioners to take the emperor across the river. The people here are just left by the emperor to die, and they go every day To die, in order to let the rebels on the opposite side think that the emperor is still here... "
Ma Lilian's heart almost stopped beating, she opened her eyes wide and looked at Hou Wenji, wishing to see the flaws in his face, to see that he was lying.
However, she knew she couldn't find a flaw.
"Why... why is this?"
she murmured.
"Where are there so many why?"
Hou Wenji glanced at her, and after being silent for a while, he took out a bank note from his cuff and handed it to her: "Go back, your mother is still at home, your father has died in battle, think about your mother. The emperor is no longer The emperor who is worth your life, the court is no longer the court that you are worth dying for. I will leave too, but it is not yet time."
After saying this, he put the silver bill on Marilyn's lap and turned to leave.
Ma Lilian looked at his back, and then at the huge imperial chariot.
"I fuck your ancestors!"
She cried with her head in her arms, but she didn't know who or what she was crying for.
…
…
Huangyang Road, Suzaku Mountain.
This is a mountain range that stretches for hundreds of miles, and it is the most famous scenic spot in Huangyang Road. In the peaceful years, every year, I don’t know how many literati and inkmen climbed the mountain for fun, leaving many witty words. The most famous allusion is the story that Zhu Xiaochen, a talented scholar of the Sui Dynasty, met Princess Anyang of the Sui Dynasty and fell in love decades ago. A love poem is privately determined for life. Although the pair of gifted scholars and beautiful ladies did not get together because of the great disparity in family status, many young men and women came here later to see the moon-watching pavilion where a poem promises love.
However, since the war, all the wealthy and noble families have avoided disasters, and ordinary people have no desire to play. And in the past year, there has been a group of bandits on Suzaku Mountain who have occupied the mountain as their king. It is said that they are extremely vicious, and they robbed the merchants and wealthy households in the past, so no one dared to approach them anymore.
Wangyue Pavilion is built on a protruding boulder on the halfway up Suzaku Mountain. Sitting here, you can have a panoramic view of the mountain scenery.
A young woman in a goose-yellow dress sat on a stone bench, her head hanging down in a daze. The mountain wind blew her long skirt, making her a little more agile. It looked like she was seventeen or eighteen years old, with a round and cute oval face, and her two curved eyebrows were slightly frowned, and she didn't know what was on her mind.
She had a short gun in her hand, which was very bright and clean.
"Miss."
On the stone steps, a little girl in a lavender dress floated over as if stepping on the wind, holding a letter in her hand with joy on her face.
"Master has a letter."
She ran over with beads of sweat all over her forehead.
The one in the goose yellow dress was Wu Yinyu, San Jinhou's favorite jewel. She sat up straight and took the letter and opened it for a look, and then her face showed joy: "Daddy is coming soon, and it will be within a month at the latest." thing."
"very nice!"
The little maid Long'er smiled and said, "Miss has been worried every day since the master left, but now I can finally rest assured. Miss, what else did the master say in the letter?"
"It's nothing."
Wu Yinyu lowered her head to hide the blush on her face, deliberately suppressed the excitement in her heart and said: "You also said that guy is coming, how disgusting."
"Hate?"
Long'er giggled and said, "Why do I feel that Miss likes that man very much?"
"Bah bah bah."
Wu Yinyu rolled her eyes at Long'er and said: "Who likes that rascal, just looking at that broken workshop for him every day, it's annoying to death, if he comes, just look at it by yourself, who wants to care!"
Just as he was talking, he suddenly saw a puff of green smoke rising from behind the mountain.
"This Andrew!"
Wu Yinyu stomped her feet: "What happened again? Last time I burned a row of houses, and I injured my arm last time. I don't know what happened this time. Those blue eyes and big noses Foreigners know how to mess around."
She stood up and straightened her dress: "Let's go, go down and have a look."
At the same time, there are several newly built wooden houses on a flat land behind the mountain, which have collapsed, and many people are carrying water to put out the fire. A tall foreigner with a blackened face laughed loudly. He didn't care about his tattered clothes at all. While laughing maniacally, he shouted in broken Chinese: "I succeeded! I finally succeeded in finding the ratio! Genius!" …Your General Fang is such a genius! Without his letter, I couldn’t find the perfect proportion!”