Ji Jiu's judgment was not wrong. The Xiongnu army was eager for success at the beginning, so in the first month, there were big and small battles every two days. Ji Jiu was happy to see this situation, if he didn't know that it was impossible, he wished that these enemy troops would foolishly hit the city wall with their heads broken and bloody. His soldiers, in recent years, have practiced eight thousand longbowmen alone. Although it is impossible to penetrate Yang with a hundred steps, in the battle of defending the city, it is the battlefield where the longbowmen play their best. Not to mention the pikemen, with specially-made elongated gun handles, to deal with the siege enemy with one against ten.
So once the Xiongnu stopped, Ji Jiu would let people harass and harass them, hoping to attract them to fight.
After all, it seemed that he was passively defending the city in this battle, but in fact he was the one he wanted to fight the most.
But as the battle lengthened, the Huns also keenly sensed the trap. It is not cost-effective to fight recklessly, besides, the commander in chief of the city does not intend to fight recklessly with them, but only wants to consume them. Once aware of this, the Xiongnu army retreated to fifty miles, built camps and camps, and then planned a battle.
Ji Jiu watched them retreat and listened to the reports from the spies, only frowned, but said nothing.
The army horses were resting, and Ji Jiu had nothing to do for the time being. He wandered around every day, going to the stables for a while, and the forage field for a while. What's more, he actually got into the haystack and slept all day.
The generals searched everywhere, but they couldn't find him. Only Shen Jue sniffed the smell, found the forage field all the way, and picked out the big general who had slept soundly from the tall haystacks.
Shen Jue knew that he was very tired, he looked fine, it just looked like that, the bruise in front of him could not deceive anyone. So he held the sword, sat on another stack of hay, and guarded him.
When Ji Jiu woke up, she knew Shen Jue was by her side. Without opening his eyes, he picked up the surrounding grass and covered himself with the right to be a quilt, and then remained motionless. He seemed to be in a daze, but because his eyes were closed, Shen Jue didn't know what he was thinking.
After a long time, I heard Ji Jiu ask: "What is Shen Hai's origin?"
Shen Jue didn't expect him to ask Shen Hai, he hesitated, not knowing what to say or not to say. Ji Jiu didn't even move his eyelids, and directly threw out an answer that he guessed, "The descendants of the Shen family?"
Shen Jue felt cold sweat break out on his forehead. After wiping his forehead, Shen Jue said, "Yes."
Ji Jiu said, "Let's listen."
Shen Jue said it.
Shen Hai's great-grandmother was originally the maid who served Shen Qingxuan. Since the news about Shen Qingxuan and Yi Mo got out, the other two maids were unwilling to stay and serve them. Originally, there were only three girls left in Shen Qingxuan's courtyard to take care of their food and daily life, but now that they left, there was only one little girl left, who was only thirteen years old at that time. The girl's name was Qingping, and Shen Qingxuan said that if she was afraid, she could leave and go to the cashier to get ten taels of silver and go home. Qingping didn't want to leave, so he stayed. Serving Shen Qingxuan and the young Shen Jue loyally.
Later Shen Qingxuan disappeared and Shen Jue was taken away by Yi Mo, the girl just guarded the empty yard by herself, cleaning and tidying up as usual every day. Shen Jue's uncle, Shen Zhen came home, saw that she was loyal and kind, and not bad looking, he didn't care about her age, so he took her into the house. Qingping became a concubine and gave birth to two children, both boys.
Later, when the Shen family was in trouble, Yi Mo rescued them, and the Shen family changed their surname to Shen.
This Shen Hai is Qingping's great-grandson. Because Qingping served Shen Qingxuan since she was a child, she knows many things about it. Although the Shen family is gone, she often treats these things as stories and tells them to her children and grandchildren, and when the children and grandchildren marry their wives, she tells them to their children and grandchildren. It wasn't until she died of old age at the age of seventy-three that she stopped talking about the two people she once served, one man and the other a demon, both men, but so nice.
Shen Hai knew since he was a child that his surname should be Shen, and that his ancestors were also well-known, so he vowed to clear up the Shen family's grievances and bring glory to the family. Only then did he use all kinds of means and became the emperor's confidant counselor.
Ji Jiu remained silent, and asked for a long time: "Does the emperor know?"
Shen Jue said, "I know."
"Stay away from Shen Hai in the future." Ji Jiu said.
"why?"
Only then did Ji Jiu open his eyes, and sat up with a weed. While tidying himself up, he said: "This person is too thoughtful. The emperor uses him, but he will not trust him, let alone fulfill him. So in this life , He has no chance of redressing the Shen family's grievances. If you have the heart, remind him to let his descendants also become officials. Perhaps the emperor will allow his descendants to fulfill his wish that cannot be fulfilled in this life."
Shen Jue didn't answer.
Seeing this, Ji Jiu laughed: "What do you want to say? Why don't you ask me to help? To be honest, I can't help him. If the emperor doesn't know his details, I can still help him. The emperor already knows He approached him to clean up his innocence, so I can't help you."
Saying that, Ji Jiu stood up, fastened his cloak, and headed towards the barracks. There are still some things that Ji Jiu didn't say, and don't plan to say.
You must know that the reason why the Shen family would be executed all over the family is nothing more than the sacrifice of the princes in the palace fighting for the throne. And the current Holy One was also born in the battle for imperial power.
This is the emperor's heart disease. The emperor will not reveal the crux of his heart just for the sake of Shen Hai, and show it to the world again.
Therefore, Shen Hai's goal is difficult to achieve. But as long as he perseveres, perhaps, the next emperor can rehabilitate the Shen family.
You must know that there is only one prince, the crown prince.
Maybe the emperor will tell Shen Jue about these things in the future, but at that time, it must be the time when the emperor is tempted and willing to trust him. Now, not yet.
Ji Jiu no longer worries about Shen Jue, what does Shen Jue's love affair with the emperor have to do with him? Since both sides are consensual, what happens in the future is left to fate.
Winter has not yet passed, and the attacking and defending armies are facing each other under the city and above the city.
Under the city, there were soldiers shouting for battle, cheering with horns, yelling curses, cursing the guards and soldiers for shrinking their heads, they would only hide in the city and dare not come out to fight.
Some soldiers in the city responded, accompanied by beating drums to cheer them up, and yelled at them to fight back, scolding them for breaking their promises, saying that they would enter the city during the New Year, and they still shrank outside the city and dare not come in.
A battle of words is also a war, and the generals on both sides know that the soldiers need encouragement, so the war of words should not be underestimated. Xu knew that this was a fierce battle, and the commanders on both sides were very calm.
That's it, it's New Year's Eve.
So the scolders in the city came up with new words, saying whether they are thirsty, hungry or not, and whether they want to eat our Han Chinese dumplings. The skin of the egg is golden, and the stuffing of pork and green onions is delicious. There is also old wine, it is so delicious, all you see when you close your eyes are pretty girls.
As soon as the words were finished, all the officers and soldiers guarding the city burst out laughing, some of them were lively, and immediately raised their voices and sang dirty songs. The song is full of brothers, sisters, pretty sisters, soft girls.
The new year has not yet passed, and they are jubilant first. At first, there was only one person who scolded Zhan, yelling at each other up and down, but later one person couldn't suppress it, and everyone on the tower was scolding. The Huns couldn't hold back their temper, rushed up to a dozen, and helped to scold, but because they couldn't understand Chinese, they couldn't understand the scolding.
Hearing the excitement of their scolding, Ji Jiu went up to the tower to watch the "battle", but because he had been in the Huns for two years and could understand some Hun language, Ji Jiu took his own iron bow when the other party cursed and said the words of the ancestors. It is made of dark black black iron and weighs thirty catties. Ji Jiu drew the bow, stringed the arrow, squinted his eyes, and the flying arrow pierced the air like a meteor, piercing the noisy throat of the man like a whistling.
The guards next to the city were stunned for a moment, and then cheered loudly. The cheers were chaotic at first, but gradually became uniform, shouting repeatedly: Mighty!
Thousands of soldiers shouted together, and at that moment, the earth shook and the mountains shook!
Dozens of scolding soldiers from the Xiongnu army hurried away with their comrades' corpses.
The Huns still did not attack the city again.
On the night of the New Year's Eve, Ji Jiu brought over a dozen carts of wine and divided them equally between the tens of thousands of soldiers. One drink for each person was just right, and there would be no more.
The sergeants in the battalion lined up and drank their own cup of hot wine one by one, and Ji Jiu sent the wine to the city again, still one cup per person. From the beginning to the end, there is only one sentence: the battle is over, let the emperor enjoy the wine, and everyone can drink enough. But tonight, I can only drink one cup.
Ji Jiu went back to the house by himself, and with the sound of firecrackers floating in the distance, he took out a wine gourd, which contained the spring wine given by the man. It was aged for forty years, and with his drinking capacity, he would be drunk.
He took a sip and held it in his mouth, but he didn't rush to swallow it, he just held it, holding the cold wine until it was warm, and then slowly swallowed it. It is sweet, yet bitter.
He was reluctant to drink, and stopped after only two sips.
He wants to keep it until he has finished what he should do, and then he can get drunk for a long time.
A winter confrontation turned into a stalemate. After the spring, it is still the same.
Sitting on the steps of the tower, Ji Jiu was clearly preoccupied. Shen Jue went over to ask, but Ji Jiu said without thinking: "That's not right." But he didn't say what was wrong.
It was so quiet.
This kind of quietness is not what Ji Jiu wants, nor should it be the style of the Huns. Since ancient times, generals in all dynasties have sent troops to try to suppress them, but most of them returned without success. Because it is a nomadic people, they will fight if they can beat them, and they will leave if they can't beat them. There is no need to farm and raise mulberries, and there is no drag. As long as there is a place with fertile water and grass, the family can migrate together.
Ji Jiu sat motionless, not knowing what to think.
Shen Jue stood for a while, then sat beside him, looked at the soldiers in the city, and said after a while, "What did the general think of?"
Ji Jiu said: "These years, we have been raising our troops and the Huns are rectifying the tribe. This time, King Youxian personally conquered, but why is there only 60,000 soldiers and horses?" Ji Jiu looked at Shen Jue and asked him seriously: "No When one hundred thousand troops come to attack the city, pretending to take over the Central Plains, do you believe it?"
Shen Jue soon thought of it, and asked, "Are there any reinforcements?"
Ji Jiu nodded: "There must still be troops, but we don't know where."
Shen Jue leaned into his ear and asked, "Shall I check?"
Ji Jiu shook his head: "No need."
"Why not?"
"We just know where we are. There are 60,000 soldiers and horses in front of us, how can we kill them?" Ji Jiu said indifferently: "If I were him, I would put a large number of soldiers and horses in ambush behind the first army, and wait for us to attack carelessly. They can be surrounded."
As Ji Jiu spoke, he suddenly laughed, and murmured: "I just wanted to consume them, but now it seems that I did the right thing not to strike rashly."
Back in the camp, Ji Jiu opened up the map, changed his mind, pointed to the map and said to Shen Jue, "You can search along this mountain range, five days is enough..." After a short pause, Ji Jiu said: "If it's not safe, Return immediately."
Shen Jue smiled, and said in a deep voice: "Although I have no skills, this little thing can't help me." After saying that, he left in a hurry.
Shen Jue returned five days later, with a serious expression, rushed all the way into Ji Jiu's camp, leaned into his ear and said, "About 80,000 cavalry were ambushed, plus 60,000 outside the city, a total of 140,000."
Hearing this, Ji Jiu became more at ease. The Huns have reorganized their tribes, sharpened their knives, and waited for this battle. After this victory, the iron cavalry entered the pass, and the wealth in the pass was the spoils of war. The dissatisfied tribes will follow Shan Yu's life and death allegiance. Therefore, this battle is not simply a safari. It is really related to the prosperity, honor and disgrace of the Huns.
"General." Shen Jue asked behind him, "To fight or not to fight?"
Ji Jiu replied: "Hit!"
Fighting is a must, but how to fight is a problem. 140,000 iron cavalry, flexible and maneuverable, each of the Xiongnu soldiers is good at horseback riding and shooting, if they really want to face each other head-on, no matter how Ji Jiu calculates, the result is that his own losses will surpass the opponent.
Businessmen don't do things that lose money, let alone generals on the battlefield. Because they hold human life in their hands.
It's another month, spring is warm and flowers are blooming.
The city gate, which had been closed for several months, suddenly opened its doors, and a large number of black people poured out. The leader was sitting on a horse in black armor, with a big "Ji" character flying behind him.
The Marshal went out of town himself. The Xiongnu spies hurried back to the camp to report.
Ji Jiu led 30,000 elite soldiers and charged directly at the Huns camp. After fighting for a day, the army retreated to the west. There was a hill in the west, with piles of rocks and few trees. It looked like a phoenix singing from a distance. It was also called Fengming Hill. Ji Jiu led the troops to retreat to the hill, and at night a beacon was ignited, and the torches all over the mountains were lit on the lonely hill, turning the night into red, and even the banner embroidered with the word "Ji" turned blood red, like a demon The illusory scene is like the nirvana of a phoenix.
Standing at the highest point, Ji Jiu looked down at the soldiers who came with him, and asked, "Are you afraid?"
"Don't be afraid!"
"Food and grass can last for a month, and there is no water source here," Ji Jiu rolled up the corners of his lips: "Are you afraid!"
"Don't be afraid!"
"If they dare to attack, kill them back!" Ji Jiu said: "If there is no meat, then kill their horses to satisfy hunger; if there is no water, then drink their blood, okay?!"
"it is good!"
Ji Jiu smiled.
Fighting alone is a situation that every general is unwilling to face, because it usually means death. But Ji Jiu calmly put himself into a desperate situation.
The hill was surrounded by the Huns. They kept rushing up, and were forced back again and again by the crossbowmen. The hill full of gravel was not suitable for horses to gallop, and they had to face the tripping ropes buried in the cracks. He often fell off his horse and was shot into a bloody hedgehog by crossbowmen.
Half a month has passed, and there are mountains of corpses under the posts, and the number of horses whose legs are broken by loose stones is also increasing day by day.
Ji Jiu counted the number of people that night, and half of the 30,000 people left the city. But the Huns who were laid off were twice as large as them.
The soldiers were all calm, but their eyes became more and more fierce, with a bloodthirsty light. This is what war is like, turning people into wolves.
Ji Jiu is waiting for Yelude, the wise king of the right, to send troops. The 80,000 cavalry in ambush were originally here to make dumplings, but now, Ji Jiu believed that Yelu De'er was hesitating.
Leaning on a boulder and gnawing dry food, someone among the generals asked him, "What if the Youxian King doesn't send troops?"
Ji Jiu replied: "He will come out."
"why?"
"He can't afford to lose this man." Ji Jiu smiled: "Yelu Deer is their warrior. Now the commander of the other party is on a hill a hundred miles away from him, with only more than 10,000 troops around him, but he doesn't Dare to send troops to kill... If this kind of thing gets out, he will be unable to hold his head up for the rest of his life."
"Even if you know it's a trap?"
"Even if you know it's a trap." Ji Jiu said. Putting down the hard cakes in his hands, he poked the fire and said calmly: "The battle has progressed to this day, and there are no more conspiracies and schemes. We have arrived at Fengminggang, and the conspiracy is a conspiracy. It is actually reasonable for you to worry that he will not send troops, but..."
"but what?"
"But the possibility of him sending troops is too great, I can't think of any better reason for me to give up this opportunity." Ji Jiu said.
What's more, he is here, and the enemy commander is on a lonely hill hundreds of miles away. This temptation is too great. So old that even Ji Jiu deeply felt that if he changed his position, he would take a risk.
There is never a sure-fire general on the battlefield, no matter who he is. As long as there is a 50/50 chance of winning or losing, it is worth betting, and sometimes even the one-in-a-thousandth chance is even worth betting on. Every general is a gambler.
Ji Jiu is, and so is Yelu Deer.
Ten days later, Yelude sent troops.
The 80,000 cavalry united with the remaining 40,000 troops firmly surrounded Fengming Gugang, enclosing the hill with water, the so-called ambush on all sides was nothing more than that.
The real war opened the bloody curtain.
Ji Jiu doesn't need to command, because the soldiers on Fengminggang know that this is a life-and-death battle, any slack will be fatal, and only fighting with death, so that every arrow can be accurately shot into the enemy's heart , every rolling stone thrown can hit the enemy's head, and every spear can pierce the enemy's chest.
Most of them are the most ordinary soldiers, without military rank or official position, but no one flinched from this tragic battle. No one's personal power can tilt the battle situation to such an extent, not even Ji Jiu, they are all ordinary people, defending the country, that's all, but they all burn the glory of life to the extreme without risking their lives.
Because they can't retreat, the people in the city need them, the wives and children in the family need them, and the parents who have worked so hard to raise them up, everything must be protected by them.
Perhaps the greatest meaning of human life is to have the belief of guardianship in the heart.
Cultivate my spear and share the same hatred with my son!
When the sky was slightly bright, there was a sound of drums not far away. The drumbeat was fierce and high-spirited, accompanied by the uniform footsteps of thousands of soldiers, it seemed that even the earth shook.
The two sides that were fighting stopped at the same time. At this moment, they had a tacit understanding, turned around, and looked into the distance.
Black military horses rushed from all directions, galloping but approaching Fengminggang in an orderly manner. From southeast to northwest, the black military horses surrounding them were like black feathers covering the sky, covering the eyes of the Huns with a layer of nightmare.
The beating of the drums was still going on, and every drum beat seemed to hit people's hearts. Ji Jiu stood on a protruding strange rock at a high place, and smiled mockingly at Yelu Deer, who had already reached the middle of the hill, The voice was like a ghost, announcing: "You lost!"
As his voice fell to the ground, the war drum slammed the final sound, and Shen Jue, one of the encircling generals, drew out his sword, pointing at the Hun army surrounded by them, he raised his arms and shouted: Kill!
Never die.