“Meow~~~Meow~~~”
The kitten Su Shang rubbed Chu Yao's fingers affectionately, and begged for some food from him by acting cute. If Chu Yao didn't give it, it would look at him with its innocent and moist eyes. Chu Yao tried to harden his heart several times but failed, and reluctantly took out the dry food.
"They say 'animals resemble their owners', you are more pleasing than Qi Yuanliang." Chu Yao muttered in a low voice, and Su Shang didn't understand what he was saying. He only knew that after eating, he would find a comfortable place to curl up, and it would be best if his owner could scratch him.
It meowed and jumped into Chu Yao's arms, exposing its belly.
Chu Yao: “…”
He really doesn't like cats.
Gong Shuwu happened to come back at this time, so he handed over this troublesome thing. Gong Shuwu also endured it with good temper, saying: "I'm afraid it will not be peaceful tonight, sir, do you want to rest for a while and recuperate? I will wake you up if there is any problem?"
Chu Yao: "That's fine."
The literary mind he condensed for the second time is still unstable.
The spirit of the literary spirit leaks out from time to time, and the state is very unstable. It takes a lot of time to cultivate and adjust, and to have enough energy to better exert its strength. Gong Shuwu said so, and he agreed to go down the steps.
The two settled in an abandoned house near the east gate of the city wall.
This place is sparsely populated and close to the front line.
Chu Yao found a place to lean against, and soon he began to snore softly. Su Shang didn't like the smell of sweat on Gong Shuwu's body, and he was restless when he was held in his arms. He meowed in grievance, and grabbed his sleeves with his cat claws to try to climb out.
Hearing Chu Yao's breathing stabilize, Gong Shuwu coaxed Su Shang in a low voice: "Su Shang, be good, be quiet, don't disturb the master's sleep."
Su Shang was unyielding, trying to escape from the arms of his big shit scooper. Gong Shuwu didn't dare to let him run away.
If it runs away, where can I catch an identical one for Qishan
The man and the cat were in a stalemate for a quarter of an hour.
In the end, Su Shang ran out of energy and was defeated.
Lying in Gong Shuwu's arms, he stretched out his body and yawned. His eyelids twitched up and down as if they were filled with lead. He stepped on the hard arm muscles with his front paws, and finally tilted his head, closed his eyelids, and fell into a sound sleep. Gong Shuwu finally breathed a sigh of relief.
It’s worthy of being Mr. Qi’s cat, it looks like him.
As difficult as Mr. Qi.
There was no one around, so Gong Shuwu closed his eyes and rested.
But within a few breaths, he keenly noticed that the energy of heaven and earth around him changed from orderly to chaotic and violent, and there was a certain order in the chaos. Gong Shuwu suddenly opened his eyes and his gaze fell on the source of the abnormal energy of heaven and earth - Chu Wuhui!
Could it be that he has gone astray
He walked forward quickly, hesitating whether to wake Chu Yao up, and found that Chu Yao's forehead was covered with fine and dense hot sweat, and the sweat flowed down along the scattered gray hair at the temples, across his cheeks and jaw. His long eyebrows were tightly knitted, leaving deep wrinkles between his eyebrows.
At first glance, it looks like being trapped in some horrible nightmare.
Gong Shuwu raised his hand and gently pushed Chu Yao's shoulder, calling softly: "Sir! Sir! Wake up, Sir wake up... How could this be?"
Shake it several times in a row.
For light sleepers, it is enough to wake them up.
I don't know if Chu Yao is trapped in a nightmare and can't extricate himself, as there is no sign of waking up. Gong Shuwu was worried about something happening, so he put his fingers on Chu Yao's wrist and sent a wisp of gentle martial energy into his meridians. The moment it touched, it was strongly bounced back.
Gong Shuwu: “!!!”
What should I do
The two children were not found, and something went wrong with Chu Yao.
The heavens seemed to have heard his inner cry. Chu Yao's thick eyelashes trembled slightly, and he opened his eyes weakly. It took him a while to refocus his vision. Gong Shuwu noticed it immediately and stepped forward to say with concern: "Sir - you finally woke up!"
Chu Yao seemed to be still immersed in the aftermath of the nightmare and could not come back to his senses. After a few breaths, his five senses gradually returned to their original state, and he shuddered suddenly. He looked up and saw the surrounding scene clearly, and asked Gong Shuwu: "Banbu, how long have I slept just now? Is there any movement from the rebels at the city gate?"
"It's been half an hour, and the rebels haven't made any movement yet."
Chu Yao stood up suddenly, muttering something that Gong Shuwu couldn't understand. The syllables sounded like the dialect of the Chu State.
What kind of nightmare was it that scared people into speaking in dialect
Gong Shuwu was full of doubts.
"Sir, did you have a nightmare just now?"
Chu Yao shook his head: "It's not a nightmare."
Gong Shuwu thought it was a trivial matter and stopped asking questions.
Unexpectedly, Chu Yao said, "It's 'brighter days after dark'."
Several question marks appeared on Gong Shuwu's face.
"What does it mean to see the light at the end of the tunnel?"
Chu Yao: "That is my way of the scholar - when you are surrounded by mountains and rivers and think there is no way out, you will find a bright future. This way of the scholar should not be used unless you are in a desperate situation. Just now when I entered the dream, it suddenly started to work, and I saw many chaotic scenes..."
Gong Shuwu's expression became solemn.
Is this the way of the scribes that can only be used in desperate situations
In other words, they will soon face despair
An inexplicable sense of crisis filled his heart, and he hurriedly asked: "Sir, what did you see in your dream? If you had known it in advance, could you have avoided it?"
Chu Yao said obscurely: "I'm afraid it can't be avoided."
Gong Shuwu was shocked: "Is this a situation where I am sure to die?"
One of them is a scholar and the other is a warrior. They can't say they can move freely among thousands of troops, but escaping from Xiaocheng is not a problem, unless they are unlucky enough to encounter a strong person who is much higher than them. But then again, how can Geng Country have such a difficult and ruthless character
Chu Yao said: "It's not us."
Gong Shuwu reacted: "Is it Xiaocheng?"
Chu Yao nodded weakly: "Yeah."
Every time his Way of the Scholar was activated, it would draw out a large amount of literary energy. At this moment, his Danfu was empty, and he felt a strong sense of weakness accompanied by dizziness, which made him unable to stand steadily, and he fell back powerlessly.
Then he began to breathe heavily.
"In my dream, I saw the rebels 'besieging but not attacking', blockading Xiaocheng, and soon the city ran out of ammunition and food. The rebels also threw the bodies of civilians with plague into the city. No one dealt with the bodies, and they became delicacies for the rats in the city... The disease spread... "
Gong Shuwu could imagine the tragic scene that followed without him having to describe it in detail. After hearing this, he slapped the low table next to him and broke it into pieces. The sound of the wooden table breaking into pieces woke up Su Shang who was taking a nap in his arms, so he had to control his temper and comfort her.
He lowered his voice and asked, "Just siege but not attack? Are they crazy?"
In war, victory is more important than duration.
It is obvious that the enemy could be captured in a day and a half, but they chose to "besiege but not attack" and delay time to fight a protracted war!
Is this time to delay the enemy
This is clearly delaying the supply of food and grass for our side! Although Sibao County is located at the border between Geng State and Xin State, it will not be difficult for the rebels under King Zhui to supply food and grass, but a lot of losses will occur during transportation.
For every stone of food consumed by soldiers on the front line, more than ten stones need to be transported to the rear!
Does the Pig King have too much money
Or is it because there is too much food and it has become moldy
Chu Yao closed his eyes with a heavy heart: "Neither, the rebels have a good plan, they are not stupid and make bad moves."
After saying that, he opened his eyes and met Gong Shuwu's gaze.
The latter felt uncomfortable being stared at by him and subconsciously looked away.
"Mr. Chu is saying... they have other plans, and they are willing to waste more than a month's worth of food and fodder for tens of thousands of troops???"
Chu Yao said: "Yes."
Gong Shuwu asked: "What is the purpose?"
Chu Yao sighed and said, "National Seal, the National Seal of Xin State!"
The six short words sounded like six thunders in Gong Shuwu's ears, exploding right beside his ears. He froze in place, unable to hear any sound from the outside world for a moment, wondering what Chu Yao had said. For a long while, he clenched and unclenched his fists, and then clenched and unclenched them again.
Chu Yao: "I am sure that someone in the rebel camp knows the approximate location of the national seal and is willing to create a plague and massacre the city for this."
The national seal is related to the country's destiny.
The fate of a country is closely related to the well-being of its people.
Although the Xin Kingdom was destroyed, the national seal of the Xin Kingdom had not been completely cut off from the people of the Xin Kingdom, and the national seal still had a part of the national fortune. The man created the plague and massacred the city in order to use this method to quickly consume the national fortune. Once the national fortune was consumed, the national seal would be completely exposed.
Chu Yao looked at Gong Shuwu solemnly.
He asked, "Actually, Qi Yuanliang and I have already guessed that 'Gong Shuwu' is a pseudonym. Your real identity is 'Gong Wen', right? Before the capital of Xin State was destroyed, 'Gong Wen' was missing. Afterwards, Zheng Qiao confiscated the Gong family's property, but you were the only one missing. So..."
Gong Shuwu also knew that he would not be able to keep his identity secret for long.
When Chu Yao exposed his true intentions in front of him, he did not panic or get angry. Instead, he felt as if "it's finally here" and let go of a certain burden.
He simply admitted: "Yes, I am Gong Wen."
Gong Shuwu confessed: "Before the capital was captured, the former king summoned me to the palace privately and entrusted me with the national seal, hoping that I could help the descendants of Xin to restore the country. Even if I cannot restore the country, this national seal cannot fall into the hands of Zheng Qiao of Geng..."
What kind of person was the former ruler of Xin State
How could Gong Shuwu not know
However, the Gong family received salaries from the Xin Kingdom and had to be loyal to the monarch. He fled the capital with the national seal overnight, wandering all the way to avoid being hunted down. He only got a brief peace by pretending to be a good man, but he never expected that he could not escape...
Chu Yao was about to say something when there was a muffled sound of something heavy falling to the ground outside the house. The two looked at each other, stood up and pushed open the door.
Outside the door, on the ground.
A corpse that didn't even close its eyes when it died.
The corpse was skinny, with the exposed arms, ankles, and calves skinny and flesh clinging tightly to the bones. The face was pale and thin, with sunken cheeks and dark eye sockets. The body was wearing ragged clothes that barely covered the body and emitted a strange stench.
Gong Shuwu squatted down and sniffed his breath.
He said, "He's dead."
Only a little warmth remained on the body.
Gong Shuwu suddenly remembered Chu Yao's words "a bright future after a dark period", the prophetic words of the scholar. He looked up and vaguely saw a humanoid object passing over the high city wall and falling into Xiaocheng. With a bang, it landed in the alley next door.
The man was still hot when he landed.
He lay limp on the ground.
The blood was all over the sickly, twisted, and twitching face of a man in his forties. Hearing the noise, he turned his eyes towards Chu Yao and the other man with difficulty, and his lips moved several times.
Judging from the shape of the lips, it should be a call for help.
He used up the last bit of his strength, thinking that his cry for help was loud, but in fact it was fragmented and weak, so weak that even the night wind could blow it away. His throat made a gurgling sound, blood overflowed from his mouth, and soon his eyeballs stopped moving.
Chu Yao closed his eyes heavily.
Even though I didn’t see it with my eyes, my mind kept replaying what I saw in the dream.
Epidemics were rampant, people were eating their own children, and nine out of ten houses in Xiaocheng were empty. The people were waiting for death in despair. It was no exaggeration to call it a hell on earth.
"I've never heard of it, I've never seen it before." He said softly.
When he was young, he was full of vigor and vitality and led his troops to fight against Beimo. When he was frustrated, he witnessed the destruction of the Chu State and experienced exile on foot wearing shackles. He eventually came to Yuehua Tower in Xiaocheng to work as a handyman and was ordered around without any dignity... He had only lived for thirty-four years and he thought he had experienced enough, but he had never seen a scene like this!
This is ridiculous!
Is this really a scene that happens in the world of the living
Chu Yao's eyes flickered, his body swayed slightly, and he fell to one side. If Gong Shuwu hadn't quickly grabbed his shoulders, he would have hit the wall. Gong Shuwu nervously called out, "Sir!"
Chu Yao breathed a sigh of relief.
He swallowed the acid boiling in his throat, resisted the urge to vomit, and said weakly, "Find some firewood and burn these bodies."
Gong Shuwu frowned: "Burned? Not buried?"
Chu Yao said: "It's useless to bury it."
The people of Xiaocheng were hungry, and the rats were even hungrier. They would follow the smell and search for any food they could find. Burying the corpse would only leave hidden dangers. It would be better to burn it cleanly to minimize the contact between healthy people and the corpse.
They knew that the corpses carried the aura of disease.
But others don't know.
Especially the soldiers guarding the city walls of Xiaocheng.
"What are the rebels doing?"
"I didn't throw the stone accurately..."
"Bah! You just wish the surrendered troops would smash you into a pulp, right?" The comrades who were defending the city together spat in annoyance.
It's good enough to be able to save my life.
Another soldier asked, "It looks like the one throwing himself is a human?"
Most of them are ordinary people. Even if there are warriors with martial courage, their martial courage level is not high. Their night vision is limited, and they cannot clearly see what is thrown into the city. They can only judge what it is based on the general shape. After he finished speaking, he was laughed at by others.
"Vote for people? Hahaha, vote like this?"
"If you throw it in, you'll be smashed into a pulp, right?"
Are you sure that this is a divine army sent from heaven and not an evil army sent from heaven
With such a great force and at such a high altitude, even a seventh or eighth level warrior would be half killed. The soldiers did not care at first and instead focused their attention on the rebels' catapults.
The catapults kept banging away for more than half an hour.
The soldiers were preparing to take action, but then—
The rebels pushed the catapults back.
Going back
The soldiers were all stunned. They had gone through so much trouble just to throw dozens of people in? ?
this-
What’s the plan
Shen Tang and his team also paid close attention to the situation here.
They did see clearly who was thrown in.
Just a bunch of ordinary people in ragged clothes.
If you insist on saying what's special about them, it's probably because they are too thin. The adult men inside don't even weigh more than 80 kilograms, including skin and bones.
Shen Tang put down the hand that was covering his eyebrows.
Said: "What are the rebels doing?"
It looks weird no matter how you look at it.
Zhai Le crossed his arms and tried to analyze: "Could it be that they want to use this move to intimidate the people defending Xiaocheng and shake the morale of the army? But this doesn't make sense. With the current strength of the rebels, it will only take one or two days to capture Xiaocheng. Why do they need to use bloody deterrent measures?"
Shen Tang said suddenly: "I am a little worried."
Zhai Le: "What are you worried about?"
Shen Tang: "These people who were thrown in..."
Doesn’t look very healthy…
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