Changes in the sky
Volume 2: The Edge of Heaven
Chapter 168 Chencang
The moment I saw the suspension bridge rise, even though I claim to be the smartest person in Jingzhou, I don't know what the people in Chencang City are thinking. Just like we planned so many things in Shanglin Garden, but we can only use a few of them here - in many situations, you can't think of them until you get there. But you still have to think about it first, because only when you think of those few that can be used can you use them when it really matters, and you won't panic. I think the main reason why everyone had no objection at the time and followed me quietly should be based on this.
Later, I looked at the "Art of War" written by Pei'er, which said: "He who plans for victory before the battle has made many plans; he who plans for defeat before the battle has made few plans. Those who plan more will win, those who plan less will lose, let alone those who make no plans!" The logic is very clear.
However, there were still many things I had not expected, such as the situation in the city - the helpers I had sincerely hoped for did not make any obvious moves and were very patient; and the situation on the other side of the river - the rice thieves, who I only hoped would not attack us from the side and could even be regarded as "enemies", actually helped us.
I can still understand the rice bandits. After all, they did not come to stop us when we attacked the camp. And we left so ostentatiously, which might make the Qiang people suspect that the big camp behind us that had been quiet was actually our ambush. Out of hatred for the betrayer, they attacked the rice bandits. At this time, Brother Zilong took action and suppressed the Qiang people by taking advantage of the number of the rice bandits who were forced to resist.
However, I have no idea what is going on in Chencang.
Although I am a straightforward person with a bit of a childish temper, I am not a person who bears grudges. At most, I am a curious person. Later, I asked many people about the situation in the city at that time. It was very interesting, so I felt that I had to record these things.
It is said that the situation in Chencang City was very peaceful at that time. The common people in the city did not even regard us as their arrival and lived their lives as usual. The army was not agitated at all and did what they did on ordinary days - this is what is called: no rash action without military orders.
As a "hero" who would act without a military order, the same thing happened to Captain Zhang after he entered Chencang. He used to guard and patrol the city wall every day, eat and sleep in the tower, and would not easily leave the city without being summoned by Lord Zhong, the Right Fufeng. It seems that Lord Zhang was very scared because he mobilized the Eight Outer Armies without a military order. He had not won the battle, but only had the defeated soldiers entering the city. He might not be able to get anything good out of the city. Fortunately, Lord Zhong was quite grateful to him and valued him very much. Before Captain Zhang could explain all the circumstances, he must have been verbose for a long time. Lord Zhong came to rescue the city directly, and he would report the situation in detail and even report Captain Zhang's merits when he met the emperor. With him around, Captain Zhang would not be punished by military law. As a result, Captain Zhang followed Lord Zhong wholeheartedly and obeyed Lord Zhong's orders.
This is why I like rough men, just like **, although they are good-looking but simple, you can tell what kind of intestines they have at a glance.
Lord Zhong of Youfufeng obviously liked this rough man very much and trusted him very much, and even gave the full command of the city to Captain Zhang. After this defeat and the conversation with Lord Zhong, Lord Zhang also respected and appreciated Lord Zhong very much, and would inform Lord Zhong first of any matters.
It is worth mentioning that the first thing that Mr. Zhong and I have in common is that we both have a rough man named Zhang under our command. The most insignificant but most obvious difference between the two Zhangs is that the middle-aged Zhang's nephew is a few years older than Zhang.
General Zhang was awakened from his dream by us. He looked at the situation from the top of the city wall and sent his nephew to report to Lord Zhong. Then General Zhang kept passing messages back and forth between his uncle and Lord Zhong's mansion without stopping.
The first time General Zhang reported: There was a robbery in the camp south of the water, and the cause was unknown. It seemed that someone was robbing the Qiang camp. There were people watching on the north bank, but no one crossed the Wei River.
Lord Zhong always woke up early. When General Zhang came to report, he was doing what he always did: writing on a stone in the pavilion in the backyard and then washing it with water.
The full name of this Right Fufeng Lord is Zhong Yao, with the courtesy name Yuanchang. After the city was besieged, in addition to commanding the defense of the city, he still maintained his daily habits, and his behavior was really appropriate to his courtesy name.
His habit can be summarized as practicing calligraphy whenever he has free time. This behavior is somewhat unprofessional at this time of year, and it seems that he does not distinguish between the important and the unimportant. Moreover, the wall of the backyard of Youfufeng is very low. Although there are soldiers patrolling, it cannot block the sight of the busybodies, nor can it stop the mouthpieces of the gossipers. Soon everyone in the city knew about it. However, this incident quickly calmed the people in the city - if Lord Zhong is like this, what should we be afraid of? From this, we can conclude that Lord Zhong is very popular among the people, and the people trust him very much.
However, I am really puzzled by his calmness, or maybe you should say excessive calmness, but I can also admire him.
After he woke up, he also heard the noise coming from Shuinan. The servants who helped him get up thought that it was the government troops coming to rescue him. They were all inexplicably excited. Only he continued to practice his calligraphy as if everything had nothing to do with him.
The servants were puzzled, and when someone asked him, he was still writing. When he erased the words on the stone, he said lightly: General Zhang will report back, don't worry.
The lights in his pavilion flickered and even went out several times, but he was not disturbed at all. He held the writing brush in his hand on the stone and wrote gracefully with each stroke, just like water flowing into the sea or the sun and the moon moving back and forth without any rest, without any delay or hesitation.
When General Zhang arrived, he went straight to the backyard. Only then did Mr. Zhong stop writing and wait for General Zhang to report. He only said one sentence, nine words - quite concise: I will report back after I have found out the situation in the morning!
Then he continued writing his words.
At daybreak, General Zhang quickly reported: Less than a thousand government troops south of the river attacked the Qiang camp and won a great victory. The invaders panicked and gathered together to resist north of the river, not daring to move rashly.
This time, Lord Zhong replied with two sentences, but they were only eight words, and were even more concise: Don't act rashly, wait for changes!
Lord Zhong of Youfufeng finally stopped writing and went back to the central hall with him. However, when they arrived at the central hall, General Zhang left directly and Lord Zhong started to have breakfast.
Soon after, another report came: Although the troops on this route were well-equipped, their hats, armors, and weapons were different, and they were completely different from the Eight Outer Armies or the nearby garrisons. They had no flags or signs, and were led by a young general. At this time, they were confronting the Qiang bandits on the north bank, inviting them to fight.
Lord Zhong returned to the backyard at this time, hesitated for a moment, and replied: Watch and see how the situation develops, don't move, don't be hasty!
Then he continued to practice his calligraphy, but he wrote much faster.
Soon another report: The government troops suddenly retreated eastward! The Qiang bandits laid wooden planks on the Wei River to cross the Wei River, but did not pursue the government troops. Instead, they gradually approached the Mi bandit camp.
Lord Zhong finally pondered for a while, and finally let General Zhang take a breath. Suddenly, there was another shouting and killing outside the city. Lord Zhong listened for a moment and suddenly said: "Go again, quickly! Quick! Report again!"
It was rare that Lord Zhong stopped writing. He just rolled up his sleeves and kept washing his stone table. General Zhang's ears were filled with the sound of water hitting the stone table.
As a result, this time when General Zhang just walked out of the door, he saw another person sent by his uncle had already arrived at the door panting and reported the situation to him. General Zhang immediately went in and reported: The rice thieves and the Qiang people were fighting in one place, and there seemed to be government troops among the rice thieves!
This time, Master Zhong shook his sleeves and used only one word, but he used it five times: Go, go, go, go, go!
When Lord Zhong went up to the South Tower, there were shouts of killing from the north. So it can be assumed that Lord Zhong's steps were not as fast as his mind, or he spent too much time on dressing. If it was the former, Lord Zhong was in very poor health; if it was the latter, You Fufeng was a bit too old-fashioned.
After hearing the report from the captain of the North City Gate, I learned that Lord Zhong had given an order, which was exactly what I had seen at the time. The North City Gate pretended to support me, but when someone chased them in, they retreated again.
Of course this is just what I saw.
The entire order is very long, General Zhang.
I cursed in my heart, if you rush out like this, this encirclement will be broken. It still makes me worried, I hope there is a urn city inside Chencang.
My mind was in a mess, but I couldn't stop. I could only vent my anger on the Qiang people who surrounded me. Although these Qiang people were very brave, their weapons were short. I was on the horse, holding the iron spear and waving it non-stop, and they couldn't do anything to me for a while. I thought they might shoot arrows, but then I suddenly thought that they must have seen me pulling out the arrows on the high platform just now, and I was so alone among them, they might think that shooting arrows might not work on me, and they might miss the target, or I would dodge it, and they would end up stabbing their own people.
Although the suspension bridge was raised and the retreat was cut off, many heroes came to my side because they were inspired by the action in the city. I can still remember that the first one to kill me was Brother Fengxian, but when he was about to get close to me, his horse suddenly fell to the ground, and Brother Fengxian rolled on the ground and stood up, then waved his halberd behind me, knocked down several Qiang people, and protected my back.
If it was a Yuan who rushed behind me, I would have to think about taking care of him, but Brother Fengxian stood behind me, and I almost felt like I was leaning against a wall. Brother Fengxian's arrival greatly encouraged me and Niu Jin. I didn't know him very well, but I paid more attention to him because he was a teacher's subordinate. But he really risked his life and rushed to my side with a few people.
I only had time to look at him and his men as I turned around to swing my gun. After a while, I noticed that his helmet was gone. After another while, I saw a bloody knife wound on the right side of his face and his half-open eyes.
All I could hear was his heavy breathing and the roar as he swung the sword.
And I couldn't even thank him. I wanted to say something, but I found that I was clenching my teeth and my mouth was so stiff that I couldn't return to its original position. At most, I could yell twice, but I couldn't speak anymore.
I have been using all my strength, and I have been fighting for a long time. Xie Zhi is not Xiezhi. The main difference between us is that I am a human being, and he is a beast - or a respected - divine beast. Although I am young and my physical strength is surprisingly good among my Han people, I still get tired. Moreover, I have been trapped in the Qiang people's formation alone for a long time. I have always been in a situation where I am besieged by many people. At this time, no matter how exquisite my martial arts are, it is useless. There are so many hands and so many living people around you. If you don't chop them all, even a god will be skinned alive.
There are only two methods that are of some practical use, that is, to pick up a heavy weapon and swing it in a circle; or to charge forward and not give the other side a chance to surround you with a bunch of people.
The black one didn't dare to charge, just led me in circles. The courage it had to act arrogantly on the south bank of the Wei River suddenly disappeared in the crowd, so my second plan didn't work. Fortunately, my iron spear was really heavy, and I felt it getting heavier and heavier. No one dared to confront it wherever it passed. The short knives in their hands couldn't stop it, and people would fall to the ground with a muffled groan when they were touched. The leopard tail would occasionally act as a whip, sweeping away a thick, blurred bloody mark on the skin and flesh and a scream.
The arrival of Brother Fengxian, Niu Jin and others really helped me a lot. I finally only had to deal with three or four people in front of me at the same time. Although my movements were still swinging, I could switch from left hand to right hand, and from right hand to left hand, and I could help them from time to time. Sometimes I even took off the scabbard with my other hand and smashed it out - although it had basically no killing effect, the scabbard without the sword would not only get in the way when I was riding - but would also hit my own big butt or Hei's butt - I felt very painful after hitting it too much, and Hei seemed to feel very painful too.
After a few moments more people came over and I was finally able to catch my breath. There was even a temporary truce on the scene. I guess both sides couldn't hold on any longer. Although they were waving weapons at each other, they kept a distance as if they had a tacit understanding, and it was more like a stalemate before a war.
I finally had time to observe carefully: we were divided into two groups, and now we were half a mile apart. We had more people on that side, but I could see a few familiar faces: Liu Ye, ** them. Their situation was worse than ours, and the enemy cavalry was also involved, and they were in a fierce battle.
Fortunately, they are all brave, everyone here is brave.
After all, the ones coming this time are the personal guards of most of the princes in the world. To be a personal guard, in addition to being loyal, they must also have something presentable. For example, from what I saw, everyone, except my nephew from that clan, was carrying real copper and iron weapons, which guaranteed that the weight was at least several dozen kilograms, and if someone threw it over, they would have to step back a few steps. Those who can wield such weapons are so powerful that they have been fighting for several hours last night, and they are definitely not easy to deal with.
So, I naturally worried about Yuan. I knew that his weapon had a wooden handle, which was dangerous to use and would also be dangerous to the person being hit. If a weapon collided with someone's, it would be extremely difficult to hold on to a heavy weapon because of his strong force. But I could only hope that Zilong could protect him.
Unfortunately, I couldn't see through Chencang, it was blocking me in front of me. I could only notice the situation in Chencang. Besides the fire burning, there were even people throwing firewood down! On the bright side, at least the Qiang people couldn't get in even though the moat had frozen over. Now if the Qiang people wanted to enter the city, before the drawbridge was lowered, there was only one way: first jump down the moat, which was more than a person's height, run 40 feet forward on the frozen floating corpse, climb up the more than a person's height shore, then organize the fire extinguishing at the door, and then, gather the troops and rush in with high spirits.
Of course, the premise is that no one shoots them before they finish all the work. From the large wooden planks erected by the Qiang people on the north bank of the moat to block arrows, we can conclude that if they really do this, it will be our luck.
Unfortunately, the Qiang people were not so stupid; even more unfortunately, we were surrounded and unable to get out. After a moment, I could feel that I was several feet away from the city gate, and the Qiang people surrounding us were also several feet thicker. The only advantage of being far away was that it was helpful for me to see more of the situation on the Chencang city wall, but at that time, I would rather not see it myself.
Many Chencang soldiers seemed to run towards the north wall from the east and west, and then disappeared from the direction of the parapet near the north gate. Then, the sound of drums and screams could be heard faintly from inside the city. Other gates came to reinforce this place through this safe passage on the wall. They were heading down the city, and their purpose was obviously only one - I cursed in my heart: Damn, there really is no urn city!
However, I later realized that I was wrong. But I was only wrong in one way, not a big one.
Before coming here, I spent several hours with others at the Lone Tree Pavilion in Shanglinyuan. But when the fight really started, the plan was not as fast as the changes on the scene. In the end, the only thing we calculated correctly was that the other party was unprepared. Many other things were different from what we imagined. If we hadn't made many worst-case plans and we were not in the worst situation now, I'm really afraid that we would all be desperate.
Although I am not desperate, I am only limited to the overall battle situation. I believe that we can win today. Except for myself and all the people I bring with me, who may not have a good end, everything else should be fine.
What should I think about before I die
Am I married? Oh my God! I was married a long time ago, and I have two wives, and I have held several weddings. Both wives are very virtuous, and one of them is pregnant with my child. In my somewhat blank mind, I found these memories in an instant.
But when I saw the people around me, I was relieved. So many people, most of them have families and are accompanying me to die, and some are not married yet, but they come here to continue fighting. My death is nothing, I am just fulfilling the duty of a Han army. Thinking about the fact that I failed to save a few civilians because of my hesitation yesterday, I feel that I should pay with my life. I want to be the backbone, serving the people with a life of crime, what is there to fear
Just like playing chess, I have already regarded myself as a discarded piece. All I can do and need to do is to support everyone's belief, let go of my hands and feet, muster up the courage to fight, and hold back the heavy troops here and the endless reinforcements.
Judging from the direction and number of the reinforcements, the Qiang people also regarded the hundreds of people who rushed into Chencang as abandoned pawns. The scene before them undoubtedly showed that the hundreds of people had rushed into the city and were burning and killing near the north city. They might also be attacking the north city wall. Fearing that the north city gate would be lost, the Chencang defenders were desperately mobilizing troops to resist.
Fortunately, I later learned that the Qiang people, including the Kingdom, were also wrong. Although they were only wrong in one aspect, they were wrong in a big way.
I have to sigh. When it comes to strategizing, it seems that we Han people are still one step ahead. The reason may be because we Han people have written language, while Qiang people only have language but no written language. Our past things can be passed down, and even if no one exists, most of them can still be seen in books, but Qiang people can only rely on hearsay. Another thing that must be mentioned is that we Han people are numerous. If only one in ten thousand is considered a talent, Qiang people can only pick out dozens, and we can pick out thousands. And I think that Lord Zhong, the Youfufeng in the city, is one of them. (The Eastern Han Dynasty had a maximum population of 50 million. Although the official history experienced the famine of the Guanghe period and the Yellow Turban Rebellion at the end of the period, the official history still had 30 to 40 million people in the world at this time. In the story of this book, because many things happened less or more, there were still more than 40 million people. Author's note)
I can write all this down, even with a sense of relief, obviously not because I am facing my ancestors, but because everything is developing in a good direction - or it can be said that it is not good, but a very good direction.
It's like you are a discarded piece, and it's hopeless to survive independently, but because of the opponent's mistake, you are taken over by your own dragon. These proud things are always willing to be mentioned, but many details need to be omitted.
But really, it is these details that are the main reason I hate war.
This was not my first time fighting like this, I had already pulled myself out of the pile of dead bodies many times. In the past, I was extremely excited before the fight, panicked during the fight, and extremely relieved after the fight; later, I was nervous before the fight, numb during the fight, and worried after the fight; until this time, I was worried before the fight, but extremely excited during the fight.
I don't know how I will feel after this fight. We are like a small boat, drifting with the current. I don't have time to think. It will be good enough if I can survive.
The battle situation, which had been somewhat relaxed due to our concentration, suddenly became tense again. This was the trouble we caused after gathering together. The Qiang people, who were unable to surround the enemy from the outside, began to shoot arrows!
Fortunately, we were surrounded by enemies and the Qiang people did not dare to attack us in groups. Only a few skilled shooters who were confident in their abilities began to aim at our people and shoot arrows at us.
But I was not afraid, and neither were the people around me. Besides the fact that our armor was much stronger than that of the Qiang people and everyone was very agile, there was one more crucial thing: I had already calculated it in Shanglin Garden and informed everyone.
If we penetrate the enemy's formation and the enemy dares to shoot arrows, it is easy to hit other tribes. By then, the Qiang tribe will have a grudge against us, which is far greater than the grudge between us Han people and them. If we are shot at here, we may even withdraw and turn against our enemies. There was a precedent of this when we defeated the Qiang people before.
I began to hear muffled hums around me, some from our side and some from the Qiang people.
The Qiang people began to curse, but no one could understand what they were saying. But if the tone was one of thanks, no one would believe it.
Then, someone suddenly shouted and the shooting stopped.
This is what I am worried about. In Shuinan, I found that the Qiang tribes in the memorials I read were separated by fences and had no contact with each other. But this time, there is no barrier at all in Shuibei Camp, which makes it convenient for us to raid all the way. However, it makes me worry that they may be quite united this time.
But if they united, there would also be problems, because until dawn, the other side did not send a single soldier from Shuibei, so I didn't know where to cross the Weishui River, and my plan to take advantage of the opportunity to rush into the Shuibei camp also failed.
This is what I worry about most: someone seeing through all my plans.
I heard someone behind me calling me to step back, so I waved my arms forward twice, then stepped back and glanced back.
I caught a glimpse of a dilapidated house covered with snow and knew what was going on.
We retreated into a village outside Chencang, cleared out the surrounding Qiang soldiers, used the corners of the wall to shoot arrows, and held a stalemate with the Qiang. Everyone around us retreated, and the Qiang tried to charge twice, but were beaten back by the heroes. They seemed to need a rest like us, so they retreated first and hid at the other end of the house courtyard. From time to time, a burst of stray arrows flew in. Niu Jin sat down behind a pile of firewood. The snow on the firewood was lifted off by him, almost burying him completely, but he rubbed his face with the snow and shouted loudly, "It's refreshing." Everyone also leaned against the wall to avoid the flying arrows and took a breath to rest. Many people imitated him to rub their faces, and some of them pulled out the arrows stuck in the armor with their teeth bared. Some seemed to be deeply pierced, and the barbs on the arrows pierced into them, so they just hummed and broke the arrow body outside the armor.
I kept wiping my hands and the gun with snow. The cloth strips on the gun were inlaid with a lot of snow particles. The shiny decoration was originally a very beautiful decoration. The surrounding snow soon turned crimson. If it were not stained with human blood, it might be called a beautiful sight. Hei was pulled by me to sit beside me. It seemed to be very disgusted with the cold snow under its belly, but it was pulled down by me several times when it wanted to stand up. Finally, after more than a dozen arrows rustled on the snow in front of us, it lay down beside me obediently. We could still hear a fight in the distance, and we knew who they were. Brother Fengxian poked his head out, then shrank back and sat down beside me with his halberd.
"The bandits were not in a hurry to attack, they just trapped us here with their bows, but they were very anxious to besiege Yide and others."
"It seems like they want to... defeat that side first, and then... eat us." I took a breath and said, "That won't work. We can't rest. If we rest for too long, we won't be able to stand up."
I looked around and saw more than a hundred people and only more than thirty horses.
"Those who have horses, get ready, leave your arrows behind, and follow me to Yide. Those who don't have horses, use your bows and crossbows to help us clear a path, and continue to defend here. The terrain here is high, the courtyards are blocked, and it's all covered with snow. It won't be easy for the enemy to attack with fire or charge. Those who have horses, get ready!" I patted Brother Fengxian on the shoulder, "Don't go out, wait for me to bring Yide and the others to pick you up."
Brother Fengxian wanted to take my bow and arrows. His bow had been cut off long ago. He poked his head out again and looked at the situation. He turned around and drew his bow and arrow, "Southeast! Full bow! Shoot!"
Our bows are much stronger than those of the Qiang people, and these people are really fierce. One of them fired ten arrows in a short period of time. The enemies in the southeast kept retreating, and those who did not retreat fell to the ground and died.
He pulled up Hei and turned over: "Follow me!"
The first thing I saw was that the north gate of Chencang was opened again, and some Qiang people rushed in again.
They really took their time, slowly but surely luring the enemy away.
But without the city walls, this would only waste our manpower and would be useless. It would be better for them to rush out in one go and turn the world upside down with us.
He was furious: I will fight you today, whether you are here or not, I don't care about you. He also secretly made up his mind that if he was lucky enough to survive this battle, he would make sure that this Lord Zhong would die.
I admit that I was so angry that I lost my mind.
But sometimes being angry is good, for example, when charging. The people behind me rushed in, shouting "Wow, kill, kill, kill", and the Qiang people were unable to stop me. When I was in high spirits, I picked up a Qiang who wanted to get close to me and threw him on the saddle. When they were still wondering why I wanted to capture him alive at this time, I picked up one of his legs and waved it with my left hand, using the person and the gun in my right hand.
The Qiang people were scared. The people who followed me later said that the Qiang people must have seen one of their own people whose legs were cut off somewhere in a short time, waving it in my hand with a wail, and it was really swung like a weapon.
At that time, I felt that the person on my left kept retreating, and the person on my right did not dare to move forward, for fear that he would also appear in my hands. As a result, I rushed to Brother Yide all of a sudden.
I remember that Brother Yide was stunned for a moment when he saw the "weapon" in the visitor's left hand - a dead man with one leg stiff and rigid.
Suddenly, there was a loud drum sound from the top of Chencang City. A group of cavalry appeared from the west and east of the city and surrounded the Qiang people. The Qiang people were temporarily trapped.
Yide laughed out loud: "Finally it came out!"
Almost at the same time, I shouted loudly with everyone else and rushed forward to fight. Seeing that they were doomed to defeat, the Qiang people seemed to lose all their courage in an instant and almost immediately fled to the camp in the north. I saw tens of thousands of Qiang people scatter like birds and beasts in an instant.
They chased after me, but left me standing there alone with Hei. A moment ago, I was surrounded by people, but now I was suddenly left alone among the corpses. I can't blame them for abandoning me, I can only blame myself for not urging the horse.
I didn't know what was going on in my mind, but I felt something heavy in my left hand, and then I realized that I was carrying a lone person. I quickly dropped the poor person, and was so tired that I staggered a few steps to the right with me before I could stand.
A young general stopped his horse beside me and asked where our troops were from.
My name is Xie Zhi. These are the personal guards of various princes. We are here to lift the siege of Chencang.
He immediately dismounted and kowtowed, saying, "How did the Lord Regent, Ping An Fengyun Hou, come here? Please forgive me for my disrespect."
I waved my hand and asked him to stand up: Ask him how things are going in Shuinan
He: The Qiang people began to retreat.
I closed my eyes and thought for a while, then said: “We should continue to chase and kill the Qiang people, but we must not indiscriminately harm the lives of the Qiang people. Those who resist with weapons will be killed, and those who lay down their weapons and accept surrender will not be questioned.”
The young man agreed and led the group forward.
I was the only one left standing on the snowy field covered with dead bodies. Although I didn't know where to go, I didn't want to stay here for long, so I turned my horse and headed for the north gate.
I could still hear the sound of fighting, but it seemed as if it had nothing to do with me anymore. I slowly walked to the north gate. Without saying a word, the drawbridge opened for me, and the north gate also slowly opened for me.
But some old soldiers came out and asked me to go through the side door, saying that this door was not suitable for passing at the moment.
I don't want to take a detour, but: if you can get out, I can get in. No matter how many dead bodies there are inside, how many can there be outside
The city wall was very thick, and it was pitch black inside. The smoke from the burning firewood was still a bit irritating, and the places that had just been burned were still a bit hot. Hei clearly felt the scorching heat, and quickly rushed in with me.
As expected, there was no inner city wall inside the north gate, only a circle of earthen mounds more than one person high, but underneath was a large pit two people deep. When I arrived, everyone stopped their work and lowered another suspension bridge from the two arrow towers in front of them, connecting it to the city gate for me to walk through. In the pit under the suspension bridge were densely packed Qiang corpses.
I walked down the suspension bridge and met a tall, thin middle-aged civil servant with some attendants on horseback. He was extraordinary, yet elegant and humble. He dismounted and saluted me, thanked me for my help, told me his identity, and asked me which general I was.
At this moment, I no longer have the intention to kill him.
He dropped his spear and the ground, then dismounted, performed a complete etiquette, and then uttered one sentence, which was a little long: "When the Han Dynasty's assistant minister Yue Houzhi heard that Chencang was under siege, he led the princes' personal guards to rescue it. Fortunately, the siege has been broken. Lord Zhong has worked hard to defend the city."
That day, the sun was shining brightly at noon, but the weather was still very cold.
The man who met me outside the city was called Zhang Xiu, the nephew of Captain Zhang of the Outer Eighth Army. Captain Zhang's real name was Zhang Ji, and he had his men tie him up and ran to see me to apologize.
I did not untie him myself, I just asked someone to do it for me and said something to him. I don't remember what I said, but it was probably to let him feel at ease and clean up the mess.
I ordered them to arrange for the people I brought with me to rest and go out to rescue the wounded on the ground. I also ordered them to transport some food and grass to the Mi bandit camp in Shuinan, and also to transport some of the Qiang people who had surrendered. I ordered them to leave as soon as possible and not to stay for long.
Then, I fell asleep, without taking off my armor, and fell on the couch where Lord You Fufeng sat. Finally, I seemed to see Lord Zhong ordering someone to bring a brazier to my side, but I didn't say thank you.
With his face tilted back, his mouth open and snoring, he looked very ungentlemanly.
Zhang Ju Ran looked at me for a long time. Later he told me that he didn't expect that Ping An Feng Yun Hou would be so sleepy.
According to the heroes I brought with me, none of them made any unreasonable demands, they just found a place to sleep, hundreds of people, sleeping everywhere. Often they were praising each other for the day's results, and the next they were silent, even snoring.
The person who went to bed the latest slept directly at the door after entrusting the two babies to others.
It was already noon the next day when I woke up. I saw a bright white light outside. I squinted my eyes and lifted the quilt that had covered me at some point. I felt sore in my neck and back. I stretched myself and tried to move myself. I stamped my cold feet and listened to the dripping sound of water under the eaves. I shivered and wrapped myself tightly with a cloak. My stomach suddenly growled.
There was no one around, and there was nothing to eat. I could only hear the sound of water splashing in the backyard. I followed the sound and passed a screen. It was bright outside, and I couldn't open my eyes for a while. After a while, I saw a person writing furiously in a thatched pavilion in the snow courtyard, but not on paper but on a large stone slab.
I walked over slowly, and he was still concentrating on it. He was still unaware of it until I stood behind him.
I don't remember what he was writing. There are many people with beautiful handwriting, such as Yinling Pei'er, but his handwriting is like flowing water, without any delay, as if everything in the world flows into it and diffuses out, with a kind of beauty that cannot be fully described. The other thing is that it is a little thinner than our usual handwriting, which is similar to the thin body shape of this adult.
After he finished writing, when he was about to wash the slate, I helped him and picked up the bucket for him. He also asked me why I came here instead of busying myself with the things he had assigned me.
All I can say is: Lord Zhong is in a good mood!
He finally noticed my presence and quickly apologized. Then he quickly invited me back to the hall. On the way, I very honestly said that I had to eat.
I am the type of person who doesn't want to talk about anything serious and just wants to eat. Usually, Yinling calls me a glutton.
I realized this and asked sanctimoniously, "Are the places for the heroes and righteous men who are coming with me to eat and sleep ready?"
He had already arranged it, and all his servants and maids were sent out to help greet the guests. Apart from the two guards at the door, there was no one else here, so he apologized to me again, and said that he needed to invite me to go directly to the wine shop for dinner, and asked me to forgive him for not being able to entertain him properly while we were still in the dark. I don't need it, it's best for me to go and eat with the people who came with me, thank you for taking the trouble, Master Zhong.
But I was thinking in my heart, no matter how dangerous the situation was, it would not affect your painting of stones.
But before dinner, he wanted me to help him with something. He seemed to get along well with me, even though we seemed to be very different. Perhaps he had seen me before and knew that I was easy to get along with.
So I asked what was going on. Couldn't we eat first and then go? This way, I seemed more innocent, and in fact, this was what I was thinking about the most.
I stuck the gun on the ground at the city gate, and no one dared to pull it out. He even joked to the soldiers that it was my weapon, which should be called Tianlang, and it looked different from the legend, and it seemed to be able to change. Some people might not be, but they still didn't dare to touch it. What was even more frightening was that the blood on the gun kept flowing down, staining a pool of blood on the ground, which made people dare not approach.
This reminded me that when I dismounted, I seemed to have poked the ground with the butt of my gun, and I was too lazy to pick it up, so I just left it there. I remembered using snow to wipe the gun, and there was quite a bit of snow on it. The sun was very bright yesterday, and once the snow melted, the gun body wrapped in cloth was already soaked with blood, and the leopard tail was also soaked with blood. As it slowly melted, a lot of blood should have seeped out.
Master Zhong personally brought me a horse—not a black one—and we rode out together. There were indeed only two guards standing at the door. After Master Zhong gave them a few instructions, such as where to find him, he invited me to go with him.
I don't know where this Hei guy is sleeping soundly.
Chencang is not much bigger than Tanzhong, but there are obvious military camp flags around several huge official warehouses, and only soldiers are walking around on the nearby roads. The city walls are also much taller than those in Tanzhong, as if this place is a special fortress. It is similar to Chencang in Jingzhou, but I don't know what the relationship is between this warehouse and the surname Chen.
Only the wisps of smoke blowing in the wind and the people walking around in the surrounding houses made me feel that this was a place where ordinary people lived, and I also felt even hungrier.
On the way, I asked Lord Zhong if there were any civilians living in the city and how many troops there were. He said there were about 3,000 people, mostly farmers from nearby, merchants from the market, taverns, and family members of local officials. There were also some city workers who served in the army. There were originally only 3,000 troops, and there were more than 4,000 to support Lord Zhang, a total of 7,000 people.
During the conversation, I saw my gun. There were some soldiers watching nearby, but no one dared to get close to it. The cloth strips on the gun were almost purple, and there was indeed a pool of red blood on the ground among the ice debris. The onlookers didn't even dare to step into the pool of blood.
The onlookers soon saw us coming and immediately made way. I urged my horse forward and pulled out the gun on the horse. I could clearly feel the sticky discomfort on the cloth. Seeing that there was no gun hook on the saddle, I reached for the gun with my hands.
"Please take me to where we are, Lord Zhong." I think it would be best for me to get together with everyone as soon as possible, especially to have a good meal together, which is very important.
I only told him one thing along the way, which was to report to Shanglin Garden as soon as possible about what happened here. He had already reported it yesterday afternoon.
I asked about the Qiang people, rice bandits and others outside. They replied that those Qiang people who were recruited had received food, some had already evacuated, and the others had also begun to retreat. However, the rice bandits wanted to see me and had not yet evacuated. I would wait until I finished my meal, took a shower and changed my clothes before coming.
Finally, I asked Wang Guo what he thought of him. Lord Zhong told the soldiers to spread the word when he gave them food, saying that they would reward those who handed over Wang Guo. But most of the Qiang people didn't know him, and some Qiang leaders had never seen him again after the defeat. Lord Zhong even ordered people to spread the word that it was all because of this person, and the court would never investigate the Qiang people's conspiracy. He also distributed food and let everyone go home in peace, and only asked that he be put to death to uphold the law.
I asked if anyone had reported this to the Qin State. He had already sent a letter to the Qin border to inform them and also suggested how to resettle them.
I think this Lord Zhong has some skills, and I praised him repeatedly. He also mentioned that all strategies here will be handed over to me, the assistant minister, and everything will be reported to me. I thanked him and praised him for what he did, which was very good. I knew in my heart that Lord Zhong was really a smart man.
Of course, I am not a stupid person, so I didn’t ask what we were going to have for lunch.
Maybe this has nothing to do with whether I am stupid or not, but has something to do with whether I am a good-for-nothing.
When I arrived, the heroes were all excited and waiting for a feast, just like me; they were even more excited when they heard that I was going to participate, just like me. I missed the good show. Before I came, dozens of big pigs were bled one by one. Brother Yide even criticized the method and how to drain the blood cleanly. In the end, he couldn't stand it and even scolded the military cook. He took off his armor and demonstrated it himself. It was a good method, but Fengxian, Zilong and others laughed for a long time. Lord Zhong sent me to the place and saluted with the heroes and left. He would report back if there was anything. Everyone followed me to return the salute. After the lord left, someone asked me who this person was.
After hearing that this was Lord Zhong, many people praised him for his elegance and gentlemanly demeanor, and that his arrangements were very detailed, including letting everyone rest after dinner, and bathing and changing clothes, all of which were prepared by dedicated people.
Seeing that most of the heroes were still covered in blood, and most of them had just woken up and washed their faces and combed their hair, I felt sad. But after hearing that Master Zhong had made very detailed arrangements, I felt a little relieved. Seeing Yuan and ** laughing and stirring the meat in the big pot with the chefs, I suddenly felt relieved and laughed too.
Now these heroes seemed to be brothers to each other. Even the Yi from Yuan Shao's family and the White Rabbit from Han Fu's family were burning fire together and talking silently. After such a bloody battle, those who survived would feel close to each other. Listening to the sound in the big pot and smelling the refreshing smell, I asked everyone about the casualties of each family at an inappropriate time. Some families fell silent, and then I fell silent too.
There were 560 people still standing together that day, more than 200 were too injured to get up temporarily and were lying in the camp, and the rest were those who would never get up again.
Someone comforted me, saying that with less than a thousand people fighting against tens of thousands, it was a miracle that we could break the siege.
Brother Yide brought the jar of wine, handed me a bowl, and poured it for me: Come on, no need to say anything, Brother Fengyunhou, now that we have won after all, just drink.
I held the wine bowl, faced the east, and knelt down. Everyone followed me and listened to my prayer: May the heroes of the Han Dynasty who went to die rest in peace in the underworld. Now that the siege of Chencang has been lifted, the Han Dynasty is not in danger for the time being! Your Majesty is not in danger!
Some people thought I had ulterior motives in my words, but at that time, everyone responded and celebrated.
At noon that day, I ate and drank with everyone. I even thought that I had fallen asleep after explaining the things yesterday, and I have been sleeping until now, which made everyone laugh. But they immediately started to "fight among themselves" and expose each other. For example, someone went to the toilet, came out a few steps and fell asleep next to it; someone wanted to have a big meal and then sleep, but ended up sleeping in the pot without setting it up properly, and drooled all over the bottom of the pot; it seemed that someone slept in the stable with a horse's head in his arms, and so on. Everyone laughed continuously; or they were passionate and made speeches; or they sighed and talked about how someone nearby died.
I interrupted the conversation, asked everyone to be quiet, and said something that I thought was very important: Although we came here to quell the disaster, we did not have an imperial decree, and we are righteous soldiers. If the emperor blames me, I will bear the responsibility alone; but if anyone violates military law or causes trouble here, it will be a crime for me, and I will not forgive them easily.
Everyone nodded, and after a moment, they started talking and laughing again.
I felt a little relieved. These were rare warriors in the world, and they must be hard to deal with. I had to do it while the good words were still there, even if it was to spoil the mood, because when something really happened, it would be troublesome.
The next thing is eating and drinking. If there is nothing else to do, there is nothing worth recording.
Suddenly, a maid came to find Zilong. Some people teased him that being handsome was good, and women would always be looking for him wherever he went. Brother Yide had to come out to explain that it must be the child of Marquis Fengyun who was making trouble.
After he finished speaking, everyone was silent for a while, and then they burst into laughter, with wine and meat sprayed everywhere. I always felt that Brother Yide did it on purpose, because after a while, Brother Yide laughed and "seemed" to "finally" "discover" that it was not good, and it should be the matter of the child picked up by Fengyun Hou.
I knew what was going on, so I quickly ate a few more pieces of meat, patted the guards to let them enjoy the meal, and then I left and followed them.
But when I arrived, I found two children crying. Two or three maids were busy looking through the niào cloth, and when they found nothing, they quickly held the children in their arms to comfort them.
Taking this opportunity, with my decent eyesight, I at least knew that both of them were girls.
An old woman was complaining to Zilong that the child was too young to drink rice soup and had to be fed milk.
I originally thought it would be easy to find a wet nurse, but she knew that there were only two women who had given birth recently, one of whom had just stopped breastfeeding, and the other was a convict in town.
I was surprised that this lady knew so much about the situation here.
A moment later, the decent young lady was invited over, and Zilong and I tactfully avoided her.
After a while, the old lady came out with a frown on her face. She was really weaned and couldn't deliver milk, and the baby couldn't suck it out no matter what he did.
It seems that we can only pin our hopes on that criminal. I thought to myself, if it doesn't work, I'll just continue feeding the horse milk.
This all depends on me. I asked the name of the criminal and then pulled Zilong to go with me.
Of course, I planned to go alone. I asked him to follow me just to find a chance to ask him why there was one more person.
He picked it up on the battlefield. He saw a child crying beside a woman's body. Seeing the Qiang cavalry approaching, he rushed over, picked up the child with his spear, tied it to his waist, and continued to fight.
My head needs to be saved.
When I passed the big pot, I scooped up a few pieces of féi with skin on and put them in my mouth, then stood up and walked away, mumbling something and joking with the people who asked me where I was going, and then I got on my horse.
General Zhang happened to arrive at the same time, and Lord Zhong asked me to come over.
I finally swallowed the food in my mouth, and before I could savor it, I replied: I'm just about to go find him!
However, he did not lead me to Youfufeng Prefecture, but to the south city wall.
He only told me one thing: thousands of Qiang cavalry came from the east from Shuinan!