Qingzhou trip

Everyone in the city heard the sound of war drums, and the battle report on the city tower was sent three times to King Jin's mansion.However, there was no panic or anxiety in Zhao Yifang's eyes, but Master Liao and Zou Shiyan, who were in charge of the delivery of the New Year's coins, couldn't drink anymore.

"Leaving the adults here is also for the convenience of discussion." After reading the battle report, Zhao Yifang handed it over to others for circulation.

The first letter: The enemy of Beixia appeared in the west and north of the city.The head of the enemy looks like Li Jixin, the Xuanhui envoy of the Northern Xia Dynasty and the Southern Xuanhui.The second letter: The enemy in the north is dominated by cavalry, and the enemy in the west is fought by infantry.Initially, the number of people at both ends was no less than [-].The third letter: The enemy is trying to attack the city with fire, our army is ready to fight, and the fire and defense are all in sequence.

The three letters were all written by Xie Penglai. Due to the haste of writing, they were no longer as fast and elegant as usual, but more aura of war and wind.

Zou Shiyan and others couldn't believe it when they saw it, "Suici is almost at the door of the house, and it will be delivered in just two days. Why is Beixia so impatient?" When he came out, he was even more puzzled, "Then why did Li Jixin come here?"

"I'm afraid it's not the ecstasy array, so that we can be paralyzed and then attack by surprise." Master Liao recovered first, "Who is the enemy leader here?"

Zhao Yifang looked at the fading fireworks in the sky, "Then I have to wait for Xie Penglai to inquire clearly before writing." Xie Penglai hurried to the palace today to reveal all the intentions of the enemy's internal and external fire attacks, and asked her to quickly investigate the craftsman camp. Li Jixin and others will also be placed under house arrest.

Xie Penglai's apology was not at this time for such a big flaw in the sand sea under his jurisdiction.What's more important is her speculation: the Uighur Yasu who was killed outside the city a few days ago was the eyes and ears of Li Jiyan, the bandit leader of the Northern Xia clan.He was probably sent to Shahai to check the status of the defense, and even tried to use internal and external fire attacks to create chaos that night, so as to find out the deployment of troops in the city.What's even more frightening is that he made friends with Liu Qinsang in Huaxiang in order to deliberately get close to King Jin.

Although these are almost speculations, Yan Yunhan saw that the Shahai Carpenter Camp was busy making fire attack equipment.

"Why the craftsmen colluded with foreign enemies remains to be found out. The most important thing right now is to defend the inside and outside, to prevent the enemy's surprise attack." Xie Penglai asked King Jin to sit in the mansion, and after summing up, he found that once the manpower of the mansion was transferred, this place could be breached at any time. weak mansion.

Zhao Yifang reassured her, "Although it is far behind Kong Ming, the plaque of 'King Jin's Mansion' can still fool people." Sure enough, Li Jixin looked strange, and many evidences in the carpenter's camp were copied. inside.Bad things happened one after another, and the enemy's surprise attack happened by coincidence.Fortunately, Xie Penglai used fireworks and firecrackers to hide his eyes and ears, which made it even more difficult for the enemies in the city to attack.

Everyone in the hall whispered to each other, panicked and nervous.Master Liao and Zou Shiyan, who tried to be calm, discussed in a low voice and still had no idea, so they had to look helplessly at King Jin Zhao Yifang.

"The Zhenrong Army and the Deshun Army have already sent people to rescue the soldiers with the letter from the king. From now on, everyone in the city must fight against the enemy and defend the city together." Zhao Yifang took the cloak from Li Mo, " The king will go to the tower to supervise the battle in a while, and there are some things that need to be clarified before leaving the mansion." She closed her eyes sharply, and arranged everything in an orderly manner for the city's material defense, year-end guards, military ration supply, and merchant inventory counting. , "If you make one mistake or neglect one thing, this king will use the head of the chief officer to hang on the city gate to be vigilant."

After everyone obediently agreed, Zou Shiyan and others stopped Zhao Yifang to persuade him not to go to the city gate to take risks.

Zhao Yifang ignored the set of "Your body should not be exposed to the arrows", and smiled and put on the belt of the cloak, "There are many prodigies among you adults. There must be someone who is enlightened at the age of three or four. This king is not the one who reads." Material, when I was three years old, I went to Sichuan with my grandmother to suppress the rebellion, and I was almost hit by a drifting stone during the siege." She gently lifted the bottom of her clothes, "Did the Sanzhou pacifier come to make clay statues of Bodhisattvas?"

She strode towards the front of the mansion, followed closely by Li Mo.The two heroic shadows left the red light and wine smell behind them, as well as a group of dumbfounded civil servants.

"Your Highness still has doubts?" Li Mo asked Zhao Yifang immediately, the closer the group approached the city gate, the clearer the sound of shouting and beating the drum.

"Then how flustered was Li Jixin's face when he saw the fireworks? I don't believe that he has nothing to do with the one outside the city." After Zhao Yifang got off her horse, she went straight to the tower. Xie Penglai.

The group of people below the city was very cunning, and they sent several groups of people to try to climb the city wall, as if it was expected that Shahai would not be well-defended.Thanks to Xie Penglai, he had carefully filled in the gaps and checked for leaks a few days ago, and prepared sufficient trebuchets, bows and arrows.After a few rounds of attempts, the opponent didn't take advantage, and the momentum was much weaker at this time.

Xie Penglai finally took a breath, his earlobe suddenly hurt, it turned out that Zhao Yifang had blood on his handkerchief.She looked sideways, "Your Highness, why—" Zhao Yifang glared at the rest of the words.

"Why can't this king come?" Zhao Yifang stood on the turret overlooking the city, countless torches stretched all the way to the Yeqiang River. "So many people, why didn't they notice it before?"

"I'm afraid I'll hide in the nearby villages, break them up into pieces to hide, and then gather in the city tonight." Xie Penglai accompanied Zhao Yifang to visit the border villages last time and already noticed something bad: Hu and Han live together, and their hearts are not the same.Many fortresses surrendered to Hua Dynasty today, and surrendered to Beixia tomorrow.Fortunately, the two countries have been safe and sound since there was no war in the past two years.But once the war broke out, most of these fortresses would succumb to strong soldiers and hide their dirt.

"Then there is still a small group of people from the Zhenrong Army outside Shahai City? Apart from taking advantage of the situation, they didn't even notice the movement under their noses?" Zhao Yifang held on to the handkerchief tightly, "When this matter is over, This king will see how they end up."

"How long will it take for the Deshun Army and most of the Zhenrong Army to arrive?" She thought of the reinforcements, which were Shahai's lifeline.

"The letter was sent early, the Deshun Army still needs one day, and the Zhenrong Army needs one night and one day." Xie Penglai has repeatedly asked the court to increase the garrison in Shahai over the years, but was told "don't disturb the two countries to repair." If you refuse, you will have to taste the pain in the end.There was still a glimmer of hope in her heart, that is, Hua Niang and the others could arrive.Facing Zhao Yifang's deep eyes, he couldn't tell the whole truth.

After half an hour, the enemy's attack seemed to stop, and they rearranged their formation and stationed below the city.The news that King Jin Zhao Yifang went up to the tower in person also spread throughout the defenders, and everyone was excited for a while, but after some resistance, they didn't feel depressed.

"The people from Jiangying let Ren Wu go to interrogate, and Li Jixin's side is considered safe." Zhao Yifang took Xie Penglai to sit on the side of the turret to rest, seeing that her face was blackened by the smoke, she put the handkerchief on She palmed her hand, "If you weren't vigilant, Shahai would be in such a mess tonight." She stared at Xie Penglai's earlobe again, "Does it hurt?"

"It's just a small injury, it doesn't hurt. I'm afraid the enemy recognized me and shot me with arrows on purpose." Xie Penglai recalled the commander-in-chief of the other party. If it is Li Jiyan, will he and Li Jixin cooperate internally and externally?"

Zhao Yifang also had this doubt, "But I didn't see any problems when I verified my identity at the gate of the city." At this time, Ren Wu also found the turret. Three households, including more than 70 households, seized the gourd and stone lacquer. After many inquiries, it was found that the Wu family and several other households started it, and they knew the use of the stone lacquer. I only help out when I am in a hurry to buy and sell things. After the things are finished, they say they will be sent to Wu’s house, but I don’t know where to send them.”

Ren Liu was so angry that he almost spat, "As for the Wu family, the eldest was beheaded in Manguan, and the second was thrown in prison for colluding confessions to frame the county magistrate Xie. So the old man didn't tell the truth when he was beaten to death. .”

"Wu's house in Carpenter Camp also came from Shahai in the south of the Yangtze River?" Zhao Yifang heard that most of the people in Carpenter Camp in Shahai migrated from the south.

"No, this old man of the Wu family was originally an orphan, and he was adopted by the Han people in the frontier village before he took the surname Wu." Xie Penglai saw the corner of Zhao Yifang's mouth twitching, and knew that it had touched the worry of Hu Han in her heart.

A few people were thinking about the battle situation in the turret, when the sky finally turned gray.Zhao Yifang pulled Xie Penglai to stand up and then looked down the city. This look made their faces even more solemn - the many "Xia" or "Li" battle flags seemed to indicate their identities, and the number of people was only a lot more than the night estimate.

The war drums sounded at the same time.The cavalry under the city moved out of the way again, and the bearded commander of Beixia walked down the city again, and shouted to the head of the city in an official dialect with an accent, "I am Li Jiyan, King of Ying in Beixia, and I want to speak to your emperor, 10 yuan!" The price of two-year-old coins and 30 pieces of silk is too little. I want 30 two-year-old coins and [-] pieces of silk in Beixia. In addition—" He suddenly smiled, and his falcon eyes shot towards the city, as if he saw Zhao Yifang , "For the good of the two countries, please ask the emperor to marry King Zhao Yifang and me, Li Jiyan."

Zhao Yifang looked coldly at the city, "You don't even recognize the things that the Northern Xia monarch personally listed? Although Li Jiyan is the Northern Xia clan, he has long since fallen into a bandit. How can you renegotiate peace talks on behalf of your country?"

"Yes—that female county magistrate from Shahai, right? I don't think I have too many daughters-in-law. Although you are old, you are not fresh, and you can read and write, and this king will also accept you."

Zhao Yifang's anger had long been ignited, "Answer my question."

"After the Manguan Rebellion, the emperor of Xia Kingdom felt unwell, and he was still ill. A few days ago, he decreed that this king should supervise the country and be canonized as King of England. My brother Li Jixin, the envoy of Xuanhui of Beixia, can testify in Shahai City." Sure enough. , Li Jixin knew about the siege for a long time.

Li Jiyan's horse took a few steps impatiently under the city, but he patted his head and restrained him, "I can wait, my horse and my soldiers can't wait. Whether it's a war or a peace, it's probably waiting for your emperor to make a decision." It's too late, I only give you one hour to think about it."

"What if we don't agree?" Zhao Yifang had already bent her bow and aimed at Li Jiyan.

"Then—" Li Jiyan stared fiercely at the turret, "Down the sea of ​​sand, and directly rob you of King Jin's regenerated rice to cook mature rice, and talk to the emperor!"

"Dream!" After the words fell, the arrow shot by Zhao Yifang went straight to Li Jiyan, but he dodged it lightly, "Your Hua Dynasty is a mess, women are generals, and women are kings. If your emperor doesn't deal with it, I, Li Jiyan, will replace you." road."

Zhao Yifang was so angry that she smashed her bow and arrow, and set up the bow again to shoot the second arrow.Pressing her fingers with a pair of cool hands, Xie Penglai's clear eyes flashed with distress, and he shook his head firmly at King Jin, "Don't expose His Highness's position, you can't take it by force right now."

"The shameless person should take his life directly!" Zhao Yifang found that she couldn't use her strength anymore.Xie Penglai took off the bow and arrow for her, "His Royal Highness, his remarks are also to provoke you to fight. Xie assures you that I will chop off his head with my own hands." Xie Penglai spit out every word, so serious that Zhao Yifang was moved .Xie Penglai would not let go of his nonsense about "for the sake of justice".

"How—how can I do it?" Zhao Yifang blushed with anger, and Xie Penglai went to see a different kind of beauty.She smiled slightly, "Wait another day, people from the Deshun Army will arrive tonight."

And the old Bao Shengjun who lived abroad.She took a deep breath, Zhao Yifang followed her gaze and looked forward:

The horseshoe splashes the ice and swallows the sea desert.Thousands of horses rushed straight to the rear of Li Jiyan's troops, led by a woman.Holding a saber, she led the people behind her to repeatedly charge and kill. Li Jiyan who was under the city was shocked, and hurriedly turned around to find out what happened.

Lu Jinhua has Li Suyue on the left and Hui Zhongfu on the right.They kept moving to avoid the enemy's weapons on their horses, raising their hands and waving their arms almost without fail.After disrupting the enemy's position, Lu Jinhua ordered someone to blow the horn.

The old Baosheng soldiers in Shahai City were suddenly hit by the sound of the trumpet, and Xie Penglai also heard it.She walked to the top of the wall and ordered the bannermen to issue the order, "Throw stones, shoot arrows!"

At that moment, time seemed to be stuck and stopped by the horn sound.

Only a moment later, the same trumpet sounded from the city tower, and anyone with a bit of experience could recognize that the tune was taken from the bangzi: Thrushcross leaf Qiang, plain clothes roll sand cold.He bent his bow and shot at King Xia, and beheaded Li Lang with his blade.

The old Bao Shengjun squeezed the arrows in their hands, "Shoot!"