Tanhualang

Zhao Heng didn't sleep all night, so Shen Jing played chess with him all night.

In the second round, Shen Jing beat Zhao Heng for the first time. After counting the chess pieces, Zhao Heng smiled and said, "Miao An won."

Shen Jing forced a smile, but her heart sank to the bottom.

He had never seen Zhao Heng so absent-minded.

As dawn approached, it was pitch black outside. The fourth chess game between the two was about to be decided. Wei Zheng hurried in to salute after knocking on the door: "Your Highness, the guards patrolling the city found a villager who claimed to be here to deliver a letter."

Zhao Heng held the hand of the chess piece and paused: "Where is the letter?"

"He said he would hand it over to you."

After a while, two guards brought in a man dressed as a villager, who immediately knelt down when he saw Zhao Heng: "I have seen Your Highness."

As he spoke, he took out a letter from his pocket and handed it over.

Shen Jing took the letter, opened it and handed it to Zhao Heng. Zhao Heng took a look at it, dropped the chess piece in his hand, and said slowly: "...OK."

He stood up and looked at Wei Zheng, and said in a calm tone, "Regroup immediately."

On July 21 of the fifth year of Chengxi, outside Changzhou City, Yu Wang Zhao Heng opened the door with [-] troops to face Zhang Zhi's [-] rebels.

Quietly and clearly remember the situation that day.

The garrison in Changzhou City was dispatched in full force, and none stayed behind.

Before Zhao Heng left, he specially asked Shen Jing to put on the leather armor and go to the city gate with him: "There will be no guards in the city. If there are rebels sneaking in, I'm afraid something will happen."

This was the first time Shen Jing saw the confrontation between the two armies.

He stood behind Zhao Heng, his chest was blown by the damp wind rushing up the high city wall, and his hands trembled slightly.

Looking back, inside the city gate are the Nanjing Guards and Changzhou Guards who are waiting quietly with their knives sharpened; looking forward, outside the gate are [-] rebels.Dozens of unarmed men, women and children were pushed out, and someone shouted loudly below, asking Zhao Heng to open the door and fight.

Not long after he finished shouting, he saw a soldier bravely pushing out a commoner from a distance, facing the innocent head, and raised the butcher's knife high.

Zhao Heng, who had not moved all this time, suddenly snatched the bow and arrow from the guards guarding the city, opened the bow and set the arrow, and aimed it at the bottom of the city gate.

In the strong wind, Shen Jing heard a "buzz", and the long arrow flew out through the wind.

The rebel soldier holding the knife in the distance bravely faced an arrow in his chest and fell head-on.

The six gates of Changzhou City were opened wide, thousands of soldiers poured out like a tide, and there was a lot of killing.

The sound of slashing and killing lasted for almost two hours, and the guards were gradually unable to hold on, and some rebels had begun to pour into the city.Zhao Heng ordered Shen Jing to "follow closely", while standing at the crenel, aiming at the gate of the city and keeping shooting arrows.

Two or three rebels went up to the city gate and were shot and killed by Zhao Heng and the guards, and then more than a dozen rebels followed.Wei Zheng followed up with a few guards from the exit of the tower, killed the rebels in one go, ran to Zhao Heng and said in a low voice, "Your Highness! If the reinforcements don't come, Changzhou will be unable to defend."

Zhao Heng turned his head and glanced out from the crenel. He dropped his bow and drew out the long knife at his waist. He raised the knife and walked towards the tower. His handsome face was instantly stained with murderous aura: "Wait a little longer. Hold the city wall first. Quietly follow closely."

With trembling hands, Shen Jing tried to remain calm, bent down, picked up a knife and followed.Zhao Heng turned his head to look at him, and even smiled at him: "Aim at the neck and wrist when chopping. Don't be afraid."

The voice and smile seemed to have the power to comfort people's hearts. After a moment of silence, he calmed down and clenched the handle of the knife: "Yes."

This battle was extremely tragic. There were nearly [-] Nanjing Guards and Changzhou Guards, and in the end there were only less than [-] left. The gate of Changzhou City was invaded by rebels, and a massacre of the city was about to begin.

At the critical moment, Xi Wei, a native of Haining, led the later famous "Xi Family Army" to arrive, outflanked the rebels from behind, and flanked the Changzhou Guards. Only then did Changzhou's crisis be resolved.

Xi Wei became famous in the first battle.

At dusk, Zhang Zhi led the remnants of the tribe and fled to the bank of the river to find out that Xi Wei had already led his army to set fire to all his boats moored by the river on the way here. People who heard the news from nearby besieged and were eventually captured.

That night Zhang Zhi was hung on the city wall of Changzhou for public display.Zhao Heng ordered Wei Zheng to count more than 480 people in front of the daily city gate the previous day, and then ordered Zhang Zhi to be executed in public.

Although it was night, the people watching outside the city were crowded together, shouting and cursing constantly.Under dozens of torches at the top of the city, the executioner executed in public on a temporary platform set up in front of the city gate, and cut Zhang Zhi more than 480 knives.Zhang Zhi was covered in flesh and blood, and when he landed, he was looted and scrambled for food by the people outside the city.

At this time, the Yali of Changzhou Mansion was quiet.

The tense atmosphere before the war was swept away.Wei Zheng and Changzhou Wei Commander Tong Zhizhou were busy with the wounded and the reinforcements led by Xi Wei. Many servants and officials in the mansion went out of the city to watch the execution. Only King Yu and his guards were left in the mansion.

Shen Jing was waiting for Zhao Heng to bathe and change his clothes in the backyard room. Zhao Heng's battle robe and leather armor were stained with blood. Shen Jing helped him take off the leather armor. When he loosened the binding arm, he noticed that his binding arm had been scratched by a knife. His right arm was half a foot away. What a long incision, the blood has solidified.

He stopped his movements, grabbed Zhao Heng's arm and took a closer look, then hurriedly looked Zhao Heng up and down carefully: "Are there any injuries elsewhere? Why didn't His Highness tell you earlier? I'll call the doctor—"

Zhao Heng stretched his hand to hold his sleeve: "There is no need for minor injuries. I'm afraid it will be troublesome when the doctor comes. It's serious to wash off this bloody body quickly, and Gu will go to see Xi Wei later."

Shen Jing then turned and left: "I'm going to get the medicine."

When he came back in a hurry, he saw Zhao Heng had taken off his bloody clothes and sat in the bathtub, holding a ladle to pour water on his head.He wanted to step forward to stop it, but he didn't have time. He only heard a "crash", and was splashed with hot water half of his body.

Shen Jing took a half step back, Zhao Heng looked back to see him, put down the water ladle and turned around: "...cough. You don't have to wait here."

Shen Jing held the wound medicine gauze, lowered her eyes and said, "Your Highness's wound should not be wet."

Zhao Heng put his right arm on the outside of the wooden barrel: "It's not in the way. Let's tidy up after washing."

Shen Jingwen stepped forward without saying a word, put the plate with the wound medicine cloth aside, took the medicine wine, held Zhao Heng's arm in his arms, wiped off the water marks, and poured the medicine wine on the wound.

Zhao Heng frowned in pain, and had no choice but to let Shen Jing clean up the wound and put on a bandage.Seeing Shen Jing went to fetch the bath towel next to her, and raised her hand to grab Shen Jing's wrist.

Shen Jing raised her head, looked at him and insisted: "Your Highness is inconvenient to move. If the wound gets wet, it's not a trivial matter."

"Gu can wash it by himself."

Shen Jing was actually a little embarrassed.It's just that Zhao Heng's dodging like this actually fueled his courage. He looked down at Zhao Heng's right arm that was still oozing blood while clutching his wrist: "How do you plan to wash, Your Highness?"

"..."

"Where I did not do well, Your Highness just need to correct me." Shen Jing said, pushing away Zhao Heng's arm, first fetching the comb, and slowly combing Zhao Heng's hair, neatly tied up the bun with the hairpin, and then fetched it again Bath towel, carefully scrub Zhao Heng to remove the blood on Zhao Heng's arms and neck.

Zhao Heng's resistance was ineffective, but he cooperated surprisingly all of a sudden, squatting in the wooden barrel without saying a word.

After finishing these, Shen Jing brought a clean cloth towel and put it aside, and was hesitating whether to help Zhao Heng dry it, Zhao Heng turned his face to the side, cleared his throat, and said seriously: "Shen Jing, go down."

"Yes."

Shen Jing respectfully said yes, turned and walked out of the bathroom.Closing the door, he let out a silent breath as if he had received an amnesty, and raised his hand to wipe the sweat off his forehead with his sleeve.

He also doesn't want to help his boss take a bath at all, okay?After "meeting each other naked" and "skin-to-skin" like this, I'm afraid it will take him a long time to look directly at Zhao Heng calmly.

Everything was settled, Zhao Heng held a banquet in honor of Xi Wei that night.

Only then did Shen Jing learn from Zhao Heng that Xi Wei was from Haining, and he and Sun Ping were fellow villagers.Haining is close to the sea and is often harassed by Japanese pirates. The local government is incompetent, the guard camp lacks money and food, and the troops are weak, so they are often unable to resist the Japanese pirates.As a result, many local gentry and businessmen in Haining spontaneously united, and when they had money, they gave money, food, and people. They organized a "village army" of thousands of people to resist the Japanese pirates; Each scattered into the village, and once the Japanese pirates came, they immediately called up to fight.

Because of his resourcefulness, Xi Wei was elected by everyone to be the leader of the village army.Later, Sun Ping went back to his hometown to keep his filial piety and Ding You. Because of his enthusiasm for fighting against the Japanese, he often made friends with the country gentry, so he met Xi Wei.

"Master Sun had nothing to do at home at that time, and he often came to our training ground to give advice. He also taught me a lot of military formations and helped me practice brave troops." During the meeting, Xi Wei seemed a little cautious when facing Zhao Heng, but Only when he mentioned Sun Ping, who was familiar with him, did he have anything to say.

Zhao Heng thanked him again: "Today's success is thanks to General Xi's hard work and assistance. If you hadn't arrived in time, Zhang Zhi would have occupied Changzhou and went straight to Nanjing."

"Your Highness is very polite. It is an honor for us to contribute to the imperial court. How dare we accept the word 'thank you'?" Xi Wei hurriedly said, "Speaking of which, His Highness commanded properly. I don't know much about the art of war. Master Sun wrote Send me a letter asking me to help His Highness, and I don’t know how to help. If His Highness hadn’t written a special letter to arrange for me to burn the boat first, and then come to attack Zhang Zhi, I’m afraid I’d come straight to Changzhou. It is also impossible to wipe out the rebels so cleanly. It is clear that His Highness has a clever plan to win."

"General Xi is young and promising, why bother to be too modest." Zhao Heng said, holding up his wine glass, "I respect General Xi alone."

Xi Wei hurriedly toasted and drank together. After drinking, he said with a smile to Zhao Heng: "Your Highness, don't call me 'General'. I don't have any fame. I'm just a reckless man in the country. How dare I call him a general. Like Your Highness and Sun Your lord is brave and resourceful, and you are a real general."

Zhao Heng raised his eyebrows: "General Xi has not participated in the imperial examination, or the military examination?"

Xi Wei put down his wine glass, his face flushed, and he smiled embarrassedly: "...I have passed both the imperial examination and the martial arts examination. But... I am not good at reading, and I am not good at writing articles and strategies, so I failed in both."

Zhao Heng frowned and said: "Where do you need to take the essay test when leading the army to fight? General Xi is well-organized, so why do you need to take the essay strategy test? Speaking of which, my imperial examinations are a bit pedantic, and I don't know why I missed a lot of talents."

After the banquet, we all take our leave.Wei Zheng sent Xi Wei to the place where Zhao Heng was staying, and Shen Jing left with Zhao Heng. As soon as Zhao Heng was sent off, Wei Zheng hurriedly chased him: "Mr. Shen!"

Shen Jing turned back: "What's the matter with Captain Wei?"

Wei Zheng turned his head and pointed to the door: "General Xi Wei said he knew you and wanted to have a word with you."