after being kidnapped by the general

Xuzhou.

Wu Kai is struggling to resist King Chen's siege army.

Since Yuanli left, King Chen's siege became fiercer in an instant.Especially after learning that Chen Xi was captured alive by Yuanli, King Chen vented all his anger on Xuzhou.

Wu Kai defended Xiapi and the surrounding counties with half of his troops, and took only 1 people to the front to defend against King Chen's army, and rescued the people in the outer cities to the rear.

But Xuzhou had just experienced a catastrophe, and was already extremely weak.There is a lack of food and military equipment in the surrounding cities, so there is no force to defend the city.

What's more terrible is that most of these city walls are earthen walls.After being soaked by the flood, he became extremely fragile, and King Chen's army could easily destroy the city wall and enter the city, even if Wu Kai wanted to delay, there was nothing he could do.

Within a month, King Chen's army captured more than a dozen cities in Xuzhou.Wu Kai retreated again and again, until he retreated to Suiling before he recovered his breath.

This has already retreated to his last sphere of influence, Xiapi is behind, and the surrounding counties are garrisoned by Youzhou soldiers.Xiang Hongyun has sent troops to strengthen the city wall, even if Wu Kai dies, he must protect this last line of defense, and must not lose Xuzhou.

With such determination, they lived firmly for a month, leaving King Chen's soldiers helpless.

Under this stalemate, Yuanli's call to crusade against King Chen was sent to King Chen.

In the main tent, King Chen sat on a chair, closed his eyes and listened to the counselor read the content of the call to action, and calmly said: "So, Lord Yuan Le is about to bring troops to Xuzhou."

"Yes," the counselor said after thinking, "The time for this call to arms to reach us is long enough for Lord Yuan Le to come to the south."

Chen Wang was much older than he looked a few years ago, his cheeks were sunken and there was not much blood.Wrinkles ran across his face, making him look extraordinarily deep and majestic.

After learning that Chen Xi was captured by Yuanli, King Chen took his sick body and personally led troops to attack Xuzhou.The doctors used various medicines to hang his body, also because of the anger in his heart, Chen Wang's spirit these days is much better than before.

After listening to the adviser's words, Chen Wang's expression did not change. He sighed deeply, "Mr. Yuan Le is coming back, but we haven't taken Xuzhou yet."

The civil servants and military generals in the room who heard this were frightened into a cold sweat, and they all saluted and confessed their guilt.

Chen Wang waved his hand, "In this situation, it's not your fault. If that evil son was not captured by Yuan Le Lord, Yuan Le Lord would have been captured alive by you. I have told that evil son several times, but A mediocrity is a mediocrity, and in the current situation, he deserves to die."

The counselor beside him wiped the sweat from his brow, "My lord..."

Chen Wang coughed and said lightly: "I originally wanted him to capture Lord Yuan Le alive so as to give him a good reputation for being brave and resourceful, but in the end it was not what I expected, even if I gave him more He is not even as powerful as Mr. Yuan Le. Mr. Yuan Le deserves to be a man who can become a public figure at a young age. If Mr. Yuan Le is my son, why would I bring you sick to attack Xuzhou? Why do you want to take the risk of risking the world's infamy?"

He made no secret of his admiration for Yuanli. Ever since Chen Xi was captured by Yuanli and Yuanli fought a beautiful turnaround with less victories and returned to the north safely, Chen Wang's subordinates often heard that Chen Xi Compliments to Yuanli.

King Chen really loved Yuanli very much. He even ordered his subordinates to capture Yuanli alive when he sent the navy to encircle and suppress Yuanli.Chen Wang once said to the people around him that if Yuan Li was captured alive, he would definitely treat him with luxurious clothes and delicacies from mountains and seas. If he could recognize Yuan Li as his adopted son, Chen Wang would be satisfied and wept with joy.

"It's a pity that he will fight against me after all." After Chen Wang sighed, he changed the subject, his expression turned cold, and he turned his head to ask the counselor, "Do you think Mr. Yuan Le killed Chen Xi?"

The counselor hesitated for a moment, then said: "No news is good news, I feel that the young master is still alive."

Chen Wang slowly opened his eyes, but there were bursts of light in his cloudy eyes, "It's the same as I thought, but I guess Yuan Le Jun didn't want to kill Chen Xi, but wanted to make Chen Xi's death more effective." That's all."

The counselor said thoughtfully, "You mean..."

Chen Wangdao: "Yuan Le Jun will probably kill Chen Xi in front of me, so as to stimulate me."

The crowd was in an uproar, and a general cursed loudly: "Mr. Yuan Le is really cunning and cruel!"

"How can the lord's sick body withstand such a stimulus!"

After they finished scolding, Chen Wang still looked calm, "If Chen Xi is not dead, Yuan Le Jun must have this idea, then you have to work hard. No matter how mediocre and stupid this scoundrel is, he is My son is my successor in the future. As long as he is not dead, we must try our best to save him from Mr. Yuan Le. The way to save him is difficult or easy, and it is hidden under this Xuzhou In Picheng."

The subordinate had an idea, "You mean, Ouyang Ting in Xiapi City?"

"That's right," Chen Wang said slowly, "Since Mr. Yuan Le captured my son alive, then I will capture his teacher alive. So you have to speed up your efforts, you must—"

His old eyes swept over everyone one by one, "Before Lord Yuan Le arrives, we must attack Xiapi City and capture Ouyang Ting alive."

Everyone clasped their fists and said, "Yes!"

Wu Kai suddenly felt that Chen Wang's offensive became more ferocious.

When he and Xiang Hongyun were discussing where the lord was going, a soldier rushed to report, "General, the enemy has used fire to attack!"

Wu Kai's expression froze, and he hurried out.

Fire-stained arrows and tinder leaped down from outside the city wall, and the people fled in panic in all directions. Thick smoke was everywhere, and many places were set on fire in an instant.

Xiang Hongyun frowned and said: "I will lead people to protect the food and grass before putting out the fire, and you will lead people to fight back against the fire attack outside the city."

Wu Kai nodded, and the two were methodical and quickly doing what they should do.

But it is very difficult to counterattack and interrupt the enemy's fire attack.

Although it is easy to defend the city and difficult to attack the city, the attacking side has an active advantage. They hide when they encounter resistance, and attack when the people in the city give up on them. The people in the city can only passively accept various offensives.Wu Kai also attacked the enemy army with fire attack and hot golden juice, and threw huge stones from the city wall to smash the enemy. This offensive and defensive battle lasted for three full hours, and the army finally retreated at dusk.

Wu Kai went down the city wall exhausted and saw that all the fires in the city had been extinguished.The people were gathered together for repairs, and the wounded soldiers were being carried to the wounded camp for treatment.

Wu Kai approached Xiang Hongyun and asked, "Has the food been ignited?"

Xiang Hongyun's expression was quite relaxed, "I was afraid that they would attack with fire, so I found a remote place to place the grain and grass, and it was not ignited at all."

Wu Kai breathed a sigh of relief, "It's okay, it's okay, as long as there is nothing wrong with food and grass."

Xiang Hongyun also asked: "How is the front?"

"The enemy has already retreated," Wu Kai said with a wry smile, "this should be the end of today."

Xiang Hongyun shook his head and said: "The closer my lord is to us, the more frequent King Chen's attacks will be. I'm afraid it will not be so safe tonight. I trouble you to be vigilant, Brother Zuo Sheng."

Wu Kai looked straight, and replied in a deep voice, "Don't worry. If the city is there, I will be there, and if the city is dead, I will be dead. I will never let them go any further."

At night, as Xiang Hongyun said, the enemy army moved again.

They didn't attack hard anymore, but tens of thousands of soldiers stood outside the city wall beating gongs and drums, yelling, making all kinds of noise all night, so that the soldiers and the people in the whole city couldn't sleep.

In the early morning of the second day, everyone was depressed, and the soldiers standing guard on the city wall also fought hard to support their spirits.

This continued for the next few days, day and night with enemy troops beating gongs and drums to make noise. It was okay for a day or two, but after four or five days, the people in the city were already in pain, exhausted, and their spirits were on the verge of collapse.

Xiang Hongyun tried various methods to block the sound, but none of them worked well.Later, with an idea, he tore up the cotton coat that Yuanli had handed out, and plugged his ears with the cotton balls inside, and only then did he have a way to crack the noise.

With the cotton ball, the soldiers slowly regained their energy, and Wu Kai and Xiang Hongyun had the brains to think about the enemy's intentions.

Only then did they discover that there was a strange movement coming from the underground listening station buried under the city wall, but the movement was buried under the noise.Only then did Wu Kai realize that while tormenting them with noise, Chen Wang was actually digging a tunnel to attack!

Wu Kai hurriedly boiled hot water and poured it into the tunnel, which blocked the entrance of the tunnel in time.

The continuous offensive made Wu Kai and Xiang Hongyun extremely exhausted, almost counting the days to count the days for the lord's support.

On this day, when Wu Kai was guarding against what methods the enemy would use to attack the city, he saw that the enemy threw cattle, sheep, mice and other livestock, and even human corpses and dung into the city with catapults.

Wu Kai, who watched these corpses fall to the ground, was a little baffled.

These corpses are dead, so they have no offensive effect on them, and they are not even as effective as throwing boulders. What exactly is King Chen trying to do with this move?

He couldn't figure it out, so he asked someone to invite Xiang Hongyun over.When Xiang Hongyun came over and saw it, his face immediately changed drastically, and he rolled up his sleeves and covered his mouth and nose.

Wu Kai's heart skipped a beat, and he asked, "What's wrong?"

"These corpses are all rotten," Xiang Hongyun's eyelids twitched, and he pulled Wu Kai back to a clean place with an ugly face, "Chen Wang wants to spread disease or plague in the city!"

"What?!" Wu Kai was shocked, and his face darkened, "It's really a disgusting trick."

"There is no need to delay. These corpses must be pulled out and burned immediately." Xiang Hongyun said in a deep voice, "All the people and soldiers who have touched the corpses must gather to observe. There is not enough food and medicinal materials in the city. Once a disease or plague occurs There is a good chance that people will sweep through the city in a short period of time, so if someone develops symptoms..."

Xiang Hongyun and Wu Kai looked at each other, and said in a low voice: "There is no cure, we can only kill it to curb the spread."

If they have the conditions, they can naturally try to save them.But being trapped in the city without knowing his life or death, and lacking food and medicinal materials, he could only resort to killing people.

Wu Kai nodded with a heavy heart.

He sent soldiers to cover their mouths and noses with cloth, gathered the rotting corpses together and burned them with fire.The places where these corpses fell were far and near. When they were looking for them, many people had already touched these corpses.

Wu Kai put these people alone in a manor to live, and ordered the disease doctor to go in every day to observe and diagnose, and then fumigated moxa and boiled water for disinfection.

During this period, Wu Kai kept praying in his heart that the plague would never happen, but the reality was the opposite of what he expected.

A few days later, the disease doctor told him and Xiang Hongyun solemnly, "23 people in the manor started to have a fever and fell into a coma."

Xiang Hongyun closed his eyes, and the luck that these patients just caught cold occasionally was gone.

One or two people with fever and coma may be due to wind-cold fever, but 23 people... It is definitely no longer a coincidence.

Wu Kai's heart sank as well.

After a while, he opened his dry mouth and said with difficulty: "...remove them, kill them and burn them."

However, the plague did not stop because of the killing of these 23 people. More and more people became feverish, comatose, and even had vomiting and diarrhea. Not only the people in the manor showed symptoms, but also the people in the city also showed symptoms.

Wu Kai and Xiang Hongyun were very busy, and Wu Kai had to guard against Chen Wang's people, but after a few days, Wu Kai became a little dizzy.

This day, he had just come down from the city wall when he staggered under his feet.

Fortunately, the soldiers around him helped him, "My lord, what's wrong with you?"

"I am fine."

Wu Kai stood up straight and shook his head, thanked the soldiers and hurried to find Xiang Hongyun.

Xiang Hongyun was discussing the plague with the disease doctors, frowning tightly.Seeing him coming, he was about to call Wu Kai over to discuss together, but his words were suddenly blocked, and he asked in shock, "Why is your face so red?"

Wu Kai looked over suspiciously.

Wu Kai's skin is dark, even if he blushes, he can't tell.Although Xiang Hongyun's eyes are not good, after all, he has been with Wu Kai for a long time, and he found something wrong when he got closer.

Seeing Wu Kai in this appearance, Xiang Hongyun's heart tightened suddenly, "Doctor, come and show him!"

Wu Kai was about to say no, when he was pushed on the chair.It wasn't until he sat down that he belatedly felt dizzy.

what happened to him?

Did he...

Wu Kai thought of a certain possibility, suddenly his lips turned blue and his face turned pale.

The doctor looked at it carefully for him, feeling heavy in his heart, he frowned and stepped aside to ask another doctor to come forward.It wasn't until the three disease doctors had seen it that they shook their hands and said to Xiang Hongyun: "Master Xiang, Mr. Wu's symptoms... are indeed consistent with the initial symptoms of those infected with the plague."

Wu Kai just felt as if a sap hit him directly on the top of his head, making him stare at the stars and unable to recover.