Snake Tale

A few days later, in another secluded mansion in Linzi, Luo Yi, who had been studying behind closed doors for many days, was alone on the porch counting the remaining pieces of a game.His aide, Yang Tongyu, who has followed Luo since then, climbed up the steps, holding the letter to Mrs. Zishuo in his hand, waiting for Luo Yi to read it.

Yang Tongyu knelt down in front of Luo Yi, watched Luo Yi finish reading the letter without moving, and said: "The reasoning is close, but the words are lacking in humility."

Yang Tongyu sighed lightly: "How can you be considered humble?"

Luo Yi sneered, "If it makes me so angry that I smash the chessboard."

Yang Tongyu couldn't help but laugh, turned his eyes to look at the courtyard, the servants coming and going were busy brushing their horses, preparing their carts, packing their belongings, and preparing to go to the front line. "It's really a dilemma." Yang Tongyu hesitated for a while, and finally said, "The son of a daughter will not die of thieves. Can you really not resign this appointment? Anyway... the situation will not be worse than it is now. bad."

Luo Yi picked up the chess piece and said coldly: "I bet on a pair of legs, I don't intend to just live here for the elderly."

Yang Tongyu had no choice but to keep silent.However, his brows were furrowed, apparently very worried about Luo Yi's decision.After being tortured by patella, although many famous doctors have been invited for percussion treatment, Luo Yi's legs can't be restored to the original state. After standing up for a while, there will be severe pain and cold sweat, and he needs a wheelchair and servants to walk in and out. Weaker than a child.However, even though he was a confidant who has followed Luo Yi to the death for many years, Yang Tongyu has never seen Luo Yi say a word about this episode, and his expression and tone are still as calm and calm as before—only this makes Yang Tong Yu feel even more deeply in his heart. Faintly uneasy, he hinted and comforted Luo Yi in many ways to return to the Luo family in Jiangdu, and then slowly figure it out after his sick body is healed.Of course, Luo Yi's careless perfunctory was the only way to repay his kindness.At this time, Lord Qi issued an edict to go out, ordering a group of nobles and generals to rush to Thorny Hill to reinforce the front line.Among the list, there is unexpectedly Luo Yi who is unknown in Qi and is not good at doing business.Anyone with a discerning eye can see that this is the product of the rivalry between the Empress Dowager of Qi and Zhong Lichun, who tried to restrain each other. Why did Luo Yi still risk his life and be willing to be the scapegoat of the ruler?

Luo Yi Luo Zi Fang Ding, raised his eyes and saw Yang Tong Yu's worried expression, and smiled instead. "Ayu," he pointed at the losing chess game in front of him, and said with a smile, "Do you also think that there is no possibility of a comeback in this game?"

Yang Tongyu sighed lightly: "Forgive me for being stupid—"

"You're not stupid, you're just a fan of the authorities." Luo Yi said flatly, stretched out his hand, and turned the chessboard upside down.

Yang Tongyu was startled for a moment, but when he saw that victory or defeat was going against the trend in an instant, his heart skipped a beat, and he raised his head to look into Luo Yi's eyes.

Two hundred miles to the northwest of Linzi, crossing the Shui River and the Tuhai River, you will find the precarious city of Jiqiu under the siege of the Five Kingdoms.At dawn, Feng Jian, the doctor of Thorn Hill, was anxiously pacing back and forth on the city wall, stepping on the wall and looking at his heels again—this time, he finally saw a cloud of dust on the horizon several miles away .Still in disbelief, he squeezed his eyes and looked at it for half an hour. He couldn't help but let out a roar of ecstasy, desperately patted the shoulder of the attendant beside him, and shouted incoherently: "Come! Come!"

The attendant struggled to support his swaying body, and hurriedly said: "My lord! Worry about your feet—"

Feng Jian pushed away the attendants, jumped off the edge of the wall, and ran down the wall.The long-sieged city of Thornhill was already in dilapidated condition, and the rammed-earth walls were covered with sunken holes, exposing the barren thorns inside.The disabled soldiers dragged the corpses of their comrades together and threw them on the battlements; under the gloomy turret there were scattered refugees huddled up, and an old woman with all teeth lost was sharing a piece of moldy bun with her young grandson. cake.The desolate scene has not changed in the past few months, but Feng Jian's heart is unprecedentedly cheerful and clear - he went straight to the east gate, shouting all the way: "Reinforcements are coming - open the gate quickly! Quick!"

The city guards hurriedly opened the heavy city gate and dragged the blood-stained deer village to both sides.On the one hand, Feng Jian ordered the food officials to open warehouses to comfort the wounded soldiers and refugees, and on the other hand, he ordered all the surviving officials in the city, from the small to the track chiefs, to come and wait.They waited for half an hour in the foggy dawn before they saw the advance troops of the reinforcements approaching slowly, waving hunting banners.The leading general got off his horse and helped Feng Jian, who was kneeling in front of the city gate.

"Doctor Jiqiu, please get up!" The general held his arm and said cordially: "You have held a dangerous city with [-] soldiers against the powerful soldiers of the five kingdoms for more than [-] days, and you have greatly defeated the enemy's arrogance. With great encouragement, I was specially ordered to come to reinforce..."

Feng Jian couldn't hear the second half of the comforting words clearly, and he looked in surprise at the general's face after removing his helmet.Almond eyes, peach cheeks, bright teeth and vermilion lips, this is actually a female general in her prime.

The other party coughed lightly, and Feng Jian finally came to his senses. He consciously looked away impolitely, bowed his head and thanked him: "General Yao is serious! It is my duty to defend the land and fight against the enemy. Besides, how dare Feng Jian take credit for the troubles? ? General, please come in to clean up the dust and rectify it, and wait for the remaining three reinforcements later..."

Yao Yi pondered and said, "Actually, there are only two remaining armies that have not arrived. Three days ago, my Xiaoguo army and General Luo's Hukan army met by chance on the bank of the Tuhai River, and together..."

Feng Jian was startled, and raised his eyes to look at the army in front of him.Taking a quick look earlier, it turned out that Yao Yi was standing side by side with a car painted in paulownia, and a pawn trotting beside him had already pushed a wheelchair over.Feng Jian felt uneasy in his heart. When he saw the attendant helped a person get off the cart and sat on the wheelchair again, he felt as if he had been punched by someone. His emotions were mixed, and he was at a loss up.

He looked at Yao Yi's face, but the female general's face was calm and turned a blind eye.Obviously, it was no small offense to her self-esteem to be in command with such a powerless person, but her self-cultivation restrained it into a restrained indifference.On the contrary, the general calmly approached the crowd's eyes of astonishment, disappointment, or sarcasm, and saluted the two of them calmly.His words are succinct, and his eloquence is not very brilliant, but when he raises his blue eyes and glances at Feng Jian briefly and sharply during the conversation, he can always feel that there is a kind of shrewdness in this person. Powerful aura--the unique aura of a certain type of people who are used to hiding their colors but are good at spying on others.However, before Feng Jian could find out clearly, people and horses in the distance suddenly became agitated, and the sound of soldiers clanging halberds came from a distance, raising a cloud of dust all over the sky.

Feng Jian said in amazement: "It's the enemy army—?"

Yao Yi changed his mind very quickly, he grasped his tasseled spear and stepped on the steed swiftly, ordering his generals to stand by for orders.As far as the eye can see, scouts dressed in uniforms of soldiers from the Qi State came galloping in the distance, waving flags and shouting loudly.She came to her senses, frowned and said: "It's not the enemy army, it's... the two armies of Kuiwei and Wuxi who came to reinforce them." When she looked back, the Xiaoguo army under her was suddenly frightened, and her formation was already disordered; The Hukan army on the side, however, did not move an inch, did not move an inch, and the armor of the soldiers was as thick as dark clouds, and no one made a wrong step due to the sudden chaos.

Surprised and suspicious, she looked at the blue-eyed general in the wheelchair.The other party just sat calmly, looking at the clamoring army from a distance with a motionless expression.The man who holds the flag of Destroyer Wei Jun is a middle-aged man with a long dagger and bright armor. His dragon horse is wearing silver armor and lacquered leather under his crotch.But when he got off his horse, threw the reins to the side attendant, looked at the people in front of the city gate, laughed loudly and said, "Hurry up and hurry up, unexpectedly, I fell behind the women and the crippled!"

Feng Jian was horrified when he heard the words, and Yao Yi, who was looking at him, changed color suddenly.But Luo Yi in the wheelchair didn't look angry, and even said with a smile: "White horse and silver armor, with a horn of hundreds of miles, such a pomp, I think this guy must have beheaded thousands of enemies and routed the enemy for more than [-] miles in the battle of Youyou." Are you going to be General Li?"

Cheng Li's eyes lit up, and he said with a smile: "You crippled eyesight is pretty good!" He stepped forward a few steps, and said with a weary smile: "But you are the leader of tens of thousands of soldiers, and stand side by side with a proud man like me. , Isn’t it too presumptuous?” With a curious expression on his face, he walked around the wheelchair a few times, clicked his tongue, pointed and joked with his followers: “Hahaha, such ingenious skills are as good as this!”

Feng Jian and Yao Yi looked at each other with disapproval on their faces.Luo Yiyi remained unmoved, looking at Cheng Li with a half-smile.But when he saw that he was in high spirits, he even brandished his spear, slapped the back of the wooden wheelchair in an insulting manner, and said with a joyful smile, "Tell me, how do you plan to go into battle? Ask someone to push this thing—rush up and crush the enemy to death." Army?"

The generals under his command burst out laughing.But seeing Luo Yi stretch out his hand to hold the exquisitely carved long spear in his palm, he responded neither humble nor overbearing: "I heard that for a general, wisdom is the first, followed by benevolence, followed by bravery. A good fighter is planning a strategy. But to win the battle thousands of miles away, don’t you think you have to do somersaults and somersaults on the battlefield yourself, competing with the soldiers and warriors under your command for beheading the enemy’s head?”

Cheng Li smiled and said: "You are eloquent, if there is a vacancy in my tent, I really want to hire you as a strategist..." As he was talking, he wanted to withdraw his long spear, but who would have thought that it would be difficult for him to win? Unable to succeed, he felt a strong force coming from the dagger, dragging him straight to the ground, if he hadn't lowered his waist in time to resist, he would have staggered a step and turned somersault in front of everyone!He glanced in shock, only to see Yao Yi by his side, holding the handle of the sword, and said in a deep voice: "General Chengli, we are all ordered to advance together, to fight against the enemy together, and to fight against foreign enemies is the most important thing, why should we insult our comrades?" , What about hiding inside the wall?"

Ge Shang's strength suddenly disappeared, Cheng Li stabilized his figure, stared at Yao Yi in astonishment, and thought: "I can't imagine that this woman who looks like a reed stick has such physical strength!"

Yao Yi frowned and watched this arrogant and frivolous man suddenly turn his face back. He was puzzled when he heard a rush of horseshoes coming from behind the formation. Someone said coldly: "Hurry up, I didn't expect to fall on a fool." later!"

If it wasn't inappropriate, Feng Jian on the side would really laugh out loud.However, the last supporting army - the military training army under Dongmen Lang's command has also come windingly, holding high the commander's flag.The leading general reined in his horse and stopped with a "wow", looking down from a high position.He had a pair of white eyes that were more white than black, his brows were sharp, and he showed his sharpness between glances. He neither dismounted nor gave a salute. He turned his head to look at the snow-white dragon horse beside him, and said, "Poor!"

Cheng Li narrowed his eyes and said, "Blind man, who do you think is pitiful?"

Dongmen Lang turned a deaf ear to it, and taunted the pure-blooded horse to himself, saying: "Being ridden by an idiot all day long, this animal hasn't gone crazy yet! I just walked with that guy for half a day , I feel the stench is so strong that I almost faint!"

Cheng Li grinned and retorted, "Why don't you say that blind people are worse than animals?"

Dongmen Lang looked at Cheng Li coldly, and said, "Who do you say is blind?"

"Oh, disrespect, disrespect!" Cheng Li bowed his knees pretentiously, and said with a smile, "I've been walking with the general for most of the day, but I didn't see the general looking up at me. I thought the general had some hidden disease that he couldn't see unfortunately. !"

Feng Jian supported his forehead, listening to these two pampered noble children going back and forth like naughty schoolchildren, flirting with each other, he just felt that his head was aching after many days of fighting against the war.After finally smoothing things over with Yao Yi and appeasing the two of them, they led the generals into the city one by one and set up their own camps. Unexpectedly, on the short journey, the cavalry from Dongmenlang collided with the guard of honor in Chengli, and the two generals went back to the city. In the end, it is inevitable that they will be gearing up and fighting, and they will meet together in the martial arts field for "competition and competition".Looking at the two of them, Yao Yi sneered again and again, and said goodbye to Feng Jian, and went to rectify the troops.

Feng Jian originally prepared a detailed deployment plan and wanted to report the battle situation to the generals, but at this time he could only swallow it back.He sighed out of interest, and was about to return the account, but he saw Luo Yiwu, the commander of the Hukan army, hadn't left.He raised his head and stared intently at the gap in the city wall, and suddenly said: "The enemy army seems to be divided and has different military orders."

Feng Jian was stunned and said, "How did the general see it?"

Luo Yi pointed at the mottled city wall and said with a smile: "There are pits smashed by stone cannons, yellow stains from flooding, and scorched ashes from fire. I hastily inferred that the coalition forces have not yet captured the city, and the military strength of various countries has been weakened, so that the military orders have been repeated, and they cannot be consistent."

Feng Jian cheered up, and hurriedly said: "That's right! The general knows a little about it, and I also deduce it."

Luo Yi smiled, and turned his eyes to look at the debris scattered under the city wall.He also had a speculation that he had never made it clear to Feng Jian, and his intuition from many years of fighting offensive and defensive told him that there were indeed some people in the five-nation coalition who had a clear and outstanding offensive thinking, but for some reason they failed to take the lead—why?Is it because of lack of prestige as a guest general?Or is it to hide his strength and do it deliberately?

He drove the wheelchair to the high ground and looked down at the moats built towards Thornhill City. He saw that the moats were built with platforms of seven feet each, with five steps and one base. The white blade is dense, dazzling and intimidating.Luo Yi couldn't help clapping his palms and said with a smile: "Although the coalition army has many soldiers and generals, it's a pity that we met an expert in defending the city! Mr. Feng is a famous teacher, and he really lives up to his reputation as a teacher. Presumably, the 81 methods of defending the city and preparing acupuncture points have not yet been displayed. Twelve out of ten?"

Back then, the King of Chu was preparing to attack the State of Song. The Gongshu Ban was ordered by the King of Chu to design nine kinds of extremely lethal siege equipment. After hearing the news, Mo Di came to persuade him to make peace. As a chariot, they defeated Gongshuban's siege strategy one by one, and resolved the imminent war between Song and Chu.Later, descendants of the Mohists carried forward the method of "nine attacks and nine distances" pioneered by Mozi. It is said that they designed a total of 81 methods of defending the city that can resist the siege of strong troops. Non-disciples and disciples cannot know.Therefore, once Luo Yi saw the structure of the trench construction, he could be sure that Feng Jian must be a Mohist child.

Feng Jian only said "General Luo's ridiculous praise", obviously acquiescing that Luo Yi's inference is not bad.When he saw Luo Yi for the first time, he thought that Luo Yi was just another person sent by a nobleman to claim military exploits, but after talking with him, he felt that his words were speculative; place.Feng Jian was so excited that he even pushed away Luo Yi's entourage, personally pushed the wheelchair for him, led him to visit the barracks, and discussed the enemy's situation in the past few days and the current defense of the city.The two walked to the logistics and supply camp, and Feng Jianxu said: "...In the final analysis, it is not difficult to defend this city wall. What worries me the most is that there are frequent droughts in various places this year, and the lack of food and grass—"

As he was talking, he glanced at Luo Yi inadvertently, and stood on the spot in shock: But seeing him staring ahead, his face changed suddenly, his lips turned white, and he even trembled slightly—this calm and capable man who can be humiliated in public The soldier who looked calm and calm was suddenly so excited that he couldn't help it, his blue eyes burst out with a strange brilliance, his cheeks were flushed, as if hot magma was boiling under the pale and cold granite.Feng Jian was dumbfounded, thinking that he was suffering from a sudden illness, and held his hands in panic: "General!——"

Luo Yi lowered his head, took a deep breath, and managed to calm down.Feng Jian deeply regretted that he had ignored that the other party was still a weak and sick person after all!Presumably, after several days of exhaustion, he could not rest for a while, but instead was dragged back and forth by himself, he must have run out of energy.Feng Jian hastily apologized, and wanted to order his followers to welcome Luo Yi back to the tent, but Luo Yi stopped him.He didn't look right, and said with a pale face and a smile: "I'm sorry, I don't have to go back to the camp. I think it's more comfortable to be in an open place in the wild."

Feng Jian was inconvenient to go against his will, and decided not to talk about the battle situation for the time being, but to talk about leisure.They were facing the stables and granaries in the barracks. The logistics soldiers were pushing the grain carts past, and a horseman was carrying two bundles of hay into the stable with his back to them.

Feng Jian's eyes lit up, he took two quick steps forward, and slapped the groom on the shoulder: "I've caught you! Come back with me to punish you!"

The young man wiped his sweat and turned around.His eyes were black and big, as docile as a colt, he smiled before he spoke, and his face turned red before he smiled, he grabbed his coat and put it on, and then smiled shyly: "Master Feng is joking again."

"Where am I kidding?" Feng Jian pointed at the young horseman, and said with a smile, "Why did you disappear when you were checking the luggage during the day? You don't do business all day long. If these horses are missing, I will take you as a question." !"

The horseman smiled and said: "How can there be less? It's not as good as the number of adults?"

Feng Jian was stunned, and really counted it silently, and said in surprise: "Why are there so many?" He stepped forward to identify it carefully, gently grabbed the ear of a chestnut stallion, and wondered: "Where did this guy come from?"

The sorrel horse flicked its mane, and snorted loudly at Feng Jian.The horseman couldn't help laughing, and explained: "It's the breeding season for horses. The smell from a estrous mares can attract males from far away to mate. This one is a wild horse from Yanzhi Mountain."

Feng Jian still couldn't believe it: "Don't make nonsense, Yanzhi Mountain is more than hundreds of miles away from here! How could it smell the smell and come running all the way?"

The horseman smiled slowly and said: "Then what can I do? Its sweetheart is here. Even if there are thousands of mountains and rivers, and the ground is full of thorns, it will always rush to find it!"

Feng Jian bent down and saw clearly that although the chestnut horse had strong muscles and bones, its hooves were clearly split, its mane was messy, and its ribs were so thin that it was indeed a characteristic of long-distance running for many days. , turned to Luo Yi who was behind him and smiled, "General, what do you think?"

Luo Yi, who had been staring at the ruts on the ground and was silent just now, turned around.He let go of the hand tightly gripping the armrest of the wheelchair, stared indifferently at the restless and excitedly mooing stallion, and said lightly:

"Then castrate it."