Zhen Ku was flogged three times for demoralizing the army. This was because Ju Shu said that he had done a good job in collecting food and was given a lenient sentence.
Although Zhen Ku was physically tired, her heart was not bitter at all, just because the Taishan bandit outside the city turned out to have a silver-like wax spear head, which was hard to tell.
In the next half month, Zhen Ku asked his disciples to bring food to the city as before, and then came back to tell him the situation outside the city.
Although he was bedridden, he felt so happy when he heard the news.
This rustic Taishan bandit still expects to besiege the city of Xiangguo? He Zhenku planned it through Du Liang. He doesn't know how much grain is stored in the city?
Let's put it this way, it's totally fine to eat like this for half a year.
As for the reinforcements from the imperial court that haven't come after half a year? Can the Taishan bandits under the city withstand half a year's consumption?
In this way, Zhen Ku no longer had any worries and returned to her former happiness as usual.
This city is surrounded by light, and this day has been lighted.
…
But unfortunately the good times ended after this month.
Who would have expected that there would be a stone cart outside the city? Seeing that Xiangguo City was in danger under the continuous bombardment outside the city, Zhen Ku finally saw Ju Hong among the people who were withdrawing.
Standing on the wall of his house, Zhen Ku said to the confused Ju Hong:
"General Ju, how is this city?"
Juhong was still looking for a place to rest. After a sleepy night, he heard someone calling him. When he saw that it was the unlucky guy he had coaxed into the city before, he felt a little embarrassed and said:
"Young, it turns out to be Mr. Zhen. This city is very good, you don't need to worry."
When he said this, a stone bullet hit a hundred steps away from where the two people were talking, directly smashing the mansion into pieces.
This scene made what Ju Hong just said become a joke, and the scene was very embarrassing for the moment.
On the wall of the house, for some unknown reason, Zhen Ku suddenly said this:
"General Ju, you'd better find a place to take shelter. The impact of these stone bullets is really scary."
Juhong below smiled contemptuously and said:
"These stone bullets are hitting people who are greedy for life and afraid of death. How can they hurt me at all?"
As soon as he finished speaking, another stone bullet hit Juhong ten steps away, and then a fragment the size of a fist spread out, cutting open half of Juhong's head and bleeding all over the floor.
Zhen Ku was frightened. The living person he had been talking to just now was shattered into pieces in front of his eyes, and his blood collapsed on the ground.
At this moment, he could no longer stand still and collapsed directly on the ground, wailing:
"I really don't want you to die."
But his words were of no use. His disciples all watched all this in silence, at a loss.
…
Juhong is dead.
When Jushou, who was recuperating in the city, heard the news, the decoction in his hand fell to the ground.
Jushou finally fell ill due to overwork. At this time, his face was sallow and his muscles were thin, but his eyes were still bright, but today the light in Jushou's eyes was dim.
He had brought Juhong from his clan on his own will. But now this man died in the city before him, so how could he explain it to his clansmen? Moreover, Jushu originally wanted to leave his son alone to him, but Juhong died.
"How did Juhong die?"
At this time, Ju Shou was leaning on the couch and asked his general Ding Wu, who was also the commander of the Red Head Army.
Ding Wu looked sad and replied:
"He was beaten to death by a stone cart outside the city. According to what Zhen Ku said, after Ah Hong came down from the city, he said a few words to him, and then he was hit by a stone and died on the spot."
Jushou held back his grief and closed his eyes to digest.
Then he suddenly said to Ding Wu:
"Send that Zhen Ku to the top of the city. If it weren't for talking to this person, Ah Hong wouldn't have died."
Ding Wu nodded, and then waited patiently for Ju Shou's next arrangement.
Jushou asked again:
"How are the three generals Li Ding, Jin Zhun, and Zhao Rong in the city?"
Ding Wu carefully said:
"The three generals have had several gatherings recently, but the last general has not found out what exactly they said."
Although Ding Wu said this, he also knew that it would definitely not be a good thing for the three generals to meet in private at this time.
However, this matter was quite serious and he did not dare to make a decision. He could only report it to Jushou and let him arrange it.
Jushou thought for a long time. The room was very quiet, so quiet that the only sound was Ding Wu's own breathing. After a long time, Ding Wu heard Jushou's order:
"You go down first and complete the arrangements. Then call General Su Yousu up."
Ding Wu respectfully said:
"Here"
…
When Zhao sent an order from General Yin Kai and Ding Wu to Zhen Ku, ordering him to take all his troops and disciples to the city immediately.
Zhen was stunned.
He didn't expect that he would finally get on top of it. Although he was afraid of the city, Zhen Ku had no choice. Looking at the eagerly looking soldiers below, Zhen Ku believed that as long as he dared to say no, he and the others could be killed.
Everything was clean.
Zhen Ku secretly cursed these rough guys, they are really bad, they are killing their donkeys.
Wasn't he able to raise so much corn so quickly by using his family wealth and decades of reputation as a guarantee? Now that he is no longer needed, just throw him away like a shoehorn.
But what can I do if I am a swordsman and I am a fish?
Although he had blocked the door before, it could not stop the tigers and wolves below. Finally, as the people below became increasingly impatient, Zhen Ku tidied up and opened the door honestly.
Afterwards, he and the thirty disciples inside the wall were escorted to the top of the city.
As he walked ahead, he heard that the soldiers behind him, Lao Ge, were already robbing his family of their savings. Zhen Ku felt miserable.
But it wasn't until he actually reached the top of the city that he realized what suffering was.
At this time, the city was full of wailing and slumping, with bloody marks on each foot. After five or six days of non-stop attacks, arrows shot from the high slope on the opposite side were missed, and huge rocks were thrown from a distance. It can be said that it was difficult to see
Less than a little bit of life.
Under such circumstances, Zhen Ku thought of death. He planned to jump off the top of the city and die directly.
But when he reached the top of the city and glanced down, he gave up.
He comforted himself, since it would be the same if he died early or late, why are he still so anxious? It is better to take a look at this beautiful scenery first, and one day later will be better.
In this way, he took thirty disciples and started his first day of duty on the top of the city.
After all, this Xiangguo City still gives Zhen Ku hope. This city fortress made entirely of bricks and stones is not that easy to break. Even though the stone machines on the opposite side are constantly bombarding, the main part of the city is still intact.
Moreover, most of the casualties on the top of the city came not from the stone machines, but from the several slopes not far away. They were built by the bandit army, and archers were constantly condescending to attack the city.
The Han archers on the city had insufficient shooting range and could only be beaten passively, which is why they suffered so many casualties.
But Zhen Zhen's journey all over the country was not a joke. He also had some experience. He knew that these kinds of mountains were most afraid of heavy rains. Once it rained, they would collapse sooner or later.
Now March is a rainy time in the North, so as long as you endure it, you will be able to hold on.
So when Zhen endured the pain until the second day, he once again thought about death.
On one day, six Tuli people had died. Two of them looked out out of curiosity and were sniped to death by shooters on the opposite slope.
Zhen Ku had long since lost his previous rhetoric. He caged the remaining disciples and said to them:
"Children, it's me, Lao Zhen, who can't stand up to you all. This time, I may drag you to death here. But you don't have to worry, it's me who has a grudge against Jushu. Later, if you find an opportunity, sneak off the city wall.
Go and hide in my house. I have hidden more than ten gold pieces under the big mulberry tree in the courtyard. You can share it with me."
After saying that, Zhen Ku pressed the suicide note she had written long ago under her legs, canceled her gold ring and threw it into her mouth.
Obviously, Zhen Ku wants to commit suicide by swallowing gold.
But after holding it for three times, Zhen Ku vomited it out in disgust.
Just when he was about to swallow for the fourth time, the disciples on the side "finally" reacted, hugged Zhen Ku, and then threw away the gold ring, eliminating Zhen Ku's chance of committing suicide.
The disciples all vowed to live and die with their master, and in the end Zhen Ku hugged the disciples and cried bitterly before giving up the idea of committing suicide.
Ridiculous, pitiful, sad, deplorable.
…
On this day, Zhen Kuzhao and his remaining disciples were on guard at the top of the city. Now, after experiencing life and death for several days, they could eat gracefully among the piles of corpses and blood.
Of course, this is more callous than tough.
There was no sign of the heavy rain that Zhen had been waiting for, and there was not a trace of reinforcements outside the city.
What worries him even more is that the corn sent to the city is getting thinner and thinner. There is obviously a problem with the supply. But as an insider, Zhen Ku knows that the city has reserves. Logically speaking, it has only been a month and the supplies should not be consumed.
So fast.
Zhen Ku was at the top of the city, unaware that a major event had happened in the city in the past few days.
It turned out that on the second day after Zhen Ku entered the city, Prime Minister Jushou finally took action against the three generals Li Ding, Jin Zhun and Zhao Rong.
The person responsible for taking action was Su You, who had a grudge against Li Ding. When General Li Ding met in private again, Su You decisively led the red-headed troops in.
Among the three generals, Zhao Rong was the smartest. When he was fighting in from outside, he jumped from the window, directly mounted his horse and ran towards his barracks.
Jin Zhun hid in the wall and tried to escape, but was stabbed to death by Yin Kai, a young general of the Red Head Army.
The bravest one is Li Ding. He has always been cautious, and even when meeting in private, he would wear armor and stomach, so when the Red-headed Army entered, he grabbed a long knife and entered an attic, and then stood high and stood firm.
Because they were worried about causing chaos in the city, Su You and others did not order the fire, and in the end they had no choice but to have a stalemate with Li Ding here.
Li Ding shouted from the attic:
"Where is Mr. Ju? I, Li Ding, have been wronged. The villain Su You harmed me."
His voice is sad and timid, and his face is moved when he hears it.
After shouting several times, Jushou was really called out.
Sitting on the chariot, Jushou's face turned red due to illness. He listened to Li Ding shouting injustice from above and finally asked:
"What grievances do you have? We communicated in private, but what else can we say?"
There was silence upstairs for a while, and then Li Ding was heard saying:
"Jugong, I am really wronged. Zhao Rong and I were deceived by Jin Zhun and said we wanted to make a fortune from this supply. Because Jin Zhun was responsible for the supply of the city, he said he could lead everyone to make a fortune.
, so he made an appointment with me. But Zhao Rong and I really didn’t follow along.”
Jushou did not expect that the three generals met privately to make money. Could this be a big mistake?
Originally, Jushou would not be so anxious, but his illness and the tragic death of his clan members stimulated Jushou and made him decide to solve the matter in the cruelest way. Otherwise, he could just call the three generals into the house and interrogate them one by one.
After thinking about it, Jushou decided to give Li Ding a chance. So he said to the person upstairs:
"If you dare to abandon your weapons and go downstairs, I will spare your life."
Jushou's words made Su You anxious, and he couldn't help but said:
"Prime Minister, you have already been killed like this, and you still want to hold back? If you don't kill Li Ding today, he will rebel later. Prime Minister, think again."
What Su You said made sense, so he decided that if Li Ding hesitated for a moment, he would be angry and kill him.
But I didn't expect that Li Ding was a real person. After hearing Jushou's words, without any hesitation, he went to Jushou with bare hands and naked clothes, kneeling on his knees to plead guilty.
In the end, Jushou thought that Li Ding was a talented person and decided to let him go.
Li Ding was also obedient, and persuaded Zhao Rong to surrender upon request, and then handed over all his clan troops to Jushu, and he and Zhao Rong joined Jushu's garrison as guardsmen.
Both as a hostage and as a show of loyalty.
In this way, the military chaos dissipated, and the supply on the city was restored to its original state. But the Han army on the city knew nothing about this.
…
The Han army on the top of the city once again defeated the Taishan army's siege.
This time, Taishan's army actually started to attack the city in caves.
It turned out that after observing the battle for several days, Guan Yu in the camp suddenly realized that Xiang State had no moat. So he planned to try to attack the city in a hole.
In the past, if a city had a moat, it would be impossible to attack the city through a hole. Because even if you dig deep into the bottom of the river and pass through, the pressure of the water will collapse the hole.
But which important city today does not have a moat? Therefore, cave siege is a very limited means of siege and is generally not used. This is why Guan Yu did not expect it at first.
But now Xiang State only had trenches but no water, so Guan Yu asked Dian Wei to try.
The State of Zhao already had many iron mines and a large number of miners within the territory, so Dian Wei selected a group of Zhao soldiers and began to dig tunnels and prepare for hole attacks.
But this time the excavation failed. Because the depth of the trench was not predicted, the dirt road was dug directly on top of the trench. So when the workers were digging the hole, they found themselves in the trench under the city.
At this time, he was discovered by the Han army on the top of the city. There was a shower of arrows, and the attack on the hole failed.
Because the Taishan Army's attack was defeated today, a meal of pork was served on the city wall.
Just as Zhen Ku and his disciples were huddled in a corner, chewing pork, they suddenly heard a commotion and boiling noise below the city.
Curiosity is human nature.
So even though it was dangerous, many people, including Zhen Ku, still stood on the edge of the city and looked down.
Then they saw a scene they would never forget.
I saw a brave warrior, with a flag with the word "aid" on his back and a bay-red horse, running directly through the bandit formation below the city, stirring up a cloud of dust.
The Han soldiers in the city were talking a lot, lamenting what a brave man they were, daring to ride into the bandit formation.
Soon, the warrior rushed to the bottom of the city. Facing the ditch that was ten feet wide, the warrior jumped on his horse, then turned over and landed at the bottom of the city.
His skills are amazing, his skills are amazing.
While the city was still stunned, Zhen Ku had already reacted and cursed:
"What are you doing standing still? Pull me up."
Then a basket was lowered, and the warrior was dragged up to the top of the city by the unwilling Taishan army below the city.
As soon as the warrior landed, he clasped his fists at Zhen Ku:
"I am Liu Changle of Changshan. Thank you for your help."
Then the warrior was led into the city by the soldiers on the city.
Just at this moment, a thunderbolt sounded, and Zhen Ku cried:
"Finally, I, Lao Zhen, survived the heavy rain and reinforcements."