Chapter 17 second quarter

Gabion City, the capital of Yizhou, in the light rain, seemed to be covered with a layer of gray all around, and the atmosphere looked extraordinarily solemn. In addition to the civilians in charge of logistics, most of the residents in Shilong City were forced to move to other towns and counties two years ago, and the entire city became a purely military fortress and headquarters of the "Three Realms Army". Compared with the festival-like camp outside the city after breaking through Luchang City that day, the scene outside the Gabion City is a completely different world.Within half a mile around the city, the "Three Realms Army" dug an additional trench and built a large number of fortifications.More than 5,000 infantrymen and patrol cavalry in full gear formed the "screen guard battalion" and guarded in shifts outside the city day and night.The whole city seems to be in a state of preparation for war all the time, without the breath of life in the past.

On this day, the security of Stone Cage City was even tighter: all the main generals of the "Three Realms Army", including the leaders of the dozen gangs of Yizhou thieves who joined only two years ago, will gather in the city to hold a major military meeting. Heizi didn't wear the black armor he usually used for expeditions, but only a gray cloth robe. He stood on the top of the tower in front of the stone cage city, looking down at the cavalrymen entering the city one after another. Of course he had expected that these generals who were horse thieves would never come to the meeting alone.However, such equipment is too much: they are all wearing heavy armor for field battles, and the shining swords, guns and silver blades are shining in the rain, and most of them are carrying bows and arrows.He didn't pay attention to the rules of banning the entry of weapons into the stone cage city at all.

A guard hurried up the tower. "Little prince..." The guard's face was full of tension. "The soldiers brought by those generals... refused to hand over their weapons in front of the city gate, and the gatekeepers were arguing with them..." Heizi turned around, his posture had a majesty that was not there before, but his face was still a little immature, which seemed a little out of place. "Forget it..." Heizi waved his hand. "Pass it down, let's see this time, make an exception." "But...!" Heizi's subordinates objected.Of course they were all worried about King Jing's safety.

"Just do it like this." Heizi completely ignored them, and his subordinates didn't make a sound.Ever since the victory in Tongcheng, no one regarded this little King Xuan as merely the son of King Jing.Even the proud General Mao took the lead in announcing that the first merit of the campaign should be credited to this little princess. Heizi stepped down the tower, just in time to meet one of the cavalry entering the city. The leading general, Shao Han, has a jackal-like face.There are several scars on his right cheek. According to what he told people, they were wounds he suffered when he was killed by the guards when he was young; but some people said that he was once arrested by the government, and the prisoner's "golden letter" was stabbed on his face. ", and later he used a knife to make a few cuts to cover it up.

When Shao Han saw the special King Xuan, he didn't get off his horse, and just rode over to look down at Heizi (actually, standing like this, Heizi was only a head shorter than him on the saddle), His hands were held on the handle of the knife at his waist, and his posture was very arrogant and rude.The subordinates beside Heizi were also angry when they saw it, but they didn't dare to make a sound first. "Little boy, long time no see!" Shao Han said half-jokingly. "The face is still so slippery! Haha!" Heizi's childish face did cause him a lot of trouble in the army.When he first led the army, the sergeants were very suspicious of him.So, he simply put on a wooden mask under the battle helmet to go into battle, and the result was a successful succession of battles.There was no need to hide his face anymore, but he thought the mask was a good omen, and he still wore it when he went into battle, but it was a black mask made of iron sheets.Sure enough, when attacking the east gate of Tongcheng, it blocked a stray arrow for him.

In normal times, Heizi would have stretched out his hand and overturned Shao Han's mount.But today he was surprisingly calm, just stretching his fingers towards the intersection. "Wangfu is over there." He left without looking back.This made Shao Han a bit self-defeating, so he had to laugh dryly again, and then led his subordinates to the King Jing's mansion. The predecessor of King Jing's Mansion was the official office of the governor of Shilong City.Of course, after the occupation, all kinds of security facilities were built around the yamen: rough earth walls, fences with sharpened wood, and tall towers built with bamboo.

After a round of discussions, the soldiers and horses of the foreign generals could only stay five streets away; the original guards of the palace were also withdrawn.At the same time, a large number of soldiers from the "screen guard battalion" outside the city were also transferred into the city to monitor each other with the cavalry across the street. This tense atmosphere did not start today. The "Three Realms Army" has been unable to advance eastward for a long time, of course because the government and the army have laid a solid line of defense; but at the same time, because the "Three Realms Army" has expanded too fast, many internal contradictions have not yet been resolved.

The most serious thing is: the military discipline of the troops who were born as horse bandits in Yizhou is unknown, and incidents of burning, killing and looting have occurred after many sieges, which greatly tarnished the reputation of the "Three Realms Army".The soldiers who were originally peasants were also victims of horse thieves in the past. Although they are fighting under the same tricolor flag, it is really difficult to cooperate sincerely.There were two encounters with the official army, and it was because the two factions did not cooperate with each other that they turned victory into defeat.

King Jing announced the convening of this meeting, precisely to solve these problems at once, reorganize the command system, and then go east to declare war on the government and army again. In the hall of the palace, the seven generals sat in two rows on the left and right, and the guards stood behind them—each person was only allowed to bring two guards into the palace. They didn't wait for King Jing's arrival, they ate the food and wine in front of them heartily.Some were full after a round of wolfing down, and hiccupped while clutching their stomachs.All of them looked at the vacated throne from time to time, showing impatient expressions.

They were reluctant to come to this meeting in the first place.They turned out to be the leaders of horse thieves at ease. They didn't like to be restrained and commanded by others. They just wanted to use the huge momentum of the "Three Realms Army" to expand the scope of looting and continue to accumulate property; They disagree with each other. Among them, a few of the clear-headed ones—including Shao Han—had already made up their minds: not only should they not release any military power in this meeting, but they should also strive for more autonomy.In future battles with the government and the army, the hard ones will be left to the farmers, and they will only pick up soft and rich places to fight; once the "Three Realms Army" shows a disadvantage, they will accept the government's recruitment at any time, and then stab King Jing in the back. Knife, maybe even get a job as an official...

"I don't have enough women there..." A general said to his colleagues, "I heard that you made a fortune in Luzhong County... how about selling me some?" "Okay, I'm tired of playing anyway... seventy taels of silver each!" "It's too expensive... Let's see the goods first and then calculate..." "Is it too expensive? Last time you borrowed that batch of arrows from me, you haven't settled the score with you yet!" The two quarreled louder and louder, and almost immediately started fighting. King Jing entered the hall at this time. Scythe was still barefoot, walking across the cold stone ground in the center.The weather had already warmed up, but he was wrapped in a large woven blanket, and his head was also tightly wrapped with a cloth scarf.Although he was dressed heavily, his body looked thinner than before, and he seemed a little shorter.There was a layer of waxy yellow on his face. Since Heizi, he has been assassinated five times in the past four years.Two of them were poisoned, but after eating enough to poison the horse, he came back to life, but his body would get chills intermittently.During the Battle of Bronze City, he slept on the sickbed. Accompanied by him are the "parachutist" Mao Renjie with only a long sword hanging from his waist, and Sun Er, who is empty-handed.When the generals saw Mao Renjie, they looked more fearful than King Jing.They have all seen him lead troops in battle and know that he is a powerful man. There was no trace of King Xiaoxuan. Scythe sat on the throne, stretching out his thin but still strong palm. "You generals, you have worked hard." Although the generals didn't really respect the "king" in their hearts, they all put down their wine glasses. "It has been... two years since our army entered the territory of Yizhou." Lian Shou put down his palm and continued. "During these days, we confronted the imperial court. Although we made no progress, we still held our ground firmly and did not shake the officer and army at all... Recalling that when I started the incident, I was besieged at the gate of the bag, and only twenty-seven people were left with me. Ride..." He looked left and right at the two loyal generals. "It's like a dream to have such a scene today..." Scythe scanned the seven generals. "However, we can't rest on our laurels. There are still many starving people waiting to be liberated... This king has decided that within three months, the 'Three Realms' will attack eastward as a whole." "Three months?" Shao Han smiled. "King Jing has also been sitting in this gabion city for too long. I don't know how our brothers are working hard outside, right? Three months is a dream." After Shao Han finished speaking, he paused.He knew that when King Jing was interrupted, Mao Renjie couldn't help scolding him.But no.Mao Renjie didn't make a sound, just looked at him coldly.This made Shao Han a little guilty. He bit the bullet and continued: "In my opinion, Your Majesty should allocate more food and salaries to enrich our cavalry, let us conduct more guerrilla sneak attacks, and gradually weaken those dogs' paws... After a while, the time will come." When I'm mature, I'll see if we want to make a big attack..." The other generals also booed and applauded. Lian Shou looked at the mouths that were covered with wine and vegetables and kept moving, but he didn't listen to a word. All he heard was the sound of rain, heavy rain.In Tokuromon Valley, the last day of the siege of a lone army.He hid under the rock, holding the stick of charcoal with trembling fingers, and wrote down his determination in his diary... His raised palms silenced all voices. "I see, all right." Hearing this "Okay", Shao Han and all the generals were a little stunned, but not without excitement. ——Is this guy’s will so weak?If I knew it earlier, I would ask for more... Scythe reached under the felt, took out a sheepskin bag, and threw it on the stone floor in the center of the hall. The mouth of the bag was opened, and a pile of gold coins poured out, among which were a few finger-sized gemstones. "Just a little?" Shao Han laughed. "It's not enough for me to fight a battle!" "But it's enough to buy the fourteen people behind you." When Lian Shou said, he didn't move a single muscle on his face. At the same time, a person appeared from the front door, closed the door tightly from the inside, and lowered the cross bar. A figure in a gray cloth robe, with an expressionless black iron mask on his face.A two-handed machete more than five feet long rested on his shoulder, the blade was light blue like a cold moon. "You guys." Scythe's hand pointed at the fourteen guards this time. "To choose these golds..." Then he pointed to the knife hand in front of the door. "...Or choose him?" "Momba!" Shao Han stood up angrily. "Shoot you, you fart king first—" His voice stopped abruptly, and his body standing there was covered with cold sweat. The other six generals also stood up, and then showed the same expressions as Shao Han, and they looked down at the food and wine on the table at the same time. "poison……!" A guard standing closest to the knife hand in front of the door silently reached out and pulled out the scimitar from his waist, and slashed at the knife hand horizontally along the way of drawing the knife. The whole movement was coherent, swift and without warning. . But the saber hand seemed to be able to do sorcery, and his body drifted a few inches back to the right, just in time to let the tip of the scimitar pass in front of him. The saber hand shrugged, using the strength of the shoulder to assist, the five-foot-long saber slashed out in a very short arc, slashing the guard's upper body obliquely from the shoulder and neck.The blood column shot into the air, and then came back like rain.Bits of blood raindrops hit the iron mask. The other thirteen guards were shocked by this knife. The tip of the knife pointed at the guard's comrade who was killed, and the man's first reaction was to avenge his partner.But at this moment, the whole body seemed to be nailed to death by the tip of the blade, without any movement. The guards looked at the bag of treasure on the ground again. The sound of weapons falling to the stone floor one by one. The knife hand took off the iron mask at this time, revealing a childish face. "You...you are all going to die!" Shao Han looked at the betrayed guards behind him, then at King Jing, and finally at Heizi, "Have you forgotten the soldiers and horses we deployed outside? If we have no hair, they will Come in now!" Mao Renjie snorted coldly, and spoke for the first time: "Do you think those people waiting outside are more loyal than the guys you brought in as personal guards?" Shao Han's face turned blue. Heizi hung the long knife to the ground, and dragged it forward step by step, the tip of the blade rubbed against the stone slab, making a teeth-piercing sound. "Do you know why I didn't talk to you when I was at the city gate?" Heizi stared straight at Shao Han. "There's not much to say to someone who is about to die." He raised the long knife with both hands. "You, first." Lian Shou looked at the imminent massacre with indifference, his face was a completely different person from when he received recruits on the outskirts of Luchang. A bit like Yu Runsheng.
After this purge was completed, King Jing's Lian Shou regained full command of the "Three Realms Army". The short and limited peace with the imperial court was thus declared over. The earth is about to roll up a fishy wind.