Chapter 53 land

In the early morning of Yihai Day in November of the Xinwei Year (December 18, 1271), Lu Wenhuan, Song Zhixiangyang Mansion and Deputy envoy of Beijing Xi'an pacification, boarded the arrow tower in Fancheng early as usual. In the middle of winter, the dense fog slowly diffuses from the river surface like clouds of steam.After the sun came out, the milky white mist began to dissipate, and the land and the lake gradually appeared. Only the distant mountains were still surrounded by thick fog. "Master Futai, what do you think is that?" Fan Tianshun, the guard of Fancheng, pointed to the flags with the word "Dayuan" written on them fluttering under the city wall and asked in surprise.

Lu Wenhuan stared intently: "Great Yuan? Oh, Mongolia has changed its Yuan to 'Great Yuan'." Lu Wenhuan shuddered in his heart, "Xiangyang has been trapped for nearly four years. There are no reinforcements outside and no supplies inside. Although there are There is a lack of salt and cloth for food storage, and the situation is becoming more and more difficult. Even so, the people have no complaints, and they do their best to support the defenders. As a parent and official, Wen Huan is ashamed and ashamed, and has nothing to repay." "Master Futai, this is the salt my father boiled from burning the old purlins. My father asked me to donate it to Lord Futai to make up for my body." Deputy General Niu Fu of Fancheng held a blue cloth bag the size of a palm with both hands.

With tears in his eyes, Lu Wenhuan slowly opened the cloth bag.Two small pieces of pale yellow and grayish salt jumped into view.At this moment, these two pieces of salt are really much more valuable than gold gems, because from the first year of the war, the salt in stock was barely enough. However, at the beginning of the second year, a salt shortage began to occur. The crisis is becoming more and more prominent.During this period, although the imperial court sent reinforcements, they were all defeated by the Mongolian army; Li Tingzhi sent 7,000 death-defying soldiers to rescue Xiangyang from the waterway, but it still ended in a disastrous defeat.

"There has been a lack of clothing and medicine in the city for more than three years, and the salt bar has run out for a long time. As an official of the imperial court, I saw that the soldiers and civilians in the city were dressed in rags, could not ask for salt, and had no medicine for medical treatment. They sent people out of the city to ask for help, but they never came back, and the reinforcements are so far away, I really don't know what to do..." Before Lu Wenhuan finished speaking, he suddenly felt sad and sighed endlessly. "Report to the master of Futai. The Mongolian army envoys came to the city with a book and asked to meet the master." A small school hurriedly climbed up the archery tower and reported to Lu Wenhuan.Lu Wenhuan seemed a little surprised. After thinking for a moment, he said in a deep voice, "Let's lead into the discussion hall first, but ask for details."

The envoys of the Mongolian army wore brand-new cotton robes, fox fur cotton caps, cowhide combat boots, and a well-fitting cyan brocade jacket inside, which was in stark contrast to the soldiers of the Song army in the city.He took out a letter and a "Jianguo Edict" from his sleeve, and handed them to Lu Wenhuan with both hands. Lu Wenhuan opened the letter and browsed through it at a glance: After Lu Wenhuan finished reading Liu Zheng's and A Shu's persuasion letters, he couldn't calm down for a long time.He unfolded the "Edict of Jianguo" printed with movable type on the white rice paper, and read it carefully:

Birth is a king's life, and the whole world is respected by the house; it must have a good name, and the kings will inherit the rule, starting from the right, and the bandit is alone in my family.Moreover, in the Tang Dynasty, it was known as talkative, and Yao was famous for it; in Yu, it was called Yueyue, and Shun was famous because of it... Yu play!To be named for righteousness is not for the sake of beauty; for eternity, it is not yet suitable to face hardships.Jia and several days, a total of grand tuba.Counseling and there are many people, and the body is to the heart.Therefore, this is an imperial edict, and I think it should be known.

Lu Wenhuan read and reread this "Jianguo Edict" and his expression changed indefinitely.Fan Tianshun and Niu Fu looked at each other and asked at the same time, "What did you say in the letter?" Lu Wenhuan casually handed the letter to Wang Fu, the general who was standing beside him. Wang Fu yelled in authentic Sichuan dialect: "What kind of bird letter! We are illiterate and only know how to fight. We don't understand what's wrong with it." He forwarded the letter to Fan Tianshun, Fan Tianshun passed it to Niu Fu after reading it, and Niu Fu handed it back to Lu Wenhuan after reading it. The three of them looked dignified and silent, eager to help Wang Fu look at this and that, his face flushed: " It’s not a death sentence, you don’t say anything, you’re dying of anxiety! Lord Futai, the last general is willing to lead more than a thousand brothers under his command, rush out of the city, kill a bloody road, protect Lord Futai from the encirclement, and arrive Yingzhou is going to settle the score with Li Tingzhi's bastard son!"

"Shut up!" Lu Wenhuan yelled loudly, "Stop talking nonsense!" He thought to himself, don't say that you have more than a thousand people under your command, even if you have the whole city's soldiers, how can you do nothing to the Yuan army?I'm afraid that if you don't cross the moat, you will be decapitated. Wang Fu has been with Lu Wenhuan for many years. He is loyal and honest, brave in battle, and has always been loved by Lu Wenhuan.In the past few years, the Song army had been defending Xiangyang hard, and they could only be beaten passively. Wang Fu felt uncomfortable for a long time, and wished he could lead people out of the city immediately and fight the Yuan army to the death.

"My lord Futai, if you are unwilling to break through the siege, then send the last general to lead more than a hundred of his own soldiers out of the city to fight. Even if the last general dies in battle, he can still catch a few more backs, and show this birdish air." Lu Wenhuan's expression changed suddenly, and he suddenly stood up from his seat.He walked quickly to a huge map, pointed at the colorful wall chart, and said angrily, "Look carefully! This is Lumen Mountain, more than 30 miles southeast of Xiangyang City, where the Yuan army built more than a hundred forts. , put heavy soldiers and artillery guards to deter our army's land army; look here again, there are Baihekou, Tanghekou, Laohekou, Jushui, Zhangshui, Youhe, Xiaolinhe, Chushanhe and Yongminghe. The Yuan army built fortifications and set up troops, erected cannons and crossbows, and intercepted our aid to the Xiang Navy; Dengcheng, Furencheng, Qingyuan Jiwei Cliff, Xianshan Temple, Gaoyangchi Pavilion, Mayuetan River, Laolongdi, Baima Cave, In Gulongzhong, Liu Biao's tomb, and Xushu Temple hundreds of miles away, the Yuan army also deployed cavalry and sailors to swim and shuttle. Today's Xiangyang and Fancheng are surrounded on all sides, like iron buckets, impenetrable, and it is not appropriate to stick to it. How to break through, talk about how to leave the city for a decisive battle!"

He left the wall chart, turned around and stared for a long time at a blue brick and stone road leading from the front to the outside of the door.A ray of light came in from the half-opened window lattice, and hit his disheveled face due to severe lack of food and sleep, showing a more eerie paleness. "With the division of my solitary island brigade, I have competed against the Yuan army for four years. This is unheard of in the history of war. Now, we are complaining every day, and the ground is not working. Yingzhou is very close to Xiangyang, Beijing Li Tingzhi, the ambassador of the Lake System, supervised his teachers and aided Xiang. He was defeated again and again. Not long after he was dismissed, he was appointed as the envoy of the Lianghuai System. A waste of government. The treacherous ministers only know how to preserve their strength, but the loyal ministers have no way to serve the country, and have been repeatedly excluded and relegated. Oh my god, do you really want to chill the hearts of all loyal ministers and let those treacherous ministers and rebellious sons ruin my hundreds of years of foundation in the Song Dynasty?"

There was silence in the hall.For a long time, Fan Tianshun sighed, "We live as citizens of the Song Dynasty, and die as the ghosts of the Song Dynasty. A man serves the country with his own body. How happy is life, and what fear is there in death!" "Okay! Well said! Soup and fire, I'm Niu Fu!" Although Niu Fu didn't talk much, he was full of pride. Wang Fu was still furious, stepped forward and grabbed the Yuan army envoy by the collar, and drew his knife in his hand: "Anyone who is afraid of death is a son of a bitch. Let me kill this pig to sacrifice the flag first, and then fight with the Yuan army Fight to the death!" With a sound of "Boom", Wang Fu's flat-stem knife was blocked by Fan Tianshun's ring-shouldered sword, and Lu Wenhuan took advantage of the momentum to grab Wang Fu's steel knife and threw it to the ground. "Stop being rude! Since ancient times, the two countries have fought each other. If you don't kill the envoy, how can you kill him and ruin my reputation!" The envoy of the Yuan army was still in shock, so he dared to stay no longer, and hurriedly left the city. Near noon, there were crowds of people in front of the Migong Temple in Fancheng. Lu Wenhuan announced to the soldiers and civilians in the city: vow to live and die with the city!