Jiuxi

Chapter 62 062 [The sound of drums and horns is heard in the distance]

The moment the bell rang, Guangling City seemed to be at a standstill.

The atmosphere in the city has become increasingly tense in the past few days. Although neither the government nor the defenders have made it clear, many measures have clearly told the people that the enemy's raid on Guangling is likely to become a reality.

Huaizhou enjoyed peace for more than six years, but Guangling enjoyed peace for even longer.

After the fierce battle 13 years ago, Guangling had never suffered a military disaster, and the war between Qi and Yan was limited to the northern security line.

This melodious and deep sound of the bell awakens the memories of many adults, and the tragic scene of the corpses scattered in the fields appears in their minds.

The bells continued to ring, and more and more people walked out of their homes and onto the streets, looking at the city wall in the distance with worried faces.

In a large house in Xicheng, an old man with white hair and beard closed his eyes and listened to the bell, and suddenly let out a sigh.

His name is Xu Jingsheng, the old man of the Xu family. He was famous for being good at business decades ago and earned a prosperous family fortune for the Xu family.Although the descendants are not very ambitious and cannot carry forward the family business like Lu Tong, they can barely maintain it.

Today's Xu family is naturally not as good as the Lu family. Fortunately, it has a deeper foundation and has not shown signs of decline.

Xu Jingsheng slowly opened his eyes, looking at the juniors standing in silence in the hall one by one, and finally stopped at the face of the eldest son, Xu Leshan, with a particularly vicissitude in his tone: "Leshan, did the young master of the Lu family come to see you the day before yesterday? "

Xu Leshan replied respectfully: "Yes, grandfather."

Xu Jingsheng said in a low voice, "What did he say?"

Xu Leshan said: "Lu Ganban said that there are not many defenders in the city. In order to deal with possible enemy forces, the Sutra Weaving Department hopes that the gentry and wealthy merchants can send out their own guardian servants as a reserve for the defenders to fill in at any time. A gap in the city’s defense.”

Xu Jingsheng glanced at Xu Yan, the eldest son next to him: "You didn't agree?"

Xu Yan said hurriedly: "Father, please don't worry, how could I offend the Warp Weaver Department over such a trivial matter? I have sent 23 experts to the Warp Weaver Department, and everything will be subject to the other party's arrangements."

Xu Jingsheng was silent for a moment, and then said to Xu Leshan again: "Ask all the people in the family who are good at warping and kicking to go to the Weaving Department and tell the young master of the Lu family that this is all the Xu family's manpower. If they are disabled or disabled while defending the city, If he dies, the Xu family will bear the money for the pension. Then he will withdraw 5000 taels of cash from the accounting office and send it to the government office. If the government official asks about it, he will say that this is the Xu family's modest contribution to defending the city. In addition, he will immediately take inventory of the family's savings. of food, please give me the accurate figures."

Xu Leshan agreed one by one, and his second brother Xu Huanshan, who was standing next to him, had always been thoughtful and couldn't help but persuade him: "Grandpa, why don't you wait and see what other families are like -"

"Shut up!" Xu Yan shouted quickly.

Xu Jingsheng shook his head slightly, stood up and walked into the inner room. There was a hint of anger in his old voice: "Give Huan Shan a ban, so as not to cause trouble to the Xu family at this time."

Xu Yan glared at his second son fiercely, then bowed and said, "Yes, father."

……

Compared with the solemnity inside the Xu family, the Xue family a few streets away seemed much peaceful.

Xue Huaiyi's eldest son, Xue Zhong, was tidying up the medicine box and cautiously advised: "My father is already old, so it is better to let his son go this time."

"Of course you want to go." Xue Huaiyi looked kind-hearted and added: "Not only are you going, but your junior brothers and nephews are also going. The ringing of the bell means that the enemy army has approached Guangling, and the battle is about to begin. Army Although there are doctors in the army, the number is too small, and there has been no war in Guangling for ten years, so their skills may be very rusty."

Xue Zhong said: "What father said is absolutely true."

Xue Huaiyi sighed and said: "I'm afraid this battle will be very difficult. I don't know what a heavy price the soldiers will have to pay. We, the doctors, can only do our best. By the way, let your junior brothers go to the pharmacy to collect all the medicines that need to be used. Collect them and deliver them to the four doors for easy access on the spot."

Xue Zhong nodded in agreement. Seeing that he deliberately changed the subject, he repeated: "Father, just leave this matter to your son."

Xue Huaiyi shook his head and said with a hint of helplessness: "You all go to help defend the city, and why do you leave me alone at home? Needless to say, you must know that more than ten years ago, my father and Lu Tong fought hard under the city wall for 27 days. sky."

Xue Zhong had no choice but to give up.

Xue Huaiyi recalled the past and said leisurely: "Although Lu Tong is not in Guangling, his boy is pretty good. Alas... it's a pity."

Xue Zhong was slightly puzzled, wondering where the word "pity" came from.

When he wanted to ask again, Xue Huaiyi had already stood up and walked out. Compared with the upright posture before, he was now slightly rickety.

……

Some distance further south from Xue Zhai, you will enter the Guangling Nancheng area.

Most of the people living here are civilians, which can be clearly distinguished from the scale and shape of the buildings.

In the courtyard of a house facing the street, a man in his 30s put on a bundt and was about to go out when he was stopped by his wife.

"What are you going to do?" the woman asked with a sinister look on her face. "Fangzheng said yesterday that the government has posted a notice recruiting civilian men to carry things for the soldiers on the city wall, take care of food and pay them. Now that the city gate is under martial law and no one is allowed to go out, I think I have nothing to do at home, so why not Go sell your strength." The man said honestly.

"What the hell are you thinking about? It's better to seek death! There's going to be a war in the city, what are you doing here at this time?"

"It's just moving things, nothing serious."

"Don't think that I don't know what you are thinking. What can you do at this time? Just stay at home and don't go anywhere!"

The man looked at her fierce look and suddenly smiled.

The woman's eyes were slightly red, but she refused to let go.

The man said: "I heard from people that those soldiers in the north are very vicious. If they are allowed to enter the city, I don't know how many people will die. The two children are so young. If someone is evil, what do you think we should do? ? Don't worry, I promise not to wander around on the city wall, I'm just going to move a few more stones and smash those idiots to death."

The woman looked at him steadily, turned away after a moment, and left a cold sentence: "Come back soon."

"Eh!"

The man responded with a smile, and then strode out of the house.

……

On the city wall, a fierce battle has begun.

Jing Jun was extremely decisive and launched the offensive in the shortest possible time.

They galloped back and forth with their cavalry who were good at riding and shooting, suppressing the archers on the city with their strong bows, while their elite infantry approached the city wall under the cover of shield soldiers, and then climbed up by relying on the ladders attached to the city.

There were fighting on all sides, with the west and north being the focus of Jing's army's attack.

Standing on the city wall and looking down, I saw a surging wave of flag hunters, like a moving iron curtain from bottom to top, with a chilling air reaching into the sky.

During this period of time, Lu Chen had read the internal briefings from the Weaving Department on the war in the north, and had a vague concept of war in this era.

Probably on a certain day of a certain month, the enemy invaded a certain place. Our soldiers fought hard for a long time and finally drove the enemy back. We roughly calculated how many casualties the enemy had and how many casualties our army had.

He knew that the figures on these briefings were real people, and that a few strokes of a pen could mean hundreds of families grieving.

However, it was only superficial on paper. Until this moment, he looked at the Jingchao military formation stretching below the city, with the vanguard army clinging to it like ants, as if some instinct in his blood was being awakened.

Because the Wangmei Ancient Road was too narrow, the main force of Jing's army could not carry large siege equipment and could only carry the simplest ladder attached to the city. This meant that they could not storm the city gate and had to climb the city to seize the city gate area.

But even with such a crude instrument, after the battle started, the pressure on the city defense increased rapidly.

The outer city of Guangling has been repaired and reinforced over the years, and there are urns outside the four city gates. Lu Chen's current position is under the tower of the urn, and the man on the wall in front is commanding the guard of the city under the protection of his own soldiers. The regiment captain "You Pu".

Lu Chen turned to look at Xi Jun beside him and whispered, "Thank you, Brother Xi."

Xi Jun bowed slightly, lowered his head and said, "Young Master Lu, there is no need to be polite."

Lu Chen looked at the long bow and the specially made arrows in his hand, and said solemnly: "Please shoot these arrows near the enemy's generals and make sure they can see the kraft paper tied to the arrows."

"I will live up to my trust!"

Xi Jun looked calm and walked towards "You Pu" after finishing speaking.

Lu Chen took a few steps back, turned his head and looked at the slightly cramped area inside the barbican city, and then moved his eyes to look at a certain area in the city in the distance.

Where his eyes fell, there was a medium-sized handicraft workshop. Logically speaking, under the current situation, all workshops in the city would be temporarily closed. However, this place was extremely busy and in full swing.

People kept coming in carrying empty clay pots that were half a foot high, and then carefully transporting the filled pots to the designated area for placement.

Li Chengen sat here and reminded loudly: "Be careful, be careful, don't be careless, and you must not ruin the young master's important event! The young master said that there will be many rewards after the work is completed!"

"Yes!"

The crowd responded in unison.

　Hello book friends, I received a notice from the editor that due to the recommendation, the book will be put on the shelves at 9 noon next Monday (September 25), and there will be updates from the leader on that day~!Thanks to the boss "Polypropylene" for the second leader reward!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)