There were constant noises in Yunnei City, including the tramping of horses, the clash of swords and armor, the rumble of collapsed buildings, scoldings, shouts, and cries, all coming one after another, along with the whistling and crashing sounds of arrows coming from outside the city.

, the cry of killing formed an indescribable background sound.

Under this sound, some people are frightened, some are excited, some are confused, some are thinking, and some are sleeping and eating.

The person sleeping was Fulong Wei who was on duty at night. He was snoring constantly in the wing of the governor's mansion. However, the usually harsh snoring had already been drowned out by the noise from the outside world. It was under this situation that Zhang Xing took Qin Bao with him.

, Wang Zhen, Xiao Zhou and other seven or eight Fulong Guards, plus a dozen Jinwu Guards, squatted on the corridor outside the Datongpu wing to eat.

A bowl of millet porridge with soy sauce, two baked pancakes, and a piece of dried meat. The millet porridge was boiled to a pulp, the pancakes were crispy, and the dried meat was oily. Deputy Chang Jian ate it very deliciously.

Of course, not everyone has dried meat... Fulongwei has it, but Jinwuwei only has General Ding Quan, and the rest only have millet porridge and pancakes.

But this is not the worst treatment here. In the corner of the courtyard of this wing, next to the well, a high-ranking Mr. Beiya led two palace maids and two young eunuchs to look after a stove.

A broken earthen jar, inside the earthen jar is a jar of millet porridge... I made the water with my own hands, and the millet was scraped together. This is the ration for the five of them plus eight other palace residents for the whole day today. A bowl will be served later.

I have to ask these Fulong Guards to borrow them.

What's more, according to the decree, the father-in-law can also receive a large bowl of millet porridge, because they can use the sword when necessary, while the maids only have half a bowl.

The porridge was ready, but Fulongwei and Jinwuwei had not finished eating yet, so they had to free up their bowls, so they could only stand there in a daze, and then took the only remaining bowl and let the father-in-law named Yu serve the porridge first.

.

Eunuch Yu was holding the porridge, and sat down next to Zhang Xing with some caution. He started to drink it slowly, but after a few sips, he probably couldn't get used to the porridge with soy sauce added directly.

Holding the bowl, he asked seriously: "Zhang Changjian, they say you escaped back during the Second Conquest of Dongyi... Were you still in this mess at that time? Or is this already settled?"

As soon as these words came out, the people around him, whether they were Fulong Guards, Jinwu Guards, or the palace people who were farther away, all raised their heads to look.

"Absolutely." Zhang Xing took a bite of the pancake and thought thoughtfully. "It was quite good at the beginning. It could make a fire, and the helmet could be used as a pot, so I had hot porridge to drink and hot pancakes to eat."

"Then why didn't many people escape back?" Eunuch Yu couldn't help but be curious.

"Because it was just about the same at the beginning." Zhang Xing shook his head in reply. "Then it started to rain. Once it rained, the fire couldn't be lit. All we could do was make pancakes and cold water... At this time, people started to die directly, and they drank the rainwater.

Some were sick and couldn't get up after sleeping; some were so tired that they just rolled into the ditch without even making a sound; and some were fighting each other for a few pancakes... Now think about it,

Fortunately, it is early spring. Otherwise, if the weather were hotter or colder, I might have died of illness or freezing to death on the road. Fortunately, I failed too quickly and I still have enough food on my body, otherwise I would have eaten people."

Eunuch Yu, who had always been involved in the management of Beiya's script and always had great authority, was fascinated by what he heard. He spilled a little porridge on his hand and licked it quickly. After licking it, he asked seriously: "But it's winter now... what if it snows?"

, will something happen too?"

"It's a good thing if it snows or the temperature drops suddenly." Zhang Xing swallowed the last bite of the pancake and consoled him sincerely. "Because if it snows and the Wu tribe is outside the city and there are so many people, it will be unbearable and they will definitely retreat directly.

Already."

"Oh!" Eunuch Yu was shocked and hurriedly lowered his head to drink the porridge.

"Master Zhang." At this moment, Ding Quanfu, the general of the Jinwu Guards, spoke carefully. "I heard that there are only seventeen or eighteen days of food left in the city?"

The ears of the people around me stood up straighter.

"In fifteen or sixteen days, the Wu people will retreat." Zhang Xing had no intention of scaring these people, nor did he have the intention to verify things that he really didn't know. He just told the truth. "Otherwise, they will be blocked by reinforcements from the North.

Stay here, there won’t be any trace left when the time comes.”

Ding Quan nodded. With this person's intelligence, of course he would not continue to ask, "What should I do if I can't hold on on the 15th and 16th?"

Seeing that no one said anything, Zhang Xing was too lazy to say anything. He just continued to drink porridge. After finishing the meal, he actually washed the bowl by the well and handed it to a palace maid next to him. Then he sat back down, but he didn't know that this was the case.

What to do now.

Speaking of which, the arrow shot on the city gate tower yesterday seemed to have changed something, but it seemed that nothing had changed.

After the saint returned to the county government that day, he stopped going out to interfere in military affairs at all. He only hugged the queen and several young princes. The princess cried bitterly. It is said that her eyes were swollen from crying last night, and she even said that they and their father and son would die from heaven... The attendants

Being so cautious and pessimistic is most likely due to the fact that there was no way to avoid the movement last night, and it was infected.

However, according to Zhang Xing, it doesn't matter just to cry. Anyway, leave the matter to the outside ministers and the generals to do it. He doesn't need a saint like him to point his fingers, and the situation will be worry-free... The generals are experienced and the soldiers are all forbidden troops.

The elite, the so-called best generals, the best soldiers, the best armor, complete city walls and the residents of the city acting as civilian husbands, how can they not defend for half a month?

The Wu clan people came over in a hurry, obviously not prepared to attack the city... As for myself, as Fulongwei, I can quietly be a handsome man in front of the emperor and pretend to be rolled out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood. I can survive no matter what.

Live this life.

Just as I was thinking about it, suddenly another father-in-law came over there and shouted from a distance: "Zhang Changjian, please come and take a trip. Lord Niu asked you to go to the city to call two ministers to discuss matters in front of the emperor."

Very polite.

Of course, Zhang Xing also knew that this was not the time to complain, so he quickly stood up and responded, immediately calling Qin Bao to divide into two teams to search for the person... When the city admirals Wei Chi and Duan Wei easily found him, by the way

After observing the situation in the city for a while, he went to the hall in a dignified manner, stood inside the door, and watched.

Looking at it now, the saint's eyes may have been swollen from crying last night, but some method should have been used to reduce some of the swelling, but the traces could not be completely covered, but there were two red marks left, which seemed to be trying to hide them.

The two ministers were shocked when they saw this scene, but they could only pretend to be ignorant along with their husbands who had entered in advance.

"When we saw it yesterday, the Wu clan's troops and horses were in a great situation and it was difficult to control it." The saint saw everyone gathered and forced his eyes open to ask. "The situation is tense. Do you have any strategies?"

Everyone remained silent, and Zhang Xing naturally looked on with cold eyes.

"I want to ask you about your family!" The saint couldn't rush him enough and was obviously a little anxious. "What can I do?"

"I still discussed it the day before yesterday." Sima Changying looked serious and stood up to face each other. "Once the city is defeated, everything will be destroyed. Instead of doing this, it is better to gather the elite and break out as soon as possible!"

"No." Prime Minister Su Wei immediately refuted. "The Wu clan has more cavalry. Once they go out, His Majesty's safety will be in danger. Didn't you see the arrow yesterday?"

The emperor immediately nodded: "Not bad."

Sima Changying let out a long sigh, without even looking at Su Wei, but sincerely raised his hands towards the saint: "Your Majesty, my loyalty and sincerity can be learned from the sun. It is because I saw that arrow that I felt that the city may not be safe..."

The saint hesitated for a moment.

"As long as the city is tightly defended, why can't it be guaranteed?" Wei Chi, Minister of the Ministry of Justice, interrupted him coldly. "When the soldiers come, they will block the water and the earth. They have to form formations, and it takes time. We have more practitioners in the army, so gather together and do it."

The answer is, there is no reason to abandon the city just because they have that arrow..."

"What Wei Shangshu said makes sense." Duan Wei, Shangshu of the Ministry of War, spoke with force. "What's more, we still have Niu Du Gong, Bai Changjian, Fulong Wei and Fulong Yin. We really are not afraid of that arrow.

.According to my opinion, there are only two important things to do at this time, one is to boost the morale in the city, and the other is to try to summon reinforcements... As long as the city is secure, Dulan will definitely retreat as soon as the army from outside arrives."

The two ministers expressed their stance together, plus Prime Minister Su Wei, three to one, and the saint was obviously scared... If there was concern about losing face before, now he definitely did not dare to go out... So, stick to it

The strategy of waiting for assistance was once again strengthened, and everyone naturally spoke out to express their approval.

Unexpectedly, Sima Changying also nodded: "It would be great if we could inspire morale, but don't forget that when crossing the river from Pujin, the soldiers rushed to bribe their superiors in order to stay in Guanzhong. There were many people in Taiyuan before.

People didn’t want to go north, so many people just encountered Qiu Yu in the building and fled... It can be seen that the morale in the city is not necessarily high, and some soldiers even have resentments... Your Majesty, you must do your best to boost morale before you can defend it. "

No one can refute what he said. Everyone from Su Wei on down just went to see the saint.

On the other hand, Zhang Xing, who was stuck inside the door, held his knife and stood in awe, his heart moved slightly.

"I understand." The saint hurriedly responded. "Now that things have happened, how can I pity the officers and nobles? I have made up my mind. Later, I will personally inspect the soldiers who were rotated out last night in the city and publicly grant them the titles... Fan Pijianzhi

Those who defend the city with great vigor have meritorious service, and if the ground is leveled up to the sixth level, there will be additional rewards if there are further gains and meritorious deeds."

The people in the hall seemed to be getting more and more relieved.

But soon, Prime Minister Su Wei reacted like everyone else and raised his head in astonishment: "Did the sage say that the flat land will be increased to the sixth level?"

Zhang Xing couldn't help but glance at the black ribbon on his waist, and was speechless. He had already realized what Sima Changying meant by what he just said... This old boy obviously became not only cautious after that day, but also had bad intentions.

Yeah, it's a bit dark... there's nothing better than playing hard to get.

Just think about it. There are nearly 30,000 pure combatants. If you add them directly to the sixth grade, how many people are there in the world? Ten million? There are three sixth grades among ten thousand people? What does that count? They are still considered officials.

?Is it really possible?

"Yes." The sage responded seriously. "I thought about it, it is related to the survival of the Wei Dynasty, the continuation of the country's surname, and the increase of Pingdi to the sixth rank, it is not excessive!"

Su Wei was about to speak but stopped.

"Su Xianggong." Sima Changying suddenly said. "It doesn't matter, whether it is sixth grade or seventh grade, they are all in the military grade, and they don't care about anything... The so-called plain land plus sixth grade, as long as they are restrained in the military, they will

It’s just that it will cost 30,000 more people for the sixth-grade salary in the future... Besides, the world belongs to His Majesty, and if there is a slight hesitation at this time, if the military morale is slightly weakened, talking about the sixth-grade and fifth-grade would seem ridiculous... Want me

He said, although the pillar kingdom can also be added, how about the sixth rank? The sixth rank has been carefully considered by His Majesty. Considering that the fifth rank is the threshold for entering the palace, he has specifically left room for it. "

The saint nodded repeatedly.

Su Wei was completely speechless.

Zhang Xingze was speechless - are these people lying here to deceive themselves? Names and weapons should not be faked by others! If you really want to spend more money to give 30,000 people a sixth-grade salary, you should directly make an agreement with the soldiers as soon as they go out

How much money can I reward you with? Why do you have to express it in terms of rank six?

If this matter could be implemented, Da Wei would be half dead.

On the other hand, if it couldn't be implemented, Da Wei would have to kick half of his legs... But just kick. After yesterday's scene, Zhang Xing had a calmness of staying out of the matter, and he could see more clearly.

It's just that the saint has a temporary mental breakdown. What's the point of being reasonable with a person who has a broken mentality?

Just as they were thinking about it, the two ministers looked at each other. Duan Wei obviously dodged for a moment, but Wei Chi responded seriously: "Your Majesty, we don't understand this kind of thing... But since I have said this, I must win the trust of the army in the future, otherwise sooner or later we will return the favor.

It will change.”

"I understand!" The saint looked a little anxious. "Do you still have any words?"

"After this battle, the three counties of Yanmen, Loufan and Mayi will definitely be exhausted... Please exempt the three counties from taxes for one year, pardon all the criminals in the three counties, and allow them to join the army and contribute." Duan Wei quickly said no.
To be continued...