"This time, the loser is the one who worked hard."
Zhang Ji saluted the public losers. Regardless of whether they could help or not, at least Zhang Ji's attitude of coming all night after receiving the letter made Zhang Ji salute.
"Your Majesty, you are so polite. I have been supported by the State of Qin for more than a hundred years, so I should serve the State of Qin."
A somewhat ugly smile appeared on Gong Shuqiu's face. It wasn't that he couldn't smile because he was unwilling to do so, but because Gong Shuqiu's skin was sagging and his face was full of wrinkles. Therefore, the smile looked like it was squeezed out, which was worse than crying. Still ugly.
The overbearing machine skills of the public losers and the non-attack machine skills of the Mohists are not only different in purpose of creation, but also completely different in materials.
There is a saying in the world that "the Mohist organs are made of wood and stone; for bronze to open, you have to ask Gongshu." This does not mean that Mohists will not use bronze, iron and other metals to build organs, nor does it mean that Gongshu will not use wood and stone to build organs. It means that both sides are the kings of wood, stone and bronze in the mechanism, each with its own strengths.
Using bronze, iron and other metals to build machine beasts is naturally different from using wood and stone. If it is made of wood or stone, if it is unfinished, it can be set aside. But if you make a calculation hand of metal, you have to pay attention to the process just like forging a sword. If there is a mistake in the forging of any metal part, it may cause the metal part to crack. situation, thereby abolishing the entire institution.
So even though Gong Shuqiu is just getting over it now, he still has to stay up late or even all night long. In addition, he lives with the stove all the year round. He himself is not a master warrior like Mrs. Xu. Gong Shuqiu is not even a warrior, which naturally leads to The skin on the face is sagging, and this smile looks uglier than crying.
And due to excessive hard work, unlike Master Ban's stout figure, Gong Shuqiu was a bit skinny. If it weren't for those piercing eyes, Zhang Ji would have even doubted whether Gong Shuqiu's time was running out.
However, Gong Shuqiu was quite efficient in his work. He even invited Zhang Ji to ride on the six-foot bat wing to have a look at the city defense of Xinzheng.
Gongshu Qiu's idea is very simple. Since the right concubine is sincerely using Gongshu, on the one hand, it allows Zhang Ji to feel the difference between Gongshu's six-foot bat wings and the Mo family's mechanism Suzaku. To add a bit of trust, on the other hand, it is to explore the city defense of Xinzheng.
During the flight, Zhang Ji also told Gong Shuqiu about the strangeness of the Korean soldiers, and Gong Shuqiu also introduced Zhang Ji to the power of Potu Sanlang.
The two Potosaburo brought by Gongshujia were far from being the indestructible weapons made of fine steel that would later be used after the unification of the Qin Dynasty. Instead, they were made of bronze, and their attack power was much inferior.
Moreover, the current Poto Saburo did not fully protect the driver of the machine beast, but was exposed like the machine white tiger. This gave the enemy the opportunity to shoot the driver before Poto Saburo approached the city gate. Chance.
Therefore, the process of inspecting Xinzheng City Defense is necessary.
And just as the Mohists are good at defending the city, the Gongshu family is also good at attacking the city. After a patrol, the conversation between the two allowed Zhang Ji to develop many new ideas for attacking the city.
In Xinzheng City
Different from the joy of the Qin army who received the aid of the mechanism beasts, the soldiers and civilians in Xinzheng City were in turmoil when they learned that the Qin army had mobilized the mechanism beasts to attack the city. Even with the influence of Canglong Qisu, their hearts were in turmoil.
The only people Canglong Qisu hypnotized were Koreans who enlisted in the army. The effect of hypnosis gradually decreased over time, and the people hypnotized did not include many common people and nobles in the city.
Therefore, when the Qin sword in the hands of the Qin army was already slashing at the neck of South Korea, many nobles proposed to give up Xinzheng!
Although Xinzheng is a fortified city, during the reign of King Wei Hui, when the Wei State's national power was at its peak, he sent Pang Juan to attack Xinzheng, but he eventually fell into disarray and was defeated by the Qi army who came to rescue after a long attack. This is also South Korea sticks to Xinzheng’s confidence.
But the biggest problem now is that no country is willing to rescue South Korea. Without reinforcements, is there any point in South Korea persisting in holding on to this strong city?
Many Korean aristocrats whose fiefdoms had not yet been captured by the Qin army, such as the Duan family, the Xia family, and the Gongli family, advocated the immediate abandonment of Xinzheng, and the royal family moved to Yingchuan County or other mountains and rivers where siege machinery and beasts were inconvenient to defend by danger.
Of course, no one knows whether they want to take the opportunity to escape and surrender to the Qin Dynasty in order to retain part of the fiefdom, or whether they really believe that it is more suitable for defense to retreat to dangerous places where the siege machinery and beasts are inconvenient to transport. However, the latter situation is also possible. of.
While some advocate retreat, naturally there are also those who advocate continuing to hold on.
This group of nobles are mainly those who have ceded territory to Qin again and again in Korea, and whose fiefdoms were captured during the Qin army's current invasion of Korea. They have no way to retreat and advocate sticking to Xinzheng to fight the Qin army in the final battle. At the same time, secret envoys were once again sent to various countries to ask for help at night and starry. Maybe the countries saw that South Korea was holding on to Xinzheng, and they would come to the rescue just like they did in the past when they rescued HD City, which had been besieged by the Qin army for a long time. In this way, the Korean nation could be preserved.
There are also a small number of people who disagree, sometimes agreeing to go and sometimes agreeing to stay.
Wei Zhuang and Zhang Liang jointly rejected the idea of evacuating Xinzheng.
Xinzheng is the capital of South Korea and the last stronghold in the hearts of Koreans.
Xinzheng is still there, even without the influence of Canglong Qisu, both the military, civilians and nobles can still have hope, but if the New Zheng dies, the perseverance in Korean people's hearts will be lost, even if they really find a dangerous and dangerous city , to no avail.
By then people's hearts have been lost and it will be difficult to hold on.
What's more, now that he still has the power of Canglong Qisu, he still has the strength to fight in the city.
If he leaves the city and is intercepted by the Qin army's cavalry, the consequences will be disastrous.
Zhang Ji's record of defeating the Wei army of 15,000 with 3,000 Yulin cavalry is still vivid in his mind. Now that 100,000 Qin soldiers are surrounding Xinzheng, Wei Zhuang cannot imagine what kind of devastating blow the Korean army will suffer after hurriedly escaping from the city.
All Wei Zhuang can do now is to continue to hold on to Xinzheng and wait for the situation to change.
As for whether the situation will change, we can only leave it to fate.
For several days, the soldiers and civilians in Xinzheng City were worried about the machine beasts transferred by the Qin Army. However, the Qin Army never used the machine beasts to attack the city. Even the ant siege was no longer used. Instead, they tightly surrounded Xinzheng City. .
At first glance, Qin Jun seemed to have done nothing, but Wei Zhuang noticed Qin Jun's changes.
Although the military flags have not decreased, the amount of smoke every day has significantly decreased.
Although the number of earth stoves used by the Qin army has not changed, the speed of cooking by the Qin army has become much faster, and the duration of the smoke has also been shortened. Wei Zhuang guessed that the Qin army should have transferred some of them, but he did not know what they were used for. .
Could it be that some country came to help, and the Qin army mobilized its troops to garrison the main road?
A glimmer of hope emerged in the hearts of the soldiers and civilians in Xinzheng City. Standing without help and standing firm waiting for help are two completely different things.
Some people also suggested taking advantage of the Qin army's mobilization to go out of the city to attack the Qin army.
Wei Zhuang ignored this stupid suggestion. The Qin army crushed the Korean army in all aspects such as the quality, quantity, morale, and equipment of its soldiers. It was difficult to hold on, so why did they go out to attack?
Just like the Qin army, if you drop a coin on the city wall in the middle of the night, the lights can be clearly illuminated below the city, and they go out to attack?
In this way, the soldiers and civilians in Xinzheng City spent several days comfortably and full of hope, when bad news came from outside the city.
It was the Qin army and a group of prisoners who delivered the bad news.
They were the guards of the two cities of Maling and Linyi and the heirs of the nobles of the Zhang family of Maling and the Xu family of Linyi. Several of them were tied up by the Qin army and brought to the top of the city, shouting loudly into Xinzheng City.
"Maling and Linyi have been conquered by our Qin Dynasty. Sooner or later, Xinzheng will become an isolated city. I am a benevolent concubine. I urge you to surrender as soon as possible. Don't do useless things and lose your wealth and life in vain."
Although Wei Zhuang originally called on the Koreans to fight in the isolated city of Xinzheng, it did not mean that Xinzheng was the only city left in Korea, but that the Qin army concentrated fire on Xinzheng and no longer took care of other cities.
But if Xinzheng really becomes an isolated city, it will never be able to defend the city.
At that time, Tian Dan was able to defend and even counterattack by relying on two cities. It was because of the concerted efforts of the people to counterattack the Yan army throughout the territory.
But that was because the Yan army entered Qi, and in order to avenge the Qi army's burning, killing, and looting in the territory of Yan State in the past, and even burning down Yan's ancestral temple and taking away sacrificial vessels, they burned, killed, and looted in Qi State's territory in the same way.
This is also the reason why Le Yi stopped attacking and focused on attacking the remaining two cities of Qi.
What Le Yi doesn't want is a piece of meat that has been cut into several pieces but cannot be swallowed. Just like the Qi army was unable to swallow the land of Yan in the past, he hopes to completely regain the hearts and minds of Qi and make up for the previous Yan army. The impact of burning, killing and looting.
However, when the Qin army sent troops this time, there were very few burnings, killings, and lootings wherever they went. Even if they did, they were dealt with by military law. There was no deep hatred between the Qin people and the Koreans.
Moreover, the general of the Qin army who attacked South Korea was the son-in-law of Han Wangan and the husband of the well-known Princess Honglian. In other words, he was the son-in-law of a Korean, and he was one of his own!
It is tantamount to wishful thinking to expect that all Koreans in South Korea would risk their lives to resist the Qin army like the Qi people in the past.
Originally, Wei Zhuang thought that the Qin army was only planning to use the news that the Qin army was preparing to isolate Xinzheng to influence the morale of the troops in the city and persuade them to surrender. He did not pay too much attention to it, but he did not want the nobles in the city to be in turmoil.
Zhang Ji's purpose was not to persuade the soldiers and civilians of Xinzheng City to surrender, but to persuade the nobles in the city to surrender. Otherwise, he would not have brought the heirs of the two noble families of Maling Zhang and Linyi Xu to Xinzheng City.
The heads of the Zhang family in Maling and the Xu family in Linyi were disheartened to learn that their fiefdoms had been taken away and their heirs were captured by the Qin army, but the heads of the other families whose fiefdoms still survived had other thoughts.
The Qin army obviously wants to isolate Xinzheng. If they surrender to the Qin army now, the most they can do is reduce their fiefdoms, but they will not be completely deprived of them. By then, they will be able to restore their former glory in ten or twenty years by relying on their family's talent, knowledge and wealth. It is a grand occasion, and if the fiefdom is completely deprived, and even the heirs of the inherited family are captured, it is almost equal to the destruction of the family.
So, one night, the three aristocrats of the Duan, Gongli, and Xia families, who had contacted the Qin army outside the city in advance through the net entrenched in the city, Mo Ya, the leader of the South Korean altar, escaped from Xinzheng and asked the Qin army to surrender. .
When the news came, Wei Zhuang was furious and immediately ordered a thorough investigation and hunt down the three noble families.
The facts of the investigation are: three noble families bribed the gatekeepers with large sums of money and fled with all the valuables stored in Xinzheng. However, it was never clear who opened the city gate.
There are at least six guards on duty at each city gate. Each person is on duty at the city gate to ensure energy. However, the results of the investigation cannot find out when the three noble families left the city, so it is impossible to find out who released the three families without permission. The nobles are out of town.
The news spread like wildfire, and in Xinzheng City, nobles fled one after another. Many Korean royal families even chose to flee, unwilling to stick to Xinzheng City. In the end, Wei Zhuang even had to send people who were originally used to hunt down the killers in the city. The Jiuyihui and Qijuetang confidants came to guard the city gate.
However, the number of nobles fleeing has only decreased. Although a group of people have been arrested, they are still banned repeatedly, and there are still many nobles who have successfully left the city.
"Forget it, it can't be stopped."
Zhang Liang sighed, as he was also born into a noble family, he naturally knew how well these nobles could perform duplicity and adapt to the circumstances.
Qijuetang and Jiuyihui are, in the final analysis, a gang composed of idle people. They usually survive by collecting protection fees. Now during the war, the people's surplus food has been forcibly collected. Where can they receive protection fees?
If you can't receive money and you are used to lavishing money, you will naturally have evil thoughts.
In the past few days, he has received many accusations against gang members from Qijuetang and Jiuyihui for robbing shops and houses, raping women, and even killing people for their talents.
The nobles who escaped after Qijuetang and Jiuyihui joined the guard at the city gate simply had more money for bribes. As for those who were stopped, it was simply because the bribes given were not enough, or some gang members were greedy and held the idea of "if I kill you, they will all be mine", they killed people and took wealth, and also robbed the women of the nobles. .
Such a move further caused unrest in the city, especially the protests by the nobles.
There are still many nobles in the city who are holding on, and they really have no intention of fleeing. Some are because they have lost their fiefdoms and have nowhere to go, and some are sincerely defending the city for the country. Although they also hate the nobles who have fled, they have no intention of fleeing Qijuetang and Jiuyi. His behavior is even more disgusting!
In the final analysis, everyone is from the aristocratic circle, they just have different choices.
The nobles in South Korea have been marrying each other for many years, and most of them are related by blood. Some of the noble women who were snatched away may be the noble daughters married by other nobles!
Even among hostile nobles, the behavior of Qijuetang and Jiuyihui cannot be tolerated.
The nobles they are hostile to are at fault, and they should not be dealt with by you idiots, and their property should not be taken away by you idiots!
You Qijuetang and Jiuyihui are taking food from our tiger's mouth!
The private soldiers assembled by the nobles in the city clashed with the gangs of Qijuetang and Jiuyihui many times, and they even directly fought with each other several times.
Wei Zhuang always remains neutral and impartial. After all, no matter which side he helps, the other side will be in chaos.
But Wei Zhuang's impartiality meant inaction at this time.
His inaction has led to the further escalation of the conflict between the two parties, which has reached the point where they are fighting to the death.
Therefore, a choice was finally placed in front of Wei Zhuang.
Should he choose to safeguard the interests of the nobles and severely punish the gang members involved in Qijuetang and Jiuyihui, or should he warn the nobles and not punish the gangsters involved in Qijuetang and Jiuyihui?
(4239 words)
(End of chapter)
