The second day of June, four o'clock in the afternoon.
After another day of fighting, the Big Tooth Army laughed and cursed wantonly outside Baiyun City. They even unbuttoned their pants in groups and urinated on Baiyun City, mocking them to the fullest before retreating angrily.
The soldiers on duty on the walls of Baiyun City were all dejected, like eggplants beaten by frost. Listening to the wild laughter and curses of the Big Tooth Army outside the city, everyone's cheeks were burning with shame and anger. They wanted to rush out of the city gate immediately and fight to the death with Big Toothed Dog, but the military orders were like mountains. The military orders prevented them from leaving, so they had no choice but to hold on.
It was night, there was no moon in the sky, and the night was dark.
A figure rose from the ground outside Baiyun City, flew over the city wall, and sneaked into Baiyun City.
This figure sneaked into Baiyun City and ran straight in one direction. Finally, it stopped in front of the gate of Zhennan Prince's Palace. He cupped his hands and said to the guard in front of the palace: "Qi Wan, the wife of the lord of Yancheng City, wants to see the old prince. Please pass the news on my behalf!" "
The guards in front of the palace were all startled when they heard the identity of the visitor. After looking up and down, they felt that the person who came was not joking. They immediately entered the palace with doubts and made a report. The adults in the palace would determine the authenticity.
The war situation is tense now, and they don't dare to rely on the power of the palace to block some visitors from the door as usual. If they block the wrong people and delay important military information, they will suffer a lot.
The visitor was recruited into the palace, and it was not until midnight that he climbed over the wall and quietly left the palace.
At a quarter past three, the south gate of Baiyun City quietly opened, and a group of five thousand cavalry wrapped their horseshoes in cotton cloth and quietly left the city.
To the southwest outside the city, outside the Daya Army's blockade, a large group of men and horses quietly emerged from the darkness, broke through the Daya Army's blockade and rushed towards Baiyun City with lightning speed.
The Daya Army was alerted and shouted to kill Zhentian in an instant, breaking the tranquility of the night.
Baiyun City's five thousand cavalrymen, armed with the grievances and anger they had felt all these days, stormed in, ruthlessly tearing open the Big Ya Army's blockade and breaking up the queues that the Big Ya Army had managed to organize time and time again, perfectly covering the Big Ya Army. Troops enter the city.
Two quarters of an hour later, all the large troops entered the city, and the gate of Baiyun City creaked shut.
The chaotic Daya Army didn't know what happened, and the battle was over.
At dawn the next day, there were more than 30,000 ragged and miserable soldiers in the northwest camp of Baiyun City. A large amount of supplies such as water, food, and medicine were urgently deployed.
It was three o'clock in the morning, but there was a loud snoring sound in the northwest camp. Many people fell asleep while eating. They couldn't remember how long it had been since they had a good night's sleep. At this time, when they entered Baiyun City to settle down, their long-stressed spirits could finally relax and be lazy, and their bodies were full of fatigue. Welling up in my heart, I closed my eyelids and fell asleep without struggling twice.
The soldiers from Baiyun City were holding water bags and feeding the people who had slept to death one by one. The water in the water bag is specially prepared with elixir. A few sips can temporarily relieve your tired body. The bodies of these people are in a state of near or already exhausted. If they don't get physical strength replenishment, they may never wake up again after falling asleep.
The news spread like wildfire that the Northwestern Camp had gained more than 30,000 troops overnight. I don’t know whether it was Big Ya’s spies who were secretly causing trouble, or whether they were using false rumors to make the three of them become tigers. As the news spread, it turned out that Yancheng was conquered by Daya’s army, and the owner of Yancheng City Died in battle, only 30,000 defeated
The army fled to Baiyun City last night. Millions of troops from Daya rushed from Yancheng. They were about to approach the city. Baiyun City was in danger.
Although the officials immediately stood up to refute the rumors, they had little effect, because the people were indeed awakened by the shouts of killing outside the city in the middle of the night, and many people saw with their own eyes a ragged and embarrassed army passing through the streets of Baiyun City. , heading towards the northwest camp.
Recently, the Daya Army has been calling for war outside the city every day. The people in the city were already panicking. Now there is news that Yancheng has been defeated. The news that millions of Daya Army troops are about to descend on the city and launch a general attack on Baiyun City has caused the people to panic and start shouting. Pack up your belongings and prepare to flee.
The situation in the city was about to get out of control. At the critical moment, Zhennan Wang Su Hanju took to the streets on crutches to talk face to face with the people in the city and refute the rumors. The old prince was highly respected and deeply loved and trusted by the people. He stabilized the people's hearts with just a few words.
Walking on the street, looking at the simple old man who was slowly walking forward surrounded by the crowd, Zhang Xiaozhu was quite surprised and said: "I didn't expect that the old prince was so approachable. He was almost no different from the old men in our ordinary people's homes. If we passed each other on the street, even if I beat him to death, I would not associate him with the prince."
Zhou Jianlai and Niu Dawa were walking aside. The three of them had just come out of the northwest camp and were on their way to Zhou Jianlai's home.
Zhou Jianlai laughed when he heard this and said, "The old prince has been frugal throughout his life. He spends the same amount of money on food and clothing as ordinary people. Naturally, he is no different from ordinary people."
"I wonder if the old prince will live a long life this year?" Niu Dawa asked curiously, looking at the old prince's snow-white hair.
"It seems like 90% to 60%." Zhou Jianlai answered uncertainly.
"Awesome. Awesome." Niu Dawa raised his thumbs up with an expression of admiration.
"Actually, the old prince's body has never been very healthy." Zhou Jianlai shook his head, thinking that Niu Dawa was praising the old prince's strong body, and said: "When I was young, I fought all over the world, and minor injuries and major injuries were commonplace. His body is buried with many incurable hidden diseases. In recent years, old diseases have often recurred, and he has been bedridden several times. It is said that one time last year, his family had already dressed him in a shroud and carried his coffin into the hall. Unexpectedly, the old man insisted on Holding a breath without swallowing, I went to the gate of hell and came back again."
Niu Dawa scratched his head when he heard this, and said with a smile: "I mean, he is more than seventy years old and can still have a son. It's really amazing."
"——" Zhou Jianlai couldn't help but laugh, and then lowered his voice and said: "Most of the princes and generals who followed Emperor Su to conquer the world were old and had children. During the war, they did not care about getting married and having children. After conquering the country, all of them were five years old. He was sixty years old, and due to decades of fighting on the battlefield, he had more or less physical problems, which were all acquired after several years of careful care. According to folk rumors, Emperor Su Huang came from nowhere. I got a copy of the exercises that strengthened the foundation and cultivated Yang, and gave a copy to every prince and general, and forced them to practice so that they could have more children. They said that the empire that the old people had worked so hard to build was gone before they had time to enjoy it. In your old age, you have to let your children enjoy it for you, otherwise it will be a big loss."
"If it is true, then our Emperor Su must be an interesting person." Zhang Xiaozhu couldn't help laughing.
Zhou Jianlai withdrew his gaze from the old prince who was gradually retreating, and looked forward. His eyes fell on a pair of town halls on the roadside five hundred paces away.
Standing on the stone lion in the house, my heartbeat suddenly accelerated a little uncontrollably.
As the saying goes, people who live close to home are timid. Although he left home disheartened with grief and despair, and lost his goodwill towards this home that only had interests and no emotions, this was after all the place where he grew up, and he was there. Familiar people and things, now returning from outside experience, inevitably feel a little excited.
His pace couldn't help but speed up a little.
The distance of more than five hundred steps soon came to him. Looking at the familiar word "Zhou Mansion" on the door plaque, Zhou Jianlai couldn't help but smile happily, stepped on the stone steps in front of the door and walked towards the door of the mansion. A bit of impatient emotion.
"Stop!" But he was stopped by the guards on both sides of the door.
"Who is it? Tell me your name!"
"This is the Zhou Mansion, everyone is waiting to leave quickly!"
The two guards scolded them repeatedly. Because of the drought, relatives who could not be reached often came to seek refuge. The Zhou family could not bear the disturbance, so they had already ordered that if anyone came to seek refuge, they would be sent away without reporting.
Zhou Jianlai, Zhang Xiaozu and Niu Dawa were dressed in ordinary clothes. The clothes they wore were rummaged through several houses when they passed a dead city on the way to Baiyun City. In addition, the journey was dusty, he hadn't taken a shower for an unknown amount of time, and he looked as gray and gray as a beggar, so the guard didn't even recognize Zhou Jian at first glance.
"What, do I still have to report my name when I go back to my home?" Zhou Jianlai immediately frowned and said displeased.
The guard couldn't help being stunned when he heard this, and stared at Zhou Jianlai's face.
One of them seemed to think that Zhou Jianlai looked familiar, so he poked his head forward, and finally his eyes fell on Zhou Jianlai's empty right sleeve. He finally recognized Zhou Jianlai and said in surprise: "Fifth Young Master, you are back. Great, great Okay. Please come in quickly, and I will go and report to the master and grandma."
"Yeah." The guard's words made Zhou Jianlai feel warm in his heart. He felt that someone in this family still cared about him, otherwise the guard wouldn't be so excited and anxious to report.
The Zhou family is a wealthy family in Baiyun City. The courtyard has pavilions, waterside pavilions, gardens and rocks - it is magnificent, but it pales in comparison to the Li family in Yancheng. At least there is no green at all in the courtyard at the moment. There is no running water under the bridge, and the lake beside the pavilion has long since dried up.
Zhang Xiaozhu and Niu Dawa looked around with only curiosity and no shock in their eyes. Having seen the magnificence of the Li family in Yancheng, their horizons had improved a lot.
"Hey, isn't this Lao Wu? He's really back."
"Fifth brother, life is not easy outside. Look at this shabby guy. He didn't come back from begging all the way, right?"
A man and a woman walked out, dressed in rich clothes. It seemed that they came out to greet Zhou Jianlai after hearing the news about his return. The man was about twenty years old, and the woman was about ten years old. Their appearance was slightly similar to Zhou Jianlai's, and they both looked at Zhou Jianlai with disdain and teasing.
Zhou Jianlai glanced at the two of them, smiled, and responded: "Thank you, fourth brother and third sister, for thinking about me. Life is really difficult outside. I almost didn't come back after many life and death experiences."
Zhang Xiaozhu and Niu Dawa frowned as they listened in the back, saying that relatives should never meet again. This scene was different from what they imagined. Why were their words filled with ridicule and hostility?
