The three people were dumbfounded when they saw it. Could this be the "person" released by the prince? Li Dayong rushed forward in a hurry, lifted the white cloth and took a single look. Sure enough, his wife was lying on a stretcher, her bun was completely messed up, her clothes were in a mess, her face was as white as paper, and her eyes were closed. No matter how Li Dayong shook and called, she had no reaction at all. Obviously, the lady had already died of anger.
Li Dayong hugged his wife's body tightly and cried bitterly. Liang Hulang stood there, his face ashen, his teeth clenched, and his fists clenched tightly. Hao Yuan had no choice but to shake his head and sigh.
After a while, Hao Yuan said to Liang Hulang: "General Liang, I have to go back to take my leave." However, Liang Hulang didn't seem to hear anything and didn't react at all. Hao Yuan sighed, turned around and walked away sadly.
Hao Yuan returned to the palace and came to the inner hall. As soon as he walked to the door, he heard a violent cough coming from the room. His steps were slow, but he finally walked in.
Xue Ju was sitting on the throne, stroking his chest and coughing. When he saw Hao Yuan coming in, he quickly stopped coughing and gasped and asked, "How is it? Has he been released?" Hao Yuan hesitated for a moment, but told the truth: "He has been released. , but it’s just a corpse.”
What? Xue Ju's eyes widened, and he was about to say something, but when he opened his mouth, he coughed violently. Then, with a "wow" sound, he spit out a large mouthful of blood. When Hao Yuan saw it, he was immediately frightened and shouted: "Here comes someone, call the imperial doctor quickly!..."
Xue Ju was already terminally ill, and because of his son's anger, he vomited blood and died. Soon, Xue Rengao ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor in Zhezhe City, and succeeded his father Xue Ju as Emperor Wu.
After Li Zhiyun and the others left the small mountain village, they traveled all the way over mountains and rivers, and arrived at Jingzhou City seven or eight days later.
Li Zhiyun looked from a distance and saw flags placed all over the city of Jingzhou. Among them was a large white banner fluttering in the wind, with a large Chinese character "Tang" written on it. Li Zhiyun breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, Jingzhou City did not fall and was still in the hands of Datang.
Li Zhiyun asked Zhang Zheng to pay the reward to the guide and send him back. Then, the team arrived at the foot of Jingzhou City and saw that the city gate was closed and soldiers with weapons stood guard on the city tower. Several guards at the front of the team shouted loudly, asking the soldiers in the city to open the door quickly. A sentry stuck his head out and said loudly: "Who are you?" A guard replied: "We are from the Tang Dynasty. Both the King of Qin and the King of Chu are with us."
Li Zhiyun stood in the middle of the team and looked up at the tower. He saw a tall, dark-skinned and bearded general coming over and asked the sentry: "What's going on?"
"Report to the general, a group of people are coming below, saying they are from the Tang Dynasty. Let us open the city gate." The sentry replied.
The general turned his head and looked down. The second brother was sitting next to Li Zhiyun on a big green mule, and he was also looking towards the tower. After he saw the general clearly, he said loudly: "Liu Gan, General Liu Gan." The general heard someone calling him, followed the sound and found his second brother. He recognized his second brother and said with surprise: "Your Highness, King Qin, it's you. !" Immediately, he ordered the soldiers surrounding him: "Quick, open the city gate!"
After a while, the city gate opened, and Liu Gan took the lead to welcome him out. He walked quickly in front of Daqing Mule, clasped his fists and said, "General Hussar and Governor of Jingzhou Liu Gan pays homage to the prince!"
The second brother got off the mule with the help of the guards, pointed at Li Zhiyun and said: "General Liu, this is the King of Chu." Upon hearing this, Liu Gan turned to Li Zhiyun and clasped his fists and said, "General, I will see the King of Chu!" Li Zhiyun hurriedly said requite. The second brother smiled and said: "General Liu, you are quite comfortable here. Xue Ju didn't come to attack you?"
"No." Liu Gan said, "The scouts came back the day before yesterday to report that Xue Ju was dead."
"Oh?" The second brother was surprised when he heard this, "How did you die?"
"I heard that he was mad at his son."
Really? When the second brother heard this, he burst out laughing. Liu Gan said: "King of Qin, King of Chu, please hurry into the city." The second brother nodded and said loudly: "Okay, we are finally home. Fifth brother, let's go into the city."
After Li Zhiyun and his second brother entered the city, Liu Gan arranged to live in the military camp. The military camp is a large courtyard, surrounded by barracks, with a large open space in the middle, which serves as a playground for soldiers to line up and train. There is a small courtyard next to the military camp, and there is a door connected to the military camp. There are several bungalows in the small courtyard, and Li Zhiyun and the others live in this small courtyard.
Everyone entered Jingzhou City and finally settled down. Under Dr. Jia's careful care, the second brother's body fully recovered after more than half a month. That morning, Li Zhiyun and his second brother were sitting in the yard basking in the sun. Liu Gan came over in a hurry, clasped his fists and said: "Two princes, it's not good. Xue Rengao has led an army to attack Jingzhou City. We're surrounded."
When the second brother heard this, he was surprised and stood up quickly, followed by Li Zhiyun. The second brother said: "How many people do they have?"
"About more than 20,000 people."
"Let's go up to the top of the city and have a look."
The second brother and Li Zhiyun took several guards with them, followed Liu Gan and left the military camp, climbed the east city wall, and saw flags fluttering outside the city and horses neighing. The enemy soldiers were like dense ants, too numerous to count. They were arranged in a neat square formation, and the armor on their bodies and the weapons in their hands shone brightly under the sunlight, making them look magnificent.
It turned out that when Xue Rengao was the crown prince, he had conflicts with most of the generals. After he became emperor, many people were suspicious and uneasy. After Xue Ju's death, Hao Yuan became overly sad and fell ill. He died soon after, and Qin's power gradually declined. In order to boost his momentum, Xue Rengao decided to personally lead an army to attack Jingzhou City and pull out this nail in the Tang Dynasty.
Li Zhiyun and his second brother inspected the city for a while. The second brother frowned and said to himself: "We are outnumbered and the enemy is outnumbered. The situation is not optimistic!" When Liu Gan heard this, he clasped his fists and said: "Please rest assured, Your Majesty, the Jingzhou city wall is tall and strong, easy to defend and difficult to attack. We We will definitely be able to repel the enemy's attack and defend Jingzhou City!" The second brother looked at Liu Gan, nodded, and said: "General Liu, I believe in you!"
In the afternoon, the enemy began to attack the city. Although Li Zhiyun and his second brother stayed in the military camp, they could still hear the loud shouts of killing outside the city. The second brother was worried and asked Li Zhiyun to accompany him to the top of the city to have a look. The two took Zhang Zheng, Cai Hu and several guards to the top of the city again. The sound of drums outside the city was loud, and countless enemy soldiers rushed to the bottom of the city with shouts and climbed up the ladder. The soldiers guarding the city used stones and logs to smash down the city. Some of the ladders were pushed away by the soldiers using wooden supports, and the enemy soldiers on the ladders fell down together with the ladders. The battle was fierce. Some enemies had climbed to the top of the city. They were all wiped out by the soldiers guarding the city, and the gap was finally blocked.
The north wind howled at the top of the city, and the second brother couldn't help coughing. Li Zhiyun worriedly said: "Second brother, your illness is just right, your body is still very weak, and you can't withstand the wind and cold. Let's go down quickly." However, the second brother was reluctant to leave and wanted to watch for a while longer. Later, his cough became more and more severe. Under Li Zhiyun's repeated urging, he walked down the city as a last resort.
The battle to defend the city of Jingzhou lasted for more than a month. Liu Gan mobilized all the young and middle-aged men in the city to help defend the city. The enemy used all kinds of siege equipment, sometimes day and night, to attack the city crazily. The battle was brutal, with both sides exerting all their strength. The city was on the verge of falling several times, but was eventually defended.
However, the worst situation still occurred-the city ran out of food. At the beginning, everyone ate only two meals a day, half of which was quinoa. Gradually, they could only rely on grain bran and wild vegetables to satisfy their hunger. Later, there were no grain bran and wild vegetables, and they could only eat bark and leaves.
Li Zhiyun's stomach growled all day long, but then it stopped. He didn't feel hungry, he just felt limp and had no strength at all. At noon that day, Li Zhiyun and his second brother were sitting in the yard enjoying the sun. There is no food in my stomach, so maybe I can only feel a little stronger if I bask in the sun.
Li Zhiyun's face was solemn, and his heart was full of melancholy. How long can they survive without food? The second brother sitting next to him also frowned, and it was obvious that he had no idea.
At this time, Liu Gan was seen walking over with two coarse porcelain bowls in his hands, and said with a smile: "Two princes, come and eat meat and drink soup." After that, he handed the porcelain bowls over. Li Zhiyun took it and took a look. Sure enough, the bowl contained hot soup and a large piece of meat, exuding an alluring aroma. He was surprised: "General Liu, where did you get the meat?" Liu Gan smiled and said: "To be honest with you, the general will kill my horse." The second brother was holding a bowl in his hand, some Doubtfully: "Liu Gan, are we the only two princes who have horse meat to eat?"
"No, no, everyone else has it too, they all have it!"
As soon as Liu Gan finished speaking, he saw several soldiers carrying a large iron pot into the yard. They placed the iron pot in the center of the yard and invited everyone to come over and serve the broth. As soon as Liu Gan saw that the arrangements were in place, he turned around and left.
Li Zhiyun felt relieved when he saw that everyone had horse meat to eat. He didn't know how long it had been since he had tasted meat. How could he wait any longer? In three or two mouthfuls, he swallowed the horse meat wholeheartedly, not even a drop of the soup was left.
After eating a bowl of meat, Li Zhiyun felt much better and had some strength. When he looked up, he found that his second brother was holding a bowl, but he was still moving his chopsticks. He quickly asked strangely: "Second brother, why don't you eat?"
The second brother put the bowl on a stone bench next to him, stood up and said, "Fifth brother, come with me." Although Li Zhiyun didn't know what the second brother was going to do, he still followed him out of the small courtyard. Go to the military camp.
