Dayong Nu sentenced to death

Chapter 366 To Shangyi, a decisive battle of life and death
After crossing the river, it almost started to get dark.

The snowflakes floating in front of them turned into a blanket of goose feather snow, which fell all over their heads in an instant. The snow on the official road covered half of their calves, and they couldn't see the way ahead.

The real breath turns into ice.

Cui Yi kept rubbing his hands, and every time he opened his mouth, he felt cold wind pouring into his mouth like a knife, cutting his throat, and there was a smell of rust, "No, it's too cold in Jiangbei, we have to catch up before it's completely dark. Before coming down, enter Shangyi City."

Not daring to delay, they galloped on horseback all the way.

In the dark mountain forest, the sound of birds is cut off, and the silence is as dead. Only the sound of horseshoes crushing the snow is accompanied by the howling wind between the sky and the earth. Their figures condense into black spots and are gradually buried by the wind and snow.

The lanterns on the Shangyi city tower flickered, and the flames flickered on and off.

The towering and majestic city walls were covered with snow shadows and thin ice, like an impregnable barrier that firmly blocked the people below.

They huddled against each other under the wall.

A thick layer of snow had accumulated on his body, and he remained motionless, unable to tell whether he was alive or dead.

"The wind is getting colder tonight. If this continues, none of these people will be able to survive."

Someone on the city wall looked down, and said in a gloomy tone, "During the day, I can see better. I saw many women holding children in their arms, and the youngest was still in swaddling... Hey, it looks as big as my youngest daughter. It's a real pain."

"Who said it wasn't."

Another person patted the snow on his shoulder, and echoed: "This God really doesn't want people to live. We closed the city for half a month, and the corpses piled up underneath. People outside can't get in, and people inside can't get out. Don't look at it." We are better than them, we don’t have to suffer from the cold, it’s just a matter of time.”

"I heard that the price of rice grains has doubled more than ten times recently, and they were snapped up like crazy. My mother-in-law bought a small bag in a hurry. When cooking porridge, she counted and put it in it. Three bowls couldn't be picked up. Grain of rice, if things go on like this, they will starve to death if they don’t freeze to death.”

"You still have rice to eat."

The vigil was boring, and when they heard them chatting, the others gathered together, rubbed their empty stomachs one by one, and said, "My old lady is getting old and can't be hungry, so I'll give her the only bran cake left at home." After eating, I chewed some crumbs, not even enough to fit between my teeth, and I still don’t know how I’m going to live tomorrow.”

"I heard from the brothers on patrol that some people were so hungry that they began to eat bark and grass roots, and choked to death."

"You can't even find the bark in the city now..."

They talked at one go, and the more they talked, the more solemn the atmosphere became. In the end, no one could open their mouths. The boulder pressing on their hearts and the shadow of death made them breathless.

No one knows what will happen tomorrow.

They are young and strong and can resist a resistance, but what about the old, weak, women and children at home?
Are you waiting to die?
"Hey, listen, what's the sound?"

One person's ears moved, and he lay down on the city wall and looked down. The heavy snow fell like tearing cotton, covering his sight, and he could only see the pitch-black night and the void.

The crowd listened attentively for a while, then laughed and cursed: "You kid is really hungry, there are no other sounds besides the wind."

"Yes."

They teased a few words, and the solemn atmosphere eased a little.

The young soldier frowned and didn't answer. He was sure he heard something... intermittently, but why did it disappear again?

He continued to listen without giving up, and after a while, his face changed suddenly.

"No, it's the sound of hooves!"

"Listen, it's really the sound of horseshoes, someone is coming..."

It didn't take him to remind other people to hear the sound. The movement was getting closer and became clearer in the ears, "There are so many horseshoes, it seems that there are quite a few people here."

"Could it be that the people sent by the imperial court to relieve the disaster have arrived?"

One person doubted.

But his statement was quickly overturned, "Not long after the imperial envoy was killed, the court needed time to re-raise food and deploy manpower, and it was impossible to come so fast. Besides, they were escorting things, so why did they rush late at night?"

"Who would that be?"

"Shouldn't it be..."

The young soldier changed his expression, looked at the others, and said in a trembling voice, "Could it be those rebels?"

Several troops in Jizhou rebelled, attacked the city, looted land, burned, killed, and looted. They contributed a lot to the chaos in the north. A few days ago, I heard that they had rectified their forces and were preparing to go south.

If not, here it comes.

"No matter who it is, sound the gong as a warning and put the brothers on alert."

The people ran away in all directions and hurried to make arrangements. The sound of gongs and drums sounded closely, figures gathered on the tower, and the archers set up their arrows and drew their strings, ready to go.

Killing intent spread silently.

"Shangyi City is closed and forbidden to enter, and those who come are stopped—"

A roar pierced through the snow curtain and fell into the ears of Su Rao and the others. Along with these words, three sounds of "咻咻咻" came through the air, and they penetrated straight into the open space ten meters away.

"If you don't rein in your horse, you will be killed without mercy!"

Another warning.

This distance was just right, neither far nor near. Yan Yun and the others rode together and looked up. The two sides met in the air. After a brief silence, someone from above asked: "Who is coming? Tell me your name! "

"Sir."

Gu Cheng called out to Yan Yun, Yan Yun nodded slightly, he immediately rode his horse two steps forward, and raised his voice: "I am Gu Cheng, the deputy envoy of the Imperial City Department, and I am ordered by the emperor to protect the imperial envoy on a southern tour, returning to Beijing via Jizhou. You wait and tell the prefect to open the city gate."

"People from the Imperial City Division? Do you have a certificate?"

The above asked again.

Gu Cheng took out his waist card and said, "Here is the token, it can be inspected."

"My lord, please wait a moment."

Not long after someone responded, a basket was hung from the city gate, "There have been bandits and bandits in Jizhou recently, and the identity must be strictly checked. Please put the token in it for us to see."

Gu Cheng's expression changed.

After a while, holding back his temper, he rode forward and threw the token into the hanging basket.

The basket was lifted up.

"You'd better move quickly, don't keep the imperial envoy waiting for a long time."

"Yes."

Not long after, there was an exclamation from above, "It turns out that you are really the lord of the Imperial City Secretary. The little ones are blind and offended, so I will open the city gate. In order to prevent the refugees outside from causing trouble, please ride your horses quickly. delay."

The gate of the city opened with a bang.

But the people inside were very careful, and only opened a slit for one person to enter and exit.

When Su Rao heard the word "refugees", she looked around, but due to her limited field of vision, she couldn't see any figures. When she approached the city gate, she suddenly found many people standing up tremblingly under the city walls on both sides. Covered by heavy snow, his movements were very stiff and slow due to the cold.

"The city gate is open, hurry, hurry up."

"Wait for us, we are going into the city!"

They yelled sadly and staggered towards the gate. The officers and soldiers inside shouted: "Quick, my lords, hurry up, don't let them enter the city."

Su Rao woke up like a dream, and hurriedly followed Yan Yun and the others to ride their horses through the gap in the city gate.

The last person to enter the city.

They closed the city gate immediately, and the people who came after watched the two gates close again, frantically banging on the door and crying, the screams were heart-wrenching.

"Why don't you let them in?"

Zhu Yan frowned and said: "Even if we can't provide food and cotton clothes, at least we can give them a place to shelter from the wind and snow. Keeping people out like this is killing people!"

(End of this chapter)