Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 502 Guo Ponu’s teachings

On the street, a group of people carried a wooden frame. A carpenter drove the last few wedges and turned back to call Guo Kang.

"Boss, our trebuchet is ready!" he said happily.

"Is this thing qualified?" Guo Kang looked at the long arm made of bundled bamboos and asked worriedly.

"I don't know! It's just throwing stones. I think it's possible." Although the carpenter looked confident, there was no admission in his words.

"Then does it work?" Guo Kang didn't understand what he meant: "If an accident happens to such a big guy, someone will die!"

"That's definitely not the case." The carpenter quickly explained: "I checked this thing. Although it looks ugly, it is very strong. However, the president said that only a certified master craftsman can tell whether the product is qualified or not after it comes out. We ordinary craftsmen and apprentices cannot accept and certify equipment casually."

"The guild is gone, and you still leave the guild president here..." Guo Kang reached out and patted his leather hat: "It's enough to say no earlier. Don't worry about so much! Since it can be used, let's pull the trebuchet past."

The crowd carried the trebuchet forward a little further, placed it on the ground, and moved a pile of debris to suppress it. Someone put a stone in the net bag at the end of the pole, and several others grabbed the rope in front of the long pole.

"A few more people, hold on to the shelf." Guo Kang commanded: "Hey, turn a little over there - yes. Now, get ready, one, two, pull!"

Everyone exerted their strength at the same time and pulled the rope downwards. The net bag at the end was thrown high, and the stones flew high, passed through the flames, and hit the courtyard behind the ruins.

"Did it hit? Did it hit?" the onlookers asked one after another.

"It's crooked!" Shi Huizhen shouted from the rooftop: "Akang, where's Akang? Oh, turn to the right and hit that tower quickly! If he doesn't suppress it, we'd better rush forward Don’t go in.”

"I know!" Guo Kang had no choice but to raise his head again and responded: "Don't be anxious -"

"Can I not be anxious?" Shi Huizhen complained loudly: "I saw more than one group of my servants, and they all said they were here to arrest me. Didn't you start this thing? Why are they all shouting that I am a rebel? "

"Aren't you talking nonsense? If you don't call you to rebel, why don't you call them to rebel themselves?" Guo Ponu said speechlessly: "Stop talking about it so much, just tell the direction honestly and tell which way you are going. Now. It’s a war, there’s so much nonsense!”

Shi Huizhen had always been unable to convince her, and she felt she was in the wrong, so she had no choice but to keep her mouth shut.

"Hey, how did this guy live so long..." Guo Ponu shook his head helplessly and complained to Guo Kang: "The people in the Shi family are also weird. Isn't this kind of short-sighted person the best to fool? That's it. They can even have a falling out? And the reason is too outrageous. Does anyone believe that she rebelled? "

"Maybe someone in her family wanted to kill her, so they said she was rebelling and used this as a reason to persuade other members." Guo Kang guessed.

"How can those who rebel say they are rebelling? They always find a reason to mobilize their subordinates, and then happen to pass through a key place. Or when the time is right, they tell everyone that they want to eradicate the traitor, or they are ordered to raise troops. In short, the reason must be to restore the , Restore order instead of destroying order. Only in this way will everyone follow you." Guo Ponu shrugged:

"How can anyone directly shout 'I want to rebel' on the street? This must be someone who framed her. This kind of reason can convince other people, but it can only mean that other members of her family have also wanted to kill her for a long time, so there is a lack of It’s just an opportunity.”

"If you tell Shi Huizhen this, how will she understand?" Guo Kang disagreed.

"Hey, that's right." Guo Ponu scratched his head: "I don't know which unlucky guy will marry her in the future. I guess only Brother Tian's words can make her listen."

"Brother Tian can't do it either." Guo Kang pointed out: "The first time we made the movable Brother Tian, ​​she broke the gear in the shoulder. I guess Brother Tian came here in person and had to be scratched by her a few times. …”

"..."

As Guo Kang said this, he directed everyone to turn their stone weapons and throw another one. This time, Shi Huizhen was a lot more honest and shouted directly: "Flying to the right again. Come to the middle!"

Guo Kang and others worked a few more times and found the right location. He picked up a few small stones, laid out a line on the ground, told everyone to face in this direction, and then went to summon others.

"Later, Father Mikhail and the others will pull down the last wall." He pointed ahead and said to a group of team captains who had called in temporarily: "After the house here falls, the flames will be weaker. , they have prepared water and hooks over there, and will clear away all the large burning objects as soon as possible. Then, the others will rush through the gap and attack the yard over there."

"We are almost out of gunpowder, and even if a piece of the fire area is temporarily extinguished, there will definitely be a lot of scattered flames. It is not safe to bring gunpowder over there." Guo Kang told everyone: "Don't bring bombs and gunpowder barrels. They can all be thrown out with a trebuchet. The person with the musket will shoot them all here first, and then continue to charge. The others should not stop, just like before, run to the courtyard wall in one go."

Everyone nodded, and some people immediately took off the powder bags on their bodies.

"Divide the pile of cloths we just got, soak them all with water, put them on your body, and cover your face." He taught everyone again: "Although it will be uncomfortable, the other party should not have expected that we would come from this." Come out here. If they still have outposts outside the wall, we will kill those people first. If not, we will attack directly."

"Your side..." He turned back to the people beside the trebuchet and said: "The direction has been set. Facing that way, throw as many pieces as you can as fast as you can. If you can't pull it anymore, change a group of people. When Everything around has been thrown away, or we have already entered before we stop. Okay, is everyone clear?"

Everyone agreed, and Guo Kang went to the front to talk to Father Mikhail and others.

"Xiaokang." Guo Ponu stretched out his hand to pull him, and whispered: "There are not as many people here as last time, so I guess they won't be able to rush down. And I think it's useless to keep a second-tier team - Ding Chong, a member of the Wang family Come here, the second line will definitely not be able to stop us, and we all have to run together. Don’t stand too far forward, or you won’t be able to run back.”

"It's okay, we are making progress too. This time, aren't our tactics a little smarter?" Guo Kang didn't care: "Now everyone knows how to cooperate with various weapons and how to attack." "You don't care. I have to take care of your life." Guo Ponu said displeasedly: "Why are you acting like a fool..."

"Heavenly Father and Brother Tian sent me to this world, there must be a mission for me. With these missions, how could it be possible to die so easily?" Guo Kang casually said: "We have been fighting for a long time, and the enemy is also very tired. Yes, there is still hope this time. I will take the lead in the charge, and if everyone works together, we should be able to achieve results."

Guo Ponu was speechless for a moment.

"Then... should we attack later? It's their people who have been coming all this time, but I think our people should be here soon." She changed her approach and persuaded: "Don't tell others, Niu The eldest sister will definitely rush over in a hurry. I guess she won't be too late."

"She is also outside the city, how can she be so fast? And wait for her, God knows when - she has no soldiers." Guo Kang shook his head again: "We should rely on ourselves."

"Don't worry about having nowhere to go. When I asked the church for help, I went to their underground warehouse. Over the past thousand years, the Roman courts have built a lot of crisscrossing waterways and water channels underground. The palace is so big that it is said that the whole city can drink for several years." He told Guo Ponu his new idea:

"Now, most of these places have been abandoned, and some have been converted to other uses. If you really can't win here and are being chased urgently, I will take you to hide over there and see if they dare I didn't dare to chase. I had been to several places before to find warehouses to store materials. I was familiar with the roads and knew the entrances and exits. There, we could spend a week with them without any problem. I didn't believe they could delay it for so long. "

"...You are really crazy." Guo Ponu could only mutter in the end.

"If you don't make things more exaggerated, some things just can't be done." Guo Kang still looked as expected: "As the saying goes, if you don't do something, you won't stop. Now that I have reached this point, why should I give up? ?Even if I give up, can they let me go? Even if they let me go, can they let so many people go?"

"We have reached this point, and things can no longer be suppressed. Either the Wang family is finished, or we are finished. Then of course I have to let them finish." He told Guo Ponu: "Theodora is a very quick-thinking person. . If she brings troops, she may be supporting us; but I also know her very well - she is also very likely to force the two sides to disengage in order to protect the Wang family, and then use this to coerce them and force them to give up some power. And the benefits come.”

"But this is a mature political method." Guo Ponu reminded: "Sister Niu is very slippery, but your statement is also wrong. Do you want to directly kill a Zhuguo family? Queen Mother Helena does not dare to do this . In Rome, the word "Zhuguo" means literally. Back then, everyone did not kill the Li family and allowed them to come back because the country could not bear an impact of this scale. "

"Are you going to eliminate an entire family at once? That's impossible. This kind of thing will destroy everyone's mutual trust and make other people feel the crisis of survival. Nowadays, every family has a large number of people, and which family doesn't have some scandals? ? Even our Guo family, when I traveled around with my mother, I could meet people who were doing illegal things. During that time, the weather was so bad every day but there was nothing I could do about it, isn’t that the case? "

"It's okay if you accuse them of acting illegally; it's okay to demand that several parties involved be held accountable. If I didn't support you, I wouldn't have followed you until now. But you can't target one family, otherwise people from other families, It’s impossible to determine where your boundaries are - you said you were only chasing people involved in blood sacrifices, but you have already shown your determination and ability to kill a Zhuguo family."

"Then what if next time, you want to sanction the abuse of punishment and the disregard of human life? What about the pursuit of corruption and fraud, and the persecution of loyalty? These are very serious things according to the law, but many people violate them in daily life; they are all based on moral integrity. Evil, no matter which angle you look at it, should be investigated to the end, but in fact everyone is inevitably involved in the problem. What are you going to do? How do you convince these people to rest assured and not to take drastic actions for the sake of their own lives?"

"We are under too much external pressure now. Rome has grown to this day because it is easier for everyone to survive under our system. For most people, life is the most precious, wealth is second, and dignity is even less important. If you can't even save the lives of your own people, then everyone would rather seek refuge elsewhere, even if they suffer a little more. This country will collapse."

"So now, the imperial court needs to take care of both sides: on the one hand, it must ensure that the current political situation does not change too drastically, and on the other hand, it must eliminate those who are too degenerate. The latter does need to be done, but the ancients said that running a big country is like cooking small dishes, which cannot be tolerated. Tossing violently. I think you should think more about it."

"Then there are so many people following me..." Guo Kang pursed his lips and opened his red eyes, still a little unwilling.

"Then you have to use your own brain." Guo Ponu spread his hands: "If you can manage the country just by killing, then the world will be too simple."

"The needs of different people are inherently conflicting, but here, these Russian gangs and guilds oppress people too much. Today, everyone's resentment suddenly broke out, and the fighting was too fierce. This makes them appear to be extremely united and not even afraid of death. But this situation cannot be maintained for a long time. In the future, followers like you will probably have disagreements and mutual hostility. What will you do then? "

Guo Kang couldn't think of anything for a moment and couldn't answer.

"That's right." Guo Ponu rolled his eyes: "Throughout the ages, there have been so many smart people all over the world, from generation to generation. But over thousands of years, a civilization that can manage a country can even form a civilization worthy of being called There are so few civilizations organized as 'states' that you can count them on one hand. As such, these countries will not last too long, and something will happen to them after a while. You say, can this be done? Is it simple?"

"Those of us, with the money paid by others, are the ones who think about and control these problems. I originally thought that you saw it too clearly and didn't need me to think so much. But why did you get involved at the critical moment? You In this way, can we do good things?"

Guo Kang realized that he really couldn't speak to her, so he had to respond a few times and said nothing.

"Hey, if you act like this, you will probably be led by Sister Niu in the future. For your sake, I'd better help you more in the future." Guo Ponu shook his head and said.

"Ah? This doesn't matter, right? Theodora always gives me advice from time to time." Guo Kang said.

"No matter how close she seems to be to you, she is still an outsider. This relationship between us cannot be changed." Guo Ponu educated: "Look at the most dangerous time this time, who has been following you?"

"Okay, I think too much about this, and you probably won't understand it. But one thing is right. Now that we have reached this point, at least the group of people in front of us cannot let go. You can continue to arrange the attack, and I will think more Method."

Guo Kang nodded.

After some calculation, he first went to talk to Father Mikhail and others about the ideas just announced, and then specifically explained the contingency plan for drilling the water channel.

Although many people did not understand the specific situation, they were deeply moved to see that he was so confident and his will did not waver. He even stated his plan to fight to the end. Soon, everyone increased their efforts and got busy.

(End of this chapter)