Troubled times: Start practicing spiritual practice by taking care of your sister-in-law.

Chapter 588: Deng Tian died in battle, Huaizhou is in danger

Deng Tian died. He was cut into pieces by King Huai. Yes, literally cut into pieces.

Because Deng Tian did not betray Chen Mo and surrender to King Huai, but instead said a lot of sarcastic words to King Huai, which made King Huai very unhappy.

Because his own subordinates were not so loyal, from Liu Ji, Zhao Liang, to his wife, Xiao Jia, Li Mingzhong, Li Mingfan, Gan Yao, Xiao Yi and so on, all betrayed him, which was in sharp contrast to the current Deng Tian.

Prince Huai was so angry that he could only vent his anger and frustration on Deng Tian.

Under the night sky, the hot and bright firelight shone on the blood-stained face of the Prince of Huai. He took the handkerchief handed over by his personal guard, wiped the blood on his face that belonged to Deng Tian, ​​and said, "Cut off his head for me and send it to Linzhou."

Having not gotten the "satisfaction" he wanted from Deng Tian, ​​Prince Huai needed to use this matter to annoy Chen Mo in order to make himself happy.

"promise."

……

It wasn't only the army of Prince Huai that attacked Chen Mo's territory, but also the armies of Prince Chong and Lu Sheng.

But they were divided into two armies.

Prince Huai led his own 3,000 guards and Prince Chong's 7,000 Chong troops to attack Fengzhou.

Gongsun Yan and Liang Mu, the top generals under King Chong, led 30,000 Chong troops and 20,000 imperial troops led by Hui Cheng, a general under Lu Sheng, to attack the most difficult Huaizhou.

In order to capture Feng and Huai states as quickly as possible and seize the initiative.

However, compared to the successful raid of Prince Huai on Fengzhou, the raid of Gongsun Yan, Liang Mu and Hui Cheng was not so smooth.

He County.

The city and county closest to Yanzhou in the southeast of Huaizhou.

It is daytime now.

"Boom boom boom!"

The heavy and loud drumbeats echoed across the battlefield.

The Chong army and the imperial guards who had just been brought to Yanzhou after defeating Xiliang, dressed in iron armor and holding weapons, rushed towards He County with a fearless look.

He County is an inland city and has not been an important town since ancient times. In addition, there has never been a war between Huai and Yan states, so there is no moat outside He County.

So soon, the Chong army and the imperial army rushed to the bottom of the city wall of He County. Ladders were erected by the two armies and leaned against the city wall.

Under the cover of arrow rain and catapults from the rear, the soldiers of both armies bit the hilts of their swords in their mouths and used their hands and feet to rush up the ladders.

boom!
A battering ram rolled down from the city wall and hit a Chongjun soldier in the front, causing his head to bleed on the spot. As the battering ram fell, it also knocked down several Chongjun soldiers who had climbed up the ladders below, making them lose their ability to fight.

Some Chongjun soldiers were also killed by huge rocks thrown down from the city wall.

"bang bang bang"

The Chong army's siege vehicles were pushed to the front of the city gate and kept hitting the heavy city gate.

On the chariot in the back, Gongsun Yan watched this scene from afar and said with a smile: "It seems that our plan to pretend to be a merchant caravan is going very smoothly. The enemy does not know where our troops are moving. There are not many defenders in Hecheng. Look, the defense on the city wall is getting weaker and weaker, and there are gaps."

"I always feel that it's going too smoothly. Since Chen's army has already taken Fengzhou, the focus of Huaizhou's troops should be on He County. Even if they don't know about our surprise attack and have relaxed a bit, the troops in He County shouldn't be so few."

Compared to Gongsun Yan's optimism, Diwu Fusheng frowned slightly.

He was specially sent to Chongjun by Prince Huai, firstly to know the marching movements of Chongjun, and secondly to better communicate with Prince Huai.

"He County is not an important town, and the city walls are not high. I guess Chen Jun feels that there is no need to send a heavy garrison here." Huicheng said while sitting upright on his horse.

The previous attack on Xiliang allowed Huicheng to accumulate a lot of military experience.

"Xiongmen City, which is less than a hundred miles behind Hecheng, is a major city. There is a moat a hundred feet wide outside the city. It is the best place to station troops. Perhaps the main force of Chen’s army stationed in Huaizhou is in this city." Liang Mu said as he looked at the map of Huaizhou.

This map was provided by Prince Huai.

After all, Prince Huai has been in charge of Huaizhou for more than 20 years and knows Huaizhou very well.

"In this case, we should take Hecheng as soon as possible. If we wait for Chen Jun's reinforcements from Xiongmen City to arrive, it will be a bit troublesome."

Gongsun Yan had just finished speaking.

"Report——"

A Chongjun soldier came running over and said, "General Gongsun, the city gate has been breached."

At the same time, the deafening shouts of the Chong Army and the Imperial Army soldiers came from the front.

"It seems that my guess is correct." Liang Mu stroked his gray beard with a smile on his face.

As the head of the Liang family, he had been the father-in-law and prime minister of the current dynasty. Although he had never led troops to fight in a war, he had read a lot of military books. Now entrusted by King Chong, as the deputy general of the Chong army, he also wanted to prove himself.

"Let the front army push forward." Gongsun Yan's face lit up and he said quickly.

After everyone left, Gongsun Yan looked at Hui Cheng and said, "General Hui, I will go ahead."

The Chong Army and Lu Sheng's Imperial Guards had a cooperative relationship, but they were not on the same side. Whoever entered the city first would gain more benefits, so Gongsun Yan would naturally not let the Imperial Guards take away any of them.

Hui Cheng frowned, feeling a little uncomfortable, but smiled on the surface and said, "General Gongsun, you are too polite."

After that, he said in a joking tone: "But I won't let General Gongsun take the next city."

For this cooperation, Lu Sheng sent Huicheng to be the vanguard, so at present, the Imperial Guards do not have a top-grade warrior, but the Chong Army has two, and Huicheng cannot compete with them.

Gongsun Yan laughed twice as a response.

After waiting for a quarter of an hour, Gongsun Yan saw that the front army had already entered. Just as he was about to order the central and rear armies to enter the city as well to enjoy the fruits of victory.

"Report——"

"General Gongsun, it's bad, there is an enemy ambush in the city, we have been tricked"

A Chongjun soldier ran back in a panic to report.

"What?" Gongsun Yan's face changed and he looked towards the city wall of Hecheng. He saw that the originally sparse defenders on the wall suddenly became dense, holding bows and crossbows and shooting towards the bottom of the wall.

"Report - General, it's bad, the city gate has been closed by the enemy, and the front army can't get out." At this time, another Chong army soldier ran over in a panic to report.

"What did you say."

Gongsun Yan's face changed completely, and he shouted: "Hurry up and rescue them, break open the city gate, and cover the front army to get out."

"promise."

But this time, it was not as easy as attacking the city just now. The Chong army couldn't even get close to the city wall.

"General, we can't do that. The enemy has too many people and their arrows are too dense. We can't charge forward at all."

The Chongjun soldier who had reported earlier came back with an embarrassed look on his face and said.

Gongsun Yan's heart sank, and he immediately looked at Liang Mu: "Lord Liang, follow me to lead the army to break the city, and make sure to rescue the vanguard." Since the soldiers could not rush forward, he would take the lead in charging. With two top-grade warriors going forward together, they could completely break the city by force, and the vanguard should not be killed in vain.

Liang Mu just nodded, and Diwu Fusheng said, "Wait a minute, both of you look at the top of the city."

Gongsun Yan and Liang Mu followed the direction pointed by Diwu Fusheng and looked towards the top of Hecheng City.

I saw two old men appearing on the top of the city wall.

The two old men seemed to have noticed them on the top of the city wall. One of them stroked his beard and said with a smile, "Everyone, I have been waiting for you here for a long time."

His voice was so loud that it drowned out the noise of the army and reached the ears of several people very clearly.

"It's Xiao Jing!" Liang Mu's face suddenly darkened.

Both the Liang and Xiao families are among the seven famous families, and there have been many intermarriages between the two sides. Liang Mu naturally knew Xiao Jing.

"Why is he here?" Gongsun Yan's face looked extremely ugly.

"He probably didn't go back after killing General Xiao Ce last time. And from what he said, the news of our surprise attack should have been exposed long ago." The Fifth Fusheng said.

"Xiao Jing is here, then who's next to him?" Hui Cheng frowned and looked for a moment. He felt extremely unfamiliar with the two old men on the top of the city wall.

"That's Wu Yanqing, the head of the Wu family. I didn't expect him to be here too." Liang Mu said in a deep voice.

"Damn it!"

Gongsun Yan clenched his fists so tightly that you could hear the sound of his knuckles cracking. His previous idea of ​​taking the lead in attacking the city also disappeared at this moment.

Xiao Jing and Wu Yanqing, both of them are well-known warriors in the realm of supernatural powers. They have killed Chu Ce before. Although he is younger than the other party, they have never fought before. Gongsun Yan does not have absolute confidence in defeating the other party.

If the other side did not have high-end combat power before, Gongsun Yan would naturally dare to lead the charge with the accompaniment of the army, but now the high-end combat power of both sides is basically the same, so it means a competition of manpower.

But now the enemy is defending the city and he has encountered an ambush. The situation is obviously not in his favor.

On the top of Hecheng city.

Xiao Jing was actually a little lacking in confidence. He had a hidden illness. The last time he dealt with Chu Ce, Wu Yanqing was also injured. It would not be easy for a warrior in the supernatural power realm to be injured, and Wu Yanqing was old, so it would not be easy for him to recover.

Therefore, the two injured warriors in the supernatural power realm could not display their peak strength at all. It was okay for them to deal with warriors below the third level, but if they faced warriors of the same realm, it would be extremely difficult.

Therefore, facing the enemy's powerful attack, Xiao Jing felt very unsure.

"I really didn't expect that Prince Chong would actually get together with Lu Sheng. This is a bit tricky." Wu Yanqing looked solemn and also felt a little guilty.

"It seems that after Duke Anguo recovered the north, he brought too much pressure to Lu Sheng and Prince Chong. Prince Chong even invited the head of the Liang family to come out." Liu Ji, who was behind the two of them, said, gently waving his folding fan.

"Prince Huai, Prince Chong, and Lu Sheng have not shown up yet." said Zhao Liang who was next to Liu Ji.

"General Zhao, we must report the situation here to Duke Anguo as soon as possible, and ask Duke Anguo to send reinforcements quickly." Xiao Jing said to Zhao Liang, who actually controlled the garrison troops in Huaizhou.

If Chen Mo didn't come, they really wouldn't be able to defend Huaizhou.

And because Chen Mo had gone north to resist the Jinxia barbarians before, he almost took the pottery jar bomb with him.

There is no gunpowder workshop in Huaizhou, so they currently have no hot weapons.

"Yes, we were able to stop the enemy this time, thanks to General Wen's advance notification. Otherwise, Hecheng would have been lost. If the enemy attacked a few more times, we would not be able to hold on." Wu Yanqing said.

"Please rest assured. When I received the news from General Wen, I had already sent people to Linzhou. We just need to hold on until Duke Anguo arrives." Zhao Liang said in a deep voice.

Xiao Jing pondered for a moment and nodded.

Wu Yanqing suddenly thought of something and said, "Don't we still have nearly 20,000 Fish Scale Guards in Jiangnan? We can ask General Nangong to send troops to help us first."

"I'll send a message to General Nangong right away." Zhao Liang nodded.

……

Linzhou, Xiangyang.

The provincial examination has reached its last day and is drawing to a close.

The test papers of the first exam had been counted thanks to the efforts of Chen Xiu, Zuo Lianglun, Geng Songfu, and hundreds of invited examiners, most of whom were senior gentlemen from all over the country, who worked overtime and cross-checked the papers.

In order to be fair and strict, Chen Xiu, Zuo Lianglun and Geng Songfu cross-checked the test papers of the top ten candidates in the first exam. When they saw no objections, they handed the list to Chen Mo.

At this time, Chen Mo was thinking about naming the clothing store.

The tailors, assistants and female workers for the clothing business have all been found, and even the location for the first store has been chosen and is being renovated.

Just waiting for Chen Mo to come up with a name for the store.

The stores that sell clothes in this world are all clothing stores, cloth shops, and ready-made clothing shops. There is nothing new about them.

However, for Chen Mo, who is bad at naming, it is indeed a bit difficult.

After thinking for a long time, Chen Mo said to Xia Zhiqing and Ning Wan, "Let's call it Yimeiyisi."

"Yimei, the clothes are beautiful. This name is nice and easy to remember, and the meaning is very clear." Ning Wan thought about it for a while and said.

Xia Zhiqing nodded slightly and thought it was good.

"Let your subordinate Qingwu be the shopkeeper of this store. She has a good figure and looks. If she puts on our new clothes and stands in the store, she will attract customers." Chen Mo said to Ning Wan.

"Even if you didn't tell me, my husband, I would have recommended her. She did a very good job at Fuze Restaurant before." Ning Wan said with a smile.

"Then it's decided."

As soon as Chen Mo finished speaking, a maid came up from not far away and said, "Master, this is the list of the top ten in the first exam sent by Master Chen Xiu."

"Oh?" Chen Mo quickly took it and checked it.

Xia Zhiqing and Ning Wan also came over to check it out out of curiosity.

Xia Zhiqing was surprised and said, "Isn't this Sun Cheng the one who wrote a poem to praise her husband before? He actually got the first place in the first exam."

"It seems that this person is really talented and can do more than just flatter." Ning Wan said with a smile.

"There are still two games that have not been counted yet, so it's hard to say who will be first in the end." Chen Mo didn't care much.

"Husband, how many candidates do you plan to select in this provincial examination?" Xia Zhiqing asked.

"Judging from the vacancies in the north, a state must select at least 500 people. However, it ultimately depends on their results. If the results do not meet the requirements, it is better to have no one than to have someone with too few qualifications." Chen Mo said in a deep voice.

"Master, General Sun has something important to report." Just then, another maid came running over to deliver the message.

Chen Mo's brows furrowed.

A moment later, in the study.

"My Lord, it's bad. Huaizhou is in danger."

(End of this chapter)