Dawn of the Empire

Chapter '1 Zhengle Changle Museum (5)

"This counts as a bonus," Li Sihai spat out the dried pomegranate seeds, and said nonchalantly, "It's just to test the ***." He leaned over and whispered to Zhao Xingde, "It seems that the *** country The monarchs and ministers are indeed very afraid that we will take advantage of the victory to attack. Captain Zhao, I proposed the proposal of the general manager the other day, you should think about it again, this group of weak bones, maybe as long as Chen Bing falls, they will kneel down and beg for surrender." After finishing speaking, he peeled off Put a handful of pomegranate seeds in your mouth.

Zhao Xingde frowned, ignored him and changed the subject, and continued to ask: "What is Lieutenant Li planning to do with these fifty pairs of Jiaofang singers?"

Li Sihai spat out the pomegranate seeds. "What else can I do?" He peeled off a handful and handed it to Zhao Xingde, before laughing, "As the saying goes, 'the eyebrows win the day lily', and the red skirt is jealous of the pomegranate flower."***Jiaofang singer name Wen Tianxia not only has a slender waist and a long body, but also has white and greasy skin, and has taught singing and dancing since childhood, and all of them are excellent in color and art. Don't say that in a humble place like Liaodong, even a prosperous place like Jinling and Chang'an is worth a lot. It’s expensive. Brother Zhao, last time I asked you if you had a list of prostitutes, and you said no, it’s all right now, I’ll give you [-] pairs of real diva divas first to make a foundation, and I’ll send you new ones in the future. Registered prostitutes are added."

"Brother Li, thank you Mr. Zhao for your kindness. These fifty pairs of singers should be sent to you on Yueyang Island."

"That can't be done." Li Sihai shook his head and said, "Yueyang Island is small, and there are military aircrafts everywhere, and there is no place for a music hall."

"Could it be that there is one in Yuancheng?" Zhao Xingde said angrily.

"That's right. Yuancheng is guarded at the mouth of the Yalu River. There are many merchants traveling from south to north. They recruited these girls from Jiaofang, which made it look like a big city. The local business is prosperous. If there is not even a brothel Jiaofang , it’s a joke. The brothers have been floating outside all year round, and there is also a place to vent their anger. Let me remind you, this **** thing is not under the jurisdiction of the captain.” Li Sihai laughed, his white teeth stained Red pomegranate juice.

"Forgive Liang to be a prostitute, please forgive Zhao for not being able to obey." Zhao Xingde's face turned down when he thought of the scene of "prosperous prostitution" in his own territory in the future.

"Brother Zhao would think of 'forcing' Liang to be a prostitute, and how could Li do such an act of burning pianos and cooking cranes," Li Sihai sighed, "Brother Zhao probably seldom set foot in a brothel. Ji is in the music hall. Whether she sells her body or not is all based on her own will. If she can make a living by playing the piano and discussing poems, serving wine and laughing, dancing, and singing a little song, that is not bad. It’s also okay to redeem yourself. Whether you can get a beauty or not depends on your own ability, but you can’t use force. All the rules are in accordance with the "self-observance of the law of the city", Brother Zhao, what do you think?" He squinted and looked at Zhao Xingde said with a smile, "Brother Zhao is an upright gentleman, but you can't let others behave like you. Brother Zhao, when the water is clear, there will be no fish, and when people are under investigation, there will be no disciples. Even if you can forcibly ban all brothels and music halls .As the saying goes, full of warmth and desire for money, a bunch of hypocrites will be suppressed, who will talk to you about benevolence and morality in front of people, but will only do things like stealing chickens and dogs after people."

No matter how sternly Zhao Xingde objected, Li Sihai could always speak plausibly. In the end, the two reached an agreement. It is run by merchants. Of course, the only and largest firm at present is the "Dongmuhang" jointly established by Chengying Eighth Battalion Paoze.The fort on the mountain, which is still some miles away from the pier, is under the jurisdiction of Chengying Eighth Battalion. Zhao Xingde plans to build it into a strong military fortress, and then install large-caliber artillery to attack the Yalu River.

After talking about the matter, Li Sihai joked: "In addition to singing and dancing to entertain people, these singers in Jiaofang can't do farming and weaving. If they are hungry, I am afraid that one or two steamed buns will kill them. Not counting Violating the rules of 'self-guarding the market'." Zhao Xingde's face was slightly cold, and he said in a deep voice: "Thank you, Brother Li, for reminding that the Eighth Battalion gave them a daily ration of one liter and five collages. Remuneration for the army." Li Sihai smiled, cupped his hands and sighed: "Since Brother Zhao is so sympathetic and cherishing jade, Li will thank Brother Zhao on behalf of these girls." His expression suddenly became a little strange, "It's just that if Spread the rumors, saying that Brother Zhao has raised fifty pairs of singers alone, I am afraid it will damage Brother Zhao's reputation."

Zhao Xingde said coldly: "The one who cleans up is himself, don't bother Brother Li." After speaking, he picked up a teacup to see off the guests.

Li Sihai smiled slightly, got up and said goodbye.He was sure that even though he claimed to be "voluntary", once this example opened, there would naturally be prostitutes.What makes him even more satisfied is that a gentleman can be deceived by others. Using this music hall brothel as an introduction, Chengying's fourth battalion snatched food from the mouth of a tiger, and obtained the jurisdiction of Shuizhai Wharf from the eighth battalion.However, Zhao Xingde was willing to have his reputation tainted and acted straight from his heart, which was beyond his expectation.

"It seems that brother Zhao is a real gentleman." He smiled dumbly, and Shi Shiran left. "At war between the two countries, doesn't it mean that you rob me and I rob you. Money, money, food, women, and land. It's okay for Captain Zhao to go to the scholar's house to teach. With this kind of heart, joining the army and fighting is very interesting."

A shadow shrouded the top of his head, Li Sihai raised his head, and saw a concave wall rising up.This earthen wall is one foot high and one hundred and twenty feet long, half enclosing the southeast corner of Kaizhou City.The earth mountain is about sixty steps away from the city wall of Kaizhou. Although the earth wall is not as strong as the city wall, and it is two feet shorter than the city wall, the archers of the Han army stand on the steps behind the earth wall and shoot arrows, so it is not easy to be shot by the city head. The arrows hit the target, but they were able to fight back against the Khitan soldiers who had fired arrows at the top of the city by virtue of their superiority in numbers.The artillery barracks of the Xia Guoying were set up on the artillery barracks in Lixu from the city, making it clear that they would concentrate on bombarding the corner of Kaizhou City.Since the siege of the city entered a stalemate, more than a thousand Khitan soldiers were killed or injured just in the southeast corner of Kaizhou City.

However, the Khitan people had no way to give up their defense. As long as the city was broken a little, it would easily shake the whole line.Although the Han army under Kaizhou City claims to have 4000 elite soldiers, there are only more than [-] real veterans.As soon as the Han army used the method of ants to attack the city with heavy casualties, the village owners who cherished the soldiers began to blame each other.Zhao Xingde suggested that Wang Hengzhi build various fortifications to reduce casualties. As a punishment measure, the Han army battalions whose daily earthwork could not keep up with the progress requirements were formed into a siege camp.This method couldn't be more reasonable, so the fearful Han army began to race against time to build various civil engineering works outside the city under the scorching sun.

The construction of various fortifications outside the city of Kaizhou has almost never stopped. The main military affairs of young men who have not had their turn to attack the city are digging trenches and building parapets.Today, the plain outside Kaizhou City is not only dug into ravines, but also interspersed with various low walls and fortresses.The soldiers of the Han army can still jump around among these boring fortifications they have built with their own hands. For the Khitan cavalry who are used to galloping and rushing, this is simply a nightmare.The trenches extending in all directions crisscrossed outside the city, making it difficult for the Khitan cavalry to go out of the city to fight back.

The short parapets covered the Han soldiers who were walking around in the ditch. Coupled with the cover of dead branches and leaves, the movement of the Khitan outside the city was no longer clear at a glance.This concave-shaped earth mountain is the most labor-intensive, but it is also the most effective after it is completed.The Khitan soldiers guarding this corner of the Kaizhou city could only hide in various temporarily reinforced battlements and city caves.Whenever the Han army beat drums to attack the city, they bit the bullet and got out of their hiding place.Every time the city was attacked, the Liao soldiers defending the city suffered heavy casualties.If it weren't for the fact that the various units of the attacking Han army were unwilling to suffer too much damage to themselves, and Wang Heng's determination to attack the city was not firm enough, Kaizhou City might have been captured long ago.

Not far from Li Sihai, more than a thousand soldiers of the Han army were approaching the southeast corner of Kaizhou City, carrying ladders.At first, the distance was far away, and the Khitan army at the head of the city didn't bother to talk to them.When the soldiers of the Han army approached the city wall within a hundred steps and were about to set up ladders to attack the city, the Khitan soldiers reluctantly leaned out from behind the battlements and shot arrows down the city, throwing wood, rolling stones, and gold juice. A class of things.The number of Han troops attacking the city was not large, and they were greedy for life and afraid of death. One by one, they slowly approached the city wall. There were not many wounded, so they threw away the ladder and scattered.The officers behind hurriedly beat the drums again, and sent the guards to wave their waist knives to prevent them from retreating.

These Han troops had to move towards the city wall again step by step.However, even the Khitan soldiers who were so exhausted defending the city could not withdraw from the city wall due to their incessant siege. They could only hide behind the battlements with gritted teeth and stare, listening to "Boom—boom—— "Several cannons rang out. At this time, the centurion of the artillery battalion used binoculars to find that the Khitan soldiers had gathered and boarded the city, and directed Xia Pao's group to fire at the northeast corner of the city.At this time, the archers of the Han army on the top of the earth mountain also opened their bows and shot arrows. The most used archers in the [-] Han army were only more than [-], and Wang Hengzhi was not willing to use them to attack the city.These archers are also very life-saving, every time they shoot an arrow, they must carefully observe for a long time behind the earthen wall, and wait for the Khitan arrow rain to thin out, then they suddenly lean out and shoot towards the top of the city.However, there are still many people who were killed by the powerful arrows from the top of the city in such a confrontation.

The number of archers in the Han army is getting smaller and smaller, but the height of the earth wall under their feet is increasing every day. The young and strong men take soil from outside the city and ram it into mud bricks that are one foot long, half a foot wide, and three inches thick. To thicken the foundation of this earth wall and build its height.As long as the Liao court persisted in not coming to undo the siege of the state, one day the earth wall would be higher than the city wall, and the Han army would be condescending, and the Khitan soldiers on the top of the city would have nowhere to hide.

"It's a waste of people and money. Is it smart or a fool to use this stupid way to attack the city?" Li Sihai murmured thoughtfully as he looked at the earth wall that was becoming more and more majestic.