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In Yongzhou City, Tianji Pavilion.

This is the highest office in Yongzhou, and it is also the office of King Mingyue. He usually gathers here to meet his subordinates and discuss major issues. Most of the decision-making affairs in Yongzhou are made from here.

Tianji Pavilion has five floors, spacious and elegant. When you are in it, you will not feel that this place is located in the northwest, just like Kyoto, because many decorations in the pavilion are almost the same as those in the prince's mansion in Kyoto. Pay attention to many.

The graceful and luxurious Mingyue King sat gracefully on a soft soft seat, behind him were clusters of flowers, and the fragrance was overwhelming. He was dressed in a light yellow robe, looking regal.

This is the fifth floor of Tianji Pavilion, and it is also the highest place in the entire Yongzhou City except for the city wall.

If you go to the window, you can overlook the entire Yongzhou City, and you can have a panoramic view of the huge building complex.

In Tianji Pavilion, besides King Mingyue, there are more than ten of his courtiers.

The right servant Yuan Tiangang, together with Dou Andao, is the only surviving general of the two great Northwest Peerless Generals, Mao Di. These two people are the indispensable core figures under the Mingyue Throne. Apart from them, the other ten people are also An important official of Yongzhou.

……

Hearing the sound of killing outside the city gradually subsided, soon a spies came to report: "Report to King Mingyue, the Chu army failed to attack the second gate in the northeast by force, and the casualties were heavy. They have withdrawn their troops!"

As a result, the courtiers in the cabinet all smiled proudly.

The situation was similar to what they had expected. The "Impenetrable City" was genuine. Since the Chu army's first wave of strong attacks failed, it will be even more difficult for the Chu army to attack in the future.

"Your Majesty!" General Mao Di stepped forward and respectfully said, "If the Chu army cannot attack by force, the morale of the army must have been greatly frustrated. As long as our army sticks to Yongzhou City, it will not take long for the Chu army to collapse on its own."

Mingyue King's expression has always been very calm, there is no surprise, no sadness, only the tranquility like blue waves.

"Tiangang, how long can the food and grass in the city be kept?" Mingyue King asked slowly.

Yuan Tiangang, who used to be named Yuan Buyi and is now the right servant of Yongzhou, made a play and said: "Your Majesty, more than half a year ago, I started to store grain and grass. Now the grain and grass in the city are very full. It can last for half a year, and if the rations of ordinary people are reduced and properly allocated, it can even last for ten months.”

King Mingyue nodded and said: "The soldiers must have enough to eat, and the people in the city must also let them have enough to eat. You can't let them not have enough to eat just because you take care of the soldiers. Those civilian men who carry stones and logs to the city have to pay more. Some rice... Since there is enough rice to last half a year, it is more than enough. If we really want to confront each other, the Chu army may not be able to last for two months...!" He sighed softly: "It is better for them to leave early, at least they can Fewer people die... This king does not want to see his compatriots fall one by one."

"Your Majesty Shengming!" Everyone said in unison.

"If they are stubborn and don't know what to do and want to besieged, then they will know the consequences soon." Mao Di is nearly fifty years old, but his voice is still very loud, old and strong, with a frightening domineering: "This season , it is the season of severe cold and heat, even I am a native of the Northwest, and I have to be careful. Chu Jun's body like a chicken will soon suffer from such a disease... At that time, I will see them How can we attack Yongzhou City?"

"Not bad." Immediately, an official echoed: "They are absolutely unable to resist the severe cold and fever. I hope that Xue Poye also suffers from severe cold and fever and dies. If this happens, the Chu army will be in chaos." , and the vengeance of Dou Shuai and Zuo Shilang has also been avenged by the heavens on our behalf."

Dou Andao was beheaded by Xue Poye himself, and although Zuo Zixuan committed suicide, the reason was Xue Poye.In addition, Xue Poye captured Yizhou with tactics, killing countless defenders in the northwest, causing Hong Wei to commit suicide, and the Yongzhou offensive strategy was shattered. It also caused Dou Andao to swim across the Yi River with tens of thousands of troops in order to avoid being caught in a pincer situation. Drowning countless Northwest soldiers, this blood feud made the Northwest soldiers hate Xue Poye to the bone, wishing to eat his flesh and drink his blood.

On everyone's faces, there was not even the slightest worry about the city being breached. Perhaps in the hearts of these people, they firmly believed that Yongzhou City was the "unbreakable city" of the Communist Party of China!

"Your Majesty!" A slender middle-aged man came out of the crowd, saluted, and then said slowly: "The purpose of conquest on the battlefield is not to kill, but to control. Although the Chu army is now fighting with our army They are hostile, but they are all compatriots of flesh and blood after all, if we only ask the Chu army to die more, I am afraid it is not a good way, and it is against the name of the king's benevolence and righteousness."

Everyone turned their eyes to this person, and they all fell silent.

King Mingyue looked at this person, smiled and said: "You are right, we are here to control, not to kill!"

"Sooner or later, the king will ascend the throne. If too many Chu troops die, their parents and relatives must have hatred for me in the northwest. At that time, I am afraid that the people will not be kind." The middle-aged man continued: "So I think, It is the best strategy to be able to injure the enemy less but control the enemy at the same time!"

Yuan Tiangang, whose skin was like black charcoal, said indifferently: "My lord, how should I implement this best strategy that will not hurt the enemy but can control the enemy?"

Lord Wang took a step forward and respectfully said to King Mingyue: "Your Majesty, I am willing to go to the enemy camp and persuade Xue Poye to surrender. Even if the persuasion fails, I should persuade Xue Poye to withdraw!"

Everyone around was shocked.

King Mingyue was also a little surprised, and said, "You want to go out and persuade him to surrender?"

"Exactly!" Lord Wang said seriously, "I beg your Majesty to grant you permission."

Yuan Tiangang immediately went out and said: "Your Majesty, I'm afraid this strategy will not work. That Xue Poye has a very deep relationship with Liu Zichan, and he will never abandon Liu Zichan and join us, and both Dou Shuai and Zuo Shilang died because of him, even if he If you want to join the throne, I'm afraid that the soldiers will not accept it."

King Mingyue said softly: "Tian Gang is right. I have seen Xue Poye before. He looks loose, but he is a very assertive person, and speaking of it, he can be regarded as a vicious character. If you say that he If you are willing to surrender, I am afraid it will be even more difficult."

Lord Wang said solemnly: "Your Majesty, even if he does not surrender, I am sure that I can persuade him to withdraw."

"Oh!" King Mingyue pondered for a while, and said: "The Chu army is not yet aware of the difficulties of besieging the city, and they may not be able to persuade them for a while. In my opinion, wait a few days until the soldiers of the Chu army feel the difficulty of besieging the city. You go to Chuying to try again."

Lord Wang's expression became slightly sad, but he still said respectfully: "Observe the order!"

King Mingyue stood up, walked slowly to the window, overlooking Yongzhou City, maybe he didn't even feel it, but at this moment, he really had the aura of ruling the world.

"Pass down the order, my soldiers in the northwest will guard the city to the death, and the people in the city don't need to panic, and live as usual." Mingyue King said calmly: "Put a bright moon flag on the top of the city, so that the roaming warriors in the northwest may be able to harass them occasionally. Chu Jun."

……

Three days had passed since the soldiers approached the city, and the Chu army launched two more large-scale attacks in the middle, but the results were extremely dismal, leaving countless corpses behind, but they failed to break even a single city gate.

After several fierce battles, the morale of the Northwest Army is getting higher and higher, while the morale of the Chu Army is rapidly fading.

Although there was still enough food and grass, just as the Northwesterners had expected, the soldiers of the Chu army began to feel unwell, and even a very small part of the soldiers collapsed on the ground and could not stand up.

Xue Poye immediately ordered his subordinates to set up a sick camp [-] miles behind the main army formation, where the sick soldiers were arranged to rest, and a doctor led by Ming Xu was sent to diagnose and recuperate.

On the fifth day, the number of sick soldiers continued to increase, which caused Xue Poye, Yang Yijun and others a headache, and the same situation happened to Song Fei's Chu army stationed at the north gate.

Xue Poye went to visit the sick camp in person, and was shocked to see the soldiers were all weak and shivering.

Could it be that the situation that I have been worrying about will really happen, the Chu army can't hold on and is defeated by itself without the capture of Yongzhou City?

"Marshal, this is the culprit!" Mingxu held an extremely fat mosquito in his palm: "This is a big mosquito in the northwest. They usually appear in large numbers during this season. They have disease roots on their bodies. Once bitten by it One mouthful, people who can't stand it, can easily suffer from severe cold and fever... Marshal, this disease is commonly known as "beating the pendulum". It is not a terminal illness, but if it is not treated quickly, it will be fatal Life is in danger."

"Then you brought someone to treat him?" Xue Poye said in a deep voice.

Mingxu's expression was never serious before, he shook his head and said: "Commander, we are in the northwest and we are at war, even if we want to heal, we can't do anything, there is no medicinal material, we can only see the disease, but we can't cure it. "

Xue Poye frowned and said, "What kind of medicinal materials do you need?"

"There are mainly two kinds of medicines, one is atractylodes rhubarb and the other is rhubarb. Boil them into sweet juice and take them with water. This severe cold and heat can be cured by eight or nine." It is not produced, they need this medicine, but they bought it from other places. Although we also brought some medicines, most of them are medicines for healing wounds and stopping bleeding, but there are no herbal medicines such as Cangzhu rhubarb."

Xue Poye asked urgently: "Will there be any in Yizhou? We'll send someone to get it? Taizhou, will there be?"

Ming Xu said slowly: "They are all located in the north, there must be some, but they are not born in the local area, and the number must not be too many. And the medicines that our army patients need more and more every day, that is An extremely large number...!"

Xue Poye sighed, and said: "I will send people to search for these two herbs now, and you should heal your sick brothers well."

Two days later, even though the troops sent out had brought back some medicinal materials, it was only a drop in the bucket, compared to the number of sick soldiers, it was far from enough. Even Little Fairy fell ill, and the green lady was anxious. take care of.

Soon, soldiers began to die from this disease. Just one day later, dozens of people from the two armies at the North Gate and East Gate died of this disease.

Everyone knows that if this disease is not suppressed, more people will die. In the end, there may even be many more people who died of illness than those who died in battle.

The Northwest Army and the Chu Army are already in a complete confrontation, and the situation of the Chu Army is getting worse and worse.

Not only do they have to face the invasion of diseases, every midnight, sporadic Northwest Rangers take huge risks to sneak attacks from time to time, which makes the morale of the Chu army gradually lower.

Sitting on the big chair in the handsome camp, Xue Poye's face was extremely haggard. The safety of hundreds of thousands of troops was at stake. This was not a matter for one person. Xue Poye could be said to be facing the most critical moment in his life.

"Why didn't my weapons arrive? Finish this battle earlier, and get out of this sea of ​​suffering sooner!" Xue Poye closed his eyes, feeling very anxious in his heart.

At dusk, Xue Poye, who was thinking about countermeasures, suddenly heard a report from a soldier outside the tent: "Commander, Yongzhou City has sent a special envoy to come to see you!"