The sound of wind and rain made the window lattice tremble.
In the wing room, the lamp shadow swayed. Two young women in cloth clothes and hairdresses were sitting opposite each other under the lamp. One of the younger girls was talking and doing needlework. He seemed to be a little absent-minded, and his needlework was not smooth. After a while, he pricked his fingers because his hands were shaking. At present, many red dots were pricked on the pad of the index finger of his left hand.
"Xiaoqing, take a rest for a while."
"It's okay, I'm not tired."
Ziyao looked at Xiaoqing's face and smiled helplessly, "Okay, if you keep pricking like this, you won't want this finger anymore. I think you'd better take a rest."
"I" Xiaoqing's face turned red, her hands stopped working, and she turned her head and glanced outside. It seemed that the shouting of killing was getting louder. "Actually, I don't want to either But if I don't find something to do, I'll be so frightened that I almost jump out of my skin I'd better keep doing it. It hurts to get two needles. It¡¯s better than sitting around like that and feeling flustered"
????????????????????????????????????
"Aren't you panicked?" Xiaoqing sewed two stitches, suddenly stopped, tilted her head and asked.
Looking at Xiao Qing¡¯s half-fearful and half-hesitant face, Ziyao hesitated for a moment, squeezed out a smile and said, I said don¡¯t panic, do you believe it? "Looking at Xiao Qing shaking his head slightly, Ziyao went on to say that's it. With such a big battle outside, the outcome will be Tianhui. If the rebels don't come in, it's okay. If they do who can't panic?" The words made Xiaoqing tremble again with fright, and another drop of blood came out of her hand. It hurt so much that she quickly put it to her mouth and sucked it.
"Look at you, you are so timid, but you always want to ask questions about this and that" Ziyao reached out and snatched the shoe sole from Xiaoqing's hand and put it aside. "But we are now in this situation. We can't get out, we can't escape, and it's useless to panic. Fighting is a man's business, and we we can help with big and small things on weekdays, but in this situation When the time comes, it seems useless Well, this is the sadness of being born as a girl"
"Look what you said." Xiaoqing put down his finger, reached out and picked up the bent wick with the drill, and said that the day before yesterday, the Yamen recruited people to help defend the city, didn't they still have to go? If Uncle Qiao hadn't tried his best to stop him, I'm afraid he would have been in the city by now" As he spoke, Xiao Qing seemed to be startled by the words. Thinking of the bad scenario, he immediately stopped and said no. Went down.
"Haha, are you scared again?" Ziyao smiled, tilted her head and listened to the shouts of killing coming from the distance, and said, I do have this intention. Now I heard that there are thousands or even tens of thousands of rebels attacking the city outside. There are tens of thousands of people, but there are only more than 3,000 people in our city. If we didn't recruit people to go to the city, the city would have been destroyed long ago. One more person means more strength, even if it is just to move a stone, one more stone will have more power. If everyone in the tens of thousands of people in the city thinks so, even if the rebels have twice as many people, they will never be able to move it. Xiangyang City was captured"
"Well, if everyone wants to think like this, that would be great. Didn't Aunt Li say that the big and wealthy gentry in the city are all thinking about Zhe now? They are hiding and hiding, and the war is in chaos. Who cares about this city? It¡¯s unbreakable. Fighting is what soldiers do. Now everyone is probably thinking about saving their lives and money.¡±
After being silent for a while, Ziyao said that it is normal to think about saving money to save your life while fighting, but it is just that your vision is too short-sighted. How can the eggs be intact when the nest is overturned? How can the rebels do nothing to the common people when they wait for the city to be broken? When the three kings rebelled against the imperial court, how could they not recruit local people to serve in the army, and how could they not collect money as military pay? If you can't see this at all, you may not be able to save your wealth if you want to save your life. "
"Ah?, if that's the case, if this city really can't be defended, then wewe" Xiaoqing stood up as he spoke, looking around, and hurriedly picking up the things he could use one by one. Pack.
"What are you doing?"
"Ah?, we have to pack up. If the city is destroyed, we can't just wait here. We have to escape from the city to save our lives." Seeing the stupid look, Xiao Qing suddenly became anxious and almost cried. come out.
Ziyao shook her head helplessly and said, pack it up, put it down quickly. Do you think you can run out after you pack it up? "She stepped forward and patted Xiao Qing's shoulder, comforting her and saying, "Don't worry. The people we live in are poor families with no money or real estate. Even if they want to recruit people into the army, it won't be our turn. The only thing to worry about is The only thing iswe are girls. Ifat that time, we will only have to tell our identities. If we can pass this test, we have passed; if we can't, we have passed."We, master and servant, have only one way to go"
Seeing Xiaoqing's face getting paler, Ziyao said something serious and quickly turned around and looked at you. This was just talk. If you ask me, this possibility is still very small. Xiangyang City has high walls and thick walls. There are three thousand guards and tens of thousands of people in the city. Xiangyang City is besieged by rebels. Can the court just sit back and ignore it? Now that it has been delayed for two days, I'm afraid if there is no accident, reinforcements from the court will arrive tomorrow. If they still cannot capture the city by then, the rebels will have no choice but to retreat. "
"Reallyreally?" Don't skip words. Xiaoqing was in shock.
"Of course it's true." Ziyao replied, but she was completely unsure in her heart.
1, both of them couldn't help but fell silent, and unexpectedly, their eyes turned to the window. After a long while, Xiaoqing suddenly said, "SayQiaowill he be okay?" "
¡°I won¡¯t.¡± Before she could finish her words, Ziyao intercepted the words ¡°I won¡¯t¡¡±
"Well I don't think so. They say good people don't live long Bah Bah Qiao is a good person. If he does good deeds and accumulates virtues, he will definitely live a long life." After a pause, Xiao Qing couldn't help but say, but after all, he is out there. What to do? You still haven't come back? "
Xiaoqing has a rough mind and naturally doesn't know anything about it, but Ziyao is very thoughtful. Although he doesn't want Qiao Shanhu to go out to do it, things have happened in the past few days, and he can make up his mind just by thinking about it. What's more, Ziyao still recognized the brand that no one else recognized that day, but it was inconvenient to say these words to Xiaoqing.
"Don't worry, Ji people have their own destiny. Brother Qiao will definitely do it. Our family can't go to the battlefield to help at this time, so we can always do other things." Ziyao said, you are not looking for something to do. What? It's windy and rainy outside. Go and wipe all the firewood on the stove and cut the vegetables and put them on the table. We can't do anything else, but if we can help Brother Qiao, we can have a hot meal and a hot bath. , and it is always our heart and effort"
"Huh? Oh" Xiaoqing was stunned for a moment, then seemed to suddenly have an idea. He glanced at Miao's face, said yes and turned around to go out.
The wind and rain outside seemed to be getting worse. Looking at the dark sky outside the window, Ziyao's mind unexpectedly had an image that had been lingering in her mind for the past few days:
At the entrance of the old alley, a strong figure came on horseback from the crowds of people and took him into his arms
In the courtyard of Huafang, in despair, he broke into the door in the dark and stabbed Liao Qi with murderous intent all over his body
???????????????????????????????????????¡
On the road in the suburbs of Beijing, the faces of two cars looking at each other in confusion
Brother Qiao, nothing can happen to you
ZiyaoZiyao is here, waiting for you
¡¡¡¡
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
A burst of rolling thunder rolled over the clouds in the sky from west to east. Under the strong wind and rain, the two sides who were still fighting fiercely before had no choice but to gradually break away from the battle. Although Li Xian couldn't suppress his eagerness to seize the city, the battle really couldn't continue when the rain and wind were so strong that there were almost no people on the other side. Therefore, both sides had no choice but to retreat while gathering the remaining troops, using their respective terrains to form defensive formations, enduring the wind and rain, and waiting for the weather to improve for the next battle.
With the capital commander Tong Zhi Song as the leader, and military officials at all levels of command, experience, and school inspection as assistants, they still could not take a break despite the heavy rain. Layers of battle reports came to Song Cheng through various channels, and orders were relayed again despite the heavy rain. Fortunately, the city, alleys, and shops that had not yet been lost, a large number of people were reorganized, and together with the guards A new line of defense was formed. The war situation was urgent. Many houses and low walls were demolished, and a large number of dismantled green bricks were piled up in the rain to form a new line of defense. Gate trucks, wall trucks, fierce oil tank trucks and water cannons were deployed to the weak points of the front line according to strength.
At this moment, the south city gate has also been lost. Although the west city gate has not been lost, there are really not many troops. Therefore, they were forced to retreat and merged with the guards at the North City Gate. Together with the streets and alleys on the ground in the East City that were still in their hands, the new defense line formed a zigzag pattern from southeast to northwest.
During the storm, in a temporary awning set up high on a street, the commander Song Cheng and the chief envoy Zheng Ci were the leaders. All the major civil and military officials looked at each other, their faces as gray as the gloomy weather. And dejected. The war has progressed to this point, and everyone is waiting for a situation. If you lose, in front of the rebels, those who resist to the end will certainly be killed; if you persist in the stalemate, it will probably be considered as a crime of neglecting military aircraft and delaying official business in the official documents of the court, even if you don't take off your official uniform. No hope of promotion.
Turn defeat into victory? This idea, even in Song Cheng's mind, never arose at all. In the hearts of all generals, at this timeThey are all thinking about one question: The war has been going on for so long, why haven't the reinforcements arrived yet? Huchuan Guard and Nanling Guard were excused for being late due to heavy rain. Where are the other soldiers and horses of the imperial court? Even if there are no other troops from the imperial court, why have the remaining naval forces in the Jiangnan Navy Camp not been seen for so long? Even if it needs to be reorganized, it shouldn't be so late as the rebel navy, right?
Could it be that the imperial court just gave up on Xiangyang City like this?