The summer is hot and the sun is hanging high. Gao Zhao is sitting in the yard, leaning against a lounge chair, holding an umbrella cover on his head, his clothes are half smooth and his chest muscles are half exposed, but he still feels hot and hard to bear.

After looking at the smoothie that had been melted in his hand, Gao Zhao finally resisted his desire.

The attendant repeatedly instructed him that he was angry and could not eat hot things, nor could he eat extremely cold things.

Without seeing her, Gao Zhao simply took a cover to cover the smoothie, but just held it in his arms to cool it down.

He was sweating profusely, while Li Shixian and Yuan Yi, who were sunk under his head, were trembling with coldness, and the two rows of teeth were pounding.

People who have never tried it can't imagine the feeling of being exposed to the sun for a day and then soaking in the cold well water for a night.

The bones that thorns hurt, even more painful than whipping...

When it was the hottest afternoon, it was only a moment or two. The chill in his body gradually faded, and Li Shixian's trembling became smaller and smaller, and he was finally able to say a complete word.

"I heard that the Taiwei was in poor health. I fainted in the yamen the day before yesterday. I wonder if it was better?"

Only obeying his voice, Li Shixian seemed to care about Gao Zhao. But looking at his face, he was full of gloating and grinning his teeth, white and bright.

After looking at Yuan Yi, who was still trembling, as if he was unable to open his eyelids, Gao Zhao sighed sadly: "Li Shixian, it is said that practitioners of Taoism are heroes, why do you want to incite me to me? It's better than King Qinghe, who is unwilling to give in, at least he doesn't have to ask for trouble..."

But before he finished speaking, Yuan Yi said tremblingly, "No...not alone... I don't want to laugh, but... I'm so cold... I can't open my mouth..."

Li Shixian was stunned at first, then raised his head and let out a shocking laugh.

Gao Zhao's face sank, and his liver fire became like crazy vines, which filled his heart in the blink of an eye.

When the confidant saw that he was about to suffer, he shouted harshly: "Go down!"

"Grandpa hasn't sung enough yet..."

I only shouted six or seven words, and another piece of rag was stuffed into Li Shixian's mouth. Yuan Yi was giggling...

The two were taken to the water prison again, and Gao Zhao was still angry, like an old cow that had been plowing for more than ten acres of days, with energy rising from his mouth and nose.

The crowd of confidants stood on the left and right, all of whom were silent, fearing that Gao Zhao would be vented.

It was not until his mood was slowing down that a close friend came to his ear and whispered: "These two people must have guessed that the Grand Marshal was afraid of the rat, so they were confident and even more frugal. But under torture, what should I ask for? It is better to hand it over to the subordinates and let the two thieves bow their heads..."

Gao Zhao looked at his confidant like an idiot.

Under torture, why not ask for anything? He has been an official for decades, but he doesn’t even understand such a simple truth?

If he could use torture, he would have used it long ago. Why should he keep Li Shi as a guest of honor and be courteous for several months?

It was because Gao Zhao finally had a trace of fantasy, and he wanted to win him back to his heart and use it for his own use.

Even if he cannot be conquered, he will not harm his life. It is just because of him or Li Chengzhi, although he had plotted against each other and used all means to harm the other party, it is now one after another.

For example, now three beasts confront each other: the court is a sick tiger, and he and Li Chengzhi are two lonely wolves.

Can't the tiger's troubles be eliminated, and the two wolves fight first?

The most reasonable thing is that both sides should abandon past grudges and share the same hatred of the enemy.

If you really take another step back, if it is time to fight against Li Chengzhi on the battlefield, Li Shixian, who is alive, will definitely be ten thousand times more valuable than the dead Li Shixian.

The same is true for keeping Yuan Yi's life...

After thinking for a while, Gao Zhao sighed secretly: "Come and write a letter by hand, and then Li Chenghong and Li Chengxue will send it to Fuming and hand it over to Youzijian..."

Confused, he asked in a low voice: "I dare to ask the Grand Marshal, what does this mean?"

"What else can you do? Naturally, I'm giving Li Chengzhi a big gift..."

After pondering for a moment, my confidant understood: the Grand Marshal wanted to show him sincerity to Li Chengzhi, and even advised Li Chengzhi to join forces to raise an army...

After a pause, he asked carefully: "What should Li Shixian do? Should he release the dungeon?"

Release the dungeon?

That would be so cheap?

Gao Zhao replied coldly: "Let's go ahead and wait until he takes care of that broken mouth before looking at it!"

The confidant whispered and helped Gao Zhao into the yamen hall again.

Fortunately, I was just a sudden attack that day. Although it was not a symptom, Gao Zhaotian had a physical weakness. How could he have such trouble?

The attendant repeatedly reminded that the Grand Marshal must rest in peace and dare not work hard.

And how can Gao Zhao calm down now?

He wrote two secret letters in a row and handed them to his confidant: "When I saw Zijian, I reminded him: It is better not to be late in this battle. If you can send troops one day earlier, you can seize the initiative earlier... You must not be negligent in the battle..."

"I will know you again, not to seek merit, but to seek no mistakes. Just guard the side wall..."

Before he finished speaking, he heard a drum sound, like thunder.

Gao Zhao sighed inwardly, stood up with several cases: "Is Xing Luan going to attack the city again?"

Seeing him trembling, the confidant quickly helped him: "Then the officials will go to watch the battle first. If the war is unfavorable, then I will report it to the Taiwei?"

Gao Zhao pondered for a moment and waved his hand: "Forget it, help me to go to the city?"

Since then, Xing Luan's offensive has become stronger day by day. How can he feel at ease if he doesn't go and take a look?

...

Xing Luan was a famous general. How could he send nearly a thousand soldiers to die every day just to delay the time?

One is to observe the location and the other is to test the reality and reality of the city.

After a few days of testing, he found that except for the Rockets, the rest of Jinming County were all medium-range.

Although there are several crossbows in the city, they are all broken and rotten. Only in the near moment can one crossbow be launched. There are many rolling stones and rolling woods. However, if the officers and soldiers do not attach themselves to the ants to attack the city, these two things will be useless.

In addition, the city is still sufficient for food and grass, because every time the meal comes, the army in the city is transported to eat, and all are made of millet cakes and pickles, and there is sufficient supply, and there is no limit, so the morale of the army is still stable.

Xing Luan was considering whether he would be besieging the county town on all sides?

However, Xiazhou has already been appointed as the state of the country. Once the city is besieged from all sides, if it cannot be captured for a long time, it may be attacked from both sides.

Now I can only hope that Xi Kangsheng will make achievements as soon as possible and restrain Gao Meng at Lucheng (the border between Xiazhou and Bogulu, which is now Yinchuan). Then Cui Yanbo will be the rebellious thieves in Ding and other states firmly block the north of Lishi Town, and cannot make him go south to Jinming.

Only in this way can Xing Luan dare to completely siege Jin Ming and be confident that he can break the city within one month.

Now I just take it for granted, and I don’t know what the battle between Xi Kangsheng and Lu Cheng is, so I can only fight and see.

Hearing a drum sound at the top of the city, Xing Luan returned to his senses and looked at the top of the city.

Compared to just now, there were many more military generals on the top of the city. A seal with the word "high" was slowly floating. I think Gao Zhao would watch the battle at the top of the city.

I've been frustrated for nearly a month, so I just let Gao Zhao see my methods.

Xing Luan shouted in a deep voice: "Siege the city!"

A wave of the corner flag on the cloud tower, a gong sounded in the camp, and nearly ten thousand soldiers advanced together.

He is nearly 60 years old, and his eyes are inevitably shattered. Gao Zhao can only see the officers and soldiers pressing down the city like hemp ants, but they can't see it in detail.

After vaguely, he could still see that the number of soldiers siege in the city was several times larger than that of the previous few days, and there were many more heavy weapons.

Gao Zhao stretched out his hand and asked coldly: "What is the enemy's army pushing?"

"It seems like a cannon cart!"

The confidant squinted his eyes and looked at it, "But for some reason, it is much smaller than the commonly used stone cannon. It is less than one meter tall, and only two horses are pulling it, and seven or eight soldiers are following you..."

Cannon cart?

Gao Zhao's heart jumped and shouted anxiously: "Look at the cannon truck throwing the pole, is there a big stone falling from the tail?"

The confidant glanced at it: "It's true!"

"Maybe you see clearly, how many are there?"

The confidant replied respectfully: "There should be at least five or six hundred in a cart of ten horses in one cart of ten horses!"

Gao Zhao's face suddenly changed: "Hurry up, order all the soldiers to go down to the city and hide under the urn city!"

All the confidants were a little confused, thinking that if all the guards were coming down to the city, would they dare not let the enemy do it?

If it is not good, you should also erect a city crossbow, which can be smashed to pieces.

Gao Zhao sighed: "How can it be too late? If you had known Xing Lian had this thing, you should have hollowed out the battlements and hid the crossbow in it... Give an order!"

Last year, when Yu Beizhen, he heard that Li Chengzhi had created another weapon to siege. Without the help of cattle and horses, only a dozen soldiers could use stone cannons to throw stone bullets weighing dozens of kilograms out of one or two hundred steps.

After leading his army back to Beijing, he went to the Ministry of Works to see it. He admired Li Chengzhi for his academic savages and his ingenuity. He just added a heavy stone after throwing the pole, which saved the cattle and horses and dozens of people's strength, and made it easier to move forward and place it.

He had also planned to send the drawings to Xiazhou and Shuozhou, so that Gao Meng and Gao Zhi could also imitate them just in case.

But at that time, Gao Meng had just tasted the sweetness of the Rockets, and even the Ding Zhuang who dug tin oil was not enough. How could he free up people to log and build artillery vehicles?

After receiving the drawings, he put them in the shelf and reminded Gao Zhi that if there were enough people, he would send some to Jin Ming to help him dig harsh oil...

Gao Zhao didn't regret it, but he didn't expect that Xing Luan had so many cannon cars and hidden so deeply that all of them had been exposed a few days ago.

If I had prepared myself, I wouldn't have been so panicked right now...

He was upset and was helped by the secret pallets in half of the wall. When he looked again, the officers and soldiers' artillery battalions had already been stationed within more than a hundred steps and were erecting stone cannons.

This distance is not far or near, and it can be hit by the stone cannon on the city wall or thrown to the red city head, but it will leave the defenders on the city helpless.
To be continued...