"...the days are long and the days are long, and the travels are leisurely. Women are traveling now, and they can sail up the river in small boats... The Laizituo family is full of compassion for the common people. The poor, thrifty, and sincere people are worthy of Zhou..."
A light singing voice is ringing.
A brazier was burning in the room with the doors and windows closed. It was warm but dull, without the feeling of day and night. The woman's body squirmed in the thick bedding, and she sang a long poem from the Tang Dynasty in a low voice, "Sending Yang's Daughter".
It is a poem written by Wei Yingwu when he sent his eldest daughter off to get married. The words are sad, but also contain instructions and hopes for the future.
Her voice was gentle, with a bit of longing, giving the room a soft pink aura. The man next to the woman was also lying there. He had a ferocious face, messy hair, and seemed to have fallen asleep with his eyes closed.
The woman sang a song, climbed onto the man's body, and kissed him gently. After singing the song, she closed her eyes and fell asleep for a while, then sang another poem to herself.
"The smoke and dust of the Han family are in the northeast, and the Han generals resigned and broke up the family with thieves... The man originally respected himself and ran rampant, but the emperor gave him great honor..."
This is a Yuefu poem written by Gao Shi in the Tang Dynasty, called "Yan Ge Xing". Although the first part of the poem contains generous sentences such as "A man's self-respect is rampant" that has been passed down through the ages, the tone of the whole poem is tragic, telling the story of war.
The cruelty of the woman. The woman sang softly and hummed very slowly. The man she was attached to listened quietly and opened her eyes, which were red.
The man's name is Wang Shitong, and he is the fierce "ghost king" who now leads the Hungry Ghost Army, spanning half of the Central Plains, and even once forced the Jurchen Iron Buddha to dare not leave Bianliang. The woman's name is Gao Qianyue, and she is originally from a Langya official family.
My daughter is outstanding in poetry and calligraphy, and has extraordinary talent and beauty. Last year, the hungry ghosts came and the whole territory of Langya was burned. Gao Qianyue and his family fell into this catastrophe. Her fiancée, who was still a general in the army, died first, and then
It was her parents who died. She survived by chance because of her beauty, and was later sent to Wang Shitong.
In the few months from the end of the ninth year to the beginning of the tenth year of Jianshuo, wherever the hungry ghosts went, it was a real hell. Gao Qianyue followed Wang Shitong and lived a good life. The nightmare of his family being eaten and the fear of hunger
The young lady's temperament took away everything in her. Gao Qianyue, who was a girl to be married six months ago, learned all the ways to please Wang Shitong. Finally, the hungry ghost came to stay outside Xuzhou City.
Winter is deep and the mountains are covered with snow. Millions of hungry ghosts have gathered here. Throughout the winter, they have eaten up everything they can eat, and there are eaters everywhere. Gao Qianyue and Wang Shitong are in this room.
Having lived here for several months, she could imagine what it was like without going out to see it. Compared to the outside world, this place was almost like a paradise.
She used her singing to please the man, but the meaning of the song was not good. After singing, she seemed to be afraid that the other man would be angry. Gao Qianyue's singing slowly stopped and gradually became silent. Wang Shitong closed his eyes and waited for a while.
Just then he opened his eyes again, looked at the dim place on the roof, and spoke in a low voice.
"Don't you see...it was hard to fight in the battlefield, but I still remember General Li...hum..."
The last sound, I don't know if it was a sigh of relief or a sarcasm. At this time, there was a knock on the door: "King of Ghosts, the guests have arrived."
With his eyes focused, Wang Shitong's anger suddenly gathered. He pushed the woman away from him, got up and put on a large robe decorated with various furs, and picked up a mace with stains on it.
.
"You stay here, don't go out." He finally said to Gao Qianyue and left the room.
For several months, he would say this every time he went out, and Gao Qianyue never left the room. After Wang Shitong left, she wrapped her body in the quilt and quietly retreated to the corner of the room.
It's night outside.
Dots of firelight extended from this courtyard, forming a large, endless, chaotic crowd. Where there were once more than a million, but now hundreds of thousands of hungry ghosts gathered, the order was primitive and deformed, even though
Looking out in the night, the low shacks, the faint light of fire, the smell of dead people and unknown meat, and even the weird and shrill shouts in the night sky all make people shudder.
Wang Shitong followed the refugee leader named Tu Jiifang through the muddy road with some snow marks, and came to a large room not far away. This was originally an ancestral hall in the village, but now it is where Wang Shitong handles military affairs.
The lobby. The two people entered through the guarded door. In the lobby, a man in tattered clothes and a masked face similar to a refugee stood up. After Tu Shufang closed the door, he took off his face towel and bowed his hands in salute.
"Li Zheng, Liaodong, met the Ghost King."
Wang Shitong did not return the favor. He stared at his eyes that were red because they were full of blood. He walked forward until he was in front of Li Zheng and stared at him. After a while, Li Zheng became slightly agitated.
Feeling uncomfortable, he turned around and left, walked to the front seat and sat down. Tu Jifang wanted to speak, but Wang Shitong raised his hand: "You can go out."
"King of Ghosts, the Jurchens are very sincere this time..."
Wang Shitong did not speak, but turned his eyes. A ferocious aura had already enveloped Tu Jifang. Tu Jifang quickly backed away and left the room. There was not much human kindness in the system of hungry ghosts. Wang Shitong was moody and had been killed since last year.
Without Yan Hong, his most trusted brother, it was unreasonable to kill people frequently. Even though Tu Jifang had tens of thousands of men, he did not dare to make any mistakes at this time.
After the door was closed, Wang Shitong lowered his hands and stared blankly at the empty space in the room, as if in a daze for a moment. Then he looked at Li Zheng and asked in a hoarse voice: "Zongfu, that bastard..."
Why were you sent here?"
Li Zheng's brows wrinkled slightly.
But Wang Shi didn't finish his fairy tale and showed a smile: "...give it to me?"
…
In Xuzhou City, four people finished talking in a small room.
The four figures are divided into two sides, one on one side and three on the other. On the other side of the three, the members are obviously a little short and thin, but they are all wearing the uniforms of the Chinese Army, and they have a spirit of their own.
The four people stood up and saluted each other. The man who seemed to be the chief wanted to speak, but there was a knock on the door. The chief went out and opened a crack in the door, took a look, and then opened the door completely.
Appearing outside the door was Liu Chengzong, the top general of the Chinese Army of the Xuzhou Expeditionary Force. He came in from the outside, looked at the three thin soldiers, and after saluting, he whispered in a low voice: "Have you finished all the instructions that need to be given?"
With a smile on his face.
"That's it." The officer replied.
"We all know what's going on outside, and we'll survive a narrow escape." Liu Chengzong said, "If you don't want to go, just say it now. If you don't do this kind of thing unwillingly, you won't be able to do it well."
The three thin men stood upright and raised their heads. Liu Chengzong nodded and smiled, picked up a few bowls on the table, and poured boiled water on them.
"We're about to go out. We can't drink, so we can only drink water... Come back alive, and let's have a cup of triumph."
He and the other three picked up the bowls, clinked their glasses, and then exchanged a few words with everyone before leaving. In the night, the three short and thin Chinese soldiers put on the refugee clothes that had been prepared, dressed up, and then
We took a carriage and headed towards the side of the city wall.
Since the end of last year, when Liu Chengzong led eight thousand Chinese troops to Xuzhou City, Wang Shitong, who learned the news, also led the main force of hungry ghosts to fight here. The walls of Xuzhou City were strong and thick, and when Li Anmao announced his rebellion against the Qi Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty
, the army they recruited together with the later expanded team amounted to more than 50,000 people. Even if there were millions of hungry ghosts, it would be impossible to invade Xuzhou. But if they were surrounded by hungry ghosts like this, it would be difficult for Xuzhou to have a battlefield when the Jurchens arrived.
Take the initiative.
In response to this situation, Liu Chengzong selected some Chinese army soldiers from the army who had propaganda and incitement skills and were able to blend into the hungry ghost groups, and released them outside the city in batches to guide the hungry ghosts outside the city to abandon Xuzhou.
They turned to attack the Jurchen East Route Army, which had never defended the fortified city.
Facts have proved that refugees troubled by hunger and cold can easily be incited. Since the end of last year, batches of refugees have been led in the direction of the Jurchen army, causing a lot of trouble to the main force and logistics of the Jurchen army.
Troubled. Some of the millions of hungry ghosts who were led to Xuzhou by Wang Shitong were incited to leave. Of course, by now, they have died in the heavy snow.
One winter, for more than three months, it is difficult to fully describe the hardships caused by hunger and cold in the heavy snow outside Xuzhou. In that kind of environment where people cannibalize each other, even the instigators of the Chinese army who came out may have many
They also faced the crisis of starvation. Moreover, in the heavy snow, millions of people froze to death, starved to death, or attacked the Jurchen troops and were killed. The atmosphere was simply unbearable for ordinary people.
Countless people die on any day. In an environment where life and death are separated by just a few millimeters, each person's life is like a particle of dust or an epic. People, millions of people, are starving to death alive.
, it is almost impossible to save. But even if it cannot be saved, it is an unspeakable feeling to be incited by oneself to die efficiently. Even soldiers who have experienced the three-year bloody battle of Xiaocanghe will have to die in this environment.
Suffered great mental torture.
But such things have to be done after all. Spring is coming, and if the problem of hungry ghosts is not solved, the situation in Xuzhou may become even more difficult in the future. That night, three more people were quietly put down on the city wall under the cover of darkness. At this time,
, among the shacks where the refugees gathered on the other side of the city wall, there was also a figure walking forward quietly.
Afraid that the Chinese army would break through the core of the hungry ghost army with a single assault, Wang Shitong's central command was miles away, but even under Xuzhou City, there were many refugees gathering - they didn't care about the army coming out. This man
The figure sneaked into a dark place, looked around for a moment, then quietly picked up the bow and arrow, and shot the arrow with the message towards a city head lit with several torches.
After the message was delivered, the man quietly turned back and merged into the refugee camp. However, not long after, a commotion began with him as the center.
…
"...In today's world, the Wu Dynasty is unruly and people are devastated. The so-called Chinese army, just for fame and reputation, only wants the power of the world and does not care about the people. The Ghost King understands that if Ning Yi hadn't killed the king of Wu Dynasty, how could Dai Jin get the chance?
Break through the city of Bianliang and gain the entire Central Plains... The southerners are like flies and dogs, most of them only know how to scheming and scheming to find where the big gold is destined... I know the ghost king doesn't want to hear this, but just imagine, if the Jurchens conquer the world, they have never been in the Wu Dynasty, and there are so many in China.
There is nothing outrageous about dirty things that were captured on the battlefield, at least in our north."
In the room, a Han named Li Zheng from Liaodong was facing Wang Shitong and making an impassioned speech.
"...However, among the southerners, there are also respectable people. I admire heroes like the Ghost King very much... Ghost King knows that this winter, our Marshal Zongfu and Prince Zongbi often talk about you. Although
The times are bad, but among the southerners, you are the only one fighting for the common people, Ghost King. Although your attitude is violent, you, Ghost King, have shouldered the things that many adults in the court cannot afford!"
"...There is a famine in the north. You, Ghost King, have no choice, so you lead the people south. I heard someone said that when you were in Zezhou, you also saw the so-called Chinese army. They are called benevolent and righteous. You want to entrust the people to
They, the Chinese army who claims to be benevolent and righteous in the world, do not recognize these Chinese people at this time. You can only continue to carry them... No one can stop you on your way south, even in this winter, millions of people
Even though they are dead, hundreds of thousands of people are still alive on your side, Ghost King. Why? You, Ghost King, protect them. No matter what the situation is, Marshal Zongfu said, you are a respectable person and you fight for all people."
"If the world hadn't been ruined now, Ghost King, you wouldn't have come this far. There will definitely be a wider road to walk on."
Li Zheng gave Wang Shitong a thumbs up, paused for a moment, and pointed his finger in the direction of Xuzhou: "Now the Chinese army is in Xuzhou City. Ghost King, I know you want to kill them. Commander Zongfu also has the same idea. The Jurchens are heading south.
, there is no room for this time, Ghost King, even if you take these hundreds of thousands of people to the south of the Yangtze River, with all due respect, the south will not welcome you. Marshal Zongfu is unwilling to go to war with you... As long as you give up the Xuzhou City
This road leads to the west, to the land of ten cities with you. You can worship the prime minister at Dajin, and they will survive."
Wang Shitong looked at him for a while and said, "Zong Fu...are you afraid of fighting me? We are almost dead."
"Ghost King Mingjian, the Jurchens have never been afraid of anyone in the past years. However, firstly, they don't want to fight insignificant wars, secondly, they admire you, Ghost King, and thirdly... the world is about to change, and luck will bring it. These people are also the sons of the Jin Kingdom.
Citizens, if they can survive, the commander also hopes that they can avoid unnecessary casualties. Ghost King, just calm down and think about it, this is the best..."
Li Zheng was talking and wanted to continue talking when suddenly there was a noise outside. After a while, Tu Jiafang brought some people over and knocked on the door: "Ghost King! Ghost King! Caught! Caught!"
"What did you catch!" Wang Shitong shouted violently.
"Chinese Army..." Tu Jiafang said, before pushing the door open and entering.
Wang Shitong suddenly stood up. As soon as Tu Jiafang entered the door, a few cronies behind him pressed a figure in. The man was dressed in tatters and filthy, and was skinny and skinny. He must have been beaten just now, and there was a lot of blood on his face.
, his hands were tied behind his back, and his two front teeth had been knocked out, which was very miserable.
Tu Jiafang closed the door, looked at Li Zheng, then at Wang Shitong, and said in a low voice: "They are my people, Ghost King. We finally found out that it was these grandsons who spread the word among the brothers that they could not conquer Xuzhou."
, the closest thing is to go to the Jurchens to grab military rations, and someone saw him sending a message to Xuzhou City, haha..."
Wang Shitong hates the Chinese army deeply. Everyone in the hungry ghosts has known for a long time. Since last winter, some people have been incited to go to the Jurchens one by one, or die on the road or in the field.
Under the sword. The hungry ghost was aware internally, but the people below were originally a mob and never caught the confirmed spy. This time someone was caught, Tu Jifang was extremely excited and quickly pulled him over.
Wang Shitong glanced at Li Zheng, then turned back and landed on the Chinese Army spy. After a moment, he laughed and said, "How long have you been among the hungry ghosts? Aren't you afraid of being eaten by humans?"
The Huaxia Army spy was still panting as he was being dragged and didn't speak. Tu Jifang punched him in the chest: "Say what the hell!" The Huaxia Army spy coughed twice and looked up at Wang Shitong - he almost
He was caught at the scene. The other party actually followed him and found him for a long time. It was difficult to explain. At this time, he laughed: "Eating people... haha, are you the only one who eats people?"
He lowered his head, vomited blood, and said, "Do you know, do you know there is a person named Wang Shanyue..."
"Um?"
"He is... He is the grandson of Wang Qisong of the Wu Dynasty. Before the Blackwater Alliance, the Liao people came over. All the men in the Wang family went to the battlefield. After they died, only Wang Shanyue was left. His family was full of women. He was born with physical problems since he was a child.
He is weak, and his family is being bullied, but he is the only man. In order to protect his family, you know what he did..." The spy raised his blood-stained face, "He is a cannibal. He eats people alive. The enemies are afraid of him.
He can protect his family..."
"Haha, cannibalism... Why do you eat people? Who are you trying to protect? What kind of honor is this? Are humans delicious? Return to the King of Ghosts, humans are not like humans and ghosts are not like ghosts... Do you know, cannibals
Wang Shanyue led his troops to guard Daming Mansion. He has been guarding Daming Mansion since last year. Wanyan Zongfu and Wanyan Zongbi couldn't defeat him with 300,000 people... Who is this bastard next to him? From the north? Ghost King, you are selling your ass.
Give it to them? Hehehehehe..."
"You fucking black flag bastard, I will roast you today!"
Hearing the spies' words becoming more and more outrageous, Tu Jifang suddenly drew his knife and thrust it towards the opponent's neck. The spy's mouth was full of blood, and with a smile on his face, he hit the tip of the knife. Tu Jifang quickly withdrew the blade, and Wang
The lion boy shouted: "Stop!" Two of Tu Zifang's henchmen who had caught the spy also pulled him back hard. The spy's figure was bumped again, and with a clang, he had already pulled out one of his henchmen.
The dagger. At this moment, the thin figure rushed several times and pulled away the rope in his hand. A close confidant of the Tu clan next to him was wiped on the neck by him. He held the short dagger and pointed towards Li Zheng over there.
, pounced like a tiger!
"die--"
"ah--"
The spy rushed towards Li Zheng, and Tu Jiafang slashed him with his sword. As one of the leaders of the hungry ghosts, he had his own food every day, so he was already very powerful. The spy just concentrated all his strength on one blow. The sword flashed in the air, and the spy's
His body rolled towards the corner of the room, and he was slashed with a knife on his chest, causing blood to flow freely. But he stood up immediately and seemed to want to fight. Over there, Tu Jifang shouted: "I'm going to eat you."
Wang Shitong's eyes were also blood-red, and he pressed towards the spy. The distance was slightly closer. Wang Shitong saw a complicated look flashing in the eyes of the Chinese Army spy whose face was covered with blood - that look in his eyes during the past six months.
I have seen it countless times. It was a look of fear and nostalgia.
"Objection."
The spy spat out this word, swung the dagger and cut his own neck. This was the sharpest knife swing Wang Shitong had ever seen. The body just stood like that, and blood suddenly spurted out, covering Wang Shitong's head.
All over the face.
Everyone in the room was stunned.
The corpse fell down, and Wang Shitong wiped his face with his hands, and his hands were covered with scarlet color. Tu Zifang came over and said, "Ghost King, you are right, the people in the Huaxia Army are not good people. In winter, they
I came here to cause trouble and took away many people. But we can’t attack Xuzhou. Maybe we can..."
The sound of breaking wind roared! Wang Shitong grabbed the mace and suddenly turned around and swung it out. There was a muffled sound of gold and iron clashing in the room. Tu Jifang, who was wearing a thin layer of armor, was beaten out with one blow.
The desk on the other side of the room was smashed with a bang. The wooden boards and the ornaments on the table were flying. Tu Jifang's body rolled on the ground, and then struggled for a while, as if he was about to get up. He had spit out large mouthfuls of blood.
Wang Shitong swung his stick and smashed it down.
"You—"
Bang!
"Eat inside——"
Bang!
"Cheating outside——"
Bang!
"-something!!!"
Bang!
Tu Jifang's body was deformed by the smash, and the ground was covered with blood. Wang Shitong gasped heavily, then stretched out his hand to wipe his mouth and nose, and looked at Li Zheng on the side of the room with bloody eyes.
"Come here! Drag him out for me... and eat him."
People outside the room came in and walked towards Li Zheng. Li Zheng's face was filled with fear: "You... Ghost King, you will not end well if you do this. You should think twice before you act. Commander Zongfu will not give up. You..."
"Haha, little Zongfu... let him come! This world... is made like this by you golden dogs... I'm not afraid of him! My bare feet are not afraid of those wearing shoes! He's afraid of me - I ate it
Him, I ate him...hahaha..."
Li Zheng was dragged down while shouting, and Wang Shitong laughed to himself. He looked at the dead Chinese Army spy on the other side, took one look, and laughed twice, and was stunned for a while.
, just called people.
"And this... there's nothing to eat, hang him up in front of Xuzhou City! Hahaha, hang out, everyone in the Black Flag Army is like this, haha——"
His body was covered with blood, and he laughed nervously for a while, then went to take a shower. Not long after he returned to Gao Qianyue's room, someone came over to report that Li Zheng had violently injured someone after being taken away, and then ran away.
The lion boy said "Oh" and turned back to hug the woman's body.
The next day, at the top of Xuzhou City, people saw the body hanging out.
"It's time to fight..."
Luo Ye looked at the city, murderous intent flashed through his eyes... 89