Kuai Qi stared at Kuai Yue's coffin parked at the bottom of the city with a pale face. He couldn't help but take two steps back. If it weren't for the quick eyesight and quick hands of his cronies on both sides, he almost fell to the ground.
He lost his father when he was young and was raised by Kuai Yue since he was a child. Although the two were uncles and nephews, they were no different from father and son. Cai Mao once said that Kuai Yue was seriously injured and his life was in danger, but Kuai Qi always held on to a glimmer of hope in his heart. , and now the last hope was completely shattered. I couldn't hold myself back for a while, and tears poured out of my eyes like a dam.
"What should we do..." Han Xuan on the side was anxious and sighed. Just look at the dejected soldiers on the city wall to know that Liu Jing returned Kuai Yue and Liu Pan's body not only demonstrated his benevolence and righteousness, but also It severely damaged our own morale.
However, this was an upright and upright conspiracy, and he could not tolerate his rejection.
Han Xuan was originally in chaos due to Liu Jingjun's sudden attack and his own troops were unable to deploy. Now he saw Kuai Yue and Liu Pan's coffin causing commotion inside and outside Linxiang. At this time, even if Tian Dan came back to life, it would be difficult to defend Linxiang.
The soldiers of Liu Jing who were responsible for carrying the coffin were all carefully selected by Wang Qiang. They all had extremely loud and resonant voices. After completing their task, they did not leave immediately. Instead, they stood under the city and shouted into Linxiang City that all the Northern troops marching south had arrived. The army was destroyed, and the officials and people of Linxiang were encouraged to rebel, expel the Northern Army, and welcome Liu Jing.
If they were allowed to continue talking nonsense, Linxiang might surrender without a fight. Kuai Qi and Han Xuan temporarily tolerated their grief and panic, sent troops out of the city to expel Liu Jing's soldiers, and moved the coffins of Kuai Yue and Liu Pan back to the city. middle.
As for Cai Mao's empty coffin, although Cai Mao would definitely not accept this gift, he couldn't just leave it outside the city, so he accepted it all.
As soon as the coffin entered the city, Kuai Qi immediately staggered down the city wall, threw down the coffin with Kuai Yue's name written on it, and ordered someone to open the coffin lid. Sure enough, he saw his uncle's face was peaceful, neatly dressed, lying flat in the coffin, with a slit in his throat. The scars had been sutured, which was consistent with Liu Jingjun's claim that he had committed suicide.
While Kuai Qi was grieving in his heart, he also felt a sense of gratitude towards Liu Jing. He must know that as an enemy, it was extremely difficult for Liu Jing to do this. As a son of man, if he is not grateful, he is no better than a beast. different?
However, gratitude is gratitude, which does not affect his hatred for Liu Jing in his heart. The meaning of "Spring and Autumn": "If a minister does not seek revenge, he is not a minister; if a son does not seek revenge, he is not a son." As long as there is a chance, he must do it. To avenge my uncle.
On the other side, Han Xuan also opened the coffin and confirmed Liu Pan's body. Seeing that the latter's head was broken at the neck, his face was covered with wounds, and his death was miserable, his heart suddenly became extremely heavy.
Cai Mao stood on Beijin City, staring intently at Liu Jing's fleet in the distance, his face so gloomy that he almost dripped water.
Until now, he has not been able to figure out why Liu Jingshui's army came so quickly and actually arrived in Linxiang on the same day as them, with a difference of only three hours. This is not consistent with common sense at all...
It should be noted that the Jingzhou army numbered tens of thousands. Even if they were submerged by the flood, it was not impossible to escape into a new camp and resist for several days.
Taking a step back, even if the Jingzhou Army soldiers did not resist and were captured, Liu Jingjun would have to capture them one by one, right? In other words, there was at least one day's time difference between the two sides, but the result was that the two sides were only three hours apart. Simply unbelievable.
"Brother..." Cai Xun, who was wearing a hooded hat and a mantle, strode up behind Cai Mao and said, "The red horse just reported that there are only more than a hundred enemy ships outside Linxiang City. This shows that Liu Jing has not
Send all the naval forces."
Cai Mao glanced sideways at Cai Xun with his bloodshot eyes, and said to himself: "Do you need to tell me this? I'm not blind." He currently has only twenty or thirty warships under his command, and the enemy ships in front of him are already
It was four or five times their number. Therefore, it made no difference to them whether Liu Jing sent all his naval forces or not.
Seeing Cai Xun hesitating and refusing to retreat, Cai Mao frowned and asked, "What else can you do?"
Cai Xun gritted his teeth and said: "Brother, now the enemy troops are approaching the city, Linxiang is shaken inside and outside, and the soldiers and people are worried about him. At this time of crisis, we have to make preparations early."
Cai Mao naturally knew what he meant, and this was what he was thinking in his heart. It was not that he was afraid of life and did not want to defend Linxiang, but he was willing to give it a try if there was even the slightest hope. Unfortunately, there is really no hope now. Continue
Staying in Linxiang will lead to death.
Cai Mao glanced at Linxiang from afar. At this point, he couldn't care less about Han Xuan and Kuai Qi. Let each of them take care of their destiny. He shook his head and sighed: "Go and prepare."
Cai Xun's expression warmed up and he agreed to leave.
Time passed by minute by minute, and in the blink of an eye, the sky gradually became dark.
During this period, Liu Jingjun was not in a hurry to land and launch an attack on Linxiang. Although the undercurrents in Linxiang City were already turbulent, at least it was peaceful on the surface. Of course, both sides knew very well that this false calm would not last long.
.
In the dark and empty southern suburbs of Linxiang, at some point, fires suddenly appeared, and the fires became more and more numerous, and finally connected into one, forming dazzling fire dragons.
After Han Xuan and Kuai Qi received the news from the soldiers, they immediately rushed to the south wall to check. Looking at the bright starry fire outside the city, they visually estimated that there were at least four to five thousand people.
Han Xuan and Kuai Qi couldn't help but look at each other, where did all this come from?
What made them even more heartbroken was what happened later. Not long after, a large number of fires appeared in the eastern suburbs of Linxiang and the northern suburbs of Linxiang. Only in the west of the city, which was close to the Xiangshui River, there were no abnormalities for the time being.
"Kuaipu, we are surrounded by Liu Jingjun..." Han Xuan was so anxious that he was sweating profusely.
Kuai Qi stared at the figure under the firelight outside the city, shook his head for a while and said: "No, Han Changsha, look carefully. These people's armors and weapon classes are mixed, and the arrangement is far from rigorous. It's completely
A group of rabble. If I guessed correctly, they must be a tribe of wealthy people from Linxiang. They were bewitched by Liu Jingjun and came to cause trouble."
Han Xuan was not reassured by this, and sighed: "Even if it is a mob, there are more than 10,000 people. When Liu Jingjun comes this time, there are no fewer than 10,000 soldiers. And the combined strength of you and me is only 3,000...
"
Kuai Qi was speechless. In fact, up to this point, the two of them felt like they were in the clear mirror. Linxiang could no longer be defended. However, they had to stay because of military integrity or responsibility.
After all, retreating after defeat and fleeing without a fight are completely different things. If they abandoned the city and fled without firing a single blow, even if Liu Biao was a generous man, he would never let them off easily.
"Brother Ou is indeed one of the top heroes in Changsha. He gathered thousands of people overnight, which is really admirable." Wang Qiang stood on the deck with his hands behind his hands and said to Ou Xiong who was boarding the building boat. He was clearly smiling.
, but under the flickering firelight, it looked particularly eerie.
Ou Xiong stroked his moustache and smiled: "How can I, Ou Xiong, have such ability? This is all because of Liu Jun's reputation."
Kuai Qi's guess was correct. The people holding torches outside the city were all members of the wealthy Linxiang clan summoned by Ou Xiong. In fact, as soon as Liu Jing's fleet entered Linxiang, Ou Xiong took his brother Ou Sheng with him.
His wife's brother Song Lin and his cronies disembarked from the boat and returned home secretly by land.
The Ou clan is located twelve miles south of Linxiang. Since the Ou clan tied themselves to Zhang Xian's chariot, after the Civil War broke out in Jingzhou, some of the Ou clan followed Zhang Xian, while others scattered around.
The wrong treasure made the Ou family pay a heavy price. Fortunately, with Ou Xiong defecting to the Northern Army, the Ou family was able to regain some strength.
However, as the saying goes "a hundred-footed insect is dead but not stiff", the Ou family has a great business and is a martial family. Its strength is still second to none among the many wealthy families with big surnames in Linxiang.
Ou Xiong didn't waste much time in persuading all the prominent branches of the clan. Now that Liu Jing became the lord of Jingnan, it was almost a foregone conclusion. Even Ou Xiong could put aside his past grudges and submit to Liu Jing, so they had no worries.
.
Then Ou Xiong began to send people to contact Linxiang's wealthy families, such as the Huang family, the Gong family, the Zhou family, the Hua family, the Chen family, etc., to jointly organize the matter.
At the same time, Ou Xiong asked his wife's brother Song Lin to sneak into Linxiang and contact the Song family, the Zhu family, the Zhang family, the Huan family, etc. in the city.
Song Lin knew that his reputation was limited and it was difficult to effectively integrate all the forces in Linxiang City, so he did not even return to his own home and went straight to Quanli in the northwest of Linxiang.
Quanli is the residence of the Huan family, so Song Lin came here to find Huan Jie. Only Huan Jie, the leader of the Changsha scholars, could twist all the forces in Linxiang City into one rope and give the Jingzhou Army
A fatal blow.
Most of the Huan clan had followed Huan Yi southward to Leiyang, leaving behind only the old, weak, sick and disabled. They were extremely wary of Song Lin. After all, from the Jingzhou Governor's Department to the Changsha Prefecture, Huan Jie was wanted, and Song Lin was left alone.
He refused to reveal Huan Jie's whereabouts despite his bluster. It was not until the cheers continued outside the city that it proved that what Song Lin said was true, and then he agreed to take him to see Huan Jie.