At nine o'clock on May 27th, Ju Sheng yawned and walked up to the tower of the east gate of Linzi for his routine inspection.
He is the "Dongmen Shouzheng" of the East Gate of Linzi, the capital of the King of Qi, and is also known as the "Dongmenhou". Although the official title also carries the word "hou", this is not a title. To put it bluntly, he is just responsible.
He is just a general guarding the East Gate, but his authority is not small, at least at the Linzi East Gate.
Walking up the stone steps on the inside of the city wall to the tower, Ju Sheng asked someone to bring a chair and a stool and placed them in the open space in front of the gate tower. He immediately lay down on the chair, put his feet on the stool, and yawned.
Watching the defenders under his command change their defenses.
Routine duty is indeed a very boring thing. Only in the first month, when Ju Sheng first became the gate commander here, he was very excited to patrol back and forth on the city wall with his soldiers, but as time went by,
Over time, the freshness gradually faded away.
The reason is that Linzi is really peaceful. Although Ju Sheng heard a while ago that the Wei army was attacking Mount Tai, what does this have to do with Linzi?
Taishan was defended by Tian Dan, a famous general from Qi State, and it was impossible for the Wei army to attack Linzi.
He asked his cronies to bring over a blanket, and Ju Sheng covered him with it, yawning and getting ready to catch up on his sleep.
He is a child of a noble family in Linzi City. Therefore, not only did he become a city gate orderer at a young age, he also married and had several lovely women, especially the concubine he recently took into his house.
I never want to leave again.
He spent the night in that concubine's room last night. No, the two of them spent most of the night, which made him have no energy for his errand today.
Opening one eye and glancing at the rising sun in the east, Ju Sheng yawned and closed his eyes sleepily.
"It's so peaceful..."
"Bang!"
Suddenly, a loud thunderous sound resounded through Ju Sheng's ears.
Immediately, he felt as if the entire city gate tower was shaken.
"What, what's going on?"
Ju Sheng opened his eyes suddenly and sat up in the chair.
"Thunder? Earthquake?"
He thought in confusion.
At this moment, he suddenly heard a strange whistling sound, as if something was piercing the sky and heading towards the city gate tower.
Ju Sheng subconsciously jumped up from his chair and walked a few steps to the wall. When he raised his head, he suddenly saw four or five black objects crossing the gate tower and seeming to fly into the city.
Went.
"What is that?"
Ju Sheng subconsciously ran to the other side of the city gate tower to see what was flying into the city.
At this moment, there was a crashing sound in the city, like the sound of a house collapsing. Immediately, there were faint sounds of panic and crying.
"This, this is..."
Before Ju Sheng could react, Ju Sheng heard another loud bang, and immediately, as if the earth was shaking, he subconsciously grabbed onto the wall in shock.
"Menhou!"
Near the wall on the other side, several soldiers guarding the city didn't know what they saw, and they shouted in panic.
Seeing this, Ju Sheng immediately returned to the wall in front of the gate tower. He saw a soldier pointing his finger in the direction of the river outside the city and shouting in horror: "Monarch, there are boats in the river attacking us!"
At this moment, the rising sun in the sky has risen slightly, and the sunlight is gradually shining on the river outside Linzi City.
At this time, Ju Sheng discovered that on the Zi River outside the city, about two hundred feet away from Linzi, there were more than a dozen huge warships moored. These dozen huge warships were divided into three rows.
They were lined up in a row, facing the direction of Linzi, and I don’t know what they had planned...
"Boom!"
There was another loud noise, and the tower behind Ju Sheng collapsed, trapping several nearby soldiers in the ruins.
Looking back, Ju Sheng had a lingering fear on his face, because if he hadn't stood up just now to check what was going on, he might have been trapped in these ruins by now.
Yes, just as the soldier said, the boats on the river outside the city are attacking them!
"Who is it?!"
Ju Sheng was shocked and angry. He simply couldn't imagine that someone dared to attack Linzi.
This is the capital of their Qi Kingdom!
He squinted his eyes and stared at the warships in the distance. With the light of the rising sun, he could faintly see that the ships on the river in the distance were all flying flags with the word "Wei".
"Wei, Wei Jun..."
For a moment, Ju Sheng felt his mouth was dry and his heartbeat was racing.
You know, this is not just a few decades ago. Ever since the Wei State defeated South Korea, Qi State and other Central Plains countries with one enemy against five, the Wei State has become the object of fear of all the Central Plains countries in the world.
Especially for the Qi State, after all, not long ago, the Wei State sent general Shao Hu to lead the Wei Wu army to attack Mount Tai.
"Wei's warships...how did Wei's warships come here?"
Ju Sheng was stunned, with cold sweat covering his forehead.
At this time, the city guards near him were even more frightened and panicked.
"Wei, Wei is coming!"
"The Wei army is attacking Linzi!"
Seeing that his soldiers were panicking, Ju Sheng gradually calmed down and shouted loudly: "Calm down! Everyone, calm down! Don't panic!"
After being shouted at by him, the soldiers in the city gradually calmed down, but their faces were pale and confused, and they didn't know what to do.
In fact, Ju Sheng himself was quite panicked at this moment, but the responsibilities he shouldered prompted him to calm down and respond calmly: "You, you, and you, please report this matter to the city immediately... The rest of you, do the same.
Be ready to defend the city!"
"yes……"
The soldiers nodded repeatedly and obeyed the order.
At this time, Ju Sheng once again turned his attention to the Wei warships on the river outside the city. He was so nervous that he did not even dare to breathe.
He really couldn't figure out why Wei's warships appeared outside Linzi City.
Linzi's order "Su Chong" was the first to learn of the bad news.
At that time, Su Chong was still sleeping soundly in his arms with his beautiful lady in his arms. He heard a servant from the mansion running towards him and banging on the door in panic: "Master, Master, something bad has happened. Wei Guo is calling."
!”
"Wha, what?"
Su Chong, who was over forty years old, was still a little sleepy at first. When he heard the news, his face turned pale with fright.
The beautiful lady on the couch was so frightened that her face turned pale, and she kept asking: "What, what should I do?"
Ignoring the concubine who turned pale with fright, Su Chong immediately put on his clothes, walked out of the room, stared at the servant and asked, "Did you just say that the Wei army attacked Linzi?"
"It's a message from someone in your official office, sir. It's said that soldiers under Dongmen Ling Ju Sheng have just reported to the county government that Wei troops are attacking the city outside the city..."
"Dongmen Ling Ju promoted?"
Su Chong frowned.
Of course he recognized Ju Sheng, he was the eldest son of his close drinking friend Ju Song. In fact, he, Su Chong, also helped a lot with Ju Sheng's position as the Dongmen Order.
"The boys from the Ju family would never dare to make such a joke..."
Thinking of this, Su Chong's heart skipped a beat, he pushed his servant aside, walked out of the mansion, and went straight to the mansion of Right Prime Minister Tian Ba.
At this time in Tian Bao's Right Prime Minister's Mansion, Right Prime Minister Tian Bao had already gotten up and was practicing swordsmanship in the courtyard.
If the sword is just an accessory for most people in Qi, then Tian Bao is definitely not included. He is a wise man who is both civil and military.
talent.
Just when Tian Tao was swinging his broad sword in the courtyard of his mansion to make the wind rustle, he saw a soldier running towards him in a hurry, saying: "Master, Linzi Order..."
Tian Tabu put away his sword and waved his hand, because he had already seen Linzi Ling Su Chong hurried into the courtyard.
Although Su Chong had a good relationship with Tian Bao, when he broke into Tian Bao's residence without notification, Tian Bao immediately realized that something big must have happened!
Passing the broad sword in his hand to the soldier, Tian Tabu wiped the sweat on his face with his sleeve, then took a few steps forward and said apologetically: "Master Su, please don't blame Tian for his disheveled clothes..."
Su Chong waved his hand and said quickly: "I am just being reckless... Now is not the time to talk about this. Right Prime Minister, the Commander of the East Gate has just come to report that for some reason, there is a warship of Wei State parked in Zishui outside the city.
The ship is attacking my city of Linzi."
"What?!"
Tian Tao's expression changed drastically when he heard this, he frowned and said, "Master Su, please wait a moment."
After that, he returned to the bedroom and returned to the courtyard after a while. He put a coat on his body and said, "Talking as we walk."
After leaving the mansion, Tian Bao rode on the horse prepared by the servants in the mansion and headed towards the east city gate with Su Chong.
During this period, Tian Bao asked Su Chong what happened, but unfortunately Su Chong only knew this. This made Tian Bao even more anxious and hurried to the east city gate.
Fortunately, this fashion was only at midnight, and there were not many pedestrians on the streets in the city. Otherwise, people like Tian Bao and Su Chong galloping on the streets would definitely cause trouble.
About a quarter of an hour later, Tian Tabu and Su Chong finally arrived at the east gate.
He turned over and dismounted, threw the reins in his hands to the nearby soldiers, and Tian Tao and Su Chong stepped up to the tower.
At this time, on the city tower, the commander of the East Gate, Ju Sheng, and his soldiers were ready to defend the city. They were standing by the wall, staring at the Wei warships on the river outside the city.
Suddenly he heard footsteps coming from behind him. He turned around subconsciously and saw Tian Tao and Su Chong walking towards him with anxious expressions.
He quickly raised his hands and fists and saluted: "Ling Ju of the East Gate is promoted to pay homage to the right prime minister and to pay homage to the lord Ling Yin!"
"No need to be polite."
Tian Bao waved his hand and walked quickly to the wall, holding his hand on the wall and looking towards the river outside the city.
At this time, half of the sky was bright, and Tian Bao could clearly see that there were more than thirty warships moored on the Zishui River outside the city. Among them, twelve warships were extremely huge, as if they were twelve tigers.
Lying in the river.
And on these warships, the flags with the word "Wei" were clearly hung.
"It is indeed a warship from the Wei State... Strange, why did the warship from the Wei State appear under our Linzi City? Could it be that they came from Jishui?... The Wei army arrived at the Linzi City, but Boxing has not yet been sent.
Warning news, it seems that Boxing River Port has been captured by the Wei army..."
Frowning his brows, Tian Bao turned around and glanced at the city gate tower behind him. Where the city gate tower should have been, now there was only a ruin that had mostly collapsed.
"What's going on? Is it caused by the Wei army's attack outside the city?" Tian Tao asked.
Ju Sheng, the commander of the East Gate, nodded, pointed to a stone bullet not far away that was similar in size to a millstone that he ordered his soldiers to dig out from the ruins, and told Tian Tao exactly what he had experienced just now.
As soon as Tian Tao looked at the stone bomb, he knew that it must be the trebuchet of the Wei army. The problem was that there was no trebuchet of the Wei army outside the city...
"Is it installed on the ship?"
Muttering to himself, Tian Bao carefully looked at the Wei warships on the river in the distance, and actually saw that these warships were carrying huge trebuchets.
It must be said that installing a trebuchet on a warship was a very rare attempt in this world.
Although Tian Tabu had once heard that the Huling navy of the Wei State, which was training in the Weishan Lake area, had such a trebuchet on their warships, Tian Tabu did not take it seriously at that time.
It’s no wonder, after all, water warfare in this era is still stuck in the era of "shooting with bows and crossbows" and "boarding ships with swords", similar to the tactics used by the Wei army in Huling to defeat the warships of Xiong Li, Lord Diyang, at Weishan Lake.
The "God's Will Warfare" method of attacking the opposing warship from afar with a trebuchet, whether it succeeds or fails depends entirely on God's will. In this era, it can only be regarded as a heresy in water warfare.
But now, watching a dozen Wei warships on the Zi River, all aiming their trebuchets at Linzi City, Tian Bao finally gradually realized that such warships equipped with trebuchets,
How terrible is it.
One is its power, and the other is its maneuverability.
These warships are capable of destroying city walls!
Of course, although the Wei warships outside the city have the ability to destroy the city wall, this does not mean that these warships can destroy the city wall of Linzi in a short time. After all, the hit rate of such a powerful war weapon as a trebuchet is not only
Not high, and the low ground is pitiful.
Thank God!
Perhaps noticing that the morale of the defensive soldiers on the city was a little unstable, Tian Tao said in a deep voice: "Don't panic. Even if the Wei warships outside the city are equipped with trebuchets, it is impossible for this kind of siege weapon to be used twice."
I am Linzi!" At this point, he said firmly: "This is Linzi! It is the capital of my Daqi! She is not that fragile!"
After hearing this, the morale of the soldiers on the tower improved slightly.
However, at this moment, there were only a few strange whistling sounds, and more than a dozen stone bullets the size of millstones fell from the sky. Three of them hit the Linzi city wall, causing a small piece of the city wall to collapse.
"ah"
A scream.
It turned out that two soldiers were caught off guard and happened to be standing on the collapsed area. They felt their feet were empty and fell to their death on the spot under the city.
"Your Excellency, be careful!"
The left and right people hurriedly protected Tian Bao, but Tian Bao pushed the crowd away with all his strength, stuck his head out on the wall and took a few glances at the two soldiers who fell to death under the city. Then he stared closely at the Wei warship on the river outside the city, holding his hands
He clenched his fists tightly.
An hour later, the news that "Wei troops were approaching the city" gradually spread wildly in the city, causing the Qi subjects in the city to panic. Although Linzi ordered Su Chong to send troops to calm the people as much as possible, they still could not stop the panic.
"Damn it! How did Wei's army arrive at my Linzi City?!"
In the palace of King Qi, King Lu Bai of Qi was furious about this.
When he learned that Wei's army was approaching the city, Qi King Lu Bai's first reaction was panic, and then he was angry. After all, it was extremely humiliating to be beaten to the capital by a country's army!
I remember that when Han and Qi were at war, the Qi State fell to the entire Julu County, but even so, the Korean army still failed to cross the Jishui River. But now, the Wei State's warships actually reached Zishui River and were blocked in the river.
The situation at Qi Ren's doorstep is worse and more urgent than before.
It has to be said that as the youngest son of the late king Lu Xi, the current monarch of Qi, Lu Bai, is indeed very courageous. After thinking for a moment, he actually came to the east city gate in person to inspect the battle situation.
At that time, Shangqing Gao Xi, scholar-bureaucrat Uncle Bao, Guan Zhong, Lian Chen and others had arrived at the east gate one after another. Even the left prime minister Zhao Zhao, who had been ill these days, also came to the tower in disguise.
"What are the Wei troops doing outside the city?"
Shang Qing Gao Xi frowned and said.
Because as he saw, the Wei army on the Zi River outside the city did not disembark at all. Their attack on Linzi City seemed to be just content with throwing a few stone bombs from the ship's trebuchet.
"Could it be that they want to wait until the city wall here is destroyed before taking any action?" scholar-official Uncle Bao guessed.
After saying that, he saw Qi Wang Lu Bai ascending the tower and quickly bowed and saluted.
"Your Majesty." All the ministers on the city wall saluted.
"Your Majesty, please excuse me." King Lu Bai of Qi waved his hand, ignored the persuasion of others, walked to the wall, looked at the many Wei warships outside the city, and asked: "Why did the warships of Wei suddenly appear in our Linzi City?
outside?"
Hearing this, all the ministers nearby were silent.
After a while, Tian Tao whispered: "If I guessed correctly, this Wei fleet is probably the Huling navy that was originally stationed in Weishan Lake... As for how this navy suddenly appeared in Linzi,
Outside the city, I thought it was going down the Jishui River..."
King Lu Bai of Qi glanced at Tian Tao and moved his lips slightly, as if he wanted to say something. However, after frowning, he changed his words and said: "Right Minister, as you can see, can I hold Linzi?"
"Don't worry, Your Majesty." Tian Tao said quickly: "There are still thousands of soldiers in the city, and I have sent an order to the Northern Navy and the Flying Bear Army to come to the rescue immediately. Linzi will be safe."
"Hmm."
King Lu Bai of Qi nodded, then looked at the Wei warships outside the city, and suddenly asked: "Did the Wei army send anyone to negotiate?"
"No." Tian Tao shook his head and said, "However, I have sent the East Gate Order to negotiate with the Wei army outside the city."
Hearing Tian Tao's words, King Qi Lu Bai couldn't help but feel a little surprised, while the expressions of Gao Xi, Uncle Bao, Guan Zhong and others beside him changed slightly.
The Wei army never sent anyone to negotiate, which was not a good sign.
They originally thought that the purpose of this Wei army's surprise attack on Linzi was to force the Qi State to withdraw from the "Chu, Qi, Lu, and Yue Four Kingdoms Conquer Wei", which could be understood as a threat of force. But now, listening to Tian Bao's intention, the Wei army outside the city actually took it seriously.
Planning to capture Linzi?
Just when everyone on the tower of Linzi's east gate was in shock and confusion, Ju Sheng, the commander of the east gate who had been sent by Tian Bao to negotiate with the Wei army outside the city, was approaching the warships.
Of course, the few people in his group could not hide it from the eyes of many Wei soldiers on the warship. Someone immediately reported this matter to the general on the flagship, Li Huo: "General, there are several people from Qi who used the banner of Linzi to attack our fleet.
near."
"oh?"
Li Huo walked to the bow of the boat and took a look. When he saw the Qi people coming to the river bank, holding up their empty hands and carrying no weapons, he signaled: "Send a stern boat over and take those few people away."
Bring Qi people here."
"yes!"
After a while, Dongmen Ling Ju Sheng was brought to Li Huo's flagship.
After seeing Li Huo, Ju Sheng clasped his fists in a somewhat restrained manner and said, "I am Ju Sheng, the commander of the East Gate of Linzi, and I have come to negotiate with your army on the order of the right prime minister of our country... I dare to ask your army why.
A sneak attack on me in Linzi?"
Hearing this, Li Huo laughed loudly, pointed at Ju Sheng and laughed at the Wei soldier who was standing by: "This kid actually asked me why I wanted to sneak attack on him in Linzi?"
The nearby Wei soldiers burst into laughter, making Ju Sheng even more frightened.
At this time, Li Huo sneered and said: "Boy, you don't know that our Wei Dynasty has already declared war on your Qi State? As a general of the Wei Dynasty, I led the army to attack the enemy's capital. Is there anything wrong?
?”
Only then did Ju Sheng realize that he had asked a stupid question, and he no longer dared to make his own claims. He followed the instructions of Right Minister Tian Tao and said: "General, I'm afraid there is some misunderstanding. In fact, I, Da Qi, have never thought about it.
I have been an enemy of your country..."
"Hmph!" Li Huo snorted coldly, interrupting Ju Sheng's words: "Boy, don't talk nonsense here. It's not just that you are secretly helping South Korea. A while ago, you responded to Chu State's order and made Tian Dan
, Tian Wu and others sent troops to join forces to attack our great Wei... but they dared to
You said you have never thought of being an enemy of the Wei Dynasty?" At this point, he touched his beard and said in a deep voice: "You can stop attacking Linzi if you want me to, as long as the King of Qi declares to the world that he will surrender to the Wei Dynasty and help me.
The Wei Dynasty conquered Chu and Han, and I, the Wei Dynasty, can forget the blame, otherwise..."
He turned his head and glanced at Linzi, and said lightly: "This was once the most prosperous city in the Central Plains. Li does not want to destroy it. I hope you will wait and take care of yourself... By the way, please reply to me within an hour.
Otherwise, you will bear the consequences at your own risk.”
After that, without waiting for Ju Sheng to say anything else, he ordered people to take him back to the shore.
After about a stick of incense, Ju Sheng returned to the city and told Qi King Lu Bai and a group of Qi ministers exactly what Wei general Li Huo said, but the latter became angry.
"How arrogant Wei Jun is!"
I saw King Lu Bai of Qi slapping the wall angrily and saying in a hateful voice: "He can make Da Qi surrender just because of a few ships?! Delusion!"
After that, he turned to Right Prime Minister Tian Tao and said: "Right Prime Minister, wait for the Northern Navy and the Flying Bear Army to arrive. You can immediately lead the army to expel this arrogant Wei army!"
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Right Prime Minister Tian Ba answered with his fists clasped.
However, just one hour was not enough to call the Flying Bear Army, and the Northern Navy rushed to Linzi.
On the contrary, Wei general Li Huo outside the city felt a little unhappy when he saw Linzi's delay in responding.
To be honest, Li Huo didn't have much favorable impressions of the Qi people. After all, when the leader of his Beibo army asked his grandfather and grandma to seek help from the Qi State, the Qi State was quite arrogant.
"It seems that those Qi people did not take our threat to heart..."
Shaking his head, Li Huo sneered and said, "In that case, don't blame Li for destroying this city..."
After that, he ordered in a deep voice: "Give me the order, prepare the fire arrows, the target is Linzi City!"
A moment later, the Wei soldiers on dozens of Wei warships held military crossbows and fired fire arrows wrapped with igniters at Linzi City in the distance.
For a moment, it seemed as if there was a rain of fire covering the east area of Linzi city.