In the carriage, Yin Lihua said softly: "This should be the life Mr. Yan wants to live."
Liu Xiu said: "Yes, Ziling has never liked to be restrained. He was like this when he was in Chang'an, and he is still like this now."
Yin Lihua took the initiative to hold Liu Xiu's hand and said: "Mr. Yan's unwillingness to become an official in the court is not because of Zi Jun."
Liu Xiu smiled bitterly and said: "If Deng Zijun is still alive, Ziling will at least be the governor of Nanyang for a while."
"But he will not be happy." Yin Lihua said seriously: "Your Majesty is Mr. Yan's best friend. Doesn't your Majesty also hope that Mr. Yan can live a happy life?"
Liu Xiu was stunned. After thinking about it carefully, he felt that Yin Lihua's words were not unreasonable. He held Yin Lihua's hand and asked, "Lihua is not angry with me anymore?"
Yin Lihua shook her head, lowered her head and said, "I'm not angry with Your Majesty, maybe, I'm just angry with myself. I can't do anything..."
Liu Xiu pulled Yin Lihua into his arms, lowered his head and kissed her lips.
During this trip to Nanyang, Liu Xiu's purpose was to invite Yan Guang back to Luoyang, but he returned in vain. Fortunately, this trip greatly repaired the relationship between him and Yin Lihua.
.
Yan Guang, Liu Xiu's classmate and close friend, contributed a lot in the early days of Liu Xiu's rebellion.
Later, Liu Xiu proclaimed himself emperor and invited Yan Guang to serve as an official in the court several times, but Yan Guang rejected them all. Yan Guang never married or entered the court, and lived a life of seclusion in the mountains and forests, wandering around clouds and wild cranes.
Because of Yan Guang's excellent medical skills, he often treated patients. People at that time and even in later generations respected him as Master Yan and erected a statue of Yan Guang for future generations to worship and remember.
After returning in vain, Liu Xiu returned to Luoyang with Yin Lihua. A few days after arriving in Luoyang, Xu Xiling went into labor and successfully gave birth to a daughter. Liu Xiu named her King Liu Yi, and she was also the eldest daughter of Liu Xiu.
Princess.
Xu Xiling gave birth to a daughter, which reassured Guo Shengtong a lot. After all, a princess did not pose any threat to Liu Qiang's status as prince.
The war in the west of Luoyang was basically over with the annihilation of the Red Eyebrow Army. The war in the south of Luoyang also tended to calm down with the execution of Deng Feng and Deng Zhong. Next, Liu Xiu's gaze
Then it fell to the war in the east.
The Han army, led by Gai Yan, surrounded Suiyang where Liu Yong was.
But Suiyang is indeed difficult to fight. The Han army besieged Suiyang for several months and fought countless small and large battles, but they could not break through Suiyang's city defenses. Looking at Suiyang, which is so close, but easy to defend and difficult to attack,
, Gai Yan was also at a loss.
In this battle, the Han army was in a terrible state, and Suiyang City was also not easy.
Suiyang is not a small city. The soldiers guarding the city, plus the people in the city, total 200,000 to 300,000 people. With so many mouths to eat and drink every day, the food consumed is not a small amount.
Even though there was a lot of food stored in Suiyang City, after several months of consumption, the food was almost exhausted.
In addition, the Han army also organized manpower to cut off the rivers flowing into Suiyang and cut off Suiyang's water source, making the situation in the city even more difficult.
In order to drink water, the soldiers and civilians in the city could only dig wells deeper and deeper, but even so, the small amount of water in the wells was far from enough to drink for 200,000 to 300,000 people.
With no choice but to do so, many soldiers guarding the city had no choice but to quietly descend from the top of the city along the rope ladder at night and fetch water from the moat.
At the beginning, there were only a few sporadic people fetching water, and the Han army did not notice it. As more and more people fetched water, the Han army gradually discovered the clues.
A spy reported this matter to Gai Yan. After hearing this, Ma Wu, then the Prince Consort, snorted coldly and said, "The bandit army still dares to go out of the city to steal water?"
He turned to look at Gai Yan and said: "Ju Qing, I think we can ambush a group of archers on the shore and shoot all the thieves who came out of the city to steal water!"
Gai Yan rubbed his chin, nodded slowly, and said thoughtfully: "What Zi Zhang said makes sense!"
Ma Wu said: "I will arrange archers right away!"
"Wait a minute!" Gai Yan hurriedly called Ma Wu, and then asked Ma Chengdao, the captain of the guard army: "Jun Qian, there should be a lot of thief uniforms and armors in our army, right?"
Ma Cheng nodded and said, "There are indeed quite a few! Why did General Gai suddenly ask about this?"
Gai Yan raised the corners of his mouth, smiled leisurely, and said: "I think our army can make good use of the bandit army going out of the city to steal water!"
The generals looked at each other in confusion, not quite understanding Gai Yan's intentions.
Gai Yan leaned forward and then explained the plan he had thought of to everyone in detail.
Even though they knew that the Suiyang defenders would go out of the city at night to steal water, the Han army did nothing. It seemed that they didn't notice it, and they didn't take it seriously if they did.
The deliberate connivance of the Han army led to more defenders going out of the city at night to steal water. You must know that the city is now short of both food and water. People will starve to death without eating for a day or two, but they will not drink water for a day or two.
No one can bear it.
Some soldiers stole water outside the city and couldn't drink it themselves, so they sold it in the city. They originally planned to make a little money, but they didn't expect that a bucket of water could be sold for as high as 500 yuan when it was brought into the city.
After hearing the news that water could be sold for money, more defenders went out of the city to steal water at night. Many soldiers were even organized by school officers and generals to steal water outside the city.
Over the past few days, the number of soldiers stealing water has increased to thousands, and many soldiers have made a lot of money and laughed from ear to ear.
That night, the garrison officers threw down the rope ladder from the top of the city as usual, and then a large number of soldiers, all carrying wooden barrels, climbed down from the top of the city along the rope ladders and walked quickly to the moat.
Fill the water side,
Just when there were defenders under the city wall, suddenly, countless torches lit up on the other side of the moat, and then, one after another, the torches were thrown across the moat and landed under the city wall.
In just a moment, the dark city wall was illuminated as brightly as day.
Looking around, this large area is crowded with people, densely packed with people.
The soldiers of the Han army who were hiding on the other side appeared one after another. Some were twisting their bows and setting arrows, and some were holding crossbows. Following the general's order, people shot arrows one after another.
A large hail of arrows hit the crowd on the other side. In an instant, screams and wailings were heard under the city wall. The defenders did not carry shields, so they could only raise the barrels in their hands to block the arrows, but what happened?
Where can I stop it?
Boom, boom, boom! The arrows kept nailing the wooden barrels in their hands, and they also nailed the people's bodies. The defenders did not fall to the ground one by one, but fell to the ground in groups, shot by arrows.
Covered by arrows.
While the Han army on the other side was killing the enemy with arrow arrays, a group of Han army death squads headed by Ma Wu quietly entered the water and swam to the other side of the moat silently.
The death squads led by Ma Wu, including himself, all wore Liu Yongjun's military uniforms and armor.
They, a group of five hundred people, took advantage of the chaos and swam to the other side. When they were about to reach the shore, the Han army finally stopped the terrifying arrow array.
Looking at the city wall of Suiyang again, there are piles of corpses piled up high.
Feeling that the Han army's arrow array had passed, the soldiers who were still alive and buried under the corpses of their companions pushed away the corpses on their bodies and sat up tentatively from the ground.
At the same time, Ma Wu and others wearing Liu Yongjun's military uniforms also emerged from the water one after another.
Seeing so many people suddenly emerge from the water, the remaining soldiers of Liu Yongjun on the shore were not surprised at all. He was hiding under the corpses to hide from the arrow array. It was normal for someone to hide in the river to hide from the arrow array.
The situation was as deadly as possible, and those who survived did not dare to make any noise, or even dare to take a breath, for fear of alarming the Han army on the opposite side and firing another terrifying array of arrows.
But even in such a critical situation, many people quietly picked up the buckets, climbed to the moat, filled half a bucket of water, and then turned around and climbed back.
Ma Wu and others also pretended to pick up a bucket each, symbolically filled some water, mixed with Liu Yongjun's remaining soldiers, and climbed up the rope ladder to the top of the city.
On the top of the city, there were many defenders to help. People leaned out, first took the buckets, and then dragged the soldiers who climbed up to the top of the city.
The same goes for Ma Wu and others, who were dragged to the top of the city one by one by Liu Yongjun.
After the Han army's death squads climbed to the top of the city, they all gathered around Ma Wu calmly and without leaving any trace. Then they sat on the ground pretending to be tired, breathing heavily.
When everyone had almost come up, a general came over, glanced at the soldiers sitting on the ground, breathing heavily, and asked in a deep voice: "Only you guys are back?"
There were nearly 3,000 soldiers who had just left the city to steal water, but now there were only about 1,000 people left, and among these 1,000 people, there were also 500 impostors.
The general stared at everyone coldly, and then his eyes fell on the wooden barrels one after another. When he saw that most of the water inside was only at the bottom of the barrel, and the water was red and stained with blood, he asked angrily
Said: "Is this the water you brought back?"
A captain stood up, saluted the general, and said: "General Li, there is an ambush by the Han army on the other side of the moat. My brothers have suffered numerous casualties. It is already... very difficult to get water back..."
Already."
The general became furious and kicked a wooden barrel, sending the barrel flying far away. He cursed angrily: "Can this water be drunk?"
The bucket he kicked away happened to fall near Ma Wu, and the blood in it splashed all over Ma Wu. The latter blurted out: "Damn it!"
Hearing the scolding, the general stiffened, his face was gloomy, and he asked angrily: "Who scolded you?"
The scene was so quiet that everyone lowered their heads and said nothing. When the general saw this, he became even more angry and shouted: "I'm asking you, who scolded you just now!"
Ma Wu stood up and said, "It's me!"
The general's angry eyes immediately fell on Ma Wu. Ma Wu said loudly: "My brothers went out to steal water from the city and narrowly escaped death. We finally managed to survive and came back alive, but we still have to be so insulted by the general. The general is going too far."
!”
"You are bold! Presumptuous!" A little soldier dared to teach him a lesson in public, and the general's nose was almost crooked. He held the hilt of his sword in his hand and strode towards Ma Wu.
The captain was quite good. Although he didn't know Ma Wu, he told the truth. This time they encountered a large number of Han troops ambushing them, and so many brothers were killed and wounded. Instead of comforting him, the general scolded him as soon as he came.
The rant is indeed chilling.
He quickly took a step forward, blocked the general, and said urgently: "General Li, this brother is rude, please general, please don't blame..."
Before he finished speaking, the general waved his hand fiercely and shouted: "Get out of here!"
The captain stumbled out several steps after being pushed by him, and almost fell to the ground. The general was furious, strode up to Ma Wu, looked him up and down, and asked: "What's your name? Which song is it?"
