The king of Wei took a leave of absence for three years, in the second month of February, and the capital of Wei was Daliang City.
During the morning meal, a group of Wei soldiers with their heads wrapped in blue cloth sat cross-legged on the inside of the city wall. They gathered around the deserted earthen kang and looked at the bland and thin porridge in the pottery bowls. They were silent and their morale was very low.
The Qin army besieged the city for half a month. Although the granaries in the city were still sufficient, it was unknown how long this war would last. Therefore, the King of Wei ordered that the city began to limit the supply of rations. Even the soldiers who defended the city could only get one-third of a bucket every day.
If you eat half-starved corn, you won't be able to survive, so everyone will have something to eat...
But what could they do? They could only drink the tasteless gruel silently, hoping that the king could reach a peace agreement with Qin as soon as possible and end this hopeless war.
Since the death of Lord Xinling, Wei has not won a battle with Qin for twenty years...
The silence was broken by a slowly approaching carriage. The sound of the wheels stopped. An old man with white hair and beard got out of the car beside the tall city wall. He refused the help of the servant, leaned on his dove stick and trembled.
He walked tremblingly towards the stairs to the city, wearing a jade ornament and a jingle ring around his waist...
Those who can afford to wear jade and silk are naturally nobles and officials, but the top of the city is an important defensive area, and not just anyone can go up there.
The captain in charge of the defense of this city wall immediately stepped forward to stop him, but after the old servant showed a bronze talisman, his color changed and he bowed to the old man in fear.
"I didn't know it was Mr. Tang who came here!"
Upon hearing the word "Tang Gong", the Wei soldiers under the city stood up one after another and bowed solemnly to the old man.
In Daliang, there was only one Duke of Tang Dynasty, and that was Ju of Tang Dynasty, who was in his nineties!
He has no official position and is not a king, but no one from the king of Wei to the common man dares to disrespect Tang Ju.
Because this old man is the only legend left in the Wei Kingdom!
Tang Ju lived a long life. He was born in the era of King Wei Xiang ninety years ago. He did not achieve much in his youth. At the age of forty, he was still just a small envoy and was unknown.
It was not until the eleventh year of King Anli of Wei (266 BC) that Qi and Chu attacked Wei. The helpless King Anli of Wei sent Tang Ju to Qin for help. Tang Ju relied on his sharp tongue to persuade King Zhao of Qin to suddenly send troops.
, went to Wei day and night, and everyone in Wei said: "Qi and Chu heard about it, so they led their troops away. The Wei family was restored, as Tang Ju said."
After this meritorious service, Tang Ju, who should have been promoted because he was dissatisfied with King Anli of Wei's lewdness, favored Long Yang, resigned from office and became a disciple of Lord Xinling.
In the 20th year of King Anli's reign (257 BC), Lord Xinling stole a talisman to save Zhao. After the success, he was very proud of himself and felt proud of himself. However, Tang Ju advised him: "People are virtuous to me, and I must not forget them.
We must not forget the virtues we have in others." Only then did Prince Wuji suddenly wake up and pay a courtesy visit to King Zhao and Lord Pingyuan. Only then was he respected by the princes and became the leader of the alliance.
During the period when Tang Ju was assisting Lord Xinling, the Wei Kingdom was the last hope of the six kingdoms in Shandong. Lord Xinling led the troops of the five kingdoms to defeat the Qin army outside the river, and drove Meng Ao to Hangu Pass, leaving the Qin people unstoppable.
Dare to go eastward. At that time, Mr. Xinling was very powerful in the world and had many guests...
It is a pity that Lord Xinling did not live long. After he was jealous of the King of Wei and died of depression, Tang Ju, who was nearly seventy years old, was still pursuing Xinling's legacy and traveling among the six countries.
In the second year of King Jingmin of Wei Dynasty (241 BC), Tang Ju went to Chu State and persuaded Chun Shenjun, saying that he "should be the leader of Chu, the leader of thousands of chariots, and he should be the leader of the world to guard against China's difficulties", so he appointed King Kaolie of Chu as his commander-in-chief.
This led to a new and final joint attack on Qin.
It's a pity that Tang Ju still overestimated the Six Kingdoms, and the six scattered chess pieces with their own agendas were ultimately unable to defeat the Qin lords who accounted for one-third of the world's total. After Pang Nuan failed to attack Qin, the Six Kingdoms' defeat was irreversible. …
But this is not Tang Ju's fault. Except for the fictitious "Tang Ju fulfilled his mission" which was false and never happened, Tang Ju never failed to disgrace his mission every time he went on a mission. It's a pity that he is no longer Su Qin Zhang Yi's The era has passed, and the rolling momentum of Qin's accumulation for six generations cannot be changed by the persuasive words of lobbyists.
Now, Tang Ju is ninety years old. He can no longer leave Daliang, but the years have not left many traces on him. Although the old man is old, he looks good. He smiled and waved his hand to let everyone get up.
"The second and third sons have worked hard to defend the city, so there is no need to be polite."
Then Tang Ju said to the captain: "Young man, can you take me to the top of the city to have a look?"
The captain looked hesitant and cupped his hands and said: "Mr. Tang, the wind is strong at the top of the city, and the Qin army shoots arrows at the top of the city from time to time. Just in case..."
If Tang Gong makes any mistake, he will be scolded to death by the whole city?
Tang Ju laughed loudly: "For more than a hundred years, the Qin army besieged Daliang no less than ten times. Because I have lived so long, I was lucky enough to experience most of it. Wind, sand, arrows and rocks have become commonplace for a long time. But these ten of Qin's The remaining attacks on Liang were unsuccessful. Each time, the army and people of Wei worked together to defend the city!"
These words cheered up the low morale for a moment! Wei soldiers even raised their weapons and let out a long-lost cheer!
Seeing that everyone's energy had returned, Tang Ju nodded and said: "Let me go up to the city. I just want to see with my own eyes how big the Qin army is in besieging the city this time. How does it compare with Bai Qisan's invasion of Liangquan?" ?”
Although he did not receive military orders, the captain did not dare to disobey Tang Ju's orders, so he asked a few soldiers to hold shields to guard Tang Ju and help him climb to the top of Daliang City step by step...
…
Liangcheng was ten feet high, and the wind was really strong, causing Tang Ju's pale beard and hair to fly.
He squinted his eyes and looked into the distance, looking west, north, and east for a long time, and then a bitter smile appeared on his lips: "Is this still the suburbs of Daliang? It's only been half a month, and I can't recognize it at all."
To the northwest of Daliang, there was once the royal garden enclosed by King Anli of Wei: Liang Gong. Its architectural style is quite elegant. There are dense flowers and trees in the garden, elk are raised, pine cranes live under the trees, and the ponds can be boating.
Nowadays, Liang Yan is completely unrecognizable. All the trees have been cut down by the Qin people. The garden full of rare trees is only an ugly open space full of tree stumps. The deer hunted by the king of Wei in the past may have become a delicacy for the Qin army.
The entire field of vision was filled with the Qin army's camps and black-headed Qin soldiers. The siege equipment was concentrated in the west. From time to time, stones were thrown towards the head of Daliang City and smoke was fired, making the city unsafe.
There is also a canal that goes around the city from the northeast. Since King Hui of Wei ordered Bai Gui to dig this canal, it has become the main artery of the Central Plains, connecting Liang, Song, Chen, and Cai. Countless ships arrive every day Starting from Daliang, they transported mulberry, linen, cloth and silk from Wei to the south; they also carried fish, salt, leather, rhinoceros horns, and cinnamon twigs and spices back to Chu, which were sold at high prices in the Daliang market.
But now, there are no merchant boats and cars on the chasm, only boats loaded with food and weapons for the Qin army are left, and thousands of shirtless trackers are pulling the canoes. Even the chants they shout are in unfamiliar Guanzhong accents.
What worries Tang Ju most is the north, where a large turbid yellow river crosses the surface and slowly flows eastward.
The river is unruly. During the Warring States Period, the three kingdoms of Zhao, Wei, and Qi became enemies of each other. After natural disasters and man-made disasters, the river flooded more and more. Fortunately, the Wei State built dozens of miles of earthen walls along the river, which prevented the flood.
Impacting the low-lying Liangdi. Over the past decades, countless families have gradually gathered between the city and the river, opened up endless fertile farmland, and built residential houses one after another...
But now, those fertile fields that should have been busy with spring plowing and planted with millet and young wheat seedlings are empty, not even a sparrow. The people have been dispersed, but there are countless Qin Guizhou garrison soldiers, holding iron shovels,
Hoes, under the urging of Qin officials, they lined up in a long queue and walked continuously towards the north of Daliang along the streets.
Seeing this situation, Tang Ju's hand holding the battlement began to tremble slightly. He knew very well where those Qin people were going and what they planned to do!
They are going to Xingyang!(xing)
Decades ago, it was Tang Ju's teenage years, and it was also the time when Zhang Yi, Gongsun Yan, and Su Qin were engaged in liaison and intrigue. In order to force Wei to join the liaison, the Qin State sent Zhang Yi to Daliang to express such a threat.
:
"To defeat Yingkou, Wei has no great beams; to defeat Baima's mouth, Wei has no Waihuang and Jiyang; to defeat Suxu's mouth, Wei Wuxu has Dunqiu. If we attack by land, we will attack the river, and if we attack by water, we will destroy the beams!"
However, the Qin army attacked Wei more than ten times and besieged Daliang. However, because the lone army penetrated deeply, it was unable to completely occupy the Wei territory and had no chance to fulfill its threat.
To this day, is Wei's nightmare finally coming?
In Tang Ju's view, this was all the result of the Wei state bribing Qin with land in the past twenty years, and the dangerous fortresses were being eroded. The Qin army could be so unscrupulous, and even began to plan to flood the main beams.
It seems that this time, unlike the dozen or so petty fights before, King Qin is determined to capture Daliang and destroy Wei!
"Oh God..."
Even if he is as calm and sophisticated as Tang Ju, he cannot remain calm after foreseeing the tragic future of this country.
He looked up at the cloudless sky and sighed in a low voice: "If Mr. Xinling were still here, how could the Wei Kingdom be in such a situation!"
Tang Ju's gaze was too high and too far, so he didn't notice that under the city wall where he was, more than 200 steps away, a Qin soldier with a bun to the right and dark skin was standing on the moat.
Urinating rudely...
…
After urinating into the Daliang moat, Heifu tied the hemp rope around his waist. He looked up and saw an old man with white hair sighing on the Daliang city wall. He was surprised...
"Is it possible that the beams have already run out of ammunition and food, and it's so difficult for the old man to defend the city? It's only been half a month, and there hasn't been a fierce attack on the city, so it's not that big of a deal."
After sighing, Heifu didn't stop for long, turned around and walked along the trail to the camp.
In order to prevent the enemies in the city from risking their lives to attack, the huge camp was surrounded by wooden stakes and a towering watchtower was set up, with Qin soldiers holding bows and arrows standing on top.
After entering the camp, Heifu saw all low shacks. Fortunately, they did not look messy. He had always felt that Qin officials educated in the "Qin Code" had slight obsessive-compulsive disorder and liked neatness and design.
When setting up a fort, it is natural to make each shack look orderly.
Occasionally, soldiers carrying guns passed through the camp and passed outside the camp gate, but most of them were prisoners with tattoos on their faces who were gathered together and rushed to work in various places under the whips of officials.
There were also garrison soldiers in coarse linen clothes and unkempt faces. They had different accents and came from different counties. Heifu occasionally met familiar faces and nodded to them to say hello.
While walking in the camp mixed with various smells, Heifu also cursed: "I never thought that the battle of Daliang would be like this."
It turned out that after setting off from Fangcheng County in early January, under the urging of the generals, Heifu and the others, as well as 30,000 garrison prisoners from Hanzhong, Nanjun, and Nanyang, arrived at Daliang City in only ten days.
After arriving here, Heifu discovered that Daliang City had been surrounded by the Qin army from Chen Ying. In addition to the 50,000 combat troops wearing armor and holding spears, conscripted garrison soldiers were still arriving in a steady stream.
In addition to the 30,000 people from Hanzhong, Nanjun, and Nanyang, the garrison prisoners from Guanzhong, Sanchuan, Hedong, Shangdang, and Hanoi also came to Daliang. Together, the number may exceed 100,000.
This is a war in which there are far more auxiliary soldiers than regular soldiers.
To Heifu's relief, the one hundred thousand prisoners and garrison soldiers were not asked by General Wang Ben to do dangerous activities with extremely high mortality rates such as siege of cities and filling ravines. Instead, they were asked to serve as trackers and transport grain to the people.
It's a bit difficult and tiring, but it's actually very safe.
After entering February, half of the garrison prisoners were asked to set off for Xingyang, dozens of miles away in the northwest. The remaining people had to dig a deep ditch between Honggou and Daliang, leading directly to the city!
Therefore, the outskirts of Daliang City do not look like a battlefield to attack the city and destroy the country, but rather like a large construction site for water conservancy projects.
This kind of physical work that kills time tests people's patience, and some people soon become unable to sit still.
Approaching the small shack where the Anlu County garrison lived, Heifu was only ten steps away when he heard the thundering sound of the East Gate Leopard...
"Nai Gong can't stand it anymore. What kind of siege is this? Does that 'General Xiao Wang' know how to fight!?"