Spring and Autumn I Am King

Chapter 874: Hulao Pass (Part 1)

ps: I just arrived by car, there is only one chapter left

From the moment he stepped into the realm of Zheng Kingdom, Wang Sunsheng's hands trembled unceasingly.

It has been four years, and after four years of waiting, he finally won a chance for himself to lead the army alone. Although he has only one division and his main task is to protect the craftsmen such as Gongshuban from arriving in Chenggao, Wang Sunsheng doesn't care, as long as he can. Just give him the opportunity to take revenge on Zheng Guo in person.

The last time I came to Zheng Kingdom was thirty years ago. At that time, he was still in his infancy. However, after hearing the stories of his adoptive father Wu Zixu a lot, Wang Sunsheng would sometimes piece together the past scene in his mind, and he would not be able to find it back. his memory.

In the far south of Fangcheng, where the Jianghan and Han rush across the plain, there is a place where green hills are crisscrossed and flowers bloom in the plains, where there is the rich Yunmeng Daze and the towering Zhanghuatai. The locals call themselves Chu, the Central Plains. People also call them Jing, calling them "stupid and savage Jing, and the great state is enmity"! Although Wang Sunsheng had never returned to Yingdu, he could imagine the vastness of the country of Chu and the pride of Jingman hidden in his blood.

Wang Sunsheng's father, Jian Jian, the defunct prince of the state of Chu, was established as the heir by King Ping of Chu early, and was supplemented by Wu She and Fei Wuji, and at the same time asked to marry the daughter of Qin state. It is the ally of the ninth marriage.

Originally everything was on the right track, the prince built a meeting to marry a wife smoothly, waited smoothly, and succeeded the throne smoothly as the king of Chu... However, the insatiable king of Chu Ping regretted it. After seeing the beautiful bride, he snatched it from him. He married his son's fiancee, and there was a rift between father and son. Prince Jian's situation became increasingly difficult. In the sixth year of King Ping, he was forced to leave the capital of Chu and live as his father in the city. The following year, Fei Wuji slandered King Ping again, accusing him of wanting to join Jin and rebel against Chu.

King Ping took his son's wife, and he was always restless. Prince Jian became more and more unpleasant. He was doted on by Qin Gong's daughter, Xiong Zhen. The scene played out again. So Prince Jian ran to Song in fear and started his exile career. Later, to avoid the chaos of the Hua clan in the Song country, he entered Zheng again. At that time, Wang Sunsheng was still the flesh and blood of his mother's womb. Maybe he was destined to have one since he was born Wandering fate...

Zheng Ren initially treated Prince Jian with courtesy and gave him a small town. However, Prince Jian was very ambitious. He and his subordinates, Wu Zixu and others, planned to acquire a piece of land, look for an opportunity to counterattack the state of Chu, and recapture what should belong to him. everything of. So he took advantage of the trust of the Zheng people in him, and planned an attack on the Zheng country with the Jin people. The ruler of the Zheng country, the uncle, noticed it and obtained evidence. He sent his son Yousu to raid the feudal fiefs. The legal judgment is to hang him to death in Xinzheng!

At that time, Wang Sunsheng was still an eight-month-old child. He was lying on his mother's breast and sucking milk. According to the custom, as the son of a defector, he should have been presented to the King of Chu by the people of Zheng State, and then thrown into the blood by the people of Chu. Fall to the ground! The royal struggle in Chu State has always been cruel. Sons kill their fathers, brothers kill brothers, and uncles kill nephews.

The tree fell, and all the vassals of Prince Jian's ministries were scattered, but Wu Zixu stood up. He took a long sword and took some dead soldiers back to the city. He brought Wang Sunsheng out and went to Chen Guo under the cover of night. flee.

Along the way, they ate and slept in the open air. Wang Sunsheng had no milk and was so hungry that Wu Zixu could only poke his finger and put it into his small mouth the size of a bean to suck. Names: King Ping of Chu, Ling Yin Zichang, Fei Wuji, King Xiong Zhen of Chu, Uncle Zheng Guozi, Yousu, perhaps at that time, through the slightly salty blood, it was deeply branded in Wang Sunsheng's heart!

When the sky was bright moon, Wu Zixu crossed Zhaoguan at night, and Wang Sunsheng hid in the basket. As long as he could not help crying, he would be captured by Chen Ren. But everything was fine. When he was taken out of the bamboo basket, he found that Wu Zixu's hair was full of black hair and turned white overnight...

Just ran to Wu State in such a bumpy way, and only then did he have a sojourn. But in the beginning, their life was getting harder and harder. All the cloth and silk were spent, and they could only beg for a living. One old and one young were playing tricks in Wu City, and the dignified king Sun Guizhou was reduced to this. talk.

For many years, Wu Zixu treated Wang Sunsheng with kindness, kindness, and seriousness. When stroking the top of his head, his hands were as soft as leather. When teaching swordsmanship and the art of warfare, he was cold and stiff, causing pain in the face. Every day, he would read the enemy's name to him and let him keep it in his heart.

"Let Yin Zichang, King Xiong Zhen of Chu, swim fast!"

Even the dead are not spared, Wu Zixu swore that he would dig the tombs of King Chuping, Fei Wuji, and Uncle Zi!

The seeds of revenge began to take root and sprout in Wang Sunsheng's heart from then on, and eventually grew into the towering tree that he is today.

Now, Wu Zixu's great revenge has been avenged, but for Wang Sunsheng, he must put the scene of breaking Ying whipping the corpse on Zheng Guo's head in order to dispel the hatred in his heart!

Thinking of the upcoming battle with the people of Zheng, Wang Sunsheng was so excited that he couldn't even restrain his hands from shaking. He had to stab them with a halberd to bleed to ease his mood.

...

On the fourth day after they set off from Chaoge, they began to cross the river from the east of Wenxian County. Although Zhao's Great River Boat Division was not strong in combat, its transportation capacity was not weak. The wind and waves were a bit strong on this day, the warm south wind was blowing non-stop, the chestnut forest covered with petals and green leaves rustled, and the reeds on the shore were bent over.

After crossing the big river, they walked more than ten miles to Chenggao under the scorching sun. At this time, the sun was about to set, and just now they saw the tall Chenggao, worthy of its name "Hulao". The walls of the rammed earth and sandstone are bathed in golden and red sunlight, and they stand taller and thicker on the dangerous terrain. It's like gold, Wang Sunsheng only thought of this word to describe it, no wonder Han fought so hard.

Compared with Zhao Junquan taking Hejian's speed and calmness, Han's strategy of Chenggao seemed slow and clumsy, and one or two can be seen from the barracks of the besieged city.

As the sun went down, the tents and campfires of the Han army were so disordered that they spread everywhere. The literati and high-ranking people set up their tents comfortably on the upper reaches of the urinal, while the lower reaches were full of filthy small tents, carriages and horses.

"Our army surrounded Chenggao with water, and four divisions were stationed outside the four gates, and one division was by the river, which was convenient for water and food transportation..." Duan Gui brought Vice-General Han Anping to welcome him, and also briefly introduced the situation of the siege.

Wang Sunsheng couldn't stop sneering: "So, are you planning to starve to become Gao?"

Duan Gui was a little embarrassed, and his background was not too high. In the eyes of this handsome and proud grandson, it seemed that he was lower than him, but he could only shake his head when he asked others, "Yao, a Zheng general in the city, has already Idle people who have nothing to do with defense are all driven out of the city, and the outside of the city is swept away. The food and grass he currently stores is estimated to last a whole year."

"What about Han's food and grass? Is it collected on the spot, or is it transported?"

Han Anping said with a wry smile: "Most of the people I sent to collect came back empty-handed, and the merchants of Zheng State did not cooperate." Although there are no businessmen and no evildoers, the merchants of Zheng State have Xiangao as an example, and they feel that they are still very high. In the past, they had always competed with the businessmen controlled by the Han family, and they were even more reluctant to play a role.

"But as long as there are boats in the river coming from Han's Hanoi territory, we can still hold on."

Wang Sunsheng said: "It was agreed in advance that our military rations must also be provided by the Han family."

"This...Because Hedong and Hewai are separated by main pillars, water transportation is inconvenient, and there is not much food in Hanoi, and even Han can't satisfy himself. Can Wangsun ask Shangqing to accommodate one or two, and first transfer from Wenxian and other places. "

Wang Sunsheng did not give an inch, and replied coldly: "If we run out of food, we will turn around and leave immediately."

Duan Gui gritted his teeth and could only agree, and he went down to find another way.

He hadn't commanded a few troops, and he also lacked experience in conquering cities and territories. Compared with the Zhao clan, who could promote officers from the grassroots, there were very few generals with similar experience in the Han clan. They did not imitate Zhao's military reforms as aggressively as Wei's, and they were still the same as the feudal aristocratic army before. Therefore, the territory, population, and soldiers increased, but the combat effectiveness was still the same, and they had a strong sense of national identity. , of course not too cheap.

However, the Han family also made up for the shortcomings in other aspects, that is, military equipment.

...

When Lu Ban arrived with Zhao's craftsmen, the Han army's camp was filled with the sound of wooden hammers. A brand new siege tower was under construction, and two others had been built. Between the two towers, there were Many imitations of the ladder have attracted Luban's attention.

Before the Civil War of Liuqing, the Han family was famous for its large number of craftsmen, and some semi-complete handicraft products were also important commodities sold by the Han family's merchants. This situation changed after Zhao Wuxi had two capable people, Mo Xie and Lu Ban. Now the craftsmen of the Han family can only pick up the wisdom of Zhao's Baigong.

In Lu Ban's eyes, the imitation ladder in front of him is still qualified, at least it can successfully send people to the city, but he is very dissatisfied with the poor imitation of those trebuchets.

The shelf is shorter than Zhao's, the stones fired are smaller than Zhao's, and even the range is a few dozen steps shorter, and they are almost entering the range of the bow and arrow at the city head, so it is of little significance.

This is no wonder the craftsmen of the Han family, Yun Lai’s words, they had actually seen it during the civil war, but the catapult, Zhao family was very cautious about it, and dismantled it when it was used up. As for the ballista used in the Battle of Wenshui, they No chance to see it for real.

And even if they were imitated exactly the same, Lu Ban didn't take it to heart. After several years of development and the brainstorming of the elite craftsmen of Yecheng Academy, Zhao's army already has stronger, farther, and more terrifying siege weapons. !

The only thing that makes Lu Ban regret is that the war ended too quickly when they attacked the Qi Kingdom, and they had not had time to test the test. They could only return in anger, but they suddenly heard that the Zheng Kingdom started a war. .

However, Zhao Wuxi imposed a ban on him, prohibiting the use of new weapons, but he tried to find a way to help Han shi bite Cheng Gao.

"I really let the horse run, and let the horse not eat grass!" Lu Ban, who was only in his early twenties, was quite helpless when he was young and vigorous.

After thinking about it, after walking around Chenggao and observing the geographical situation, he finally had an idea, and he said to Duan Gui and Wang Sunsheng confidently: "Give me ten days, and I will be able to descend to Chenggao overnight! "

Duan Gui said worriedly: "Ten days? But Zheng Qingzi has already brought reinforcements to Dongguo. It is only a day's walk away from here. There are at least five or six thousand people in the Zheng army."

Wang Sunsheng's mission on this trip was to protect Lu Ban and the craftsmen, which made him very dissatisfied with the arrogance, but Lu Ban was more important than him in the Zhao family, and he held the post of workmanship and was ranked as a middle doctor. He didn't want to be here all day watching the craftsmen cut wood and measure the ink distance, so he took the initiative to answer: "I will take the soldiers to Dongguo to stop Zheng Ren for ten days."

With Zhao Jun's help, Duan Gui was naturally happy. He generously allocated a division, listened to Wang Sunsheng's command, joined forces with Zhao's 5,000 troops, and went to the periphery to intercept Zheng Guo's reinforcements, while Lu Ban worked overtime and started work under Chenggao City. ...

...

In fact, there were not many guards in Zheng Guo who were guarding Chenggao, only 2,000 people. It is said that there were only 500 in the beginning, but Han's forward was stubbornly defeated by them. Only then did Zheng Guo let Zi Yao send troops to garrison. The tactics have been stalemate for more than a month. The physical strength and patience of the soldiers on both sides of the offensive and defensive are slowly exhausted, and they are a little slack in the day-to-day siege.

Originally, this offensive and defensive battle was almost over until the next batch of reinforcements arrived. However, what Ziyao didn't know was that the most powerful siege expert of this era had newly arrived outside the city.

When Lu Ban first arrived, he summoned all the craftsmen of Han's army and threw a blueprint in front of them.

"You dug a tunnel before, and now you need to continue digging."

Everyone thought that the famous "Luban" could have some amazing way to siege the city, but it was as unremarkable as theirs. Someone said in a daze: "Chenggao has thick walls and stone foundations, and it is difficult to dig and collapse. If you want to dig into the city, it is even more difficult. We have tried it before, but after digging into the city, the Zheng people noticed that they poured water into the tunnel, drowned hundreds of people, and the tunnel collapsed."

"You will do as you please, and from now on, all craftsmen will follow my orders!"

Although Lu Ban is young and has a light temper, he is not small. After all, this person who bears the title of Zhao's middle doctor is a well-known craftsman in the world. In recent years, all the things that Han's craftsmen have copied are his first creations, with prestige and power in his hands, everyone. How dare you not obey, so you go down and execute on your own accord.

Han's spare manpower was requisitioned by Luban, and he continued to dig along the previous tunnel with simple tools, aiming at the corner of Chenggao. With Luban's years of civil engineering experience, he could see at a glance that this was the foundation of the wall. the weakest part.

Most of the tools Han used were bronze, and there were even wooden shovels, so even though it was non-stop day and night, the progress was very slow. Until the fifth day, Lu Ban couldn't bear it any longer. He distributed a batch of new tools called "engineering shovels" from Wenxian County. The Han's laborers soon discovered that the iron shovels were very convenient for digging soil and rocks, the short handles were easy to carry and use, and the lacquered wooden shovels were easy to carry and use. The handle is also not easy to slip off~lightnovelpub.net~ I couldn't put it down, but unfortunately Lu Ban threatened to return each one after use.

In this way, day after day, on the ninth day, after turning a corner along the old tunnel, the tunnel that could accommodate two people was finally dug under the Chenggao wall. Touch the cold wall.

It is impossible to dig down the city wall by manpower. According to past experience, you should try and continue to go in. However, when they got here, Lu Ban told them to stop.

Everyone asked in confusion, "Gongzheng, why don't you continue digging?"

"No, it's enough to widen and dig a little deeper at the end of the tunnel." Although Lu Ban was not satisfied with the efficiency, he had to finish it before the agreed date. For a time, the craftsmen became excited when they saw their achievements, and at the same time they looked at Lu Ban with anticipation, hoping that he could show himself a wonderful way to siege the city as if he could do a trick.

However, what Lu Ban did next made the craftsmen even more shocked. He let the forty fat and ugly old sows that he sent from Hanoi earlier rushed into the tunnel...

(To be continued.)