Royal Road

The weather is already extremely hot before it hits the bottom. Coupled with the continuous severe drought, the sun is even more unbearable. However, in the fields near Yecheng, countless people sweated like rain and immersed themselves in the fields. Most of the grain has been harvested, and the stubble is all over the ground. With the footsteps of the sickle in front, groups of women and children follow behind, picking up the fallen grain ears before the birds. No one has the energy to manage other people's affairs. The crops in front of them are their lifeblood.

A loud noise rang in his ears, and a villager raised his head and looked at the official road next to him. I saw hundreds of men in ragged clothes walking towards the city ahead under the guidance of officers and soldiers. It stands to reason that ordinary villagers may not be able to see so many strangers in a few years. Who doesn't stay in their own fields and live their lives facing the loess? However, this large-scale flow of people did not arouse his surprise, but at a glance, the farmer immersed himself in hard work again.

This situation has become too common in recent months. Disasters are happening everywhere, and Hu locusts crossed the border in Yuzhou and Yanzhou, and it is said that there is no more grass. More than a hundred people are fleeing? Earlier, there were people who worried that so many refugees would take their food rations. Now I just took a casual look, and sighed at most, it was too late.

Yes, I came early, maybe I can still get the job of repairing the city, now it is estimated that I have to go to repair the road. Is the road easy to repair? I'm afraid it is hundreds of times more tiring than farm work!

It's better to be in Yecheng!

Wu Yu walking in the crowd could not hear such a voice. Wearing a tattered shirt that is almost the same as that of others, he carefully buried his head, covering his face with surprise.

Who could have imagined that there could be such a scene in such a life-death year?

The fields are full of golden grains, and carts of grain are transported to the city. The tall waterwheel stands in the distance, and the canals are vertical and horizontal, and most of them are trickling. Even the farmers who harvest the crops look much better. This is more than not going hungry, it's almost like a good year!

In this way, Yecheng is still taking in the refugees? How much grain should there be in the city? There was a look of greed in Wu Yu's eyes.

As the general expected, it was really good!

This Wu Yu is one of Shi Le's confidants. At the beginning of the incident, he was one of the "Eighteen Riders". After several fights, the brothers who rebelled with Shi Le were killed or injured, but he survived by chance and became a general in the army. After all, there are very few people in the Jin Dynasty in the Eighteenth Cavalry, and he is more likely to command the refugees and drop soldiers if he has no appearance.

For Shi Le like the benefactor, Wu Yu has always followed his advice. And this time mixing into the refugees is precisely for the general's next goal: Yecheng.

Wu Yu had also fought Yecheng and was a member of the vanguard army. He was very familiar with this city. Only when Sima Teng didn't dare to defend the city, he was quickly defeated. If you really defend it, this is the fortified city second to none in the North, how can it be easily broken? But hard attack is not good, but trickery is not a bad idea. If you can sneak into Yecheng and seize the gate when the general is attacking the city, wouldn't it be easy to attack the city?

As a result, Wu Yu led eight hundred cronies and mixed into the refugees. In order to pretend to be a real refugee, he brought subordinates with Yuzhou and Yanzhou accents, and avoided Jijun and Dangyin cities, and went straight to Yecheng. On this journey, it took three or four days, not enough to eat, sleep restlessly, and mixed with the refugees, just to make the subordinates more like the people who have been hit by the disaster. Now that he has reached the foot of Yecheng and is stopped by soldiers, he is not afraid in his heart. There are two thousand refugees in this line. Who can see their purpose?

Wu Yu hid his complacency from the bottom of his heart, like other frightened and hungry refugees, and walked forward with the brigade. However, unlike imagined, these people were not immediately arranged to enter the city. Instead, they came to the nearby wild land in groups and started to build roads.

"This is your shovel, if it breaks, there will be no food to eat! Go digging in the sand!"

As soon as he got there, a small official stuffed a wooden shovel over. After being pushed for two steps, Wu Yu's heart was a little angry. He is a general in the army. How many people slacken their efforts to get closer to him. How long have they not been treated so weakly? But for the task, Wu Yu didn't have an attack. He obediently walked aside with the foreman and began to dig sand.

Because of the redistribution, there were only about 30 cronies who followed him. Wu Yu didn't even bother to contact other people, so he dared to live. Building roads is not an easy task. I grind stones, dig sand, and stir dust. I dry in one breath from dawn to midday, and I am tired and sweaty. The food delivered to my hands is just a wooden bowl. The chaff in it was not removed, and my mouth hurt when I was eating it. However, with this kind of thing that was only suitable for feeding horses, the homeless people around them all gobbled it up and ate with gratitude.

There was nowhere to vent the anger in Wu Yu's belly, and the hungry front heart was close to the back heart. He couldn't eat it, so he could only swallow it. After havingtily eaten the meal, he rested for another half an hour and continued to work. Just work from morning to night until the end of work and return to the straw shed to rest.

I haven't been doing farm work for too long, and my hands are aching when the wooden shovel is ground, and my shoulders and back are creaking. Wu Yu lay in the grass, gritting his teeth secretly. After enduring this time, wait until the general brings his troops to come, you can do meritorious service. As a general under Shi Le, he also knew very well how to merge the cities of the state. Whenever an enemy comes, he first thinks about bringing the nearby people into the city. This woman’s benevolence will eventually bring disaster to Yecheng...

Secretly fantasizing how to enter the city and looting, how to seize money, and the legendary Shangdang brocade and white porcelain. In the aches and pains all over, Wu Yu quickly fell asleep.

※

"It's time to come, it's finally here." Ge Hong sighed slightly in the Yecheng prefect's mansion.

For this day, he has been worried for a long time. Since taking over as the prefect of Wei County, Ge Hong has also worked hard to manage this county. Yecheng is close to Zhangshui, and after the opening of sea trade in Jizhou, it has become an important thoroughfare between east and west. I don't know how many cargo ships transit from Yecheng every day. With the sharp increase in business taxes, Ge Hong could free up his hands, dredge the canals, build water turrets, and restore the weather of the Wei Dynasty to the broken Yedu that day.

It is precisely these tasks that have been done steadily, and the impact on Yecheng will be reduced when the drought is approaching. It has also become an important place for sheltering refugees.

It's just that the people have to protect, and the jackals can't help but guard. Wei County where he is located, as well as several nearby counties, is close to Yanzhou. The Shi Lejun entrenched there has always been his confidant. Ge Hong did not make little preparations for farming the fields and raising soldiers, building fortresses and repairing walls. He also settled down the refugees a lot to prevent spies from sneaking in.

These, of course, kept Yecheng's safety. But the drought continues, and the situation is getting worse. What can be prevented by thieves? A new military order came from Jinyang.

"Since the spies have sneaked in, within five days, Shi Le will send troops." The man sitting on the side said, "This is a good opportunity to annihilate the thieves. Taishou Ge must help him."

"This subordinate naturally knows." Ge Hong said, "With General Yi sitting in town, Yecheng will have no worries."

Sitting in front of Ge Hong was Bingzhou Yousima, General Zhenwei Yiyan. He was able to command the three armies of the Shang Party and had the strength to survive a hundred battles. He came to Yecheng to sit here, which really made Ge Hong breathe a sigh of relief.

It is precisely because of this that the strategy under this staff headquarters can be realized.

Shi Le's movements are actually under the monitoring of Xinling. When he left Yuzhou and turned to Sizhou, he immediately reported military intelligence. The rest is not difficult to speculate. Yecheng is not a city that is easy to break. Use **** and civil strife are the best way to attack the city.

Even if they are all Shanxi people with similar accents, the physique and temperament of refugees and thief soldiers are quite different. Therefore, when the spies sneaked into Wei County, they were identified as soon as possible. Ge Hong did not hesitate to divide and isolate this group of people. It seems that they are all building roads, but these spies have already arranged a lot of Xinling tribes. Once Shile strikes, most of these spies will be dispersed into nearby Wubao and settled on the spot. Only a few can actually enter the city as bait.

This strategy is not unbelievable. But in the face of such a cunning enemy as Shi Le, who was good at running around and attacking, it was the best way.

"I'm afraid the pressure of this battle is not small. The important task of defending the city must be entrusted to Taishou Ge." Yi Yan didn't mean to relax. This time Shi Le entered the bandit, he would not only bring 20,000 to 30,000 people, I am afraid it is a large army. And the strategy of luring the enemy has always been accompanied by a lot of risks.

"General, please rest assured! The city defense of Yecheng was built by me, so I won't shame the general!" Liu Gong opened his mouth and accepted the sentence.

This was a bit rude, but Ge Hong was not angry, and said with a smile: "What Liu Duwei said is very true. Yecheng is not what it used to be, and it is definitely not a mere tens of thousands of soldiers and horses that can break. Decisive!"

He is not afraid to defend the city, but to break the enemy, Yiyan needs to lead his troops. If this group of locust-like thieves continue to run, the threat to Sizhou and Jizhou is too great. It is also time to let them stop.

※

Day after day, Wu Yu immersed himself in hard work, and there was almost no time to rest. The road is amazingly long and it seems that it will never be repaired. He was anxious and annoyed, and opened his eyes every day, looking forward to the pressure of the army. However, after that moment, it was only six days later.

The smoke flew up and the alarm bell rang. The construction site that was originally a pool of stagnant water also became flustered. The young official who led the team was quite calm, and immediately gathered the crowd and ran towards Yecheng. Others who were far away also evacuated to nearby Wubao.

Wu Yu was overjoyed, his team turned out to be towards Yecheng! In this way, wouldn't it be right? After giving a few glances to the cronies in the team, he suppressed the excitement in his heart, and stepped into the tall city wall of Yecheng with the flow of people.

"Someone will arrange for you to be in the outer city. Once the enemy attacks, they will help the soldiers carry rolling logs, buckets and other defensive equipment. Don't worry, you won't be allowed to climb to the top of the city."

They are all refugees who have suffered from soldiers and bandits, and now they encounter the enemy's siege, how can they not panic? Hearing the small school so comforted, everyone gradually felt relieved. Wu Yu remained silent, and followed the brigade to the shed under the city.