Northern Dynasties

Today's Shouyang City no longer has the majestic appearance of the important town in Huainan.

The city walls of Luocheng were severely damaged in previous battles, and no systematic repairs have been carried out so far.The city in the east of the city is dilapidated, there are few trees on the pier, and the weirs are washed and collapsed by the surge of water due to lack of maintenance. There are many tidal flats on both sides of the river.

In just one year, Shouyang has collapsed from the bustling and prosperous Huainan Dayi to Sri Lanka. The devastation of the war on the world can be seen.

Today's Luo City in Shouyang is completely disordered, but there are still many residents who were originally here and exiles from all over the world.The reason why they still linger here is not that they have any deep attachment to this city, but that the outside of the city is more dangerous, there are many strong bandits and bandits haunting, robbing people and looting goods.Shouyang always had a good reputation, and ordinary bandits would not dare to attack, so it became a temporary shelter for the lonely and helpless people.

In today's Shouyang Golden City, there are still Wang Xiangui, Hou Jing's cousin, and Tian Ying, Guo Luo and other generals who fled back from Liyang.Originally there were more than 3000 left-behind soldiers, most of whom were recruited from Huainan. However, as Wang Xiangui surrendered to the Eastern Wei Dynasty in order to protect himself, many of these soldiers fled for fear of being relocated to Hebei.Up to now, there are less than a thousand defenders in the huge city, and the power can be described as extremely poor.

It is precisely because of the current dilapidation and poverty of Shouyang City that Li Bomu, the governor of Xiyanzhou from the south, did not even bother to move to defend Shouyang after he took over Hefei, and still stayed behind in Shouyang Jincheng with Wang Xiangui and his followers.

Yang Zhong also had a little understanding of the changes in the situation here in Shouyang, but when he actually arrived here, he found that the dilapidation of Shouyang was much more serious than he imagined.At the same time, he couldn't help feeling in his heart that Li Tai's plan was shrewd. He didn't take the defense of Shouyang city as the focus of the battle with Murong Shaozong.

"Quickly tell the guards in the city that a certain general under the envoy Xiahou, who was newly appointed by the imperial court as the governor of Nansi Prefecture, came here to visit the city lord. Hurry up and come out to welcome him!"

When Yang Zhong led his troops to Luocheng, some city patrolling soldiers rushed over after hearing the news. He reined in his horse and shouted loudly to the soldiers standing at the gap in the city wall.

After these soldiers heard the words, they went to the city in a row, and no one even came to check the authenticity of Yang Zhong and his party's identity, so they went to the city to report.

It took more than a quarter of an hour before an armored general led more than a dozen personal soldiers on horseback. Since the city gate had long been blocked and had not yet been penetrated, a group of people could only continue to communicate at the gap in the city wall.

That will be the first to ask a few questions, and check the token submitted by Yang Zhong, but he still asks them to stay outside the city temporarily.

"A certain class was persecuted by the Westerners, but they still rushed here to warn, and they were exhausted all the way to death. You waited for the soldiers and refused to give me back, but you still refused to leave the city!"

When Yang Zhong heard this, he stared at him immediately, and immediately raised his arms and shouted angrily: "My sons, follow me into the city! If there is no beef and mutton to supply today, I will kill people and drink blood!"

While speaking, a group of people rushed into the city from the damaged part of the city wall.After seeing the situation, the guard naturally didn't dare to obstruct him any more, he could only retreat in haste, and rushed into the Jincheng to report the news to the chief general Wang Xiangui.

Wang Xiangui sat in a sad city, drinking wine and courting prostitutes every day for pleasure. When he heard that the tens of thousands of troops from the Western Wei Dynasty were marching to kill here, the wine cups in his hands rolled down in shock for a moment, and he was even more distressed. Feeling like crying without tears, why did all the most unlucky things in the world happen to him?

He fled all the way to Shouyang with Hou Jingbai, and he was a staunch henchman of his own, so he was arranged to stay at the Shouyang base camp, which also showed Hou Jing's trust in him.But Tian Ying and Guo Luo, two bastards, fled back from Liyang and told him that Hou Wang was no longer in the south of the Yangtze River.When the envoys of Poyang King of the Southern Liang Dynasty attacked Shouyang by force, he surrendered to the Eastern Wei Dynasty to protect himself when he saw that he was not defending.

But in the end, the news came again that Hou Jing had taken over the power of Jiankang, which naturally made Wang Xiangui regret it.He wanted to flee south but was afraid that Hou Jing would ask him about the crime of betrayal, and he was trapped in Shouyang but he didn't know that one day he would be recruited to Yecheng and be sentenced to death.

He himself is already extremely worried about his situation, but he doesn't want to think that now that the Western Wei Dynasty is raising troops to attack again, how can Shouyang be able to defend it given the dilapidated state of Shouyang?This simply does not leave him with the slightest chance of survival!
Wang Xiangui was so sad that he almost lost his breath, but when he heard the shouting and cursing outside Jincheng, his thoughts turned to the group of Yiyang's defeated soldiers who entered the city in a hurry.

After thinking about it, he led the Shouyang general into the city, intending to take a closer look at the enemy's situation.

Naturally, Yang Zhong would not go to the meeting alone, and had been arguing with each other for a long time before he was allowed to lead dozens of elite soldiers under his command into the front hall of the state capital to meet Wang Xiangui.

Although Wang Xiangui didn't know Yang Zhong, but seeing his tall stature and imposing manner, he still questioned him a little bit, wanting to test whether he was from the south.Naturally, Yang Zhong was not afraid of such a temptation, and when he talked about the customs of personnel in the Southern Dynasties, Wang Xiangui was taken aback for a moment and never dared to doubt his identity.

But when talking about the enemy's situation, Yang Zhong's words were like a heavy hammer hitting Wang Xiangui's heart.For example, the city of Yiyang is high and broad, and his lord Xia Houqiang has more than ten thousand people, but he still lost to the Western Army. The Western Wei army tore the city defense apart and slaughtered the city for several days.

When Wang Xiangui heard the last word, he felt all hope was lost and his face was as pale as paper. After seeing this, Yang Zhong said in a deep voice: "My city is no longer guarded, but I am not willing to surrender to the Westerners. The general is a hero from the north and the south. Holding the majestic city of Shouyang in your hands, you should brace yourself and fight against the city, so you can't kill if you still have to stretch your neck?"

After hearing this, Wang Xiangui opened his mouth but couldn't say anything. Although he was extremely desperate, he didn't want to show his timidity in front of a stranger like Yang Zhong, so he just kept silent.

Yang Zhong still said to himself: "My lord had already surrendered to Murong Xingtai, Duke of Yan, who was sitting in Xuanhu, but Murong Xingtai was unable to come to save him because of the difficulty in gaining trust from the south. Now the general is It's the right time for the famous people in the north to invite Murong Xingtai to rescue them. I am also willing to follow the general to defend the city and defeat the western army to avenge my lord!"

"You barbarian, what do you know!"

Wang Xiangui's eyes lit up when he heard this, and then he smiled wryly and sighed.Now he is looking forward to the arrival of strong reinforcements from the Eastern Wei Dynasty, but he is also afraid that the Eastern Wei Dynasty will force him to go to Yedu to question his crimes.

After Yang Zhong heard the words, he sneered and said: "What the general fears is nothing more than the Eastern Dynasty chasing and punishing the former princes, but even I, an outsider, can see clearly that the princes are bigger than the south of the Yangtze River, and they are in charge of the power of a country. It must be more prosperous. If it fails in the coming year, its disciples will never be tolerated in the south of the Yangtze River, and they will be north to the Eastern Dynasty. If the Eastern Dynasty severely punishes the general, it will block the way for the people to go north. The tall general is decisive and wise, how could he be so unwise? ? If the general is really not tolerated, why should the general continue to guard Shouyang?"

Hearing this, Wang Xiangui's face suddenly showed excitement, pointing at Yang Zhong, he laughed and said: "There are so many mediocre people in my tent, and I can't share my worries. I hope that there is Xiong Zhen's courage, and those who use tricks to talk things out." Wisdom is not inferior to that of Wang Wei, a member of Hou Wang's family!"

After a while, he sighed again: "I really don't have any affectionate relationship with Murong Shaozong, and now Shouyang is dilapidated, even if I send a letter for help, he may not be willing to come!"

"Shouyang is the capital of Huainan, and the party to prosecute, the general sent a letter to Murong Xingtai, how could he not be tempted?"

Yang Zhong's expression became a little weird when he talked about this, and he continued after taking a deep breath: "General, if you are afraid that Murong Xingtai will not be able to rescue you in time, why don't you send a letter to tell him that King Hou has already been defeated by Jiankang. I don’t know where I’m going when I’m poor, but some of my cronies sent the jade seal passed down from Nanliang to the general. If Murong Xingtai hears about this, he will definitely rush to rescue him day and night!”

"Chuan Guo Yuxi, what is that?"

Yang Zhong originally thought that Wang Xiangui would be amazed at the ingenious plan after he made such remarks that almost shocked even himself, but he didn't expect that Wang Xiangui looked at him blankly and asked, "Let's not say that Hou Wang has not yet failed. Even if this happened, why did Murong Shaozong come to rescue him?"

"This this……"

After Yang Zhong was stunned for a short time, he patiently explained the origin of the Jade Seal of the Chuan Kingdom and its significance to a regime, and that General Gao is now plotting to usurp the country.And if Murong Shaozong knew this but did not come to rescue him, he would be severely punished by General Gao Da.

It is still very difficult for an ignorant person to understand the meaning of something beyond his cognition in a short period of time. After listening to Yang Zhong's explanation, Wang Xiangui shook his head and sighed: "The tall general is from the Xianbei race, even if he wants to be the emperor That is also the emperor of the Lu family. As you said, the first emperor of the Wei family could command the world even before he got this jade seal, but you wait for the idiots of the Han family to believe in these imaginary things! In my opinion, it is better to prepare more gold and silver gifts to bribe and plead."

"Must add the matter of uploading the jade seal of the country!"

Yang Zhong knew that only by adding this section, could Murong Shaozong rush to Huainan impatiently, without this point, Wang Xiangui might not be able to have such strength even if he cast himself into a golden statue and sent it there.

"It's all about spending more ink!"

After Wang Xiangui heard the words, he snorted coldly, but seeing Yang Zhong's insistence, he said in a deep voice: "If Murong Shaozong enters the city without seeing this thing, you barbarian will never get away with it!"

"If Murong Xingtai doesn't come, the general and I are waiting to die. Only when the reinforcements arrive in time can we survive. But if I can defeat the enemy, I will die without regret. Why should I be afraid of Murong Xingtai's crimes!"

After Yang Zhong heard this, he said generously with a straight face.

Seeing how heroic he is, Wang Xiangui was quite heartbroken for a while, so he even summoned the Chinese officials of the mansion to write the letter, and after Yang Zhong verified that it was correct, he arranged for envoys to carry a lot of money across Huaibei to Xuanhu help.

After the messenger set off, Yang Zhong suddenly lost many scruples. Taking advantage of Wang Xiangui's banquet, he directly controlled the people in charge gathered in the mansion, and summoned his subordinates from outside the city to wait quietly for Murong Shaozong's arrival .