Chapter 784 Here

On the eighth day, the Chu army's siege ended.

Qu Peiluo sat in a chair as Fan Zhengwen bandaged the wound on his shoulder.

During the fierce fighting in the daytime, Qu Peiluo was hugged by a Chu soldier and almost thrown off the city wall. Fortunately, a clansman surnamed Qu beside him protected him with his own life, taking the brunt of the attack for Qu Peiluo.

There was no sorrow, no sadness. Here, no one had the leisure to feel any nostalgia for their fallen comrades. Those who died in battle had merely taken the first step, waiting for him ahead.

Today, the defense was difficult, not much different from the first day.

It was like a circle, drawn out, and then drawn back to the beginning.

Fan Zhengwen did a great job in comforting the people in the city and rewarding the troops. He did everything he could;

Qu Peiluo's command was also without fault, plugging gaps and making up for deficiencies, like a paperhanger, reacting quickly and without the slightest slackness;

But the essence of war is not that you can win as long as you don't make mistakes, but that you must also consider what kind of opponent you are facing.

Under the continuous and rapid siege of the Great Chu regular army for eight days, Fan City, a city guarded by a rabble, had been incredibly difficult to defend until now.

Historically, those cities that often held out for months, half a year, or even longer did so mostly because the besieging side wanted to starve the people inside, rather than attacking continuously day after day.

After bandaging, Fan Zhengwen went down to personally fetch a basin of hot water with two towels in it.

Qu Peiluo closed his eyes.

Fan Zhengwen personally used a towel to wipe his face.

When the towel was thrown back into the basin, the blood had already spread.

Not afraid of the trouble, Fan Zhengwen brought a new towel and helped Qu Peiluo dry the water on his face.

Only then did Qu Peiluo slowly open his eyes.

Next was washing hands;

Finally, Fan Zhengwen brought over the dishes, three dishes and a soup, and a pot of wine.

As Fan Zhengwen prepared to pour the wine, Qu Peiluo reached out himself, picked up the wine pot, and filled the wine bowl.

Then, he placed the wine pot in front of Fan Zhengwen.

Fan Zhengwen was stunned for a moment, smiled, reached out to pick up the wine bowl, and the two clinked.

The Fan family head held his wine bowl very low, barely touching the bottom of the wine pot.

Qu Peiluo raised his head and took a big gulp.

Fan Zhengwen raised his head and took a big gulp, then choked and began to cough violently.

"Heh."

Qu Peiluo smiled.

"You're a business slave; how can your alcohol tolerance be so poor?"

"When I reached that level in the Fan family, I was too lazy to greet the people below, and as a slave, I wasn't qualified to sit and drink with the people above."

Qu Peiluo took a small sip, put down the wine pot, and said,

"Tomorrow, we probably won't be able to hold on, so tonight..."

"What does young master want to do tonight?"

"Prepare for a Chu army night raid."

…

The Chu people launched a night raid that night.

But because Fan City was prepared, it was repelled.

A night raid is just like that; without the support of surprise, it's difficult to achieve any effect.

"You said we probably won't be able to hold on tomorrow, but the Chu army on the other side doesn't even want us to see tomorrow's sun." Fan Zhengwen said with emotion.

"Alright, next..."

Fan Zhengwen looked serious and asked, "Next, what are you going to do?"

"Eat a midnight snack."

…

The sun rose in the east.

Nian Yao, clad in armor, stood before his army.

After several days of siege, the number of his rabble not only did not decrease with the consumption of the siege, but doubled.

This is the characteristic of a rabble; when you are on the winning side, they will snowball.

The Dugu family's army was in the south, sieging the city on a large scale every day. General Nian was in the north, and although the siege momentum was not as great as the front, the flags were bright.

Moreover, the Chu outlaws and local snakes who wanted to be opportunistic also knew that the real aristocratic circles, no matter how down on their luck they were, were still not something they could squeeze into. In comparison, General Nian's origin seemed extremely "close to the people."

"Eight days."

Nian Yao looked at the city wall in front of him;

He originally thought that borrowing the road from Jin to enter Mengshan should be the most time-consuming, laborious, and dangerous part of the plan. After this part was over, Fan City should be easily within his grasp.

But he didn't expect to be delayed here for so long.

The neatness and efficiency in the plan did not appear, making Nian Yao feel a little regretful.

"General?"

Eighth Prince stayed by Nian Yao's side.

"Your Highness, don't worry, we'll be able to enter the city by noon today."

…

On the south side of Fan City,

Dugu Mu, with white hair, personally beat the drum.

After eight consecutive days of siege, even though he had many troops under his command and could rotate them appropriately, his soldiers still appeared extremely exhausted.

That young man who said that shameless thing in front of him did give him quite a surprise.

But,

It ends here.

If it was the Qu family's Azure Phoenix Army guarding this Fan City, he would probably only be able to choose to besiege the isolated city to death, waiting for the food and grass in the city to run out.

Unfortunately,

The young man's subordinates are not the Azure Phoenix Army.

Although the Qu family's Azure Phoenix Army did not have many troops, they had always followed the route of elite soldiers and strong generals.

During the first Wangjiang battle, the Great Prince wanted to fight hard to try to turn the tide, but he was pushed back by the Azure Phoenix Army, and Li Bao died fighting to cover the retreat.

Later, Prince Jingnan surrounded the city with earthen walls, forcibly trapping that elite force to death, not giving them a chance to counterattack on the front battlefield.

As for the Azure Phoenix Army that Marquis Zheng defeated during the campaign against Chu, it was actually hastily rebuilt, and its strength and quality were not in the same class as the one that Qu Tiannan led.

The Azure Phoenix Army, once known as the Great Chu's number one infantry, had disappeared with the wind.

The Qu family,

Should also come to an end.

Dugu Mu, drumming, let out a loud shout:

"Advance!"

…

The three attacking and defending sides were correct in their prediction of the battlefield situation.

On this day,

The south wall of Fan City finally fell.

Chu soldiers constantly climbed up, and the defenders were no longer able to drive them down. They could only watch as the number of Chu soldiers on the city wall continued to increase, while the defenders were being forced back.

Soon, like an avalanche, the situation was completely suppressed.

The Chu army began to clear the city wall extremely quickly, and subsequent Chu troops continued to come up.

Qu Peiluo did not choose to gather the defeated soldiers and kill them again but decisively chose to retreat into the Fan Mansion in the city with the manpower he could still command.

The Fan Mansion was beautiful and exquisite.

Usually, many experts were hidden, and any petty thief who dared to approach here would inevitably end up miserably.

But when the petty thieves were replaced by the Great Chu army, the exquisiteness of the Fan Mansion became a burden that cut off its own arms.

It was not a Wubao (fortified village). Retreating here was because everyone tacitly chose this place as the place to die in the end, not because they could rely on it to do anything.

The Fan family's ancestor, wearing a red dress, set up a table and sat cross-legged on it.

In front of her, the Fan Mansion's female family members, including the famous Fan Mansion Golden Hairpins, were all kneeling there. No one was crying. Although they had not gone to the real front line during the days of defending the city, they had been busy in the back. Emotionally, they had already been prepared. Many people were actually numb.

The Fan family and the last forces in Fan City were all converging on the Fan Mansion.

Fan Zhengwen also returned.

He saw the ancestor.

"The Fan family has finally been brought to this point by you."

"Old Ancestor is going to directly self-immolate?"

The ancestor glared at Fan Zhengwen and said, "Although the Jianghu has always said how unbearable the fighting skills of the Qi Refiners are, even if this old woman is going to die, she has to drag two people down to cushion her fall."

"Two?"

At this time, Qu Peiluo also retreated in with his men, holding a shield in his left hand and a knife in his right hand.

One Fan Zhengwen and one himself; wouldn't that be two?

Of course, this was just a joke at the last moment.

The closer it is to this time, the closer to death, the more frivolous people will naturally become, and some things in their emotions will unconsciously magnify.

"You two were going to die anyway. You can't expect to live, can you?"

Then,

The ancestor looked at Qu Peiluo and smiled:

"I really didn't expect that the ending of my life would be to die together with the master's family."

Qu Peiluo smiled and nodded, then turned around and ordered: "Form the formation, block for as long as you can, and it's worth it to drag one more down before you die."

Fan Zhengwen looked at the women in the family and asked, "Have the white silks all been prepared? When the time comes, I'll urge you to set off first."

The ancestor shouted:

"Don't be afraid. Go down first, warm up the kang, and cook the meal. We men will be down soon."

The women did not cry but responded in unison.

If they didn't commit suicide, the only thing waiting for them was a fate worse than death.

At this time, with the continuous influx of Chu troops into Fan City, the first batch of organized Chu troops began to rush towards the Fan Mansion, and the sound of fighting also sounded outside the Fan Mansion.

The ancestor's figure leaped up, and her red dress was extremely dazzling at this time. She leaped over the heads of her own people, and when she landed, she flicked her sleeves twice, directly knocking over several Chu soldiers.

But soon, two arrows shot over, and the ancestor's expression changed.

"Dong, dong!"

Qu Peiluo held his shield across her body, blocking the arrows.

"Thank you, master's family. This old woman almost died as soon as she came out. I would have lost face."

Qu Peiluo did not reply to the ancestor.

Instead, he shouted to the back:

"Where is the dog slave!"

In the back, the Fan family head raised his voice and shouted:

"The slave is here!"

"Raise the flag for master!"

"The slave obeys!"

Fan Zhengwen's martial arts were not good, and his body was not good either, but it was no problem to hold up a flag. A Azure Phoenix Army flag embroidered with the Qu family crest was erected.

Seeing this flag, the attacking Chu army also stagnated.

Qu Peiluo dropped his shield, clenched the knife in his hand with both hands, and around him gathered the last batch of dozens of Qu family disciples who had been following him and were still left.

"Brothers, I wanted to give you wealth, but I broke my promise. When you get down there, I won't be able to take care of you. Don't come to me to settle accounts.

"The Qu family's ancestors will have to line up to beat me, this unworthy descendant of the Qu family. It won't be your turn!"

"Hahaha!"

"Hahahaha!"

At this moment,

Qu Peiluo's mind flashed with the scene of his father, Qu Tiannan, going on an expedition, the scene of him leading a group of white horse knights to welcome the bride on the wedding day, and the scene of him kneeling on Qingtan, holding a knife and preparing to commit suicide.

Dead,

Everything will be over completely.

What a pity,

I really want to hug the child she gave birth to.

"Ahhhhhh!!!!!!"

Qu Peiluo let out a loud roar:

"Azure Phoenix Army, advance!"

………

"General, the south side of the city has been breached!"

"General, we've been breached here too!"

"General, they've already entered the city!"

"Hahaha, I can write a memorial to my imperial brother."

Eighth Prince could not suppress the excitement in his heart and almost danced with joy.

These days of fighting were a great torment for both the attacking and defending sides.

After all, the Chu army also had the constraint of congratulating the Regent King on his enthronement, and no one dared to delay.

Nian Yao looked at Eighth Prince, but he was not excited.

The latest intelligence from north of Mengshan had just been sent.

The Yan people did not choose to launch an offensive against Mengshan, nor did they want to open up a mountain road to support Fan City.

This was very unusual.

Did the Yan people know that it was impossible to rescue them, so they simply gave up Fan City?

Nian Yao then stretched.

He said:

"That's right, Tian Wujing has gone far west, and the Yan people have changed emperors. The previous generation has left, and the next generation no longer has that kind of ambition."

…

On the south side of Fan City, seeing his soldiers begin to climb the city wall one after another, seeing the city gates that were originally blocked being cleared out.

Dugu Mu finally sat back on his marshal's seat.

Finally, it was taken.

A general beside him handed him a ginseng. Dugu Mu reached out to take it, took a bite, and pursed it in his mouth.

This general was called Dugu Nian. He was a talented member of the Dugu family who had served in the Imperial Guard early in his career and worked under Nian Yao. This time, Dugu Mu mainly asked him to be transferred back to his side.

"A'nian."

"Grandfather."

"The matter here is over. It's time for Grandpa to step down. Next, this army of our Dugu family will be handed over to you."

"Grandpa isn't old."

"I can't be greedy for power. We have to give the Emperor face so that the Emperor can give us face. You keep one of these family troops, and hand the rest over to the court to dismantle. It doesn't matter whether they belong to the local army or the Imperial Guard.

"It's time to take a step back. It's time to take a step back.

"That's all Grandpa can do. In the future, you will have to stand up and assist the Emperor in guarding my Chu people's country."

"Grandpa, don't worry. Your grandson will definitely live up to your expectations."

"Yes."

At this time, another messenger came to report that the remaining resistance in the city was still ongoing.

Dugu Nian smiled and said, "They are still fighting like trapped beasts, struggling to death. I really don't know where the meaning of their persistence lies."

"They are hoping that the Yan people will come to rescue them."

"Grandpa, even if the Yan people are powerful, they can't fly. How can they have time to rescue them..."

"Wuwuwuwu!!!!!!"

Suddenly, the sound of horns sounded;

Then, the sound of rolling thunder came from behind.

Dugu Mu stood up suddenly and looked back.

Behind the army, behind the camp, there was a sky full of sand and dust. Within the sand and dust, there seemed to be ten thousand drums beating in unison.

"Tiger!"

"Tiger!"

"Tiger!"

Then,

Groups of knights in black armor roared out of the dust, connecting dots into lines, and lines into surfaces, boundless and endless!

The Black Dragon Flag and the Double-Headed Eagle Flag fluttered in the wind in the army, like the ferocious fangs of a beast!

The Yan army,

Has arrived!