Chapter 234: Oneself is a boat, capable of carrying ten thousand people.

The Huo family army of 50,000 fought against the Huzhou army of 30,000. Fortunately, Qingshan and the one-eyed old man were both veteran generals, which allowed them to win more battles than they lost.

When Su Zhenzhen's belly started to show, Hensheng had only taken over half of Hu Yi's territory.

Fortunately, an alliance with Hu San had been formed. Hensheng promised him the official title of Grand General after he ascended the throne, in exchange for him restraining Hu Er's troops.

It seemed that as long as they could take down Hu Yi, they could join forces with Hu San to take down Hu Er, and by then the situation in Huzhou would be settled.

Unfortunately, a disaster struck Yangcheng. The aristocratic army poisoned the water source upstream, killing many civilians. To fetch water, the people were forced to travel a longer distance to the main river, only to be ambushed and captured along the way. Panic gripped Yangcheng; the people dared not leave the city to fetch water, nor drink it, and it seemed that unrest was imminent.

The Shijia Army sent a threatening message through Huzhou, claiming that if Hensheng dared to take another step north, they would tear all the captured Yangcheng people apart by five horses.

Among the captured civilians were relatives of the army led by Hensheng. Under the propaganda of the Huzhou army, the army's morale collapsed and its fighting capacity was greatly reduced, and it had already suffered several defeats in succession.

Su Zhenzhen also tried to think of a solution, "What did Sister Chunzhi say? Does she have any good ideas?"

Hensheng rubbed his temples, slightly annoyed. "What can we do? If we had a solution, the news wouldn't have reached Huzhou; it would have been resolved long ago."

For some reason, Su Zhenzhen felt there was a hint of resentment in those words.

"If I remember correctly, the inland river of Yangcheng flows from west to east. The aristocratic army is stationed in the east of Yangcheng. Are their water supplies not affected?"

"Before the aristocratic family army poisoned the river, they had already sent troops to control the section of the river corresponding to Yangcheng. It can be said that they now control the water supply of Yangcheng."

"Has an antidote been found for that poison?"

“If it were a deadly poison that draws blood, that would be fine,” Hensheng said with a helpless bitter smile. “At least it would inspire the soldiers defending the city. But they used a non-lethal poison that makes people weak and unable to muster their strength. If the people can’t muster their strength, their daily work will be neglected. If the soldiers can’t muster their strength, they won’t be able to hold their weapons properly to kill the enemy.”

The person who poisoned the water without driving the person to their death is quite a character.

Everything in excess is as bad as deficiency. Even ants have a sense of urgency. If pushed too far, the 200,000 people of Yangcheng might unite as one and open the city gates to devour those 50,000 aristocratic soldiers to the bone.

But they left themselves an out; the poison wouldn't kill them, it would just leave them weak. They used this slow, insidious method to gradually erode the resistance of the people of Yangcheng.

"What is Jiang Sijin doing? Perhaps we can use her own methods against her."

Jiang Sijin's hair is poisonous. If she were to grow her hair in the military camp of the aristocratic family, it could kill a whole group of people in an instant.

Speaking of this, Hensheng had an even bigger headache. "News came from Yangcheng that my aunt somehow opened that wooden box and suddenly started screaming and shouting like a madwoman. We don't know where she went."

Su Zhenzhen: "..."

People's silence always comes so inexplicably.

Jiang Sijin truly lacks both the talent to be a protagonist and the opportunity to be a rebellious big boss; she always fails at crucial moments.

"If we can find Jiang Sijin, let her take down the aristocratic army by herself. At this point, we don't care about martial ethics; the other side has already poisoned them."

Su Zhenzhen paused for a moment, then continued, "Otherwise, we can only temporarily avoid the limelight and have Sister Chunzhi lead the people of Yangcheng back."

Hensheng's brows were filled with worry. "Sister-in-law Chunzhi has the same idea. But where can the 200,000 people of Yangcheng retreat to in such a short time? If Yangcheng is lost, the road to the west is flat and full of small towns with no natural defenses. We can only retreat all the way back to Shanxian. This will greatly increase the population pressure in Shanxian. Moreover, it is easy to retreat back, but it will be difficult to leave again later."

Whether in this time and space or in the 906th century, people have a very strong attachment to their hometown.

The attachment to one's homeland is ingrained in their very being. Now, forced by water scarcity and the approaching army, the people have been relocated to mountainous counties or even border prefectures. Once they settle down here, they will not want to leave again.

That Yangcheng is basically going to be abandoned.

Moreover, the idea of ​​less than 10,000 soldiers leading 200,000 civilians in a retreat is simply a pipe dream. Not to mention, they would also have to take the people from several small towns along the way.

In this chaotic world, the people are wealth, the labor force for production and development. They are difficult to regenerate in a short period of time, and leaving them to the enemy is just creating trouble for ourselves.

Su Zhenzhen thought for a moment, "Perhaps... we can send the people of Yangcheng to the south? Let Yunzhou and Chenwa bring troops to pick them up. They should have quite a few troops at their disposal now."

Hensheng's face grew increasingly grim. "My sister-in-law mentioned in her letter that she also had this plan. It's just a pity that it rained in Yangcheng a few days ago, and the Yangtze River is flowing freely with no dry riverbed, so the people can't wade across. There aren't enough boats in the south either."

The situation was terrible; there was nothing in our favor.

Su Zhenzhen couldn't help but think that she shouldn't have used the Thunderbolt Pill to blow up the overseas islands in the first place; there might have been ships there.

But as she thought about it, Su Zhenzhen suddenly remembered the boatman who had ferried her to the other side.

His boat can ferry people across the river, so it should also be able to carry people across the river.

Thinking of this, Su Zhenzhen had a thought, and a small boat the size of a palm immediately appeared in her palm. Its appearance and structure were exactly a miniature version of the old boatman's boat.

Hensheng was utterly shocked. "This...is it really true?"

Su Zhenzhen ignored Hensheng and focused all her energy on the small boat in her palm.

"Use yourself to ferry souls across; your own body is a boat that can carry ten thousand people."

As Su Zhenzhen finished speaking, the small boat in her palm grew larger and larger, gradually becoming big enough to carry one person.

Su Zhenzhen wanted to continue pouring her mental energy into the area, but her forehead was already covered in cold sweat, and even her lips had turned pale.

Seeing this, Hensheng quickly hugged her and said, "Zhenzhen, that's enough. Let's rest for a bit. There's no rush to evacuate the people."

Su Zhenzhen took a few deep breaths of Hen Sheng's pure imperial aura, and the feeling of impending death dissipated considerably.

"Zhenzhen, how are you feeling now? Do you want me to give you some blood to drink?"

Imperial blood is certainly a great tonic, not to mention that the person born with the golden light of merit is undoubtedly a top-grade tonic for cultivators.

But Su Zhenzhen isn't that little monster Jiang Sijin. It was one thing to be passively fed a mouthful of blood while she was unconscious, but now that she's awake, she's drinking human blood again. What's the difference between her and a monster?