160. Fire in Xinyang

Early October

After several days of continuous and fierce attacks, more than a month later, the Xiling army once again rushed into Xinyang City with great momentum. However, this time, they were greeted by no gold and silver treasures, no food and military supplies, and even no panicked civilians. What appeared before them was a completely empty city. The entire city was empty except for the ghosts they had created.

There was no other sound except the sound of the fire. All the residents in the city had long since left, and there was not even a grain of food to be found in the empty houses. All the shops were either emptied or destroyed on the spot, and even the wells in the city had been thrown into a lot of debris, so it would obviously take some effort to make them usable again.

The vanguard who led the way was riding on horseback, looking at the empty city in front of him with a sullen face.

"General, there is no one left in the city!" the soldier who was exploring the way ahead came back to report.

"Bullshit!" The leader was furious, not knowing whether he was cursing the soldiers of Da Chu or himself. After cursing a few times, he could only send someone to report to the King of Zhennan who was following behind and had not yet entered the city.

"What is that?" The vanguard frowned and pointed at a seemingly inconspicuous black object somewhere on the corner of the street and asked. The soldier standing in front of his horse stepped forward to check, and after a while he came back with some doubts and reported: "General, it seems to be some tung oil and stone fat water. It was probably dropped by the Dongchu people when they fled." The vanguard frowned, feeling that something was wrong.

The place is wrong. After carefully looking around, they found that there were quite a few traces like this, and there seemed to be a strong smell of alcohol in the air. There were several taverns along the street where they stopped when they first entered the city, so they didn't notice it. But now they looked carefully and found that even outside the taverns, the smell of alcohol was too strong. Before they had time to think about it, the street

The window on the building next to him was suddenly pushed open from the inside. A man in black looked at the people below coldly, quickly drew his bow and shot an arrow, and then disappeared from the window. These actions were completed in just a moment, and by the time everyone reacted and shot arrows at the window, the man had already disappeared from the window.

"Fire!" Suddenly someone screamed, and a cluster of sparks suddenly appeared on both sides of the street and spread in an extreme time.

"There's an ambush! Retreat!"

At the same time, there was another commotion in Xinyang City. "There's a fire at the city gate!" A loud bang was heard from the city gate, and then flames shot up into the sky. Even though they were in the city, they could clearly see the red light on the horizon, so they could imagine how fierce the fire was.

"Quick! Put out the fire!" The Xiling army was in chaos. It was not easy to put out the fire. Xiling City was already suffering from drought and water shortage. The few wells were either sealed or filled. The only liquid that could be found in the city at this time was wine. As if on purpose, these were placed outside the wine shops, and some were even placed on the street. If someone accidentally

If the altar was broken, it would cause a bigger fire. The Xinyang city, which should have been filled with songs of joy, was now filled with flames and wailing.

On a mountain peak a few miles away from Xinyang City, Ye Li looked at the Xinyang City in the distance, which had been intertwined into a sea of ​​fire, and sighed softly: "Xinyang is destroyed." Qin Feng stood behind Ye Li, put a thin cloak on her, and said: "Don't worry, Princess. In fact, most of Xinyang City is made of earth and stone. Even if most of the houses are burned down, it won't be too difficult to rebuild them in the future. Moreover, in this battle, we can at least wipe out 50,000 troops from Xiling without spending a single soldier. Instead of leaving Xinyang for the people of Xiling to live in, it is better to burn it down." Ye Li smiled faintly, gathered her cloak, turned around and said: "Let's go. After this battle, the King of Zhennan will be very angry. Let's hurry to Hongzhou as soon as possible."

"Yes, princess."

As Qin Feng said, Xinyang City was indeed mostly made of earth and stone, which was not a very good fuel. But even so, everyone lost a whole day and night. Because the city gate was blocked by the raging fire, people in the city could not leave and people outside the city could not come in. When the fire finally weakened the next day and the army outside the city could enter the city, the people in the city had almost been wiped out. Even those who were not burned to death by the raging fire had already suffocated to death due to the rolling thick smoke. The originally magnificent Xinyang City was now pitch black and lifeless.

When the King of Zhennan entered Xinyang City, his expression was no longer just gloomy, but rather eerie. Looking at the ruins in front of him, the thick smoke that had not yet been completely extinguished on both sides of the street, and the foul smell in the air, the King of Zhennan looked sinister and said with gritted teeth: "Ye Li..." The generals who came in with the King of Zhennan were all trembling with fear, fearing that they would say or do something wrong and anger the gloomy King of Zhennan. After a long while, the King of Zhennan suddenly laughed up to the sky and said, "Great! I didn't expect that I would meet a rival after more than ten years! Mo Liufang, your good daughter-in-law! Ye Li... I swear I won't be a man if I don't capture you alive! Pass on my order, whoever captures the Princess of Dingguo alive will be rewarded with ten thousand taels of gold and be made a marquis of a thousand households!" Hearing this, everyone was shocked. Such a reward was almost comparable to the rewards for the princes of Dingguo in the past. The King of Zhennan turned around and glanced around, sneered and said, "Leave some people to guard Xinyang, and the rest of the army will set out and head towards Hongzhou!"

"yes."

Hongzhou City

Hongzhou is not the largest city in the northwest, nor is it the strongest city in the northwest. However, due to geographical limitations, the Xiling army was blocked by the Mohist army and could not really get close to Hongzhou City. Although the northwest was already in flames, the people and merchants in Hongzhou City were still very happy. Because they were backed by the only way from the northwest to the Central Plains, even if Hongzhou City was breached by the Xiling army, they would still have time to escape to the Central Plains. Moreover, the area currently at war in the Great Chu was not only the northwest, so there were fewer people fleeing.

"Your humble servant, Sun Xingzhi, who is in charge of the Northwest Tour, leads the officials and merchants of Hongzhou City to welcome Princess Dingguo." At the city gate, the governor of Hongzhou led the officials to welcome Ye Li and his party.

Feng Zhiyao glanced at the smiling middle-aged man in front of him. He was a member of the pro-royal faction. He fled from Xinyang to Hongzhou when the war started. He always ignored the Mohist army near Hongzhou and even tried every means to delay the supply of food and fodder that should have been supplied. At this time, he still had the courage to stand at the city gate to welcome the princess. He was really brave. Ye Li was wearing a plain blue dress. She did not have the elegance and splendor of the noble ladies in Chujing. The extremely ordinary and simple style made it impossible for people to have the slightest disrespect and contempt. Holding Zhuo Jing's hand to get off the horse, Ye Li looked indifferently at the two rows of people standing respectfully in front of him, nodded slightly and said, "Lord Sun, please don't be polite."

Sun Xingzhi stepped forward and said with a warm smile, "Princess, you have been tired all the way. Please come into the city and have a cup of tea. I will host a banquet for you in the evening."

Ye Li raised her eyebrows slightly. Are you in such a hurry to announce the host and guest relationship?

"I'm afraid I'm going to offend Lord Sun's kindness. The Xiling army is wreaking havoc in Hongzhou. Does Lord Sun have a solution?"

Sun Xingzhi smiled and said, "With the Mohist Army here, there is no place for the Xiling people to act recklessly. I, like the people of Hongzhou, feel very relieved, very relieved!" At the same time, Feng Zhiyao raised his eyebrows and sneered, "The Hongzhou people that Lord Sun refers to are only the people of Hongzhou City? I remember that Lord Sun is the Northwest Patrol, not the Governor of Hongzhou? Besides... Lord Sun just meant that it is the Mohist Army's fault that the Xiling people are now plundering the northwest?" Sun Xingzhi's face froze, and he quickly smiled apologetically, "I dare not." Dare not, not not, Feng Zhiyao snorted and ignored him.

The atmosphere seemed a little awkward. A middle-aged man with dark hair and a bit of shrinking standing behind Sun Xingzhi quickly stepped forward and said, "Your subordinate... Hongzhou Governor Qi Anrong has seen the princess."

Ye Li nodded and said, "Lord Qi, I heard that the food and fodder that was supposed to be supplied to the Mohist Army from Hongzhou has not arrived yet. What's the matter?" Qi Anrong quickly glanced at Sun Xingyi beside him, and hesitantly said, "This...Princess, please forgive me. All places in the northwest were looted by the Xiling people, and Hongzhou was particularly severely affected, so...so the food and fodder was delayed for a few days. Please forgive me..." Ye Li pursed her lips and smiled faintly, "So that's the case. It's hard work for Lord Qi." After hearing Ye Li's words, Qi Anrong couldn't help wiping the sweat from his forehead in the October day. His eyes, which were slightly blue due to excessive drinking, trembled slightly, and he smiled and said, "I dare not...I dare not..."

Zhuo Jing looked at everyone with a cold face and said, "If you still don't give way, do you want the princess to rest outside the city?"

Qi Anrong quickly stepped aside and made way for her. "Princess, please, Princess, please..."

Ye Li was about to walk into the city when she heard the voice of Sun Xingzhi, who was left out, from behind, "Princess, wait a minute!"

Ye Li turned her head and looked at Sun Xingzhi calmly. Her beautiful eyebrows were slightly raised, and she was waiting for his next words with a smile. Sun Xingzhi looked around, swallowed his saliva secretly, and then straightened his chest and said: "The princess has come to Hongzhou City, and the officials and people of Hongzhou are naturally welcoming you. But the Mohist Army cannot follow the princess into the city!" Ye Li smiled and asked: "Why?" Sun Xingzhi said seriously: "Once so many people enter the city, it will inevitably cause chaos in the city. Please think twice, princess. Moreover, according to the laws of my Great Chu, the number of soldiers in each city shall not exceed 50,000. The princess brought... only a few hundred thousand people, right?" As if he found that he was right, Sun Xingzhi's voice became higher and higher.

Ye Li was not angry, but just stared calmly at the complacent middle-aged man in front of her.

Seeing Ye Li didn't say anything, Sun Xingzhi became more and more happy. He even lost some of his original caution and said with a smile: "Princess, is what I said reasonable?" Ye Li smiled beautifully, and Sun Xingzhi, who was very proud, didn't notice that the people who followed Ye Li with wrinkled brows silently took two steps back to avoid being caught in the crossfire.

"Lord Sun, do you know that I just set fire to Xinyang?" Ye Li's voice was clear and cold.

Sun Xingzhi couldn't help but shudder, the smile still stiffly hanging on his face. He stared blankly at the woman in front of him whose expression suddenly changed, "Princess...Princess..."

"If I dare to burn Xinyang, I am not afraid of killing two more useless officials!"