Now all the spies in the palace have been cut off. Faced with the silver handed over by the counselor beside the prince, the eunuch who delivered the imperial edict quickly shook it off as if it were a hot potato.
"Sir, please don't harm our family."
"My Lord, what do you mean?"
The eunuch thought that although His Royal Highness disliked His Majesty and was about to be punished, he was still the Crown Prince after all, so he said patiently, "Your Highness has ordered that no one should accept any kind of gold or silver without His Majesty's permission. Those who violate the order will be severely punished. Please forgive me, Your Highness and the others."
The Crown Prince had no time to think about anything else and asked anxiously, "Did Father really say so himself, asking me to stay indoors?"
"Your Majesty said this in front of all the ministers in the court."
The prince was like a lost ant, running around in circles in a panic. He had volunteered to guard the first checkpoint.
He could ignore the 50,000 deaths, but he had lost the first checkpoint, which was the throat of the road leading to Wujiang. He was very clear about the importance of the first checkpoint.
Now that Lucheng was about to be lost, he wanted to say that it had nothing to do with him, but the fact was that he could not deceive himself now.
…
Eight days later, Lucheng.
"General, Lucheng is about to be lost. Let's retreat back to Wujiang!"
Various chopping and howling sounds merged together noisily.
He wiped the blood and sweat from his head, looked up at the sky, and said, "No, Lucheng cannot be lost!"
"Your Majesty is behind us, we can't retreat!"
"But we can't hold it even if we fight to the death! The East Gate is about to be breached!" The soldier beside him roared hoarsely.
Ding Shangbiao was staggering all over, and could only support himself with the long sword stuck on the ground, looking around blankly.
The enemies kept climbing up, as if they could never be killed.
Their reinforcements would not arrive for another two days, but it seemed that they could no longer hold the city. Everything that could be demolished in the city had been demolished.
"Could it be that I, Ding Shangbiao, will die here today..." he muttered to himself.
…
"Quick, carry everything that can be burned to the top floor!"
"Don't ask why. Send me to the top of the highest Linxiantai as quickly as possible!"
After much haste, Linxiantai was finally completed.
The lower floors can still be considered a high attic, but the back is completely illegally built.
Zheng Hongtao and Wei Wenhua both knew that Lucheng ahead could no longer be defended and would be captured today.
Almost everyone who could leave the court had left. The remaining group of people were loyal ministers who still truly supported the original owner and were also the group who had followed him the longest.
Although the original owner had become increasingly absurd over the past two years, they still had a friendship that spanned more than a decade, so they chose to stay. If Wujiang City fell, they could also delay the enemy for His Majesty and buy some time.
Wujiang City is surrounded by plains and there is no strategic location to defend. This is why Ding Shangbiao was unwilling to retreat. If he retreated, he would be chased by the enemy and would only be waiting to die if he exposed his back to the enemy.
At this point, the most loyal people have been screened out, and An Jingzhi no longer hides the secret from them.
On the one hand, he sent people to move all the civilians outside the city into the city, and on the other hand, he arranged for people to continue looking for various flammable materials and send them to Linxiantai.
"The second brother won't arrive for another two days. We can't count on him. If the Qilin River bursts its banks, the enemy will naturally retreat."
An Jingzhi knew from the beginning that he could not hold the city. Even if he had capable generals, it would be useless if he could not keep up with the troops.
I had hoped that Ding Shangbiao could hold on a little longer, but it seemed that he had already done his best.
He had originally considered whether it was too unethical, but now that it had come to a critical moment, An Jingzhi had no choice but to use his backup trick.
"Your Majesty, are you planning to send someone to secretly dig up the dam of the Qilin River?" Zheng Hongtao asked, then shook his head. "That's impossible. If we send someone to dig it up, we'll probably be caught before we even start."
Tian and Zheng Hongtao didn’t care at all whether there would be any harm or not. That’s how it is on the battlefield, it’s either you die or I die.
"The defensive works of Qilin River are supervised by me personally. If a large number of manpower cannot be mobilized, it will be impossible to break through." Wei Wenhua said.
An Jingzhi certainly knew that if he tried to dig through the Qilin River, he would definitely be discovered by the enemy troops attacking the city.
Moreover, the Qilin River is within his jurisdiction. If it is really dug open, even if the enemy is repelled, the people will be displaced.
It's simply a method of hurting the enemy by 800 and hurting yourself by 1,000.
"What if it rains heavily?"
Wei Wenhua's eyes lit up. "If there is a heavy rainstorm, the river water will naturally rise, and the flood will be accompanied by mudslides, and the enemies in Lucheng will naturally be washed away!"
Then he shook his head with a somewhat dumbfounded smile: "This rainstorm is not something that can just come as it pleases."
"What if there really is such a rain?" An Jingzhi said with a smile.
"Could it be that Your Majesty built the Linxiantai to pray for rain?" Zheng Hongtao said thoughtfully.
No matter how they tried to dissuade His Majesty, he insisted on building Linxiantai.
Logically speaking, His Majesty should not do this when faced with such a disaster, no matter how foolish he is. It turns out that His Majesty had this idea.
He should have been happy to know that His Majesty was not really that incompetent, but when he thought that His Majesty actually wanted to rely on praying for rain to repel the enemy, he felt it was absurd and powerless.
Wei Wenhua and the civil officials around him had obviously thought of this as well. Everyone had a strange look on their faces, not understanding whether it was right for them to insist on staying.
The ancients respected ghosts and gods, but they also knew that praying for rain was simply a way to gain peace of mind.
The hanging heart finally died completely.
"Everyone, just watch carefully."
An Jingzhi was not in a position to explain to them what artificial rainfall was. Even if he did, they probably wouldn't understand. He seized the opportunity and climbed up to the highest level of Linxiantai step by step.
Following behind were all the civil and military officials who remained in Wujiang City.
They watched as An Jingzhi directed the treacherous minister Gao Lizhong and the people around him to continuously add various combustible materials into the top of the statue.
It seemed to be in a disorderly manner, and there was no altar, no animals, and no incense burner.
Although everyone didn't hold out any hope, they were still slightly surprised when they saw his actions.
"Your Majesty, don't we need to prepare some sacrificial animals?" Gao Lizhong asked the question in the ministers' minds.
"I'm not praying to the sky for rain today, I'm asking it to rain." An Jingzhi said calmly.
Gao Lizhong was so surprised that his mouth opened slightly, and he felt bitter in his heart.
Originally, he wanted to take advantage of the chaos to escape, but His Majesty was keeping a close eye on him. He couldn't go anywhere before the Linxiantai was completed, and he couldn't escape even after it was completed.
When he learned that His Majesty actually wanted to rely on praying for rain to break the Qilin River embankment and defeat the enemy, the only thing that came to his mind was "it's over".
"Everyone, please stay calm and burn everything that can be burned."
The fire burned more and more vigorously, and the various particles produced by the combustion slowly floated upwards and gathered into the dense clouds in the sky.
The weather was already hot, and now we were so close to the fire, everyone was busy and sweating, and their clothes were soaked.
Wei Wenhua looked at An Jingzhi, who was full of confidence, and felt an indescribable sense of absurdity in his heart. He knew that he was doing something useless, but inexplicably a glimmer of hope arose.
What if?
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