lady, please calm down

Chapter 385: A lonely city in a dead place

In the end, Chen Chu's beard couldn't be shaved off.

The winter in Fucheng is much colder than that in Huaibei. Fortunately, the local government offices have earth dragon fire walls.

At noon, the sun is just right.

In the flower hall at the back of the government office, Cai Hua, without any silken hair, was leaning on the couch. The peach charm on her charming face was still there, and the spring love in her narrow fox eyes was like water.

Chen Chu lay his head on Cai Hua's chest, as if he had found something he loved, and still hugged the latter Liu Man tightly.

The two have been married for many years and know each other's sensitivities very well.

And when they meet again after a long separation, they are like a fish in water.

The clouds had settled and the rain had stopped, and there was silence in the flower hall. The two of them could clearly hear each other's breathing.

With her delicate breasts, Cai Hua felt a little pain from being scratched by Chen Chu's stubble, but she didn't push her away. Instead, she gently rubbed Chen Chu's head as if coaxing a child.

In today's world, touching a man's head is not allowed as it is considered disrespectful.

Especially those in high positions.

However, at this time, there were only two of them in the secret room, so there was no need to take worldly considerations into account.

"puppy."

"Ok?"

Massaging the scalp is a way to quickly relax people. Chen Chu, who had not slept all night, felt a little sleepy and responded with his eyes closed.

"Is there no woman on Hebei Road who can catch your eye? Why don't you find a local woman to serve you?"

Cai Hua probably asked this question because she saw Chen Chu's unshaven appearance, but Chen Chu didn't feel sleepy when talking about this topic.

"Why is Hua'er so generous all of a sudden?" Chen Chu raised his head and asked with a smile.

"When did I stop being generous?" Cai Hua rolled her eyes at Chen Chu charmingly, and then said: "Looking for someone to accompany you to serve you, it's not like I'm asking you to marry someone into the prince's palace, and just give him some money afterwards."

"."

Listen, is this human talk?

Nowadays, the meaning of "serving" is not only the trivial matters of food, clothing, housing and transportation, but also work such as warming the bed and sleeping with someone.

This is to teach Chen Chu that he can find someone to accompany him when he is lonely, but he cannot take the person home and let him throw it away after use!

The extremely pragmatic and utilitarian ideas formed by the little landowner's mother-in-law since she was a child are not so easy to change.

Chen Chu smiled and stopped arguing on this issue. Instead, he asked, "How is the situation at home?"

Speaking of this, Cai Hua became interested and talked about Chen Chu's absence at home.

Speaking of the tiger's head, Yue Xin came in October. She was so scared that she didn't dare to go out for a few days. She thought she was going to die. She also said that she was not as lively as before. She didn't talk to her sisters at home when she had something on her mind. She hid in school after school. Go into your bedroom, read your storybook, and write in your diary

"You have grown into a big girl." Chen Chu sighed with some emotion.

In fact, Chen Chu had already noticed Hu Tou's growth. In the past, whenever he came home, Hu Tou was the most clingy one. Not only did she want Chen Chu to play with her, but she also had to let Chen Chu listen carefully to what she said about the interesting school. anecdote.

But in the past two years, there has been a clear distance between Chen Chu and Hu Tou. The latter no longer wants to hug or hold hands as before.

On the contrary, every time they meet, they will pretend to be little adults and greet them politely.

To Chen Chu and Mao'er, Hu Tou was almost like raising a child.

But raising a child is a process of watching her gradually become independent and drift away. Although it is sad and helpless, it is also common sense in the world.

Later, Cai Hua talked about the children in the family. Three-year-old Yuan Bao was already running around the yard, but Yu Nong still didn't look like a mother.

A few days before Caihua left home, little Yuanbao saw that the pond in the garden was frozen. Out of curiosity, he ran to play on the ice. Yunong not only did not stop him, but instead he and his daughter laughed and chased each other on the ice.

As a result, the ice in Huaibei was not thick enough to support Yunong's weight, and the two of them fell into the ice hole together.

Even though the pond was only waist deep, it frightened the family.

Afterwards, Yunong was scolded by Mao'er and fined half a month's salary.

Speaking of the twins born from Mao'er and the matter of her daughter A Chong, Cai Hua mentioned it in a few words, but when she mentioned Chen Ji, she opened up her chatterbox and started talking nonstop.

Since Chen Ji was born, the time that Cai Hua carried him to Qingpu Garden was even longer than the time Mao'er stayed with him. Chen Chu didn't know what the two sisters said in private.

It is well known in the palace that Cai Hua loves children. She is willing to take care of the young prince, thinking that she can make up for some shortcomings.

Thinking of this, Chen Chu, who was lying on Cai Hua's chest, stretched out his index finger to draw a circle around her firm and smooth navel, and said with a smile: "It's good to have no children. Look at my Hua'er's figure. Even twenty-eight virgins can’t compare.”

"itch!"

Cai Hua smiled sweetly and patted Chen Chu's hand away. She could naturally tell that Chen Chu was comforting her, but after a moment of silence, she said: "Puppy, to be honest, the moment I saw you this morning, My desire for a doll suddenly faded away a lot."

"Why?" Chen Chu was surprised, raised his upper body on his elbows and looked up at Cai Hua.

In this way, the red eyes due to staying up late last night, the slightly raised cheekbones due to a little weight loss, and the stubble that had not been trimmed for many days came into Cai Hua's sight again.

Cai Hua did not answer immediately. Instead, she held Chen Chu's face with both hands and gently brushed his dry lips with her thumbs. She sighed distressedly and then said slowly: "If you have a child, Like Mao'er and Yunong, I will probably focus more on my children. In that case, who will care about my puppy?"

Chen Chu felt his spine go numb and was speechless for a moment.

A woman's love words are like warm wine in the cold winter, making people want to indulge in them

The arrival of Cai Hua gave Chen Chu a moment of relief from his tense heartstrings.

However, the current situation of the enemy has not changed. There are now nine regiments of the Huaibei Army plus one artillery regiment and Wang Yan's only brigade in the north of Hebei Road, with a total of more than 35,000 soldiers.

In order to defend Zhou State, Huaibei's military strength has been exhausted to the limit, and it is no longer possible to send reinforcements to the north.

The message conveyed by the Jin Kingdom's secret line was very clear. This time when the Jin soldiers went south, the Jin Emperor ignored all opinions and did not appoint the prime minister Hailing King as the commander-in-chief. Instead, he insisted on sending the old Wanyan Zongbi.

The Jin army came here with a total of 36,000 people, of which 6,000 were Jurchen elite soldiers.

In addition to the more than 10,000 Korean companies in the North Shore, the number has exceeded 50,000.

Qi's military strength is not superior.

On the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, Chen Chu summoned the generals to discuss matters.

There were minor differences among the generals on how to fight against the Jin army. Wu Kui believed that they should defend by the river.

But Xiang Jing objected: "The boundary river stretches for three hundred miles. When the river is frozen, there is no danger to defend it. Moreover, if our troops are distributed on the south bank of the boundary river, it will appear to be defensive everywhere, but in fact there will be no defense everywhere. As long as our troops are distributed on the south bank of the boundary river. If the Jin army concentrates its superior forces and breaks through at a certain point, our army will instantly be in danger of collapsing across the entire front and being divided and annihilated."

Wu Kui was refuted, but he didn't know how to refute Xiang Jing's opinion, so he looked at his brother and boss Zhou Liang, hoping that the latter would stand up and say a few words for him.

Although Xiang Jing came from the original Huaibei Xiang army system, Zhou Liang also knew that this was not the time to distinguish right from wrong based on the clan. Instead, he agreed with Xiang Jing's point of view and proposed that troops should be concentrated in several counties along the river to defend the city.

In fact, Xiang Jing also meant the same thing, but he didn't dare to say. Holding the city and defending it would mean letting the Jin army enter. As a result, the people on the south bank would suffer.

Just when everyone thought Chen Chu would not agree, Chen Chu suddenly asked Chen Yinglang who was present, "Inspection Chen, how is the tunnel excavation in each village going?"

"I report to the commander-in-chief that all 769 villages in the eight counties along the river have completed grain storage, troop hiding, and transportation tunnels according to the Tongshan style of the year."

Originally, the people on the south bank had no enthusiasm for Lao Shizi's tunnel digging, until the Jin soldiers invaded Cangzhou last month.

In Sanjia Village, where the tunnels were dug according to the instructions, no one in the village was killed or injured. In the village next door that refused to follow the instructions, no one was left alive.

With such a strong contrast, there is no need for Chen Yinglang and others to mobilize

In more than a month, young people from several counties along the river dug tunnels extending in all directions in their respective villages based on the drawings provided by Huaibei.

In order to survive, he worked almost day and night.

In this process, more than a thousand scholars and three thousand people from Huaibei played an important role.

Scholars are responsible for organization, dispatching and overall planning, while civilian husbands are responsible for technical guidance. After receiving Chen Yinglang's affirmative reply, Chen Chu said: "A few young adults, old, weak, women and children will be left in each village and all will be evacuated to the front lines of Liting, Anling and Deping. Commander Jiao will cooperate with you to carry out the work of dissuading people to leave."

There was a slight noise in the meeting hall.

The line of Liting, Anling and Deping is more than 100 miles away from Henan.

Since ancient times, it has been difficult to leave one's homeland. Although the enemy is at hand, it is not easy to persuade hundreds of thousands of people to leave at once.

"If there is any obstacle, Commander Jiao can take action on his own initiative!"

Jiao Tu didn't think too much and immediately accepted the order. But Chen Yinglang could smell the slightest hint of murder in these words.

Maybe hundreds of people will cooperate, but this 'self-defense' is aimed at those who don't cooperate.

Chen Yinglang could understand Chen Chu's intention, which was to turn the south bank of the boundary river into a no-man's land of more than a hundred miles from north to south, and to consume the Jin army in this area.

When the Jin army went out to fight, they had a well-known habit of carrying only a small amount of food and grass to eat at the enemy.

Under such circumstances, the people who still stubbornly stay in the war zone are not only in danger, but also may be invisible to the enemy with their rations.

Chen Chu asked Jiao Tu to cooperate with Chen Yinglang in the execution. It was Jiao Tu's subordinates, most of whom were the old Wuhe Army troops who had not yet been reorganized. These people were not good at fighting, but they were good at intimidating the people.

At the critical moment, there is no time to worry about whether the means are gentle.

"Mr. Cai, go to Anling quickly and arrange the camp to receive the people."

Chen Chu handed the matter over to Cai Kun.

"Qin Dachuan and Meng Xianliang will lead their headquarters to Anling. Tomorrow, General Jiang Huaixiong will arrive with the fifth army of the Beijing Xiang Army. Your two units will temporarily be under the jurisdiction of Jiang Du and jointly defend the Anling front line."

"Follow the order!"

Qin Dachuan and Meng Xianliang took orders at the same time.

But Mao Dan, who served as the deputy of the 14th Regiment of Meng Xianliang, glanced at Bao Xi melancholy. They were both from the personal bodyguards of the King of Chu, and now Bao Xi was a full-time member of the regiment. Mao Dan finally followed the regiment from Huaibei this time. Rushing to help Hebei, hoping to win a fight, unexpectedly they were assigned to the second line of defense more than a hundred miles away.

Mao Dan was a little reluctant, but Baoxi could only spread his hands towards his brothers from a distance to indicate his boss's decision, and he couldn't help.

Chen Chu ignored Mao Dan's slight disappointment and turned to Pan Xiong, who was participating in the Huaibei meeting for the first time: "Pan Tuanlian!"

"My subordinate is here!" Pan Xiong stood up in a hurry.

"Pan Tuanlian, contact the heroes on the north bank immediately. Once the Jin army crosses the river, you will lead the heroes from the prison camp across the river to the Jin Kingdom's Hejian Mansion. Intercept and kill the roving scouts and the sergeants who are delivering orders."

This group of people is of little use in a frontal attack on the battlefield, but they are very good at going deep behind enemy lines to harass small groups of troops and burning supplies and supplies.

"Yes!" Pan Xiong said excitedly, wanting to show his face properly in front of King Chu.

Chen Chu pointed to the big sword leaning against the wall and said, "Mr. He, I will follow you."

The meeting lasted from noon to late at night.

It was already late at night after the detailed garrison locations of each regiment and battalion were explained, as well as their contact information.

Chen Chuhai had just returned to the temporary residence office. In the living room, Cai Hua was drowsy guarding a table of food.

After being awakened by the sound of Chen Chu entering the door, Cai Hua stood up, stretched out, and took out the dishes that were soaked in hot water. She was not a good at serving others, so even these simplest things seemed clumsy. .

"Have you eaten yet?" Chen Chu asked with a smile.

"No, I'll wait for you to come with me."

Cai Hua's trip was originally on an errand to go to Cangzhou to clear her husband's land, but now that everything has been compromised for the war, her errand can only be postponed.

Dizzy by candlelight, the two of them sat at the table, chatting about homely matters while having dinner.

It's not like being on the front line with clouds of war at all. Instead, it feels like the quiet times have passed.

But Chen Chu discovered that among the four side dishes on the table, two were meat and two were vegetarian, but Cai Hua only chose the vegetarian dishes.

"Why don't you eat fish? The water in the north is cold, and the fish produced in the north have a different taste from the ones in Huaibei. Try it."

Chen Chu helped Cai Hua pick up a piece of tender, bone-free fish maw. The latter took a look at it, then put the fish meat back into Chen Chu's bowl with a smile, and said, "Don't worry about me if you don't want to eat meat lately."

Chen Chu glanced at Cai Hua strangely. People say that tastes change drastically during pregnancy, but the two of them had been separated for four or five months and had just met yesterday, so they had nothing to do with it.

Little did he know that in March of this year, Mao'er gave birth. Someone was overly worried and secretly made a great wish to the gods and Buddhas behind the rockery in the palace, "If Mao'er is safe, the faithful woman will reshape her golden body for the Taoist Lord and Buddha, and she will live happily for the rest of her life." white.'

She has fulfilled her wish to 'reshape her golden body'.

But "being a vegetarian for the rest of my life" will take me a lifetime to repay.

In December, the entire Qi State seemed to have turned into a war machine.

On the eighth day of the lunar month, Jiang Huaixiong led the Jingxiang of the Fifth Army to the Anling line, where he joined the 12th and 14th regiments of Huaibei to build the second line of defense south of the boundary river.

On the ninth day of the lunar month, Zhe Yanwen, Jing Peng and other Western Army disciples arrived in Fucheng with three to five hundred sergeants.

Apart from being superficial, this Zhe Yanwen actually gave Chen Chu some surprises. Along with him came a hundred cars of heavy fuel.

Linfu Road has produced oil since ancient times!

Chen Chu realized that he had never remembered such an important piece of information until now.

Throughout the middle of the twelfth lunar month, convoys loaded with supplies kept traveling between Hebei Road, Huaibei and Tokyo.

It was not until late in the evening that the carriages and horses gradually became sparse.

By this time, in the entire narrow strip of more than 100 miles north of Hebei Road, except for a few young and strong people left behind, there were almost no common people.

On the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month, worship the stove.

The last group of non-combatants retreated south to Anling.

Cai Hua was among one of them.

Before leaving, Cai Hua did not have much affection for her children. She only helped Chen Chu tidy up his cloak outside the city gate and said: "My beloved, take care of me. I am in Anling waiting for the news of my beloved's victory."

Then he boarded the carriage happily. Cai Hua knew that he would not be able to help if he continued to stay here, and would also distract Chen Chu.

Ding Jiao, who was riding in the same car as Cai Hua, was shocked to find that Cai Hua shed a few tears after getting in the car and looking at Fucheng that was gradually getting smaller.

Can Miss Cai Sanniang, who kills people without blinking an eye, cry?

We don’t understand, and we don’t dare to ask.

However, when Ding Jiao thought of the stupid guy who was also in Fucheng, she couldn't help but sigh.

On that day, heavy snow fell in the north and south of the boundary river.

That night, Lin Chengfu, the deputy of the artillery regiment, and Huang Jiye, the son of Huang Huihong, the chief manager of the firearms field, led hundreds of people to cut an ice trough half a foot deep and stretching for more than ten miles on the ice of the boundary river.

Then a thick bamboo pipe was buried in the ice tank.

The wind and snow were howling, and the two men could faintly be heard talking about "blasting tubes" and the like.

It snowed for two days in a row. On the 26th of the twelfth lunar month, Pan Xiong contacted Beidi Caomang, and news came one after another that he had seen the Jin Kingdom's vanguard troops.

But at this time, in the north of Hebei Road, on the vast white land, there were no cocks, dogs, or fireworks in the villages within a hundred miles.

It's like a dead place.

There are only a few county towns built along the river, with flags fluttering and forests of swords and guns.

A dead place, a lonely city.

At the end of the first year of Xuanqing, there seemed to be a serious disaster.

(End of this chapter)