At the end of April, the Chu army finally appeared outside Shangqiu City.

In fact, half a month ago, the battle began.

The spies and scouts of the two sides have broken out in hand-to-hand battles outside Shangqiu City for an unknown number of times, and there are many warriors among the Chu people, but they are not dominant.

Many of the spies who came out of Shangqiu were led by ink masters, constantly attacking the single or sparsely numbered Chu army scouts, constantly extending their eyes outward.

Before arriving at Shangqiu Cheng, the king of Chu first sent someone to enter Shangqiu City with letters.

There were two letters, one to Mo Zhai and the other to Song Gongzitian.

In the letter to Zitian, he traced the friendly history of the alliance between the mourning prince and Chu, the joint establishment of the office, and the appointment of the court to Chu.

I also talked about the battle of Huangchi Yongqiu twenty years ago, and the price paid by the Chu people in order to help the Song State Office fight against the Sicheng Emperor clan and the Three Jin Dynasty was greatly accused of the Song people's ingratitude.

Finally, ask why Song Gong did not abide by the original agreement and betrayed the Chu State, which is intolerable to the gods and gods, so he has to come to Xingshi to ask for guilt.

I hope that the Duke of Song can take the people of Shangqiu as his mind, open the city and surrender, and enter the city together as the king of Chu's attendant, so that the Chu army can feast in Shangqiu.

At the same time, the people of Shangqiu were requisitioned to follow the Chu army north to Daliang and build the city defense of Daliang as an atonement for breaking the covenant.

In the letter to Mo Zhai, he said that his demeanor was still the same for more than 30 years, and he also believed in the art of Mo Zhai to defend the city.

But defending the city will inevitably be damaged, and if it is surrendered, the people will not suffer.

After the envoys of the Chu people entered the city and left the city, there was an undercurrent in Shangqiu City, and many people began to move, but the rules of the Mo people guarding the city were extremely strict, and some things were difficult to do.

Outside the city, the Chu army, which had traveled a long distance, after receiving the reply that Song Gong would not surrender, took a battle under the city, and as a deterrent, ordered the warriors to challenge in front of the battle.

The king of Chu followed thirty elite chariots, which is the habit of the Chu people, and these thirty chariots are called Chengguang, which are divided into left and right.

The king of Chu rode on the chariot of Zuoguang, in the twelfth year of Xuangong in the past, Jin and Chu were at war, and the king of Chu violated the rules of the Chu people because of convenience, and started the war on Zuoguang.

When the king sees the right wide, he will multiply it from it. Qu Dangzhi said: "You start with this, and you will end with it." "Since it is Chu Zhicheng, Guang Xianzuo.

This habit has not changed.

Attendants, vassals, royal families, etc., are all nearby, and the scouts have already brought news from inside and outside Shangqiu City.

Some of the spies who had been hiding in Shangqiu City had also passed on the news in the city.

After hearing the news passed on, the king of Chu was secretly frightened, and said to the left and right: "The ink man guards the city, and there is no match in the world." The heroes of more than 30 years ago are better than the past. ”

There is a lot of news in the city, and it is also very unified.

Taking advantage of the ability to count and write, the ink master collected materials, organized households, selected archers, assigned the city wall garrison, and adopted the method of post responsibility system to divide the entire city wall of Shangqiu City into the hands of each hundred-person team.

Toilets were dug under the city wall, and people on and under the city wall shared one, and they were not allowed to go down the city wall without an order, and every fifty paces there were special people to clean the toilets every day to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes and flies.

The women gathered and were assigned a woman to cook every thirty steps.

Men and women are separated, and when walking on the road, men are left and women are right, and they are not allowed to reverse casually.

Every household collects grain, and if it is found if it is not found, it will be severely fined, but all the grain is registered, and after the harvest, the office will compensate for it, and the ink person will guarantee it.

All kinds of machinery and weapons to crack siege tools are also being manufactured in a steady stream, and the ink man released cruel words: the punch machine made by Mozi specializes in all kinds of punching cars, ladders, and high-pro.

The name of the punching machine, the king of Chu has heard that when the public loss class made a cloud ladder, Mozi came to Ying, and he relied on the punch machine to crack the cloud ladder, and the public loss class was helpless, not to mention those disciples.

The city also said that there should be a total control of grain: fighting for food, thirty-six stone at the end of the year; ginseng food, twenty-four stones at the end of the year; Four foods, eighteen stones at the end of the year; Five foods, fourteen stones and four buckets at the end of the year; Six foods, twelve stones at the end of the year. Fight food food five liters, ginseng food ginseng food liter small half, four food food two and a half liters, five food food two liters, six food food one liter and half of the half, the sun and then eclipse. At the time of salvation, twenty days for those who rise on the second day, thirty days for those who rise on the third day, and forty days for those who rise on the fourth day, and the people are exempt from the covenant of ninety days.

All officials above Sima level, their parents, brothers, wives, and children, were to be taken hostage and not allowed to move around freely during the defense of the city.

As early as when the Chu army was 100 miles away from the city, all the officials, petty officers, and relatives of the rich and noble relatives had been gathered and hidden, and outsiders did not know where they were hiding.

The low walls and Feng Yuan on the city lined up the soldiers one by one to guard, and the children of the nobles had to go up to the city wall to be with the soldiers, and they had already killed a few reluctant ones.

The firewood in the city is not allowed to be pressed together, but loosely piled up in some urgent places, so as to avoid fire rescue and convenient access.

Bamboo sticks were placed on the moats outside the city, arrow towers were built on the city gates, and banners were arranged......

One by one, one by one, this opened the eyes of King Chu.

He couldn't figure out what many rules were for a while, but after a few days of hard thinking, they often suddenly became clear, or they were linked to the rest of the orders, so that he could see clearly.

From food, clothing, housing and transportation, to eating, drinking, and Lazar, to people's hearts are sinister, and then to the noble and lowly mentality...... A complete set of order to defend the city can be said to be unchangeable.

King Chu finally understood in his heart that I am afraid that the controversy more than thirty years ago not only relied on Mo Zhai's carpentry skills, but also on these rules of guarding the city.

Sticking to the rules made those old nobles of the Chu State who had experienced court debates more than thirty years ago feel uneasy.

The scout also brought another piece of news that made the king of Chu a little uneasy: the Moshi had destroyed all the wheat fields within thirty miles of the city, and it seemed that he had to go a long way to get grain on the spot.

Zuo Yin met the king of Chu and talked about the problem of food, but the king of Chu only said that he would intimidate the Song people first, so that the Song people would know the prosperity of the Chu army and camp at night.

It is true that there are no wheat fields within thirty miles, but there are still some wheat fields thirty miles away, and you can send people to drive the farmers there to harvest, and send some troops to transport them for storage.

Within a few hundred steps of the city, it had become bare, the wells had been filled, the wheat fields had been burned, and all the firewood that could be used had been burned to ashes, and the view of the city was extremely open.

As for where to camp, the Chu army also had an excellent choice, where stood a tall wooden tower, and below the wooden tower was some red brick walls.

These brick and stone walls are like a camp, with a wide view, and they are just on a small dirt slope, which is suitable as a village for the generals of the Chinese army.

The king of Chu, Chengguang, and the nobles drove to the wooden tower camp and asked the scouts, "What is this?" ”

The scout replied: "The ink is heavy on ghosts and gods, and it is used to sacrifice to meet the enemy. The people were driven out and built for more than ten days. ”

"When the enemy comes from the west, he meets the altar of God at the altar on the west; Nine people aged 90 were selected to preside over the ceremony of sacrificing the white flag; Nine feet tall Western White Gods, nine archers each fire nine arrows; The general's uniform must be white, and sheep must be used as sacrifices. ”

Not only do the ink people have a reputation for heavy ghosts and gods, but the Chu people's habit of re-sacrificing witch blessings is not lower than that of the ink people.

The Chu people are good at witches and obscenities, since it is so, these methods of sacrifice are somewhat similar to the methods of the Chu people, and the king of Chu will ask people to find the teachers or witches who accompany them in the army.

After listening to the means of the Ink Lord's sacrifice, the master said, "The Nine Honors of the Western White Gods, the sacrifice of the Ink Artist is correct. ”

"But we are camped in the south, and we can use the same method to sacrifice the seven red gods in the south, and the generals must wear red clothes and slaughter dogs as sacrifices."

"Then choose the one who is good at archery, and use Artemisia as an arrow, and shoot arrows made of basil wormwood into the four corners of the heavens and the earth, and the soldier with a spear stabs three times in the air with a spear, and then the archers shoot into the air."

"Choose a hundred people, stand on the left side of the altar, and dance the witch dance called 'Ping', and you can crack the sacrifice of the ink man."

Since these witches were able to crack the Ink Lord's Enemy Shrine, the King of Chu also knew that the main thing was to calm people's hearts, so he asked, "Can this altar be used?" ”

The witch said: "This can be used, if you want to suppress the witchcraft of the ink man, you need to establish a higher level than the ink man's enemy temple." After it is established, it can be used as a lookout. ”

"So we need to find a way to raise this altar on rammed earth."

The king of Chu got out of the car, looked left and right at the towering wooden tower, and the camp like a low fortress stacked with a wall of bricks and stones next to it, and couldn't help but admire.

It is said that Qin bricks and Han tiles, in fact, bricks have appeared at this time, but most of them are expensive green bricks that need to be steamed by water vapor to reduce heat, and the ink artist uses more convenient and fast red bricks.

At this time, cement has been used as the adhesive material, so the bonding of masonry structure is a big problem, and the simple white ash clay is used as the adhesive material, which can be regarded as an important problem of masonry structure.

The king of Chu thought of the return of the envoy who came back from Pei County before, looked at this brick wall, and praised: "Those who taste and smell ink are versatile, and this wall is very good." ”

"If I can break through Shangqiu, I am willing to use a thousand gold as a hir, or requisition the Song people's husband, and let the ink man help build Yuguan City."

Zuo Yin pushed the brick wall, which was counted as a sacrificial building, and praised: "That's right. The rammed earth wall is easy to be blistered and scattered, the city of Daliang is near the river, the most avoid water attack, if this brick is the wall, it must be tough. ”

The rammed earth city wall, the most afraid is water attack. Rammed earth is easily loosened by blisters and can easily collapse.

Brick walls are not afraid of flooding, even if they are covered with bricks, they can not be afraid of flooding.

However, due to the backwardness of bonding and brick-making methods, it has not had the opportunity to use it before.

The king of Chu looked up at this tall wooden tower, all of which were built with mortise and tenon structures, which were extremely light and strong, and stable, and the height was just right, so that he could stand on it and look at the situation in the city, or command the three armies as an order.

The wood outside the city has been burned by the Ink Lord, leaving only such a shrine to welcome the enemy, all of which are of fine wood, but the sacrificial altar cannot be destroyed, and the Ink Scholar has a reputation for heavy ghosts and gods, so everyone does not doubt him.

After being called, the best carpenter and the disciple of the public loss class who accompanied the army were called, looked up at the tower, and praised as a carpenter: "I have only ever seen my husband have this skill in my life." It is also said that Mo Zhai's carpentry skills are not weak, and now only Mo Zhai can build such an exquisite wooden tower in person. ”

The king of Chu asked, "You may build?" ”

The craftsman walked around and said, "I can't build it, but if I take it apart, I can put it back together." ”

The witch also said: "Since the altar should be the nine gods of the west of the seven gods of the south, it will be two zhang higher." It can make people dig sand, pile up two zhang rammed earth, and then rebuild the altar by the craftsman, for sacrifice, after the sacrifice, can be on the lookout, pass the order. ”

With only a wooden tower and brick wall, the ink artist showed enough skills to make the king of Chu excited.

Whether it is Yingdu, or Yuguan and Daliang at the border pass, if the ink can help build the city, it can greatly increase the defensive strength of the northern front of the Chu people.

There is still a gap between the city-building technology of Chu and the Central Plains. The rebuilding of the city wall of the Chu capital reached the level of the national capital of the Central Plains, and it would take more than ten years after Wu Qi entered Chu.