You rascal, stop right there!

Chapter 246: Just One Word to Believe in You is Enough

Day two.

noon.

The sky was bright and the rain had indeed become lighter, but it was still drizzling.

Bai Wan only took a short nap in the carriage before getting up and running around with Ling Shumo all night until dawn.

They led the soldiers and civilians to dig trenches and build a solid barrier.

They even built a barrier with adobe bricks based on the new city defense map, firmly guarding the key areas outside the city.

Bai Wan rudely demolished the houses with a hammer, and also asked all the ruffians and refugees in the city to help demolish the houses and get the wood.

He was obviously physically exhausted and not good at this kind of physical work, but he seemed to be enjoying the process of dismantling things, and his spirits gradually improved as he continued to dismantle them.

If Ling Shumo really couldn't bear to see him working in the rain and let him rest, Bai Wan would have painted a long scroll of embroidery based on his experience of demolishing the house.

Afterwards, everyone used a pile of large and small pieces of wood to repair the old threshing machine.

Until the last order was given, human voices were heard in the distance.

"The Xuanli Army is besieging the city!"

The voice arrives before the person arrives.

The sound of horse hooves came from afar, and a brown horse came galloping towards us in the wind.

The soldiers knelt and the horses neighed in the air.

"Reporting to the military and state affairs master, the Xuanli army brought hostages and besieged Dingzhou City, demanding a letter of surrender. The hostages are... are..."

The news exploded in the rain like a huge flame.

This means that A Yan and his companions failed to save Ling Han, his wife and children, and they are still held hostage.

Ling Shumo started coughing violently and raised his head to stare at the man under his horse.

"Go to the tower!"

With this movement, he threw away his oil-paper umbrella and walked forward, rarely losing his composure and rushing into the rain curtain.

He kept reminding himself in his heart: Don't be reckless, try to have both, don't...

Bai Wan called out, "No matter what the result is, you can blame the heavens, the earth, or the little toad at the city gate, but you can never blame yourself for everything."

"Hmm?" Ling Shumo stared fixedly.

"I mean you've tried your best!" Bai Wan patted his shoulder as usual, "I believe in you, and I believe in everyone."

Ling Shumo could only say "I believe you" and almost wanted to cry.

The two of them walked into the rain curtain hand in hand, surrounded by white rain and fog, with wind and rain.

It's raining.

Several people stood on the eaves of tall buildings, the city walls were towering, and tens of thousands of people stood under the walls facing the wind.

General Murong Zheng of the Xuanli Army rode a tall horse, stood at the foot of the city in a straw raincoat and a bamboo hat, and looked up.

Bai Wan and Ling Shumo saw clearly that the Xuanli army was charging directly in the rain, with countless soldiers holding weapons and wearing straw raincoats and helmets, working tirelessly.

"Lord Ling, what should we do?" asked the soldiers around.

"The only thing we can do now is to defend the city first!" Ling Shumo's mouth twitched.

"This is too big of a disparity." Liu En, the registrar, asked in a low voice while hesitating.

Ling Shumo held Bai Wan's hand tightly and said lightly: "Reinforcements will come naturally."

Everyone sent people and troops in half-belief and half-doubt, with implicit expectations.

"Could it be General Song Yuanshan's reinforcements? How many people? Are there hundreds of thousands of soldiers?"

Bai Wan beside him said awkwardly: "Only a few thousand people... at most a few dozen more!"

"what?"

"what!"

"what--"

Everyone couldn't help but stare at the two men in amazement.

Xuanli's army saw that there were at least a hundred thousand soldiers besieging the city, plus two trusted hostages, but the number of soldiers left behind in Dingzhou City was only about ten thousand at most.

That’s right!

One was just a painter, and the other was just a civil servant.

These two people guarding the city only aggravated the predicament in the city. It seemed that all the previous successes were just luck.

Now, the two armies are facing each other and it is raining heavily.

Even if one side does not come out, the other side can still wear the other side out by defending.

Seeing no response for a long time, Murong Zheng began to insult:

"Ling Shumo, I didn't expect you to be such a heartless and ungrateful person who doesn't even care about your only relative."

"Even if you can defend Dingzhou City, so what? The history books will still write that you are a traitor who rebelled against the Great Ying and rebelled against the Great Ying, who disregarded your relatives, was cold-blooded and cruel, and was worse than pigs and dogs!"

……

Cruel! The scolding became more and more fierce!

But not dirty enough.

Bai Wan felt that although this man was good at challenging a enemy, his threats were far less dirty than those in a street fight. It was simply disgraceful.

"This person really doesn't know how to curse. He's not even as good as me. This won't irritate him at all. Right?"

He quietly poked the person next to him with his arm.

What can this compare to?

Ling Shumo glanced sideways, with a hint of helplessness in his eyes.

At this time, Bai Wancai was embarrassed and soft-spoken, and immediately launched a stern attack:

"This old turtle bastard, the mother of all insects, trampled on unknown cubs with thousands of heads and faces. How dare she scold my Zichen? I'll tear his mouth apart and cut it into tofu strips to catch the worst fish. They're all too smelly and won't bite the bait!"

The people around him wiped their sweat at the same time: Fortunately, it wasn't this person who challenged him...

What painting saint?!

Sometimes this is no different from being a gangster.

Hearing this, Ling Shumo seemed to have no temper and was not surprised at all.

It's jaw-dropping.

The insults from below the city wall continued.

Murong Zheng failed to obtain the letter of surrender and tried to provoke Ling Shumo into fighting, but failed.

He ordered the ladders to continue attacking the city, and one pushed the soil forward, but was hit by a pounding stone cart modified by Ling Shumo, Bai Wan and others and hit with huge stones.

Not only that, there were people who were good at chiseling mountains and breaking walls, and they broke the river embankment from somewhere and let the water flow directly into the army.

What is strange is that at some point, ditches were built around the tower to form barriers and drain water to prevent flooding.

Suddenly, Xuanli's army suffered heavy casualties and was forced to retreat.

Seeing that the confrontation seemed to be losing, Murong Zheng suddenly raised his hand and moved firmly.

Suddenly, the people around him understood.

Soon, a horse was led out.

There was a couple sitting on the horse.

The woman was obviously pregnant with a big belly. She looked pale from the rain and almost exhausted.

The man behind her tried his best to hug her from behind and wrapped her completely with his clothes. He himself was wearing thin and tattered clothes, but he still wrapped his only long scarf around the woman in front of him.

The two were tied up tightly with ropes, and a big knife was held across their necks as they leaned against each other, making them unable to move.

There seemed to be a bloody scratch on Ling Han's chin.

"Hand over the letter of surrender and I will not kill these two. Oh, no... three people." Murong Zheng's voice was as loud as a bell.

Ling Shumo looked at the people below, his body trembling a little, and he was about to fall.

He said nothing, just glared at me.

Murong Zheng clasped his fists and saluted again: "As long as you are willing to hand over the letter of surrender and give up Dingzhou City, your brother and sister-in-law will be safe. Do you surrender?"

"It's obvious that it's impossible. There are only three of us and a city of 300,000 people. Even if it's a deal, it's not cost-effective. Even if my eldest brother really agrees, he can change his mind at the last minute, not to mention..."

Ling Han, who was being held hostage with a big knife, responded in a very nagging and long-winded manner.

Murong Zheng glanced at him and gestured helplessly.

The man with the knife instantly cut open the man's clothes and tore off a piece of rag to cover his mouth.

Ling Han suddenly sobbed and was unable to make a sound. He struggled in the rain for a while, then leaned directly on his wife and wrapped her up to shelter her from the rain.

The people on the city wall looked at this scene, feeling helpless and not knowing what to do.

Bai Wan took a deep breath and said, "How dare you let a pregnant woman get caught in the rain? Brother Zihuan's body is so weak that he can't stand this."

Although he sounded so worried, he was actually very pale and weak from worrying all night.