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

In fact, the battle had already begun half a month ago.

The spies and scouts of both sides had countless short-term battles outside Shangqiu City. There were also many warriors among the Chu people, but they were not superior.

Many spies from Shangqiu were led by Mozhe, constantly attacking the individual or small numbers of Chu soldiers, constantly extending their eyeliners.

Before arriving in Shangqiucheng, the King of Chu sent people to enter Shangqiu City with letters.

There are two letters in total, one to Mo Di and the other to Mr. Song.

The letter to Zitian traces the friendship history of Duke Dao's alliance with Chu, jointly establishing an office, and hiring him to Chu.

Twenty years ago, the Chu people paid the price to help the Song Dynasty's Duke fight against the Sichenghuang clan and the Three Jins, and the Song people were ungrateful accusations.

Finally, I asked Mr. Song why he did not abide by the original agreement and betrayed the State of Chu. This is something that even the gods and gods cannot tolerate, so he wanted to come and ask for guilt.

I hope that Duke Song can open the city and surrender to the people of Shangqiu to join the city together with the King of Chu, so that the Chu army can enjoy the food in Shangqiu.

At the same time, the people of Shangqiu were recruited to follow the Chu army to the north to Daliang and build the city defense of Daliang as a plea for betraying the alliance.

In the letter to Mo Di, it said that the style remains the same for more than 30 years, and he also believes in the art of Mo's guarding the city.

But defending the city will inevitably cause damage. It is better to surrender and make the people less suffering.

After the Chu envoys entered the city and left the city, undercurrents surged in Shangqiu City, and many people began to move, but the Mo's rules for defending the city were extremely strict, and some things were difficult to do.

Outside the city, after receiving the long-distance answer from Song Gong, the Chu army formed a formation under the city as a deterrent and ordered the warriors to challenge in front of the formation.

The King of Chu followed thirty elite chariots, which was the habit of the Chu people. These thirty chariots were called Chengguang, divided into Left Guang and Right Guang.

The King of Chu was riding on Zuo Guang's chariot. In the 12th year of Duke Xuan, Jin and Chu fought. Because of convenience, the King of Chu violated the rules of the Chu people's always You Guang, and rode on Zuo Guang to start the war.

When the king saw the right Guang, he was about to follow him. Qu Danghuo said, "You must start with this, and you must also end with it." Since then, Chu's Cheng Guang first left.

This habit has never changed.

The closest servants, vassals, royal families, etc. were all nearby, and the scouts had already brought news about the inner and outer city of Shangqiu City.

Some spies who had previously hidden in Shangqiu City have also conveyed the news from the city.

After hearing the news conveyed, the King of Chu was secretly shocked and said to his left and right: "Mo guards the city, and the world is unparalleled. The heroes who were more than thirty years ago are now even better than the past."

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

The Mozhe took advantage of his ability to count and write, solicited materials, compiled households and people, selected archers, allocated city walls, and adopted a post-responsibility system to divide the entire city walls of Shangqiu City into the hands of each 100-person team.

The toilet was dug under the city wall. On the city wall, the people under the city wall shared one. There was no order to go down the city wall. Every fifty steps, specialists cleaned the toilet every day to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes and flies.

Women gathered together and assigned a woman to cook every thirty steps.

Men and women are separated. When walking on the road, men and women are left and right must not be reversed casually.

Each household collects grain. If it is found without it, it will be severely fined, but all the grain is registered and will be compensated by the office after harvest, and the Imperials will guarantee it.

Various machinery and weapons to crack siege tools are also being manufactured continuously, and the Mozhe made harsh words: Mozi's blasters are specialized in combating various blasters, ladders, and high-rise.

The King of Chu heard about the name of the Crusher. When the Gongshu clan built a ladder, Mozi came to Ying and cracked the ladder by relying on the Crusher. The Gongshu clan was helpless, let alone those disciples.

It is also said that a comprehensive grain control is implemented: Fighting food is thirty-six stones throughout the year; ginseng food is 24 stones throughout the year; four food is 18 stones throughout the year; five food is 14 stones throughout the year; four food is 4 stones throughout the year; six food is 12 stones throughout the year. Fighting food is 5 liters, ginseng food is 2 liters, 5 liters of food is 2 liters, 6 liters of food is 1 liters, 6 liters of food is 1 liters, and 6 liters of food is 1 liters, and 1 liters of food is 1 liters, and 1 liters of food is 1 liters, and 1 liters of food is 1 liters, and 1 liters of food is 1 liters, and 1 liters of food is 1 liters, and 1 liters of food is 10 days, and 1 liters of food is 10 days, and 1 liters of food is 40 days. In this way, the people are exempted from the ninety-day agreement.

All officials in Sima or above positions, their parents, brothers, wives and children must be taken as hostages and must not walk around at will during the city guarding.

As early as when the Chu army was a hundred miles away from the city, all the officials, small officers, rich people, noble relatives had gathered together to hide them, and outsiders did not know where to hide them.

On the low walls on the city, Feng Yuan arranged soldiers to guard them one by one. The nobles had to go up to the city wall and stayed 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 is loosely piled up in some urgent places to avoid ineffective fire rescue and is also convenient to use.

Bamboo sticks were installed in the moat outside the city, arrow towers were built on the city gates, and flags and orders were arranged...

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

He couldn't figure out what many rules were for at the moment, but after thinking hard for a few days, he often suddenly realized, or was associated with other commands to see clearly.

From food, clothing, housing and transportation, to food, drinking, defecation, and then to the sinister hearts of people, to the mentality of nobility and humbleness... the whole set of orders to guard the city can be said to be unchanged.

The King of Chu finally understood in his heart that the debate more than 30 years ago was not only the reliance on Mozi's woodworking skills, but also more of these rules to defend the city.

The conservative rules made the old nobles of Chu who had experienced court debates more than 30 years ago still scared.

The scout also brought another piece of news that made the King of Chu a little uneasy: The Mozhe destroyed all the wheat fields within thirty miles outside the city. He originally wanted to collect grain on the spot, but it seemed that he was going to go around a long way.

When Zuo Yin met the King of Chu, he talked about the issue of food. The King of Chu only said that he would threaten the Song people first, so that the Song people knew that the Chu army was so powerful that they set up camp at night.

There are indeed no wheat fields within thirty miles, but there are still some wheat fields within thirty miles. People can be sent to drive the farmers there to harvest and then send some troops to transport them to store.

Within hundreds of steps outside the city, it had become bare. Wells were filled with landfills, wheat fields were burned, and all the firewood that could be used was burned to ashes. The view on the city was extremely wide.

As for where to camp, the Chu army also had an excellent choice, where a tall wooden tower stands, and under the wooden tower are some walls made of red bricks.

These brick and stone walls are like a camp with a wide view and are just on a small slope, which is suitable for being a camp for the generals of the Central Army.

The King of Chu and Chengguang and the nobles drove to the Muta Camp and asked the scouts, "What is this?"

The scout replied: "Mo values ​​ghosts and gods, and uses them to worship and welcome the enemy. He drives away the people and builds them for more than ten days. It will be completed."

"The enemy came from the west and welcomed the altar in the west; selected nine ninety-year-olds to preside over the ceremony of offering sacrifices to the white flag; nine nine-foot-high Western white gods, and nine archers each fired nine arrows; the general's military uniform must be white, and sheep should be used as sacrifices."

Not only did the Mo people have a reputation for valuing ghosts and gods, but the Chu people's habit of valuing witches and pursuing witches is no less than that of the Mo people.

The Chu people liked witches and worshipped erotic sacrifices, and this was the case. These methods of sacrifice were somewhat similar to those of the Chu people. The King of Chu asked people to find the teachers or witches who accompanied the army.

After hearing the methods of sacrificing the Mohist, the instructor said, "The 9 Western White Gods, the sacrificing the Mohist is correct."

"But we can camp in the south, and we can use the same method to worship the seven red gods in the south. We must wear red clothes and slaughter dogs as sacrifices."

"Select the one who is good at shooting, use artemisia as an arrow, and fire arrows made of basil into the world in all directions. The soldiers holding the spear stabbed the air with their spears three times, and then the archers fired into the air."

"Select a hundred people, stand on the left side of the altar, and dance a witch dance called "Yi", and you can break the sacrifice of the Mozhe."

Since these witches were able to crack the Mozhe's Yingnie Temple, the King of Chu knew that it was mainly to stabilize the 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 Mozhe, you need to be higher than the Mozhe Yingnie Temple. After it is established, it can be used as a lookout."

"So someone needs to find a way to raise the altar on the rammed earth."

The King of Chu got off the car and looked at the towering wooden tower left and right, as well as the camp like a small fortress piled up with bricks and stones next to it, and couldn't help but exclaim.

It is said that Qin bricks and Han tiles have actually appeared at this time, but most of them are expensive blue bricks that require steam to be cooked and heat-reducing, while ink users use red bricks that are more convenient and fast.

At this time, clay was always used as the bonding material, so the bonding of masonry structures is a big problem. Simple white ash clay is used as the bonding material, which is considered to solve the important problems of masonry structures.

When the King of Chu thought of the messenger who had returned from Pei County before, he looked at the brick wall and praised: "I have heard that those who are ink are of great talent, and this wall is very well built."

"If I can break through Shangqiu, I would like to use a thousand gold coins as a hiring, or to requisition the Song people's husband, and let the Mozhe help build the Yuguan City."

Zuo Yin pushed the brick wall that was considered a sacrificial building and praised: "That's true. The rammed earth wall is easily soaked and dispersed by water. Daliang City is facing the river. The most taboo is to attack water. If this brick is used as a wall, it will inevitably be tough."

The most feared thing about rammed earth city walls is water attack. Rammed earth can easily be loosened by water and collapse easily.

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

However, due to the backward bonding and brick making methods, there has been no chance to use them.

The King of Chu looked up and looked at the tall wooden tower. It was all built with a mortise and tenon structure. It was extremely light and sturdy, and stable, and the height was just right. It could stand on it and look at the situation in the city, or use it as a commander to command the three armies.

The wood outside the city had been burned by the Mozhe, leaving only such a temple to welcome the enemy, which was all of them good wood, but the altar for sacrifice could not be destroyed, and the Mozhe had a reputation as a valiant god, so everyone did not doubt that he was.

The best carpenter in the army, after the disciples of the Gongshu squad were called, looked up at the tower and praised it as a carpenter: "I have only seen Mr. He have such skills in his life. He also said that Mo Di is not weak in carpenters. Now only Mo Di can build such exquisite wooden towers in person."

The King of Chu asked, "May you build it?"

The craftsman walked around and said, "Although I can't build it, if I disassemble it, I can reorganize it."

The witch also said: "Since the altar is to use the seven gods in the south to destroy the nine gods in the west, it will be two feet taller. People can dig sand and soil, pile up two feet of rammed earth, and then craftsmen rebuilt the altar for sacrifice. After the sacrifice, you can look up and send orders."

With only one wooden tower and brick wall, the Ink Master showed enough skills to make the King of Chu heart-wrenching.

Whether it is Yingdu, Yuguan or Daliang on the border, if the Mozhe can help build a city, it can greatly increase the defensive power of the Chu people's northern line.
Chapter completed!