On the occasion of rebirth Zhou Sui

Chapter 530 It’s hard to leave your loving mother behind

Tianshui City has been besieged by Tuyuhun for more than a month. Tuyuhun Khan Murong Fuyun has been unable to attack for a long time. He has consumed a lot of money and is losing face. He has completely fought with Tianshui City.

Murong Fuyun's persistence also troubled Qiu He, the prefect of Tianshui County.

Qiu He's surname is Qiu Dun, and he is from Luoyang, Henan.

His father, Qiu Shou, was a Sinicized Xianbei aristocrat who followed Emperor Xiaowu Yuanxiu of the Northern Wei Dynasty to escape from Gao Huan's control and came to Guanxi.

Qiu He Chongyi was a knight, skilled in bow and horse. He first served in the Northern Zhou Dynasty and served as the third division of Yitong in Kaifu.

After Yang Jian established the Sui Dynasty, Qiu He moved to the right to serve as General of the Military Guard, and was granted the title of Duke of Pingcheng County. He also served as local governor, and successively governed Zizhou, Liangzhou, and Puzhou. His administration was lenient and benevolent, which won the hearts of the local people.

However, during the governance of Puzhou, Yang Liang's rebellion coincided with the rebellion. Hedong soldiers sneaked into the city dressed as women and attacked Puban. Qiu He abandoned the city and fled.

When he returned to Daxing, he was dismissed from his post by Yang Guang. It was not until he reported that his friend Zhou Ai of Wuling County for many years was criticizing the government that he was re-appointed by Yang Guang. Now he is appointed as the prefect of Tianshui. He never thought that he would encounter this kind of thing again.

At first, Qiu He wanted to run away, but the Western Sui Dynasty could not go back. There was a precedent of losing Puzhou. Now if Tianshui was lost again, Yang Guang would definitely not bypass him with his big heart.

The world is so vast that Qiu He also wanted to go to the Eastern Sui Dynasty to see it again. Besides, his chief minister, Gao Shilian, had an old relationship with Cui Che, so he could pass him and worship under Cui Che's sect.

However, Gao Shilian urged Qiu He to defend the city. He believed that Yang Guang would not let Qiu He go if he abandoned the city and fled, but Cui Che would not tolerate Qiu He if he threw the people of Tianshui to the Tuyuhun people and let them kill them.

By that time, the world will be so big that there will be no place for you, and you will have to bear a bad reputation and be cursed for all eternity.

This made Qiu He strengthen his determination to defend the city.

Fortunately, the siege of Tuyuhun lasted so long that the soldiers were exhausted and the siege became more and more perfunctory, which greatly eased the pressure on Qiu He to defend the city.

However, the food and grass in the city are about to run out and it is difficult to maintain. Now the soldiers guarding the city can only eat rice porridge for two meals a day.

The women and children in the city are hanging on to their lives by eating gruel, and they cannot stand up even if they insert chopsticks into them.

At noon, another less violent attack by Tuyuhun was repelled. Qiu, who was full of food, said to Gao Shilian, who was also hungry:

"Shi Lian, today, the city has no food and grass. The King of Yan is fighting with Duke Xu (Yu Wenshu) and Duke of Qi (Gao Qiu) in Guanzhong to fight for Guanzhong. I'm afraid there will be no reinforcements.

"As long as we have persisted until now, we can be considered worthy of the court and the people of Tianshui. It's time to think about ourselves."

Gao Shilian was silent for a long time, then he asked:

"What does Mr. Qiu want?"

Qiu He told everything about his plan:

"Tonight you and I take advantage of the darkness to break out. If we can escape the pursuit of the Tuyuhun people and save our lives, we can make another decision whether we defect to King Yan or go to the south of the Yangtze River."

Gao Shilian didn't think about it for too long. He simply rejected Qiu He's suggestion:

"Gao Mou still has his old mother in the hall, and he can't bear to abandon her. Qiu Gong can leave on his own tonight. Gao Mou will guard the city for Qiu Gong."

Qiu He looked at Gao Shilian's firm face and sighed:

"Forget it, I'll leave tonight. If Shi Lian ever changes his mind, just come and find me."

With that said, they were looking for a place to rest. The Tuyuhun people had just repelled a wave of attacks and would not launch the next wave of attacks for the time being.

"Mr. Qiu, please stay!"

Gao Shilian behind him suddenly called out to Qiu He.

Qiu He thought it was Gao Shilian who had changed his mind:

"Shi Lian, would you like to go with me!"

Gao Shilian shook his head and said:

"If Duke Qiu votes for King Yan, please tell my sister that I am incompetent and cannot protect my mother."

Qiu He sighed and said:

"You have done your best, how can she have the heart to blame you?"

Gao Shilian was once invited by Cui Che to serve in his shogunate, and later he was sent to other places to serve as county magistrate.

However, Gao Shilian knew that Cui Che was very ambitious and was afraid of being harmed by him in the future. He also believed that he was from the Northern Qi clan, which was simply adding insult to injury. So after leaving Cui Che's shogunate, he abandoned his post and lived in seclusion in Zhongnan Mountain.

Sure enough, after Yang Jian's death, Cui Che no longer concealed his ambitions and joined forces with Yang Liang to join forces. Gao Shilian also escaped the disaster by returning to seclusion early under the protection of his sister-in-law, Sun Sheng.

However, as Changsun Sheng was defeated in Suizhou, his sister, nephew, and niece were all captured by Cui Che. Gao Shilian had already foresighted that Cui Che would not let his sister go, so he accepted Qiu He's invitation and came to Tianshui to do the work.

His long history of seeking asylum.

Gao Shilian was extremely filial by nature, so he naturally brought his elderly mother to Longyou.

He clearly understood the situation. Once Cui Che captured Guanzhong, Longyou could easily take over and they would be able to avoid military disaster.

Unexpectedly, before Cui Che came, this Tuyuhun man rushed over first.

Now the Tuyuhun people have returned to live and cook, but there is a shortage of food in the city. They only have two meals a day, so naturally there is no such thing as lunch.

But Gao Shilian still carried half a bowl of cold thick porridge back to his house.

He only drank half a bowl in the morning, and he deliberately left half a bowl for his mother, so he was very hungry.

"Ajian is back."

Gao Mu saw Gao Shilian and said with joy.

Gao Shilian's real name is Gao Jian, and his courtesy name is Shilian.

Every time her son went out to defend the city, Gao's mother would always be worried, fearing that her son would never come back after leaving.

Now that he has seen his son return safely again, how can the old man not be happy?

Gao Shilian had already straightened up his expression before entering the house. He would never bring fatigue back to his family.

"Mom, my son is back. The Tuyuhun people are attacking the city more and more perfunctorily today. I'm afraid they don't want to fight."

With that said, he handed the porridge bowl to his mother.

Gao's mother did not refuse. She knew that her son was a filial person. She took a sip and stopped moving. She planned to wait until her son left before feeding her grandson Gao Jingxing.

Gao Shilian chatted with Gao Mu for a while, and then left with his wife Xianyu who had been serving his mother-in-law in the room.

When the couple returned to the wing, Gao Shilian did not hide anything from Xianyu and warned:

"Qiu Gong will break out of the siege tonight and invite me to accompany him, but I am determined to die defending the city.

"When the city is destroyed in the future, if Madam has a chance to survive, please endure the humiliation and take care of my mother, and prevent her from hearing the news of my death and falsely claiming that I have taken advantage of the chaos to escape."

When Xian Yu heard this, she burst into tears and said:

"I am not even afraid of death, so what humiliation can I not endure?

"It's just that Xi Jinping was still young and he shouldn't have died like this. Could you please ask Duke Qiu to take Xi Jinping out of the city and send him to my sister-in-law?

"My sister-in-law is favored by King Yan, so she will be able to protect her nephew."

Gao Shilian shook his head and sighed:

"Breaking through the encirclement at the risk of death is a narrow escape, so how can we let the performance drag down Mr. Qiu?

"Everyone has his or her own destiny. If fulfilling one's destiny leads to such calamity, one cannot blame others."

(End of chapter)