On the first day of the fourth month of the sixth year of Jiajing, it was night, the stars were twinkling in the sky, and the insects outside the window were singing enthusiastically, as if announcing the arrival of early summer to the world. In the room, two tall butter candles were burning, shining as bright as day, Xu Jin, the commander of the three armies, was wearing a jade-colored robe, with a square scarf on his head, and was sitting quietly behind the desk to transcribe the recital, and his temperament became more and more gentle and elegant.

Just this afternoon, Wang Lin'er sent people to Pegasus to report the victory, reporting that he had defeated Batai, the first fierce general under the command of Alta, fifty miles north of Xiangshan, and killed more than 20,000 Tartars, but Batai was still on the run, and now the army is pursuing it with all its might.

Although Batai escaped, this battle can still be regarded as a big victory, so Xu Jin is writing a notebook to report the victory to the generals at the moment. Soon, the transcription was completed, and the beautiful block letters of the hand were pleasing to the eye. Xu Jin carefully checked the notebook again, and only after confirming that it was correct did he dry the ink and seal it, and said in a loud voice: "Someone." ”

A personal soldier flashed in from outside the door in response, and saluted respectfully: "What do you command?" ”

Xu Jin handed over the recital to his soldiers and ordered: "Send someone to the capital immediately, there must be no mistake." ”

The soldier made a promise, took the notebook and retreated.

Xu Jin packed up his pen and ink, stretched out in a comfortable mood, then leaned back on the chair, pillowed his hands behind his head, quietly listened to the insects and frogs outside the window, and enjoyed a rare moment of leisure and tranquility.

This time to send troops to the Northern Expedition to Tatar, although there was a crisis of annihilation of the whole army, but on the whole it was smoother than expected, and then as long as Batai was eliminated, the rest of the Alta would be difficult to become a climate, maybe when the autumn was cool, he would be able to return to the dynasty with Xin'er, and return to his home with Xin'er to reunite with Huo'er.

Thinking of Xue Bingxin, Xu Jin's heart couldn't help but feel happy and apologetic. If he could, Xu Jin was 10,000 unwilling to participate in this cruel Northern Expedition, after all, she was her own woman, who would hurt if she didn't hurt herself? But with Xin'er's identity and what she committed, in order to obtain the emperor's pardon, she must participate in this Northern Expedition.

Fortunately, the battle has been fought so far, the overall situation has basically been decided, and Xin'er's performance is also remarkable, just the credit of killing Li Fuda's father and son is enough for her to get away with the crime, not to mention that she also participated in the destruction of Tumut's headquarters, as well as the defeat of Batai, the first fierce general under the command of Ida.

Therefore, Xin'er's merits were enough, and Xu Jin planned to transfer her to her side in a few days, so as not to let her go into danger again.

However, there is a saying: Misfortune and blessing are relied upon, and blessing and misfortune lurk. Crises often occur suddenly when you let your guard down, give you a slap in the face by surprise, and then press you to the ground and rub you hard, making you doubt life.

Just as Xu Dashuai was pondering the triumph of carrying the United States, a series of loud noises in the quiet night woke him up.

Boom-boom-boom!

It was the sound of the roar of the Franc cannon, Xu Jin jumped up from his seat and hurriedly shouted, "Someone." ”

Zhao Datou, the captain of the pro-soldiers, immediately led a team of pro-soldiers to rush in, and Xu Jin asked in a deep voice: "Datou, what happened outside?" ”

Zhao Datou shook his head in confusion and said, "Dashuai, it's not clear what happened now, but the sound of artillery seems to be coming from the southwest." ”

"Southwest?" Xu Jin's sword eyebrows furrowed, and he said decisively: "Go, go to the city!" ”

Xu Jin put on a black cloak, hung the holster of the double-barreled flintlock pistol on his waist, and walked out of the Shuai Mansion surrounded by all the relatives and soldiers.

"Marshal, what's going on with the cannon fire just now?" Xie Qing asked with blazing eyes. In order to avoid bad influence in the army, Xie Qing and Xie Yidao called Xu Jin the marshal like other personal soldiers in public.

Xu Jin said calmly: "It's not clear now, and I will go to the city with this marshal to take a look." ”

So Xie Qing and his son joined the ranks of the relatives and guarded Da Jin to quickly ascend to the head of the south city gate. When the guards at the head of the city saw Xu Jin coming, they hurriedly surrounded him and saluted: "See the big marshal." ”

Tonight, the person in charge of guarding the south gate of the city was Yuan Hong, the commander of the right outpost battalion of the Fifth Army Battalion. Xu Jin nodded at Yuan Hong and asked in a deep voice, "General Yuan, what happened outside the city?" ”

Yuan Hong pointed to the southwest with a solemn face and said: "Commander, please look, it is estimated that General Jing's military camp has been attacked, and the last general has already sent spies to investigate, and the specific situation will not be clear until the spies report." ”

Boom Boom Boom ......

Just as everyone was talking, another dense burst of artillery came from the fire, but the fire was rising to the sky about ten miles southwest of the city, and the sound of shouting and killing, the sound of horses' hooves, and even the clashing of weapons could be clearly heard in this quiet night.

Xu Jin's heart couldn't help but sink slightly, that location was the camp of Jing Dachu, the chief soldier of Xuanfu, it was obvious that Jing Dachu's camp was being attacked at the moment, but since the Xuanfu soldiers had time to open fire, the other party's sneak attack was obviously not very successful.

It is said that after Xu Jin sent Wang Lin'er and Xie Sangun out to carry out the mission, there were less than 40,000 troops left around him, except for the 20,000 Xuanfu soldiers led by Jing Dachu, there were only 18,000 people left in the five military camps.

Now the 18,000 people of the 5th military camp are responsible for defending the city, and the 20,000 Xuanfu soldiers led by Jing Dachu are stationed on the bank of the Luan River about ten miles southwest of the city, echoing the defenders in the city.

Xu Jin and the others stood at the head of the city and waited for about half a stick of incense, and then saw a horse running to the city gate with a torch in the night outside the city, which was the spies who went to investigate and returned.

"Report, General Jing's camp is being attacked by the Tartars, and the opponent's strength should be no less than 30,000." The spies shouted to the city.

As soon as he finished speaking, another spy rode his horse and shouted towards the city: "Report, the camp of General Jing's army is under fierce attack by the Tartars, and the opponent's strength is estimated to be about 50,000. ”

Immediately afterwards, several horsemen came to report, two of which were sent by Jing Dachu, and the reported strength of the enemy was different, and some even reported that the enemy army was 100,000.

All the soldiers of the Ming army at the head of the city had solemn faces, and their eyes looked at Xu Jin, who was as calm as ever, his sword eyebrows were slightly furrowed, and his mind quickly pondered the origin of this Tartar cavalry that suddenly came out.

Obviously, the fact that the spies reported such a large discrepancy in the enemy's forces was not that they lied about the military situation, but that it was difficult to identify it in the dark, but after a comprehensive analysis of the reports of these spies, Xu Jin estimated that the other party's military strength was at least thirty or forty thousand, in short, more than the Xuanfu army, and Jing Dachu was probably unable to resist it.

"Marshal, I received a good news from General Wang this afternoon that Batai is on the run with about 40,000 or 50,000 defeated troops, and it won't be Batai who attacked General Jing's camp at this time, right?" The commander of the left sentry battalion made Huang Qi say in a deep voice.

Xu Jin nodded and said lightly: "This may be very big." ”

Yuan Hong, the commander of the right sentry battalion, said in surprise: "It is said that this person is extremely brave, and he is the first fierce general under my command. ”

Xu Jin was noncommittal, silently raised his head and looked into the distance, at this time the sound of the cannon became more intensive, and the sound of gunfire like bursting beans faintly came. The generals all stood still with bated breath, their hearts uneasy, and the atmosphere was like a tense bowstring.

It is no wonder that the generals are nervous, the troops in the city at this moment are very empty, only 18,000 people, and most of them are infantry, the elite of the army, and more than half of the firearms have been taken away by Wang Lin'er, if the Tatar cavalry that attacked Jing Dachu at night at this time really has 40,000 or 50,000 people, even if the whole city rushes out to support, I am afraid it will be useless.

At this moment, the hearts of all the soldiers were cast a shadow, just like when they learned that Qiu Luan's entire army was annihilated, the military rations were lost, and the back road was cut off by the Tartars.

Xu Jin was silent for a moment, then suddenly glanced back at the city, and said to himself with a strange expression: "Could it be the will of heaven?" ”

Just when the generals and soldiers were confused, they saw Xu Jin's expression and said in a deep voice: "Commander Yuan, immediately send someone to send an order to Jing Dachu, be sure to resist the enemy army for more than an hour, otherwise the military law will deal with it." Commander Huang, this commander ordered you to lead the left sentry battalion and transport all the Buddha machine cannons to Longgang Mountain in the back within half an hour......"

Hearing that Xu Jin assigned the task in an orderly manner, all the soldiers were in good spirits, and their hearts settled down inexplicably. Since experiencing the last Jedi counterattack, all the soldiers have respected Xu Jin as a god, and seeing the boss so calm at this moment is naturally more confident.

"Commander Ma, you are responsible for pouring fire oil on the main buildings in the city, and if the fire oil is not enough, sprinkle gunpowder and hay, anyway, how easy to catch fire is to do it." Xu Jin gave the order with a calm expression.

The soldiers couldn't help but gasp, the commander couldn't help but burn down the entire city, right?

Soon, Xu Jin assigned the task and said lightly: "After an hour, everyone must complete it, otherwise the military law will deal with it." ”

The generals received the order awe-inspiring and went on their own missions.

Ma Yuan was the commander of the Zuoye battalion, and Xu Jin gave him the task of pouring fire oil on the main buildings in the city. Although the scale of the capital is not large, there are many buildings in the city, and the time is tight and the task is heavy, so Commander Ma did not dare to slack off, and immediately summoned his subordinates to assign tasks when he got out of the city, collecting flammable items such as fire oil everywhere.

A thousand households under Ma Yuan couldn't help but whisper: "Commander Ma, is the marshal preparing to set fire to the city?" This is the court of the Tatar Khan, and it would be a pity if it was burned down by fire. ”

Ma Yuan said disapprerovingly: "Back then, the marshal burned Tongzhou City with a fire, and 500,000 stone grains didn't even blink an eye, so what is it to just one yuan." ”

The Qianhu couldn't help but stick out his tongue and said: "That's what I said, I heard that the handsome man burned Tongzhou City and burned tens of thousands of Tartars to death, could it be that this time he wanted to repeat the old trick?" ”

Ma Yuan glared at the goods and scolded: "Don't talk nonsense, do whatever the handsome asks" After speaking, he flew up and kicked over.

This Qianhu was kicked in the ass and hurriedly ran away!