"It's finally here."

With a sigh full of joy from the commander of the defenders in Yanzhou City, thousands of cavalry appeared in the direction of Hanhai and headed straight for Yanzhou City.

The people and horses are turbulent, like a torrent, lifting the yellow sand and rolling, straight to the sky.

Thousands of horses galloped across the wasteland, shaking the earth. When it reached the head of the city, Gao Yong could see some fine sand and gravel trembling on the pheasant moat.

"The western thief is menacing...... Xu Xi and the generals in the city climbed the enemy tower to look at the enemy army outside the city, pointed to the slowly approaching enemy cavalry outside the city, and laughed loudly: "I didn't expect him to come to death to be so anxious." ”

Gao Yongneng only pulled the corners of his mouth, and several generals from Kaifeng Tokyo laughed together.

In his ears, it was the coach's confident words: "The western thieves put on such a position, in other words, ten years ago, the beacon fire could be transmitted all the way to the capital." But today, it is also a group of local chickens and dogs, which can only scare the yellow-mouthed children. ”

The generals from Beijing are as excited as the coach.

"The bachelor is right. The western thieves dared to attack Yanzhou City, but they didn't know that Master Xu was in the city. ”

"With Master Xu here, kill them without leaving a piece of armor!"

Gao Yongneng watched coldly, and he didn't have the slightest intention of echoing and refuting.

The western thief didn't just crash into Yanzhou City. Since yesterday, all the strongholds on the periphery of Yanzhou, with Baichibao and Wuchibao as the main ones, have all fallen, and none of them have survived. Only half of the defenders escaped, and the rest were lost in the formation.

Long before the start of the war, Gao Yongneng had proposed to withdraw the defenders from the outlying strongholds. But Xu Xi disagreed, he was eloquent, lacking the support of the outer strongholds, no matter how strong a city is, it is only a lonely city.

This is indeed the correct argument of the soldiers, but it depends on the specific situation. The number of troops stationed in these strongholds is too small to play a role in the battle situation, and it is enough to leave the rangers outside as eyes and ears.

And although the troops stationed outside are not enough to change the situation of the war, it is a little too much to cut off as a head. Although there are not many troops in each place outside, there are more than a dozen of them combined, and there are a thousand people!

Yesterday, Xu Xi only said one sentence about this, 'This generation will solidify my fortification, unyielding in battle, and after returning to Beijing in triumph, he should ask for merit and posthumous sealing.' ’

Gao Yongneng prefers them to live.

Gao Yong could observe the enemy's army from a distance, except for a few cavalry with less than two hundred, but with flexible movements, rushing towards the city, the other western thieves stopped two miles away. In the place where they stopped, there was a cloud of dust coiling, apparently constantly redeploying troops.

The spaceship hanging above the enemy tower is constantly transmitting the movement of men and horses behind the western thieves. Short pieces of paper slid down the string from the hanging basket and passed in the hands of Xu Xi and the generals at the head of the city.

Gao Yongneng had seen the latest enemy situation, and the western thieves began to divide their forces to block other roads extending from Yanzhou City. He frowned, and then stepped forward to propose to Xu Xi: "Bachelor, the Western Thief has just arrived, and his foothold is not stable, but he divides his troops to block the roads of the rest of the gates, and it is the time to use the troops. He also asked the bachelor to select the elite in the city, go out of the city to rush and kill, and give the western thief a head-on blow. ”

Xu Xi glanced back at Gao Yongneng: "When the dignified teacher is in the array, don't you hear that the king master is not a drum and cannot be ranked." ”

Gao Yongneng looked at the city, and thought to himself that he would simply jump down from here, die cleanly, and suffocate to death after saving the most awkwardness.

He looked at Qu Zhen and asked for help with his eyes. But the veteran who is past his prime, at this time he is as silent as a tree, and he can't see even a trace of expression on his face as rough as the bark.

Qu Zhen was still persuading Xu Xi two days ago not to stay in Yanzhou, as the commander-in-chief, it is enough to sit in the rear, otherwise there will be no one to supervise and rescue.

This is the excuse Qu Zhen made for not wanting Xu Xi to get in the way in front of her. In Qu Zhen's opinion, if he were to lead the army, if there was no Xu Xi who was pulling his back legs, keeping Yanzhou would not be a dream at least.

Qu Zhen, who had been in charge of the Sanya Army in Beijing and served as the commander of the Shenlong Guard, as long as Xu Xi was not there, he could naturally take over the defense of Yanzhou, but unfortunately Xu Xi refused to go back.

Xu Xi has been in the officialdom for many years, and Qu Zhen's idea of gaining front-line command is like a fire. It's just that in his eyes, this is a clear proof that Qu Zhen is trying to compete with him. So Xu Xi in turn chewed the words and mocked, "Veteran Quhou, why is he cowardly? said that Qu Zhen made an excuse, but he seemed to be as timid as a mouse, so why should he be afraid of the thief.

Thinking about it, Qu Zhen didn't lack the heart to hack Xu Xi to death with one sword, Gao Yongneng thought. Xu Xi said stupid things about a dignified teacher, but he regarded himself and Qu Zhen as one faction and deliberately gagged himself.

The generals of the Beijing camp looked at the jokes, they were all human spirits, how could they not know that Xu Xi was deliberately beating Qu Zhen and Gao Yongneng. But in addition to them, there was one person who felt that Xu Xi's conversation was wrong: "Bachelor." Shun Ju served the Son of Heaven, and he had heard the Son of Heaven talk about the use of soldiers to complement each other......"

The envoy of the Son of Heaven, who had just rushed into Yanzhou this morning, was also at the head of the city at this time. Li Shunju used the Son of Heaven as a banner, and Xu Xi couldn't treat him as Qu Zhen.

"Don't worry, if there is no cunning to use and fight head-on, how can the western thieves defeat our officers and soldiers?" Xu Xi looked at the enemy army outside the city from afar, "And the western thieves came from afar, so they must be the most wary of the officers and soldiers, and if they go out of battle at this time, they will definitely return in vain." Gotta wait for them to slack off. ”

It is worthy of the eloquence that persuaded the Son of Heaven and participated in politics!

Gao Yongneng's heart was so angry that it hurt. Did his ancestors change from the surname Ma? Or is there a parenthesis in the name? I really don't know how Emperor Lu Dao and Lu Dashen could have such an unreliable reputation!

The 30,000 soldiers in the city sat back and watched only a third of the enemy army besiege the city, what about this morale?

But Li Shunju seemed to be convinced, nodded, and stood quietly again. Gao Yongneng only muttered in his throat and didn't say anything.

Apart from loyalty, Li Sunju had no other talents. The Son of Heaven sent him to Yanzhou, nominally as a military force, but in fact he should have the task of stopping Xu Xi at a critical time, and have the power to pull Xu Xi's head. It's just that he doesn't have the ability to use this power.

In the eyes of the world, Li Shunju is far inferior to Wang Zhongzheng, who is always good luck under the light of the lucky stars, and is not as good as Li Xian, who is known as the first in the inner service.

It's just that as an internal servant, loyalty is the greatest strength. Compared with other high-ranking eunuchs, Li Shunju will always be closer to the Son of Heaven than others. Others are in a hurry, all of them are a two-day journey, but Li Shunju is a three-day or even forty-percent journey, and it only took nine days to rush to Yanzhou, which shows his loyalty to the king's order. is not capable and courageous, but it makes Xu Xi even more proud.

The attacking party army had already begun to camp five miles away, and Xu Xi was still taking the general to watch the military situation from a distance.

Qu Zhen, who had been silent, turned around and went down to the city at this time, and when Gao Yongneng saw it, he chased after him and shouted behind him, "Tai Wei." ”

Qu Zhen turned around, "How much food do you have over there?" He asked directly.

Gao Yongneng was stunned for a moment, and then replied, "...... It will take twenty days to kill the horse. Where are you, Captain? ”

"Same." Qu Zhen replied very succinctly, not in the mood to say one more word.

After the appearance of the cavalry, the strategic goal of the party's troops to Yanzhou was confirmed, and the city of Yanzhou not only stepped up the transportation of grain and grass, but also began to evacuate the surplus people. But under the harassment of the constantly infested diviners, the grain reserves did not reach the expected amount.

Moreover, in order to speed up the construction of the city, 30,000 or 40,000 people were mobilized to start construction at the same time, and now that they heard that the party members were coming, they hurriedly sent them all back. But in the last period of time, in order to make them hurry up and rush to work, the rice is all open to the people, how much food can be left?

The twenty days that Gao Yongneng mentioned included a part of the grain stored by the 5,000 soldiers and horses under his command that he had privately left at the beginning, plus the grain reserves assigned to him by Yanzhou City, and combined with the war horses and other livestock as supplements, the time calculated at the end was 20 days.

Twenty days is not a short time for a campaign.

The city has been attacking and defending for a year and a half, but it is by no means in the northwest. The party members can't afford to fight and consume, and they can't attack it in three or five days, so they can usually turn around and leave. And the Song army wanted to attack the city, and there were many means, and the party members basically couldn't prevent it.

But here in Yanzhou, Qu Zhen and Gao Yongneng both know the way, and it is likely that there will be a special case. It is a matter of whether the gains or losses of the land of Yinxia are related to the gains and losses, and the party members will grit their teeth and fight down. If you can drag on more time than the party members, you can get through it. But since they came with great momentum, they must be prepared.

Gao Yongneng sighed: "How can this battle be fought?" Huanqing Road and Jingyuan Road can't be counted on, do you have to wait for the kind of cat to come to the rescue? ”

"I want to plant five too!"

Gao Yongneng nodded: "Before sending troops, the Western Thieves will not ignore the issue of reinforcements. I'm afraid they have plenty of certainty. ”

Qu Zhen's eyes were full of indifference, and his voice was even colder: "The amount of food in Yanzhou City, most of the western thieves have already calculated clearly. ”

"Two days ago, Mr. Xu also said that Wu Qi led the army, and he ate and lived as one. If you can eat and live with the soldiers, you can be a general! From that day on, Xu Xi only ate two cookcakes every day, one in the morning, and the remaining one in his arms for the evening. Driven by Xu Xi, all the generals are two cookcake pads. Gao Yongneng touched his stomach: "If I were a soldier, I would like a coach who eats delicacies from the mountains and seas every day, but can also let the soldiers and generals below eat together!" ”

Paper. I only know one thing about the art of war, but I don't know the other. The light will make a show. Qu Zhen didn't bother to say these criticisms, turned around and walked down the city.

Gao Yongneng asked in the back: "Do you want to go back to rest for the group practice?" ”

Qu Zhen didn't reply: "Didn't Master Xu say that he wanted to be a dignified soldier and come to the battle?" The old man went to prepare for the dignified soldiers he said. ”

After a few steps down the city, I got on the horse and went in the direction of the barracks where the headquarters was located, and in a blink of an eye I went far away.

Gao Yongneng looked back at the enemy tower, and then looked at Qu Zhen's back, sighed the most, touched his rumbling belly, and turned around and walked towards the enemy tower.