The envoy of the Tuoba tribe was furious and walked away.

Li Hong sat next to the desk and smiled silently.

Liu Tao walked around the house nervously, and kept saying, "It's amazing, it's amazing, Tuoba Feng is coming." ”

Li Hong looked at Liu Tao's frightened look, he couldn't help it, and said with a smile: "My lord, what do you think of this?" You take all the people in the government and the defenders of Macheng and rush to Takayanagi immediately. When he saw Lord Taishou, he told him about the current situation in Macheng and asked him for food. Once the food is ready, let the garrison of Macheng send it over. I led my army to resist Tuoba Feng here and atonement my merits. ”

Liu Tao raised his eyebrows, his expression was very excited, and he hurriedly said, "Then it's hard work for Lord Sima." ”

Li Hong watched Liu Tao and others leave outside the city. Seeing their figures gradually disappear from view, Li Hong laughed softly.

"Leizi, inform Beard to take all the captives and enter the city immediately."

Lei Zi agreed, beat the horse and left.

"Shouyan, where is the Tuoba man?" Li Hong asked Zheng Xindao.

"In the inn."

"Bring him to me at once."

The night in Machia is exceptionally quiet.

The fire in the Burial Moon Forest in the south of the city was still burning, and the flames rose into the air from time to time, and the flames reflected the entire half of the sky. The scorching heat of the air over the city caused the temperature in the city to rise significantly, as if it had entered summer early, and it was unbearably hot.

"It would be nice if it rained. Preferably like the heavy rain we encountered at the Sangqian River. Li Hong stood on the city wall, looked at the fire in the distance, and said very anxiously.

"Do you remember the fire on Mount Luronseme?" Zheng Xin said with a smile, "Compared to this fire, it's much smaller." ”

"The Burial Moon Forest is more than ten miles in radius, the trees are large and the forest is dense, and the momentum of burning is of course greater than that of Meishan. Fortunately, the wind has not been strong these days, otherwise the fire would have been even more alarming. It is impossible to burn such a large forest in order to confuse the enemy. It would be nice to rain right away. ”

Zheng Xin looked at the sky, shook his head and said, "I'm afraid it's difficult to do what the adults want." ”

Jade hurriedly walked over.

"Tuobafeng's envoy has brought news."

"What did Tuoba Feng say?" Li Hong asked with concern.

"The cattle, sheep and horse grass are on the road and will be delivered tomorrow night."

"When did his large army cross the border?"

"I'll be there in four days."

Li Hong took a long breath and said with a relieved smile: "Secretly cooperating with the enemy is like being a thief, and you are afraid that others will find out." Now that the big thing has been decided, it depends on Tuoba Feng's ability. ”

Knowing that the treachery of the Great Han Kingdom and the captives of the Tuoba tribe were burned to death in the Burial Moon Forest, Tuoba Feng was furious, and he personally led an army of 15,000 to cross the border and go straight to Macheng despite the dissuasion of his subordinates.

The Tuoba surrounded the north and east gates of the city. Due to the forest fire in the south and west gates, it was difficult for the troops to get close, so they had to send a small force to monitor and prevent the enemy in the city from escaping.

Tuoba Feng took the north gate as the focus of the attack, laid out an attack formation, and prepared to start a strong attack the next day.

Looking at the dense tents under the city that could not be seen at a glance, countless colorful battle flags, one after another neat and mighty cavalry phalanx, the roar of the sky, the sound of bullhorns, the faces of the soldiers in the city were very ugly.

Li Hong pointed to the demonstration army formation of the Tuoba people under the city, and said with a smile: "If the enemy attacks the city, how long can we hold it?" ”

"A month is definitely not a problem." Wu Zhao said, "Macheng is located on the frontier, when the city was built to prevent the invasion of the Hu people, the city walls are all made of large stones, tall and strong, easy to defend and difficult to attack. We now have more than 5,000 prisoners, and there is absolutely no chance of being breached. ”

"Then why do you say you can only keep it for a month?" Lu Huanyang asked puzzled.

"Tuoba Feng is better than ghosts. He pretended not to know that we had captured more than 2,000 enemies, and that the food we had sent was only enough for 3,000 of us for a month. Now more than 5,000 people eat it, and it is good to be able to last for a month. Tian Zhong touched his mustache and shook his head and explained helplessly.

"Why didn't you make it clear when you asked him for supplies?" Bearded asked in surprise.

"I really didn't say that. Instinctively, they shouldn't have existed. Tuoba Tao did not understand my acceptance of the surrender of the enemy, and he considered the presence of these people to be dangerous to us and to the execution of the whole plan. He was adamantly opposed to me doing so. So these captives, Tuoba Feng really didn't know. If we knew, I am afraid that not a single sheep would be given to us. Li Hong explained unhurriedly: "However, under the circumstances at that time, there is no reason to continue to kill. Now that the number of border troops is insufficient, it is still very beneficial for us to recruit a few more soldiers. ”

"Do Fist and Tie Yue agree to my proposal?" Li Hong asked Hu Zidao.

"If you can not die, everyone is willing. The trouble is that there are more than 400 captives of the wild wolf tribe, who cannot be killed or released. If they really don't need it, kill them sooner and have a little food left. ”

Li Hong shook his head, pointed to Heng Sai and Lu Huanyang and said, "Give it to them." If you can't kill it, you must persuade you to surrender. It really can't be done, after a year and a half, wait for the situation to stabilize and then release them. ”

The bearded monster laughed and said loudly, "My lord, this will cause us trouble. What's the big deal about killing a few hundred people. ”

"Yes. My lord, Lord Sun Zhan, the commander of the cavalry, once slaughtered more than 3,000 people of the Karasuma clan in Liaodong at one time, regardless of men, women, old and children, they did not leave any behind. Killing it can leave you with a lot of trouble. Jade stepped forward and said solemnly.

Li Hong looked at his subordinates, all of them had a look of disdain, including Tian Chong, who looked very incomprehensible. For them, killing a few hundred people is as trivial as killing a lamb.

"Don't kill." Li Hong said resolutely.

At night, Li Hong was awakened by bursts of thunder.

He jumped up with joy, cheered, and shouted, "Leizi, go up to the wall, let's go up to the wall." ”

Li Hong had just rushed out of the county office with a few guards, and the heavy rain had already fallen from the sky.

The little lazy who was in charge of the night patrol saw it from a distance on the city wall and hurriedly greeted him.

"Adult ......"

"Come and see if it's raining. The fire seems to be smaller. Li Hong patted Xiao Lazy's shoulder affectionately, and then walked to the edge of the city wall together to look at the Burial Moon Forest that was still raging and burning.

"If it rains for two days in a row, the fire may be extinguished." Xiao Lazy said with a smile, "It's just that it's raining so hard, I don't know if the Xianbei people can attack the city?" ”

"They're not going to attack." Li Hong said confidently.

"Really?" The little lazy looked at him suspiciously.

"Old friend, I still lied to you." Li Hong laughed, put his arms around Xiao Lazy's shoulders, and suddenly exclaimed: "You seem to have grown taller." ”

This rain stopped falling and stopping, sometimes big and sometimes small, for several days, without the slightest intention of stopping.

The fire in the Burial Moon Forest has been extinguished, and the smell of smoke and dust in the air has become lighter and lighter, and the thick smoke accompanied by rain and mist fills the sky over the forest, curling and curling, like a fairyland. A huge patch of the middle of the forest was burned, almost more than half of the entire forest.

The Tuoba people did not attack, and they hid in their tents every day, silently. Every day, only the patrolling cavalry galloped back and forth around Macheng, and they frequently entered and exited the camp, always on the lookout for the movements of the Han army.

There was no fighting in Horse City.

Li Hong talked with Fist and Tie Yue once, and the two were convinced and were willing to take Daijun's ordinary horse gang brothers to join the border army.

More than 400 soldiers of the Wild Wolf Tribe did not listen to the Karasuma people at all, and they looked down on the White Deer Tribe. Heng Sai and Lu Huanyang were so angry that they almost killed them. Li Hong learned of the situation and hurried to the prisoner camp. Standing in front of these captives, Li Hong didn't know what to say for a while. He suddenly remembered Murong Feng. Murong Feng's method of recruiting the captives was simple and straightforward, and the effect was good, which made a deep impression on Li Hong.

"You have two ways out. One is to pull it out and chop it immediately. The second is to follow me, you don't have to be a slave, but you have to die for me and be loyal to me. Li Hong shouted loudly.

"Choose now."

The Xianbei captives were terrified. This time, the Han people showed mercy and did not rush to kill them, which has made these Xianbei people see the hope of survival. Originally, they thought that the Han Chinese would negotiate with their tribal leaders and exchange them for a fortune. Now it seems wrong, this awesome guy called Leopard simply wants to keep it for himself. Since there is no hope of returning home, I have to leave my life first. These people are accustomed to killing people in the steppe, being killed, annexing their own tribes, being prisoners of war, being slaves. Many of them were actually soldiers of small tribes, and after their tribes were defeated, annexed, and taken captive by the wolf tribes, they became the spoils of the victors, or slaves, to be heard. As long as they don't die, what kind of master they have is not really important to them. As long as we can survive, we will talk about the rest later.

The deterrent power of the leopard is not much stronger than that of the Karasuma people. The Xianbei people wisely chose to follow the leopard.

Li Hong immediately convened his subordinates to discuss the issue of reorganizing more than 2,000 troops. The number of troops was expanded to 4,400 men, and the structure naturally had to be changed.

Several of the soldiers expressed their objections to Li Hong's recruitment of Xianbei people to join the Han army, although they did not explicitly express their opposition, but they were not much different from the opposition. Seeing the fierce and even angry words of his subordinates, Li Hong kept smiling and silent until everyone was tired, and then he spoke:

"Your hatred and distrust of the Hu people have a long and deep-rooted history, and it is beyond reproach to express your opposition to this matter, and I understand it."

"Maybe it's the reason why I lost my memory, I've been in the Xianbei clan since I can remember, I don't have any hatred for them, I don't have any prejudices, I have many friends who are Xianbei people, Murong Feng is handsome, iron wolf, and they are even my master. Even though they are now hostile to each other, I still respect them and think of them often. ”

A beautiful figure dressed in white as snow suddenly flashed in Li Hong's mind, and he remembered the wind and snow.

"Beard, the stake was brought to Lu Longsai at that time, there were more than 200 Xianbei people, Karasuma people, and now they are all distributed in your troops, don't you get along very well?"

"Now there are more Huns, Xianbei people, and Karasuma people in the Fist and Tie Yue's horse gang, since everyone can recognize them, why can't they accept more than 400 people from the Wild Wolf Tribe?"

Everyone looked at each other and didn't make a sound.

"In the future, it will be very troublesome to let Lord Liu Zheng and Lord Liu Yu know that there are so many Hu people in the army." Jade said cautiously.

Li Hong smiled and said indifferently: "I will talk about the future later." If Lord Taishou and Lord Thorn Shi object, give them a little entanglement and let them go home. Fists, you too. I have already told you that in the future, when I submit a letter to you, you will all be burned in the Burial Moon Forest, and you will no longer be alive. If you don't have a way out, you can find a way to make a living with another identity, so as not to be pursued by the government, and it can be regarded as a reward for joining the army and contributing to the Great Han Kingdom. ”

Fist and Tie Yue were very moved in their hearts, and felt that this leopard was really a man as the rumors said. The two hurriedly knelt down and saluted Li Hong to express their gratitude. Li Hong hurriedly helped them up, and at the same time said to everyone: "I am a slave in Xianbei, and I am from a low background. I treat them with no distinction between high and low, they treat each other equally, everyone treats each other with sincerity, trusts each other, and of course can get along together. If you really object, then form them into another team, and I will bring them and be my personal guards. ”

Jade, Wu Zhao, and Li Song heard Li Hong say this, although they were very unhappy, but they couldn't do too much, so they had to reluctantly agree.

Bearded, Yan Wuxing immediately objected to making them into a personal guard, saying that it was too dangerous, and once an accident happened, Li Hong's life would be over. A few people were noisy, making Li Hong's head bigger.

Li Hong expanded the army into five songs, which were divided into front, rear, left, right, and middle. There are 700 people per song, and they still lead three tuns, and the number of people and horses in each tun has increased slightly compared to the past. Zheng Xin's scout tun was expanded to 200 people, and Tian Zhong's guard tun was expanded to 300 people. At Li Hong's insistence, the more than 400 captives of the Wild Wolf Tribe were organized into a pro-guard tun, which was led by Li Hong himself.

Jade, Wu Zhao, Li Song, Beard, Yan Wudaunt are the Wuqu Army, Leizi, Xiao Lazy, Wooden Stake, Iron Hammer, and Fist are the Wuqu Fake Army. Tie Yue replaced Lei Zi and became Li Hong's head of the guard.

"Tomorrow, everyone will go out of the south gate and start training directly. In particular, many of the troops we brought from Yuyang were infantry who temporarily acted as cavalry, and they needed to be trained more. ”

Fist and Tie Yue were taken aback, and the latter asked strangely, "We don't have to defend the city anymore?" ”

"I'll leave the task of defending the castle to the Karasuma people." Li Hong said with a smile, "They can beat the Tuoba people and flee in embarrassment." ”

Fist and Tie Yue's eyes widened, and they looked at Li Hong incredulously.

Is he really an idiot?