Early in the morning, the sky was gray. By noon, the clouds in the sky were grayish. The sand and dust fell all over the ground, and the snow-covered mountains were dyed yellow. Everyone in the camp was a veritable gray face, and even the horses in the camp, whether black, chestnut, or white, were now yellow-haired.

When Han Gang breathed, he could feel a strong smell of dust, and his mouth and nose were dry and astringent. When I stood outside for a while, my head and body were covered with falling sand. To solve this problem, he asked the people below to help sew a few masks out of linen cloth and try to use them when he was ready to go on the road.

The hill near the left was covered with unmelted snow, and on the construction site of Luowu City, the snow was cleared, and the digging of the ground for soil and the ramming of the wall made it dusty everywhere, and the wind was full of ash. But today's situation is particularly bad, and on weekdays, no matter how strong the wind is, there will not be so much dust. Han Gang estimated that it was mostly the sand and dust blown from the Hanhai on the other side of Hengshan.

Under the murky sky, Han Gang and Chong Jianzhong walked side by side by the solidified Wuding River, and from their sides, an army of thousands of men silently marched south in the wind and sand, escorting forty or fifty carriages in the middle, and the canopies were full of wounded and sick.

Chong Jianzhong looked at the sky that was dyed yellow, turned his head sideways and said to Han Gang: "These winds and sand are all coming from the north, and the gray soil over Hengshan is still so strong, most of them are strong winds in Hanhai. If you are lucky, you can delay the thief for three or five days. ”

"It's some luck, indeed." Han Gang nodded, "In terms of time, the Western Thief should indeed be in the Hanhai Sea at this time. ”

If you don't know astronomy or geography, you can't do anything. He was born in a family of generals, and his level of astronomy and geography is very high. In fact, half of ancient astronomy was meteorology. Chong Jianzhong is not bad, and Han Gang thinks so too. Today's sandstorm may not be as powerful as the one that Han Gang has seen in later generations, but when he thinks of the Western Xia people marching in the unobstructed seven hundred miles of Hanhai, it can be regarded as a bit of luck.

However, a few days ago, Han Gang was still thinking that the wind direction was about to change, but God Bing didn't give him face very much. However, a delay of two or three days will not be able to reverse the situation unfavorable to the Great Song Dynasty, and the Xixia people have not experienced the baptism of wind and sand in any year, except for a little delay, it will not affect their combat effectiveness.

And the kind of construction will not be extravagant to hope that the iron harrier and Bubazi of Western Xia can be damaged because of a dust, just to delay the team of the party members, it has already made him overjoyed, "Two or three more days, Luowu City will be more stable, and several other walled cities should also be completed in time, even if it is Funing Fort, it should be able to repair the outer city wall almost completely." ”

"The first army is divided into two places, Suide and Luowu are dozens of miles apart, and Funing Fort in the middle is the top priority. If there is negligence, Luo Wucheng will inevitably be difficult to protect. ”

Chong Jianzhong shook his head and chuckled twice: "Yukun is still so worried, don't worry, how can you not be wary of this." ”

As he spoke, he drove his horse forward. I don't know how long I walked, the footsteps from the side suddenly became scarce, and the queue of more than 1,000 southbound people had already surpassed Han Gang and Chong Jianzhong, and Han and Chong were still at the head of the team when they left the city, but now they have fallen to the end of the team.

Han Gang stopped his mount and said to Chong Jianzhong: "It's only a few dozen miles from here to Suide, and Uncle Yi doesn't need to send it too far. ”

"Yukun be careful all the way."

Chong Jianzhong is also a cheerful person, and he said goodbye to Han Gang with a smile.

On the twenty-fifth day of the first lunar month, more than 20 days have passed since the day of leaving to capture Luowu City. From entering the city to leaving the city, Han Gang also stayed in Luo Wu for almost half a month. This time, he wanted to return south, so he had to leave Luo Wu first. Han Gang came to Luowucheng as a supervisor of the injured and sick, and when the wounded and sick in Luowucheng were all transferred back to Suide, he naturally went back to Suide with the team.

The first batch of seventy people had already left a few days ago, and the group where Han Gang was today was the last batch. And in the name of escorting the wounded back to Suide, he sent three commanders in one go. It's a bit like ants moving, without alarming other soldiers, and transferring 5,000 people back little by little. And when the city defense of Luowucheng is generally completed, Chong Mo will also lead his troops back to Suide under the pretext of escorting the people who have completed the task.

The official document agreeing to the return of the Ministry of Cultivation to Suide was just sent yesterday. After hearing about the defeat of Hedong the day before yesterday, Chong Ge immediately wrote to Yanzhou, and through four days of official correspondence, he got in touch with Yanzhou, and finally got Han Jiang's approval.

Han Gang speculated with some malice how many complicated ideological struggles Han Jiang had gone through before nodding in agreement. At least it can be determined that Sima Guang in Chang'an City must have a somewhat gloating attitude.

Sima Guang's three books some time ago, one criticized Hehuang for opening the side as a life; One refused to build additional city defenses in Chang'an, and at the same time opposed the increase in the number of troops in the southern important town of Pizhou, which was located on the Huanqing Road; The last book is a wanton accusation of Han Jiang and Chong Ge's Hengshan strategy. Even if Sima Guang's virtue is high and his character is outstanding, he will rarely show people his foresight.

The defeat of the Hedong Army was embarrassing, and Han Jiang, who directly led to this fiasco, was of course inextricably linked, and Han Jiang allowed Chong Ge to return to the town of Suide before the war, which proved that Han Jiang and his Xuanfu Division had just experienced a major setback. The pride of many officials who opposed the war in advance was also evident.

But in any case, Han Jiang did not force him to stay in Luo Wu because of face problems, which is commendable. Although there must be factors worried about the fall of Suide - Luo Wu represents an enterprising attitude towards Hengshan, while Suide is the foundation of the entire Hengshan strategy, and its position in the strategy is still very different - but being able to put face aside and change it when it is heard is also a rare quality among the high-ranking civil servants.

In the four days of waiting for Yanzhou's reply, the construction of the walled city dominated by Luo Wu accelerated sharply. Han Gang can see Luo Wu City and Yongle River two places, the city wall is the same every day, on the day of the twenty-fourth day of the first month of the first month of receiving the reply, the city wall of Yongle Chuan Village with a circumference of more than 200 steps has been completed one step ahead, and the wall of Luo Wu City has also risen to an average height of two zhang three four, the total amount of work, there is still a quarter left from completion.

However, in the past few days, due to the intensified urging of the overseers, even if it was not explicitly announced, the soldiers and people in Luowu City all knew that something was wrong with the situation, but no one had reported the defeat of the Hedong Army, only rumors that the army of the Western Thieves was about to arrive in Luowu.

In this case, the negative impact on the morale of the army is self-evident. Fortunately, he only chose to take 5,000 soldiers with him, which only accounted for a quarter of the total strength of the entire Luowu defense line.

Han Gang thought to himself, this level of reduction in troops, the confusion in the hearts of the city soldiers and soldiers would not expand to the point of breaking out. As a general, his grasp and control of the military spirit is at least reliable.

Under the escort of the elite army under the command of the three commands, Han Gang left Luowu City, and during the two-day journey, there were no big twists and turns, and he arrived at Suide smoothly.

Han Gang's residence in Suide City was arranged in a side courtyard in the city office. The city offices of the border military cities are generally built as fortresses, and the outer walls are as high and thick as small cities, and the area is even larger. There are only a few people around Han Gang, and they can still occupy a side courtyard to live. Zhou Nan followed Han Gang to Suide, and when Han Gang continued to go north to Luo Wu, she was left behind - Luo Wu City was considered to be in the army before the war, and it was inconvenient to bring her family over.

Han Gang's return with the army was not small, and Zhou Nan soon got the news that he was restless in the small courtyard, although it was inconvenient to walk to the door to look, but he still asked Qian Mingliang to go to the front to investigate.

When it was nearly evening, Han Gang finished handling all the trivial matters at hand, settled down his injuries, and finally returned to the small courtyard. In the past ten days of separation, Zhou Nan's description was a little haggard, but when he saw Han Gang coming back, he was radiant.

After washing away the dust and changing into clean clothes, Han Gang, who was refreshed, sat down in the inner room. Under the faltering light, there were several plates of side dishes made by Zhou Nan on the table, and a silver kettle was placed next to the dishes. Zhou Nan and Mo Wen were guarding at the table, and the warm atmosphere in the family made Han Gang's heart suddenly calm down.

He hugged Zhou Nan, raised his hand and pinched her chin that had become sharpened, and asked pityingly: "I have lost a lot of weight, have you eaten well?!" ”

Zhou Nan leaned weakly on Han Gang's arms and whispered: "Yes." ”

Mo Wen said beside him: "My sister hasn't eaten well these days, and she has been chanting Buddha." ”

"That's not good! It's not good to be hungry, so don't do it in the future. ”

Zhou Nan was like a little girl, very quiet, honest and obedient and nodded.

Han Gang smiled, the more delicate Zhou Nan was, the hotter his heart became. As soon as he raised his hand, he grabbed the placket on Zhou Nan's shoulder with a little force, and half of his round and white plump was exposed to the light. In a round of red as fine as money, the red agate-like bulge trembled gently. Han Gang stretched out his hand and grasped it, and the white tender flesh squeezed out between his fingers, "Fortunately, I haven't lost weight here." ”

Han Gang's action made Mo Wen next to him scream in surprise, and he hurriedly covered his eyes and ran away.

Zhou Nan didn't care so much, turned over, his jade lotus-like arms, hugged Han Gang's neck hard, and whispered in his ear: "Official, you want me to ......"

The girl who had just tasted the taste of pleasure was very obsessed, and Han Gang also endured it for a long time, regardless of the wine and food on the table, picked her up and walked to the bedside.

During the day, in a sanatorium set up in a camp in Suide City, he handled official business, and at night there was a considerate and lovely Zhou Nan to serve wholeheartedly, and in the few days before the return of the cultivator, Han Gang was very comfortable, and was not affected by the increasingly tense situation in the city.

On the second day of the second month of February, the so-called day when the dragon raised its head, Gao Yongneng was left to garrison the city of Luowu, which had been largely completed, and Chong Ge finally led the most rearly headquarters of his own troops to escort the thousands of people who had finished their mission back to Suide. At the same time, the car of Han Jiang, the prime minister of the current dynasty and the Xuanfu envoy of Hedong in Shaanxi, also arrived in Suide City.