[The second update, and today's first update.] 】

The battle under the city is over.

It's not that all the enemy troops under the city have been slaughtered, and even the heads have been withdrawn, but the rapid penetration of the two teams of Liao cavalry made Chong Pu feel dangerous.

The spaceship of the Liao people hanging high in the air can see the layout of the city. Under the command of the ship, the two groups of cavalry easily avoided the attack range of the thunderbolt artillery and penetrated straight into the city.

However, with a thousand Liao cavalry, with a thousand elite soldiers outside the city, Chong Pu didn't think he would lose. As long as you set up a formation by the Hao River, you can compete with each other. But after calculating the gains and losses, he still ordered the fighters who attacked to withdraw. The difference in numbers is too great, and once the Liao and Dangxiang people cooperate with each other with infantry and cavalry, even if the two or three commanders who can be deployed in the city are added to achieve victory at the end of the day, the price paid is what Pu does not want to see.

'What a pity. Chong Pu whispered to himself. But with a satisfied smile on his face, he patted them on the shoulder among the thousands of warriors who had fought in the battle, and then loudly praised their bravery.

Regardless of the officers and men, everyone was full of smiles, and the fact that they could defeat the enemy in one fell swoop was a gratifying victory no matter who looked at it. Next, you just need to continue to fight and defeat the Dangxiang people, and the rest of the Liao people can't ride horses to attack the city, right?

Li Qing, who was outside the crowd, could see that he was not satisfied.

If most of the 3,000 party items can be slaughtered, the morale of the party troops will completely collapse, and this battle will no longer come in handy. And with the style of the Khitans that Pu understands, they will not risk their lives to attack Jiancheng.

The outcome of this battle is likely to be decided!

But now, the cavalry of the Liao army has forced back the officers and soldiers, rescued most of the party soldiers, and the morale has not been discharged, and most of the war will drag on.

As Chong Pu expected, the next offensive began again after an hour's interval.

It was still the main party members, and this time they chose a position far away from the city gate and the thunderbolt cannon, and one by one they carried dirt bags to try to attack the city in the most time-consuming way.

The Khitans also began to cooperate with the attack. A group of more than ten Khitan cavalry began to gallop around the city, occasionally shooting a few arrows at the city, looking for loopholes in the city's defenses. Two other teams of 1,000 men were watching the gates from a mile away, and if the defenders of the city tried to open them again, they would be there in the blink of an eye.

However, such an attack, the Song army in the city can deal with it easily.

The two thousand-man teams monitoring the city gate were easy to solve, and Chong Pu directly moved the eight-bull crossbow over. This movement on the head of the city was discovered by the spaceship in the sky, and the formation, which was originally quite tight, immediately became loose, and the generals under the banner also retreated to the rear of the formation. After the alliance of the Yuanyuan, the eight-bull crossbow with a range of far more than one mile was the most feared weapon of the Khitans to defend the city.

The Khitan cavalry harassing around the city was better solved. It is not difficult to calculate the advance amount of the Divine Arm Bow, dozens of Divine Arm Bows shoot a little at the same time, and one out of three times can shoot the Khitan cavalry flying by off the horse. After a few times, the circle they circled grew larger and larger, and the long arrows that were shot from their horses fell into the trench.

As for the party members who were still rushing down the city, Song Jun added wheels to the thunderbolt cannon and pushed it over directly.

Looking at the party members who were scurrying under the stones and mud bombs, Li Qing shook his head: "If you can't break the city today, you want to break the city again, unless the city is exhausted." ”

A military city with sufficient troops, stubborn city defense, and abundant food, as long as the defenders have firm confidence, even if the Song army comes to attack, it will inevitably be protracted. In order to pacify this rebel army, Wen Yanbo and Ming Ho built a wall around the city, and it took a year to break through Beizhou. Since you can't conquer it in one go, you can only use time and human life to fill in the moats.

"The Liao people haven't taken out the thunderbolt cannon yet." Chong Pu thought a little more, "If you build too much, you have to fight." ”

But until sunset, he didn't see the Thunderbolt appear, just tried back and forth, and then retreated under the counterattack.

The Liao people had no intention of breaking the city with one blow, and those who saw this did not know that they were alone. With such a steady and steady use of troops, at the end of the day, Chong Pu felt that his opponent did not look like the legendary Khitans at all, but like a general on the side of the Great Song Dynasty.

"When will reinforcements arrive?" When bonfires were lit in the city and under the city, Li Qing asked about Chongpu.

Chong Pu put down the soup bowl - now he can only drink thin water: "Zhao Jing knows the soldiers, and he knows when it is most appropriate to send troops." ”

Li Qing frowned. Last year, Xu Xi guarded Yanzhou, and he also 'knew when it was appropriate to send troops', and it was indeed a great victory in the end. But Xu Xi died simply, less than half of the soldiers in the Beijing camp in the city died, and Qu Zhen, who escaped when the city was broken, was chased down from his writing and cut his post for the people. If Zhao Yu also learns to act like a simple Laozi, then the results of Pu Lecheng and even Weizhou will not be very good.

"Pule City will definitely be able to hold it. Even though Gyeongju is far away, Yanju is not far from here. Chong Pu glanced at Li Qing, "Let's think about the Liao people's offensive today." ”

After drinking a belly of meat porridge, Chong Pu summoned his staff officers to summarize today's experience in defending the city, and summed up why the Liao people attacked the city today It feels so strange.

The final conclusion is that it is estimated that yesterday's stealing camp may have disrupted the Khitans' plans, and they suffered a big loss during the pursuit, so the Liao army commander on the opposite side did not hold back. If it weren't for this reason, Chong Pu felt that they would have waited until the Thunderbolt Cannon was built before they began to attack the city. Otherwise, when they arrived at the city two days before, they would have attacked immediately, instead of encamping and besieging the city.

In addition, there is another speculation, maybe there is also the idea of consuming the party members before the official siege. A group of robbers who occupy the magpie's nest definitely don't want to see the original owner dangling in front of him. The Great Song Dynasty was afraid that the Liao people would incite the party tribes in the Qingtongxia. I am afraid that the Liao people are also worried that the Song people are eyeing the remaining party members at the foot of Helan Mountain.

The more Chong Pu thought about it, the more he felt that this guess was reasonable, otherwise he would not be able to explain the strange behavior of the Liao people this time.

Clashes on the border were common, with 100 dead and wounded, and it was just a verbal fight in the court. Both the Song and Liao countries had their own difficulties, and it was impossible to start a rash war. Behind the current offensive of this magnitude must have a deeper meaning.

"For the sake of a small group of Liao troops, and abandon the alliance that has been maintained for decades, is there Yelu Yixin's father in it?!"

A staff officer's witty remark made everyone laugh, and it was true.

Chong Pu didn't believe that things would be so simple, and Li Qingzi didn't believe it either. However, with the identity of the two of them, there is no point in thinking too much, as long as the city is guarded, the rest depends on the imperial court.

The next three days were a simple war of attrition, using the lives of the party members to consume the arrows and other materials for defending the city of the officers and soldiers in the city. The harvested head can at least make Chong Pu and Li Qing's official rank jump up two or three steps - this is still the reward that Chong Ge and Han Gang can get when they make the heads of the party members less and less valuable after the fall of the Western Xia Kingdom.

And reinforcements from Weizhou also came.

Although there was only one cavalry under the command of the reinforcements, and the generals who came to the aid were still Chong Pu's brothers, who had been transferred to Ganliang Road last year, but had been transferred back to Huanqing a month earlier, it was of course extremely exciting news that for the 3,000 officers and soldiers who had been trapped in the city for several days, they had not been forgotten in the state and in the middle of the road.

But in the eyes of Chong Pu and Li Qing, this is even more a manifestation of the Khitan people outside the city who want to catch big fish. Sparing this mere 300 cavalry may attract more reinforcements.

Encirclement and reinforcement is a very common tactic. The reinforcements were extinguished, the hope of the defenders in the city was ruined, and it was no longer difficult to break the city - that is, the so-called 'there is no army to save outside, and there is no city to defend inside'.

There is another thing that is more important than the reinforcements.

It was the party members outside the city who sent an envoy to contact Chong Pu, with a letter, saying that he wanted to surrender. If the city can give some support, they can even cooperate with the outside and stab the Khitans in the back.

This incident made Chong Pu extremely excited, and defeating the Liao army that attacked several times in one fell swoop was naturally ten times greater than the credit for defending the city. With the head of the Khitan people at their feet, they can be a head taller in the face of anyone - in the past two years, the previous generation of the Sixteenth and the boss of this generation of the Zhe family have all grown their nostrils.

But there are some doubts, no one can say whether this is a ploy or not. The staff officers summed up for a while, and felt that it was better to be cautious. Although the party members may have been forced into battle and died too much and wanted to take revenge on the Liao, if it was a strategy of the Liao, the matter would be irreparable after being fooled.

Chong Pu rarely hesitated, so he asked the seed master: "Twenty-three, what do you think?" ”

The seed master thought for a while and said: "I remember that when I went to Beijing last year, I met the seventh of the Zhe family, and I once talked about the battle of Shengzhou, which was the battle of beheading more than 20,000 people. At that time, Zhi Qi said, 'The dead party members are the good party members.' According to him, this was worn by someone close to Master Han. Looking at the fate of the Montenegrin party, it doesn't seem like nonsense. ”

Chong Pu heard the meaning of the planter's words, and frowned: "Isn't it the same if you change to a Khitan?" ”

"Do you need to mix it up?" The seed master asked rhetorically: "It doesn't matter what kind of clan he is, all of them are barbarians." It's no problem to fight the barbarians, but it's too much to help the barbarians fight the barbarians. ”

Seeing that Chongpu was still hesitant, the seed master went further and said, "Since the party members want to submit to the imperial court, they must at least submit a letter of submission." One person brings the head of a Khitan to testify, this requirement is not too much, right? ”

"Twenty-three." Chong Pu was stunned, "What did you learn after you went to Wang Sunsin this year!?" ”

"Those who are not of my race will have different hearts." The planter sneered and leaned closer, "Brother Seventeen, to be honest, don't be surprised. In the matter of recruiting and rebelling, don't say that you are the seventeenth brother, even the fifth uncle, you are not qualified! If this group of party members is willing to join them, let them go and tell the court! ”

"The Imperial Court?" Chong Pu thought that maybe he should be able to believe that the princes of the two provinces now, at least they are not forcing Di Qing to death, and they plan to return Wen Yanbo to Suide. And there is also a Han Gang who is not in the two provinces, but has a better reputation.

At this time, Han Gang was carrying a letter to the Chongzheng Palace.

This is a secret letter handed over to the servants in the Duting Station, asking him to pass it on to Han Gang. After the negotiations reached an impasse and the door to the negotiations was closed to Xiao Xi, the deputy envoy of Zhengdan really made a move.