The cold winter days were short, the snowflakes were flying, and the two armies fought from noon to dusk, and the officers and soldiers who had suffered heavy casualties gradually became overwhelmed, and from time to time groups of soldiers knelt down and surrendered.

And the warlike Yan army was also tired and unable to fight because of the fatigue of running all the way, and the sound of gold and iron shouting and killing and swords and guns colliding with each other gradually became sparse, and even the war horse under the crotch could not run, so Zhu Di ordered Mingjin to withdraw the army.

Li Jinglong, who was anxious for the defeat of the whole army, was begging for it, and hurriedly ordered the troops to be withdrawn at the same time.

At night, the cry for help of the soldiers was heard everywhere in pain, and the hearts of the people who heard it were broken, and the two armies had a tacit understanding in front of the formation to treat each other's wounded soldiers, erect camp tents and light bonfires to keep warm, only three miles apart from each other.

The weather was too cold, and Zhu Di, who was listening to the battle report, saw more than a dozen officers and soldiers unconsciously surrounding, and the guards took out their weapons and stepped forward to scold loudly, not allowing anyone to approach.

Zhu Di hurriedly got up and said: "These are all strong men who are not afraid of life and death, and they are not allowed to stop them." Hunger and cold are the most difficult to endure, this king is wearing a heavy fur and still feels cold, how can he not allow others to come to roast the fire? Can you bear it when you wait? ”

In just a few words, the soldiers who survived the catastrophe were all moved to tears, compared to the court generals who died or lived below, they all said that King Yan was the real benevolent and righteous person, and soon the whole army was praising this matter, and King Yan subdued countless hearts overnight.

Early the next morning, a scout came to report: "The officers and soldiers fled at night, leaving behind a battalion full of wounded soldiers." ”

Zhu Di's spirits perked up, and he immediately ordered: "Send three thousand battalions to find out the truth and truth." ”

Soon came the exact news, Li Jinglong actually withdrew his troops and turned south, the overjoyed Zhu Di did not pursue, ordered to take in the wounded and send them to various places for treatment, and ordered 10,000 cavalry to guard against the officers and soldiers to turn back, and get a large number of abandoned horses, weapons, grain and grass.

Two days later, the Yan army went directly to the outside of Beiping City.

The drums thundered and the trumpets sounded. Zhang Yu urged the Yan army to line up and slowly advance towards the official army camp, and the sharp arrows that covered the sky and the sun were poured out one after another.

Zhu Di, who must take the lead in every battle, still led the cavalry to move back and forth on both wings, waiting for an opportunity to move. Zhang Fu commanded the officers and men of the Shenji Battalion to line up neatly, under the banner of the commander of the Chinese army, and the hundreds of rumbling artillery pieces behind him fired at the enemy.

At this moment, the besieging officers and troops who did not know that Li Jinglong had gone south were still desperately resisting under the command of Qu Neng's father and son, and the defenders at the head of the city cheered and cheered, and all the people, regardless of men and women, crowded on the city wall to watch the battle.

Xu Hao, who breathed a sigh of relief, ordered the city gate to be opened, led the remaining more than 1,000 people to ride out on horseback, and hit Zhu Gaoxu's 3,000 cavalry from the oblique spur outside the city.

Zhu Di saw that his morale was soaring, and he attacked in many ways. Knowing that the battle was already in his hands, he didn't want his troops to suffer too many casualties, so he ordered the sergeant to shout Li Jinglong and fled.

Listening to the shouts of the enemy, the officers and soldiers couldn't help but look towards the camp of the Chinese army, only the hundreds of sergeants and experienced captains and soldiers knew that they had been ruthlessly abandoned by the commander, so the officers and soldiers under the internal and external attacks gradually collapsed, some people dropped their weapons and turned to run south, and the people around them also fled with them. Soon it spread like a plague to the whole army.

Almost all the officers and soldiers besieging Beiping were southerners, so few surrendered on the spot, and the only wish in the hearts of countless Wang Peng and other soldiers was to run home to reunite with their relatives as much as possible, even if it was across the sword mountain and the sea of fire. Mountains.

In this way, the Yan army once again won a complete victory effortlessly, capturing tens of thousands of people and almost all the baggage horses, and in the face of an unprecedented victory, all the generals praised the Yan King in unison for his clever calculation. Far-sighted, only Zhu Gaochi, Xu Hao and other Beiping guards lowered their heads and remained silent.

Zhu Di, who was full of joy, ignored his son and nephew, and rode his horse into the city first. was immediately stunned by the qiē in front of him, even if he had expected the tragic situation, he didn't expect it to be so miserable.

Except for the inner city, which remained largely intact, the entire outer city was almost completely in ruins, either smashed by falling rocks or demolished to defend against the enemy, corpses covered with white cloth could be seen everywhere, the population had been reduced by at least a full three-tenths, and the men were almost completely killed.

In the end, the surviving soldiers and civilians all had smiles on their faces, not as lifeless as they had seen in the past, just because the attentive Princess Yan and other female dependents worked together to take out countless money, food, and clothing, and vacate their houses to accommodate the people, so that orphans and widows were properly settled, and the injured were all carefully treated.

The silent soldiers and civilians rushed up to greet King Yan, and suddenly there was a deafening cheer, and then everyone cried loudly, which shocked all the soldiers who entered the city.

In the main hall of King Yan's Mansion, Zhu Gaochi told the whole story of defending the city, and at the end, his voice was choked and his eyes were red.

Even Zhu Di, who is accustomed to life and death, couldn't help but be deeply moved, and said with honor: "Thank you for your hard work, the soldiers and civilians defending the city in this battle should be remembered for their first merit, and everyone will be rewarded." ”

The generals were miserable, no one dared to take over the heavy responsibility of staying in Beiping that day, only Xu Hao immediately expressed his willingness, it was really too tragic, and many Daning generals looked at Xu Hao with a trace of admiration and respect.

Xu Hao said calmly: "Because of my improper command, the soldiers and civilians suffered heavy casualties, and I also asked the prince to surrender." ”

Zhu Di said with relief: "You have merit or not, Xu Hao was immediately promoted to the general left behind in Beiping Mansion to assist the prince in managing the rear." ”

"Congratulations to the General." All the generals congratulated in unison.

Since the end of September, King Yan led his division to rescue Yongping, and after going north to Daning Mansion, the division broke Li Jinglong's army, and it took more than a month before and after.

During this period, from Li Jinglong's siege of Beiping City on 25 October to the lifting of the siege on 12 December, all the soldiers and civilians headed by Zhu Gaochi and Xu Hao persisted in fighting for as long as a month and a half, far more than double the 23 days in history, and the number of casualties was almost the same, and Xu Hao's wings inadvertently caused great damage to himself.

The Yan army pursued the victory and reoccupied all the cities north of Baihegou, and the Yan Wangfu ordered to stop the pace of advance and prepare to repair and reward the soldiers of the whole army.

Li Jinglong fled all the way south to Dezhou, Xu Kai and others each led the remnants of their headquarters to return to their original places, and the news of the defeat spread far and wide, and soon spread throughout the Beijing Division, causing an uproar among the civil and military officials.

This made Li Jinglong, who wanted to hide it, hurriedly plead guilty, but he didn't expect Huang Zicheng to defend him and hide his defeat for him. Overnight, he sent a confidant to tell Li Jinglong to rewrite the song.

In fact, can Zhu Yunyan in the Forbidden City not know the truth? Qi Tai and other henchmen have long been exposed, compared with Huang Zicheng and other ministers who misled the country and the people, and did not know people, this time the young emperor showed great tolerance and patience, and pushed people to continue to reuse Li Jinglong to recruit troops and buy horses, and fight again in the coming year.

Because of the fear of being frustrated, Li Jinglong's power was weak and his prestige fell sharply enough to command the generals, Emperor Jianwen gave him the title of prince and prince, rewarded the seal, gold seal, treasure, mink fur and other things, and sent an angel to give Huang Yue a bow and arrow in the first month of the next year, promising the right to arbitrarily conquer.

When Xu Hao learned about it, he sighed: "When you should be unswerving, you are not firm. When you shouldn't be firm, you should not be suspicious, and sooner or later you will eat the bitter fruit. ”

Seeing that the New Year is coming, the Xu family is sad and has no intention of celebrating the festival, and the Xu family who survived the catastrophe killed more than 20 people, and no one was not injured, among which the most serious injury was the third uncle Xu Zengfu, who was pierced through the chest by a stray arrow, and is still unconscious.

Xu Hao's father, Xu Qingtang, was also injured and was slashed in the shoulder during the fight. Fortunately, the injury was not serious, and it was enough to recuperate for a few days. Xu Hao had the foresight to leave his younger brother Xu Song and half of the men by Zhang Fu's side, and several of his younger brothers were sent away, and most of them returned safely at this moment. retained the vitality of the Xu family, otherwise he would almost leave a widow like the Yang family.

Every family in the city has relatives who have passed away, just like the Xu family, they are as sad as the Xu family, but they also have the comfort of surviving, and they are crying and burying the bones of their relatives into the ground. Those who are alive always have to try to stay alive, so the city soon becomes full of festivities because of the great victory.

The fact that the Yanwang Mansion ordered the whole city to celebrate the festival with lanterns and defeat an army of nearly 500,000. The prestige of Zhu Di, the king of Yan, is skyrocketing, and this recognition is thanks to the desperate service of the military and civilians in Beiping. And Xu Hao became famous through this battle, and many planned deeds were widely circulated, and he was recognized as the most important military advisor around King Yan

Xu Hao became the highest left-behind general in Beiping, and the first thing he did was to start building the martyrs' mausoleum, preparing to break ground in the spring of the next year, and move the remains of all the soldiers who died in the war for future generations to mourn.

Although there are many civil officials who complain about this and think that it is too much, but the vast majority of generals support it together, Zhu Di nodded in favor and did not encounter any resistance, which can be regarded as the first to pay tribute to unknown soldiers, and has a far-reaching impact on future generations.

The ministers of the court and the central government, thousands of miles away, were very puzzled, the officials from all over the country were also puzzled, and Emperor Jianwen couldn't understand what kind of benevolence and righteousness did King Yan have with the army and the people? Why can so many people be sworn to die for their lives at the cost of rebelling against the emperor?

The answer is actually very simple, Xu Hao did not play too much role, himself King Yan is the fourth son of Emperor Taizu, has an indisputable imperial bloodline, and has made great contributions to Beiping for many years.

King Yan represents the emperor and represents justice, and Zhu Di said that there are traitors in the court, so the army and the people will think that this battle is a righteous war, and sometimes the people are so cute and blind.

Zhu Di, who has always had clear rewards and punishments, faced with brilliant victories, it was impossible not to be full of gratitude to all the soldiers and civilians in Beiping Mansion, and in order to continue to let the soldiers and civilians follow him to conquer the world in the future, all the captured booty was not stingy and all were rewarded.

The Xu family was naturally the most rewarded, Xu Hao went out to the political zhì on the consideration did not be distributed to the people of Beiping, all the samples were rewarded to the whole family, and their own silver was added, and the descendants of the deceased relatives were divided into 1,000 taels of silver, the disabled were 800 taels of silver, and the injured were from 800 taels to 300 taels of silver.

On Chinese New Year's Eve, the spirit cards of the war dead were placed in the ancestral hall together with the ancestors of the Xu family for the first time, and the whole family knelt down, and the people of the Xu family were moved to tears.

Xu Hao indignantly promised that all those who participated in the war and their relatives would share the glory and disgrace with the Xu family for generations, and share the wealth and prosperity. (To be continued......)