The north wind is howling, bringing goose feather-like snow from the sky, and the outside of Beiping, which is full of slaughter, has become covered in silver, and the thick snow looks poetic, but in the eyes of many officers and soldiers, it is no less than the enemy's swords and guns can put people to death.

The soldier Wang Peng was wrapped in a thin animal skin like a snowman, trembling and standing guard in the snow, not daring to stand still for a moment, and his long snot was frozen into icicles. And the brothers who were roasting the fire next to him had their hands frozen and cracked, and they were so painful and itchy that they wanted to cut off their hands with a knife, and everyone was cursing loudly.

Captain Li Tao came over with a team of people to inspect, and said from time to time: "Don't put out the fire, nearly 1,000 people have frozen to death in the past few days." ”

Wang Peng put his hands in his sleeves, hugged the cold spear, and complained: "Master Li, why don't you even give you a cotton coat?" Even hats, earmuffs, and gloves don't have them, are we just stepmothers? ”

Liu Tao was wrapped tightly in fur, and said helplessly: "It's not that I don't give it, but I don't have it at all, I have to send a batch of descendants of the adults first, anyway, if you want to live, hurry up and peel off the clothes of the dead corpse and put it on." ”

When they walked away, another soldier who was so cold that his face turned blue scolded and said: "These noble children eat and drink spicy food and hide in the camp tent to play with women, and don't treat us as human beings, but they force the big guys to be hungry and hungry and have to work for their lives, a group of bastards who can't die well, bah." ”

On the opposite side of the quiet Beiping City, the heavy snow in the past few days gave the Yan army that had been holding on for more than ten days a rare respite, and the bloody traces after the battle were covered by white snowflakes.

The north wind blew equally unscrupulously, and long flames jumped back and forth from the red fire, spraying bunches of tongues of fire into the night sky, and in this winter night when the water turned into ice, the scorching flame meant the continuation of life.

Xu Hao, who was dressed in the same clothes as ordinary soldiers, stood on the dilapidated city wall, looking at the white sky, his bloodshot eyes became as sharp as knives, and his body was straight and let the wind blow.

If it weren't for Princess Yan and Zhu Gaochi, they would be in the city. He almost thought the same as the surviving brothers, thinking that he was ruthlessly abandoned by Zhu Di, the king of Yan.

Today, it was dangerous and dangerous to be killed by Qu Neng's father and son who broke through the gap in the city wall to Zhangye Gate, and all the five hundred soldiers defending the city were killed.

Xu Hao was terrified, and couldn't guess why Li Jinglong ordered the troops to be withdrawn, could it be that he really kept the agreement?

Zhu Gaochi said that Li Jinglong was planning to take the lead in breaking the city, Xu Hao didn't agree with this, is it necessary to snatch the credit as the commander-in-chief?

But no matter what, I survived today. I can't guarantee that I will die in battle tomorrow, and Xu Hao, who has experienced countless lives and deaths, doesn't even have the strength to regret it.

"Eat hot porridge, you haven't eaten rice for four or five days."

Cooking soldier Lao Feng held a bowl of porridge and said softly, his weather-beaten face was full of sadness, he is forty-eight years old this year, he has been in the army all his life, and it is the first time in his life to experience such a cruel bloody battle to defend the city, like a nightmare, watching nearly a thousand people die every day. Even the corpses could not be contained, and by now, the old, weak, sick and disabled have all gone up to the city wall.

"Thank you." Xu Hao smiled reluctantly, took it and took a big gulp. The sweet and fragrant porridge is under the water, and the spirit is lifted.

Lao Feng sighed: "The battle at the main gate of Li, which is guarded by adults, is the most fierce, and the most enemies are killed, but the least number of people are killed. Adults are heroes and heroes who fight with iron. ”

Xu Hao raised his head and smiled bitterly: "It's nothing more than relying on firearms." ”

Lao Feng said: "Chitose has inconvenient legs and feet, if it weren't for the adults leading us to fight to the death, it would boost morale." The officers and soldiers who have killed so many people will definitely slaughter the city in retaliation, and now everyone is complaining about the prince. ”

Xu Hao's heart moved, and he frowned, and at this moment, Li Qiu walked over with his arm hanging and said hurriedly: "The princess personally brought the whole city of women here." ”

Xu Hao hurriedly handed the bowl to Lao Feng, and saw that her aunt, Princess Yan, was surrounded by hundreds of female generals who had been trained in a joke in the past, and actually led tens of thousands of women to carry heavy bamboo baskets.

Among the women who followed the princess, there were mothers and wives, sister-in-law Zhu Qiaoqiao supported the gray-haired old lady, and the eldest sister and younger sister Yushi, Luzhu Qingwen Zhiqing were all among them.

Xu Hao let out a long sigh and slowly turned around, for the first time in his life, he hated himself for wasting a lot of time in vain? If you can make more preparations, or stay in the capital to live a life, why not affect the whole family's life and death?

The surviving warriors were stunned, and they climbed up to each other, silently watching the women rush to the top of the city with rubble.

Suddenly, a soldier excitedly raised his sword and gun in his hand and said sharply: "Swear to fight to the death, people are in the city!" ”

"Swear to fight to the death, people are in the city!" The poignant oath immediately resounded in all corners of the city, and the morale of the soldiers and civilians who were inspired was greatly boosted.

Princess Yan, who had a beautiful face, looked sad, and walked up from the stone steps step by step, lying with corpses on both sides, each step seemed to weigh more than a thousand catties, and hit the hearts of the soldiers heavily.

In the crowd, Xu Miaojin, who had a stunning appearance, raised his head and stared at his long-famous nephew, the so-called hearing is better than seeing, and he still did not take a step back in the bloody killings, he is worthy of being the iron-clad son of the Xu family, no wonder the old father said that there is a successor to the Xu family.

Xu Hao bowed to his aunt, stretched out his hand and gently hugged his wife's shoulder, looked at Ning Xue and smiled at him, and for a while his heart was like a knife, and suddenly touched the blood stains that condensed into ice, and said in ecstasy: "Pour water on the city wall and build an ice city." ”

In this way, Beiping City became a crystal bright frost fortress overnight, and the thick ice layer made it extremely difficult for officials and soldiers to climb, and Princess Yan and other officials and daughters took the lead in boosting morale and helping to pass on the weapons to defend the city, and the men, women and children of the whole city were united.

Daning Mansion, because of the help of the scheming King Ning, Zhu Di, the king of Yan, quickly attracted a large number of generals with his reputation for many years.

"Since it was sent to the suburbs, it is better to send this king to Beiping."

Zhu Di suddenly grabbed Zhu Quan's hand, and the Yan army around him threatened the stunned officials of the palace with weapons.

Thousands of Mongolian cavalry and Yan troops swarmed up under the leadership of Zhang Yu, Zhu Neng and other fierce generals, and attacked the city.

Shi Shu, the head of King Ning's Mansion, pointed at King Yan and scolded: "Zhu Di, you are a thief, you will be arrested by the imperial court sooner or later, leaving a reputation for eternity." ”

Zhu Di was furious and stepped forward and cut off his head with a sword, so frightened that Zhu Quan hurriedly said: "Fourth brother is angry, one wrong step is wrong, and I hope to stop the horse as soon as possible." ”

Zhu Di smiled coldly, he was too lazy to accompany his younger brother to play at the moment, and he took Zhu Quan and the others back to Daning City.

The fighting in the city soon ended, and the garrison commander Fang Kuan was captured and ordered to surrender, and Bu Wan, who was imprisoned, was executed.

Zhu Di ordered to post a notice to appease the soldiers and civilians of Daning City, and Chen Heng and Liu Jie, who were stationed at Songting Pass, quickly led troops to come to the rescue when they heard the news, but tens of thousands of soldiers heard that the family members in the city were safe and sound, and they shouted that they didn't want to fight, and the reinforcements were forced to set up camp.

At night, after receiving a letter from King Ning of Yan, Chen Heng discussed with his confidant generals, Xu Li, the commander of the guards in King Ning's mansion, and Chen Wen, the commander of the right guard, to surrender King Yan, and the three of them hit it off.

On the second watch, while the whole army was asleep, Chen Heng led his own soldiers to Liu Jie's camp, Liu Jie was awakened and fled to Guangning alone, and later fled back to Beijing by sea.

In this way, Zhu Di easily pocketed most of the Daning horses, and promised to give Daning Mansion to Duoyan Sanwei for grazing after the matter was completed, so he got more than 20,000 Mongolian cavalry, and personally selected 3,000 elite cavalry of Duoyan Sanwei as the new army, known as the 3,000 battalions of Yanwang's personal guards.

On November 16, after receiving the news that Li Jinglong was attacking Beiping, Zhu Di led the army to quickly return to rescue the lair.

The generals were sent to divide their troops to capture the passes of Fuyu, Huichuan, Kuanhe and other cities belonging to Daning, and on the 18th, they took the wife of King Ning and the prince of the world to Beiping with all the money and grain of Daning Mansion.

Before leaving, Yao Guangxiao said: "Governor Xu has repeatedly instructed not to give up Daning City, is it to leave more soldiers and horses to garrison?" ”

Zhu Di frowned and said: "The war is tight, where will the food supply come from?" The people of Duoyan are now loyal to this king, and there is no need to be suspicious of his heart, just leave some old, weak, sick and disabled. ”

Seeing this, Yao Guangxiao said: "Mongolia is a big trouble after all, is the prince's promise a little hasty this time?" ”

Zhu Di said unhappily: "The pros and cons of this matter are naturally well known, and there is no need for you and Xu Hao to remind him, he Xu Hao has to stretch out his hand in everything, how can this be reasonable." ”

Yao Guangxiao's heart was cold, and he was so frightened that he didn't dare to speak. Zhu Di snorted coldly: "Xu Hao is proficient in miscellaneous studies and is good at strategizing, but he is far inferior to you and other literati in handling government affairs, and his talent in leading troops is far inferior to Zhang Yu and others. This time, the Daning military horses were integrated, and the army had to be reorganized. ”

On the march the next day, Zhu Dijing appointed and promoted a group of generals, organized the Yan army into five armies, Zhang Yu served as the commander of the Chinese army, and promoted Zheng Ning, the commander of Miyunwei, and He Shou, the commander of Huizhouwei, as the commander of the capital, and served as the deputy general of the left and right of the Chinese army.

Zhu Neng was the commander of the left army, Zhu Rong, the commander of the Daning avant-garde, and Li Jun, the commander of the right guard of Yanshan, were appointed as the commanders of the left and right armies.

Both commanded General Li Bin's right army, promoted Xu Li, the commander of the guards in Yingzhou, and Meng Shan, the commander of the horizontal guards, to be the commanders of the two sides, and served as the deputy generals of the left and right.

Both commanded Xu Zhong's front army, promoted Chen Wen, the commander of the right guard of Yingzhou, and Wu Da, the commander of Luoyang Wei, as the commander of the capital, and served as the deputy general of the left and right of the front army.

They all commanded Fang Kuan's rear army, all commanded He Yunzhong as the left deputy general, and promoted Mao Quan, the commander of Jizhou Wei, to command the right deputy general of the rear army.

Although this is the right of King Yan, it must also be done, to merge the two generals of Beiping and Daning into one, so that the combat power of the army has become unprecedentedly strong. But in Yao Guangxiao's view, there was inevitably something else, and the prince took advantage of this to completely control the military power in one fell swoop, greatly reducing the already unstable influence of himself and Xu Hao and other old people in the Yan army, not to mention, even his three princes lost control of the army.

Xu Hao's position as governor was basically reduced to chicken ribs, and he became famous and powerless. At this point, Yao Guangxiao sighed: "If Xu Hao is smart enough, he should take the initiative to resign from his official position as soon as possible, otherwise he is too young, and sooner or later he will be regarded as a confidant by the prince." (To be continued......)