Farming Beneath the Changbai Mountains

When Jinghan heard this, she shook her head and said, "You can't just point at the army in Hanzhou. The guard there is the eldest son of the Hou Mo family in Zhenbei. They were not willing to garrison in Xizhou in the first place, and they may not be willing to come to the rescue now. You Send someone to deliver the letter to Longzhou, and I will ask Changshun to go to the capital. We have to make some preparations."

Zixuan frowned slightly, "Now that the border is in a critical state, the Mo family won't be in trouble like this, right?"

"Whether you believe it or not, you can't just point at the reinforcements in Hanzhou. You can take people to defend the city first, and I will take care of the rest. By the way, you can let everyone splash water on the city wall. That way It can definitely freeze at night." Jinghan remembered a story she had read somewhere before and asked Zixuan to do the same.

This was really not the time to chat, so Zixuan turned around and took everyone with him to the North City Gate immediately. Jinghan also returned to the house with her people. Changshun, Changxing and others also followed Jinghan back home. Jinghan had other things to arrange for them to do.

There were patrols everywhere along the way, and it was quite orderly. Everyone knew Jinghan, and when they saw Jinghan, they all gave way. "Madam, it's cold and the roads are slippery. Madam, please hurry back home." The people in Xizhoucheng respected Zixuan and his wife as if they were gods, so when they saw Jinghan, they were all very respectful.

Jinghan nodded, "Thank you for your hard work."

"Protecting our home and country is the responsibility of our generation, and it is not considered hard work." The leader said.

Jinghan took people back to the house, and then immediately wrote a letter and gave it to Changshun. At the same time, she also gave him a golden token, "Changshun, take this token and you will leave the city immediately. This token The card was given to you by the emperor and has never been used. If anything happens along the way, show it to the officials."

That token has been in Jinghan's hands for a long time. The emperor gave the token to Zixuan, and Zixuan gave it to Jinghan for safekeeping, but now it is in use.

Changshun understood the importance of the matter, nodded, and went out with the two guards in the mansion. Chunlan followed Changshun, gave a few instructions, and then watched Changshun lead people straight to the east of the city.

Changshun was from Zhizhou Prefecture, and everyone who defended the city knew it, so they opened the city gate directly, lowered the suspension bridge, and allowed Changshun to leave the city. It happened that people from the Zixuan faction also arrived here, and together with Changshun, they went out to report the news to Longzhou.

Zixuan led his people directly to the North City Gate. Mr. Li just led people out of the city from here. Next, all the people outside the city will enter the city, so the north gate is very important. Zixuan ordered people to pour water on the city walls. This was done not only in the North City, but also on all the city walls.

So, everyone was busy getting water and passing it to the city wall, and then splashed it outside the city wall little by little. In such a cold night, not to mention that the drops of water turned into ice, the water gradually turned into ice, and the entire city wall became as smooth as a mirror. Zixuan stood on the city and saw it, but he couldn't help but admired, "Now, let's see what they will do when they attack the city."

It was already past midnight. Zixuan looked to the north and couldn't help but worry in his heart, "I wonder what's going on over there at Zhenyuan Pass? If Zhenyuan Pass falls, I'm afraid Xizhou City will be in danger."

Zixuan's worries are not unreasonable. At that time, a city wall was built to defend against the cavalry of the Northern Yuan Kingdom. The two ends of the city wall happened to be the Taoer River and the Noni River. If it were summer, nothing would happen. With the protection of two rivers, and the wide moat outside Xizhou City, I believe the enemy would not be able to attack the city for a while. But this season, the moat has already frozen, and the mechanisms inside are completely useless. Moreover, the Taoer River and the Noni River are also frozen. If the enemy bypasses the city wall and comes over the river, won't Xizhou be in danger?

Zixuan turned around and called two people, "You two each take a few people to Taonan County and Zhen'an County and tell Magistrate Liu and Magistrate Zhao about the situation here. In addition, let them guard the county seat. If there is an enemy attack, , report immediately.”

The people nearby quickly got off the city wall and reported the news.

"I hope the reinforcements can arrive in time, otherwise, Xizhou will really be unable to be defended." Zixuan murmured.

But at Zhenyuan Pass, seventy miles away, the fighting was very fierce at the moment. The army of Beiyuan Kingdom came from afar, but without rest, they directly attacked the pass.

In Zhenyuan Pass, there are four giant mechanisms that can launch spears. They can launch hundreds of spears at a time, and the distance can also be adjusted. When Zixuan was building this pass, he asked Mingyu to help and hired a mechanism master from the capital. It took him half a year to complete it. Eight were made at the same time, and the other four are in Xizhou City. The power of this thing is extraordinary.

The army of Beiyuan Kingdom came this time with 30,000 people. I saw only a large crowd of people outside Zhenyuan Pass. These people advance and retreat in a controlled manner, and they look like well-trained sergeants at first glance.

On New Year's Eve, there is naturally no moon. But the people from Beiyuan Kingdom raised torches and lit up the entire city. Logically speaking, they were here for a sneak attack, and they should be doing it secretly, but at this moment, they were attacking the city blatantly. Presumably, they are well aware of the defense here. Thirty thousand people faced three thousand people, which was an overwhelming advantage, so that they didn't care about it at all.

The leader gave the order to attack the city, and then he saw many soldiers carrying ladders coming out of the army of Beiyuan Kingdom. These people carried ladders and, under the cover of archers, approached the city wall.

Suddenly, there was a sound of breaking wind in front, and countless spears flew towards them. Many soldiers died under the spears.

The general behind waved the command flag again, and then another group of people continued to rush forward. On the city wall, countless spears were still fired.

"General, what's on the other side is very powerful. It's not an option for us to attack like this." The person next to the leader stepped forward to persuade them.

The leader shook his head, "There are so many of us, how many more times can he fire that thing? Attack, don't stop."

The people next to him had no choice but to continue attacking. In this way, people were used to pave the way. After three or four groups of people fell, Beiyuan's army finally came under the city wall. They set up the ladder on the city wall and climbed up.

The city defense agencies are better at long-range defense. Once the enemy gets close, they will be ineffective. So the soldiers guarding the city began to throw rolling logs and rocks down. Throwing a big log can knock down many people, and the big log will continue to roll forward, knocking down many more people. The people guarding the city above took the opportunity to pull up the ladder or overturn it. In short, they were trying to find a way to prevent the enemy troops from climbing up the city wall smoothly.

Wenxuan and Ziwen were also on the city wall, throwing rolling logs down with everyone. "We have to save some money, there aren't many rolling logs here." Ziwen shouted.

Xizhou has more plains and less wood production, so there are not many rolling logs prepared on the city wall. If the enemy keeps attacking like this, it really won't be enough.

"Archers, try your best to shoot these Tatar soldiers. Don't let the people behind get closer." General Li shouted.

When they rode fast horses all the way from Xizhou to here, Beiyuan Kingdom had already begun to attack. Fortunately, the army on the Beiyuan Kingdom's side was not cavalry, so those who reported the news and came back finally caught up.

Looking at the crowd of people below, General Li felt a little desperate. Three thousand versus thirty thousand, how to fight this battle? No matter how good they are, they can't beat others? "Everyone, please hold on. We must hold on until Lord Lin safely transfers the people to the city. We can die, but the people cannot die. Sons and gentlemen, we must defend this place to the death." He shouted loudly.

No one answered, because they were all watching the situation below attentively, and kept shooting arrows in their hands, striving to kill the enemy below every time.

The offensive below was still fierce. Occasionally, someone climbed up the city wall, but what he faced was a shining sword. In the fierce battle, time passed quickly, and Dongfang was already a little pale. At this time, there were fewer and fewer rolling logs on the city wall. Everyone was reluctant to continue throwing them down, but the enemies below were still coming up continuously.

General Li threw down a big stone with all his strength, and it hit the heads of several Beiyuan soldiers who were climbing up. They wailed and rolled down the ladder. But they rolled down, and someone behind them continued to climb up. Vice General Li sighed, "That's all, I'm going to die. There are so many people, how can we three thousand people resist it?"

Ziwen looked at the sky, estimated the time, and then said, "General, don't be discouraged. The people in the villages and towns behind you should have almost settled down at this moment. The worst we can do is to die, and we have to drag a few people on our backs before we die."

Everyone on the city wall shouted, "Yes, the worst is to die. Even if you die, you have to kill a few more Tatar soldiers to avoid losing money." At this moment, the crowd was excited and everyone's eyes were red.

At this moment, shouts came from behind everyone. It turned out to be people from the state government, and they rushed over with the young men gathered along the way. It seems that there must be about five to six thousand of these people.

"General, our reinforcements are here, and it looks like there are quite a few of them." Wenxuan looked back and shouted happily.

The people who were guarding the city cheered up when they heard that reinforcements were coming. Everyone stared, and using all their strength, two or three people lifted the big log and smashed it down.

In the distance, the generals of the Beiyuan Kingdom looked at the Daqi sergeants who were struggling to resist on the city wall, and asked with some confusion, "Don't they all say that the Daqi sergeants are very incompetent? We have been attacking for four consecutive hours and have lost a lot of money. There are so many people, but they still can’t get through a small barrier?”