Farming Beneath the Changbai Mountains

After a big battle, Zixuan relaxed temporarily, holding his wife's shoulders and talking to her about the situation in the city.

A maid was talking outside, "Master, the boy in front reported that General Li and his men are here to talk to you about something."

Zixuan didn't know what happened again, so he hurried out, "Jinghan, you stay at home and take a good rest, it's okay, don't worry about anything." Then he went out.

When he came to the front yard reception room, he saw that several generals were all sitting in the room, but General Li was not sitting, but walking back and forth. When they saw Zixuan coming, they quickly surrounded him. "Master Lin, the spies just reported that the Northern Yuan army has arrived outside Zhenyuan Pass. This time the Northern Yuan army is coming with great momentum, and there are 100,000 people. What should we do?"

Zixuan was also shocked when he heard it. 100,000 people? This Northern Yuan country is a big deal. "Everyone, there is no time to lose. We must act quickly. Send people to gather all the people outside the city into the city. This time, we must let the people bring all the food and livestock from their homes. Otherwise, wouldn't they all be left to the enemy? Everyone, speed is of the essence. Let's act separately. Within a radius of 50 miles outside the city, not a single grain or livestock can be left for the enemy. One hundred thousand people, let's see how long they can hold out?"

These generals quickly led their troops to act separately, while Zixuan wrote a few letters and had them sent out of the city. These letters were sent to the magistrates of Taonan County, Xianghai County, and Zhen'an County, which were nearby. There were also letters to the magistrates of Fuyu Prefecture, Han Prefecture, and Long Prefecture. The most important one was a letter sent to the capital. In this letter, Zixuan wrote in detail about the situation of this battle, as well as the situation of the Northern Yuan Kingdom continuing to increase its troops, and of course, he also made a small complaint to Mo Hongfan.

This night was destined to be sleepless again.

Ziwen and Wenxuan led people to clean up the battlefield immediately. They had planned to do it tomorrow morning, but now the military situation was urgent and they could not care about it. "Everyone, pay attention. You must take away all kinds of weapons. Don't leave any behind. Pick up all the arrows and keep them for use when defending the city. We have limited bows and arrows in the city." Ziwen shouted.

No one spoke, but they all lowered their heads and looked carefully. The soldiers of the Northern Yuan Dynasty each carried several pots of feather arrows on their backs, so they scraped a lot of them. There was naturally no moon on the first few days of the first lunar month. Everyone was holding torches and lanterns in their hands, and they were busy.

It took more than an hour, and there was nothing left on the battlefield except the corpses. Ziwen looked at it and felt that it was almost done, so he led everyone to retreat quickly back to the city.

As soon as they returned to the city, the spies of the Northern Yuan Dynasty came here. When they saw the corpses all over the ground, they were scared and hurried back to report. The commander of the Northern Yuan Kingdom was also shocked when he heard that all the troops of General Bart were dead. "When I sent someone to report the news this morning, they were still fine. How come they all died so quickly?" He did not dare to take risks and said that he would stay at Zhenyuan Pass tonight and rush to Xizhou tomorrow. So this man's hesitation actually helped Xizhou. By the time the sky was bright, the people from the villages outside the state city had almost all moved to the city. They knew the news of the enemy's attack in the past few days, and they had already prepared everything and were waiting for the governor to order them to enter the city. So this migration was very fast, and it was more efficient than Zixuan expected. Everyone said that they would take everything with them and leave nothing for the Tartars. The four gates of Xizhou City were closed at this moment. Although there were more people in the city, the public security was still in order and there was no chaos. All the new people were arranged in various places in the city. At this critical moment of life and death, the cohesion among the people was revealed. All the people in the city gave their empty houses to others to live in. Of course, there were some who were not very cooperative, but after the people from the government office came, they were all able to solve the problem smoothly.

Not only Xizhou City, but also several nearby counties implemented the same method, making sure that when the enemy came, nothing would be left behind.

When the army of the Northern Yuan Kingdom arrived outside Xizhou City, it was already noon. Looking at the corpses all over the ground, the commander of the Northern Yuan Dynasty, Yide, had a gloomy face. "Come on, find a place to bury these corpses first. We can't let our warriors of the Northern Yuan Dynasty be exposed in the wilderness." So everyone dug up the snow and temporarily buried these corpses.

Yide did not rush to attack the city, but sent people to inquire around to understand the situation. When he found out that the nearby villages were deserted, he couldn't help but sigh, "Bart's death was probably a trick. Alas, I didn't think carefully enough. I thought it was just a small border town that could be taken down without much force. Who would have thought that Bart would be harmed."

The people around him persuaded him quickly, and then he was fine. It was already afternoon, and Yide asked the army to station down and attack the city tomorrow. A hundred thousand troops surrounded Xizhou City. This time, not even a bird could get through.

Zixuan stood on the top of the city, looking at the Beiyuan army outside the city. At this moment, there were crowds of people coming and going below, but they were moving in an orderly manner, without any chaos. Zixuan sighed secretly, it seems that the people who came this time were actually experts in marching and fighting. As a result, the situation in Xizhou has become more dangerous.

"Have all the things transferred from Longzhou and other places been properly placed?" Zixuan asked.

"They are all stored. The saltpeter and sulfur are all stored in the state government's warehouse and heavily guarded." It turned out that the power of the bomb was tested that day, and Zixuan sent people to several nearby state capitals. Collect raw materials. In fact, there are some in these counties, but Zixuan sent people there to teach the people in the county government how to make the bomb. In this way, several counties can also have more power to protect themselves.

Both saltpeter and sulfur can be used as medicine, so many pharmacies carry them, and some firecracker workshops also have them in stock. Zixuan also taught the bomb-making methods to the neighboring state capitals, and with the cooperation of various places, he got some raw materials back.

"You must pay attention to precautions. I am afraid that most of the next defense of the city will depend on those bombs. Send people over and do more. There are 100,000 people. To kill them all, you will need a lot of bombs." No. Zixuan is cold-blooded, but on this battlefield, either you die or I die. Mercy is useless here.

The people on the side also understood this, nodded, and went to arrange things.

At Prince Fu's Mansion in the capital, several exhausted people rode horses to the door of the mansion. One of them jumped off the horse, his legs unconsciously softened, and he almost fell down. He reluctantly stood up and walked to the door. He said to the guards at the door, "Guys, I'm from Xizhou in the north. The princess's sister, Princess Ning'an, sent us here to ask for an audience with the prince."

The gatekeepers are all close associates of Prince Fu's Mansion. Everyone knows that the princess's sister is following her husband in a place called Xizhou in the north. These people did not dare to neglect and quickly reported inside.

Mingyu and Jingxian are playing with their newborn daughter. This is their second child, who looks a lot like Jingxian. Mingyu likes to hold her for a while every day.

"Your Majesty, the guard in front came to report that the princess's sister sent someone to meet the prince." A girl came in from outside to report.

When Mingyu heard this, he felt a little puzzled, "Okay, let's invite the people in first, and I'll go see them right away." He turned around and said to Jingxian, "Jingxian, you wait here, I'll go take a look. 2 I'm afraid there's something going on over there."

Jingxian nodded, "Go quickly, don't forget to tell me if you need anything."

Mingyu hurried out and walked for more than a quarter of an hour before arriving at the front living room. He saw three people inside, one of whom he knew very well, it was Changshun. "Changshun, why do you think you are here? What does the second sister want from me?"

Changshun was extremely tired now. He took out a letter from his arms and handed it to Mingyu. "Your Majesty, the Northern Yuan Kingdom sent troops to attack Xizhou. When I came out of Xizhou, the enemy troops were already attacking Zhenyuan Pass. My wife sent me to the capital to report a message and request the imperial court to send troops for rescue." After saying these words, Changshun fainted. land. He was so tired that they didn't rest at all along the way.

The two people next to them also said, "We killed several horses along the way before we reached the capital. I hope the prince will quickly find a way to solve the problem in Xizhou." After saying that, the two people also passed out.

Mingyu quickly asked people to settle the three people down, and asked a doctor to come for diagnosis and treatment. As for himself, he hurried to the palace with the letter.

The emperor was still correcting memorials in the imperial study. When he heard that Mingyu had arrived, he felt a little puzzled. On this day of the first lunar month, Mingyu was not at home with his wife and children, so why did he come to the palace?

After Mingyu came in, before the emperor could ask questions, Mingyu said, "Brother Emperor, Beiyuan is sending troops to Xizhou. Here is the letter sent by the second sister. Please read it quickly."

When the emperor heard this, he quickly took the letter and read it carefully. "Beiyuan sent 30,000 troops to attack Zhenyuan Pass? Is it on New Year's Eve? So it's only five days from now. What's the situation in Xizhou now? There are only 5,000 troops in Xizhou. I'm afraid it's in danger now. Anyone who comes, please pass on the order immediately. , and asked everyone from the Ministry of War to come see me immediately."

The eunuch outside quickly went out to deliver the order, and then the two brothers discussed these matters in the imperial study. Half an hour later, the Minister of War, the Minister of War and others all arrived in the imperial study.

"The Northern Yuan Kingdom sent troops to Xizhou, and the magistrate of Xizhou sent people to report the news. Let's take a look. I want to listen to your opinions on how to rescue." The emperor handed the letter to these people.