The sun sets in the west, and the sky is filled with yellow sand.
On the vast plains, Datong City, like a prehistoric beast, still stands peacefully on the border of the Ming Dynasty.
The Battle of Wala dealt a heavy blow to this important town that had gone through many vicissitudes of life, leaving spots and scars everywhere.
However, after nearly half a year of recuperation, although the scars on the city wall still look hideous and terrifying, this ancient military town has already been filled with new vitality and vitality.
On the high city wall, Guo Deng was wearing armor, standing with his sword in hand, looking to the north in the distance, with a bit of coldness in his calm eyes.
Behind him is his old partner Zhu Jian.
Since the Battle of Wala, the two of them, one civil and one military, worked together to successfully defend the city of Datong, and then turned back and defeated King Bodu's army.
In order to restore the vitality of Datong as soon as possible, the imperial court promoted Zhu Jian to the position of censor of Youdu, patrolling Shanxi and presiding over all military and political affairs in Shanxi.
After Governor Zhu took office, he focused on the defense of Datong City as always, and successively added 8,000 soldiers and nearly 4,000 horses from various places.
Today's Datong, coupled with the troops allocated by the capital, has more than 40,000 troops stationed there, which can be said to be a strong army.
The afterglow of the evening gradually disappeared, a red sun completely disappeared on the horizon, and countless torches were lit one after another.
There was a sound of armor clashing, and the tall general came behind Guo Deng and knelt down on one knee, with a hint of uncontrollable excitement in his voice.
“My subordinate, Sun Dayong, has met the Commander-in-Chief.”
"The front line did not receive news all night. The army has already been dispatched. There are more than 4,000 cavalrymen. Going towards Shawo, our vanguard force of 4,000 people has been divided into two groups under the leadership of Deputy General Liu and General Wang.
Set up an ambush at Shunsheng River and Mount Kao."
"Now the main force of our army, 7,000 men, has been assembled. Please give me your instructions, Commander-in-Chief."
Guo Deng glanced at this young man with a simple and honest face, eager to try and full of energy, and a rare trace of confusion flashed in his eyes.
For a long sigh of relief, Guo Deng's pair of tiger eyes became perseverance and turned around and hugged boxing.
“If we go here, we will avenge our civil disgrace and defeat them in one fell swoop. I will leave everything to Master Zhu in Datong City.”
Zhu Jian was a little silent. Logically speaking, Guo Deng, as the chief military officer of the Datong garrison, although he was a military general, should not easily go into battle personally.
His responsibility should be more to stay in the city. Even if he goes to war, he should not be too far away from Datong City.
After all, as a general military officer, if something goes wrong, there will inevitably be chaos in the military affairs of the city.
Just like in the Xuanfu battle, although Yang Hong was sure of winning, he still sent Yang Xin to fight instead of going out personally, just to ensure nothing went wrong.
But this time is different.
Shawo is not far from Datong City, but it is not close either.
Even though they had the upper hand, they still couldn't advance or retreat as easily as they could with Datong City at their back.
Zhu Jian opened his mouth to try to persuade him again, but eventually it turned into a sigh.
The two of them have been working together for a long time, so Zhu Jian naturally knows it.
At the beginning of the War at Wala, Guo Deng failed to rush to the aid of Baiyangkou, which eventually led to the death of the guard Xie Ze in the battle and his head was hanged at the city gate.
This matter has always made him worried and can't let it go, so this time, he will definitely not be able to stop it.
After a moment, Zhu Jian returned the salute and said solemnly.
“Don’t worry, General Guo, I will definitely guard Datong City. When General Guo returns in triumph, I will celebrate for General Guo and the army!”
Guo Deng looked at Zhu Jian deeply and nodded slightly. The murderous aura in his body suddenly filled the air, and his voice was cold and hard.
“Send my military order and the army will set off immediately. The target is Shawo!”
Looking at the quiet night sky in the distance, Guo Deng's eyes seemed to be ignited with raging flames of war.
Scenes from Baiyangkou reappeared in front of his eyes.
Xie Ze, your heroic spirit is not far away, keep a good watch, I am here to avenge you!
………
At the same time, outside Xuanfu City.
A group of thousands of Ola soldiers moved forward slowly. Among the groups, there were several carriages surrounded by them.
The leader is riding a horse. He has a white face and no beard. He is dressed in eunuch clothes. He looks quite out of place among the troops who are all dressed in tiles.
Beside him, there were several people with tired looks, wearing official robes of the Ming Dynasty, also riding horses.
Hundreds of steps away, the team stopped outside Xuanfu City.
Several guards from the mission dressed in Ming Dynasty costumes quickly came to the closed city gate of Xuan Mansion and said.
“The Ming Dynasty’s envoy has returned to Beijing, please open the city gate quickly.”
On the city wall, Commander-in-Chief Tao Jin frowned. Behind him, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Yang Xin also stood solemnly and said.
“General Tao, we are indeed here, what should we do?”
Tao Jin glanced at the seemingly low-key man next to her and said, "Follow the plan."
So, Yang Xin nodded and shouted down.
“I heard that the Supreme Emperor, along with his eunuchs, expressed his gratitude to Eunuch Ning and personally escorted the envoy back. The officials of the Xuanfu have prepared food and wine, so please come and talk to Eunuch.”
When the guards of the mission who came to report heard the news, they turned back and told the truth.
Xi Ning was riding on the horse, looking at Xuanfu City in the distance, glanced at Xu Bin and others beside him, and said.
“Master Xu, are you sure that the Xuanfu has received the edict and is willing to negotiate peace with the Grand Master and accept the Grand Master’s conditions?”
Thinking of the negotiations a few days ago, Xi Ning always felt a little uneasy.
As a close confidant of Ye Xian, Xi Ning knew that Ye Xian was not willing to accept the battle at Zijingguan. Not only did he lose troops, but he also participated in the battle with his younger brother Boyan.
Not only that, after finally robbing an emperor, he turned around and built a new one in the capital. He got nothing but a little money and silk.
Ye Xian felt very aggrieved in his heart.
Xi Ning saw this clearly and suggested that he should continue to hold the Supreme Emperor captive until Ming Dynasty was willing to give in.
But things were a little too smooth.
It had only been less than half a month for those people to wait, and they were as anxious as ants on a hot pot, even agreeing to the condition of cutting off the city.
Things went so smoothly that Xi Ning, who was always cautious, instinctively felt that something was wrong.
However, he had no choice but to believe it first. Even if he didn't want to, he had to come over and negotiate obediently.
However, when we actually arrived at the front of Xuanfu City, Xi Ning still hesitated a little.
As everyone knows, at this time, Xu Bin and others also felt nervous.
What exactly went wrong?
According to the plan, a large army should have rushed out to ambush Xining when he was crossing Yehuling. As a result, from yesterday to now, the journey has been peaceful and nothing happened.
Looking at Xi Ning’s hesitant expression, Xu Bin suppressed the nervousness in his heart and smiled.
"How dare we deceive such a big thing? What's more, even if the father-in-law doesn't believe in us, he should believe in the grand master. If he is not sure, how can he send the father-in-law here?"
Xi Ning's mind was finally settled, he turned sideways and asked.
“How is the situation over there, Grand Master?”
Hence, a middle-aged man dressed as a small Wala nobleman said in a low voice.
"Before we set off, the spies sent by the Grand Master had returned. There were indeed very few troops stationed in Shawo. It seems they did not lie to us."
Xi Ning nodded and said to the guards of the mission on the side: "Go and send a message and ask Yang Xin to open the city gate to welcome the mission..."