"There is no shortage of food and fodder in the west city, and the streets and lanes are crisscrossed, making it difficult for the enemy to advance. I have 40,000 soldiers to fight against the enemy. It is by no means hopeless to hold on until the reinforcements of Commander Liu arrive. However, after waiting for a long time, the reinforcements do not arrive, and the generals are worried about the delay.
If you insist on leaving, it would be unkind for me to force you to stay."
At this time, Zhu Hang saw the incompetent and spineless generals Ge Huaicong, and he was deeply disgusted. He suppressed his inner indignation and reluctantly spoke in a slower tone,
"The conflict between Han and Tibet was serious. Liu Shizhong and Cai Yuanyou were the commanders. They were worried that the Tibetan captives would be difficult to surrender and would plunder and invade them. I was worried about this defeat, so I secretly ordered the soldiers to build a road to the city here to prepare for emergencies.
——If the generals want to leave, they can remain calm, hide their voices, and wait until the night is quiet tomorrow. Under the pretense of attacking the northern city, they can move three to five thousand elite soldiers and horses here and leave the city to retreat to the west. This way everyone can have an explanation when they return! Of course!
, previously the camp was too close to Shengde Gate, so in the name of easier command, we first moved the camp under the north city wall, so as not to worry about the enemy being aware of anything..."
The heavy snow was still falling, and the range illuminated by the torches was extremely limited, but Ge Huaicong and others could still clearly see the outline of the road to the city.
Ge Huaicong and others looked at each other, and looked at Zhu Hang with malicious eyes.
Zhu Hang knew what they were thinking, it was just suspicion that he had insisted on the Tianxiong Army to defend the west city before, but he had secretly prepared a retreat for himself with ulterior motives.
"You can go up to the city wall by taking the city road. How can three to five thousand soldiers and horses get down from the city wall?" Ge Huaicong asked after pondering for a while.
"The Supervisory Army Envoy also secretly built more than thirty ladders and two to three hundred ropes. There is no need to collect them from elsewhere. If they act quickly enough, they can send five thousand soldiers and horses out of the city in one hour!" Zhu Hang said,
"In order to build a road to the city, the left and right courtyards have been demolished. As long as the perimeter is guarded, five thousand soldiers and horses can secretly withdraw here first, and then file out of the city after reorganization!"
When fleeing across the city, the most fearful thing is chaos.
When the army collapses, even if there are hundreds of ladders in the inner city, in the chaos of everyone trying to escape, it would be quite optimistic that only one or two thousand people can climb the city wall before the enemy is alerted to the killing coming.
Not to mention that the city is where the escape begins.
The deployment of the Supervisory Army Envoy perfectly solved the chaos before crossing the city.
It would be much more convenient to wait for everyone to climb up the city wall and then go down the ladder and rope. Even if there was some confusion, it would just be a few more people falling to death.
They had thought about running away in panic before, and they had not thought that they would be accused. But now if they could really bring three to five thousand more elites back to Lanzhou, even if they would be accused, it would be better than having only three to five hundred defeated soldiers in the end.
Gotta take it off.
"Changes will happen later. If the enemy is aware of this access to the city and deploys troops outside the city in advance, it will be difficult for us to get out of trouble."
Zhu Hang advocated leaving tomorrow so that they could have an extra day and prepare more secretly. Ge Huai, the commander of Lanzhou Xiang Army, advocated leaving now and said impatiently,
"There are still two hours before dawn. If we mobilize the troops immediately, we should be able to leave the city in time!"
"This heavy snow will not stop for a while. If it drags on until tomorrow night, the snow will be knee-deep. If we leave the city and have no horses, how can we quickly walk through the snow?"
"Heavy snow is falling, and there is no hope for reinforcements to arrive. You should make a decisive decision at this time, and you must not be indecisive again!"
Ge Huai opened the conversation, and the generals began to talk to each other. The most important thing was to leave immediately and not delay it any longer.
As for who should be removed, everyone is fair, that is, the most direct bodyguards will be removed.
Except for the death of Zhu Guangwu, the Tianxiong Army in Datong has seven Forbidden Army Commanders and Du Yuhou headed by Ge Huaicong, six Xiang Army Commanders and Du Yuhou, plus Shuozhou Qingshun Army Cao Shili, Meng
Each of the two Pings was surrounded by guards ranging from 200 to 500 soldiers, totaling less than 4,000 people in total.
They personally care a little about the personal guards. If they have nephews and clan members in the army, they will basically arrange them in the personal guards camp.
By taking these direct soldiers away, not only would they have someone to protect them when they were pursued by enemy soldiers during their escape, but more importantly, after they returned to Lanzhou, they would have more or less confidence to face the imperial court's accountability.
"Since all the generals feel that they should leave at this time, I don't insist on it. It is I who have reserved a retreat here to block the world's long mouth, and I should be the queen of all the generals," Zhu Hang suppressed his heart.
He sighed and said calmly, "I wonder if General Ge will stay with me until the last group before leaving, or should he go out of the city first to reorganize his troops?"
"It won't work if so many people are leaving the city in chaos without someone outside to suppress them."
Who knows if the mobilization of troops and horses will cause any noise and alert the enemy?
Once the enemy is aware of it, or if the news is accidentally leaked, and the army becomes roaring and disturbing, it is very likely that the last few groups of people will not be able to leave.
How could Ge Huaicong stay with Zhu Hang until the end?
"Well, in order to prevent the news from leaking, everyone should not leave here anymore. Each of them will send one of their direct henchmen back to falsely claim that they are going to make a surprise attack on Beicheng and transfer the troops here. Who is still thinking about taking the plundered property at this time?
, Hu Ji, were taken away together, and the result was a mess. Don’t really think that I, the military supervisor, and the court judge are innocent!"
Zhu Hang said sternly.
"As it is, each person calls a confidant to come in and deliver the order, and no one is allowed to whisper the order!" Ge Huaicong knew what kind of virtue these people were, and he had to bear the pain of throwing the two Hu Ji away. Naturally, he would not allow others to do this.
Bad times.
Zhu Hang added: "In order to delay as much time as possible, at the last moment, I need the generals such as Jie Zhong stationed nearby to obey my orders. I cannot let them be slack or arrogant. I must first ask General Ge to hand over the tiger talisman."
Give me!"
"..." Ge Huaicong hesitated.
"Although after General Ge left the city, as the supervisor of the military envoy, I had the right to control the various ministries, but I may not be able to suppress the generals such as Jie Zhong who heard the noise and came to find out. At that time, I cannot use the tiger charm to frighten them.
, the news was leaked in advance, and it will be difficult for the military supervisor in charge of the rear of the palace to escape, please understand General Ge." Zhu Hang insisted without giving up.
Ge Huaicong said: "Okay, when I leave the city, I will give you the tiger talisman, and I will also write another military order, so that Xie Zhong and other commanders will obey your orders and act -"
Ge Huaicong was a cautious person. Zhu Hang asked him to come here to discuss matters. He brought more than a hundred guards with him. He first controlled the courtyards on the left and right, but the north wall and northwest corner tower were still under the control of the military envoys.
Down.
Ge Huaicong wanted to escape at this time, and did not want to argue with Zhu Hang on these trivial matters.
Yue Hailou looked at the vague northern city wall under the night with a gloomy expression. He couldn't help but be a little suspicious, but he also knew very well that Ge Huaicong and others were eager to escape. What he wanted to say at this time would not have any effect.
…………
…………
In the early morning, the main hall of Shanfa Temple was brightly illuminated by dozens of candles.
Xiao Linshi was wearing a fox fur coat and sitting in front of a long desk covered with scattered papers and albums. His face could not hide his haggardness and fatigue.
In order to facilitate the transmission of military information, the door of the main hall was opened, and the cold wind poured in, making the candles flicker.
A dozen soldiers were quietly guarding the front of the hall; several military officials in the main hall, their hands and feet were red from the cold, were reporting non-stop, sorting out the military information coming from everywhere.
On various confrontation battlefields, even if there was no movement from the other side, Xiao Linshi requested that military information be relayed every half an hour.
"There's something going on in the west city," a military general walked in. He didn't even bother to take off his clothes. He walked quickly to the case, letting the snow fall on the hall, and said, "There are people moving to the northwest corner in several places.
The noise seems to be exactly what the commander expected. They have already prepared an escape route through the city, and they really do not dare to delay their departure until the snow is deep. Commander, we should light a bonfire immediately and start a night battle!
"
Xiao Linshi shook his head and said: "Without any troops in the city, Wu Shang immediately led his troops to Qiulindu to ambush the fleeing enemies there!"
"Wu Shang only has a thousand cavalry. If they intercept them at Qiulindu, they may not be able to completely intercept the fleeing soldiers!" the general said.
"What's the harm in letting them escape with two or three thousand people?" Xiao Linshi said with a bitter smile, "It's better than us paying two to three thousand more casualties - we realized yesterday that there might be a problem there, why didn't we take precautions?
, isn’t it just that we want to surround ten towers, so that the enemy will escape from there, and the Vietnamese army will collapse without a fight? We Khitans can no longer bleed..."
…………
…………
Xu Huai was not with Zhu Hang, it was enough for him to have Xu Wukun and Lu Wenhu by his side.
Xu Huai and Xu Wuqi stood in the fifth war shed, staring at the weak bonfires in the north and south cities. Most of the civilians on duty, Jianrui, were sitting around the bonfires behind the barricades, drinking or talking loudly.
, looking from a distance, you can feel their high morale, and some people even sang and danced in front of the bonfire.
"The people are completely unaware!" Xu Xin'an stared at the movements in the north and south cities and sighed.
"Whether you notice it or not depends on whether they set up an ambush when Ge Huaicong and the others fled to Shuozhou. We can't tell now!" Xu Huai said, "Ge Huaicong and the others have almost withdrawn. We will accompany Zhu right now.
Lang Lang goes to see Zhong - if we can't convince him, we may not even have an hour left!"
Jie Zhong and his troops were close to the Supervisory Army Envoy. After dawn, no matter how slow Jie Zhong was, he would have noticed that Ge Huaicong and others had escaped from the north city wall.
After dawn, the enemy's reconnaissance cavalry scattered outside the city will definitely see Ge Huaicong and others fleeing westward against the northern foot of Wuzhou Mountain. However, as long as they can stabilize Jie Zhong and use his troops to continue to control the periphery of the Supervisory Army Envoy, the theory is
The Upper West Side can hold on for at least half an hour more...
