The night was as dark as ink, the sky was cloudy, and in the wilderness, the sound of the north wind was as loud as the roar of a bull.

The most painful days of the year in Yezhicheng have arrived, and the days are so short that there are only four hours left. As soon as the sun sets, the temperature immediately turns to ice. However, the cold wind always blows snow foam and ice slag from the surface of the Shiba River and Atami, and scatters them into the city. Take away the last bit of heat in the air, and turn all the buildings in the city into ice sculptures.

What is colder than the weather is the human heart. Since the retreat into Yezhi City, more than 300 people have been executed in just over a month. A small half of them were deserters, while more than half of them were elders and generals under the command of the ten surnamed Khan Suoge, as well as hardcore cronies under the command of both.

Although there are several elders and generals among them, it is possible that they have been wronged. However, the decisive and bloody killing succeeded in nagging all rebellions in the bud. To this day, Suoge's position remains solid. Although when he sent out his army in the summer, he promised his people to spend the winter in the city of Qiuzi. And now, not only did the group retreat to the shore of Atami, but even Shattered Leaf City was lost to the Tang army that suddenly appeared.

The commander of the Tang army was very insidious, and in the last ten days or so, he always sent scouts to quietly shoot archery books into the city. Persuade the elders and generals to kill Suo Ge and surrender to the Tang Dynasty to avoid the disaster of the entire clan.

Unlike the original official proclamation of Datang, it always makes people confused. The text on these arrow books is easy to understand, and they are all accompanied by very exaggerated, yet extremely vivid pictures, so that even illiterate people can pick them up. However, the role of these arrow books is minimal. In addition to making the ten surnamed Khan Suo Ge very angry, there were not many waves in the city at all.

The elders and generals who had the courage and strength to betray Suo Ge had already been killed by Suo Ge first. The rest are either his hardcore descendants, or the weak branches with only a few hundred direct lines at hand, and they are powerless. And Suo Ge understands that it's not just about killing. After a bloody purge of potential political opponents, he immediately gave all the looted proceeds to his supporters, leaving almost nothing for himself.

This generous gesture has won him many hearts. Three days ago, the last elders and generals of the clan, led by the priest Yema, swore a blood oath. The Turks would not be as unproductive as the Turks were to murder their own khan in exchange for the forgiveness of the Tang Emperor. They will fight to the end until the last man falls!

"Then you have to have enough food. Otherwise, there will be no bloody battle, and everyone will have to starve to death in the city. The little arrow Mohe shrank his head into the sheepskin del, and walked up to the city wall in a low voice, his heart full of despair and helplessness. (Note: Piedler, fur coat with fur facing outward.) ）

Behind him were ten brothers from his own headquarters, all of them also dressed in oil-stained sheepskin derles, bloated and sluggish. Everyone's face is covered with chilblains. The pinna, the back of the neck and other places were still slowly oozing yellow water, and soon, Piedler's hat was moistened wet and cold. However, none of them dared to stop, let alone hide in the enemy building to be lazy.

The last team that didn't go on patrol because of the cold had been ordered to be beheaded en masse. The corpse was thrown into the ice cave of the Broken Leaf River to feed the fish, and the head was tied to a rope and hung at the mouth of the city wall. Under the interaction of cold wind and humidity, those dead heads were soon frozen into large ice mounds. No one could see the appearance of the deceased clearly, but the ice mound could be preserved for more than three months without melting, and the fear that was forcibly stuffed into everyone's hearts with death was exactly the same.

"Mo He, Mo He Xiaojian, there is movement, outside the city!" A brother behind him suddenly leaned forward and whispered in a hoarse voice, "Front left, front left in the snow outside the city." ”

"What did you say?" , Mo He was so frightened that his body trembled and almost fell. Then he quickly squatted, holding the battlement of the city wall with one hand, and trembling with the other hand, he took out the horn horn for warning from his bosom. Halfway through the horn, however, his frostbite-ridden hands were stuck in Piddler.

It's easy to warn, as long as he takes out the horn and blows it. The big arrow Yada, who lives in a warm house nearby, will immediately respond with the horn when he hears the first horn. And the warning signal was transmitted to the state government level by level, and it was transmitted to the ears of Suo Ge. However, if the whole city is woken up, but there are no enemy troops in the field, he will be held accountable, and his head will probably be accompanied by those heads hanging on the city wall!

After accumulating a belly of evil fire and nowhere to vent it, he didn't care whether a small arrow sent out a wrong warning, whether it was an unintentional mistake or an intentional teasing of him. He will only make the person who makes him angry pay the greatest price.

"Nick, you hear me clearly, don't talk nonsense! In this kind of freezing bear weather, who would be outside the city in the middle of the night? Several other brothers also squatted beside Mo He. While beware of being attacked by cold arrows, he reminded his companions who were initially warned.

"Just, just in front of the left, outside the city, there was the sound of snow walking. I'm sure I heard it right. I've always had good ears! "Nick, the little soldier of the Turkish who warned the little arrow Mohe before, responded with a pale face and a dumb voice." And more than one. ”

"Now, listen to it again!" Xiao Jian Mo He was suspicious, took out the horn with body temperature, held it in his hand, and commanded in a low voice.

"Hmm!" The soldier who was summoned to Nick whispered yes, and then took off Piedler's hat, erected his red and swollen ears, and slowly turned his head.

This time, after listening for thirty breaths, he didn't hear any new movement. I had to lower my head again and explain with a red face, "Mo He, there's no movement." It is estimated that it was the Tang Army scout who secretly shot an archery book in the city, and when he found out that we noticed him, he ran away first! ”

"Where? Where did the anomalous movement come from? Stand up and show me! The little arrow Mo He breathed a sigh of relief, quickly stuffed the horn back under Pidler, and commanded in a deep voice.

"This way, this way!" Nick's face suddenly turned pale as before, and he stood up, bowed, and led his companions through the city towards the closest position to where the sound came from. "That's it, outside the city!"

Recently, there have always been scouts of the Tang Army secretly shooting archery books in the city, but the soldiers in charge of night patrols rarely find them, let alone have a chance to fight them. The night was too dark for either side to guarantee the accuracy of the feathered arrows. And the scouts of the Tang army, with two long wooden planks under their feet, can glide on the ice and snow as long as they hold the wooden spear in their hands to the ground. There will be no time for the night guards at the head of the city to shoot a second arrow.

"Damn the Don!" Xiao Jian Mo He cursed in his mouth, squatted down for the second time, took out a fire fold with body temperature from his arms, and at the same time commanded in a very low voice, "Torches, the kind with oil." Nick, you're ready to shoot your arrows! ”

"Yes!" One of the brothers agreed, took out a torch wrapped in sackcloth from his pydrel, and handed it to Mohe. With the help of the battlements of the city wall to block the wind, Mo He quickly ignited the fire. The strips of linen that had been soaked in the fierce fire oil were immediately ignited by the fire folds. Mo He dropped the fire fold, snatched the torch, and waved his arms vigorously as he stood up.

"Whew—" Torches flew out of the city in a whirlpool, and fell twenty paces away. The snow fields along the way are quickly illuminated, smooth and smooth, like a mirror!

No, nothing is visible. Not even a single footprint or trace of a slide was found, let alone a living person. Nick, who was holding a bow and arrows and was about to snipe the Tang Army scout, suddenly looked embarrassed like a red cloth, and his mouth was repeatedly slurking, but he couldn't say a complete word.

"It's fine, just a torch." Xiao Jian Mohe was quite responsible, and he didn't make any accusations, but took the initiative to reach out and pat this person on the shoulder, "Continue to listen, tell me no matter what happens." Let's be smart, it's better than letting Tang Jun touch into the city! ”

Although the words were magnificent, he and the rest of the brothers did not believe that in such a cold weather, a large number of Tang troops would be killed under Yezhi City.

First of all, Ye Zhi and Broken Leaf are separated by a hundred or dozens of miles, and even if the Tang Army has the help of something called a sled, it will at least have to walk for a day and a night. Secondly, in such a cold weather, unless the Tang army could put the charcoal basin on horseback, otherwise, before reaching Yezhi, he would suffer from frostbite for more than half of them. Again, and most importantly, there are not many Tang troops in that group, and even if they come out, they may not be the opponent of the defenders in the city. Instead of taking the initiative to come to Yezhi's side to die, it is better to honestly squat in Broken Leaf City and wait for other Tang people in the south of Tianshan Mountain to come for reinforcements.

The torch that was thrown outside the city roasted the snow, and then it was soaked in snow water and quickly extinguished. Outside the city walls, it immediately became darker and colder than before. The little arrow Mohe withdrew his gaze from outside the city, picked up the fire fold, and then continued to stagger along the city wall with his brothers. Bloated, faltering, like a long-tailed marmot before hibernation.

As their footsteps faded away, clinging to the base of the wall, a patch of snow suddenly lifted up. Immediately after that, there was a second, a third, and a fourth...... Under the sheepskin covered with snow, Luo Huaizu took out an extremely small glass bottle from his arms, unplugged it, and shook it gently.

In the glass bottle, the ointment is specially boiled from the rotten bones of animals. Immediately after contact with the air, a faint blue glow emits. It was faint, but it was enough for someone in the woods in the distance to see clearly.

In the woods, Zhang Qian responded by the same means. Immediately, a brother who was good at ventriloquism pinched his mouth with his hand and let out a series of crow calls, "Quack, quack, quack......"

The sound of jackdaws penetrated the north wind and reached Luo Huaizu's ears. The latter smiled, tightened the cork of the glass bottle, and tucked it into his arms. Immediately, he put on a sheepskin that was deliberately covered with snow, and continued to walk against the root of the wall. Guo Jing and Ren Qi, with more than 20 elites, followed closely behind. In a blink of an eye, the group came to the exit of the sewage canal in Yezhicheng.

Because of the cold weather, there was no water in the sewer at all, and the snow blew by the wind was flush with the edge of the canal. Luo Huaizu stepped on it, and the whole person disappeared. However, he did not panic and leaned back while gently tugging at the rope tied around his waist.

Guo Jing, who was also dressed in sheepskin covered with snow and had a rope tied around his waist, immediately sensed his plea for help, and stood on the edge of the ditch, crawling with his hands and feet in the distance. The brothers stepped forward to help pull the ropes, and in the blink of an eye, Luo Huaizu was pulled out of the snow and glided on the snow like a boat.

After making a stop gesture to Guo Jing, Luo Huaizu straightened up again and slipped back into the snow pit. Then, with both hands and feet, he quickly carved a passage through the sewage canal, directly under the iron fence that separated the inside and outside of the city. The iron fence was very strong, and there were bells made of brass hanging from it. However, the copper bell had already been frozen by the ice and snow, and it could not make any sound at all.

Luo Huaizu took a deep breath and once again cleared a three-foot-wide area around him, revealing four adjacent cast iron railings. Immediately, a gourd was taken out from under the sheepskin, and he skillfully opened the mouth of the gourd and pulled out two cowhide ropes soaked in oil. One left and one right, the ropes are wrapped around the railings on the left and right sides of the road, two by two.

Ren Qi quietly jumped down to help, using a thick wooden stick to tighten the rope. As the wooden stick turned, the iron railing, which looked so thick and sturdy that it was difficult to smash with a hammer, slowly deformed, and eventually, two three-foot-wide passages were born on the fence!

"I'll go first, you guys wait here!" Luo Huaizu smiled at Ren Qi, untied the rope around his waist, and went into the city alone. The snow quickly parted around him, like two waves of water being split.

Guo Jing, Ren Qi, and the other two dozen or so brothers in sheep's clothing waited with bated breath. Time suddenly became extremely slow, maybe it was just a few snaps of the fingers, maybe it was half a column of incense or a stick of incense. Suddenly, Luo Huaizu reappeared in everyone's field of vision with an ice slag on his head, and waved lightly at everyone. The face that has long been young is full of pride.

Guo Jing and more than 20 soldiers quickly slid into the snow of the sewage canal, and then drilled through the deformed fence. Converged with Luo Huaizu and drew his sword to be on guard. Ren Qi took out a small glass bottle, stood beside the iron fence, and repeated the actions of Luo Huai's ancestors.

The blue ghost fire flickered rapidly at the location of the sewage drain, and Wang Zhilian responded in the woods with ghost fire and jackdaws. Immediately after, Zhang Qian took 300 carefully selected brothers and threw off the sheepskin that was draped on his body and hung with ice, snow and frost. Under the cover of night, he quickly slid towards the city walls, slid into the sewers one by one, and disappeared behind the iron bars.

"Whew-" The cold wind howled, rolling up snow foam and ice slag, covering the traces they left behind.

Tonight, Yezhi City is exceptionally quiet.