The sudden snowfall forced Kunyang to try his best to let the people in the city survive the winter.

For example, try to stuff people into the already overcrowded houses in the north of the city, with four or five families crammed into a hut, and everyone can only sit by the wall and sleep around the campfire and clothes in the middle of the house.

But even so, there were still many people who could only sleep on the streets, so Li Xu, the county leader, supplemented by Chen Cai, the chief steward of the Brotherhood, mobilized a large number of Brotherhood militia to repair the grass huts on the streets and alleys overnight, and built several earthen walls for these grass huts that were originally ventilated on all sides to block the cold wind.

Xun Yi, the governor of the western part of the country, who learned of this, also resolutely assisted, directing the night operations of the Brotherhood militia.

Until the early morning of the next day, that is, around midnight on October 18, the people in Kunyang City were barely sheltered from the wind, but to this extent......

At two o'clock, Zhao Yu stepped on the snow about two knuckles thick to inspect.

At this time, Li Xu, the county magistrate, told the former of the urgency with a serious expression: "...... After a night of hasty work, the people in the county have basically been sheltered from the wind and snow, but the situation is still not optimistic, quilts and winter clothes are in short supply, and many people can only make grass as quilts to resist the cold wind...... After a few days, the weather will turn cold again, and I am afraid that many people will suffer from wind chills......"

Zhao Yu was silent after hearing this.

Of course, he knows that when the first snow falls every year, it is not actually cold, and even the weather will warm up slightly after the snowfall, and the terrible thing is that after this warming, the temperature will plummet, and the winter will gradually begin to show its cruel side.

If the people of Kunyang are unable to get a warm shelter, then a large number of people will inevitably fall ill, and even a large number of people will die.

After pondering for a moment, Zhao Yu ordered: "First of all, all the workshops in the city will be suspended, and the empty places will be used to house the people, and the rations will be distributed as usual during the period; Second, in the places where people gather, prepare more firewood for heating, and if the firewood is insufficient, take the tables, chairs, cabinets, couches and other furniture in the county people's homes as firewood, and give compensation after the war; If it is still insufficient, use the city's timber reserves. Thirdly, he instructed the officials in charge of logistics to put more soup pots and prepare more hot water, and urged the people in the vicinity to use hot water to ward off the cold every once in a while, especially those who lived in the grass huts in the streets and alleys. ”

"Closing the Workshop?" Li Xu was slightly startled.

You must know that he Kunyang can hold on to this day, removing the command of the leader of the black tiger thief in front of him and the bravery of the front-line soldiers, and the workshops in the city are also indispensable, not only imitating many crossbow machines, but also creating countless crossbow arrows.

It was the existence of these workshops that caused many 'marksmen' to emerge from the Black Tiger Thieves, the county army, and the Brotherhood militia, which not only actually killed many rebel soldiers, but also severely weakened the morale of the rebels, so that most of the rebels did not dare to show their faces in a conspicuous position, lest they be killed by the cold arrows of the Kunyang sharpshooters.

Unexpectedly, today Zhao Yu ordered the closure of the workshop.

Seeing Li Xu's hesitant expression, Zhao Yu said: "Our crossbow machines are no less than two thousand, and the crossbow arrows are piled up, which is barely enough to deal with the next battle. ”

“…… All right. ”

After weighing it, Li Xu also understood that Zhao Yu's decision was correct, nodded and said, "What Leader Zhou ordered, the lower officials will do it immediately." ”

may be due to habit, although Zhao Yu is now the second county lieutenant of Kunyang County after Ma Gai, Li Xu's title to Zhao Yu is still the same, and he still uses the subordinate official as a humble title in front of Zhao Yu.

In this regard, the county commander Liu Bi is the same, and he does not dare to 'trespass' and think that he is the boss of the leader of the black tiger thief.

Nodding, Zhao Yu said again: "As for what the county Cheng said, regarding the shortage of quilts and winter clothes, I will find a way to do this as soon as possible." ”

"Yes!"

Li Xu arched his hand and turned to leave, leaving Zhao Yu and Jingnu, Niu Heng, and He Shun standing in the streets and looking around.

Coincidentally, at this moment, inside the south gate tower of this county seat, Guan Shuo and Chen Miao are also standing next to the wall, looking down at the snow scene in the city.

Of course, the two of them are not admiring the snow, but discussing more important things, such as what to do now. Is this Kunyang still fighting? If you don't fight, should you retreat immediately? And when retreating, should we take revenge on the Kunyang people?

In this regard, not only Guan Shuo is still hesitating, but even Chen Miao has not yet decided.

The reason is very simple, since Chen Miao sent a letter to Zhou Hu a few days ago, the letter was like a mud cow into the sea, and there was no response.

At first, Chen Miao thought that Zhou Hu might be hesitating, but now, he suspected that Zhou Hu was delaying time.

Grabbing a handful of snow on the wall and pinching it twice, Chen Miao turned his head to Guan Shuo and said: "The first snow of this year has arrived, I believe that in a few days, the weather will become more and more cold and bad, and the righteous master must retreat before that, and retreat to Dingling, Yuncheng, Zhaoling and other counties for the winter, so as to wait for the next year." ”

『……』

Guan Shuo didn't say a word, and stared at the snow scene in the city.

Seeing this, Chen Miao strengthened his tone a little: "You also know that with the current strength and morale of the army, the righteous division has no way to completely capture this Kunyang. …… The soldiers are tired of repeatedly fighting with Kunyang soldiers for the streets and alleys in the city, and their morale has fallen to a low point, if you don't retreat, you tens of thousands of Changsha volunteers will probably be wiped out in this winter! ”

As he spoke, he slowed down his tone and persuaded: "Guan Shuo, for the sake of the generals, don't do a battle of will!" ”

Chen Miao's warning and reminder eased the sharpness in Guan Shuo's eyes slightly.

I have to say that even now, Guan Shuo's intention to 'capture Kunyang' has not changed, and even, it has become more determined.

But because of various objective reasons, such as weather and morale, Guan Shuo gradually understood that it was difficult for him to capture Kunyang before winter.

Coupled with the snow last night, there is basically no chance.

Just like Chen Miao said, after the first snow, at most three or five days, the weather will become worse, and there may be heavy snow for several days and nights in a row, unless Guan Shuo is willing to take his tens of thousands of righteous teachers and Kunyang as the last bet, betting that the righteous master can resist the cold while capturing Kunyang, otherwise he must retreat.

Obviously, the morale of his righteous teacher at the moment is not enough for him to make such a bet.

In other words, 'defeat in Kunyang' has become a doomed fact that cannot be changed.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but shake his head and sighed: "I didn't expect that my righteous teacher, all the way to conquer the city, would be in Kunyang...... Taste defeat. ”

Chen Miao glanced at Guan Shuo and did not speak.

He knew very well in his heart that there were many reasons why Guan Shuo and his Changsha Yishi suffered defeat in Kunyang, such as the containment of Ye County, which made Guan Shuo unable to mobilize the remaining 20,000 troops, and for example, the weather, but the biggest reason was that the soldiers of Changsha Yishi were too proud and looked down on a small Kunyang, and it was too late to wake up.

After thinking for a while, Chen Miao persuaded Guan Shuo: "If the army is still there, you can still plan in the coming year; Otherwise, there is no room for recovery. ”

Guan Shuo was the commander of Changsha Yishi after all, and after some weighing, he finally made a wise decision: withdraw his troops!

But it's just two words, but it takes a lot of effort to put it into practice.

For example, Guan Shuo had to withdraw his general Tian Xu and his 10,000 righteous soldiers under his command in Zhanshui first.

But more importantly, it still has the question of how to withdraw his troops from Kunyang.

He Changsha Yishi paid 30,000 or 40,000 casualties, so it was difficult to capture the southern city wall of Kunyang, and he couldn't return it to Kunyang in vain, right?

Kunyang must be made to pay some price, for example, to provide food and grass for his righteous teacher, or to provide quilts, winter clothes, or to return some weapons that originally belonged to his righteous teacher, in short, Kunyang must be made to pay some price, so that his righteous teacher can save face to the greatest extent and not be considered 'defeated'.

Hearing Guan Shuo's proposal, Chen Miao immediately frowned, shook his head and said: "Kunyang is also short of grain, grass, quilts, winter clothes and other things to keep out the cold, I'm afraid Zhou Hu will not agree." …… As for the weapons and armor that he took away, I believe he will never return them. ”

"He must say yes!" Guan Shuo said coldly: "Otherwise, before I withdraw my troops, I will set fire to Kunyang and burn Kunyang into a blank field......

Chen Miao frowned and dissuaded: "If that's the case, then you and I and Zhou Hu will really never die." ”

"It's not much worse right now!"

Guan Shuo replied coldly, and Zhengse said: "If we withdraw to Dingling and return to Ye County in the next year, Kunyang will still be the first place for my righteous master to conquer, otherwise he will unite with Ye County, and my righteous master will suffer from the enemy." Since this is the case, he simply burned Kunyang to the ground with a fire, and forced Zhou Hu to lead the people of Kunyang to retreat north to Xiangcheng and Runan ......"

"Hmm......"

Chen Miao fell into deep thought.

After all, from the standpoint of his righteous teacher, Guan Shuo's point of view is not too correct.

After thinking for a moment, he spoke: "Don't make a decision in a hurry for the time being, it's better to send an envoy to negotiate with that Zhou Hu first." ”

Hearing this, Guan Shuo's tone was also softened, and he nodded and said: "If he promises to return our army's weapons and armor, provide food and winter clothes, and promise not to support Yexian in the coming year, I can not set fire to the city." ”

After summing up, the two sent several guards as messengers to the city to negotiate with that Zhou Hu.

At the same time, Zhao Yu was inspecting the situation of the people with Xun Yi, Liu Bi, and Li Xu in the city, and comforted and encouraged them, when he suddenly saw the black tiger thief come to report: "Leader Qiqi, the rebels have sent a messenger, hoping to negotiate with the leader." ”

Seeing this, Zhao Yu chuckled and said, "Sure enough, after this snow, the rebels also have the heart to retreat...... How many of you, let's see how it goes? ”

Liu Bi and Li Xu didn't care, but Xun Yi was quite concerned, after all, he was very worried about what Zhao Yu would do with the rebels in private, and when he heard Zhao Yu say this, he readily agreed.

After a while, Zhao Yu and his party returned to the county government and summoned the envoys of the rebel army.

The envoys didn't talk nonsense, and when they saw Zhao Yu sitting on the main seat, they said Guan Shuo's negotiation with an expressionless face, or a threat: "...... Guan Shuai ordered me to convey that if Kunyang is willing to return the weapons and armor of our army, and provide grain, grass, quilts, and winter clothes, my volunteer division is willing to return the southern city wall to you and evacuate the city; If you don't agree, my righteous master will immediately set fire to the city and swear to burn Kunyang to a white ground! ”

Hearing this, Liu Bi, Li Xu, and Xun Yi all showed anger.

And just when Xun Yi was about to open his mouth to scold, he suddenly heard a snap, and it turned out to be Zhao Yu slapping the table.

"Wishful thinking!"

Raising his hand and pointing at the envoys, Zhao Yu said fiercely: "You go back and tell Guan Shuo that if he dares to set fire to the city, I will lead tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians in Kunyang to unite Yexian, Xiangcheng, and Runan counties to pursue the rebels together." If he retreats to Dingling, I will kill Dingling; He retreated to Zhaoling, and I killed Zhaoling. Take the city and settle the people of Kunyang! …… I want to see if he Guan Shuo can stop the survival of tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians in Kunyang, but can he stop me Zhou Hu?! ”

“……”

The entire yatang was silent.

Not only the envoys sent by Guan Shuo were suppressed by Zhao Yu's cruel words, but even Liu Bi, Li Xu, and Xun Yi were dumbfounded.