After a while, Xie Changzhi stammered: "Now it's .... It's autumn, and there is still half a month to harvest wheat, is this time ..... Will the people of Xue Yantuo come? ”

"I also hope they don't come, but with the lure of food and population, it's hard to guarantee that they won't be tempted."

Speaking of this, Guo Song glanced at the crowd: "Everyone, we can't wait for the Xue Yantuo people to kill before fleeing the city, we must take precautions, make full preparations for the battle, and believe that we can defeat the enemy army." ”

Everyone stood up one after another to say, "I am willing to listen to Guo Yuanjun's dispatch!" ”

Guo Song nodded happily, "I do have some ideas, and I must start implementing them immediately, Captain Jiang, first of all, your task is first." ”

"Humble duty!" Jiang Ping stood up and said.

"You immediately lead 500 people from your headquarters to Feng'an County, and move all the people of Feng'an County to Jiuyuan County, it's best to set off now!"

"Obey the order!"

Captain Jiang Ping hurriedly went, and Guo Song immediately said to the county commander Xie Changzhi: "The biggest defensive weakness of Jiuyuan County is that the city wall is too short, and it must be made as high as possible. ”

Xie Changzhi frowned and said, "I'm afraid it's too late to build the city wall now." ”

"I know it's too late, but you can raise the walls with sandbags, I want to know how many sacks there are in the county?"

"It is estimated that there will be more than 200,000 of them."

Guo Song nodded and said: "This time I brought 400,000 sacks, there are more than 600,000 of them, and they can barely be used. ”

"Envoy, the circumference of Jiuyuan County is more than 30 miles, I'm afraid 600,000 is not enough!"

Guo Song said decisively: "Don't think too much, just build the east and west walls high, as for the north and south sides, I will find another way." ”

"I understand the lowly position, and I will convene the elders today to deliberate."

Fengzhou, like Lingzhou, also has four wealthy families, including the Leng family, the Wang family, the Li family and the Gao family, as long as the four major families are mobilized, then the people of the whole city are mobilized.

In addition to the city wall being too short, Jiuyuan also has another major shortcoming, that is, the number of troops is too small, and Guo Song also took this problem into account.

He immediately sent soldiers to the Western Surrender City and the Middle Surrender City, transferred the 2,000 troops of the two surrendered cities to Fengzhou, and at the same time sent people to Lingzhou to ask Duan Xiushi for necessary support.

The entire Jiuyuan County was mobilized, thousands of men and women were digging soil outside the city and carrying bags into the city, and the soldiers piled sandbags on the top of the city, making the head of the city three feet taller, but don't underestimate these three feet, the difficulty of attacking the city will often be more than doubled.

However, the sandbags are divided into three layers, inside and outside, and the city wall is high, and the soldiers' feet must also be high, so 600,000 sandbags seem to be a lot, but in fact they can only barely be used on the east and west sides, and the north and south city walls are not enough.

Therefore, Guo Song had to find another way to solve the defense problem on the north and south sides.

Guo Song recruited more than 50 blacksmiths and more than 30 potters from the people and the army in Jiuyuan County, and asked all the blacksmiths and potters to make thistle thorns.

Guo Song also asked the old and weak and young people in the city to use tree branches to sharpen into spikes, this kind of wooden spikes are sharpened at both ends, and then dig a hole, insert one end into the soil, and the other end of the spike is facing upward, covered with a layer of soil, which is a sharp weapon against the enemy, a foot into the hole, the wooden thorn will pierce the sole of the foot, so that the soldier completely loses combat effectiveness, and it is also effective against war horses.

In several large courtyards near the barracks, blacksmiths and potters are busy making thistle thorns.

The main thing for the potters is to make molds, make three-pointed semicircular molds out of clay, and then fire them into pottery molds, and the blacksmiths melt the pig iron and copper, cast them in the pottery molds one by one, knock out the pottery molds, and polish them a little, and they become tribulus thorns, which are thrown to the ground, and there will always be a spike pointing upwards.

But that didn't end there, there were still several doctors in the room boiling arsenic, pouring tribulus thorns into it to quench the poison.

In just a few days, the craftsmen created tens of thousands of tribulus thorns and scattered them in the grass outside the north and south of the city before the battle, so that the enemy army would not dare to attack the city from both the north and the south.

The craftsmen continued to make thistle thorns, and if there were enough of them, Guo Song would certainly like to sprinkle them outside the city on both the east and west sides.

Tribulus terrestris has been used for more than 1,000 years, and its practicality is very high, because it will have a huge psychological deterrent to the enemy army and greatly weaken the enemy's morale.

..........

Time passed day by day, 2,000 soldiers from the western and middle cities rushed to Jiuyuan County, and more than 2,300 men, women, and children from Feng'an County were also taken to Jiuyuan County by the soldiers, and there was a lot of open space in Jiuyuan County, and hundreds of tents were set up for them.

The sandbag wall has been completed, and the construction of thistle terrestris continues, but Xue Yantuo has no sign of killing Fengzhou, for this reason, there are many rumors in Jiuyuan County, most of which are criticizing the new soldiers and horses of the three towns for being too grassy and woody, and some people even accuse Guo Song of being famous and fighting for power.

On the street of the county seat, Zhang Wenlong, the county magistrate, whispered to the county commander Xie Changzhi: "County Jun, there are many rumors in the county that are not good for Guo Yuanjun!" ”

Xie Changzhi glanced at him coldly and said, "What do you care about the words of stupid men and foolish women?" ”

Zhang Wenlong wiped the sweat on his forehead and explained: "This is not what the lowly position means, the lowly position is worried that Xue Yantuo will not come, isn't everyone busy in vain?" ”

Xie Changzhi was silent for a moment and said slowly: "Every spring, we have to prevent insect plagues and wind disasters, but we don't know if there will be disasters, I think the same is true for military disasters, it is necessary to take precautions, in case it is really killed, you and I will have to be taken to the grassland to be slaves along with these more than 10,000 people, which makes people have no foresight, and there must be near-term worries!" ”

Zhang Wenlong's face showed a look of shame, and he whispered: "Humble and know your mistakes!" ”

At this time, a soldier ran over, bowed down and saluted: "Qiyu County Jun, Guo Yuanjun is invited!" ”

Xie Changzhi hurriedly asked, "Where are the others?" ”

The soldier bowed and said, "Guo Yuanjun is waiting at the head of Xicheng." ”

"I see!"

Xie Changzhi instructed the county lieutenant to say a few words, urged the horse, and ran towards the head of the city with a few followers.......

At the head of Xicheng, Guo Song looked into the distance, and there was no news from the scouts sent by Li Ji so far, but what really worried Guo Song was Mengzi, who also went to the west to investigate the enemy, and it has not returned yet, which shows that it must have seen something?

In fact, the premonition in his heart became stronger and stronger, even if the people of Xue Yantuo did not come to attack the city, they would definitely come to grab the food.

"Envoy, Xie County's order is here!"

Guo Song turned around, only to see the county commander Xie Changzhi walking quickly, so he asked with a smile: "I heard that there are many rumors in the county, did the county commander hear anything?" ”

Xie Changzhi shook his head and said: "A hundred people have a hundred mouths, if you care about this kind of rumor, don't live your life." ”

Guo Song smiled and said, "Xie Xianling is very open!" ”

"This is the case, if you are troubled by rumors, it can only be nothing, and I believe that Guo Yuanjun will not care about these rumors."

Guo Song nodded, "Xie County's order is right, it's not terrible to do it without coming in handy, it's terrible that the enemy army is coming, but we don't have any preparations!" ”

Speaking of this, Guo Song pointed to the wheat field outside the city and said: "Inform the people in the city that the wheat harvest will start tomorrow, and all the wheat must be harvested within five days." ”

Xie Changzhi hurriedly said: "It will take at least ten days for the wheat to fully ripen, and it is not time to harvest it now." ”

"Of course I know that it is not fully ripe, but the situation cannot wait for ten days, the harvest will start tomorrow, and I will send troops to assist."

Xie Changzhi was a little hesitant, if other things were done in vain, it would be a waste of labor, but if the wheat is harvested in advance, the people will lose.

"Envoy, I'm afraid that if the wheat is harvested in advance, everyone's resistance will be great."

Guo Song saw through Xie Changzhi's worries, and he said coldly: "It's nothing more than a loss!" You give the order, if the wheat is harvested, but the Xue Yantuo people do not come, I will personally pay compensation for all the losses. ”

Xie Changzhi hesitated even more, "This ..... How can this be, let the envoy personally compensate. ”

Guo Song's tone began with a hint of dissatisfaction, and he said in an accentuated tone: "Since I said this, I will naturally keep my word, Xie Xian Ling just say what I say, and then organize the people to harvest wheat, and tomorrow the wheat in the official field will begin to be harvested by the soldiers." ”

Xie Changzhi had no choice but to agree, he had never heard of an official who paid out of his own pocket to compensate the people, maybe it was the personality of this Guo envoy, the key is whether the people buy it or not is one thing.