After every heavy rain, the sky is always intoxicatingly blue when it returns to sunny days.

The cool summer breeze blows from the mountains and forests to the east, and a few light white clouds flutter in the infinite and far-reaching blue sky, casting translucent shadows on the earth.

I woke up early that morning. It was now the third day of landing, and the fortifications built south of Sinjin had been drenched in heavy rain, and it looked like a change had taken place that the sappers had not expected. The large pit blown out by the blasting accumulated rainwater several meters deep, and the yellow mud accumulated in it, like tumbling expired soybean milk. The entire one-kilometre-wide pit is now a large mud pond, and if you step on it, the mud will put you on a pair of yellow boots.

The mud in the sunlight smelled of not-so-rosy things, and the warriors stationed at the southernmost breastwork sat sullenly on their horses until they noticed a team of muddy horses coming towards them.

"What the is that?" Wu, the commander of the first battalion of the second regiment, held a telescope forward and looked at the mud monster slowly advancing in the distance, "Is this mud becoming a sperm?" ”

The political commissar on the side also looked at the binoculars for a while, a little uncertain: "This is Jiannu?" ”

"This kind of weather is still coming to Xinjin? Jiannu is so strong? ”

The commissar glanced at him: "Don't underestimate the enemy, tactically pay attention to the enemy." ”

Wu Xiangqian took the binoculars off his neck and handed them to the adjutant: "I know, I see that these Jiannu have never suffered hardship, and the dog's guts are bigger than their bladder." ”

More than 500 meters in front of them, Da Chun was trudging through the mud with one foot deep and one foot shallow. He had now lost the sensation in his legs, and every time he pulled his legs out of knee-deep mud, he couldn't help but think of the radish that had been pulled out.

The horse convoy, which had galloped to Sinjin overnight, expanded to more than a thousand men, and the second group of cavalry with a fleet of firearms caught up with them.

"Firearms, firearms." As soon as he thought of the spear on horseback, a nameless fire would arise in Dachun's numb heart. He had seen this cumbersome weapon during one of his attacks on the Golden Governor's Wall, and two men carried it on their shoulders one after the other, and opened fire about fifty paces close to the enemy, spewing out a patch of lead that had gone somewhere, and then either fleeing backwards or remaining in place to reload—the latter only for a short time, for those who dared to do so were beaten into a sieve by the Auss.

As for the lethality, exactly? What a joke, who knows.

A few minutes later, Wu Xiangqian asked the guards to convey the flag of the cancellation of the shelling. The Kennu, who had been wrapped in mud monsters, was probably lucky enough to stop beyond the distance he had chosen for the shelling.

The political commissar on the side sighed: "You see, Jiannu is not stupid, he will not rush forward stupidly." ”

Wu Xiangqian glanced at the other party: "That's not the mud in this place, I knew it was going to rain, why dig so many holes." ”

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This sudden heavy rain disrupted many people's plans.

As mentioned earlier, the city of North Jinzhou was only a military fortress that was built urgently. Since there were few soldiers in the Houjin Dynasty who knew how to plan or engineer civil engineering, the city was a few hundred meters long, and like all temporary buildings, the drainage facilities were only symbolic.

More than 200 mm of rain fell in one day and one night (Note 1), which is indeed a bit harsh for a military city. In some low-lying areas of the northern Golden State, the Jiannu who had gathered to retreat removed the door panels of their houses, moved out of the tables in the houses, and sat topless on all the wooden objects that could float and paddle in the water. As for the grain that had been placed on the cart, it was still soaked in the water below them.

Huang Taiji was in a very bad state at this time. At the first thunderclap that pierced the clouds, he entered a state of heavy anxiety. The heavy rain disrupted all his plans, and all the grain and grass piled up in the open field were wet, and a large number of horses lost their shelter from the rain, and were completely wet along with their owners. Gunpowder, crossbows, cannons, almost everything was wet or wet. Overnight, the long-range firepower of more than 20,000 Houjin troops returned to the age of the sling.

The only good news... The sleepless man set his sights on the earthen wall to the south—Niu Lu, who was guarding there, had withdrawn to the East and West Camps, because the entire earthen wall had been cut down three feet by the rain, and the hundred-meter-wide mud field had been soaked into a rotten swamp, and no one would choose to attack over this terrain.

For the time being, there is no need to think about the pursuit of the Ao Song people, he thought. "Send the order down, please all the banner lords Baylor and Gushan Ezhen, come to the palace for a meeting." He said to Goshkha (note 2).

When Goshha had been ordered to leave, he reined in his horse and drove his mount into the city. Three kilometers behind him, Kong Youde put down the binoculars with a gloomy face.

"Oh my god your mother's thief, it's raining fart." Kong Youde walked around a few times with anger, looking at the soldiers behind the long wall, who were receiving breakfast in batches without hurry.

According to the original plan, once Houjin began to retreat, the east and west divisions stationed at the Jin Governor's Wall would attack at the same time, pressing the battle line to the east and west camps of Jiannu. Kong Youde had great expectations for this counterattack, and he had long been tired of the defensive battle of only being beaten and not fighting back. In the vast land, there was a hard-fought battle, using steel against steel and gunpowder against gunpowder, which allowed him to vent his bitter hatred for Jiannu in his heart.

"Is there any news from Mao Dashuai?" Kong Youde suddenly asked.

The adjutant hurriedly replied: "The news came early this morning, and there was no rain in Liaodong. If everything is normal, General Mao should have set off. ”

Kong Youde stopped talking when he heard this. He walked to the map in the center of the room, caressed the six forts of Kuandian on the border between Liaodong and North Korea, and then walked along the original border wall of Liaodong all the way to the north, and slowly pressed it to Hetuala.

"The heart yearns for it."

The adjutant glanced at Kong Youde with some surprise, and he said a very rare sentence in Chinese. Under the adjutant's gaze, Kong Youde stared at the target on the map fixedly, suddenly raised his head again, arched his hand to the east, and sighed: "Youde Yao wishes the marshal a great victory." ”

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Just as the adjutant said, at the headquarters of Dongjiang Town, a few hundred kilometers away, Mao Wenlong, the 53-year-old commander of the Pingliao Commander-in-Chief of the Left Capital, was personally leading the 1st Guards Regiment of the Dongjiang Army and the 5th and 6th Regiments of the Korean vassal army on the road near Kwandian Fort. In the past, the tens of thousands of civilians who followed behind the army were not brought, and only more than 2,000 strong men pushed tricycles to transport supplies.

The morning breeze blew, and Mao Wenlong, dressed in military uniform, sat on his horse and ran past the side of the troops for several miles. The marching warriors cheered, and from south to north, more than 7,000 soldiers raised their right hands in high respect for their highest commander.

Mao Wenlong bowed slightly, and waved his right hand to his shoulder to return the salute. Shang Kejin, who was following him, looked at Mao Wenlong with a smile, and the other party's face exuded a mixture of confidence and pride.

How long has it been since Dashuai smiled like this? Shang Kejin suddenly thought.

His mood suddenly dropped, because he couldn't remember the last time he saw Da Shuai smile like this. But he immediately brought up his emotions again, and he believed that Dashuai would become more and more cheerful in the future, and such smiles would become more and more common.

Just thinking about it, Mao Wenlong's voice sounded: "Comrades, sing a song to the ancestors!" Let our families, our folks, hear, our voices! ”

The soldiers in the team applauded. I don't know who started it, the war song of the Dongjiang Army slowly sounded from where Mao Wenlong was, and spread to the north and south wings: "The wind is from the dragon, the cloud is from the tiger, fame, fortune, dust and earth." Looking at Liaodong, the people are suffering, and thousands of miles of fertile land are barren......"

“... Look at the world, as much as you want, and make up for the defects of heaven. Good boy, don't be parents, just for the common people, not for the lord..."Shang Kejin muttered in a low voice along with the song. He looked up, and the flag fluttering above the procession was not only a trumpet flag, but also a white cloth with red names written on it. Shang Kejin's personal soldiers also carried a banner with Shang Xueli's name written on it, which was the name of his father who died in Liaodong in the fourth year of the Apocalypse.

Hundreds of flags fluttered, each with the names of the victims written on them. The names of people who could not be written on the flags were written by the soldiers on strips of white cloth and padded under the helmets. Everyone believes that the white cloth with the name of the family member written on it will attract the attention of the spirit of the family in the sky. They will take the spirits of the deceased to the battlefield, take revenge if they are victorious, and reunite with their loved ones in heaven if they are defeated.

“... Holding a steel knife of ninety-nine, he killed Hu Er before stopping. I am a dignified man, what is a Tartar as a horse and a cow..."

The singing slowly went out of tune, and the warriors slowly lost the melody of singing. The lyrics were read out coldly, but the emotions contained in them gradually became more and more intense.

"The strong man drank all the wine in the bowl, and he did not look back on the journey of a thousand miles. The golden drums roared in unison, and Liaoyang swore endlessly! ”

Shang Kejin looked forward, Mao Wenlong was looking deeply at the north, and raised his right hand with his warriors,

"Kill! Kill! Kill! ”

Note 1: The precipitation data is recorded according to the "Complete History of the Liaodong War", and the statistics are from the Jinzhou Meteorological Station. Precipitation in North Kinking State should be approximate.

Note 2: "Goshha" means "pro-soldier" in Jurchen language.