Outside Dingxi City.

Li Si, the county guard of Shuofang County, stood on top of the city, looking at the boundless Hun camp outside the city, and suddenly felt that his legs were a little weak.

This was the first time Li Si had seen so many enemies face to face.

Zhao Kuo was standing beside Li Si, he obviously noticed Li Si's expression, so he comforted: "Please rest assured, although the Huns are numerous, but Dingxi City is not what it used to be, and the Huns are not so easy to attack." ”

After searching for the Aries King to no avail and learning that the Xiongnu army had begun to advance eastward, Zhao Kuo had to lead his cavalry back to Dingxi City to help defend it.

Although the best thing for armored cavalry is to charge in the field, this does not mean that Zhao Kuo can deal with the 100,000 army led by Du Longqi Shan Yu with 2,000 cavalry.

Fortunately, after several previous wars, the emergency system of the entire Shuofang County has begun to be established, and when the news of the Xiongnu invasion was learned, the people in the entire Shuofang County began to withdraw from various places into Dingxi City.

As a result, this small city, which used to have only a few thousand people on a normal day, has now flooded with more than 60,000 people at once, filling the entire city.

Roughly calculated, now Zhao Kuo probably has more than 10,000 manpower to command, although most of the people here are not professional soldiers, but most of them are nomads who are good at archery, which can come in handy in this kind of city defense warfare.

So Zhao Kuo was full of confidence when he spoke.

Li Si shook his head and whispered to Zhao Kuo: "General Zhao Kuo, even so, with this Dingxi City, I'm afraid it won't last long." ”

As part of Shuofang County, one of the seven northern counties of Zhao State, Dingxi City is still significantly different from many cities in the Central Plains of Zhao State.

First of all, a difference is due to the lack of a large number of stones necessary for the construction of tall city walls, so the city wall of Dingxi City is made of loess tamping, although there are more than two zhang high under the continuous construction in recent years, but it is not the same as the Central Plains city of five or six zhang at every turn.

In addition, there was also a lack of necessary food in Dingxi City.

Although after occupying the two counties of Hetao and Shuofang, Zhao has been constantly moving a large number of immigrants here, wanting to develop here.

Thanks to the efforts of officials and the public, this has indeed achieved some results, at least now Shuofang County no longer needs to use the Central Plains to transport grain and blood transfusions, but has been able to be self-sufficient.

But that's about it.

Since the main force of the Zhao State Frontier Cavalry Corps led by Li Mu had been stationed in Henan before, Shuofang County needed to supply Li Musuo's military rations together with Hetao County, which was also a burden for Shuofang County.

Under the superposition of all these circumstances, according to the text that Li Si just reported from his subordinate officials, the grain stored in Dingxi City can only supply the soldiers and civilians in the city for half a month!

"Half a month?" Zhao Kuo's eyes widened, and his face was full of disbelief: "Just a little bit of food? ”

Li Si spread his hands and said, "General Zhao Kuo, General Li Mu had already taken seventy percent of the military rations with him when he left, and now tens of thousands of mouths have poured into Shuofang County, so this is the case." ”

Zhao Kuo took a deep breath and said, "But it will take at least a month for the reinforcements led by General Lian Po to arrive!" ”

The two looked at each other without saying a word, and then let out a wry smile in unison.

There are no reinforcements outside, and there is no food and grass inside, and this battle is really not easy to fight.

"That's not right!" Zhao Kuo suddenly came back to his senses and said, "Didn't you already send an alert to the counties of Wuyuan, Jiuyuan, and Yunzhong before, there should be some reinforcements over there." ”

Li Si shook his head and said: "The border cavalry regiment is scattered among the seven northern counties, but now that the main force has been brought to Yan Country by General Li Mu, even if there are two or three thousand troops coming, I'm afraid it will be a drop in the bucket." ”

Zhao Kuo scratched his head with some worry and said, "Since this is the case, then let's start to limit rations." The soldiers and all the young men who are willing to go to the city to fight are given priority, and the rest are reduced as appropriate. ”

"That's all there is to it." Li Si sighed softly.

And in the tent of the Xiongnu king, which had just been set up outside the city, a military meeting was also being held.

The voice of the Aries King was very loud in the big tent: "The two counties of Hetao and Shuofang are not places that can be easily given up by the people of Zhao, and this time the people of Zhao will definitely send a large number of reinforcements to come." Therefore, we should besiege this Dingxi city without fighting, and then send elite forces to sweep the entire Henan region and prevent the reinforcements of Zhao from crossing the river! ”

As soon as the words of the Aries King were spoken, the big tent immediately became lively, with those who agreed with it and those who opposed it.

A short Hun tribal king with strange ornaments next to his ears sneered and said, "Aries King, this battle has not been won yet, are you in such a hurry to seize a good pasture?" ”

When the Aries King heard this, he was furious, turned his gaze to the person who spoke, and shouted: "King Lu Tu, don't talk nonsense, you have already said in advance, you will not start distributing pastures until after the war. ”

"yes." King Lu Tu stood up and looked at King Aries without showing weakness: "But Shan Yu also said that if someone occupies the pasture, then the pasture will be allocated to him first when it is allocated, right?" ”

The two glared at each other angrily, and the atmosphere in the big tent suddenly became a little tense.

Du Longqi held the White Bone Wine Lord in his hand alone, and looked at all this in front of him with a smile.

For Du Longqi Shan Yu, the disagreement of his subordinates is necessary, if every tribal king is a group of harmony, then Du Longqi, who is Shan Yu, will not be able to sleep well.

When King Lu Tu and King Aries were already arguing to the point that their faces were red and their noses were about to be pushed together, and it looked like they were about to fist and kick each other, Du Longqi Shan Yu coughed heavily and slapped the empty skull in his hand on the table.

"Enough! Ben Shan Yu thinks that King Lu Tu's opinion is very reasonable, if we hurriedly divide the troops now, then everyone thinks about their own pastures in their hearts, who else will have the heart to fight? ”

"We are here this time, not to grab a wave of slaves and food, but to incorporate this place into the territory of the Xiongnu Empire, and use this as a base point to continue south! Therefore, this single Yu has already decided, first knock down the city of the Zhao people in front of him! ”

Speaking of this, Du Longqi glanced at the Aries King, and then said: "As for the army of the Zhao people, their main force is now attacking the Yan Kingdom, and that Li Mu is also fighting in the territory of the Yan Kingdom with his armored cavalry." So there's nothing to worry about, no matter how many reinforcements the Zhao people come, their main general will only become the wine lord in his hands! ”

"Alright, let's all go down and prepare, and start the siege tomorrow!"