The horns were connected, and the beacons were continuous, and the news of the Khitan prisoners was transmitted.

Liang Xing came to the bottom of the watchtower and stood beside Qin Ming, who was wearing armor all over his body: "Give me a pair of armor, and I will also climb the wall to defend against the enemy." He said to Qin Ming.

Qin Ming glanced at him, then nodded: "It's okay, you came from above, if you avoid the battle, it will be a big blow to morale." He turned his head to his own soldiers and said, "Lu Feng, go and get a pair of armor for Liang Senjun." ”

After receiving the order, Lu Feng entered the warehouse, and after a while, he came out with a pair of armor: "Join the army, come and put on armor for you!" He said to Liang Xing.

Although the chain mail produced in Jinyang is much lighter than the armor and scale armor, it is difficult for a person to put it on, and it needs the help of others. Liang Xing put on the armor with the help of Lu Feng, it didn't fit particularly well, it looked a little too much, so he had to use a bundle to tighten it. After that, he put on a helmet and arm guards made of cowhide.

"How much bow do you use?" Qin Ming saw that he was dressed neatly, and asked again.

"Oh, my marksmanship isn't very good, I'm more used to using a crossbow, get me a four-stone crossbow." Liang Xing blushed slightly, most of the noble children in Jinyang Academy were skilled in bow horses, and he was born in an ordinary Zhuang family, and he had never touched a bow horse since he was a child, so he could only barely pass the two subjects of riding and archery.

"Hey, I didn't see it, Liang joined the army with a lot of strength." Qin Ming was a little surprised when he heard this, and casually boasted, ordinary soldiers are generally equipped with three-stone crossbows, which can open four-stone crossbows in the army, which is considered a stronger type of body in the army, and real warriors can use five-stone strong crossbows, which is very rare.

The beacon tower is a military facility for the ancient border lookout and alarm, which has been used in the Western Zhou Dynasty, and in the Tang Dynasty, more than 1,300 beacon towers were built on the northern border to guard against the surprise invasion of the Turkic cavalry, which played an important role in the final pacification of the rich Turks. Due to the war at the end of the Tang Dynasty, the beacon tower in the north was mostly damaged, and it turned out that during the Jin army, even the Khitan cavalry broke into Wuzhou or Yunzhou in the north of the mountain.

There are about 6 kinds of alarm signals in ancient beacons, namely: beacons, watches, cigarettes, borage, accumulated salaries and drums, and in the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties period, the alarm was transmitted with horns. There is no uniform regulation on how to use it, and all armies have confidentiality regulations, and the system is quite strict, just like an ancient code, which outsiders generally cannot understand. The issuance of different signals should be based on the specific situation of the enemy, such as time, number of people, direction, distance, and so on. In this regard, every once in a while, the expression of the beacon message will be changed, and each beacon tower guard must be familiar with the recitation, able to accurately identify and transmit the beacon signal.

The beacon tower of the Tang Dynasty was much taller than that of the Han Dynasty, and a circle of walls was built outside the platform, and there were four chimneys and four fire towers on the top of the beacon tower, and the chimneys were used to hold cigarettes, and the signal was transmitted more clearly. Since Li Qi returned to Jinyang and ascended the throne as emperor, as the Tang army re-infiltrated the grassland, this beacon tower with obvious Chinese characteristics also spread from Yunzhou and Shanbei in the northern grassland.

When Liang Xing followed Qin Ming to the top of the tall watchtower in Tunbao, he saw that the early warning beacon signal on the top of the stone cliff in the northeast suddenly changed, and it was actually four chimneys raising smoke together, and the beacon tower on the side of the chimney was also lit with fire! Under the reflection of the slanting sun, four thick plumes of smoke soared into the cloudy sky, which was particularly eye-catching.

"It's not good, why is it that the enemy cavalry is entering the army in a big way!" Qin Ming suddenly shouted: "Hurry up and light all the beacons!" ”

Liang Xing looked to the northeast, only to see squads of grassland cavalry emerging from behind the undulating hillside, slowly and scatteredly converging along the yellowed grassland in the direction of Beishan Fort. A five-person cavalry squad had already arrived near Beishan Fort, and Liang Xing tried his best to look calm, carefully observing the Khitan cavalry.

These cavalry should have been sent out from the front, and they were all Khitan horses, and they were taller than ordinary Northland grassland horses. The cavalrymen were all dressed in felt armor, and the surface was covered with rows of copper nails. The leather helmet was also covered with iron plates, which should be the equipment that only the elite troops of the Khitan or Xi tribes could have.

Seeing this situation, Liang Xing couldn't help but feel a sinking in his heart. The Khitan dispatched such an elite, the number should be at least more than 5,000 cavalry, and it will exceed 10,000 if it is not good, this time the Khitan side dispatched so many troops, it seems that it is ready to uproot several fortresses of the Tang army in the border area in one fell swoop.

"The Khitan cavalry mainly came from the north, let's go to the north wall first to have a look and stabilize everyone's mood." Qin Ming's face was gloomy, and he seemed to be trying to stabilize his emotions, at least not to let his subordinates see that he was flustered.

"The Wesper army has received a warning that it is only more than fifty miles away from us, and the general will only need more than an hour to lead a large army to arrive. I hope that the enemy cavalry will not attack in a hurry, and will be able to drag through the most dangerous moment. Liang Xing said after him.

Qin Ming nodded, but did not speak, this fort is only more than a zhang high, although it can block the impact of the Khitan cavalry, but there are only more than two hundred defenders in the entire fort, if the opponent dismounts and forcibly climbs the wall, it will not be able to defend for long. The interior of the Dock Fort wall has a rammed earth platform, about seven feet high, and the defenders stand on the earthen platform on the inner side of the wall, and the single-layer earthen wall on the outermost layer is about one step thick, which just serves as a breastwork bunker.

Qin Ming and Liang Xing went up to the arrow tower in the northeast corner, and saw that the Khitan outpost outside the Tunpu had gathered sixteen people, and they were pointing at the wall of the dock fort outside the range of bows and arrows, but they couldn't hear what was being said. These horses are the elite of the army, and occasionally shoot a few feathered arrows at the wall.

At such a distance, the feathered arrows shot did not pose any real threat, just to test the distance.

Seeing a few people go up to the arrow tower, the Khitan Tan who was talking suddenly turned the horse's head, made a strange cry of "ho" in his mouth and rushed towards the direction of the arrow tower, and shot an arrow at the wall in the gallop, and then turned the horse back with a laugh and rode back. Then he rode out again, and sped back and forth several times.

Liang Xing said: "The captives are very arrogant, don't they know that our divine crossbow can shoot straight for nearly a hundred steps, and they all run into the range of the strong crossbow?" ”

Qin Ming shook his head: "They just want to test the range of our crossbows, as well as the lethality of the arrows, only killing and injuring a few people has little effect." When they start attacking, they will pull out another ruthless ...... Order, no one is allowed to return fire without a military order! ”

Qin Ming was very experienced, and was not moved by the provocation of the Khitan scouts at all, but ordered to wait until the enemy began to attack before starting to return fire.

Indeed, this will give the unsuspecting enemy the maximum amount of damage. In the face of the enemy's provocation, it is necessary to maintain enough patience and composure, which also makes Liang Xing understand......