The battle lasted until late afternoon.

When the Hu siege soldiers under the city heard the horn of the troops and retreated one after another, the people at the head of the city breathed a sigh of relief.

Either way, the first battle was won.

After counting, in today's offensive and defensive battle, the Wei army suffered about 4,300 casualties, most of which were wounded or killed by arrows flying from the sky.

And how many people were killed and wounded on the Hu people's side is not known for the time being, because when the Hu people withdrew their troops, they dragged away the bodies of their companions by the way.

The Hu believed that the soul of a warrior would return to heaven after death, so they would often hold a ritual on the battlefield for the war dead, and then cremate the bodies of their companions, taking only the ashes with them.

Although the exact number is not known, the casualties of the Hu people are definitely greater than those of the Wei army, and there should be about five or six thousand people.

Because the Hu people sent a total of two groups of siege soldiers, each of about 5,000 people. And when they collected their troops, there were only three or four thousand men left. From this, the approximate casualty figure of the Hu people can be deduced.

Although more than 4,000 people were killed or wounded, the news of the victory in the first battle still made the entire military department excited.

As today's greatest heroes, the thousands of sword and armor soldiers are regarded as heroes and are supported and welcomed by many soldiers.

Everyone knew that if it weren't for the sudden appearance of these tall and heavily armored swordsmen to kill the enemy today, it is likely that the city would really be lost.

While the soldiers were still immersed in the joy of this victory, the study room in the Guogong Mansion belonging to An Guogong himself was filled with smoke, and occasionally mixed with a few heavy coughs.

If someone had been present at this time, they would have been surprised to find that An Guocheng was half-lying on the bed and smoking a hookah. But what was burning on the hookah was not tobacco, but the black incense that was banned by Emperor Jing'an.

In fact, in order to suppress his cough, as early as ten days ago, An Guogong had begun to secretly use black incense.

This is the real reason why An Guogong, who had been ill for many years, was able to appear in the city in good spirits to command the battle.

Xiangwu, a forbidden drug that has been banned as early as the Jing'an Emperor's period, may be difficult for ordinary people to even meet, but with the power of the Xie family, it is not difficult to get these things.

Especially now An Guogong, he needs this kind of strong anesthetic effect even more to relieve the pain and cheer up.

Doesn't the shrewd An Guogong know that this practice is tantamount to drinking water to quench his thirst?

Of course he knew, but he had no other choice.

Now that the Hu army is approaching the city, if he, as the commander-in-chief, does not stand up and command the overall situation, Xinjing will be broken by the Hu people sooner or later, so he can only do this.

Although he won a small victory today, he was not optimistic in his heart.

The Hu people are not only fierce in battle, but also the arrow arrays they use are indeed unmatched.

On their side, on the other hand, almost all of them are semi-recruits who have only been in the army for three or four years. Don't talk about one-on-one, even if it's two-on-one, it's not necessarily the opponent of Hu Ren.

If it weren't for the fact that An Guogong sent a temporary sword and armor brigade to assist in defending the city, and also used hot oil to assist, it is likely that it would be captured by the Hu people in one day today.

Most of these thousands of sword armor soldiers were selected from his private soldiers, and only a few were strong men selected from the army.

To be able to become a sword soldier, the first thing is to be very strong, and have enough stamina and explosiveness, otherwise it will not be possible to engage in fierce hand-to-hand combat with the enemy while wearing heavy armor.

If you change to an ordinary soldier, wearing dozens of pounds of armor, and carrying a heavy shield and broadsword, let alone fighting the enemy, it will be difficult to walk.

But it's not enough to be physically strong, you must also have a ruthlessness that dares to fight and kill.

Otherwise, just having a strong body, but not even the guts to kill, is just a useless stupid big man, and he can't become a sword armor soldier who can kill the enemy at all.

Coupled with the lack of training time, there is simply no time to train the right people from these semi-recruits.

Therefore, An Guogong could only select tall and strong people from his private soldiers to serve as sword and armor soldiers to solve his urgent needs.

These almost invulnerable swordsmen are indeed the most suitable class of troops to defend the city.

Originally, An Guogong wanted to stay at the end and use them, but because the Hu people's offensive was too fierce, he could only use this special unit in advance.

However, there are only a few strong soldiers who can become sword and armor soldiers, and if the Hu people desperately attack the city every day like today, then no matter how powerful these sword and armor soldiers are, they will not be able to stop the Hu people's repeated attacks.

But the matter has come to this point, except to use all available forces to defend the city, and then wait for the arrival of the delayed troops from all over the country, An Guogong can't think of any better way.

Except for this Xinjing, this Jiangnan, where else can they go? Although the world is big, where is there a place for their Xie family.

I didn't expect them to be in the situation they are in.

Thinking of this, An Guogong's aged face showed an extremely remorseful expression for the first time.

What he regretted was that he only cared about attacking the palace during the Jing'an Mutiny, and did not use all his strength to eradicate the Ning family at the first time.

If Ning Zhiyuan's family really died in his hands back then, maybe today's situation would be completely different.

……………………

Early the next morning, An Guogong, who put on his battle armor again, came to the city with a group of subordinate generals to supervise the battle.

Because of An Guogong, a veteran of the battlefield who has fought for many years, several military generals, including Zheng Zhi, the new governor of the Fifth Army, Xie Qingyuan, the commander in charge, Li Zhihai, the general general, and Hu Chunbo, the right-hand battalion officer, all feel particularly down-to-earth and no longer feel as nervous as yesterday.

This is the role of the top pillar, which can greatly stabilize the morale of the army.

After waiting for a while, the Hu people finally began to assemble from outside the camp, and then walked towards the city wall.

The day from yesterday, the eldest prince Arobu still sent tens of thousands of archers to form an arrow array to cover, and in front of him were the siege soldiers responsible for the siege, also about 5,000 people.

However, unlike yesterday, behind the tens of thousands of archers, there were more than 3,000 Han soldiers wearing iron chains, ragged clothes, and holding an "iron rod" in their hands.

Behind these Han soldiers, hundreds of Hu men were forcing them forward with whips and knives. Whoever dares to lag behind will be whipped directly from behind, as if driving away the mouths of animals.

When they saw these Han soldiers holding "iron rods", the faces of everyone present changed greatly, among which An Guogong's face was the most ugly, and his whole face became almost as white as paper.

Judging from the clothes of these Han soldiers, they are clearly the soldiers of the Huojiao Battalion.

And what they were holding in their hands was not an "iron rod", but more than 3,000 firecrackers that their Great Wei Ministry of Industry had spent three years making.

It can be seen from this that the army of more than 200,000 people who came to aid Beijing led by Xie Yukun was indeed defeated, and it may even have ended up with the annihilation of the entire army.

If this were not the case, how could these firearms, which were highly anticipated and valued by the Xie family's father and son, fall into the hands of the Hu people?

The most ironic thing is that these firecrackers, which were originally used to deal with the Hu people and the Ning family, fell into the hands of the Hu people, and the Hu people also planned to use these firecrackers against them.

At this moment, An Guogong only felt cold all over his body and his heart beat faster.

At this time, Mr. Qiu, who was standing in the Hu people's array with his face covered, was staring at the people in the city without blinking, and when he saw the expressions of An Guogong and the others, he smiled, and his eyes showed an extremely happy smile.

He deliberately kept the lives of these firecrackers for today.

This is called the spear of the other, the shield of the other.