3

"It's cold."

Before dawn the next day, Zhong Li was woken up by the north wind that had been poured into the tent. He opened his eyes in a daze, and saw that the stove was standing by the bedside, and the fire was still burning, and he knew that the northwest wind that blew before he fell asleep last night must have been blowing all night. Removing his fur cloak and placing it on the quilt, he continued to curl up and sleep, and when he was quiet, he could hear a rustling sound. He opened his eyes again, peeking out through the blown corners of the tent, and saw something shining in a warm red glow from the torches.

"It's snowing outside?" Zhong Li asked the guards who were keeping vigil outside the tent.

"General Hui, it's down, it's quite big, it started half an hour ago."

When Zhong Li heard this, he instantly fell asleep. "I was really hit by this crow's mouth!" He got up, put on his clothes, and went out of the tent, and when he tore open the tent, he saw that the snow was flying in the sky like white feathers, and the whole camp was covered with a cold color. The firelight is warm and red, and the backlight is blue and cold. Looking up at the sky again, the dark red clouds were old, and it was clear that the snow was going to fall for some time.

After dressing and wearing armor, Zhong Li hurried to the bank of the Daling River, and saw that although there was no white snow on the river, the flow rate of the surface of the river had slowed down.

"General!"

Zhong Li heard that it was Qin Lang, so he waited for him to say directly: "I also said to take a look first, so that you can rest for a while." ”

"Everyone wakes up early on such a cold day, but they don't want to move. Fortunately, I collected a lot of cotton clothes and jackets from the stone castle before coming here, otherwise it would be difficult to get out of the house. ”

Qin Lang just said casually, but Zhong Li suddenly thought that when he confronted Dai Ying under the stone city, the Northern Feng Army didn't seem to have very cold clothes, and if Tuhe City was not equipped before, then the Northern Feng Army should inevitably suffer from freezing at this time. But now, although he has the advantage of clothing, the lack of troops and the lack of danger to defend are the key. The fire last night had completely destroyed the gates and watchtowers of Fuli City, and the city walls had cracked and collapsed in many places. The newly built camp of the North Forward is only just laying the foundation, and it is impossible for him to make a decent defense line in a day.

After further consideration, even if he rushed out of the defense line, Dai Ying chose to besiege but not attack, and led his troops straight to Shicheng, where the army was empty, and then took supplies and transferred them to Liaodong. Judging from the current weather, even if Yuan Xian's army arrives, he will also confront Dai Ying on the bank of the Liao River because of the lack of supplies of clothing and grain. If this is the case, the consumption of the Shuoguo army will be huge, and winning this battle will only expand the territory, and perhaps the enemy on the northwest side will launch an attack on Yongzhou because of the quagmire in the battle in western Liaoxi this winter. After thinking about it, only by desperately dragging Dai Ying in the Daling River can the war in western Liaoning be satisfactorily resolved.

"General?" Because Zhong Li's thoughts were too deep, Qin Lang stood on the side for a long time, and a layer of snow accumulated on the top of his hair.

"Ah, let's go back to camp." Zhong Li brushed the snow off Qin Lang's head and put a hood on him again. In such weather, Dai Ying should not blink. Send more scouts to the Tuhe River to investigate, and report back as soon as there is any movement. ”

4

At noon, Zhong Li had been in the big tent and did not say a word to the map, the Daling River is nearly twenty miles here, and there are flat rivers on both sides, even if there are scattered hills, it does not pose any danger. Now that the river is gradually frozen, I am afraid that by dusk and Fuli will become the only lonely city on the plain.

The snow showed no sign of abating, but it was getting heavier and heavier, and the roof of the tent was so heavy that it had to be cleared by the guards from time to time. At this time, Qin Lang walked into the tent, and from his boots, he could see that the snow had accumulated to the depth of his ankles.

"The general is still thinking?"

"Alas, if it is in the past, I will fight to the death with that Dai Ying, even if I lose, I will have to delay some time for Yuan Xian. But yesterday, Gu Yu said that doing so would be no different from Xiang Yu. ”

"Xiang Yu? Wouldn't it be nice to have a shipwreck?"

"She means we don't have brains, we can only rely on the sky to eat. The sky does not give food, and it is a desperate battle. ”

Qin Lang smiled when he heard this: "If the sky doesn't give food, fight to the death." When will the general be witty? ”

"Excuse me." Zhong Li was also self-deprecating, "What about Gu Yu? That girl won't sleep until now, will she? ”

"No, when I came, I saw her piling snow in front of her tent, saying that the wind was curling at night, and if she didn't block the wall in front of her, she could only suffer from the cold. He also said that if the general still can't think of a way, it is better to move his muscles and bones. ”

"This girl is talking more and more neatly." Zhong Li thought about it again, although Gu Yu was like a wild crane every day, she never seemed to give herself useless words, could it be that she also hinted at something this time. "Well, according to what she said, I'll take a look."

Zhong Li and Qin Lang went to Gu Yu's residence, only to see her in a snow-white cloak, holding an iron chisel to pile the snow one by one a step outside the tent door, and piling a snow wall more than a foot wide one zhang long and half a person high. Hearing someone coming, she turned her head to see that it was Zhong Li, and then put down the iron drill and stood at the door.

"What, you've come up with a solution?"

Zhong Li walked closer and saw Gu Yu's face beads of sweat, and his usually slightly pale complexion rarely revealed a little pink. "No, didn't you tell me to come and see if I couldn't come up with an idea? What can you point me to? ”

Gu Yu smiled, "I just want to tell you that by piling a snow screen at the mouth of the tent like this, you can suffer less wind chill at night." ”

"Miss Gu Yu is lacking in life here," Qin Lang interjected at this time, "We all seal the corners of the tent with snow, so we don't have to be so troublesome." ”

"Really? Fortunately, I only piled up for half an hour, and I should move my muscles and bones. ”

Zhong Li stood aside, knowing that Gu Yu's words had other meanings, so he deliberately said: "I want to know, can the things you pile up in the past half an hour stand, if you go up a little higher, won't the wind collapse if the wind is stronger?" ”

"It's easy to do, just a basin of cold water." So saying, she went back to the house and took out a copper basin, scooped it into the snow, and then placed it on the stove, and in a short time there was a basin of cold water. Then she took the basin out of the tent, three or five paces away from the wall of snow, raised the basin and sprinkled water on it. The wall of snow shrank in an instant when it met the water, and the surface melted to a depth of two inches. However, in the blink of an eye, the water froze on the snow, and Gu Yu knocked on the ice with a copper basin, making a gong-like sound.

"It's enough to keep out the wind, and if you want to be strong again, you have to mix some dirt into it at first, and maybe you have to drive piles to build it high. But it's only temporary, and it's not that much. ”

Zhong Li walked up to him and patted the snow wall, it was indeed a little hard. "You," he turned to Gu Yu and said, "In the future, if you have a way, you will make it clear, don't always do this." ”

Gu Yu raised the corners of his mouth and replied in a calm tone: "I can't try it, not to mention that what I came up with is just an idea, how to use it is your business." ”

"No, General, Miss Gu Yu, what are you two playing here?" Qin Lang was still confused, "How can I listen to discussing the current military situation?" ”

Zhong Li and Gu Yu looked at each other and smiled, and then ordered Qin Lang: "Pass my military order, the whole army will go to the bank of the Daling River, and bring all the engineering tools in the general, I will demonstrate how to build this ice wall in public." ”

Before and after, Zhong Li gathered everyone to the bank of the Daling River, so that everyone could learn how to build an ice wall. He then ordered 3,000 soldiers to line up on the banks of the Daling River, each in charge of a piece of land, and according to the map he had drawn, he built an ice wall made of snow and mud around him. The rest of the men selected reinforcement materials from the new battalion of the north and transported them to the riverbank, so that the twenty-mile defense line was settled.

"Report!"

Just as Zhong Li finished arranging various affairs, he saw a scout hurriedly come to report.

"Speak."

"General Yu, Yuan Xian's army has broken through the Tuhe River, but Dai Ying has withdrawn first, and he doesn't know where to go."

"Sure enough, the old fox's tail is not easy to catch." This matter was not expected by Zhong Li. "Revisit."

It was almost noon, and there was another scout emergency.

"General Yu, General Yuan led his troops to intercept Dai Ying, was ambushed by Dai Ying, and was defeated, and now Dai Ying has led the remnants of more than 10,000 people to march towards us."

"What?" Hearing that Yuan Xian was defeated, Zhong Li was startled, "Is Yuan Xian sick?"

"The handsome flag should be unharmed."

Hearing that Yuan Xian was unharmed, Zhong Li breathed a sigh of relief, "I don't expect her to have an accident so easily." He thought to himself. In this way, Dai Ying should go to Daling River tonight. ”

5

The snow gradually stops at dusk, and the faint orange-red afterglow of the sun shines through the thick clouds, making the vast land look quiet and soft. A thick layer of snow also accumulates on the Daling River, blending with everything around it, and occasionally the reed poles that emerge echo with the black and gray branches in the distance, casting a lilac shadow on the white snowfield.

Zhong Li built the ice wall close to the river bank, and after half a day, it has been built nearly a zhang high, because every foot is built to splash water, the ice wall looks like waves surging on the white lake from a distance, with layers of patterns. The ice wall is less than two feet thick, and behind it is an ice platform five feet wide that is five feet high. After Zhong Li finished building the platform, he splashed it with mud so that it would not be too smooth.

Due to the limited time, there were no beacons and watchtowers on top of the ice wall, and these things were built of logs behind the ice wall, and the height was only two feet. There is a guard tower every thirty zhang square, which basically does not play a defensive role, just to facilitate the transmission of news. Twenty or thirty zhang behind the ice wall, Zhong Li also had people build four zhang high ice platforms for his own command.

Just when the defense line began to take shape, the scout came to report that Dai Ying's vanguard was less than ten miles away from the river bank, and although Yuan Xian's army followed closely, it had been attacked and harassed by small forces along the road, and had been thrown away by Dai Ying a little distance. Even if it is a rapid march, I am afraid it will take more than half of the night to get here.

Looking at the snow-white ice wall built on the dark brown earth, Zhong Li was full of ambition. He stepped down from the high platform, approached the ice wall from the straight dirt road, bypassed the ice and snow fence on the inside of the gate, and slowly slid down the half-man-high dirt slope on the bank of the river through the white and thick doorway, and stood on the frozen surface of the river where the snow had been swept away. He pulled out Chang Xun and stabbed hard at the ice beneath his feet, a tiny crack in which Chang Xun was deeply embedded in the ice. Pulling out the knife again, Zhong Li could see that the ice had frozen nearly three inches, enough for lightly armed soldiers to pass through the river.

"It's about the same as expected, then let's start a battle, and the war in Liaoxi should almost come to an end."