The night was deep, and the cold wind blew on the body like a knife. The Khitans outside the city still attacked the city, but most of the manpower was concentrated in the northern city, and the pressure on the other three city walls was much less.

Pan Yue organized the people in the city and sent supper to the soldiers defending the city to replenish their strength.

The battle had been going on for two hours, and more than three hundred of Gao Min's men had died, and the rest were exhausted. All the artillery at the head of the city was broken, and even the muskets in the hands of the soldiers were more than half broken. Most of the hot oil poured down from the head of the city has been exhausted, and all kinds of supplies have bottomed out, and now they can only rely on soldiers to fight the enemy to the death. Gao Min divided the soldiers into three parts, one to defend the city, and the other to plug the breached gap, and as soon as the Khitans entered the city, they immediately rushed to drive them down. The other part rests and recuperates.

As a large number of Song troops were consumed, the damage caused to the Khitans was much smaller, and the morale outside was not reduced.

Gao Min stood at the head of the city, his face was like water, looking outside the city, and he didn't say a word. It is estimated that by now, the Khitans have lost three or four thousand people, and they are still fighting to the death. can do such an army, and there will not be too many Khitans. Those who came to attack Quyang this time must be Khitan elite soldiers.

The sky was overcast, and there was no moon in sight, and no stars in sight. There was only a bitter cold wind, whistling and blowing. The Song army in the city had become numb, and most of them were just mechanically carrying out the officers' orders, with expressionless faces. However, the Khitan people outside the city are still vigorous, and the shouts of killing are non-stop. Gao Min really wondered how they managed to maintain such morale.

At that moment, there was a sudden commotion in the city. There was a crowd of people, and suddenly there was chaos.

Gao Min turned around abruptly and said sharply, "What's the matter?" Let Pan Zhixian immediately press down! The Khitans outside are attacking in a hurry, and the city is in chaos! Tell the people that if the city is broken, then everything will be stopped! ”

A soldier ran up to the city tower quickly, and said with his hands crossed: "Command, Pan Zhixian suddenly opened the south gate and led people to escape from the city!" The people in the city fled with them, and they couldn't stop it for a while, seeing that the city couldn't hold it! ”

Gao Minru was hit by five thunderbolts, and he was stunned all of a sudden. Nearly half of the soldiers here were killed and wounded, and they fought with the Khitans for their lives, and Panzhi County just opened the city and ran away? Ran away? The south gate was wide open, and the people in the city ran out one after another, and it was too late to send someone to close it.

Look at the city tower, the people dragged their children and daughters, crying all the way, and they all went to the south gate. Gao Min slapped his hands on the city wall and said, "I knew that I would send someone to guard the city gate, and I wouldn't let the magistrate participate in the defense of the city!" It's useless to talk more, immediately recruit soldiers and team up under the city! ”

The pro-soldiers on one side promised to quickly recruit the soldiers on the distributed city wall and gather under the north city wall.

The Khitans outside the city already knew that the southern gate was open, and they no longer attacked the city, but poured south. For a moment, there was a sudden silence on the city wall.

After a while, the whole army was lined up under the city walls. Gao Min got off the city wall and said in a loud voice: "Panzhi County has opened the city gate, and this city can't be defended." There are already Khitan people coming in at the South City Gate, there is no way, let's go to the West City Gate and go back to Dingzhou! ”

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard shouts of killing in the city. The Khitan soldiers and horses had already entered the southern city gate and were killing in the city.

Gao Min shook his head, he was ordered to defend the city here, the city was broken, and he had to go first. Pity the people in this city, the strong wall Qingye came to the city, and now he has become a ghost under the sword of the Khitans.

Don't say much at the moment, recruit soldiers and horses. Those who were lightly injured were incorporated into the army, and those who were seriously injured and died were killed with one sword. Gao Min took the remaining more than 600 people, opened the west city gate, and went straight to Dingzhou along the Changxing River.

Early the next morning, Liu Jianji had just gotten up and had not yet washed up, when a soldier came to report that Quyang County had been lost. Liu Jianji was taken aback, hurriedly put on his official uniform, and ordered his subordinate generals to immediately go to the official hall to obey orders.

As soon as he entered the official hall, Liu Jianji said: "The new news is that the Khitan soldiers and horses have left Taihang Mountain and have captured Quyang. Immediately fly to Tang County, Xingtang, Xinle and other counties, and guard the place. Dingzhou sent scouts to closely monitor the movements of the Khitans in Quyang, and as soon as there was news, they would report back immediately! ”

The deputy commander made Yang Sui sing the promise with his hand, hurriedly went out of the door, and arranged to go.

Liu Jianji sat down and said: "This time the Khitans came to attack, we didn't get any news, and suddenly Quyang County was lost. How Qu Yang was lost last night, I don't know yet. The magistrate Pan Yue and the commander Gao Min had no news, and Dingzhou should be on strict alert. ”

Speaking of this, he said to Zhu Gui on the side: "Gao Min is your subordinate, what is going on, so I will send someone to Quyang County to find out." ”

Zhu Guicha sang a promise with his hand and said: "Tai Lieutenant, Gao Min is a brave general, and he made many military exploits when he was on the Shaanxi Road. With his temperament, he will not go out of the city out of fear. The loss of Quyang this time is either because the Khitans came too violently, or there is another reason. ”

Liu Jianji said: "If the city is lost, people will not die, and the reason will always be clear." Now the most important thing is that after the Khitans occupy Quyang, they will either come to attack Dingzhou or plunder the prefecture and county. We're going to do two things. One is to arrange to defend Dingzhou, and the other is to immediately organize an army and prepare to pursue and suppress the Khitans who are attacking everywhere. If the Khitans are allowed to harass the prefectures and counties, the imperial court will definitely punish them heavily! ”

The people will make a promise together.

Liu Jianji said: "I have 3,000 cavalry here. Each of your three divisions will send another 3,000 men and form them separately. Six thousand cavalry, according to the situation of the Khitans, must block them west of the Tang River and north of the Mudao River. Then mobilize heavy troops and exterminate it! ”

Zhu Gui said: "Taiwei, the Khitan people come from Taihang Mountain, where there are flying foxes, and the situation is unknown. I don't know how many soldiers and horses have come this time, if it's a big army, we have an army of 50,000 people, can we-"

Liu Jianji shook his head: "The flying fox has a rugged road out of Taihang Mountain, and it is inconvenient to transport grain and grass. The nearby prefectures and counties have been fortified and cleared, and the Khitans cannot obtain grain and grass, so it is impossible for too many people to come. Tens of thousands of troops, what do they use to transport grain? ”

Seeing that everyone was silent, Liu Jianji said: "The Khitan army is coming to attack, and it is inevitable to suffer some setbacks for a while, so you don't have to be discouraged." Dingzhou is near Taihang Mountain, which could have been raided by the Khitans. It's not terrible to be attacked by surprise, but what I'm afraid of is that the next step is at a loss, and the whole army doesn't know what to do. What matters now is to wait for news from Quyang and decide on the next step. ”

Fang Hao, the commander of the second division, said: "Quyang has grain and grass, which can support some days. The Khitan occupies Quyang, and they will not worry about grain and grass for a while. I'm afraid that they will come to the army and attack Zhending Mansion to the southwest. There is no defense under the rule of Zhendingfu, and once it succeeds, it will be troublesome. ”

Liu Jianji thought for a while and said, "Immediately send someone to inform Dou Shunqing and ask him to be careful." If the Khitans go south to attack Zhendingfu, we will join forces with Dou Shunqing and wipe them out north of the Hutuo River. Now, if you want to make Dingzhou and Zhendingfu safe and secure, I'm afraid that you can't. We must prepare for the worst, rather than give up some places, but also concentrate our forces and destroy the Khitans as soon as possible! ”

Fang Hao frowned: "If you do this, the local people are only afraid that they will be calamitized." The army is not well prepared, how can the people be innocent? ”

Liu Jianji sighed: "Hundreds of thousands of troops are fighting, and the place wants to be undisturbed, how easy is it to talk about it?" We can only try our best to protect the place, but we can't do it, and there is no way. The most important thing now is to find out the situation of the Khitans. ”