The sky was getting darker, and the mood of Zuo Nianyuan and the others also darkened.

The battle outside the city lasted a whole day. The Song army in Xiongzhou City went out of the city many times to rush and kill, and Lu Mingyu and Luo Xianshi even personally led the most 'elite' thunder thrower battalion out of the city to 'engage', however, the Chinese army collapsed too quickly. Although Lu Mingyu had the intention to rescue several other Song troops, every time he left the city, he was besieged by the Liao army, and he had to retreat back into the city.

By dusk, the battle had gradually subsided, and the Song army outside the city had not completely collapsed, but was divided into three parts and surrounded by the Liao army. In addition to the original Chinese army and the defenders of the left and right flank artillery forts, Zhang Xian's cavalry has disappeared. The remnants of the surviving Song army on the battlefield shrank up to defend, and everyone was desperately resisting. And the Liao army had neither artillery nor gunners, and could not eat these hard bones for a while.

This battle, whether for the Song army or the Liao army, was incredible. The defensive line in front of the central artillery fortress of the Song army's large array was supposed to be the most difficult to overcome, but it suddenly collapsed at the last moment. The cavalry of the Liao army was like a mosquito smelling blood, desperately pouring into the gap in the Song army's defense line, and constantly expanding this gap, in a very short period of time, causing the retreat of tens of thousands of Song troops in the center of the entire large array, and then dividing the Song army into several parts that could not be rescued from each other. For the Liao army, it was a dream victory. An illusion of immortal blessing enveloped most of the Liao generals and soldiers. And for a general like Yelu Tiege, an incredible victory is also terrifying. Therefore, after determining the victory, he chose the safest method, before the horsepower was completely exhausted, surrounded the Song army, and waited to concentrate his forces in the next few days to eat the besieged Song army one by one.

The smoke that filled the sky over the battlefield was gradually dissipating, and the battlefield was littered with the corpses of men and horses.

The corpses on the battlefield were individual and heaps, and the blood that flowed during the day had frozen. The place with the densest concentration of human and horse corpses was on the central artillery fortress of the Song army, and under the collapse of the army, thousands of Song troops put up a desperate resistance, which also brought heavy casualties to the Liao army. Even the battle-hardened generals of the Liao army had never seen so many people killed or wounded in a small place. During the day, under the excitement of victory, the cavalry of the Liao army used their horsepower almost to the limit, and they fought non-stop for several hours, which also made people tired. Therefore, for Yelu Tiege's decision to temporarily besiege the Song army and stop the offensive, whether it is the Khitans, the Murbo, or the 'female' Zhenren, they all wholeheartedly support it. It's like a pack of wolves trapping a flock of sheep, and there's no need to rush to eat them, just waiting to pick the weak ones and kill them one by one.

In Xiongzhou City, the torches in the tent of the Chinese army were bright, and the officers were still discussing matters overnight.

"Our army is newly defeated, and the Liao army is in full swing, if we abandon the city and withdraw our troops, will it fall into the hands of the enemy?"

"If you don't withdraw the troops, will Xiongzhou be able to hold it? This is a lonely city, and there is not much food and grass left. ”

"The 100,000 troops outside the city have been defeated, if they are surrounded and intercepted by the Liao army halfway, can we rush over?"

"That's not necessarily, the Liao thieves and the army outside the city have been fighting fiercely all day, and they are already very tired, and if they don't rush at this time, they will have no chance in the future."

"There are still besieged men and horses outside the city, can you save them or not?"

"We are mud bodhisattvas crossing the river, and it is difficult to protect ourselves, where can we control them?"

"That's right, Zhang Xian and Beiweijun don't know where to go, and the people of the Chinese army headquarters should be rescued if they want to save it."

"That's not what you say, the Chinese military camp is choking the road to the south, we have to find a way to kill back, we can't rush north, right?"

"That's true, but don't count on the Chinese army, those 'bastards'! During the day, the battle was lost inexplicably. ”

"But on the Chinese army's side, maybe General Wang is also inside, if we give up the Chinese army and abandon the marshal, will there be trouble?"

"Bullshit trouble, it's important to keep everyone first, Dashuai or something, let's only recognize Zhao Dashuai, which one is Wang Gui?"

The generals talked a lot, but Lu Mingyu only hung his head and listened. Lu Mingyu was very tired from the day's rush, and at this moment he was sitting on a commode chair covered with tiger skins, his feet were wide apart, he didn't speak, and his calm face listened to the advice of the audience, and only occasionally nodded his head once or twice, indicating that he had heard. I don't know if it's a coincidence, he happened to be sitting in a 'shadow' cast by the torch, and others couldn't see his expression clearly. After the start of the battle during the day, the defenders of Xiongzhou had no contact with the Song army outside the city, and until now I don't know why the Chinese army is like when it was under the command of Zhao Xingde, Lu Mingyu is a general who can take charge alone. Zhao Xingde went south, and after he, Luo Xianshi, and Deng Yuanjue managed the three towns of Henan, his prestige in the army became higher and higher. Years of battlefield experience let Lu Mingyu know that many times, it is not the pre-war temple calculations that determine the victory, but the subtle morale. The military spirit is quite delicate, and many times, a large army is defeated at the hands of its own people, not at the hands of the enemy. However, Lu Mingyu did not think that he was like Zhao Xingde, who almost single-handedly drove the morale of the army from low to high. He's better at watching closely, seeing what morale is really going on, and using that to decide what to do next.

A tooth soldier opened the curtain of the 'door', and the cold wind poured in, Lu Mingyu's expression moved, and he raised his head and said, "You go and invite General Luo, what do you say over there?" ”

The tooth soldier arched his hand and said: "General Luo asked the villain to return to the adult, the army is newly defeated, and the army's heart is floating, he is afraid that the Liao thieves will attack at night, so he will not come to the military discussion." The military situation is urgent, and a decision should be made immediately. Before leaving, he said to General Lu that he would be in the same boat, whether he was fighting or defending, and General Lu presided over the military meeting to have a result, and he had nothing to say. Lu Mingyu nodded slightly. Whether it was under Zhao Xingde or in Henan Kaizhen, the status of Lu Luo's two generals was neck and neck. Therefore, before the northern expedition this time, in order to avoid delaying the military plane, Luo Xianshi proposed that the military discussion should be based on land, and he either did not participate, and he almost did not say a word when he participated. The two cooperated, and it was impossible for Lu Mingyu to treat Luo Xianshi's subordinates badly. Because Luo Xianshi was not present, his subordinates were more active during the military discussion.

Zuo Nianyuan sat in the middle of the Henan generals and didn't say much, just listened quietly.

He is no longer a fledgling, only a hot-blooded scholar. Behind the Guangnan battalion are Chen Gongju and Chen Dong, whether in the Chinese army camp or in the Henan Left Army, they will not be left behind when they break through. The participants in the military conference were all veterans who had been on the battlefield for a long time, and after nearly half an hour, the results had gradually come out. In general, Xiongzhou can not be defended, when taking advantage of the fatigue of the Liao cavalry' fierce battle, the Song army outside the city is still holding on, immediately break through to the south, but in the direction of the breakthrough, the opinions of the generals are still a little different, in the end, everyone invariably stopped, looked at Lu Mingyu, no matter how much the discussion is not as fast as the soldiers, this is the time for the main general to make a decision.

"Alone in a desperate situation, we can only win, not lose. Judging from the daytime, the Liao thieves do not have gunners yet," Lu Mingyu said. The generals' faces were solemn, and they echoed slightly, guessing the deployment of the next breakthrough, but Lu Mingyu stood up and stretched his legs, as if he wanted to move his body after sitting for a long time, he turned his back to the generals and was silent for a moment, turned around, and said firmly, "Prepare tonight, make dinner at the right time, and at the beginning of the day, the cavalry with double torches and four 'gates' came out to cover the army from the west 'gate' out of the city, and then to the southwest, through the left flank of the Liao thief besieged army, and then marched south. He paused, looked around at the generals, and asked, "You guys go back and see what are the difficulties?" Then, You turned his head sideways and asked the tooth general to inform Luo Xianshi. Before the military discussion, the two of them had a brief 'exchange' talk, and they both believed that they should break through as soon as possible, and there was still a glimmer of life. If the Liao army solves the Song army outside the city, it will be difficult for the imperial court to send a large army to the north in a short time, and defending Xiongzhou will be a dead end.

Therefore, after receiving the results of the military discussion, Luo Xianshi only bowed slightly, saying "I know", and began to prepare to break through.

In the afternoon, the Liao attack stopped. The unexpected defeat of the Song army outside the city made everyone in the city very nervous. Whether to fight or to defend is a question hovering in everyone's mind. If this doubt is allowed to continue, it will undoubtedly be the beginning of rumors. Luckily, the general's meeting quickly came to fruition, and as most people thought, a breakout. The battalions were intensively preparing. For recruits who rarely go to battle, it is safer to hide behind the walls, and for veterans who have been in the battlefield for a long time, it is important to get out of a desperate situation as soon as possible, even if it is better to die nine times than to die at all. Therefore, after the preparations for the breakout began, the morale of the army stabilized a lot. The marching army column that broke through the siege was the same as when marching to Hejian, Lu Mingyu and Luo Xian's ten main generals took the 'elite' sharp fire battalion one after the other, and the artillery team and the baggage team walked in the middle.

The so-called death is a battle, and the mourning soldiers will win. Defeat and desperate situation, to a certain extent, can make the whole army work with one heart and one mind.

Although generals and non-commissioned officers do not necessarily think the same thing. An unpredictable 'fathomable' scale, as the army passed military orders and made various preparations for the breakthrough, those who were originally lucky began to make up their minds to fight against the odds, and the tired people were accumulating 'fine' strength. "Die, die, if you want to die, you have to pull a few more pads." Almost everyone thought so in their hearts, and a wave of emotions of fighting to the death began to grapple with it. The smell of smoke left by the battle during the day had not yet dissipated, and most of the people were 'pale' and 'gloomy', silently making various preparations. Most of the soldiers sat or lay down in a battalion. There was little conversation in the battalions, except for the whispered chattering of the officers. Some people checked their armor and ammunition over and over again, some carefully folded the marching cake and wrapped it around their waists, some grabbed snow with their hands and repeatedly rubbed the spear thorns, and some poured out the grass stuffed in their boots and replaced it with freshly dried grass. Everyone was engrossed in all sorts of trivial and small things, not thinking too much about it, and not talking much about the breakout battle after a few hours.