Chapter 63 Beacon Fire Reaches the Sky

The news of the loss of Huyukou reached Yanghe City in the early morning of the next day, and it was Tang Zhenhu's personal guards who came to report the news to prove that it took half a day to bring the news into the city, after all, the strong enemy was not far away, and Yanghe City had not opened the city gate for more than ten days.

"What? Huyukou has been lost, so where is Lord Tang now! Yang Hewei, who had just been woken up from his sleep, looked at Tang Zhenhu's personal guard who came to report with a shocked face and asked.

As soon as he talked about Tang Zhenhu, the guard cried with a handful of snot and tears: "Lord Xu, before leaving Huyukou, there were only a thousand brothers left in my city, and there were tens of thousands of Tartar soldiers outside the city...... Whining! ”

Hearing this, Xu Hai couldn't help but sit on the chair, and was stunned for a long time before beating his chest and crying: "Brother Zhenhu, why do you admit death so much!" If the marshal doesn't send reinforcements, Huyukou is not enough to defend, why do you want to put your life into it! ”

The two old men cried one after another, and it took a while to stop, Xu Hai wiped away his tears, got up and shouted, "Someone!" ”

Hurried footsteps sounded, and the guards outside rushed in, clenched their fists and said, "My lord, what do you command!" ”

"Go, go to Datong immediately, and tell the general soldier Lord Wang, just say that Huyukou is lost, let him do it himself!" Speaking of Wang Chonggu, Xu Hai's eyes were full of resentment.

More than 3,000 of the 5,000 soldiers and horses under his command were ordered to support several passes, and 1,000 men and horses were scattered and stationed in Yanghewei in various thousands of households, in case the lawbreakers took advantage of the situation to cause chaos, so that there were only 1,000 soldiers and horses left in Yanghe City now.

Looking at Huyukou, which is getting more and more sad, he has sent people to Datong several times to ask for reinforcements during this time, even if he doesn't give himself, he has to give Huyukou, who is under the most pressure.

But he never thought that several requests for help were vetoed by Wang Chonggu. Although he did not explain the reason, but Xu Hai was like a mirror in his heart, Wang Chonggu was ready to plan in his heart, he was not very sure that he would be able to resist the front of the army of Alta with a few passes, but took the 20,000 infantry troops and 30,000 cavalry in Datong City as the last support, and prepared to rely on the impregnable walls of Datong to resist the 50,000 army of Alta.

Xu Hai can also understand the reason why he did this, because as long as Datong is still there, then I dare not easily cross Datong and continue to go south or east, otherwise it will not be so easy to withdraw, so that the rich land south of Datong will be safe, and the princes and nobles of the capital will be able to enjoy peace.

Originally, Wang Chonggu did not object to this, but now his friend Tang Zhenhu died in Huyukou because he had not seen reinforcements for a long time, and Xu Hai, who was full of grief and indignation, couldn't help but sprinkle his resentment on Wang Chonggu.

The guards took the order and left, and Tang Zhenhu's personal guards, who were crying, also stopped crying, but they were still a little choked up when they spoke: "Lord Xu, what should we do next!" ”

Xu Hai sighed, and said with a bitter face: "I replied that sending troops is a disaster, and most of the local people have fled into the city like frightened birds, although my 1,000 soldiers and horses are not enough to resist my answer, but how can I leave behind tens of thousands of people in the city and flee for my life!" ”

"But Lord Xu, the Mongolian Tatars have a strong army, and they can't hold Yanghe City with only a thousand men and horses, so they stay here and wait for me to bring troops to besiege the city, it is better to take advantage of the current time to flee to Datong with the people, maybe we can save everyone's lives!" Tang Zhenhu's personal guards spoke their minds.

This Lord Xu and Lord Tang have been old friends for many years, and now their own adults have sacrificed their lives for the country because of the lack of reinforcements, this Lord Xu must not follow in the footsteps of his own adults, and force you to read them all.

Hearing this, Xu Hai couldn't help but smile bitterly: "Yanghe is more than 100 miles away from Datong, if the horse can arrive in three hours, but with the people in the city to escape, there is no three days to rush to Datong, and the Tartars are all cavalry, even if we start from Huyukou one step later, we can catch up, there is no barrier to resist, I am afraid that the end will be even worse, it is better to defend Yang and wait for reinforcements now, so there can be a glimmer of life!" ”

Xu Hai's words made Tang Zhenhu's personal guards speechless, this Yang and the city are different from Huyukou, there are not only garrisons in the city, but more are unarmed civilians, and Huyukou as a military fortress, except for thousands of defenders, there is no place where the people live, so it is easy to give up Huyukou, and it is difficult to give up Yanghe City!

Sighing, Xu Hai raised his head and said, "You have been on the road all night, so let's go down and rest quickly!" This official will now go and arrange the defense of the city, and see if he can recruit some strong men to help defend the city! ”

Turning back and talking about the Huyukou stationed in the Huyukou, as he said, take the Huyukou, the road to Datong is a horse Pingchuan, although there are several county towns such as Yanghe City along the way, but the defenders are not many, and compared with the complex terrain and the tall Great Wall Pass, these counties are really not worth mentioning, I believe that it is not difficult to take a city with a lack of troops in two hours.

Therefore, after resting for a night and leaving an elite garrison at Huyukou to protect the retreat, I took the rest of the men and horses to the first city after Huyukou, Yanghe City.

The sound of war horses galloping like thunder, the team composed of tens of thousands of cavalry is spectacular, it is said that so many horses gallop together, the formation should be chaotic, but the Tartar soldiers rely on their skillful horsemanship, and the whole team in the march does not look chaotic at all.

And every time he passed by a village, a hundred households at the forefront would take his warriors to drive away from the brigade and rush forward, and after a hasty raid, he could still follow the end of the team.

It was almost noon, Yanghe City was already in sight, this time Xin Ai, who finally received the forward errand in front of his father Khan, smiled coldly, and ordered to Wanhu Gudamu who had been following him closely: "Immediately send thirty miles of horses to survey the surrounding terrain, beware of Han reinforcements, and send another thousand men and horses into ten teams to search the nearby villages and snatch all the grain back!" ”

Gu Damu stroked his chest with his right hand to receive the order, and before he had time to turn the horse's head, he thought of one thing, looked at Xin Ai and asked, "Prince, do we still want those Han people!" ”

Xin Ai glared at him, and said with some displeasure: "Rice bucket, there are many dangers in the enemy territory, what do you want to do with those burdens?" If your tribe is short of slaves, wouldn't it be more convenient to wait until you get out of the customs to catch them? ”

Gu Damu hurriedly bowed his head and admitted his mistake: "Thank you for the prince's teachings, then the subordinates will arrange it!" "Anyway, he turned the horse's head and whipped away, but he was secretly hating in his heart, this Xin Ai is not a thing, how to say that he is also a general under the Great Khan, and he is also his elder in terms of age, how can he not even be as good as a grandson in his eyes, and he will be reprimanded if he wants to.

Xin Ai didn't know that his little temper had made Gu Damu unhappy, so he turned his head to look at Yang Hecheng, whose city gate was closed, and smiled coldly, and ordered a thousand households beside him: "Quickly go and cut down trees to build a ladder, and start attacking the city in an hour!" ”

Although I felt that the deadline of one hour was really a little nervous, but the situation of Xin Ai's reprimand of Gudamu just now was in the eyes of all the thousands of households, and now where did they dare to ask Xin Ai to ask for more time, and there was no way but to turn around and call for people to work hard.

"Hehe, Najib, Najib, this time I'm going to let you have a long look at it and see what the real siege is!" Xin Ai muttered in his mouth, and at the same time raised his horsewhip and volleyed in the air, and the war horse under his crotch galloped towards Yanghe City.

"The Han people in the city listen, quickly open the city gate and surrender, I will spare you and wait for your life, if not, hum, after the city is broken, the chicken dog will not leave the city spirit!" Xin Ai rushed to the city with a horse, pulled his neck and shouted.

The experienced Xu Hai stood at the head of the city and looked at it, and couldn't help but feel funny in his heart, this guy cherished his own life, and he actually stood outside the range of bows and arrows, and it seemed that he was also a bluffing veteran.

"Come, strongbow waiting!" The corners of his mouth twitched, Xu Hai turned around and shouted, and the guards behind him hurriedly handed over a three-stone bow that he had been holding in his hand when he heard this.

Ordinary soldiers can open a stone bow, if they use two stone bows, they can open up to half, and Xu Hai, the commander of Yang and Wei, is born with divine power, and the two stone bows are easy for him, if he uses all his strength, the three stone bows can be full.

The heavy three-stone bow was held in his hand, Xu Hai took it out of habit, took an arrow back from his hand, closed one eye and stared at it that was still shouting and constantly loving him.

The war horse under the crotch ran back and forth, and Xin Ai's figure was also shaking constantly, but Xu Hai, with years of experience, looked at it for a while and found out his trajectory.

Seeing that as soon as the war horse raised his head, Xu Hai suddenly opened the three-stone bow in his hand, and without pausing, he instantly let go of his right hand.

Only a whooshing sound was heard, and the arrow shot straight at Xin Ai under the city, but the target kept moving. Although Xu Hai figured out the trajectory of movement, it was not easy to make a single hit, not to mention that Xin Ai also pulled the reins from time to time to change the trajectory.

A miserable neighing sounded, and the war horse that had been hit by an arrow in the butt suddenly stood up with its front legs off the ground, Xin Ai never expected that the Han people at the head of the city would be able to shoot bows and arrows at such a distance, and they were suddenly thrown off the horse, causing the guards who followed behind them to panic.

The distance was really a bit far, except for the soldiers who had been fighting for a long time and saw that the arrow had only hit the war horse, and the strong men who came from the city in response to the call cheered indiscriminately, shouting that the general was mighty.

I Da, who was firmly sitting in the Chinese army, had been observing the situation ahead with the clairvoyance in his hand, and when he saw his son being thrown off the horse, his brows immediately furrowed.

"Najib, you immediately lead 5,000 men and horses to the east for a hundred miles, don't be greedy to attack the city, just grab the food from the villages along the way, if you encounter the Ming army on the way, you can avoid it, don't entangle with them!" I suddenly turned back to Bahannaji, who was covering his mouth and laughing quietly.

Naji was stunned and puzzled: "Grandpa, if you don't enter the city, how much food can you have in a small village!" If you don't give your grandson 10,000 horses, your grandson will definitely be able to take down a Han city, and the grain you will get will be more than a hundred small villages! ”

I replied with a smile: "Naji, I'm afraid that the news of our breakthrough of Huyukou has already reached Datong City, if Grandpa is right, the soldiers and horses of Datong City have been dispatched at this time, after all, they have the responsibility to defend the land, and it is impossible to watch the Han people in this radius of hundreds of miles to let our army loot!" ”

"So what, there are less than 30,000 cavalry in Datong City, even if they can catch up, they are not our opponents, just take this opportunity to weaken the strength of the Han people!" Khan Naji took it for granted.

I couldn't help but glared at him, and said: "Najib, kill a thousand enemies and lose eight hundred, if we really meet the Han cavalry, even if we win, it will be a miserable victory, the Han people have a vast land and many people, and the loss of 30,000 horses is not painful, but the soldiers of our Tatar tribe add up to less than 100,000, wouldn't it be taken advantage of by the Han people if we fight like this!" ”

Hearing this, Khan Naji nodded thoughtfully: "Okay, grandson will take people forward, and he will definitely come back before evening!" ”

I replied and laughed, nodded and said, "Go ahead!" Be careful in everything, but don't let grandpa worry about you, hehe! ”