The news that the barbarians had abandoned the siege was quickly transmitted back to the coalition forces by the scouts. Thanks to the appearance of the telescope, the scout does not need to go forward to get closer to the target, and the driver can take a panoramic view of the huge Xiaochi City ten miles and fifteen miles away.

Hearing the news of the withdrawal of the barbarian army, Bai Liyan was not happy. He found that in the battle against Jin Xuedi, he could not use the inertial thinking and cognition of the Central Plains to measure the victory or defeat of the current strength and the strategic situation.

Generally speaking, the besieging side, in most cases, has more casualties than the defending side, and the defending side has far fewer casualties, unless the disparity between the attacking and defending forces is extremely great.

But Jin Xuedi's siege of the city was an extreme exception, and every time the city was attacked, the Central Plains coalition army suffered more casualties than Jin Xuedi's people. The new method of defending the city adopted by the Xian army had already spread a few years ago, and the Yuke also adopted the equipment of the Xian army to defend the city in the south, but with little success. Iron hoof nails and wolf tooth slaps can hardly do anything.

The siege wall of the Central Plains is dominated by the ladder car, the tower car is very few, the city of Xiaochi is five or six zhang high, the ladder car stretches too high, the rigidity of the wooden ladder and the bamboo body is insufficient, and some are inadequate, so the barbarian army is attacking the city in the south, mainly with the tower car, the trestle car and the broken door.

The iron hoof nails and wolf tooth slaps were mainly aimed at the infantry who climbed the ladder carts to enter the city, while the barbarian army directly attacked the city wall from the tower cart and the trestle cart, and the nail board laid on the outer edge of the female wall was hardly useful.

The extremely high city walls also limited the use of wolf tooth swatters, and at the same time, the armor of the barbarian army was mainly thick cowhide iron armor, which greatly weakened the penetration of sharp objects, and for various reasons, the Xian army's defense equipment was extremely unsuitable in the south.

Jin Xuedi siege the city is a combination of men and beasts, they use unicorns, mammoths, pull large stone machines, use bridge trestles, saber-toothed tigers, dire wolves to the city, and even constant air raids, 24 hours around the head of the bombardment indiscriminately.

In addition, Jin Xuedi learned to make more construction machinery from the craftsmen captured in the Central Plains, further increasing the brutality of the war, and using fire oil bombs, sulfur bombs, and even phosphate rock powder.

The oil bomb is a type of oil with phosphate rock and sulfur compounds added to it, and it is not easy to extinguish after being fired, and even if the soil covering method is used, the oil bomb will burn out until the air can be completely isolated. Because of the addition of phosphorus, the intensity of burning and burning is exacerbated.

When used, it is usually filled into a wooden barrel and ignited a fuse, which is fired into the city wall or the city through a stone machine, causing a large-scale violent fire. Because phosphorus and sulfur are toxic, a large amount of toxic gases are emitted after intense combustion, and a large number of living targets can be killed in a short time.

Although the coalition forces also used burning sulfur to release poison gases, the outside of the city was empty, and the spread of poison gases inside the city was greatly restricted, and the damage of the coalition forces was greater and more severe than that of the barbarian army.

For Xiaochi, whose defenders were only 100,000, the stubborn resistance in January was extremely stubborn, but the barbarian army was far from the point of giving up the siege and retreating south. At least they still have 100,000 more troops than the coalition army, and even 200,000 more in quality, in addition to the more fierce animal resources of mammoth war elephants and saber-toothed tigers, which are not put into frontal field combat.

What worries Bai Liyan even more is that the barbarian army is equipped with hundreds of thousands of unicorn horses on this trip, and if he also follows his tactics and uses horses to ram the coalition battle line at any cost, it will cause even greater casualties to the coalition army, or even the entire army.

However, when the defenders of Xiaochi City were no longer able to go out of the city to create a threat, the barbarian army took the initiative to give up the originally extremely favorable conditions for a decisive battle and quickly withdraw its troops, which was obviously not in line with common sense, at least not in line with the current strategic logic of the Central Plains.

At dusk, the vanguard of the coalition army arrived five miles northeast of Xiaochi City, and the barbarian heavy cavalry that was still being broken could still be seen. When it was dark, Xiaochi welcomed Cao Chi and others into the city, and the army was stationed outside the city, and Bailiyan was not able to enter the city until the next day.

After entering the city, it was learned that the original 100,000 defenders and 200,000 soldiers in Xiaochi were now less than 180,000 left, and at the last moment, the peasant women in the city were armed and put into battle.

In the intervals between entering the city, a saber-toothed tiger could be seen pierced into a sieve by random guns, and more people fell beside it. As previously speculated, the so-called toothed tiger is a saber-toothed tiger, with two huge upper jaw canine teeth exposed, which is extremely ferocious.

"General, it's been a long time, it's time for us to go."

Lu Gao urged on the side of the road, and helped Bailiyan up from the saber-toothed tiger's corpse. Back in the car, Bai Liyan said thoughtfully:

"Why do you think the barbarians are withdrawing?"

"It is said that the siege will not be carried out, and our reinforcements have arrived, so we should withdraw our troops. But the brute army had the advantage in strength, and the withdrawal of troops was indeed different. ”

"That's right, there must be fraud in it, but Ben Jiang really can't think of where the fraud is."

"General, Xiaochi is not our territory, it doesn't matter what he does so much."

"That being said, I have a vague sense that there is something bigger hidden in it. Is there anyone from the marshal's side? ”

"No one has come to give the order yet. However, the other princes and armies had already attended the meeting at the Royal Guest Camp, and the last general thought that it should be because of the identity of the general, so he did not inform our army in advance. ”

"Then let him go. Let's go, go to our camp. ”

"No!"

In private, the princes and armies of all walks of life are crazy that Baili Yan will borrow troops to return to China to regain the throne in the future, but in fact, everyone is wrong.

The political conditions, human environment, and even geographical and economic factors of the discordant country are far less mature than those of the Xian country.

The Xianguo was looted and tossed by Gongsun Yue and the Black Turban Army in turn, the foundation of the traditional conservative and solidified interest groups was completely shaken, the existing monopoly of the profit groups and the elite was completely broken, and there was almost no strong resistance from interest groups to promote law reform and political reform, except for the salt lords.

The foundation of Yongxing City has taken root in Xianguo, and tens of thousands of craftsmen, female workers, and apprentices are making this land take off rapidly at an unprecedented speed.

Borrowing troops to return to the country to fight the country, not to mention how great the political resistance is, is undoubtedly wasting his precious time and youth to do a meaningless thing, and in the end it is just an empty dream.

At present, the foundation of Xianguo has been formed, Baili Yan's life's energy will make it bigger and stronger, the royal power and wealth are just passing clouds, the higher the power, the more frightening the chill and loneliness often make people feel.

Cao Chi was once again convening the princes' armies to discuss the matter of sending troops from the mainland, except for the absence of Shen Bi, Qi, Yan, Zhao, and Chen were the first to express their stance on sending troops. Xu State was affected by the domestic war, the main force was concentrated in the north and could not be withdrawn, and the Song State had pressed all 200,000 horses in the south, the country was empty, and the border defense even needed to rely on the maintenance of Zhiguo and Xu, and there was no possibility of withdrawing troops.

The righteous army of Zhiguo confronted the Black Turban Army and it was difficult to get out. The northern army of the Jin State was rooted in the Xian State, and as the elite of the Jin State, it was self-evident that the suspicion of avoiding war was self-evident. The Jin army is now only transferred to Wang Yanfei's Zhenxi Army, and it is precisely Tao Yong's Zhendong Army that is facing it. Of course, it is also possible to leave aside the main army and send conscripts to fight in the south, but the result will not be a few points better than that of the people's army.

This time, Wang Yanfei was refreshed, and happily agreed to transfer the Zhenxi Army to the south. As for Zhiguo, Tao Yong was still in Tiannan Pass, and Gongliangwen bowed down at this time.

Gongliang Yi is leading the army to confront the Black Turban Army, and it is inevitable to transfer Tao Yong's army to the south, but it is not subject to the control of Gongliang and Yi Taiwei, and Tao Yong is the Great Sima, so Gong Liangwen cannot affect his use of troops. In this way, Tao Yong's Zhendong Army made military exploits in the south, which will inevitably boost the prestige of the Tao court in the future and intensify the court's rebellion.

In addition, Changsun Guo is known as a million heroes, and two million people wear armor, but he was killed by more than 100,000 people in the Black Turban Army, and the Xian Army sent troops to save him. Even though it's water-infused beef, it's beef. If you can't fight a war, you can always transport grain, which is better than being captured by the Black Turban Army and carrying food to the rebels.

The day after the meeting, the Red Cloud Beacon in the Sky Pool was lit again, along with the Imperial Messenger on a mission.

After the withdrawal of the Moon God King, Blendor, he followed the road he had come from, and retreated to the Nordson Pass.

The Nordson Pass is 350 miles northwest of Xutu, 300 miles away from Xiaoxin's southwest pool, and it is the retreat of the Panshan Canyon that guards the retreat of the south, and it is the nearest passage to bypass the north of Xutu, and the altitude is also low, the water and grass in the north and west of the pass are abundant, and it is an excellent place for herding horses and soldiers after spring.

At the same time, the barbarian army intensified the offensive of Duhui, Tiannanguan, and Xutu, with a total strength of more than 900,000, and attacked day and night in turns, only attacking the tactics of one city wall, and gradually revealed its huge advantages under the offensive of the barbarian beasts and war weapons, and the casualties of the coalition army would be even heavier, and the poorly equipped coalition army and the civilian army were like being thrown into a meat grinder, and the living forces were unconsciously exhausted under the tug of war and the war of attrition.

As of the beginning of December and January, more than 160,000 casualties in Duhui, Tiannan and Xutu were casualties, and the casualties increased sharply in mid to late January, reaching more than 250,000 people in total, the cause was that the Jinxuedi people used ointment, sulfur and other poisonous smoke, and poured into the city by using the windless weather in winter, and the city wall of nearly 158 meters high hindered the spread of poisonous smoke, and under the surprise of the epidemic, poisoned more than 100,000 soldiers and civilians, and focused on taking care of Duhui City, a large number of war beasts infested, so that Duhui's losses were extremely heavy.

Duhui is different from Tiannanguan is located between the two mountains when the road is down, also different from Xutu, the east side is the mountain, the west side is the cliff, all are a husband when the pass, the favorable terrain of ten thousand people can not be opened, although the city specifications are not as good as the main city, but occupy the geographical advantage.

And Duhui is also west of the foot of the mountain, but the southeast and north three sides of the terrain is open and unobstructed, the barbarian army is surrounded on three sides, and in the south of Duhui ten miles of the river beach to build a cofferdam to store water, has been dug the aqueduct to the south gate of Duhui City, with water into the city.

In the cold winter, the water dripping into ice, the barbarian army diverted water for ten miles to prevent the water source from freezing, and they put salt, charcoal and ointment into the canals along the way. Paste is a mineral oil that burns violently when phosphate rock compounds are added, but raises the freezing point of water when it comes into contact with water.

In this way, Jin Xuedi successfully poured water into the city in the cold winter season when the water dripped.