After Zhu Di agreed to the conditions of the Mongol army, he immediately gave up the Xifengkou Pass, and transferred Zheng Heng and his subordinates to Beiping, and at the same time ordered Jiang Yu, the commander of the Zunhua Wei who followed Zhang Fu to the south, to return to Zunhua to defend Zunhua, continue to preside over the mutual market affairs, and at the same time be responsible for the liaison with the Xifengkou Pass Wara Defender Army.

Geng Xuan's third army came to Yongping, Liu Jiang only reported to Zhu Di, but did not ask for reinforcements, one is because he is more confident in holding Yongping, and the other is that Li Rang, who rescued Yongping before, is still in Zunhua and can contain the Liaodong Army in the periphery.

Of course, Zhu Di did not take it lightly, he ordered Li Rang to be stationed in Zunhua to reinforce Yongping at any time, and hoped that the Eseku of Xifengkou Pass would send troops to assist in an emergency, and Ugqi also agreed. It's just that when Eseku received this order, he scratched his head a little, he only had 20,000 people on hand, but the Jurchens outside the pass were becoming more and more rampant, Wu Gao of Xuanfu and Guo Ying of Guangning also showed signs of attack, and the Kaiping, Daning garrisons and the headquarters of the Great Khan also hoped that he could support it. The final result of the rift was that Erleboke once again transferred troops from Mobei to support Kaiping and Daning.

After the Liaodong army arrived at the city, it continued to send cavalry to patrol outside the north gate to prevent Li Rang, Jiang Yu and Eseku from reinforcing in the north. Gai Yu led the infantry army to become a farmer outside the south gate, leveling the land and gradually advancing.

Liu Jiang and Guo Liang observed carefully for a while and felt very boring. Liu Jiang suddenly asked, "General Guo, how is the situation in the other sects?" According to this method outside the city, it is not of much use. ”

Guo Liang pondered slightly, and said: "The west gate is close to the Qi River, there is no Liaodong army, outside Beiping is the cavalry of Liaodong, and the east gate is ......."

The two glanced at each other and were about to speak, but they heard the guard say: "General Pan of the east gate reports that the top of the east mountain is occupied by Liaodong. ”

"Huh? What's going on? ”

"Our army has set up an observation post on the mountain, but the Liaodong army has touched the slope of the mountain in the north, scattered our army, and has captured the top of the mountain."

"Really?" Liu Jiang heard this, but he was not alarmed, the last time the Liaodong Army attacked the city, it had occupied the blocking mountain, but it was only an observation post.

Chinese dynasties have attached great importance to the construction of post roads, and the Ming Dynasty has been even more so. As the center of the northern frontier defense in the early years of the Ming Dynasty, Beiping also extended in all directions. The post road from Shanhaiguan to Beiping passes through Yongping, Sanhe and Tongzhou in turn, and this road avoids the mountains and is close to the sea, and the terrain is flat, making it easy for merchants and armies to pass. However, since the loss of Tongzhou, the Yan army had difficulties in reinforcing Yongping, and finally had to make a detour to Zunhua, which was also the reinforcement route chosen by Li Rang.

The mountain to the east of Yongping actually blocked the post road from Funing, and the post road had to make a detour here. The mountain is a small hill, but only four or five zhang high, the east side is steep, the west side of the mountain is gentle, and it is also a natural barrier on the east side of Yongping.

For General Fei Yu, who was in charge of building the city, there were pros and cons to blocking the mountain, the advantage was that it prevented the army from besieging the city, which was very beneficial to the defense of the east gate; However, there are also drawbacks, that is, if catapults and artillery are erected on the mountain, you can attack the castle. But in Fei Yu's view, overall, the advantages still outweigh the disadvantages. One is that the defense targets of Yongping City are mostly the barbarians in the north, and they are not capable of taking advantage of this shortcoming; The other is that it is not easy to transport catapults and artillery up, and the weapons have no place on the hillside, so they must level out the position, of course, just in case, General Fei Yu arranged catapults and bed crossbows on the wall of the east gate.

Therefore, Liu Jiang was not surprised when he heard that the Liaodong Army had climbed the Blocking Mountain, but when he turned his telescope to the east, he was surprised, because he found that the Liaodong Army was dragging the tiger squat cannon on the mountain. Liu Jiang was in a hurry, and immediately ordered: "Order General Pan to launch catapults and bed crossbows to attack the Liaodong Army on the mountain, and the Liaodong Army will not be allowed to gain a foothold on the mountain, and the soldiers will be sent out of the east gate, and the Liaodong Army will not be allowed to gain a foothold on the mountain." ”

The guards took the order and left.

Liu Jiang looked back at the stunned Guo Liang and said: "General Guo, there is a tiger squat cannon on the top of the mountain, I will go to the east gate to command, you immediately order people to arrange sandbags on the east city wall and dig a cave for hiding soldiers." ”

"Yes, my lord, but," Guo Liang said, "but we don't have so many sandbags." ”

"Then draw some from the southern city wall, as soon as possible." Speaking of this, Liu Jiang said with some sadness: "When I first inspected the east city wall, General Pan reported that most of the catapults and bed crossbows could not be used, but General Ben didn't care, and now it has caused a big disaster. ”

"Immediately light a beacon fire, ask Zunhua for help, and send a messenger to inform the prince."

"Yes, sir."

Looking at Liu Jiang's hurried back, Guo Liang shook his head and said in a low voice: "No, even if there is a tiger squat cannon in the mountain, there is no need to be in such a hurry." ”

East city wall.

Liu Jiang's hunch was correct, after a long period of peace, the cow tendons of the bed crossbow had long been damaged and could not be used. There are also only five trebuchets that can be used, but the trebuchet installation position is fixed, making it difficult to move. Liu Jiang observed the situation on the top of the mountain, and found that the soldiers he sent to attack the mountain could not climb up at all under the resistance of arquebuses and archers, so he had to order the soldiers to return to the city, close the city gate, and then ordered: "General Pan, immediately repair the damaged catapults, if you can repair a few of them, count a few, and order the catapults to immediately throw stones to the mountain, delaying the time for them to set up the tiger squat cannon." ”

"Yes!"

It's a pity that before the catapult moved into place, the tiger squat cannon on the hill began to wreak havoc, Geng Xuan's order was that as long as the tiger squat cannon was set up, it would be launched immediately, no need to wait, it must suppress the catapult at the head of the city.

The steep slope of the mountain was too steep to climb, but when the sappers arrived at the back of the mountain, they immediately set up pulleys, ropes, and rope ladders to quickly carry the tiger squat guns and ammunition up the mountain, including the gunners. Therefore, in the painful sight of Liu Jiang at the head of the city, one after another tiger squatting cannons were set up, spraying stones and projectiles towards the city, and the defenders of the city head wailed, and finally did not dare to show their heads.

But it was very difficult and risky to set up a position on the hillside, it was just to bully the Yongping defenders that they did not have good firearms. If there are tiger squat cannons on the city wall, then the people on the hillside are purely looking for death. Due to the poor accuracy of the tiger squat cannon, when they saw that there was no one on the city wall, they would immediately stop firing, and then the sappers took the opportunity to continue digging their positions, gradually leveling out the terraces on the hillside, and gradually approaching the city wall.

Although limited to manpower and tools, the progress of the Liaodong Army's repair of the "terraces" was very slow, but Liu Jiang was sweating profusely when he looked at it, but he could only watch it, and there was nothing he could do. He ordered his soldiers to quickly arrange the defense of the city wall while the sappers on the mountain were digging positions, and once they saw the sappers dodging, then immediately ordered the soldiers at the head of the city to take refuge. But the initiative is in the hands of Geng Xuan on the mountain, sometimes the sappers just make a fake move, Liu Jiang had to order the soldiers to take shelter temporarily, coming and going, the soldiers at the head of the city were demoralized, exhausted, and the movements were even more slow, so Liu Jiang had to transfer the soldiers of the north gate and the south gate, and even the reserve team to replace the soldiers of the east gate, so that although the physical problem was solved, it spread the panic to the whole city.

Watching the terraces on the hill approach the city wall step by step, Liu Jiang realized that he had been fooled. Geng Xuan had already planned it, and at that time he should have been worried that the Mongols would soon go south, so he acted in a play for himself to paralyze himself, so that he thought that he had solved the problem of the tiger squatting cannon, but he didn't know that he was in the trap. I thought that the last time I came to the observation post on the blocking mountain was for today, but unfortunately I thought I had a plan, and even told the prince that he didn't need to worry, he could keep Yongping.

Liu Jiang looked back at the West and said in his heart: It is estimated that the messengers who asked for help from the prince and Zunhua are finished, Geng Xuan has spent so much effort, will he let himself easily send the news out? I was so careless. Now I can only count on Li Rang in Zunhua, I hope that after he sees the beacon fire, he can come to help in time, and it is best to pull the Mongols, otherwise I am afraid it will not work. Thinking of this, Liu Jiang sighed slightly.

Looking at the sappers on the east mountain and the peasants outside the south gate, Liu Jiang found for the first time that his military strategy was completely useless, the other party did not use any means of sneak attack, he could see every step, but he couldn't crack it. Liu Jiang now understands that the enemy's siege focus must be in the southeast corner, and the combination of the tiger squat cannon on the east mountain and the Wuhan Iron and Steel car and arquebus outside the south gate can achieve the same tactical effect as Sheng Yong, and Yongping City is dangerous.

Two days have passed, Liu Jiang and Guo Liang looked at each other, sitting in the city of sorrow, but there was nothing they could do, Liu Jiang once sent people to attack the sappers on the mountain and the camp in the south city at night. But Geng Xuan's military used a very simple tactic to solve this problem. They lit a fire on the ground, and the Yongping army did not dare to approach at all, and once they got close, they became a live target; Moreover, Geng Xuanjun also sprinkled thistle terrestris on the ground, this kind of thistle terrestris is strung with a rope, and it is easy to put it away, and Geng Xuanjun will spread this iron thistle on the ground at night to prevent Yongping Army from coming out, and then put it away in the morning and continue to work.

Now Liu Jiang and Guo Liang have only one question, why hasn't Li Rang come yet?