In the hall of the county government, Yan Zhenqing sat in the center, and more than ten of his generals and officials sat down. Almost all of them looked the same, with slender, dark faces and skin, unkempt hair and beard, sunken eye sockets and cheeks. Appears tired and malnourished.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the time has come to the extreme, the city has run out of food, and tens of thousands of people and thousands of soldiers are already starving. We must settle this matter immediately, or Plains City will no longer be able to defend it. Everybody's going to starve to death here. Do you have any good ideas? Yan Zhenqing said in a dumb voice.

The crowd was silent. The atmosphere is dull and depressing, and they are all frowning and thinking about countermeasures, but who can conjure up food? Tens of thousands of mouths, that's not something that can be filled casually.

"Fan Cangji, how much grain is still in the warehouse? I don't think there will be a grain of rice. Yan Zhenqing asked.

A short, black and thin man arched his hand and said: "Yu Taishou, there are less than 200 stones left in the warehouse, and it is not enough to boil it into gruel for tens of thousands of mouths to eat." If it were all left to the soldiers, it would barely last two days. ”

Yan Zhenqing frowned and sighed: "Two hundred stones, what can it be used for?" There are still cattle in the army or something. ”

"Yu Taishou, there are still fifty military horses left. The previous cattle and hundreds of military horses and livestock had all been killed to replenish the food for the soldiers. Fan Cangji said.

"Kill them all, and there is no need for horses at the moment, cook a few meals mixed with grain, at least let the people who have run out of food eat something, otherwise people will starve to death in the city soon." Yan Zhenqing said.

"You can't do this, Yan Taishou, these fifty war horses are left to break through at the last moment, there are no horses, once the city is breached, how can you evacuate Taishou?" The Commander and Lin were busy.

The crowd also objected one after another. Those fifty horses were indeed kept to cover Yan Taishou's breakthrough at the last moment, and if they were killed, they would be completely trapped here.

Yan Zhenqing frowned and shouted, "Evacuate? Who said it was going to be evacuated? Yan said that the city is in the people, and the city is dead. The city of the plains is broken, and Yan dies here, how can he escape? Don't say more, Fan Cangsi, immediately kill the war horse to satisfy the hunger of the soldiers and civilians in the city. ”

The commander of the thousand horses, said unrelentingly: "Yan Gong, we all understand that you are an iron backbone, for the sake of Pingyuan City, you have done everything you can do." In nine months, under the siege of the rebels, my plain city is still standing here, who in the world can boast of it? All this is thanks to Yan Gong's precautions and leading the people of my plains to unite as one. But for nine months, there were no soldiers and horses from the imperial court to come to the rescue, and our news was also very closed, and we didn't know what the situation was. Now that the city has run out of food, it has reached the point of exhaustion, even if the city is broken at this time, Yan Gong is worthy of the court and His Majesty, and worthy of the people. ”

Yan Zhenqing frowned and said, "What do you mean?" ”

Ma Xiangru said: "Humble and courageous, please allow Gong Yan to escort you out of the city." The thieves and soldiers in Beicheng are the weakest, and if they take advantage of the night to launch a surprise attack, they may fight their way out and rush out. When the time comes, let's turn back and run south to the Yellow River crossing. On the other side of the Yellow River is Beihai County, and it is said that the Beihai Taishou Helan Jinming has hoarded 5,000 soldiers and horses on the south bank of the ferry, and he will definitely meet us, and then he will be able to get out of trouble safely. ”

Yan Zhenqing's face became extremely ugly, and he slapped the table and shouted: "Bold, you are a good horse, you actually came up with such an idea, and actually persuaded me to abandon the city and escape?" What's your bad idea? Could it be that you have been scared by the thieves? Don't you have the determination to fight to the death? It just doesn't make sense. ”

Ma Xiangru knelt on the ground, patted his chest and shouted: "Yan Gong, am my Ma Xiangru a person who is greedy for life and afraid of death?" In the past nine months, which battle has the lowly retreated, and there are more than ten large and small wounds on the body, have the lowly duties been painful once? The humble position just can't watch Yan Gong and the city die. Yan Gong rest assured, Yan Gong broke through, and he would still defend the city here and die with the city, so as to confess his heart. ”

Xu Hao, Lin and other generals also knelt down and said: "Taishou is angry, Ma Xiangru is not a person who is greedy for life and afraid of death, in fact, this strategy was discussed by us and others in private, hoping to protect Yan Gong to break out." Yan Gong is my Tang spine, and he can't die here in vain. When Yan Gong broke through, he could ascend to the heights and call for troops and horses from all over the country, and at that time, reorganizing the army could play a greater role in counterinsurgency. That's what we're looking at. ”

Yan Zhenqing pointed to the kneeling few people and scolded: "Bastard, you have thought of such a bad idea in private, you must not." I defend the Plains City to inspire the people of the world not to be afraid of the thieves. But in the end, I'm going to run for my life? What is this? Yan's death here means more than escaping. I've been holding on for nine months, and I'm going to run away at the end? Is Yan the kind of person who has a beginning and no end? This is not possible. If anyone mentions it again, don't blame me for being ruthless! ”

The generals were speechless, they actually knew that if Yan Zhenqing didn't have this kind of stubborn temper in his bones, he would be Yan Zhenqing. These nine months of perseverance are impossible. In the past nine months, how many times when the city was in danger, everyone felt that there was no possibility of holding it, but as long as they saw Yan Zhenqing's figure standing tall on the city wall, everyone doubled their courage. It can be said that it is Yan Zhenqing's persistence that has been able to overcome the crisis again and again to get to where it is today. Although this time the crisis seems to be unsolvable.

"You all get up, don't make Yan Gong unhappy. Yan Gong hasn't eaten for a day, do you want to stun him? Since Yan Gong disagreed with this strategy, he rethought the countermeasure. Li Zejiao said softly.

The crowd had to get up and stand aside again. Li Ze stepped forward and arched his hand: "Yan Gong is angry, everyone is actually kind, everyone here is committed to Yan Gong's admiration, Yan Gong don't blame them." ”

Yan Zhenqing sighed: "I don't blame them, I just think they don't understand my heart." Yan defended the city not to sell his reputation, but to really hold on to Pingyuan City and protect the fathers and villagers of Pingyuan County from being ruined by thieves. In the end, I ran away, and what face did I have? ”

Li Ze said: "Yes, we all understand Yan Gong's heart, let's not mention this matter." I have some thoughts about the current situation in my heart, and I want to say it and ask Yan Gong for advice. ”

Yan Zhenqing sighed and said: "If you have an idea, just say it, now is to use your brains and work together, there may not be no solution." ”

Li Ze said: "Okay, then the humble post will dare to speak freely." I don't know if Yan Gong and the generals have felt it, the siege momentum of the thieves has become more and more fierce recently. In the past, thieves also attacked the city, but only once every three to five days. But in recent months, more than a day has been a nuisance. These days are even more strange, for example, today, the siege in the morning and the attack in the afternoon, and it is very violent. I felt very strange, and I didn't know what Yan Gong and the brothers thought. ”

He Lin nodded and said: "That's true, the thieves have really attacked recently, can it be said that they have learned about the situation in my city and know that we are cut off from food and grass, so they can't take the city in one go?" ”

Everyone looked at Yan Zhenqing, who was frowning and contemplative, and wanted to hear what Taishou thought about this. Yan Zhenqing said slowly: "It is not ruled out that they expected the situation in the city. After all, we have been holding out for nine months, and the food and grass must be a big problem, and this is not something difficult to predict. But the old man always felt that it was not like that. If the thieves had judged that we had reached the end of the mountain, they would not have needed such an onslaught. If the old man leads the army, he will only besiege and not attack, because there is no need to pay the price, as long as the food and grass are cut off and the city is destroyed, why pay huge casualties? ”

"It makes sense, it's not worth it. If we are just surrounded to death, we will either go out of the city to fight to the death after we run out of food, or we will be trapped in the city, and there is no need for such a fierce siege. Everyone nodded.

"So, what does Yan Gong think is going on?" Li Zejiao asked.

Yan Zhenqing pondered for a moment and said: "Anything that does not conform to common sense must be coerced by external forces. Either An Lushan was dissatisfied that they couldn't break through the city for so long, and gave a death order, so they had to storm it. Either they were forced by another situation, or perhaps the whole situation was not in their favor, and they had to quickly solve the matter of Plains City, and then they could send troops to fight where they needed. Or maybe it's because they think they won't have a chance to take the city if they don't take my plain city. In short, it must be an external force that forces them to do so. ”

"So what kind of situation is that?" Commander Xu Hao asked.

Yan Zhenqing frowned and said: "The old man doesn't know, we are trapped in the city and the news is blocked, and we don't know the outside news." Maybe it's my court soldiers and horses that are advancing here, and if they don't storm it, they won't have a chance. But this is very unlikely. The news that came a few months ago said that the imperial court was now stable in Chengdu, and Chang'an and Luoyang were in the hands of thieves. It's only been less than two months, and it's impossible for the imperial court soldiers and horses to attack so smoothly. In smooth, it is definitely not possible to get to Plains City closely. It is more likely that the thieves are in a hurry to mobilize their troops and horses to the front, so they need to quickly quell the fighting in the rear. ”

Li Ze said suddenly: "Gong Yan, is it possible that the imperial court sent someone to meet us, and the thieves under the city got the news, so they stepped up the siege of the city?" ”

Yan Zhenqing frowned and said, "It's not impossible, but it's even less likely." This is the hinterland of the rebels, and it is taboo for soldiers to go deep alone. It is unlikely that they will come from the east of Chang'an, but it is somewhat possible to cross the river from the south, but the several state capitals south of the Yellow River have not many soldiers and horses to take care of themselves, so how can they take the risk to save them? If they could have been saved, they would have sent troops a long time ago, and it is precisely because they could not be rescued that we could only be trapped. ”

Everyone nodded silently, what Yan Zhenqing said was the truth. Most of the state capitals south of the Yellow River are inland state capitals, and their troops are weak and they are too busy to take care of themselves, so they can send troops to rescue. Then the thief's sudden attack is an intractable mystery.

"Gong Yan, I plan to take someone out of the city to investigate. When I came to explore the news outside, at least I knew what the situation of the imperial court was now? Second, I also want to get some food in. The humble official knew that there was grain in the county warehouse in Ande County, but the rebels did not have time to transport it away when they attacked, so at that time, Guo County ordered someone to hide this batch of grain in Yizhuang in the east of Ande County. The dozens of coffins in the ancestral hall of Yizhuang are not dead people, they are all food. Although the amount is not much, probably less than a thousand stones, it is enough for us to last another ten days and eight days. The current situation is changing rapidly, and maybe after ten days and eight days, it will be another situation. Li Zejiao said in a deep voice.

Hearing this, everyone's eyes suddenly lit up, it turned out that there was still food hidden outside the city, which was a life-saving straw. Li Zejiao said it at this time, it was like a rain from heaven.

"But how is this grain brought in? How can you get out? He Lin said.

"I just don't know how to get it in, so that's why I'm worried. It's easy to get out, fall out of the city at night, and sneak out under the cover of a dry moat. The terrain is very familiar to me. Along the course of the moat, you can reach the willow forest of Shili Bridge in the east of the city. Once you enter the Willow Forest, there is no way to do it. Of course, a large force of soldiers and horses will naturally not be successful, and it will definitely be able to go out with one hundred and eighty people, and it will never alarm the thieves. Li Ze said.

Yan Zhenqing smiled and said, "Once you go out, I can let you in." In this way, if you go out of the city tonight, you will wait tomorrow night in the willow forest outside the eastern city with a grain cart. I led my soldiers and horses out of the west gate to make a feint to break through, and when the time came, the thieves and soldiers would all focus their attention on the west gate, and then I would order people to ride fifty horses to the outside of the willow forest, and use the horses to quickly pull the grain cart in. Another 1,000 soldiers and horses were prepared to follow the guard, and they were not afraid of the enemy. The thieves' brigade is only a small siege in the southwest and northeast, which prevents us from breaking through the siege, and should not be enough to resist our soldiers and horses. ”

"If it's a good way, just follow Yan Gong's method. Tomorrow night, I will definitely bring back the grain and grass. Li Ze said.

Everyone was overjoyed, and when they heard that there was food, they all felt energetic. In the midst of the discussion, a voice asked timidly: "Yan Taishou, are the fifty horses still killed?" ”

"Of course I won't kill you, Fan Cangsi, I'm still counting on them to pull the grain cart in tomorrow night." Ma Xiangru laughed.

……

After the woods and the people separated from the woods a few miles east of Weizhou, Wang Yuan led 2,500 cavalry to gallop to the southeast without stopping. The news of the fall of Weizhou must have spread everywhere as if it had grown wings, and Wang Yuan wanted to catch up with the news of the wings, and arrived under the city of Pingyuan when the rebels under the city of Pingyuan did not get the news, however, this did not seem likely.

The weather was so hot that it was almost impossible to travel for more than two hours from late morning to late afternoon. People can bear it, but horses can't bear it. Along the way, the land was barren and the rivers dried up, and there was not even a place to drink the horses, and in such weather, the horses needed water to cool down every time they ran a distance. But they couldn't find a water source to drink to their heart's content.

In desperation, Wang Yuan could only choose to stop and go during the noon period, and the water he carried was also very limited, because most of it was left to the people behind. Wang Yuan thought that he could find a place to replenish water on the road, but he miscalculated.

Because of this, the speed of the march was greatly affected. Originally, Wang Yuan planned to travel more than 100 miles, and it would take a day and a night to arrive. However, due to these factors, it was not until the evening of the next day that they reached a distance of fifteen miles east of the plain city.

Seeing that it was getting dark, and the soldiers and horses had become exhausted after two days of exposure and thirst, and the rebel camp had been found in front, Wang Yuan did not dare to let the soldiers and horses continue to advance, so he sent cavalry to reconnoiter the situation under the city of the plain, and on the other hand, he found a dilapidated village for the cavalry to drive into the village to hide their traces and regain their strength.

Fortunately, in this uninhabited village, Zhao Qing found a well. When I put down the barrel and went down, I found that although the water level was low, there was still well water in the well. This discovery immediately made the soldiers smile, and with the water, the men and horses could drink bitterly. In such weather, there is nothing more rejuvenating and uplifting than drinking enough cool well water.

After dark, the scout cavalry sent to reconnoiter the city rushed back one after another and reported the situation under the plain city. This is the west gate of Pingyuan City, and three or four miles outside the west gate is the camp of the rebels, which stretches for several miles, and there should be a lot of troops, at least about 10,000 people. Scouts who went to reconnoiter in the direction of other gates also reported that rebel camps had also been found in other directions. Roughly calculated, the rebels had more than 20,000 soldiers and horses outside the plain city.

The good news is that since the rebels are still outside the city, it means that the plain city is not broken, and Yan Zhenqing and others are still sticking to the city. The bad news is that the number of rebels besieging the city is actually so large, originally Wang Yuan estimated that there were more than 10,000 soldiers and horses, but now it seems that the number of rebels exceeds 20,000.

The scouts also reported that in the direction of the west of the rebel camp, there were also battalion outposts set up by the rebels, and that many soldiers were strengthening the fortifications around the camp. Hearing this news, Wang Yuan immediately realized that the rebels had learned the news of the fall of Weizhou, otherwise they were just siege soldiers, and there was no need to strengthen the camp at all, and it was not the east side of the reinforcement facing the direction of the city, but the backside. That's to protect yourself from enemies attacking from the belly and back.

All of a sudden, the situation became complicated. If the rebels did not take precautions, Wang Yuan planned to lead the cavalry to carry out a surprise attack. Surprise the rebels at Simon camp and take them by surprise. This could have been done with a cavalry force of more than 2,500 men.

But now that the rebels are most likely on guard, and the number of soldiers and horses is higher than their original estimates, they should be cautious about surprise attacks