In the days that followed, the offensive and defensive battles around Beijing's Nine Gates continued. It was only after that afternoon that the intensity of this offensive and defensive battle had decreased sharply, and there was no more all-out fighting in the morning, and there were heavy casualties.

Although the Mongols who were besieging the city no longer desperately climbed the city despite the rain of arrows at the head of the city, as long as the wood and stones at the head of the city were smashed densely, they would quickly retreat to minimize the casualties. The Ming army at the head of the city is no longer as indiscriminate as before, with artillery, bows and crossbows and other weapons, sweeping without dead ends, only when the enemy kills the city, will come in a wave, and when the enemy retreats, it will no longer continue to pursue.

Both sides seem to have formed a tacit understanding, the pace of attack and defense has slowed, and while the pressure on Beijing is still there, the threat has been minimized. What was particularly surprising to the defenders was that the Mongols did not launch a fierce attack on the Nine Gates at the same time as they did on the first day, and often only picked one or two gates to attack, so that more people on both sides were in a state of recuperation.

In this way, it was five days, and there was almost no damage to the city of Beijing, except for many traces of climbing or fire on the city wall. As for the casualties of the soldiers and horses on both sides, at this time, it is completely impossible to compare with the first siege, and the casualties of the Mongolian siege soldiers and horses are not even a thousand, and as for the defenders, the damage is naturally less.

When these figures were presented to Yexian, his face did not show the slightest sense of pride because of the reduction in casualties, but became more solemn. Because he found that he seemed to have made a big mistake this time, not attacking the city with all his strength can certainly reduce the loss of his own troops, but it also gives the defenders a chance to breathe, and in the long run, I am afraid that it will only be himself who will be more sad.

However, the order has already been given, and it seems inappropriate to change it further. What's more, for a while, he really couldn't think of a more appropriate siege strategy. After all, the onslaught on the first day had already presented such a result in front of their eyes, and with the ease of defending and attacking Beijing, even if they tried their best to ignore the casualties, it would not be easy to break through these gates.

Could it be that Beijing really can't be attacked? Do you really want to abandon this city and launch a surprise attack on other surrounding towns, as the others have proposed before? But in this way, the huge advantage that had been built up with great difficulty no longer existed, and it was not much different from the previous raids at the border.

The great victory of Tumubao made it possible to give birth to the idea of conquering Beijing and even taking the Central Plains, and this kind of ambition cannot be completely wiped out by a small setback in front of him.

However, the difficulty of the city of Beijing to attack, and the fact that the position was likely to be attacked by the Ming army from other provinces who rushed from other places to support, had always troubled Yexian, and he fell into a hesitation for a while. No matter whether it is attacked or dragged, it looks like it is impossible to achieve victory, is there only one way left to retreat?

"Perhaps, I should use that guy again. Although they no longer recognize him as the emperor of the Ming Kingdom, if I let people escort him to the city and threaten him with his life, things will change......" Suddenly, his heart moved, and then his mind moved to Zhu Qizhen's card.

After Xuan Chengyuan came back and told the attitude of the imperial court, this previous trump card became a waste card. But now that I think about it, people just say that, the real thing is coming, maybe this will still be a trump card? If it is not good, you can also kill him in front of the Ming army defending the city to confuse the morale of his army.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that this might be the right choice. But the only thing worth considering is Boyan's attitude towards this matter. During this period of time, the most powerful clan patriarch around him was always mixed with Na Zhu Qizhen, and the relationship between the two became closer and closer. And he has always been looking for reasons to prevent himself from dealing with Zhu Qizhen, if he uses this method this time, he will definitely try his best to oppose it.

However, he immediately put this concern aside, even if it is his own cronies, compared with the whole game of chess, he can be sacrificed and discarded at any time. What's more, just the one he wants to protect?

But in case there are any more accidents, I already have an idea: "Come on!" One of the guards appeared at the tent door, and then he commanded, "Go and bring me Boyan, I have something to tell him." ”

The guard hurriedly agreed, and wanted to go to find someone. But as soon as he turned around and walked two steps, he saw a serious-looking Boyan Timur striding towards the main tent here with a knife on his shoulder, so he hurriedly stepped forward to convey the order.

Boyan was stunned for a moment, but he still walked a few steps and walked directly into the big tent. Those who were pondering and thinking about it first saw Boyan in a blink of an eye, and they were also stunned: "You came quickly." ”

"The master smiled, in fact, I also have something I want to talk to the master." Boyan hurriedly explained.

"Oh? But what's the matter? He also hurriedly asked first, but his heart was a little nervous, not that he had guessed his mind earlier, so he wanted to persuade him.

I only heard Boyan say with a solemn expression: "After the siege battle in the past few days, we haven't made any gains." Although a lot of materials have been collected from the surrounding area to make more convenient siege equipment, even with these, it is still difficult to storm the walls of Beijing. Moreover, if reinforcements from other parts of the Ming Kingdom are killed, and we are under the enemy in the belly, the situation will only get worse! ”

When he said this, his face became even more gloomy, and he stared at the other party and said, "So what do you mean...... Shall we stop here and go back to the grassland? ”

"Of course not, how can an arrow that is shot turn back without hitting the bull's-eye?" Boyan immediately shook his head and denied: "I mean, since the conventional siege can no longer break through Beijing, then use some different means." ”

Hearing him say this, Ye Xian's face softened a little: "Tell me, what better way can we do?" During the questioning, his heart still moved, could it be that the other party was the same as himself, and he had Zhu Qizhen's idea?

Boyan didn't notice Ye Xian's thoughts, but just followed his own train of thought and said: "Looking at the past two days, the Ming army's defensive methods are just like that, obviously these defenders are not really elite. If it was just a normal defense, they might not have gone wrong, but what if it was changed to nighttime? ”

"You mean a siege at night?" I didn't feel stunned at first, but after a little groaning, I felt that this might really be a solution.

At this time, the two armies often fought only during the day, and rested at night, and after they had recuperated their spirits, they would wait for the next day's dawn to carry out a second round of attacks. Because the lighting conditions are limited at this time, the environment for night battles is not good, and both the attackers and the defenders will be affected and constrained by many things.

But after thinking about it carefully at this time, I first felt that night fighting might be the only way to solve the current predicament. Although the night has many restrictions on the besiegers, the impact on the defenders is probably even greater. At least as long as the besieging army approaches in the dark and moves less, it will be difficult for the defenders of the city to detect them.

And once the besiegers are brought closer, or even begin to climb, the defenders are bound to panic. And in the dark night, whether it is their artillery or crossbows, their lethality will inevitably be greatly reduced, so it is more conducive to fighting in the city!

After thinking about it for a while, a happy smile appeared on Yexian's face: "This method can indeed be tried." ”

"Taishi, this method may not be too effective against the elite defenders, but now the defenders of Beijing are by no means elite. Once they are attacked and panicked, we have a chance to break the city. Boyan continued.

He also nodded his head even more and agreed: "Not bad...... In addition, we don't need to invest too much in the night battle, so we can continue to change troops and attack the city until dawn. Day and night alternately, even if it is delayed, it can also drag the defenders of the city to death! At the end of the day, there was a hint of excitement in his eyes.

Boyan hurriedly nodded in agreement: "Yes, and the initiative of all this is in our hands, but the defenders in the city must always be on guard, which will consume them even more." In this way, in a few days, the Ming army is bound to collapse without a fight, and the city of Beijing will be at your fingertips! ”

"Good!" He also excitedly patted the short table with a leg of mutton in front of him, and immediately decided: "Then I will implement this method from tonight, I want to see how long they can last!" ”

Boyan nodded hurriedly yes, and then asked, "Master, I don't know what you have to tell me to come?" ”

"This ......" was also stunned for a moment, with a hint of embarrassment in his expression. Originally, he called Boyan over in order to force him to comply, so that he could escort Zhu Qizhen to the city, and if he still refused, he would be temporarily put under house arrest.

But now, now that there is such a plan to break the city, this matter can be put aside for the time being. So after hesitating for a while, he said, "I also want to discuss with you to see if there is a way to break the city." Now it seems that you did not disappoint me. ”

Although Boyan felt that the other party's words were a bit blunt, he didn't want to say it clearly when he saw it, so he didn't entangle it anymore. Then he hurried away to prepare for the night siege.

The siege of the city during the day on this day seemed to be as fierce as the previous two days, but in fact the attrition and casualties on both sides were almost negligible, and even the spirit of the Mongolian people today was even worse than that of the previous two days, and they almost failed to reach the edge of the city wall, and they had quickly retreated.

On the city wall, the guard Liu Juju condescendingly watched the movements of the Mengren, but muttered in his heart: "Logically speaking, the results of their past few days should be seen to be very unfavorable to them for such a drag." How is it that at this point, there is still no change? Could it be that they are really exhausted, or are they hiding some conspiracy......" Somehow, a dark cloud has hung over his heart.