The sudden and terrible sound of trumpets shattered the silence of the dawn, accompanied by the impact of the five thousand iron cavalry of the Mongolian army, who rushed through the distance of more than ten miles like a swift wind, and came to a position only a hundred steps away from the Yatou Pass, and then quickly took their bows and arrows, and countless arrows shot at the stunned defenders at the head of the city like a torrential rain and thunder.

When the horn protruded and the Mongolian people rushed up like a whirlwind, the defenders at the head of the city, including generals like Lei Ming, felt a burst of consternation: "How is this possible? How could the Tartars attack us again so quickly and decisively? ”

Yes, the other party's reaction was really too much to be judged by everyone. Because judging from the results of yesterday's battle, the other party should have slightly restrained itself in the case of a big loss. Especially when they encountered a surprise attack at night and the siege weapons were almost all burned, even if they didn't take advantage of the situation to retreat, they should have planned later, first find wood to rebuild the siege equipment and then attack it, why did it become like this now?

Could it be that the Mongolian people have become angry because of last night's loss, so they will attack the deviant pass at all costs, regardless of it? How could they have made such a decision?

Although he was puzzled, fortunately, the reaction of the soldiers was still in place, and seeing that the thousands of iron horsemen suddenly rushed towards him, he guessed what they would do next, so he quickly erected a huge shield on one side and finally blocked this first wave of attack. However, listening to the movement of the arrows constantly shooting on the shield, everyone still felt a burst of tension in their hearts, and the trouble had obviously just begun.

Sure enough, at this moment, another loud horn sounded, and a large number of Mongolians suddenly abandoned their horses and stepped forward when they rushed to the front of the pass, and they were all carrying cloth bags on their shoulders. After seeing the actions of these people, Lei Ming's expression became extremely nervous, and he was even more panicked than just now: "It's not good, stop them from coming forward, they want to fill our moat!" ”

As a guarantee to isolate the enemy cavalry from approaching the city wall, the role of the moat is quite large, as long as there is this river many feet wide, the city can ensure that it will not be directly attacked by the Mongols, which is also the key to the defenders' stable military spirit even if they know that their own city has a big hidden danger.

But it is obvious that the Mongols have also grasped this key, since this time it is an all-out siege, let's start with the moat and fill it completely! The Mongols who rushed up after the cavalry carried bags of dirt on their shoulders. Maybe one or two bales, one or twenty bales of dirt thrown into the river won't make a difference at all, but once that number rises tenfold and hundredfold, the situation will be completely different. Whipping can cut off the flow, let alone such a dirt bag.

The thunderous exclamation reached the ears of the soldiers under his command, causing them to also slam their spirits, and soon someone picked up a bow and arrow to shoot the advancing enemy. However, as soon as they showed their heads, they were shot head-on by the sharp arrows that kept coming up the city, and immediately screamed so that more than a dozen soldiers immediately fell in a pool of blood, but the bows and arrows in their hands could not shoot at all.

The Mongols had already made a comprehensive plan, and the 5,000 iron cavalry that rushed first only suppressed the defenders at the head of the city with a constant rain of arrows, thus creating an opportunity for their own river reclamation troops. And as far as the results are concerned, their tactics have been quite successful, and the thousands of men have quickly approached the moat, and then decisively threw the dirt bags into the river.

Soon, the river that was still flowing was cut off, and as the earth bags continued to flow, the moat gradually became a smooth road, enough for a dozen or so people to walk side by side.

"How's that okay?" Lei Ming, who saw this scene from the battlement, jumped to his feet in a hurry, and finally couldn't bear it anymore: "Quick! Hurry up and shoot them back! I can't let them fill my moat so brazenly! ”

The soldiers under his command also knew that the stakes were very high, so they hurriedly agreed, moved the artillery to the battlements of the city wall again, and then learned the methods and procedures taught to them by Zhengde yesterday, filled the gunpowder, cannonballs, etc., and quickly lit the fuse after aiming at the enemy over there.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! The three cannons roared again one after another, and the surrounding sergeants were all staggered, and a puff of smoke rose from the muzzles, turning all the battlements to a gray black.

However, the effect of these cannons was still quite good, the side of the moat had been plowed out by the cannonballs of three deep ditches, and twenty or thirty Mongolian soldiers fell on the side, and other unaffected people were so frightened by the cannon that they turned around and ran, and even in order to run faster, many people casually threw their dirt bags to the ground, looking really embarrassed.

However, the Ming army at the head of the city only cheered and then came to an abrupt end, because then the horn sounded again in the Mongolian army. And this, like a talisman, forced those Mongolians who had just retreated to muster up the courage to rush up again, and pick up the earth bag again to fill the river.

At the same time, the closer cavalry quickly stabilized their minds and began to focus on throwing more and denser arrows in several directions of the artillery, until the defenders were exhausted, but they could not even clear the barrels of their guns in preparation for the next shot.

In fact, at this time, the weakness of such rudimentary artillery was also revealed. The power of these guns is not bad, but there is too much preliminary work to be done for each shot, especially when a shot is fired, and then the interval between the second shot is too long.

In addition, these guns are still limited by their range. Not only can't they bombard enemies who are too far away, but they can't even do anything about enemies who are too close. All kinds of deficiencies greatly restricted the power of the three cannons at the head of the city, and the defenders at the head of the city could only watch the enemy completely fill the moat little by little, and then a large number of Mongolian people shouted to rush up from the rear.

Things have come to this point, and it seems that there is no other choice for the Ming army defending the city, so there is only one choice but to let go. Therefore, they no longer cared about the cavalry who were still firing arrows at the head of the city, and showed their heads at the risk of their own safety, and returned fire with bows and arrows, and at the same time moved all the weapons of the city such as boiling oil, gold juice, wood and stone, and waited for the enemy to approach and give them a head-on attack.

At this moment, the offensive and defensive battle between the enemy and us has entered a white-hot situation, as long as the defender is a little careless, let the enemy get up to the city, or find a flaw in the city wall, and suddenly break it, then this partial pass will completely fall, and the fate of the 20,000 soldiers and civilians in the city will also be known.

Zhengde, who understood this, became extremely solemn: "These Tartars are really powerful, it seems that I still underestimate them too much." Actually tried to drag them here, good idea to get a big victory! ”

Although his words were just whispering to himself, he was heard by Yang Chen, who had been by his side. His heart suddenly moved, and he looked at the other party with a straight face: "Your Majesty, could it be that the Tartars are the reason why they suddenly and desperately launched a fierce attack on us because of you?" ”

"I ......" Zhengde subconsciously wanted to deny it, but after meeting Yang Chen's eyes, he still nodded and admitted: "Yes, it was I who asked Guan Changxing to bring him a fake news to the Tartars, obviously they believed this statement." ”

"But what do you mean?" Yang Chen hurriedly asked again. He also remembered that before Guan Changxing led the troops out of the city last night, Zhengde did come forward to tell him a few words. Originally, he thought that this was the emperor's encouragement to go on the expedition, but now it seems that things are far from so simple.

"I ...... It was for him to tell the Tartars that their Assassins had succeeded, and that I was now seriously wounded, and that I feared that my life would be imminent! After a little hesitation, Zhengde still told such an astonishing truth.

"What?" Yang Chen was stunned for a moment, his eyes were full of disbelief staring at the Ming Emperor in front of him, he really couldn't believe that this person would actually let people send such fake news to the Tartars!

It is no wonder that the fighting spirit of the Mongolian people has risen today after being repeatedly hit hard yesterday, and it turned out that they believed that the morale of the defenders of the partial pass would inevitably be in chaos, so they would attack and kill them desperately.

No matter what country it is, if something goes wrong with the emperor, it will be fatal to the morale of the army. In fact, let alone the emperor, he was only the main general, but there was damage, which was enough to make the whole army no longer have the courage to continue fighting.

In addition, except for him Zhengde himself, no one in this world dares to declare such a thing to the outside world. This is a curse to the king, it is a capital crime, even if it is known afterwards that it is a plan to break the enemy, the court will definitely investigate it to the end.

But our righteous son Zhu Houzhao is good, and he actually cursed himself, which really can't help the Mongolian people outside the city don't believe in this, so they attack the city on a large scale.

It's just that what makes Yang Chen feel incomprehensible is why Zhengde would think about dragging the enemy to this eccentric pass. He should have known very well that with the strength of the defenders in the city now, he was completely unable to defeat the ten times the enemy, and wouldn't he be digging his own grave to do so?

As if seeing the doubts in Yang Chen's heart, Zhengde continued: "Actually, I only planned to hold them back for a while. I believe that in less than two days, reinforcements from the Datong side will arrive, and then we will be able to defeat the Tartars and achieve a great victory! ”

After listening to his plan, Yang Chen didn't know how to evaluate this Son of Heaven more and more. The fact that you say he has a plan is too risky, and the current situation suggests that such a plan is likely to be devastating; But you want to say that he is completely ridiculous but not right, after all, he has already considered the next move, maybe he can really get a big victory because of this.

The only thing he can say is that today's thinking is indeed very different from ordinary people, and he is really very human!