Yulin City leans on Hump Mountain in the east, borders Yuxi River in the west, was built in the early years of Chenghua, and expanded by "three tuo Yuyang", the bottom of the city wall is five zhang wide, the top is three zhang wide, the height is three zhang six, there are also fourteen enemy towers for defense, the thick blue brick wall is not afraid of artillery bombardment, and the city wall of the Beijing division is not bad. Yulin is not only the city is strong, easy to defend and difficult to attack, the local people are almost every family is a military household, two hundred years of big battles and small battles have continued, develop a strong and good fighting folk customs, known as "the world's strong soldiers are all in Yulin", Chongzhen nine years Li Zicheng attacked Yulin, was killed and fled in defeat, since then did not dare to return to his hometown, everyone still has confidence in holding the city.

At the moment of the great enemy, You Shiwei did not shirk, and after discussing with the generals, he believed that the main direction of the thieves' attack should be in the south, and the southeast was likely to be the main battlefield, and there was only one city gate in the south - Zhenyuan Gate, You Shiwei personally took Hui Xian and Liu Tingjie to guard it; There are two city gates in the east city, Weining Gate is guarded by Li Changling, the former Tianjin general Wang Xueshu and Gushan deputy general Wang Yongzuo, and the Zhenwu Gate is guarded by Wang Shiqin and the current right battalion guerrilla You Yangkun; The four city gates of Xicheng, Wang Shiguo and the former Shanhaiguan cavalry general You Dai guarded Guangyu Gate and Xuanwu Gate, Hou Shilu, Hou Gongji father and son and the current Zuoying guerrilla Chen Erdian guarded Longde Gate and Xinle Gate; There is no gate in the north city, and Peng Qing, the former governor of Anzhou, guards the north building of the town, and the rest of the city buildings are also guarded by people, and they are probably veterans with novices.

The defenders of Yuhe Fort, Xiangshui Fort, Zhenwu Fort and other places quickly withdrew, and Ding Zhuang of each family consciously brought weapons to obey orders, and the old and weak women and children also took on the chores of transporting ordnance, boiling water and cooking, and the generals and officials destroyed their homes to relieve the difficulties, took out their wealth and scattered it to the people, and called on everyone to work together to repel the thieves, and then led the sons and nephews and family members to climb the city wall, and Yulin City became an iron wall in a blink of an eye.

The thieves are not slow, 100,000 thieves rushed to surround Yulin City, Li Guo sent people to persuade them to surrender again, Yulin people are very simple, directly cut off people's heads and hang them on the far gate of the town, the thieves are angry and launched a strong attack from all sides, rushed to the city but could not climb the city - the city wall was splashed with water, and the cold winter season instantly froze for several feet, and the thieves took the lead as usual the common people, and the croppers did not learn to attack the city, and were beaten by strong crossbows and guns.

The common people have been attacking the city for several days, and the corpses are everywhere under the city, but Yulin City has not moved at all, and the veterans in the city know in their hearts that the elite of the thieves are hiding nearby, and they are patiently waiting for the opportunity to attack, but they are also waiting - the Naturalization Alliance has never abandoned its allies, and the Datong Army will definitely come to the rescue.

On November 19, the reinforcements finally arrived, two or three thousand Datong cavalry with the three-color black eagle banner scattered the besieging people, and hit the Wumen in the west of the city in one breath, and the leading officer wore the uniform of the Ming army, and shouted to the city, "I am Sima Xiaonian, the capital of the right battalion, Shenshuitan sent ordnance, open the city gate quickly" - Wang Ding abandoned the city and fled, and took away more than 200 cavalry of the right battalion of Ma Xiaonian, but he did not forget his roots in this life, and killed back to protect the villagers and elders. Zhenwu Gate guard You Dai was overjoyed, personally led a group of men and horses out of the city to respond, there were thieves in the distance to kill, Datong cavalry quickly went up to block, the Ming army took the opportunity to escort dozens of carts into the city gate.

Li Guo was most worried that Datong would suddenly send troops, and quietly ambushed 40,000 soldiers on Hump Mountain, as soon as the rival appeared, he immediately led the elite to attack, eager to eat the other party in one bite, but the opponent was too slippery, relying on the skillful riding and shooting left and right, floating, and entangled the Shun army. The Shun army couldn't find a chance to fight hand-to-hand, and they had to suffer a little loss if they were cold, and just gained the upper hand, the other party's whistle sounded continuously, and the gang dispersed in a hurry, and soon disappeared without a trace. Is this still the fierce Datong Iron Horse? It is very similar to a group of horse thieves, Li Guo is a little strange, but the main force has been exposed and only fought, and then ordered the soldiers to prepare to attack the city.

Ma Xiaonian wiped his sweat and went to the gate of Zhenyuan, and handed a letter to You Shiwei: "Old Marshal Qi, the ten leather cannons, two hundred rifles, five hundred hand-thrown thunders, two hundred flowering bullets, and ten thousand arrows supported by Shenshuitan have all been delivered, and there is also a letter from Master Du, the commander of Dongshengwei, to you. ”

Du Hongtai said in the letter that the Datong Presidential Office issued a mobilization order, and it is a foregone conclusion that it will send troops to Shaanxi, but it will take time to gather troops.

"What's going on with those people who are flying the banner of the Datong Army? It's not like the style of Datong Iron Rider. You Shiwei asked as he looked out of the city for a while.

"Oh, that's the caravan hired by the Dongshengwei Chamber of Commerce, and the leader is also a Yansui person, who has been a salt official in Lingzhou, and everyone calls him 'Liu Mouse', Lord Du has no right to mobilize people and horses out of the country, so he has to ask them to run." Ma Xiaonian replied with a smile.

You Shiwei also smiled, holding the letter and shouting loudly: "The Datong Army is about to send troops to Shaanxi, and we have won this battle." ”

"Kill the thief! Kill the thief! The soldiers and civilians of Yulin shouted in unison, and the shouts soared into the sky.

On the 21st, the bloody battle of attack and defense officially began, the old commanders judged correctly, Nancheng was really the focus of the attack, a large number of thieves and elites attacked from this direction, and the soldiers and civilians of Yulin swore to fight to the death without giving in, and the arrows and artillery of both sides were like shuttles, and the fight was inextricable. The thieves are no longer the rabble of Chongzhen for nine years, not only are there many people, but also equipped with a large number of firearms, even the powerful Hongyi cannon has two, and also set up a flying tower on the sand beam in the southeast corner, and when the attack is blocked, they will continue to shoot cannons and throw stones into the city, covering the thieves to rush to the root of the city - some of the thieves are miners, as long as they dig a big hole, fill it with gunpowder and blow up the city wall, Yulin City will basically be in hand.

You Shiwei was well aware of the thieves' intentions, and commanded the soldiers and civilians defending the city to block the opponent's approach to the city wall with cannons, bows and arrows, and at the same time constantly sent death warriors down the city, not hesitating to exchange their lives for their lives to kill the thieves who dug holes. The thieves poured up like a tide, and retreated like a low tide, leaving only pieces of dead corpses, and the casualties of the soldiers and civilians defending the city also increased dramatically, and there were too many people on the other side, so they couldn't kill them all.

Shenshui Beach, the reserve troops of the second town of the cavalry are coming from all directions to assemble, the grassland is densely covered with military tents, and the war horses are neighing, showing the atmosphere before the battle. Zhao Ji, the commander of the Northern Route Army, hurriedly came, and when he entered the big tent of the Chinese army, he asked Du Hongtai and Zhang Ding, "How is the situation in Yulin?" ”

"It's not good, let President Liu say it." Du Hongtai replied with a frown.

"Zhao Shuai, I escorted the ordnance to Yulin, the thieves have besieged Yulin City, we don't dare to fight, we retreated after a while, but it's not that our brothers who protect the caravan are afraid of death, fighting alone, we fight the three of them one by one, mainly because there are too many thieves, it is estimated that there are about 100,000, and there are 30,000 soldiers with complete weapons." Liu Datong, president of the Dongshengwei Chamber of Commerce, said a little frustrated.

Zhao Ji waved his hand, the mercenaries of the Chamber of Commerce can send the ordnance is good enough, it really can't be too demanding, thinking carefully about the map spread out by the guards, Zhang Ding couldn't help but say: "Zhao Shuai, the three towns of the cavalry have gathered seventy percent of the troops, please allow me to lead the troops to Yulin, it may be powerless to break the enemy, but it is more than enough to disturb the enemy." ”

"Yulin is in danger, we must not save it, Dongshengwei can also send some garrisons to help the battle, with us to soothe the enemy's flank, then Yulin will turn the danger into safety." Du Hongtai immediately agreed.

"What I want is not to disturb the enemy, but to annihilate him under Yulin City, at least to beat him to the point where he is injured and unable to fight again, and he must not attack until the strength is assembled!" Zhao Ji glanced at Du Hongtai and Zhang Ding, shook his head slowly and said again, "It's really not a good thing that the territory is big, it will take three or five days for the reserve soldiers to enter the camp, you wait patiently, when will I shout to beat you and then do it." ”

"Fly on the grass, Yulin City is dead every day, of course it doesn't matter if you are from Bansheng, but the president is from Yulin, we are from Yulin, we have to face when we go back to our hometown, no, you immediately order the troops." Du Hongtai slapped the table and stood up and shouted angrily.

"Du Mengqing, I am the commander of the Northern Route Army, and I have the final say in the military affairs," Zhao Ji did not show weakness, and casually pointed at Zhang Ding, who was about to speak, and ordered, "Fighting the Sky Eagle, you have nothing to do, immediately take your soldiers into the big sand to hide and wait." ”

After Zhao Ji finished speaking, he swaggered out of the big tent, and Du Hongtai was so angry that he waved his fist and shouted: "Fly on the grass, if you don't save you when you die, I will sue you to the president." ”

Yulin City is still in a fierce battle, the thieves continue to attack the city, the young and strong people defending the city have suffered heavy casualties, the people in the city have come to the city to help the battle, Uncle Ma and Uncle Qin also took a group of old men to the town far gate.

"Big, you and Uncle Qin have bad legs, it's too dangerous here, go back quickly!" Ma Xiaonian was directing his subordinates to use cannons, and when he saw the two brothers coming, he hurriedly dissuaded him.

Uncle Ma ignored his son, raised his crutches and pointed a few times, the old men quickly went to the various battlements, moved away the corpses of the soldiers guarding the city, picked up the fire guns, bows and arrows and shot at the thieves under the city, the sound of the guns that had weakened became dense again, Ma Xiaonian shook his head helplessly, the veterans of Yulinwei were stubborn, and they didn't want to let them go down when they went into battle.

Uncle Ma and Uncle Qin fiddled with a thousand catties of Buddha Franc machine, and after a muffled sound, the cannon hit the target, smashing a bloody alley in the dense enemy group, Uncle Ma clapped his hands and laughed: "Dog thief, now I know that the Salhu veterans are powerful, the dolls learn a little, and it depends on our old men to fight." ”

"That's it, Yulinwei's doll is still tender, my Qin Hu's baby is said to have been promoted to the general army, why don't you bring the soldiers back, this baby has to be cleaned up when she goes home." Uncle Qin muttered happily while loading the artillery.

"My baby also wrote that he had just been promoted to a battalion officer, and he was in charge of more than a thousand people."

"My baby is also in the Datong Army, and this time I was promoted to be a sentry commander."

……

There are really many children of Yulin who defect to the Datong Army, and the old men are all happy to boast about their babies.

Uncle Ma patted his thigh and said: "Yulinwei is the most promising is still the Li family's junior Yuzi, everyone is the president, that's a big official, even the emperor has to give three points, my family and Qin Hu's baby defected to Yuzi together, if he hadn't died early, he should be a general soldier now, the next time I see Yuzi, I will let Xiao Nian go with him, hey, no, Yuzi is our Yulinwei's people, why didn't he send troops to save us?" ”

"You don't understand the major affairs of the military plane, big, I beg you, stay here and say a few words, it's okay, this is a war, and there are thieves below." Ma Xiaonian couldn't help it, put down his step and shouted.

The people of the Yulin army were determined to become a city, and they were not afraid to defend the city, and the thieves fought until dusk and returned again in vain, Ma Xiaonian breathed a sigh of relief and fell under the battlement, and then the herald ran to tell him to go to see the marshal immediately.

"Ma Dusi, there are too many thieves, we can't fight with them, Zhai Wen plans to sneak attack the enemy camp tonight, the people you brought back are all elites, do you dare to go out of the city to fight?" You Shiwei asked Ma Xiaonian directly.

"The last will obey." Ma Xiaonian glanced at the guerrilla You Zhaiwen next to him, nodded and replied loudly,

Late that night, You Zhaiwen and Ma Xiaonian led the brave soldiers down the city, quietly crossed the Yuyang Bridge and lurked near the enemy camp, and suddenly launched an attack near dawn, and the thieves were caught off guard and killed more than 100 people. You Zhaiwen succeeded in the sneak attack, and immediately ordered Ma Xiaonian to lead the brothers to withdraw first, and after he led the family to break off, the thieves pursued and killed to Yuyang Bridge with revenge.

Although You Zhaiwen died, it made the people of Yulin understand that they could not defend to the death, and they had to fight back, and the guards everywhere continued to organize the brave to go out of the city to attack and harass, and the thieves attacked the city during the day, and they were powerless in the face of the strong city, and they had to be attacked at night, and they couldn't sleep peacefully, coupled with the severe cold and hunger, the momentum of the siege was greatly reduced.

Yulin City is solid as a rock, almost all the elite thieves are transferred to attack the city, the loss of thousands of soldiers but no size of the merit, this bone is too difficult to gnaw, the attack on the west city of Gao Yigong has a lot of eyes, quietly sent people to sneak into the Haichao Temple closest to the city wall, trying to dig through the tunnel from the temple to the city. The defenders in the city heard the movement from the water tank buried in the root of the city, Hou Shilu sent the brave general Chen Erdian to lead the death squad to attack, Chen Erdian took advantage of the night cover to kill the Haichao Temple by surprise, first blocked the entrance of the cave, buried the thieves in the cave alive, and he and his subordinates were all killed.

Li Guoda was inspired, found a group of miners to discuss, decided to concentrate the army miners in the southeast corner, where the loess is sticky and not easy to collapse, and at the same time dig a few tunnels under the city wall, as long as you dig into one, the city wall can be blown down - the thieves suffered a big loss in Kaifeng, digging tunnels to blow up the city wall, but the wall fell outward, but crushed their own people to death, and the result was that the previous efforts were wasted, this kind of life was pointed out by the high fingers, and at the same time, a large number of elites were sent to protect it closely. Li Guo made up his mind and immediately started to dig tunnels almost blatantly outside the city, You Shiwei knew that it was not good, and sent Ma Xiaonian and You Renjun to attack in turn, but there were too many thieves, and several times they went out of the city to fight back, and You Renjun, Ma Xiaonian and others were also injured.

The thieves' tunnels were soon dug under the city walls, and the soldiers and civilians in the city knew that the situation was critical, and they dismantled the timbers from their houses and sent them to the southern city for emergency use. You Shiwei is very calm on the surface, but he is scolding in his heart, according to the time, the Datong army should be assembled, and the next time he doesn't show up, he will definitely turn to Yulin City, at that time, he will definitely get twice the result with half the effort, he can even feel that the Datong Iron Cavalry is nearby, everyone is an old military business, and no one can hide from anyone, but the people of Yulin are going to suffer, and the next time they see Yuzi, they must ask for an explanation - the soldiers and civilians in the city have suffered heavy casualties, and they have no ability to launch a counterattack, You Shiwei could only order the soldiers and civilians in the city to prepare for street fighting, and then wait patiently for the last moment.

On the morning of the 27th, the wind was fierce, the battle flag of the Ming army on the city wall was blown to hunt, the thieves attacked for a while and shouted and quickly retreated, and then a loud noise that shook the earth came, the earth shook violently, and a section of the city wall in the southeast corner collapsed violently, and a large gap appeared. You Shiwei in the south gate tower got up from the ground, pushed away the family who was helping him, drew his sword out of the sheath and strode out, and the surrounding soldiers and civilians immediately followed him. Ma Xiaonian stopped Uncle Ma and Uncle Qin, stuffed the rifle and gunpowder bag in his hand to the two old men, and picked up a Pu knife to lead the few subordinates to kill the gap.

"Baby, kill the thief, like your eldest brother, don't embarrass the old Ma family." Uncle Ma shouted with tears in his eyes.

"Yuzi, Qin Hu, why don't you come yet, you don't want your hometown!" Uncle Qin raised his arms and shouted to the sky.

The thieves poured into the gap like a tide, and the soldiers and civilians defending the city were lonely, and soon they couldn't stand it, You Shiwei and You Shilu, the two veterans, desperately resisted for a while, tired and exhausted, and fought and retreated under the protection of You Renjun and Ma Xiaonian. The southern city was lost, and the Yulin city was about to fall, but the soldiers and civilians of the whole city would rather die than surrender, and engaged in fierce street battles with thieves, men continued to resist with knives, spears, and sticks, and women and children also climbed on the roofs to shoot arrows and throw stones. In the afternoon, Xicheng also fell, You Dai and Wang Shiguo were killed, Hou Shilu, Hou Gongji and his son were captured with all their strength, and they were killed on the spot if they swore to die - the Yulin army and people resisted bravely, although they suffered heavy casualties and did not flinch, the whole city was fighting fiercely, the thieves were beaten everywhere, and they could not move an inch when they entered the city, and they had to put more troops into the street fighting.

To the north of Boluo Fort, there is a small sea behind several sand dunes, where more than 10,000 cavalrymen are waiting quietly, Zhang Ding and Jida are pacing back and forth restlessly, a small group of cavalry is galloping, and the officer led by shouts loudly: "Zhao Shuai has an order, and the three towns of cavalry will attack immediately." ”

"Flying on the grass is really calm, Lao Tzu can finally do it," Zhang Ding slapped his face vigorously and ordered loudly to the generals, "Blow the trumpet, the whole town will attack!" ”

The overwhelming iron cavalry came from the west, and Gao Yigong, who was on guard outside the city, looked at the three-color black eagle battle flag and beat his chest, Yulin City was about to arrive, but the rival was killed, and it fell short. The Shun army hurriedly beat the drums and lined up, but it was too late, and the iron cavalry rushed over like a whirlwind, and the infantry was scattered in an instant.

At this time, Li Guo hurried over, and Gao Yigong shouted to him: "I'll resist for a while, and you and Lao Liu's rear camp and left camp will immediately gather the team and kill this group of northern captives." ”

"Can't fight, the Datong army has also been killed from Hequ, it has already passed the Shenmu, we will retreat immediately," Li Guo shook his head with a wry smile, and then pushed Gao Yigong and said, "Your miscellaneous soldiers can't stop the iron cavalry, immediately join Lao Liu's left battalion and withdraw first, don't forget to take the villagers of Mizhi away." ”

Li Guo slapped his horse out and led his rear battalion to rush towards the iron cavalry.