Without waiting to enter the boundary of Hebei Road, you can see a scene of chaos.

The Maitreya Sect was indeed very powerful in Hebei Road, and after the Beizhou incident, not only a large number of Maitreya followers gathered in Beizhou, but also many groups of people went around to attack the officials and soldiers who went to Beizhou to suppress it. When the official army was attacked, they naturally wanted to retaliate, so the common people in the warring areas were unlucky, and even if they were not affected by the battle, they might have been sacked by the official army and the Maitreya sect, so they fled one after another.

At the same time, the official army of 30,000 people surrounded Beizhou, and a large amount of grain and grass was needed, so it was naturally necessary to levy and send people to transport, so a large number of people were arrested and many died on the way, and more people abandoned their homes in order to escape from labor. Therefore, it has only been a month since the Beizhou uprising, and many places in Hebei have been emptied.

Li Buqi looked at this depressed scene and felt blocked, and according to his plan, this farce should be ended soon, but Myeongho was in charge, so he had to follow without saying a word. Fortunately, Ming Ho is also a responsible person, all the way to the city of Beizhou, gathered the generals to read out the will and began to exercise command, first one by one, ask Ming mobilized officers and troops have arrived, the total number of people reached 53,000 people, then asked: "Tens of thousands of troops of the imperial court gathered under the city of Beizhou, if it is said that it is impossible to capture the city, but the field battle with the thieves has also been lost, what is the reason?" ”

Wang Xin, the chief manager, hurriedly said: "Pacify, the thieves are cunning, the first few times they used fire bulls to charge into battle in each battle, our officers and soldiers were defenseless at the beginning, so they suffered several losses." But after a few times, he was on guard, and he was always able to kill some cattle every time, and there were not many cattle in the city, and he had not used fire oxen in the past few days. Now our officers and troops have entered the city to complete the siege. ”

Wang Xin said that in fact, Ming Ho saw it in the battle report, and the reason why he asked again was that it actually meant to beat the generals, so he glanced at Wang Xin coldly and said: "It's good that thieves are cunning, but you are all generals, if you are careful, how can you let thieves succeed repeatedly?" You and others are all people in charge of the army, how can this kind of appearance reassure Your Majesty and the people? ”

Wang Xin's face turned red all of a sudden, but he didn't dare to defend himself, Mai Yunyan, Wang Kai, Hao Zhen and others also hurriedly knelt down: "We are guilty, please appease and deal with it." Gao Jilong, the new governor of Beizhou, who was sitting next to Ming Hao, also had a sneer on his face. Although he was urgently transferred from Cangzhou after the Beizhou Uprising, he was also the nominal commander of Beizhou City, and he could not escape the blame for the defeat.

Ming Ho said with a cold face: "Originally, the old man should have joined you, but it is important to quell the rebellion, and when employing people, the old man will not pursue this matter for the time being." If anyone cheats and cheats, the old man will definitely not spare him, and the old crime will be punished together! ”

Wang Xin hurriedly said: "The rank must obey the order and move forward desperately, please be appeased and rest assured." ”

Ming Ho then asked, "How are the preparations for the siege now?" ”

Wang Xin said: "At present, the army has surrounded Beizhou on all sides, but the city wall of Beizhou is high and thick, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the lower officials have ordered to cut down trees to build siege equipment." Today, stone cannons, ladders and bridges have been built, and dozens of them have been completed. ”

Ming Ho said: "Okay, with all the strength of the army to build, five days later, the siege will begin, there must be no mistake." ”

Wang Xin's face turned bitter, and he hesitated for a moment and said, "Qi Qi appeases." In order to prevent the invasion of the Liao army, all the big trees were cut down, and the timber used to build siege equipment was all cut down and transported from afar. Moreover, there are many Maitreya followers around to harass the officials and soldiers, so the equipment that can be built in five days is only afraid that it will not be enough. ”

Ming Ho ignored Gao Jilong's repeated glances, and said angrily: "If Beizhou is not down, the Maitreya Sect will not give up, and it will cause disturbances everywhere, and the people will be displaced." In addition, the Beizhou army gathered, and the people could only be requisitioned to transport grain and grass in the severe cold, and if they were delayed for one more day, they did not know how many people's bones would fill the ravines. Beizhou is also close to Liao, and it is difficult to ensure that Liaoguo will not take the opportunity to raise troops, so the pacification of Beizhou is also related to the security of the country. If you wait to eat the country's money on weekdays, how can you be afraid of difficulties at this moment? The official has decided, five days later, the siege will be beheaded, and anyone who cowers will be killed! ”

At this time, Wang Xin and the others were all bitter in their hearts. But Ming Ho sang a high note to lift the country and the people out, these officialdom old fritters all understand that if they oppose Ming Ho's order, then a big hat will not be able to run away, if Ming Ho and they count the accounts of the previous defeat, it is possible to dismiss the official and go to prison, so no one dares to squeak, they are all only orders.

After giving the order, Ming Ho looked at Li Buqi, who was sitting beside him: "Li Junjian, you have always been resourceful, and now the military situation is urgent, but if there is any good way to attack the city, you might as well say it, so that the officers and soldiers can reduce their losses." ”

At this time, everyone looked at Li Buqi, especially the generals, whose eyes were even more eager. Everyone knows that Li Buqi is capable, and I hope he can come up with an idea, so that the siege may be simpler.

However, Li Buqi said: "The first thing to do in the battle is to adapt measures to local conditions, and the situation in Beizhou City is not yet clear to the lower officials, and there is no good way. ”

Myeongho said: "The situation in Beizhou has been clearly stated in the military report, what else is unclear? Li Junjian must have had an idea when he said that 30,000 people could capture Beizhou, so it was better to listen to it and brainstorm ideas. ”

At this time, the eyes of the generals became eager again-Li Buqi dared to say that he would use 30,000 people to capture Beizhou, and there must be a way. But Li Buqi still said calmly and firmly: "Xiaguan only said that 30,000 people were enough for the time being, because Xiaguan was young and had little experience, and he didn't dare to command only according to the military report, and how to attack the city needed to be determined on the spot." At that time, it was considered that there would be more people to transport grain and grass and the difficulty of stationing in the field, but after deciding how to fight, it may be necessary to increase the number of troops. ”

Li Buqi said this, and Ming Ho had no choice but to say: "Since this is the case, let's go down to the city and have a look." ”

So everyone went out of their tents, got on their horses and left the camp, and ran around Beizhou.

Beizhou is not far from Lanzhou, and is at the forefront of the Liao State, so the city wall and moat are renovated every year, and the outside of the city is also bare, the shooting boundary is open, and the food, grass and ordnance in the city are sufficient, and it is indeed difficult to attack.

Li Buqi and they went around the city to observe when the defenders on the city wall spotted them, and soon a large group of people gathered, and there was a faint shout, but they couldn't hear what they were shouting from a distance. Li Buqi took out his binoculars and looked at the city, and could see that the people in the city were waving their flags and shouting, and their morale was high. At this time, someone fired two javelins with a bed crossbow, Wang Xin and others shouted "protect the handsome" and gathered Ming Ho and Gao Jilong to retreat, Li Buqi did not move immediately, and said: "The range of my bed crossbow in the Great Song Dynasty is not so far, don't panic!" ”

Sure enough, the two javelins flew with a weakened strength and had been blown off the rails, and they fell at least fifty meters away from Li Buqi and plunged into the soil. Wang Xin and the others turned red again. They originally wanted these civilian officials to feel that Beizhou was well-armed, easy to defend and difficult to attack, but it was obvious that Li Buqi was a person who could not be fooled, so they had to circle the horse and come back and stand next to Li Buqi's horse.

The output of telescopes is now extremely low, and only the first level of the handsome such as Ming Ho can get one, and Wang Xin and others are not enough to have a level. Li Buqi casually handed the telescope to Wang Xin and said, "Take a look." Wang Xin followed Li Bu's example, put the telescope on his eyes, and almost fell off his horse: "This is clairvoyance?" ”

Li Buqi said: "This is called a telescope, and in the future, all the generals will definitely have one in their hands." It seems that the thieves are very popular? ”

Wang Xin introduced with a solemn face: "Maitreya taught the thieves to be vicious, and tattooed the six words 'the righteous army broke Zhao and won the victory' on the faces of the people in the city, forcing the people in the city to fight desperately against the heavenly soldiers, and there were those who took crazy drugs to go into battle, so the thieves were brave and negligent. ”

Li Buqi asked, "Have you tried to surrender?" ”

Gao Jilong next to him said: "The imperial court transferred this official to recruit thieves." It's just that the thieves are very resolute at all, and there is no room for negotiation. The official thought that it was impossible to recruit An. ”

Wang Xin respectfully returned the telescope to Li Buqi, who made a gesture and asked him to show the telescope to the other generals. Then he said, "Kochi Prefecture only recruited the leader of the thieves, right?" Haven't you tried to recruit the thieves below? ”