The wolf smoke is swarming, and the mess is everywhere.

The majestic city wall of Taiyuan City is like a piece of cheese full of holes, the original neat wall is full of potholes of different sizes, the blue bricks wrapped in rammed earth are cracked and broken, and the stone battlements are missing corners and few edges, compared with the appearance of Ju Yu Xiongcheng three days ago, one in the sky and one underground.

At noon on 16 May, the tide of rebels retreated from the city again, leaving some mutilated corpses under the city walls, along with many shoddy ladders, shield carts, and other equipment, piled up under the city walls, like a huge garbage dump around the city walls.

The bloody smell emanated from the corpses, fermented and rose in the abundant sunlight, spread for miles, and soon became the smell of corpses, attracting a large number of mosquitoes and flies, and excitedly flapping their wings to participate in this feast.

The defenders at the head of the city breathed a sigh of exhaustion, and today's hardship seemed to be over again.

In the past three days, just like the sun rising, the rebel army besieging Taiyuan City beat the drum and set up the formation on time every day, first firing cannons outside the south gate, and more than ten giant cannons comparable to red-coated cannons fired three rounds, beating the entire section of the city wall to the point of jumping chickens and dogs, and the soldiers on the city had nowhere to stay, and then countless foot soldiers carried the ladder and pushed the shield cart upward, shouting and attacking the city.

The Qing soldiers at the head of the city also mastered the law, hiding under the city or elsewhere before the Ming army's shelling, and when the shelling stopped, they immediately rushed to the city head to defend, so although the Ming army attacked fiercely for three days, they did not take even a section of the city wall, and Taiyuan City was still firmly in the hands of the Qing army.

In the distance, the rebels retreated like ants, and scattered through the flat ground left between the several wide trenches, and ran back to their respective camps.

Li Dingguo, together with Han Zhaoxuan, Yu Yin and other leaders, under the protection of a group of elite soldiers, stood on a mountain bag behind the trench and stared over.

"I've been attacking for three days, and I guess it's not bad, if I'm Zhu Shichang, it's enough to choke." Li Dingguo narrowed his eyes and said in a deep voice: "How many people ran out of the north today?" ”

"There were twenty-five horses out of the city, and the people at the north gate did not deliberately block them according to the instructions of the Hou Ye, leaving a gap and letting them escape." Yu Yin replied immediately.

"For the past three days, dozens of people have fled from the city basically every day, all of them are Mongolian horses, and the people who ride the horses are also skilled in riding, so they should all be Mongolian soldiers." Han Zhaoxuan also responded: "It seems that Zhu Shichang used the fastest cavalry to ask for help." ”

"That's more than a hundred emergency messengers." Li Dingguo smiled slightly: "Enough, from the afternoon, close the long trench, stop the attack, change the siege to a besieged city, erect a wooden fence outside the long trench, and not let a single person escape in the city!" ”

"Great!" Yu Yin laughed roughly: "The trench has been dug in the past three days, and it only takes one day to connect and form, and the tartars in the city want to come out, but it takes some effort, and in a few days, the second long trench can also be dug, and then it will be even more solid, and even the rats in the city can't run out." ”

"Please be careful, how can you say that there are still more than 20,000 people in the city, be careful that they jump over the wall in a hurry and rush out in desperation." Li Dingguo reminded: "I will lead the Fengzi Battalion to leave in the afternoon, and as soon as we leave, the rest will depend on you." ”

"Please rest assured, general, we must have widened our eyes and lived up to the trust of the marquis." Han Zhaoxuan hurriedly said: "The Tartars in the city are trapped, and the Hou Ye can rest assured that he can set up an ambush in the north, and he has no worries, and we can still afford this responsibility." ”

The other rebel leaders standing behind also echoed and loudly said that they had handed it over.

Li Dingguo's smile became stronger, he hugged his fists and arched his hands, shook his hands, and said to everyone: "In this way, there will be all of you, Dingguo will definitely report your heart to the Hou Ye truthfully!" ”

"General Li is polite, this is what we should do, please return to the marquis, I will wait here, Taiyuan will be like a cage, foolproof!" The crowd hurriedly returned the salute and shouted.

The corners of Li Dingguo's mouth reached the root of his ears, and his smiling face made his eyes narrow into a slit, and he secretly sighed in his heart, Lord Wang is really powerful, and in a few words, he used some empty promises that he didn't need to pay for himself, and he took this group of local tyrants in the palm of his hand.

Of course, Li Dingguo also understands that without the thunderbolt means shown by the sharp soldiers and artillery of the Kuizhou army, these arrogant people will not obediently obey, after all, seeing those deep bullet holes on the Taiyuan city wall, any warlord who supports his own army will silently touch his backbone and whether it is hard.

He turned to face in the direction of Taiyuan City, put away his smile, the wisps of smoke in the noon sun made the world in sight a little sad, and the battlefield strewn with bloodstained corpses added a bit of grandeur.

"I don't know if Beijing City is bigger and taller than Taiyuan, and more spectacular?" Li Dingguo thought, his eyes were a little confused: "What day can I stand outside the Forbidden City and look at the noon gate that Zhang Xianzhong couldn't enter?" ”

……

Datong.

The battlefield that is more tragic than the outside of Taiyuan City is presented in the same sunshine, within five miles outside the city, it has long been turned into a scorched earth, the arrow shaft rolling wood is mixed with the remains of human limbs, exposed to the air, exuding a pungent stench, the Datong city wall is five feet higher than the Taiyuan city wall, the outer layer of bricks has been bullet wounded, the towering city towers on each city gate have been ruined, wisps of green smoke rise from the charred nest car remnants, fill the sandbags of the moat, and the blood-stained water poured the sandbags into mud ponds.

If Taiyuan is a cruel battlefield, then Datong is hell.

At noon, the Qing soldiers who had also retreated bypassed the triple trenches besieging the city and returned to the barracks, where they ate and rested, accumulating strength for the continuation of the onslaught in the afternoon.

The big tent of Azig, in the military camp fifteen miles away from Datong City, next to the Shili River, was built in a mountain surrounded by a mountain, the wind could not blow, and it was close to the water source, which was a good area for camping.

At this moment, the tent is full of powerful people, many Manchu princes, county kings, Beile, Beizi level nobles sit around a circle of felt carpets, these people have gloomy faces, tired expressions, wearing boots and sitting cross-legged, drinking tea, no one is silent.

In the center and behind a low table was none other than the prince of Heshuoying and the general of Pingxi, Azig, who had a fierce face and a strong body, and the cotton armor covered his whole body with muscles was bulging high, because he was sitting in the tent, and the cherry helmet on his head was not worn, revealing his smooth head and a small handful of braids at the back of his head.

He frowned, and looked down at a letter spread out on the low table, on which there were several unopened envelopes, which were covered with fire paint and printed with the official seal of the Taiyuan Governor's Yamen.

After a few hasty glances, Azig raised his head, frowned at the person standing respectfully in the middle of the big tent and asked, "I remember that this kind of urgent letter has been being delivered for the past few days, how many are there?" ”

This person is a Zhengbai Banner Zhangjing, who is in charge of the correspondence in the army, listened to Azige's question, and hurriedly replied: "Back to the prince's words, the urgency from Taiyuan began ten days ago, and increased day by day, and to today, it has involved fifty-three letters, which are becoming more and more urgent day by day, and more than ten letters have been sent today." ”

When the generals in the tent heard this, they couldn't help but look at each other, and talked quietly, shaking their heads lightly as they spoke.

Azig's brows furrowed even deeper, and he casually sent Na Zhangjing out, looking at the two people in the seat with wolf-like eyes.

(End of chapter)