The residual light of the setting sun shines on the city wall of Datong, reflecting the ancient city that has gone through a hundred years of war in a blood-colored light, and the dense pits on the wall tiles are like ghost eyes hiding in the darkness in the light and shadow, silently staring at the grass in front of the earth.

Wisps of green smoke rose, it was the afterglow left by the siege of the city during the day, the skeleton of the shield cart destroyed by the artillery was still standing there, some blue-yellow flames were still burning, and they were not extinguished, and the soldiers lying on the ground clutched the tattered shields in their hands, keeping the direction facing the city wall, and their faces were covered by mud, and their expressions before death could not be seen.

The siege of the city, as if it was routine, ended in the evening, and the Qing army, which had withdrawn like a low tide, slowly disappeared into the twilight, taking away some life on the city wall and leaving some life.

Both the people in the city and under the city breathed a sigh of relief, the day has passed, what will happen tomorrow?

Nobody thinks about it.

Jiang Hao stood behind the battlements at the head of the city, pressing his hands on the stone battlements, which were full of arrow marks, and a piece of the horn was broken, which should have been knocked off by an iron bullet, and he pressed it there with his hands, as if he was pressing a throbbing part deep in his chest.

The military flag with a few holes on the top of his head is fluttering, his eyes are looking into the distance, his gaze is deep, but there is a trace of long-lost awe, he has been defending the city for nearly half a year, he has long been accustomed to death in blood and fire, the hearts of anyone in the city have long been numb, nothing can surprise them, the daily fight is just to live a few more days, but trapped in a lonely city, what is the difference between life and death?

Jiang Hao supervises the battle at the head of the city every day, where he is most tight, where he appears, in the gap after the war, at this time he should stay in the city, seize the time before dinner to discuss the next day's response with the generals under his command, check where the city wall is in danger again, and so on, he is very busy.

But here he was, looking out over the mountains a few miles away, separated by three layers of trenches and wooden fences, where there were the tents of the Qing army.

The fluttering flags have been erected there for many days, white, red, yellow, blue and the flags with red edges on them are waving in the wind, showing off like being erected very high, and the flag is very large, even if it is far away and close to dusk, Jiang Hao can still see it.

At this time, there is an extra color in the large array of flags, which is a bright yellow flag, which is one head higher than other flags, and it is huge, which stands out from the crowd.

"Dolgon...... Here we go again. The muscles on Jiang Xuan's face twitched, pulling a scar on the corner of his mouth, his eyes blinked in pain, and then became gloomy again: "Are you going to fight hard?" ”

He slammed his fist on the stone, and the skin on his hand felt a solid coolness and hardness, which made his eyes change color for a moment, and then a little melancholy.

Under the banner in the distance, before the night rose, a fire had already risen in the camp, and a group of elite guards Bayala warriors surrounded a large piece of the ground, prohibiting anyone from approaching, and the cold blades of the guns flashed with cold light, which were extremely dazzling under the reflection of the firelight, and pierced people's eyes to dare not look directly.

There were several places in the fire, and a group of people sat in the light of the fire in all directions, and in front of them knelt a man.

The man was tied with his hands, his face was like ashes, and on the top of his hairless head, large beads of sweat were dripping down, and his sturdy body was bound like a weak chicken, and the sweat flowed down his head, wetting the two small braids hanging from his ears, and then dripping to the ground, wetting the dirt under his body.

Nikan, the king of Jingjin County of the Great Qing Dynasty, faced the ground, did not even have the strength to raise his head, lowered his head, did not say a word, his eyes were half-closed as if he was dead, and quietly listened to the roar not far away.

"You minions, 10,000 warriors, 10,000 warriors! That's how many years Taizu has accumulated the family foundation, and you will be defeated in one battle! That's how many cows, how many Jiala, and you'll be defeated in one battle! Lost in one battle!! Dorgon roared, and the sound could break through the wooden wall a hundred feet away, and if the sound could kill, Nikan didn't know how many times he had been killed.

"Bolo died on the battlefield, it's decent, although he is incompetent, at least he knows that he doesn't dare to survive, you slave is good, you dare to come back! Are you really not afraid of my Qing military law? ”

After scolding for a while, he was still angry, picked up the leather whip on the ground, ran over in a few big steps, and whipped at Nikan with a head and face, and the raindrop-like whip shadow fell on Nikan, and when the skin and flesh touched the leather whip, the sound of snapping made people palpitate.

Nikan gritted his teeth and took it with his head down, not making a sound.

The nobles sitting on the Mazar on both sides, their faces were expressionless, no one made a sound, Nikan returned with a feather, folding 10,000 Eight Banner soldiers and tens of thousands of Han and Mongolian troops, and he should be beheaded for his crimes, and naturally no one stood up for him.

The Han generals sitting at the bottom of the table had a little pale on their solemn faces, obviously extremely afraid of this kind of behavior of whipping the prince in public.

The prince is still like this, once it is he who fails, then the end is ......

"Bang!"

The handle of the whip was so unwieldy that it broke in two with a powerful swing, and Dorgon paused in a furious motion, then smashed the remaining piece of the wooden handle in his hand into Nikan's bloody head.

The mouth scolded: "Drag it down, it seems!" After this bright dog is extinguished, come and ask him about his sins! ”

Someone rushed up and threw down Nikan, who seemed to have lost his will but could not stand on his knees.

Dolgon's face was so gloomy that he could hail a hailstorm, and he strode back to his seat, flicked off his robe, and sat back down, looking coldly at the direction in which Nikan had been dragged away, his gaze as cold as a knife, as if he were going to kill him through the space.

After he took a few breaths, Azig, who was sitting on his side, turned his head sideways and said in a deep voice: "Nikan came back, but he said something about the team of bright dogs in Shiling Pass. ”

"This king knows, isn't it that Wang Huan?" Dolgon snorted: "Meng Qiaofang mentioned it the year before last, I heard that there are some famous and sharp firearms? ”

"It was very sharp, Nikan was defeated by the firearm of the Ming dog, and its cannon could shoot about ten miles, like a thunderbolt, and everyone who touched it was rotten; There is also a tiger squat cannon as big as a grinding plate, which does not shoot scattered iron pellets but shoots gunpowder packets, and after landing, it can shock a radius of dozens of zhang, and within its explosion range, the internal organs of people and horses burst and die; The rest of the firearms such as birds and rockets are even more numerous, firing a salvo, like a thunderstorm, the sound is terrifying, and everyone is shocked. Azig said slowly, glancing at Dolgon's face with his peripheral vision.

Dolgon's face slowly changed from angry flush to normal, one side of the hero, after all, is not a hot-headed reckless man, just because of Nikan's incompetence aroused the anger in his heart, after a little venting, immediately returned to the true character of a master, Azig finished a few words, Dolgon has already sat upright, into the state of military deliberations.

"Has it been confirmed?" He asked.

Azig nodded, took out a bamboo tube from his side, handed it to Dolgon, and said: "This is one of the firearms that were snatched back from the battlefield at that time, there are two of them, we tried to blow up one, it is indeed amazing, we have asked separately about the defeated soldiers, Nikan is telling the truth." ”

Dorgon took the tube, looked at it suspiciously, then turned it over to look at the bottom, squinted earnestly for a moment at the hole above, and then looked at Azig.

Azig understood what Dolgon meant, and immediately explained, "The bamboo tube itself is not terrible, but the gunpowder in it is terrible. ”

He pulled out another paper bag, carefully opened it, and spread it on the ground in front of Dolgon, inside the paper bag was a handful of black powder.

"This kind of gunpowder, our craftsmen have never seen before, it is a hundred times stronger than the usual gunpowder, and there are five coins of gunpowder in the bamboo tube, with iron nails and gravel, which can kill and injure hundreds of people." Azig said, although his tone was calm, but there was a faint tremor that was faintly reflected.

Dolgon's eyes narrowed, and they became more serious and colder.

(End of chapter)