At the end of the fifth year of Longxing, near the end of the year, Han Chang, who claimed to have taken Zhu Jitai that day, did not succeed, and Ma Wu's army had been blocked in Caobei Town for two days. During this period, the Jin army tried all kinds of methods, including frontal attacks, storming the passage, and sneak attacks at night, but still failed to break through the defense line of the Hu'er army. In the course of two days, Xu Wei and his subordinates changed their tactics many times, and with the help of the condescending terrain, they ordered strong bows and crossbows to be fired in turn, causing large casualties to the Jin army. Han Chang, the commander of Ma Wu, was in front of the command, because the heralds around him were running back and forth, and was discovered by Zhang Xian, a general under Xu Wei, so he personally operated the divine arm bow and fired at him at the same time with several giant crossbows. Han Chang's horse was shot to death, and he himself was pierced through the right shoulder blade by a short arrow of a divine arm bow, and his subordinates hurriedly snatched it back, although the wound was not fatal, but it made him unable to command the battle anymore. This incident made Ma Wu angry and ordered to take Zhu Jitai at all costs.

At this time, Xu Si and Xu Wu had already led the troops directly under the Xuanfu Disposal Division to Baoji County and stationed in Dasanguan. Yao Pingzhong has also led his troops to Fengxiang Mansion City.

Ma Wu believed that this time the troops were sent to pursue the Western Army and seize Fengxiang Mansion, and now that the pursuit could not be done, he should concentrate on taking Fengxiang. Although he really wanted to uproot Xu Wei, he understood that Xu Jiu was geographically advantageous, and the longer I spent with him here, the more prepared the other Western armies would be, and the more difficult it would be to capture Fengxiang. Based on this consideration, he gave up attacking Zhu Jitai and transferred his troops to the north, intending to bypass Fengming Mountain and capture Qishan County, and then directly attack Tianxing County, where Fengxiang Mansion is located.

As soon as Xu Wei saw Ma Wu withdraw, he knew that something was wrong, in fact, he preferred the main force of the Jin army to attack here, he still had more than 20,000 horse infantry troops in his hands, according to the geographical advantage, the materials were enough, and he was not afraid to fight for ten days and a half months. As long as the Jin army can't attack for a long time, it will be tired after a long time, and it may be able to find an opportunity to attack at that time.

But Ma Wu's departure forced him to hurry back to Fengxiang Mansion City, and in order to prevent Ma Wu from turning around and coming back, Zhu Jitai had to leave troops to garrison. After consulting with the generals, it was decided to leave Zhang Xian to lead 6,000 troops to defend here, and he personally led 20,000 horse infantry troops to rush to the capital city.

Just when Fengxiang Mansion was tense and the situation in Shaanxi was in danger of deteriorating sharply, the Shaanxi Xuanfu Disposal Division headed by Xu Shao had already settled down in Chengzhou. This is the junction of Shaanxi and Sichuan, and their withdrawal to this place immediately caused a shock in Sichuan! Sichuan Xuanfu envoy Xu Churen was particularly concerned about the war situation in Shaanxi, and sent his deputy to Chengzhou to visit Xu Shao in person. The first is to listen to the war, and the second is to show attitude. As Shaanxi's rear, it is indispensable for Sichuan to support Shaanxi's resistance to Jinjin, but whenever Shaanxi is in need and Sichuan is within its capacity, it will not be allowed.

But Xu Shao retreated in a hurry at this time, and he himself didn't know what the situation was on the front line. It is not even known where his nephews and nephews are now. This situation lasted until Xu Si and Xu Wu sent someone to report, saying that Xu Wei blocked the Jin soldiers in Qishan, Yao Pingzhong led the remnants, the people, and their families to retreat to Fengxiang Mansion, and his two brothers had brought the troops directly under the Xuanfu Division to enter Dasanguan to block the Jin army's road to Shu.

The people of the Xuanfu Disposal Division were panicked, and many officials suggested that they should evacuate to Sichuan, and Chengzhou was not safe. Sichuan Xuanfu envoy Xu Churen welcomed this, and he suggested that Xu Shao could withdraw to Xingyuan Mansion, that is, Shaanxi Hanzhong in later generations, but in the Song Dynasty, it belonged to Lizhou Road and was under the jurisdiction of Sichuan Xuanfu Envoy.

Xu Shao did not agree, he is now worried about two things. First, it is naturally a front-line battle situation. General Xu Yao and Zhang San were defeated in Dunzhou, the Western army suffered heavy casualties, and the Jin army took advantage of the situation, and the situation will continue to deteriorate.

The second is himself. As the envoy of Shaanxi Xuanfu and the number one military and political leader, it is difficult for him to evade responsibility for such a fiasco. Now he has to think about how to explain to Zhenjiang Xing. Resignation is an option, but in Xu Shao's view, this is a cowardly act, no different from picking a pick. Since I insisted on launching a counteroffensive and caused a great defeat, then I should take responsibility for preventing the situation from deteriorating.

Third, it is also what worries him the most. Although he was in Shaanxi, he always paid close attention to the situation in Jianghuai. It's just that the mountains and rivers are far away, and the news is closed, and I only know that the Central Plains has fallen. However, Xu Churen's deputy, the deputy envoy of Sichuan Xuanfu, told him that not only had the Central Plains fallen, but the Jin army had already reached the edge of the Yangtze River. And Zhao Guan's family left Xingzai, and now he is missing. The person who presides over the affairs of the Privy Council is the privy envoy Orihiko. That's all the news that the western region knows.

The Jin army is on the Yangtze River, and the officials are abandoning their line and leaving, which means one thing. "Isolated from the court," that is to say, Shaanxi and Sichuan have cut off contact with the central government and have received no instructions. To put it more clearly, now in Sichuan and Shaanxi, it is up to him Xu Shao and Xu Churen to take care of it. Of course, from another point of view, the matter of Sichuan and Shaanxi is just what the two of them say.

Xu Shao could only put aside the matter of "writing to be punished", because the emperor didn't know where to go. The first priority now is to resist the offensive of the Jin army. By whom? Naturally, he is a general on the front line, but looking at the few handsome guards in Shaanxi now, Yao Pingzhong is almost broken, Lao Jiu has also suffered heavy losses, and Xu Da is left with undiminished strength.

Xu Shao knew very well that his eldest nephew still had at least seventy or eighty thousand male soldiers in his hands. He also knew that when he assembled in Yaozhou a few days ago, Xu Yuan only came with 20,000 people, not even half of the troops stipulated by the Xuanfu Disposal Division. And a considerable part of the 20,000 people are still the old part of the former Quduan.

Xu Da made it clear that he wanted to preserve his strength, and even did not hesitate to disobey his orders. Xu Shao had to admit that his eldest nephew was the most troublesome of all the nephews. He ignores justice, doesn't care about personal feelings, and has only one thing in his eyes, which is his team. And that team is not his, it is the king of the Son of Heaven.

Xu Shao wanted to teach his eldest nephew a lesson, and even moved the idea of sending Qu Duan, who was named "Deputy Envoy of North Shaanxi Road", back to restrain Xu Da. But after weighing it again, he didn't dare to take this risk. At the moment of the great enemy, the western army must unite and unite with the outside world. Now, the fourth, fifth, and ninth are all fighting against Jin in Fengxiang, but with their current strength, I am afraid that it is not enough to compete with the Jin army, and they must have Xu Yuan's support. But he is a prefect in public affairs and an elder in private affairs, so it is impossible to beg him, but if he forcibly orders, Xu Da is very likely to repeat the old tricks, at best, he will give you a discount to execute, otherwise, he will simply turn a deaf ear.

"Dad, the eldest brother is different from the ninth brother. Since the ninth brother stepped into the official career, our two families have been in frequent contact, and he and his father are also relatively close. But the eldest brother has been in Shaanxi for a long time, although he is a close relative, but since the death of the uncle, there have been few contacts, and it is inevitable that he will be unfamiliar. Last time, the troops from all walks of life formed the troops directly under the Xuanfu Disposal Division, and I found one thing. The eldest brother attaches great importance to the ninth brother, and when he heard that the ninth brother had handed over the army, he immediately changed his attitude. ”

Now after the Xuanfu Disposal Division is withdrawn to Chengzhou, it is still working in the pavilion for the time being. In Xu Shao's room, Xu Liuzheng was discussing with his father how to let Xu Da send troops.

"This is not difficult to understand, Xu Da knew that Lao Jiu was close to his father, at that time, Lao Jiu was strong and strong, and he had never been defeated in battles with the Jinren, and even Lao Jiu listened to moderation, what else could he do? But now it is different, the old nine soldiers were defeated in Yanzhou, and when Xu Da saw this situation, he was afraid that he would be more self-respecting. Xu Shao said worriedly.

Xu Liu nodded, and then said: "What I want to say is that if you want to persuade the eldest brother, you need to start from both the public and private sides. ”

"Oh? What do you think, let's hear it. Xu Shao sat upright and asked.

"The ninth brother controlled the counterattack of the army as the commander of the capital, and the army was defeated in Juzhou, so he should be responsible for it. Er thinks that he can be exempted from being sent by the capital and replaced by his eldest brother, which is a public state. As for selfishness, Er thinks that his father might as well write a letter to him in person, and the wording may be milder, but at the same time, he should also point out that if Qin Feng is lost, Jingyuan Huanqing will not be guaranteed. I hope that he will always be able to do it, and the clouds will rise. Xu Liu said.

Xu Shao listened, was silent for a while, and sighed for a long time: "Let's go, he is the grandson of the eldest house, so I'll put my body back." ”

When he opened the frozen pen, spread out the paper, and wrote a letter to Xu Yuan. He didn't mention the unpleasantness of the past, and first said that the situation in Shaanxi was critical, and the North Road Division, as the head of the three roads, was the foundation of Shaanxi. Then, he recalled that when Xu Mao and Xu Zhang were still alive, the three brothers all served in the army, and they rose all the way from a small officer, relying on the unity of brothers. Now there is only one left in the older generation, and it has to rely on Xu Yuan's generation. It was also specifically mentioned that Xu Yuan is the grandson of the eldest house, and the hope of the Xu family is Yunyun.

After the letter was written, and the letter of appointment was signed, he sent Pegasus to Weizhou.

On the twenty-ninth day of the lunar month, before Chinese New Year's Eve, Xu Wei's horse entered Fengxiang Mansion and immediately began to arrange defense. At this time, he had 20,000 horse infantry troops, and among Yao Pingzhong's army, in addition to the wounded who could not fight, there were also more than 10,000, but they lacked weapons and equipment. This problem is also easy to solve, because Xu Wei now has an advantage.

When the army was assembled for a counteroffensive, the Xuanfu Disposal Division set up a logistics base in Pizhou, behind Yaozhou. The front line was lost, the surrounding area of Jingzhao Mansion was evacuated and retreated, and all the grain, grass and ordnance accumulated in Pizhou were withdrawn to Fengxiang Mansion to the west of it, and now they are piled up in the city, and they have not had time to transport them away.

Now there are only two problems in front of Xu Wei and Yao Pingzhong, one is morale, and the other is city defense.

The defeat of Dunzhou was unprecedented, and the blow to the morale of the Western Army could be described as heavy! Xu Wei's Hu'er army, from the day the army was formed, rarely lost battles, and the worst thing was only when He Guan was appointed as the envoy, the Western Army counterattacked Hedong and failed.

But this time in the defeat of Dunzhou, 27,000 soldiers and horses, only 6,400 escaped, which was simply nerve-wracking. This made the proud soldiers of the Tiger Army, who were accustomed to winning battles, unable to return for a while, because they lacked the experience of defeat. As for Yao Pingzhong's troops on the Western Road, it was even more miserable, since the beginning of the Song and Jin wars, they have hardly fought a battle, and as soon as they came, they encountered a miserable situation like the annihilation of the whole army, and the low morale can be seen.

Even if they retreated into Fengxiang Mansion, the soldiers were still panicked, and it was privately rumored that the Jin army was powerful, and Qin Feng was afraid that he would not be able to protect it. Pessimism spread in the barracks.

As for the city defense, this is Xu Wei's biggest headache. Looking at the defensive battles fought by the Hu'er Army, there are two most important ones, one is the defense of Pingyang Mansion in Hedong, and the other is the defense of Chang'an. In these two defensive battles, the cities on which the Hu'er army relied were all tall and strong, with complete facilities. Among them, Pingyang Mansion was transformed according to the suggestion of Wang Yu, the first strong shield of the Western Army, which was solid.

But the city of Fengxiang Mansion really surprised Xu Wei. In view of Fengxiang's status in Shaanxi, the city is naturally very large, and there are also small ten miles of land on all sides. But the problem is that although Fengxiang is located in Shaanxi, it is not like the three roads on the edge of the edge, and it has never been directly threatened by the military. Therefore, its city defense system is very old, although the city is long, but the city wall is not high, only about three zhang. And it's not thick, the top width is only more than six steps, and the bottom width is eight steps. The most important thing is that because of the long-term peaceful environment, Fengxiang City Defense still retains the layout of the early Song Dynasty. Every one hundred and twenty paces in the city, there is only one enemy platform and one horse. And because he didn't fight for a long time, even the moat was silted.

With this kind of city wall, as soon as the goose cart approaches, the enemy can directly go up, and the bottom is so narrow, if you dig a tunnel to attack the city, you will definitely get twice the result with half the effort. The top is not wide, which means that no more archers can be placed. At present, the Jin army is only afraid that it is not far from Fucheng, and obviously has no time to improve the city defense, so it can only make peace.

At noon on this day, Xu Wei and Yao Pingzhong and other military attachés arranged defenses at the head of the city. More than a dozen flying fire cannons were all erected on the head of the city, and the bow of the divine arm and the crossbow of the bed were also placed on the face of the horse. The soldiers, together with the young men of the city, were carrying bundles of arrows up the city. The large tanks of Xu Yao's and Yao's armies were completely lost, and the tactics of using artillery to make artillery were no longer useful.

"Prepare more rams, this wall is not high enough, once the goose cart comes over, if you don't immediately hit its ladder, it will be passive." Yang Yan instructed the officers and soldiers who came and went around him.

Yao Pingzhong turned his head to look at him, shook his head and said: "In the city of Fengxiang, once the goose cart comes over, I am afraid you will not even have a chance to collide, the city wall is too low." In a ten-mile-long city, there is no one in the urn city, and there are so few enemies on the horse! And it's so far away! Once the large chariots of the Jin army approached the city wall, the enemy platforms on both sides could not be effectively suppressed, alas......"

Xu Wei's complexion was not very good, and the arrow wounds on his body had been faintly painful, but he still smiled lightly: "Although the city defense is old, the food and grass equipment are very abundant, and the troops are enough, so there is no problem in holding it." ”

"No matter how much grain and grass there is, what if the Jin army is besieged for a long time?" Yao Pingzhong was a little pessimistic.

Xu Wei chuckled when he heard this: "Impossible, in the wheat harvest season in the first two years, our army did not give the gold thieves a little trick-or-treating. I heard that Wanyan Lousu was still asking Hebei Gao Shiyou for food. This time, Ma Wu came to attack with a large army, and the cost was huge, how long could he hold on? Moreover, it is now the end of the month, and the beginning of spring is imminent, and the situation will improve. ”

"What the marshal said is extremely true, and there is another point, although the Jin army occupies Yaozhou Jingzhao, it is a place of four entrances, and it is extremely vulnerable to attack. To the north of Jingzhao Mansion, it is Huanqing, Ma Wu is in Fengxiang, and he must always be careful that his grain road is not cut off by Xu Zhaogong on the North Road. Wu Jue also agreed. He knew that the Purple Gold Tiger was to motivate morale, so he knew that Xu Yuan was used to supporting troops and was unlikely to take the initiative, but he still said it deliberately.

Sure enough, listening to the two of them singing and harmonizing, the generals felt a little more at ease. If you don't have stability, you can't help it, you have already entered Fengxiang City, and if you don't block the Jin Army, there is only a dead end!

"Have all the houses near the walls been evacuated?" Xu Wei asked while looking at the city from afar.

"The official document has long been posted, and along the city wall, most of the people have evacuated. But there was one thing that surprised me very much. Xu Cheng said.

"Huh?" Xu Wei was puzzled.

"In the past, our army defended the city, and the most people could do was to help carry equipment and supplies. But the people of Fengxiang are particularly special, and they are reluctant to let them move things, saying that they want to go to the city to fight side by side with the officials and soldiers. Xu Cheng smiled bitterly.

As soon as these words came out, there was immediately a humane: "The people of Qin Long, value righteousness and light life." And Qin Feng is fierce all the way, and the people are more martial than elsewhere, and the court usually recruits Qin Feng's people to enrich the army, and there are words in the army, without Qin Long, there is no army. In Qinfeng Road, in addition to the main army, the soldiers, village soldiers, archers, loyal patrol societies, etc. all have combat power, and in the past, whenever there was a big battle, almost all of these people went out with the main army. If you go out, you will be a soldier, and if you enter, you will be a citizen. "He is the old army of the family, so he knows more about the people in this place.

When Xu Wei heard this, he also remembered that he had been told by the original planter that Qin Feng was a place where heroes could be used, and there was the best source of soldiers in the whole world, that is, the people of Qin Long.

Once, when the Purple Gold Tiger was defending the city, out of self-confidence, he said a bold word, saying that if the common people all took swords to fight in the city, it would not be far from the city being broken, so he refused to let the people help in the war.

But now, he said, "Since the people have this heart, we should encourage them." In this way, Brother Zichong, you are personally responsible for this matter, and select a capable military attache to organize the people. After finishing speaking, he paused, and added, "It is very important to guard Fengxiang." ”

Putting aside the military significance, defending Fengxiang Mansion will help regain the self-confidence of the Hu'er Army, and it will also help to wash away the shame!

When he was inspecting, he suddenly saw a group of men and horses hurrying from outside the city, this group of people came from the west, numbering about hundreds, and it was obvious that they were civilians in their clothes, but on closer inspection, they were all carrying weapons. As soon as they approached, the horse army, which was patrolling outside the city, immediately stopped them.

The generals in the city didn't take it seriously, but only a moment later, the two sides were bright! Xu Wei's cavalry laid their spears flat and made an offensive move! And the other party pulled the bowstring one after another, aiming at the horse army blocking the way, and if there was a disagreement, they had to fight desperately!

"What's going on?" Yao Pingzhong frowned.

Xu Wei couldn't figure it out, so he sent a commander to check. After a short time, it was reported that these people came from Longzhou because they heard that the Jin army was going to attack Qin Feng, and the official army withdrew to Fengxiang Mansion, so they specially rushed to help in the battle. The parade horses saw that they were carrying equipment, so they stopped them and asked them. Unexpectedly, these people were very arrogant, and if they didn't say a word, the two sides would be tense.