Under the circumstance of the news blockage, Jiang Hao's eyes were dark, and he ran around every day to supervise and defend the city, appease his soldiers and boost morale, on the surface he was full of confidence, but in fact, his heart was very anxious.

About a month ago, Datong City has reached the end of the crossbow, although there is still a stock of food in the city, the human spirit is on the verge of collapse, on the towering city wall, every day of flesh and blood, life and death battle is a kind of torment for anyone, today is alive, tomorrow may die, this kind of no future days are enough to destroy the psychology of the unstrong-willed.

Supporting the soldiers and civilians in the city to hold on, it is just the fear of the Qing army slaughtering the city after the city is broken, and the people of Datong understand that the consequence of rebelling against the Qing Dynasty is definitely the blockade and slaughter of chickens and dogs, and no one can survive if the city is broken.

It is in this fear of death and the hope of luck that Jiang Hao led the soldiers and civilians of Datong to endure the unspeakable mental and physical torture until now.

Of course, Jiang Hao has a back hand for himself, and some small tribes on the grassland have already received his money, promising that once the matter is urgent, Jiang Hao can break through the siege and go out of the Great Wall, and escape by the road of their tribe. It's just that in this case, it is impossible for him to take too many people away, and the vigilant Mongols limit him to a maximum of 2,000 people to accompany him, and the people of Datong will become the sacrifice of Jiang Hao's rebellion and die under the knife of the Qing soldiers.

During this time, Jiang Hao was already preparing for this matter, and the people and horses who had chosen to go with him were ready, just waiting to find a gap to break through.

But he didn't expect that the Qing army's siege suddenly stopped, and the Qing soldiers who used to choose a wall section to attack every day were changed to one attack every two days and one attack every three days, and gradually reduced to one attack every five days.

The siege was changed to a siege, which suddenly made the city much easier, and people were speculating whether something had happened outside, causing the Qing army to change its strategy.

Jiang Hao was also curious, so he took advantage of the dusk sunset to spy outside the city in the evening.

Several cronies and generals flickered their eyes and looked at Jiang Xuan, the matter of breaking through the siege was ready, and the Qing army's offensive was weakened, it was a good time, whether to leave or stay, there should be a decision.

"Junmen, when there was news coming in a while ago, I heard that the Pingliang soldiers from Shaanxi were sent to Taiyuan, and the momentum was very strong, is it tight over there, and the Tartars have transferred all the people over?" His younger brother Jiang Xuan analyzed tentatively.

Liu Zhenwei, the chief soldier, also said: "The red-coated cannons besieging the city have also reduced the number of firing during this time, and it seems that the number seems to be less, will the cannons really be transferred?" ”

"People and cannons are the two magic weapons of the Tartars to attack the city, no one has no artillery, and they can't run the city wall on horseback." Jiang Hao lowered his head and touched his chin, contemplating his eyebrows and thinking: "The Tartars transferred the soldiers away, could it be that there is really something that makes them have to do this?" ”

Several cronies glanced at each other and nodded.

"Why don't you guard it again?" Jiang Hao raised his head, as if asking himself.

Some people hesitated, some people thought, these people are all natives of Shanxi, Datong head snake, family property is in the city, to give up the family business earned for half a lifetime to flee to the grassland, it is indeed heart-wrenching, besides, leave here, to other places, such as rootless duckweed, let the mermaid meat, if it is not a last resort, no one wants to do this.

After weighing the balance between saving life and protecting money, everyone had an idea in a short period of thought, and without discussion, everyone hugged their fists together and said in unison: "Defend the city and defend the land, I have my duty!" I am willing to guard Datong with the general, and I will never give up! ”

Facing the blazing eyes of his cronies, Jiang Jiu warmed up, and a hanging heart finally landed, he slapped the table, stood up and said in a loud voice: "Okay!" We will rely on this fortified city, and in order to protect the people of the city, we will fight to the death against the Tartars to the end! ”

Jiang Xuan, together with the other generals, knelt down on one knee and agreed loudly, shouting blood-boiling words, but deep in his mind, I don't know why, an idiom that was not so harmonious with this situation flashed.

Man dies for money, and birds die for food.

He shook his head and hurriedly dispersed this unlucky thought, at this time, he couldn't think about these bad things.

……

In the Qing army camp outside Datong City, Azig did have some fewer men and artillery.

Dolgon's order came over, asking him to transfer all the Wuzhen Chaoha battalion to the direction of Taiyuan, leaving only a few artillery pieces to maintain deterrence, and also took away a few Jiala's Eight Banner soldiers, and now the remaining men and horses in his hands, although there are still 50,000 or 60,000 people, but most of them are Mongols and Han troops, and the Jurchen Eight Banners are less than 10,000 soldiers.

Azig is a little dissatisfied with this, Dolgon has a lot of soldiers, and at the same time he left the university, he drew a lot of Shanxi soldiers to leave, and now he has to draw people, is it too much? Datong saw that it was about to be laid, and twice it blasted open the city wall, and with a little more force, the city was about to be broken, but at this juncture, the red-clothed cannon was going to be sucked away, which was really incredible.

But what if you have an opinion? Dolgon is the regent, he is only a prince, and if he is a head shorter, he must be obedient, otherwise Hauge's fate is in sight.

As soon as the artillery battalion left, the remaining few cannons were difficult to support alone, and the construction team organized by Jiang Hao in Datong City was amazingly fast, often concentrating on firepower for a long time, and people repaired it in half an hour. Relying on human life alone to pile it up is not an option.

Azig had no choice but to surround and not fight.

On both sides of the trench and the wooden wall, Jiang Hao and Azig shook and confronted, the soldiers on both sides can't get out, I can't get in, the bloody battlefield that shook the sky was rare and silent, and the two miles of open space between the city wall and the trench were as silent as death, making it difficult for newcomers to believe that this was the front line of the confrontation between the two armies, but the potholed city wall, the colorful blackened bloodstains, and the Qing army artillery that fired a cannon from time to time still reminded people that the war here is far from over.

Hundreds of miles west of Datong, the Mongolian cavalry that came in along the Yajiao Fort of the Inner Great Wall and galloped all the way, under the leadership of Liu Wei and others, quickly approached the periphery of Datong along the line of Weiyuanwei and Yulin Weizhi Datong right guard. This line is very barren, sparsely populated, and because it moves along the inner side of the Great Wall, and is within the control of the Shanxi Righteous Army, so although tens of thousands of horsemen galloped, it did not alarm the Qing court forces inside and outside the Great Wall, when these soldiers and horses galloped on the land of Shanxi day and night, whether it was Azig outside Datong, or Dolgon in front of Taiyuan, or even the Mongolian tribes outside the Great Wall, did not find such a vast cavalry appeared in Shanxi.

Bentar Khan stayed in the abandoned Datong Right Guard for a day, and then continued north along the Great Wall, his target would be Zhenchuan Fort north of Datong, and when he got there, he would be able to cut off the road from Beizhili along the Bauhinia Pass to Datong, and stop Azig under the city of Datong.

(End of chapter)