The herald used the flag to convey the order to the officers of the chariot regiment, and the situation on the battlefield changed in an instant. Ignoring the small number of Hun cavalry fighting with it, the Zhao army's chariot group galloped towards the front without hesitation, building another chariot defense line in front of the infantry formation.

As the second wave of the Xiongnu offensive unfolded, the battle reached its climax. The infantry of the Zhao army tried their best to annihilate the besieged Xiongnu army as soon as possible, and the Hun cavalry fought hard to break through the defense line of the Zhao army's chariots, and a battle of will and time began.

At this moment, the situation of the war is beyond human control. Whether the Hun army embarked on the road of no return to defeat, or the Zhao army turned into sand, the fortune here is all in the thought of heaven.

Half an hour later, the infantry of the Zhao army took the lead in annihilating the besieged Xiongnu army, and the defeat had become irreversible. In order to maintain their strength, the Xiongnu had to withdraw their troops and lead the remaining cavalry under their command to withdraw from the battlefield.

In this battle, the Zhao army annihilated more than 20,000 Xiongnu troops, and suffered nearly 10,000 casualties, which dealt a severe blow to the arrogance of the Xiongnu army.

On September 15, the repaired Zhao army pulled out the camp again. The Xiongnu army intended to ambush the Zhao army on the way, but for the cautious Tian Dan to find out in advance, so Tian Dan planned to lure the Xiongnu to ambush the Xiongnu with a small amount of bait, and then attacked it with a large army, and the Xiongnu army was defeated again, losing thousands of soldiers.

On September 16, Xiongnu Shan Yu sent 3,000 elite troops to attack the Zhao army's camp at night, intending to take advantage of the chaos to kill Tian Dan, the leader of the Zhao army. However, there was no secret, and it was discovered by the soldiers patrolling the camp of the Zhao army, and then more than 10,000 Zhao troops surrounded and annihilated the camp.

After three defeats in three days and retreating for dozens of miles, the Xiongnu army gradually became unstable, and the patriarchs of various tribes had resentment towards Shan Yu.

On September 17, Shan Yu had to order the entire Xiongnu army to camp on the spot and act as a defensive state. On the same day, Youxin Ying flew into the camp of the Zhao army and brought the latest news from Li Mu - he was leading 30,000 elite soldiers to the south.

When Tian Dan informed Li Mu's news to his subordinates, all the generals looked surprised and looked incredulous. In fact, not only the generals were suspicious, Tian Dan was also very confused: "30,000 elite soldiers!" How did Li Mu get it? ”

Everyone in the battle situation didn't know why, only the general Li Mu himself knew all the reasons - the key to recruiting 30,000 elite soldiers was Pingcheng, who was out of the game in advance.

Since Zhao Jie led the people of Pingcheng to defeat the Hun army that came to invade in one fell swoop, the news of the temporary safety of Pingcheng spread to the surrounding area with Pingcheng as the center, and the people who learned the news came to take refuge one after another, and even the people of the small city guard led the city to vote. For a time, almost the entire northeastern part of Yanmen County was moving to Pingcheng on its own.

Although the northeastern part of Yanmen County is vast and has few people, there are hundreds of thousands of people. In the face of the steady stream of people, many of the people in charge of Heijo made a decision to make proper arrangements after some deliberation. Fortunately, a large number of officials, officials, and gentry were followed by a large number of fleeing people, so that the fleeing people were well managed and organized, and there were no large-scale riots and widespread famines.

On September 7, the Pingcheng government reached a preliminary agreement with the fleeing civilians: select the brave men among the refugees, give them a certain amount of training, and then add them to the defenders of Pingcheng. Subsequently, Zhao Jie recruited soldiers among the refugees, and ordinary people also joined the army one after another in order to protect their wives and children, so they were able to quickly replenish the troops lost in the battle.

On 9 September, at the strong demand of the fleeing gentry and the common people, a new army called the Begging Army, which was temporarily formed by refugees, was built on the daily training ground of the Pingcheng army. The main body of this army is composed of soldiers, brave and chivalrous warriors who do not meet the recruitment requirements of the dreadnought army, and its army building concept is to survive in troubled times, and to take the road of being outnumbered and powerful, and there were more than 20,000 people at the beginning of the army.

As an army organized by the refugees themselves, although Zhao Jie expressed disdain for its development path, it was not suitable to come forward to put his beak in the face. As the person in charge of Pingcheng, Zhao Jie tried his best to help in the face of the only friendly army of the Beggar Army - he handed over all the remaining armor in Pingcheng to the Beggar Army, and sent a guidance team of more than 300 people to command the training of the whole army.

In Zhao Jie's eyes, the poorly equipped and poorly staffed beggar army could reach the combat effectiveness of the civilian army at most in the end, but it was not long before the beggar army told Zhao Jie with their strong will that he was wrong.

On September 12, after a day and night of trekking, Li Mu led the fleeing vanguard to Pingcheng, Zhao Jie, who got the news first, ordered the people to prepare hot soup, food, firewood and tents for the night, Li Mu and other fleeing Shanwucheng people were warmly welcomed. On the same day and night, Li Mu stayed in the county government and discussed with Zhao Jie about sending troops south until late at night.

On September 13, Zhao Jie led Li Mu to watch the drills of Pingcheng's most elite army, the Dreadnought Army, on the training ground. After watching, Li Mu sighed with emotion: "If you get 10,000 soldiers, the Huns can drive them away; If you get 50,000 soldiers, the north can be determined; If there are 100,000 soldiers, the grassland can be rampant! ”

"General, let's have a few words with the soldiers!" Zhao Jie suggested to Li Mu: "The soldiers need your encouragement!" ”

Li Mu nodded when he heard this, and then spoke out to the more than 10,000 soldiers who were neatly arranged: "War is bloody and cruel, and after every war, someone will lose their relatives, so since ancient times, the Holy King has avoided war as much as possible, unless there is a reason to fight. ”

"Zhou Wu's reason for fighting against Shang is to fight Wudao, Qi Huan's reason for fighting against Chu is to respect the king, and Zhao Xiang's reason for fighting against Zhibo is the legacy of the ancestors, all of the above are reasons why the nobles have to fight to the death." Li Mu's words paused for a while and then continued to talk eloquently: "As ordinary people, you always have to rush to the front in the war, so what is the reason for you to fight to the death?" ”

In an instant, the entire training ground was silent, and the soldiers couldn't help but look for their own reasons to fight.

"In order to seal the shadow of his wife and son, the family is rich!" One of the soldiers replied suddenly.

The peace of the audience was completely shattered, and all kinds of answers kept ringing out in the crowd, but in general, it was nothing more than for himself and his family.

Li Mu was noncommittal about the soldiers' answers, he didn't say a word, and silently waited for the answer he wanted. After a long time, an ordinary soldier in the queue replied, "For the greater prosperity of the country."

An ordinary sentence was as heavy as Mount Tai, and the soldiers on the school field fell into deep thought when they heard it. At this moment, Li Mufang opened his mouth and said: "Fighting for the country is my personal creed, and it is also my expectation for you!" ”