The sky has just dawned, and the sea breeze blowing from the beach in the distance still makes people feel a little nervous, and the cold is still oppressive through the window. In the battalion headquarters of the Second Division, the cooks had already gotten up and were busy in the dim candlelight. Their clothes were almost soaked with sweat, but none of them complained, but were full of anticipation for the day's march.

At midnight, a long brass trumpet broke the silence of the night, and the barracks of the Second Division suddenly became agitated, and the soldiers quickly dressed and washed their faces with cold water in the basin. Stimulated by the cold water, the soldiers had already dispelled the drowsiness under their eyelids, and the aroma of braised pork had already penetrated into their noses.

Ning Xianlong held the big bowl and came to the soldiers, "Brothers, you have to eat enough for breakfast, eat more dry food, and eat less thin food, today I have to run all day, and there may be no time to pee on the road." ”

"Yes, Master." The soldiers agreed, but they laughed, and the food in their bowls was exactly the same as Ning Xianlong, except for white rice, green vegetables, tofu, and a lot of pork belly.

"Master, I heard that Jiannu fought and was very brave, is it true?" A very young soldier approached Ning Xianlong's side, he looked to be twenty years old at most, his beard had not grown, and his face exuded a childish air.

"Pillar, what do you say?" Ning Xianlong asked rhetorically: "Are you afraid of building slaves?" ”

The soldier who called the pillar hesitated for a moment, but still shook his head: "Don't be afraid." ”

"Haha, pillar, good job." Ning Xianlong cast an appreciative glance at the pillar, and then swept over the surrounding soldiers: "Brothers, the first division has annihilated the eighteen Niu Lu of Jiannu, more than 1,800 people, our second division, will it be worse than the first division?" ”

"No, how can we be worse than the first division?" The faces of the soldiers showed unconvinced expressions, and some soldiers even put down their jobs, as if they were about to immediately try to compete with the first division.

"Yes, we are all His Majesty's army, and no one is worse than the other." Ning Xianlong swallowed the food in his mouth, "The first division has annihilated the eighteen Niu Lu of Jiannu, and now in Jinzhou City, there are only two Niu Lu. ”

"Only two?" There was a look of disappointment on the faces of the soldiers, even if they eliminated the two Niu Lu, their military merits were still not comparable to those of the first division.

Ning Xianlong nodded, he saw that there were more and more soldiers gathered around, so he simply started a mobilization meeting: "Maybe Jiannu's reinforcements have arrived in Jinzhou, and we just happened to pack up the reinforcements with Jinzhou, and then our officers will not lose to the first division." ”

"Shizao, how many reinforcements will there be in Jiannu? Will there be more than eighteen cows? "The courage of some soldiers was once again aroused, and they hoped that the more reinforcements Jiannu had, the better, so that their military exploits could overshadow the 1st Division.

"It's not clear now, but the population of Jiannu is far less than that of the Han Chinese, and their reinforcements will not be too many." Ning Xianlong was worried that the soldiers would be discouraged, so he added: "No matter how many reinforcements there are in Jiannu, as long as we can capture Jinzhou, it will be for the Ming Dynasty to defend the territory and open up the territory, and we will definitely be rewarded by His Majesty." ”

"Defend the territory! Defend the territory! Some of the well-fed soldiers had already put down their dishes and chopsticks, they were like a drill, and automatically shouted their skilled slogans, and those soldiers who were still eating, not to be outdone, not only shouted slogans, but also stretched out the dishes and chopsticks in their hands to the sky like swords.

"If you can not be afraid of Jiannu, I will rest assured, this is the first time we have made contributions to the Ming Dynasty. Since the military seat has entrusted us with such a glorious and sacred task, we must cherish this opportunity, no matter what the price is, we must complete the task, otherwise, no one will have the face to fight for the Ming Dynasty in the future. ”

"Yes, Master." The soldiers' voices were neat and sonorous, "We will definitely take Jinzhou." ”

Towards the end of the hour, the officers and men of the Second Division left the barracks one after another, and they set off from the North City Gate on horseback and rushed directly to Jinzhou in the north.

The fields of the wild were very desolate, the turquoise had long since faded their coats, revealing the fiery red or withered yellow underwear inside, and occasionally a few peasants were tending to their land, and the vast wilderness seemed more and more empty.

None of the soldiers had the heart to observe the labor of the peasants, or the crops, and the sound of horses' hooves was the only communication between their senses and the outside world.

When the sun was still hanging halfway up the mountain, Ning Xianlong reined in his horse and asked the soldiers around him: "How far is it from Jinzhou now?" ”

"Master's seat, there are still fifty miles." The pro-soldiers also slowed down their horses with Ning Xianlong.

"Fifty miles?" Ning Xianlong looked around, the shadow of Jinzhou City could not be seen, only there were faint green peaks in the west, one after another, under the light of the setting sun, it seemed higher and higher, "It's too far, go forward another thirty miles." ”

The army galloped back north, and the dust raised by the horses began to block out the sunlight in the western sky, and the sunset looked like a red pockmarked face through the cracks in the dust.

"Shizuo, it's only twenty miles away from Jinzhou." The soldiers hurried two steps and walked side by side with Ning Xianlong.

Ning Xianlong reined in his horse again and looked ahead as much as he could, and at the end of the empty plain, he vaguely saw a castle lying across his way.

"Rest in place, replenish food, hydrate." Ning Xianlong jumped off his horse, and his soldiers handed him dry food and water bottles.

The soldiers also dismounted, and they randomly found a slightly flat ground or a slightly raised stone, and then sat down on the ground in groups of three or five, eating cold water from the kettle, and nibbling on the dry food they had brought with them.

About a watchday, Ning Xianlong summoned the three brigade commanders and whispered a few words. All the soldiers immediately went into action.

When it was close to the second watch, a group of hundreds of Han people, dressed in rags, stumbled, cried and ran all the way to the south gate of Jinzhou.

The defenders at the head of the city were alert: "Who? Ever closer to the wall, we'll let go of the arrows. ”

Below the city was the noise and cries of the Han people, but the Jurchens at the head of the city could not understand what they were shouting or why they were crying.

The seven or eight Jurchen defenders who arrived one after another had already set up their bows and arrows, ready to shoot at these defenseless Han people.

A Han civilian, also dressed in rags, desperately stopped the crying of the Han people who were traveling with him, and he shouted to the city in Jurchen language: "Jurchen brothers in the city, we are the Han people of Ningyuan City, and we have always grown grain for the Dajin Kingdom. ”

"Han Chinese? Ning Yuan? Then what are you doing in Jinzhou instead of staying in Ningyuan? You slaves, can't you rebel? "The bows and arrows of the Jurchen soldiers are already aimed at these Han soldiers.

"Jurchen brothers, Ningyuan City has been conquered by the Ming army, and the people nearby have been massacred by the Ming army, and only us are left." Perhaps he was apprehensive about the killing of the Ming army, and the voice of the Han people trembled slightly.

By the faint moonlight, the Jurchen soldiers found that next to this Han citizen was an old man who was already hunched over his waist, and the old man was leaning on the body of this Han man, and his height was only level with the front chest of the Han man because of his bent waist.

"Ningyuan City is broken?" The Jurchen soldiers were shocked, "What about our Ezhen?" ”

"Your Ezhen is still outside Ningyuan City, he is fighting the Ming army, preparing to retake Ningyuan." The words of the Han people rekindled the hope of the Jurchen soldiers at the head of the city.

"Damn, our Ezhen is fighting, but you Han slaves have fled to Jinzhou." The soldiers of the city shouted and cursed.

"Jurchen brothers, we are just ordinary people, and we will not take up arms to fight, so Ezhen asked us to withdraw to Jinzhou first, so that we can continue to grow food for the Dajin Kingdom."

There was silence at the head of the city, and the Jurchen soldier was clearly discussing something with his companions.

"Jurchen brothers, open the city gate quickly, let us go in and take shelter from the wind!" The Han Chinese may be suffering from the double blow of hunger and cold, and their speech is trembling and becoming more and more disadvantaged.

"No, it's dark now, we can't let you into the city." The Jurchen soldiers flatly refused.

"Jurchen brothers, we have been on the road for a few days, and many brothers have not eaten for three days, let's give us some food first!" The Han people pleaded.

The Jurchen soldiers looked down at the city, and sure enough, they saw that many Han people had fallen to the ground crookedly, and they didn't even seem to have the strength to stand up.

"Who are your brothers? You dogs, how dare you leave our Ezhen? The Jurchen soldiers shouted.

"Oh, you are our master! Master, save their lives first, if they can survive, they will also grow food for the Dajin Kingdom, which is approved by the Great Khan. In the moonlight, the Han people had already bent down, and he wanted to kneel down to the soldiers at the head of the city.

The Han people under the city seemed to have known that the Jurchen soldiers at the head of the city refused to let them enter the city and refused to give them food, and the sound of cries and moans resounded outside the southern city gate again.

"What are you arguing about? If we quarrel any more, we will release the arrows. The Jurchen soldiers were furious.

But the Han people under the city did not understand their warnings at all, and the sound of screaming and choking the earth could be heard far away in the night, drowning out the nearby qiē sounds, including the chirping of birds and insects.

"Whoosh...... Whoosh...... "The Jurchen soldiers released their arrows, but the Han people were out of the range of their bows and arrows, and they could not scare the Han people outside the city at all except for bluffing.

The cries of the Han people under the city became louder and louder, mixed with desperate moans, and under the empty night sky, like wolves roaring, like white apes wailing, and as if they were being urged by evil spirits.

After a long confrontation, the Jurchen soldiers had no choice, and the Han people said that Ningyuan City had been lost, and they didn't know if the message was true, so they had to do their best to report the message to Ezhen in the city, "You wait first, let's go and ask our Ezhen." ”

The Han people, who knew the Jurchen language, conveyed the words of the Jurchen soldiers to the surrounding people in Chinese, and the cries of the people did not stop, but became bigger and denser, and countless cries were connected, just like a crying relay race in the Olympic Games.

A Jurchen soldier went down the city and went to the Jurchen barracks with a small cannon.

Hearing that Ningyuan City was occupied by the Ming army, the soldiers in the city were shocked, they didn't know whether this information was accurate, almost all the soldiers gathered at the south city gate, and they wanted to get the real information from the Han people in person.

Outside the north gate of Jinzhou City, several partridge birds chirped repeatedly, but did not receive any response from the night sky, nor did they attract the attention of the defenders at the head of the city.

"According to the original plan, a group climbed the city, and when they reached the top of the city, they immediately opened the city gates; Two groups of cover, if the head of the city finds the soldiers of Jiannu, shoot them immediately. ”