"That's nature!" Yang Sichang's answer was also expected by Li Dongguo, the two talked a few more words, and Yang Sichang served tea to the guests. As soon as Li Dongguo went out, Yang Sichang walked to the wall, and the hanging map was compared: "Ningxia, Xihe, Guihua City, Chaoyi, what a Liu Cheng, unconsciously the northwest half of the country is his family, but Lu Boqi doesn't care, is it blind?" ”

New Naturalized City.

The sky is about to brighten, and the cold gray canopy heralds the coming rain and snow, as the saying goes, "sleet, it doesn't stop." "This weather has been going on for seven or eight days, and the cold wind blowing from the north has only pierced people's bones.

Gong Yu curled up, stuffed himself into the sheepskin cloak as much as possible, and squatted in the corner of the wall to shelter from the wind, while carefully looking around, lest the team leader "One-Eye" come up to inspect and catch himself, the real name of "One-Eyed" is Yun Gang, his right eye was blind because of illness when he was a child, so he got this nickname. He was a straightforward, rough and cruel man, and a simple soldier in his heart. He will not hesitate to obey the orders of his superiors to kill people and set fires, and take advantage of the anger after the battle **** women, set fire to the village, and loot livestock and property. But when the war is over, he will honestly put down his arms, pick up a hoe, pick up a child, and be an honest farmer or small landowner, with his past military exploits, Yun Gang has obtained a hundred acres of river beach land, which is enough to feed a couple and four or five rabbit cubs. Gong Yu knew very well that if "One-Eyed" saw that he was hiding in a corner because of the wind, instead of standing on a high place to lookout, he would definitely tie himself to the flagpole and use a leather whip with a lead block at the end to whip himself into a blood gourd.

Although Gong Yu tried his best to stay awake, drowsiness gradually grabbed him, his head kept lit like a chicken pecking rice, and gradually drooped, his head on the ground, and snored. In his sleep, he seemed to hear a muffled noise from underground, as if someone was knocking on the door far away.

"Hurry up, slacker!"

A cold woke Gong Yu up from his sleep, he raised his head, and was horrified to see the "one-eyed" standing in front of him, the only eye spewing anger outward, and the long-handled wooden spoon in his hand was dripping water, presumably he used this thing to splash a spoonful of ice water on his head.

"Team leader, I'm not—" Gong Yu was frightened and wanted to explain something, but he didn't know what to say. He knew very well that the "one-eyed" could understand not words, but knives, guns, clubs, and whips.

"Slacker, you should really let the Jurchen Tartar touch it and cut your throat!" "One-eyed" pulled out his waist knife and gave Gong Yu a hard blow with the back of the knife, and Gong Yu suddenly let out a terrible scream.

"Know it hurts? Very well, this will give you a good idea of what happens when I don't obey orders under my 'one-eyed' men, now roll me to the flagpole and take off my upper clothes, don't let the blood stain the clothes! "One-Eyed" scolded fiercely while looking left and right, as if looking for a tool for execution. Gong Yu only felt that his heart was about to jump out of his mouth, he was in a hurry, and shouted loudly: "Team leader, I'm not lazy, I'm listening to the sound of the underground there, the Jurchen Tartars are digging tunnels, they want to attack the city from the underground?" ”

"Digging tunnels?" "One-eyed" glanced at Gong Yu suspiciously, as if he was considering whether he should trust this unlikable subordinate, and finally he decided to listen to it.

"Very well, you hurry up and pray that it is the real Jurchen Tartar digging tunnels, otherwise what awaits you will not be a leather whip, but a military stick. If you can get out of bed in half a year, then I won't have any eggs under my 'one eye'! "One-eyed" pointed to his crotch and strode towards the place where Gong Yu was lying, Gong Yu hurriedly got out of the way, and secretly prayed in his heart that the sound he heard in his sleep was not an illusion.

"One-eyed" lay on the ground and listened for a while, then stood up with a solemn face: "Bastard, there is indeed a voice, damn Jurchen Tartar." ”

"Team leader, what I said is true, I really didn't be lazy!" Gong Yu, who was surprised, was about to explain, but was interrupted by "One-eyed": "Shut up, slacker!" I know what you're doing, your snoring is enough to wake the donkey, you're lazy, but you're lucky. Now, you immediately notify Mr. Qian, quickly, or I will break your legs! ”

Gong Yu's explanation was interrupted by the roar of the "One-Eyed", and he immediately ran down the city as fast as he could. "One-eyed" squatted down again to listen, and a cruel smile appeared on his face: "Dogs, you're going to be unlucky this time!" ”

"Mr. Thomas, can you confirm that this is the Tartar digging a tunnel?"

"Yes, I can confirm! And it's already very close to our walls, and the nearest place will not be more than thirty paces. Thomas replied confidently, grabbing a hand that stretched out next to him and standing up, missing a leg, he had some difficulty moving.

"Damn it! Why didn't we find out before? Du Guoying spat hard, and he didn't know if he was scolding the Jurchens or the sentinels.

"Maybe it's because they only dig in the middle of the night until dawn, or maybe it's because it's too far away to hear clearly, or maybe it's because the soil is soft and the sound is not obvious! General Du, you know that on the battlefield, anything can happen! But luck was on our side this time. “

"Okay!" Du Guoying turned around and nodded to the "one-eyed": "It was discovered by your subordinates, good job, reward that kid with ten taels of silver, and you will also have ten taels!" ”

"Thank you, sir!" The overjoyed "one-eyed" bowed to Du Guoying. He was about to retreat, but was stopped by Du Guoying: "By the way, if it's you, how are you going to deal with these guys who came from the ground?" ”

"Me?" "One-eyed" was stunned when he heard this, he subconsciously turned his gaze to Gong Yu on the side, and Du Guoying's gaze also turned to Gong Yu. Gong Yu hesitated: "My lord, when I was a child catching voles in the field, I would use smoke. ”

"Smoky? That's a good idea! Du Guoying laughed, he turned to Thomas and asked, "Mr. Thomas, what do you think of this solution?" ”

"It's an easy way to do it!" Thomas laughed: "But there is a better way, and we Europeans have come up with a better way to deal with the enemy underground." ”

Outside the city, in a burned village, all the houses were charred and collapsed, and the remnants of unharvested grain could be faintly seen in the fields. The large inn in the middle of the village, which had only a few cornerstones and two sections of ruins, was less than a mile from the New Naturalization City, which was small enough to accommodate the soldiers who defended the city, and where many of the Mongol nobles who made the pilgrimage to the Jokhang Temple stayed, but now all that remains is ruins, weeds, and scorched earth.

Kong Youde sat on the half-ruins with a deerskin underneath his buttocks. Not far in front of him was a rudimentary wooden shed, obscured by ruins and weeds more than a man tall, and looked like a part of the ruins from a distance. A group of exhausted soldiers were coming out of the shed, not swords in their hands, but hoes, shovels, stilts, and carts, each with dust, exhaustion, and hunger on their faces.

"Your Excellency!" The leader saw Kong Youde and hurriedly walked over, he was about to salute but was stopped by Kong Youde: "Don't be polite at this time, come and take a drink!" Kong Youde untied the wine bag on his waist and handed it over, the man took the wine bag and poured it, and exhaled happily: "Comfortable, you can suffocate me down there!" “

"How many more? How long will it take? Kong Youde asked a clueless question.

"The nearest one still has more than eighty steps!" The man replied, "If you only dig half the night every day, it will take six or seven days, and if you work in shifts, you can dig under the city wall in two days at most." ”

"No way!" Kong Youde did not hesitate to veto the proposal of his subordinates: "The closer we get, the more careful we must be, once the defenders of the city are discovered, all the work will be wasted!" ”

"Yes, sir!"

The man looked at Kong Youde's face, hesitated for a while, and still asked, "My lord, look at your face is not very happy!" If there's anything wrong, tell me! ”

"Nothing!" Kong Youde sighed: "I've always been unsettled these days, as if something is going to happen." ”

"Hey!" The man laughed: "We are all soldiers and eat food, when nothing happens?" If this is restless, then let's not live!"

"You're talking about it!" Kong Youde laughed, and he patted the other party's shoulder: "You're also tired, go down and rest first!" ”

"Yes, sir!"

Looking at the back of his subordinates leaving, the smile on Kong Youde's face gradually disappeared. As his subordinates said, since his early years when he rebelled against Houjin with his father, danger and death have always followed, the sword of the Jurchens, the dagger of a traitor, hunger, and disease could take his life at any time, and his companions around him kept falling, and more people joined in. He who is smarter than himself dies, and he who is dumber than himself dies; He who is stronger than himself dies, and he that is weaker than himself dies; He who is higher than himself dies, and he who is lower than himself also dies; He who is braver than himself dies, and he who is less timid than himself dies; Many times he didn't even understand why he was able to live until now, and in the end he could only attribute it all to the Mandate of Heaven, which allowed him to survive, launched a mutiny in Wuqiao, attacked and killed everywhere, broke through Dengzhou City, and almost got the court's recruitment, but in the end he failed, crossed the sea to Liaonan, and finally took refuge in the first half of his life's great enemy - the Houjin regime. This is all the arrangement of destiny, he is just a pawn arranged by God, and before he completes his mission, no matter how dangerous the situation, he will be fine!

But this kind of thinking is just a narcotic in the final analysis, as the saying goes, the will of heaven is unpredictable, let alone the destiny of heaven, who knows what the will is? Will it be killed by the next arrow? Whenever he is alone, Kong Youde has to face this problem alone. No one could give him an answer, he could face it on his own.

He thought for a while, but finally sighed and stood up, in this world, everyone's fate is not under his control, even the generals who command the army.

In the tent, Yue Tuo was eating breakfast - roast mutton and naan, he saw Kong Youde come in, smiled and pointed to the location next to him and said, "It's you, this mutton is not bad, let's eat together!" ”

"Thank you, Sho Belle!" In these days of siege, Kong Youde and Yue Tuo cooperated quite happily, he sat down unceremoniously, and Goshha next to him sent dishes and chopsticks, poured him mutton soup, Yue Tuo handed over the short knife for cutting meat, and asked: "How is the tunnel dug?" ”

"Six or seven days to go." Kong Youde cut a piece, put it on the wooden plate in front of him, and said while chewing: "But to be honest, Big Belle, I have a sense of foreboding in my heart, and I feel that authentic things may not be possible. ”

"Really?" Yue Tuo smiled: "It's up to people to act, it's up to heaven to succeed, don't worry too much." But the west side is more careful. ”

"West? Could it be that something happened to Big Baylor? Kong Youde was taken aback and asked.

"Hmm!" Yue Tuo made a gesture, and the others in the tent retreated, leaving only him and Kong Youde: "A messenger from the Great Khan's side has just arrived, saying that Hauge's side has suffered a defeat and almost all the troops have been wiped out, and even Hauge's own life and death are uncertain. ”

"What?" Kong Youde was taken aback, Haoge is the eldest son of Huang Taiji, this time when he crossed the Yellow River to pursue, he led the elite selected from the Zhenghuang and Huanghuang banners, and he was a man with many horses, and he was almost wiped out, and even Haoge himself was missing. He looked at the entrance of the tent and asked in a low voice, "Is this news true?" ”

"Naturally, the letter won't say so much!" Yue Tuo sneered: "But if you think about it, it says that Hauge is still missing, if it weren't for the annihilation of the whole army, what would it be?" ”

Kong Youde nodded silently, he had heard of the strictness of the Jurchen military law, a group of people who lost the head of the team and retreated, the whole team was beheaded, and his wife was not a slave. Haoge is the eldest son of Huang Taiji, the heir to the future throne, equivalent to the crown prince of the Ming Dynasty, if it is not a mess of losing, even the main general can not be found, how dare those defeated soldiers leave Haoge and flee back to die? It's better to fight to the death on the battlefield.

"Heshuo Baylor, Big Baylor lost so badly, I'm afraid the military situation has changed!"

"Hmm!" Yue Tuo nodded: "It's bad now, it's bad that there are few people who have fled, and it's a battle at night, so I can't figure out how to lose, and I don't know how many soldiers and horses the opponent has." Hey, it's all because of the military discipline of pulling out the team and beheading, it really kills people. (To be continued.) )