At the end of February of the first year of Zhaoqing in Dachu, the Central Plains is already the warm spring season, and although the snow on the grassland has melted, it is still cold and windy, standing on a high place to look, a glance of desolation and yellow, a top of white, cyan tents of various colors surround the majestic Bayan Kala City, enclose a circle, between the two, not an inch of grass grows, everywhere is the mud that rises, the dark red blood stains are everywhere, the remnants of the soldiers are all broken and pitched, and the broken flags inserted on the battlefield are fluttering with the wind, a gloomy and bitter, which makes people sigh.

Ten days ago, the outer defense line of Bayankala, which stretched for several miles, had been swept away by the combined forces of Dingzhou and Murowei, and the army was approaching the main city of Bayankala. The barbarian army, which thought that it was going to usher in a brutal battle of attack and defense of the city, was surprised to find that the Dingzhou army had no intention of attacking the city at all, but began civil engineering operations around Bayankala City.

Bayankala City around the city, was dug out by the barbarians themselves about ten meters deep, nearly 20 meters wide ditch, Bayankala near the river, the bottom of this ditch is full of sharp bamboo spears and wooden spears, in order to replace the role of the moat, but now, the Dingzhou army in this trench about 100 steps away, began to build the breastwork, but it took ten days, a breastwork around Bayan Kala City was completed, and the Dingzhou army did not have the slightest intention of stopping, and began to build the second breastwork.

Now, Bayar finally fully understood what Li Qing meant, he was going to trap himself and starve himself to death. The strategic idea of defending the city and waiting for the chaos in the Central Plains that he had planned before, forcing Li Qing to withdraw and return to China was completely bankrupt, and Li Qing did not care about any changes in the Central Plains at all, but was bent on putting himself to death first.

Now on the contrary, Bayan Kala City can't afford to drag on, and the food in the city is getting more and more tight, although 100,000 slaves were exchanged for 500,000 catties of grain from Li Qing, but it is evenly distributed to the clansmen in the city, and each person only has more than one catty. Now the city is a noble, and the tribal leaders can only drink a little gruel per meal, and there are only front-line soldiers, and they can also ensure that they have one dry meal a day to maintain their strength. Even if all the horses and livestock are killed in the end, how long will it last?

I can't afford to delay it, and in a month at most, Bayankala City will run out of ammunition and food, and fall into death. Bayar was in despair, and the chiefs of the city were in despair before him.

Outside the city, although Li Qing's logistical supplies had to be transported from Dingzhou, which was thousands of miles away, it was obvious that Dingzhou had extremely rich logistical reserves, and every time he stood on the city, he might see an endless stream of convoys coming from the east and driving into Li Qing's camp.

From the time when the Dingzhou army began to build the second breastwork, Bayankala City began to take the initiative to attack, but obviously the expected Dingzhou army was waiting for it, and the barbarian army paid a huge price, but it only destroyed the hundreds of meters long breastwork, and this distance, the Dingzhou soldiers could not take a day, but they could recover as before, seeing that the labyrinthine breastwork that was built was getting longer and longer, more and more, all the barbarians were silent, they were waiting for the arrival of the last moment.

"Attack, break through!" Boyan said to Bayar. "Gather all the elites, we will protect Your Majesty to stand out, as long as Your Majesty is alive, there is still hope for our grassland."

Bayar smiled wryly, "Breakout? Boyan, my wolf ran to the annihilation of the whole army, only a few thousand people remained, Long Xiao has experienced losses, and now there are still 30,000 people, your two banners are now doing their best, and you can make up to 20,000 people, how many soldiers can there be in the other departments, full of calculations, it is great that we can gather 100,000 people, but how many people are outside, and the Dingzhou army that is waiting for us to throw themselves into the net, there are more than 100,000 people in any direction. They are well armed, their morale is high, Boyan, can we stand out? ”

Boyan was about to speak, Bayar raised his hand to stop his words, and continued: "Take 10,000 steps back, even if we can break through, how many people will be left, and all the women, children, old people, and children in this city will be thrown to Li Qing?" Without these people, what is the use of us standing out? Panicked like a lost dog, did he avoid Li Qingman's pursuit in the grassland for the whole period? So, I'd rather fight and die here. ”

"But Li Qing will not give us the right to die in honor, he will starve us to death in the city." Boyan said indignantly.

"Maybe, but Boyan, I have a hunch that if we don't go, maybe we will fight for a way out for our clansmen, and if we break through and go, then my grassland clan will really lose their family and destroy the country." Bayard said thoughtfully.

Boyan looked at Bayar inexplicably, not understanding what he was talking about. Seeing Bayar close his eyes tiredly, he gave a silent salute, turned around and walked out of the main hall, to inspect the city, now the whole barbarian is in great difficulty, and the city has begun to mix, and from time to time some weapons fights between tribes will break out, sometimes it may be for a little insignificant.

Outside the city, in the Dingzhou military camp, Su Shun, the leader of Lan Xun, who had been cold for a long time, was finally invited by Li Qing to his Chinese army tent, and saw that his tribe was in a desperate situation, and the fall was already in sight, Su Shun's hair was white, his eyes were red and swollen, and the wrinkles on his face were a little deeper.

There was no one else in the tent, only Li Qing and his personal guard Tang Hu.

"Sushun chief, I invite you here today to tell you that I will let you go today, and you can go back to Bayankala City." Li Qing looked at Su Shun with a smile, but in the eyes of the other party, there was an indescribable deceit in this smile, knowing that the other party had a conspiracy, but he couldn't guess it.

"If Li Dashuai has anything to do, just say it clearly." Su Shun is now a dead pig who is not afraid of boiling water, and rushes straight to the ground, "However, if you want me to persuade you to surrender, I can tell you bluntly, it is impossible, Bayar cannot surrender." ”

Li Qing remained silent and said: "Do you think that in the current form, it is necessary for me to persuade Bayar to surrender, at most a month, Bayankala City will not even find a single mouse, and there will be no grain left, no need to find a fight, Bayankala will become a dead city, and those who don't want to die can not think of a second way for them to go except to take the initiative to surrender to me." ”

Su Shun sneered: "The dog jumps over the wall when he is in a hurry, has Li Shuai ever seen an eagle catch a rabbit, although the difference in strength is very large, but sometimes it is the eagle that dies, although the probability is not great, but it is not without success." ”

Li Qing laughed, "Thank you for the reminder from the leader of Sushun, don't worry, I won't make that eagle's mistake, okay, let's just say it, I'll let you go, are you willing to go back?" ”

"Of course I do!" Su Shunhuo stood up, "There are still tens of thousands of my blue tribesmen in the city, and it is my wish to die with them. ”

Li Qing clapped his hands and said, "This is very good, then I still want to ask the leader of Sushun for something." ”

"Li Dashuai, please speak, as long as I can do it, I will do it for you."

"It's not difficult, it's not difficult!" Li Qing said with a smile: "As long as you give Bayar a word for me, tomorrow at noon, between our army and Bayankala City, a tent will be erected, I only bring a guard, wait for him there, if he is willing to talk to me, I will invite him to come tomorrow, remember, there is only one chance, after tomorrow, there will be no more such opportunity." ”

"What do you mean by that?" Su Shun was a little dazed, and he really didn't understand Li Qing's intentions.

"You don't understand, I think Bayar will understand, you just have to bring the words, as for whether he comes or not, it's up to him, tell Bayar, I will wait for him there for an hour. Obsolete does not wait. ”

"Huzi, send off the guest on my behalf, you personally send the leader of Sushun out of the camp and let him return to Bayankala City." Li Qing said loudly.

Riding out of the Dingzhou army camp alone, Su Shun rode his horse and walked a long way, looking back, he still didn't believe that he was let go so easily, he didn't cut off his head, he didn't ask for any ransom, maybe in Li Qing's eyes, he now has only one value as a messenger!

Shaking his head sadly, once upon a time, he was also a beautiful and high-ranking character, but now he has fallen to such a point, it is really fate, the tiger fell in Pingyang and was bullied by dogs, and the plucked phoenix is not as good as a chicken.

Riding his horse slowly through the battlefield, before he reached the wide trench, someone in the city had already spotted the man who had come alone on a single horse, and the cold light flickered, and arrows were aimed at him in the distance.

"I'm Blue Sushun, open the city gates!" Su Shun shouted.

Hearing Su Shun's self-report, a person who looked like a general in the city stood up, looked at it for a long time, and then shrank back, and soon, the city was crowded, and a familiar figure appeared in front of Su Shun, "Boyan, I'm Su Shun!" ”

In the city, Boyan was surprised and delighted, "Su Shun, you are still alive!" He commanded one after another: "Open the city gate and let the lord of the first banner of Su Shun come in." ”

The drawbridge fell, the city gate opened, and Su Shun slowly rode in, although he came back alive, but Su Shun was not half happy.

"Brother Sushun, we haven't heard from you, thinking that you have been killed, God pity you, you are still alive!" Bayar shook Su Shun's hand and said with emotion.

Su Shun's eyes flashed with tears, and the person in front of him, he was the heart of the man who had fought with him all his life, but now, he was a difficult brother.

"Your Majesty the Emperor, Li Qing asked me to bring you a message, tomorrow at noon, in the center of the battlefield, a big tent will be erected, he only brings a guard, waiting for you there, he will talk to you about the future of my grassland clan." Su Shun said.

"What?" Bo Yan was taken aback, and immediately said angrily: "Li Qing is really uneasy and kind, he wants to trap His Majesty the Emperor, such a stupid plan, do you really think that we are all three-year-old children?" ”

Bayar shook his head, "Boyan, don't be angry, Li Qing really wants to see me." ”

"How can Your Majesty be sure? It's not a trivial matter, and if you make a mistake in judgment, it can ruin a big thing. Boyan said urgently.

"Where can big things get worse now?" Bayar sighed, "If Li Qingru wants to take my surname, he only needs to wait patiently for a while, so why do you have to do such a clumsy plan!" ”

"And what does he want to do?" Boyan was puzzled.

"Because he wants a stable grassland, a stable rear, not a grassland with mountains of corpses and blood, and nothing." Bayar said lightly: "Li Qing has great ambitions, if he wants to chase the Central Plains, the grassland must be calm, this is where the hope of our people can live, and it is also where the capital for me to negotiate with him lies." ”

(To be continued)