A rocket struck a beautiful golden arc over the northern wall of the city and struck the grass roof of a stable.

The fire broke out in an instant, and several lean horses in the stable neighed and broke the reins and rushed out of the stable, knocking down several horse breeders who tried to stop them. There was a small commotion in the camp in the North City. While the sergeants were struggling to put out the fire, a flag-planting messenger of the Hedong Army came to the head of the Beicheng Suspension Bridge and shot a letter arrow without an arrow at the head of the city, and the letter soon reached the hands of Wang Ben, the commander of the Tiande Army.

Liu Desan told Wang Ben in his heart that ordinary soldiers could only shoot rockets at the stables under the city walls, but his longbow army could shoot rockets directly into Yacheng. Liu Desan didn't say anything else, but the meaning was already very clear, if you don't surrender, just wait to be buried in the fire.

Wang Ben has seen the power of the rocket array of the Hedong Longbow Army, that is ten years ago he sent troops with Wang Qian to encircle and suppress a group of bandits who occupied Shengzhou, when the Zhenwu Army died in civil strife, Shengzhou was occupied by a group of Shatuo bandits, the Tiande Army and the Hedong Army were ordered to send troops to recruit and suppress, and the Tiande Army used water divisions to rush to Shengzhou City first, and 3,000 people attacked the city for three days and failed to break the city. Wang Qian was also hit by an arrow in the arm when he was commanding in battle.

Later, two battalions of the Hedong Army rushed to the city, and one of the battalions had two bowers, numbering only 300 men. The Shatuo refused to surrender due to their high walls, and the Longbowmen were ordered to attack two camps outside the city with rockets. In an instant, the two camps were turned into a sea of fire, and the two most elite defenders of Shatuo turned into a pile of charred and black bones in less than half an hour.

Sha Tuo was led to open the door on the same day, and was absorbed by the Hedong Army, and at this time he had become one of the best elite horse soldiers in the Hedong Army. Wang Ben had inspected the two charred camps afterwards, and the tragic scene still haunts me. Later, due to the impeachment of the minister, Emperor Wenzong and Yamato issued an order in the second year of the year to ask the Hedong Army to carefully use rockets to attack the city, and when it was really necessary, it should be reported to the Ministry of War for approval.

Yu Liangqiong, the former envoy of Hedong Jiedu, was impeached and convicted by the imperial history for using rockets without asking for instructions when quelling the rebellion of the Daizhou military generals. The successor Liu Qingling was also quite strict with the use of rockets, and the Hedong generals also invented a new method of warfare used by the Longbow Army and the Iron Shield Armor, using the dense longbow and arrows to suppress the enemy, and then the Iron Shield Armor attacked the city.

Wang Ben sent a message to the army and asked, "Do you say surrender or battle?" The crowd shouted in unison, "Fight!" Wang Ben said: "Okay, then let's have a good fight with Liu Sanye." Immediately, he replied to Liu Desan with a letter, in which he only said one sentence: "Ben is loess, and the soil is not afraid of fire." ”

In order to guard against the rocket array of the Longbow Army, Wang Ben ordered the demolition of all houses within 100 zhang of the city wall. Dozens of fire escapes were carved out in the middle of the inner city neighborhood, dividing the houses in the neighborhood into isolated small pieces. Avoid a fire that could affect the whole city. In addition, Wang Ben ordered the removal of flowers and trees in the city, the burial of flammable materials in the ground, and the need for houses and new mud to smear the roofs.

Most of the houses in the city were flat-roofed mud-roofed houses, and the people had a tradition of digging cellars to store goods, which were not difficult to do. The difficulty is that when demolishing houses and building fire escapes, there is a lot of resistance, and some wealthy households incite the people to refuse to demolish their houses. Wang Ben patrolled around with a sledgehammer in his hand, and when he came across the houses that refused to be demolished, he stepped forward and smashed a few holes in its walls, and then ordered the soldiers to immediately knock them down.

Just when Wang Ben was nervously preparing for the war, Liu Desan, the commander of the Hedong Army, received a handwritten letter from Liu Qingling, the envoy of Hedong Jiedu, asking him to return to the division to rescue Shuozhou. Previously, the Military Command Department of Hedong Town had twice transferred him back to the division to rescue Shuozhou, but he was suppressed. This is not to say that Liu De likes to disobey orders for three days, but the situation of the Tiande army has entered a stalemate, and it is really impossible to withdraw. But this time it was different, Liu Qingling sent a handwritten letter from his housekeeper, in which Liu Qingling only talked about personal friendship and never talked about business. But between the lines, there is a deep anxiety.

Liu Desan understood that this time, he couldn't push it off. Xi people went south to attack Hedong, which was different from the nature of the White Water Fox's "Fighting Autumn Valley" to make a small fortune, and the White Water Fox harassed the border at first just for money, and as for his ambition to expand and intend to occupy the land of the Tiande Army, it was completely the result of the bewitchment of Hedong strategists such as Qu Chuji. Xi Ren's southward journey has a more complicated background, although Liu Desan has not yet been able to determine which forces are involved. But one thing is for sure, both the Xi people and Hedong are just tools for some people to fight.

This is his disobedience and disrespect, the text of the Military Orders Department and Liu Qingling's handwritten letter, of course, cannot be equated, the former is a normal reaction of the Tang Dynasty military bureaucracy, an official article. The latter is Liu Qingling's true attitude, Liu Desan is the side general of the Tang Dynasty, but he is also Liu Qingling's general, the family general can only be responsible for the head of the family, this is the foundation of all family generals in the world, and no one can violate it.

The news of the siege of Shuozhou by the Xi people, Liu Desan has been trying his best to conceal it. Of course, he also knows that there is no impermeable wall in the world, unless all people are deaf, blind, dumb, and demented at the same time, no matter how strict the precautions are, there will be a moment when it fails. In fact, thanks to the unremitting efforts of the Xining Military Intelligence Office, the news of the siege of Shuozhou is now basically an open secret. It's just that in the face of strong pressure, no one dares to speak.

The war will definitely be retreated. The Tiande army can not do it, but Shuozhou absolutely cannot lose it. This point has been expressed very clearly by Liu Qingling in the letter. Although the overly cautious border town marshal did not mention the word "retreat" in the letter from beginning to end, the anxiety emanating from between the lines had already made Liu Desan, who boasted that Mount Tai had collapsed in front of him and was unmoved, restless.

But how easy is it to withdraw from the army? Those few big victories in the eyes of outsiders are of little significance in Liu Desan's opinion, he did win a lot of passes, and also made the Xining army, the most powerful in the three alliances, lose its armor and collapse the army, and even the coach Yang Hao was his own prisoner for a time. But what does that mean? Yang Hao is still alive, and his Xining army is still relying on the Tiande army, at best, he was only beaten down, and being beaten down and being defeated are two completely different concepts.

It's like two life-and-death opponents, even if you cut your opponent seventy or eighty times, as long as he is alive and can still hold the weapon in his hand, you can't be judged victorious, because he can give you a fatal blow at any time.

Liu Desan felt more and more like an energetic lion, but he suddenly got into a hollow valley, but there was nowhere to exert his strength. As your patience and strength run out, the danger grows.

"Marshal, the Longbow Battalion has been ordered to arrive." The words of the staff lieutenant interrupted Liu Desan's thoughts.

"Let them all in."

Six capable young generals walked in side by side, their voices loud and neat: "See the big marshal. ”

Liu Desan smiled and waved his hand: "You are not allowed to call me handsome in the future, there is only one handsome man in Hedong, and that is Liu Envoyshuai." After saying this, Liu Desan motioned for everyone to sit down. What an honour it is to sit down with your beloved manager? The six generals all sat with their waists straight.

"Do you know what you were called?" Liu Desan asked kindly.

"In the name of besieging the city, gather troops to return to the division to rescue Shuozhou." Xiong Wuguo, the leader of the six, stood up and replied.

Liu Desan nodded with satisfaction, and he motioned for Xiong Wuguo to sit down: "Someone took advantage of our going out to make some small moves behind our backs, and the big marshal ordered me to return to help quickly." Come to think of it, I can only grieve you for a trip. When Liu Desan said these words, he kept lowering his eyebrows, looking a little helpless.

"Commander, please rest assured, after the lowly rank lifts the siege of Shuozhou, he will return to the headquarters immediately." Xiong Wuguo said loudly. The six generals stood up to show their loyalty: "Without the cultivation of the handsome, there will be no humiliation today, and the humiliation swears to follow the marshal." ”

When Liu Desan heard this, his eyes were a little moist, and he looked at the young generals he had worked so hard to cultivate. He said, "I'll leave everything to you." ”

After sending the six people away, Liu Desan suddenly felt a little lost. He stood in the doorway, looking at the backs of the six for a long time. The old Mo of the protector came over with a basin of hot water, looking at Liu Desan's distracted eyes, this veteran who had been with him for thirty-eight years, hehe smiled.

"I can't bear to let them go, so I'll leave them for a few more days."

Liu Desan also smiled and said, "Do you think you are living at home, and the 100,000 soldiers and civilians over there can wait for them to save their lives." ”

"If you really want to wait for help, you should send Ma Jun, how long will they go to arrive?" Lao Mo's seemingly unintentional words made Liu Desan a little embarrassed. yes, why send the longbowmen to relieve the siege? They can easily destroy a city, but when facing the enemy's cavalry alone, they can't even defend themselves. And the Xi people who besieged the city were famous for their powerful iron horses. Of course, Liu Desan did this because he had his own considerations, and it was inconvenient for him to tell Lao Mo, this was a secret he hid in his heart.

Lao Mo put down the copper basin and took out a small cowhide bag, which contained a few simple face-trimming knives. For more than 30 years, he has used these knives to trim Liu Desan's face, because many knives have been deformed because they have been sharpened for too long.

Liu Desan lay on the soft chair and closed his eyes comfortably, his beard grew very fast, so he had to ask Lao Mo to trim his face every two days. Lao Mo covered him with a dirty cloth and wrung a hot towel to put on his face.

"Still thinking about your sons?" Looking at Liu Desan's unruly appearance, Lao Mo thought that he was still thinking about the six people who had just left, these six people were all orphans adopted by Liu Desan, and they were no worse than his own son.

Liu Desan snorted coldly, and asked with a smile: "Your son is outside, don't you want to?" ”

Lao Mo laughed and didn't answer, he followed Liu Desan for most of his life and didn't marry.

"Newspaper—" The voice of a scout sounded harsh from outside the tent.

Liu Desan sat up suddenly, Lao Mo was defenseless, and the face-trimming knife in his hand cut a bloody cut on Liu Desan's face.

Liu Desan didn't realize it, took off the dirty cloth and hurriedly asked the scout: "How is it?" ”

"Yang Hao united with the Vulture Department and the Manhei Five Divisions, led 15,000 troops, and went south in three ways, and the forward had reached the Lianghe Valley. Thirteen of our camps have been broken in a row, and the striker has arrived at Duliang Village. ”

"Duliangzhai ......" Lao Mo gasped, when he repaired Liu Desan's face three days ago, he heard that Yang Hao, who had been defeated earlier, went to the north to borrow troops from the barbarians, but he didn't expect to come back so quickly.

Liu Desan walked to the map behind the screen with a cold face, found the location of Duliangzhai with his hand, and praised unconsciously: "It's so fast." ”