Linzi County is named after the east of Zishui, is the second largest city in Beihai County after Yidu County, a famous farming area, surrounded by fertile land and rich products, and is also one of the two major population gathering areas in Beihai County.

The city of Linzi County is tall and sturdy, with a wide moat, and at present, like Yidu County, it has gathered nearly 200,000 people who have fled the war, making the county crowded inside and outside.

Linzi County Commander is called Sun Jian, a native of Liang County, born in the imperial examination, about thirty years old, very shrewd and capable, although there are many people in Linzi County, but he is still well governed, and there has never been a mess, even Wei Yunqi praised him for having too much talent.

At this time, Sun Jian had already received the pigeon letter that the thief army was about to attack, although he was also frightened with cold hands and feet, but he was not at a loss, but seized all the time to deal with it.

He first asked the county officials to lead the officials to move all the people living outside the city into the city, and then personally recruited strong men, regardless of whether they had been bandits or trained in the military government, as long as they had a little military experience, they were all requisitioned.

Sun Jian was almost sleepless all night, so busy that his feet did not touch the ground, and by the early morning of the next day, he had raised 15,000 strong men.

Although he was exhausted, the huge sense of crisis made him have no time to rest, he rode to the north city gate, and shouted to the county lieutenant who was counting the supplies: "County Lieutenant Ma, how are the supplies prepared?" ”

Ma County Lieutenant is a thin old man in his fifties, who has been promoted from a county official to a county lieutenant step by step, although the county lieutenant is in charge of public security, but he is more proficient in managing warehouse materials, and he is also a very shrewd old official, the only deficiency is that his ears are a little back, and he must speak loudly to hear clearly.

Lieutenant Ma turned around and smiled; "Rest assured! I've got 6,000 armor pairs, and the weapons are completely sufficient! ”

Linzi County, like other counties, almost every household has hidden prohibited weapons, spears, bows and crossbows, and even many people have armor, Sun Jian is not worried about weapons, he is only afraid that the armor is too little, and once the fight is made, the casualties will be too great.

When he heard that Lieutenant Ma had obtained six thousand pairs of armor, he breathed a sigh of relief. Although he couldn't achieve a pair of armor for each person, he was able to equip 6,000 people, which was beyond his expectations.

At this moment, a soldier at the head of the city shouted: "County order." Wei Changshi: They're here! ”

Sun Jian was immediately overjoyed, and hurriedly ordered: "Open the city gate quickly!" ”

The city gate slowly opened, and I saw Wei Yunqi leading more than 400 Sui troops into the county seat quickly, Sun Jian hurriedly stepped forward to salute, "The lower officials see the long history!" ”

Wei Yunqi led the soldiers on a rapid march. Finally caught up with the enemy, and rushed to Linzi County at dawn, he saw Sun Jian's eyes were red, knowing that he must not have slept all night, nodded and said: "Hard work Sun County order, how are you prepared?" ”

"Looking back at the long history, all the people outside the city have entered the city, and we must have prepared a large number of rolling wood and stones, all piled on the city wall."

"Well done!"

Wei Yunqi praised and asked, "How many strong men have been recruited?" What is the equipment? ”

"Looking back at the long history, 15,000 strong men have been recruited so far. Everyone had spears and bows and arrows, but the armor was slightly less, only six thousand. ”

Wei Yunqi was so surprised that he couldn't keep his mouth shut, Yidu County had only recruited 7,000 strong men, and Linzi County had actually recruited 15,000 people, as well as 6,000 pairs of armor, which was incredible.

He praised repeatedly, hurriedly turned around and called Du Yunsi up, and instructed him: "I estimate that the thief soldiers will not arrive until noon, you can let the soldiers be assigned." Each leader forty people, hurry up and train how to use bows and crossbows, and then arrange the defensive positions of each team, and complete it as soon as possible! ”

"Obey the order!"

Du Yunsi followed Captain Ma to the city to arrange the soldiers. Wei Yunqi and Sun Jian went to the city again.

The city was full of commotionous soldiers, many of whom were busily changing their armor, each with a spear in his hand, a bow and a crossbow on his back, a sword or sword at his waist, and some soldiers with shields.

Each soldier changed his equipment and ran to the eastern part of the wall. There was already a long queue over there, and Du Yunsi was assigning soldiers, forming a team of forty people, with a Sui soldier as the temporary team leader, and taking them down for emergency training.

Wei Yunqi saw that these young men were full of energy, although they were a little nervous, but they were not so chaotic, and they seemed to have a little bit of soldiers, he was a little puzzled.

Sun Jian explained with a smile: "Many of these soldiers have been bandits, and many have been government soldiers, and now they want to defend their homes and relatives. ”

Wei Yunqi was suddenly surprised, and then he suddenly remembered for a while, looked at the city wall, and saw that the city wall was very dry, so he hurriedly said: "Immediately find someone to boil hot water and splash it on the battlements at the head of the city, and when the water freezes, it will increase the difficulty of the thief army's siege." ”

"I understand the lowly position, then I'll go find someone to boil water!" Sun Jian saluted and hurried down to the city.

Wei Yunqi slowly walked to the head of the city, looking at the Zishui like a jade belt in the distance, although he and the county commander Sun Jian spoke very calmly, and did not see anything unusual, but in fact he was very anxious in his heart, if according to the speed of the cavalry, they should have caught up with the thief army in the middle of the night last night.

But so far, no news has come, could it be that he made a mistake in judgment, and the messenger did not receive the cavalry, and the cavalry still ran to Yidu County?

The more you think about it, the more likely it is, although the general's eagle letter said that the cavalry will enter Beihai County from Pingbei Province, but the purpose of the cavalry is to chase and kill the thief army, will they go to Qingbei Province after entering Beihai County? After all, the thief army is taking Qingbei Road.

If this is the case, the messenger he sent out will definitely not be able to meet the cavalry who come to the rescue.

Wei Yunqi was secretly annoyed, he had thought it through so thoroughly, but it was likely that he had neglected the most critical issue.

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Wei Yunqi did ignore the possibility of the rescue cavalry diverting the route, but he did not make a big mistake, the two scouts he sent thought of this loophole for him, and they divided their troops into two ways, each taking one road to meet the rescue cavalry.

Just last night's afternoon, the cavalry who went to Qingbei Road received the five hundred cavalry led by Chen Xu.

Chen Xu originally led his army to Yidu County, but after getting the thieves to attack Linzi County, he also changed his goal and marched to Linzi County.

Chen Xu discovered the main force of the thieves at the third watch at night, but he did not rush to launch an offensive, but waited for the most favorable opportunity to appear.

At noon, more than 4,000 thieves finally arrived in Linzi County, the Linzi city wall was splashed with water, which had condensed into ice in the cold wind, making the entire city wall crystal clear, and dazzling in the sun.

The horn sounded, and more than 4,000 thieves opened a formation under the city, and before they attacked Yidu County, they made more than 20 simple siege ladders with big trees, and everything was ready, just waiting for the main general to give the order to attack the city.

At this time, An Shouxi narrowed his eyes and carefully looked at the city in front of him, the city wall had been covered with thin ice, which was extremely slippery, and it was difficult for the siege ladder to gain a foothold on it, and there was a moat, which was covered with thick ice.

But these are not important, the important thing is the soldiers defending the city, I saw that the city was densely packed with soldiers defending the city, An Shouxi of course knew that these were temporarily recruited people, and his combat effectiveness was very weak, he could be defeated in a battle, the key was the city wall, the city wall was too smooth, and there was no grappling hook on his siege ladder, so it was difficult to stabilize on the city wall.

An Shouxi sighed softly, it was no longer realistic to attack the city with a siege ladder, and he had to find another way.

At this time, a subordinate general said in a low voice: "The moat has frozen, it is better to attack the city gate directly!" ”

An Shouxi nodded, he also thought so, and concentrated his forces to attack the city gate.

"The three armies obey the order!"

An Shouxi turned around and shouted: "Attack the city gate, the wealth and women in the city, you can take it!" ”

With a wave of his sword, the four thousand thieves suddenly let out a shouting and killing sound, and their fortune ** suddenly broke out, rushing towards the north city gate like a tide, Zhang Jin said that the army has a rule, the first soldier to rush into the city can choose three at will, and the wealth and women of the three families belong to him, this rule greatly stimulates the fighting spirit of his subordinates when attacking the city, and everyone rushes to be the first.

The soldiers in the city also suddenly became nervous, and Du Yunsi shouted: "Bow and arrow ready!" ”

More than 1,000 soldiers near the North City Gate raised their bows and arrows, and Wei Yunqi was also aware of the other party's intentions, and he ordered in a loud voice: "Reinforcement the North City Gate!" ”

At this time, Wei Yunqi was more concerned about the Sui cavalry that had come to reinforce him, he felt that the cavalry had already arrived at the periphery and was waiting for the opportunity to attack, so he would create an opportunity for the cavalry!

Thousands of soldiers rushed from the east and west to the north gate, and they lined up at the top of the city, all diagonally raising their bows and crossbows in midair.

A fierce battle is about to break out. (To be continued.) )