On November 29th, under the gloomy sky of Beizhili, the cold north wind whistled across the earth, the official road twenty miles southeast of Gu'an, crowded with fleeing crowds and carriages, from time to time there were cries of women and children, before it was rumored that Tartars had appeared nearby, making people everywhere panic, it seemed that Tartars would soon come to the front, the gates of Gu'an were closed, people from nearby villages and towns were also fleeing, food was more scarce, the price of easy-to-carry bread and steamed buns was ten times that of usual, and the robbery of property was happening everywhere, despite this, People helped the old and the young, fearing people, and tried their best to go south in the bitter cold, throwing away the items they couldn't move, and there were many corpses on the side of the road that had fallen to death due to illness or physical exhaustion.

In a field outside the right side of the official road, the Wendeng camp sat neatly on the ground, with its own quilt under the buttocks, and every ten miles they marched, they had to take such a break, more than 50 donkey carts and carriages were parked on the right side of the official road behind, and a soldier of the baggage team stood on each car to prevent someone from robbing the military funds, several military judges led the sergeants to patrol around, and the instructor seized the time to make some agitation, the closer they got to the Beijing division, the soldiers' feelings became more and more tense, and the instructor needed to do more work.

The refugees on the official road peeked at these officers and soldiers with fear, their eyes were both hopeful and fearful.

Chen Xin, several thousand commanders, and Zhu Guobin, who had just rushed back, gathered around to discuss the military situation, and in the middle was a stool picked up by the roadside, on which a map was placed.

Now that the news of the Jingshi is all interrupted, Chen Xin is now completely blind to the situation around the capital, his well-designed plan is completely impossible to implement, and he doesn't even know where Jiannu is now, so he has to slow down the march, advance cautiously, and send a sentry to investigate, if the main force of Jiannu comes south, he can only turn in first.

In the past two days, more and more people have been running south, and the information they have heard from the refugees is very inaccurate, and most of them are contradictory, but there is one word that is the word of the people, that is, the soldiers of King Qin have been defeated, and Jiannu is coming to the south, looting people and property along the way.

Zhu Guobin pointed to the place where the word Gu'an was drawn on the map, and reported: "My lord, there are rumors of Tartar sentry horses near the southern city wall of Gu'an. Instead, he caught a few Guanning troops who were robbing refugees. ”

Chen Xin perked up and asked, "Have you tried them?" How is the battle of the Kyoshi Division? ”

"Jiannu crossed Jizhou on the 13th and went straight to the Beijing Division, the Guanning Army set off on the 14th, detoured to the west of the river, and arrived at the southeast corner of the Beijing Division on the 16th, Jiannu arrived on the 17th, and the Xuanda army also went to the Deshengmen Urn City on the 17th to rest, but the emperor did not allow the Guanning Army to enter the Urn City. On the 20th, the Jiannu soldiers divided into two routes and fought with the Xuanda and Guanning armies, both of which were routed and suffered heavy losses. The few defeated soldiers we captured fled by night on the 26th, when the Xuanda army was still in Deshengmen, and the Guanning army was outside Zuo'anmen, and the two armies were still fighting with the slaves in a scattered manner, and it was estimated that the containment of the Tartars was very limited. On the 25th, Jiannu went south, and several Guan Ning soldiers said that they were stationed in Nanhaizi, and it was estimated that they were robbing in Jinan. ”

Chen Xin's face was gloomy, he didn't care about Jiannu looting things, the more they grabbed things, the less they had the heart to work hard, the key was that if Jiannu's main force ran to Nanhaizi, his road from the south to Jingshi would be a very dangerous journey.

He still asked reluctantly: "What is the name of this place, and what is the situation of the road from here to Jingshi." ”

"We are now here in the West City, not far from Gu'an County, and then go a little further is Liu Village, from Liu Village to the north of the Gu'an City Wall is Lujiaying, to the west is Shilipu. More than ten miles ahead, there are not many people on the road, and there are only a small number of people still fleeing on the road north of Gu'an, and the situation on the official road is similar to the current section. ”

"In addition to the bridge, can the ice on the Hunhe River (Lugou River) be passable?"

"Yes, people and horses can pass, and carts should be able to pass."

"In which direction do Jiannu's sentry riders go?"

Zhu Guobin paused and replied: "This, this is not clear, our people did not encounter the Jiannu Sentinels, according to several fleeing people, someone saw a team of Tartars once surrounded the city of Gu'an to check. ”

"According to your estimates, if the Tartar scouts near Gu'an return to the camp, when will they go back at the latest?"

"If the Tartar camp is still near Nanyuan, you have to go back at noon."

Chen Xin nodded, although Zhu Guobin's report was not detailed and clear, but the cavalry of the Wendeng battalion and the night were not collected, and it was good that the intelligence collection could reach the current level.

Chen Xin turned his head to Dai Zhenggang and the others: "Everyone, how to act, listen to your opinions." ”

Dai Zhenggang said: "Since the Tartars have moved their camp from the north to the south of the Jingshi, then Liangxiang and Fangshan are likely to become the targets of the Tartars' attacks, and they may also be moving south to Gu'an and Zhuozhou. ”

Zhu Guobin also said: "The Tartars went deep into Jinggi this time, there is no fixed city, and the two armies of Xuanda Guanning are still there, the division of troops may not be large, and the camp may be moved at any time, so the range of the sentinel will not be too far, according to the two Guanning soldiers, they stopped for two days after arriving in Beijing, I estimate that their sentinel time is two days each time, Gu'an is more than 100 miles away from the Beijing division, I judge that there are sentinels near Gu'an, they have appeared near Gu'an in the morning, they should have come out yesterday, and they will return today, If they bring back information that Gu'an is easy to attack, then Gu'an is likely to be targeted by the Tartars. ”

Chen Xintou pressed down slightly, rubbing his hand against his chin, he was not only worried about Jiannu's attack, but also worried about the situation after arriving in Beijing, the combat strength of the two armies of Xuanda and Guanning was greatly damaged, as long as the army arrived, it would definitely be forced by those civil officials who took it for granted to moths to put out the fire, Wen Tiren alone may not be able to stop it, the original expectation was missing this section, and he was reconsidering the timing of going to Beijing.

How strong is Jiannu's troops, he is suddenly a little bottomless, now Jiannu has moved to Jinan, if there is really a Jiannu sentinel near Gu'an, Jiannu may have to loot Gu'an or Zhuozhou, if he continues to move forward, he is likely to encounter the enemy in the field. The army is not far from Jiannu, and it may be discovered at any time, and if the risk is too high, he would rather give up this opportunity to speculate.

Chen Xin asked: "Guobin, how is the city defense of Gu'an?" ”

"It was very dilapidated, and many of the walls that had been washed away by the rain had not been repaired. There are not many people at the head of the wall, and most of them are still ordinary households, so I am afraid that they are neither solid nor safe. ”

Chen Xin raised his head, decided to continue to move forward for a while, and instructed Zhu Guobin and Pu Zhuang: "Release all the cavalry and do not collect the night, within ten miles of our unit, if you encounter enemy scouts, attack immediately, and do your best to fight for survival." ”

After speaking, he said to several other chief officers: "The Chinese army guard is responsible for cleaning up the road, and the brigade will set off in a quarter of an hour, according to the battlefield marching mode, all wearing armor, and each fire team will prepare the fire, and will camp in Liu Village today, without rest in between." Knowing the whole army, from now on, military judges and commanders will enforce military discipline in accordance with battlefield discipline. ”

"Yes, sir." Several officers looked stern and began to enforce battlefield discipline, and some of the people who used to beat sticks were now beheaded.

After Dai Zhenggang responded to the order, he said to Chen Xin: "My lord, why don't you camp under Gu'an City, this is more conducive to defense." ”

"When we arrived in the city, we saw too many people, and the whereabouts of our army could not be kept secret." Chen Xin was a little perfunctory, in fact, he was most worried that it would be difficult to escape when he got to the city.

"But how to act tomorrow, continue to move forward Once discovered, the field is surrounded by the Jiannu army, but it can be ......"

"Tomorrow be stationed in place, don't act yet, put away all the flags, and inquire about the whereabouts of Jiannu."

Several people were discussing, there was a noise on the official road next to them, Zhu Guobin turned his head to look over, next to a two-horse carriage, a coachman-like person was arguing with the people in the carriage, it seemed that he did not want to catch up again.

I only heard the coachman say loudly: "Come out of Tongzhou and say okay, Lao Tzu has pulled you so far, and there are no Tartars nearby, you drive the car yourself, Lao Tzu will go with this group of officers and soldiers to kill the Tartars." ”

The people in the car were a middle-aged couple, who looked like businessmen, and the businessman pointed to the coachman and scolded: "You are a murderer, when you were in exile, if I hadn't taken you in, you would have starved to death." ”

"Lao Tzu eats you for nothing? I have been a cow and a horse for three years, and I have no salary, so it's time to repay your personal favor. To tell you the truth, even if the Tartars don't come, Lao Tzu won't want to do it for a long time. The coachman, who was not very old, took a burden from the horse that pulled the cart and carried it on his back as he spoke.

"You white-eyed wolf from Liaodong, you deserve to be captured by the Tartars."

The coachman looked at the merchant fiercely and said, "If you dare to scold again, Lao Tzu will ......."

The merchant also lost his temper, and his boss's momentum was still there, and he scolded: "What's the matter? You still dare to kill people. ”

The coachman really took out a short knife from his baggage, looked at the owner fiercely, and waited for the owner to show a slightly flustered look on his face before he said: "Lao Tzu will stab you two horses to death, see if your family will be captured by the Tartars." ”

The merchant flinched a little, softened his tone, and promised to give the coachman some silver and send them south.

Chen Xin was not interested in watching the excitement, and turned his head to look at the map again, Zhu Guobin was about to turn back, when the corner of his eye suddenly noticed that a person leading a horse was heading north in the flow of people to the south. He wore a fur hat, his face was wrapped in a thick cloth, and he walked silently on the left side of the official road with his head bowed, and the pedestrians in the middle of the road were separated from the Wendeng camp on the right.

Zhu Guobin said softly to Chen Xin: "My lord! There was something wrong with the man. ”

Chen Xin followed his fingers and looked at it, it was indeed suspicious, if it was a Tang horse, he would not get off the horse so low-key, and ordinary people would not generally go north at this time.

Chen Xin beckoned Nie Hong, and after a few words, Nie Hong went over with five guard soldiers, and Zhu Guobin also took the bow in his hand and followed him to the official road.

Although the man kept his head down, his eyes kept an eye on this side, and when he saw the officers and soldiers coming in his direction, he suddenly drew a straight-edged knife from under his robe and slashed at the neck of a woman next to him, and with a pop, the woman's head was cut off, her head flew out a few steps, and the blood on her neck spilled far away, and the surrounding people suddenly screamed, and the crowd was like a wasp that had exploded its nest, and the man then shouted: "Here comes the Tartar!! Then he immediately put away his knife again, jumped on his horse and slid into the crowded area, trying to escape under the cover of the running crowd.

Zhu Guobin recognized his weapon at a glance, and shouted excitedly: "Tartar's Shundao, catch him!" At the same time, he left the chaotic official road and entered the field outside, intending to go around to the sparse crowd on the periphery to intercept the man. Running all the way to observe the official road, there are people shaking everywhere near the official road, and there are people crying and shouting, "The Tartars are coming, the Tartars are coming", and the infirm people were knocked to the ground, and then they were trampled by countless pairs of feet. The man was hunched over the low back of his horse, and he disappeared from and fro in the crowd, and was already twenty paces ahead. With the height of the Mongolian horse, Zhu Guobin simply could not shoot him in the crowd.

Zhu Guobin was anxious, the location of that person must have seen the Wendeng camp, and he must not let him escape to report the news.