A raging fire burned outside the west of the city, and Li Xinxin's head trembled, and he knew that it must have been the Tartars who burned the wood at night. Li Xin looked up at the sky, the stars are bright and the moon is bright tonight, can God send another rainstorm to help them? Those timbers are all prepared for the renovation of the southern city, if they are burned out, where will he get so much wood?

Lu Zhifan tried to organize the people to go out of the city to fight the fire, but the Tartars were not far away, and once they got close to the fire, a rain of arrows fell down, and the fire finally became unstoppable after several repetitions. The sky-high fire burned until dawn, Lu Zhifan was so angry that he fainted, and the soaps panicked and pinched people and sprayed cold water, and finally woke up.

Fortunately, the cement and stone poured outside the west of the city had solidified and had a certain strength, and although the Tartar burned the outer layer of wood that was used as a mold, it failed to destroy the wall inside. After some tossing, everyone in Gaoyang City was finally at a loss, helpless in the face of the provocation of the Tartars outside the city.

In desperation, Gaoyang City had no choice but to turn from active defense to passive defense. According to the traditional way of defending the city, the houses near the city wall were demolished to prevent the fire that could be caused by the war from spreading into the city, and a large number of rolling wood and thunder stones were carried onto the wall in large quantities for final defense.

The refugees were placed in a camp built earlier for migrants from outside the city, and the camp was crowded with small buildings made of cement and wooden planks, and the living conditions were indeed not good, but it was better than being a ghost under the sword of a Tartar. However, there was chaos on this day, and the food that was supposed to be procured into the city two days earlier did not arrive on time. The food supply in the city suddenly became strained, and coupled with the successive defeats in the fierce battle with the Tartars outside the city, panic began to spread gradually in the small city crowded with tens of thousands of people.

The first problem was in this refugee camp, where the daily half-catty of millet that should have been distributed to each adult male was not distributed on time, and in the end, thanks to Sun Chengzong's borrowing of food from the big families in the city, the riot was barely quelled. At the same time, Lu Zhifan implemented wartime control in accordance with Li Xin's Jianyì, dividing the entire city into several military districts, each of which arranged for Minzhuang to be responsible for public security. Soon, Yiqiē seemed to be back to normal, but all kinds of uneasiness were surging in the dark, like a poisonous snake hiding in the shadows, ready to jump out at any opportunity to bite hard.

Outside the city, Aobai did not seem to be in a hurry to attack the city, but just waited for the opportunity. Perhaps he knew very well that even the strongest fortress could not withstand the endless problems that arose inside. This is the problem now in front of Lu Zhifan, Li Xin and others.

At dusk of this day, an unbelievable thing happened in Gaoyang City, a team of chariots and horses arrived safely outside the East City Gate from east to west, and the surprising leader of the team turned out to be Lei Juemin, the county commander who had abandoned the official and absconded. But he came back anyway, with a thousand stone of grain, and two hundred guards. It is said to be a grain borrowed from Kama Province.

A thousand stones of grain came like charcoal in the snow, which solved the urgent need of food shortage in the city, but now that the population of the city has increased dramatically, these grains obviously cannot withstand consumption. In the end, Lei County Ling was not held accountable for leaving his post without permission, and people were very curious about what prompted this fugitive officer to dare to take the risk and borrow a thousand stones of grain to come back, but soon everyone's attention was attracted by another matter.

Late at night on the day when Lei Xian ordered to return to Gaoyang, a Ming army detective called the city overnight, and brought a news that everyone in the city was extremely excited, and the general of the fifth military camp of the Beijing Division led 2,000 soldiers and horses from Henan to the north to Qinwang, and would soon pass through Gaoyang.

Lu Zhifan is overjoyed, the Beijing camp is second only to the border army of the Ming Dynasty in combat effectiveness, and the combat effectiveness of the bandits has increased unabated for many years, if it can really cross Gaoyang, Gaoyang Minzhuang and the 2000 Beijing division should be combined with the outside world, and may not be able to drive away the Tartars. But it needs a competent person to contact him, Lu Zhifan is in charge of the affairs of the county, it is definitely not appropriate for him to do it, and it is obviously even more inappropriate to teach Zhou Jin that he is arrogant and does not know military affairs. In the end, Sun Jie, the second son of the Sun family, took the initiative to ask for help, and he asked for help on behalf of Sun Chengzong.

"Although the five military camps have crossed the border between Boye and Lixian, the road is already very uneven, and the second son can't go alone, so it's better to be escorted by Li Jiaoxi." Lu Zhifan was worried about Sun Jie's comfort, after all, he was Sun Chengzong's second son, and he had no official identity and responsibilities, so he couldn't explain to Sun Chengzong if he had an accident.

As soon as the matter of asking for help was decided, Li Xin prepared overnight, selected 100 people who were originally from the horse household, and formed a horse team to escort Sun Ji. But at dawn, things repeated again, and a group of routs galloped from the south, one of them was covered in blood, and the man who looked like the first member of the main general claimed to be Zheng Xiyao, the general of the Fifth Army Battalion.

The people who defended the city didn't dare to rashly put these people into Cheng, but they didn't dare to slack off, and ran to inform Lord Dianshi in a hurry. Lu Zhifan heard that the five military camps had become a rout, and asked for help under the city, and the joy of the night immediately seemed to be poured a basin of cold water. How did reinforcements become a rout overnight? So as the people hurriedly went to the south city and looked down at the city, it was really a remnant of the defeated army.

Lu Zhifan was not verbose, and shouted directly at the people below: "Under the city, is General Zheng of the Fifth Military Battalion? ”

The leader of the chief had a cloth wrapped around his neck and hung his left arm, apparently wounded.

"It's the youngster!"

"The general has suffered, but now that the Tartars are attacking the city, the shape is complicated, and the official is accusatory, and he also asks the general to prove his identity, and immediately open the door and invite the general to enter the city."

The lord was stunned for a moment, and then smiled bitterly: "The seal letter is carried with you, can it be counted?" Then he touched the cloth bag around his waist, but he felt empty, and he fell off in the fierce battle. I had to rush to the city and spread my hands.

"It's a misfortune that the seal was lost in last night's battle."

"Then there is no way, this officer can only throw water, food and medicine for the general......"

The implication is that the city gate can't be opened, and you can't blame Lu Zhifan for being unreasonable, now that the shape is so critical, who knows where these people come from, what if it is a Tartar fraud city?

Who knew that the general slapped his head and arched his hand to the city: "My lord, Sun Gebu is in Gaoyang City?" At that time, the young general's five military camps rotated in Liaodong, and he was personally lectured by the Ministry of Pavilion, and he had a one-sided relationship, so he must have an impression of the old man! ”

Since the general proposed that Sun Chengzong might be able to prove his identity for him, it would be much easier to do, and immediately send Minzhuang to invite Sun Chengzong. Sun Chengzong has been back to his hometown for many years, and all the people under his command were governors and generals, Lu Zhifan didn't expect him to have an impression of a little-known general, who expected Sun Chengzong to have an impression of this Zheng Xiyao, and recognized him at a glance.

Now that the matter is easy to do, Lu Zhifan immediately ordered someone to open the city gate and let Zheng Xiyao enter the city. Sun Chengzong asked Zheng Xiyao why he ended up in such a field, Zheng Xiyao was ashamed, bowed his head and sighed: "The last general originally wanted to cross the Pigpen River to Renqiu, and return to Beijing from Wen'an and Bazhou, but he didn't want to be attacked by the Tartars at the moment when he crossed the river, so he ended up in ......a miserable defeat."

Sun Chengzong stroked the long gray hair under his chin: "The Tartar can hit halfway, he must have been eyeing you a long time ago, if you have a heart or not, you will not be wronged if you lose." But do you know who the Lord of the Tartars will be? ”

"Look at the flag should be a soldier with a yellow flag, it seems to be called Aobai."

Everyone was surprised, didn't Ao Bai camp in the north of the city, why did he go to Lixian to ambush Zheng Xiyao again? This can't be blamed for the blockage of Gaoyang County's intelligence information, whether Li Xin, Lu Zhifan, or Zhou Jin are all newcomers who have just experienced the battle formation, it is already very rare to be able to defend Gaoyang County in front of the Qing army generals. As for Sun Chengzong, although he has been supervising Liao for many years, he understands his strengths and weaknesses, and an excellent strategist may not be proficient in tactics, so he rarely expresses his opinions on the defense of Gaoyang City, and he is at the mercy of Lu Zhifan, Li Xin and others.

Sun Chengzong saw Zheng Xiyao hanging his left arm, and asked with concern: "How is the injury to the arm?" ”

"The Lao Ge Department is worried, it's just a dislocation, it's already fine, but it's still a little uncomfortable!"

"That's good, that's good!"

Zhou Jin, who had been silent, interjected coldly.

"Why don't you stay and command the Gaoyang Army?"

The people present were stunned, Zhou Jin was not talking about Minzhuang but the Gaoyang Army, did he plan to let the staff of this Beijing battalion be responsible for commanding the Gaoyang Army organized by Minzhuang in the future?

"Gao Yangjun?"

Zheng Xiyao didn't know why, Lu Zhifan immediately understood Zhou Jin's intentions, Zheng Xiyao's mission was originally to go north to King Qin, but now there are only hundreds of remnants of the army defeated, and it is difficult for King Qin to make the trip, it is a good choice to stay and help them defend Gaoyang, and after all, he is a high-level general in the imperial court, and he has been in the army for many years and has rich command experience, so it is naturally suitable to become a general of the Gaoyang Army. So he sorted out his thoughts and explained in detail along Zhou Jin's meaning.

Sun Chengzong stroked the long gray hair under his chin and listened carefully, but he was noncommittal.

At this time, Sun Ji hurried over, confessed to everyone present, and went straight to Sun Chengzong's side to whisper a few words. When the old man heard this, he slapped the table with his right hand.

"Okay, Da Lang is Lisuo."

Then his eyes narrowed and he glanced at the crowd.

"The Gaoyang Army will be sworn into the army today, and the chief officer will be acted by the canonical history, after all, General Zheng is an officer in the Beijing camp, and it is not suitable to appoint this position, just assist in commanding." Then he looked directly at Zheng Xiyao and asked, "What does General Zheng think?" ”

"The last general dares to disobey his fate!"

Sun Chengzong laughed, said three good words in a row, and suddenly Huo got up from the chair, "It is worthy of my Da Ming Erlang, the history of the canon went to find Li Jiaoxi, and now the old man has a big matter to hand over to you and others to do!" ”