Although the number of enemies today may not be able to catch up with Wang Mang's million army, but all of them are cavalry, and the people and horses are noisy, but they are far superior in terms of momentum, and today's Hu people are far from being comparable to the officers and soldiers of the New Dynasty whose combat effectiveness has been reduced, and the 30,000 Mongolian headquarters iron cavalry gathered under the city of Xiangyang alone have exceeded all the expeditionary forces of the Scythian steppe in Subutai.

When Zheng Yunming landed in the city, he found that the faces of the generals in the city were a little ugly, and the two injured generals Wang Deng and Meng Jing were calm enough, but there seemed to be some gray traces in their eyebrows. As for the commanders of the three militias, their faces were even more earthy when they were bluffed by such a grand military situation, and even Zheng Yunming saw tears on the face of one of them.

He did not despise these frightened generals, and even if it was him, he would inevitably be frightened when he saw the huge enemy forces when he went to the city. But to his relief, Bai Yijie did not relax Xiangyang's city defense at all during the days he left. On the contrary, he also carefully innovated the details of the city defense, the position of some ballistas was adjusted, and they were placed in the dead corners where the enemy artillery was difficult to attack, and the string towers on the city were replaced by larger war buildings, and the bunkers that could be broken with one cannon in the past must now be destroyed only by directly hitting two to three guns, and the soldiers obviously passed through Bai Yijie's guidance, and repaired them immediately after a cannon hit the war tower, maximizing the power of the temporary bunkers on these city walls.

He quietly asked Wang Deng: "Where is the military advisor, why don't you stay together?" ”

Wang Deng also replied in a low voice: "Since you left Xiangyang, the military division has not left the Yamen of the Jing'e Deputy Capital Commander for half a step, and no matter how big or small the affairs in the city are, they will be handled in person, writing instructions, and deploying manpower. To this day, he is still in the lobby, ready to deal with emergencies. ”

Zheng Yunming laughed and said, "The person who must bow to his relatives must not be able to last long, even if he uses coercive means, he must have time to rest." ”

His laughter attracted Zhao Kui's attention, and Zhao Kui, who was looking at the situation of the enemy army in the distance, turned his head to look at Zheng Yunming. Zheng Yunming stepped forward and approached the envoy and asked, "The Hu people are coming so violently, can the envoy have a good strategy to retreat from the enemy?" ”

Zhao Kui also laughed, and he asked rhetorically, "You tell me your opinion first." ”

"The enemy is so strong, a thousand strategies don't work." Zheng Yunming's expression didn't look like he was joking at all: "There are only six words, be a turtle, wait for reinforcements." ”

Zhao Kui frowned: "I thought that if it was the one in the city who had the most courage to dare to fight with the Tartars to the death, it was Uncle Mou, but I didn't expect you to also hold on to it?" If you can only rely on this city wall of less than three zhang to resist such a powerful Hu people, I am afraid that it will be difficult to do everything. ”

Zheng Yunming didn't answer immediately, he was thinking in his mind how to convince the veteran general, who had more than twenty years of experience in fighting horses, to listen to his opinion. Ma Guangzu beside him couldn't help it, in terms of official position, he was Zheng Yunming's justifiable mastermind, and Bai Yijie was just a senator. In fact, although Ma Guangzu's role in the army is not as good as Bai Yijie's, he usually assists Zheng Yunming in handling and controlling the relationship between the upper and lower levels of the envoy, and deals with the documents and letters sent from Lin'an, but this young official in the Great Song Dynasty is one of the best in dealing with it in an orderly manner. If Bai Yijie is the left arm of Zheng Yunming's royal subordinate, then Ma Guangzu is in a sense the more important right arm of the emperor. At this time, seeing that the main general had just returned to the city, he was restrained and reprimanded, and he had no initiative, so he naturally had to stand up for maintenance.

He stood up, finished his salute to Zhao Kui, and said loudly: "The envoy is a famous general of the country, you should remember that Qin and Zhao fought for Changping back then, the Qin army was strong and the Zhao army was weak, the Qin army challenged repeatedly, and Zhao General Lian Po just couldn't hold on." The Qin State had no choice but to send people to secretly spread rumors that Lian was afraid of a head-on battle. Zhao Jun thought so, so he sent the active and belligerent Zhao Kuo to replace Lian Po, so Changping was defeated and Zhao was exhausted. At present, the officers and troops are weak, and although there are only a few generals who dare to speak out and actively attack, it is necessary to judge according to the time and place. Today, the Hu people are strong, our army is weak, and although it is inevitable that the deputy capital commander will lose the spirit of taking the initiative to attack, it is a safe policy. ”

Zhao Kui didn't get angry again, but asked calmly: "If the enemy army is besieged for a year, what will happen to us?" ”

"First, even if the Mongols really besieged Xiangyang for a year, Xiangyang would have enough food to support. Second" Before Ma Guangzu finished speaking, Yang Luo stepped forward and arched his hand: "Please forgive the last general's courage, it is absolutely impossible for the enemy army under the city to besiege Xiangyang for a year, I thought that they would attack Xiangyang in the near future." ”

When he said this, even Zheng Yunming was taken aback, he had never heard of Yang Yun having such an idea before.

Zhao Kui was also slightly surprised, and asked, "How can you expect that the enemy will storm Xiangyang City?" ”

Yang Luo scratched his head, revealing a hint of embarrassment: "I haven't grasped the specific reason yet." But since this southern expedition of the Mongol army, I have had a feeling. Until recently, when fighting in Yingzhou, this feeling became more and more obvious, that is, the Hu people went south this year, and they were in a hurry. ”

He said it urgently, and Zheng Yunming suddenly realized: "Indeed, the Mongols are too urgent to go south this time, and they are not as calm as last year. ”

Yang Yu clapped his hands and shouted, "Sure enough, the deputy capital has the same idea?" According to the path of the Mongols last year, they first monitored the two cities of Xiangfan with thousands of cavalry, and then the army slowly moved south, slowly plundered the prefectures and counties along the river, and after they were full, they either abandoned Xiangyang, or tried to slaughter the suburbs of Xiangyang first, consume the vitality of the farms and fields near Xiangyang, and wait for us to abandon Xiangyang ourselves. But this time the Mongols seemed to be very urgent, first blindly piling up grain and grass warships on the front, so that they were taken by our army, and then immediately launched a siege operation after going south, ignoring the fact that Xiangyang was the most difficult city in Jinghu to attack. Once it was found that the siege could not be stopped, they immediately retreated and went to the hinterland of Jinghu to raid and plunder, because our army's implementation of the strong wall and clearing the field was effective, and the plundering they obtained this year was far less than last year, but there was also an urgent plunder, and there was no reason for screening it. In particular, after encountering the interception of our army's powerful troops, he did not try to conduct a field battle, but hastily reduced his forces, returned to the vicinity of Xiangyang with the plunder, and tried to use the materials in his hands and the materials requisitioned from the north to try to attack Xiangyang again. This does not correspond to the logic of the Mongol war. ”

Zhao Kui stroked his beard and listened to Yang Yu's explanation, and did not interject. It wasn't until Yang Luo finished speaking that he said slowly: "Hu Ren is so urgent, there must be a hidden secret." Perhaps, the key to the siege of Xiangyang lies in it. ”

Meng Jing, the loyal commander who was standing on the side, suddenly spoke: "Could it be that they are afraid that Meng Dutong of Huangzhou will lead the army to reinforce Xiangyang, so they are panicking?" ”

"Meng Dutong now has 70,000 reinforcements in hand, waiting for the right time in Yingzhou. However, I believe that with the strength of the Mongols so far, they will not worry about how much trouble they will cause with their 70,000 men, and from what I have observed, they have arranged for a maximum of 40,000 cavalry to monitor Yingzhou, which shows that they themselves do not think that the strength of the Mongols is so strong that they must be allowed to disrupt their plans. Zheng Yunming gently knocked the blue brick city wall with his horsewhip, looking at the dense military ranks in the distance: "What is the reason for them to act so quickly?" ”

When Zheng Yunming, who had finished patrolling the city, returned to the Yamen of the Deputy Metropolitan Division, it was already the time to hold the lights, but there were no signs of rest in the palace. Oil lamps and torches were lit in the lobby, and all the military attachés and staff below the deputy capital of Jing and Hubei were all there, waiting for the return of the main general.

"Sit, sit." Zheng Yunming strode into the lobby from the corridor, and greeted Bai Yijie as soon as he stepped in, so he didn't have to get up to greet him. Two of the soldiers hurriedly moved their seats. Zheng Yunming took off his battle robe, sat next to Bai Yijie and asked, "What is the situation between the enemy and me?" ”

"It's not good for us." Bai Yijie held his forehead, supported his elbows on the table, and looked worried: "The previous battle lost a lot of combat power, this is nothing, I simply selected three thousand people from the people in the city to temporarily practice, although it is not a few days, but it is enough to deal with the urgency of the moment." Moreover, there was no shortage of troops in the city. The problem is to carry out the sabotage in the city. ”

"During the time you were out of the city, the Mongolian spies in the city have blasted a powder magazine, burned a grain bunt, and stole a lot of weapons used to defend the city" Bai Yijie sighed: "All the refugees outside the city are accommodated without identification, which makes the task of checking the spies extremely difficult, Shi Wenhu has been patrolling day and night, and arrested dozens of people suspected of being spies, but the jackal still retains a strong enough force to allow him to carry out sabotage operations under martial law in the city." ”

Zheng Yunming thought about it, and it seemed that in addition to sending more people to patrol day and night, he didn't have a good way. Food was precious, but the loss of gunpowder was even more painful for him, and if Zheng Yunming had never invented a firearm, the Great Song Dynasty could have ensured that the Mongols would have been repelled with bows and crossbows and some primitive and inferior gunpowder. But now the entire Jinghu army has suffered from gunpowder dependence, and without the assistance of firearms, many Song troops seem to be unable to fight.

This is a very bad sign, and it is also a sign that Zheng Yunming has tried his best to avoid from the beginning of the founding of the army. He didn't want the field army with a little combat effectiveness, which could barely support the invincible iron cavalry conflict in the field at this time, to become the appearance of a rat that would collapse once the firearm lost its effectiveness hundreds of years later.