Because of the serious loss of the war, the soldiers and civilians of Xuzhou City also had to live a life of frugality.

The daily rations for the sergeants and the people were distributed in a fixed amount, and the quota became smaller and smaller, and even then the granary of Xuzhou City would be exhausted. The temporary winter clothes can only temporarily meet the needs of some soldiers, and the local people are required to go home to bring their own winter clothes, blankets and some heavy warm fabrics are collected from the hands of the people of Xuzhou City, and there is no unified standard for the colorful colors.

The city of Xuzhou has reached the point where it cannot be opened, and this situation is even more serious with the fierce siege of the Huai army in the middle of winter.

It may be that the Huai army has gained a firm foothold north of Xuzhou, making the Huai king feel that he can swallow the isolated city of Xuzhou, and from mid-November, the besieging Huai army suddenly seemed to lose patience and intensified the offensive. The gentle Confucian suddenly turned into a lion, which made the defenders of Xuzhou, who had nothing to do and counted their fingers to live, suddenly a little overwhelmed, and several successive sieges had made the defenders exhausted.

As the Huai army attacked the city fiercely, the casualties on both sides also increased. On the 17th day of the winter month, the defenders lost more than 300 lives, and nearly 1,000 people were wounded to varying degrees. The entire garrison was ill-prepared for this onslaught, losing almost 10% of its forces at one time.

That night, when Min Shaoqing and Ma Feng dragged their tired bodies from the first line and retreated to the temporary command post, they were stunned to find a cylindrical object, in response to the faint light of the tung oil lamp, and the two saw clearly that this was Chai Jin, the generalissimo of the rebellion who had never set foot in the defense area.

Min Shaoqing couldn't slack off, and after saluting, he asked, "General Chai, are you ...... What are the instructions? ”

Ma Feng glanced at Min Shaoqing. I think he's a little too polite. This firewood brocade came to the garrison area around the city wall. Most likely a yo-yo bend. Use your mouth to say something innocuous and insignificant.

"Tomorrow, northside."

Chai Jin didn't say much, only these four words, the speaker understated it, and the listener was stunned on the spot. Then Chai Jin seemed to be very busy, got up to say goodbye, and walked crookedly, not knowing that his body was not resting well. Or because of the severe illness of wind and cold.

Sending Chai Jin away, Ma Feng looked at Min Shaoqing suspiciously and asked, "...... he?" What does that mean exactly? To the north, does he mean that the main direction of the Huai army's attack tomorrow will be north of the city? ”

These days, the Huai army has almost formed an inertia of attacking from the west, and it is accustomed to attacking and defending it, and this side of the west wall is wearing out every day, and it is being repaired every day, and the defenders are familiar with Yemen. Suddenly having to switch sides, a little too much for them to get used to.

"Who knows. Tomorrow, I will send some people to the north of the city to have a look, where the city wall is much stronger than the west wall. ”

Min Shaoqing's meaning. The north city wall because of the hundreds of years of the northern barbarians have many records of southern invasion, so the north city wall is well repaired, plus the last Huai army siege is mainly in the east and south directions, the north city wall is not very damaged, this time if the Huai army really launched an attack from the north of the city, it is a good thing for the defenders.

All night in the night.

The military camp of the Huai army outside the city of Xicheng did not stop this night, and the cavalry went in and out, and the noisy and chaotic sound made the defenders think that there would be the next wave of siege that night. Who knew that when it was almost dawn, the Huai army camp outside the west city suddenly quieted down, Min Shaoqing was stunned when he heard the news, and immediately realized that maybe Chai Jin's prediction was right, and the next moment, there were soldiers to report that the Huai army launched an attack from the north of the city at dawn.

"God!"

Ma Feng laughed stupidly twice, put on his helmet, and prepared to order troops to the north of the city. Fortunately, I listened to Chai Jin's words last night and took precautions, and transferred some people over, and now there should not be much pressure on the north side of the city.

In fact, the pressure is still a bit high.

This was a war of blood and fire, and the siege of the Huai army was also purely based on the corpses, and throughout the morning, there were thousands of corpses of the Huai soldiers piled up under the north city wall, and although the defenders suffered fewer casualties, there were also hundreds of casualties. If you fight like this a few more times, the Huai army will be able to consume the defenders to death by relying on their heads.

On the eighteenth day of the winter month, the Huai army did not change the direction of the siege, and the other city gates did not receive the alarm. It was not until dusk that the Huai army retreated, and the Huai army attacked the city twice, but they were suppressed, which made Min Shaoqing and Ma Feng very worried.

"I can't hold it!"

Ma Feng sat in the open space of the city tower, when the Huai army attacked the city wall for the second time, the situation was very dangerous, and even he had to lead people to kill the city wall to turn the tide. He said that he couldn't hold it, and I don't know whether he said that he couldn't hold it himself, or that the defenders were going to be unable to hold it.

"Spurs, tomorrow you go back and rest for a day, just let Ben Taishou take charge, you have too little rest these days." Min Shaoqing persuaded.

"Fuck it!" Ma Feng suddenly felt a sense of shame on his face, and threw the sword in his hand on the ground, "What are we working so hard for?" Knowing that Lu Dao had already known, wouldn't it be better to lower the Huai army before? ”

Min Shaoqing looked around, but fortunately no soldiers paid attention to this side, and reminded: "Pay attention to talking!" ”

"Pay attention to what? We are fighting bloody battles here, while the new emperor is happy in the palace! And the rebel generalissimo, the one surnamed Qu, took us seriously? Tomorrow, just tomorrow, I dare to predict that this Xuzhou city will be lost! ”

Min Shaoqing sighed, today's battle was indeed too tragic. The Huai army's offensive was more fierce than before, and forty or fifty thousand soldiers and horses were dispatched on the north wall at one time, and the huge stones thrown by catapults were about to fill the north city wall. However, the bigwigs in the imperial court still have no intention of coming over to help the war, thousands of royal forest soldiers are still guarding the useless palace to eat dry rice, and the defenders of Xuzhou City have to cut down on food and clothing to supply those moths to eat and drink, and the number of moths is still a bit much. How can all this make a civil official like Ma Feng, who already has a lot of complaints against the imperial court, not angry?

The two of them helped each other and returned to the temporary command post with a small team of guards, and before they reached the door, they felt that it was bright inside, not the light like fireflies emitted by the tung oil lamp before.

When I walked in, the candles were bright, and the two of them were looking down at the Xuzhou City Defense Map, Qu Zhu and Chai Jin were the two who were scolded by Ma Feng before.

"Chai and horses, Commander Qu, let's go if you have nothing to do." Ma Feng sat there, and he didn't even have to salute, and now he has completely lost the perfunctory mood with these two court officials. I poured myself a cup of tea, I thought it was cold, but when I poured it out, I found that it was hot tea. I was not angry in my heart, and the two bigwigs were so particular about coming to the temporary command post.

"Min Taishou and Spurs have worked hard today." Qu Zhu didn't care about Ma Feng's disrespect, and arched his hand, "The two of you have already been informed of your commander's performance in the battle to defend the city today, and they personally went into battle to kill the enemy, which is really a model for my court officials." ”

At this time, he still said such an old-fashioned official language, which made Ma Feng very angry, and just when he almost couldn't help but blurt out scolding, Qu Zhu said again: "From tomorrow, the Royal Forest Army will all be under the dispatch of the city defense army." And the commander and the firewood horse will also take turns with the two of them, changing every day, and take turns to be responsible for the city defense of Xuzhou City. ”

Shift?

Min Shaoqing and Ma Feng glanced at each other, and the things they were complaining about just now suddenly changed. Could it be that these two bigwigs suddenly discovered their conscience?

"How dare you work for the two of you?" Ma Feng's tone was neither yin nor yang, his meaning was actually very clear, as long as he could transfer those Imperial Forest Army who only knew how to eat dry rice to defend the city.

Qu Zhu could hear the disrespect in Ma Feng's tone, but Chai Jin thought it was Ma Feng's concern for him, and said with a faint smile: "Brother Ma, you are also a good person." ”

This praise made Ma Feng stunned on the spot, and Chai Jin actually called him "Brother Ma" to his face? And say he's a good guy? Even he himself couldn't feel what was so good about him, if Luan Jia didn't come to Xuzhou City, he would be the one who was the most powerful to surrender.

Ma Feng arched his hand at Chai Jin, smiled bitterly, and didn't know what to say.

Chai Jin said: "Brother Ma's kindness is appreciated in my heart." However, Brother Ma and Brother Min have worked hard for many days, and they should ...... Brother Qu and I are here to help, and tomorrow, we will take over for the day. ”

After fighting two shifts, Ma Feng felt a little strange in his heart, which was to sympathize with his subordinates, but it was better to seize power. It's one thing to complain about no one to help on weekdays, but it's another thing to be taken away by someone on the basis of the white army's power. But since Chai Jin is the generalissimo of rebellion, what he said must be obeyed, but Ma Feng thought disapprenantly in his heart, if Chai Jin is allowed to command today's city defense battle, maybe Xuzhou City has been lost.

"The subordinate obeys."

Min Shaoqing and Ma Feng both received orders, but they still thought that they would be with Chai Jin and Qu Zhu the next day, so as not to cause any more chaos in the fierce siege of the Huai army. Now the gains and losses of Xuzhou City are related to the life and death of all soldiers and civilians, and the Huai army will not survive to break through the city, Min Shaoqing and Ma Feng.

One night was peaceful, the Huai army now attacked the city is also very time-sensitive, only in the daytime, not at night, just like going to work, when the time comes, the city can not be attacked, even if it is almost successful, the Huai army or retreat quickly.

Min Shaoqing didn't sleep well that night, and personally went to visit the soldiers who were injured in the two-day siege of the city, and instructed the medicine and good supplements from the city pharmacy to be collected.

In the second half of the night, Ma Feng, who had slept for two hours, got up to pick up Min Shaoqing's shift, Min Shaoqing yawned, he was indeed anxious these days, and he had no time to rest. Ma Feng saw that he was tired and asked, "Min Taishou, what do you say those two have intentions?" One of them is a free-spirited horse, and the other is a façade-telling commander of the Imperial Forest Army, and he has experience in leading troops? What do you say about shifts, or do you want us to help wipe your buttocks, these senior members of the DPRK and the Central Committee just think that everything is as simple as they think. ”

Min Shaoqing looked at the sky, it was gray, and it was close to the siege of the second day, which was the new day.

"We'll see tomorrow. Looking at their determined appearance, there is still the emperor's safety behind them, they should have a back hand, didn't they bring some of that iron cylinder with the army? Who knows what kind of thing Lu Dao is! (To be continued......)