After listening to the rescued letter, he finished telling the situation inside and outside Yuzhou City in a weak voice, and learned that before he was a member of the death squad for help and broke out of the siege of the Khitan army, the three companies of the "Ranger Battalion" in the city had lost more than half, and the two battalions of the "Security Army" had lost more than two-thirds. And after more than ten days of fighting, the so-called city wall, which has long been riddled with holes and tattered, although the Khitan army has also suffered heavy losses, there are still at least tens of thousands of fighters, and the ratio of troops between the enemy and us has increased from five to one at the beginning to eight to one now, Yang Xin is both anxious and angry.

is anxious because Wu Peng's situation is really worrying. Although Zhang Zheng, who was the commander of the first company of the "Flying Dragon Army" and the "Wolf Tooth Battalion" and the current commander of the Sixth Synthetic Infantry Division of the "Flying Dragon Army", led a company of the "Wolf Tooth Battalion" and two companies of the "Security Army" with more than 500 people in Gubeikou Pass to successfully block the 30,000 troops under the command of Yelu Lie, the Khitan emperor's younger brother. However, Zhang Zheng was guarding the strong, steep, and geographically advantageous Gubeikou Pass, and the Khitan army was limited by the terrain, and could only invest one or two thousand people to attack along the narrow mountain road at a time, and could not give full play to its numerical advantage. However, Wu Peng's defense in Yuzhou was a soil enclosure with a radius of nearly two miles, built on flat land, and no higher than a zhangxu. The Khitans, who had the advantage in numbers, could attack the city from all directions at will at the same time, so that the defending Zhou army was exhausted and stumped; Second, Zhang Zheng only held on to Gubeikou Pass for three days, and the reinforcements arrived in time. And now Wu Peng has been in Yuzhou for thirteen days, more than four times Zhang Zheng's record.

is angry, because Wu Peng's appearance of facing the enemy this time is indeed a little poor. First of all, he temporarily changed his combat plan, not considering that his own troops were limited and that it was not appropriate for his troops to go deep into the grasslands alone, nor did he consider whether his abrupt actions would have an impact on the entire operational plan that would soon be launched against the grassland units. Secondly, when he first met with the Khitan reinforcements, he did not send additional scouts and scouts to listen to the enemy's reality as much as possible, but was anxious to engage the other party, and did not arrange the troops in the most suitable way for his own firepower, but swarmed up in a chaotic battle without any rules. It was not until it was discovered that the opponent had a large number of men and horses, and that his own firepower could not be fully utilized because the soldiers and horses of the enemy and us had been entangled, that he had no choice but to lead the troops to retreat, so that because the distance between the two sides was too close, he could not completely get rid of the enemy's pursuit; Third, in the case that it is impossible to completely get rid of the pursuit of the enemy, it cannot be decisively decided to hold on to the same position with the company of the "Ranger Battalion" or the "Security Army" in order to cover the distance and disengagement between the main force and the Khitan army. Instead, he looked ahead and looked backwards, ran and stopped, and went back and forth to pick up his subordinates who were blocked after the break, so that they were entangled by the Khitan army and it was difficult to get out.

However, anger is anger, this brother must be saved no matter what. Yes, the voice on the messenger's side fell, and Yang Xin's side had already issued a series of orders one after another:

First, it was ordered to urgently mobilize all the cavalry units and some mounted infantry around Linhuang City (the first regiment of the first synthetic infantry division of the "Flying Dragon Army", the first independent cavalry regiment, the main force of the "Ranger Battalion", one infantry regiment of the "Security Army", and two cavalry regiments), a total of more than 12,000 soldiers and horses, led by Wang Baoshan, commander of the first synthetic infantry division of the "Flying Dragon Army", to set off immediately, and rushed to Yuzhou day and night to rescue Wu Peng's department.

Second, Wang Feng was informed to stop resting and recuperating immediately, and in addition to leaving behind the necessary troops to defend the city, he led all the soldiers and horses of his subordinate and the third battalion of the second regiment of the first composite infantry division of the "Feilong Army", one infantry regiment of the "Security Army", and one battalion of cavalry that he had deployed to him with the messenger, with a total of more than 7,500 men and horses, leaving Gyeongju, crossing the Daxing'an Mountains, making a detour through the grassland, and then turning back from Tu'er Mountain, striving to block the back road of the Khitan army besieging Yuzhou, and cooperating with Wang Baoshan's headquarters to encircle and annihilate this enemy army. In this way, it can not only eliminate the last living force of the Khitan army in the left and right of Linhuang Mansion, but also intercept the retreat of the Khitan army in case of Wu Peng's capture, so that the other side has no chance to transfer it to the grassland.

Third, send someone to deliver a message to the Central Route Army. On the one hand, he asked the ministry to speed up its march and try to seize the "Spring Bowl" or at least drive the Khitan court away from the place before the news of Wu Peng's troops being besieged or even annihilated reached Changchun Prefecture, so as to prevent the Khitan monarchs and ministers from using the Battle of Yuzhou to boost morale. On the other hand, he directly ordered the Zhou army guards stationed in Yongzhou to transport grain and grass for the two armies, ordering him to strictly guard all non-Khitan nobles and high-ranking officials who were captured in the Battle of Yongzhou and are now serving as coolies for the Zhou army, and immediately send people to recover the Khitan nobles and high-ranking officials who were being sent to the Beiping Prefecture to serve their sentences in the hard labor camp, so that in case Wu Peng was captured by the Khitans, he could exchange these nobles and high-ranking officials for his brothers.

On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month of the seventh lunar calendar of Jianlong, Wang Baoshan led an army of 12,000 to kill Yuzhou day and night. The next day, Wang Feng also led more than 7,500 people from his headquarters to cross the Great Xing'an Mountains, detour through the prairie, and go straight to Rabbit Mountain.

On the evening of the seventh day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar in the seventh year of Jianlong, in an inconspicuous corner of Yuzhou City, the founding man of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the general of the Right Weiwei, the deputy Marquis of the Sibu Army in front of the palace, and the Marquis of Yu, the Marquis of the Left Route Army of the Northern Expedition, wore a field camouflage combat uniform and covered the standard leather armor of the Zhou Army, sitting on a large bluestone, chewing some dry and hard bread and drinking horse broth without any salt, while looking at the bloody remnant sun that was slowly sinking between the two peaks in the west. At his side, a guard was carefully bandaging the wound on his left forearm that had been cut open by an enemy arrow.

It has been half a month since April 23 of the lunar calendar when it encountered the Khitan reinforcements head-on and was besieged in the city of Yuzhou. In the past 15 days, Wu Peng led 1,000 soldiers under his command and nearly 2,000 Han and Bohai people from Ningzhou and Yuzhou who had no combat experience, and fought to the death against 15,000 fierce and brave Khitan soldiers outside the city, who were not afraid of life and death in order to get the rich reward from the main general. Today, most of the 3,000 soldiers and villagers have suffered casualties, and less than 1,200 people can still afford to fight with swords and guns. What is even more troublesome is that after many days of fierce fighting, the ammunition of the company of the "Ranger Battalion" has been exhausted. In addition to the sniper squad composed of the company and a dozen or so "sharpshooters" in the company, each of whom had about 20 rounds of bullets in their hands, which were used to shoot important targets such as middle and high-ranking officers in the Khitan army and brave soldiers with exceptional combat ability, only the ten personal guards guarding Wu Peng's side still had 50 rounds of desperate ammunition in their hands. As for the other "rangers" and personal guards, they have abandoned firearms and used short knives and spears to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the Khitans.

What did not match it was that despite the fifteen-day offensive and defensive battle, the Zhou army also inflicted heavy casualties on the Khitan army outside the city, reducing its strength by nearly one-third. However, due to the initial disparity in strength, the one-to-three casualty ratio not only failed to narrow the ratio of the enemy's forces to us, but increased the ratio of troops from the initial one-to-five to the current one-to-eight. In the absence of firepower suppression, this long-lasting city offensive and defensive battle is bound to become more and more difficult and difficult for Wu Peng. So much so that in many cases, he, the commander of the first army, was required to rush to the front line with his personal guards and mobile support detachments, relying on the few bullets left in his hands and his personal courage to block the breakthrough that was torn apart by the Khitans, and stabilize the precarious defensive front.

As the saying goes, swords have no eyes, and swords, spears and arrows don't matter if you are an ordinary herdsman or a court noble, if you cut it on your body or pierce it in your flesh, it will bleed and kill you. Yes, Rao is Wu Peng is athletic and strong in martial arts, and there are more than ten guards around him to protect him, but he was still scratched by a stray arrow flying from nowhere. Originally, Wu Peng's set of full-body armor refined from high-quality light steel and multi-layer silk cotton lining was based on the advantages of a variety of famous armor throughout the ages, unless the sword and spear were directly slashed at the same position of the armor many times, or the armor-piercing cone was shot at close range, otherwise he would not be hurt at all. But the problem is that while the armor with good texture and gorgeous decoration can effectively protect Wu Peng, it will also attract the attention of the enemy army to him like a bright torch in the dark, making it a target for everyone, but it will be more dangerous. Therefore, after wearing it for two days, three or four guards died one after another in order to block the swarming Khitan soldiers, Wu Peng abandoned them and changed into a standard half-length armor of an ordinary company-level officer, so as to get rid of the fate of being a magnet and relieve the pressure on the guards around him - at the cost of the deep wound on his left forearm.

Although the wound was coated with Zhou Jun's best Jinchuang medicine, it would still be painful until the effect of the medicine was fully effective. However, compared with the physical pain, the pain in his heart seemed to be more unbearable for Wu Peng. I have been holding on to Yuzhou for fifteen days, and it has been five days since the last batch of messengers for help set off. So far, there is still no trace of reinforcements, and the dozen or so groups of messengers sent before and after thinking about it have failed to break through the siege, and the twenty-fifth brother still does not know that he is besieged and in danger. Now, I can only pin my hope on the twenty-fifth brother to see that he did not return at the time he expected before, and he will send a probe to Ningzhou and Yuzhou to find out the news and find out the situation here. Moreover, Wu Peng can be sure that the twenty-fifth brother will definitely do this. It's just that I don't know if there will be anyone in Yuzhou City who will survive when their reinforcements arrive.

As soon as he thought of this, Wu Peng couldn't help but slap his palm on the bluestone, and his face was full of indignation. Up to now, although Wu Peng also regretted his previous reckless decision, regretted his hasty decision to attack the grassland, regretted that he was too impatient when he received the enemy, did not understand the details of the opponent and hurriedly attacked, regretted that he was eager to kill the enemy, and rushed up to fight with the enemy without even the most basic battle formation, regretted that he cared too much about the personal creed that every soldier could not be left behind, and did not leave any of the troops under his command to block the pursuit of the Khitan army on the spot with the pride of a strong man breaking his wrist when retreating, so that the speed of retreat was limited. Unable to get rid of the pursuit of the enemy, he had to retreat into Yuzhou City to hold on, and for the same reason, he gave up the method of escaping under the cover of the "rangers" to break out of the encirclement. But more than that, it is the unwillingness that he is likely to "die before his ambition is rewarded".

It is said that as the founding baron, the general of the Right Weiwei, the deputy Marquis of the Sibu Army in front of the palace, and the three-rank member of the imperial court who enjoys the high-ranking officials and Houlu, it can be regarded as a success and a worthy life for Wu Peng, who is only 38 years old this year. But the problem is that I am afraid of the word "than" in everything. Compared with other people in this era, such an identity and status is naturally coveted but cannot be sought by the vast majority of people, but compared with other brothers in the military department, it is not outstanding. In terms of titles alone, except for Zou Zhenyuan, who was captured during the Battle of Youyun and joined the crossing team halfway, Wu Peng is actually the lowest knighthood among the brothers in the military department.

Of course, this is not to say that the crossing team committee, the military department, and the Later Zhou court controlled by the crossing team favor one over the other, but because compared with the other brothers in the military department, Wu Peng has always been responsible for the training of local garrison generals or recruits and non-commissioned officers, except for the fact that he had led troops with other brothers in the Battle of Youyun and went into battle to kill. Not only did he not have the so-called "annihilation of the country" like other brothers, but because the Lingxian Mansion where he was stationed when he was the chief military officer was not on the front line, he couldn't even get the credit of "fighting the grass valley" -- and later he finally became the chief soldier of Daning, but before his ass was hot, he was transferred back to the rear again to train recruits and non-commissioned officers because of the internal division adjustment of the Beiping Army. So much so that after fifteen years of traversal, Wu Peng became the only traverser in the military department who had the fewest military exploits and did not have the merit of "destroying the country". Although the brothers did not look down on him because of this, although the "Xianglong Fort" recruit training base and the "Beiping Feilong Fort" non-commissioned officer training base of which he served as the training director (with the Beiping Army moving south to Kaifeng, the original "Feilong Fort" non-commissioned officer officer training base was also divided into two, "Beiping Feilong Fort" was responsible for non-commissioned officer training, and "Kaifeng Feilong Fort" was responsible for officer training) The soldiers trained by him all respected him, although the eldest brother, fifth brother, seventh brother, eighth brother and other committee members have always expressed their gratitude to him. In particular, in the past few years, he has been in charge of the training and training of recruits and non-commissioned officers, and he has both affirmed and appreciated it, but seeing that the brothers of the military department, especially Tang Chao, Yang Xin, Cheng Fei and others, who had been guarding the local military towns for a long time like himself, went south to participate in the war, and showed their outstanding and prestige in a series of battles to "destroy the country", how could Wu Peng have no idea in his heart, how could he not be lost, how could he not be eager to devote himself to it, and he did a vigorous battle. He wants others to know that as long as he gives himself a chance, he will never be worse than other brothers, and he can also gallop on the battlefield, capture the flag, and destroy the country. It is precisely based on this idea that he is so eager to fight, will take the initiative to invite Ying to lead the army to sweep the Linhuang Mansion, and will not hesitate to lead more than 1,000 people in this district to seize Ningzhou and Yuzhou, which are not even a larger town in the Central Plains.

never thought that God was not even willing to give him this credit in vain, and when he saw that it was about to be completed, he stabbed out a "Cheng Biting Gold", which disrupted his wishful thinking. In addition, he couldn't bear to leave a group of men and horses to block the Khitan army in order for the main force to retreat quickly, and he couldn't bear to leave behind the brothers of the "security army" and the Liangzhou township warriors and escape alone under the cover of the "rangers", so that he ran out of ammunition in the defense of the city, even if he wanted to use firepower to open a bloody road and escape alone. Nowadays, it is said that he has achieved fame, glory and wealth, and high-ranking officials, but he is afraid that whether he can get out of this dilapidated earthen enclosure alive is between the two, not to mention any ideals, ambitions, and praise for future generations -- even if a failed general can leave his name in the history books, it is still recorded by people as a negative teaching material. As soon as he thought of this, Wu Peng couldn't help but sigh, his expression gloomy and unhappy.

Wu Peng had unwilling thoughts in his heart in Yuzhou City, and Xiao Tuyu, who was outside the city, looked at the official letter jointly sent by the Northwest Road Recruitment Division and the Wugu Enemy Martyr Commander Division asking him to lead the army to continue eastward by the ninth day of the fifth month at the latest, and rush to Changchun Prefecture as soon as possible to escort King Qin.

In fifteen days, no matter how slow the news was transmitted, the Northwest Road Recruitment Division and the Wugu Enemy Martyr Commander Military Division already knew that almost the entire territory of Linhuang Mansion had fallen. With Xiao Tuyu's more than 10,000 soldiers and horses, there is no possibility of protecting Taizu's mausoleum, let alone the chance of recovering the entire Linhuang Mansion. In addition, the other line of soldiers and horses of the Zhou army has captured Wuzhou and besieged Fengzhou, which is only three or four hundred miles away from Changchun Prefecture, and the emperor has successively issued orders asking all provinces and divisions to send reinforcements to escort King Qin, and the original order of the ministry to go to Linhuang Mansion to protect the tomb for reinforcements has been invalid. Therefore, in the past few days, the Northwest Road Recruitment Division and the Wugu Enemy Lie Commander Army Division have successively issued official documents to Xiao Tuyu, ordering him not to entangle with the enemy army in Yuzhou anymore, quickly withdraw from the siege, and march east to the escort of King Qin, and there must be no mistake.

After receiving the official letter asking him to withdraw from the siege and march eastward, Xiao Tuyu was angry, and was annoyed by the changeability of his own emperor and the fact that the Northwest Road Recruitment Division and the Wugu Enemy Lie Commander Military Division obeyed the emperor's orders, and there was neither the wit to be flexible in the battle, nor the arrogance of "not granting the order of the monarch abroad". In his opinion, it was already hasty to rush to mobilize reinforcements from the two divisions, which were already short of troops, when Han Kuangsi's subordinates did not know the life and death of his subordinates and the battle situation in Linhuang Mansion was unknown. Now, the Zhou army is only three or four hundred miles away from Changchun Prefecture, but it is even more absurd to transfer the headquarters thousands of miles away to rescue the driver. With the tired army under his command that has been fighting hard for many days, he galloped thousands of miles, and said that he could not rush to hurry, even if he could really reach the "Spring Bowl" before the Zhou army captured Changchun Prefecture, he was afraid that he was already exhausted and had no strength to fight.

However, being annoyed and unwilling to return to unwillingness, under the condition that the Northwest Road Recruitment Division and the Wugu Enemy Martyrs Commander Military Division had urged several times, and the imperial decree had arrived, Xiao Tuyu did not have the courage to disobey the decree again. After all, last time it was to reinforce Linhuang Mansion, and this time it was King Qin's escort. In order to capture or kill one of the brothers of the "Qingyuan" of the Zhou State, the Noble and Valuable Ministers of the Recruiting Division and the United Army Division could abandon Zuzhou, which was already besieged by the Zhou army and had almost no possibility of turning around, and acquiesced to Xiao Tuyu's move to besiege Yuzhou; Now he doesn't dare to risk the big crime of perfidence in danger, and continues to turn a blind eye to Xiao Tuyu's behavior. If Xiao Tuyu refuses to carry out the military order, the supervising army with the army will definitely seize his military power, and then march eastward.

Moreover, although he cut off the channel for the Zhou army in Yuzhou City to ask for help, the main force of the Zhou army on the side of Linhuang Mansion could not know the situation in Yuzhou for a while. But as time goes by, the main force of the Zhou army will definitely be surprised that there has been no news from Wu Peng's department, and will immediately send a large number of scouts and scouts to investigate. When the time comes, it is said that Wu Peng was captured, but I am afraid that whether I can get rid of the pursuit of the main force of the Zhou army that came after hearing the news is between the two. Therefore, even if there is a thousand reluctances in the heart, the order to withdraw from the siege and advance eastward must be carried out. In other words, tonight will be his last chance to take Yuzhou and capture Wu Peng. Therefore, Xiao Tuyu changed the previous tactic of dividing the division into three teams and taking turns to attack the city, but mobilized all the soldiers who could fight, and doubled the previously announced reward, hoping to complete the battle and take Yuzhou City that night. In this way, he can not only give an explanation for the behavior of his troops in Yuzhou for half a month, but also be worthy of the heavy losses paid by the people of the headquarters before.

On the eighth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar in the seventh year of Jianlong, nearly 10,000 Khitan soldiers and horses who had eaten a full meal poured out of the nest and launched a fierce attack on Yuzhou City from the four directions of east, west, north and south at the same time. Although the defenders, who were inferior in strength and body, resisted hard, they could only support themselves in the face of an enemy force eight times their size, and the defense line was precarious.

After about half an hour of fierce fighting, the southern defense line, which was mainly defended by the Han people, was in danger, and a small section of the city wall was destroyed by the Khitans in the battle a few days ago, and the city wall temporarily blocked with earthen bags was opened by the Khitan soldiers with a gap about one zhang wide. Although the villagers on both sides of the gap tried their best to block the attack, they were ultimately insufficient and failed to stop the Khitan army death squads that seemed to go crazy for the sake of rich rewards. A hundred Khitan infantry soldiers swarmed in along the gap, and behind them, nearly one hundred and fifty archers were divided into three groups, and while desperately suppressing the Xiang Yong and Zhou troops who rushed over from both sides to block the gap, they also used a group of archers to shoot fiercely at the temporary high platform in the city, in a vain attempt to suppress the Zhou army snipers above, so as to cover their own follow-up echelons approaching the breakthrough.

Seeing that the shape was in danger, Wu Peng, who was standing under the high platform, ordered the snipers on the high platform to snipe at the foot soldiers at the front of the Khitan death squad and the archers with the fastest archery speed and the best accuracy, and on the other hand, he led his ten personal guards and commanded the last mobile support detachment in the city composed of 15 "Ranger Battalion" soldiers and 60 "Security Army" soldiers to meet the Khitan death squad that rushed in, striving to expel the opponent from the city and close this gap in the defense line.

Ten guards in a group of five, taking advantage of the high rate of fire of the "59-type" semi-automatic rifle in their hands, fired a salvo at the Khitan death squad that rushed into the city, temporarily suppressed the opponent's attack at the cost of 100 bullets, so that the opponent had to stop advancing after paying the price of nearly 30 casualties.

With the Khitan death squad temporarily on the defensive, Xiang Yong on both sides of the gap and the mobile support detachment closely behind Wu Peng quickly stepped forward, and under the cover of snipers and personal guards, they engaged in white-knuckle combat with the opponent, intending to expel the opponent and re-seal the gap in the letter defense line. And Wu Peng took the lead, brandishing the long knife in his hand to join the battle group, relying on his outstanding martial arts and skills in the crowd to cut and kill, rush left and right, there is no one under him, and the long knife brings up a puff of blood mist.

As the saying goes, "the brave wins when they meet on a narrow road", under the leadership of Wu Peng, who is not afraid of death, and with the fire support of guards and snipers, the Xiangyong and mobile support detachments became more and more courageous, and gradually squeezed out the Khitan army death squad that rushed into the gap in the city wall. Seeing that the danger was about to be successfully resolved by himself, Wu Peng couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief after slashing the last enemy soldier in front of him with a knife, and raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

It was too late, it was too fast, and at the moment when Wu Peng raised his arm, the sharp sixth sense created by passing through his physique and long-term martial arts practice made him feel a trace of strangeness, and felt that danger was approaching him. So, instead of wiping his sweat, he instinctively began to twist his waist and turn, bend his legs and lean back, trying to avoid the threat to himself. And at the same time as Wu Peng reacted, a strong wind was already blowing in his face, and the sound of metal breaking through the air also sounded - someone was hurting people with a secret arrow.

Although he tried his best to dodge, the distance was too close, and the speed of the armor-piercing cone shot with a hard bow was too fast, Wu Peng was shot by this dark arrow on the outside of his right chest after dodging the left half of his body and letting go of the deadliest part. Since Wu Peng was only wearing an ordinary leather armor at this time, he couldn't defend against the powerful and sharp three-edged armor-piercing cone. Therefore, the dark arrow not only pierced his body, revealing a cold and shining arrow from his back, but also the huge momentum also took Wu Peng back a few steps, so that he could no longer stand unsteadily, shook twice and fell on his back, and fell heavily to the ground. Although Wu Peng knew very well that now was not the time for him to fall, and he tried his best to get back up, the severe pain caused by the arrow wound and the violent collision when he fell to the ground made Wu Peng almost faint in pain, and he still had the strength to stand up again.

Seeing that his own commander was injured, several guards who were relatively close to him could no longer care about suppressing the enemy with firepower, and quickly ran forward to drag Wu Peng away from the dangerous area near the gap, and immediately called for medical soldiers to come for treatment. The snipers on the high platform also fired several shots in the general direction of the arrows to prevent them from causing further damage to others.

Due to the loss of the participation of the guards who rescued Wu Peng, the fire suppression effect of the Zhou army suddenly weakened a lot, and the Khitan death squad, which had just been driven out, was able to regroup and make a comeback, shouting and killing again, causing the gap to fall into a fierce and cruel melee again. At the same time, Wu Peng's consciousness gradually became blurred at this time. In a trance, he seemed to hear bursts of dull thunder coming from the south, and saw a thunderbolt from the sky, bringing light and fire, smoke and fog to the Khitan army outside the city.