On the sixth day of November in the fourth year of Datang Tianbao, Lushun, Liaodong, the cold wind was cold.

Nan Jiyun's expression was cold, and the first thing he did when he got up was to come to the ditch outside the camp.

When choosing a campsite, fresh water was considered, so the location near the ravine was chosen. Although wells have been drilled, the ditch is still one of the sources of water replenishment. He looked here, and the ditch was completely frozen.

Nan Jiyun's brows furrowed, and he asked, "How is the situation at sea?" ”

"There's more ice floes, but it's still far from the waterway."

"When it freezes, I'm afraid it's the beginning of the Great War." He muttered to himself, his eyes even more worried.

The news brought by Shanzhi and Ye Ying has been confirmed by several of them. As a result of the deliberations of the people, Quan Gaihong of Beisha City acted in this way for two reasons.

One is to force Lushun to collapse by himself, although Quan Gaihong can gather thousands of soldiers and horses, but if Lushun can collapse without a fight, it is best for him to directly get this territory. The second is that after the waterways in the sea are frozen, even if Lushun has the support of the Tang Dynasty, it is impossible to get reinforcements in a hurry. When the sea ice melts and the seaway reopens, the battle situation has been decided, and with Quan Gaihong's understanding of Datang, Datang will have the intention to retaliate, and he will first pinch his nose and admit the reality.

This gave Lushun a buffer opportunity, Quan Gaihong was not afraid that Datang would take advantage of this buffer opportunity to support Lushun, because the war had not yet started, and Datang would send thousands of soldiers, and it would be impossible to garrison Lushun for a long time - the food nearby could not support a huge army.

"I don't know when Lang Jun will come back...... Nan Jiyun is not afraid of Quan Gaihong's attack, but he knows his own family affairs, he is a brave general who breaks the enemy in battle, the courage of the three armies, but he is not the marshal who commands, and he is not the soul of the three armies.

Only Ye Chang can take on this role.

Just as he was pondering, he suddenly heard cheers outside, he frowned and got up, now Lushun has entered the so-called second-class combat readiness according to the arrangement when Ye Chang left, how can there be cheers?

Immediately after, he heard the sound of footsteps, and then, Ye Chang appeared in front of him under the escort of several people.

"Second brother, I'm back" Seeing Nan Jiyun with a face full of surprise, Ye Chang smiled.

"You're finally back," Nan Jiyun let out a long sigh, "Has the messenger ever sent you the news?" ”

"I missed it halfway, but when I arrived in Dengzhou, I could hear the news." Ye Chang said with a smile: "It's just a mere sand city, what's there to be afraid of"

Seeing his confident appearance, Nan Jiyun was a little surprised.

"Tell me about the situation, but there was a conflict?"

"We got the news from the fourth brother of Shanzhi on the fifth day of October, but before that, we already felt that something was wrong, and the people sent to the northern city were either robbed or driven away, so we entered the third-class strategy at that time, and I transferred twenty people to form four rangers, going back and forth outside the Weizi Village, and temporarily suspended part of the construction here, and went to build the Weizi Village instead. After the fourth brother of Shanzhi came back, I asked him to go to Weizi Village to garrison, and there were still 100 people who went with him. ”

After Weizizhai was taken away, he gave it up to Ye Chang. He moved all the villagers to Lushun, and only set up a post of twenty men there. Now Nan Jiyun has sent another hundred people, and there are one hundred and twenty people over there - although there are not many, they are all people who dare to fight and can fight, and it is difficult to break the village with a few hundred people waiting for them to besiege it.

"Weizi Village is good, the terrain is dangerous, if Beisha City comes to attack me, it will definitely pass through here." Ye Chang nodded.

At the beginning, Nanjiyun broke Weizi Village was a trick, if it was not for luring out the Wang Nai of Weizi Village and then pretending to be a merchant from the north, it would not be so easy to enter the village. Now that Weizi Village has been reinforced, Ye Chang is also in favor of setting up the main battlefield here, which is better than fighting in Lushun.

"Now that the autumn harvest is over, I have recruited militia drills in the capital, and there are 300 militiamen in the capital, which is enough for self-defense." Nan Jiyun said again.

This is the second line of defense of Lushun, and Duli is close to Lushun, and the two towns can be horns of each other. However, the so-called militia of 300 is obviously some local Han people, although the combat strength of the Han people in Liaodong is also considerable, after all, it cannot be compared with real sergeants.

"Then there is Lushun, with two hundred guards and seven hundred militia." Nan Jiyun said in a low voice: "Eleven Lang, the number of protectors is still too small."

According to the current system of Lushun, although Nan Jiyun can be in charge of the military and politics when Ye Chang leaves, he only has the right to transfer troops, but not the right to recruit troops. Therefore, although he knew that the number of troops was small, Lushun's protectors were still only 200 when Ye Chang left, but it was the militia, and all the elites of the appropriate age were included in it.

The number of guards and militia is 1,300 in total, and less than 1,400 with the rangers, which is already the limit that Lushun can adjust. Although there are now nearly 7,000 people in Lushun and Duli, after all, there are still women, children, the old and weak, and there are also some people who are not suitable for the battlefield.

"Let's put these things aside for the time being, what about the food, do we have enough food?" Ye Chang asked.

Nan Jiyun reported the data of the grain storage again, and Ye Chang suddenly relaxed.

There are two main sources for their grain stockpiles, one is the local production and seizure of the capital, and the other is the grain purchased from Dengzhou and Laizhou. The sum of the two is enough for the needs of 10,000 people for half a year, so that although it is not enough to support the autumn harvest next year, there is no need to worry about food problems for at least half a year.

"Where did I go to the West Salt Works? There is no freezing in Lushun Bay in winter, and the fish should gather here for the winter, and the fish meat is not without a small supplement, and then pickled with salt produced in the salt field, which can be preserved for a long time. ”

"The salt farm has produced a batch of salt, although the quantity is not much, but it is enough, but now that the sea ice is gradually forming, it is estimated that there will be more salt in the spring."

"There is food and money, why should Beisha City be afraid," Ye Chang said with a smile.

"No armor," Nan Jiyun said helplessly.

The biggest problem that plagued Lushun was the lack of weapons and armor. The armor soldiers in Beisha City were able to make up three hundred, and with those wearing leather armor, the number was fifteen hundred, and all the armor in Lushun added up to fifty-five pairs, including twenty pairs brought by Ye Chang himself and thirty-five pairs captured from the capital. There are only more than 600 weapons that can be used, including more bows, more than 300, which is related to the large number of hunters nearby. The vast majority of militias now use wooden sticks, bamboo guns, and other equipment to compete with each other

"This question, you can rest assured, a group of armor soldiers will be sent soon, Shen Tong, do you say yes

Ye Chang turned to a person beside him, Nan Jiyun looked at this man in his forties, and was secretly stunned in his heart, he had never seen this person, but listening to Ye Chang's tone, it seemed to be very familiar with him.

"The master of the house can give Lang Junjia a hundred pairs." The man's voice known as Shen Tong was slightly hoarse: "Fifty bows, five hundred swords, guns, lances, and swords." ”

Nan Jiyun looked at Ye Chang in amazement, this guy had a big breath

"This Shen Zhuangshi is Shen Langjun's confidant in Luoyang City, and he is here to send us armor soldiers this time." Ye Chang said calmly: "After a while, he will set off and go to Taohuapu to get the armor soldiers, at least three days, at most five days, and then he can return." ”

Nan Jiyun suddenly realized that it was sent by Shen Xi

Shen Xi's father is the master artist, the prince of Bohai, just because he turned against his brother, fled to the Tang Dynasty, and once supervised the army to conquer the Bohai Sea, hiding hundreds of armor soldiers in Liaodong, which is normal. But taking out a hundred pairs of armor in one go is also quite a lot of courage.

"In addition, Shen Zhuangshi, there is one more thing to bother you, please spread rumors north of Beisha City, saying that the Khitans want to enter Liaodong"

"Huh?" Shen Tong was stunned for a moment, his face suddenly changed, and he asked anxiously: "Ye Langjun, is this matter true or false?" ”

"Whether it's true or not, you spread it first." Ye Chang said with a smile.

If the Khitans want to enter Liaodong, then the situation in the entire Liaodong will inevitably change greatly, and the Bohai State will definitely not sit idly by, and the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty will definitely follow. In that case, Beisha City and other Liaodong cities will inevitably feel pressure, and the various ministries that are not centralized in the first place will have their own thoughts, so it will be difficult for Beisha City to concentrate its efforts to carry out the southern expedition. It can even be said that the original Beisha City was able to mobilize all the troops to gather four or five thousand soldiers and horses, but now it can only send half at most.

After thinking about this, Shen Tong nodded: "No"

"Without further ado, I won't delay Shen Zhuang's rest here, I have already arranged the ship, and I have to transport the armor before the sea freezes."

"No"

After answering twice, since someone left with Shen Tong, Ye Chang's expression was solemn at this time, and after a pause, he asked, "Have you arranged the winter?" ”

"Ahh......h

Ye Chang smiled and shook his head: "That's it, I'll ask Ye An about this." ”

The town of Duli is much deserted now, firstly, because it is cold and it is not possible to travel, and secondly, the news of the war with Beisha City is spreading.

The Duli Han people who shared Yongye Tian were naturally reluctant to go back to the past, hoping that Lushun could support it, but when they compared the strength of both sides, they felt hung in their hearts, so they fell silent a lot. On the contrary, the Goguryeo people, who were no longer arrogant after Ye Chang killed Gao Baosheng, are now active, whispering one by one, and when they look at the Han people, their faces are a little unkind.

This is also inevitable, although Ye Chang issued a "clan inspection order", stating that as long as there are Han blood relatives within five generations of Goguryeo people, whether it is the father or the mother, they can be naturalized as Han people, but in fact, not many of these Goguryeo people are willing to naturalize as Han Chinese.

Fan Jiyong lowered his head, shrunk in his torn clothes, and shivered as he walked through the alley.

"Ahh

As he walked through the alley, he accidentally tripped over a tree root, and he kicked the root in anger and cursed

When he really drank cold water and stuffed his teeth, the luck was not good, and even the roots of the tree bullied him and made him fall. The winter coat, which was originally tattered, is now even more open, turning into two pieces of front and back.

Looking at the reeds and pieces of cloth scattered all over the ground, Fan Jiyong really wanted to cry without tears.

This winter coat was the only piece of clothing he had to keep out the cold in winter, and there were no women in the house, so he had to deal with it clumsily for so long before he sewed it

Then I heard someone laughing: "Fan San, it seems that all your belongings are ruined like this." ”

Fan Jiyong looked at the speaker, but it was a Goguryeo man with a surname of Zhang and a full name.

"Zhang Quanzhun, how are you doing?"

"Do you want me to sell you a winter coat, the sea will freeze in a blink of an eye, if you don't have winter clothes, you're just afraid that you won't be able to survive this winter." Zhang Quanzhun said as he walked over with his arms in his arms: "You don't need to pay a high price, sell your Yongye Tian to me, and you can get it." ”

Fan Jiyong suddenly changed color: "Yongyetian, you are such a big dog."

"Selling it now is worth the price of a winter coat, and I pity you for your loneliness, and I rent it to you, so that you can have something to eat. You don't know what to do, in a few days, this Tian will not be surnamed Fan."

"What do you mean by that?"

"The history of the spring cover is coming." Zhang Quanzhun sneered.

Quan Gaihong claimed to be the assassin of Jili Prefecture, Fan Jiyong stared at Zhang Quanzhun for a moment, and then shrunk his neck, he couldn't help but be a little embarrassed.

He was so cowardly that he never joined the militia, but only ran as a coolie as a man. For Quan Gaihong, he was really afraid in his heart, and he was very worried about whether Lushun could stop him. If he can't stop it, the first batch of land he owns in this life will definitely not be able to be kept.

"Really?" He asked.

"Totally true"

"I ...... I ......" Fan Jiyong muttered twice, hesitating in his heart. He didn't have much knowledge, and the twenty acres of Yongye land were just divided, and he was very happy to receive the first batch of grain this year, and he also wanted to save money and use the idea of saying that he would talk about his wife, and then pass on the lineage.

"After this village, there is no such shop." Zhang Quanzhun said again.

At that moment, a gong was suddenly heard.

The gong is struck five times in a row, then stopped for a while, and then struck five times in a row. According to the rules of Lushun, this is the meaning of summoning people to gather, Zhang Quanzhun was first shocked when he heard it, and then smiled: "Look, look, it must be Quangai Thorn Shi called."

Fan Jiyong hesitated for a while, thinking about the food at home, thinking that it was rare to have two full meals a day in the past few months, he gritted his teeth and ran towards the northwest of the town.

There is a vacant lot over there, which is where the Han people in the town gather. Zhang Quanzhun spat behind his back, and said loudly: "Cuo Da short brown man, just wait to be frozen to death"

Fan Jiyong stopped, after all, he was still reluctant to give up the twenty acres of land, and ran towards the assembly place, he thought to himself: "Ye Senjun is extraordinary, he can kill Gao Baosheng with only one person, and now he has a thousand people, he should be able to defeat the attackers of Beisha City." ”

Like him, there are many people who run to the open space, all of them are Han Chinese, and there are also a few Hu people who come to see the excitement and inquire about the news. When the people gathered together and talked about it, they found that there were a quarter fewer people present.

There are a lot of people who are shaking and watching.

Ye Chang was on the viewing platform at this time, looking at the missing people, and secretly sneered in his heart, so many wall grasses, I really don't know what to do

However, it is also human nature for the people to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages, and they don't know what is good or bad, but teach them to know.

Because of the usual rehearsal every ten days, it didn't take much effort to gather people this time, but in a moment or so, all the people who would come came, and the rest were afraid that they would not appear. Everyone heard a gong again, it was a silent gong order, and it suddenly fell silent.