At noon on the 16th day of the fourth month of the lunar calendar in the ninth year of the calendar (the sixth year of Xiande), Zhang Zheng, the commander of the first company of the "Wolf Tooth Battalion", drank a drop of zuihou water from the kettle, moistened the throat of the "smoke" because of the long shouting and command of the battle, and handed the kettle to the personal soldier, telling him to refill it, and then turned to another personal soldier next to him and said: "You go and call the deputy company commander of our company, the platoon commanders and deputy platoon commanders of each platoon, and all the platoon-level officers of the 'security army', and the company commander will hold a meeting for them." ”

The soldiers agreed to go, and in a short time, they returned with more than a dozen junior officers with the rank of second lieutenant, lieutenant, and captain of the "Flying Dragon Army" or "Security Army". Zhang Zheng glanced at the officer in front of him while drinking the water from the newly filled kettle of his own soldiers, and then asked a little strangely: "Why are there only a few of you, and the rest of you?" ”

"Company commander, the deputy platoon commander of our platoon Lin and a deputy company commander of the 'security army' were killed in the battle just now. Deputy Company Commander Li and Platoon Commander Sun of the second platoon, as well as a company commander, a deputy company commander, and four chief and deputy platoon commanders of the 'Security Army' were seriously injured and could not attend the meeting. Another deputy company commander surnamed Chen of the first company of the "Wolf Tooth Battalion" reported to Zhang Zhengyu.

"Why, Deputy Platoon Commander Lin and a deputy company commander of the 'Security Army' were killed?" Zhang Zheng asked with some surprise - although there had been cases of platoon-level officers being injured before, it was the first time that the death had happened, and Zhang Zheng couldn't help but feel surprised.

"Yes, Deputy Platoon Commander Lin was killed in the chest by an arrow shot by the Khitans when he threw an explosive package under Guancheng, and the deputy company commander of the 'Security Army' was killed by an arrow in the front door while directing his archers to shoot under Guancheng." As Deputy Platoon Commander Lin's partner and close comrade-in-arms, the platoon commander Weng Zhong added with a choked voice on the side.

After listening to Weng Zhong's introduction, Zhang Zheng lowered his head and was speechless for a long time, before raising his head and asking in an astringent voice: "How many people in our army can continue to fight at present?" ”

"There are less than 150 people who can still hold on to the fight, and almost all of them are wounded." Deputy Company Commander Chen replied, "Now that our army is running out of ammunition, the thirty-six ordinary soldiers of the 'Flying Dragon Army' who can still fight only have an average of less than 20 rounds of ammunition left each, and there are not even two grenades for one person. Each of the seven light and heavy machine guns had only one chain of about 100 rounds of ammunition, so one heavy machine gun and three light machine guns had to be removed so that the remaining machine guns could maintain the density of fire for a certain period of time. As for the artillery, most of the gunners were transferred to the fortress to assist the infantry in defending the city, and the rest were only enough to assign one gunner to one gunner. Moreover, since there was only one shell left for each of the three 60 mortars and three 82 mortars, they could not be fired again until the last resort.

The 'security army' also had no arrows left, and because of the continuous firing of arrows, almost all the archers were already close to the limit, and no one dared to guarantee that they would be able to shoot a few more arrows. The crossbowman was in a slightly better situation, but the soldier in charge of winding was too tired to straighten his waist, and his palms were strangled with blood from the crossbow strings. ”

Speaking of this, Deputy Company Commander Chen paused slightly, hesitated for a moment before hugging his fist at Zhang Zheng, and continued: "Judging from the current situation, the Khitans are determined to capture Gubeikou Pass regardless of their own casualties this time, and no one dares to guarantee whether our army can withstand the next attack of the Khitans. Therefore, he thought that it was time to make 'zuihou preparations'. ”

Although Deputy Company Commander Chen did not specify what "zuihou preparations" should be made, all the officers present were very clear about what the so-called "zuihou preparations" meant, especially in such a position that could not be retreated. …,

First of all, the soldiers of the "Wyvern" must be prepared to destroy all firearms so that they do not fall into the hands of the enemy. Second, a messenger was dispatched to send a report of the battle and the situation written by the local supreme commander, that is, Zhang Zheng, to the military commander at the next higher level, so that he could use it in the evaluation of the relevant battle in the future. Thirdly, it is to evacuate the lightly wounded who are still able to move, and to give the seriously wounded who are unable to move the opportunity to choose for themselves - to be captured or to commit suicide. As for the other soldiers who still have the strength to fight, they need to continue to fight until they are killed or captured, and there is absolutely no possibility of evacuating the position, because the task given to Zhang Zheng is to hold this pass until a new order is issued, otherwise even if he guards Zuihou, he cannot abandon the pass. In addition, as a special unit in the "Flying Dragon Army," the "Wolf Tooth Battalion" itself has a regulation that is different from other ordinary combat battalions, that is, under no circumstances shall the officers and men of the "Wolf Tooth Battalion" be captured by the enemy. That is to say, when fighting the enemy, the "Wolf Tooth Battalion" will either win a great victory or kill itself, and will never be allowed to surrender to the enemy - similar to the "Ranger Battalion".

Whether Zhang Zheng wanted it or not, this order had to be given by him, and it was given immediately, because the new Khitan offensive should begin soon. So, Zhang Zheng took a deep breath and instructed Deputy Company Commander Chen in a hoarse voice: "What you said is right, now is indeed the time to make 'zuihou preparations', so you will arrange it with several company platoon commanders of the 'Security Army'." ”

"Yes, obedience." Deputy Company Commander Chen gave Zhang Zheng a military salute, and then left with several officers of the "Security Army" to carry out Zhang Zheng's order.

With the order of "Zuihou preparation" was issued, three soldiers who were proficient in riding took the lead in leaving Gubeikou Pass with the description of the situation written by Zhang Zheng himself, and went to the direction of Juyong Pass with horses, and all the soldiers who stayed in Guancheng also knew that it was time to fight to the death. In the face of life and death, the "Wolf Tooth Battalion" was very determined from top to bottom. As a special force, the officers and non-commissioned officers of the "Wolf Tooth Battalion" are from the "Jingyuan" class like the company commander Zhang Zheng, and most of the others are veterans of the original "Flying Dragon Pioneer Battalion" or even minions of the "Flying Dragon Village". These people have a lot of experience in the rivers and lakes, and they have long seen life and death, and they are very calm in the face of the upcoming battle, which can almost be regarded as lifeless, and they can't see that they are a group of people who are about to die. The soldiers of the "Wolf Tooth Battalion" are basically miners from the major mines to which the crossing team belongs. In this day and age, being a miner is tantamount to gambling your life for money to support your family. Therefore, in a certain sense, these soldiers of the "Wolf Tooth Battalion" were even more calm and calm in the face of life than their commanders, and their faces were as usual, talking and laughing, and even helping each other to tie the so-called "glorious bullets" under their left armpit with ropes, as if what was coming was not a desperate fight, but a military exercise without difficulty. Because they all knew that if they died on the battlefield, their families, wives and children would receive a generous pension, a pension many times more than what they would earn as miners all their lives. With this pension, their families, wives and children will be able to live the rest of their lives in a down-to-earth manner - if a person has nothing to worry about, then when he faces the test of life and death on the battlefield, his courage and liliang will be far beyond ordinary people.

Compared with the officers and men of the "Wolf's Tooth Battalion," the officers and men of the "Security Army" are not calm and calm enough. When their commander announced to them the beginning of the "zuihou preparations", when they understood that the reinforcements they had been waiting for for the past two days would probably not arrive in time, and when they found that they had no way out, most of the ordinary soldiers, who had not been in the army for a long time, and had only been dealing with the land all day and night before joining the "security forces", fell silent. Compared with these robes who just sat there and were silent, the performance of a small number of "security army" soldiers was a little more uncalm and calm. Among these people, there are those who are terrified, those who are afraid of war, and those who secretly weep and even cry. This kind of move, which greatly affected the morale of the troops, was highly concerned by the commanders at all levels, especially the supervisors of the various companies, and was quickly stopped. …,

After a brief but forceful mobilization by commanders at all levels, the vast majority of the soldiers of the "security forces" regained their courage and confidence in fighting to the death against the enemy. The very few soldiers who were unable to stabilize their emotions and had no hope for the future were temporarily imprisoned so that their bad behaviour would not affect others.

Adjust the mood of the haode fighters, and the "zuihou preparation" also begins to be executed. The first thing to deal with is firearms. With the exception of the rifles and light and heavy machine guns used by the thirty-six "Wyvern" soldiers who remained at the head of the city, the other guns were concentrated in an open space below the city, waiting for the handlers to divide them into two groups - the wooden parts would be burned by the fire that had just been erected, and the metal parts would be smashed to pieces by the sledgehammer "Ding Ding Dang" and thrown into the tide river next to the castle, even if the gods descended to earth, they would not have thought of restoring these parts into a usable rifle.

At this time, the new siege force of the Khitan army has begun to move, and it is less than two miles away from the city, no matter what they thought before, anyway, the soldiers who are still holding on to the city have all entered the position, ready to give the Khitan army that came to attack the city to face the blow.

Just when Zhang Zheng was holding a telescope to observe the movements of the Khitan army on the opposite side, and was about to give an order to fire for the defenders in the city, a soldier of the "Wolf Tooth Battalion" guarding the south gate of the city rushed all the way, and there was still some distance from Zhang Zheng before he reported loudly: "Company commander, there is dust a few miles outside the south gate, and it seems that there is a cavalry team of three or four hundred horsemen coming towards Gubeikou Pass." It is difficult for the small squad leader to judge whether he is an enemy or a friend for a while, so he specially ordered the small one to report to the company commander, and asked the company commander to go to the south city to watch, so as to determine whether the person who came was friend or foe. ”

After listening to this little soldier's report, Zhang Zheng's first reaction was that the reinforcements had arrived, and Gubeikou Pass would not be lost. Of course, the reaction is the reaction, and whether the person who came is the reinforcement he has been waiting for for two days still needs to be carefully discerned. Therefore, Zhang Zheng handed over the operational command of the northern city to his deputy company commander Chen, and he took a platoon commander Weng Zhong and several personal soldiers to the south city head.