The messenger could not find He Jin in the chaos, so he had to hide and wait, and the riot of nearly two hours was finally suppressed by bullets, and the military camp was full of mourning, and corpses were everywhere, and two or three thousand new soldiers were disarmed and tied to the open space in the camp in despair.

He Jin came from the rear with people, and his face was gloomy thinking about the dark clouds in the sky.

"You bastards, you bastards, dare to mutiny in front of the battle, from today onwards, you people will be slaves for the rest of your life, and you will never think of a bright future; Not only that, but your family will also be implicated, and this is the price you have to pay. The leather whip in He Jin's hand snapped, and he cursed angrily.

Deputy General Ding Guang hurriedly walked over, and He Jin snorted and asked, "How about the loss?" ”

Ding Guang arched his hand and said: "General Yu, there are more than 1,700 dead and wounded, most of them are these new soldiers, and there are only a few hundred casualties among the regular soldiers and horses; However, the grain and grass materials of the front camp were burned, and thousands of tents were burned, and the loss was very great. ”

He Jin said angrily: "Ordered these guys to dig and build houses overnight for the soldiers to live in, and they were not allowed to eat and drink until they were finished. We are in such chaos here, it is impossible for the officers and soldiers on the opposite side not to know about it, and order people to strictly guard the top of the cliff to prevent them from taking advantage of the chaos to smuggle in. ”

Ding Guang surrendered, but did not leave; He Jin frowned and said, "Don't arrange it yet?" ”

Ding Guang hesitated: "General, take a step to speak." ”

He Jin said angrily: "What the hell." Having said that, seeing that Ding Guang's expression was wrong, his feet followed Ding Guang to the corner.

"General, we're in big trouble." Ding Guang took out the letter for help that the palace guards had given him just now from his arms.

He Jinhu hurriedly browsed the suspicious exhibition letter, and if he didn't look at it, he was shocked: "Song Nan is making trouble in the city?" Is this guy still in the city? ”

"And Qiu Yue, this dog thing pretended to take refuge in the prince, it must be this guy who hid Song Nan."

"According to this, Song Nan's men and horses in the city plus Qiu Yue's soldiers and horses are only seven or eight hundred, and the three thousand palace guards in the city are guarding, it should be a crushing situation, why is the prince asking for help?"

"General, don't forget, Song Nan has hundreds of powerful firearms in his hands, and these more than 100 firearms alone are enough to be worth more than a thousand soldiers and horses; Since the prince asked for help, it means that the three thousand palace guards cannot stop their attack, and the guards who sent the letter said that Song Nan and Qiu Yue led troops to attack on the periphery of the palace, and the shape was quite urgent. ”

He Jin's face turned pale, and he slowly paced a few steps with his hands in his hands and said: "It stands to reason that the defense of the palace should not be broken through lightly, the prince is panicking, he wants me to lead troops back to help at this time, isn't this a life?" ”

Ding Guangdao: "So I said that we are in big trouble, nearly 20,000 imperial court soldiers on the other side are eyeing each other, we are here after such a fuss tonight, it is a trivial matter that 4,000 new soldiers can no longer be used, and even the regular soldiers and horses have suffered a lot of casualties, which makes people panic." If we come back to help, we will have to bring at least three or five thousand soldiers and horses to attack the city, and the remaining six or seven thousand people will guard this West Cliff Ferry. ”

He Jin licked his lips and said: "It's fucking weird to block it, this is tricky, the West Cliff can't be lost, once the ferry is lost, we all have to die; But the prince can't help it, and if the prince doesn't save us, we'll still die, but we just have so many soldiers and horses, and we don't have skills. ”

Ding Guang was silent for a long time, and suddenly said softly: "General, maybe we were wrong from the beginning, and following the prince into trouble was a mistake in itself; The humble building yì has a long heart, and if you can't do anything, why force it. ”

He Jin turned his head and glared at Ding Guang coldly: "Bold! Do you have such thoughts, do you want to betray the prince and lead the army to surrender? Ding Guang, you are too naïve, I will have no way back from the day I follow the prince in the incident, even if we stop at this moment, it will be impossible to escape death, and the court will never spare our lives. For the sake of you and my brothers for many years, I didn't hear this, and if I heard similar words, don't blame me for not thinking about personal feelings. ”

Ding Guang was so frightened that he hurriedly knelt down and said: "The general forgives his sins, he doesn't dare to be humble, he has no intention of betraying at all, and his humiliation is just for the sake of the general; Now that we have reached a dilemma, we can't just wait for death, just persuade the general to be like a back road. ”

"Shut up, back road? Where did the back road come from? Don't say much, or I'll be court-martialed. ”

Ding Guang hurriedly stopped, He Jin was silent for a long time, and said warmly: "Brother, in fact, I know that you are for my good, and I hope that you and my brother can escape this catastrophe, but now there is no way out at all, and we can only go to the dark in one alley; Besides, we haven't reached the end of the mountain yet, and even if we reach the end, I still have a way to go, and I will definitely leave with you brother when the time comes. ”

Ding Guang looked at He Jin in amazement, and He Jin said in a low voice: "Do you remember what the prince said?" We have soldiers and horses at hand, but the people outside the mountains in the north are anxious for us to cooperate with them, as long as the Helan Mountain Pass is opened, and the Great Wall Pass is opened, guess what the result will be? Is it still difficult for the opening of the pass and the soldiers and horses under us to exchange the title of king and marquis with the people on the other side of the mountain? ”

Ding Guang's scalp was numb, and he understood what He Jin meant, this was to take refuge in the Tartars at the last moment, and the Tartars came in.

"Of course, I won't do this unless I have to, unless I'm forced to do so. I will immediately lead 5,000 soldiers and horses to Ningxia City to rescue, and you will lead the remaining 5,000 soldiers and horses to guard here, remember that you must hold out until I come back. ”

Ding Guangdao: "If the prince captures Song Nan, what should we do?" ”

He Jin smiled weirdly and said: "My own brother, I won't lie to you, now it's not a question of whether the prince is arrested or not, even if the prince is arrested, I still have to clear the rear before I can do it, even if the prince is killed by Song Nan, our road still has to go down, which has nothing to do with the life and death of the prince." As long as you and my brother keep this place in Ningxia Town, it is not a small world, and you and my brother occupy this place, it is not a meritorious work. ”

Ding Guang was apprehensive, He Jin's ambition was not small, even if the prince died, it would not affect the overall situation at all, because almost all the soldiers and horses in Ningxia Town were in the hands of He Jin, and whether the prince died or not was no longer the most critical matter; However, Ding Guang knew in his heart that once the prince died, the nature of the whole thing would change dramatically, the prince was a descendant of the Zhu family, and he might have some reasons for the trouble, and perhaps there were still some supporters inside and outside the court; And once he is dead, if He Jin still wants to occupy Ningxia Town, it will be an outright rebellion, and he will not get any support, let alone open the Helan Pass and lead the Tartars into Ningxia Town.

Ding Guang promised in his mouth, and his heart has turned over the river and the sea, although he is not a loyal and filial person, but there are some things that are his bottom line, and he will never want to exceed these bottom lines; In addition, he was only a thousand households under He Jin, He Jin, Zhou Ang and others were the backbone, and he was just a coercion, He Jin said that there was no way out, it was for himself, Ding Guang believed that if he rebelled before the battle, the court might not spare his life.

He Jin hurriedly led 5,000 soldiers and horses back to Ningxia Town overnight to rescue, Ding Guang hesitated alone in the camp for a long time, and finally made up his mind and instructed his own soldiers: "Please General Zhou Ping come to the tent to speak." ”

After a while, the commander of the front battalion, Zhou Ping, stepped into the account and said: "Vice General Ding, tonight's affairs have nothing to do with me Zhou Ping, I just don't want my brothers to go up the cliff to die, these new Ding are here to be shelled, I refused to change shifts in order to save the strength of our regular soldiers, don't blame me for this matter." ”

Ding Guang smiled and said: "Brother Zhou, what are you talking about, these guys are looking for death by themselves, what are they doing Brother Zhou?" I'm not a teacher to ask for sin. ”

Zhou Ping was very determined, sat by the bonfire in the tent, reached out and grabbed a pot of hot tea by the bonfire, and drank it, and after drinking it, he wiped his mouth and said: "Damn, it's really damn sinful, stay here and be scared, you can't beat it, and you can't be beaten again, and you will be hit by shells, it's really a wretch." If this continues, everyone will be finished sooner or later. ”

Ding Guang smiled and sat down across from him, and asked softly, "Brother Zhou, do you think the prince's Jingjing will be successful?" ”

Zhou Ping rolled his eyes and said: "God knows, originally the prince said when he swore an oath, and when he ascended to the heights, soldiers and horses from various states gathered to respond, but now?" The states have gathered to crusade to fight, they are all deceitful, and they have only been beaten for more than ten days before they are huddled here and cannot move. There is not only one place on the Yellow River to cross, and in my opinion, the officers and soldiers on the other side will soon find a place to cross the river. ”

Ding Guang smiled and made a bowl of tea for Zhou Ping and handed it over: "Brother Zhou, what you said is very reasonable, but these are dead ends, didn't Brother Zhou think of a way to live?" ”

"Following the rebellion of the prince, what way do we have to live? Will the court spare us? ”

Ding Guang said with a smile: "In fact, it is not easy for the soldiers and horses of the imperial court to cross the river, if we desperately hold on, their price must be very large, and many people will die; But if we can allow the imperial court to cross the crossing without spending a single soldier, and we are just a small foot, and we are not the first evil in the words of the imperial court, maybe we can make meritorious contributions and escape with our lives. ”

"What?" Zhou Ping stood up suddenly, and touched the hilt of the sword on his waist with his hand: "Vice General Ding originally wanted to surrender to the enemy, or did he want to test me Zhou Ping?" ”