The arsonist became the firefighter, and the wonderful encounters of life were always so sudden and unexpected.

Fortunately, the people who repaired the tofu scum project had some foresight, several wells were dug near the inner city wall, and more than 100 Taiping tanks were also full of rainwater, and the soldiers acted quickly, and the people below also followed to help, plus the burning ability of the dead branches and straw and wood in the mud was not strong, and the fire was finally extinguished.

But when the green smoke dissipated, Wu Zhongxiao was dumbfounded, the outer half of this section of the city wall had burned down and collapsed halfway, becoming a three-year-old child with a little bit of strength can climb up the curved tooth ladder, although the second half is still well preserved, but this staircase does not lead to the city, but to the city.

Attacking the east city wall is the eldest prince Tulu, originally he suffered the greatest casualties here, 12,000 siege soldiers and horses have been killed by a fraction of two thousand, but even the city wall has not been attacked, before the war he desperately asked his father Khan to give him this opportunity, he basically did not make any achievements along the way, this time he really wanted to show Xiàn. It's a pity that the Ming army didn't give him this opportunity.

When the city was on fire, Tulu scolded the Ming army for its shameless defensive methods, but when one of his sharp-eyed commanders noticed the strangeness of the city wall, Tulu himself was stunned.

"Your Highness, the walls have collapsed."

"What?"

"The Ming army burned down their walls."

"Huh? Really, what is Ming Jun doing? Do we have a mole in there? ”

"I don't know, maybe someone admires the prestige of our Great Khan, so take the opportunity to help. Or maybe it's a trick of the Ming army? ”

"Trick your sister, this is God help me, the Ming army burned down its own city wall, this is to make me Tulu famous in this battle, come, blow the horn, launch a fierce attack!!"

The collapsed city wall seemed to have laid a red carpet for the Tartar attack, and almost effortlessly, thousands of Tartar soldiers climbed up the city wall along the scorching stairs, and a good defensive battle instantly became a hand-to-hand combat, the troops were inferior, the morale was bad, how could they be an enemy?

The news that the eastern city wall was breached by the Tartars came, like a thunderbolt in Zhang An's mind, before the battle, he said that he didn't need to wait for Song Nan's reinforcements to arrive, in fact, after the battle, he was anxiously looking forward to the appearance of Song Nan's army. He originally thought that he would be able to hold out for two or three days, delaying until Song Nan led the troops to come to help, but now this qiē plan has come to naught, and in just half a day, the eastern city wall was attacked by the Tartars.

Zhang An had to divide his troops to support the eastern city wall, where the gap must be blocked, otherwise the defense was meaningless, after sending 2,000 people to reinforce the eastern city wall, the Ming army in the south and west of the city was only more than 2,000 people, and it was already very difficult to deal with the Tartar soldiers who had obviously strengthened the attack.

The good news is that the gap in the eastern city wall did not widen, and the Ming army after the reinforcements attacked fiercely with bravery, squeezing the Tartar soldiers and horses on the top of the city wall dozens of zhang long, avoiding the deterioration of the shape, and the two sides fired with bows and arrows at close range, and the tragedy was incomparable.

The bad news was that the other walls were in a hurry, and Tartars appeared on the west wall, and soon after, hundreds of Tartars climbed the west wall, and the Ming army had to engage in hand-to-hand combat with them. The southern city wall was also in danger, and Zhang An relied on his experience to resist it, and with more than 2,000 soldiers, he didn't let the Tartars rise. But it was already a matter of time before the Tartars attacked.

The three city walls are in an emergency, Lingzhou is in danger, and the reinforcements do not know where; For a while, everyone's hearts were gloomy, and they all understood that they were afraid that they would have to live and die with Lingzhou today.

In the interval between the battle, Zhang An poured a few mouthfuls of water and ordered his personal guards: "Go and inform the prefect Xie immediately, and order him to immediately organize the people in the city to retreat from the north gate, in the face of such resistance, according to the tradition of the Tartars, they may slaughter the city, and the prefect Xie must ensure the safety of the people." ”

The guards nodded in agreement, hurriedly went down to the city, and looked around the city, but did not see the shadow of Xie Changhe. Finally, in the secret room in the backyard of Xie Mansion, Xie Changhe was found hiding with his wife and concubine, and the personal guards conveyed Zhang An's order, Xie Changhe was even more panicked, and stammered: "Is the city really undefended?" Didn't Mr. Zhang say that it was solid? ”

The guard said: "The villain is only responsible for passing orders, Zhang Zongbing said, if the people of Lingzhou are slaughtered, it will be a great misfortune, and the prefect Xie is responsible for this, so the prefect should act quickly, the city will not support it for an hour." ”

Xie Changhe was helpless, if he was really slaughtered, even if he escaped with his life at this moment, he would inevitably be severely punished afterwards, since Zhang Zongbing gave the order, he also happened to have a reason to take the opportunity to leave the city and flee to Ningxia Town, so why not go out and behave. So he sent away the guards to convene the officials, and ordered them to go to the street to beat the gong and shout: "Fathers and fellow villagers, Lingzhou is about to be unprotected, the prefect has an order, open the north gate of the city and evacuate after an hour, and the fathers and villagers hurriedly pack up their things and prepare to abandon the city." ”

The people in the city have been paying attention to the war since yesterday when the Tartars appeared in the south of the city, and the family stayed at home without doing anything and waited for the news. For a time, there was chaos in the city, and it was a chaotic scene of helping the old and the young with the basket on their backs, and the blue chickens flying and the dogs jumping.

On the main street of Lingzhou, two men stopped to listen to the gongs and shouts of the officials around them, and a short, short, stout, ordinary-looking man said to the white-faced man next to him: "Brother, Lingzhou is going to break, and we can't stay here." ”

The white-faced scholar-like man nodded and sighed: "Yes, we have lived quietly in Lingzhou for several years, but I didn't expect Lingzhou to be occupied by the Tartars, and I don't want to leave." ”

"How can it be done, you are the pride of my Zhu family, and I still expect you to add light to the lintel of the Zhu family in the future, go back and pack up your things and go out of the city to Ningxia, I haven't been back for a few years."

"Brother, I will never mention such things as the Everbright Portal, I Zhu Changping have not worked hard in the past few years, but I have lost my name to Sun Shan again and again, I can see that the way of the imperial examination is not going through. Do you still remember the Song Nan Song Master you met in Ningxia Town? I later heard that he also failed to pass the imperial examination, and I, Zhu Changping, should also follow his example, Lingzhou is my home, and I am going to join the army to kill the Tartars. ”

"Brother, why did you come up with this idea out of nowhere?" The short and ugly man was Zhu Changping's cousin Zhu Changshun, and the two came to live in Lingzhou from Ningxia since the rebellion of King Anhua that year, and they have lived here peacefully for three years.

"It's not out of nowhere, I think, there is always something to do in life, I will join the army if I can't do it, this is what I have always thought, brother, you go out of the city, leave a blood for our Zhu family, buy a woman to marry, and my silver will be given to you."

"Changping, what are you talking about, how can I let you go into danger alone, since you insist on staying, I will also stay, let's kill the Tartars together."

Zhu Changping smiled and said: "Okay, this is the good son of my Zhu family, there are so many people in our city, plus more than 10,000 defenders, and there are only more than 30,000 Tartars outside the city, why do we want to escape?" ”

Zhu Changping suddenly stepped forward and came to a servant, snatched his gong, and the servant shouted, "What are you doing?" ”

"Lend me one." Zhu Changping jumped onto a big bluestone on the side of the street, banged on the gong and shouted: "Fathers and fellow villagers, fathers and fellow villagers, listen to me." Lingzhou is in an emergency, my Ming officers and soldiers are desperately resisting the attack of the Tartars, how can we leave and flee for our lives at this moment? Lingzhou is our home, we are gone, and the Tartars will be gone if they occupy this place. We have 40,000 or 50,000 people in the city, and there are tens of thousands of young people, so why don't we go together to help the officers and soldiers defend the city? The old and weak women and children can go, the frail can help deliver water and move bricks, everyone can do their part, and our Lingzhou may not be captured. If you agree, follow me and my brother Zhu Changshun, let's go to the city wall immediately to help the military masters defend the city, and I won't stop you if you don't want to leave. ”

After a brief silence, someone in the crowd shouted, "That's right, why are we going to escape?" I heard that General Song's army has arrived, let's drag the Tartars, and as soon as the Song Army's army arrives, the Tartars will be wrapped in dumplings. ”

As he spoke, a bearded and shirtless man stepped forward, patted his chest and shouted, someone recognized this person as Zheng Tu, a pig slaughterer from West Street. Some people responded immediately, and the people all over the streets were infected and shouted to defend the city.

Zhu Changping jumped off the bluestone to take the lead, and led everyone to the city wall to fight, and more people followed along the way, from hundreds to thousands to tens of thousands, and the news soon spread throughout the city. And the people who were crowded at the north gate and waiting for the evacuation of Kaesong also got the news, some people shouted, and everyone responded to leave, and after half an hour, they actually left cleanly.

When the prefect Xie Changhe arrived with his family and a car full of soft clothes, he saw that there was no one in the empty North Gate Square, and he couldn't help but be stunned and asked the soldiers guarding the door. Hey, how good is this, if they don't leave, the official won't be able to leave. ”