An army of thousands of people was walking on the mountain road in the north of Jibei, and it was the four thousand cavalry of Zhao Led Jiao's department.

Although they are all cavalry, their speed is only sixty miles a day, and no matter how fast they go, the war horses will be unbearable. Compared with people, war horses are very delicate, far less hard-working, and they have to be served carefully.

Moreover, the Ming army is not as good as Jiannu, there are not so many war horses, and Zhao Shujiao's cavalry is only one person and one horse, in order to maintain the physical strength of the war horse, he naturally does not dare to rush desperately.

"In front of us is the Santun camp, where we can rest for a day." Zhao led the way to the opponent.

Until now, he had not received the news of Jiannu's invasion, which made Zhao Shujiao breathe a sigh of relief and decided to take a break and recover the physical strength of the soldiers and war horses.

Santun camp, located between the mountains, a flat land within a radius of ten miles, there are 300 military households in this tuntian at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, so it is called Santun camp. Until the twenty-first year of Chenghua, the general army of Jizhen repaired the city here, and became the main general of Jizhen at that time. During the Longqing period, when Qi Jiguang ran Jizhen Town, he was also stationed in Santun Camp. However, the Santun camp was too close to the side wall and the flat land was too narrow, and the later governors of Jizhen preferred to place their stations in the more prosperous Jizhou City.

The current Santun camp is a military city, and the city is full of military households and their families, and it is not as prosperous as Zunhua County, which is dozens of miles to the west.

The Santun camp is now guarded by the general soldier Zhu Guoyan, with more than 5,000 troops, and its strength is not weak. According to Sun Chuanting's order, the destination of Zhao Shujiao's trip was Zunhua, strengthening the strength of Zunhua to defend the city, and taking Zunhua and Santun Camp as horns to firmly block the road of Jiannu's southward journey.

Since he hadn't gotten Jiannu's whereabouts yet, he was not in a hurry, so Zhao Shujiao decided to rest in Santun camp. However, to his surprise, Zhu Guoyan, the chief soldier of the Santun Battalion, refused to allow his army to enter the city.

"Mr. Zhu, what do you mean? Our army has been marching for several days, and the men and horses are tired, why don't you open the city? Zhao led the sect to the city and yelled at Zhu Guoyan at the head of the city.

Zhu Guoyan said: "General Zhao Bing, you are ordered to go to Zunhua to assist in the defense, the city of Santun Camp is small, and there are not so many troops stationed at all, if General Zhao enters the city alone, I will naturally welcome it, but your subordinates should rest outside the city." ”

Zhao Shujiao said angrily: "How can I be separated from my subordinates? Zhu Guoyan, the imperial court has issued an order, for the passing army, the local government must not be lazy, are you not afraid that the court will ask for guilt when you do this? ”

Zhu Guoyan pouted: "Santun Camp is a military city, which is different from local states and counties. ”

After finishing speaking, he ignored Zhao Shujiao and went straight to the city.

Zhao Shujiao scolded a few times, and could only pull the horse back to the army.

"Let's rest outside the city for the night, and we will go to Zunhua early tomorrow morning!" Zhao Shujiao commanded.

"But the chief soldier, we have already eaten up our food." The quartermaster was embarrassed.

Zhao Shujiao frowned, and after thinking about it, he ordered: "You go to the city and let the Santun camp provide food." If Zhu Guoyan refuses, don't blame Lao Tzu for being unkind to him! ”

According to the imperial court system, when the army moved and marched within the territory, the food and grass needed were provided by the places where it passed. Zhu Guoyan could refuse the army to enter the city, but if he refused to provide grain and grass again, it would violate the imperial court system, and Zhao Shujiao could naturally complain to the imperial court and to Sun Chuanting, the governor of Jiliao.

Quartermaster Pegasus came to the city of Santun Camp and shouted to the city again. About half an hour later, the gate of Santun Camp was opened, and dozens of soldiers pushed grain carts out of the city gate.

"A total of eighty stones of millet, enough for your army to feed for one day, and twenty carts of forage. These ten jars of Fen wine were given to Zhao by the chief soldier of my family. "The hundred households that charge the grain.

Zhao Shujiao sneered: "It's still Zhu Guoyan's acquaintance." You go back and tell Zhu Guoyan that Ben Shuai understands it! As for the drinks, you can take them back, it is not suitable to drink alcohol during the march of the army. ”

......

"I don't know how to lift!" After listening to the report of his subordinates, Zhu Guoyan said disdainfully. Everyone is a general soldier and has the same status, although Zhao Shujiao can fight habitually, he has been transferred out of the battlefield in western Liaoning for more than a year, which shows that the Jiliao Governor does not trust him, and Zhu Guoyan is naturally not afraid of it.

If it weren't for the imperial court's strict order that the local city must provide supplies to the guest army, Zhu Guoyan would not even be willing to provide grain and grass. This is equivalent to taking money out of one's own pocket, who would want to?

If you still want to go into the city to repair, what good thing do you want?

......

Rested outside the city of Santun camp for a night, the weather in October was already very cold, the soldiers shivered at night, woke up in the morning, lit the fire to cook, and then started early, rushed to Zunhua City early, in order to have a good rest.

A day later, Zhao led the people to the outside of Zunhua City, and saw hundreds of people rushing towards Zunhua City. Soon, Zhao Shujiao got the news that Jiannu had finally arrived and had broken through Hongshan Pass.

Fortunately, he didn't rest in the Santun camp, otherwise it would definitely be too late to rush to Zunhua City, Zhao Shujiao secretly rejoiced.

With the military order of Sun Chuanting, the governor of Jiliao, in his hand, the defender of Zunhua City naturally had no reason to prevent Zhao Shujiao from entering the city. On the contrary, the civil and military forces of Zunhua City were very happy with the arrival of Zhao Shujiao. The attack of the Jiannu army is imminent, and Zhao led the troops to come at this time, which is tantamount to sending charcoal in the snow!

Zunhua County Commander Li Xizong and Zunhua Deputy General Gao Yongxiang personally came to the city gate to welcome the arrival of the army.

"What's going on right now?" Zhao Shujiao couldn't say hello, and asked himself.

"This morning, I received a report from the defenders of the border wall that Jiannu appeared outside the border wall and divided his troops into three ways to attack Hongshankou, Daankou and Longjing Pass. At present, Hongshan Pass has been lost, and Da'ankou and Longjing Pass are most likely not to be spared. Gao Yongxiang reported.

Zhao Shujiao frowned and said, "Didn't Governor Jiliao already send an order to strengthen the border wall city defense?" Why? ”

Gao Yongxiang sighed: "There are five or six mountain passes north of Zunhua alone, and the troops are seriously insufficient. ”

"Yes, General Zhao, at the moment, the number of troops in Zunhua City is less than 3,000, and there is really no way to divide the troops." Zunhua County Commander Li Xizong interjected.

There are more than 50,000 soldiers in the entire Jizhen military roster, but the actual number is not even 30,000, and it is really stretched to defend the border wall of more than 1,000 miles. Zhao Shujiao is also clear about this situation.

"What's the matter with so many people outside the city?" Zhao Shujiao changed the subject.

Li Xizong sighed: "A few days ago, I received the will of the imperial court to strengthen the wall and clear the field, and this county also sent a messenger to notify the people in the countryside outside the city, but most of the people were unwilling to leave their hometowns, and they all said that Jiannu would not attack Jibei at all. Now that they heard the news of Jiannu's appearance, they were all anxious and wanted to enter the city. ”

Zhao Shujiao was a little speechless, you don't care if the people don't want to enter the city? Won't you force the order? What are the troops in Zunhua City doing, and what do you take as the order of the imperial court? Now a swarm of bees is coming, what if Jiannu attacks now? Will Zunhua be taken down by Jiannu?

Zhao Shujiao wanted to be angry, but although Li Xizong in front of him was only a Qipin county commander, he was a civil official, a noble and lowly Ming Dynasty, and his identity was not under him, the chief soldier.

Holding back his anger, Zhao Shu taught: "Jiannu has many cavalry, maybe it will soon attack outside Zunhua City." It was too much time for so many people to rush into the city. The gates should be closed now! ”

"No way!" Li Xizong shook his head and said, "There are all the people of the Ming Dynasty outside, how can you throw them outside the city and let Jiannu slaughter them?" Isn't it that Jiannu hasn't arrived yet, let's talk about it when Jiannu arrives. ”

"I'm afraid it'll be too late when Jiannu arrives!" Zhao Shujiao said angrily, "The imperial court ordered the wall to clear the wilderness a few days ago, if you had carried out the imperial court's order earlier, why now." ”

Li Xizong said unhappily: "Is Mr. Zhao blaming the county?" No one took the orders of the imperial court seriously, and even if the county sent messengers to the villages to deliver orders after receiving the order, what could these foolish people do if they refused? ”

Zhao Shujiao shook his head, no longer arguing, and ordered his four thousand cavalry to be stationed at the four gates, and rest under the city, once Jiannu attacked, immediately control the city gate. In fact, as far as the cavalry is concerned, it is best to be stationed outside the city, but Zhao Shujiao kept Sun Chuanting's words in mind, did not fight with Jiannulang, and mainly defended the city, so he entered the city with all the troops.

Li Xizong also realized the urgency of time, and personally led the messengers to organize the people to enter the city at the city gate, sent people to maintain order, and settled the people who entered the city.

Half an hour later, when Zhao led the sect to eat with his subordinates, suddenly the gong sounded, and there were bursts of exclamations from the city, "Jiannu is here!" ”

Zhao Shujiao was at the north gate, and when he heard that he had thrown down his rice bowl, grabbed his weapon and rushed out of the camp, he saw that there was already a mess at the city gate, and hundreds of people were crowding to try to enter the city.

Zhao Shujiao rode on a horse, looked over the heads of the people and looked out from the city gate hole, and saw that a few miles away in the distance, a large cloud of smoke and dust was rapidly approaching Zunhua City.

The distance of several miles was only a moment for the fast-galloping cavalry, and Zhao Shujiao knew that the matter was already very urgent.

"Prepare the fire gun, fire into the city gate hole, prepare to seal the city gate!" Zhao Shujiao immediately made a decision.

Following his order, dozens of cavalrymen dismounted, raised their three-eyed firearms and aimed them at the city gate.

"Boom Boom"

The three-eyed firecrackers fired together, and the projectiles shot into the city gate hole like a splash of wind, and the people inside were immediately shot down, and the people who did not enter the city looked at the corpses in front of them, and looked at the officers and soldiers holding the firecrackers on the side of the city gate, and their faces turned pale with fright, where would they dare to enter the city again?

"Close the city gates quickly, and those who dare to re-enter the city will be shot!" Zhao Shujiao shouted loudly.

Dozens of soldiers rushed into the city gate, moved away the blocked corpses, pushed the city gate together, and put up several bolts, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

The people outside the city who had not entered the city cursed and cried in despair, and ran along the city wall to the other gates.

ordered his cavalry to continue to eat and rest, and Zhao Shujiao took his personal guards to the city wall. There are still thousands of troops in Zunhua, and there is no need for cavalry to defend the city for the time being.

"Fortunately, General Zhao dealt with it decisively, otherwise the Jiannu cavalry would have to follow the people and rush into the city." Gao Yongxiang said with emotion.

Outside the city, the Jiannu cavalry had already rushed close to the city wall and restrained their horses a stone's throw from the city wall. The number of Guanjiannu cavalry was as many as 1,000.

"There are more than 1,000 Jiannu horsemen, if General Zhao leads his subordinates out of the city, he may not be able to drive them away, why shoot the people?" The county commander Li Xizong's face was uneasy.

Dozens of civilians were killed by the firecrackers, and the rest of the civilians were crying and running towards the other city gates, while dozens of Jiannu cavalry rode in pursuit, easily killing the fleeing civilians one by one from behind. Seeing the people outside the city being slaughtered by Jiannu, Li Xizong was very angry.

"The people flocked into the city, the city gate was so crowded that it was impassable, and my cavalry flew out of the city to kill the enemy?" Zhao Shujiao said politely.

If it weren't for Sun Chuanting's order to defend the city in advance, Zhao Shujiao would not have brought his subordinates into the city at all, and now he ordered to open the city in order to defend the city, and this county order actually blamed himself, he didn't want to think about it, if he resolutely carried out the order of the imperial court to clear the field, why did he have now?

"County Honor." Seeing that Li Xizong was about to say more, Gao Yongxiang hurriedly whispered to stop him.

Li Xizong was stunned for a moment, and then remembered that he still had to rely on Zhao Shujiao to defend the city, so he closed his mouth.

These more than 1,000 cavalry were only the vanguard of Jiannu, and after a while, a large group of Jiannu drove from the north. Looking at the boundless Jiannu army in the mountains and wilderness, and looking at the various flags flying in the air, Li Xizong's face finally changed greatly.

"This, I'm afraid there aren't more than 100,000 troops, right?" Li Xizong muttered.

There are more than 10,000 people, boundless, and more than 100,000 people, tearing the earth and the sky. Although the total strength of Jiannu is only more than 50,000, it has a large number of war horses, and the cavalry queue is relatively scattered, and the more than 50,000 troops look like more than 100,000 hundreds of thousands, almost covering the flat land where Zunhua is located. Not only Li Xizong, but everyone in the city was terrified.

Zhao Shujiao looked at the outside of the city with a solemn expression, and he mainly looked at the banner of Jiannu. After fighting with Jiannu for a long time, Zhao Shujiao still knows a lot about the establishment of Jiannu, and can distinguish the scale of Jiannu from the banner.

Blue flag, blue flag with red edges, white flag, white flag, red flag, red flag, yellow flag, yellow flag, when he saw all the flags representing the eight flags appearing, Zhao Shujiao secretly sighed, knowing that this time Jiannu really poured out.

Still out of the city to repel Jiannu? With the 4,000 cavalry under his command, it is not enough to even stuff Jiannu's teeth! At this moment, Zhao Shujiao was glad that his whole army had entered the city, if he was still outside the city, he would definitely be unlucky!

In another time and space, Zhao Shujiao also brought thousands of cavalry to reinforce Jibei, but his luck was not as good as it is now, and he met Jiannu before he arrived in Zunhua City, and was surrounded by Jiannu's absolute superiority. Trekking all the way from Shanhaiguan, his army was tired early, and he couldn't even break through at that time. After a fight, the whole army was annihilated, and Zhao Shujiao was also martyred. And now, because he set off a few days early, Zhao led the sect to enter Zunhua City safely.

"How is this a good ......" Li Xizong's face turned pale and muttered, at this moment he was already six gods and no master.

Coupled with the 4,000 people led by Zhao, there are only 7,000 troops in the city, even if you count all the people in the city, I am afraid that there are not as many people as Jiannu, how can this Zunhua City be defended? How can Li Xizong not despair?