Although Lin Xiuming is young, he has also led his troops to fight a lot of battles, although he rarely leads troops to fight in winter, but he still has some understanding of the battlefield situation on rainy days.

There were so many rut marks and horse marks in front of him, although they had been covered by heavy snow, but he could probably judge the approximate number of people based on the footprints.

Judging from the repeated stampeding of the snow, the number of people passing through this place must be very large.

In the middle, most of the footprints are trampled by people, and on both sides are the footprints of horses, which indicates that there is a cavalry transporting something.

To be precise, it is not something to be transported, judging from the footprints of so many people, they should be escorting someone.

At this moment, a soldier next to Lin Xiuming said: "General, you see that there are some black gravels in the snow, if the subordinates are not mistaken, this should be black gravel." ”

They have been stationed in Yancheng for almost two months, and they know some of the major events that have happened in Yancheng, such as the furnace and coal launched by the Beiwangfu.

Their military camp relied on the furnace of the Beiwangfu for the winter this winter, and if it weren't for the coal and stove of the Beiwangfu, they didn't know what it would have frozen.

The soldiers had also heard of the "black stone", the raw material of the carbon balls, and they all knew that the carbon balls in the Beiwangfu were made of black stone.

Looking at the coal slag in the snow, the soldiers instantly judged that it was black stone slag.

After hearing the words of the soldiers beside him, Lin Xiuming got off the horse, then squatted down and grabbed the black stone slag from the ground, put it in front of his nose and smelled it.

"Well, it's black slag."

Lin Xiuming immediately threw the black stone slag in his hand to the ground, got up and glanced at the intermittent black stone slag in the snow.

The soldier beside Lin Xiuming continued: "This should be the soldiers of the Northern Palace, escorting those barbarian slaves to transport the Black Stone Mine. ”

Lin Xiuming didn't speak, he looked at the black stone slag on the ground and thought about something.

If you look at the scattered black stone slag on the ground, it does look like the barbarian slaves of the Northern Palace's mansion are transporting the black stone, but ......

Lin Xiuming glanced at the direction in which these imprints stretched, and judging from the direction, those people came from the north.

Is there a blackstone mine in Beiwangfu in the Northland?

Lin Xiuming didn't know much about the distribution of blackstone mines in the Northern Palace, and the first thing he could think of was not the blackstone mines, but the Tianguang City in the north.

Judging from the marks of the horses' hooves, there were a lot of cavalry escorting these people, and Lin Xiuming knew that there were only 50,000 heavy cavalry in the entire North County.

Although there are also light cavalry in the northern county, the number of light cavalry is very small, I am afraid that there are not even 10,000 people.

But judging from the hoof marks in the snow, the number of cavalry coming from the north was definitely more than 10,000.

Didn't it mean that the heavy cavalry of Beijun had more than 40,000 dead and wounded, and was close to the annihilation of the entire army, and there were still so many cavalry in Beiwang?

Seeing that Lin Xiuming had been staring at the horseshoe marks on the ground in a daze, the soldier next to him asked suspiciously, "General, have you found anything?" ”

Lin Xiuming came back to his senses at this time, and then he said: "It's okay, I was thinking about things just now, okay, let's go on our way, just so we can use these footprints to go north." ”

Where these footprints have been stepped on, there is relatively little snow, and they can still touch the ground, so it is not so difficult to move forward, which is a good thing for Lin Xiuming and their march.

Then Lin Xiuming took the 20,000 soldiers of the imperial court and stepped on the footprints of Xuanyuan Chen when they went south.

Although the footprints were soon covered in snow, they were able to use them to travel a long distance, saving a lot of time.

If it weren't for these footprints, they would have to walk for a month to reach Skylight City.

On the way to Tianguang City, Lin Xiuming has been paying attention to those footprints, he always feels that the situation in Tianguang City is not what he heard, and the North King must have hidden the true situation of the war.

I'm afraid they didn't go north to defend against the barbarians going south, and it was probably just a formality.

Seeing so many horseshoe marks, Lin Xiuming could only think of the 50,000 heavy cavalry in Beijun.

Lin Xiuming had basically guessed Lu Chen's thoughts, but he didn't intend to say it, so he pretended not to know anything.

Since his father is already planning to support the North King, he must also fall to the side of the North King, so just cooperate with the North King's performance.

Originally, Lin Xiuming still had a lot of pressure to go north, although the idea of making contributions had always been in his heart, but after all, he only had 20,000 court cavalry under his command, and when he thought that the black cavalry had been destroyed, he doubted that his 20,000 cavalry could stop the army of the King of Beixian.

As a result, seeing the horseshoe prints on the ground, Lin Xiuming suddenly became enlightened, I am afraid that it was not the black cavalry that was destroyed, but the army of the King of Beixian.

He said how could the North King be defeated by the King of Beixian, the North King had the kind of terrifying weapon that could instantly blast the barbarian soldiers into slag, although he had never seen the North King's army use that kind of weapon, but the last time he came to Yancheng, he had already guessed the approximate power of that mysterious weapon through those big pits.

There are such weapons, not to mention the barbarians, even if Dawu is in front of Beijun, he will only be beaten.

After more than half a month of traveling, Lin Xiuming and the others finally arrived in Tianguang City.

This year's winter in Kitak-gun is colder than usual, with snow falling heavier and heavier, and visibility in broad daylight is less than five meters.

When Lin Xiuming led the 20,000 troops of the imperial court to the south gate of Tianguang City, Li Feng rode out to greet him.

Looking at Lin Xiuming and the 20,000 troops of the imperial court, Li Feng pretended to be very excited and said, "General Lin, you are finally here, if you come a few days late, I'm afraid we won't be able to hold on." ”

Seeing Li Feng's excited look that he was about to cry, Lin Xiuming laughed in his heart.

It's really like that.

Lin Xiuming asked with concern: "General Li, there should be nothing wrong with the prince, right?" ”

Li Feng sighed and showed a sad look, "The prince is not injured, but because of the destruction of the black cavalry, he has been in a relatively low mood in the past few days, and he doesn't think about tea and dinner." ”

"Okay, let's not talk about this, it's quite snowy outside, let's go into the city quickly."

Then Li Feng took Lin Xiuming and the 20,000 troops of the imperial court into Tianguang City.

Because Lin Xiuming and the imperial army were coming, Mu Changtian and his two sons left Tianguang City, and the three of them were already dead people in Great Xia, if Lin Xiuming saw it, it would be a little bad.

However, the three of them did not return to Yancheng, and Lu Chen arranged a special task for the three of them.

After Lin Xiuming entered Tianguang City, he looked at everything in Tianguang City, and at this time, Lin Xiuming found that the morale of the soldiers in Beijun seemed to be relatively low.

Almost all the soldiers of Beijun he saw sighed, as if they had really lost the battle.

Seeing them like this, even Lin Xiuming began to wonder if his guess on the road was wrong.

The soldiers didn't seem to be pretending to be depressed at all, they looked really depressed.

Lin Xiuming frowned slightly, and then asked, "General Li, has the Black Cavalry really been wiped out?" ”

Li Feng sighed deeply, "It's not that the whole army has been wiped out, but there are only a few thousand people left, and they are all injured, and I am afraid that there will be no combat effectiveness in the future." ”

"This time it really made us suffer heavy losses, no one thought that the army of the King of Beixian was so powerful, and we underestimated the enemy."

Speaking of this, Li Feng sighed again, and since Lin Xiuming saw Li Feng, Li Feng kept sighing.

This stunned Lin Xiuming.

He couldn't help but think, could it be that the heavy cavalry in Beijun was really wiped out?

Lin Xiuming didn't ask anything more, he quietly followed Li Feng to the place where Lu Chen lived temporarily.

However, when they arrived at Lu Chen's command post, they didn't see Lu Chen, only Bai Qingqing.

Li Feng immediately asked, "Commander Bai, where has the prince gone?" ”

Bai Qingqing replied expressionlessly: "I went to see the black cavalry." ”

Lin Xiuming was about to ask something, but Li Feng turned his head to him and said, "The prince has often gone to the place where the black cavalry is buried lately and is alone in a daze, so I will take you over." ”

This......

Lin Xiuming then let the imperial army rest in the city, and then he followed Li Feng alone to the place where the black cavalry was buried.

In a few moments, they came to the bottom of a small hill outside the city.

In the wind and snow, the back of a young man loomed.

The young man stood on the hillside, looking into the distance, as if he was missing something.

At this time, the young man had snow on his head and shoulders, and it seemed that he had been standing here for a long time.

Lin Xiuming was stunned.

If it's acting, it's too similar.

At this time, Li Feng came to Lu Chen and said in a low voice: "Lord Wang, General Lin is here with 20,000 troops from the imperial court. ”

Hearing Li Feng's words, Lu Chen sighed deeply, and then turned his head and walked towards Lin Xiuming.

Lin Xiuming hurriedly greeted him and said, "See the prince!" ”

Lu Chen looked at Lin Xiuming and said with a deep face: "General Lin, this king has finally waited for you, if you come a few days late, I'm afraid Tianguang City has already been occupied by the barbarians." ”

Lin Xiuming asked with a puzzled face, "Lord Wang, hasn't the barbarian army retreated yet?" ”

Lu Chen replied, "They haven't withdrawn, they will send troops to attack Tianguang City from time to time. ”

"I saw no horseshoe prints in the distance, they only came early this morning, but this time they didn't attack."

Hearing Lu Chen's words, Lin Xiu looked at the snow in the distance, and there were indeed a lot of horseshoe prints, which really looked like there were barbarian cavalry coming.

Lin Xiuming glanced at the big mound in front of him again, he still had some doubts in his heart, he still didn't believe that the black cavalry in Beijun was gone.

Lu Chen said: "Now that General Lin is here, the defense of Tianguang City will be handed over to the army of the imperial court. ”

Hearing Lu Chen's words, Lin Xiuming was stunned.

A large army handed over to the imperial court?

Is the king of the north planning to go back to Yancheng?

Lu Chen continued: "Okay, it's snowy here, let's talk about it when I go back to the city in advance." ”

Then the three of them went straight back to the city.

After returning to the city, Lu Chen and Lin Xiuming explained some things, and took most of the soldiers from Beijun back to Yancheng directly, without dragging mud and water at all.

Lin Xiuming didn't ask Lu Chen how the black cavalry was destroyed, no matter whether the black cavalry was really destroyed or not, if it was on Lu Chen's side, Lin Xiuming would not be able to ask about the details of the war.

If the black cavalry is really destroyed, and he asks the king of the north about the details of the war, it is to reveal the scars of the king of the north.

If the black cavalry is not destroyed, then there is no need for him to inquire about the details of the war, anyway, his father has decided to stand on the side of the North King, and the North King said that the Black Cavalry has been destroyed, most likely to hide the military strength of the North County and avoid being concerned by the imperial court.

After personally sending Lu Chen away, Lin Xiuming returned to the city, looking at the heavy snow falling in the sky, Lin Xiuming couldn't help but think, did the army of the King of Beixian really not retreat?

With such a big snowfall, the King of Beixian still has to come to attack Beijun, there is no problem with his brain, right?

At this moment, Lin Xiuming's henchman came to him, "General, we found something. ”

Hearing this, Lin Xiuming immediately said, "Take me over to have a look." ”

Then Lin Xiuming followed his henchmen to the north city of Tianguang City.

A large part of the buildings in the northern city have collapsed, and although the heavy snow has covered up the traces of the battlefield, if you look closely, you can still see that a large-scale battle has broken out in Skylight City.

Especially the big pits in the ruins, which instantly made Lin Xiuming think of the big pits he saw in the Wanning River Valley.

Seeing the dilapidated Beicheng, Lin Xiuming laughed and said to himself: "The truth of the performance, I was almost deceived." ”

Just came to the battlefield and took a look, Lin Xiuming's mind restored what kind of scene the war that took place in the north city of Tianguang City that day.

Obviously, the Northern King and their tactics adopted the strategy of luring the king into the urn, first introducing the army of the King of Beixian into Tianguang City, and then using the mysterious weapon of Beijun to bombard the army of the King of Beixian, and finally they sent troops to deal with the army of the King of Beixian.

Lin Xiuming glanced at the gate of Beicheng again at this time, and from the fact that the gate of Beicheng was intact, he could basically determine that the Beiwang had deliberately let the Beixian King enter Tianguang City.

The battle that took place in Skylight City was basically the same as the last battle in the Wanning River Valley, which was to lead the enemy army into a narrow place, so that the barbarian cavalry had nowhere to escape, and then annihilate the barbarian cavalry.

Lin Xiuming thought of the footprints they saw when they went north, and he probably guessed who those footprints were.

In the last battle in the Wanning River Valley, the Northern King captured more than 100,000 barbarian prisoners, and I am afraid that this time he also captured a lot of barbarian soldiers.

At this time, Lin Xiuming's henchman asked, "General, how are we going to report the destruction of the Black Cavalry to the imperial court?" When the war happened, we were not on the scene, and we had no idea what it was. ”

Lin Xiuming said lightly: "Just report it truthfully, whatever the king of the north says, we will report it." ”

This time is different from last time, this time they went north with 20,000 people, and they didn't even bring the supervising army, so Lin Xiuming wrote the war report alone, how he wanted to write it, as long as it wasn't too outrageous.

At this moment, drums suddenly sounded on the city wall, and when he heard the rapid drums, Lin Xiuming was stunned.

At this time, Li Feng ran over in a panic and said, "General Lin, something is wrong, the barbarian cavalry is here again!" ”

Lin Xiuming frowned, and hurriedly said to the soldiers beside him: "Gather the soldiers and prepare to fight!" ”

Then Lin Xiuming and Li Feng came to the tower of Tianguang City together.

At this time, the wind and snow were getting heavier and heavier, and they could only see a dark shadow in the distance.

It didn't take long for Lin Xiuming to see the appearance of those black shadows clearly, judging from the fur clothes they were wearing, they were indeed the cavalry of the barbarian race.

Lin Xiuming frowned, what the North King said was actually true?

The barbarians really didn't evacuate?

How is this possible?

He saw the traces of the war in Beicheng just now, and thought that the army of the King of Beixian had been wiped out by the King of Bei, but as a result, the King of Beicheng had just left Beicheng, and the army of the barbarians came again.

Lin Xiuming squinted his eyes and roughly estimated the barbarian cavalry outside.

The number of barbarian cavalry is not much, but there are about 5,000 people, and it is definitely impossible for 5,000 people to capture Tianguang City, so he led the 20,000 troops of the imperial court to Tianguang City.

Just when Lin Xiuming was about to let the soldiers release their arrows, a soldier ran to Lin Xiuming in a panic and said: "General, the big thing is not good, there are no arrows in Tianguang City, and there are only catapults, not even throwing stones, our soldiers only have a few arrows on them, and they can't resist the barbarian siege at all!" ”

They were in a hurry when they went north, and the supplies they had transported to North County at the beginning had already been handed over to North County, and now they didn't have many arrows on them except for some melee weapons.

If it was to defend the city, they could only rely on the weapons of Skylight City itself to defend, but when the soldiers arrived in Skylight City, they found that there were no long-range weapons, which frightened the soldiers.

Hearing the soldier's words, Lin Xiuming was also stunned, Tianguang City actually had no arrows and no stones?

How is this possible?

How can they defend themselves without ranged weapons?

Lin Xiuming immediately turned his head to look at Li Feng and asked, "General Li, how could there be no arrows in Tianguang City?" Even if a big war breaks out, you can clean up a lot of arrows when you clean up the battlefield, right? ”

Li Feng coughed and said: "Ahem, it may be that the prince took it away just now, we have to defend not only Tianguang City, but also a few cities in the west that need to be defended, it is estimated that the prince thinks that General Lin's army is fully equipped and has some weapons of its own, and there is no need for the weapons of Tianguang City, so he took all the weapons of Tianguang City and planned to send them to other cities." ”

"General Lin, you also know that our Beijun is relatively poor, and there is a shortage of materials, especially military materials, which are even more scarce, and can only be used in the east."

Hearing Li Feng's words here, Lin Xiu wanted to scold his mother angrily.

The military supplies they transported from the capital at the beginning had already been handed over to Beijun, what weapons and equipment did they have from there.

It was the first time he had heard that the army at the front had changed its guard and directly took away all the weapons on the front line.

Not only were the arrows taken away, but even the stones used for throwing were removed.

Are you kidding?

(End of chapter)