Fei Tingyuan Shang, the commander of Pule City in Western Xia, sent away the cavalry messengers of his trusted disciples during the day, and then personally inspected the city defense. He also asked his subordinates to compile several rescue letters to inform several Xixia armies closer to this place.

Asking for help...

However, a whole day passed and Fei Tingyuan Shang did not see the Song army coming to attack Pule City. He secretly prayed in his heart that the army would not attack Pule City where he was stationed.

During the day, several groups of scouting horses reported that no Song troops were found within a fifty-mile radius of Pule City.

Night falls and the sky becomes gloomy.

Tonight, Pule City was not as unprepared as in the past. After the commanding officer Fei Tingyuan Shang issued the military preparation order, all the gates in Pule City were closed tightly, and the suspension bridge outside the city had already been pulled up.

In the city, Fei Tingyuan Shang was in charge of four thousand elite cavalry as a reserve force.

There are more than 6,000 guards on Pu Le City, ten times more than usual. On the wide and thick city wall, there are stone chambers built at regular intervals for the guards to rest.

Now, there is no one in the stone chamber. Six thousand generals are guarding the crenellations of the city wall. Officers above the primary school level, protected by guards holding torches, are pacing back and forth on the city tower, inspecting the city wall they are responsible for guarding.

Whether the soldiers in the division obeyed Yuan Shang's military orders and strictly guarded Pule City according to the commander's command.

In addition, in Pule City, there are dozens of scouts responsible for lookout, standing on high lookout towers, taking turns to go far outside the city in order to detect the enemy's situation earlier...

At this time, the mountain forest outside the city was shrouded in darkness, and no firelight could be seen. Only the occasional thin green fluorescence could be seen floating in the forest. That was fireflies looking for their mates...

The Xixia soldiers on the city could occasionally hear the chirping of night birds in the forest outside the city, making the entire mountain forest look mysterious and full of danger.

"Report!" During the day, another group of scouts sent by Fei Tingyuan Shang reported back:

"We went out of the city during the day and rode horses to explore the enemy's situation further around Mengjing.

We discovered that tens of thousands of Song troops had left Mengjing City in the near future..."

"The Song Army has only 4,000 cavalrymen and nearly 40,000 infantrymen. They left the city in two large groups..."

"The Song army marched all the way to the west, and after marching no more than thirty miles, the victorious infantry marched slowly, probably due to the hot weather, so they set up camp in the wilderness a hundred miles away from our city of Pule..."

Fei Tingyuan Shang, the commander-in-chief of Pule City, was slightly relieved when he heard the returns from these scouting horses.

He judged that based on previous battle experience between Song and Xia, the Song Army had always fought with infantry. In the Song Army's past large-scale expeditions to Xia, due to the large number of infantry, the Song Army's marching speed had always been very fast.

Slowly. In order to maintain the physical strength of a large number of infantry, the Song army could not walk fifty or sixty miles a day.

After Fei Tingyuan Shang listened to the report of the expedition, his serious and nervous expression relaxed slightly.

He ordered: "Explore again."

"Follow orders."

…

Fei Tingyuan's heart had been raised in his throat throughout the day. At this moment, after hearing the rewards of these scouts, he felt slightly relieved.

He inspected the defense of Pule City at night and found that the soldiers and generals of the Fei Ting tribe under his command were also very nervous because there had been no major wars in the three years since the Song-Xia peace negotiation.

Fei Tingyuan Shang conveyed military orders in Dangxiang language:

"The soldiers on the city will allocate one-third to defend the city. The other two-thirds of the soldiers will return to the stone room to rest. They will take turns to guard the city every three hours."

…

Now the garrison soldiers and generals in Pule City have followed the military orders of the commander Fei Tingyuan Shang. They have also learned the military information reported by the detectives. The Song Army is still a hundred miles away from here. With the help of the Song Army

It is simply a joke for an army dominated by infantry to march hundreds of miles at night.

Therefore, all the Xixia troops in the city also relaxed their vigilance.

Even the more than two thousand defenders who were left on the city shouted in Dangxiang dialect when they looked at the backs of the robes who had been rotated down to rest first:

"Don't oversleep. Come earlier so we can sleep in the stone room!"

"You are so lucky to go to bed first......"

Those Xixia soldiers who went down to rest first cursed in Dangxiang dialect:

"Mom, it may not be a good thing if we go to bed first! The Song army will definitely not be able to reach us tonight. When it is time for us to defend the city, the enemy army may attack!"

"That's right……"

The soldiers who were assigned to defend the city grinned wickedly. They felt the same way.

Now the more than 2,000 Xixia soldiers and generals in the city were not as nervous as they were during the day, and they all shouldered the bows they had held tightly in their hands during the day.

They should also stop nervously lying on the crenellations of the city wall and looking into the distance like they did before.

Some of them sat cross-legged on the passage of the city wall under the crenellations, and some sat on the "parapet" behind the city wall. They chatted in groups of three and two in party dialect:

"Brother, have you heard? Our commander, General Fei Ting, sent his son, brother, and nephew to Pule City during the day today by sending military intelligence and war reports to our Emperor of Great Xia.

"

"Not only did I hear about it, I also saw it with my own eyes!"

"Damn it, if you leave us here to defend the city, won't we be dying in vain?"

"Then you still dare to disobey military orders?"

"I don't dare. But if the Song army does come to attack the city, we have to be careful. If we can defeat it, we will fight. If we can't defeat it, then run away!"

"It's okay for me to watch. Didn't you see? In the evening this evening, our commander-in-chief ordered all the herdsmen in our tribe to drive more than 100,000 cattle and sheep out of the city."

"I saw it too."

"I see how our current General Fei Tingyuan Shang is not as bold and heroic as he was during the war between Xia and Song Dynasty three or four years ago?"

"What do you know? I heard what the soldiers who escaped from Mengjing City said that the Song Army has a new weapon that can attract thunder. A "sky thunder" can instantly blow up the city gate no matter how thick it is.

Broken!"

This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! "Is this true? Who did you listen to?"

"It's true. Those Xixia soldiers who were released by the Song army from Zhejianghui, as well as the defeated generals who fled from Mengjinjingcheng to Jialai, passed by me before they were questioned by our commander, General Fei Ting.

The one who was on duty today entered Pule City!

We soldiers naturally asked them why they were in such a mess? They also truthfully told us how powerful the Song army was..."

"No wonder our General Fei Ting sent his son, brother and nephew back to Beijing during the day to deliver military intelligence reports!"

"Isn't it? We see that General Fei Ting has made a double plan. If he can defend Pule City, he will defend it. If he cannot defend it, his close relatives have already left the city, and he has personally led four thousand trusted cavalry.

, even after the Song army broke through the city, they ran faster than us!"

"Don't they regard us as scapegoats inside and outside?"

"………………"

This well-founded rumor about the Xixia soldiers in Pule City spread from one to ten, then to one hundred, and then to one thousand, spreading faster than the virus.

This kind of rumor is even more harmful than the virus. It makes the entire city defense soldiers and primary schools panic. They are also angry at their coach for treating them as cannon fodder. They are envious of those who can be arranged to leave the city for safety during the day.

I also envy the four thousand men who were selected by General Fei Tingyuan Shang to serve as the cavalry reserve.

Suddenly, while the guards on Pule City and the soldiers who entered the stone chamber to take turns to rest were chatting, there were many complaints. The morale of the soldiers was unstable and their morale was low...

However, although these generals who were ordered by Fei Ting Yuan Shang to defend the city already knew that General Fei Ting might use them as cannon fodder, they did not dare to abandon the city and flee now, let alone mutiny.

After all, Fei Tingyuan still had four thousand trusted elite cavalry in the city. On the one hand, they served as a reserve team for the battle. On the other hand, they could also serve as a supervisory team to kill the deserters on his side.

There are a total of more than 6,000 soldiers in Pu Le City, and most of them are praying that the Song Army will bypass Pu Le City and attack other places.

"But don't blow it up on your head.

‘God, please leave me a life, so that when the Song army breaks through the city gate, I can successfully escape with the crowd. When the time comes, I will kill the sheep and prepare wine.’

More soldiers and generals in Pule City silently prayed to Buddha in their hearts:

"Buddha has protected me from this battle. As long as I can survive, I will burn incense and worship Buddha every day..."

The Dangxiang people initially believed in heaven, ghosts, gods, and advocated witchcraft. After moving to Hexi, they began to accept Buddhism. From then on, Buddhism flourished in Xixia and was highly respected by the royal family.

The Xixia court also established a special religious management agency with complete religious laws. The earliest imperial master title in Chinese history appeared in Xixia. As early as the period of Li Yuanhao, the first emperor of Xixia, he sent envoys to Mount Wutai to worship Buddha. Li Yuanhao himself

He is also familiar with Buddhism, and he promotes Buddhism, asking for Buddhist scriptures from the Song Dynasty, building Buddhist temples and pagodas, and promoting Buddhist services. Therefore, until now, the vast majority of Xixia Dangxiang people, whether they are royal family or civilians, believe in Buddhism...

Now, the Xixia generals in Pule City, feeling that a disaster is approaching, began to worship Buddha in order to avoid disaster and seek spiritual support - Buddha's blessing...

The only thing they were lucky about was that according to the report from the scouts, the Song army was camped in the wilderness about a hundred miles away from Pule City. With the marching speed of the many infantry of the Song army, they would not be able to reach Pule City tomorrow. They should be able to sleep peacefully tonight

Sleeping.

…

As the night progresses, the words become less and less frequent, and the snoring becomes more intense...

Even the Xixia soldiers responsible for guarding the city at the battlements or the soldiers standing on the high watchtowers of Pule City were yawning all the time...

At midnight, Fei Tingyuan Shang, the coach of Pule City, led the new guard cavalry and inspected various city defenses in Pule City, but he did not receive any more reports of horse exploration.

He concluded that, as previously reported by the scouts, the Song army was camped in the wilderness a hundred miles away from Pule City. Therefore, the Song army would not be able to attack Pule City tonight.

Of course, Fei Tingyuan Shang did not have the idea of ​​leading his cavalry in a long-distance night raid to rob the Song army's camp. However, when he recalled the military intelligence report he heard "Xifeng Manniu of the Concubine Society led his army out of the city to attack the Song army,

After being severely injured by the Song Army's powerful weapon that could 'draw thunder from the sky'," he completely gave up the idea.

Fei Tingyuan Shang saw that it was late at night and concluded that the Song army could not attack the city tonight, so he went back to his house. He did not call the beautiful concubine to wait for him to sleep as before. He did not dare to take off his armor and shirt, and
To be continued...