Chapter Seventy-ninth Thousand Miles of Voice Transmission
In the cold winter ice and snow, the soldiers of the Yuan Dynasty will be miserable. How can the small "Stone City" accommodate 170,000 people? The "Stone City" is where Timur, his family, and the princes and nobles live.
Ordinary soldiers still set up camps in the wilderness. Fortunately, the army has a large number of cattle, sheep and food. Otherwise, I don’t know how they will survive this severe winter.
It's almost the twelfth lunar month. If the Yuan army just sleeps in the wilderness, they may freeze to death without having to fight.
In desperation, Timur ordered the construction of another city. The city's site was set at a place called Donggang, thirty miles east of Lanzhou City. Where the hills are rolling, it is easy to defend and difficult to attack. If a city is built there, it will be
It can accommodate more than 100,000 troops under his command. Timur wanted to use this new city to cut off the communication between Lanzhou and the Central Plains and other places.
In nearly a month, Timur used 100,000 soldiers and horses to build a new city. This time, the soldiers built the city themselves, and they tried to capture the people, but they couldn't capture any of them.
Standing at the top of the city, Zhang Wen couldn't help frowning. The Yuan army's two stone cities formed a corner, and the Yuan army had reconnaissance cavalry coming out every day. The daily defense changes and troop deployments in Lanzhou City must have expanded the base.
Timur has long been familiar with it. Expanding Timur's profile is looking for opportunities, just like the hungry wolves surrounding the herd of cattle on the grassland. As long as the cattle relax a little, the wolves will pounce on him.
Lanzhou has been holding on for more than two months. Although the Yuan army has been repeatedly repulsed in the past two months, the Ming army has also suffered increasing casualties. If this continues, Lanzhou will not be protected. Every three quarters of noon, smoke will be released from the top of Lanzhou city.
.Up to now, the soldiers and horses of the three guards have still not seen any movement. This time the smoke can be used to warn the distant place.
Expanding Timur's army had swept everywhere a month ago. Huining Guard, Jingning Guard, and Pingliang Guard had already disappeared. I wonder if Marshal Xu Da, who was far away in Yingtian, knew about the crisis in Lanzhou?
Dakui's injury is almost healed, and he spends his days without food or wine. In his spare time, he competes with Meng Ge and Ou Dachui in martial arts, and his life is quite comfortable.
Ou Dachui looked like a mighty man, but when asked to show off his martial arts, he was coy. Dakui didn't find it easy to get to the bottom of it, but Dakui discovered one thing. When Ou Dachui turned his back, he couldn't hear what others said. Later, he still couldn't hear what others said.
Meng Ge revealed a secret. It turned out that Ou Dachui was deaf and could only communicate with people by lip reading.
In other words, Ou Dachui knew what others were saying without making a sound. If Dakui asked anything, Meng Ge said: Everyone has a sad place in their heart, so don't ask.
Since Meng Ge said so, Dakui stopped asking further questions.
While everyone was chatting after practicing, several soldiers came in from outside the garden, and the leader was Zhang Wen. Da Kuiquan pretended not to see him, and just took the tea cup and drank tea. Zhang Wen ordered his subordinates to exit outside the garden gate, and then
Walked alone to the garden pavilion.
Just as Meng Ge was about to stand up, Dakui coughed deliberately, and Meng Ge had to sit down again.
Zhang Wen cupped his fists towards Dakui and said, "Sir Zhang, I have been rude to you. Are you here to apologize?"
Dakui ignored Zhang Wen and just said to Meng Ge and Ou Dachui: "I'm tired, let's go back to our rooms to rest." He stood up and left.
Outside the pavilion, Zhang Wen knelt down with a bang and said, "Master Zhang, you can't just watch one hundred thousand people in Lanzhou die in vain."
Da Kui stopped walking, but looked away and said coldly: "Twenty thousand people have died in vain, why bother with tens of thousands more?" Taking a deep breath, Da Kui sighed: "If you have anything to do, come back tomorrow.
.”
Zhang Wen said urgently: "It is extremely urgent and there is no time to delay."
"If you get up and talk, if someone sees you, they will think that I am arrogant and will take advantage of you." After saying this, Dakui sat back on the stone bench.
Dakui was a high-ranking official in the dynasty, so he could bear Zhang Wen's kneeling. Moreover, Zhang Wen and others were under house arrest and Dakui was punished strictly according to the law. But Dakui thought that Zhang Wen and he were from the same hometown, so he was ready to lose his temper and let it go.
.
Zhang Wen stood up, without brushing off the snow stains on his knees, and walked into the pavilion quickly and said: "Lanzhou's troops and horses are no longer enough to resist the Yuan army. We must send people out of the city quickly and rush 800 miles to Yingtian to move reinforcements."
.”
Dakui nodded when he heard this and said: "Well, that's not bad. Considering that General Zhang Wen is the chief general of Lanzhou and has great martial arts skills, how can he go out of the city to ask for help?"
‘Ah?’ Zhang Wen opened his mouth so wide that he could stuff a steamed bun into it, and it took him a while to come back to his senses. “Master Zhang was joking.” Zhang Wen stood there with a wry smile and rubbed his hands together.
Dakui stretched out his hand and said, "General, please sit down."
Zhang Wen sat down according to Dakui's words, and then said: "The two hundred thousand yuan army outside the city is eyeing Lanzhou, and there are many cavalry and fast horses. If someone in the city rushes out of the city, he is afraid that he will be discovered if he can't run far. Therefore, those who go out of the city
As someone who is highly skilled in martial arts and extremely clever, he will eventually have the heavy responsibility of defending the city and will never dare to leave without permission."
Dakui couldn't help but chuckled and asked: "Did General Zhang think of me?" After taking a sip of tea, Dakui continued: "Turn it off if you want, use it if you want?"
Zhang Wen said hurriedly: "Don't dare, don't dare, the general is just afraid that Mr. Zhang will get angry, so he took this step. I hope Mr. Zhang will forgive me." After saying this, he cupped his fists and saluted Dakui again.
Dakui ignored Zhang Wen's actions, but asked: "In General Zhang's eyes, which is more important, the city, or the people of Lanzhou?" Dakui's question was very tricky, just to make things difficult for Zhang Wen.
Unexpectedly, Zhang Wen did not even frown: "The city is important! Because I am the defender of Lanzhou, and my duty is to defend the city against the enemy. Mr. Zhang is a civil servant, so the people are important in your eyes. If you call me the last general selection again
Once, the general will still do this."
Da Kui was silent for a long time, and then said: "You and I are both familiar with Brother Tang. When I was still young, I, Brother Tang and other heroes encountered the ruined temple outside Jeju City. I asked Brother Tang at that time, and he said no.
The Tartars drove out of the Central Plains and vowed not to stop fighting. He also said: What's the point of using a thousand swords to serve the people's livelihood?"
Looking at Zhang Wen, Dakui asked word for word: "Why do we lead troops to fight? Isn't it just to let the people live a good life?"
Zhang Wen was slightly startled, and couldn't help but laugh: "You and I are both ministers of the Ming Dynasty, and we should be loyal to the emperor and fulfill our responsibilities. As for why we are fighting, it is not my place, Zhang Wen, to think about."
Dakui looked at Zhang Wen, knowing that people have their own ambitions. In this case, people with different paths should not work together. Dakui did not say anything else to Zhang Wen, stood up and said: "I will go out of the city to ask for help in person. General Zhang, please come back."
When Zhang Wen saw that Da Kui had agreed, he stood up and left. When Zhang Wen left the garden, Meng Ge said: "Master Zhang, why do you do this? You must know that too much words will lead to mistakes. If these words reach the ears of Emperor Taizu, I am afraid that
It’s more bad than good.”
Dakui smiled bitterly and said: "This matter is nothing. If the emperor knew what I said, he might not blame me."
Looking at the winter snow falling in the garden, Dakui sighed quietly: "For the sake of the hundreds of thousands of Lanzhou people, I, Zhang Dakui, will go away."
Meng Ge said: "Dachui and I will accompany you."
Dakui smiled softly and said: "It's a thousand miles away to Yingtian, so I can walk faster. You can each go back and rest. During my absence, you must assist General Zhang in guarding the city."
"I obey your orders." Meng Ge and Ou Dachui both raised their hands and accepted the order...
Dakui changed his clothes, prepared a load-bearing suit, and pretended to be a salesman. On the same day, soldiers lowered him from the top of the city to the bottom of the city. Fortunately, no Yuan soldiers passed by, so Dakui picked up the load and walked quickly towards the south. In a moment,
Then he disappeared into the vast snowfield.
Zhang Wen stood on the city and watched Dakui go away, but he felt a little guilty in his heart. In terms of official status, Dakui was a first-class official, but this first-class official had to endure the hardships of wind and frost and traveled thousands of miles. It was not that Zhang Wen didn't want to send him.
The soldiers headed to Yingtian, but it was because the thousand-mile journey was extremely dangerous, and they were afraid that they would be intercepted by Yuan soldiers before they even left Lanzhou.