It snowed heavily in November, Xingqing Mansion was already covered in snow, and the plains at the foot of Helan Mountain were also covered in snow. If the Tang army hadn't repelled Tacha'er early, the entire city would have been frozen in the floods.
, it will destroy itself without attacking. But the current situation is not good either.
"Commander, the main force of the chieftain's troops has passed through Dengkou." "Is there any news from Your Majesty?"
"not yet."
Li Zengbo frowned when he heard this, and he calculated in his mind that Li Xia might have already met Ma Ge La. Regardless of whether he won or not, it would take at least two months to withdraw to Xingqing Mansion.
The generals waited for a while, but when they saw that he had stopped talking, they asked: "Commander, with our strength, we are afraid that it will be difficult to stop the Yuan army. Do you want to withdraw from Xingqing Mansion?"
"Where to retreat?" The generals were silent.
"If we withdraw to Liangzhou, the Yuan army can directly attack Longxi; if we withdraw to Lanzhou, will the Hexi Corridor be abandoned?" Li Zengbo asked, and then sighed: "Now the imperial court is recruiting the Tibetan tribes. Once our army retreats, all the previous achievements will be wasted."
Giving up Ningxia at this time is equivalent to giving up Gansu and Tubo."
"I understand what Commander is saying, but I'm afraid I won't be able to abide by it."
"Of course it's difficult to defend. Three hundred years ago, the Communists of the Song Dynasty knew it was difficult to defend."
When Li Zengbo said this, he did not lament, but smiled and began to encourage morale.
Changing the topic, he said: "But it's different now. It's not the Song Dynasty now. Even if our soldiers of the Tang Dynasty faced Kublai Khan's personal conquest, we could stop him in the Hetao for a month. What about us? We defended the city.
Why not hold off the Yuan army for another two months?"
He raised his voice and said: "If the armies believe me, reinforcements will definitely arrive in two months!"...
That day, when the generals came down from the city, someone still murmured a few words.
"He said one thing after another. He only said the truth about not retreating. It only boosted morale, but he didn't say what he could do to hold on for two months."
"What else can we take? Take our lives."
Li Zengbo was still standing on the top of the city, looking at the backs of the soldiers. Although he couldn't hear what they said, he could feel their dissatisfaction.
Of course there will be dissatisfaction. The war has been going on for so many years. It has been too long. Everyone is tired and unable to continue. This time we planned to capture the Hetao. In order to boost morale, the army publicized the significance of capturing the Hetao many times.
If we can take Yanjing directly, it seems that defeating Meng Yuan is just around the corner.
Now that the plan has been thwarted and we have to continue to face dangers and difficulties, many people will be discouraged and complain.
Not everyone can stay strong forever. Even Li Zengbo himself would have moments when he felt he couldn't hold on. He could no longer say anything that could make people's blood boil. There was dissatisfaction in the army, so he could only endure it and continue to defend the city.
"Commander, are you sending Xiliji Khan back to Liupan Mountain?" A military counselor came up and asked. "Xiliji Khan."
Li Zengbo raised his head and looked at the nine-pin white flag erected behind the general's flag.
During Li Xia's personal expedition, he brought Xili Jihan out from Liupan Mountain, intending to relocate him to Jiuyuan City after retaking Hetao to appease the Mongolian tribes.
When chasing Tacha'er, they paid attention to the marching speed. Li Xia and Yang Ben took 10,000 horsemen and left, temporarily leaving them in Xingqing Mansion until the war was over before sending them there with the baggage.
Several military counselors had similar opinions on Xilijihan and began to analyze it one after another.
"Kublai Khan chose to attack Xingqing Mansion first instead of taking the Qin Straight Road to Guanzhong. In addition to the difficulty of traveling on the road and the difficulty of attacking the plateau mountain fortress, there is another reason. It must be to kill Xiliji Khan first and take six points before conquering Guanzhong.
Panshan."
"Yes, Xiliji Khan and Liupanshan are not important to the commander, but they are extremely important to Kublai Khan. If he does not kill Xiliji, he cannot be fully regarded as the Mongol Khan. There will always be Mongolians who oppose him in this name.
he."
"Commander, why don't we send Xiliji back to Liupan Mountain first? In this way, even if Xingqing Mansion cannot hold on, we won't lose all our chips at once."
"We can't send him away." Li Zengbo shook his head and said, "If we send him away, his morale will be even lower." He turned around and walked down the city wall and walked into the city.
~~
Li Xia brought Xilijihan to Xingqing
After the palace, it was placed in an abandoned nunnery in the city.
On this day, Li Zengbo walked to the nunnery and looked up. He saw the three characters "Jie Tan Yuan", and for a moment he felt that the name sounded familiar.
After thinking for a while, he remembered a story often told by the military commander named Wang Mancang, about the affair between the Xixia Emperor Li Yuanhao and the Mu Zang family in the Jietan Courtyard.
When I turned around, I saw that the people guarding the courtyard were all Tang troops.
It is said that the job of "protecting" the Mongol Khan is free, so we should choose some veterans who have retired due to injuries. They have enough experience to fill the role but will not be too tired. Of course, a better job for veterans is to serve as instructors in the army.
When I walked into the courtyard, I saw many Mongolian nobles, either reading, writing, or playing and singing. They seemed to be living a decent life.
It has been a long time since Xili Jihan arrived in Xingqing Mansion. Apart from Li Zengbo's glance at him from a distance when he entered the city, today is the first real meeting with him.
He didn't know how to address him for a while. If you really think about it, this kind of etiquette wording had troubled the scholar-bureaucrats of Song and Jin Dynasties for several years.
"Can the Great Khan of Mongolia speak Chinese?" "Yes."
Xiliji's voice was a little childish and thin.
Li Zengbo squinted his old eyes and saw that he was wearing a white robe and a felt hat. Although he was not very old, he already had a thin beard on his face, and almost only his eyes were exposed. He looked very majestic.
A puppet shouldn't have such majestic eyes.
"Kublai Khan has attacked the city." Li Zengbo said, "Do you think you will die if you fall into his hands?" "Yes."
The two questions in a row received short answers with only one word, and Li Zengbo didn't care.
The reason why he came in person was to see Xiliji's determination to defend the city, so he said: "The city is not easy to defend. In this battle, all active people in the city need to be mobilized. I need you to help defend the city."
When he said this, he kept looking at Xiliji's eyes.
The young Khan lowered his head first, trying to hide the softness, and then raised his eyes after a while and said, "Okay."
Li Zengbo said: "I will transfer the soldiers and horses guarding you, and I will also use the Mongols outside. You need to tell me,
Who is not worthy of trust?"
"good."
Li Zengbo turned around and walked out. He didn't need a puppet to give orders. As long as he was determined, he would naturally make other arrangements.
~~
The next day, the Yuan army commander Hu Lanji launched another fierce attack on the city.
He used to attack the city without working hard, but now he wanted to break through Xingqing Mansion before Kublai Khan arrived, which seemed to be a temporary clinging to the Buddha's wall.
"No more artillery!"
On the top of the city, a soldier with a bloody face turned his head and shouted for help: "Are there any more cannonballs?!" "There are no more. The water from the Yellow River soaked the baggage delivered, and there is no gunpowder."
"Use the artillery cart, hit them with the artillery cart!" "There are not many stones left." "Boom!"
The Yuan army's stones hit the city.
Afterwards, seeing that the artillery of the Tang army had finally been exhausted today, the Yuan army dared to gather together and began to storm the city. The battle continued until evening, and the city was covered with the corpses of soldiers from both sides.
A Mongolian soldier who attacked the city but was chopped to the ground fell there and howled. He watched the Yuan army retreat like a tide and hurriedly crawled towards the city wall.
If you look up, you will definitely die if you fall.
After that, his feet were dragged by Tang's soldiers from the muddy snow to a group of more than ten people. "Look at me."
Suddenly there was a voice in Mongolian, and the soldier looked up and saw a very noble Mongolian.
"You don't recognize me. I am the leader of the Great Mongol Kingdom's Onyisa tribe. I am married to the Hada consort of Princess Huolei, the eldest granddaughter of Genghis Khan. The one I have been following all this time is the real Great Khan, Meng Ge Da. The son of the Khan, the generous and merciful Siriki Khan was elected by the kings at the meeting of Khuriratai."
"You're a coward who's full of lies."
"puff."
Some Mongolian soldiers stood up
He shouted, but as the interpreter told the surrounding Tang soldiers what he had said, someone immediately went up and killed him with a knife.
Blood even splashed on Hada's face.
Hada was so frightened that he wiped the sweat from his head and then continued: "Kublai Khan is a sinner who betrayed Mongolia. If you are deceived by him, you will be punished by the Immortal God. But the kind Khan decided to give you an atonement. Opportunity."
"Don't listen to him! He will kill you."
There was another "poof" sound, and the Tang army treated these prisoners without mercy at all, and immediately chopped down those who dared to resist at all.
Hada's face turned even paler and said: "I don't need you to do anything, I will let you go back and let you thank the Great Khan for his kindness.
~~
Three days later, Hulanji realized something was wrong. "Marshal, Tang Jun put the wounded back again." "Put them back again?"
Hulanji frowned, not happy about this.
It was the first time he heard that Li Zengbo was happy to release the prisoners. At that time, he also laughed at the Tang army for not even wanting military merit in order to show goodwill.
But gradually he discovered that it was basically impossible to save the wounded people walking back from Xingqing Mansion in this cold weather. He could not let shamans do magic or put them into the belly of a cow.
Often more food is consumed and can no longer be used as combat power.
What annoyed him was that some people in the army began to talk about the fake Khan in Xingqing Mansion. Apparently, the Tang army even placed spies among these wounded soldiers.
Hulanji then ordered that all the wounded be controlled to prevent them from shaking the morale of the army again. However, the morale of the army was still shaken.
While he was struggling, another horse came from the north. "Report to the marshal, the army has arrived!"
"Hurry, we have to go meet Dahan."
The huge Jiuyou Baiji moved southward, and the long black dragon passed through the white snow in the sky and slowly entered the foot of Helan Mountain, becoming the most spectacular scenery in Yinchuan.
Hulanji reported the results of his battle to Kublai Khan in fear.
"Great Khan, I have consumed the artillery in Xingqing Mansion City, and I estimate that more than half of the food and arrows have also been consumed. Li Zengbo only has more than 10,000 troops, and half of them are temporarily recruited militiamen. But."
"but what?"
Hulan Ji then told Li Zengbo about the impact on his military morale by releasing him as a prisoner.
Hearing Xiliji's name, Kublai Khan's eyes became complicated, and he did not hide his disdain and the anger in his disdain.
In his opinion, that nephew is nothing but trash.
But this waste was like a mud pit on the roadside, and he would feel uncomfortable even if he stepped into it.
"My poor nephew was taken advantage of by Li Xia." Kublai Khan lamented and asked, "What do you think?" Yang Wen'an looked at the interpreter and waited until the interpreter translated Kublai Khan's words before he understood.
"My son and nephew fell into the enemy's hands, what should I do?"
"Don't worry, Your Majesty. Li Zengbo's little tricks are only useful when the two sides are in a long-term confrontation and he has the upper hand. Now he has no other choice, so he will do it temporarily. Your Majesty's army has gathered below the city, and he can defeat it with the force of thunder.