After a raid, it was daylight by the time the Song army cleared the battlefield.
Kong Xian was busy all night, and when he had a little free time, he returned to Xiao Shixian's body and sat helplessly on the ground.
The wound on his back was simply bandaged, and he began to mobilize his troops overnight to pursue the defeated Mongolian army. He lost too much blood, making him look quite weak.
The two heads held in his hands fell to the ground with a slight "dong" sound.
"Yao Shi'an, I brought you Meng Ta's head." Kong Xian murmured, "I brought it here especially for you to see."
He picked up the forest belt, placed the half-broken head in front of Xiao Shixian, and pulled out the fragments of gravel embedded in it and threw them aside.
"Hey, it's a little broken. The dog dared to come into the city and it was smashed. You should rest in peace after seeing it."
Kong Xian stretched out his blood-stained hand and wanted to close Xiao Shixian's angry eyes.
The hand stopped in the air with some reluctance, and finally fell back.
"Back then, you and I were ordered to station in Lizhou. Didn't you say that one day we would be able to take office in Lizhou? Why did we just leave?"
Kong Xian looked at Xiao Shixian, and his thoughts seemed to go back to the past.
At that time, they followed Yu Shuai to recapture Hanzhong. Although they failed in the end, they brought back a large number of people and luggage.
Xiao Shixian was very high-spirited and said, "This 'Lizhou Garrison' is well sealed! This time we have severely defeated the Mongolian army in Hanzhong. If I give Commander Yu two more years, why worry about losing Hanzhong? Then you and I will guard Lizhou and become the gateway to Sichuan and Shu."
.”
However, since then, Xiao Shixian has become more and more taciturn and has never smiled like that again.
"Aren't we going to take office in Lizhou together? Why did you leave?"
Kong Xian sat there slumped and whispered: "I'm sorry for you these years. You always say 'I can't bear it anymore, I can't bear it anymore', but it's me every time. I always say 'I can't bear it any longer.
Now that the foreign invaders are coming, we should join forces with Yao Shi'an to fight against the Mongols.' But you were right in saying that he values self-interest far more than justice."
At this point, Kong Xiancai, who had not had time to cry all night, finally couldn't help crying loudly.
"I killed you...I killed you..."
~~
Outside the hall, Li Xia raised his hand and stopped Nie Zhongyou.
"Just wait for a while."
"Yeah." Nie Zhongyou said: "When I got here last night, Yao Shi'an had left through the side door, and I only caught one Yao Yiming."
Li Xia asked: "Has it been interrogated? What information does he know?"
"He's just a liaison for Yao Shi'an, what can he know?"
"Where is Yunding City's military register and food register?" Li Xia asked.
Nie Zhongyou said: "I couldn't find it. After interrogating Yao Yiming, he said he didn't know. Maybe it's at General Kong's place?"
"Let me ask later, where is Yao Yiming being held?"
"there."
Li Xia turned around and left, and came back after a while, wiping the blood on his sword as he walked.
Returning to Nie Zhongyou, he threw away the rag in his hand and said, "Yao Yiming was injured and did not survive."
Nie Zhongyou lowered his voice and said: "Kill him now? Why don't you send him to Lin'an to explain and behead him?"
"It's not like you and I have never seen the court before. Even the black ones can be said to be white. All the soldiers in Yunding City saw what happened last night. There is no need for 'confirmation'. Keeping such people around will only create more problems and waste."
Manpower, food.”
"But you have no right..."
"As I said, I have military orders from Commander Pu." Li Xia responded casually.
Nie Zhongyou had no choice but to sigh: "Okay."
Seeing that Kong Xian finally calmed down in the hall, the two of them stepped forward.
"General Kong." Li Xia said: "At dawn, Niulin sent troops up the mountain. They retreated after seeing that the Tuolin belt had been defeated."
"Fortunately, you guys snatched back the city gate in time, otherwise Yunding City would have been lost."
Li Xia said: "It was General Kong who summoned the garrison in the city in time. We dare not take the credit."
Kong Xian had regained his solemn appearance and said: "Let's talk about the results first. Last night, 386 Mongolian troops were annihilated and 224 were captured. 173 rebels were annihilated and 709 were captured.
…It’s a pity that Zhang Wei escaped.”
"yes."
Li Xia didn't say much about how to deal with these prisoners. Kong Xian was a veteran and knew everything better than him.
What Li Xia cares about most is that Yunding City must have troops to cope with Pu Zezhi. Regarding this, Kong Xian reassures him much more than Yao Shi'an.
After talking for a few words, Kong Xian asked: "How did Feiyu know in advance that Yao Shian was going to rebel?"
Li Xia was silent for a moment.
How to know in advance?
He didn't know.
The fact is that even if Yao Shian doesn't rebel, Li Xia planned to capture him last night. The only difference is whether to kill him or not.
But it was hard to say this to Kong Xian. Li Xia said: "There is something wrong with him. Those who are abnormal must be monsters."
Kong Xian couldn't help but sigh.
Yesterday, when Li Xia had a conflict with Yao Shi'an as soon as he entered the city, Kong Xian was still unhappy, but when things turned out like this, he didn't know what to think.
In the end, he could only sigh: "It's not up to God Yu."
Li Xia didn't have the nerve to accept this compliment. He just cupped his hand and said, "General Kong is injured and has to take care of the city's defense. If you have any orders, just give him orders."
Kong Xian asked: "What do you think?"
"Inquire more about the movements of the Mongolian army. If Niulin attacks the city again, hold on to the mountain city and drag down its troops; if the Mongolian army attacks Chengdu, send troops to support Commander Pu."
"Having said that," Kong Xiandao said, "but the Mongolian army is mostly cavalry. Even in the decisive battle with Pu Shuai, the light cavalry must keep firing arrows to harass, cut, and weaken our army. If there is a chance of victory, the heavy cavalry will attack.
, how can we respond?"
At this point, he smiled bitterly and said, "I'm not trying to shirk it, I'm really worried about it."
When the Mongolian army fought, they first dispersed their fine cavalry, relying on the superiority of the cavalry to wear down the enemy and then charge. There were very few battles in which the two sides formed a square formation to fight each other.
For example, this time, Niulin planned to pull out Lingquan Mountain, Jianmen Pass, and Yunding City first, forcing Pu Zhezhi into a desperate situation.
It would be almost impossible for the Yunding City defenders to suddenly rush into Niulin's rear while the battle between Pu Zezhi and Niulin was in full swing.
On the contrary, if the Yunding City defenders dared to leave the mountain city easily, they would be easily turned around and annihilated by the flexible Mongolian cavalry.
Kong Xian could not solve this problem.
Li Xia said: "But Niulin may not always be able to maintain a steady fighting style. If he continues to fight, he will always make mistakes."
This sentence is what Li Xia often heard. Miraculous comebacks on the field are often accompanied by this mentality of fighting to the end.
To put it simply, there are a few people who can remain calm in this kind of adversity. Kong Xian looked in his eyes and could feel the composure of this young man who was neither arrogant nor discouraged.
"Li Feiyu is a reliable person." Kong Xian thought...
~~
Mongolian army camp.
Although Niulin was defeated, he was not discouraged. He walked around in the tent with a calm face and thought.
He is extremely tall, like a moving tower.
Zhang Wei knelt on the ground and kept talking non-stop. He secretly caught a glimpse of the marshal of the Mongolian army and was filled with fear.
After finally finishing the story, Zhang Wei hurriedly said: "The villain and Yao Chengshou are sincerely loyal to me, and I beg Marshal Du to spare his life."
"Why should I kill you?" Niulin said, "Get up. Can you give me the city defense picture of Yunding?"
"I've brought it with me, I've brought it with me." Zhang Wei hurriedly took out several brochures from his arms and placed them at Niulin's feet.
He was obviously very thoughtful. In addition to saying that he wanted to recruit Zhang Shi for the Mongolian army, he also brought out all the information about Yuncheng's defense, military register, food and grass, and the location of the farmland.
Niulin picked up the map and looked at it for a while, but was not in a hurry to attack the mountain city first and ordered the soldiers and horses to rest for a day.
Although the map with yellow paper and black lines is crude, it can fully show the layout of Yunding Mountain City.
To the north is a dangerous road up the mountain, to the southeast is Jintang Gorge, a cliff, to the west it is also difficult to climb, and there is a solid city wall of the Song Army above it.
The Song army's farming locations were concentrated in the south, because Yunding City, like other mountain cities, was located on Fangshan. The characteristic of Fangshan is that the mountain is high and dangerous, but the top is flat and flat.
The granaries and warehouses in the city are mostly concentrated in the south.
After thinking about it, Niulin believed that it was extremely difficult to break Yunding and attack by force. The most important thing was to burn the Song army's grain stores and supplies. When the food in the city was exhausted, someone would naturally kill the defenders and surrender.
"Zhang Wei, can you lead people to climb to the south of the city?"
Zhang Wei did not dare to hesitate and said immediately: "I am familiar with the terrain of Yunding, so I can."
Niulin nodded, already having a plan in mind.
When it comes to marching and fighting, the person Niulin admires most is not the Great Khan Meng Ge, but the Zong King Kublai Khan.
In his opinion, Meng Ge was a little stubborn in fighting. On the other hand, Kublai Khan's battle to destroy Dali, he crossed mountains and ridges, crossed rivers with leather bags, jumped over Cangshan Mountain to surprise Longshou Pass, and split silk to stop the killing... The tenacity and wisdom in this,
Mind is the spirit of a general.
Niulin would rather learn these tenacity, wisdom, and big-mindedness than foolishly attack a fortified city.
…
Two days later, on the second day of August.
At night, Niulin selected more than a hundred people to follow Zhang Wei and climbed up the cliff from the south. He also ordered the commander of a thousand men under his command to lead a team from the west up the mountain in the dark and attack the west battlements of Yunding City.
The commander who was appointed was named "Du La" and he was quite agile.
With just his few troops, he couldn't attack Yunding City, but they didn't intend to break the city in the first place.
Each of his subordinates was carrying a bundle of hay. The hay was mixed with arsenic, croton and other substances, and was poured with kerosene. Once it burned, poisonous smoke billowed out.
Du La only had to order people to throw hay into the city and ignite it with fire arrows to burn and kill the Song army in Dali.
More importantly, while the Song army was guarding the West City, Zhang Weike led his men to climb the southern cliff, where the defense was weakest, and burned down the Song army's farms and granaries.
In this way, if the Song army is besieged again, it can be defeated without attacking.
At the third watch, Du Lai finally led people up the steep mountain.
Looking down, I saw an abyss beneath my feet.
They did not dare to breathe loudly and carefully observed the defenders on the city wall. Sure enough, they saw that the guards here were much laxer than those in the northern city.
After resting for a while, I still felt relieved, but seeing that Song Jun hadn't noticed yet, I couldn't help but feel relieved.
"The Song people... The Song people really didn't expect that we would attack the west... and prepare to set fire to the city."
They continued to climb the last section of the mountain road.
Suddenly, a fire lit up on top of the city.
Immediately afterwards, there was a "swish, swish" sound of arrows, and fire arrows were shot down from the top of the city.
Some of the fire arrows shot into the deep darkness at the bottom of the mountain, some fell on the steep mountains and ignited the grass and trees, but there were also fire arrows that fell on the dry grass on the backs of the Mongolian soldiers.
"Peng!"
As soon as it touched the kerosene, the fire burned very quickly. Before the Mongolian soldier carrying hay could take off the hay on his back, his body was instantly engulfed...
"ah!"
The screams were unbearable to hear.
And more and more fire arrows have been shot down from the top of the city.
Du La raised his head, stared blankly at the scene in front of him, and murmured: "Are you on guard? How could you do that?"
The next moment, a ball of flames fell down with a scream.
"Peng!"
Another flame ignited, and the screams became even louder.
Followed by billows of poisonous smoke.
The wind blew from west to east that night, and gradually, more and more coughs were heard in the city.
They both covered their mouths and noses, trying with great difficulty to prevent themselves from rolling down the hillside.