One misstep turned into eternal hatred. The original intention was to persuade the people to evacuate Weizhou, but the result was exactly the opposite. The people in the bitter cold land of the northwest were quite thin and tough. The more they were allowed to escape from danger, the more their anger was aroused.
A fierce spirit.
Su Jin insisted, and the common people were even more insistent. After working for a long time, no one registered on the dismissal list, which made Su Jin scratch his head.
"Once the city is destroyed, can you bear to see your wives and daughters being ravaged by the Western thieves? It's simply confusing." Su Jin was angry.
"When the city was destroyed, everyone just followed the Lord Fu and died in the city. What can they do if the Western thieves are left with a dead city?" the people shouted.
"No, more than 100,000 lives are lost. Are you trying to make me, Su Jinliu, infamy for all eternity? There is still hope to hold on, but if you make such a fuss, my government will have to distract itself from taking care of the people. This is a doomed situation.
If the city is destroyed because of this, you will be responsible."
Su Jin began to exaggerate and threaten, but everyone soon saw through it. Someone shouted: "Sir, don't scare us. Although we are not the army, we can still help. We can move rocks and throw them at the city. We can do this."
Well, if three of us support one, it means that Weizhou City has 30,000 more soldiers to defend the city, so the chances of winning should be even greater."
Su Jin scratched his head and looked at the people around him and said, "What should I do? Please give me an idea. My voice is almost hoarse. Is there a ruthless donkey in Weizhou City? Why are these people so disobedient?"
Ge Huaimin smiled and said: "Master Su, the people also have good intentions. They all want to help you defend the city."
Su Jin reprimanded: "You are a man who has experienced hundreds of battles. You should know that fighting is not a child's play. There are tens of thousands of old, weak, women and children in the city. If a war breaks out, there will be chaos. Who will have the energy to take care of them then?"
Ge Huaimin hurriedly raised his hands and said: "Sir, you can discuss with the people. The old and weak, women and children can be evacuated from the city, and the young and strong men can be retained to help defend the city. Originally, when defending the city, civilians are needed to carry tools, weapons, and arrows.
Cooking and boiling water, even if they are dismissed, they cannot all be dismissed, so it is better to compromise, maybe we can really help."
Su Jin thought about it and felt that it made sense. Although he knew that even young and middle-aged people could not compare with trained soldiers, there was still a lot of preparation work to be done and he couldn't waffle here.
"Fellow folks!" Su Jin raised his hands and shouted loudly.
The crowd calmed down, and Su Jin said: "I am deeply moved by your sincere patriotism, but war is not a child's play, and I cannot let you die. However, I also understand everyone's feelings, so I take a step back.
The young and strong people are allowed to stay and help defend the city, but the old, weak, women and children must be evacuated to other places immediately. This is the final bottom line. If you do not agree, I will immediately order the abandonment of Weizhou and lead the army to retreat to Yuanzhou."
Seeing Su Jin's resolute attitude, the people could only agree. Even the people themselves would feel distracted when women and children were in the city. It should be said that this was the best way. Everyone agreed one after another, so Su Jin gave the order, at the age of eighteen
Young men aged between forty and forty can participate in the defense of the city. The only son in the family is not among them, and the rest must retreat.
After a lot of chaos, the two lists were finally filled out in the evening. There were more than 96,000 people in the city, of which only 27,000 were eligible, and the remaining nearly 70,000 were unqualified. Su Jin breathed a sigh of relief, and finally
Most of the people will be evacuated, and the remaining 27,000 people will be used as logistics workers.
Su Jin ordered Ge Huaimin to organize the civilian husbands to form a militia. Every hundred people would elect a captain, every ten teams would select one regiment trainer and one deputy regiment trainer, and then set up a militia leader. He ordered Chao Chao to be the leader, and Ma Han Zhang.
Long, Zhao and Hu serve as deputy directors to jointly coordinate and manage.
That night, Su Jin ordered the dynasty to assign the responsibilities of the militia. Some were responsible for boiling water and cooking, some were responsible for transporting military supplies, some were responsible for transporting the city walls, and some were responsible for repairing fortifications. In short, everyone was responsible for their responsibilities in an orderly manner.
.
Early in the morning of the next day, government officials began to gather and evacuate the people according to the names on the dismissal list. At about this time, several long teams began to slowly evacuate. The people burst into tears and kept looking back at the tall city wall of Weizhou City.
The feeling of reluctance to leave was beyond words, and the young and strong men who stayed behind also wept silently. This may be the day of separation between life and death. No one knows whether they will see their families again in the future, but everyone holds the hope of reunion.
, I hope that if we can win this battle, we will still have the day to meet each other.
In the following days, Su Jin ordered the city defenses to be strengthened again. Although there seemed to be no need to strengthen, people still spontaneously raised the city walls and widened the battlements, as if every piece of soil tamped down increased the chance of victory.
.
The Wengcheng outside the North City Gate was barely completed. Su Jin had no hope for it, but since the war was approaching, he always expected it to play some role.
The army supported by Qinzhou also entered the city on July 27th. The general leading the army was Han Qi's capable general Longzhou Zhizhou Jingtai. Although this man was a civil servant, he spoke and behaved like a general. Like Su Jin
We were able to talk well, and on the day we arrived, we proposed to immediately station troops at two small villages in Dingchuan and Liuhenbao in the north of Weizhou to intercept them. These two small villages were already abandoned, but their strategic locations were extremely important.
The mountain pass going south is clamped from east to west.
Su Jin felt it was necessary. Just as he thought, blocking the Xixia army along the way, delaying their attack and damaging their morale was the beginning of psychological warfare. Moreover, the strategic positions of these two villages were important, and they could also kill a large number of enemy troops and frustrate them.
However, what made Su Jin hesitate was that once soldiers and horses were stationed in these two villages, they would never return. Under the crushing force of a hundred thousand troops, the hope of survival was extremely slim.
After weighing the situation again and again, Su Jin could not make a choice, and finally decided to send troops there, but at the same time, he also issued an order that if the situation became critical, he must immediately withdraw to Weizhou City without fighting to the death.
The issue of candidates was also a headache. After a fierce dispute, Ge Huaimin, who was eager to serve, won the opportunity to lead troops to station in Dingchuan Village, while the leading general of Liu Burning Fort was given to a man named Zhang Jiong deployed by Longzhou Capital.
deputy commander.
On the 28th, the two men each led 3,000 soldiers to garrison two villages, with Dingchuan Village in front and Liu Zhenbao behind. The two villages were 20 miles apart. Although the fortifications were damaged a lot, the 5,000 civilians who followed the army were still there.
It can be easily repaired in four days. Anyway, it is just a hindrance and does not require elaborate work.
On July 30th, Su Jin directed everyone at the top of the city to place the thundering stones and rolling logs in place. The personal guards came to report on flying horses, saying that there were more than a dozen people outside the city who wanted to enter the city, saying that they were coming from the capital to Weizhou to take up their posts.
of.
Su Jin was overjoyed and counted the days with his fingers. I was afraid that Li Chong, Pan Jiang, Wei Songhe and others had arrived. He hurried to Nancheng. When he saw it from a distance, he almost burst into laughter. Three people, two tall and one short, were standing there covered in sweat.
He raised his neck and shouted at the city. Li Zhong was originally dark, but under the scorching sun all the way, he could only see two eyes and white teeth from a distance. Even the fair-skinned Wei Songhe was now dark, thin and miserable. That Pan
Jiang's appearance has not changed, his short and squat body is still strong, and his skin is still the color of soy sauce from Yangzhou, and there is no visible change.
Su Jin quickly ordered the city gate to be opened, went out of the city to greet the three of them, and took them into the government office.
The three of them unanimously requested to take a bath before talking. Su Jin ordered three large buckets of water to be prepared in the inner hall for the three of them to bathe. After a while, the three of them took a bath and put on fresh clothes and came to the hall with expressions on their faces.
But it's a little embarrassing.
Su Jin smiled and said: "Are you three feeling comfortable?"
One of the servants serving the shower laughed out loud. Su Jinqi said: "What are you laughing at? It's not appropriate."
The guard covered his mouth and said nothing. When Su Jin was about to ask, Pan Jiang laughed and said: "He is laughing at me for waiting for me to wash a bucket of water into ink. Damn, the wind and sand along the way have blocked my nose and eyes."
Yes, it took three buckets of water to wash it clean."
Su Jin laughed heartily. It turned out that the officer was joking about their dirty bodies, so he laughed and said: "The three of you have traveled a long way and worked hard. It's all my fault. I insisted on asking the emperor to ask you to come."
Li Zhong said calmly: "What are you talking about? It's an honor for me, Brother Su, to think of me, Li Zhonglai."
Su Jin smiled and said: "Brother Zhaoting, please don't mean what you say. Although Tianchang is a small county, it is always a rich place. Weizhou, a place where birds don't shit, is big and useless; but I need your help urgently.
Otherwise, I really can’t support this big stall by myself.”
Pan Jiang smiled and said: "Your Majesty, there is no need to be polite. I have long been looking forward to running errands with you. I, Pan Jiang, am all thanks to your support today. Not to mention coming to Weizhou, I have been asked to go to the Gobi Desert with you."
It doesn’t matter if the Central Committee handles the errands.”
Su Jin laughed, turned to Wei Songhe and said, "Brother Wei, what about you? You used to be the county magistrate in Shao County, but now I am pulling you to be the governor of the government. The official position has not been promoted. On the contrary, it has been much harder. I must have
Just scold me."
Wei Songhe stood up and cupped his hands and said: "What did you say, my dear brother? My dear brother needs me, Wei Songhe, to come. How can I shirk it? Besides, the more bitter and cold the place, the more impressive your achievements are. I will wait until I hear that my dear brother has come to Wei."
The state then gave the Western thieves a powerful blow. Even Yuan Hao's son was captured by you, and he was very envious. This time he can finally do some exciting things with you."
Su Jin laughed loudly and said: "Well, if you really think so, then I can only congratulate the three of you for getting on the pirate ship. One hundred thousand Western thieves are about to invade Weizhou, and there will be a big war in Weizhou soon.
"I won't say any more. It's too late for the three of you to regret it now. You should immediately turn your horse around and go back home. I will explain to the emperor for the three of you, and I will not let the three of you bear any bad reputation."
The three of them looked at each other in astonishment, and suddenly they saw Li Zhongchong laughing out loud, pointing at Su Jin and saying, "Do you think you tricked us here? We had already met Master Han Qi when we passed by Qinzhou, and he had already told the whole situation.
Yes, he also advised us to think it over carefully; so if we had to run away, we would have run away a long time ago, why would we rush here to say goodbye to you in person?"
Pan Jiang and Wei Songhe also laughed heartily. Su Jin rolled his eyes and said, "This old man Han has stolen my line. I have to show him some color next time I see him."