Dingjiangshan

Tongbai County is a small county in name. For so many years, it has lived well under the protection of Nanyang Prefecture. The terrain connecting the north and the south and the local good climate have allowed the two outlets of business and farming to develop well. Overall, Although the life is not very rich, it is much better than other poor counties.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, the gate of a grain farm closest to Dongcheng in Tongbai County was pushed open from the inside. A young guy with a white cloth on his body poked his head out and looked around to make sure that there were no patrols on the street. Only then did the soldiers push the remaining half of the door open and set it up with wooden wedges.

Because of the upcoming war, the guards in the city are getting tighter day by day, most of the shops are closed, and those who can hide have long since done so. I can stay at home with the door closed, praying that such days will pass soon.

The life of Liu Ji grain shop is better than other shops, because of selling grain, the door can always be opened more or less for one or two hours every day.As for other silk and satin shops and antique shops in the city, the plaques hanging at the door were covered with a layer of dust.

"It's very hot today." The shopkeeper of Liu Jiliang Store came down from the second floor, frowned and told the shop assistant, "Open two more windows."

The young man responded, quickly hung up the food price sign, and pushed open the two windows beside the door.

"It's autumn, and it's unnaturally hot." The man said, "It's so hot that people feel panicked."

"This year's luck is bad, and war broke out." Shopkeeper Liu held a cattail fan in his hand, walked to the door worriedly, and looked at the sky outside: "It looks like it's going to rain—wait later After a while, if no one comes to the door, close the shop and move the remaining few carts of grain stored in the backyard into the cellar."

While agreeing, the man took off the cloth towel that was hanging on his body, soaked it in the water basin just made, and wiped the thin ash that fell from the door.

The front of the grain store has to be clean and tidy, so that people who pass by will think of coming in to buy grain. The guy has worked in this grain store for four or five years, and he is already familiar with these tasks, even if there are few customers coming to the door, he can do it well. Meticulous.

Shopkeeper Liu stood in front of the door for a while, and was about to go out to see the situation outside, but before he could take the steps, he suddenly heard a piercing and sharp alarm bell on the city wall not far away.

The brass bells connected by iron locks rang together in a short while, the sound was chaotic and noisy, continuous, Shopkeeper Liu's heart skipped a beat, he grabbed the clerk by the shoulder, and pushed him into the room.

"Quick, close the door!" Shopkeeper Liu said, "Something must have happened outside!"

The cattail fan with rough edges fell to the ground, most of it was wet by the splashed sewage.The sound of messy and heavy footsteps soon resounded in the city, and it sounded like they were heading towards the west city gate.

Shopkeeper Liu and the shopkeeper locked the door of the shop, and even put wooden bolts on the windows. He leaned his back against the door in fear, listening to the shouts outside, his heart was beating so fast that he almost wanted to It was in harmony with the sound of the alarm bell outside.

Outside the gate of Xicheng, Ning Huaijin opened the second arrow basket and pulled out a long feathered arrow from it.

Several bloodstains had already been splashed on his armor, and a small bloody gash had been scratched by the arrow point on the tiger's mouth of his left hand.

Fortunately, most of the blood was not his, Ning Huaijin thought, otherwise how would he explain it to Ning Yan.

Feng Yuan probably got the news from the Xinyang Mansion in the rear, and saw that Ning Huaijin was desperate, so he never went out of the city to fight, but concentrated his forces on the four walls of the city, looking like he was about to defend to the death.

Ning Huaijin knew that if he didn't capture Tongbai County in a short time, not only Ning Zheng's reinforcements would arrive, but also Xie Jue, who was supporting him, would be in a dilemma, not to mention Zheng Shaohui.

What's more, his strength is limited after all, no matter how much he fights with more troops, after a long time, he will always be dragged out of the decline by the opponent.

"Scatter!" Ning Huaijin raised his voice, "Ladder!"

"My lord." The lieutenant left behind by Xie Jue raised his voice not far away: "Aren't you calling the battle?"

"No." Ning Huaijin put the long bow on her body, waved her hand, and said simply: "Siege the city!"

The city wall in Tongbai County is three feet high and two feet thick, and a high platform is set up every thirty feet on the wall to prevent soldiers climbing the ladder from attacking the city wall.

Ning Huaijin had plenty of feathered arrows, but the angle on the high platform was tricky, and there were more than one soldier inside, so it was difficult for Ning Huaijin to have both sides.

When the Youjun went out to fight, in order to hide their whereabouts, they did not bring out large-scale siege equipment such as catapults, and only the ladders were available.

But the defenders on the city wall had already poured kerosene on the wall in advance, and filled the battlements with arrows, and the ladder attack was very difficult.

From time to time, soldiers fell from a high place on the ladder, and Ning Huaijin's ears were filled with the sound of Jin Ge and wailing. Those two completely different voices mixed together, as if they had torn him in half for no reason.

Half of them were heartbroken and couldn't bear it; the other half seemed to have a heart of stone, almost cold-blooded, thinking about how many people it would take to pile up the city wall.

"My lord." The lieutenant general shouted at him not far away: "This is not going to work. The city wall is tightly guarded. If our army can't attack, it will all be lost in vain."

Ning Huaijin expressionlessly pulled out two feathered arrows from the arrow basket, and put them on the bowstring together.

His thumb had been missing, and now his bow-holding thumb was covered only by a thin layer of leather that he had cut from the saddle improvised.

That kind of material is not very useful, and it can't play a protective role under the hard arrow shaft. Ning Huaijin's hand has been rubbed red in a large area, and it is hot and painful.

The two feathered arrows were forced at the same time, whizzing past with a fierce sound of breaking the wind, accurately and powerfully inserted straight through the mouth on the high platform, and sank into the chests of the two archers.

A young soldier on the ladder narrowly saved his life because of Ning Huaijin's two arrows. He subconsciously glanced down with lingering fear, and was dazzled by the crumbling ladder.He simply gritted his teeth, bit the saber in his hand between his teeth, and climbed up vigorously with his hands and feet.

The bowstring of the longbow was worn out a bit today, unable to support the strength of the two feathered arrows, it was trembling slightly in Ning Huaijin's hands, beeping like a wailing.

Ning Huaijin wiped off the blood splatter on the nail with her thumb, and wiped it along the bowstring.

"Persist for a while longer." Ning Huaijin turned her head and said: "The order continues, the arrow array will only cover with all its strength, don't care about the arrows!"

But even so, Ning Huaijin's right army was still severely damaged.

Feng Yuan has his own way of defending the city, he has already prepared in advance on the city, several high platforms are cross guarded, there are almost no dead spots under the rain of arrows.

What's more, he prepared kerosene on the city wall, and set it on fire whenever the situation was bad. After several times, Ning Huaijin's left army lost more than a few thousand.

Ning Huaijin clenched her teeth tightly, but she refused to let go and retreat, as if she was holding an evil fire in her heart, she insisted on making a name for herself with Feng Yuan.

——I have to hold my breath, Ning Huaijin thought.

"My lord, it's not an option to continue fighting like this!" The deputy general was afraid of losing morale, so he rode forward, came to Ning Huaijin with difficulty, and said in a low voice: "It's getting dark now, if it's getting late, you can treat me The army is even more unfavorable, presumably it will only lose more."

"Don't worry." Ning Huaijin said, "This king knows it well."

Ning Huaijin looked extremely calm, with no sign of anxiety on his face, the lieutenant seemed to be infected by him, and he really settled down.

The siege battle was stalemate for more than four hours. It was early in the night in autumn, and after Maoshi, the sky gradually darkened.

It wasn't until this time that Ning Huaijin finally let go, slowed down the speed of the siege, and temporarily pulled down the ladder.

The defenders in Tongbai County were more or less relieved to see that the ladder outside the city had withdrawn, thinking that Ning Huaijin had finally retreated in spite of the difficulties and wanted to withdraw temporarily.

The commander of the left battalion commanding on the west city wiped the blood from his face, and in a hoarse voice instructed the remaining soldiers to remove the wounded from under the wall and send them back to the city for treatment.

The enemy's arrow formation seems to be sent up without money, even if it can't hit every shot, it is really hard to underestimate.The commander stepped out from behind the wall, stepped over several still warm corpses, and was going to go to the county government office to return Feng Yuan.

However, before he could get down from the tower, he heard a dull and loud noise outside, the city gate swayed in place, and a large piece of gravel and sand fell down.

"Damn it." The Zuoying Commander couldn't help cursing: "Ning Huaijin doesn't know how to fight, this group of royal family and nobles who are eating vegetarian meals are really cruel, and the lives of their own soldiers are at stake!"

As he spoke, he pushed a small soldier passing by, took the saber from the opponent and took it in his hand, and while turning his head and walking towards the city wall, he pointed at him and ordered: "Go quickly, report the situation back to General Feng .”

The little soldier was pushed staggeringly by him, the wound on his arm where the arrow had just been pulled out was bleeding again, and his face suddenly turned a little pale.

"Yes!" The soldier gritted his teeth and covered the wound on his arm, before stumbling down the city wall.

There was too much commotion outside the siege, except for the soldiers coming and going to support, there was no one in the city anymore. The doors and windows of every house on the street were locked, and even the slightest light could not be seen, as if it had become a dead city with no one in it.

Warm blood kept pouring out from the wound, Xiao Bing's face became paler and his steps became more and more difficult.

The heavy rust smell easily surrounded him, like a shadowy ghost, waiting to take his life in the dark night at any time.

Xiao Bing gritted his teeth, stood on the main road and looked left and right. Finally, he turned his head and plunged into the alley beside him, planning to take a shortcut back to the county office.

Not far behind him, a black figure quietly disappeared into the darkness under the moonlight.The long shadow merged with the shadow of the eaves tile house, stepping on the blood dripping from the soldiers, and catching up with him closely.