"How many people are there in this large group of people?" Qian Zhixian asked nervously.
"This... I can't tell. It's too dark. I only saw a lot of tents set up in the snow." The subordinate replied, "I'm worried that if I get too close, I won't be able to bring the news back if I get caught by them. "
"Master Qian, let me ask." Master Zhang took over the conversation, "How far are these people from officialdom?"
"Almost...a mile or two."
"Are there any convoys on the official road? Are they setting up obstacles on the road?"
The subordinate shook his head repeatedly, "This young man can see very clearly. The snow on the road is very thick. He can't even see a person, let alone a convoy. As for the roadblocks... I didn't notice that they set up a roadblock near the official road. "
“Is there a fence around the tent?”
"Not seen yet."
"Well," Chief Zhang said thoughtfully, "last question, you should have discovered the other party half an hour ago. There should be smoke rising from those tents. What do you think the smoke looks like?" Muddy fog or gray vapor?”
This question made my subordinate think hard for a while, "Sir, I think... it should be the one in front."
"Okay, you can go down." The chief clerk waved his hand and turned to the magistrate and said, "Sir Qian, the number of people on the other side must not be too many. They should be between three hundred and one thousand."
"Oh? Why do you see it?"
"The fact that the official road is empty proves that this team has no baggage accompanying them. Camping near the official road means that they are ready to retreat at any time." The chief secretary said methodically, "In addition, I have studied in the Shenzhou garrison. Whenever the number of people exceeds a thousand, the camps must be set up separately and separated from each other by fences. This is not only to prevent enemy fire attacks and sneak attacks, but also to reduce losses caused by camp roars."
"I see," Qian Zhixian nodded repeatedly, "What does the smoke mean?"
"If the smoke is turbid and dense, it means that they have temporarily collected wood from nearby. Because of the heavy moisture and impurities, the smoke will be very heavy when burned; while the gray smoke means that it is dry firewood, which is easy to ignite. , it won’t choke people, but it just needs to be prepared in advance.”
"This has two meanings - if it is an army of one or two thousand people, it is impossible to maintain a bonfire with the wood collected. If there is no suitable forest land nearby, or there is an accident, wouldn't these people have to starve to death? Frozen? Then the morale of the army will be dispersed. Therefore, their number must be limited, which is also consistent with the previous judgment that there is a lack of baggage. "
"The second is that they have no plan to defend for a long time. They are probably taking it one step at a time. Since the wood is collected temporarily, the rations should be extremely limited. Coupled with the round trip, I speculate that this unit can only Three days in the snow!”
Chief Zhang became more and more confident as he spoke, and the last words came out almost loudly.
"Okay, okay!" Qian Zhixian praised him twice and suddenly laughed out loud.
"Why are you laughing, sir?"
"I laugh at them for being too timid." He patted his thigh and said, "If hundreds of troops didn't say anything and just rushed into Baisha City, wouldn't I have fallen into their hands long ago? Neither If you dare to do such a treasonous thing and try to put pressure on me with a letter, you are underestimating me."
Qian Zhixian felt both happy and sarcastic in his heart. Sure enough, in the face of right and wrong, even the princess's private soldiers had to weigh three points.
"Tomorrow, I will wait for them to arrive at the gate of Beicheng - I want to see which thief dares to commit such a heinous crime!"
…
The next day, the light snow still showed no sign of letting up.
The sky was a hazy light gray, with neither clouds nor sunlight, like a cauldron with no visible edges, tipped upside down on the silver-white earth.
The vast countryside outside the city was covered with snow, and the ground was as flat as a blanket. Obviously, going out in this weather has become inappropriate. Even the birds that are usually seen have almost disappeared.
However, Baisha City became unusually noisy.
This county town is not as important as Jinxia. The city wall is less than nine feet, and there is no pedestrian path at the top. The wall is divided into two layers, the outer layer is made of masonry and the inner layer is made of wood. Defenders could climb the wooden frame to reach the upper part of the city wall, expose half of their bodies and shoot arrows at the invaders, or throw stone ropes. In important locations like the gate, sentry towers and watchtowers will be set up at the rear. These facilities are basically equipped with large crossbows. Ordinary bandits who want to invade the city will be attacked head-on in front of this line of defense.
At this time, the personnel summoned by each family had fully occupied the north gate city wall.
After changing their armor and official weapons, these private soldiers actually looked presentable, at least few of them showed any timidity.
Compared with the private soldiers of Fei and Tang, the government officials were much looser. Magistrate Qian simply transferred them all and asked them to be responsible for logistics matters such as carrying arrows and hot oil. At the same time, in order to prevent the enemy from cheating, he also arranged a guard team of fifty people each at the west gate, east gate and south gate.
After arranging the deployment, Qian Zhixian handed over the command to Master Zhang, and he climbed up to the watchtower to monitor the battle situation from a height together with Fei Zhuang and Tang Yingzhi.
"It's almost time." Tang Yingzhi glanced at the sky and said, "If the letter is not a bluff, the arrest team should have appeared."
"As the saying goes, a war never tires of deceit. This method of intimidation may just be to test your determination." Fei Zhuang stared into the distance with an expressionless face, "That Prefect Hong was probably frightened by the princess. "
"Humph, I'm not that easy to talk to without the imperial decree!" Qian Zhixian said coldly.
He obtained his official position in a legitimate manner, and Baisha City was the place where he would settle down and settle down. How could he give it up to others so easily
At this time, a few scattered black shadows appeared on the gray-white skyline.
Obviously something is approaching towards the county seat.
"They are coming!" Tang Yingzhi shouted.
"The thief really dares?" Qian Zhixian clenched his fists - to be honest, there was always a trace of doubt in his heart. To directly attack a court official without going through the official department, no matter what the reason is, is a blatant conspiracy. It would be fine if he was a mountain man. He couldn't imagine someone knowing this and deliberately putting themselves in danger.
"There don't seem to be many people on the other side?" Tang Yingzhi narrowed his eyes in confusion. The black shadows did not gradually connect into one, but remained alone at the number of four or five. At the same time, they were far apart from each other. It was estimated that they were almost a hundred steps. distance.
The question is, how many people want to break into Baisha City? Are they probably dreaming
"No..." Fei Zhuang noticed something unusual. The outlines of those black figures were too big. Even a fierce general in the army couldn't be so tall, right? "...Are you sure that's a human?"
"It's not a human being?" Qian Zhixian frowned, "What could it be?"
However, no one can answer this question.
…
On the other side, Ning Wanjun could already see the slender city wall in the distance.
She drove her own special machine beast "Suzaku" and marched steadily through the snow, and behind her were two long lines of soldiers.
The same goes for other teams.
The other four jet-black mass-produced Guanju "Xuanwu" each led a team. Together with the princess's car, they divided the first batch of vanguard troops that entered the attack into ten slender columns.