The battle on the front line had not yet spread, but as the rain continued, Zizhou City had already entered a state of semi-martial law.
In the barracks near the city wall, the soldiers were forbidden to go out and were on standby at any time. The strictness of patrols has been strengthened on the city walls and inside the city, and the number of scouts assigned tasks outside the city has doubled as usual. For the past two months, this has been the norm in Zizhou City every time rainy days come.
The ox carts came from the southwest with supplies, and some were taken over before they entered the city and sent to the front line. Inside the city, after Ning Yi and others patrolled the city wall, a new meeting was also being held.
"... On the front line, the reserve of grenades is already less than 20% of the previous amount. In terms of artillery shells, Huangming County and Yuyuxi have sent more than ten requests for replenishment. The dampness in the mountains in winter has a greater impact on gunpowder than ours. It was a little bigger than I expected. The Jurchen has seen this situation clearly..."
"... When they see it clearly, it is easy to form a fixed mindset. According to the previous plan of the General Staff, at this time, we can start to consider the issue of taking the initiative to attack and seize the initiative. How many people can catch up? The casualties in Huangming County have exceeded 50,000, and they are still rushing over there, which means that they can accept 100% of the loss... But if they take the initiative to attack, they will be together, at most two If it becomes attrition, they have to collapse!"
"... The end of the New Year, both of us know that it is the most critical time. The more we think about the New Year, the more trouble we will cause each other. Since we have preparations for the New Year, I think we can do it in these two days. A decision has been made…”
In the small room, the meeting started with the sound of lunch. Several high-level leaders such as Li Yi, Han Jing, and Ning Yi gathered here to plan the next strategy with meals. Ning Yi looked at the map ahead to eat and thought for a while.
"Theoretically, Jurchen would think that we will look at the New Year as a key node."
He paused, shaking his chopsticks.
"We will guess what the Jurchen thinks about the matter, and the Jurchen will act accordingly because we have guessed what they think of us... In short, everyone will brace up for this time. Well, yes Instead of thinking about it, we will give up all active attacks from today, let them feel that we are preparing. Then... Twenty-eighth, launch the first round of attacks, take the initiative to break their tense nerves, and then, on the first day of the new year, carry out the real I want to cut off the head of Huangming County..."
After everyone thought about it, Han Jing said, "If you want to let them relax on the first day of the new year, the attack on the twenty-eighth day has to be done beautifully."
"We still have to consider whether the Jurchen will think about it with us. After all, they have been leading the attack for the past two months."
Such big strategic decisions are often not discussed publicly before making preliminary intentions. Several people are having a small meeting and are discussing themselves. Some people are running from outside, bringing the most urgent battlefield intelligence.
The messenger brought in the information, Ning Yi wiped his mouth, tore it open and glanced at it, then pressed it on the table and pushed it towards the others.
"Rainwater Creek, Qu Zhengyan's 'fire-eating' operation has begun. It seems that things are developing faster than we thought."
He picked up the bowl and started to cook the rice. The news was simple. After reading the information one by one, the rest of the people began to speed up their meals. During the period, only Han Jing joked: "Pretend to be calm, everyone."
"Hold on, hold on." Ning Yi smiled.
Soon after, news from the battlefield came in turn.
At the end of October in the eleventh year of Jianshuo, the Southwest officially started the war. For the past two months, the Huaxia Army has been on the defensive and the Jurchen has led the offensive.
However, with the passage of the war, the comparison of combat power between the various armies of the two sides has gradually become clear, and with the continuation of high-intensity operations, the Jurchen side has gradually become fatigued in maintaining the logistics road, and the peripheral alert has become rigid in some links. So at noon on December 19, the Huaxia Army scouts, who had been harassing the back roads of Huangming County, suddenly turned their target to Yuyu Creek.
At a quarter of noon, Chen Tian led a sudden attack of three hundred elites, cutting off the mountain road seven miles behind Yuyu Stream, destroying the mountain wall with explosives, and wantonly destroying the surrounding key roads. Almost at the same time, on the Yuyuxi battlefield, more than 5,000 people led by Qu Zhengyan took the lead, and launched an all-out counterattack against the more than 40,000 people in the base camp.
As I said before, if you always take the defensive, the Jurchen side will always suffer 100% battle damage. However, if they choose to take the initiative to attack, according to the previous battlefield experience, the Han army who surrendered on the Jurchen side will be defeated with a loss of 10%. The Liaodong people and the Bohai people can resist to more than 20%. , in order to continue to fight after 30% of the casualties.
In this regard, the damage ratio that the Huaxia Army can accept is higher.
At this moment, Yuyuxi has been attacked for two months. Some Han troops that were originally scheduled to continue to attack in the winter rain have already been mechanically grinding foreign workers, and even some troops composed of Liaodong, Bohai, and Jurchen have all been attacked. I felt exhausted in the cycle of attacking and fruitless. The elite of the Huaxia Army fought back from the originally complicated terrain.
The resolute and ferocious attack under the command of Qu Zhengyan, the first target chosen was the Jin Han army on the battlefield.
This year, outside the city of Jiangning at the end of autumn, Zongfu drove a million troops to besiege the city, and was once beaten by Jun Wu into a tragic situation where the bead curtain was rolled upside down. Zong Han, who had learned the lessons of the eastern battlefield, only increased the number of troops by lowering the army with relative elites and firmness. In the past offensive, they played a certain role, but with the reversal of the offensive and defensive trend, they failed to be on the battlefield. hold on for too long.
Tens of thousands of confronting figures pushed away the rain in the mountains.
The news that Yingzuiyan was trapped in the wrong place also quickly spread to Zizhou almost shortly after Qu Zhengyan launched the offensive.
In the room of the command post, the figure of the messenger ran, and the atmosphere became warm. A war horse rushed out of the rain curtain, and thousands of reserve soldiers in Zizhou City were wearing scorpions, leaving Zizhou and rushing to Yuyu Stream. Ning Yi slammed his fist on the table and left the room.
Li Yi rushed over from behind: "What are you going to do at this time?"
"It's none of my business. If you lose the battle, come and tell me. If you win, just celebrate, call me or not."
He sent Li Yi away, and then also sent most of the accompanying security guards. He only called Hongti and said, "Let's go, let's go out for an adventure."
Hongti's eyes were slightly puzzled, but he didn't ask any questions after all. The two of them walked out of the command post wearing scorpions and walked all the way to the direction of the city.
After passing the military martial law area, there were not many residents left in Zizhou, and it was raining again, and only occasionally pedestrians were seen on the road. Ning Yi took Hongti's hand, walked across the grey road, bypassed the secluded historic site called Du Fu Thatched Cottage, and stopped in front of a lavish courtyard.
"Li Weixuan's other garden." Ning Yi stood on the street and glanced furtively, "The rich, the local tyrants, ran away when we attacked Zizhou. We left two old people to look after the house. Nursing home, later the old man fell ill and was taken away, I thought about it before, I can go in and have a look."
Hongti was stunned for a moment, and couldn't help but laugh: "Just tell people no."
"How can it be more interesting than stealing." Ning Yi smiled, "The two of us, let's play male and female robbers today."
After being with each other for more than ten years, Hongti naturally knew that her husband often had naughty and outrageous behaviors. He often ignored his happiness in his early years. The two were also chased by wolves on Luliang Mountain in the middle of the night, and Ning Yi pulled him away. She went to the wild to mess around... In the years after the rebellion, with children beside her, Ning Yi was mostly calm, but occasionally organized some activities such as outings and picnics. Unexpectedly, at this time, he moved this strange thought again.
When the Huaxia Army entered Zizhou, most of the local nobles and gentlemen were already empty, and some houses were thieves. As the war approached, after the Huaxia Army sifted through the city of Zizhou several times, ordinary refugees also was cleared out of town. The small courtyard wall could not stop the couple who were highly skilled in martial arts. Ning Yi climbed up the wall, walked directly above, and then went up to the roof to look at the inner courtyard.
"If there are assassins around, maybe they are staring at you at this time." Hong Ti looked around vigilantly.
"You said it too, keep a low profile."
Ning Yi was reminded by her, went down from the roof, and walked forward from the inside of the courtyard, looking at it.
Under the hazy sky, the yard that has not been inhabited for a long time appears dim, old, quiet and desolate, but traces of previous human settlements can still be seen in many places. This is a large-scale courtyard group. There are several front courtyards, backyards, residences, and gardens. Weeds have grown in the courtyards everywhere. Some courtyards have accumulated water and become small pools. In the courtyard, the things that were not taken away seemed to tell the scene before people left. Ning Yi even found rouge gouache from the drawers of some rooms, and curiously visited the world where the female relatives lived.
Hongti followed Ning Yi all the way, and sometimes looked at the living space, the calligraphy and paintings hanging in the room, the small objects left in the drawers of the study... She used to walk around the rivers and lakes, and she also secretly explored Some people's homes, but at this time these courtyards are empty, the couple peeps at the clues before the owner leaves, and the mood is naturally different.
She also gradually understood Ning Yi's thoughts: "You were in Jiangning and lived in this kind of courtyard."
"The layout is similar. The Su family has money. First they bought an old house, and later they expanded and renovated it. As soon as they entered the yard, hundreds of people lived there. I thought it was very noisy at the time. It was a bit annoying, I thought at the time, I’d better leave, it’s better not to stay there.”
Ning Yi smiled, they were standing on a walkway on the second floor, and they could see the deep and quiet courtyards nearby: "However, sometimes it is more interesting, after eating, the courtyards are one by one. The lights were all lit, and at first glance, it was very fireworks. Now the fireworks are all out. At that time, there were small things around, and Tan'er handled things, sometimes with a few girls, and came back late, think about it Just like a child, it's not far from me knowing you, Xiaochan and the others, you've seen them at the time."
Hongti smiled and didn't speak, Ning Yi leaned against the wall: "After Jun Wu killed Jiangning, Jiangning was slaughtered. Now it's all big things, but sometimes, I feel that it is better to live in small things occasionally. Interesting. You can see from here, the yard where some people live and no one lives, has their little things more or less."
As he said this, he sat down against the wall on the edge of the aisle. The rain was still falling, soaking everything in the gray and gray in front of him. In the past in memory, there will be smiling girls walking through Langyuan, chattering children running around and making trouble. In the distance at this time, there is a war going on.
Under the collapsed Eagle Mouth Rock, the knife and the shield collided in the mud and water, people smashed together, and the smell of blood filled the air.
The light of the knife slashed open the flesh, the spear pierced people's stomachs, some shouted, some screamed, some fell into the mud, and some pulled the enemy's head up and slammed into the hard rock.
Blood poured out of Mao Yishan's body, and in the frantic fight, he raised his shield in the surging muddy water, slammed hard on the knee of Lili, leaned forward, and threw a fist on his cheek. , Mao Yishan's body swayed, and he punched out with the same punch, and the two were entangled. At a certain moment, Mao Yishan lifted the whole body of Lili in the air while shouting, and with a bang, two figures appeared. All slammed into the muddy water.
He was struggling frantically in the water, Mao Yishan threw his fists and was kicked away by him. When he stood up from the muddy water, he was about to dash forward, and Mao Yishan also dashed forward in the muddy water, holding the shield drawn from the water in his hand, and waving it out as if pulling a bow to the limit.
There was a terrifying whistling sound in the wind and rain, and half of his face was torn apart by the shield. Two rows of teeth appeared outside with the flesh and blood of his mouth. He staggered a few steps, and his eyes were still locked. Mao Yishan, Mao Yishan has been running over from the muddy water for a moment, and his two big hands are like tigers clasping the hideous head.
Chengli's arm resisted like a conditioned reflex, and the two figures walked a few steps in the muddy water. Mao Yishan pressed the tall body of Chengli and smashed the back of his head on the bluestone. Down, pulled up, smashed down again, and hit it three times in a row.
In the dim light and shadow, there were still ferocious figures fighting everywhere. Mao Yishan took the knife handed by his comrade in arms and chopped off the head of Li Li on the bluestone.