Jiang Weiren looked at the people who came in and was so shocked that he couldn't speak. The next moment, his face darkened.

"Aren't you supposed to be in Ningxuan Temple?"

Normally, he would never dare to talk to her so disrespectfully, but at this time he was so frightened and angry that he couldn't care less.

"Your Majesty should be at Ningxuan Temple because the world needs him. Empress Dowager Ciyi should be at Ningxuan Temple because Your Majesty needs him. But I don't know why I should be at Ningxuan Temple?"

His face was solemn, which he had never done before. With such a sullen look, she could only suppress her anger and said: "Don't be ridiculous, I will order someone to take you back."

But she replied calmly: "Master Jiang, I am not here to live or die with you."

After listening to her words , he looked up at her in shock.

"I am the same as your Excellency," she said softly, "I live and die with the capital."

Jiang Weiren understood what she meant. She did not want to go to Ningxuan Temple or flee after the defeat. Emperor Zhao Yuan and Empress Dowager Cao The hope of being responsible for the rise and fall of the world cannot be lost no matter what, but she is different. She does not have to live for the people of the world. She has to decide her own life and death.

As for him, Yan Qing already understood his decision as early as yesterday, when he said that he would be the guard of this gate.

If the city behind him is breached, he will throw his own flesh and blood here.

He secretly left a way out for the emperor and the queen mother, and for the court and the world, but he did not leave a way out for himself.

"Jiang Weiren," she walked up to him, "I want to watch here with my own eyes as you defeat them."

The sudden warmth in his eyes was a feeling he had not experienced in many years. He thought his heart was My heart has become numb from countless losses. It turns out that her words can make everything come alive again.

At this moment, his voice became a little hoarse, "Then you must always follow me and never leave."

He is the commander-in-chief, and his side is the safest place.

"Okay." She raised her head, looked at him and smiled.

It was just dawn, and the Beiqi army had already appeared outside the gate of Nanxun Gate, and the siege began soon after.

The soldiers guarding the city on the wall looked at the densely packed enemy troops outside the city. They pulled the bows and arrows in their hands, and rows of arrows shot out like an overwhelming rain curtain, but they could not stop the Beiqi army coming like a tide.

The enemy troops rushed to the city wall and set up ladders. On the city wall, the guard ordered the soldiers to pour barrels of tung oil down. A row of arrows wrapped in oilcloth were shot down with burning flames, immediately igniting the wall. The tung oil stained on it formed a sea of ​​fire.

The first wave of enemy soldiers who tried to climb up were burned and screamed, but this did not scare away the people behind them. Death is the most common thing on the battlefield. Soon, the second and third waves began to attack again. Come up.

No matter how courageous Yan Qing was, it would be impossible for him to remain calm after seeing such a shocking scene. When Jiang Weiren turned around, he saw her pale face. He must have heard the screams outside the city.

"Are you afraid?" he asked softly.

She shook her head, but before he spoke, she nodded again.

"Don't worry," he said without hesitation, "I don't dare to lose this battle while you are here."

The tung oil burned out, and facing the enemy troops that rushed forward again, the defenders on the city dropped stones, wooden stakes and other heavy objects. , knocking down the Beiqi soldiers who were climbing outside the wall.

It was not until noon that the enemy's first attack was repelled.

Soon, in order not to give the soldiers defending the city a chance to breathe, a second attack followed.

Yan Qing looked at the soldiers in the city struggling to resist, and asked Jiang Weiren doubtfully, "Didn't you say that the 50,000 troops stationed here are going out of the city to attack and contain the enemy?"

"Don't worry," he replied calmly. "At this time, the disciple Shanshu is only thinking about breaking the city from here, and will not attack other gates for the time being. He is attacking all night. This is the time when the offensive is strongest. I, the fifty thousand people, are out at this time, and there is no way to ask for help. What's the benefit?"

"Are you going to wait for him to die?" Yan Qing asked.

"More than that." His answer was concise.

Although Yan Qing didn't know what kind of medicine he was selling in his gourd, he must have some idea.

It was not until the afternoon that Beiqi's offensive was suspended.

The fact that the defenders in the city could hold out for so long was beyond Tu Shanshudu's expectations.

Beiqi is mainly divided into eight major divisions, each led by eight clans. The Tushan family is the strongest among the eight clans. Tushanshu is now the head of the Tudan family and is deeply trusted by the Great Khan of Beiqi.

As Jiang Weiren said, Beiqi has always sent troops after autumn and repeatedly caused trouble at the border, just to steal food for the winter.

But this time, the throne of Dayu changed. The new emperor was only seven years old. The two queen mothers came from women's families. The government was unstable and people were divided. Guo Xu, the guard of Jiading Pass, was willing to open the city gate to connect the inside and outside. , is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Therefore, the Great Khan of Beiqi decided to use the power of eight tribes to destroy Dayu in one fell swoop and take control of the Central Plains.

Entering the pass this time was also a gamble for Beiqi. As a grassland people, the Beiqi people were strong and good at fighting, but there had been internal fighting among the eight tribes, the military morale was not uniform, and there was no supply of food and grass, so they had to fight quickly.

Tu Shanshu was already good at conquering and fighting. From Jiading Pass to the south, he had great momentum all the way. The 80,000 Yu troops in Xuancheng were surrounded by him in the city. He originally thought that at the latest at dusk today, his soldiers would be able to attack the Jinming Palace in Dayu and capture the little emperor alive.

In his estimation, the entire capital's garrison was only tens of thousands of people, dispersed to nine city gates, so there were only more than 10,000 people at each place. Moreover, when he first pretended to attack Guangtong Gate in the north, there should be various Reinforcements are divided everywhere, and the troops are even weaker.

After being unable to attack for a long time, the other generals began to waver and thought about attacking other gates. The Beiqi people always relied on bravery to fight, but their tactics were simple. The cavalry took the lead and attacked blindly, so they attacked Tu Shanshu. All came forward.

"General, let's attack the other gates."

"What if the other gates can't be attacked temporarily?" Tu Shanshu asked with a stern face.

"Then let's change the attack. How many defenders are there in the city, and can each gate be defended?"

Tu Shanshudu sneered and said, "The outer city of Dayu Capital has nine gates. If we spread out, If we attack them one by one, as you said, we will not be defeated by the enemy, but we will be defeated first. "

In fact, we can't even think of it alone . Yes, the forces inside and outside the city are now equal. The biggest weakness of the defenders is that they need to guard the nine city gates. The biggest advantage is that the warehouses in the capital are abundant. As long as they hold on for a few days and wait for the troops of King Qin from various places to arrive one after another, they can turn the corner.

As for Beiqi, who was attacking the city, the advantages and disadvantages were exactly the opposite. At the beginning, in order to speed up the march and gain combat time.

Tu Shanshu ordered each person to bring only three days of food rations. If he could not attack for a long time, he would lose the opportunity. Therefore, for the Beiqi army at this time, the best tactic was to concentrate the soldiers to storm a city gate and forcefully force the enemy with their strength. Rush into the city.

The Nanxun Gate is close to the palace, and the road is wide. As long as the gate is breached, the cavalry can rush in, making it difficult for the defenders to block it along the way.

There is no problem with the tactics decided by Tu Shanshudu. The problem is that the person he is facing is Jiang Weiren.

I'm afraid he never imagined that there were 50,000 elite soldiers mobilized by Jiang Weiren early in the morning behind the Nanxun Sect.

He didn't know that he would never have the chance to step into the city gate in front of him in this life.

The defenders in the city were also curious. They knew that the chief minister planned to use 50,000 elite troops to attack and drag the enemy back here. However, Beiqi had been attacking for a whole day and he did not give the order to fight out of the city.

Yan Qing followed him, watching how he was directing the generals below to defend. The enemy's offensive was getting stronger and stronger, and the generals below him were becoming more and more anxious. He just didn't know when Mr. Jiang would give the order to attack. If you continue to defend it, you will no longer be able to defend it.

Yan Qing knew that he was waiting for an opportunity.

The sky was getting dark, and it started to rain again. The mud outside the city became slippery, and the horse's sprinting speed slowed down. Jiang Weiren ordered all the soldiers from the camp to climb up the city wall.

The arrows were denser than the rain curtain. The Beiqi soldiers, whose speed had been slowed down by the rain, were like living targets. They rushed forward one after another, only to fall down one after another like leeks being cut with a knife.

The enemy had to suspend their offensive. Jiang Weiren looked at the sky and thought for a while. When Yan Qing got closer to him, she heard him whisper, "It's time, it should be soon."

She was about to ask, but he had already He turned his head with firm eyes and ordered the other guards in the yamen at this time.

"Order the soldiers leaving the city to assemble and prepare to attack."

It was a simple sentence, but it seemed to have the power of ten thousand hectares.

Several generals quickly took the order and left. The 50,000-strong army was densely packed and stretched behind the city gate. It was impossible to see the end, and it was completely dark.

Jiang Weiren has ordered the soldiers leaving the city to put on paper armor. This paper armor was recently developed by the Ministry of War. It is made of extremely soft paper, repeatedly hammered and tanned (róu), and added with square nails. It is not more than an inch thick, light and docile.

But once it is soaked in water, not only the sword cannot penetrate, but even the thinnest arrow cannot penetrate it.

The Beiqi army outside the city is all wearing heavy iron armor and is exhausted from having been fighting for days. However, although the 50,000 people in the city are outnumbered, they are waiting for work. Now wearing light and soft paper armor, they can run more flexibly on the battlefield. , raiding back and forth.

Fifty thousand people just stood silently in the rain. The evening sky accompanied by the rain made it even more solemn. Yan Qing had never seen so many people. In the front were cavalry on war horses, and behind were cavalrymen. Infantry with knives, and crossbow battalions lined up on the city wall.

When the city gate opened today, many of the tens of thousands of people left and never returned.

Jiang Weiren stood in front of thousands of people. He was now wearing armor and a tasseled helmet. He had a tall and solemn figure and a heroic and majestic air. No one would think that the person in front of him was just a civil servant.

At this time, several military attaches were riding horses, passing orders back and forth, and loudly read out the last military order of the Chief Assistant -

"Disobey military orders, behead!"

"Fear the enemy and refuse to advance

, behead!" "Retreat before the battle, behead!"

read the military order. After that, Jiang Weiren looked at the soldiers and said: "I, Jiang Weiren, swear that I will not let any enemy troops set foot where we are standing at this moment. Once this door is opened, it will not be opened again unless the enemy troops are completely defeated. Everyone." Once we go, we can only fight to the death!"

Everyone was silent, everyone understood that this was a battle that could only be won but not defeated. Behind them were the unarmed people, the prosperity of the capital, and the pride of their ancestors. They cannot retreat even one step from the capital.

They are the last city wall.

The vanguards at the front raised their arms, and the soldiers who stood silently in the rain shouted in unison: "Fight to the death and serve the country! Fight to the death to serve the country!"

At the last moment, Jiang Weiren and Yan Qing ascended the tower, and in the distance, Beiqi Mingjin retreated, and those attacking the city The soldiers were about to retreat when they heard the majestic drum beat from the Nanxun Gate Tower behind them.

Dozens of soldiers beat the drums on the city. The chief assistant stood in the rain at the top of the city, looking at the Shura field outside the city where corpses were littered, and gave orders to the generals beside him.

"Open the city gates and fight!"

As soon as the city gates opened, tens of thousands of soldiers who were ready to die, riding horses and holding long swords, rushed towards the enemy.

Yan Qing thought that she would never forget the scene before her in her life.

Jiang Weiren stood in front of her. Any order he gave at this time would affect the fate of the country. At this moment, he turned around amidst the thundering sound of fighting and lowered his voice to Yan Qing: "The rain is getting heavy. Come to the tower quickly."

There was a hint of careful tenderness in his eyes.

She didn't know that the man in front of her had the world in mind, and she also had her in mind.

Although the morale of the tens of thousands of people who went out to fight in the city was high, in the end there was a huge disparity in the strength of the two sides, and the battle was stalemate, making it difficult to determine the winner.

Even Yan Qing had prepared for the worst. Zhang Fang had previously urged her to go to Ningxuan Temple, but she insisted on changing into the robe from the day before and rushed here. At that time, she had already made her decision.

If the city is destroyed, he will die for his country.

The world had given her supreme honor, and the late emperor had given her the last refuge. She would not run away at this time.

As night fell, the battlefield suddenly took a turn for the worse.

Looking as far as the eye could see, soldiers were rushing towards them in the distance. Sure enough, a soldier came to report, "Sir!"

Jiang Weiren turned around and asked, "Are the soldiers from Xuancheng here?"

"Yes, It was the tens of thousands of people from the three major battalions who were besieged in Xuancheng who broke out and rushed here. "

This is what Jiang Weiren has been waiting for. Previously, he sent thousands of elite soldiers to rush to Xuancheng overnight and broke into the city at night. The original Xuancheng garrison was ordered to hold back the enemy troops outside Xuancheng, while the three battalions rushing for reinforcements broke out and returned to the capital to aid.

At this time, those tens of thousands of people arrived just in time to cut off the enemy's retreat, and formed an encirclement with the tens of thousands of people who rushed out of the city, trapping the enemy's army.

The situation of the battle was reversed, and the tens of thousands of people from Beiqi were surrounded by Dayu soldiers and horses attacking from the front and back, and they kept closing in.

The final blow was the dozens of three-bow bed slaves that Jiang Weiren ordered to push onto the city wall.

It was the most lethal weapon in the crossbow camp. Three giant bows were fixed on a huge bed in two forward and one reverse forms. It took more than thirty people to turn the winches together to pull the bow strings. The giant arrows used by bed slaves are as big as a long tasseled spear. They use a mallet to hit the machine frame, and the long arrows are shot out and can pierce the enemy's city wall with a range of more than 700 steps.

At this time, dozens of bed slaves were lined up on the city wall, with gunpowder bags tied to the arrows. Following the general's order, dozens of giant arrows were shot out in a row, flying over the heads of the nearby Dayu soldiers, carrying whirring sounds. The sound of the passing wind penetrated directly into the enemy's formation.

Then the gunpowder exploded, the sound was shocking in the dark night, the fire was everywhere, the bed slaves were fired continuously, and the middle of the entire battlefield was filled with red light, like a sea of ​​fire.

Finally, half an hour later, news came that Beiqi's general, Shan Shu, had all died.

Nearly half of the enemy troops were killed or wounded, and the remaining 50,000 people surrendered. Although Dayu's soldiers suffered heavy casualties, they finally won the battle.

The rain finally subsided, and the torches on the city wall lit up as bright as day. Below the city were the cheers of the soldiers. Jiang Weiren ordered the soldiers to rush to Ningxuan Temple to report the news and ask the Holy Master to return to the palace.

The man followed the order and left, but his body swayed, and Yan Qing, with quick eyes and quick hands, stepped forward to help him.

He had been holding on for so long without resting all night long. Now that the heavy burden was lifted, he felt that his strength was exhausted.

He quickly stood up, smiled and shook his head at her, indicating that he could still hold on.

There were several guards beside him. He came closer and said softly to her with a smile: "Are you still afraid? It's okay now. There's no need to be afraid..."

Suddenly her nose felt sore and her throat was choked.

How could she not be afraid? Standing here, watching the fighting outside the city, she had the intention to live and die with the capital. Faced with everything she had experienced, and every moment when the outcome was uncertain, she could not get rid of the fear in her heart.

But these were no longer important. She looked at him and finally shook her head slowly.

It's okay, everything is over.

This battle was eventually recorded in the annals of history. Like the name Jiang Weiren, it was endowed with many legendary colors and has been passed down for a long time.

By the time the matters such as capturing the soldiers were settled, it was already Yin time. Finally, the Superintendent of Ceremonies also sent a eunuch to deliver the message. His Majesty and Empress Dowager Ciyi had already returned to the palace, and Yan Qing would naturally go back as well.

"I'll take you back," Jiang Weiren said to her softly.

At this time, there were only two people in the building except for the guard in the distance. She looked at his expression and saw that his face was pale due to overwork, and he looked even clearer, and his eyes were bloodshot.

"No, you can take a rest," she said with some worry, "There are also internal guards and guards escorting you on the left and right."

But he shook his head, "No need for them."

Because of his insistence, Yan Qing couldn't refuse anymore. Who could Knowing that he really didn't let the eunuchs and guards follow him.

"It would be bad if someone guesses the empress's identity if she is seen by passersby on the road." He explained.

Bachelor Jiang is worthy of being a great scholar, and his reasons for making nonsense are so serious.

Yan Qing didn't think much about it. When he walked out of the door, he found that it was still dark outside. He thought to himself, were there any pedestrians on the road at this moment?

Editor's note: There will be a double update of benefits and mysterious surprises tomorrow, so remember to move your bench and wait for the update! Please pay attention and like, stay tuned.