"Qingxing is also dim. It's going to be bright. It's the starry sky of Xinpingbao... I don't know how long I will see such a scenery." Zhang Han stood under the tower of Ying'en Gate, looked up at the starry sky, and suddenly sighed.

Wang Changfu, Yang Qiu, Zhao Lide, Jiang Yi and others didn't say anything. They followed Zhang Han to the city in the early morning and patrolled around, and were a little tired.

Outside the city, there was a faint sound of horse soldiers running, rumbling vaguely, from far to near, like thunder rushing from afar.

Zhang Han's face remained motionless, but there were some abnormal movements on the top of the city. It might be the sound of some guys or the people who volunteered to go to the city. However, under the suppression of experienced officers, this sound soon calmed down.

There are more than 300 people from the Military Intelligence Department, more than 200 students from the official school, and more than 1,300 people from the city's civil and Hutchisons.

Minzhuang had not undergone military training, and it was mostly because of righteous indignation that they came to help the defender. They helped carry some equipment used to defend the city to the top of the city, which was also considered to save some strength for the defender's army.

The Hutchison's friends had received 100% military training. They were taken over by the official school students brought by Wang Changfu, and quickly formed more than ten companies, stationed in two places, Yiyingen Gate and Zhenlu Gate.

The weather was getting brighter and it was already early on the 26th. According to the military personnel who left the fort, Yanghe's troops had arrived less than ten miles outside the fort yesterday and camped in more than a dozen villages along the river.

A small number of rangers continued to go south and north, looking for traces of the merchant army.

To the east are the garrisons from Zhangjiakou. They also rushed over and should have been near Baoping Fort, and also stationed near the military fort and the border walls.

From Zhangjiakou to Xinpingbao, we follow the official road between the Yinshan Mountains and the grassland. This was the road built by the Ming Dynasty for more than 200 years to consolidate the border defense. It was also an important expressway between Hebei and Shanxi hundreds of years later.

The army was subject to strict orders and rushed to Xinping Fort quickly. In the early morning of the 26th, troops in Zhangjiakou and Xuanfu areas or to the northern border wall area of ​​Xinping Fort, stationed in the forts and border wall area. First, to prevent Zhang Han and others from breaking out of the gate, and second, to prevent the Hutchison army from moving south.

Now all the generals, including Fu Zonglong, have been notified that Zhang Han should be waiting for reinforcements in the fort. Whether it is reinforcements coming to rescue or Zhang Han was killed, attacking Xuan Da in anger. For Governor Xuan Da and two governors, many generals, they are not good news. Capturing Xinping Fort is only the first step. The next step may be to face the angry Hutchison army, which makes all the senior generals who know the matter feel very heavy.

They were not sure whether they could block the attacks of Hujima's army.

Now that things have come to this point, I can only prepare to withstand the attack of Hutchison. According to the ideas of Hong Chengchou and others, I will first capture Xinping Fort, kill all the people in the Fort, and make Hutchison like a snake without a head. Even if the Hutchison army had a fierce offensive in the early days, they would definitely fall into civil strife after a few months.

As long as you can kill Zhang Han, it is worth it no matter how much the price you pay.

A more obvious sound of horse hooves came from all around. Compared with the small whistle cavalry just now, the sound of horse hooves this time was much thicker and thicker. You can hear that the number of cavalrymen was quite large.

At Ying'en Gate, Yanghe's troops arrived yesterday. They cut down trees nearby and stepped up the construction of siege equipment. From the information, Lu Xiangsheng had already prepared. Yanghe already had a lot of siege equipment, but was still continuing to build. Even if he was on the hostile side, Zhang Han praised Lu Xiangsheng's ability and meticulous care.

On the 26th, several troops had obviously arrived near Xinping Fort, and it was obvious that the surrounding area of ​​General Fort was blocked.

Wang Changfu and others estimated that they would be attacked today. Calculate the time, and the miners would not come until tomorrow. The weather has been very bad these two days, and I am afraid there will be some delays on the road.

Now the Ming army has gathered quite powerful main forces. It seems that Hong Chengchou and others have seen the key to the problem and have to take their subordinates to Xinpingbao to fight to the death.

Everyone looked worried. All the friends on the fort wall had received military training, but they received training at the peasant soldiers level, with a higher intensity than the Ming army, but they could not reach the level of serious combat soldiers and were much weaker than the baggage soldiers.

If there are two thousand combat soldiers on the top of the city, no, even if there are two thousand baggage soldiers, they have a complete battlefield command system, Wang Changfu and others will be confident that they can hold on for a few days.

The militia composed of the guys is really called Wang Changfu's confidence.

Many newcomers have never seen blood. When the arrows and stones are mixed together, the city is full of people with dead and dead, and the ears are wailing, and the eyes are full of casualties. When blood flows, many people will be mentally broken, and their morale will be lost and their movements will be distorted. Under the continuous attacks of the Ming army, the defending side will become more and more difficult until they can't hold on.

Siege and defend the city are so cruel and direct. The winners who can win take all, the losers lose all, and there is no chance to run away.

The Ming army relied on its sufficient military strength, and the few leading troops, whether civil officials or generals, were top talents, including various weapons, siege equipment, and food and salary. These must have been prepared sufficiently.

After more than a year of preparation and constant training, the more than 10,000 Ming troops attacked were among the elites, and more than 10,000 people were on guard against Zhang Han to escape, and tens of thousands were mobilized. Now it seems that Xinpingbao is really in crisis.

"Everything depends on when Sun Yao and the others will arrive." Wang Changfu frowned and said, "I was very sure of guarding for three days, but seeing the Ming army's arrangements are well-organized, and the flag is golden and drums are so strong. Now I am not very sure."

Jiang Yi looked worried and anxious. He looked at Zhang Han and everyone and suddenly said, "Sir, it is definitely not possible to travel north. Can you consider going south? As long as we penetrate the defense of the Transparent Army, we can go to the mountains for a while."

Everyone's expressions moved, this was indeed a solution.

More than ten miles south of Xinping Fort are the endless mountains. Xinping Road and Tianchengwei and Zhenluwei. More than 70% of these places are mountains, the junction of the three provinces in later generations, the Yanshan Mountains, Yinshan Mountains, and Taihang Mountains. In the past, there were many bandits in the mountains, one of which had no motivation and was unwilling to fight hard to kill them, and the other was also full of dangers. Only a very small number of mountain people formed villages in the mountains to live in the mountains, and lived in farming and hunting in the mountains, making life extremely difficult.

Even if this mountain has opened up a road after hundreds of years, if you pass by here by car, you will find that the villages are relatively dilapidated, with peaks one after another, and the winding highway will constantly circling between the mountainsides. Even if there are modern means of transportation, it is still quite difficult to walk in this large mountain.

Therefore, the ancients called the northern part of Jin, and the area where Taiyuan was Hedong, and it was called the land of success. The Li Tang Dynasty launched an army from Taiyuan, north of Jin, and went straight to Guanzhong, and eventually achieved the foundation of the emperor.

The land of Hedong is easy to defend but difficult to attack, and it is also in a place of victory. However, these are not of great significance to Zhang Han now. If he leads his troops from Xinpingbao to suddenly break out, break through the Ming army's unstable defense line and enter the mountains, the Ming army will have no choice in a short period of time. Zhang Han and others will only fight guerrillas for two or three days in the mountains, at most five or six days. Whether it is miners or the second regiment of the northern lancers, they will be gone for no more trouble.

Everyone was a little moved, but no one agreed immediately. When breaking through the siege, they would definitely encounter attacks from the Ming army. These Ming troops were all elite soldiers brought by the governor, and they fought bravely, which was not comparable to ordinary border troops.

The defender of the fort is still likely to be defeated. If you leave the fort and fight, you may be defeated in a short time.

Once defeated, it is hard to say whether a small number of guards from the Servant Division and military personnel can protect Zhang Han. As for Zhang Han’s family and relatives, it is even harder to say.

No one present dared to persuade Zhang Han to leave his family and leave first. As long as Zhang Han does not die, his relatives should be fine and at most they will be sent to the capital to be detained.

But sometimes it is hard to say that once the Huji Master goes south, it is very likely that the capital will kill all his relatives, which is also very likely.

If Zhang Han is a hero, no one will marry and reborn, Xiang Yu grabbed Liu Bang's father and wanted to kill him, and Liu Bang would have to share a piece of meat soup. This is a hero. But Zhang Han is not a person with this personality, so the people present would not even say any suggestions, knowing that it was impossible.

Zhang Han looked at everyone's entangled faces and suddenly shook his head and smiled.

"You guys won't make progress." Zhang Han smiled and said, "When I was in Jining Fort back then, I only had a small number of soldiers and horses in the fort. Outside, there were more than 100,000 Tumotes led by Bushitu Khan. What was the result? You should see the advantage of yourself in everything. Don't weaken your own strength and exaggerate the enemy's abilities. More than 10,000 Ming troops want to conquer Xinping Fort I stationed in one or two days. You are too underestimating your own people and too highly respecting your enemies."

Jiang Yi touched his head and grinned bitterly, "Sir, it's not the past now. We couldn't fight back then, now..."

"It's not a fight now." Zhang Han smiled faintly and said, "It's not that I underestimate them. In terms of ability, they are all top talents, and even smarter than me, but they will only be above me. But what I have created is an unstoppable trend. In the face of the trend, personal efforts are useless..."

It was not obvious to everyone, but since Zhang Han said that, of course, with his opinions and opinions, everyone did not speak out, but they all understood that they could only stand here and wait for help.

By around noon, the Ming army's position was pushed forward.

All civil officials and generals are veterans who are used to leading soldiers. Even Hong Chengchou has been training troops for almost two years. How to arrange the camps, how to lay out the camp before the siege, how to release sentry cavalry to patrol and explore, and how to cut off the route, all departments have done very well.

In just two days, the Ming army had released more than a thousand cavalry to control nearby river ferries and bridges, and also to control all roads. (https:)
Chapter completed!