Xie Ming

Chapter 207: Night Talk at Beiguan Tower
Outside the northern gate of Baoding City, inside the Jiannu central army tent!
Because of the problem of food and fodder logistics, after instructing Legge to lead a thousand Qing cavalry to meet the lagging baggage train, Ajige drove to the battle map, pointed to the location of Mancheng northwest of Baoding, and spoke to the generals in front of him.

"Wu Guogui, receive the order!" Ajige ordered.

Upon hearing this order, Wu Guogui hurriedly bowed and waited.

"You lead a battalion of 2,000 men from the Guanning Army headquarters to Mancheng!"

"I think this small town won't be difficult to capture!"

"Go in and get some food back for me!"

"Go quickly!"

"The more food the better!"

"Do you understand?!" Ajige showed his brutal nature.

"Yes! I understand!"

Wu Guogui replied that he would accept the mission!

After he finished speaking, he and General Legge, who were at odds with each other, looked at each other coldly, and both left the commander's tent, mobilized their troops and left to carry out their mission!

On the evening of the sixth day, outside the northern gate of Baoding, the enemy troops gradually stopped attacking the city and did not attack again.

At around midnight, after the last small-scale night attack, there was no more movement in the dark suburbs north of the city!

In front of the tower at the north end of the Baoding city wall, Qiu Zhizhong had just come up the road in the evening and found Xiao Lang.

Afterwards, Ma Minglu also assigned soldiers to prepare meals, and the soldiers in various city defense locations had already started eating!
"Changting!"

"You have to work harder and inspect the four cities. The four cities are closed and the brothers have to take turns to eat!"

"Don't relax your guard at night, especially during mealtimes, you need to pay extra attention!"

"Be careful that the enemy will take advantage of this opportunity to attack the city at night!"

"Do you understand?!" Xiao Lang gave the order.

"Yes! General, I understand. I'll do it right away!"

After saying this, Gu Changting put down his bowl and chopsticks and went to do his work as ordered.

When he walked out from his original place, Zhizhong beside him also looked back and started talking to Xiao Jingchuan again.

"Eh!"

"Is the injury on your left arm not serious?"

"What did the military doctor say after he examined it?!" Zhizhong asked with concern.

"Hey! No problem!"

"The arrow just scratched my skin slightly, it's just a minor injury, nothing to worry about!" Xiao Lang replied casually.

But when it comes to this, Zhizhong still seems a little uneasy and wants to say something more.

Seeing the situation, Xiao Jingchuan waved his arm and added words.

"Oh, it's all right!"

"I asked the military doctor! There's no poison on the arrow!"

"Don't worry, it's completely different from Guan Erye scraping his bones to treat poison!" Xiao Lang joked.

Hearing this, Zhizhong could only shake his head helplessly. He finally stopped talking about it and changed the subject.

"Ugh!"

"You old Xiao!"

"correct!"

"Today, I saw Wu Sangui's Guanning cavalry surrender to the Qing Dynasty. Now I can truly understand and admire how far-sighted you, Old Xiao, were in your deployment at Xizhimen!"

"Fortunately, we didn't head east by water when leaving Beijing. Otherwise, it would be like throwing a meat bun at a dog, and we would never be able to come back!" Zhizhong said disappointedly.

Hearing this, Xiao Lang smiled bitterly.

"Hey! At that time, Luanzhou was in the east, so you definitely can't go there!"

"But now that we have crossed Sanpo and settled in Baoding, and have gathered these troops, it is indeed a change of times!"

"Just think about it. If there is any mistake during our trip to Baoding, and we fail in the end, then right now, I'm afraid we can only flee to Shandong with our troops in disgrace!"

"How can it be possible that we can calmly defend the city against the enemy and carry out such a grand blocking training?" Xiao Langyan.

"Yeah! That's true!"

"In this chaotic situation, things are unpredictable, so every penny you can earn counts!"

"You know what, after a day of fighting today, I see that the morale and morale of the soldiers seem to have been boosted a lot!"

"Fighting to support fighting not only eliminates the integration problem of the newly promoted surrendered soldiers and generals, but also refines their abilities!"

"Old Xiao, your method works!" Zhizhong chatted.

"Haha, that's what leading troops to war is all about!"

"What is a battle-hardened army? What is an elite force?!"

"It won't work just to do drills behind closed doors!"

"Give him a fight!"

"If you can survive after going through fire and water, you are the elite!"

While speaking, Xiao Lang paused here, and suddenly changed the subject!
"But, then again!" "In war, there are no immortals!"

"Master Liu has just gone to various units to report back to me today's total casualties!"

"Pei Zhong's troops suffered the most severe pressure at the North Pass, losing more than 700 men!"

"The Dongguan Wang Chuanwu Department has 148 people!"

"Xiguan Li Hongsheng also lost more than 200 brothers in battle!"

"The loss of soldiers and horses in one day is more than a thousand!"

"You say you don't feel bad, but how is that possible?!"

"However, if we can achieve a complete victory in this battle, then our team won't be afraid of the Jiannu soldiers again in the future!" Xiao Lang also seemed disappointed.

[Sun Peizhong's troops: 2699 - 765 (casualties on the sixth day) = 1934 people]

[Li Huchen's troops: 2699 people (reorganized battalion) + 500 (war horses)]

[Liu Wenbing + Gong Yonggu joint department: 954 people]

[Wang Chuanwu's troops: 931 - 148 (casualties on the sixth day) = 783 people]

[Xu Jizu's tribe: 638 people + 500 horses (war horses, formerly Peizhong's tribe)]

[Li Hongsheng's troops: 1100 - 239 (casualties on the sixth day) = 861 people]

[Total remaining soldiers: 7869; Total casualties: 1152]

"Yeah! And there's more, Lao Xiao!"

"You had planned before, asking me to arrange some spies to pretend to be the people in the suburbs and spread the news that there are a lot of food and grass stored in the city!"

"But now the Jiannu soldiers are coming so fast, this plan may not work!"

"If this group of enemy troops does not fall into the trap, what will happen to Hu Chen's troops?!" Zhizhong suddenly thought of this and asked hurriedly.

"Hi!"

"It doesn't matter!"

"Whether we can lure the Jiannu soldiers into a trap depends entirely on God's will!"

“It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t work out.”

"I have already informed Hu Chen a long time ago."

"tomorrow!"

"After tomorrow, if Hu Chen sends scouts outside the city at night and still cannot find any trace of the enemy, he will lead his own soldiers to attack at night!"

"Move directly to the enemy's rear and launch a night attack!"

"When we see a fire behind the enemy camp, we can observe the situation and decide whether to attack from both sides, open the city gates and engage in a decisive battle!" Xiao Lang replied.

But as he was speaking, Ma Minglu came over from the side and behind, holding two bowls of meat soup.

"hey-hey!"

"Hey General! Master Qiu!"

"broth!"

"The broth is done!"

"You two should have a hot drink soon!"

“Eat and talk!”

Minglu arrived close to the two men, leaned over and served them the broth, speaking casually.

"Ha ha."

"Huhu."

Xiao Lang took the bowl and chopsticks, blew on the soup twice, and drank it fluently.

"kindness!"

"Good! Delicious!"

"This chef is pretty good, ah, haha"

"Hey! That's right!"

"Do all the soldiers have food to eat?!" Xiao Lang praised and did not forget to ask about the situation of the generals and soldiers.

"Haha, General, just eat it without worry!"

"Speaking of this, it is all thanks to Mr. Xu Baoyi!"

"Before the city was closed, I asked the senior official to find someone to buy dozens of large sheep from the suburbs and put them in the city."

"I was thinking that once the war started, the soldiers would inevitably fight to the death!"

"As for food logistics, I can fill in more gaps, there's nothing wrong with that!"

"Don't wait until the general has any instructions and don't change it at the last minute!"

"Look, isn't this actually useful?!" Minglu explained.

(End of this chapter)