Xie Ming

Chapter 226 Before the Battle of Beiguan

On the evening of May 22th, at 45: p.m.

Wu Sangui led his remaining troops and fled back overnight, riding in disgrace all the way, and finally returned to the ten-mile mound outside the north gate of Baoding Prefecture, to the central army camp of Ajige Jiannu!

In the commander's tent, after hearing Wu Sangui and Hu Xinshui's report on the war in the city, the army commander Ajige became furious just as Xiao Lang had expected!
In a rage, he overturned the table and, without caring about the face of the Han army's surrender to the Qing Dynasty, he started to insult and scold Wu Sangui. In his anger, he even threatened to severely punish him to serve as a warning to others!

After all, the reason why he was so angry was not because he was sad about the loss of troops, the main problem was the lack of food and fodder!
After all, the slave camp outside Dongguan has begun to run out of food!

If we can't find a way to get food, I'm afraid we will have no choice but to withdraw!
At the critical moment, in the general's tent, Hu Xinshui was eager to save his master, so he stood up and took the blame for Wu Sangui, and was whipped by Ajige's military law!

The execution took place outside the tent gate, and was carried out by the black-handed deacon Leger.

After one round of whipping, his skin was torn and there was no good flesh left on his back. Hu Xinshui was almost beaten to death on the spot!

After the punishment, Ajige vented his anger again and ordered Hu Xinshui to be demoted to the miscellaneous soldiers camp in Jixi.

Without caring about his life or death, he was asked to lead the troops to attack the city and make meritorious service by taking the blame!

Hu Xinshui gritted his teeth and endured it, and had to swallow all the anger and dissatisfaction in his heart!

Afterwards, Ajige, Bartong, Legge, Wu Sangui and others returned to their tents.

Barton, who had been silent at first, now looked over, as if he had something hidden in his heart, and spoke timidly.

Because of the cut-off of food and grass, he intended to persuade the commander-in-chief, the prince, to abandon Baoding, withdraw his troops, return to the capital, and make further plans.

But Naleg was a rough man with a temper as fiery as fire, and his temper was almost as bad as Ajige's.

After hearing Balton's plan, he immediately became furious. He jumped out in a rage and tried his best to sing a different tune, vowing to massacre the people of Baoding until their death!

Ajige was also unwilling to give in, and the stalemate lasted for a while, so he asked Wu Sangui again.

Wu Sangui had just been criticized and was trembling with fear. He did not want to get involved in the dispute any further, so he hesitated and was unable to express his opinion.

Ajige got angry and refused to suffer such a loss, so he compromised.

We have decided to launch the final attack in the second half of tonight, with the entire army launching a night assault. If that fails, we can then talk about retreat!

Barton was helpless, and Leger was also angry, but they had to obey the order reluctantly and retreat back to their headquarters to reorganize their troops!

At the same time, on the north gate of Baoding Prefecture.

After Xiao Jingchuan returned to the city, he found Peizhong and talked about military affairs with him.

"Pei Zhong!"

"Come, take advantage of the break in the enemy's attack and eat something!"

"You've been so busy these past two days!"

As they were talking, Xiao Lang took out a dry biscuit from his arms. The two of them stood on the top of the city wall, biting the biscuits in the breeze.

"Haha, it's okay!"

"I can still hold on!"

"This battle is critical. The general has only a few of us at his disposal. That's how it should be!"

"It's just that there are so many things to do, and most of the soldiers and generals we have are here to collect surrendered soldiers, so we have to pay more attention and take care of them!"

"Right now, I really wish I could be split in half to use him!" Peizhong replied with a wry smile.

"Haha, it's hard for you!" Hearing this, Xiao Lang also sighed, raised his hand and patted Peizhong's shoulder heavily.

"Hey, that's right!"

"Changting just reported that regarding Li Hongsheng's side in Xiguan, the enemy is using the earthwork tunnel method to try to dig into the city!" Xiao Lang changed the subject casually.

"Oh?"

"Do the enemy soldiers also know this well?!"

"Then, will the people we deployed on both wings of the north gate outside the city be discovered by the enemy soldiers?" Pei Zhong suddenly lowered his voice while speaking, as if he had something confidential and was afraid that others would hear it.

"Haha, I think... that shouldn't happen!" "Think about it, if they were really caught, Xu Baoyi and the others would have sent out a signal long ago!"

"This Feiyu (Qiu Zhizhong) has specially sent people to keep an eye on us somewhere in the city!"

"Don't worry, nothing will go wrong!"

"If there is no news now, then it is good news!" Xiao Lang was also playing a riddle.

"Haha, good, that's good!"

"If you ask me, Master Qiu's move is really good. He set up ambush tunnels on the left and right wings of the enemy camp to conduct surveillance!"

"With this concealed method, I think it will be no problem to hide from the night sentries and scouts around the enemy camp!" Peizhong whispered.

"Yeah, that's good!"

"Before the war, I went to check out the tunnels. They were very well hidden. Some of them were made by hollowing out tree trunks and having people drill inside them!"

"Haha, this was all arranged by that kid Qi Gang. He's really good at it and very reliable!" Xiao Lang replied.

"Yes! It is really wonderful!" Pei Zhong said.

"Alas! It's just a makeshift solution!"

"Pei Zhong, think about it, if not for this, how could you and I dare to bring all the main forces of the army to the North Gate to resist the enemy?!"

"The combat capability and quality of these surrendered soldiers we lead may not be known to outsiders, but you are the general in charge, so you naturally know!"

"If these soldiers and horses are not kept in this way, once they are dispersed to guard the four passes in an orderly manner, how can Baoding Prefecture be defended?"

"Look at these past two days. Even so, the number of casualties among our entire army is not small!"

"Report——"

"Report!"

While the two were talking, suddenly, an official came running from the west with a message.

"Report to the general! Report to the commander!"

"All enemy troops attacking the city should retreat back to the camp. The entire east and west sections of the North Gate should completely withdraw from the battle!" The official said with a fist salute.

"Yeah, okay! Got it!"

"You may leave now!" Pei Zhong took the advice and sent away the official who summoned him. Then he turned his head and faced Xiao Lang again.

"General, the enemy has completely stopped attacking the city!"

"It seems that the time to stop the war today is much later than last night!"

"General! We've been fighting for two days, and no one has been allowed to rest!"

"You've been working so hard these past few days, you're more tired than us. I think you should stop toiling like this!"

"Let's go down to the city and have some sleep first!"

"I'll be the one guarding here!"

"Based on our experience from the previous two nights, the enemy soldiers will not conduct large-scale operations in the middle of the night!"

"If anything happens, send someone to call them, it will be the same!"

"Don't wait any longer, go!"

Peizhong was worried about Xiao Lang's health, fearing that he would be exhausted, so when he heard that the fighting would be stopped at night, he hurried to persuade him.

But Xiao Jingchuan had his own plans in mind at the moment. He knew very well that tonight was a critical moment, so how could he be careless?
"Hahaha"

"Pei Zhong! Tonight is different from yesterday!"

"Not only am I sleepless, I'm afraid you won't be able to sleep either!"

(End of this chapter)