The peasant girl has a private space, and her husband is handsome.

The battle at Silver Pass is fierce.

Northern barbarians kept climbing up the city wall, and General Shen kept swinging his broadsword until his hand went numb.

He knew that his life would end here today.

He could only bid farewell to his mother and wife, who were far away in the capital, in his heart.

Unfortunately, the Shen family, though full of loyal and righteous men, could not receive God's protection.

The northern barbarian leader, who understood a little Chinese, threatened in broken Chinese: "We—will—massacre—the city."

General Shen, enraged, cursed, "Slaughter your mother—"

Suddenly, Vice General Cui's excited voice rang out: "General Shen, reinforcements have entered through the south gate."

The soldiers, who were fighting a bloody battle, were deeply moved. Reinforcements had finally arrived, and they were no longer fighting alone.

As Lieutenant General Cui watched an arrow fly toward General Shen, he shouted, "General Shen, be careful!"

But it was too late.

General Shen was hit in the chest by an arrow, very close to his heart.

Even so, General Shen did not stop what he was doing, and continued to slash wildly at the enemy with his sword.

Anyway, I'm not afraid of bleeding to death, because it's freezing cold here, and water freezes instantly.

Seeing that General Shen had two arrows stuck in his body but was still wildly slashing with his sword, Deputy General Cui quickly stepped forward and pulled General Shen away to treat his wounds.

"General Shen, are you out of your mind?"

While his wounds were being bandaged, Shen Zhili finally had time to inquire about the reinforcements.

How many people came?

"Reporting to the general, a total of five hundred reinforcements have arrived."

General Shen's bright eyes immediately dimmed again. It's over. Only five hundred men. Why did they come here to die?

When he finished treating his wounds and climbed back up the city wall, he saw that a new group of people had been brought up, and they were all exceptionally brave.

One of them moved with fluid grace, slicing the necks of two northern barbarian soldiers with a single sword stroke.

The northern barbarian soldiers screamed and fell off the city wall.

Deputy General Cui explained to General Shen, "They are Prince Gong's men. All five hundred of his men know martial arts, so one of them is worth at least five."

General Shen silently calculated in his mind that one person was equivalent to five people, so the number of people brought by the Crown Prince Gong was equivalent to two thousand five hundred, which was not a small number.

If the other cities also send several thousand people, there might be a glimmer of hope.

However, General Shen felt that other cities would not send reinforcements.

Gong Yu was directing soldiers to dismantle a wooden house below the city wall.

"Tear the wood apart for firewood, and boil the snow for hot water."

The water boiled quickly.

Buckets of hot water were carried to the city wall and poured outside the wall.

The temperature in Yinguan City is very low, below minus forty degrees Celsius, where water freezes instantly.

Therefore, when hot water was poured onto the outer city wall, it immediately froze.

The northern barbarians who were climbing the ladder were frozen together with the ladder, which frightened the other northern barbarian soldiers so much that they dared not climb any further.

General Shen highly approved of Gong Yu's methods for resisting the enemy.

Indeed, a brain is a good thing; this young master of the palace truly deserves to be called a man of both literary and martial talents.

Lieutenant General Cui chuckled foolishly: "Young Master Gong is really clever; none of us thought of such a good idea."

General Shen slapped Deputy General Cui on the head. "It's not that I didn't think of it, it's that there was simply no firewood. I just didn't want to tear down the house."

Yinguan City is rich in stone, and most of the houses are stone houses, with very few wooden houses.

This method of turning water into ice is good, but the demand is enormous. Demolishing a house for firewood is simply not enough, and soon there will be no hot water left, at which point the enemy's offensive will be even more intense.

Therefore, Yinguan City still could not be defended.

General Shen sighed and said, "If only someone could offer help in this time of need, I mean real, burning charcoal. Well, I'm just dreaming."

Seeing that they couldn't breach the city walls, the enemy concentrated their efforts on ramming the city gates.

The "bang bang bang" sound was particularly loud.

Lieutenant General Cui shouted at the top of his lungs, "General, something terrible has happened! The city gate is about to be breached by the battering ram!"

Gong Yu quickly directed people to pour hot water onto the city gate.

The city gate was quickly covered with layer upon layer of ice, and the enemy's battering rams were frozen to the ground and unable to move.

General Shen can now breathe a sigh of relief.

Although the city will fall sooner or later, it's good to hold on a little longer. Maybe a miracle will happen, or maybe we'll get more reinforcements.

We must defend Yinguan City, or our Great Qi Dynasty will be in grave danger!

After a while, Deputy General Cui reported excitedly, "General Shen, more reinforcements have arrived from the south gate. I heard they brought over a hundred cartloads of black coal, which can be used for fuel."

General Shen was overjoyed. Could it be that Heaven had heard his prayers and sent charcoal fires?

At this time, charcoal is very important; a bucket of hot water poured down the city wall can freeze an enemy.

Actually, the group that arrived was not reinforcements, but Mo Xiaobei and his group.

He was ordered by Su Qianqian to deliver nearly two hundred cartloads of goods, so there were more than five hundred people just to drive the carts and unload the goods.

Unexpectedly, upon arriving at Yinguan City, they witnessed a fierce battle.

Mo Xiaobei found Gong Yu, who was dismantling a wooden watchtower.

"Your Highness, Miss Su has sent us some black coal. Black coal burns longer than wood, so we don't need to dismantle the house anymore."

Su Qianqian not only sent over black coal, but also fifty iron stoves that could be placed on the snow and burned directly.

With the black charcoal, the problem of boiling water was solved.

The soldiers borrowed many large iron pots from nearby villagers and put them on the iron stove to boil water.

Water is not a problem at all; the snow is knee-deep, and you can easily make a big pot of water by shoveling it a few times and throwing it into the pot.

On the city wall, more and more water was poured, and the ice grew thicker and thicker, making it even more difficult for the northern barbarians to attack the city with cloud ladders.

Mo Xiaobei placed a heavy wooden box in front of Gong Yu. "Your Highness, this is a crossbow that Miss Su had made. It is made of meteorite iron, and it is exceptionally sturdy. It can fire three arrows at once."

The huge meteorite that Su Qianqian obtained when she led her people to attack Black Wind Stronghold was composed entirely of meteorite iron, and it was used to make many objects.

"Everyone, listen up! Grab your crossbows and head up the city wall to kill the enemy!"

As soon as Mo Xiaobei shouted through his tin megaphone, everyone grabbed a crossbow and climbed the city wall to fight.

The people in the convoy were all Su Qianqian's subordinates. They were all skilled in martial arts and archery, and their accuracy was excellent, with almost no arrows missing their mark.

General Shen discovered that a large number of the northern barbarians outside the city had fallen, wounded by arrows.

He turned his head and saw, good heavens, what kind of crossbow is this? It's shiny black all over, it's obviously a good thing, and it can even fire three arrows at once!

This is equivalent to one person doing the work of three, it's simply incredible!

General Shen was also pleasantly surprised to find that this crossbow had a significantly longer range and greater power, making it no exaggeration to call this iron crossbow a divine weapon.

Gong Yu was an excellent archer; he wielded an iron crossbow and shot the Northern Barbarian leader, who was wearing a black wolf skin, in one swift motion.

Three arrows struck simultaneously: one hit the left eye, one hit the shoulder, and one hit the stomach.

A shot to the eye is extremely dangerous; if it goes deep, it could even damage the brain.

So the northern barbarians suddenly sounded their horns and withdrew.

General Shen watched the departing northern barbarians, unable to believe that he had actually defended Yinguan City; it felt like a dream.

It was a dead end, but thanks to the black coal and these crossbows that fired three arrows at once, the situation was turned around.

Lieutenant General Cui grinned so hard his mouth was crooked. "This time, the Northern Barbarians are led by Wucha'er, the eldest son whom Wuyu Khan values ​​most. I estimate he is seriously injured and may not live past tonight."

Shen Zhili bowed deeply to Mo Xiaobei and thanked him, saying, "Thank you, young general."

Mo Xiaobei clasped his hands in return, saying, "I dare not accept such praise. I am not some junior general. I am here to deliver supplies on General Su's orders. General Shen, if you wish to thank someone, thank General Su."

General Shen did not know who General Su was, but he was very grateful to General Su for his timely help.

The significance of protecting Yinguan City is immense; if the Northern Barbarians were to capture it, the consequences would be unimaginable.

After the northern barbarians occupied Yinguan City, they were able to advance unimpeded and conquer the Central Plains.

General Su, as mentioned by the young man, deserves great credit for successfully repelling the enemy.

If it weren't for the black coal and the powerful iron crossbows, Silver Pass would have fallen, and he and his soldiers would have certainly died.

A life-saving grace is greater than heaven.

Shen Zhili decided that when he reported back to the court, he must mention General Su's merits.