choke element

Chapter 1019: Turbulence (Part )

Guo Zhongyuan was even more worried than Sun Huzi had imagined.

The Mongols did not attack Kaifeng, perhaps because they were lightly armed and had no confidence in attacking a strong city. Wen Sengda and other generals under Guo Zhongyuan made some preparations for defense.

Just this morning, there was a commotion outside the city, and a group of soldiers rushed in. But they were immediately followed by the Mongolian army outside the city. The soldiers in the city did not receive the order from the commander and failed to go out of the city in time to rescue. Hundreds of people could only watch the occasional flash of armor in the thick fog and listen to the sound of fighting from low to high, and then from high to low.

When the battle finally died down, daybreak was approaching.

A Mongolian knight galloped over with wild laughter and threw a bloody head onto the top of the city wall.

After a while, the thick fog dissipated a little, and many more corpses and broken limbs were seen outside the city.

After a moment, the head was brought to Guo Zhongyuan.

There was a large hole on the back of the head made by a horse's hoof, and the brain had all drained out. The face was bulging with angry eyes, and it was extremely terrifying. Guo Zhongyuan recognized that this head belonged to Wulin Xiahai, the commander stationed in Yingzhou Litou Town.

Wulin Xiahai was a former subordinate of Hushahu. When Guo Zhongyuan was ordered to recruit the defeated soldiers of Zhongdu, he joined the Dinghai Army. Although he was a Jurchen, he was deeply influenced by Chinese culture. He worked hard for the king for seven or eight years and accumulated merits from being an ordinary soldier. He was selected to enter the military academy as an overage student. In the middle of the year, he was assigned to Guo Zhongyuan's army.

Although Guo Ning did not make it clear about that batch of transfers, everyone knew that in order to replace the overly powerful influence of the old Red Turban Army, dozens of people were selected to go south. Most of them were soldiers from the northern border, including several Khitans and Jurchens.

In the past few days, Guo Zhongyuan saw at least 20 heads belonging to these officers. This also means that at least 20 Zhou army strongholds were destroyed and the soldiers and civilians were slaughtered. This was the message that the Mongols deliberately conveyed to the defenders, and Guo Zhongyuan received it.

Litou Town is not close to Kaifeng. After the Mongolian army suddenly appeared, Wulin Xiahai probably led his men to retreat to Yingzhou, and then was ordered to rush to Kaifeng for help. Since he came here, it means that Yingzhou is probably also dangerous, but because everyone who rushed to Kaifeng was robbed and killed by the Mongolian cavalry, Guo Zhongyuan was not sure what the current situation was.

Not only Yingzhou, he also didn't know the situation of Guide Prefecture, Zhengzhou, Henan Prefecture and other important cities. Relying on the mobility advantage of cavalry, the Mongolian army had completely blocked the internal and external traffic of Kaifeng City, forming an impenetrable battlefield fog in a large area. Guo Zhongyuan could not get any news except bad news.

This made him feel more and more depressed. He had been unable to close his eyes for several nights, his eyes were bloodshot and the scar on his cheek was red.

He was promoted from an old soldier in Zhongdu Dading Prefecture by Guo Ning to a commander. His strengths lie in his resolute character. Whether in combat or military management, he is rigorous and steady, and almost never makes mistakes. Since he was stationed in Nanjing Kaifeng Prefecture, he supported Zhongdu and Shanxi Tongjun Division in military supplies, and quickly garrisoned the border with the Southern Song Dynasty, showing his outstanding talents.

After Yin Chang got into trouble, he used both soft and hard tactics to appease the old members of the Red Turban Army and stabilize the order of the army, and he did it very well.

Faced with the continuous adjustment of his own troops and the obvious weakening of their strength, he first ensured that the manpower in the border forts and passes was not reduced, and strengthened the construction of post stations and military shops along the roads. He even went into detail about training elite troops for mobile forces. His main deputy Liu Ran personally supervised the local soldiers and sweepers, and held several reviews on the border in succession to deter friendly neighbors.

But all the arrangements were in vain.

All the arrangements were aimed at the Song army, and there was no way to deal with the Mongolian army. This situation of being completely calculated by others made Guo Zhongyuan's heart burn with anger. The huge sense of shame and guilt was like a huge stone pressing on him, making him breathless. Only when he coughed, his lungs would be relieved with a wheezing sound, but the rapid coughing brought waves of nausea and dizziness, as if his lungs were about to burst out with the cough.

One of the attendants patted Guo Zhongyuan's back with a worried look on his face. Guo Zhongyuan lifted his military robe to cover his mouth and asked in a deep voice, "Have those who just clamored to leave the city been dealt with?"

The Mongolian army repeatedly killed the fleeing soldiers under the city and repeatedly approached the city to provoke. Guo Zhongyuan ordered his troops not to attack, and none of his subordinates dared to disobey his orders.

With the wealth of Kaifeng, there were tens of thousands of residents and craftsmen from the surrounding towns, markets, and factories who didn't have time to escape into the city! Over the past few days, the Mongolian army had killed so many people outside the city that it was impossible to count them. The people who were defending the city walls saw their relatives and neighbors die in batches, and some of them collapsed directly.

Since yesterday, the Mongolian army has increased the frequency of ambushes in the surrounding areas. Many of the heads thrown into the city before belonged to local defenders. This news could not be concealed and finally fermented in the army.

This morning, when Wulin Xiahai's troops were killed outside the city, a group of soldiers suddenly shouted and said they wanted to go out of the city to rescue them. As a result, they rushed to the city gate and were forcibly stopped. Guo Zhongyuan was very strict in military discipline and would not tolerate such behavior without military discipline. He immediately ordered the execution of the leaders and reported back.

When Guo Zhongyuan asked about this, his staff member Yu Yingshou replied, "We have already investigated. The leaders have been arrested, but..."

Guo Zhongyuan panted again: "But what? Just say it."

"The first one to make a fuss was Captain Weiden."

“…Bring it up here.”

Guo Zhongyuan was working for the Weijie Army in Zhongdu. He had six soldiers under his command, one of whom was Wei Deng. Wei Deng was a native of Zhongdu and was very good at socializing. When Guo Zhongyuan was stranded in Zhongdu, he was well taken care of by Wei Deng. When Guo Zhongyuan was ordered to recruit soldiers for Zhongdu, Wei Deng helped a lot with his connections in the army, and later he continued to work for Guo Zhongyuan.

Because he was impatient and loved to eat and drink, he was always a captain and could not be promoted. But everyone knew that he had a deep friendship with Guo Zhongyuan and could be called the most trusted of the trusted. He seemed to be wandering around, eating and drinking, but in fact he had the responsibility to appease the soldiers and find out the movements of the army.

Now that Weiden had violated military law, his subordinates did not know what to do. It was probably because Weiden and Wulin Zhaihai were old friends, and he could not bear to see his old friend and comrades being slaughtered like this.

Sure enough, when several servants dragged Wei Deng up, he was still shouting.

"Marshal! Marshal! Brother Guo! We can't just watch our brothers die outside! We have to go save them! Let me go, I'll go! Even if I have to sacrifice my life, I can't just watch our brothers die!"

"Watching my brothers die?"

Guo Zhongyuan raised his eyes and glanced at Wei Deng: "Wei Deng, if I allow you to lead the attack and cover the brothers' retreat into Kaifeng...how many people do you need?"

"Five hundred... No, count the hundred or so people who just came down the city with me. If you give me two hundred regular soldiers in armor from the Northern Frontier, I will charge!"

"That is to say, you need 300 men, 200 of whom are veterans." Guo Zhongyuan's eyes were cold: "Then tell me, how many regular soldiers in Kaifeng are there now?"

Weiden hesitated and murmured, "At least three thousand, right?"

"I need 3,000 men to hold the city wall for more than 20 miles and the more than 200,000 people in the city! But you want 300 men to leave the city? If 300 men die in battle, there will be 300 fewer men available in the city, and there will be loopholes in the areas that could have been controlled! If there are Mongolian spies causing chaos in the city, who will suppress them?"

Guo Zhongyuan coughed and cursed, "The only ones standing on the top of the city wall to defend are the veterans, those holding flags and those standing at the forefront. The others, 30% are local runners for catching bandits and preventing fires, 30% are postmen and militiamen, 30% are artisans from the armory, and 10% are newly reorganized caravan guards! It will take at least five days to organize these people into an army, and only three days have passed!"

He looked around and said sternly, "In order to ensure that they did not panic and show weakness, and did not run away, my personal soldiers killed more than 20 people in two days! Only by killing the rebels can we ensure that the city walls are not in chaos and that the Mongols cannot see our flaws! But Wei Deng got excited and brought hundreds of people to disrupt the city defense! What if the Mongols think they have an opportunity... How many lives will I have to take to resist them?"

At this point, Guo Zhongyuan leaned forward and stared at Wei Deng, his voice stern: "It has been more than ten years since we met in Zhongdu. In the past, I didn't want to easily restrict my old brother. But now this situation, don't blame me!"

"Commander, I..."

Wei Deng had just shouted for a while when Guo Zhongyuan had already started waving his hands vigorously.

The knife flashed, Wei Deng's skull rolled down, and blood spilled all over the ground.

The pungent fishy smell made Guo Zhongyuan dizzy. He took a long breath and shouted, "Hang this head out and tell the soldiers guarding the city walls and gates that they must stand still without further orders!"