Chapter 849

16th year of Emperor Jia Zhao, fifth day of the first lunar month, Xuanfu Town.

The sky was gloomy, the cold wind was biting, and the main camp of the Remnant Mongols sounded the retreat, and the Mongol soldiers attacking the city retreated like a tide.

But the Great Zhou army defending the city was already exhausted, and unlike the first two days of attacking the city, they did not pursue the retreating enemy, and continued to pour arrows and stones toward the retreating soldiers.

The surviving Zhou soldiers saw the Mongols retreat and all felt like they had escaped death; how would they dare to provoke the retreating soldiers.

Some of them curled up on the city wall to rest, and some were in a hurry to go down the city tower to bandage their wounds, and their morale and military heart were already loose.

The city head was full of corpses, including Great Zhou soldiers and Mongol soldiers; the death was tragic, and the city bricks were stained red with blood.

The air was filled with the smell of blood, which was extremely heavy, suffocating, and diffused with a cold breath of death.

Guo Zhigui, Xu Fuhui, and Hou Liang, the three of them, were covered in blood and panting against the city battlements.

The Remnant Mongol army invaded for three days, attacking the city with scaling ladders every day, coming and going, without end.

The cruel counter-killing, the number of soldiers defending the city, was decreasing every day, and the morale of the Zhou army was damaged day by day.

The three of them took turns defending the city four times, and the first two times they were able to retreat unscathed, but soon there were casualties.

Guo Zhigui and Xu Fuhui both left arrow wounds and knife wounds; although they were not fatal, their combat power had been discounted.

If they were to take turns to go up to the city to resist the enemy again, whether they could survive was unpredictable.

Among the three, Hou Liang was highly skilled in martial arts, and only he was unscathed; if it weren't for his support, the other two would have been killed or injured long ago.

After several rounds of resisting the enemy, the comrades who went up to the city together were mostly killed in battle, and they were the lucky ones among them.

……

Hou Liang wiped the blood off his knife and looked outside the city, saying: "Commander, the morale of defending the city today is weak, and the casualties are greater than the first two days. This situation is a bit bad."

Guo Zhigui had a knife wound on his left shoulder, the bandage was still seeping blood, and his face was solemn: "Yesterday, there were rumors in the camp that the stock of military grain was already in an emergency."

Hou Liang and Xu Fuhui heard this, and their faces changed; Guo Zhigui is a commander in the army and has many contacts with military officers, so the news is more informed than them.

Now that it is a critical moment to defend the city, once there is a shortage of military grain, it will trigger a mutiny in the army, which is a matter of nine deaths and one life, and Xuanfu Town will definitely be broken without attacking.

Guo Zhigui sighed: "The southeast two gates of Xuanfu Town have been sealed by the Mongols, and they cannot wait for reinforcements, so there is no retreat long ago.

I brought you into the city to report the news, but it harmed you. If you and I brothers want to survive, it is very difficult."

Hou Liang waved his knife, the knife light was dazzling, and he said generously: "We eat military grain, build military merit, and die on the battlefield; we should have thought of it long ago.

Why does the Commander say this? The Commander brought us into the pass to report the news, which is his duty. A man, fighting on the battlefield, is happy to die!"

Xu Fuhui thought of his old mother and brothers at home, and couldn't help but sigh.

The three were talking, when a military officer came over, it was Chen Sanhe, the patrol captain who welcomed them into the city.

"Commander Guo, I received an order from the superior to transfer you to the city to collect grain, and another team of soldiers will be sent to you."

Guo Zhigui asked: "Captain Chen, is there a shortage of grain in the camp?"

Captain Chen sighed: "The stored grain was originally used until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. According to the court's grain dispatch document, it would go out of the city to take grain on the second day. Who would have expected today.

According to the normal frequency of taking grain, the stored grain in the city can be used until the end of the month, and there is no problem at all. If you take grain on the fifteenth, you can use it until the beginning of spring.

Now it is broken in the middle, and the consumption of military grain in the war is intensified, so the military grain is naturally becoming more and more tight.

If it is two days later, the grain in the city will be eaten up, so we must collect grain immediately, coordinate and allocate the stored grain of the people, so that the grain used for defending the city can be maintained for a few more days.

Only by delaying the time of defending the city can we wait for the court's reinforcements. Collecting grain is of great importance, and the commander has issued a strict order.

The stored grain of all large households, merchants, rice shops, and eateries in the city must be fully requisitioned. The war will definitely be persistent, just in case.

The soldiers selected for collecting grain this time are all new faces and outsiders, so as not to be unable to save face for the fellow villagers. You pack up as soon as possible and gather at the West City Gate."

……

After Captain Chen finished speaking, he hurriedly left. Xu Fuhui was born as a farmer and was an old soldier in the army, so he understood the meaning at once.

He said angrily: "Commander, what he said sounds good, what kind of damn grain collection, he is asking us to rob the common people of grain.

They are afraid of dirtying their own hands, so they let us outsiders do it; it's really damn immoral!"

Hou Liang put the knife back into the scabbard and said: "Now the military grain is in an emergency. If we don't enter the city to collect grain, Xuanfu Town won't be able to support it for a few days.

In those years, the Mongols harassed the Central Plains; every time they broke a strong city, they would vent their anger and retaliate, and they would definitely slaughter the city. Once Xuanfu Town is broken, everyone will die.

Now collecting grain from the common people is also a last resort. If everyone is not full, they can still live for a few more days, which is better than being killed after the city is broken."

Guo Zhigui said: "Hou Liang is right. This behavior in the army is already at the end of the road.

You and I enter the city to collect grain, leave some leeway, don't hurt the common people, and be worthy of our conscience.

To say something ugly, there are two rounds of attacking the city today. If we don't enter the city to collect grain, we still have to take turns defending the city. Whether we can hold on at the city head is very hard to say……"

Xu Fuhui heard this, and felt a chill in his heart. He and Guo Zhigui both had knife wounds, and their combat power against the enemy had been discounted.

Even if Hou Liang is highly skilled in martial arts, he is not a three-headed and six-armed person, and there will always be mistakes. If they have to hold on for two more rounds at the city head, they will definitely have casualties.

Only by living can there be hope; if they die, there will be nothing……

……

Although Xuanfu Town is called a town, it is a large port that has been built for more than a hundred years, and it is a famous prosperous large city in the north, not comparable to ordinary villages and towns.

Because this place is a heavy town of the Nine Borders, it not only shares the responsibility of tea and horse mutual trade, but because of its convenience, all kinds of border trade are very prosperous and developed.

The roads in the city are orderly, and there are all kinds of restaurants, tile shops, foot shops, flower buildings, etc.

On weekdays, the flow of people on the street is like weaving, the shops are prosperous, the merchants are gathered, and it is very lively.

But since the Mongol army attacked and besieged Xuanfu Town, the city has been in chaos, and countless corpses have been carried down from the city head every day.

Countless corpse pits were dug in the wasteland east of the city, and they were too late to bury the corpses. In order to prevent the spread of the epidemic, some corpses could only be burned on the spot.

The people in the city live in terror. Except for rice shops and eateries that are still open, most shops have closed their doors, the streets are empty, and few pedestrians walk.

Guo Zhigui took Hou Liang and Xu Fuhui, followed by more than a dozen soldiers, and walked through the streets, seeing desolate scenes everywhere.

They walked to a mansion with white walls and green tiles, and the soldiers stepped forward to knock on the door.

The gate only opened a crack, and it was pushed open by force, and the grain-collecting soldiers swarmed in.

Before Guo Zhigui led the team to collect grain, Captain Chen gave him a list, which recorded the locations of large households, wealthy merchants, rice shops, and eateries in the city.

The mansion they broke into this time is a famous wealthy merchant in the city, who has made ten thousand strings of wealth by doing border trade in the past few years.

Although the court has closed the tea and horse mutual trade and banned border trade with the Remnant Mongols for more than a year.

But these border trade wealthy merchants, even if their business is cold, still have a solid foundation, and these large households have the habit of hoarding grain, so they are naturally the first choice for collecting grain.

……

Guo Zhigui restrained his subordinates, not allowing them to disturb the inner family, not allowing them to damage the property of the mansion, and only looking for stored grain everywhere.

Soon, fifty bags of grain were found in a side room in the inner courtyard.

Because Xu Fuhui was born as a farmer and was an old soldier in the army, Guo Zhigui asked him to leave ten days of stored grain according to the population in the mansion, and requisitioned all the remaining grain.

The owner of this house took two servants and wanted to stop them, but was threatened by Hou Liang with a knife, so he had to give up tremblingly.

Guo Zhigui took out the prepared blank document, filled in the amount of grain collected, and handed it to the pale-faced wealthy merchant.

He said: "This is the court's grain collection document. Ten days of rations have been left for you. If the court's reinforcements break the siege within ten days.

With this document, you can report to the government, and the court will compensate for money and grain at the market price."

He finished speaking and went out without looking back, and the soldiers under his command swarmed up and loaded dozens of bags of grain into the car.

Xu Fuhui sighed in his heart; the so-called reinforcements will definitely arrive within ten days is just empty talk. With the Mongol army besieging, how can Xuanfu Town support it for ten days……

……

Guo Zhigui led the grain collection team and collected grain from several large households in the city according to the list mentioned in the army. Although it was a forced requisition, they all left ten days of rations.

The process of collecting grain was naturally not very pleasant; there were curses, crying, and even the victims resisted, but Guo Zhigui suppressed it cautiously and did not cause any waves.

Although they collected two large carts of grain along the way, Guo Zhigui, Hou Liang, and Xu Fuhui were all depressed.

In addition to the hateful eyes of those who were collected grain, their discomfort and guilt, more importantly, the grain they robbed could not reverse the severe situation before them.

Xuanfu Town was surrounded by the Mongols on all sides and could not send out half a message. The Mongol army attacking the city was several times that of the Zhou army defending the city.

As long as there is no reinforcements to break the siege, no matter how much grain is robbed from the people, it will still not be able to escape the fate of the city breaking, just dragging one day at a time.

……

The group soon arrived at the new grain collection location, which was a two-room rice shop. The shop was still open, and many people were queuing up to buy grain in front of the door.

Five or six big men stood in front of the shop, holding whistle sticks to guard the shop front.

Guo Zhigui looked at it slightly, seeing that these big men were physically strong and their hands and feet were steady, looking like practitioners.