Chapter 170 Speechless Lin Xiuming

Although Lin Xiuming is young, he has led troops to fight many battles. Although he rarely leads troops to fight in winter, he still has some understanding of the battlefield conditions on rainy days.

There were so many rut marks and horse marks in front of him. Although they were covered by heavy snow, he could probably judge the approximate number of people based on the footprints.

Judging from the repeated trampling on the snow, there must be a lot of people passing through this place.

Most of the tracks in the middle were trampled by people, and on both sides were tracks trampled by horses, which showed that there was a cavalry transporting something.

To be precise, they were not transporting anything. Judging from the footprints of so many people, they should be escorting someone.

At this time, a soldier next to Lin Xiuming said: "General, look at some black gravel in the snow. If my subordinate guessed correctly, this should be black gravel."

They have been stationed in Yancheng for almost two months. They are all aware of some major events in Yancheng, such as the stoves and coal launched by Beiwang Mansion.

Their military camp relied on Beiwangfu's stove to spend the winter this winter. If it weren't for Beiwangfu's coal and stove, they didn't know how they would have frozen.

The soldiers also heard about the "black stone", the raw material of carbon balls, and they all knew that the carbon balls in Beiwangfu were made of black stone.

Looking at the coal slag on the ground in the snow, the soldiers instantly judged that it was black gravel.

After hearing the words of the soldiers around him, Lin Xiuming got off his horse, then squatted down and grabbed some black gravel from the ground, put it in front of his nose and smelled it.

"Yes, it is indeed black gravel."

Lin Xiuming immediately threw the black gravel in his hand to the ground, stood up and took a look at the intermittent black gravel in the snow.

The soldiers beside Lin Xiuming continued: "These should be soldiers from the North Palace escorting the barbarian slaves to transport the black stone mine."

Lin Xiuming didn't speak. He looked at the black gravel on the ground and thought about something.

Judging from the scattered black stone slag on the ground, it does look like the barbarian slaves from the North Palace are transporting black stone, but...

Lin Xiuming glanced at the direction in which these marks stretched. Judging from the direction, those people came from the north.

Is there a black stone mine in Beiwangfu in the Northland?

Lin Xiuming didn't know much about the distribution of black stone mines in Beiwang Mansion, and the first thing he could think of was not the black stone mines, but Tianguang City in the north.

Judging from the marks of the horseshoes, there were a lot of cavalry escorting these people. Lin Xiuming knew that there were only 50,000 heavy cavalry in the entire North County.

Although there are light cavalry in Beijun, the number of light cavalry is very small, probably not even 10,000.

But judging from the horseshoe marks in the snow, the number of cavalry coming from the north must have exceeded 10,000.

Didn't it mean that Beijun's heavy cavalry had suffered more than 40,000 casualties and was close to being wiped out? There were still so many cavalry in the King of Beijun?

Seeing Lin Xiuming staring blankly at the horse hoof marks on the ground, the soldier next to him asked doubtfully: "General, did you find anything?"

Only then did Lin Xiuming come to his senses. He then said, "It's okay. I was thinking about something just now. Okay, let's continue on our way. We can use these footprints to go north."

Where these footprints have stepped, there is less snow and they can still touch the ground, so it is not that difficult to move forward. This is a good thing for Lin Xiuming and the others as they march.

Lin Xiuming then led the imperial court's 20,000 soldiers and headed north, following the footsteps of Xuanyuan Chen and others when they went south.

Although those footprints were quickly covered by heavy snow, they still used these footprints to travel a long distance and saved a lot of time.

If there weren't these footprints, it would probably take them a month to reach Tianguang City.

On the way to Tianguang City, Lin Xiuming had been paying attention to the footprints. He always felt that the situation in Tianguang City was not what he heard. King Bei must have hidden the true situation of the war.

I'm afraid they didn't go north to resist the barbarians from going south. It was most likely just a formality.

Seeing so many horseshoe marks, Lin Xiuming could only think of the 50,000 heavy cavalry in Beijun.

Lin Xiuming had basically guessed what Lu Chen was thinking, but he had no intention of saying it out loud, so he pretended not to know anything.

Since his father has already planned to support Bei Wang, he will definitely fall to Bei Wang's side, so he can just cooperate with Bei Wang's performance.

Originally, Lin Xiuming was still under a lot of pressure to go north. Although the idea of ​​​​making a contribution has always been in his mind, he only had 20,000 imperial cavalry under his command. When he thought that all the black cavalry had been destroyed, he doubted whether his 20,000 cavalry could survive. Able to block the army of King Beixian.

As a result, when he saw the horse hoof prints on the ground, Lin Xiuming suddenly realized that it was not the black cavalry that had been destroyed, but the army of the North Xian King.

He said how could the King of the North lose to the King of the North? The King of the North had a terrifying weapon in his hand that could instantly smash the barbarian soldiers to pieces, although he had never seen the North King's army use that kind of weapon. , but the last time he came to Yancheng, he had guessed the approximate power of the mysterious weapon through those big pits.

With such weapons, let alone the barbarians, even Dawu could only be beaten in front of Beijun.

After more than half a month of traveling, Lin Xiuming and the others finally arrived at Tianguang City.

This year's winter in North County is colder than in previous years. The snow is getting heavier and heavier, and visibility in broad daylight is less than five meters.

When Lin Xiuming led the imperial court's 20,000 troops to the south gate of Tianguang City, Li Feng rode out to greet him.

Looking at Lin Xiuming and the court's 20,000 troops, Li Feng pretended to be very excited and said: "General Lin, you are finally here. If you guys come a few days later, we may not be able to hold on. "

Seeing Li Feng looking so excited that he was about to cry, Lin Xiuming laughed in his heart.

It really looks like that.

Lin Xiuming asked with concern: "General Li, is there something wrong with the prince?"

Li Feng sighed and showed a sad look, "The prince is not injured, but because of the destruction of the Black Cavalry, he has been in a low mood in recent days and has not thought about food or food."

"Okay, let's not talk about this anymore. It's windy and snowy outside. Let's go into the city quickly."

Then Li Feng led Lin Xiuming and the imperial court's 20,000 troops into Tianguang City.

Because Lin Xiuming and the imperial army were coming, Mu Changtian and his two sons left Tianguang City. The three of them were already dead in Daxia. It would not be good if Lin Xiuming saw them.

However, the three of them did not return to Yancheng. Lu Chen arranged a rather special task for the three of them.

After Lin Xiuming entered Tianguang City, he looked at everything in Tianguang City. At this time, Lin Xiuming found that the morale of the soldiers in Beijun seemed to be relatively low.

Almost all the North County soldiers he saw looked like they were sighing, as if they had really lost the battle.

Seeing their appearance, even Lin Xiuming began to wonder if his guess on the road was wrong.

The depressed mood of these soldiers seemed not to be fake at all, they seemed to be really depressed.

Lin Xiuming frowned slightly, and then asked: "General Li, has the Black Cavalry really been wiped out?"

Li Feng sighed deeply, "The whole army has not been wiped out, but there are only a few thousand people left, and they are all injured. I am afraid they will not have much fighting power in the future."

"This time we suffered heavy losses. No one thought that the North Xian King's army would be so powerful. We underestimated the enemy."

Having said this, Li Feng sighed again. Ever since Lin Xiuming saw Li Feng, Li Feng had been sighing non-stop.

This confused Lin Xiuming.

He couldn't help but wonder, could it be that all the heavy cavalry in Beijun were really wiped out?

Lin Xiuming didn't ask any more questions. He quietly followed Li Feng to the place where Lu Chen temporarily lived.

However, when they arrived at Lu Chen's command post, they did not see Lu Chen, only Bai Qingqing.

Li Feng then asked: "Commander Bai, where has the prince gone?"

Bai Qingqing replied expressionlessly: "I went to see the Black Cavalry."

Lin Xiuming was about to ask something when Li Feng turned to him and said, "The prince often goes to the place where the black cavalry is buried to be alone in a daze recently. I will take you there right now."

this……

Lin Xiuming then asked the imperial army to rest in the city, and then he followed Li Feng alone to the place where the black cavalry was buried.

After a while, they arrived at the foot of a hillside outside the city.

In the wind and snow, the back of a young man was looming.

The young man stood on the hillside, looking into the distance, as if he was missing something.

At this time, there was snow piled up on the young man's head and shoulders. It seemed that he had been standing here for a long time.

Lin Xiuming was stunned.

If it was an act, it would look too similar.

At this time, Li Feng came to Lu Chen and said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, General Lin is here with 20,000 troops from the imperial court."

Hearing Li Feng's words, Lu Chen sighed deeply, then turned and walked towards Lin Xiuming.

Lin Xiuming hurriedly came up to him and said, "See you, Your Majesty!"

Lu Chen looked at Lin Xiuming and said with a deep expression: "General Lin, I have finally waited for you. If you had come a few days later, I am afraid that Tianguang City would have been occupied by the barbarians."

Lin Xiuming asked with confusion on his face: "Your Majesty, haven't the barbarian army retreated yet?"

Lu Chen replied: "They haven't withdrawn. They will send troops to attack Tianguang City from time to time."

"Did you see any horse hoof prints in the distance? They just came here early this morning, but this time they didn't launch an attack."

Hearing Lu Chen's words, Lin Xiuming looked towards the snow in the distance. There were indeed many horse hoof prints, and it really looked like barbarian cavalry had come.

Lin Xiuming glanced at the big mound in front of him again. He still had some doubts in his heart. He still didn't believe that the black cavalry in Beijun was gone.

Lu Chen said: "Now that General Lin is here, the defense of Tianguang City will be left to the imperial army."

Lin Xiuming was stunned when he heard Lu Chen's words.

Handed over to the imperial army?

Is King Bei planning to return to Yancheng?

Lu Chen continued: "Okay, it's very windy and snowy here. If you have any questions, let's go back to the city first."

Then the three of them returned directly to the city.

After returning to the city, Lu Chen and Lin Xiuming explained some things and took most of the soldiers from Beijun back to Yancheng without any delay.

Lin Xiuming did not ask Lu Chen how the Black Cavalry was destroyed. Regardless of whether the Black Cavalry was really destroyed or not, if he was on Lu Chen's side, Lin Xiuming would not be able to ask about the details of the war.

If the Black Cavalry was really destroyed, and he asked the North King for the details of the war, he would be exposing the North King's scars.

If the Black Cavalry had not been destroyed, then there would be no need for him to inquire about the details of the war. Anyway, his father had already decided to side with the King of the North. The King of North said that the Black Cavalry was destroyed, most likely to hide the military strength of Beijun and avoid being The court has been paying attention.

After seeing Lu Chen off in person, Lin Xiuming returned to the city. Looking at the heavy snow falling in the sky, Lin Xiuming couldn't help but think, did King Beixian's army really not retreat?

With such heavy snow, King Beixian still comes to attack Beijun. Is there anything wrong with his mind?

At this moment, Lin Xiuming's confidant came to him, "General, we found something."

Upon hearing this, Lin Xiuming immediately said: "Take me over and have a look."

Lin Xiuming then followed his confidants to the North City of Tianguang City.

A large area of ​​buildings in Beicheng fell down. Although the heavy snow had covered up the traces of the battlefield, if you look closely, you can still see that a large-scale battle broke out in Tianguang City.

Especially the big pits inside the ruins instantly reminded Lin Xiuming of the big pits he saw in the Wanning River Valley.

Seeing the dilapidated Beicheng, Lin Xiuming laughed and said to himself: "The acting looks so good, I was almost fooled."

Just after coming to the battlefield and taking a look, Lin Xiuming restored in his mind what the scene of the war that took place in the north city of Tianguang City was like that day.

Obviously, King Bei and the others adopted the strategy of luring the king into a trap. They first led the army of King Beixian into Tianguang City, and then used Beijun's mysterious weapons to blast the army of King Beixian. Finally, they sent out troops to solve the problem. defeated the army of the North Xian King.

Lin Xiuming took another look at the gate of Beicheng at this time. From the fact that the gate of Beicheng was intact, he could basically conclude that King Beixian and the others deliberately let King Beixian into Tianguang City.

The war that took place in Tianguang City was basically the same as the last battle in the Wanning Valley. They introduced the enemy into a narrow place so that the barbarian cavalry had nowhere to escape, and then annihilated the barbarian cavalry.

Lin Xiuming thought of the footprints they saw when they went north, and he probably guessed who those footprints belonged to.

In the last battle in the Wanning Valley, the Northern Capital captured more than 100,000 barbarian prisoners. I am afraid that many barbarian soldiers were captured this time as well.

At this time, Lin Xiuming's confidants asked: "General, how do we report the destruction of the Black Cavalry to the court? When the war happened, we were not there and had no idea what the situation was."

Lin Xiuming said calmly: "Just report it truthfully. We will report it as King Bei said."

This time is different from the last time. This time they went north with only 20,000 people, and they didn't even bring any supervisors with them, so Lin Xiuming was left to write the battle report by himself, and he could write whatever he wanted, as long as it wasn't too outrageous.

At this moment, drums suddenly sounded on the city wall. Lin Xiuming was startled when he heard the rapid drum beats.

At this time, Li Feng ran over in a panic and said: "General Lin, something bad has happened. The barbarian cavalry is here again!"

Lin Xiuming frowned and quickly said to the soldiers beside him: "Gather the soldiers and prepare to fight!"

Then Lin Xiuming and Li Feng came to the tower of Tianguang City together.

At this time, the wind and snow were getting heavier and heavier, and they could only see a black shadow in the distance.

After an unknown amount of time, Lin Xiuming saw clearly the appearance of those black figures. Judging from the fur clothes they wore, they were indeed barbarian cavalry.

Lin Xiuming frowned, what Bei Wang said was actually true?

Did the barbarians really not evacuate?

How can this be?

He had just seen the traces of war in Beicheng and thought that the army of King Beixian had been destroyed by King Bei. However, as soon as King Bei left Beicheng, the barbarian army came again.

Lin Xiuming squinted his eyes and roughly estimated the barbarian cavalry outside.

The number of barbarian cavalry is not large, but there are about 5,000 people. It is definitely impossible for 5,000 people to capture Tianguang City. At any rate, he led the imperial court's 20,000 troops to Tianguang City.

Just when Lin Xiuming was about to let the soldiers release arrows, a soldier ran up to Lin Xiuming in a panic and said: "General, something bad has happened. Tianguang City has no arrows, and there are only catapults, even the stones thrown." None, our soldiers only have a few arrows, and they are unable to withstand the barbarian siege!"

They were in a hurry when they went north, and the supplies they originally transported to Beijun had already been handed over to Beijun. Now they only have some melee weapons and don't have many arrows on them.

If they were defending the city, they could only rely on Tianguang City's own weapons for defense. As a result, when the soldiers arrived at Tianguang City, they discovered that there were no long-range weapons. This frightened the soldiers.

Hearing the soldiers' words, Lin Xiuming was stunned. Tianguang City actually had no arrows or stones?

How can this be?

How can they defend themselves without long-range weapons?

Lin Xiuming immediately turned to look at Li Feng and asked: "General Li, how come there are no arrows in Tianguang City? Even if a war breaks out, you can clear out a lot of usable arrows when cleaning the battlefield, right?"

Li Feng coughed and said: "Ahem, maybe the prince took it away just now. We have to defend not only Tianguang City, but also several cities in the west that need to be defended. It is probably because the prince thought that General Lin's army was fully equipped and he himself I brought some weapons with me, but I didn’t need the weapons from Tianguang City, so I took away all the weapons from Tianguang City and planned to send them to other cities.”

"General Lin, you also know that we in Bei County are relatively poor and have a shortage of supplies, especially military supplies. We can only use them here and there."

Hearing Li Feng's words, Lin Xiuming was so angry that he wanted to scold her.

The military supplies they originally transported from the capital had already been handed over to Beijun. What weapons and equipment did they get from there?

This was the first time he heard that the army at the front changed defenses and directly took away all the weapons on the front line.

Not only were the arrows taken away, but even the throwing stones were moved away.

Are you kidding me?