Chapter 170 Speechless Lin Xiuming

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

Although the many wheel tracks and horse tracks in front of him have been covered by heavy snow, he can probably judge the approximate number of people based on the footprints.

Judging from the repeated trampling of the snow, there must be a lot of people passing by here.

The footprints in the middle are mostly human footprints, and the footprints on both sides are horse footprints, which shows that there is a cavalry transporting something.

To be precise, it is not something to be transported. Judging from the footprints of so many people, they should be escorting someone.

At this time, a soldier next to Lin Xiuming said: "General, you see some black slag in the snow. If I am not mistaken, this should be black slag."

They have been stationed in Yancheng for more than two months. They all know some major events that have happened in Yancheng, such as the stove and coal launched by the Northern Palace.

Their military camp relied on the stove of the Northern Palace to survive this winter. If it weren't for the coal and stove of the Northern Palace, they would have been frozen to death.

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

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

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

"Well, it is indeed black stone slag."

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

The soldier next to Lin Xiuming continued: "These should be the soldiers of the Northern Palace escorting those barbarian slaves to transport black stone ore."

Lin Xiuming did not speak, he looked at the black stone slag on the ground and thought about something.

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

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

Is there a black stone mine in the Northern Palace in the north?

Lin Xiuming didn't know the distribution of the black stone mine in the Northern Palace, and the first thing he could think of was not the black stone mine, but the Tianguang City in the north.

From the horse hoof marks, there were a lot of cavalry escorting these people. Lin Xiuming knew that there were only 50,000 heavy cavalry in the entire Northern County.

Although there were light cavalry in the Northern County, the number of light cavalry was very small, probably not even 10,000.

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

Didn't they say that the heavy cavalry of the Northern County had suffered more than 40,000 casualties and were almost wiped out? Why did the Northern King still have so many cavalry?

Seeing that Lin Xiuming had been staring at the horseshoe marks on the ground in a daze, the soldier next to him asked in confusion: "General, did you find anything?"

Lin Xiuming came back to his senses, and then he said: "It's okay, I was just thinking about something. Okay, let's continue on our way. We can use these footprints to go north."

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

Then Lin Xiuming led the court's 20,000 soldiers and stepped on the footprints of Xuanyuan Chen and his men when they went south to the north.

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

If there were no footprints, they might really have to walk for a month to reach Tianguang City.

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

They probably went north not to resist the barbarians from going south, but probably just for a formality.

Seeing so many horse hoof prints, 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 didn't plan to say it out loud, so he pretended to know nothing.

Since his father had already planned to support the Northern King, he would definitely lean towards the Northern King, so he just had to cooperate with the Northern King's performance.

Originally, Lin Xiuming was under great pressure to go north. Although he had always wanted to make achievements, he only had 20,000 imperial cavalry under his command. When he thought that the black cavalry had been destroyed, he doubted whether his 20,000 cavalry could stop the Northern Xian King's army.

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 was destroyed, but the Northern Xian King's army.

He said how could the Northern King lose to the Northern Xian King, because the Northern King had a terrifying weapon that could instantly blast the barbarian soldiers into pieces. Although he had never seen the Northern King's army use that weapon, he had guessed the approximate power of that mysterious weapon through those big pits when he came to Yancheng last time.

With such a weapon, let alone the barbarians, even the Dawu would only be beaten in front of the Northern County.

After more than half a month of travel, Lin Xiuming and his team finally arrived at Tianguang City.

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

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

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 expected 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.

This confused Lin Xiuming.

He couldn't help but wonder, could it be that Beijun's heavy cavalry was 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'm going 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 whispered: "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, please 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 decided to side with the King of the North. The King of the 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 personally seeing Lu Chen off, Lin Xiuming returned to the city. Looking at the heavy snow flying in the sky, Lin Xiuming couldn't help but wonder, did the Northern Xian King's army really not retreat?

With such heavy snow, the Northern Xian King still came to attack Beijun. Is there anything wrong with his brain?

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

Hearing this, Lin Xiuming immediately said, "Take me over to have a look."

Then Lin Xiuming followed his confidant to the North City of Tianguang City.

A large area of ​​the buildings in the North City collapsed. Although the heavy snow had covered 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 in the ruins, which instantly reminded Lin Xiuming of the big pits he saw in the Wanning River Valley.

Seeing the ruined North City, Lin Xiuming laughed and said to himself: "It was so realistic, I almost got fooled."

Just by coming to the battlefield and taking a look, Lin Xiuming's mind restored what kind of scene the war that took place in the North City of Tianguang City that day was like.

Obviously, the Northern King and his men adopted the strategy of luring the enemy into the trap, first leading the Northern Xian King's army into Tianguang City, and then using the mysterious weapons of the Northern County to bombard the Northern Xian King's army, and finally they sent troops to eliminate the Northern Xian King's army.

At this time, Lin Xiuming took another look at the gate of the North City. From the fact that the gate of the North City was intact, it can be basically determined that the Northern King and his men deliberately let the Northern Xian King enter Tianguang City.

The war that took place in Tianguang City was basically the same as the last battle in Wanning River Valley. Both led the enemy army into a narrow place, leaving the barbarian cavalry 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 Wanning River Valley, the Northern King captured more than 100,000 barbarian captives. I am afraid that he also captured a lot of barbarian soldiers this time.

At this time, Lin Xiuming's confidant asked: "General, how should we report the destruction of the Black Cavalry to the court? When the war broke out, we were not at the scene and had no idea what was going on."

Lin Xiuming said lightly: "Just report it truthfully. We will report what the Northern King 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 military supervisors, so Lin Xiuming wrote the war report alone. He could write whatever he wanted as long as it was not too outrageous.

At this time, drums suddenly sounded on the city wall. Hearing the urgent drums, Lin Xiuming was startled.

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

Lin Xiuming frowned and hurriedly said to the soldiers around him: "Gather the soldiers and prepare for battle!"

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

At this time, the wind and snow were getting stronger and stronger, and they could only see a group of black shadows in the distance.

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

Lin Xiuming frowned. What the Northern King said was actually true?

The barbarians really didn't evacuate?

How is this possible?

He just saw the traces of war in the North City and thought that the Northern Xian King's army had been destroyed by the Northern King. As a result, the Northern King had just left the North City, and the barbarian army came again.

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

The number of barbarian cavalry was not large, but there were about 5,000 people. It was definitely impossible for 5,000 people to capture Tianguang City. After all, he had just led the court's 20,000 troops to Tianguang City.

Just when Lin Xiuming was about to let the soldiers shoot arrows, a soldier ran to Lin Xiuming in a panic and said, "General, it's bad. Tianguang City is out of arrows, and there are only catapults, not even stones to throw. Our soldiers only have a few arrows, and they can't resist the barbarians' siege at all!"

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

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

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

How is this possible?

How can they defend without long-range weapons?

Lin Xiuming immediately turned his head and looked at Li Feng and asked, "General Li, how come there are no arrows in Tianguang City? Even if a war breaks out, a lot of usable arrows can be cleaned up when cleaning the battlefield, right?"

Li Feng coughed and said, "Ahem, maybe the prince took them away just now. We have to defend not only Tianguang City, but also several cities in the west. I guess the prince thought that General Lin's army was well-equipped and had some weapons of his own, so he didn't need the weapons of Tianguang City, so he took all the weapons of Tianguang City away and planned to send them to other cities."

"General Lin, you also know that our Beijun is relatively poor and short of supplies, especially military supplies. We can only move from one place to another."

Hearing Li Feng's joke, Lin Xiuming was so angry that he wanted to curse.

The military supplies they had transported from the capital at the beginning had long been handed over to Beijun. What weapons and equipment did they get?

It was the first time he heard that the army at the front changed its position and took away all the weapons from the front.

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

Are you kidding?