The rise of the prince

Chapter 809 Ning Yuan
When Kaiyuan City was immersed in the joy of victory, great joyful events also took place inside the royal family. The two concubines of the emperor's grandson gave birth to princes one after another, only five days apart.

The mansion was full of joy, the court ministers came to congratulate one after another, and even the empress and emperor rarely left the palace.

This matter is of great significance, which means the continuation of the royal blood, which is extremely important for any dynasty.

The emperor happily rewarded the empress grandson's main concubine Wang and side concubine Yu, and personally named the two newborn great-grandchildren.

The good news ahead, the joy of new students, this year seems to be an extraordinarily exciting year, and joy and joy permeate everyone's heart.

On the other side, thousands of miles away, Li Xingzhou felt extremely stressed.

At the beginning of July, the army stabilized quickly after the initial chaos, and then with information from Yelu Dashi, it was easy to pull out the fortresses left by the Golden Army along the way.

There are many villages and towns on the road. When the people heard that the army was coming, most of them ran away long ago, and the only ones left were the old and weak who were not afraid of death and were too lazy to run.

Regarding how to treat these people, Li Xingzhou learned a lesson this time, and first asked Yang Hongzhao for his opinion.

Yang Hongzhao said: "Your Majesty, allowing soldiers to plunder during the march will disrupt the formation of the army and disrupt military discipline. The gain is not worth the loss, unless we capture a big city and let the soldiers plunder."

Li Xingzhou nodded. He actually resisted this statement in his heart, but he didn't refute it.

From ancient times to the present, there are very few troops that have not plundered. In history books, spring and autumn brushwork will be used to cover up those disgraceful things, but in fact, even the famous Sun Tzu's Art of War has clearly written that the best way to replenish is to loot on the spot.

How could the generals not understand, the soldiers were desperate, and the country couldn't afford enough to buy their lives, so they had to let them rob, at least it was fair to their own people.

Li Xingzhou understood why the Yue family army, who would rather starve to death than rob the people, was so loved and loved by the people after experiencing it personally.

Because it is so rare!There is such an army in such an era.

And there is a more brutal situation at the border, that is, the buffer zone.

The borders of this era are not as clear as those of later generations. Barbed wire fences are drawn up and national boundary monuments are cast.

In the middle of the actual control area, there will be a very wide buffer zone, which varies in size according to different regions. In some desolate and remote places, the buffer zone may be tens of miles or even hundreds of miles wide.

And the common people living in those buffer zones will be miserable. Both sides will not admit it, and neither side will show mercy. In principle, if you don’t rob the enemy’s country, you will rob it, which is tantamount to strengthening the enemy.But who can tell the real intention?
In short, almost all the young and strong have left, and the old, weak, sick and disabled have been burned, killed and looted by both sides year after year, and from time to time they will kill good people and pretend to be meritorious.

These cruelties are far from imaginable for people living in peaceful times.

Li Xingzhou followed Yang Hongzhao's suggestion and strictly ordered the army not to plunder along the way, and moved forward to rectify military discipline, and soon approached the city of Ningyuan.

The Jin army has been waiting in full force for a long time. At the same time, it probably absorbed the information of the Shanhaiguan's rout. The gate was thickened, and there were only a few sentries at the top of the city.

Li Xingzhou ordered the army to camp ten miles away from Ningyuan City, and then the army surrounded Ningyuan City.

In addition, a reconnaissance company was sent to bypass Ningyuan to investigate the deployment of the Jin army in the rear.

Ningyuan is an important town, but unlike Shanhaiguan, which completely blocks the road to the north, a fortress like Ningyuan can be bypassed, but if you bypass Ningyuan rashly to attack a deeper place, there is a high probability that you will be caught in a front and back attack.

However, let the army surround Ningyuan, and a small number of troops bypass the investigation. It is no problem to attack the surrounding small cities.

It is a pity that the flowering shells were almost exhausted in the battle of Shanhaiguan, and they were not enough to smash down the city wall of Ningyuan. There were solid shells left, but they could not cause too much damage to the city.

So the two sides entered into a see-saw and confrontation. In fact, as long as there is enough time, Li Xingzhou can completely take Ningyuan. As long as Ningyuan's supplies are cut off, this is an isolated city and cannot last long.

Once the Jin army is forced out of the city, Li Xingzhou is [-]% sure to defeat them.

But time waits for no one, it is already July, and with a [-] army, the logistical pressure is too great, at most it will last until the end of this year.

At that time, the weather in the north will be cold, the transportation pressure will be greater, the weather will be cold, and the heat loss will be accelerated. More energy will be needed to maintain body temperature, and more food will be needed to feed the army.

So he still has more than four months, time is running out.

But Li Xingzhou was not too anxious. There was still his army at sea, and Liaodong was his final trump card.

In order to achieve the strategic goal, Li Xingzhou sent people to attack the city every day to create pressure on the Jin Kingdom. They were covered by muskets. Several times, troops climbed to the top of the city, but the Jin people adopted Yelv Tuohu's tactics and killed them every time down.

The result of repeated battles is that there are casualties every day. Li Xingzhou looks at the city from a distance every day, watching the casualties of the soldiers. Several times he almost ordered the siege to stop, but finally he gritted his teeth and kept silent.

He understands that such casualties are meaningless, and that it is impossible to attack the city like this, but he has to do this to make the Jin people think that he has done whatever it takes to make the Jin people transfer their troops as far south as possible, all for the final victory.

People are dying every day, and human life seems to have become a bargaining chip, a tool, he can only watch indifferently.

Wei Yubai and Yang Hongzhao thought he wanted a quick victory, because winter was not far away.

Yan Shen even personally led people to rush to the top of the city, but they were repelled in the end. The Kingdom of Jin garrisoned a large army in the city to defend to the death. With rich combat experience, he is not easy to deal with, but easy to deal with.

Shanhaiguan and the others were caught off guard, while the Ningyuan defenders were fully prepared.

Li Xingzhou watched soldiers die every day, and his heart was bleeding, but he said nothing. Kindness is a big taboo for handsome people. He can only hope that such sacrifices are worthwhile and can be exchanged for a good result.

I don't know what's going on with Di Zhi and Shen Lin who are at sea. He doesn't have clairvoyance, and he can only look forward to everything across the vast sea.

Sometimes he even had nightmares at night, dreaming that Di Zhi's fleet was caught in a storm, the entire fleet was like falling leaves, and the huge waves easily engulfed them, and then woke up in a cold sweat.

Fuck it, it's horrible!
But this is entirely possible. No one can tell what happened at sea. I hope they are not so unlucky. The sea is not only a vacuum of power, but also terrifyingly uncontrollable.

I don't know when the days of worry and fear will end, and the siege of Ningyuan is still going on, and the time has come to mid-July without knowing it, and there is still no news of Di Zhi and the others.

(End of this chapter)