Daqin arrests alchemists, what does it matter to me as a qi refiner?

"Yes! If they really evacuate Ruzhou, then we will not be able to capture Ruzhou at all, and we may even suffer heavy losses."

"That's right! We haven't completely controlled Ruzhou yet, so it's not appropriate to do this now."

……

Other generals also spoke out to dissuade Yang Ling from making such a stupid decision. Although they did not want to attack Ruzhou, it did not mean that they were willing to fail.

Yang Ling felt helpless when he saw them opposing his decision. He sighed and said, "I don't know that there is a fraud in this, but they did escape. We can't catch up with them at all. If we attack by force, we will definitely suffer heavy casualties. Who will come then?" To protect the safety of the people, who will ensure that they can move to Jingzhao smoothly?"

"Our top priority now is to regain the lost territory and take back Ruzhou. As for King Ruyang's conspiracy, it will be revealed sooner or later."

"Now the city of Ruzhou is strong, and with our 40,000 troops, as long as we are careful, we can definitely block the enemy's attack."

"If they really have a conspiracy, it will be revealed gradually. We don't need to worry too much."

Many generals thought about it and felt that Yang Ling's analysis made some sense. If King Ruyang really had a plan, they didn't have to worry. As long as they guarded the city wall and the food and grass, no matter how smart King Ruyang was, he wouldn't be able to capture Ruzhou.

"Okay! In that case, just follow the general's instructions." Everyone agreed.

Yang Ling also nodded and said: "Then let's do it. Later I will ask Liu Yong to notify him and ask all the villages and squires to rush outside the city as soon as possible to help with the defense."

"Yes! This is what it should be!"

……

Yang Ling stayed at the government office until late at night, and then hurried back to his yard to rest. He had been busy for a long time during the day and was exhausted.

The next day, Yang Ling had just gotten up to eat when he suddenly received news from the scouts, saying that they had discovered a large group of Tatar cavalry galloping towards Pingliang County in the west. Looking at the direction, they seemed to be preparing to rescue King Ruyang.

After hearing the news, Yang Ling immediately hurried out of the city with a few cronies and headed straight for Pingliang County.

When he arrived outside Pingliang County, he found that the traces of the Tatar army had disappeared, and he couldn't help but curse these beasts for their cunning.

Yang Ling sent people back to the city to investigate the specific situation, and soon learned about the Tatar raid on Ruzhou City last night. However, their main force had already run away, leaving thousands of horses and a large number of cattle, sheep, and livestock as supplements. .

"This group of thieves actually gave up their war horses, cattle and sheep." Yang Ling couldn't help feeling a little regretful.

"General, I feel that these Tatars will not give up. They will definitely come back, so the general proposed that we take advantage of this period to expand the west gate and try to repair the city gate as soon as possible, so as to ensure safety."

Yang Ling nodded, then turned to Lieutenant General Li Chun and said, "Send the order, all ministries should hurry up and expand the city wall, and be sure to repair the west gate and the walls on both sides as soon as possible."

Li Chun agreed and then rushed away.

Yang Ling turned to look at Pingliang County in the distance, thinking that if he built a city wall on such a large scale, it would easily arouse the vigilance of the government, so he had to find a way to cover it up.

Yang Ling thought for a moment, and suddenly his eyes lit up. He quickly called the soldiers next to him, whispered a few words, and then left quickly.

Yang Ling left the city from the west gate and met many militiamen along the way. He asked them to unload all the materials on the city wall and told them that they would clear the debris outside the city gate every day from now on.

"General, how do you get such a large amount of supplies?" the soldier asked.

Yang Ling said with a smile: "I have my own way, so you don't have to worry. Today I will work hard to transport these supplies outside the city and then find a place to bury them."

After receiving Yang Ling's reply, the soldiers immediately went to perform the mission.

After the soldiers left, Yang Ling asked the soldiers to search the city gate tower and the surrounding streets. After finding nothing unusual, he returned to the camp.

However, Yang Ling did not sleep. He was waiting for Li Chun's report.

Soon Li Chun came back with a few tired cavalry, and Yang Ling immediately came out to greet them and asked for details.

"General Qi, I have just conducted a careful inspection and found that all the horses and livestock were burned or killed."

Yang Ling frowned slightly when he heard this. He guessed that the Tatar cavalry fled quickly after burning the horses, cattle and sheep, which was why the horses and livestock were killed.

"What about the city? Did you find anything strange?" Yang Ling asked again.

Li Chun shook his head and said: "I just carefully inspected the city and found nothing suspicious. However, the corpses and blood attracted the attention of the people in the city. Many people also thought that the fire last night was related to these corpses. Now the whole city It’s all a mess!”

When Yang Ling heard this, he felt a little relieved. As long as King Ruyang's main force left, he didn't care about this empty county. After all, no people would be stupid enough to stay in such barren mountains and ridges for a long time.

"Then have you discovered any other enemies?"

"I have checked with my subordinates, and no Tatar brigade was found nearby." Li Chun replied.

Yang Ling nodded, and then asked: "Is there any food stored in the city? If there is, send it to them first, so as not to delay the soldiers' food supply."

"Back to the general, the granaries in these cities are basically empty. The food is only enough for the soldiers in the city for half a month. Because there is enough food in the granaries, we have not mobilized the civilians to loot the granaries for the time being."

"Can the food be transported out of the city?"

Li Chun said without thinking: "There are still granaries and firewood, rice, oil and salt in the city, which should be able to be transported out."

Yang Ling thought that the people might be reluctant to move out of the city, so he ordered: "Send people to transport these grains outside the city, and then ask the people to load the grains into trucks and take them away. It is best to transport them in batches, so as not to arouse the suspicion of the people in the city. ”

Li Chun nodded and wrote down this matter.

"General, are there any other orders?" Li Chun continued to ask.

"No, you go ahead. I'll think about it if I have any other instructions."

After Li Chun left with several of his men, Yang Ling fell into deep thought again.

Although he now occupies Pingliang County, there is still a long way to go before he can completely resolve this crisis.

They must strengthen patrols in Pingliang County to prevent sneak attacks by enemy troops; they must also send people to monitor the wealthy families in the city, especially the Zhang family and the Ruyang Palace, as well as the landlord class they control.

Yang Ling estimated that the enemy army would not only come back, but might also continue to attack the west gate wall. However, this is more difficult and they need to take a detour. As for attacking the west gate, Yang Ling prefers that they choose the north because there are large grasslands there, suitable for Mongolian activities.

"Forget it, let's wait until tomorrow to send someone out for reconnaissance. Anyway, there are still three to five days until winter." Yang Ling said to himself, then yawned and walked into the tent to rest.

The next day, when the sun had just risen, Yang Ling and his generals appeared on the east gate of Pingliang County City, and then began to direct everyone to build the city wall. This project was very huge, not only cost a lot of money, but also extremely difficult. But Yang Ling knew that time waited for no one, so he gritted his teeth and persevered.

In the evening, Yang Ling led everyone to complete the construction of the second line of defense, and then began to build the third city wall.

As night fell, Yang Ling returned to the headquarters tiredly, then washed and had a meal.

He was just about to sit down and rest when Li Chun hurriedly walked in and reported to Yang Ling: "General, several mule carts and a large number of grain carts were found outside the city..."

Hearing the news about the mule carts and grain, Yang Ling suddenly became energetic. He immediately stood up: "Quick! Summon all the generals immediately. We have to go out of the city to verify the grain."

Not long after, Yang Ling led everyone to the outside of the city. As Li Chun said, there were several large carts parked more than ten feet in front, loaded with food.

Yang Ling couldn't wait to open the curtain and found that there were really mountains of food inside. It seemed that the bandits had really emptied the city of food.

"Quickly, send a few brothers to escort the grain truck back to the city. At the same time, notify the Xiang Yong guarding the city and ask them to leave the city immediately to collect the grain truck."

Soon, several guardsmen escorted two large carts back to the city. When the villagers in the city saw the arrival of the grain carts, they all excitedly rushed out of the city and began to snatch the grain.

Yang Ling brought a lot of people this time. Except for the three to four thousand soldiers responsible for guarding the city, the rest were all civilians. They followed their subordinates and poured out of the city to compete for food with the rural warriors of the militia.

"Bang bang bang!"

Not long after Yang Ling left the city, he heard sounds like exploding beans in the distance. He raised his head and looked into the distance, only to see more than a dozen bandits shooting arrows at the city wall from all directions.

"Enemy attack! Get down and take cover!"

After seeing the opponent's target clearly, Yang Ling yelled quickly, then he rushed to the crenel and squatted down, raised the bow in his hand, and shot at the opponent.

Following Yang Ling's order, the soldiers of the militia group lay down at the crenel to avoid the arrows fired by the enemy.

However, although Yang Ling and the others escaped the enemy's arrows, the bandits outside the city suffered. They did not expect that the officers and soldiers guarding the city would actually come out of the city to fight back. They were caught off guard and were shot by sharp arrows flying from the city, injuring many people, and screams could be heard in succession.

"Retreat quickly, the enemy is leaving the city to counterattack!" Those bandits also knew that they encountered a strong enemy and did not dare to fight. They hurriedly gave up attacking the city wall and turned around and ran towards the woods.

But just as they retreated, several more sharp arrows flew from the side, directly nailing the ankles of the two thieves and causing them to fall to the ground.

"Fire the arrow!" Yang Ling shouted again.

"Clap!"

The matchlock cannons on the top of the city fired in unison, and several iron bullets roared down, immediately blasting the fleeing bandits into pieces.

Before Yang Ling could take a breath, Li Chun over there had already led his army to pursue him. However, these bandits were obviously well-trained. Although dozens of them were killed, they still resisted stubbornly. As a result, they were killed by the militia and suffered heavy losses.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Yang Ling quickly called to Li Chun and warned them to minimize casualties before returning to the city.

"These bastards are so cunning!"

Yang Ling, who returned to the headquarters, couldn't help but curse. He originally believed that this group of thieves would attack the city from the front, but unexpectedly, the other party actually resorted to a cunning trick, attacking outside the city at night in an attempt to delay the defenders' movement.

Fortunately, the military discipline of the militia is strict. If it were another army or an official army, they might just follow the same path and throw away a lot of supplies and food.

The more Yang Ling thought about it, the angrier he became. He wished he could personally lead the troops to chase down the bandits. Unfortunately, the most important thing right now was to appease the refugees in the city and ensure adequate food and grass.

Yang Ling kept urging the militia to quickly repair fortifications and deploy resistance horses to prepare for possible enemies.

At the same time, when the disaster victims in Pingliang City heard that Yang Ling and his team had found relief food, they began to feel hopeful and flocked to the county government office, hoping to receive relief food. After all, wild vegetable soup alone could not feed so many people every day.

Yang Ling had already anticipated this and organized refugees in the city to distribute relief food. These refugees were starving. After receiving the relief food, they didn't bother to chew it slowly, so they wolfed it down and ate with relish.

Of course, these refugees also have conditions. First, they must be registered, and secondly, they must sign a contract to ensure that those who receive the food cannot hide it or resell it. Otherwise, they will be punished according to the law, and their homes and families will be confiscated and their families will be confiscated, and the nine tribes will be implicated in the worst case.

In this case, some people with ulterior motives will be prevented from taking advantage of the disaster relief opportunity to resell relief grains and increase pressure on the disaster areas.

These victims registered at the county government and immediately cheered after receiving the relief food. They originally thought they were destined to starve this year, but unexpectedly, the city officials actually took the initiative to distribute food.

Yang Ling also organized the victims to set up simple sheds in the city to temporarily shield them from rain and snow to avoid causing the plague, and provided hot water, quilts and food.

After Yang Ling completed the aftermath work, he went to the county government hall and began to summon civilian workers to build a new city wall.

Since there were many disaster-stricken areas, Yang Ling decided to repair the city in Pingliang Mansion into a fortress shape, which could not only withstand cavalry charges but also prevent enemy troops from crossing the river.

Although this form of bastion is much clumsy, its protection is improved accordingly. It is not like the previous small-scale defensive bastion, which is easy to be attacked and broken through by the enemy.

While building the bastion, Yang Ling also sent people to notify generals at all levels and ordered all armies to strengthen patrols and alerts.

Although Yang Ling had warned the generals, these people didn't seem to take it seriously at all. They still lazily stayed in the barracks and slept, occasionally coming out to inspect the defenses, or looking for prey nearby.

Yang Ling couldn't help but shook his head and sighed. It seemed that his previous reminder was a waste of words. These generals either didn't take it seriously or didn't care about their own abilities.

"Dong dong..."

While Yang Ling was deep in thought, he suddenly heard the rapid sound of gongs and drums outside, and then someone shouted outside the door: "Commander, there is an enemy situation outside the west gate!"

Yang Ling raised his eyebrows slightly, stood up and walked out of the hall. I saw hundreds of people gathered outside the door, and they were the ones beating gongs and drums.

"What's going on?" Yang Ling asked one of the team members.

The team member stepped forward and replied: "Reporting to the Commander-in-Chief, I discovered that the enemy troops are approaching outside the north gate. They are expected to arrive here soon."

Yang Ling nodded, turned around and ordered the chief of staff beside him: "Zhang Wenxuan, you immediately mobilize 500 militia troops and rush to the east gate. The battle must be resolved within half an hour. Wang Qinian, you immediately go to the west gate to support and destroy the enemy." !”

"Yes!" The two men immediately clasped their fists and agreed.

"Li Chun!"

"The general is here!"

"You lead the troops to guard the city to prevent harassment by Xiaoxiao. At the same time, you coordinate the garrison to station in various warehouses and streets, strengthen the city walls and fortifications, and especially strengthen patrols in the city to prevent Xiaoxiao from fishing in troubled waters." (End of Chapter)