The sun sets in the west and the sky is filled with yellow sand.
On the vast plains, Datong City, like a prehistoric beast, still stands peacefully on the border of the Ming Dynasty.
The Battle of Wala dealt a heavy blow to this important town that had gone through many vicissitudes of life, leaving spots and scars everywhere.
However, after nearly half a year of recuperation, although the scars on the city wall still look hideous and terrifying, this ancient military town has already glowed with new vitality and vitality.
On the high city wall, Guo Deng was wearing armor, standing with his sword, looking to the north in the distance, his calm eyes showing a little bit of coldness.
Behind him is his old partner Zhu Jian.
Since the Battle of Wala, the two of them had worked together, one civilly and one martially, to successfully defend Datong City, and then turned back and defeated King Bodu's army.
In order to restore the vitality of Datong as soon as possible, the imperial court promoted Zhu Jian to the position of censor of Youdu, patrolling Shanxi and presiding over all military and political affairs in Shanxi.
After Governor Zhu took office, he focused on the defense of Datong City as always, and successively added 8,000 soldiers and nearly 4,000 horses from various places.
Today's Datong, coupled with the troops allocated by the capital, has more than 40,000 troops stationed there, which can be said to be a strong army.
The afterglow of the evening gradually disappeared, a red sun completely disappeared on the horizon, and countless torches were lit one after another.
There was a sound of armor clashing, and the tall general came behind Guo Deng and knelt on one knee, with a hint of uncontrollable excitement in his voice.
"My subordinate Sun Dayong has met the Commander-in-Chief."
"The front line did not receive news all night. The army has already been dispatched. There are more than 4,000 cavalry in total. Going towards Shawo, our vanguard force of 4,000 people has been divided into two groups under the leadership of Deputy General Liu and General Wang. Set up an ambush at Shunsheng River and Mount Kao."
"Now the main force of our army, 7,000 men, has been assembled. Please give me your instructions, Commander-in-Chief."
Guo Deng glanced at this young man with a simple and honest face, eager to try and full of energy, and a rare trace of confusion flashed in his eyes.
Guo Deng breathed a long sigh of relief, his tiger eyes became firm again, turned around and cupped his fists towards Zhu Jian.
"If I go here, I will avenge the shame of Tumu. I will defeat them in one fell swoop. I leave everything to Master Zhu in Datong City."
Zhu Jian was a little silent. Logically speaking, Guo Deng, as the chief military officer of the Datong garrison, although he was a military general, should not easily go into battle personally.
His responsibility should be more to stick to the city. Even if he goes to war, he should not be too far away from Datong City.
After all, as a general military officer, if something goes wrong, there will inevitably be chaos in the city's military affairs.
Just like in the Xuanfu battle, although Yang Hong was sure of winning, he still dispatched Yang Xin to fight instead of going out personally, just to ensure nothing went wrong.
But this time it's different.
Shawo is not far from Datong City, but it is not close either.
Although they had the upper hand, they were not able to advance, attack, retreat or defend like Datong City.
Zhu Jian opened his mouth to try and persuade again, but finally it turned into a sigh.
The two of them have been working together for a long time, so Zhu Jian naturally knows it.
During the battle at Wala, Guo Deng failed to rush to the aid of Baiyangkou, which ultimately led to the death of guard Xie Ze in the battle and his head was hanged at the city gate.
This matter has always made him brood and can't let it go, so this time, he will definitely not be able to stop it.
After a while, Zhu Jian returned the gift and said solemnly.
"Don't worry, General Guo. I will definitely guard Datong City. When General Guo returns in triumph, I will celebrate for General Guo and the army!"
Guo Deng looked at Zhu Jian deeply and nodded slightly. The murderous aura in his body suddenly spread, and his voice was cold and hard.
"Send my military order and the army will set off immediately. The target is Shawo!"
Looking at the quiet night sky in the distance, Guo Deng's eyes seemed to be ignited with raging flames of war.
The scenes in Aiyangkou reappeared in front of his eyes.
Xie Ze, your heroic spirit is not far away, watch carefully, I am here to avenge you!
…………
At the same time, outside Xuanfu City.
A group of thousands of Ola soldiers moved forward slowly. Among the groups, there were several carriages surrounded by them.
The leader was riding a horse, with a white face and no beard, and he was dressed in eunuch clothes. He looked quite out of place among the troops who were all dressed in tiles.
Beside him, there were several people with tired looks, wearing official robes of the Ming Dynasty, also riding horses.
Hundreds of steps away, the team stopped outside Xuanfu City.
Several mission guards dressed in Ming Dynasty costumes quickly came to the closed city gate of Xuan Mansion and said.
"The Ming Dynasty's envoy has returned to Beijing, please open the city gate quickly."
On the city wall, Commander-in-Chief Tao Jin frowned. Behind him, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Yang Xin also stood solemnly and said.
"General Tao, we are indeed here, what should we do?"
Tao Jin glanced at the seemingly low-key man next to her and said, "Follow the plan."
So, Yang Xin nodded and shouted down.
"I heard that the Supreme Emperor, along with his eunuch, Eunuch Ning, personally escorted the envoy back. The officials of the Xuan Mansion have prepared wine and food for them to enjoy. Please come and talk to the Eunuch."
When the guards of the mission who came to report heard this, they turned back and told the truth.
Xi Ning was riding on the horse, looking at Xuanfu City in the distance, glanced at Xu Bin and others beside him, and said.
"Master Xu, are you sure that the Xuanfu has received the edict and is willing to negotiate peace with the Grand Master and accept the Grand Master's conditions?"
Thinking of the negotiations a few days ago, Xi Ning always felt a little uneasy.
As Ye Xian's confidant, Xi Ning knew that Ye Xian was not willing to accept the battle at Zijingguan. Not only did he lose troops, but he even participated in it with his younger brother Boyan.
Not only that, he finally robbed an emperor, but then turned around and built a new one in the capital. Except for a little money, he got nothing.
Ye Xian felt very aggrieved in his heart.
Xi Ning saw this clearly and suggested that he should continue to hold the Supreme Emperor captive until Ming was willing to give in.
But things were a little too smooth.
After less than half a month of waiting for those people, they were as anxious as ants on a hot pot and even agreed to the condition of cutting off the city.
Things went so smoothly that Xi Ning, who was always cautious, instinctively felt that something was wrong.
However, he had no choice but to believe it first. Even if he didn't want to, he had to come and negotiate obediently.
However, when they actually arrived at Xuanfu City, Xi Ning still hesitated a little.
As everyone knows, at this time, Xu Bin and others were also feeling nervous.
What went wrong?
Apparently according to the plan, a large army should rush out to ambush Xi Ning when he was crossing Yehu Ridge. However, from yesterday to now, the journey was peaceful and nothing happened.
Seeing Xi Ning's hesitant expression, Xu Bin suppressed the nervousness in his heart and smiled.
"How dare we deceive such a big thing? What's more, even if my father-in-law doesn't believe in us, we should still believe in the grand master. If he is not sure, how can he send his father-in-law here?"
Xining finally calmed down, turned sideways and asked.
"How is the situation over there with the Grand Master?"
Then, a middle-aged man dressed as a small noble from Wala whispered.
"Before we set off, the spies sent by the Grand Master had returned. There were indeed very few troops stationed in Shawo. It seems they did not lie to us."
Xi Ning nodded and said to the guards of the mission on the side: "Go and send a message and ask Yang Xin to open the city gate to welcome the mission..."
