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Over the past few days, Zhao Junchen's body has been close to the limit due to overdraft, but he still persists because Zhao Junchen knows very well that he is the backbone of the military and political affairs of Shaanxi and Gansu. Once he falls, the entire three sides of Shaanxi and Gansu will be in chaos. If they form a group, the battle situation that has gradually gained the upper hand is likely to be reversed by the Mongolian coalition, and the long-term thinking and painstaking planning is also likely to be in vain.
Therefore, Zhao Junchen must not fall before this war is over! Even if you are on the verge of reaching your limit, you must grit your teeth and continue to persevere!
Zhao Junchen's performance sounds great, but in fact, Zhao Junchen's various efforts are largely just to fight for a future for himself, and his intentions are not pure.
Of course, when Zhao Junchen reaches such a position, he already "disregards his intentions" when doing things. Even if it is just selfishness, as long as it is beneficial to the people, it cannot be considered a bad thing.
However, if we say that Zhao Junchen is unparalleled and unparalleled because of this, it is not necessarily true.
To win this war, it is absolutely impossible to rely solely on the strength of Zhao Junchen, and Zhao Junchen is not the only one who is exhausted physically and mentally and gives everything.
For example, Guan Wuyuan's deputy general Zhang Chengxun was by no means any easier than Zhao Junchen.
Moreover, Zhang Chengxun's intentions are much more pure than Zhao Junchen's.
As the saying goes, "Tigers and leopards are hidden in the mountains, and heroes emerge in troubled times." Today's Zhang Chengxun is exactly what he said.
Before that, Zhang Chengxun was just an inconspicuous middle-level general in the Forbidden Army. He had been familiar with military literature since he was a child and had a courageous and resolute character. However, due to his poor family background, he could not be promoted in the Forbidden Army where nobles gathered together. If you go further, you will just waste years with a meager salary.
However, Zhang Chengxun's talents and abilities finally blossomed when the Mongolian coalition began to officially attack Jiezhou City.
In the past few days, the Mongolian coalition forces have been attacking Jiezhou City day and night like crazy. The main defender of Jiezhou City, Guan Wuyuan, is just a silver-like wax spear head. At the critical moment, he can't play any role at all, and all the heavy burdens have been pressed on him. On the shoulders of Zhang Chengxun alone.
In fact, Jiezhou City is not that impregnable. The general Guan Wuyuan is cowardly and incompetent and only knows how to pretend. Most of the defenders are young soldiers from the Forbidden Army. Not only do they have no combat experience, but their fighting will is also extremely weak. The Mongolian coalition has been slow to The inability to break through Jiezhou City was largely due to the existence of Zhang Chengxun!
Facing the fierce offensive of the Mongols, Zhang Chengxun was always able to issue the most correct orders at the most appropriate time, constantly adjusting the defensive layout on the city wall, and Zhao Junchen supported various ordnances for Jiezhou City, whether it was a double flying gun or a fire gun. , or catapults, were brought into full play in the hands of Zhang Chengxun, which not only disrupted the Mongolian siege rhythm, but also caused the greatest casualties to the Mongolians.
It can be said that without the existence of Zhang Chengxun, Jiezhou City would be in danger now, and the casualties of the Mongolian coalition forces would never be so serious!
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That night, when the Mongolian coalition finally retreated, Zhang Chengxun, who had been commanding the battle on the city wall for a whole day, finally breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.
Then, a strong sense of exhaustion continued to hit his body and mind, and Zhang Chengxun really wanted to collapse on the ground and rest for a while, just like an ordinary soldier on the city wall at this time.
During this period of time, the Mongolian coalition forces always started to attack the city at dawn, and only retreated after dark night. Zhang Chengxun worked even harder, always deploying city defenses in advance before the Mongols attacked the city, and then there was a Commanding operations all day long, after the Mongols withdraw their troops, they have to count the damage and appease the morale of the troops, and patrol the city defenses in the middle of the night. Even if they take an occasional break, they dare not sleep deeply. If the Mongols make the slightest movement, they will rush to the city wall to check.
To this day, Zhang Chengxun is also exhausted physically and mentally and is on the verge of reaching his limit. Even just a moment's rest is a great temptation for Zhang Chengxun.
However, Zhang Chengxun finally gritted his teeth and suppressed the impulse in his heart. On the surface, he still looked determined and calm. His right hand held the handle of the knife tightly at his waist, and his waist was still as straight as a javelin.
Similar to Zhao Junchen's thoughts, Zhang Chengxun knew that he was now the backbone of Jiezhou City, and his every move would affect the morale of the Jiezhou City defenders, so he did not want to show his fatigue in front of his soldiers!
After standing there and calming down for a moment, Zhang Chengxun became busy again, counting casualties, appeasing the morale of the troops, and asking about logistics. He needed to worry about everything.
"In the past few days of defending the city, the fire oil cans have played a big role, posing the greatest threat to the Mongolian Tatars. However, they have been used too much in the past few days and the inventory is already insufficient. I am afraid that they cannot be used more in the next few days... However, , Even if this is the case, we can't hold on for long. We send someone to inform the prefect of Jiezhou and ask him to think of a way to collect some from the city, even lard..."
"Jiezhou City only has four artillery pieces, and they are distributed at three city gates. The bases are fixed and cannot be moved, so they really don't play much role. These days, we mainly rely on the flying catapults and catapults, but these ordnances are really not durable. Now nearly half of it is broken...Zhang Luo, send someone to summon the craftsmen in the city, and take advantage of tonight to overhaul all the double-flying catapults and catapults. If they cannot be repaired, remove them and replace them with spare parts..."
"If the notice continues, Mingshui Lane in the west of the city will be requisitioned to house the wounded soldiers. There are more and more wounded soldiers. It is really inconvenient to place them in the military camp. It will also affect the morale of the military..."
"The defenders in Beicheng suffered a lot of damage today, so we ordered troops to be transferred from each battalion to supplement..."
While walking on the city wall, Zhang Chengxun carefully inspected the city defense while issuing orders to several military attaches around him. He was already very familiar with these things and was quite decisive and straightforward. Everything could be done in the shortest possible time. get the best possible treatment.
However, because Zhang Chengxun had been shouting orders loudly during the day when he was defending the city, Zhang Chengxun's voice was very hoarse at this time, as if it was rubbed with sandpaper.
Finally, about half an hour later, Zhang Chengxun finally finished handling all the post-war matters.
Then, a person behind Zhang Chengxun handed Zhang Chengxun a kettle and said, "General Zhang is really lucky. Please drink some water. If you continue like this, your throat will be ruined!"
Zhang Chengxun was stunned for a moment before he realized that his throat was on fire. After nodding his thanks to this person, he reached out to take the kettle and drank all the water in the kettle.
Then, Zhang Chengxun handed the kettle back to the man, nodded and thanked him: "Thank you, Cao Shoubei."
It turned out that the person who delivered water to Zhang Chengxun was named Cao Ming, and he was the garrison officer of Jiezhou City, responsible for the military preparation of Jiezhou City. However, after Guan Wuyuan led the Imperial Army reinforcements to garrison in Jiezhou City, this person was gradually People have forgotten that these days they are just helping Zhang Chengxun.
At this time, looking at the fatigue on Zhang Chengxun's face, Cao Ming shook his head and sighed again: "General Zhang is so lucky. The war during this period was all supported by you... It's only because I, Cao Ming, am a A mediocre person cannot do anything for General Zhang."
Zhang Chengxun shook his head and said: "Cao Shoubei is serious. You have helped me with many things these days. Without your coordination and sharing, I would probably have to devote a lot of energy to dealing with things in the city."
After Cao Ming hesitated for a moment, he said: "Hey, don't blame me, old Cao, for talking too much. General Guan is obviously the main general, but he doesn't know what he is doing hiding in the city these days. He just carries all the burdens. They all fell on General Zhang... If General Guan could use a little more strength, General Zhang wouldn't be so exhausted!"
Hearing what Cao Ming said, Zhang Chengxun's expression was a little strange, but he still maintained Guan Wuyuan's face and said, "General Guan is just ill. He is not derelict for no reason, and he is definitely not avoiding the battle intentionally. Don’t talk nonsense.”
Cao Ming was silent for a moment. He seemed to disagree with Zhang Chengxun's statement, but he did not refute the question. He just said: "General Zhang, go back and have a rest. Just leave the rest to me! My old Cao's skills Not big, but you can still do some small things.”
Zhang Chengxun glanced around at the scene on the city wall. There were blood stains and arrows everywhere. Occasionally, he could see a few severed limbs. The strong smell of blood, burning corpses, and the smell of gunpowder smoke mixed with it was even more pungent.
To be honest, Zhang Chengxun also wanted to leave here and rest as soon as possible, but after hesitating for a moment, he shook his head and said, "Let's wait a little longer. Today the Mongolian Tatars retreated more than half an hour earlier than the previous few days. I always I feel something strange and want to see if there is anything going on with the Mongolian Tatars!"
As soon as Zhang Chengxun finished speaking, he saw a defender hurriedly came to Zhang Chengxun and reported: "General, there is something strange at the Mongolian camp. A large number of Mongolian cavalry left the camp overnight and ran towards the north. There are about tens of thousands of horses. , seems to be heading towards Zhenning Acropolis!"
Zhang Chengxun was slightly stunned and frowned: "Zhenning Acropolis again? I remember that a few days ago, the Mongolian camp divided tens of thousands of troops and went to Zhenning Acropolis. Now it is the second time to divide the troops. Could it be that something happened at Zhenning Acropolis? ?”
After pondering for a moment, Zhang Chengxun said: "I will go and report to the customs general and ask him to make an idea!"
Cao Ming's eyes flashed slightly and he said, "I will also go to see General Guan."
Zhang Chengxun shook his head decisively and said: "General Guan's current situation is not suitable for seeing guests. Cao Shoubei forgives me!"
Indeed, Guan Wuyuan's current situation is not suitable for others to see.
Otherwise, the morale of the Jiezhou City defenders will be destroyed.
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