The servant on the side hurriedly stepped forward and helped Huang An, who was almost unsteady on his feet.
Huang An covered his stuffy chest with one hand and stuttered, "Come, how many people are here?"
"Reporting back to the general, there is about a battalion of soldiers and horses. Except for a small number of cavalry, the rest are infantry." The flag officer replied.
Huang An asked again: "But the Northern invaders are attacking?"
"This," the flag officer hesitated for a moment, then said immediately, "the enemy's army is too far away to see clearly, so I am not sure, but with so many infantry, they should not be Northern prisoners."
The servant who supported Huang An said: "General, if the enemy is the Northern Barbarians, they should have a large number of cavalry, less infantry. Now there are more infantry and less cavalry. Maybe one of the Datong generals brought the troops. "
"It would be great if that's the case." Huang An said with a wry smile, "The imperial court took off the black gauze hat on Liu Heng's head. I am worried that the people coming are soldiers and horses with the Tiger Flag."
The servant frowned slightly and said, "It's impossible! It's not that Liu Heng resigned from the official position on his own."
"There has always been a rush to become an official. Who do you think is so stupid that he doesn't want to lose his hat?" Huang An said, "Even if Liu Heng resigns on his own initiative, he will most likely be forced to do so."
In order to become the general of Xinpingbao, he could please Pei Hong in every possible way, including himself and others. He did not believe that Liu Heng would resign on his own.
"Even if Liu Heng was forced to resign, he would not have raised an army to rebel. Could it be that he was a general? You are overthinking it. In fact, the soldiers coming from outside are just soldiers and horses from one of our Datong detachments passing by Xinpingbao." The servant comforted him. .
Huang An snorted and said, "Could it be that you have forgotten how Liu Heng was recruited in the first place? This is not the first time that Tiger Flag has done something treasonous."
"General, the troops outside Xinping Fort did not attack our Xinping Fort." the flag officer explained.
Hearing this, Huang An's eyes lit up and he asked hurriedly: "You said the soldiers outside the city did not attack Xinping Fort?"
"Yes, the opponent did not attack Xinping Fort, but just set up camp in the distance." The flag officer explained again.
The servant on the side smiled and said: "General, you can rest assured this time. It seems that the people coming are not soldiers and horses with the Tiger Flag. They should be a general from Datong who led an army passing by our Xinping Fort."
"That's not right! I haven't heard of any troops passing through Xinping Fort." Huang An frowned.
Mobilizing the army is a big deal, and it cannot be taken casually from the camp to another place. As the guard of Xinpingbao, he never received an official document saying that soldiers and horses from Datong had passed by recently.
The servant on the side said: "As expected, I am guessing here. Why don't the general go up the city wall to see which general is coming?"
"That's right, you immediately have all the soldiers and horses in the city follow me to the top of the city." Huang An ordered his servants.
The servants ran to gather soldiers and horses.
Huang An returned to the room and put on his armor.
When he came out, war horses had been prepared outside the palace gate, and a team of hundreds of people had assembled at the same time.
Taking the reins from the servant, Huang An got on his horse and rode towards the city wall.
Behind him was the team of more than a hundred people, and there was a steady stream of soldiers and horses running towards the city head.
So many soldiers and horses suddenly appeared on the street. The people and merchants in the city seemed to feel the atmosphere of killing, and hid in their homes and inns one after another.
The city gate of Xinpingbao has been closed long ago, and logs were used to hold up the door.
Huang An took several of his own soldiers and servants to the top of the city.
"General, look, the enemy is stationed over there." The flag officer who followed Huang An to the top of the city pointed in a direction outside the city and said to Huang An.
In fact, he didn't need to say anything, Huang An had already seen the soldiers and horses stationed in the distance.
"Which Datong army can you see?" Huang An asked a hundred households on the top of the city.
Baihu took a step forward, bowed and said: "The distance is too far, it is difficult to see the opponent's flag clearly, but I can be sure that the troops outside the city should be an elite army with strict military discipline."
"How did you see it?" Huang An took a serious look at Baihu who was standing aside.
Baihu said: "This army of soldiers and horses has appeared outside the city for a while, but there is no chaos. It has always remained as it is now. If it were not for the elites with strict military discipline, it would have been a mess long ago. It would not be like this. .”
As a veteran of many years, I can still tell whether a strong army is coming.
"General, could they be the soldiers and horses of Deputy General Yang? Now in Datong, the most elite soldiers and horses are only those battalions commanded by Deputy General Yang." The servant next to him said.
Huang An nodded in agreement.
"General, I don't think the troops outside the city look like the troops under Deputy General Yang." Baihu suddenly interrupted.
When the servant on the side heard this, his face sank and he scolded: "What do you know? Yang's deputy commander-in-chief used to be the commander-in-chief of Xuanfu. Now, although he is only the deputy commander-in-chief of Datong, several elite battalions in Xuanfu have been replaced by Yang. The deputy commander brought him to Datong."
"I'm not saying that Deputy General Yang's soldiers and horses are not elite, but I think that the soldiers and horses in front of me have nothing to do with Deputy General Yang." Baihu defended himself.
After hearing this, the servant wanted to continue scolding the ignorant Baihu in front of him, but Huang An raised his hand to stop what he was about to say.
Huang An looked at the hundreds of households in front of him and asked, "You said that the soldiers and horses outside the city have nothing to do with Deputy General Yang. Then whose account do you think the soldiers and horses outside the city come from?"
"General Liu, no, it's Dongzhu Liu." Baihu said.
Huang An's face sank, and he naturally understood who the other party was talking about, Dongzhu Liu.
"Don't talk nonsense, Liu Heng is just a businessman, how can he have such a large army outside the city." The servant scolded Baihu.
From the soldiers and horses outside the city, anyone can tell that the opponent's army is well-organized. Even if you don't have to go to see it, you can see that it is an elite army.
He would not consider such soldiers and horses to be soldiers and horses of the Tiger Flag.
After all, Liu Heng was just a bandit leader before, and Tiger Flag was just a business. It was impossible for such a person to raise an elite army.
Such a disciplined army outside the city could only be achieved by the soldiers and horses of the imperial court.
"Young man is not talking nonsense. If the general doesn't believe it, you can ask other people. They all think the same thing as Mr. Bai Hu said in defense."
Huang An, like the servants around him, originally believed that the army outside the city was the soldiers and horses of the imperial court, but now he saw that the hundreds of households under him categorically said that they were soldiers and horses of the Tiger Flag, and he hesitated in his heart.
"Go and ask other people." He told the servant beside him.
There is no shortage of soldiers guarding the city on top of the city, and these people have been soldiers here in Xinpingbao since Li Huai trusted General Xinpingbao.
The servant quickly asked what he wanted to ask from the soldiers on the top of the city.
Finally, he returned to Huang An with an ugly expression.
