Chapter 32 first quarter

Ma Kuo managed to survive the night, and waited until dawn to start a new day. This is a dawn that is only a little dark gray and has no clear dividing line from the night.The wind and rain were dark, and a panicked chicken that was accidentally born under the blade of the rebels kept crowing, as if it was reporting an ominous day.Ma Kuo couldn't hold back in the eggshell-like room, so he ran directly to Liu Fan's place before the appointed time, and asked him to go to the Xuanfu Division meeting with him. There was no need for Liu Fan to play hide-and-seek today. He heard that Ma Kuo had come to look for him so early. He rushed out of the inner room in a pair of straw slippers, apologizing:

"My son told me that Xuan Zan visited twice yesterday. I had an appointment with Xuan Zan, but the imperial court came with an urgent order. Xuan Fu ordered me to go and tell Mr. Zhong Dao about it, and urge him to be a teacher immediately. Mr. Zhong Dao is in charge. The crime of not disobeying the decree has been ordered to retreat that night. Fortunately, the wind and rain have helped our army a lot. Although the three armies have worked hard in this weather, Yelu Dashi dare not come out to pursue him. Xuanzan praises the layer of excessive worry , but now it can be canceled..."

"It's broken, it's broken!" Liu Fan was still waiting to say triumphantly, but Ma Kuo jumped up when he heard it, and said loudly, "I can retreat, and Kou can also enter. How can it be that Yelu Dashi dare not come out? He Just taking advantage of the weather to pursue the troops in the storm. Staff Officer Liu, you have no art of war, and you have turned your words upside down!" "What's the rush for praise? There are so many famous generals in the present and ancient times who retreated in the rain and snow! Don't you hear..." Liu Fan showed his housekeeping skills, and was about to move a long "Seventeen Histories" to quote history and allusions , to refute Ma Kuo's heresy.Suddenly there was a sound of hurried footsteps outside the door, and Ma Kuo had already heard the disaster from the ominous sound.

Sure enough, Tong Guan ran in with three or four aides angrily.He tilted his head, his robes and boots were all wet, and when he saw Liu Po, he pulled his sleeves, opened his bloodshot eyes, and cursed angrily: "Liu Fan, you did a good job, but you hid at home, pretending to be okay." "What did the humble official do wrong?" Liu Fan also asked with a pale face anxiously, "Xuanfu must also explain clearly." "What did you do wrong? You're still pretending to be confused," Tong Guan simply showed his roguish true colors, and slapped the table and scolded, "It's you, Liu Fan, who are ignorant, self-important, and making unreasonable opinions. You and Cui Shi's two pussies falsely passed on the imperial decree, and forced the teacher to be a teacher with a time limit. As expected, Yelu Dashi took advantage of the momentum and attacked. Our army was completely defeated and fled in all directions. The enemy has already chased Under the city. In the future, the imperial court will blame you, but you, Liu Fan, Cai You, and Zhong Shidao, are the only ones to ask, and don’t do anything about my Tong.”

"Xuanxiang, please calm down," Li Zongzhen, who needs to be mature and prudent, came out to speak at this time, "The most important thing now is to discuss the strategy of city defense, let the brothers of the Xin family go up to the city to resist for a while, and Xuanxiang plans to get out quickly. If you wait Encircled by the enemy cavalry, unable to escape, you will be a turtle in a urn, and it will be too late for regrets at that time!" Seeing Ma Kuo, Tong Guan hurriedly threw Liu Fan off, held Ma Kuo tightly and said: "Ma Xuanzan, you are so predictable. You have already said that the Yelu Dashi will come out in full force, take advantage of the victory and pursue it, and never retreat. I, Tong Guan, fully support your idea, and I fought hard with Supervisor Cui's army yesterday. Ye Lai once fought against Xuan Zan said, 'My original intention remains the same'. They didn't listen, and today such a disaster really happened. Now please let Zan protect me from danger, and there will be a big reward in the future."

Ma Kuo broke free from his hold suddenly, and without a word, ran out in big strides.All I could hear was a childish piercing voice still shouting desperately: "Ma Xuanzan don't go, Ma Xuanzan don't go! Go and invite Ma Xuanzan back to discuss important matters together." Where did Ma Kuo pay attention to Tong Guan's screams, he tried his best to push away the idlers who were crowded at the door.At this time, more than half of the people in the Xuanfu Department had heard the news, and they planned to escape. Some people left behind Tong Guan wanted to take advantage of him to escape together.Ma Kuo ignored them and went back to his lower place.

"If there is no skin, how can the generals be attached? The army is broken, and the defeat is certain. I have to die to serve the country. What kind of city defense plan will I talk to those pussies?" This was the only thought that existed in Ma Kuo's mind when he walked all the way back. . Going back to the lower place, he calmed down, first he took off a pair of chain armor and an angled iron head hanging on the wall, and put them on.Although these two pieces are simple in production, they are old items from Zhao Long's time when he dominated the Northwest battlefield and charged into battle, and now they are presented to him as a dowry for his mother.Erniang was slightly trimmed to fit his body.He joked that he had been on the front line for more than a month, and he was only officially wearing them for the first time today.While putting on his clothes, he suddenly remembered that in the Spring and Autumn Period, Xian Zhen of the Jin Kingdom went to the enemy, and he himself felt the same as Xian Zhen now, preparing to go to the front line to die, why use armor to protect himself?But after thinking about it: "No! If I go to die, I can't die in vain. The armor must be stained with Yelu Dashi and my own blood, so as to live up to the elegance of the gift from my father-in-law." Then he leaned against the base of the wall again. He held a steel-pointed green heavy gun in his hand, and hung a bow, pistol and saber.The gun shaft, bow handle and knife handle were all wrapped with silk by the mother, and the color was still new. They were all wet from the rain, and they were wet and not slippery in the hand.

He is fully armed.He ran to the stable and stepped on the imperial horse "Jade Suanni" that Liu Kai gave him. "Jade Suanni" has also been infected with the chaotic atmosphere that people felt. Just now someone approached him and wanted to steal it and escape.Now that it sees its master coming, it raises its head and neighs, indicating that it understands where the master is going to take it, and is willing to accept the task. Ma Kuo patted its neck caressingly, didn't pay more attention to its thoughts and senses, stepped on it as soon as he jumped up, took the reins back slightly, made a bend around the door, and went straight to the city.

At this time, catastrophic and extraordinary situations appeared on the streets and city gates.The gate of the north city, where the front line rushed, was crowded with countless officers, soldiers and wounded who had retreated from the front line.More officers and soldiers, drenched in heavy rain, fled one after another, forming a dense mass of darkness when viewed from the city gate.The officers and soldiers at the gate of the city were engaged in a desperate battle with the Shengjie Army of the city defense. After the defeat on the 26th, Tong Guan knew that the imperial army he brought from Tokyo was useless, so he specially transferred the Shengjie army into the city to protect himself.The Shengjie army had the power to defend the city, but they did not make any defense plan or take any appropriate measures.Until now when he heard the news of the defeat on the front line, for his own safety, the first thing he thought of was to close the city gate, no matter whether it was the enemy's chasing cavalry or his own defeated soldiers who came to seize the gate.In terms of defeated soldiers, the first consideration is also their own safety.They knew that being shut out of the city gate meant being slaughtered by the enemy army, and what they were afraid of was that the enemy army had already chased after them.

The defeated soldiers took advantage of their numbers, and before the double iron gates were closed, they showed courage that they had never shown when they were being pursued just now, and desperately tried to push the gates open.They won the victory, the gate of the city was opened suddenly, the city guards were crushed to death, some of them were trampled down, and the rest fled without a trace in an instant.The defeated soldiers cheered in the victory of the gate-grabbing battle, scrambling to be the first, trampling each other and rushing into the city gate, as if they had regained a city from the enemy.

Ma Kuo just rushed to the gate of the city amidst their victory, and before he had time to say a word, he took advantage of the momentum and leaped out of the city. He rushed all the way to the official road due north outside the city.The torrential rain that hasn't stopped since last night blocked his sight like a veil.But through the screen, he still saw a very startling, very painful picture of a rout and chaos.The official road above is crowded with people, horses and various vehicles.The official road was originally built for the exchanges between envoys of the two dynasties, and the three or forty miles from the Baigou River to the gate of the city were built very neatly.In the past few years, the envoys have been blocked, and the ring has gradually been damaged. It could not bear the impact of the storm that night, and it had lost its original normalized form. It was connected with the ditches, wild paths, and fields on both sides, forming a large area.People were howling and scolding, the horses were neighing, and the crooked vehicles squeezed between the people and horses also made the sound of "cracking and rolling".Everyone hopes to walk faster and escape to the safe area in their minds as soon as possible.That area seemed out of reach. They had seen the tower long ago, but they had never reached its heel.It is this common and urgent desire that prevents it from being realized as soon as possible.They block each other's way, and all the tragedies of anger, fear, contention, fighting and killing each other revolve around the central idea of ​​wanting to escape. The official road at the front was really overcrowded, and some people rode horses or walked across the wild trails and ran around on the fields still covered with some withered crops.The official road and the surrounding areas had long lost their original boundaries, and more and more people were scattered from the middle to the two sides, just as if the river that broke its embankment was bound to overflow to the lowlands outside the river bed. At this time, the weather became even worse. In addition to the storm, there were also bowl-sized hailstones, which hit down without thinking.The rain came so violently that the long-dry ditches and channels were filled with turbid water.The turbid water rushed to the low-lying places rapidly, and some soil slopes were washed down in large chunks by the rainwater.The whole place became a swamp of mud.People, horses and vehicles walked in the mud, constantly slipping and spinning, and sometimes they were squeezed by people and horses behind, and when they stepped into the deep mud, it was difficult to get out.Some people who slipped and fell didn't have time to get up, and the people who crowded up from behind trampled over them, and the wheels ran over them, causing casualties. Ma Kuo rushed forward several times along the official road, but was blocked by rout soldiers several times.And wrap him back together.At this time, it is much more difficult to rush through the rout and seize the way forward than to rush into the enemy's strong position, because the strength used by the rout when fleeing is as a rule double or several times that when they attack.Ma Kuo advances and retreats, advances again and again, taking his own path inch by inch. Along the way, he kept running into familiar soldiers and officers.Some had time to say hello and say something.They usually talk about the defeat on the front line and the pursuit of the enemy cavalry. Everyone says something different. People say different things, and they can't agree. It seems that they haven't seen the enemy. , and ran away first.In a defeated battle, those who turned around and fled after seeing the enemy's face were regarded as warriors, and some had no time to speak, and they were separated from each other with a nod of their heads.The soldiers and officers who came across were amazed.Now everyone is running back, why is he rushing forward single-handedly at this moment?Someone pointed their thumbs back and forth, indicating that the chasing horse was approaching, and advised him not to go any further.Others speculated that Ma Kuo had gone to the front to find someone to deliver an important order.What could be more important than running for your life now?He kindly told Ma Kuo that the people in the command headquarters had also fled long ago, and now the order could not be conveyed. In fact, Ma Kuo saw the way of teachers.Zhong Shidao was wrapped in a large group of chaotic troops, swirling in the whirlpool of deserters.He dismounted several times, commanding something angrily, trying to stop the chaotic situation.As long as this can be achieved at this time, there is hope to revive the team and return to defend against the enemy.But no one can do this.A person who has lost his staff, generals, personal soldiers, guards, and messengers, who has lost the command of the capital who recognizes the flag, and is mixed in the chaos, his power is not much greater than that of an ordinary Pianbi, and he can escape the chance of survival Not more than others.The commander held a small command flag in his hand, which could usually command the advance and retreat of a hundred thousand troops, but now in the eyes of the soldiers, it was just a piece of worn cloth, too small to wipe the table.The strict hierarchy in the army was automatically leveled in a big rout.Officers and soldiers of all ranks are but a bunch of deserted fugitives, all of equal status.People pretended not to recognize him, pretended not to hear his orders, or pretended not to be able to carry out his orders.When a bigger torrent rushed up, everyone hurriedly left him, leaving him angry and scolding alone in the crowd.Cui Shi, the servant sent by the imperial court to monitor the retreating troops, could not show his prestige at this time, so he could only follow behind him, stepping back step by step with the flow. At this time, the way of being a teacher has no effect on what Ma Kuo is about to do.To go to the front to die, there is no need for the governor to issue a letter of certification and a letter of introduction, nor does it need him to issue an order.Ma Kuo was clearly aware of this, and looked down on him from the bottom of his heart, deliberately ignored him, and didn't even say hello. Ma Kuo also saw Yang Keshi, whose mouth was full of blood, yelling at the retreating team with an indistinct voice. The voice was so strange, it didn't seem to come from the mouth of the Yang Keshi he was familiar with at all. .It turned out that during the melee, he was shot by an arrow from the enemy and broke two front teeth.This was the second time he had been wounded by an arrow within eight days, and he was forced to retreat.When he saw Ma Kuo, he waved his hand angrily. He didn't know whether he was telling him about the chaotic situation here, persuading him to retreat together, or signaling to him that there was still something to do on the front line, encouraging him to move on, or he had already guessed. Ma Kuo's thoughts waved to him as a final farewell. Whether it is Zhong Shidao, Tong Guan, Yang Keshi or others, or even the official himself, whether it is to encourage or stop him, whether it is strict orders or kind advice, it can no longer affect Ma. Expanding his determination, he couldn't stop his progress. With such courage he marched against death in spite of all odds.He was already close to this goal, and death was already ahead, beckoning him affectionately.