Su Wei hadn't slept for several days. He was so worried that he questioned whether his initial decision was wrong more than once. But now he was in a difficult situation and it was too late to regret. He could only go with the flow.

It was snowing and cold, and the soldiers were demoralized. There were complaints from time to time in the camp. Su Wei knew that it was better to ease the situation than to block it. He did not severely punish the soldiers, but just inspected everywhere and comforted them cordially, hoping to save the current situation.

After another day of hard work, Su Wei sat in the study, listening seriously to the advice of Dai Zeng, the counselor in front of him.

Dai Zeng stroked his beard and said slowly, "General, don't panic too much. God help me. It has been snowing for half a day. Those Xiongnu soldiers can't hold out for long. They have been rushing from a long distance and only want to win quickly. The food and cold-weather clothes they brought are not enough. In a few days, the snow will be up to their knees, and they will not be able to bear it, especially those horses that can't stand the severe cold. As long as they hold on for a few more days, they will be defeated without us having to use a single sword or a single gun!"

Su Wei no longer believed his words completely, and showed a suspicious look after hearing his words.

Dai Zeng was a strategist he had paid a high price for. He was a third place winner in the imperial examination. He was quite talented and had strategies. He had helped him win many battles.

But this time, he felt something was a little strange.

Su Wei asked: "Military advisor, there is one thing I still don't understand. Why did Chunyu Luan come to attack Dai County in such a mighty way? It is true that they have a chance of winning, but even if they take it, what will happen? I have doubts in my heart. Will he not care about this?"

Dai Zeng advised: "Now that things have come to this, General, you don't have to think so much. The only thing we can be sure of is that we cannot defeat the hundreds of thousands of real Xiongnu soldiers under the city. And the only thing we can do now is to stay in the city and wait for help. As for the rest, what else can we do?"

Su Wei did not comment, but his worries grew even stronger.

As he was hesitating, he suddenly heard the sound of fighting in the distance, and there was also commotion nearby.

Su Wei was shocked. He immediately stood up and pushed the door open, asking loudly, "What's going on? Where did the sound of killing come from?"

Soon, someone came running over and reported happily, "General, the Xiongnu soldiers under the city are in chaos. It seems that reinforcements are coming from afar! The snowstorm is heavy and the flags are not clear. We can vaguely see the golden tiger head. It should be the troops of the King of Jinbei!"

Su Wei was delighted and shouted, "God helps me! Summon all the generals to my study room to discuss opening the city gates to resist the enemy!"

...

The maid brought in more than ten lamps, which made Su Wei's study room as bright as day.

Outside, the wind was howling. Inside, several generals were arguing over whether to open the city gates.

Dai Zeng still held an opposing attitude and shouted: "Why should we open the city gate? We have held out for three days, and those Xiongnu soldiers outside are about to collapse. If we leave the city now, wouldn't it be a waste of our efforts?"

Someone retorted: "The first opportunity to fight was lost because of your cowardice. Are you going to miss another opportunity? Now the Xiongnu are under attack from the rear, and they are in a state of panic. If we open the city gate and go into battle lightly, we will definitely win a great victory!"

"No!" Dai Zeng angrily scolded, "Lu Mang, do you know how many soldiers the Xiongnu have? Hundreds of thousands, those are hundreds of thousands of well-trained cavalry, not the 100,000 cabbages in your backyard vegetable garden! How many people can the King of Jibei bring with him for an overnight attack? He will not storm the city. At most, he can bring 50,000 or 80,000 people. There is no chance of winning! The King of Jibei is young and arrogant. He does not understand the ferocity of the enemy, so he dares to fight with his own strength. In my opinion, he is not a reinforcement, he is here to destroy our situation!"

The man angrily scolded him: "Look at your face, you are afraid of the Xiongnu like a mouse seeing a cat. If you are so greedy and afraid of death, why come to the border to fight? Go back to your kang and live your life wrapped in a quilt!"

Dai Zeng angrily said: "How can you talk?"

"I'll scold you, so what?" After saying this, the remaining people responded one

after another. Dai Zeng snorted, flicked his sleeves and said, "You barbaric warriors, I won't argue with you!"

The necks of those people were red from being ridiculed. They couldn't scold Dai Zeng, so they actually started to push and shove, ready to fight. The study was in chaos.

Su Wei watched them fighting, veins popping out on his forehead, and shouted, "Enough!"

The room was quiet again. Everyone stared at him, waiting for his next words.

Su Wei closed his eyes. He admitted that he was a coward. He was not afraid of dying, but was afraid of causing trouble to the whole situation. Dai Zeng was right in one respect. He had to ensure that Dai County was safe and sound and not cause any worries to Qiu Mingshan who was fighting fiercely at Shiyang Pass. Therefore, he dared not try any risky actions.

After a moment of silence, Su Wei ordered in a deep voice: "Let someone block the city gates, and you can shoot arrows on the city walls for support. Continue to observe the situation and wait for my decision."

Except for Dai Zeng, the remaining generals showed disappointment, but did not dare to disobey and reluctantly accepted the order and left.

Dai Zeng's opinion was accepted, and he touched his goatee complacently. He wanted to say something to Su Wei, but when he looked up and met Su Wei's cold eyes, he was stunned for a moment.

Although Su Wei made his judgment according to Dai Zeng's idea, he had a slight dislike and suspicion towards him in his heart.

"It's late at night, and the military advisor is tired. Let's go down and rest."

Su Wei said this, took down his sword from the hook on the wall, and then strode out of the door, leaving Dai Zeng in a daze in the room, and walked towards the tower.

...

Just as Pei Yuan expected, Chunyu Luan's troops left under the city of Dai County were a bait. Although they fought hard, they were still fragile and vulnerable.

In less than two hours, the remaining Xiongnu soldiers had died or escaped.

However, the gate of Dai County was never opened from beginning to end. Su Wei stood on the city wall, as if he was watching a play performed by someone else.

I don't know what he is still hesitating about. He even saw his men cleaning up the battlefield. His expression seemed to be hesitant, but he still didn't move.

Pei Yuan tore off a piece of his clothes to wipe off the blood on the blade. He looked coldly at Su Wei, who looked like a stone sculpture on the towering city wall, and gritted his teeth and cursed: "Brainless old man!"

He could guess what Su Wei was thinking. He had completely fallen into Chunyu Luan's trap and believed the information that 130,000 enemy troops were coming. Even though the enemies under the city were now completely wiped out, he was still suspicious in his heart, afraid that Chunyu Luan had a backup plan, and the mantis stalked the cicada, but the oriole was behind.

Pei Yuan had never expected this. He really didn't expect that Su Wei would be so cautious.

According to his original plan, Chunyu Luan was bluffing and deploying troops under the city of Dai County in order to lure him to lead a large army and then take the opportunity to attack the empty Feng County. He used the trick to make Chunyu Luan think that he had been fooled. When Chunyu Luan used all his troops to attack Feng County, he would join forces with Su Wei's troops in Dai County to bypass from the rear, attack from both inside and outside, and win in one blow.

Unexpectedly, Su Wei refused to come out!

The snow was getting heavier, and soon it formed a thick layer on his shoulders. Pei Yuan's eyelashes and lips were covered with a thin layer of ice, which crackled when he moved. He raised his hand to wipe the snow off his face, and a messenger came from behind, bringing the news that Chunyu Luan had begun to attack the city.

The captain next to Pei Yuan asked, "Your Highness, should we wait for the veteran generals to go back together?"

"It's too late." Pei Yuan looked in the direction of Su Wei again, but the heavy snow obscured his vision and he could not see clearly. "I will write a letter to him, you stay and deliver the letter to him."

The captain responded at first, then reacted, "But Your Highness, where can we find paper and pen now?"

Pei Yuan stared at his chest for a moment, then suddenly reached out and tore off a piece of his sleeve. Amid the captain's exclamations, he spread the piece of cloth flat on his legs, cut his index finger with the tip of a knife, dipped it in blood and quickly wrote two lines of words, folded it and handed it back.

All this happened so fast that the captain had not yet reacted. Pei Yuan ordered, "Remember, hand it to him personally."

"Soldiers, listen up! Drop all the heavy belongings and follow me back to Feng County to resist the barbarians! One Huns head can be exchanged for three taels of silver, two heads can be exchanged for one ingot of gold! Three heads can be exchanged for five acres of thin farmland. If you kill five people, you can have food and clothing for the rest of your life, and provide for your descendants!" After saying that, Pei Yuan whipped the horse's buttocks, and with a sound of the horse's halberd, he rushed towards Feng County like lightning, "Kill!"

The shouts of killing rang out under the city, and the soldiers were in high spirits. They mounted their horses or walked, stepping on the snow stained with blood, and went eastward in a mighty manner.

...

A moment later, Su Wei received a letter from Pei Yuan.

After opening it, there were two lines of bloody words on it:

"How stupid! Su Wei! The enemy army is no more than 20,000, and you have been deceived by the traitor. Kill Dai Zeng and come to meet the enemy quickly, there is still a chance!"

Su Wei suddenly woke up from a dream, recalled all the signs in the past, and immediately blushed, slapped his thigh and said: "It's my fault, it's my fault!"

He stood up and ordered someone in a loud voice: "Tie up Dai Zeng for me, take him to prison, and I will interrogate him after I come back!"

After that, he hurriedly summoned the soldiers, selected the soldiers, opened the city gates, and prepared to lead the remaining 70,000 people to rush to the rescue.

...

When the first siege did not achieve the expected results and was met with fierce resistance, Chunyu Luan realized that Pei Yuan had not been fooled by him.

He did not feel discouraged, but rather interesting. It was interesting to meet an evenly matched opponent, and he enjoyed the process. Given

the current situation, it would be difficult for him to break through the gate of Feng County in a short time.

Chunyu Luan immediately guessed Pei Yuan's possible reaction. He should gather all the troops he could to attack his rear.

Chunyu Luan ordered Chaergua to pass on the order to strictly defend, and sent a few single riders pretending to be Han people to send a message to Pei Yuan.

Then, he went to get his own, jumped on his horse with a smile on his face, and said to Chaergua: "I just asked someone to tell him that his princess is in my hands. I have heard that the King of Jibei and his wife are deeply in love. Do you think he will leave the main force and take a shortcut to come here alone?"

Chaergua thought for a while, shook his head and said: "Such an obvious plan, how can the King of Jibei believe it? Besides, he is a shrewd and calculating person, not someone who will act on impulse."

Chunyu Luan smiled and said: "I bet he will."

Chaergua asked puzzledly: "Why?"

"Intuition." Chunyu Luan narrowed his eyes and said jokingly, "To use the words of the Han people, maybe we will have similar views as heroes?"

After that, Chunyu Luan pointed at several soldiers around him and said, "Follow me, let's go to Yixiantian to intercept someone. I will also show you my archery skills. Can I kill that love-sick person with one arrow?"

...

Just as Chunyu Luan expected, when Pei Yuan received the news that Baoning was in danger, he really ignored the obstruction of others and left the team on his own, choosing to take the dark and dangerous mountain path, just to arrive a moment earlier.

The shortest way from Dai County to Feng County must pass through a wonder in Qilian Mountain, called Yixiantian.