Li Xianlin was stunned for a moment before he remembered that when the situation was the most dangerous yesterday, the civilians had also climbed onto the city walls, using stones, hot oil and wooden stakes to prevent the Jin soldiers from climbing the city walls. Almost all of the unarmed civilians died on the city walls.

Today, all the young men in the city climbed up the city walls with swords and guns in hand.

"Only women can be civilian husbands." Another general whispered.

Li Xianlin was silent for a moment, and stepped over the dead bodies and wounded soldiers to look outside the city. The Jin soldiers outside the city were gathering and retreating. They had suffered heavy casualties in the previous siege, and the damaged ladders in the north also needed to be repaired.

There are only a few hundred Jin soldiers under these cities, and they are all injured, so there is no need to be afraid.

Li Xianlin was concerned about what was farther away, so he raised his eyes and looked forward.

Xiongzhou City has a flat and spacious terrain, and you can see very far away at a glance. Just outside the city to the northwest, you can see the Jin army's camp. At this time, flags are erected and soldiers are lined up in battle array. There are at least three thousand troops there, or even more.

In the past few days, the troops there have been taking turns to attack Xiongzhou City.

"If reinforcements come, it would probably be easier to go from the south." Li Xianlin said suddenly.

These words made the expressions of the generals behind him dim.

"No reinforcements will come." murmured a general.

They have been holding out for seven days. If there were any reinforcements, they should have arrived long ago. But now they only see more and more Jin soldiers gathering, but no reinforcements are seen.

"The scouts said that the gold bandits have divided their troops into three groups, and other places are also busy with their own affairs. Either they don't have extra troops to come, or they are blocked on the way." Another general whispered.

Several officers on the city wall were silent for a moment.

There is no point in rescuing Xiongzhou City anymore, so it is better to defend the cities behind it.

As generals, they themselves understand this principle. If they were generals in other places, they would make the same decision.

Li Xianlin's cheeks moved and he tightened his grip on the knife.

"Reinforcements will arrive," he said. "Everyone, cheer up and take a rest. I estimate that the gold thieves will attack the city again at night."

He said and turned around.

"I'll go talk to Prefect Tong and ask him to send another group of Ding Zhuang to the city."

Having said that, he strode down the city wall. The generals looked at his back and felt that he looked extremely tragic.

There was also a sense of sorrow in the city.

According to the previous orders, the people under his rule all took refuge in the fortified city. The streets were full of people sleeping, and the wealthy merchants had already opened up their rice and grain. They no longer cared about status or who owned whom. If the city could be defended, everyone would live together. If the city was breached, everyone would be dead.

"Do you know what will happen after the city is breached?" An old man muttered as he sat on the ground with a dazed look on his face.

No one answered him. It wasn't a pleasant topic.

"I remember when the Jin soldiers invaded more than ten years ago, the city next to us was breached and all the people in the entire county were killed. Not only that, they stuffed them into wells, hung them on trees, and burned them..." The old man didn't mind that no one asked him questions and continued talking to himself. His eyes were already a little crazy.

This is the madness brought about by fear and despair, which will spread like weeds and drown people's minds.

"Our city will not be broken."

A steady voice sounded overhead.

The people raised their heads in a hurry and saw a thin middle-aged man standing over there at some point. Even though the street was in a mess, his official robe and hat were clean and tidy, and he looked dignified and solemn.

This is Tong Jie, the prefect of Xiongzhou.

"Your Excellency the Prefect." The people hurriedly saluted.

"Our Xiongzhou City will not be breached. Li Jianjun is leading his troops to repel the enemy, and reinforcements will arrive soon." Tong Zhifu said, "It will just take a lot of effort for everyone to work together to overcome the difficulties."

The previously crazy old man gradually calmed down.

"Yes, yes, according to the master's orders." He shouted in the crowd.

The officers stepped forward and divided the old, weak, women and children into three groups according to the arrangement of Prefect Tong, to take care of the wounded soldiers and carry the dead bodies from the city wall.

Looking at the busy people running around on the streets, sadness flashed in Magistrate Tong's eyes.

"How long can you hold on?" He turned around and asked in a low voice at Li Xianlin who was approaching.

Li Xianlin's cheeks moved again.

"At most tonight," he said, "the number of Jin soldiers has increased again."

So fast!

After seven days of holding out and three days of fierce fighting on the city walls, there were only a few defenders left in Xiongzhou, while the Jin soldiers were still coming in an endless stream.

Relying on these old, weak and disabled people?

That means it’s over. Magistrate Tong’s figure seemed to shake.

"Reinforcements..." he said.

"Reinforcements will come." Li Xianlin interrupted him, his voice a little hurried.

Magistrate Tong looked at him for a moment.

"Li Jianjun, I don't want to ask about reinforcements anymore," he said. "I just want to ask, why are there only a thousand of you guarding Xiongzhou City? Where are the rest of the Guangxin Army?"

When he asked this, Li Xianlin looked a little confused.

Yes, why was it so difficult for them to defend the city? It was because two thousand of the Guangxin troops who were supposed to come suddenly disappeared. Originally, they were thought to have gone to another garrison, but if they were really from a nearby garrison, they would definitely come to rescue them. The scouts also came back and said that the Guangxin troops had retreated.

How is this possible? What went wrong?

"I don't know," he murmured.

The sudden sound of a horn made the two people who were talking shiver violently, and then they were shaken by the sound of horses' hooves hitting the ground.

"The gold thieves are attacking the city." Tong Zhifu said, his face a little pale, "It just ended not long ago."

"It seems that they are going to take Xiongzhou City before dark." Li Xianlin said.

"What should we do?" Prefect Tong blurted out.

Li Xianlin drew his sword.

"What can I do?" He shouted fiercely, "Draw your sword, draw your bow, and you will die."

…

He climbed up the city wall again. The bloody setting sun had not yet disappeared, and the city wall was stained red as if by blood. Li Xianlin's face was also rosy. He looked at the Jin soldiers rolling in from the city. The wolf-head flags covered the sky and the ground, and he could tell at least a thousand of them at a glance.

These are the Jin soldiers who took turns to go out into battle from the camp over there. They had enough food, drink and rest, and were as determined as a hungry tiger coming down the mountain.

Li Xianlin turned his head and looked at the soldiers standing by on the city wall. At this time, they could not even be called soldiers. The remaining soldiers and the men who could be assembled in the city all had dazed expressions, and many of them did not even hold their swords or guns correctly.

This is simply suicide.

Just die, you have to die anyway, and dying in battle is better than being captured and killed.

"Everyone, think about your wives and children behind you." Li Xianlin said, with a determined and tragic look in his eyes. He looked back at the city, "If they can hold on for a moment, they can live a moment longer. They just need to wait for the reinforcements to arrive..."

Reinforcements...

The generals around him looked stunned.

Will there be reinforcements?

"Retreat, retreat..."

A voice suddenly rang out.

What's withdrawn?

Li Xianlin looked at the man. The general looked stunned and pointed outside the city.

"The Jin soldiers are retreating." He said, his voice full of doubt, as if he didn't believe what he said.

How is that possible?

Li Xianlin hurriedly looked over and saw that the Jin soldiers who had rushed to attack the city suddenly retreated like a tide.

What happened?

From afar, the sound of war drums could be heard, like thousands of horses galloping, striking at everyone's heart.

At the same time, a flag appeared in the sky.

First one side, then two and three sides, covering the whole sky and the earth, and under the flags were long spears like a dense forest.

Amidst the sea of ​​flags and spears, a large flag gradually emerged. Unlike the bright red flags, this flag was black with large red characters written on it.

The black flag with red letters blended with the setting sun in the sky. As the flagpole grew higher and higher, it was as if it had lifted up the setting sun again, and the whole earth became bright.

"Duke Cheng..." Li Xianlin murmured, as if he saw a majestic and tall figure sitting under the flag.

Duke of Cheng.

He could recognize him no matter how far away he was. No one could fail to recognize him. That was Duke Cheng.

He exploded like a fish thrown into a frying pan and rushed over to hold on to the city wall.

"Duke Cheng is here!"

Duke Cheng is here!

Duke Cheng is here!