It was already late at night, and the cold wind blew on his body, like a knife cut. The Khitans outside the city still attacked the city, but most of their hands were concentrated in the northern city, and the pressure on the other three walls was much less.

Pan Yue organized the people in the city to send midnight snacks to the soldiers guarding the city to replenish their energy.

The battle has been going on for two hours, and more than 300 people have died of Gao Min's men, and the rest are exhausted. All the cannons at the top of the city were broken, and even the muskets in the hands of the soldiers were broken. Most of the hot oil poured down from the city was exhausted, and all kinds of supplies were already bottomed out. Now they can only rely on the soldiers to fight the enemy to death. Gao Min divided the soldiers into three parts, one guarding the city, and the other blocking the cracked gap. Whenever the Khitans came to the city, they rushed up and drove them down immediately. The other part was rested and replenished.

As the Song army was consumed in large quantities, the damage caused to the Khitans was much smaller, and the morale outside remained unabated.

Gao Min stood at the top of the city, feeling like water, looking outside the city without saying a word. It is estimated that the Khitans have lost three or four thousand people to this day and still fight to the death. There will not be too many Khitans who can achieve such an army. This time, the Khitans must be the elite Khitan soldiers.

The sky was gloomy, the moon could not be seen, and the stars could not be seen. Only the biting cold wind whistled constantly. The Song army on the city had become numb, and most of them just mechanically carried out the officer's orders with expressionless expressions. However, the Khitan people outside the city were still full of energy, and shouting and killing kept ringing. Gao Min really wanted to know how they maintained such morale.

At this moment, suddenly there was a noise in the city. The crowds were surging and suddenly became chaotic.

Gao Min turned around suddenly and said sternly: "What's the matter? Let Magistrate Pan suppress it immediately! The Khitans outside attacked urgently, and the city was in chaos, so it would be great! Tell the people that if the city is broken, then let's not mention everything!"

A soldier ran up the city tower quickly and said, "Instructor, County Magistrate Pan suddenly opened the south gate and took his people out of the city! The people in the city fled with him, and could not stop it for a while, and he saw that the city could not be defended!"

Gao Minru was hit by five thunders and was stunned. Nearly half of the soldiers here were killed and killed, and they fought with the Khitans. County Magistrate Pan opened the city and ran away. The south city gate was wide open, and the people in the city ran out one after another, and it was too late to send people to close it.

Looking at the bottom of the city tower, the people dragged their children and daughters, crying all the way, and they all headed towards the south gate. Gao Min suddenly slapped the city wall and said, "If I had known that I had sent someone to guard the city gate, I would not allow the magistrate to participate in the city defense! It would be useless to say more, so I would immediately recruit soldiers and line up under the city!"

The personal soldiers on one side agreed and quickly recruited the soldiers on the distributed city wall and gathered under the northern city wall.

The Khitans outside the city already knew that the south gate was open, and they stopped attacking the city and rushed to the south. For a moment, the city wall suddenly became quiet.

After a while, the entire army lined up under the city wall. Gao Min got down from the city wall and said loudly: "Minister Pan opened the city gate, but the city could not be defended. Khitans had already come in the south gate. There was no way, let's go to the west gate and return to Dingzhou!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard a shout of killing in the city. The Khitan soldiers had already entered the southern city gate and started killing in the city.

Gao Min shook his head. He was ordered to defend the city here. The city was broken and he had no choice but to leave first. Poor the people in this city, and they came to the city with a strong wall and cleared their fields. Now they have become ghosts under the Khitan swords.

I didn't say much now, and recruited troops. The slightly injured were involved in the army, and the seriously injured were seriously injured and the matter was accomplished with one blow. Gao Min, with more than 600 remaining people, opened the Xicheng Gate and headed straight to Dingzhou along Changxing River.

The next morning, Liu Jianji had just gotten up and had not washed up yet, soldiers came to report that Quyang County had fallen. Liu Jianji was shocked and hurriedly put on his official uniform and ordered his subordinates to go to the official hall to obey the orders immediately.

As soon as he entered the official hall, Liu Jianji said: "From the new news, the Khitan troops left the Taihang Mountains and had captured Quyang. Immediately report to Tang County, Xingtang, Xinle and other counties to guard the local area. Dingzhou sent a detective cavalry to closely monitor the movements of the Khitans in Quyang. Whenever there is news, I will immediately repay!"

Deputy Commander Yang Sui crossed his hands and sang the promise, hurried out and arranged for him to go.

Liu Jianji sat down and said, "This time the Khitans came to attack, we did not get any news, and suddenly we lost Quyang County. How was Quyang lost last night? I don't know yet. Neither the magistrate Pan Yue nor the commander Gao Min had any news, so Dingzhou should be on strict guard."

Speaking of this, Zhu Gui said to the side: "Gao Min is your subordinate. What is going on? Send someone to Quyang County to investigate clearly."

Zhu Gui sang his promise with his hands and said, "Taiwei, Gao Min is a brave general, and he made many military achievements when he was on Shaanxi Road. With his temperament, he would not leave the city because of fear. If he lost Quyang this time, either the Khitans came too hard or there was another reason."

Liu Jianji said: "The city is lost and people will not die. The reason will always be clear. The most important thing now is that after the Khitans occupied Quyang, they either came to attack Dingzhou or divided the prefectures and counties. We have to do two things. One is to arrange the Dingzhou to guard Dingzhou, and the other is to immediately organize the army and prepare to chase and suppress the Khitans who attacked everywhere. If the Khitans were allowed to harass the prefectures and counties, the court would punish them severely!"

All the generals agreed.

Liu Jianji said: "I have three thousand cavalry here. Each of your three divisions will send out another three thousand people to form them separately. Six thousand cavalry will be divided according to the Khitans. Be sure to block them west of the Tang River and north of the Mudao River. Then mobilize heavy troops to wipe them out!"

Zhu Gui said: "Taiwei, the Khitans came from Taihang Mountain, and the flying foxes were everywhere, and the situation was unknown. I don't know how many soldiers and horses came this time. If the army came, we had 50,000 troops in one army, could we——"

Liu Jianji shook his head: "The road to Taihang Mountains is rugged and it is inconvenient to transport grain and grass. The nearby prefectures and counties are already firm and clear. The Khitans cannot obtain grain and grass, so it is impossible for too many people to come. Tens of thousands of troops, how do they use to transport grain?"

Seeing that everyone was silent, Liu Jianji said: "The Khitan army is attacking, and it is inevitable that they will suffer some setbacks for a while, so you don't have to be discouraged. Dingzhou is facing Taihang Mountain, and it may have been raided by the Khitans. It is not scary to be attacked by the raids. What is scary is that they are at a loss next and the entire army doesn't know what to do. What matters now is to wait for the news from Quyang and decide on the next step of deployment."

Fang Hao, the commander of the Second Division, said: "Quyang originally had food and grass, which could support some days. The Khitan occupied Quyang and would not worry about food and grass for a while. I am afraid that they will come to the army to attack Zhending Mansion southwest. The Zhending Mansion is not prepared, and once they succeed, it will be troublesome."

Liu Jianji thought for a while and said, "Immediately send someone to inform Dou Shunqing and let him be careful. If the Khitans go south to attack Zhending Mansion, we will join forces with Dou Shunqing to destroy them north of the Hutuo River. Now, if we want to make the rule of Dingzhou and Zhending Mansion safe, we are afraid that we can't do it anymore. We must make the worst plan. We would rather give up some places than concentrate our troops and eliminate the Khitans as soon as possible!"

Fang Hao frowned: "If this happens, local people will be afraid of disaster. If the army is not prepared enough, why are the people?"
Chapter completed!