This is the last time the Death Cavalry broke through and conveyed the message. From then on, Maer dared to lose contact with Di Qing's troops on the west bank of the Great Jin River. Zhao Zhen will no longer take the risk of sending his precious combat power out.

The dead cavalry sent out not only conveyed the news about Maergan City, but also stayed in Di Qing's army to guide them to advance at full speed to assist Maergan, because the cavalry outside Maergan City had discovered the reinforcements from Tubo. In just one day, the Tubo people bypassed the front line of Tianguan Pass in Motuo and increased 20,000 troops to Maergan City.

This made Garidacuo, who could have let the death cavalry leave, completely besieged Maergan. The 50,000 troops were ten times more powerful than Maergan's defenders. On the battlefield, such a comparison can already launch a siege.

There are eight days left, and this is the most critical eight days. During these eight days, Ma'er dares to defend with all his strength and wait for support! Any small mistake will cause disastrous consequences.

Zhao Zhen was staying on the city wall these days and didn't plan to go. The defenders of Maerdan almost knew that the Song Dynasty's officials were in the city, and the local Tubo people were ordered not to go out, otherwise they would be treated as rebelling against Song. They were already citizens of Song. At this time, they had to obey the arrangements of Song, otherwise the Song army would never show mercy at this critical moment.

Although these liberated serfs were also Tubo people, they were ultimately rescued by the Song Dynasty and turned them from slaves who were originally nothing to a living person.

When the Song army attacked Maer, they did not resist and would not do anything unfavorable to the Song Dynasty. Helping Tubo was of no benefit to them.

On the contrary, they still hoped that the Song army could defend Maerdao. After all, the arrival of the Song Dynasty not only did not destroy their lives, but also made their lives better.

These liberated serfs had no sense of belonging to Tubo, but they had a little bit of agreement with the Song Dynasty. They believed that the Song Dynasty gave them freedom and were even willing to take up weapons and walk up the city wall to fight for the Song Dynasty.

But the Song army rejected their request with a very gentle reason. Cai Boyi stood in front of a group of Tubo people and said enthusiastically: "My Song Dynasty has always cherished the people! As long as it is the people of my Song Dynasty, the court and the officials will try their best to protect you. You can no longer call yourself Tubo people, but should call yourself Song people! My Song Dynasty treats every citizen equally, whether it is Dangxiang people, Khitans, Tubo people, or even Japanese people, they are called Song people. Since they are my Song Dynasty people, the Song army will protect them from good health! The court will naturally not forget that Maer Dan will become the first plateau city under the Song Dynasty that is exempt from commercial tax for three years. From then on, Maer Dan will be guaranteed by the court!"

Cai Boqi's words excited the people in the city. They not only gave them a promise of shelter supported by the Song Dynasty, but also gave them tax exemption benefits. They even posted a tax exemption notice on the spot, which was a great blessing for the local people.

They finally felt that they had a sense of belonging, which was the treatment they had not enjoyed before when they were ruled by Jiao Siluo. Ma Er dared to be a place where the Tubo Dynasty made money. Although trading with the Song Dynasty made the place rich, the heavy taxes also made them feel uncomfortable and depressed.

The people who dared to follow the Song Dynasty knew that it was right to follow the Song Dynasty. They not only gain freedom, but also gain wealth and the right to protect wealth.

Cai Boqi, who returned to the city wall, breathed a sigh of relief: "The officials have already comforted the people here. Not only did they not feel depressed because of their refusal, they also more recognized the jurisdiction of the court."

All of this was expected by Zhao Zhen. When he decided to liberate the Tubo serfs, he had already considered the issue of belonging, and the location was selected as the Tugan tribe, which was closer to the Song Dynasty.

Maer Gan is a huge settlement in Tugan tribe, and is now built into Maer Gan City by the Song Dynasty. No matter who people were before, the people here should be now the people of the Song Dynasty, and their sense of belonging and identity to the Song Dynasty is much higher than that of Tubo.

As long as the people in the city are at peace and complying with themselves, this is the best help to the defenders. The more than 5,000 defenders will concentrate all their strength against foreign enemies, and the more than 1,000 dead cavalry will become reserves just in case.

Like the Yong'an Army and the Divine Guards in Wang Shao's hands, the remaining five thousand Divine Guards also have firearms. Because they are fighting in the city, a large number of city defense equipment will share the pressure of defense. This is also the reason why Zhao Zhen has been constantly inspecting the city walls during this period.

The city defense is the city as the defense. The biggest reliance is on the city. Using the city as a support for defense, the combat power of the Five Thousand Divine Guards will be infinitely amplified.

What's more, this is a war between cold weapons against cold weapons. The Tubo people have to face a close killing machine. The Baniu Crossbows are not placed on the city wall, but more of them are artillery. These are the cannons left by Wang Shao's troops. They are placed on the city wall because the caliber is too large and difficult to carry. There is also a huge caliber cannon, which is almost the "giant" in the cannon.

You should know that the mortar cannon was originally used as a weapon to attack cities on the battlefield, but as a defense side, the mortar can also cause a fatal blow to the huge enemy.

There is no difference between a dense crowd and a fixed target. With hundreds of mortars bombardment, the more enemies the more casualties, the greater the injury and death. The increase in charge makes the range of the range, and the enemy is almost unable to get close to the area of ​​Maergan Sanli, which can be regarded as a real "retreat".

The commander of the Divine Guard Army was still an unknown Chen Chun. Although this was the case, Zhao Zhen had a high trust in him. This was the commander of the Divine Guard Army left by Wang Shao. From his inspection of the city defense to his training and arrangements for the soldiers, he could see that this person had outstanding abilities and was not a mediocre person at all.

City defense seems simple, but in fact it is a very complex "art of offense and defense". If the defensive side wants to successfully defend the enemy's attack, then he must first understand the enemy of attack, and also understand the way of attack and every detail of defense.

Only in this way can one become a qualified defensive general. Chen Chun did a perfect job at this point. Zhao Zhen inspected the city and was surprised to find that all the details that could be thought of Chen Chun had already thought of.

Even gunpowder, explosives, shells, and loading drugs are placed separately to prevent artillery from being attacked and to increase the merging of artillery, etc., to fully implement everything.

So much so that he wrote a memorial to Zhao Zhen that during wartime, the dead cavalry should be used as a mobile force, and he was directly sent by Chen Chun to command the command of the division to deal with possible emergencies on the city wall.

Zhao Zhen agreed not only, but also handed over all the city defense commands of Maergan City to Chen Chun. This is the emperor's trust, allowing him to command any power in the city wholeheartedly.

Zhao Zhen also issued an order to him: "Be sure to defend Ma'er for ten days and wait for reinforcements!"
Chapter completed!