Far away from the northern border, there is an extremely huge plume of smoke rising into the sky!

A strong and pungent burning smell spread in all directions, and the entire wilderness became like a sea of ​​fire, with the temperature rising rapidly!

There are flying ash everywhere, and the world here seems to be covered with a layer of frosted glass, making it gray.

The second line of defense, Yinglan City, on the city wall, the armor was stained with blood, Gu Yulan's face was exhausted, her mouth was pursed tightly, and her eyes were full of perseverance.

A ray of fire kept dancing in her eyes, which was the projection caused by the sea of ​​fire in the distance.

I saw that three miles outside the city, it was covered by a sea of ​​fire, and everything was red. Even if they were far apart, they could feel the heat wave coming towards them.

What was burning there were the corpses of Xiangrong and the corpses of Dali soldiers.

After several months of fierce fighting, Dali suffered huge casualties. For the sake of the people behind them and for the survival of Dali, hundreds of thousands of Dali soldiers fell in Yinglan City.

Gu Yulan watched helplessly as his subordinates were replaced one after another, and he watched Da Lierlang die one after another.

But she was powerless. Apart from defending Yinglan City with all her strength, she was unable to do anything else. She could not repel the Xiang Rong, nor could she save the lives of her subordinates...

Da Li could only mobilize troops and horses desperately, spending decades of savings, the pillars of the country, and the future of the dynasty, bit by bit here.

The saddest thing is that they have to do this and have to consume it like this.

If it fails, the people in dozens of cities between the second and third lines of defense will surely perish and die at the mouth of Xiang Rong!

But such a huge consumption is unbearable even for Gu Yulan, who has a strong heart and is accustomed to moving forward courageously.

What's even more hateful is that a month ago, she was injured by an elephant sword. Her left arm was injured and has not healed yet. Since then, many generals have never allowed her to fight on the front line.

She refused to listen until the deputy general persuaded her with a word.

What the deputy general said was that in Yinglan City, she was the spiritual leader of many soldiers. If she fell, the second line of defense would collapse!

As a result, Gu Yulan had to stay in the rear, restless while her subordinates were fighting to the death.

This kind of suffering, while torturing her, also made her grow rapidly, making her less indifferent and peaceful and more determined and determined!

There is only advancement, no retreat, and we will live and die with the city!

It was this spirit that allowed her and many of her subordinates to fight extremely bravely without regrets, even in death, creating the legend of Yinglan.

This battle lasted for several months. Although it was tragic, it blocked the Xiang Rong and protected millions of people behind it.

As a result, the Battle of Yinglan and Gu Yulan's glorious image of preferring death to retreat were recorded in the annals of history and were called the bloody battle of Yinglan!

As a result of this bloody battle, as of August 17, the Dali soldiers suffered 130,000 casualties and the Xiang Rong soldiers suffered 50,000 casualties!

As a result, corpses piled up like mountains under the city and had to be burned regularly. Otherwise, Xiangrong would not need to use a ladder at all and could just step on the mountain of corpses and run up the Yinglan City Wall.

Standing on the top of the city that was covered in blood and could not be washed away at all, looking at the last batch of corpses thrown into the sea of ​​fire, Gu Yulan said in a deep voice, "Salute!"

She took off her helmet and looked mournful. Those were all Da Li's men, her subordinates...

Many injured soldiers beside him took off their helmets and remained silent.

They no longer remember which group they were in when they came to Yinglan City. They only know that the elephant army stationed in the distance is the second group. Among them are black mammoths and light mammoths who are kings of elephants.

It was the arrival of the second batch of Xiang Rong that made them realize that there were actually elephant soldiers among the Xiang Rong.

Those huge war elephants made them panic, and they are still frightened when they think about it.

Fortunately, war elephants cannot participate in siege battles, so they have never fought with war elephants.

After burning for a long time, the flames in the distance slowly diminished and no longer emitted scorching waves of air around them.

The fiery red continued to dissipate, and the sky returned to its original darkness. At this moment, night was approaching.

At this time, a soldier rushed up to the city, ran to Gu Yulan's side, and held a document, "General, a letter from the court!"

Gu Yulan took it, opened it, and frowned immediately!

This is the third time that the court has rejected her suggestion!

After receiving Qin Yi's letter, she immediately sent a letter to the court proposing to build heavy armored cavalry, heavy armored infantry, and spearmen.

These three arms require a lot of heavy armor and spears several meters long. Yinglan City cannot produce them. Only with the consent of the imperial court can they be formed.

But three times in a row, Emperor Dali refused. The reason was that the Yuan clan should not dream of fighting the Xiang Rong in hand-to-hand combat, otherwise they would end in death!

Defending according to danger is the way out for the Yuan clan!

Gu Yulan strongly disagrees with this point. No matter what, she cannot reject it without giving it a try.

Therefore, she sent the message three times in a row, but she did not expect that what she received was still the court's short-sightedness.

With a sigh, Gu Yulan pursed her lips tightly, and after a long time, she said in a deep voice, "If the court doesn't agree, then that's it..."

From Gu Yulan's tone, the soldier who sent the message could hear the deep helplessness.

He couldn't help but sigh secretly in his heart.

When he turned around and saw that the city was full of gaps and the soldiers were injured, he felt even more sad.

I never expected that Dali, which was once extremely powerful, would fall into such a state!

…

Dali Dynasty, Lidu.

"Your Majesty, why do you disagree with General Gu's suggestion?" Prime Minister Zeng Chengwang frowned and asked in a low voice.

Within a few months, his hair had turned completely white and he looked extremely old.

But he is only forty.

It can be seen that Da Li's fatigue and difficulties are like a heavy burden, which makes him exhausted physically and mentally, which is why he is so vicissitudes of life.

Emperor Da Li was sitting on the main seat in the hall. His face was very solemn, and his complexion was much worse than before. He sat with his shoulders slumped, and his whole person looked depressed and uneasy.

After hearing what Zeng Chengwang asked, Chai Yuzhao, the emperor of Dali, slowly shook his head and replied, "Dali pig iron has been used to make swords and arrows, so how can there be any spare energy to build heavy armor? Even if there is spare energy, it will cost a lot and the result will be vulnerable to a single blow.

, isn’t it just asking for trouble?”

After hearing what Emperor Dali said, Zeng Chengwang sighed softly, "Wei Chen also knows this reason and His Majesty's difficulties, but General Gu sent letters three times, obviously eager for His Majesty's permission, but you repeatedly refused, Wei Chen is afraid...

...I'm afraid that General Gu will be resentful. After all, Yinglan City still has to rely on her to defend it..."

When Emperor Da Li heard this, he suddenly narrowed his eyes. Many thoughts flashed through his mind, including displeasure, anger, resentment, and helplessness... Finally, he snorted angrily, "Then agree to one of them, make a spear, and build a spear for him."

Formation, as for heavy armor, don’t even think about it, the imperial court has more than enough intentions but not enough power!"

Zeng Chengwang sighed softly, nodded, and said no more words.

Others don't know about Da Li's situation, but they know it best.

Now, all of Dali's savings have been used up, and he has begun to fall into a state of exhaustion.

Pig iron, silver, grain and grass... are all in a state of massive consumption, but all this cannot be stopped.

The entire Dali seemed to have fallen into a bottomless pit.

And this bottomless pit was also desperately devouring Dali soldiers. In order to fill the vacancies, they had to recruit troops twice, which caused a lot of public resentment.

For the sake of Dali's survival, they were helpless.

Nowadays, after large-scale conscription, the number of Dali soldiers has returned to hundreds of thousands, but they are all untrained recruits who do not understand battle formations. They can only be sent to the battlefield after a long period of training.

However, many elites could not be retained, so they could only be sent to Yinglan City in batches. They were sent there, with a death ratio of two for one, or even three for one, and they managed to defend Yinglan City with difficulty.

Only they know all this, many officials don't know, the people of Dali don't know, and people from other dynasties don't know either.

In order to maintain the stability of Dali, they dare not tell the people. In order not to be taken advantage of by other dynasties, they can only keep secrets to avoid being known and being attacked from both sides.

This is also the reason why other dynasties do not know the outcome of the Dali War.

Even if other dynasties have spies in Dali, it will be difficult to cross the third line of defense.

The people north of the third line of defense have been gradually withdrawn into the third line of defense, and Yinglan City has become an isolated island.

This arrangement was made so that when necessary, Yinglan City could be sacrificed to protect the people behind it.

At this moment, a eunuch rushed into the palace and said urgently, "Your Majesty, there is a message from the Ministry of War!"

"Nian!" Emperor Dali said in a deep voice while rubbing his eyes.

Recently, he has read many battle reports, his eyes stung, and he always asked the eunuch to read them out.

"The letter said that the regent Qin Yi has captured Liukang and returned to the court with his troops!" the eunuch said briefly.

When Emperor Dali heard this, he suddenly paused and froze!

After a long time, his face became full of bitterness and his heart felt sad.

Qin Yi expanded his territory, but he had to face such a difficult dilemma...

This made him full of bitterness and gave him thoughts of self-destruction.

It is better to give up and spend the little time left in the harem, partying hard with the concubines, wait until the Xiang army attacks Lidu, and then commit suicide.

But he didn't want to die, and he couldn't let go of the throne under his buttocks, so he gritted his teeth and pondered for a long time before making up his mind and saying fiercely, "Give me the order and implement the final plan!"

A few days ago, the Ministry of War submitted a memorial, which stated that, after investigation by spies, there were signs of an end to the Xiang-Rong civil war.

When Xiangrong ends the civil war, they will invade the south with all their strength. By then, Yinglan City will surely be lost, and the third line of defense will also be tested!

The final plan is to cut off the warrior's wrist when the third line of defense falls!

Two hundred miles south of the third line of defense, there is a huge lake. If its embankment breaks, it can submerge about ten cities in a radius of five hundred miles!

If the third line of defense cannot be held, then the embankment will be breached!

General Xiang Rong drowned in the flood!

Even if it costs the lives of hundreds of thousands of people far away from home, we won’t hesitate!

When Zeng Chengwang heard this, his heart trembled greatly, and his whole face instantly turned white, with no blood left!
Chapter completed!