The war between Cheng and Ye gradually became intense. In just half a month, the two armies had clashed on the Yeliang Plain no less than a hundred times. The once prosperous northern part of Wanzhou was completely devastated and starved to death during the continuous fierce battles.
of hell on earth.
In recent days, the key point of the competition between the two armies is a narrow strip of ten miles with Huxieping as the center. In addition to casualties and casualties, there are also a large number of deserters in the Yeguo army every day, and the number is far from enough to continue to stretch the area.
The battle line is set up. If we lose again, we may have no choice but to retreat to the city.
Nowadays, on the official roads, you can see uncollected corpses everywhere. The bodies of the fallen soldiers not only have the marks of wild beasts, but also the stubbles left by the hungry people passing by. The armor on their bodies has also been damaged.
After all of them were taken away, the useful weapons and money had long gone, and the useless clothes were thrown away in a mess.
Groups of vultures also gathered over the plains, numbering in the thousands. These big birds, which represented death, were consuming the last remaining morale of the soldiers and civilians of Ye State day by day.
In the twelfth year of Yuan Sui, on the fourth day of February, a group of more than ten Green Harrier cavalry broke through the Ye army's defense line and pushed to a place less than ten miles south of Mulu City, and then quickly retreated. But even though the situation was already critical,
, but Duke Ye still did not give the order to abandon the city, and seemed to have prepared to live or die with Mulu City.
The Yeliang Plain was one of the most densely populated areas in the entire territory of the Great Sheng Dynasty. Villages were often no more than ten miles apart from each other. This provided a large amount of material supplies for the Chengguo army that traveled long distances, and the number of raids out was also increasing.
It has become a must-do pastime for them.
That evening, in the dusk, crows circled the trees. Under the bloody setting sun, a group of Green Harrier cavalry belonging to the Wei Horse Camp were returning one after another carrying the trophies they had just captured. The villages they raided today were quite prosperous, and the trophies were
There are not only a large number of gold, silver and jade jewelry, but also several young and beautiful girls.
Wanzhou women were as gentle as water, not as fierce and bold as women in Chengguo. They had been sobbing and sobbing since they were tied up. However, this move more and more caused the men in the army to show their bestiality.
, simply tied several girls to the flag poles in the camp, took several large jars of strong liquor, and took turns humiliating them in the excitement of drinking.
However, when the cavalry were in high spirits, they suddenly heard several loud noises coming from outside the camp gate. The sound sounded like bursts of muffled thunder before a heavy rain. However, at this time, the red sun covered the mountains and the sunset filled the sky. How could there be a sudden thunder?
A bolt from the blue?
The first cavalryman put down the wine cup in his hand and looked outside the camp in the direction of the thunder. He saw several black and round objects flying in the air and attacking quickly outside the camp gate. Before he could react, he
, those things have already flown in front of us, and they are actually several iron bullets as big as human heads!
The cavalryman was so frightened that he stood up quickly, but he could no longer escape. An iron ball ran directly over his legs, smashing both calves into a blur of flesh and blood, and even the tibia was twisted several times.
Duan. Then the iron bullet changed its direction, bounced hard on the ground a few times, knocked over the brazier filled with red charcoal in front of the tent, and stuck firmly on the body of a soldier next to it.
No one in the camp knew what happened. It was not until the cavalryman who had just lost his legs was hit beyond recognition by another iron bullet that his whole body sank into the soil. Only then did the horn of the enemy attack finally sound everywhere. But
Before the soldiers could prepare their horses and weapons to attack, the strange thunder roared loudly again. It was denser than before and closer to them!
It was night, in Chengguo Camp, one hundred and thirty miles east of Huxieping. Shortly after falling asleep, Yin Qujian was suddenly awakened from his sleep by an urgent message coming from outside the tent.
Half a month since the war started, this was the first time there was such an urgent military situation in the camp. Duke Cheng Guo felt vaguely that something was wrong, so he opened the tent without even wearing shoes and rushed out barefoot.
Outside the tent, Pu Bing, who was delivering the order, was half-kneeling on the ground, holding a bloody silk letter in his hand: "The Lord, we have just received an emergency report from Wei Ma Camp, saying that we encountered an enemy attack at dusk today..."
Yin Qujian narrowed his eyes, but his face could not tell whether he was angry or worried: "The 20,000 soldiers and horses of Wei Ma Camp are the elite vanguard of our army. Even if we encounter some stragglers from the Ye Kingdom sneak attack at night, what's the point?
Are you so panicked? How is the battle situation ahead now?"
"Since receiving this letter, there has been no news from him."
"I met the enemy at dusk, and it has been three hours now. How come there is suddenly no news?" Yin Qujian seemed a little worried.
"My lord, since we are being attacked, the enemy troops should come prepared. The Wei Horse Camp is probably still in the midst of a fierce battle, but Xianguan has sent scouts there before, and I think he will soon be able to report back with news of the Wei Horse Camp's victory.
Got it!"
The deputy general next to him stepped forward, waved his hand impatiently, and sent the fussing soldiers away. However, at this moment, a horse riding on a fast horse actually reported the latest battle situation:
"Urgent report, urgent report! The whole army of Wei Ma camp has been wiped out, the whole army has been wiped out!"
Seeing that the scout's face was full of fear, as if he had seen a ghost, Yin Qujian couldn't help but was slightly startled, as if he hadn't heard clearly what the scout had just said:
"You - you say it again -"
"Weima camp has 20,000 soldiers and horses, but none of them survived!"
"What nonsense are you talking about? The morale of Ye Guo's army has long been weakened. How can they organize such a powerful counterattack?" The deputy general's expression also changed. However, Yin Qujian stretched out his hand to signal him to calm down, and then said to the scout:
"Is it true that there is not a single living person left in Weima camp?"
The scout nodded tremblingly: "My subordinates carefully explored the whole camp and found that the whole camp was empty. There were only mountains of corpses piled in the middle of the camp, which were burned to charcoal by the fire. Even if some people were not completely dead at that time, they were already dead.
He was burned alive. However, my subordinates thought that there might be another reason for this defeat."
"How can I see it?"
"My subordinates unearthed some unburnt limbs from the pile of corpses, but the wounds on them did not appear to be caused by ordinary iron arrows, but round blood holes as big as the cap of a thumb."
"Round-blood hole..."
The scout's description made Yin Qujian suddenly remember that spring five years ago, when thousands of soldiers from Wei Liang and Huai You fought against Huai You at the foot of Qinglan Mountain. However, the entire army was wiped out before the confrontation. The reason has not yet been found out.
He clearly remembered that there were strange round blood holes on the corpses that he sent scouts to quietly transport back to Dangpu!
Duke Cheng Guo's brows suddenly frowned, and he suddenly waved his hand and shouted loudly:
"Get Master Xuan Guo immediately!"
After half a stick of incense was passed, Yin Qujian in the tent angrily asked Kun Jie, who had rushed over in a hurry: "Master, since you already knew that Ye State had this armor-breaking weapon, why didn't you warn me earlier!"
"I don't know what the king said?"
The tall and thin man still wore his large cloak and bowed politely.
"At this point, you are still pretending to know nothing in front of me! Five years ago, when Wei Liang and Huaiyou's 5,000 troops were all wiped out at the foot of Qinglan Mountain, didn't you tell me that it was most likely...
Did Ye Guo cause trouble?"
"Back then, I was just speculating. Why would the leader of the country suddenly mention this old incident that happened several years ago?"
"You know what you're asking! The wounds on the corpses of those fallen soldiers back then were exactly the same as those of the soldiers of Wei Maying who were attacked today. Since he, Qi Shouyu, might have mastered some kind of armor-breaking weapon unknown to the world, why didn't the Imperial Master warn him before?
I am so humble, but you have tried to persuade me to attack rashly several times?"
Facing Yin Qujian, who was gnashing his teeth with anger, Kun Jie's face remained calm:
"What the king said is wrong. At that time, I was just speculating based on limited evidence, and I have never been able to obtain conclusive evidence. Besides, the decision to attack Ye State this time was not made by you, the king?"
"Aren't the Imperial Masters afraid that I will convict you of a bad plan?"
Kun Jie's attitude made Yin Qujian go crazy. But even so, the tall and thin man always maintained an unsullied expression on his face and responded calmly:
"Isn't the most important thing the king should do now is to immediately dispatch reinforcements to defend? If Ye Guo really masters some armor-breaking weapon, it may soon be able to change its current decline."
Yin Qu Jianyuan opened his eyes and stared at the man in front of him. Although he was furious at this time, he also understood that everything the other man said was reasonable and there was no flaw to exploit. Although he still had no doubts about Kun Jie,
But having no choice but to do anything, Duke Cheng Guo had no choice but to follow his advice and ordered the 30,000 troops who attacked the Yugu Lake camp of Ye State to immediately return for reinforcements.
However, just as the ink crow flew away, the camp received a third urgent message. The person who sent the message was the reinforcements commander Yin Qujian planned to dispatch.
According to the emergency report, the 30,000 Green Harrier cavalry of the Cheng Kingdom were in close combat with tens of thousands of enemy troops on the west bank of Yugu Lake. However, the enemy was not the main force of the Ye Kingdom, but the soldiers of Guan Ning who crossed the river overnight from the east bank of the Ming River!
"Weiliang also participated in the war? Bastard! If he hadn't already planned it carefully, how could Luqiu Borong, who had killed a thousand swords, move tens of thousands of troops from Jingshu to the border of Ye State in such a short period of time! But after all, he was
Where did you know in advance my plan to attack Ye State?"
Finally, the hands of this king, who had experienced hundreds of battles and personally led his troops to conquer half of the country, began to tremble uncontrollably, and his tone of voice no longer had the confidence and arrogance that seemed to be a sure victory in the past.
…
At the same time, in the palace of King Ye of Mulu City, everyone from the king to the officials were already celebrating. The Wende Hall had just been renamed the Wude Hall yesterday, and the newly made plaque still gave off the pungent smell of turpentine.
Qi Shouyu, who was slightly drunk, stood under the plaque, his cheeks flushed, holding up the wine cup in his hand and laughing loudly:
"This time I want the whole world to see clearly what kind of terrifying power I, Qi Shouyu, hold in my hands! Yin Qujian, that yellow-mouthed kid, actually thinks that he can capture Mulu City easily? No.
Consider yourself!"
"God bless the king! God bless Yeguo!"
His Highness and his ministers shouted loudly. However, they still did not know at this time what method the king used to defeat Chengguo's Green Harrier cavalry without losing a single soldier - even though it was just a few days ago.
, the successive tragic defeats of Ye Jun were still fresh in the memory. However, at this time, no one in the civil and military officials dared to delve into the reasons. They just reveled in agreement with the king who had just succeeded to the throne and had thunderous methods.
However, after three rounds of drinking, Qi Shouyu, who suddenly received a report from the internal prison, quietly exited the Wende Palace and returned to his bedroom. Before he could enter the door, he saw that the palace seemed to have been attacked by bandits.
I don't know who made a mess.
"Steward Feng! What on earth is going on?!"
The smile on his face immediately disappeared, and he raised his voice and shouted angrily. He only called for a long time, but Butler Feng never appeared again in the messy hall.
As a rule, Duke Ye's daily life must be taken care of by the eunuchs and guards in the palace. However, Qi Shouyu did not have any wives or concubines, and he was not a womanizer, so he was not as taboo about men entering the palace as previous rulers.
After Shoucheng Palace, Butler Feng, who had followed him for more than 20 years, became the first person in the history of Ye State to be promoted to the position of Chief Internal Supervisor without having to cleanse himself.
Coincidentally, the firebolt blunderbuss used by the Chengguo cavalry in this great defeat was secretly made by Butler Feng for Qi Shouyu, and no third party knew about it.
A hint of ominous premonition suddenly arose in the heart of the pudgy king. He ran straight to the bed in his room, took out a short knife from his waist, and slashed a slit in the pillow on the bed, then cut open the pillow on the bed.
His hand reached inside and began to fumble nervously - the ancient picture that had been taken away from Jiang Yan's hand and revealed the secrets of the ancestors was hidden deep in the pillow by him.
However, now, where his fingertips touch, there is only a hand full of cotton wool, but the picture has long since disappeared. In its place is a ball of smooth, soft, and somewhat wet stuff. Qi Shouyu angrily took the thing out of the pillow
He grabbed it out, held it in front of his eyes and looked at it carefully:
"This is—a piece of human skin?"
I don't know whether it was because of nausea or fear, but Duke Ye's hands began to tremble violently. And the gel-like substance with some cotton attached to it fell to the ground with a splat. A pattern appeared on the translucent human skin.
The face can be vaguely distinguished as that of Butler Feng!
"Quickly order Liusha Camp to send the fastest horses and the most capable manpower to capture this three-headed and two-faced dog in Wanzhou! No matter where he hides, he must be brought back to us alive!"
Furious, Qi Shouyu summoned all the most capable generals of Liusha Camp in front of him and issued an order angrily. However, he did not explain to his subordinates why a small butler was so important, even allowing him to be killed when Cheng Guo's army was approaching.
Duke Ye, who had never frowned before, became so restless.
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