The snowstorm had been falling for two days and two nights, and I don't know when it had stopped. The sky was still dark, but the air behind the snow became crisp. Every time I breathed in, it felt like someone was stabbing the chest and nasopharynx with a knife. It was scratching and painful.
The war drums have been beating for a long time, which is heart-stirring. Under the new moon, tens of thousands of troops with leopard heads and wolf flags have also assembled under the city of Garhai.
The Shuodi people did not have the neat military appearance of the Great Shang Dynasty. Not only did they wear a variety of clothes and armor, but it was almost impossible to pick out two identical weapons from the weapons in the hands of the soldiers. However, this seemingly ragtag army actually In just two sticks of incense, they filed out of their respective camps and quickly opened up their formation on the grassland.
The fierce Shuobei horse clattered quietly under the crotch of Kong Wu's rider. Except for a few faint snorts occasionally, the tens of thousands of troops seemed to be asleep. They could even hear the sound of grinding teeth and chiseling in each other's mouths.
Tuya, who was standing on the tall city wall of Garhai, leaned over and looked at the black ant-like enemy troops below the city, and sighed softly. After returning to the city last night, she ordered people to completely block the city gate with wooden palisades and huge stones. .But at this moment, following the last bloodline of the Bakwuqin family to defend the city, they are just a group of ordinary herdsmen ranging from 60-year-olds to 60-year-old children.
Some of the herdsmen had never touched a murderous saber, and some were even unable to draw a long bow that weighed only half a stone. Facing the dark sea of people outside the city, many people shivered uncontrollably, including some half-year-old children. Holding the rusty weapon that was taller than him in his arms, he leaned against the wall and cried loudly.
At the moment, it seems that only a few large flags with white deer painted on the city top still stand fearlessly in the north wind, making a hunting sound.
Suddenly, he saw a horse riding forward from the enemy formation. It was Qihe Hui who raised his head towards the top of the city and shouted a threat:
"Muyun people, listen up! Now you are at the end of your rope. There are only two choices before you. One is to attack the city, or the other is to open the door and surrender! If you unfortunately choose the former, I will fight later. There will definitely not be any left alive. And if you choose the latter, you may still have a chance to survive as this year's new slaves, so don't make the wrong choice!"
His words were so confident that he didn't know whether it was Mu He's intention or Qihexu's own free will. But Tuya knew clearly that the various tribes in Shuobei had always been at odds with each other, especially the Onma and Chuoluo tribes. Their dissatisfaction was revealed in the war more than a hundred years ago, and now they are even coveting the power and status of Tianhehan. Even if Muhe wanted to let go of his own clansmen, the two tribes would never agree easily, and immediately shouted:
"Shut up! We, the Muyun tribe, can only die standing up, not live on our knees! There is no one in the city whose relatives have not been massacred by you before, and there is no one who has not witnessed your atrocities with our own eyes! There is no blood feud. , Although you are many in number today, even if we fight to the last person, we will never open the city and surrender!"
"What a blood feud! I would like to ask, when your father ordered the one hundred and one young men to go south to go to the vassal states of Dasheng Dynasty to explore ways to rebuild Tiechong Mountain, did you ever think of this? Doing this might cause those children to die in a foreign land with no bones left? My son’s soul in heaven will be sacrificed with the blood of your Bakwuqin family today!"
Before the girl finished speaking, another man rode out, it was Mu He wearing a black wolf skin cloak.
Tuya had heard Fuhan talk about the story of the one hundred and one warriors more than once. Every time he talked about it, King Tieqin couldn't help but sigh. However, this extremely risky decision back then was made through
The decision was made after discussions between the leaders of the major families in the Muyun tribe. Muhe's son even recommended himself as the eldest son of Bolewu, and became the pioneer among them.
Princess Di Ren finally understood that the war that swept almost the entire grassland today was actually caused by the past between the Bakwuqin and Bolewu families. However, the pain of losing a son was difficult to resolve.
It was obviously impossible to persuade the old man in the city to change his mind in front of so many people. In desperation, she could only make one last desperate attempt for the sake of her tribe:
"If you could trade my life for the lives of tens of thousands of people in this city, would you be willing to trade it?"
Hearing what Tuya said, the herdsmen on the top of the city looked sideways and cast admiring glances at her, and many of them even loudly advised her not to act out of anger.
After all, Mu He's purpose was revenge. For him, it actually didn't matter whether he became the legitimate leader of the Muyun tribe or whether he was Tianhehan or not. At this time, hearing Tuya say this, he was obviously hesitant.
Seeing this situation, the ambitious Qiheyou was not happy and immediately ordered someone to pull out a large cart from the formation. He saw that the felt cloth covering the cart was soaked with blood. After lifting the cloth,
, actually saw lying underneath it the bodies of countless Tiezhongshan who had died in the Battle of the Pass!
"The southerner Hehan who usurped the throne has lost his head this morning. The last cavalry you can rely on has been completely wiped out! If you continue to resist stubbornly, everyone will end up like them!"
Qihexu stood beside the cart, provocatively flipping through the frozen corpses with the long knife in his hand. Seeing this, Tuya's eyes immediately ignited with a mixture of grief and anger. Originally, she was ready to sacrifice herself.
She planned to exchange for the lives of her clan members, but the moment she saw those corpses, she already understood that this choice was not a way to survive, but would push tens of thousands of old, weak, women and children in the city into an irreversible death trap.
"Get my bow!"
The girl roared angrily. A shepherd beside her immediately handed a dark brown horn bow that seemed to be quite old to her hand. With tears in her eyes, Tuya strenuously pulled the string of the bow, and then put the bow with kerosene on it.
The arrow was ignited on the bonfire at the top of the city and shot out without hesitation!
No one could have imagined that this seemingly weak princess could be so precise with her arrow skills. The rocket drew a slender arc in the air and landed steadily on the cart filled with corpses.
There is a lack of wood in the Shuobei grassland. In order to prevent rain erosion, the Shuodi people's carts are covered with a thick layer of animal fat. As soon as the rocket fell, the flames jumped up and engulfed Tiezhong Mountain in the blink of an eye.
The corpses also caused quite a bit of chaos in the enemy formation.
Qiheyou hurriedly ordered people to put out the fire, and Muhe also shouted loudly because of his reckless behavior. Seeing all this, the sadness and anger on Tuya's face was gradually replaced by courage and determination. She raised her voice and shouted at the person beside her.
The herdsmen guarding the city ordered:
"Bow and arrow ready——"
The herdsmen at the top of the city all turned to look at the girl standing at the top of the city, with a trace of doubt and hesitation written on their faces. They never thought that Tuya actually reached out and pulled out a dagger from her waist, and cut it behind her ear like a waterfall.
The waist-length black hair was cut off, and then he used all his strength to drink loudly again:
"Everyone, cheer up! You are the men of the Muyun Department. You must not be afraid to back down just because of a few threats from the other party! Pick up the weapons in your hands. Even if we die here together today, we must
Go to Changshengtian to face your ancestors with a clear conscience! Hehan told me that reinforcements will definitely come! Before that, we must hold on!"
The girl knew clearly in her heart that she should not make such a promise. She could not even judge the meaning of Jiang Yan's instruction to stick to it for three days before leaving. Moreover, it was impossible to do so with just one salvo.
How many effective forces in the enemy formation were successfully killed and wounded.
However, now, this ancient city at the foot of the snow-capped mountains has become a desperate situation. No matter whether the opponent attacks or not, once the food and grass in the city are exhausted, they will not be able to survive the coming severe winter. At this moment, she must let the herders return
Lose hope. Only in this way will they have the courage to fight with all their strength!
Seeing that the princess had lost her will and knowing that reinforcements would be coming, the herdsmen on the city finally cheered up again. For a moment, the crowd became excited, and they actually let out loud shouts. But the sound was not necessary.
The battle cry of victory, but the herdsmen’s determination to survive!
Wu Ren, who had just climbed to the top of the city, followed closely behind Tuya, but didn't know what to say. The girl noticed the panic on the other person's face, stretched out her hand to pull her aside, but asked her to quickly prepare:
"Grandma, please prepare for me as soon as possible the old, weak, women and children in the city, and lead them to evacuate along the secret passage into Lancang Mountain tonight to escape for their lives."
After hearing this, Wu Ren's expression immediately changed:
"Gu Enji, what you said just now, weren't you lying to everyone? Those corpses on the cart - Xinhan and the three thousand iron mountains, were the entire army really wiped out?"
Tuya did not answer, but shook her head slightly, signaling the other party not to make random guesses: "Just listen to me. If you can stay here for one more day, you will have one more day to hide, and it will be harder for the enemy to find you.
you."
"But what about you, Gu Enji? You will also go with us, right?"
Wu Ren remembered the princess' previous haircut, and had already guessed the other person's thoughts, and planned to persuade the girl to leave together. However, Tuya raised her head and stared into the other person's eyes, with incomparable determination in her eyes:
"I have a hunch that Jiang Yan will be fine! I have to wait for him here, and he will definitely come back to save me and the entire Muyun Department!"
"But what if Xinhan really can't come back?"
"If I can't wait for him to come back, I will go to the Changsheng Heaven to meet him! The war is imminent. Grandma, just do as I tell you and don't say any more!"
After Tuya finished speaking, she immediately returned to the defenders and loudly ordered: "Fire the arrows!"
As the princess's raised palm fell heavily, thousands of iron arrows flew straight towards the opposite military formation. The warriors in Muhe's army raised a circular shield in unison.
Although the shields of the prairie people are not as big as those of the Dasheng military system, they are flexible and can be manipulated with one hand even while riding a horse. With the sound of arrows piercing the wood, there were only three or five people in the military formation.
The horse and a few people fell to the ground after being hit by arrows. The Shuodi warriors, who were unharmed, poked their heads out from behind their shields again, used their weapons to knock off all the arrow shafts on the shield, and then headed towards them like a tide.
The ancient city launched a frontal charge!
At the same time, the enemy's crossbowmen behind the formation also launched a volley at the city head. The opponent's arrow rain was much denser than that fired by the defenders before, like a large dark cloud rising into the sky, making the already gloomy people
The sky became darker.
Upon seeing this, Tuya immediately hugged a ten-year-old child next to her and hid under the female wall.
"Get cover!"
The sound of orders one after another spread along the direction of the city wall, but the untrained herdsmen were unable to obey the orders and prohibitions. Many people were bending their bows and arrows again, intently aiming at the army coming from the city. Only for a moment
After hesitating, he was shot by countless arrows and turned into a hedgehog on the spot.
After two rounds of arrow rain, the enemy suddenly stopped firing. Tuya was frightened, and immediately got up and started running wildly at the top of the city, because she knew that the opponent was planning to attack a certain place on the city wall with the weakest defense.
Sure enough, behind a virgin wall less than a hundred steps away, dozens of herdsmen who had been killed in the salvo were lying scattered. Before the left and right had time to block the gap in the defense line, the enemy troops took advantage of this.
In just a few moments, he seized the opportunity, rushed to the bottom of the city wall, threw up the siege hook, and hooked it firmly into the gap between the city bricks.
And there are more than ten such gaps on the entire city wall!
Shuodi people are good at using ropes to tie horses, so they also often use this kind of claw hook tied with a rope to attack the city. Because it looks like a wolf's claw, it is also called the flying wolf hook. Different from the ladder, once the claw hook is climbed up,
Without people, it is extremely difficult for the defenders to remove it from the wall. They can only watch the enemy soldiers climb up the city and have to engage in hand-to-hand combat. Because of this, this kind of grappling hook was used more than a hundred years ago.
, was also a powerful siege weapon that frightened the defenders of the Great Sheng Dynasty.
"Fight back, fight back! Don't let the opponent climb the wall!"
Tuya naturally knew the power of this grappling hook, and immediately ordered the crossbowmen around her to aim at the enemy troops who had already followed the rope to attack the city. The flying arrows were like locusts, and they had already climbed halfway to the city wall.
The warriors were hit by arrows and fell down one after another. However, more and more grappling hooks flew up from all directions, making it overwhelming.
"Oil, pour the oil in the brazier!"
Tuya saw several braziers filled with lamp oil beside her at a glance, and immediately led several defenders to overturn them from the top of the city. The braziers flipped onto the heads of the enemy soldiers who were climbing up under the grappling hooks.
When they got up, the hot oil immediately poured all over them, soaking the rope under the hook.
As a result, the enemy troops attacking the city could no longer hold on to the ropes in their hands, and fell down one after another, breaking their muscles and bones. When other defenders on the city saw this, they also followed suit. Soon, the first wave
The offensive was finally suppressed with difficulty, and the retreat horn sounded in the Muhe formation.
A burst of cheers erupted from the top of the city. Before the war, no one dared to think that such a temporary herdsman garrison could defend for an hour and a half in the face of a powerful offensive. But judging from the current situation
, if they can continue to fight at this level, it should not be a problem to defend for three to five days. For a time, the herdsmen's confidence increased sharply, and they continued to curse and pour countless arrows at the enemy troops retreating under the city, trying to kill as many as possible.
Kill more people.
However, Tuya felt that Mu He had not even used 10% of his combat power, so he issued the retreat order too rashly, giving away the victory. This thought made her nervous, and she once again turned her attention to
At the foot of the city wall.
Sure enough, the retreat was not as simple as she imagined. Soon the princess discovered a newly dug deep pit at an easily overlooked corner on the side of the city. In the pit, which was only a few feet in diameter, it seemed that it was still going on.
Wisps of faint green smoke are constantly coming out. It is close to the outside of the city wall, and there is nothing unusual at first glance. Tuya knows very well in her heart that Muhe, a cunning old wolf, will never spend his time in vain when he attacks the city.
energy.
However, before she could send out her men to carefully explore what kind of strange thing was hidden in the pit, she heard a loud sound of the earth shattering, and a dazzling fire suddenly erupted from the bottom of the pit, as if a thunderbolt from the sky hit the ground.
It turns out that the previous siege was just a cover. Mu He successfully made everyone, including Tuya, focus on the flying wolf hooks thrown on the city. However, its real purpose was
In order to bury this terrifying weapon of unknown origin at the foot of the city wall!
Even though Tuya understood it in an instant, it was too late to remedy the situation. In the thick smoke, the city wall above the pit immediately could no longer stand, and fell down like a pile of weak loess. Dust was flying everywhere.
In the middle, a huge gap that was several feet wide gradually appeared!
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