The sun gradually rises, and the snow-capped mountains behind are shining brightly and the flowers are dazzling.
Gao Zhenxing led his soldiers towards the mouth of the river between the two peaks. The terrain was getting higher and more chaotic, and it was difficult for the horses to ride. So he dismounted and held the reins and advanced slowly. When he reached the mouth of the river, he saw turbulent waves.
The river rushes out from the valley. The river channel is narrow and the water flow is rapid. The rushing river water collides with the rocks on the shore and makes a rumbling sound. This sound is gathered by the towering peaks on both sides and reaches the ears even more loudly.
There are thousands of horses galloping, which makes people's ear drums hurt.
After the mountain peak, there is Atami. A path that is covered with bushes and almost covered by weeds winds around the lake and extends into the distance. If you follow the path, you can walk out of the mountain from the other side of Atami.
Zhaosu City was where the garrison of the Western Regions Protectorate of the Han Dynasty was located.
Turning again to the north is Gongyue City, one of the garrison areas of the Anxi Protectorate...
The group stopped and looked back, and saw that countless Arab soldiers had abandoned their horses and were marching towards the mountain pass. They were wearing white cloaks and were closely packed together.
Gao Zhenxing let go of the horse's rein, drew out his horizontal sword, looked around at everyone, and said in a deep voice: "I will stay here and hold on for as long as I can. If you don't want to stay, hurry up along the small path on the bank of the lake in the valley."
The path starts from the east, out of the valley, and rushes back to Gongyue City to report the news!"
All the soldiers took a step forward and shouted loudly: "We are willing to follow the captain and never retreat until we die!"
"fart!"
Gao Zhenxing was furious and scolded: "We don't care about our lives and deaths. The top priority is to send the news back to Gongyue City as soon as possible so that the army can be on guard against being attacked by the Arabs. If we all die here, how can we let the Arabs do it?"
I marched straight in, but when the troops came to the city, I still didn't know it?"
Everyone gritted their teeth, but their eyes were firm.
The ultimate honor of the Tang army was that they would rather die than surrender, let alone be deserters. When the two armies faced each other, if they surrendered and fled alive, they would be held responsible after the war. Not only would the Yongye field awarded by their families be deprived of them, but they would also become a shame to their hometown.
, causing the family and even future generations to be spurned and ridiculed.
On the other hand, if you are able to die in battle, you will receive a generous pension, and your descendants will be exempted from most of their talents and can enter the rural school for free. If you have military exploits, they will be directly inherited by your direct descendants.
Gao Zhenxing had no choice but to point to the two youngest soldiers and said loudly: "Zheng Sanwa, Li Shuanzhao, you two took six horses and rushed to Gongyue City to report the news. The rest will fight to the death with me here."
,intercept the enemy!"
The two men knew that this was a military order and did not dare to refuse. They immediately wiped away their tears and swore: "After reporting the news, the two of us will return here. If your brothers die in battle, the two of us will also fight to the death with the enemy.
Don’t be a coward!”
Gao Zhenxing's heart surged with heat. He stepped forward and patted the two of them on the shoulders, and ordered: "This place is easy to defend but difficult to attack. If one man can guard the barrier and ten thousand cannot open it, we may not all die in battle. You will return to Gongyue City."
After that, you can immediately recruit reinforcements and counterattack back from a high position. Even if the enemy is doubled, they will still be defeated!"
Their eyes lit up and they loudly answered the order: "Here!"
He stood up and led the horse, looked around at all the robes, turned around and said goodbye with tears.
…
The Arab soldiers on the hillside swarmed up like ants.
Gao Zhenxing did not feel scared, but his blood was brimming with blood. From the day he joined the army, he had put life and death aside. In the past twenty years, he had long been tired of living in a life of indulgence and dreams. Although he had joined the army, he had only served as a soldier.
Although I have gained a layer of gold, I have not been able to truly appreciate the glory of being a soldier.
But when he was in the Western Regions, looking at the vast land, and seeing that even a small soldier of the Tang army could proudly stop his back and accept the respect and fear of the Hu people, he felt incomparable pride in his heart.
He finally admitted that people have realms, and the fundamental factor that divides people into three, six or nine grades is not the level of official position or the amount of wealth, but the difference in realm.
Just like why he always couldn't stand Fang Jun in the past, why he couldn't help but want to cause trouble for Fang Jun, and why he always didn't want to be overpowered by Fang Jun?
It was because he admitted in his heart that he was not as good as Fang Jun, at least in terms of level.
In the past, if I had heard that so and so was stained with blood on the battlefield and died generously when facing the enemy, Gao Zhenxing would probably sneer at it. It is better to die than to live. Everyone is dead, so what is the use of more honors?
However, at this moment, he looked at the densely packed enemy troops on the hillside. He and the dozens of companions around him were like a lonely boat about to be submerged in the ocean. He didn't feel the slightest fear, let alone the slightest fear of running away.
If your husband doesn’t have five pots of food to eat when he is alive, he will be cooked with five pots of food when he dies!
"You gentlemen!"
He looked around and said loudly: "We are soldiers of the Tang Dynasty. Since we have decided to defend this place, we have no complaints. If the enemy wants to sneak attack on Gongyue City, they will have no choice but to step on our bodies. Previously, there was no way
Go, then if you are afraid and run away now, don’t blame me for being a deserter and beheading you!"
The soldiers showed no fear and shouted: "Fight to the death! Fight to the death!"
"good!"
Since we were united and determined to die, Gao Zhenxing immediately commanded: "Gather the Thunder Thunder and don't use it unless absolutely necessary!"
They carry only a dozen thunderbolts. Facing thousands of enemy troops and several times that number of reinforcements, no matter how powerful they are, they are of little use. They might as well save them until the end, when they are more capable of killing people in critical situations.
More enemies.
"Hold all the bows and crossbows together and listen to my command!"
"Here!"
Immediately, there were only a dozen crossbows in the team gathered up, and they were controlled by the soldiers with the most accurate shooting skills.
"Did you see those guys wearing iron helmets?"
They are condescending and have a very good view. Countless Arab soldiers are squirming like ants. Most of the Arab soldiers are just covered with white cloth cloaks. This is probably related to the gods they believe in, but very few can wear leather armor and iron helmets.
There are even fewer people. Occasionally, I find someone in the crowd wearing chain mail or armor. They are like lice on a bald man's head. He is an officer at first glance.
Everyone nodded in unison, and Gao Zhenxing said: "Don't waste your arrows. Let's aim at the officers wearing iron helmets. As long as we can kill most of the officers, no matter how many enemies we have, they will be nothing more than a pile of loose sand!"
"
"Here!"
Everyone calmed down, raised their crossbows, and each looked for a target to aim at.
Gao Zhenxing first aimed at an enemy, pulled the trigger, and the crossbow arrow was shot out by the extremely tense crossbow string. With a soft "boom" sound, it crossed a distance of dozens of feet in almost an instant and accurately hit the man's chest. The Arab
The officer was waving his scimitar and screaming, commanding the soldiers to attack. Suddenly, a crossbow arrow shot out. The sharp arrow cluster easily penetrated his leather armor and plunged into his chest. The entire arrow shaft
None of them entered the body, only a section of the white feather arrow tail was trembling.
"ah!"
The Arab officer roared and fell backwards.
At the same time, the Tang army's crossbow arrows were fired one after another, and from time to time officers among the charging Arab array were hit by arrows.
The Arabs' formation was suddenly in chaos, and their charge was thwarted.
A soldier beside Gao Zhenxing helped him carry the horizontal sword. Seeing this situation, he couldn't help but clicked his tongue and muttered: "If I had known that this situation would happen, I would have brought a few muskets."
Everyone agreed.
Gao Zhenxing shook his head, said nothing, and continued to look for the next target.
The number of muskets equipped in the Anxi Army is limited, and most of them are concentrated in the personal troops of Sima Xue Rengui of the Anxi Protectorate. After all, operating muskets requires a lot of time training, and ordinary soldiers do not know how to aim, refill ammunition, muskets and fire sticks.
In fact, there is no difference...
It is even more impossible for vanguard scouts to prepare muskets.
After all, the mission of the scout is to detect intelligence. Occasionally, a battle breaks out with the enemy scout, and it is also a quick battle. The two sides either come close to fight to the death, or they ride horses and shoot from a distance to break up at the first touch. In such situations, stability is required.
A musket that only exerts its lethality by aiming is of little use.
The Tang army was condescending and fired crossbow arrows from the top of the mountain one after another. Although they were not very fast and did not have the overwhelming power of a volley of crossbows, these scouts were all elites in the army. They were all very skilled in archery and almost never failed.
Every time an arrow was shot, an officer in the Arab army fell down.
This caused great confusion in the Arab charge formation. Many soldiers lost the command of their commanders and were at a loss.
Fortunately, the Arabs are not fools after all, and they quickly came up with countermeasures...