Seeing the pontoon bridge built with their lives completed before their eyes, millions of soldiers cheered with thunderous joy.
Although Li Xu's grain protection army is small in number, its shouts are more exciting than any other soldiers. Those who can join the grain protection army have some connections in their families. Therefore, the proportion of soldiers in this team who are literate is much higher than that of other soldiers.
Military scholars have always had an unrealistic romance in their hearts. They have seen hymns for iron and blood in ancient poems countless times. Today, they have witnessed the real war with their own eyes. Although it is only the beginning, it is completely
Subverted the impression I got from the book.
The scene in front of us cannot be described simply as tragic. To summarize it with the word tragic is too thin. In the shouts of the soldiers of the two armies, the red blood and the lives disappearing in front of you like ants make people feel full of heart.
Awe, the awe of the gods, the awe of fate and killing.
Throughout the morning, the young men in the food protection army were waving flags and shouting tirelessly on the shore. They could see the faces of their companions who were frightened to death, and they could also hear their own teeth colliding unfavorably with others, and even
They could feel the thighs and bodies of the people next to them trembling constantly. Although the sound of iron crossbows whizzing through the air nearby made them want to cover their ears several times, at this moment, most of them did not think of running for their lives.
Indeed, most of them used their connections to join the food protection army in order to avoid going to the battlefield. But at the moment when the pontoon bridge was completed, if someone gave an order, they would pull out their weapons without hesitation.
Rushing to the other side.
The three vanguards of Zuo Wuwei, Zuo Yiwei and Zuo Tunwei started at the same time and rushed up to the east bank of the Liao River against the flow of people who had withdrawn from the pontoon bridge. The soldiers who had crossed the bank quickly formed their teams under the organization of the junior generals.
Armored soldiers, sword and shield bearers were in the front, spearmen and light armored soldiers were in the middle, archers fell behind, and small square formations were quickly formed on the other side of the river.
The Goguryeo people swarmed over like angry locusts, overwhelming them. They tried to seize the river beach and pushed the Sui army that had just landed ashore into the cold water. The phalanx established by the soldiers was as immovable as a rock. Not only did the Goguryeo people
The attacks were smashed into pieces again and again, and they continued to extend their positions to both sides of the bridge, leaving enough space for the brothers who were crossing the river to settle down. The sun was shining brightly at noon, making the river surface bright red like a flame, and countless soldiers and soldiers were
Cross the burning river and add a strong stroke of red to the illuminated sky with your own blood or the blood of your enemies.
"General Qian, look at that, General Qian has passed by!" A slightly childish voice sounded in Li Xu's ears. He turned his head and saw Erlang Shimin of Tang Gong's family shouting. After Li Xu followed Zuo Wu
When Wei Wu Benlang trained Qian Shixiong in martial arts, Li Shimin used to sneak moves next to him. Therefore, he was very familiar with Qian Shixiong's cherished feather-like silver armor.
Li Xu just glanced at Li Shimin hastily and then moved his eyes back to the other side of the river. There were too many soldiers crossing the bridge, and his sight was always blocked by the shaking heads. But all the scenes on the battlefield were almost the same, and his eyes were on a certain
After being blocked at one place, you turn to the next place and see the same heroic scene.
This was a majestic and tragic battle that was incomparable to the fighting between the grassland tribes. Compared with it, all the battles Li Xu had participated in in the past two years, including the one where he defeated the lair of Suotou Xibu under Xu Dayan's control, were nothing more than small battles.
The children played house. As for the bloody battle between horse thieves and Turkic wolf cavalry that they participated in on the way back to the Central Plains, compared with the battle on the other side of the river, it was like a child peeing on living mud, and it is not worth mentioning at all.
Li Xu heard his heavy breathing and felt his heart almost beating out of his throat. He felt that his whole body was stiffened by the wind, but the blood flowing in his blood vessels burned as if it had been ignited, making his whole body ache. Except for the muteness
Besides shouting and cheering at the top of his lungs, he didn't know what else he could do for the brave men crossing the river. But soon, shouting and cheering became a luxury. His voice suddenly became hoarse, and the sound he made was like a broken gong.
The figure of General Qian Shixiong appeared in his sight again. The war horse had been stabbed to death by the enemy's spears. The general immediately turned into a warrior, but it did not affect his actions at all. He waved his long sword, and the surroundings seemed to be...
There was an extra gap, and then another sweep made the gap instantly larger. The Sui soldiers behind them quickly filled the gap where the general rushed out, and pushed the Goguryeo people away.
Li Xu couldn't see clearly how many people fell under Qian Shixiong's long arm. He only saw that the opponent's silver armor slowly turned pink. Then, he saw the long arm break and Qian Shixiong threw him into the enemy's army.
In the formation, the assassin Gaoli general fell from his horse. Then, he saw Qian Shixiong holding a horizontal sword, as if he was in a deserted place.
The Goguryeo people couldn't stand it anymore, Li Xu thought very happily. Unknowingly, he had regarded himself as one of the soldiers crossing the river, and was extremely eager to win the battle. However, the moment his eyes shifted,
, he suddenly felt extremely scared.
"Ah!" Many Sui soldiers who were waiting in line on the west bank of the river screamed, and then there was a dead silence on the river bank. On the river, which was as silent as death, several fireboats with extremely deep drafts and thick smoke were sailing along.
Washed down by the torrent.
"Bang!" The impact hit everyone's hearts like a heavy hammer, and even the rhythm of the drummer stopped for a moment. Immediately afterwards, the pontoon bridge upstream that had just been erected was knocked apart by a fire ship.
The soldiers who were crossing the river fell into the red river like dumplings.
Blocked by several ships in front of them, the second echelon of fire ships slowed down, but burned like a hunter, pressing toward the second pontoon bridge like a mansion about to collapse. In the face of the unavoidable disaster, no one could remain
Calm. The soldiers on the second pontoon pushed each other and screamed, trying to avoid the fate of death, but the fire boat still followed the current and slowly bumped towards them.
The soldiers in the front tried their best to retreat, but the soldiers in the rear were too late to make enough space for them. Countless people fell into the water before the fire ship hit the pontoon, countless people were trampled under their feet by their own robes, and countless people watched helplessly.
The fire rushed towards him.
All this happened in just a few breaths, but the people on the shore felt that it was as long as tens of thousands of years. The fire ship burned the second pontoon bridge and capsized most of it. But there were still five or six ships.
Being carried by the current, it inevitably rushed towards the third floating bridge.
On the east bank of the Liao River, the defeated Goguryeo people suddenly gained courage and launched a counterattack against the soldiers, shouting. In the woods in the distance, tens of thousands of Goguryeo ambush soldiers emerged from behind the mounds, holding scimitars.
, spears, bows and arrows, iron forks, a flock of crows engulfed the soldiers who had crossed the river.
It was the Zuowuwei soldiers who crossed the river with the help of the third pontoon bridge. They were also the ones who crossed the Liao River in the first wave and set foot on the land controlled by Goguryeo. Seeing the tragedy that happened on the other two pontoon bridges, the soldiers who were crossing the river panicked.
They pushed each other and tried to retreat to the west bank, but the entire team was unable to move an inch.
The flames of death were approaching step by step along the blood-red river, and most of the million soldiers on the shore had already closed their eyes. Today's defeat was inevitable, although a few breaths ago, everyone had smelled the taste of victory.
The opponent's defenders were scheming, luring the enemy, burning bridges, and counterattacking, all of which were executed just right. At the moment the fire boat appeared, the thousands of soldiers who had already crossed the river and the hundreds on the third pontoon bridge were all caught.
The fate of Zuo Wuwei's soldiers has already been written. Even if Sun Wu is reborn, he cannot change this miserable ending.
Some people were already crying uncontrollably, mourning for the bloody battle on the other side of the river and the struggling Pao Ze in the river. Some people stared with sad eyes, watching the brothers on the third pontoon complete the last journey of their lives. Suddenly, they saw
On the third pontoon bridge, Old General Mai Tiezhang was raising his arms and shouting. No one heard what he was crying, but they found that the crowd on the pontoon suddenly fell silent. Then, the soldiers in front of the bridge raised their weapons and shouted.
Heading towards the other side, rushing towards death.
"Brothers, we will all die, fight to the other side!" On the third pontoon bridge, the Zuowuwei soldiers in a mess heard their old general shouting. Then, they saw the old general jumping off his horse and carrying him
The iron rod on which he became famous jumped from the pontoon.
A ball of water splashed high on the bank, engulfing the old man's figure. The water dispersed, and the tall body was presented to everyone again. The cold river water reached the waist of Mai Tiezhang, and countless people shouted for the old general in the west of the river.
Despite his name, he did not look back, waving his iron staff, calling to the soldiers who were wandering on the bridge and struggling in the water, calling them to go to the east bank to die together.
The bridge was about to be broken, and the water was too deep to turn back. Is it okay to wait for death and die in national affairs? The soldiers shouted and jumped off the pontoon one after another, followed Mai Tiezhang, and rushed to the other side. On the river bank, people were trying to turn back to the bridge.
The defeated soldiers who were squeezing up were stunned for a moment, and then everyone gathered behind Mai Tiezhang, shouting and rushing towards the isolated and helpless Paoze surrounded by enemies in the center.
Mai Tiezhang didn't know when the bridge was broken by a ship, nor did he know how many soldiers followed him towards the enemy group. From the moment he jumped into the water, he never looked back. He devoted his life's achievements and countless secrets to
Forgot behind.
A Goguryeo Qushuai rushed over with a small team of cavalry, trying to disperse the last of the imperial soldiers. Mai Tiezhang came up to meet him, raised the stick and dropped it, and the Goguryeo Qushuai and his horses fell apart. The remaining Goguryeo soldiers
He tried to avenge the general, but was chopped off his mount by the soldiers.
Someone pulled a bad horse, Mai Tiezhang jumped on it, waved his staff and continued to charge forward. General Meng Jincha of Yingyanglang and his small team of soldiers followed closely behind the old general's horse, personally blocking the way for the commander as he had done for more than ten years.
Arrows and knives. Another group of Goguryeo people rushed up. The general at the head tried to use the speed of the war horse to stab the iron staff off his mount. The long spear came forward, but the iron staff was caught sideways in his hand. Then, an iron staff was caught in his hand.
The staff swept across, sweeping the Goguryeo people into dust.
The blood spread around the war horse like mist, dyeing the old general's white hair red. It had been so long since he had fought so happily. Mai Tiezhang couldn't remember clearly. He only remembered that he seemed to be sixteen or seventeen years old.
At the age of 18, he was forced to become a bandit, following behind the boss to rob homes and houses.
The boss is a good man. Every time he robs something, he always shares it with everyone. Occasionally, he will give part of the loot to the poor people near the village. But the people still don't like him. When the government comes to suppress it, he usually receives gifts.
The common people led the officers and soldiers to the mountain stronghold from a small road.
The boss died in battle, and Mai Tiezhang remembered that he was captured and then offered as a slave to the then emperor by Ouyang Ji, the governor of Guangzhou. At that moment, Mai Tiezhang finally realized that being a thief is not as good as being an official. As an official, he occasionally does good deeds.
The people will be grateful. A thief who does one good thing every day will still be rejected by others.
Another group of Goguryeo soldiers came around and were beaten away by Mai Tiezhang. The iron staff was stained with the blood of countless people, and their uniforms were also stained with blood. Mai Tiezhang laughed loudly and used the staff as a spear.
He stopped and lunged forward. Every time he stabbed, one enemy soldier would fall to the ground. The team of more than a hundred people he led was approaching Qian Shixiong, who was surrounded by enemies. Qian Shixiong's silver armor had already turned bright red when he saw the commander heading toward him.
He came closer and smiled slightly, showing his white teeth.
His Majesty the Emperor Chen liked Mai Tiezhang's bravery and asked him to be an umbrella guard. Mai Tiezhang remembered that he didn't like the job of a royal guard. He left the palace every day and ran hundreds of miles away to rob the rich and give to the poor. Later, this matter was
Although he was exposed, His Majesty the Emperor did not kill him, he just let him go home to make trouble.
Another group of Goguryeo people gathered around, and Mai Tiezhang felt a little tired. As he got older, he was often unable to do what he wanted. I remember that when I was young, I never felt tired in front of the enemy. Even under Yang Su, he faced hundreds of thousands of people.
The army's mood was equally calm.
At that time, there were as many soldiers and horses of the Sui Dynasty going south as there were Goguryeo people in front of them. The civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty surrendered one after another, but Mai Tiezhang, who was already a civilian, surrendered to the army and the Sui army. He wanted to cut off Yang Su's head with his own hands to repay Da Chen.
His Majesty the Emperor's kindness. But before he could reach the position of Yang Su, His Majesty the Emperor had been captured, and then the whole country of Chen surrendered.
"Nan Chen is dead, you can follow me from now on!" Mai Tiezhang clearly remembered every word that His Highness the King of Jin, the current Emperor of the Sui Dynasty, said after his conspiracy was exposed by the general.
He didn't care about his evil intentions, nor did he ask who else was behind the assassination. With just one sentence, he erased all memories of Nan Chen in his heart.
The enemy troops were suddenly sparse at the moment, and Mai Tiezhang saw that he had merged with Qian Shixiong's team. He turned to look at his general Meng Jincha, and found that this tiger general had at least five feather arrows stuck in the armor on his chest.
, the long knife in his hand is still shining as before.
"The bridge is broken!" Mai Tiezhang spoke again.
"Where did the commander-in-chief say we were going?" Qian Shixiong knocked down a Goguryeo primary school student who rushed up and asked with a smile, as casually as if he was asking about the destination of an outing.
Mai Tiezhang pointed forward with his weapon. The soldiers who were still able to stand raised their heads and saw the general flag raised high by the Goguryeo commander on the mound in the distance.
"Zuo Wuwei!" Ying Yanglang shouted Meng Jincha, leading a small group of soldiers to rush towards the enemy's main formation.
"Zuo Wuwei!" Qian Shixiong was unwilling to lag behind and led another group of soldiers to rush in side by side with Meng Jincha.
"Zuo Wuwei, come with me!" Mai Tiezhang's strange Lingnan accent sounded loudly, and all the remaining soldiers who could stand up followed the commander and plunged straight into the heart of Goguryeo.
Everyone on both sides of the Liao River was stunned. No one could have expected that a remnant army of less than 500 people would launch a desperate attack on the 40,000-strong army without praying for surrender and survival. For a time, the Goguryeo war flags fell one after another, and
On the other side of the Liao River, the Sui soldiers who had no pontoon bridge to cross drew their swords at the same time and paid the highest respect to the soldiers on the other side.
No one cares whether this move is suspected of overreaching, not even the Emperor himself. Ever since he saw the old general Mai Tiezhang jumping to the other side, His Majesty Yang Guang, the Emperor of the Sui Dynasty, has never stopped holding his hand. He went crazy.
Wielding drum hammers, they beat the cowhide war drums loudly. The drummers of the Sui army also remembered their duties and followed the rhythm played by His Majesty the Emperor to play a triumphant song for the warriors.
Amidst the sound of thunderous drums, Mai Tiezhang, Qian Shixiong, Meng Jincha and countless government soldiers whose names no one knew rushed into the Goguryeo army.
Under the watchful eyes of millions of people, the old general Mai Tiezhang walked with his iron staff and his beard and hair fluttering.
After a few breaths, the drum sound suddenly stopped. Yang Guang put down the drum hammer, tears falling like rain. (To be continued)
