General Xue Shixiong didn't like hiding in the mountains and being poached. On the fifth day after leaving Bobi Village, he suddenly led an army near Cangyan Village, more than 400 miles northeast of Bobi Village. He first led more than 300 old and weak soldiers. They pretended to be a Mohe tribe and robbed the villages near Cangyan Village. When Baye Wang, who was left behind in Cangyan Village, led his troops out to suppress the bandits, more than 3,000 Sui troops suddenly emerged from the woods.
Most of the soldiers in Cangam Village were mobilized by Eulji Wende to near Mazhai River to cut off the Sui army's retreat. The total number of troops left in the village did not exceed 700, and most of them were old and weak. This The small amount of troops was not enough to fill Xue Shixiong's teeth. The battle lasted for less than half an hour. King Baye was shot to death by a cold arrow, and the entire army of 700 soldiers was wiped out.
Immediately, Xue Shixiong led the army into Cangyan Village with lightning speed. After a large plunder, Cangyan Village was burned to the ground. Then, the army left Cangyan, and the troops pointed directly at the village less than a hundred meters away from Cangyan Village. Gewu Village. The remaining soldiers in Gewu Village were so frightened that they closed the gate tightly and did not dare to fight. Xue Shixiong did not attack by force. He ordered people to use fire to burn all the crops in the fields near Gewu Village, and then disappeared. Deep in the mountains.
Three days later, the Sui army swaggered in front of Mudizhai. The defenders of Mudizhai were unable to stop them and watched helplessly as the Sui army "collected" the horses of several nomadic tribes outside the stronghold who had no time to escape. Then, the entire Sui army The army was reborn. After replenishing two cavalry regiments, nearly a thousand soldiers were given horses to travel with.
The rejuvenated remnant soldiers no longer crawled slowly in the mountains. They marched 150 miles day and night to avoid the Goguryeo army that came to rescue Mudizhai. Preparing to defect to the Sui Dynasty, he immediately turned around and headed south, fighting for the new city along the Xiaoliao River (Note 3).
Liaodong was disturbed. The tribes who had been accustomed to the image of the Sui army as a benevolent and righteous army suddenly discovered that this remnant army under the banner of the Sui Dynasty was comparable to bandits. The bandits paid attention to leaving their blessings when they robbed. After receiving money and food, they usually no longer harm the crops in the fields and the livestock in the pens. However, the remnant soldiers never spared the wells wherever they passed. The 50,000 Goguryeo army chasing behind them was invisibly fortified and the fields were cleared, making it difficult to supply. They had to stop again and again to ask for food and grass from neighboring tribes and forts. After comparison, the owners of each fort and the tribal leaders recognized the fact that meeting the normal needs of a regular army of 50,000 people was far more difficult than meeting the normal needs of a regular army of fifty thousand people. It is much more difficult to satisfy the extortion demands of three thousand bandits.
In early August, the remnant troops who had been reorganizing for 12 days after the breakout failed to return to western Liaoning as originally planned. Instead, they were blocked by the Xincheng defenders on the north bank of Xiaoliao River. The situation ahead was unknown, and Xue Shixiong did not dare to directly pass through the enemy's blockade. , turned around and headed east to kill the general back.
"They are going to be doomed. Our soldiers and horses are near Mudizhai. Attacking from both sides, one person can drown this group of Sui troops by spitting!" Gao Rui, who was left behind in Xincheng, looked at the smoke and dust in the distance and said happily. For To deal with this wandering lone wolf as soon as possible, he left 20,000 soldiers to guard the city and led 10,000 elite troops to pursue the enemy.
"Defeat him, let's go home!" After hearing the news that the New City defenders were following, Xue Shixiong sneered and ordered the army to stop on an unknown slope in front of the river.
The hillside is a mound about twenty miles long. It is on the edge of the hilly area and is cut into two parts, the north and the south.
The resounding name is Zhumapo.
Li Xu and Liu Wuzhou each led a regiment of cavalry and were ordered to ambush in a depression five miles north of the slope. They were bandits for four or five days in a row, and the soldiers were in a very irritable mood. Liu Wuzhou's troops were okay, they had seen Goguryeo.
How do people treat their compatriots, so when they slaughter and rob the other side's people, they feel that they are just repaying grievances with grievances. It is difficult for the former grain protection sergeants under Li Xu to accept this approach. Many of them have read the same books as Li Xu
In my mind, the soldiers and horses from the Central Plains Dynasty have always been the teachers of benevolence and righteousness, and they never committed any crimes. But I never thought that I had to do things like killing people, looting cattle and sheep, burning people's houses and tents, and destroying people's crops with my own hands.
Finish.
But everyone had to admit that Xue Shixiong's method was very effective. Until he met the new city defenders, the tribes and forts along the way almost avoided this remnant soldier who was just over 3,000 years old. Some tribes even secretly sent cattle
Sheep and Fried Rice only asked Master Wang’s flag not to appear near their pasture.
"It's his grandma's fault. I didn't expect that I would enjoy being a bandit!" Gao Xiang, the brigade leader, stood beside Li Xu and muttered quietly. At the speed of the New City defenders, it would still take some time for them to enter the ambush area.
Burned by the desire for blood, Gao Xiang felt that the bridge of his nose was numb, and he always wanted to talk nonsense to divert his attention.
"Even if we die today, we are still good enough. No matter what, we have caused enough harm to the Goguryeo bastards!" Yuan Zhongwen, another newly promoted brigade leader, responded, licking his dry lips. He was a soldier from Luozhou.
, when ambushing King Baye, he killed two of the enemy's gang leaders due to formation, and was credited once. He was rewarded with a woman who robbed a wealthy family in the village. Although the woman was abandoned by the Sui army the next day, Yuan Zhongwen
I feel very satisfied in my heart that I have finally become a man for once.
"Benevolence and righteousness are just for show. Which general doesn't have thousands of bones piled up behind him?" Warrior Xun secretly glanced at the increasingly serious Li Xu in front of him, and murmured in a low voice. What he did should be the same as his own.
When there was a conflict with what he had learned in his life, and he suddenly discovered that it was easier to survive by doing evil than by doing good, he had to find some reasons for himself to feel at ease. When he found these reasons, his eyes after reading the book suddenly became more powerful than those of warriors.
Even more violent.
He is not the only one, this kind of violence has infected almost everyone. On one side is the temptation to go home and survive, mixed with the pleasure of revenge brought by killing and plundering, on the other side is the idea of being raped by the enemy with the ideals in his heart.
Cut off the head and build it into a pagoda. Everyone knows what they should choose.
When they return to the Central Plains in the future, they may look at their hands and blame themselves in the Buddhist hall on a sleepless night. But now, they instinctively choose a path to survive.
Although this road to survival is paved with countless corpses.
Li Xu pulled Hei Feng and stood at the forefront of the team. His heart was as anxious as the warrior Yun and others, and his eyes were as bloodthirsty as everyone else. The afternoon sun shone down from the west, and he had to squint his eyes very hard.
It is thin, but the moment the eyes turn, all they reveal is a fierce light.
For more than ten days, he did not participate in the revenge on the people of Goguryeo, nor did he enjoy the women he snatched. However, he led his people to carry out several orders to massacre prisoners and loot tribes. Some prisoners could not be called soldiers, they just held There were old men and children who looked like they were armed with swords and guns, but Li Xu did not hesitate to order his men to cut them down beside the pit dug by the other party. The bodies of three hundred thousand soldiers of righteousness who did not kill prisoners and surrendered without torture were all there. Mazhai was built by the water, and no one dared to take the same risk again.
"I led 300 men to the camp, and 237 of them died. I am still alive because I am a captain and they are not!"
"I killed all these prisoners and people in order to go home. Because I am from the Sui Dynasty and they are from Goguryeo!" Every day, the young man was almost crazy under the pressure of chaotic thoughts. He had no place to think about these weird and torturous thoughts. You can talk about it, but no one will understand.
Liu Hongji is a good brother. He will teach Li Xu everything about how to behave. But he will not understand the guilt in Li Xu's heart for the death of his companions. He also cannot understand why in Li Xu's eyes, the people of the enemy country look like his father. and uncle. He was born as a right-hand guard. Although he had been in trouble, he was used to being superior to others.
Yuwen Shiji was not a person he could talk to. From him, Li Xu could only receive blows and ridicule. Although there were no family interests to contend with at the moment, Yuwen Shiji's tongue seemed normal. But after all, he was of noble birth. It is incompatible with Li Xu's growing environment.
In the past few days, the threat of death and inner guilt almost overwhelmed the young man. He spoke less and less, and his character became more and more withdrawn. Whether facing his companions or the tribal elders who came to ask for mercy, he always felt sad in his heart. With an urge to draw a sword. This feeling of violence is very scary. At least two elders of the unknown tribe paid twenty more sheep because of this young man who held a long black scimitar in his hand and could pounce at any time. And the newly recruited soldiers who joined Li Xu's command instinctively chose to obey this young man who was nearly half his age.
"Your captain is like a ferocious beast!" Someone privately exchanged his views on Li Xu with the warrior Xun.
"My captain was once called Fuli by the Turks. Do you know what Fuli is? He is the Wolf King!" Samurai Xun showed off to everyone with stories he heard from hearsay. "Back then, my captain was only fourteen years old. They rushed into the Turkic camp and hacked to death more than thirty people with their swords!"
"No wonder, no wonder he became a captain at such a young age!" the soldiers secretly admired. In addition to being grateful for their life-saving grace, they also felt a little fear in their hearts.
Li Xu couldn't hear these gossips. Ever since the day Zhang Xiu returned eastward with Li Jiancheng, he had no confidants who liked to gossip. Several soldiers were killed in the Mata Company camp, and the temporary guards were brought in He is too old and has no common language with young people.
Sometimes, Li Xu really wanted to die in battle. He imagined that he would die heroically in the enemy's army, leaving a glorious image for future generations, and at the same time, he would no longer have to worry about the countless worries in his heart. But every time he rushed into the enemy's army, , and he always wielded the sword instinctively. Although the battle tactics taught to him by the coppersmith master were scattered, after the guidance of General Qian Shixiong, they became practical. On the battlefield, after three moves, the enemy on the opposite side often The army fell short. Then, Li Xu had to concentrate on dealing with the next opponent until the entire battle was over.
After every battle, the young man will be surprised to find that between the light of the sword and the rain of blood, he has the least troubles. What he brings with his careless sword is not pleasure, but tranquility, concentration and concentration that allows him to think about nothing.
Tranquility. This feeling made him more and more eager to fight, and the murderous aura in his body became more and more intense. On the battlefield, the warriors Xun, Gao Xiang and the newly added Yuan Zhongwen especially liked to be by Li Xu's side, because the captain
Although the fierce feeling that suddenly appeared recently is painful in ordinary times, the results on the battlefield are often invincible.
Suddenly, the wolf-like young man raised his finger, and the two regiments and six hundred cavalrymen covered the horses' mouths with their hands at the same time. The enemy army appeared, slowly appearing in the distant wilderness under the afternoon sun.
The moment the silence fell, people discovered that there was a strong wind here, from northeast to southwest. At the same time, the sunshine in the west was very dazzling.
At the same time that he was discovered by the enemy, Gao Rui, who stayed behind in Xincheng, also discovered his prey. From the size of the enemy army, he even guessed that there would be an ambush nearby, so he ordered 6,000 soldiers to press forward and 2,000 soldiers to guard the flanks.
, two thousand soldiers as a rear guard. He did not put any soldiers on the side of the river. It is impossible for the Sui army to have warships ashore, otherwise they would have crossed the new city along the river, and there would be no need to spend such a big effort to lure the defenders out.
Gao Rui did not plan to set up camp and hold on, although that way he would be most likely to hold off the enemy until the 50,000-strong army following them arrived. But in that case, the credit allocated to him would be much less. This man under his command
Ten thousand people are elites, and he does not believe that ten thousand elites cannot defeat three thousand remnants.
Xue Shixiong also did not intend to defend. Although the Sui army had an advantage on the terrain. However, the army lacked bows and arrows. Once the two sides were in a stalemate for a long time, one side would not take advantage. Therefore, when the Goguryeo people just approached the mound, he beat the war drum and marched
All the infantry on the hillside except the personal guards were sent down.
Two armies wearing different uniforms slowly approached in the footsteps of death. One occupied a good location and had twenty-three brigades (centuries), and the other occupied a good location and had sixty brigades. The ground beneath their feet began
It slowly trembled, first slightly, then hugely, and then more and more intensely, as if it was an earthquake, making people feel numb.
Suddenly, the sky turned dark, the mountains collapsed, and the sound of the river disappeared completely.
Tens of thousands of feather arrows covered the sky, and countless people began to run faster. Countless people died under the arrows while running. They fell straight down without even making a sound. The partners behind them stepped on them without hesitation.
He passed his body and continued to charge forward in the face of the enemy's arrows. The river water turned red instantly, and he didn't know where the blood came from or whose body it came from.
The archers on both sides only loosened the strings twice before pulling out their sabers. At such a close distance, although the sound of the bows and arrows was loud, the actual effect may not be ideal. What can really cause large-scale damage is the sabers and steel sabers.
The bone-piercing sound has a far greater impact on the enemy's morale than the whistling sound of arrows.
Under the setting sun, a river of blood flows westward! (To be continued)
