In the quiet courtyard in the middle of the lake, the autographed letter from the Emperor of the Northern Wei Dynasty had fallen into the charcoal brazier in front of Xiao Yan. Most of the letter had been turned into ashes, and some edges were slowly burning in the charcoal brazier.
Shortly after the conversation with the old monk, Xiao Yan's requirements for daily life became simpler. He only ate one meal a day, and later he only ate one meal every few days.
Even the charcoal brazier in front of him was placed here in advance by the person who delivered the meal today on the pretext that it would freeze the old official. On weekdays, there is not even a charcoal brazier here.
Few people now can understand why he did this, but Xiao Yan himself understands that after all he needs is to stay alive, the content of his thoughts will be very different from before.
He also began to understand the meaning of such ascetic practices by some real ascetics who did not practice for the purpose of deliberately torturing themselves.
For him at this time, many things in the past can be ignored, while some things should be cherished more.
As for the letter from the Emperor of the Northern Wei Dynasty, some of its contents were quickly forgotten after he read it, just like the ripples in the water that disappeared naturally after they dispersed, but some feelings lingered in his heart more clearly.
In addition to those words, what he understood better was the emotions of the Northern Wei emperor.
He felt the same way.
Because right or wrong, he lost his mother, and so did the Emperor of the Northern Wei Dynasty.
The middle of winter is not suitable for launching a large-scale war. There will be huge problems with road transportation. In addition, there will be a large number of non-combat attrition in severe cold weather. Even the wearing of many armors will have problems.
However, in the Northern Wei Dynasty, a large number of border troops crossed half of the Northern Wei Dynasty like migrating ants. Under the emperor's order, they resolutely launched a war against the Guanlong He family.
It's not so much a war as it is revenge.
The Northern Wei Dynasty was a very large dynasty, and dynastic wars required far-reaching consequences. However, many years ago, the tribes in the north took revenge without considering the price they had to pay.
When there are clear clues that prove that the Demon Sect is under the control of these descendants of Emperor You, the revenge of the Northern Wei Dynasty does not look like the revenge of a huge dynasty at all, but like the revenge of those tribes.
…
A cavalry army from the Northern Wei Dynasty appeared in the plain at the foot of Long Mountain.
Not far in front of them was Tianwuchuan, an important fortress of the Guanlong He clan.
In the impression of these border troops, Tianwuchuan was a town, but looking from a distance, they realized that this "town" was much larger than the many border towns they had previously stationed on the border.
Seeing the many flashes of cold light on the tall city wall covered with frost, the cavalry did not get too close and began to set up camp.
The two thousand or so of them are not even considered as a vanguard, they are just scouts for the vanguard. Not far behind them are 30,000 vanguards, and behind the 30,000 vanguards, there are more than 2,000 vanguards in total.
An army of one hundred thousand.
This cavalry army did not choose to make any defenses and did not make any preparations for battle at all. But just as they started to spread out their tents and before they fixed the four corners of the tents, they heard the roar of the tide and the sound of horse hooves.
The cavalry did not panic, but looked in the direction of Tianwuchuan in confusion.
Shock and confusion soon appeared in their eyes.
They saw cavalry troops rushing out of Tianwu River.
A large number of cavalry troops continuously poured out from several city gates in Tianwuchuan and continued to gallop into the frost-covered plains.
They did not expect that Guanlong He's army did not rely on the thick city wall to defend, but instead directly chose to attack.
The general of this Northern Wei cavalry army was a man in his thirties.
Among all the generals of the frontier army, he is still relatively young.
Seeing that in a short period of time, the enemy troops several times their size had poured out of Tianwuchuan, he uncharacteristically did not issue any military orders immediately.
The horses beneath them were very tired.
The other party's cavalry didn't seem to just want to purely intimidate them, so at this time he knew that all the brothers behind him also knew very well that they had two options. One was to stimulate the horses under them as much as possible to see if they could escape.
The location of the vanguard army in the rear.
The other option is to die here.
Even if it had been several months in the morning, even if he was facing the Southern Dynasty's army, this young Northern Wei cavalry general would probably choose the former.
But neither the cavalry general nor the cavalrymen behind him wanted to escape.
Like all the frontier generals who did not hesitate to support the emperor's decision, a strange emotion and anger that was originally somewhat vague suddenly rose up in their eyes.
"What happened to You Emperor's descendants?"
"We are all from the Northern Wei Dynasty. We originally regarded you as brothers, but you used the Demon Sect to massacre your brothers and sisters."
"When there are many people, we become aggressive. Do you think we will be afraid of you?"
With a deep and decisive roar, the young Northern Wei general and all the cavalry behind him got on their horses. They did not flee towards the wilderness behind, but resolutely rushed towards the cavalry army in front.
.
They know that there is no way they can win, but what they want is not victory. They just want to kill as many enemies as possible and let more enemy soldiers die when they die.
This Northern Wei cavalry army soon met the Guanlong cavalry army emerging from Tianwuchuan.
Facing a cavalry army that was already several times their size, this Northern Wei cavalry army was like a sharp arrow that stabbed in, bringing out a wave of blood, and then disappeared instantly.
Just as the Northern Wei cavalry had thought at the beginning, the Guanlong cavalry also did not expect that they would counterattack so fiercely. In fact, the number of Guanlong cavalry who fell on the ground was much greater than theirs.
After a short battle, the troops pouring out of the several city gates opened in Tianwuchuan did not stop.
Cavalry, infantry, light-armored troops, heavy-armored troops...are still pouring out like a tide, spreading across the plains.
Without any warning or any dialogue, the war between the Guanlong He family and the Northern Wei army broke out directly.
The strength of the garrison in Tianwuchuan exceeded the expectations of the Northern Wei frontier army from the beginning, with more than 80,000 troops. Behind Tianwuchuan, the troops of the Guanlong He clan were still gathering, converging to Tianwuchuan, and then from Tianwuchuan.
Well out, and then into this plain.
In just a few days, more than 400,000 troops from both sides started a frenzied massacre on the plain outside Tianwuchuan.
In continuous battles, even if all armies have a certain amount of elixir reserves, in this era of spiritual famine, in continuous battles, most of the practitioners in the army have no time to replenish their true energy. They are in the storm
In ordinary battlefields, people can be killed at any time and turned into corpses in the blood and mud.
Compared with when the war with the Southern Dynasty just started a few years ago, the number of practitioners is decreasing, and the real energy in the bodies of the practitioners participating in the battle is also sharply reduced and cannot be replenished. In the previous days of fighting
, the practitioners did not seem to play any leading role, and even the True Essence Heavy Armor, which the Northern Wei Dynasty was proud of, almost did not appear on the battlefield.
However, every general of the Northern Wei frontier army knew very well that the Guanlong He clan's army actively launched an attack on such a plain, which could only have two intentions.
The first intention is that they have officially entered the human world and become the masters of the human world. If they cannot wash away some of their bad reputations, they must at least provide real benefits to all the people in their territory.
They don't want the flames of war to burn within their own territory.
Another meaning is that they do not think this is a suicidal attack. No matter how powerful the Guanlong He family's army is, it is impossible to compete with the Northern Wei's border army and the Luoyang army. Moreover, in the north, the survivors'
The army will also launch an attack on Guanlong.
If they want to win this war, they must rely on extraordinary practitioners.
Therefore, even in the early stages of the war, it seemed that the role of practitioners was infinitely weakened, but every frontier general in the Northern Wei Dynasty knew very well that at some point, some special practitioners from the Guanlong He clan would definitely appear on the battlefield.
In a seemingly ordinary chariot, Wang Yuanying of Zhongshan was wrapped in a thick blanket, with only two eyes exposed looking at the bloody world in front of him.
For the high-ranking generals of the frontier armies of the Northern Wei Dynasty, their supreme commander on this frontal battlefield was still Wang Yuanying of Zhongshan.
Even though they suffered a disastrous defeat in the Battle of Zhongli, most of the complaints came from the people. In many subsequent military reviews, every high-ranking general of the Northern Wei frontier army knew very well that all the troops and actions of Wang Yuanying of Zhongshan before the Battle of Zhongli were well known.
The scheduling is almost flawless and perfect.
The only surprise came from the sudden appearance of Lin Yi.
But before that, no one would have thought that such a proud emperor would appear in the Southern Dynasty.
So even though Wang Yuanying of Zhongshan was forced to step down after the war, he was quickly secretly brought back up again, all just to calm the resentment among the people.
The generals of the Northern Wei army were very impressed by Yuan Ying.
Yuan Ying knew very well that he was not actually the real commander or protagonist on this battlefield.
And compared with any battles he had experienced before, he didn't have the slightest confidence in this battle.
He didn't even know what kind of opponent he would face.
But when he looked at the bloody sky and earth in front of him, at the arrows whistling in the air and the blood splashing out, his mood was as calm as ever.
All life has an end.
His thoughts at this time were similar to those of the young cavalry general at the beginning.
He could even feel the mood of the young cavalry general at that time.
If the practitioners cannot compete, then what can win this war must be their determination and bravery. (To be continued)