The sun didn't appear for a long time, and it wasn't until around midnight that the heavy fog finally dispersed. The narrow roads in the mountains and the military flags on the city walls were finally fully revealed.
The mist between heaven and earth disappeared, replaced by a thick smell of blood.
"Reporting to your grandson, the enemy troops in the south of the city have been repulsed!"
On the tower in the west of the city, the young man wearing armor and carrying a sword nodded: "Don't chase poor bandits——"
After verification, the siege in the south made so much noise, but in fact only 10,000 troops were dispatched. In reality, the thunder was loud and the rain was light, and throwing away the damaged troops and horses, the remaining wounded soldiers of the opponent were
There was no point in escaping back to the camp.
What's more, there is no camp to return to.
The most important thing at the moment is the enemy forces in the west.
Reinforcements from each battalion have arrived one after another, and the more than 50,000 enemy troops who had previously had the upper hand were gradually showing signs of fatigue.
In order to cover up people's ears and eyes, they rushed all night through the thick fog, and fought bloody battles until now, not only the people, but also the horses were almost overwhelmed.
Amidst the sounds of fighting, the blood covered the sky and the sun, and the sky gradually darkened.
"Shisun, General Xiao is back!"
Long lamps had already been hung up at each corner of the tower, and pine oil torches were lit. Sometimes the night wind blew up, stirring up the flames, which flickered and flashed brightly and darkly in all directions.
General Xiao was helped up to the tower by a soldier.
"General Xiao is injured?" Wu Chao stepped forward and held his other arm.
"It doesn't matter, it's just a hole in the back!" General Xiao didn't care.
At first, he led his troops forward. The enemy was outnumbered and we were outnumbered. He had to rush ahead because of his strong morale. When the two armies were fighting, he had just cut off a man's head. Before he could dodge, he was assassinated behind him.
With the armor on his body, the wound wasn't too deep, so he didn't bother to care about it. He just kept fighting with the injury for most of the day. It wasn't until reinforcements arrived and saw the situation turned around that he thought, "Hey, this thing still hurts."
", touched back with his backhand, and then reacted, "Oh, I was slashed before."
Seeing that his blood-spattered face turned pale, Wu Chao immediately said: "First help General Xiao back to the camp to treat his injuries."
Why would you bring someone to climb the tower at this time?
"My subordinates are here to report the news from the same generation!" Xiao Shoujiang smiled, not caring about the injury at all. Seeing that the people on the left and right were about to push him down, he hurriedly said: "Ma Duanlian, that grandson can't hold on."
We must be withdrawing our troops. According to Shisun's arrangement, we have ordered people to guard the exit of Xishan. This time we must make sure that they never come back!"
The battle was responded to in a timely manner and the situation was turned around. Now it was time to close the door and beat the dog again. It was a real pleasure!
The most important thing is that this is the first battle!
If the first battle is successful, the morale of the imperial court will be severely damaged!
Thinking of these, General Xiao was inevitably excited.
In comparison, Wu Chao's nodding was a bit perfunctory, and he waved his hands to several people, indicating that they should be taken back quickly.
Before he could finish speaking, General Xiao was forcibly taken off the tower.
Wu Chao looked at the undulating mountains in the distance.
This battle is indeed very important. It is to establish prestige and pave the way for the future.
Therefore, these soldiers and horses must be left behind.
There was a slight discrepancy with General Xiao's expectation. Ma Duanlian did not retreat yet, and continued to lead the troops to fight until late at night. Under exhaustion, seeing that there was no chance of winning, and it was really difficult to hold on, he had to order the entire army to withdraw to the rear.
.
Behind it is a mountain.
Even though we know that this retreat will most likely face new difficulties, we can only retreat to the mountains at the moment.
"General, you can't get out... Every exit is guarded by the Wu Family Army!"
In the mountains, several soldiers who went to explore the road turned back and brought back news that alarmed everyone.
After marching all night and fighting hard until now, even those who were not injured were exhausted.
And after a long period of fighting, all you can see are bloody and mutilated limbs. For most people, this is a severe visual and physical damage.
After numbness, if you stop for a moment, you will feel endless emptiness and fear.
Suddenly, they heard that the exit had been sealed, and many people were on the verge of emotional collapse.
"There are interceptors in front, and there are pursuers coming from behind! They obviously want to take advantage of the victory to pursue us and kill us all!"
"When we sent out troops... didn't the general say that there was an 80% chance of victory?"
Why did these Wu Jiajun move so fast?
Not only were they not diverted by the offensive in the south of the city, they actually mobilized all the troops from all the battalions here in such a short period of time!
Their original plans and tactics were gradually broken and disintegrated by the other party...
Lieutenant General Ma Duanlian held a knife at his side, his hair was messy under his helmet, his eyes were almost red, and he said in a hoarse voice: "Everything is planned by man, and accomplished by God."
When he saw the opponent's reinforcements arriving in time, he already knew that the plan had been seen through.
Ningyang City is heavily defended. This attack from the west is the easiest way to win imaginable!
If we can capture Ningyang City right now, we will surely shock King Yan and the Xu family!
And if this battle is defeated, the court's face and prestige will be lost...
Everything will work out...
When the soldiers on the side heard these four words, they felt less and less hopeful.
If everything depends on God, then in their current situation, would God no longer be willing to favor Daqing?
The atmosphere was sad and anxious. An entire hour passed and the sky gradually brightened, but there was no movement at the entrance and exit of the mountain.
The hairy moon above the head has lost its outline, and the quiet mountains are noisy with people.
"General, the Wu family's army has not come after them..."
Ma Duanlian's eyes were uncertain.
"They will not enter the mountain..." He looked in the direction of the forest exit in front of him and asserted: "The terrain in the mountain is complex and the odds of victory are unpredictable... They want to trap us in this forest without spending a single soldier.
among.”
He chose to attack from the west because there are mountains in the west, where the troops are the weakest and most likely to be ignored——
But now, this mountain has become a roadblock, a huge cage, trapping them in it...
True success lies on this mountain, failure falls on this mountain.
"No wonder...no wonder they only guard the entrances and exits!"
"General, what should we do now? Is it possible to just sit back and wait for death?"
"Let's just fight out! It's better than waiting to die in this mountain!"
"That's right, get out!"
The echoes were deafening, but more soldiers chose to remain silent, waiting for the general's decision.
"Don't act rashly. Let's rest here for a day and recover our strength before discussing countermeasures." Ma Duanlian looked around at the tired faces and explained: "Make a fire, put the wounded soldiers in one place, and use the horses."
He carried the wound medicine on his back to treat the wounds, and sent another person to find the water source, and got the water and provided it to the wounded soldiers first."
As for food, considering the speed of the march, each person only brought two pieces of naan bread. At the moment, they can only deal with one or two of them for the time being, and after a short rest, they can send people to look for some wild fruits and prey in the mountains.
Everyone obeyed orders and divided their work accordingly.
Soon, the fire was burning, and the firelight dispersed the last ray of darkness in the mountain. The morning sun slowly rose, and its warmth spread across the sky and earth, making people feel at ease.
Many soldiers lay down where they were and fell asleep. Ma Duanlian sat by the fire and looked at a young soldier leaning against a boulder not far away. The soldier was still holding half a piece of uneaten naan in his hand.
But he had already fallen asleep first.
In my ears I could hear the groans of the wounded soldiers who were enduring hardship.
"How many people are left?" Ma Duanlian asked the subordinate beside him in a hoarse voice.
"Going back to the general, we have just counted and there are still more than 36,000 people left, of which nearly a thousand are seriously injured and twice as many are lightly injured..."
Ma Duanlian clenched the handle of the knife in his hand upon hearing this.
In other words...more than 10,000 troops were lost on this day alone!
"During the battle, my subordinates observed that the arm crossbows and bed crossbows they used were extremely powerful and had never been seen before... and there were soldiers holding fire blunderbuss! A large number of privately made weapons and firearms... The Wu family rebelled.
It’s really been a long time!”
Ma Duanlian's heart felt heavy after hearing this.
He saw it too.
Especially those firecrackers...
Fire blunderbuss have been around since the former dynasty, and they are not a rare thing. They are extremely labor-intensive, not only time-consuming and costly, but also very labor-intensive if they are not operated properly. If you fail to injure the enemy, you will easily injure yourself, so they have never been used.
Used on a large scale.
The one used by the Wu family yesterday was clearly modified by skilled craftsmen...
"...You're so damn rich!" After hearing this, someone on the side said "poof".
Rebellion is really a rebellion between the poor and the poor, and a rebellion against the rich!
That night, at half past midnight, Ma Duanlian ordered people to find a relatively open place, and ten consecutive clusters of screaming fireworks exploded in the night sky.
"Shisun, they set off messenger fireworks in the mountains, probably to show to Hu Kun and the others."
In the western camp, some soldiers entered the tent and reported the way.
Wu Chao, who was sitting behind the case, said "hmm" and without stopping to write the letter in his hand, said: "No need to pay attention to it."
Ma Duanlian was asking Hu Kun for reinforcements.
Not to mention that Hu Kun could no longer see it. Even if he could still see it, he might not dare to come after such a defeat.
The soldier responded "Yes" and said nothing more for a while. When Wu Chao saw this, he put down his pen and then said: "General Xiao just sent someone to ask the grandson if he has any plans for tonight."
Wu Chao felt a little funny.
It's such an hour, and General Xiao hasn't fallen asleep yet?
And someone came and asked the same question last night.
"Nothing planned, just wait patiently."
Late at night the next day, Ma Duanlian deployed in the mountains and sent an elite team to find weak points in the defense and break out, but failed.
Another day, some soldiers in the mountains cooked and fed their horses without authorization, and more than ten of them were punished with military law.
On the sixth day, a rain suddenly fell. The rain became heavier and heavier, and the mountain wind howled like a funeral wail.
Most of the more than 30,000 soldiers had no way to hide.
After this rain, nearly two thousand people fell ill again.
At the end of the day, coupled with the shortage of food in the mountains, and being on tight alert all day long, a cold chill invaded the body, making it almost difficult to withstand it.
When marching for a surprise attack, it is common to carry some medicine for injuries on horseback, but it is impossible to prepare medicine for treating wind and cold.
And just ordinary medicine for injuries, without a military doctor around to treat it, has little effect——
Wounds from swords and arrows, injuries from firearms, wind and cold, high fever...
Every day, new bodies were buried in the mountains on the order of Ma Duanlian.
"Why haven't the reinforcements arrived yet? If this continues, none of us will be able to leave here alive!"
"Since the plan that day was discovered, General Hu will probably suffer heavy losses..."
"What about the imperial court? Signals for reinforcements have been sent out every day for nine days. The surrounding counties, counties and state capitals must have known about it...could it be that even the government and the imperial court don't care about our life or death?"
"..."
There was sudden silence everywhere, and almost no one could see any hope.
Government, court...
Can they still wait for reinforcements sent by the imperial court?
Or is it that the imperial court has given up on them?
One soldier fell to the ground, looking like a lost soul.
Everything they did was to obey military orders and fight for the court and His Majesty. But now that they have lost the battle, are they no longer qualified to live?
An atmosphere of despair almost enveloped the entire mountain forest.
In late autumn, the fields are covered with frost, and wild fruits and grass are hard to find. Even the occasional hunt for birds and animals is difficult to sustain.
In the past few days, they have tried to break out again, and they have tried sneak attacks and force attacks, but it seems that there are copper and iron walls erected outside, and no matter how hard they try, they can't shake it.
If this continues, they will either die of illness or starve to death.
"General, three hundred and fourteen more bodies were buried today..."
Outside a low cave, Ma Duanlian listened to his subordinate's report and nodded almost imperceptibly.
Today is already the eleventh day.
He had tried every trick he could think of.
On the contrary, at this stage, he felt that Wu Jiajun was too kind.
If the Wu army wanted to take action, they would have to go into the mountains and kill them.
He had no sleep last night and had thought about what he would do if he were Wu Jiajun.
This situation is not even unfamiliar to him now. Just a few months ago, before he was transferred to Ningyang by the imperial edict, he suppressed the rebels in Dun County. At that time, the rebels were also forced into the mountains by him.
Thinking that these rebels were familiar with the terrain in the mountains, were good at laying traps, and were very good at guerrilla warfare, to increase their chances of winning, he had people poison the water upstream in advance. When they entered the mountains a few days later, he easily captured nearly a thousand people with almost no effort.
kill.
Now, at least they can have a sip of clean water.
Thinking of these, Ma Duanlian felt hard to distinguish in his heart.
"General... what are we going to do next?" The subordinate looked at Lieutenant General Ma, whose temples had turned gray in just a short period of time, with faint hope in his eyes.
Ma Duanlian, who looked much older to the naked eye, moved his pale and chapped lips, but could not speak for a while.
Reinforcements have yet to arrive...
In late autumn, there is scarcity in the mountains. Not only people, but also horses cannot eat...
In comparison, the Wu family's army had many brave soldiers and horses, and it had Ningyang behind them, which meant a steady stream of supplies.
What else could he do?
"General!"
At this time, a soldier rushed over, bowed on one knee, and held a letter in his hand: "The Wu family's army has just sent people into the mountain to deliver this letter, saying that it needs to be handed over to the general for opening!"
Wu Jiajun?!
Recently, the mountains seem to have been separated from the outside world, becoming a world locked and locked alone. No news has come in, which often makes them feel like "no one will care about them until they die."
When I heard that the Wu family had sent a letter, it was like a huge stone being thrown into the water, and finally there was movement in this stagnant water.
But why would the Wu family send someone to deliver a letter?!
At this point, victory or defeat is almost determined, why should the other side make any more moves?
Ma Duanlian quickly opened the letter paper.
On the letter paper, the few lines of handwriting are clear and powerful...
In an instant, Ma Duanlian's eyes were almost locked on the particularly eye-catching four characters——
