Chapter 548: Who is Strong and Who is Weak
At the end of October in the seventh year of Yuanxing, Tiele City.
Fast horses came from Fusi, Xirong Town. The commander of the town, Hou Junji, and the deputy commander, Ge Shuhan, were already preparing five thousand troops for the four Daxia cavalry that came first. Advance.
The defeat in the battle made the middle-aged Tie Fo very angry. After joining forces with the Yizhou Army and Qingzhou Army to attack Liangzhou, the Xirong cavalry only served as a foil, following Ma Chao's Fei Qiang and Huo Qubing's troops. Yu Lin rode through the Western Regions, burning and killing.
More often, they are just used as cavalry on the left and right wings of Su Dingfang's troops.
After this time, Tie Fo clearly felt that the combat effectiveness of the Xirong Qingqi under his command was plummeting. Nowadays, there are very few disputes on the grassland. Even if there are, everyone will resolve the conflicts through the mediation of Xirong Town Fusi, unlike in the past when they easily annexed other areas. tribe.
The news of the coming reinforcements from the Zhenfu Division and the Daxia cavalry was sent to Tie Fo. He was currently sitting in a large felt tent in the military camp outside Tiele City. After reading the letter, he felt even more shameless and put the table on his desk. The shooting was banging.
The tall figure then stood up from the fur. The iron Buddha had a big beard and a majestic face and nose. Because of embarrassment, his face was slightly red and his eyes were bloodshot.
He held the letter and walked back and forth in the tent, while a series of footsteps sounded outside, and several young generals from the Lutang tribe came in excitedly. One of them was one of his many sons. Tall and tall, about sixteen years old, with the boldness of a prairie man, he came in laughing. When he saw the letter in his father's hand, he raised his hand and arched it, which made the armor leaves on the Xia country's standard armor make a slight sound. .
“Father, I heard that reinforcements are coming?”
Tie Fo looked at the smiling expression of his tall and heroic son. He sighed, feeling a little sorry that his best son could only see this.
At the moment, when they changed direction, they naturally also sent their cavalry to inform Tie Fo in Tiele City, asking him to rectify the tribe, and then followed them. At the same time, they also notified Xiliang who was coming from the south. Flying Bear Army, tell the other party where to meet.
"Qi Zhixie, the reinforcements are here, which shows that His Majesty attaches great importance to this place, but it also shows that Your Majesty is very disappointed in us, do you understand?"
As for the two cavalrymen, Ma Chao and Huo Qubing , after entering this desert, they said goodbye to Lu and Zhao. There has been no news for several days.
When the direction was changed here, the white horse marching in parallel followed. Zhao Yun quickly understood Lu Bu's intention and made the same change of march.
Tie Fo didn't explain too much and patted his son Qi Zhixie on the shoulder.
"Then let's see whose soldiers and horses are more ferocious!"
"As you grow older, eat more meat, and kill more enemies, you will understand soon."
The sky is setting in the west, east of Tiele, more than seventy miles away from the city, more than two thousand cavalry are marching straight through the desolate Gobi from east to west.
“The whole group of panicked tribesmen told them that Daxia’s reinforcements had arrived, and it was time to teach those foreign barbarians a lesson.”
The news that the reinforcements were about to arrive in Tiele spread in the Luantan Department that afternoon. The soldiers in the military camp, which had a somewhat low morale, heard the news and geared up one by one.
"Yes, father!" The young man ignored what his father had just said in a vague way. He excitedly clenched his fists and pressed his chest. After a salute, he left the camp with a few familiar big people.
Just as everything was proceeding in an orderly manner, the foreign army had now moved north to the middle of the Snow Mountains. Under the guidance and cooperation of Jukan and Ugoli's troops, they accurately found the Yelan Kingdom. Regarding the location of the city, the fierce offensive and defensive battle for the city has lasted for nearly a month.
“Why?” This talented person of the younger generation in the Luotang tribe, although he has been studying Chinese studies since he was a few years old, he doesn’t know much about politics.
The red sky in the west is setting, and the siege army is retreating from sight.
He and Lu Bu knew where Huo Qubing and Ma Chao would go.
There are also female soldiers from the Yelan Kingdom who clean the city wall, pull out the spears and arrows that penetrate the flesh and blood, collect them, count them, and store them under the wall stacks, so that they can be used at any time when defending the city wall next time.
“Those barbarians seem to be invulnerable and even more savage than us. It’s better now. Your Majesty’s reinforcements have arrived!”
The charcoal-red war horses walked through the smoke and dust. Lu Bu, who was above the gravel, glanced ahead and raised his halberd while running.
The purpose of the battle was on the way. The four of them had already planned it. When the four cavalry entered the grassland first, they were racing against time to seize the opportunity to catch the opponent by surprise.
"Instead of going to Tiele City, go directly to the northwest of Tiele and detour to Zhanmi Country." He said while riding on horseback, and the galloping cavalry followed Lu Bu in a mighty manner, turning around in the vast Gobi. Make an arc.
There was a swaying figure walking on the city wall. Together with the sisters beside him, he lifted the bodies of Ugoli soldiers who died in the battle and threw them outside the city wall.
Bainani's silver-white armor was stained with blood. She led a few strong female soldiers to patrol the city. In her eyes, soldiers from Bingfeng, Ugoli, and Jukan Kingdom spread. The flag was retreating neatly from sight toward the rear.
The remaining flames on the city walls and towers were extinguished, and the rising black smoke filled the red glow. Like a man, Bainani spit the blood on her mouth to the ground together with her saliva, She wiped her mouth and pulled out the short spear from the corpse of a Jukan soldier next to her.
“Working with wild beasts, but being held hostage by wild beasts, these idiots.”
She ordered and exhorted the soldiers around her, leaving the defense on the city wall to her deputy for the time being.
Soon, Bai Nani dragged her exhausted body and staggered down the city wall.
Along the way, dark red blood stains were flowing down the stone steps. The seriously injured woman Soldiers were being carried off and passed her, and some female soldiers who were too late to be treated died on stretchers.
The two female soldiers carrying the stretcher had to go down the stone steps, carry the body down, and put it at the foot of the wall and ignore it for the time being. After all, there were many injured sisters on the city wall who needed treatment.
The soldiers of the wounded camp came and went like a colony of ants on the steps of the inner city wall.
Bai Nani silently walked towards the body abandoned at the foot of the wall. This female soldier was only in her teens and had a good appearance. Unfortunately, her neck was cut with a sharp weapon, and all the blood drained from her body.
There are many more tragic situations like this. Although the Yelan Kingdom is powerful in the North Road of the Western Region, it does not have as much combat experience as the Xia Kingdom's army.
A month ago, Ugoli and Jukan came here together with the foreign barbarians. After the war started, many people could only fight with the rushing enemies at the top of the city with their passion. Although they are not as strong as men, the female soldiers of Yelan Kingdom are agile and strong. During the attack and defense the day before, they firmly held the city wall down. After all, there is a lack of good wood in the Western Region, making it difficult to build large-scale siege equipment like that of Xia Kingdom.
But later on, the siege became more and more fierce. After the repeated attacks by Ugoli and Jukan, it was finally the turn of the cannibalistic Western barbarians. As soon as the battle began, almost half of the city wall was destroyed. Beat it down.
If Queen Itas had not personally led a reserve camp of 2,000 people, and the men and women in the city came to the city for reinforcements, I am afraid that the Yelan Kingdom would have been gone.
Even so, the 30,000 soldiers and horses defending the city suffered nearly 3,000 casualties that day. Together with the civilians who came for reinforcements, the casualties once reached 6,000.
Under the city wall, dead and undead female soldiers and common people lay in Bai Nani's eyes, stretching along the foot of the wall. The doctors in the city were busy here whether they wanted to or not.
The smell of blood, herbs, low cries, and wailing screams all mixed in her ears at this moment.
"Commander Bainani..." Bainani, who was walking by, suddenly heard a weak voice calling her.
A female Yelan soldier who had lost her arm and was covered in blood was sitting against the city wall, her eyes half drooped, looking at the figure in front of her blankly.
The female soldier raised her neck tremblingly, and then looked up at the blood-stained Bai Nani. Her voice was very soft: "Why don't you surrender..." Bai Nani pouted, not knowing how to explain to her. He squatted down in front of him with his lips pursed, holding the other's remaining hand. His eyes were red, and he squeezed out a low voice: "We can only fight. Only by fighting can we not destroy the country. The people of Yelan country will not be destroyed." I will be enslaved like a slave!"
"I don't understand...but I believe in the Commander-in-Chief's words..." The female soldier smiled with blood on her face, "Can you hold on?"
"Yes!" Bai Nani took a deep breath and nodded with a positive tone.
The female soldier over there smiled even brighter, then solidified, leaning against the city wall, her head drooping weakly, and her voice was cut off here.
Bai Nani stood up while wiping her tears. Looking over, she saw many seriously injured female soldiers, dying silently forever at this moment.
The figures who came to collect the corpses carried away the corpses of the sisters one by one with tears in their eyes, packed up their belongings, and wrote their names on them so that they could be handed over to their families in the future.
Of the people in the city who were recruited, the majority were women, followed by men. These men were weak-tempered, more like the women of other countries.
Nearly ten thousand people demolished their houses in the city, moved the wood used to defend the city, and piled it on the city wall to prepare for the next defense.
The damaged wall stacks are also being repaired in the hands of craftsmen. The blacksmiths are banging hammers all night long, repairing weapons and shields. More people in the city are helping to make arrow shafts under the eaves of their homes.
Soon, night fell.
Thousands of lights went up in the city, but the whole city fell into silence and sadness. Many people died fighting on the city wall. Many men leaned at the door, knelt on the ground and cried. The child cowered in his father's arms, staring blankly at the night streets outside, hoping that his mother's figure could walk into the light of the lanterns under the eaves.
Bainani rode through the joint, looking at faces full of grief and numbness.
Back in the palace, Queen Itas was still sitting beautifully on the throne, constantly reading the information, and then discussing with the ministers around her, issuing various orders.
The oil lamp flickered.
After entering the main hall, Bainani walked over there, "Bainani pays homage to the respected Queen Itas."
Itas raised her eyes from behind the pile of documents and looked over there. The concubine and the commander-in-chief of the guards, who were saluting, squeezed out a smile, and then waved the ministers around them to leave.
After the ministers in the palace left, the smiles that they had just smiled gradually sank, replaced by a deep smile. of despair.
In early October, General Nama and his female generals had been guarding the city wall for twenty-six days, fighting fiercely with Ugoli, Jukan, and the Western barbarians on the city wall.
In the face of the numbers and the ferocious combat power of the barbarians, many people were killed or injured. Even General Nama was hit in the head by a stone thrown by a barbarian and died during the battle to defend the city on the 25th. .
More than 20 of the other generals were killed in the battle during this half month, and the remaining three were all injured. Itas had no choice but to let Bainani lead the palace guards to take over the defense.
Faced with a wave-like attack, almost all of which relied on human lives. Arrows seemed to have lost their effect here. The barbarians seemed not to be afraid of bows and arrows, so they charged, climbed the ladder, and then rushed to the wall. The spear array formed by the female soldiers on our side stabbed intensively, unable to pierce the opponent. The only effective thing was to push the barbarian off the city wall and fall to death.
The Yelan Qingqi, which was deployed on the outside, was not so lucky. Within half a month of the war, they were crippled by the cavalry of Ugoli and Jukan Kingdom, leaving only a few dozen of the two thousand cavalry. Ride and flee back to the city.
On October 17, there were only a few dozen Yelan cavalry left outside the city. Itas secretly sent an order to Bainani to fill the gap with the lives of the people and soldiers, and fight to the death with the opponent on the city wall. , Bainani also knew that there was no other way, she could only hope that Emperor Xia's army would arrive quickly.
On October 19th, the soldiers and horses of Ugoli and Jukan Kingdom took a day off to attack the city instead of the barbarians.
This time, the soldiers of the two countries were different from the past. They fought extremely bravely. Bai Nani had to fight in person. The 6,000 elite female soldiers she brought with her continued to join the battle groups on various sections of the city wall to fight with each other.
On October 22nd, the barbarians attacked the city again, and the city wall almost changed hands. As the queen and the highest person in the country, Itas personally came with soldiers and people to reinforce.
On October 27th, another fighting gradually subsided at the top of the city. Bai Nani suffered several wounds, and only more than a thousand of his elite soldiers were beaten.
……
The letter was silently placed on the table.
Itas took off her coat and put it on Bai Nani. There were footsteps walking outside the palace from far and near.
"If you really can't fight anymore, surrender... I will go to the barbarian barracks in the west personally."
Bainani shook her head. As a warrior, she is strong. But she was so fragile in front of her beloved. Thinking of the consequences of Itas entering the barbarian camp, tears fell down her face.
“There are still three days.” She took a deep breath, and then gritted her teeth: “Maybe reinforcements from the Xia Kingdom will come soon, and we will hold on for another three days…after three days…I Just fight to the death at the top of the city."
Itas's eyes were red, and she stepped away from her body and said in a low voice: "I should have united them before... I shouldn't have believed that the Xia army could. Come over within a month”
At this point, she was a woman after all, and she became uncontrollably excited.
“We surrender and become vassals of the Xia Kingdom, but where are their reinforcements? All the Yelan Kingdom’s troops can use are here, and they are almost dead! If we continue to fight, Yelan Kingdom will The country will be completely deserted——"
In the main hall, the guards turned their eyes away and focused on the queen who was out of control.
“I firmly believe what you thought before, Itas!”
Bainani wiped away her tears and put her hands on Itas’s shoulders, “The beating has reached this level. Try your best, I believe Xia’s army is not far from here.”
"..." Itas shed tears and fell into silence.
Bainani continued to speak, her tone still gentle, and she looked at every face around her.
“I always firmly believe that the Yelan Congress will survive this war, I always believe that the Yelan Congress will get better and better, and I firmly believe that the comrades who died in the war will not die the same.”
"The Xia Kingdom to the east... will never leave this place alone!" Bai Nani clenched her fists and grinned: "No matter what, we must defend it..."
"... Because we still want to avenge our sisters who died in the war!”
Her voice echoed through the palace.
(End of this chapter)