Chapter 206: The Decline of the Border
Daqi, the Northeast Border.
Zhao Yuanbai's journey was dusty. In addition to eating and sleeping, he rode on horseback.
In the middle of the journey, I changed horses and corpses, and finally walked around here and there in a few days, avoiding many dangerous areas, and finally arrived near the border pass.
“What a steep city gate.”
Before coming, Zhao Yuanbai's image of the city gate was probably a wall of about one or two feet, with a row of patrolling soldiers standing on it.
But now that he saw it with his own eyes, Zhao Yuanbai was truly shocked by what he saw.
The city wall is tall and thick, at least nearly seven or eight feet high, like an indestructible barrier, isolating the inside and outside.
After the baptism of time, every piece of bluestone becomes more and more vicissitudes and calm.
The Guan Tower stands tall and majestic with upturned eaves and corners.
Inside the building, the thick iron gate is tightly closed, as if guarding the last line of defense of this land.
I saw rolling hills and winding Great Wall. This is not only a geographically dangerous place, but also a battlefield where countless heroes shed their blood. Every inch of the land has been blackened with blood.
Through Zhao Yuanbai’s perspective, Xu Ke also saw the ‘Jueshan Pass’ on the northeastern border for the first time.
"Sure enough, it is the best level in the world. It has concentrated the financial and material resources of the entire Da Qi court..."
As if there is no need for money, each blue brick is carefully engraved with meticulous techniques. Magic pattern.
The materials used are also extremely precious. Each brick, which is the size of a human, is probably worth enough tax money for a family for a lifetime.
At this time, both inside and outside the city gate were covered with traces left by flames, swords, and crossbows.
Obviously, the Da Qi court launched countless attacks and defenses around this steep Jueshan Pass.
Just talking about this city gate, I don’t know how many times it changed hands and how many times it was taken back.
However, in sharp contrast to this majestic city gate, is the worried and confused expression of the city gate defender.
It was obvious that they were frightened and disturbed by the ongoing war.
Xu Ke can also clearly feel that the military spirit surrounding the mountain pass has been weakened to the extreme.
Because order has been lost, people's hearts have been corrupted, and their military morale has been lost.
Originally, they were a group of heroic warriors united by positive emotions such as honor, unity, and defense of the country.
In today's law-ending scene, the one hundred thousand border troops who originally had strict military discipline have long since become rotten on the inside.
Along the way, Zhao Yuanbai often heard about border troops robbing people's property, robbing civilian women, and even killing good people and taking credit for their merits.
When facing the enemy, the original courage and bravery gradually fade away.
Today's border troops have not experienced the kind of bloody battles in the past where the last man died.
I am afraid that if there are only a few casualties in the army, it will be completely defeated.
He who flees when he hears the wind is brave at the top; he who flees after hearing the wind is brave at the middle level; he who flees after hearing the wind by mistake is brave at the bottom.
If it weren't for the force supervising the battle to force some soldiers to fight, Jueshan Pass would have fallen long ago.
However, anyone with a discerning eye can see that this kind of forcing the soldiers to fight will never last long.
Otherwise, there is no need for the barbarians to attack, the border troops themselves can directly mutiny and switch sides in the face of battle.
Sure enough, the war drums at the border pass were beating, and the demons outside the pass came to invade the border again.
It can be learned from the passing sergeants and people that these barbarians are divided into more than a dozen large tribes and hundreds of small tribes.
Except for very special circumstances, most of the time they fight on their own and come in waves to attack.
This kind of wheel battle has also kept Jueshanguan from having a truce over the years. It has been at war every day, making it impossible for the defenders to loosen the tight strings in their minds.
It was just a small-scale battle, and Xu Ke had already discovered small-scale retreats and mutinies among soldiers at many places on the border.
Many soldiers got off the city wall after the battle, and immediately started vomiting while holding on to the wall. Some were crying and laughing, talking to themselves, and appeared to be extremely mentally disturbed.
The remaining people were also in extremely weird moods, irritable, suspicious, and jealous, and would attack the people around them with a knife at the slightest sign of trouble.
According to Xu Ke's observation, most of these soldiers have heart diseases.
Not only will you lose all morale on the battlefield, it may even become a time bomb, causing large-scale riots on your own front.
This is also the reason why the war situation at Jueshan Pass has worsened in recent years, and the city is about to be destroyed and people will die.
For this matter, Xu Ke has a solution, which can also increase his own strength. It can be said to be a win-win move.
…………
Ten days later.
Jueshan Pass General Military Mansion.
Wu Xiaoyi rubbed his swollen and painful head and heard the report of the messenger again.
“My lord, the group of monsters and barbarians have come to attack the city again. This time, there are about eight thousand people attacking the city.”
"Eight thousand..."
Wu Xiaoyi had no choice but to put down the mountains of official documents in his hands, and chose to go to the city gates in person to suppress the situation and maintain the most basic morale of the army.
In the past few days, accusations against the border troops from various local governments have been coming like snowflakes.
There are soldiers burning and looting, men being bullied and women being bullied, and there are even monsters hiding in the army with evil intentions.
Wu Xiaoyi was tired of coping. He only sat on the city wall every day to stabilize people's hearts.
The rest of the time is spent dealing with various official duties.
Although he can entrust these matters to his clerks to help handle them.
But since the natural disasters came and the order collapsed a few years ago, many officials, big and small, in the city have been quietly replaced by cunning monsters.
At first, before Wu Xiaoyi could react, he handed over many things to them and asked them to handle them on his behalf.
Who would have known that they were acting against the will and deliberately taking the opportunity to plot evil, almost causing a catastrophe.
If I hadn't discovered it in time, I'm afraid this mountain pass would have been broken a few months ago.
In addition to those who deliberately violate the law, there are many evil spirits who are more cunning.
Never 'disobey' Wu Xiaoyi's orders.
On the contrary, as long as Wu Xiaoyi puts forward an order, they will 100% exceed the execution limit and be absolutely meticulous.
For example, Wu Xiaoyi proposed to conduct an inventory of the people in the city to prevent barbarians from mixing in.
The officials replaced by evil spirits will deliberately expand their scope and not only lead teams to arrest innocent people from house to house.
He also burned the apparently innocent people alive, and stated that these were all under the orders of the Commander-in-Chief.
Anyone who complains is colluding with the barbarians of the foreign race, and is also committing the serious crime of colluding with the barbarians.
By the time Wu Xiaoyi found out, he had already become a great evil person and a great failed official who was reviled by thousands of people in the city.
Later I realized that there were evil spirits among the officials, and I was about to lead a team to detect these evil spirits.
They deliberately used their own banner to fight against dissenters, and unjustly killed many ordinary officials.
Since those troubles, Wu Xiaoyi has not dared to leave any important affairs to others.
After all, he only knows his own innocence, and no one is trustworthy except himself.
The cases handled by the clerk below must be handed over to him for confirmation before execution.
(End of this chapter)