The blade sliced through the ice and snow. Everything in sight was a vast expanse of color. The sky had just brightened. The wind and snow in front of him were surging and swirling.
Amidst the countless sounds around him, a bloody and sticky smell assaulted his senses. Someone beside him stabbed with a long spear. Behind him, his comrade shot out an arrow. The bowstring vibrated. Mao Yishan's eyes widened as he looked at the burly northeastern man in front of him who was bleeding profusely from his ribs to his chest. Thick blood spurted out from there and splashed all over his face. Some even rushed into his mouth, steaming hot.
Xia Village.
An hour had passed since the start of the battle. The soldier named Mao Yishan killed an enemy for the first time in his life.
He joined the army a few years ago. He had joined the army, received a portion of their pay, fawned over their superiors, and occasionally trained. In the past few years, the Wu Dynasty had not been peaceful, and he had occasionally been deployed, but he had never encountered an opportunity to kill anyone. When the Jurchen invaded, he was trapped in the army formation, fighting and fleeing. In the night of blood and fire, he had also seen his companions being hacked to death, and the scene of blood flowing like rivers, but he had never killed anyone.
That was nothing. He was just a person who received a salary and ate food. On the battlefield, there was a sea of people. Outside the battlefield, there was also a sea of people. No one paid attention to him. No one had any expectations for him. Whether he could kill or not, when it was time to be defeated, he would still be defeated. Even if he was killed, no one would worry about him.
Until he came to Xia Village. For some reason, everyone was defeated. They gathered together and hugged each other for warmth. He heard stories about powerful people, generals, heroes, and so on. He ate food and trained with them. He did not have much expectations at first. However, he vaguely felt that after training for so long, it would be good if he could kill two people.
Originally, he wanted to leave this place. This village was too remote. Moreover, they actually wanted to fight with the Jurchen. But in the end, he stayed, mainly because he had something to do every day. After eating, he went to train. After training, he went to shovel snow. At night, everyone would gather together and talk. Sometimes they would laugh, and sometimes they would make people want to cry. Gradually, he got to know a few people around him. If it were any other place, after such a crushing defeat, he could only look for a superior that he did not know and a few fellow villagers who spoke with similar accents. When it was time to lead the army, everyone could only hide in tents to keep warm. No one in the army would really care about him. After such a crushing defeat, he would probably not even have any training.
Comparatively speaking, he liked the atmosphere in Xia Village more. At least he knew what he had to do next. Moreover, because he was very hardworking in shoveling snow, a few high-ranking officials even talked about him one day, "This guy is willing to work and has a lot of strength." That was what his superior said. Then, several other higher-ranking officers nodded. One of the younger officers patted him on the shoulder. "Don't tire yourself out, brother."
How could he be exhausted?
Then, he heard that those powerful people went out to fight with the Jurchen. Then, there was news that they actually won. When these people came back, the most powerful scholar in the entire Xia Village went on stage to speak. He felt that he did not understand much, but it was time to kill people. His hands trembled for half the night. He was a little expectant, but he did not know if he could kill one or two enemies — it would be good if he did not get hurt. In the morning of the next day, the people of the resentful army launched an attack. He was in the middle of the front line. He had been waiting behind the wooden house. The archers were a little further behind.
The resentful army rushed up. In front of them was the wooden wall on the east side of Xia Village that was more than a hundred feet long. The sound of killing was boiling, and the smell of blood entered his nose. He did not know when the sky had brightened. His superior held a knife and said, "Let's go!" He held the knife and turned out of the wooden house. The wind and snow separated in front of him.
He and the soldiers beside him rushed to the wooden wall in front of them as fast as they could. The smell of blood was getting stronger and stronger. The figures on the wooden wall flashed. His superior took the lead and rushed up. In the wind and snow, he seemed to kill an enemy. When he was about to rush up, the soldier who was fighting on the camp wall suddenly fell down. He was shot by an arrow. Mao Yishan supported him and let him down. The people beside him had already rushed up.
That person was shot in the shoulder when he leaned out to kill. Mao Yishan was a little confused, but he immediately carried him and rushed back. When he rushed back and ran to the top of the wall, he only cut off a hook that was thrown up. He actually did not meet the enemy for a long time. Just when he was a little discouraged, someone suddenly jumped over the wall and attacked. Mao Yishan was still hiding behind the camp wall. He subconsciously waved his knife. Blood sprayed on his head and face. He was slightly stunned. Then, he knew that he had killed someone.
He was actually already familiar with the smell of blood. Only the fact that he had killed the enemy with his own hands made him slightly stunned. However, the next moment, his body still rushed forward. He waved his knife again, but this time, the knife hit the air. Two spears came out. One pierced the person's neck, and the other pierced the person's chest, pushing him out in mid-air.
The snow and fog swirled around his nose. In his vision, the figures around him intertwined. At the place where the person just jumped in, a simple ladder was set up outside. Some men from Liaodong rushed in, "Ah …". Mao Yishan only felt that the whole world was alive. His mind was full of the scene of the fiasco that day. His companions in the barracks were killed on the ground. There was blood all over the ground. Some people's guts flowed out of their stomachs. There were even some who were not dead. A man in his thirties or forties cried, "Help, spare me …" He did not dare to stop. He could only run desperately, peeing in his pants …
He suddenly rushed up and slashed at the Liaodong soldier's head from top left to bottom right. With a bang, the soldier blocked the slash with his knife. Mao Yishan was still shouting, "Ah …" when the second slash came from top right. With another bang, he felt that the hand between his thumb and forefinger was numb. The soldier fell down without a sound. Mao Yishan shrank behind the barracks wall. He knew that this slash had split the soldier's skull open.
"Hahaha … Hahaha …" He squatted there and let out a low whistle. Then he grabbed a sharp hard stone behind the parapet wall, turned around and swung it. The soldier who ran up the ladder bent his body and dodged it. The stone hit the thigh of a runner on the snowy ground behind him. The man's body jolted, and then he picked up his bow and arrow and shot towards Mao Yishan. Mao Yishan quickly retreated, and the arrow flew across the sky. He had just recovered from the shock. He grabbed another stone and was about to throw it again. The soldier on the stairs had already run up a few steps and was about to rush over when he was hit in the neck by an arrow.
The archer ran past Mao Yishan and said, "Well done!"
Mao Yishan replied loudly, "Kill, kill well!"
Someone on the battlefield echoed, "Leave them all here …"
A few feet away from the wooden wall, a fierce battle was going on. A few vanguard soldiers of the resentful army had already rushed in, but they were immediately cut off from the rear by the surging Wu dynasty soldiers. The few of them screamed and fought crazily. One of the men's hands was chopped off, and blood splattered everywhere. The man who had surrounded them was also crazed. Covered in blood, he fought with the resentful soldiers who wanted to rush back and tear open the defense line. He shouted, "Since you've come, don't even think about going back! Your father loves you … "
Outside the wooden wall, the resentful soldiers surged forward.
No matter what kind of siege battle it was, as long as there was no room for tricks, the general strategy was to use intense attacks to break the limits of the opponent's defense. The resentful soldiers' battle awareness and willpower weren't weak. At this point in the battle, the sky was already completely bright. Zhang Linghui and Liu Shunren had also basically seen the strengths and weaknesses of the barracks wall and started to attack. The barracks wall wasn't considered high, so it was common for the enemy soldiers to risk their lives and climb up to charge in. However, Xia Village didn't place all their hopes on this barracks wall that was one story tall. Behind the barracks wall, the defense line was shockingly thick. A few teams with strong combat abilities would purposely lower their defense in order to kill people, waiting for the enemy to enter before sealing the hole and eating them.
Mao Yishan hid behind the barracks wall and waited for a resentful soldier to rush up. He stood up and slashed at the other party's thigh. The person's body had already started to fall into the wooden wall. He waved his hand and slashed. Mao Yishan shrunk his head. Then, there was a buzz as the blade flashed past his head. The image of the enemy with his head chopped off flashed through his mind. He thought to himself that his head had also been chopped off. The resentful soldier's two legs had already been chopped off by two-thirds. He screamed miserably as he rolled on the barracks wall and slashed wildly with his blade.
Mao Yishan only felt that his head was covered in blood. He touched it and realized that his scalp had been cut by the other party's steel blade. Just as he was about to rush over, the resentful soldier's desperate slash caused him to retreat. Then, he grabbed a wooden stick and hit the person's head and body a few times. When the other party stopped moving, the surroundings were already covered in blood. One of his companions rushed over and fought with a resentful soldier behind him. Then, his body fell at his feet and his chest was bloody. Mao Yishan turned around and fought with the resentful soldier again. His wooden stick had the upper hand and the other party's steel blade was stuck. However, the resentful soldier was tall and sturdy. He fiercely kicked Mao Yishan's heart and sent him flying. Mao Yishan couldn't breathe. His hands desperately grabbed at the side, but the resentful soldier had already brandished his blade and rushed over.
On the inside of the camp wall, there was also someone rushing over at high speed. He kicked off the wall and leaped high into the air. That figure slashed at the waist of the resentful soldier. Mao Yishan saw blood and internal organs flowing out.
The man who saved him climbed up the platform inside the barracks wall and fought with the resentful soldiers who rushed over one after another. At this moment, Mao Yishan felt his hands and body were covered in blood. He grabbed the blade on the ground — it belonged to the resentful soldier who had his legs chopped off and then beaten to death. He climbed up and was about to speak when the companion who stopped the Female Zhenren from coming up was also shot in the shoulder. Then, another arrow. Mao Yishan shouted and went over to take his place.
At this moment, he only felt that this was the first time in his life that he had come into contact with a battlefield. This was the first time he wanted to win and kill the enemy so much.
In front, the resentful soldiers swarmed over. Behind, there were also generals who had sensed this weakness and rushed over with their troops. He sensed his companions swarming over from the side, and sensed the fierce enemies charging at him from the front. He abruptly dodged an arrow. That dodging action was almost subconscious, but he actually managed to avoid the direction of the arrow. While dodging, he did not completely shrink back into the parapet. Instead, he paid attention to the movements in front of him.
It doesn't matter if you die, I'll drag you all down …
At this moment, Mao Yishan felt the air move.
Twenty feet to his side, inside a barracks wall that was even higher than this one, fire and air suddenly sprayed out. The barracks wall shook. Mao Yishan even saw the snowflakes scatter and solidify in the air for a moment. In this sky full of snow, there was a clear trace sweeping into the distance. After that, the sound of explosions rang out from the snowy ground in the distance. That was where the resentful soldiers were charging. At this moment, dozens of traces formed in the snowflakes. They almost connected into one, and the wanton explosions drowned the crowd.
Boom boom boom boom boom —
Snowflakes, air waves, shields, human bodies, black smoke, white water vapor, red blood, at this moment, all rose into the barrier created by the explosions. Everyone on the battlefield froze.
Then, an ancient and resonant bugle horn sounded.
The side door of the camp opened just like that.
Armored cavalry wearing black armor and cloaks appeared in the vision of the resentful soldiers. Behind Mao Yishan and the others, shield guards and archers swarmed over.
The killing only paused for a moment, and then continued.
Not long after, a second round of explosions sounded.
The roar of the elm cannons and the heat waves roasted the entire battlefield …
*****
When the explosion suddenly sounded, Zhang Linghui and Liu Shunren felt a little dazed.
From the moment they decided to attack this camp, they were prepared to experience a hard battle. The other side had more than four thousand elite soldiers as the skeleton to support a camp of twenty thousand people. If they wanted to defend to the death, they had the strength. However, if these fifteen thousand weak soldiers could not support the wall, once the number of dead increased, they would turn back and affect the morale of the four thousand elite soldiers.
It was not impossible to break through, but they would have to pay a price.
This was nothing. Even though they had played a dishonorable role in the battle of Chaobai River, they had, after all, worked hard among the starving people of Liaodong. They were unwilling to fight the Female Zhenrens, but this did not mean that they were like the officials of the Wu dynasty, thinking that they could do anything without paying a price. If they were truly driven into a corner, they all had the resolve and strength to do so.
The Victorious Army had already betrayed twice, and it was impossible for them to betray a third time. Under these circumstances, the only way out was to use their strength to obtain merit in front of Zong Wang and obtain a place in the future Female Zhenren court. With this thought in mind, there was nothing else to say.
They launched their attack in the most orthodox manner.
This initial attack was usually used to test the strength of the opponent. First, they would make a feint attack, and then they would pile up their numbers. For a brilliant general, they would be able to quickly test how strong the opponent's tenacity was. Thus, in the first hour, they were still somewhat restrained. Next, they began to launch targeted, high-intensity attacks.
The outer walls of the entire Xia Village valley surrounded them from the shore of the Yellow River. Although it had taken two months to build, it was already quite difficult to build a defense that was more than three meters high. Naturally, there were heights and heights on the outside of the wooden walls, and most places had wooden spikes that extended outwards to block the attacks of outsiders. But naturally, there were also strong and weak places. There were places that were easy to attack and places that were hard to attack.
Two hours after the attack began, Zhang Linghui and Liu Shunren had more or less grasped the situation of the defense. They launched their most powerful attack on a section of the wooden wall on the east. At this time, more than eight hundred people had gathered under this section of the wall. There were Fierce Warriors at the vanguard, and there were archers mixed in to suppress the soldiers on the wooden wall. Behind them, there were still people charging forward with their shields raised.
If there were no changes, Zhang and Liu would directly attack here for a day and simply break through this section of the city's defense. Based on their understanding of the Wu dynasty's army, this wasn't considered an overboard idea. On the other hand, the other side's defense was also firm. Unlike the other cities of the Wu Dynasty that had been breached, which had been fought with lives for lives or in a tragic and tragic manner, what was displayed before their eyes this time was indeed a battle between two armies of equal strength.
Zhang Linghui and Liu Shunren knew that the other side had already thrown their elites into the battle. They only hoped to be able to test the other side's strength and quickly force them to their limits. And when the battle had reached this stage, Liu Shunren was also considering launching a large-scale attack on another section of the camp's defense. Then, an unforeseen event occurred.
"Firearms …"
"Wu dynasty firearms?"
Moments after realizing this concept, before they had time to develop any more doubts, they heard the sound of a bugle horn coming from the wind and snow. The air trembled, and an ominous feeling was rising. The feeling that they were not fighting against the Wu dynasty, which had been accumulating since the beginning of the battle, was becoming clear and intense.
"Summon the cavalry to provide support …"
"No! Everyone retreat! Quickly retreat … "
The moment they saw the black-armored cavalry, the two generals issued different orders almost at the same time …
*****
Ever since the Jurchens had come south, the Wu dynasty's army had been routed by the Jurchens. Fleeing had become the norm. In the countless battles that had followed, there had been almost no exceptions. Even in front of the ever-victorious army, there were very few who could contend or resist. In this atmosphere, two hours after the battle of Xia Village erupted, the elm cannons began to strike like a line. Then, following the suggestion of a young general called Yue Pengju, the heavy cavalry attacked.
In the process of building the Xia Village's defenses, the woodland a distance away from the outer wall had already been flattened. Basically, a stone's throw away had been cleared. Within this area, half of the land had been left with wooden stakes. The other half, which wasn't considered spacious, was truly suitable for warhorses to gallop.
The elm cannons fired from different directions towards the direction of the resentful army, creating a landing point that was about ten feet wide and more than ten feet long. Due to the limited power of the cannons, of course, not all of the people within died. In reality, there were less than fifty or sixty people in total. However, when the sound of the cannons stopped, blood, flesh, black ash, white steam, and all sorts of other colors mixed together. The injured soldiers had broken limbs, their bodies were badly mutilated, and they screamed crazily … When these things reflected in everyone's eyes, the vanguards in this area almost couldn't help but stop in their tracks.
From the side, more than a hundred heavy cavalry charged down. In the slightly low-lying area, near the eight hundred resentful elites, shields rose up like a forest on the wooden wall.
Some middle-level generals of the resentful army began to charge forward to block the heavy cavalry. However, the sound of explosions rang out again. When the order to retreat came from the main camp, everything was a bit too late. The heavy cavalry was blocking their way.
Some of the people at the back were still trying to escape. A few of them managed to escape, but the heavy cavalry had already blocked their way like a barrier. They lined up in two rows, brandished their blades, and began to push towards the walls of the camp like a meat grinder.
The massacre had begun.
The cavalry of the resentful army didn't dare to come over. In such an explosion, a few horses would be frightened if they got close. Long-distance arrows were meaningless against the heavy cavalry. Instead, they would kill their own people.
At this moment, facing the sudden attack of Xia Village, the eight hundred resentful soldiers outside the east side of the camp wall seemed to be surrounded in a barbican. Among them were many soldiers and middle and lower level generals who were good at fighting. When the heavy cavalry came over, General Pu Hai was the highest ranking officer here. He tried to form a spear formation to resist, but it was useless. On the back of the camp wall, the archers looked down from above and shot down the people below with a rain of arrows. Not long after, he died from an arrow in his back.
More people chose their own way to deal with all of this at a loss. A portion of people still tried to attack upwards. However, with the strengthened defense above, it was still a dream to break through the shield wall and the spears behind them in a short period of time.
The people who tried to escape to the sides were shot by more archers. A portion of the resentful soldiers tried to surrender, but they were then crushed by the heavy cavalry.
This sudden scene shocked everyone. The resentful soldiers in other directions ran away after receiving the order to retreat. In fact, even in a high-intensity battle, there were not many soldiers who were killed by arrows in such a charge. Most of them rushed to the wooden wall. If they didn't rush up to the wall to fight with the enemy, they would still be alive. However, during this period of time, the surroundings had become quiet. Only in this depression, the boiling lasted for a long time.
For the soldiers, this was the most tragic result. They couldn't go up, couldn't go down, couldn't escape, and couldn't surrender.
The resentful soldiers were all slaughtered.
In the distance, Zhang Linghui and Liu Shunren watched all of this. They could only watch. Even if they invested 10,000 people, they wouldn't be able to stop this heavy cavalry. The enemy would charge and kill, and they would only suffer more casualties. The entire Ever-Victorious Army was watching all of this. When the last scream disappeared in the wind and snow, on the depression, on the snowy slope, the dismembered corpses stretched out and blood flowed like a river. Then the heavy cavalry dismounted and lowered the shields on the wall. A long row of archers were still aiming at the corpses below to prevent anyone from feigning death.
"Motherf * cker, f * cking their ancestors!" Zhang Linghui clenched his fists, blue veins popping out. Watching all of this, his fists were already trembling. "Who are these people …"
Before this, they had already dealt with the Wu dynasty many times. They were well aware of the ugliness of the officials and the corruption of the army. It was also because of this that they abandoned the Wu dynasty and surrendered to the Jurchens. They had never seen anyone in the Wu dynasty who could do such a thing …
"Cut off their heads and throw them back!" On the wooden wall, Yue Fei, who was in charge of this attack, gave the order with a murderous look. "Next, let them step on the heads to attack!"
He had never shown mercy to his enemies.
The heavy cavalry chopped off the heads and threw them in the direction of the resentful soldiers. The heads flew through the air and fell on the snowy ground.
On the foothills in the distance, some people watched all of this. They watched the members of the resentful soldiers being slaughtered like pigs and dogs. They watched the heads being thrown out one by one. They trembled all over.
… It was actually so simple.
"Let's eat!" On a watchtower in the valley, Ning Yi clapped his hands and said.
This was the beginning of the battle of Xia Village.
Not long after, the whole valley was seething with excitement because of this first victory …
Zhang and Liu temporarily withdrew their troops and used their fastest speed to make simple siege weapons that could be used to attack the camp. On the other hand, scouts passed through the snowy field and reported the result of the battle to Medicine Master Guo …
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