Snowflakes began to fall from the sky again.
Both inside and outside the valley of Xia Village, the large-scale battle was coming to an end. Flames and thick smoke were wreaking havoc where the original camp of the resentful army was. Corpses of men and horses and fresh blood flowed out of the valley. At the edge of the valley, there was a small group of resentful soldiers who were still resisting. They were either surrounded, slaughtered, or threw away their helmets and armor, kneeling on the ground to surrender. Cheers could be heard from time to time in the snowy valley and on the ridge.
There were also some people who were looting the belongings of the resentful army camp that they could not take away in time. The people who were responsible for settling the wounded walked out of the camp and gave first aid to the injured soldiers on the battlefield. The people were noisy, and the cheers of victory were the majority. The warhorses galloped between the foothills. When they stopped, the black-armored knights took off their helmets.
Smoke was everywhere. In the middle of the valley, the corpses of Long Hui and the others were put down and wrapped in flags. The soldiers who passed by saluted him.
The snowy ground outside the valley was full of messy footprints. Tens of thousands of people ran and retreated, crushing the entire snowfield. The scouts of Xia Village were also chasing from different directions. Qin Shaoqian stood on top of the snowy ridge. He held a big saber that was still stained with blood and looked at the scenery in the distance. At this moment, cheers could be heard from all around him. However, the burning sensation in his brain had not subsided. He could only accept part of what he saw. The other part could not be completely digested.
"Send out all the scouts … Stay alert, in case Medicine Master Guo comes back … and attacks us … Go quickly! Stay alert … "
The resentful army was defeated and retreated.
As an outstanding general, he already had a clear idea of the fact of today's counterattack. From the moment everyone decided to open the camp gate and the morale was boiling, he was already very confident. However, when the situation was initially settled, he recalled the tyrannical strength of the Female Immortal when she went south. He led the Wu Rui Battalion in an attempt to stop her. Over the past few months, the hundreds of thousands of people outside Bianliang City were dispirited after consecutive defeats. When they came to Xia Village, they fought with their lives on the line … Now that everything was reversed, it gave him a surreal feeling …
This had been a torture for a long time. Until last night, they did not see much possibility of breaking through or ending the situation. However, at this moment … did they suddenly get through it?
"… Where is Liheng?"
As he thought about this matter, he recalled the decisiveness of his comrade, who was like a brother to him. On the chaotic battlefield, this brother who was good at strategy could not clearly grasp the changes in every moment of the battle. Sometimes, he could not even clearly understand the advantages and disadvantages of a part of the battle. That was why he never interfered with the detailed decisions. However, on this morning, if not for his sudden decisiveness, perhaps his only chance to win would have been gone in an instant.
At that moment, Ning Yi displayed unparalleled precision in grasping and manipulating the morale of the overall situation. The oppression, bitterness, and even despair of the past few days, coupled with everyone's desire to give it their all before the heavy pressure arrived, were compressed to the extreme in that instant. When those captives made an unexpected decision, many commanders could only watch and hesitate. Even though they were moved, they could only place their hopes on the soldiers in the camp to fight bravely. However, he unexpectedly made a suggestion and threw caution to the wind.
In the following battles, Medicine Master Guo displayed his ability to operate and control the soldiers under his command. However, for the Xia Village, victory was still relatively easy. When Liu Shunren's troops were completely annihilated in front of the Xia Village, Medicine Master Guo had already begun to mobilize his direct subordinates to retreat. The cannon fodder that was dragged into the battlefield and the soldiers of the Xia Village started a chaotic battle. It was almost a one-sided massacre. However, Medicine Master Guo still led the main force of more than ten thousand survivors to retreat after this cold-blooded act of heroism.
It was difficult to guess the changes in Medicine Master Guo's mood this morning. It was also difficult to clearly explain his thoughts when he decided to retreat. It was not that the resentful army could not fight, but the reality was as cold as this winter. The Xia Village had the possibility of burning their boats and fighting to the death, but the resentful army had absolutely no possibility of betting all of them in one battle.
Qin Shaoqian was still wary of the possibility of Medicine Master Guo turning back to attack. When he looked back, on the battlefield that was filled with smoke, heavy snow was falling. After days of bitter fighting, the valley was filled with corpses and traces of the flames of war. It was a desolate sight. However, at this moment, the emotions of victory, for the first time, exploded in the crowd that covered the mountains and plains. Along with the cheers and laughter, there was also the faint sound of suppressed weeping.
Qu Qing limped across the mountain ridge. This was already the forefront of the pursuit of the Xia Village soldiers. Some of them were hugging each other and laughing. There were faint tears in their laughter. He saw Mao Yishan behind a big rock. He was covered in blood, almost paralyzed in the snow. He laughed for a while, but for some reason, he hugged his long knife and cried. After crying a few times, he wiped his tears and wanted to stand up. But when he held onto the rock, he collapsed again. He sat in the snow and laughed.
Qu Qing did not help him up. He walked over from the back. Someone bumped into him. Someone walked over, hugged his shoulder and said something. He also laughed and punched the person's chest. Then, he walked into the nearby forest.
In this forest, the white snow and dark red blood were still spreading. Occasionally, there were corpses. He walked to a place where there was no one. The fatigue in his heart surged up and he slowly knelt on the ground. After a while, tears flowed out. He opened his mouth and let out a low cry. This continued for a while. Finally, he punched the snow and his head hit the tree trunk in front of him. He punched the tree trunk again. His head hit a few times and blood flowed out. He used his teeth to bite the tree, smashed it with his hands, and peeled it. Finally, his head, hands, and mouth were all dripping with blood. He hugged the tree and cried with red eyes.
The man's cry was not pleasant to hear. It was distorted like a madman.
He used to be a general in the Wuwei Battalion. There were two to three hundred troops under him. On the night of the sneak attack on Mou Tuo Gang, the entire army was almost annihilated. He muddleheadedly left the battalion and struggled to survive. Unintentionally, he came to the Xia Village. People talked about the ferocious and undefeatable myths of the Jurchen Dynasty to absolve themselves. They made people feel that failure was understandable. He originally believed in this. However, these days, he finally saw something different.
There was nothing that could not be won. However, his brothers were all dead in the end …
He hugged the tree trunk. His distorted and suppressed cry continued intermittently for a long time …
At this moment, other than Qu Qing, many people were laughing and crying.
In the wounded barracks above the valley, someone closed his eyes and listened to the sounds outside. He murmured, "We won?" The skinny woman who was in charge of taking care of him nodded. She suppressed her emotions and answered, "Yes." The wounded soldier said in a low voice, "Ah, we won …" He finally stopped breathing. The cushion under him was already covered in blood.
At the side, people were still treating the wounded or collecting the corpses. The cheers from below sounded like a dream.
At this moment, the entire mountain was immersed in an atmosphere that was like drinking to one's heart's content, yet carried a hint of madness. Ning Yi quickly walked up the hill and saw a woman lying on a stretcher. It was Juan 'er. She was covered in blood and her head was wrapped in bandages. One of her eyes was also swollen.
When the battle at the foot of the mountain became chaotic, some of the soldiers who were killed and divided broke through the unguarded barracks wall and rushed into the camp. At this time, Medicine Master Guo had already led the soldiers to retreat. They started to fight desperately. The injured and disabled soldiers at the back were the ones who still had the strength to fight. Juan 'er was among them. She was chased and rolled down the hill. She hit her head and was injured in several places.
"Is her life in danger?"
Ning Yi first grabbed the doctor who treated Juan 'er. Beside him, Hongti also went over to examine her.
"Miss Juan 'er's body is fine. Although this time …" The doctor shook his head and said a few words. Seeing Ning Yi's expression, he hurriedly said, "Her life is not in danger."
"Will it affect her body in the future?"
"Miss Juan 'er's hand bone. If there is wet and cold weather in the future, I'm afraid it will hurt … In addition …"
The doctor said a few words. On the other side, Juan 'er had already opened her eyes. One of her eyes was swollen, so she could only see with the other eye. Her body was injured and bleeding, and she looked quite miserable. "Miss Lu … son-in-law, son-in-law … I'm fine. Son-In-Law, are you hurt?"
Ning Yi walked over and held one of her hands. He reached out and touched her cheek, not knowing what to say. Juan 'er struggled to smile. "Did we win?"
"We won." Ning Yi said, "Don't worry about this. Take care of yourself. I heard that you were injured and I was very worried about you … Well, it's good that you're fine. Take care of yourself first. I'll come to see you after I'm done."
"Okay." Juan 'er nodded. Ning Yi waved his hand and asked people to carry her away. She was still holding Ning Yi's finger in one hand, but after a while, she finally let go. Ning Yi turned around and asked Yuwen Feidu next to him, "How many people were captured after entering the camp?" Without waiting for him to answer, Ning Yi said, "Send people to kill them all."
Yuwen Feidu nodded at first, then hesitated. "Boss, I heard from them that … it's not good to kill prisoners …"
"Heh." Ning Yi rubbed his forehead. After a while, he patted Yuwen Feidu on the shoulder. "It doesn't matter. I'm not in the mood to think about the big picture now. Those who came in should all die. Go. "
"Yes."
After Yuwen Feidu received the order and left, Ning Yi stood there for a while before he let out a long sigh of relief. He looked back and saw that the drifting snowflakes were not dense, but they had already begun to envelop the whole world. For the first time, the atmosphere between the distant mountains and the nearby mountains became warm and peaceful. Whether it was cheers or cries, the tragic and torturous feeling that almost made people collapse finally began to temporarily dissipate.
Looking back, the fierce and torturous fighting in the past ten days did indeed make people feel as if it was a lifetime ago. The possibility of forcing the resentful army to retreat seemed so far-fetched. Red Ti came from behind and held his hand. "Miss Juan 'er is fine."
"Collect the bodies of General Long and the other brothers first." Ning Yi said this sentence, but it was said to the attendants beside him, "Inform all the generals, do not let down your guard. We'll hold a memorial service for General Long in the afternoon and have a feast in the evening. But the wine … Everyone still has one cup. He sent someone to pass the news to the capital and also to see how the war was going there. In addition, track down Medicine Master Guo … "
In the wind and snow, he waved his hand and began to issue orders one by one.
A few miles away from Xia Village, on the snowy plain, the battle between the scouts was still going on. The corpses of the warhorses and soldiers were lying on the snow and in the woods. Occasionally, a battle would break out, leaving one or two people dead. The survivors left in different directions and soon came together again.
It was close to noon when the retreating resentful army slowed down.
Medicine Master Guo rode among the dispirited troops. His face was cold, without any joy or anger. Along the way, his competent generals had already reorganized their formation, while he paid more attention to the intelligence brought over by the scouts. Among the high-ranking generals of the resentful army, Liu Shunren was already dead, and Zhang Linghui might have been captured or killed. The remaining people in the group in front of him were all his direct subordinates. After careful calculation, there were only about 15,000 people left.
Thirty-six thousand people attacked a valley that was less than half of their number. The other side was only the remnants of the Wu dynasty. In the end, they lost more than half of their men. This was something he never thought would happen.
At this moment, he stopped in the snowy plain. He reined in his horse and looked around. The world was white, making it almost impossible to tell where to go. In the past, most of their troops were made up of starving people from Liaodong. However, in order to survive, they later joined the Wu dynasty and were rebuilt. They were also made up of refugees who had lost their property and land in the six provinces of Yan and Yun. They had no roots and didn't know where to go. When a few generals came to ask for Medicine Master Guo's orders, no one could tell what he was thinking from his calm expression.
More and more messages were coming in. After a long time, on the snowy plain, Medicine Master Guo pointed in a direction. "We can only … go there."
The generals were stunned, but not long after, most of them stopped and sighed. That afternoon, the resentful army set off again. Finally, they went deeper into the wind and snow …
It was the tenth day of the twelfth month in the thirteenth year of Jinghan. For the first time, the Female Zhenren's southern invasion had a turning point. To the many troops around Bianliang, the situation was shocking. In a short period of time, most of them received battle reports from Xia Village one after another. Due to the exhaustion after the battle, the Xia Village troops were mostly healing their wounds and consolidating their combat strength. As long as they could stand, they participated in the heavy snow in memorial service for General Long Hui and the many people who had died in the battle in the past ten days.
When the scouts that were sent out gradually returned, someone passed a letter to Ning Yi.
When the scout was following Medicine Master Guo's troops, he met an old man who was highly skilled in martial arts. The old man asked him to bring the letter back and pass it on. After a few people from the Lulin Forest confirmed that the old man was Senior Fu Lu, the only survivor of Zhou Dong.
After the scout opened the letter, he found that it was a letter written in blood.
After reading it, Ning Yi stood in the snow for a while. Then, he threw the letter in blood into the fire and burned it.
This was just a small interlude in the battle. When the matter written in the letter was announced to the world, it was already many years later. In the evening, the scout who returned from the capital came back with another urgent message.
The Female Zhenren had stopped attacking the city this morning.
The reason was that Zhong Shizhong had led over twenty thousand western troops to the city of Bianliang to officially confront Wanyan Zongwang. They were trying to threaten Zong Wang from the rear. Faced with this situation, Zong Wang, who had failed to attack the city, had given up on Bianliang and used his elite cavalry to launch a large-scale counterattack against the western troops. This was probably to vent his anger. Bianliang didn't have enough combat strength and didn't dare to go out to help. Then, outside the city, the two armies engaged in a fierce battle. Although Zhong Shizhong was an old general, he still led the charge and fought with all his might. However, due to the difference in strength, by the time the scouts left Bianliang in the afternoon, the twenty thousand men of the western troops had already been defeated. Although Zhong Shizhong could still control part of the situation, if he continued to hold out, he was afraid that the entire army would be wiped out outside Bianliang.
Hearing this news, Qin Shaoqian, Ning Yi, and the others were all stunned for a long time. The western troops were indeed famous in the eyes of ordinary people. For many of the higher-ups of the Wu dynasty, they also had combat strength, but having combat strength didn't mean that they could fight the Female Zhenren head-on. In previous battles, although the western troops led by Zhong Shizhong had a certain level of combat strength, when faced with the Female Zhenren, they were still tactful and would retreat after fighting for a while. Later on, when everyone hid on the side, Zhong Shizhong also led the army to hide. When Medicine Master Guo challenged him to a duel, he only took a roundabout route, unwilling to fight head-on.
Unexpectedly, now that Wanyan Zongwang had been desperately attacking the city for nearly twenty days, this old man suddenly came to attack.
This time, he didn't choose to retreat.
According to the scouts' report, during this battle, corpses were everywhere outside Bianliang. Not only were there the bodies of the western troops, but before the western troops were routed, they had already achieved a lot under Zhong Shizhong's leadership against the famous Female Zhenren cavalry.
The old man's intentions were obvious. The Female Zhenren had been attacking the city for twenty days without success, and their combat strength had begun to decline. The twenty thousand men of the western troops might not be able to defeat the enemy, but as long as they gambled with their lives and caused a certain amount of damage to the Female Zhenren, the Female Zhenren might no longer consider attacking the city, and Zhong Shidao and the others in the city could finally choose to force the enemy to make peace …
While Ning Yi and the others were shocked by Zhong Shizhong's bravery and decisiveness in Xia Village, the exhausted people in Bianliang were cheering and crying tears of joy for the arrival of the western troops. Relatively speaking, the news from Xia Village that came later was not known by the people. Su Wenfang came to the camp for the wounded soldiers and saw Shishi, whose hair was messy, face pale, and body thin. He told her about what happened in Xia Village.
Shishi stared at him in a daze for a long time. After a while, she grabbed her clothes with both hands, lowered her body slightly, and began to cry intensely and forcefully. Her thin body trembled and let out a "wu wu" sound, like a bean sprout that was about to fall at any time. Her tears fell like rain. Seeing this scene, Su Wenfang's eyes also turned red. He had been running around in the city for several days, so he was also thin and his face was full of stubble. After a while, he left and continued to run around for the Prime Minister's residence.
In the imperial city, the ministers had already gathered here and were gathering information from all sides. They were all in a somewhat joyful mood. At this time, the old man named Qin Siyuan was in the hall talking about something that spoiled the mood.
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