The autumn wind was harsh and murderous, the war drums rumbling like rain. Amidst the raging fire, the night air was already close to freezing. The sound of the hooves of the Female Enlightened Ones shook the ground, advancing like a furious tide and crushing over. The breath pierced one's skin, and one's vision seemed to distort slightly.
Before contact, there seemed to be a brief period of silence.
In the rear of the Black Flag Army, Bao Ashi pressed down on his spear, his mouth wide open as he subconsciously exhaled. His scalp was somewhat numb, his eyelids trembling violently. His ears could not hear the sounds outside. Up ahead, the Female Enlightened Beasts were coming.
This was not the first time he had seen the Female Enlightened Beasts. Before joining the Black Flag Army, he was not a native of the northwest. Bao Ashi was once from Taiyuan. When Qin Shaohe was defending Taiyuan, Bao Ashi's family had all been there. He had gone up to the city to participate in the battle. When Taiyuan City was breached, he had fled with his family. His wife and children had luckily survived, but his old mother had died on the way. He had seen the scene of the Female Enlightened Beasts massacring a city, and because of this, he increasingly understood the valiance and savagery of the Female Enlightened Beasts.
The Female Enlightened Beasts mainly fought with cavalry. When their harassment failed, they would retreat. However, once the cavalry of the Female Enlightened Beasts began their charge, they would not rest until they were dead. When necessary, they did not fear death. By now, Bao Ashi had already become a soldier. Because of this, he could understand how terrifying this kind of army was.
Two or three iron barrel cannons flew out from the rear and landed in the midst of the charging cavalry. Explosions rose for an instant, but the momentum of the seven thousand cavalrymen was too great. It was like a small splash of water caused by a pebble in a huge wave. Everything that was so great did not change.
In Bao Ashi's heart, there was fear. In this impending attack, he was afraid of death. But the people around him, one after another, did not move. "Not retreating …" he subconsciously said in his heart.
The hooves were getting closer and closer. The sound came back. "Not retreating, not retreating …" he subconsciously said. Then, the vibrations around him gradually became shouts. One person, a group, the formation of two thousand people became a giant steel-like barbed wall. Bao Ashi felt his eyes turn scarlet red and opened his mouth to shout.
"Ah ah ah ah ah — —"
Her hysterical voice pierced through everything.
Behind the shield, Nian Yongzhang was also shouting.
He was a veteran of the Wu Rui Battalion. He had followed Qin Shaoqian to stop the former Jurchen Nation from moving south. He had been defeated, fought against the resentful army, and fled for his life. He was a man who worked hard for his pay, had no family, and did not have much of his own opinion. He had once lived in a muddle-headed manner, and when the Jurchen Nation came to kill him, there really were a lot of dead people around him.
He had seen all kinds of deaths, the deaths of his companions, being slaughtered and chased by Female Daoists, and he had also seen the deaths of many commoners. Some of them made him feel sad, but there was nothing he could do. After he had repelled the Xixia people, Mister Ning had organized several blind dates in Yanzhou and other places. Under the mediation of Mister Ning and the others, a poor family had taken a fancy to his strength and honesty. So, they had married their daughter to him. When he got married, he was dumbfounded and didn't know what to do.
As a soldier who worked hard for his country, it was not that he had never touched women before. In the past, there were many black brothels at the border of the army. For those who muddled along, if they did not spend their pay on food and drink, they would often spend it on women. In this regard, Nian Yongzhang had not gone far, but he was no longer a fledgling. However, he had never thought that one day he would have a family.
In the year they got married, he was 30, and his wife was 18. Although their family was poor, it was a decent and honest one. Although she was not very beautiful, she was sturdy and diligent. Not only could she do the housework, but she could also do all the work in the fields. Most importantly, the woman depended on him.
Nian Yongzhang liked her smile the most.
This time, before he went out, the woman was already pregnant. Before the battle, the woman was crying, and he sat in the room. There was nothing he could do — there was nothing more to explain. He had thought of telling his wife about what he had seen and heard when he was a soldier, the deaths he had seen, the women whose stomachs had been cut open during the Jurchen massacre, and the babies who had been starved to death after their mothers died. He had also felt sad, but that kind of sadness was completely different from what he felt at this moment.
But in the end, he did not say it.
He was a veteran soldier who had seen too much death and experienced too many battles. He had never felt that this moment of life and death was strange. His shout was only to maintain his excitement at the most critical moment. Only at this moment, his mind was filled with the smile of his wife.
He wanted to live.
He wanted to go back.
The armored cavalry rushed over like a tidal wave —
…
South, Yanzhou City battlefield.
Luo Ye used all his strength to cut down the last enemy who was still resisting. Blood and smoke were everywhere around him. He looked at the silhouettes of the Zhong family army and the large number of surrendered soldiers in front of him, then turned his gaze to the north.
Attacking Yan Zhenguo was the easiest task on his side. In his field of vision, the clash with the Jurchen was about to begin …
…
The raging waves collided and spread.
Bang —
The sound of the high-speed charging cavalry colliding with the shields and spears was terrifying and strange to the ears. It was like a huge mountain collapsing, constantly crashing down on the bodies of the soldiers. The individual shouts came to an abrupt stop in the midst of the raging waves. Then, it formed an astonishing momentum and crushing force. Some flesh and blood were turned into fine powder, the bones of the warhorses cracked in the collision, and the bodies of the soldiers were thrown into the air. The shields were twisted and broken, and the metal rods propped up on the ground pushed up the rocks and soil as they began to slide.
The formation of two thousand soldiers collided with the seven thousand cavalrymen. At this moment, it was a shocking and terrifying scene. The horses in the front row were forcefully crushed to death, and the horses in the back continued to charge forward. Shouts and shouts finally erupted. There were some places that were pushed open. Under this kind of momentum, the recruit Jiang Huo was one of the first to bear the brunt of it. In his hysterical shouts, a pressure that could topple mountains and overturn seas came crashing down from the front. His body was slapped by the shattered shield and he was involuntarily sent flying backwards. Then, the heavy body of the warhorse pressed against his body. With a boom, he was pressed under the warhorse. At this moment, he could no longer think or move. The enormous force continued to crush down from above. At the very bottom of the heavy pressure, his body was twisted, his limbs broken, and his organs ruptured. What flashed through his mind was his mother's face in the Little Blue River.
The corpses of the warhorses and people were almost piled up from the collision. Viscous blood flowed everywhere, and the warhorses were wailing and kicking. Some of the Jurchen cavalry had fallen into the pile of people. They wanted to get up and hack, but then they were pierced by the spears and turned into porcupines. The Jurchen constantly charged forward, and the Black Flag Soldiers at the back forcefully pushed forward!
Life was either long or short. On a slope further north, Wanyan Loushi led two thousand cavalry and charged towards the front ranks of the Black Flag Army. Many lives that should have been long came to an end in this short instant.
Countless threads were severed.
Wanyan Loushi charged at the front lines. He and the personal guards at his side broke open a hole in the Black Flag Army's formation, bravely hacking and killing. Not only was he skilled in using troops, he was also one of the most dauntless generals in the Jin army. In the early years, when the Jin army didn't have many troops, he would often charge at the front lines. Two years ago, when he led the army to attack Puzhou City, the Wu dynasty's army was firmly defending. He had once used the cloud ladders that had defensive measures to climb up the city and bravely fought with three of his personal guards on top of the city walls. In the end, he gained a firm foothold on top of the city walls and broke through Puzhou City.
Personally leading the charge represented the importance he attached to this battle.
The violent collisions continued. There were some places that had been blasted open. However, the Black Flag Army at the back was like a hard reef. The spear soldiers and heavy hammer soldiers pushed forward. People were shouting and fighting. In the crowd, Chen Libo dizzily stood up. There was blood coming out of his mouth and nose. His left hand gripped the hilt of the blade in his right hand, but he unexpectedly didn't have the strength. He turned his head to look and saw a large bulge on his forearm. His bones were broken. He shook his head. The people at his side were still resisting. He took a deep breath and raised his steel blade.
"Shield in front! Move closer to me … "
The people of the company came over and formed a new formation. On the battlefield, the Female Zhenrens were still charging. The formation was small, like a patch of reef. The cavalry formation was large, like a tide. In the frontal collision, the flanks had already spread out and began to extend towards the center. Soon, they would cover the entire battlefield.
They were waiting for this army to collapse.
This was a collision of life against life without any fancy tricks. Retreating to the latter would result in total death.
In the countless battles in the past, not many people could persevere in this kind of collision of equals. The Liao people couldn't, and the Wu dynasty people couldn't either. The so-called elite troops could persevere a bit longer. This time, there wouldn't be too many exceptions.
The cavalry that had spread over had already charged towards the center formation at lightning speed. The hillside trembled. They wanted the Kongming lanterns, they wanted everything in front of them. Qin Shaoqian pulled out his longsword. "Charge with me …"
On the flank of the battlefield, Han Jing led his cavalry and charged over. The raging tide of two thousand cavalry began to collide with the raging tide of another cavalry unit.
The slaughter extended to everything in front of them, but at least at this moment, the Black Flag Army that was resisting this tide still didn't move.
"Block …"
"Come, Female Zhenren bastards …"
"Not retreating! Not retreating … "
"Ahhhhhh …"
The shouts were either resolute, angry, or sorrowful. They burned together. Heavy hammers smashed onto iron anvils. Heavy hammers continuously smashed onto iron anvils, exploding under the night sky.
On the flank of Yanzhou City, Zhong Lie, who was preparing to gather his troops, suddenly turned his head. On the other side, urgent fireworks rose into the sky and a warning sound suddenly rang out.
"Female Zhenren attack …"
At the moment of launching the strongest offensive against the Black Flag Army, Wanyan Loushi, the Female War God, also placed a chess general on Yanzhou City.
*****
In the Xiaocang River Valley, the starry sky was as clear as a long river. Ning Yi sat on a tree stump in the courtyard, looking at the scene under the starry sky. Yunzhu walked over and sat down beside him. She could see that his heart wasn't calm.
Yunzhu held his hand.
"War is starting," Ning Yi said softly.
"Mn." Yunzhu lightly nodded.
… …
At the same time, in a mountain ridge several li away from the battlefield in Yanzhou, an army was still rapidly advancing forward. This army had about five thousand people. The same black flag almost melted into the night. The leader was a woman wearing a black cloak and a copper mask with fangs on her face. She looked terrifying.
Green Wood Stronghold, under the leadership of Lu Hongti, cut off the path of retreat of the Female Zhenren army. Along the way, they encountered countless defeated troops from Yanzhou. Among them, a troop that was still in formation almost ran into them head-on. Then, like a stray dog, they ran away in defeat.
While running, Yan Zhenguo fell from his horse. Without waiting for his personal guard to come over to support him, he had already scrambled up from the road. As he walked backwards, he turned his head and looked in the direction that the army had disappeared. "Black Flag Army, it's the Black Flag Army again …"
The advisor hurriedly approached. "They are also heading towards Yanzhou. It's hard to have the luck to encounter Wanyan Loushi …"
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