The battle at the frontline had yet to spread, but as the rain continued, Zizhou City had already entered a state of semi-martial law.
In the barracks near the city wall, the soldiers were forbidden from going out, and they were on standby. The patrols on the city wall and inside the city were tightened, and the number of scouts assigned to missions outside the city was twice as much as usual. For the past two months, this was the norm in Zizhou City every time it rained.
Ox carts carrying supplies came from the southwest direction, and some of them were directly taken over and sent to the frontline before entering the city. Inside the city, after Ning Yi and the others patrolled the city wall, a new meeting was being held.
"… The reserve of grenades at the frontline is less than 20% of what it used to be. In terms of artillery shells, Huang Ming County and Yu Yu Creek have sent more than a dozen requests for replenishment. The humidity in the mountains in winter has a greater impact on gunpowder than we expected. The Female Zhenrens have also seen the situation clearly … "
"… Once they see it clearly, it's easy for them to form a fixed mindset. According to the previous plan of the General Staff Department, at this time, we can start to consider the problem of taking the initiative to attack and seize the initiative. After all, if we just defend, the Female Zhenrens will be able to catch up with us. Huang Ming County has more than 50,000 casualties, and they are still rushing over, which means that they can accept 100% loss … But if we take the initiative to attack, they will be sandwiched together, and at most 20% loss, they will collapse! "
"… Both sides know that the New Year is the most critical moment. The more we want to celebrate the New Year, the more trouble we will cause each other. Since we are prepared for the New Year, I think we can make a decision in the next two days … "
In the small room, the meeting started with the sound of lunch. Li Yi, Han Jing, Ning Yi, and several other high-level leaders gathered here, holding their meals and planning the next strategy. Ning Yi looked at the map in front of him while eating, and thought for a while.
"Theoretically, the Female Zhenrens will think that we will treat the New Year as a critical juncture."
He paused and waved the chopsticks in his hand.
"We will guess the Female Zhenrens' thoughts on this matter, and the Female Zhenrens will act accordingly because we have guessed their thoughts on us … In short, everyone will be on guard during this period of time. In that case, should we consider giving up on taking the initiative to attack from today onwards? Let them think that we are making preparations. Then … 28, launch the first round of attacks. Take the initiative to break their taut nerves. Next, on the first day of the new year, we'll launch the real all-out attack. I want to chop off Huang Mingxian's head … "
Everyone thought about it. Han Jing said, "If we want them to relax on the first day of the Lunar New Year, the attack on the 28th must be executed beautifully."
"We still have to consider whether the Female Enlightened Master will think the same way as us. After all, they've been leading the attack for the past two months."
This kind of big strategic decision would usually not be discussed publicly before the initial intention was made. The few of them were having a small meeting and discussing among themselves when someone ran in from outside, bringing with him the most urgent battlefield information.
The messenger reported the information. Ning Yi wiped his mouth and tore it open to take a look. Then, he pressed it on the table and pushed it to the others.
"Yu Shui Xi, Qu Zheng Yan's' Fire Devouring 'operation has begun. It seems like things are developing faster than we thought. "
He picked up his bowl and began to eat. The information was simple. After the others read the information, they also began to eat faster. During this time, only Han Jing teased, "Pretending to be calm, everyone."
"Stay calm, stay calm." Ning Yi laughed.
Not long after, the news from the battlefield came in one after another.
At the end of October in the 11th year of Jianshuo, the war in the southwest officially began. For two months, the Huaxia army had been on the defensive, while the Female Enlightened Master led the attack.
But as the war went on, the combat power of the troops on both sides gradually became clear. As the high-intensity battle continued, the Female Enlightened Master's side gradually became tired in maintaining the logistics of the road, and some of the periphery vigilance became rigid. Therefore, at noon on the 19th of December, the Huaxia army that had been harassing the rear road of Huang Ming County suddenly changed their target to Yu Shui Xi.
At a quarter past noon, Chen Tian led 300 elite troops to attack abruptly. They cut off the mountain road seven miles behind Yu Shui Xi and used explosives to destroy the mountain wall and the surrounding key roads. Almost at the same time, on the battlefield of Yu Shui Xi, Qu Zhengyan commanded more than 5,000 troops to take the lead and launched a full-scale counterattack against the more than 40,000 troops of Fei Lili's main camp.
As mentioned before, if the Female Enlightened Master kept on the defensive, the Female Enlightened Master's side would always suffer 100% losses. But if they chose to take the initiative to attack, according to previous battlefield experience, the surrendered Han Army on the Female Enlightened Master's side would collapse after losing 10% of their troops. The Liaodong and Bohai people could stubbornly resist more than 20% of their troops. Only some of the Female Enlightened Master's, Liaodong's, and Bohai's elites could continue fighting after losing 30% of their troops.
In this regard, the Huaxia army could accept a higher percentage of losses.
At this moment, Yu Shui Xi had already experienced two months of attacks. Some of the Han Army troops that were originally arranged to continue attacking in the winter rain were already lazing around. Even some troops made up of Liaodong, Bohai, and Female Enlightened Master's troops were feeling tired after repeated attacks without any results. The Huaxia army's elites counterattacked from the originally complicated terrain.
The first target of Qu Zhengyan's fierce and resolute attack was the surrendered Han Army on the battlefield. Almost a moment after the battle, these troops were defeated by the head-on attack.
That year, at the end of autumn outside Jiangning, Zong Fu led a million surrendered soldiers to surround the city. At one point, they were brutally beaten by Jun Wu. Having learned his lesson from the eastern battlefield, Zong Han only increased the number of his army with relatively elite and resolute surrendered soldiers. In the previous attacks, they played a certain role, but with the reversal of the offensive and defensive situation, they were not able to last too long on the battlefield.
Tens of thousands of figures engaged in battle pushed away the rain in the mountains.
The news of Eagle Beak Rock trapping Xie Lili quickly spread to Zizhou not long after Qu Zhengyan launched his attack.
In the room of the command center, the messengers were running around. The atmosphere had already become lively. War horses rushed out of the curtain of rain. Thousands of reserve soldiers in Zizhou were wearing straw raincoats and leaving Zizhou to rush to Yu Shui Xi. Ning Yi slammed his fist on the table and left the room.
Li Yi rushed over from behind. "Why are you leaving at this time?"
"It's none of my business. If you lose the battle, come and tell me. If you win, just celebrate. It doesn't matter if you call me or not. "
He sent Li Yi away and then dismissed most of the accompanying guards. He only called Hong Ti and said, "Let's go, let's go. We're going out for an adventure."
Hong Ti's gaze was slightly puzzled, but she didn't raise any questions in the end. The two of them put on straw raincoats and left the command center, walking in the direction of the city.
After passing through the military curfew, there weren't many residents left in Zizhou. Secondly, it was raining. There were only occasional pedestrians walking on the road. Ning Yi held Hong Ti's hand as they crossed the gray road. They went around the historic site known as Du Fu Cottage and stopped in front of a lavish courtyard.
"Li Weixuan's villa." Ning Yi stood at the corner of the street and looked around sneakily. "Rich people, local tycoons. They ran away when we attacked Zizhou. They left two old people to look after the house. Later, the old man fell sick and was taken away. I thought we could go in and take a look. "
Hong Ti was stunned for a moment. She couldn't help but laugh. "Why don't you just tell them?"
"How can it be more interesting than sneaking in." Ning Yi smiled. "The two of us will play the role of a male and female thief today."
Hong Ti naturally knew that her Husband was often mischievous and out of line. In the early years, when he was in the mood, he often didn't care about anything else. The two of them were once chased by wolves on Luliang Mountain in the middle of the night. Ning Yi dragged her into the wilderness to fool around … In the years after the rebellion, and with a child by his side, Ning Yi was more steady in his handling of things. However, he would occasionally organize activities such as outings and picnics. She didn't expect him to have such strange thoughts at this time.
When the Huaxia army entered Zizhou, most of the local gentry and aristocratic families had already left, and some of their houses had been robbed. As the war approached, the Huaxia army sifted through the city a few times, and the ordinary refugees had already been cleared out of the city. The small courtyard wall couldn't stop the husband and wife who were highly skilled in martial arts. Ning Yi climbed up the wall and walked directly on it. Then, he walked up to the roof and looked at the inner courtyard.
"If there are assassins following you, they might be watching you now." Hong Ti looked around cautiously.
"You're right. We have to keep a low profile."
Ning Yi listened to her reminder and went down from the roof. He looked around as he moved forward.
Under the hazy sky, the courtyard that hadn't been inhabited for a long time looked dim, old, quiet, and desolate. However, traces of previous habitation could still be seen in many places. This was a rather large group of courtyards. There were a few courtyards, a front yard, a backyard, a residence, and a garden. Weeds had already grown in the courtyards. Some courtyards were filled with water and turned into small puddles. In some courtyards, things that hadn't been taken away seemed to tell the scene before people left. Ning Yi even found rouge and face powder in some of the room drawers and curiously looked around the world where the women lived.
Hong Ti followed Ning Yi all the way. Sometimes, she would also look around the living space. There were calligraphy and paintings hanging in some rooms, and small objects left in the drawers in the study … She used to secretly investigate some people's homes when she traveled in Jianghu in the past. However, these courtyards were now empty. The husband and wife were far away from time to time to spy on the traces of their owners before they left. Naturally, their mood was different.
She gradually understood Ning Yi's thoughts. "You lived in a courtyard like this when you were in Jiangning."
"The layout was similar. The Su family was rich, so they first bought an old house. Later, they expanded and renovated it. There were hundreds of people living in the courtyard. At that time, I felt that it was very noisy and I had to greet everyone I met. I felt a little annoyed, so I thought it would be better to leave and not stay there. "
Ning Yi smiled. They stood on a walkway on the second floor and could see the deep and quiet courtyards nearby. "However, sometimes it's more interesting. After dinner, the courtyards were all lit up. At first glance, it was very smoky. Now, the smoke has all died down. At that time, there were only small things around. Tan'Er had to deal with things. Sometimes, she would come back late with a few maids. Thinking about it, she was like a child. It wasn't long before I met you. You've met Xiaochan and the others. "
Hongti smiled but didn't say anything. Ning Yi leaned against the wall. "After Junwu killed his way out of Jiangning, Jiangning was massacred. Now, it's all about big things. But sometimes, I feel that it's more interesting to live in small things. From here, you can see that there are people living in the courtyards and there are no people living in them. They all have their own small things to do. "
As he said this, he sat down against the wall on the walkway. The rain was still falling, soaking everything in front of him in gray and black. In his memories of the past, there would be smiling young girls walking through Lang Garden, and chattering children running around and playing. At this time, there was a war going on in the distance.
Under the collapsed Eagle Beak Rock, swords and shields clashed in the mud. People collided and the smell of blood filled the air.
Swords sliced through flesh, spears pierced through people's stomachs. Some screamed, some screamed, some fell into the mud, and some pulled the enemy's head up and smashed it against the hard rocks.
Fresh blood gushed out from Mao Yishan's body. In the midst of the frenzied slaughter, he raised his shield amidst the churning muddy water and fiercely smashed it onto Xie Lili's knee. Xie Lili's body leaned forward and punched Mao Yishan's cheek. Mao Yishan's body swayed and similarly punched out. The two of them were entangled together. At one point, Mao Yishan shouted and lifted Xie Lili's entire body into the air. With a bang, the two of them fiercely smashed into the muddy water.
Xie Lili struggled in the water. Mao Yishan punched him but was kicked away. He stood up from the mud and was about to rush forward. Mao Yishan also rushed out from the mud. He took out a shield from the water and waved it as if he was pulling a bow to its limit.
A terrifying whistling sound could be heard amidst the wind and rain. Half of Xie Lili's face had been torn open by the shield. Two rows of teeth and flesh could be seen on the outside of his mouth. His silhouette staggered a few steps, but his gaze was still locked onto Mao Yishan. Mao Yishan had already rushed over from the muddy water without stopping. His two huge hands were like a ferocious tiger as he grabbed onto Xie Lili's hideous head.
Xie Lili's arms instinctively resisted. The two of them walked a few steps in the mud. Mao Yishan pressed down on Xie Lili's huge body and smashed the back of his head against the green stone. He lifted it up and smashed it down again. He did this three times in a row.
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