This kind of situation appeared in every alley in every city of Zijing Pass.
These supervising troops were the guards brought by Chai Guozhu from Ji Town. Together with a batch of available soldiers under the command of Wang Qian, they formed the supervising troops. They were responsible for killing the deserters, and using cruel means to force these deserters —
If they charged forward, they still had a chance to live, but if they retreated, they would definitely die!
Chai Guozhu looked at Li Chengliang's serious face and could not help but sigh in his heart.
As expected of the number one general in the history of Wanli who had won ten battles. He was experienced and good at using troops. Even if he had to deal with these soldiers, he had his own way.
But that was right. Since ancient times, kindness did not lead troops. As a general, not only did he have to be ruthless to the enemy, he sometimes had to be even more ruthless to his own people. In history, when did the general not arrange for supervising troops in a large-scale battle? Sometimes, there was no reason for an army to retreat. The existence of supervising troops was necessary.
It was worth it to kill some deserters.
After this round of killing, the first wave of deserters was fiercely suppressed. A large number of soldiers from the capital were driven up the wall to fight against the enemy. More and more minced meat and dead bodies were on the wall. Blood gradually covered every inch of the wall. Other than the soldiers' roars, there seemed to be the shrill cries of countless wronged souls.
However, Li Chengliang still did not move. He did not change his expression at all. He was still serious, and his old face was like an ancient well. He stood there like a statue.
He clearly did not do anything, but strangely enough, just this alone was enough to make those cowards who were shouting that they wanted to go home and ask for their mothers to immediately stand up. They glared at the Mongolians with tears in their eyes, gritted their teeth, and fired angry arrows at the Mongolians at the foot of the city.
Even though he had not gone to war for a long time, the name Li Chengliang of Liaodong was still a golden signboard.
No matter how much of a fence Li Chengliang was politically, or how much of a loss Li Chengliang was in terms of moral integrity, but in terms of military affairs, Li Chengliang was worthy of being called a famous general.
It seemed that as long as he stood there and showed his existence, the soldiers would have the courage to fight.
This was probably the difference between famous generals and ordinary generals.
Chai Guozhu sighed and continued to command his troops.
Sometimes, after the period of intense stimulation ended, people would become numb. After the initial shock and panic brought about by the intense stimulation that they had never seen before, the numbness would make people calm down. They would no longer continue to be afraid of things that would make them howl, even if it was just the slightest fear.
In front of them were the ferocious Mongolians, and behind them were the ferocious supervising troops. The soldiers had nowhere to go. They could either be killed by their own people, and they would not receive any compensation, or they could be killed by the Mongolians. At the very least, they would be able to claim that they died in battle, and it would sound good to others.
Since ancient times, countless brave warriors had carried this kind of awareness and rushed to the path of certain death. Although it was a little cruel, this was their fate that they could not refuse.
Of course, after most of the soldiers lost all hope and turned around to run back to the battlefield, there were also many soldiers who only wanted to escape and did not have the courage to go back to fight. These soldiers who were full of the aura of the marketplace were the kind that could not be saved. There was no other way but to kill them.
"I know Marquis Zhang!"
"I'm a servant of Marquis XX!"
"My marquis will not forgive you!"
"I'll give you all my money, all of it! Let me go! Let me go! I beg you, let me go! "
Whoosh!
What they received in reply were cold gazes and shining blades. The blades sliced through their necks, and a head that was twisted due to fear was sent flying into the air.
These servants had long since become as resolute as steel. Twenty years of life on the battlefield had caused all of them to be trained to be troublemakers. They did not have any obstacles in their hearts when it came to killing people, regardless of whether they were killing Tartars or their own people.
There were fewer and fewer people who wanted to escape. There were also quite a number of people who stood up and shot madly at the Mongolians below the walls while crying and shouting. They had completely lost their minds, and tears welled up in their eyes. Some of them were even crying nonstop. Fear and pain had broken through their mental defenses, and they had already gone mad.
Some of them raised their bows and shot madly. They did not dodge at all, and before long, a few arrows pierced through their necks, and they fell to the ground dead.
Some of them raised their muskets and shot madly, but before they could even reload, they were hit by a cannon and turned into mincemeat.
There were also some who raised rolling logs and stones to throw them down, but right when they raised them, they were shot to death by a few arrows. The stones that they had not thrown down fell on the walls with them.
Those who fought madly were not just brave and fearless warriors. There were also deserters who had already gone mad. These people would become even crazier and more reckless. They only wanted to die quickly and nothing else.
Chai Guozhu looked at these mentally deranged soldiers in grief and shook his head.
Since ancient times, there had been quite a number of soldiers like this. There was a high chance that they would end up like this when they first went to the battlefield. Only veterans who had gone through countless battles could face every battle calmly and work hard to survive. Many brave soldiers were soldiers who wanted to die after they broke down and went mad.
But this kind of soldiers were of great help to the army. They did not dodge, and at the same time, they greatly increased their own mortality rate, they also greatly increased the enemy's casualty rate. In a certain sense, it could be considered as the cruelest way to make use of trash.
Cruelty was just one word, but on a real battlefield, there were plenty of people who had to give up their lives for this word.
Li Chengliang did not care about it. He did not care at all. As long as he could defend Purple Thistle Pass, everything was worth it.
On the thirteenth of the twelfth month in the twenty-fifth year of Wanli, Dingxiang City was lost. Most of the ten thousand or so defending soldiers died in battle or were killed. A small number of them were captured, and Dingxiang City was burned to the ground.
The only thing worth rejoicing over was that Wang Shiyang's strategy of fortifying the walls and clearing the fields was executed very well. To escape, everyone ran with all their might at all costs, and they fled very quickly. Even the Mongolians' horses could not catch up to them.
On the seventeenth of the twelfth month in the twenty-fifth year of Wanli, after four days of resistance, Xinzhou City was lost. A few thousand of the twenty thousand defending soldiers died in battle, and most of the rest had retreated ahead of time. Wang Shiyang believed that the strategy of fortifying the walls and clearing the fields had already been completed, and most of the population had already moved to the southern part of Shanxi to seek refuge. There was no point in continuing to sacrifice their lives to stall for time.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
