Because of this, he chose to perish together with the enemy in the end. This was not bravery, nor was it a sacrifice, but a kind of escape after a collapse. He had already collapsed.
Therefore, at this moment, when the memory of that time reappeared in front of his eyes, he was very clear that it was time for him to start bewitching the hearts of the people. He wanted these cowards to scream and die, so that the rest of the people could have a chance to live and a little bit of hope.
For these soldiers who were roaring fanatically, this method was a bit too despicable. However, it was not that Xiao Ruxun had never done more despicable things. In terms of despicableness, perhaps the most despicable person in this era could be mentioned in the same breath as Xiao Ruxun. The only difference between the two might be the ultimate goal.
It was precisely because he had experienced the darkness of moral decay and the roaring of beasts that Xiao Ruxun cherished the light of morality, righteousness, propriety, and law so much that he felt that this era was incomparably lovely.
Similarly, he would not have much resistance to using despicable means. Even if it was a despicable means that would cause many people to die, he would take it as a matter of course. He had experienced the most thorough darkness that no one here had ever experienced.
He even felt that this Last Road Daming was so lovely, so bright, so wonderful.
What a beautiful world!
However, all of this was destined to be impossible for Li Chengliang and Li Rusong.
Therefore, when Li Chengliang really saw Xiao Ruxun, when he really faced Xiao Ruxun, he suddenly had a very strange feeling, a feeling that … this person was not someone that he could contend against.
Looking up and down at Li Chengliang, who was old and frail but still vaguely valiant and majestic, Xiao Ruxun regained his mood and saluted Li Chengliang.
"Junior Xiao Ruxun pays respect to Sir Li."
Li Chengliang treated Xiao Ruxun with very complicated feelings.
"No need to be so courteous, Xiao Zhennan. I've long heard of Xiao Zhennan's great name, but I've never had the chance to meet you in person. Now that I've met you, Xiao Zhennan is indeed an extraordinary hero, worthy of the title of Wanli's number one general."
Xiao Ruxun raised his eyebrows and smiled.
"In front of Senior, I don't dare to call myself the number one general. This title is too great."
Li Chengliang let out a long sigh and shook his head.
"If you don't dare, who else dares?"
After saying that, Li Chengliang patted Xiao Ruxun's shoulder and walked to a Red Barbarian Cannon, asking, "Xiao Zhennan, is this a new type of cannon?"
Xiao Ruxun came back to his senses. He glanced at Li Chengliang and put away his emotions. He nodded and said, "Yes, this is the cannon I got in the process of fighting with the Franco people in Nanyang. Then, I got the casting method of this cannon from Macau and cast it in Myanmar. This cannon is very powerful, even more powerful than the Franco gun."
"This cannon is ten feet long. It's impossible for it not to be powerful! Very good! Very good! With this cannon and cavalry, we should be able to win this battle, right? "
Li Chengliang turned around and asked Xiao Ruxun. Xiao Ruxun nodded and said, "At present, we can attack or retreat. We only need to wait for the Northern Barbarians to attack. Then, we can destroy their siege equipment and weaken their strength. Then, we can fight with cavalry in the field and defeat them. After that, we can solve the siege of Zijing Pass. Only then can we consider other things."
"But the Northern Barbarians haven't sent troops to attack until today. Are they going to wait until tomorrow?"
When she heard what Li Chengliang said, Xiao Ruxun cast her gaze at the Mongolian military camp in the distance. She then took out her monocular and looked at it carefully. She could see that the Mongolian military camp was packed with people, and they seemed to be uneasy because of the roars from inside the pass just now.
"Do the Northern Barbarians attack every day?"
When Xiao Ruxun asked, Chai Guozhu rushed to answer, "That's not it. They haven't attacked us since today."
"How did they attack in the past?"
"In the beginning, they used to climb the walls to attack. Recently, they have been attacking from a distance with siege weapons. They used catapults and ballistae to attack the city. The soldiers mostly feigned attacks and rarely attacked fiercely. Even so, their firepower is still very strong."
Chai Guozhu clearly had lingering fears about this.
"Did our army take the initiative to attack? Or did they attack at night? "
Chai Guozhu was stunned. He looked at Li Chengliang. Li Chengliang blushed and did not say anything. Chai Guozhu could only bite the bullet and say, "The soldiers are not good at fighting. They can't take the initiative to attack, so they can only defend."
"If the Northern Barbarians want to break through Zijing Pass and pillage the capital regions, why would they attack in such a passive manner when they have 40,000 men?"
When Xiao Ruxun asked this question, Li Chengliang and Chai Guozhu continued to look at each other.
Xiao Ruxun put down the telescope and turned to ask Chai Guozhu, "Commander Chai, let me ask you, how did the Northern Barbarians get the number of 40,000 cavalry to attack the city?"
"The scouts calculated it by observing the flags, the number of tents, and the number of horses. There were also people who came to persuade us to surrender a few days ago, saying that they had 100,000 cavalry to attack the city. They told us to open the city and surrender as soon as possible. We didn't believe it, but we felt that 40,000 to 50,000 was a more credible number."
Xiao Ruxun frowned and said, "Bluffing is one of the necessary tactics for an army to use in battle. Is there any small number of battles where 10,000 to 20,000 people claimed to have 100,000 soldiers? Is there any small number of battles where 100,000 soldiers claimed to have millions of soldiers? 100,000 cavalry. Even if they sacrificed their lives to defend Zijing Pass, it would not be able to hold on for so long.
If they only had 40,000 to 50,000, then why didn't they attack the city with soldiers, but instead used catapults and ballistae to attack the city when they had the advantage? Since they wanted to pillage the capital regions, they should have broken through Zijing Pass as soon as possible. They should have used the advantage of speed of their cavalry to steal the city before our army could react. This is the usual method of the Northern Barbarians.
But now that they are acting so strangely, Eunuch Li, Commander Chai, have you considered other possibilities? For example, are they bluffing, and their real goal is not to attack Zijing Pass and pillage the capital, but something else? "
"This …"
Chai Guozhu didn't know how to answer, and Li Chengliang was stunned for a moment. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that something was wrong.
"We've always positioned ourselves as the weaker side, and we're used to defending ourselves. But now, we're no longer the Mongolian cavaliers from three hundred years ago when they roamed the world. They've long since fallen apart, and they're all on their own on the plains. They fight for themselves, and they even kill each other.
Let alone Temujin and Khubilai, they don't even have a separatist force like the Buxiananda. I don't know how these 100,000 cavalrymen were put together. They don't have a unified command, and they don't even have a unified government. Where did they get the courage to launch such a powerful attack on the Daming? Isn't this strange? "
Xiao Ruxun's barrage of questions rendered Chai Guozhu speechless.
Li Rusong finally realized what was going on.
"Commander, do you mean that the goal of these Northern Barbarians is not to attack Zijing Pass and pillage the capital regions, but something else?"
Xiao Ruxun nodded.
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