Chapter 2: The Stormy Weather of Yan and Zhao Section 9

  Ji Ming was a horse carriage driver before he became a soldier. Because his family was poor, he couldn't afford to marry a wife, so in a fit of anger, he joined the army. He participated in several campaigns to quell the rebellion of the Wuman people and made military achievements, being promoted to Garrison Commander. After becoming an officer, his salary increased, and he became wealthy. Ji Ming married a wife last year, who was the daughter of a county official from Xu Wucheng. He felt happy and walked around with a smile wherever he went.

  When he saw Li Hong, Li Hong was lying on the city wall with his hair scattered and sleeping. Li Hong had never liked to tie up his hair. Probably because of the Xianbei habit, he felt that having his hair scattered could make people feel unrestrained and more comfortable. In Lulong Pass, due to military rules, he could only use a cloth strip to tie it up roughly and wear a helmet.

  Ji Ming took one glance at Li Hong and felt that this person was worth getting to know. What left the deepest impression on people about Li Hong was his honesty and simplicity, followed by his aura of murder, a shocking and intimidating aura that came at you like a storm. Ji Ming had heard rumors about Li Hong for several days already, and today he finally saw this legendary giant with his own eyes. Li Hong was pushed awake by Ji Ming, scrambled up to prepare to pay respects to his superior, but was stopped by Ji Ming.

  Looking at Li Hong's smiling face and robust physique, Ji Ming said, "You're really sturdy."

  "Can you tell me about the battle during the day? I was under the city wall, and only heard that it was intense here, but didn't see the specific situation."

  The new boss gave an order, and Li Hong naturally had to respond.

  It was already very cold on the early winter night. The mountain wind howled, emitting a sharp whistle like a ghost crying and wolf wailing, trees swayed and trembled in the wind. A faint bloody smell floated in the air.

  Li Hong recounted the battle in the afternoon and put forward his own views.

  "Today's casualties are so great, mainly because we were not prepared enough and did not think that the enemy would choose to attack here. As a result, we hastily responded to battle, leading to a disorganized defense and getting bogged down in a melee with the enemy. Secondly, the enemy's arrows kept coming endlessly, completely suppressing our support from both sides, which is also one of the reasons for the increased casualties."

  Ji Ming was surprised to find that this big man, who looked rough and careless, not only spoke very logically, but also had a calm mind and accurate analysis and judgment of things. He must be very knowledgeable and have read many books, otherwise how could he be so clever. Ji Ming thought to himself as he asked him: "What suggestions do you have for tomorrow's defense?"

  "If our defense continues to be so passive, we will suffer huge losses. The key is still to grasp the initiative of defense."

  "The initiative of defense? I don't quite understand what you're saying, can you elaborate?"

  "Due to the mountainous terrain, the enemy fully played to their strengths, utilizing different high and low points to suppress our defenses with dense long-range arrow fire. If we can't break through their archery units, no matter how we defend, it will be extremely passive and losses will only increase."

  "Do you have a way to break it?" Ji Ming asked anxiously.

  The mountain wind blew Li Hong's scattered long hair into a frenzy, the cold air seeping through his armor and piercing his flesh. Li Hong involuntarily shivered with cold. Gazing at Meishan shrouded in darkness, he remained silent for a long time.

  "Can't you think of anything either?" Ji Ming said in disappointment.

  Li Hong thought of Zhou Huan, and it seemed that he saw Zhou Huan again with arrows all over his body, shouting loudly on the city wall, running. "Burn it, burn down this mountain." Li Hong suddenly pointed at the forest in front of him, gritting his teeth and saying.

  Ji Ming's eyes lit up, and he seemed to see a huge fire burning fiercely in the forest, with Xianbei soldiers struggling and crying out in the flames. Ji Ming let out a cheer and didn't care about Li Hong anymore, turning around and running towards Wang Ri Lou.

  Before long, Wu Fei and Wang Jin hurried over. Li Hong hastily greeted the military governor and the army supervisor.

  Wang Jin looked at Li Hong with a very appreciative gaze, smiling and saying: "You're Heizi? Not bad, clever. Was it also him who suspected the enemy would use sandbags to fill up the platform this morning?" He turned his head to ask Wu Fei.

  Wu Fei nodded, "It's him. He's a talented individual. The adults should recommend him to the school officer."

  Wang Jin patted Li Hong's shoulder and praised him: "Not bad, not bad. Your idea is good. We can also make use of it to make it even better."

  "Wu Fei hastily asked: 'Sir, is there anything else you'd like to instruct?'"

  "We'll lure in more of the enemy, even if it means giving them the entire Mei Building. Once the fire starts, their losses will be even greater. This time I see where they can escape to."

  In the middle of the night, Officer Tian Jing led a group of soldiers to arrive. The soldiers quietly climbed down the city wall along the rope under the cover of darkness, scattered a large amount of flammable materials in the hidden place of the forest, and disappeared into the dark night with more fire oil and other combustible materials, like ghosts.

  Li Hong was startled awake by the blaring sound of cow horns. He got up with a start, gazing in the direction of the Hu tribe's allied army camp. The camp was bustling with flags fluttering and people shouting and horses neighing. It seemed that the enemy would launch an all-out attack today. Li Hong instinctively glanced at the dense forest outside the city. Yesterday, the enemy's sudden and violent attack had frightened him.

  The soldier on the city wall suddenly rang out an alarm bell. Li Hong was very disgusted with this sound, he thought it was weak and powerless, far less than the sound of the Hu people's horn. The low and muffled sound of the horn made people feel the majesty of the vast grassland, the vastness of the desert. Of course, what he liked most was still the drumbeat. The drumbeat was even more muffled than the horn, with an invincible aura that shook heaven and earth.

  On the Mei Mountain, the enemy appeared. Just like yesterday, they started a dense shooting. The infantry set up the cloud ladder, and the assault troops began to climb the city. The Han army learned from yesterday's lesson, and the troops did not disperse to defend at separate points, but instead spread out along the long city wall. More than 200 people started from one end of the main city wall and extended all the way to the Mei Building. This defensive method was particularly disadvantageous for the enemy's focused attack. However, in the absence of other ways to avoid the enemy's arrow rain, this was the only way to avoid the danger of yesterday's two-winged reinforcements being blocked by the enemy.

  It wasn't until their own attacking soldiers climbed up the cloud ladders that the distant shooting soldiers stopped firing. But then more close-range shooting soldiers shot out long arrows from their hands, helping their own side's attacking soldiers continue to suppress the Han army on the city wall.

  From the moment the enemy opened fire until they climbed up to the city wall, the Han army was pinned down by the enemy's arrows and could not raise their heads. Li Hong was furious, waiting anxiously for the enemy to expose themselves above him. A terrified face suddenly appeared in front of Li Hong. Li Hong dodged the opponent's stabbing sword and swung his battle knife, heavily chopping at the enemy soldier's head. The enemy let out a heart-wrenching scream and fell off the cloud ladder. The endless arrows that were falling like heavy rain suddenly stopped. The enemy roared frantically and launched a fierce attack on the city.

  Li Hong stood on the parapet of his defensive wall, his war knife waving in the air with a whooshing sound, fearlessly and desperately blocking the enemy's attack. Seven or eight dead enemies were already lying around him. A Xianbei warrior was engaged in a fierce duel with Li Hong, sparks flying everywhere as their blades clashed with a deafening metallic screech. Just then, another enemy soldier climbed up onto the wall, only to be shot by an arrow. The warrior, seeing that he was doomed, suddenly let out a loud roar and leapt forward, opening his arms wide to embrace Li Hong, who was caught off guard and found himself in a tight bear hug. With the force of the warrior's leap, the two men crashed heavily onto the top of the wall. The enemy soldier who had been dueling with Li Hong was extremely powerful and immediately followed up with another step, raising his large knife to strike at Li Hong's neck. Li Hong's body was pinned down by the enemy's, leaving him no way to resist. Li Hong let out a desperate roar. Death came too quickly; he hadn't even had a chance to make any contribution to his country before he was about to be beheaded.

  Ji Ming let out a loud roar, stubbornly withstanding the enemy's attack from behind. Before the enemy's large knife could fall, she thrust her long sword into the enemy's back, piercing through their heart. The enemy gazed at Li Hong on the ground with infinite regret, then suddenly fell to the ground. Li Hong picked up the war knife dropped by the enemy and, using all his strength, wildly hurled it into the body of another enemy soldier who was preparing to strike Ji Ming again.

  Li Hongyi pushed away the corpse that was pressing on his body, flipped over and got up, looked at Ji Ming with gratitude, and then rushed towards the defensive area like a madman. There were more enemies coming in from the cloud ladder.

  On the main city wall, Tian Jing stood in the middle, gazing down at the densely packed enemy army below, patiently waiting for the enemy to launch their attack.

  "Hey, what's going on with Wu Yan? The attack signal has sounded twice already, but he still hasn't made a move. Is he messing with us?" Chai Ting stood beside Tian Jing, looking very anxious.

  "Judging from his appearance, it seemed like he didn't want to attack in the morning. Is he stalling us to prevent us from reinforcing Mei Lou?" Wang Jin said with a serious expression on the other side of Tian Jing.

  "Wu Yan is quite impressive. He made a gesture and we can't move anymore. It's not obvious, but this Han Lu Wang is actually quite skilled in battle, we shouldn't underestimate him." Tian Jing said with a smile.

  "Let's burn him with a few thousand people and see if he dares to play tricks on us again." Chai Ting said with schadenfreude.

  "It's unlikely to burn away several thousand of them, but at least it can prevent him from attacking Mei Lou and also severely hit their arrogant momentum. With one less burden, we can focus on dealing with the main enemy, and relatively speaking, the chances of holding out for a longer time are much greater."

  Tian Jing said, looking up at the Yun Lou on the mountain to his right, "I'm afraid they won't stop until they've come up with another plan and attack Yun Lou, that would be disastrous."

  "Sir, he doesn't have that many troops to deploy. If he really has the guts to attack Cloud Tower again, we'll burn it down once more." Wang Jin said with a worried glance at Cloud Tower.

  Tian Jing sighed and said: "This trick can only be used once, and it's not something that can be repeated. Wu Yan is extremely cunning, he's no fool."

  Tian Jing stopped for a moment, then suddenly said: "The initial design of this fortress required three thousand soldiers to defend it. If my Great Han Empire had always deployed troops according to this number, how could we have ended up in such a dangerous situation today?"

  "Sir, Liu Taishou will arrive on time, don't worry, in a few days the reinforcements will arrive and our Lulong Pass will be an iron wall."

  An hour later, the enemy was killed and retreated. Ji Ming's troops suffered extremely heavy losses, with nearly a hundred people being carried away. This close combat had no room for clever tricks, only death or injury. Generally speaking, when a city is defended to this point, it is not far from being breached. Both sides are fighting with their lives. Whoever has more men can hold out until the end.

  Ji Ming stared blankly at the enemy in the distant forest, still unable to accept the ferocity and tenacity of the Xianbei soldiers. As long as they charged up the city wall, they would never turn back, until they died in battle. This kind of pure suicidal path was really astonishing. These were people who didn't care about their lives.

  Li Hong held a pancake and quietly walked behind Ji Ming, "General Tun, have some."

  Ji Ming turned around and saw Li Hong chewing his food with great effort, mumbling indistinctly: "The Xianbei people came too early, we haven't even had our meal."

  Ji Ming took over the pancake in his hand, tore off a small piece and stuffed it into her mouth.

  "The barbarians are too ferocious, no wonder you suffered such heavy losses yesterday."

  Li Hong smiled bitterly. After so much slaughter, he had gradually become numb. He had seen too much bloodshed, lost too many friends, and countless lives had turned to ashes before his eyes. He no longer had any interest in the cycle of life and death in the world. Sometimes he even thought that dying was better than living, knowing nothing, doing nothing, and being carefree.

  "The Xianbei people value bravery and despise the weak and incompetent. They have always been this way." Li Hong sat with Ji Ming at the foot of the wall, basking in the warm sunshine, speaking slowly. He thought of Tie Lang, he thought of Gong Sun Hu, he thought of Murong Feng.

  "The Xianbei people were originally a brave and fearless nation. In the past, they conquered the four seas under the leadership of King Tan Shi Huai, with a momentum that seemed to sweep across the world. Fortunately, Tan Shi Huai died suddenly."

  Ji Ming nodded, "The Xianbei people are much more formidable than the Wuhuan people."

  Two people were chatting softly and slowly.

  Li Hong saw Ji Ming take out a very beautiful green lotus-shaped sachet and hold it in her hand, gazing at it with deep feeling.

  "What is this? It smells really good!"

  Ji Ming gave Li Hong a strange look, "Don't you know about the sachet?"

  Li Hong scratched his head awkwardly, "I'm a country bumpkin, I've never seen it before."

  "Usually when a girl likes someone, she'll make something with her own hands to give to the other person as an expression of her admiration." Ji Ming's face was filled with a happy smile as he said this lightly.

  Li Hong nodded, "Oh, is that so. Was this given to you by your wife?"

  Ji Ming carefully stroked the sachet and nodded repeatedly.

  "Do you have someone you like?" Ji Ming suddenly asked him.

  Li Hong burst out laughing, "I've grown up like this, and I haven't even seen many women, let alone girls." Suddenly he thought of the snowy wind in white clothes. Is she okay? That night he ran away in the middle of the night without saying goodbye to her. When she woke up and saw that he was gone, what would she do?