Chapter 2: The Stormy Weather of Yan and Zhao Section 12

  Tian Jing suppressed the anger in his heart and asked loudly: "County Lieutenant Chen, why did Xu Wucheng's reinforcements arrive only today?"

  "Reporting to the lord, as soon as the people in the city heard that the barbarians had arrived, they fled in all directions. Xu Wucheng is in great chaos. The county magistrate can only delay supporting it again and again in order to maintain the security of Xu Wucheng. I have rushed here for several nights without any delay on the road. The soldiers have walked continuously for over 300 miles and are extremely tired, hoping that the lord will let them rest."

  Tian Jing looked at the soldiers on the square and shook his head, asking: "How many of you have come?"

  "Reporting to the master, 232 people." Chen Jie saw Tian Jing's disappointed face and hastily added, "Master, our county magistrate has done his best. Everyone in the county government who can hold a knife has come, even the cook who cooks for the master and Old Tian who guards the west gate have come. It's really impossible to find anyone else. Now, in the entire Xu Wucheng, only the county magistrate is left with a few immobile common people watching the city gate."

  Tian Jing didn't say a word, but was deeply moved in his heart. He pulled up Chen Jie who was kneeling on the ground and said softly: "Go rest."

  Li Hong could hardly believe his eyes, there were still such old soldiers in the Great Han Empire.

  Tian Zhong lifted his head and stood up straight. He was very thin, of medium height, with a shock of white hair and a pair of goat-like whiskers, and the armor on his body had become extremely old.

  Li Hong hesitated for a moment and asked: "How old are you?"

  "Back to adulthood, sixty-two already."

  Li Hong could hardly believe his ears this time. He suddenly flew into a rage. Had all the strong men of the Great Han Empire died out?

  He looked around and suddenly shouted at Chen Jie's back: "Mr. Chen, what do you mean by this?"

  Chen Jie hastily ran over. He saw Tian Zhong and immediately understood. He smiled: "Lord Li probably doesn't understand the situation. This field..."

  Li Hong cut him off, his anger soaring as he said: "Have all the strong men of our great Han nation died out? At his age, he should be at home holding grandchildren, not coming to fight battles."

  "Wait..." Chen Jie wanted to explain something, but was interrupted by Tian Jing who hastily walked over.

  Tian Zhong saw Tian Jing and suddenly burst out laughing: "It's been a long time since we last met, sir."

  Tian Jing looked at him and sighed, "Have you been okay all this time?"

  "I'm still alive. I won't die no matter what, so I came here."

  Tian Jing walked over, pulled him out of the soldiers' ranks, and pointing at Li Hong asked him: "This young fellow is not bad, right?"

  Tian Chong nodded repeatedly, "Not bad, not bad, one look and you can tell he's not someone to be trifled with."

  Tian Jing smiled and leaned in close to his ear, whispering a couple of sentences. Tian Chong's eyes lit up as soon as he finished speaking, "Oh, it's him. Impressive, impressive."

  Li Hong was wondering about the relationship between the schoolmaster and the old soldier in front of him, when Tian Jing called out to him: "Come, let me introduce you. This is my elder brother, Tian Zhongtian Changjing, an old soldier of over 40 years. He has served as a groom for four Han dynasty generals and five middle-ranking generals. The last one was General Tian Yan, who defeated the Xianbei tribe. After the Battle of Luoshui, General Tian returned in defeat, and his military registration was specially retained for him. He spent his life on horseback, alone and without dependents, and now that he's old, he barely scrapes by with a soldier's stipend, which is already quite generous treatment from the Han state."

  "At that time, adults were still military candidates." Tian Chong said with a smile.

  Tian Jing nodded, "This is Li Hong, Li Zimin, he's a squad leader. He will have a bright future."

  Li Hong hastily gave Tian Zhong a salute. Tian Zhong was shocked and lost his color, hastening to return the courtesy, but was stopped by Tian Jing, "It's only polite for a junior like him to give you a salute. You don't have to go up to the city wall, just go to New Moon Tower instead."

  Tian Zhong didn't want to continue, "Why?"

  "What can you do?" Tian Jing said irritably.

  "I can help carry arrows, lift the wounded, and bring down the dead soldiers."

  Tian Jing fell silent. He let out a sigh and said, "Alright. If I die, remember to bring me down."

  Li Hong and Ji Ming each led a hundred men to the left and right city walls. Chen Jie led the remaining people into a reserve team of fifty.

  A red sun slowly rose from the eastern horizon, casting a golden glow over the Luolong Fortress, which had been battered by war, and bathing the entire fortress in a dazzling light. The soldiers basked in the warm sunlight, feeling comfortable and relaxed.

  Tian Jing stood on the city wall, looking at the dense army approaching, feeling heavy in his heart. Wu Yan's reinforcements finally arrived on the tenth day of their attack on Lulong Pass, and there were at least three thousand people.

  The soldiers stood on the city wall, and their hearts were also uncertain. Yesterday when they withdrew, there weren't so many people, but today suddenly a large number of people appeared. How many more reinforcements do these barbarians have?

  Xiong Ba's heart finally fell to the ground when he saw the Han army abandon Yunlou. This shows that the Han reinforcements have not yet arrived. With heavy casualties and no personnel replenishment, Tian Jing finally abandoned Yunlou and simply defended the main city wall.

  "Should we take the opportunity to occupy Yunlou?" Qiao Ji asked Xiong Ba.

  "No need. In the past, we had to think of ways to occupy Meilou and Yunlou in order to avoid being attacked by the two wings of Lulong. Now that Meilou has been burned down by the Han people and Yunlou has been abandoned by them, its two wings have been broken off. Let's attack, take advantage of their reinforcements not having arrived yet, and capture it in one breath!"

  The Hui army's morale surged after the arrival of reinforcements, and their attack was even more ferocious than yesterday. Wuyan continued to use the tactic of main attacking on the left flank and auxiliary attacking on the right flank, with soldiers taking turns to launch fierce attacks without rest.

  The soldiers on the fort were shouting and yelling, their voices shaking the sky. The city wall was crowded with people killing each other, and corpses were lying everywhere inside and outside the city. The deafening sound of war drums and cow horn bugles echoed throughout the entire Lulong Fort.

  This time, the Xianbei soldiers who came to assist from Baideng City were all elite gathered from different tribes. Each of them was full of energy and morale, and when they started killing, it was like slaughtering pigs and sheep. This was a disaster for the extremely tired Han army soldiers. Wuyan arranged all of them on the main battlefield, striving to win in one battle.

  Li Hong, although brave and fierce, was now at the end of his tether. He wielded his bloody battle knife, leading his soldiers to charge again and again against the city wall, killing and then reorganizing to charge once more. It wasn't until no one followed him that Li Hong felt the situation was extremely dire. But the enemy in front of him seemed to be unaware of fatigue, unaware of death, still stubbornly and fiercely climbing over the city walls, flying down, and slashing with their knives. For the first time, Li Hong felt a sense of fear; he thought that what he faced were no longer Xianbei people, nor Wuhuan people, but rather lifeless, unconscious corpses.

  He looked up at the sky and let out a loud roar: "Support, who will support me..." Immediately after that, he heard the sound of footsteps rushing over and Chen Jie's shouting voice. Chen Jie was waving a huge knife that was as long as a zhang, bringing with him more than ten people in a fierce charge. Li Hong felt a sense of relief wash over him, almost to the point where he would have fallen to his knees. He really couldn't fight anymore.

  Chen Jue's big knife was powerful and heavy, anyone who got close would die, and those who touched it would be injured. More than a dozen soldiers protected him on both sides, like a fierce tiger with its teeth bared, bravely charging at the enemy. His knife was long, and when he swung it, the space left behind was very large. He soon fell into the Xianbei people's trap.

  Li Hong's whole body was shaking violently, and even the hand holding the knife was jumping involuntarily. Li Hong saw through the Xianbei people's trickery, using all his strength to shout loudly: "Retreat..."

  Chen Jie didn't hear, the battlefield was too loud. Even if he had heard, he wouldn't have retreated. He saw a Xianbei soldier charging towards him and swung his long knife down, splitting open the soldier's belly with a single blow. Immediately, another enemy soldier grabbed his knife from the side. Chen Jie sneered inwardly, shaking off the knife, intending to drag the man to death. Unexpectedly, the man was extremely strong, and Chen Jie couldn't pull out the knife even after three attempts. During these three attempts, three Xianbei soldiers suddenly leapt up from the ground, side, and front, simultaneously thrusting their battle knives into Chen Jie's body. Chen Jie let out a massive roar, finally killing his opponent with a drawn-out knife. He then fell straight to the ground. The soldiers behind him shouted as they rushed forward, instantly chopping the three Xianbei soldiers into pulp.

  Wang Jin had been wounded in many places, with one arm cut off and hanging from his body. He was oblivious to the pain, single-mindedly determined to kill the enemy and drive them down from the city wall. His attendants had all fallen, and the surrounding soldiers were fighting valiantly under his leadership against the enemy. They were inspired by General Ma's fierce aura, each one fearless and charging forward bravely.

  Wang Jin finally thrust his sword into the last enemy's chest. The long sword pierced through the enemy's body and hit the hard stone blocks of the city wall. Wang Jin turned around and shouted loudly at the soldiers: "Kill..." Then he felt a sharp pain in his back, as if something had been stabbed into him. He let out a loud roar involuntarily. He quickly turned around, pulled out his long sword with his right hand, and thrust it into the throat of an enemy who was about to climb over the city wall. The man's knife momentum did not decrease before he died, and he fiercely chopped at the long sword. The enemy soldier fell silently from the city tower. Wang Jin's tiger mouth shook violently, and he could no longer hold onto his long sword. Along with the war knife, it flew into the air. A face appeared on the city wall again, along with a bow and three long arrows. One bow, three arrows, three arrows fired at once - this was a divine archer. Wang Jin heard a sound, and then saw that three arrows had pierced through his body.

  Wang Jin suddenly felt that death was so simple, without pain, without fear, his whole body floating lightly, like a feather, light as nothing. Wang Jin fell into the soldier's arms.

  Li Hong rushed forward like a madman on the city wall, finally exhausted and kicked to the ground by the enemy. Three Xianbei people stared at him with blood-red eyes, raised their battle knives and chopped down. Li Hong shouted loudly, his battle knife chopping into an enemy's thigh. The man let out a miserable cry and fell to the ground. Li Hong's small axe whizzed forward, cutting into another person's chest. Another knife was unstoppable, heading straight for his neck.

  Li Hong suddenly felt completely relieved, Lu Long Sai, murder, arson, everything had nothing to do with him anymore. He rushed towards the man laughing, his eyes wide open. It seemed as if he saw the wind and snow, the face of the wind and snow, the white-clothed figure like blood. Then he saw a long arrow, an arrow inserted into the enemy's chest. The man let out a desperate roar, was brought back two steps by the remaining force of the arrow, and fell backwards.

  Li Hong burst out laughing. Is it even hard to die? Another knife, a bloody knife. The enemy lying next to Li Hong, enduring the severe pain of his thigh being chopped, struggled to get up and swung his knife at his neck. This man had killed countless comrades, he must be killed no matter what.

  Tian Zhong's figure appeared beside Li Hong, he took a deep breath and shot an arrow at close range to the enemy who was about to strike with his knife.

  Li Hong gazed at Tian Chong's white hair, his laughter suddenly stopping. He felt he had been too selfish. Compared to this old man, what had he done, what had he done for the great Han nation? Now that he was dead, wasn't it too selfish of him to want to die as well? Suddenly invigorated, he sprang up with a burst of energy.

  "Aren't you the one who was injured?" Li Hong asked.

  Tian Chong smiled and threw the bow and arrow in his hand to the ground, "Too old, running such a short distance is already panting." After finishing, he hurriedly ran towards the opposite side of the city wall. Tian Chong picked up a soldier covered in blood, carried him on his weak back, and disappeared into the crowd with a quick run.

  Li Hong gazed at his back, and suddenly tears rained down. He picked up the war knife on the ground, pulled out a small axe from the enemy's corpse, and charged towards the crowded area.

  Tian Jing sat beside Wang Jin's corpse, staring blankly at the subordinate who had followed him for over a decade, allowing tears to stream down his face. He seemed to have forgotten the bloody battlefield before him, and was transported back to the past, to the years of gathering together in joy and laughter.

  He gazed at the Loulong Pass, where the sound of slaughter shook the sky. He looked again at the setting sun sinking slowly in the west. He turned his head and looked once more at the Mei Mountain, which had been burned to a sheet of black charcoal. He thought of Subei, that fat kid who never gave him a kind look. Now he was dead, reduced to ashes by a great fire, and yet he rather missed him.

  "Pass on the order, tonight the great army will attack the city under cover of darkness and take down Lulong Pass at all costs."

  Xiong Ba nodded in approval. This Wuyan was indeed brave and resourceful, with a bold vision that surpassed others. The great king's reputation wasn't undeserved after all. At present, the Han army was exhausted and could only defend, without any strength to counterattack. The soldiers couldn't get rest, supplies were not replenished, and they couldn't even eat their fill. In contrast, our side had high morale, sufficient physical strength, and ample personnel reserves. If we don't seize this opportunity to take down the main city wall today, it would indeed be a waste of chance.

  "Send word, light thirty piles of beacon fires at the foot of the city, slaughter cattle and roast meat."

  "Order all soldiers in the army to take turns eating meat and resting, taking turns attacking the city. If we don't capture Lulong Pass today, we'll all die here."

  Suddenly, a shocking and earth-shaking drumbeat sounded in the sky above Ludongze. The drumbeat was like a raging wave, heavily striking the hearts of the attackers.

  Wu Yan and Xiong Ba suddenly tensed up, both of them saw the horror and shock in each other's eyes.