Chapter 27: Complete Victory
(Recommend, collect, don't mind Ah Cao's feelings, I can take it.)
Li Yuanhan didn't sleep at all tonight. Although the hot-tempered Ye Lizi wasn't very likable among the Tangut nobility, he had nothing but praise for his cousin Li Yuanhan. Since Li Yuanhan was 15 years old and began to gain recognition from his family, entering the Western Xia officialdom, Ye Lizi had always been obedient to him. The bond between brothers couldn't be deeper, but things don't always go as planned. A general dying on the battlefield is supposed to be a glorious ending, but seeing his cousin die in front of him still filled Li Yuanhan with unspeakable sorrow. He couldn't calm down and fall asleep no matter what, so he ended up holding onto the Han military book and reading it under the faint light.
When the abnormal movement came from the camp, Li Yuanhao still thought it was a soldier's disturbance. The military discipline in the current Western Xia army had been gradually deteriorating, and such things were common. Li Yuanhao didn't care much about it, which was also related to his first time commanding an army, as well as his familiarity with Han family literature since childhood, which emphasized being calm and composed like Mount Tai crumbling in front of him, and defeating the enemy with a smile on his face. However, as the noise grew louder, he became less stable. Before he could even get up to take a look, several bodyguards rushed in covered in blood, and he only had time to say one sentence, "What are you doing?" The bodyguards then carried him onto the horse prepared outside.
He still didn't understand what was going on, when the camp was already in an uproar with people shouting all around, "We've been surrounded by the Qin army, everyone run for your lives!!!"
"The commander is dead, those who lay down their arms will not be killed."
The dark figure couldn't see how many Qin soldiers had entered the camp, but his heart was already filled with fear. The kind of person who could command with ease and turn the tide of battle without being tempered by experience was only heard of in legends. No matter how great this Tangut nobleman was in another time and space, he was now only nineteen years old and had little prestige in the eyes of his subordinates. At this moment, under the chaos, he couldn't accurately judge the situation, and relying on a few close guards, he slaughtered anyone who tried to steal horses, whether friend or foe, in the darkness. He finally broke out of the camp and entered the darkness.
The thick night was like an unopened ink, and in this darkness, fear spread like a plague. The entire camp finally boiled up like boiling water, with black shadows flashing everywhere, and soldiers wildly slashing their swords. It was impossible to distinguish between friend and foe. Some people tried to light torches, but they immediately became the target of arrows and weapons, which poured down randomly. Those Xixia people who still had some sanity were either shot into hedgehogs or hacked into meat paste. After losing their commander's leadership, the Xixia people completely fell into chaos. More people were like headless flies, crashing around everywhere, screaming in fear or despair, attacking every approaching figure.
Not far from the camp, Zhao Shi also looked at the chaotic camp with a lingering fear, just like he said before, on such a battlefield, most of it relies on luck. Fortunately, their luck was not bad, and they did not encounter strong resistance. After scattering the horses, they only came into contact with a small team of Western Xia people who were guarding the horses. These Western Xia people still had some organization, but they no longer had any fighting spirit. They were scattered by a single charge, and then they themselves didn't know what direction to go in, nor did they know how many people they had killed. Anyway, they charged forward all the way, rushing out of the camp, and the other teams couldn't be seen anywhere, nor was there anywhere to look for them.
They arrived at a secluded spot outside the camp, where everyone was lying on the ground like scattered frames. After re-counting their numbers, they found that eleven people were still missing, and almost everyone had some injuries. Fortunately, Zhao Shi had not stopped training for a year; otherwise, he might have been among the missing. Looking around at the people lying horizontally and vertically on the ground, even Li Jinhua was lying there without any image. It's estimated that now, even if a child with a knife could kill all these people. Zhao Shi also smiled bitterly in his heart. Should they rush back? If the Western Xia people gathered together tonight, it would be a great loss.
The sky gradually brightened, the light rain had stopped, and a layer of white frost covered the ground. In the Western Xia camp, except for the cries of the wounded, no more sounds of slaughter could be heard. The scenery also became clear with the appearance of light, as if the veil had been lifted.
After a night of turmoil, these originally robust and powerful Qin army men were all pale-faced, with frost on their eyebrows and eyelashes, shivering all over as if they had a severe illness, looking no different from ghosts who had just crawled out of their coffins. However, there was excitement in everyone's eyes. Judging from last night's battle, the Western Xia people are finished. They created a miracle - 100 strong men launched a surprise attack on the enemy camp at night and defeated several times more Western Xia cavalry than themselves. They could already imagine their names being widely spread among the common people, and now it was time to reap the rewards of war. At least they had to cut off a few heads of the Western bandits - those were military achievements after all.
Gathered a few war horses that had never run far, slowly approaching the Western Xia camp, without encountering any danger. The other small teams also gathered, the sound of horseshoes echoed, and the cavalry left on the hill arrived in time.
The Xixia camp was littered with corpses, blood washed away by the rain and then frozen again, piece by piece, like a clumsy painter's work. The camp had almost no living people left, those who were injured would die in a short while at night, even if they were lightly injured, only a breath was left.
"After... they ran not... far... need a few lives, to inform the people on the small hill... to come and collect the battlefield..." Li Jinhua spoke intermittently, her whole body shaking uncontrollably like sifting chaff, her face also showing a pale blue color, but those standing in front of her were all sternly obeying orders, immediately mounting their horses and leaving in a cloud of dust. Victory is always the best way to establish authority."
。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。
A bonfire was lit in the tent, dispelling the chill. Zhao Shi's face quickly returned to normal, and he sat steadily beside the fire. Several military officers were reporting the results of the battle to Li Jinhua, who was wearing a thick cotton coat, but their eyes kept glancing over at him.
"In this battle, we killed 386 Western bandits. Adding to the results from yesterday's daytime battle, the total number is 570. As per the orders of our superior... Those who were injured also had their heads cut off as proof of military merit..." At this point, the old sergeant, who looked over 40 years old, slightly narrowed his eyes and glanced at Zhao Shi. The issue of killing prisoners was not explicitly stated in the military regulations, but it was generally understood that leaders would not kill captives. However, Zhao Shi had suggested doing so in front of everyone, citing a simple reason: they did not have the ability to keep these prisoners alive, nor could they afford to take care of them. Li Jin Hua adopted his suggestion without hesitation, and as a result, the way people looked at Zhao Shi was no longer so simple."
Captured twelve war horses, sixteen sets of armor, and a large quantity of grain and fodder.
"Furthermore... ...the corpse wrapped up has been identified by the captives as that of the fierce bandit general Ye Lizhi, and the bandit chief Li Yuanhan has escaped without a trace. The cavalry pursuing him has not yet returned, and the outcome of the battle is still uncertain..."
Everyone's gaze turned back again, but this time it was mostly filled with envy. That was the commander of the Western Xia army, one head worth a hundred ordinary soldiers. The luck of this small team was truly astonishing, encountering such a great achievement on their first battlefield, it was as if good fortune had arrived and even gods couldn't stop it.
"Our army's night raid resulted in 48 casualties, all bodies have been recovered. One cart carrying bows and crossbows was destroyed by the Xia army, with 160 bows and crossbows lost and over 1,000 arrows missing. However, our food supplies are intact... Including yesterday's battle deaths, our total military fatalities amount to 985, with 872 wounded... Commander Chang Xin died in battle, Commander Wang Qi also died... Marquis Yu Chen was severely injured... Upon hearing the casualties, everyone's excitement subsided, and Li Jinhua bit her lip tightly, not speaking for half a day. As for the bows and crossbows, it was she who had instructed to include all of Zhao Shi's privately dismantled equipment as battle losses, believing that with this great victory, no one would again question how much the logistics team lost."
Half a day later, more than 30 cavalrymen returned with great fanfare, each holding several blood-soaked heads in their hands, and dragging several live ones behind them on ropes. After chasing for dozens of miles, they beheaded 184 people, captured 18 alive, but Li Yuanhan escaped quickly and didn't encounter them. The cavalry suffered no casualties. The camp was now jubilant, with no more gloomy atmosphere like yesterday. They were originally a team transporting grain and fodder, so the food was abundant. After their great victory, although they also suffered heavy casualties, they still lit over 10 bonfires on this small hill, put large chunks of meat into pots, and the aroma wafted through the air. Everyone's face was filled with joy.
。。。。。。。。。。。
"This is the Iron Hawk of Western Xia, damn it! We've killed nearly half of their thousand-strong army, haha, and even Wild Li Qi was left behind by us. What a great achievement, this is absolutely a heaven-sent merit!!!"
Li Hui excitedly clapped his own palm, his face in the dark had been scratched by a weapon, just applied medicine to the wound, but it was not easy to bandage his face, so he simply wrapped several strips of white cloth around it, only exposing his nose and mouth, as well as one eye. When speaking, his voice was muffled and stifled, looking somewhat strange.
The people around were also smiling, but when they heard from the captive that they were facing the Iron Hawk of Western Xia, everyone's back broke out in a cold sweat. What does Iron Hawk mean? That is the elite of the elite in the Western Xia army, just like the Battle of Hao Water River back then, where Western Qin won miserably, and only a few hundred Iron Hawks were killed at that time. There are only 30,000 Iron Hawks in the entire Western Xia army, and this time less than 3,000 grain guards broke through 1,000 Iron Hawks, isn't this a great achievement? As for casualties? With the strength of the grain guard encountering the elite cavalry of Western Xia, this bit of casualties compared to the results achieved is really negligible.
"Our current situation is very dangerous, and we may be annihilated at any moment. What are you rejoicing about?" A cold voice cut in, dousing everyone with a bucket of cold water.
