Chapter 36: Breaking the Killing
If you wait, time will pass very slowly. After giving the order and completing the preparations, Zhang Xuanning waited quietly.
Several days had passed, but no good news came. County lieutenant Zhou Liang was helpless. He had sent people to contact the secret room, but they could not get through. From the clues, he knew that Wang An was also conducting internal rectification or control in advance.
I'm afraid that my side intends to deal with him. Although it's kept secret, the news has been leaked. Wang An is less than 20 years old, but he is really amazing. In the past few years, he has really developed his talents. Maybe we still need to send someone to investigate first. However, as soon as I said this, Zhang Xuanning gritted his teeth and denied it, saying: "No matter how talented Wang An is, he can't help. Can he make food? It's a famine now. Even if he has a few fellow villagers to help him, how long can he support it? I wonder how long he can endure it!"
"Yes, but the army is on high alert and is not allowed to go out. The soldiers are a little uneasy." Tao Ji whispered, "How about hiring some prostitutes?"
He was talking about the issue of military prostitutes. In fact, both Chinese and foreign armies have had military prostitutes. During the Warring States Period, Guan Zhong of Qi State opened the first official prostitute recorded in Chinese history. In the Han Dynasty, there was an incident recorded in "Records of the Grand Historian" that when the Han army went to war against the Huns, many officers hid prostitutes in baggage carts and took them with them on the road. Li Guang personally searched out these prostitutes one by one and killed them all, but he did not punish the officers.
Due to modern concepts, Zhang Xuanning had refused the prostitutes offered to him by the county when he entered the county. But now it seems that this kind of morality is really unacceptable. There have been no women in the army for nearly a month, and with the atmosphere of war approaching, some signs of instability began to appear.
But at this time, the battle was just a few days away, and summoning prostitutes would cause trouble, and even reduce the combat effectiveness, which was absolutely unacceptable, so he said: "I missed this matter by mistake, but the battle is just a few days away, we can't be careless, it's better not to summon them, you should be more careful and don't cause any trouble for the militia."
The chaos he mentioned is actually "camp rioting", which is the same as "prison rioting". No matter it is a military camp or a prison, they are both solemn and murderous places. No matter whether they are criminals or soldiers, one can imagine the mental repression they suffer over the years. Moreover, the army and prisons are very dark. Superiors have the power of life and death, old soldiers gang up to bully new recruits, and soldiers form gangs and fight openly and secretly. Contradictions accumulate year after year and are suppressed entirely by military discipline.
In addition, before the war, no one was sure whether they would live or die, and everyone had feelings of despair pent up in their hearts. Therefore, often in the middle of the night or early morning, even the scream of a soldier or a criminal having a nightmare could cause the pent-up emotions of the people around them to explode immediately, and then go crazy, fighting each other, and even biting each other, and all kinds of horrible madness broke out. This kind of thing is the most terrifying and is difficult to suppress.
Because of his madness, even threats of life and death are not effective. As long as a person is not afraid of death and does not care about his family, no organization, no country, and no justice can help him. So when it comes to this, everyone changes color. Although Tao Ji thinks it will not explode, he still said: "Don't worry, sir, I will make arrangements and never allow this to happen."
"Very good, then let's wait and see how long he can endure." Zhang Xuanning patted his shoulder: "These things all depend on you."
But at this moment, a rider came over and shouted, "Sir, Wang Ni has already moved and is attacking the Shajia Village outside the city!"
Zhang Xuanning burst into laughter and said, "Now that things are settled, let's go to battle!"
Almost at this time, thousands of refugees were fighting hard. Holding spears and in tattered clothes, they attacked the village. The head of the Sha family, Sha Ping, had a cold face. With a command, hundreds of makeshift wooden spears were thrown down. Although they were wooden spears, they were more than enough for these people who were not protected by armor.
Shajiazhai is actually a fortress, with its back against the mountain and facing the wilderness. The whole fortress was built in accordance with the terrain, with the south higher and the north lower. The fortress wall is built with rammed earth and is about 10 meters high. The fortress has two gates in the north and south, which can accommodate hundreds of people living at the same time, so its defense is of course very high.
But at this time, Sha Ping, the head of the Sha family, was not optimistic. Although the Sha family had thousands of people, they were suddenly attacked. There were only 200 temporary able-bodied men in the fortress, while there were almost 3,000 refugees!
Although a large portion of the refugee army were women, the elderly and children, this number was still far beyond what the Sha family could bear.
Especially when he saw two crude catapults being slowly pushed up, Sha Ping's face changed drastically.
After all, the walls of our own fort were built with rammed earth. Although they were thick, they were still unable to withstand repeated attacks from such huge stones.
Sure enough, with just a command, two huge stones were hung up and the roar of the catapult could be heard. Then, two stones flew over, one fell far away, and the other fell next to the wall. With a bang, the wall trembled slightly.
"Master, what should we do?" A cousin screamed, his face pale with fear.
"What should we do? Don't forget, your parents and wife are behind you. Once the village is breached, you will be in trouble. Let's fight for our lives." Sha Ping was furious and glared at him fiercely.
But before he could finish his words, there were several loud noises and stones flew over. Sha Ping roared, "Take out the military bows and shoot them. They can't throw far!"
The Sha family was just a small clan, and it was impossible for them to stockpile weapons like other big families, so they were able to take out spears and a dozen bows and arrows, which was already considered quite good.
Wooden spears were just makeshift projectile weapons.
Sure enough, bows and arrows were taken out. This place was originally a place where the Hu people were rampant, so the martial spirit was still prevalent. Among the two hundred men, there were archers, who immediately bent their bows and shot.
Sure enough, dozens of arrows streaked across the sky, and more than a dozen refugees fell to the ground without even finishing their screams. The refugees around the catapults were the main targets of the attack and fell to the ground one after another.
The refugees below immediately wanted to retreat, but at this moment, a core team of 200 people, including a few cavalrymen, rushed over and forced the refugees to continue throwing stones. This was because the catapult was too simple and had to be moved close, just within the range of bows and arrows.
"Shoot quickly, don't be stingy, and keep shooting even when you have run out of arrows." Sha Ping roared.
But not long after he spoke, another stone was thrown into the air and landed on the northern wall. There was a loud "bang" and dust flew up from the wall. Everyone looked over there immediately. When the dust settled, they saw a crack in the wall that was big enough for half a person to pass through.
Suddenly, the refugees below shouted and rushed over through the gap. Sha Ping shouted loudly, drew his knife and shouted: "My fellow tribesmen, if we don't stop them outside, all of us will die without a burial place!"
Everyone present knew how powerful he was and immediately rushed to catch up. More and more people followed behind him. Sha Ping rushed straight to the mouth of the gap and found that the refugees had already rushed up, so he rushed up immediately.
A refugee rushed forward with a spear. Sha Ping shouted and went forward to chop him to the ground. After all, he had some martial arts skills, so he killed these refugees one by one. But then, several refugees shouted and stabbed him with their spears.
This is equivalent to a master, because even a first-rate master would find it difficult to stab out more than a dozen spears at the same time. Although he has no internal force and can fight easily, it immediately made him flustered.
"Puff, puff!" Archers from the Sha family shot arrows at the gap. The gap was narrow and there was no way to escape. Immediately, several people screamed and rolled over, hit by arrows, and fell in a pool of blood.
"Hmph, let's see how many people you can kill." Wang An, who was riding a horse and observing, didn't care at all. After several years of encirclement and counter-encirclement with the government, according to modern terms, he successfully became the leader of terrorists who killed police and soldiers. He was considered to have been well-trained.
Seeing one death after another, blood flowing like a river, and corpses piling up, Wang An was not angry, but happy in his heart. What were refugees? As long as the core of 300 people he had gathered in the past two years was not destroyed, as long as he could capture this village and obtain the food and supplies inside, he could recruit tens of thousands of refugees.
He even turned a deaf ear to the long shouts coming from afar: "Wang An, is all you can do to drive people to their deaths?". Now, he was not at all moved by such provocation.
There were only 200 able-bodied men in the Sha family, and one less man was left if one died. He observed the gap and saw that although Sha Ping had killed twenty people in a row, it was of no avail.
One catapult broke down, but there was still one that continued to work. With a wave of his hand, three hundred cores began to drive the refugees to further force open the gap. Wang An looked at the tightly closed door, then stared at the dwindling number of able-bodied men of the Sha family, and snorted coldly.
At this time, it was almost noon, and the fall of the stronghold was imminent.
At this moment, shouts were heard in the distance, and fifty riders appeared on the horizon. Although there were only fifty riders, the sight of them rushing towards them made even the earth tremble slightly!
"General, what should we do now?" The speaker was his confidant Zhao Dian. Now Wang An called himself the general.
Wang An looked at the scene, angry in his heart, but expressionless. He waited for a moment before saying with a sneer, "Let's fight. If we win this battle, we can take not only this village but also the county. If we lose this battle, we don't have to say anything."
Zhao Dian, the confidant, said in a hateful voice: "Humph, if they hadn't pushed us so hard that we had to go out to look for food, how could we be in this situation? And that Zheng Dan, he didn't even come up with any good ideas, so I killed him with a single blow."
As he spoke, he looked fiercely at the scholar with a murderous look in his eyes.
Almost at the same time, Sha Ping also felt the pressure relieved. Seeing that it was the government troops coming, he had suffered multiple serious injuries, the bones were visible, and he fainted immediately.
"Not really. We are out of food. If we wait any longer, we will die. Maybe they will kill me in the night. So I have to fight. I thought the soldiers were impatient and there would always be a chance. It seems that they didn't give me a chance. I have no choice but to fight hard." Wang An sighed, then picked up the knife: "Just like the book says, life and death depend on this battle. We will fight them with all our might."
"Let's fight, fight them." Over the past three years, although he was not even twenty years old, he had indeed accumulated a lot of prestige. After he said this, hundreds of people nearby responded. These people were the backbone of the rebellion, and no one would spare them, so they had to fight to the death.
Wang An made up his mind and roared like a tiger. He took out his long sword and shouted fiercely: "Get ready. The enemy cavalry is no more than fifty. We will not retreat until we die!"
"I will not retreat until I die!" Zhao Dian, his confidant, raised his arms and roared, "Whoever dares to retreat, I will be the first to peel off his skin with my own hands!"
"We will never retreat until we die." More than 300 people waved their steel knives and responded to each other, obviously preparing to attack.
Wang An took a long breath. The first Sui general in armor who rushed over became clearer and clearer in his eyes. There was a coldness in his eyes, and dark ghost fire flickered. "Kill it. Whether it's a dragon or a snake, we will fight today."
"Bang!" The two teams collided fiercely, the sound of hooves shook the sky and murderous aura filled the air.
"Are you Wang An?" Zhang Xuanning used the Broken Army Sword, and his true energy rushed up. Wherever the spears touched, the soldiers immediately vomited blood and their army was instantly defeated. This was the killing power of a general with martial arts skills on ordinary soldiers, even if it could not last long.
"It's me, Wang An."
"Humph, you will die today, do you still know how to repent?"
“Hahahaha, I haven’t repented since I became a bandit three years ago. Even if you can kill me, you won’t make me surrender.” As he said this, Wang Ansen stood firm and roared, “Shoot!”
At this time, Zhang Xuanning was still about twenty feet away from the enemy Wang An. At this moment, more than ten long arrows shot at him like lightning. He also knew that when dealing with masters, he should try to use bows and arrows.
Zhang Xuanning shouted loudly, and his true energy surged up wildly.
"Dang! Dang! Dang!" The long sword broke into the rain of arrows. In a blink of an eye, most of the arrows that hit the vital points were blocked, while a few unimportant parts were hit by two arrows, but most of them were blocked by the inner and outer armor.
Zhang Xuan didn't frown, he grabbed it with one hand and pulled it out, then rushed into the enemy army. Wherever the sword went, it was as fast as lightning, and the force of the sword could break the body. He killed the enemy at sight, blood splattered everywhere, and more than a dozen people were hacked to death in an instant.
Seeing this, everyone felt a chill in their hearts. Wang An's heart sank immediately when he saw dozens of cavalry charging into his army and being unstoppable wherever they went.
"Puff!" The confidant Zhao Dian had already rushed forward. Zhang Xuanning swung the knife fiercely. With a "puff" sound, a head was cut off and rolled on the ground like a watermelon. The headless corpse was still struggling and blood splattered.
Could it be that the hard work I had put in over the past three years was so cheap? Could it be so easily crushed? Could it be that the tyrant's rule was so unshakable?
Amidst the splattering blood, Wang An gritted his teeth, pounced forward, and swept his sword across. With a "bang", he faced the Sui general head-on. The Sui general swayed slightly, but Wang An was shocked and spit out blood, and his eyes suddenly turned bright red.
At the critical moment of life and death, he immediately came to his senses. Seeing dozens of his subordinates rushing forward recklessly and trapping Zhang Xuanning among them, a thought flashed through his mind: should he try to survive and not be afraid of running out of firewood?
But this thought flashed through his mind, he roared angrily, gathered all his strength, rushed forward, and struck again with the knife.
"Boom!" A great force rushed up again, and he suddenly felt his body lighten, flying out like a cloud. Before he landed on the ground, the extremely vicious true energy had already attacked his heart and exploded immediately.
His eyes suddenly went dark and he watched himself fall lightly to the ground, rolled on the ground for a while , and then he lost consciousness.
"Revenge for the general, fight to the death." The others saw this and immediately roared. Hundreds of people not only did not collapse, but launched a frantic attack. Everyone's eyes were bloodshot, and there seemed to be only one goal in their minds, which was to kill Zhang Xuanning by any means, even at the cost of dying together.
Wherever Zhang Xuanning's knife flashed, the corpses were instantly separated. New corpses kept appearing on the ground, and the bright red blood flowed onto the grass at noon, turning it bright red.
"Bang!" Another enemy who rushed forward madly was killed. Even with arrows shot at him, he was not afraid of killing by mistake. Some enemy soldiers even pounced on him and tried to hold the horse's legs to drag him down and die together with .
However, such madness was limited after all. There were only dozens of crazy people. When these dozens or hundreds of people were killed, the entire refugee group of thousands began to show signs of collapse.
At this moment, the militia also caught up. With the sound of trumpets, they rushed forward and fought with the refugees.
"My Lord, are you all right?"
"Fortunately, I have my armor, and I only have a few minor injuries." Although the battle was short, it also exhausted him. He reined in his horse and said with a wry smile: "I didn't expect that Wang An is really talented and can get a group of loyal soldiers!"
This is truly a great man, but this world has martial arts. When martial arts appear as a powerful force, the rules change accordingly. Even if one can get some death warriors, if their number is still small, or if their own power is too weak, they can be easily killed.
This is the rule of this world.
Since their leader was dead, the three thousand refugees collapsed under the siege of the militia. They lost the desire to fight and fled in all directions. Of course, they could not escape far in this situation.
At this time, a gust of wind blew, blowing everyone's clothes. Zhang Xuanning looked up at the sky and said slowly: "We won?"
"Yes, we won, all thanks to your majesty."
It seems difficult to imagine, but it is actually very easy. However, in fact, under many irreversible conditions, such a result is a matter of course.
After all, the other side had no food, was an irregular army, and had only a few hundred people who could really fight, most of whom were infantry, and they lacked martial arts.
