Chapter 88: Heavenly Sand (Part 3)
"General, the scouts reported that the Yongzhou army had learned that we were going to attack Tianju Mountain, and they were already showing signs of panic."
Lieutenant General Nieringu was lying on the cliff, with a look of satisfaction in his eyes, "They will never give up Tianju Mountain. If we ambush here, we will definitely be able to inflict heavy damage on Qin Jixun!"
If we go to Tianju Mountain, we have to pass through the narrow path of this steep green valley. Shi Manu's attack on Tianju Mountain was fake, and his intention was to lead Qin Jixun to lead his troops out of the city. As long as we can severely defeat the Yongzhou army, Tianju Mountain will be in our pocket.
"Are you sure that the bird path on Tianju Mountain, which provided the two sections for the Yongzhou army to advance and retreat, was destroyed by our warriors?" Shi Monu's face was tense, his sharp eyes always observing the situation below.
"Yes, the bird path was hanging on the cliff and had been in disrepair for a long time. The warriors of the scout camp used iron chains to climb up before dawn. When the Qi people found them, it was too late. Our warriors braved the rain of arrows and although they lost many people, they still destroyed their bird path and trapped those damn Qi people on the cliff."
There were more than a hundred warriors in the scout camp sent by Nielingu, but only a dozen who were watching from below survived.
"If Qin Jixun dares to come,"
Shi Manu's cheeks were covered with stubble and he said, "I'm going to kill him today and then cut off the heads of the Qi defenders in Tianju Mountain to bury with the warriors in the scout camp!"
The blazing sunlight illuminated the lush green valley. In the distance, the mountains shrouded in mist were dotted with unmelted snow. The Hu soldiers, wearing pitch-black armor, used the rugged terrain above the valley to shield their bodies, staring motionlessly at the narrow path below.
The wind was whistling, and the Hu soldiers vaguely heard some noises. The soldiers holding bows and crossbows immediately became alert, with poisoned arrows against the bowstrings. Their bodies tensed up at the same time, like leopards lying in wait for their prey to appear, and they would pounce on it without hesitation to tear its flesh and blood.
The most prominent rugged mountain wall below blocked Nelingu's view. He stared closely and heard the sound of horse hooves getting closer, but the sound seemed very faint.
That's not the movement of an army.
Soon, Nieringu saw them bypassing the protruding stone wall and heading towards the narrow path in the valley. There were only about twenty people. They walked slowly after entering the narrow path and looked around. Seeing this, Nieringu immediately said to Shi Manu beside him, "General, they are scouts of the Yongzhou Army. It seems that they are here to explore whether there is an ambush in Qiaoqing Valley."
Shi Monu did not say anything, but just stared at the small group of Qi scouts below. Qin Jixun's army had not yet fallen into the trap, so he naturally could not kill these people first.
The Hu soldiers lay in wait patiently, watching the Qi scouts as they explored and rode towards the end of the winding narrow path.
After they have explored this section of the road, they will return to report to Qin Jixun.
Shi Manu watched their figures disappear into the winding path. After a moment, his expression froze, "Not good."
"General!"
A Hu scout came running over, panting. "They didn't even look back! As soon as they got out of the Qiaoqing Valley, they suddenly started riding their horses at full speed!"
Shi Manu stood up, "Nerlingu! Send someone to stop them for me!"
"yes!"
Nielingu received the order and immediately arranged for the cavalry to pursue.
But before long, Nelingu returned to Shi Manu and heard a noise. They looked up and saw arrows rising into the sky in the distance.
Shi Manu's face was gloomy, "Cunning Qi people!"
When the Qi scouts run to the vicinity of Tianju Mountain, they will see that his army is not there. At this time, when the whistling arrows are fired, Qin Jixun will know that there is a trick.
They shouldn't have let those damn Qi people pass!
"General, aren't they afraid that we will really attack Tianju Mountain? If we lose Tianju Mountain, Yongzhou City will be an isolated city!"
Nielingu said, "Before the Qi emperor can send reinforcements, the morale of the soldiers in Yongzhou City will be in chaos! If you can capture Tianju Mountain, it will be a great achievement!"
As Nielingu said, Qin Jixun was now in a dilemma. Even if his scouts sent out whistling arrows, what would it matter? Even if they knew that something was wrong in Qiaoqing Valley, what would it matter? If Qin Jixun did not come, Shi Manu could go straight to Tianju Mountain. For Shi Manu, this was never a losing deal.
Suddenly, a bird's cry sounded long and distant in the valley. Shi Manu was about to give an order, but when he looked up, he saw his falcon spreading its wings and flying towards him.
He spread his arms and the falcon landed on his elbow.
Shi Manu took off the copper tube from the falcon, pulled out a piece of paper and unfolded it. There were a few Danqiu characters on it. Shi Manu took a look and then his face changed. " Qin Jixun went to our base!"
Nielingu was shocked: "What?!"
Qin Jixun was puzzled as to why the defenders of Tianju Mountain were trapped, but went straight to Shimonu's base. Nielingu immediately realized that Qin Jixun was going for their food and supplies!
"Good job Qin Jixun! I've been looking forward to these cowardly Qi people coming out to fight. This is perfect!" Shi Monu said gritting his teeth.
Nielingu's nephew stayed behind in the garrison, but if the Qi army came out in full force, his nephew would be unable to withstand it. It was not easy for them to cross the Ru Mountain to get here, and food and grass were the lifeblood of the army. If the food and grass were cut off, how could they fight with the Yongzhou army until the reinforcements from the Nanyan tribe arrived?
Tianju Mountain could not be attacked for the time being, so Shi Monu led his troops straight to the garrison without hesitation.
Almost immediately after the scouts sent by Saso, the nephew of Nielingu, discovered that the Yongzhou army was heading straight for the garrison, Saso released the falcon, and Wei Dechang led his troops to break through the barricades. The Qi soldiers holding the Shenbi crossbows charged in the front, and behind them, the archers on horseback fired flaming arrows in an orderly manner.
"Warriors of Danqiu, kill these Qi people!" Sasuo immediately commanded the Hu soldiers to form a battle formation, some holding golden swords, some holding spears, with cavalry in front and infantry behind, following Sasuo and rushing towards the Yongzhou army.
The two sides fought, flesh and blood flew everywhere, and the deafening roars and the sound of horses' hooves were continuous. The Hu cavalry bravely broke through the formation of the Yongzhou army, and with the absolute advantage of their elite cavalry that had experienced hundreds of battles, they launched a fierce attack on the Yongzhou army.
The city of Yongzhou seemed very quiet at this time. Qin Jixun was wearing armor, with his hands on his knees, looking very tense. Ni Su was lying on the felt carpet. She was obviously very sleepy but couldn't fall asleep. She originally thought that he was going to leave the city, but she didn't expect that he and Qin Jixun quickly made a battle plan in this simple felt tent, changing the original plan to reinforce Tianju Mountain and instead launched a surprise attack on Shi Monu's base.
The originally passive situation has now been turned into an active attack by him.
"Mr. Ni, I really don't feel like playing this game anymore." Shen Tongchuan was so anxious that he couldn't even bear to look at the chessboard. He held a chess piece in his hand and never put it on the board.
The felt tent was opened, and the sunlight filled the entire tent. Xu Hexue looked outside and estimated the time in his mind. Qin Jixun also calculated in his mind and then stared at Xu Hexue, "It's time."
"Duan Rong! Send the scouts out of the city to fire arrows at Commanders Wei and Yang!"
Qin Jixun immediately got up and went out.
The gates of Yongzhou opened and closed, and scouts rode out of the city on horseback, galloping to the vicinity of the Hu people's camp and immediately fired whistling arrows. Wei Dechang, who was fighting with the Hu people on the battlefield, looked up across the crowd and Yang Tianzhe, who was supervising the battle in the rear, looked up almost at the same time, and then their eyes met.
"Shi Manu came back so quickly! Brother, he must have noticed our intention a long time ago!" Wei Dechang pretended to be shocked.
Yang Tianzhe said in a rough voice, "Oh no! We've fallen into a trap! You and I are both here, Shi Manu will definitely take this opportunity to capture Yongzhou City! Dechang, let's retreat quickly!"
The flags of the Yongzhou Army embroidered with the words "Qin" and "Wei" were blown wildly by the wind. Sasso squinted his eyes in the dust and looked at the man wearing general armor and holding a pine-patterned sword, who was surrounded by a group of soldiers in the back.
Sasuo was stationed here and had never participated in the siege. He didn't know what Qin Jixun looked like, but he knew the pine-patterned sword that was personally bestowed upon him by the Emperor of Qi.
That should be Qin Jixun.
"But brother! We don't have enough food in the city! So many soldiers are starving and can't even hold their weapons. If not, why would you and I risk losing Tianju Mountain to come here to grab food!"
Wei Dechang refused to retreat. While he was killing the Hu cavalry, he said, "Without food, we will die anyway. Brother, you should go back to Yongzhou City and take charge of the situation first! Otherwise, there will be chaos in the city!"
"Wei Dechang! Follow my orders, retreat!"
Yang Tianzhe shouted angrily.
Even if Wei Dechang was unwilling, he had to obey the military order. Seeing the two Qi commanders in Yongzhou City retreating, Sasuo said without thinking, "Warriors, chase!"
If Sasuo could trap the two main generals of Yongzhou City here, the defenders of Yongzhou City would surely be in a panic. Then General Shi Monu would take the opportunity to attack the city. Wouldn't that be twice the result with half the effort?
The more he thought about it, the more relentless Sasso pursued him.
Passing through the poplar forest, his horse's hooves trampling the loose yellow soil, Sasuo was almost bloodthirsty, the golden knife in his hand was stained with blood. He was about to launch another attack on the rear of the Qi army. Suddenly, the war horse raised its hooves, neighed sharply, and its body tilted. Many Hu cavalrymen fell heavily from the horse's back.
The moment Sasso fell to the ground sideways, his arm was deeply pierced by a sharp object. He felt pain and immediately pulled it out. Blood flowed all over his hand. He looked at the caltrop with a grim face.
Under the loose dust, the slack ropes were exposed once they were tightened. The ropes were tied with densely packed caltrops, and even sharp axes, swords and spears.
The war horses fell to the ground and could not get up. The Qi soldiers who had been hiding on the hill for a long time rushed down shouting and surrounded Sasuo and his Hu soldiers.
Sasso stood up with a roar and ran towards Wei Dechang.
At this time, Yang Tianzhe looked at Wei Dechang, nodded, and immediately divided his troops and turned back to the Hu people's camp.
The felt tents at the Hu people's camp were set on fire by arrows soaked in flaming oil. When Saso was fighting with Wei Dechang, he looked back and saw the fire from afar. He was distracted and was immediately stabbed in the chest by Wei Dechang.
Sasso fell in a pool of blood with his eyes out of focus.
Wei Dechang immediately took out the Danqiu script note he had written in advance, leaned over to get some blood on Sasso, called someone to bring the Hu people's falcon slave over, and pressed a knife to his neck: "Either I dig out your eyes, or you let your hunting falcon go!"
Upon seeing this, the Qi scout who was watching the battle immediately rode back to the Yongzhou city gate and fired another whistling arrow from horseback.
"General, Master Ni! The arrows are firing!"
Duan Rong immediately walked into the felt tent.
"General Qin, prepare your troops for battle."
The slightly white hot mist rose from the tea bowl, and Xu Hexue raised his eyes slightly.
When Shi Monu approached the Agate Lake, he saw from afar what seemed to be continuous flames at the end of the Populus euphratica forest. In the sharp wind, he seemed to hear earth-shaking roars and the flags of "Qin" and "Wei" fluttering back and forth.
The hunting falcon swooped down, and Nieringu immediately caught it, took off the copper tube, and unfolded the blood-stained note - "Wei is here, Yongzhou City has no food."
"General! It seems that Wei Dechang has burned our food supplies!" Nelingu couldn't help but worry about his nephew Saso.
"We cut off Yongzhou City's food supply, and they really can't hold back," Shi Manu looked at the faintly flickering fire and immediately ordered, "Nie Lingu, you and I will split up into two groups. You go rescue Sa Suo and kill Wei Dechang! I will take advantage of their weak defense and attack the city!"
"yes!"
Nielingu immediately accepted the order.
Shi Manu led his troops to the gate of Yongzhou City and saw that the horsemen on the tower were less guarded. He shouted on horseback: "Qin Jixun! If you don't come out and fight me, I will kill your brother Wei Dechang immediately!"
When the horn sounded, the Qi soldiers on the city wall ran back and forth, looking scattered and panic-stricken.
"Sure enough, it was Shi Manu who came to attack the city."
Shen Tongchuan was horrified. On the day when Song Song was killed, he had seen the skills of this Master Ni on the battlefield. However, he did not expect that this man could also make plans and make no mistakes outside the battlefield.
The one who came to attack the city was Shi Monu, which meant that the soldiers he led were the elite among the elite. The burned food and grass aroused his boundless anger, and he no longer had the attitude of attacking or not attacking Yongzhou City, which had "loose defense". He suffered such humiliation and was eager to reclaim this isolated city.
"A portion of the city's firearms have been handed over to Commander Wei,"
Xu Hexue looked calm, "As long as we can hold back Shi Manu, Commander Wei and Commander Yang will be able to resist a Nierlingu and return safely."
"good!"
Qin Jixun was in high spirits. As long as he could survive today, Shi Monu, without food and grass, would be like a grasshopper in autumn.
Shen Tongchuan followed Qin Jixun out of the tent first. Ni Su and Xu Hexue stood up almost at the same time. She met his gaze and said, "It's time to boil the medicine. I have to go. You should go too."
The two separated under the city wall. Ni Su watched Xu Hexue walk up the stone steps, then she rolled up her sleeves and asked Madam Zhong to bring the medicinal herbs in the bamboo sieve.
The Hu people's catapults kept throwing stones at the city wall, and the monks of Qingyuan Temple were also on the city wall directing the soldiers to throw stones down. The city gate slowly opened, and Qin Jixun and Duan Rong rode on horseback and led the Yongzhou army to rush out.
The gates closed, and the two armies deployed their battle formations on the wide plain. The flashes of golden swords and silver intertwined, the infantry were in front, the cavalry were behind, and arrows flew back and forth like a dense net.
Shi Manu was not a fool. The chariot formation that Wei Dechang had used before was no longer as effective against him. He piled up his infantry densely in front, making it almost impossible for the chariot formation to maintain a smooth formation. Under the cover of the Hu archers, the cavalry holding golden swords immediately rushed up and broke through the chariot formation.
Qin Jixun calmly commanded the Yongzhou army to form a new formation, with the infantry on both wings holding up shields to protect the crossbow carts in the rear to ensure that arrows continued to be fired, and then the cavalry in the center fought against the Hu cavalry, trying to tear open a gap in the Hu center.
From the blazing sunlight to the sunset burning the entire sky above the plain, the sound of firearms exploding continued to be heard in the distance, and black smoke slowly rose.
Shi Monu was protected in the middle by his personal soldiers. He watched the young captain beside Qin Jixun rush out and cut the neck of a Hu soldier, blood spurting out. Shi Monu looked back into the distance, becoming anxious. He immediately rode forward, raised his golden knife, and slashed at Duan Rong.
Duan Rong hurriedly blocked his blade, but he was unprepared for Shi Manu's great strength, which made his wrists tremble and one knee hit the ground heavily.
Shi Manu's moves were extremely ferocious. Duan Rong took a few moves and felt a little tired. He had no choice but to stagger back a few steps, but Shi Manu did not give him a chance to breathe. He swung his knife with a cold light, leaving a deep bloody wound on Duan Rong's arm. He was about to chop again, but Qin Jixun killed several Hu cavalrymen off their horses. Seeing this, he immediately leaped forward and blocked Shi Manu's knife.
The Hu cavalry is much stronger than the Qi cavalry. If they continue to fight like this, the Yongzhou army may not necessarily lose, but they will lose a lot of money in vain. Xu Hexue stood on the city wall and said to Shen Tongchuan: "Shen Zhizhou, it's enough."
Shen Tongchuan immediately gave orders to the soldiers around him.
The sound of war drums became more intense, and Qin Jixun below immediately shouted: "Retreat!"
The city gate opened in response, and the Qi defenders who were on the tower were few and far between. Shi Manu saw Qin Jixun leading the troops to retreat, and immediately ordered: "Charge for me!"
The Hu cavalry gathered in the chaotic Yongzhou army like a black cloud, fighting each other while rushing into the city gate with unstoppable force.
They rushed in, only to find that inside the city gate, another gate had been built without them noticing, and surrounded by enemies on all sides. The leading Hu captain's face changed drastically: "Oh no, we've fallen into a trap!"
However, it was too late. Inside the city, thousands of arrows were fired from the inner city wall, piercing their chests. The war horses neighed continuously, and the Hu army behind them did not dare to rush in again.
"withdraw!"
Shi Manu made a prompt decision and turned his horse around.
Shen Tongchuan just breathed a sigh of relief, but he didn't expect Xu Hexue beside him to suddenly reach out and pull out the sword he was holding for self-defense, leaving only the scabbard in his hand. Before Shen Tongchuan could shout out, he saw the person next to him holding a sword and jumping down with the climbing rope set up by the Hu people.
"Mr. Ni!"
Shen Tongchuan stretched his neck .
Xu Hexue put his feet on the city wall and used the rope to quickly go down. Before the city gate was closed, Qin Jixun looked back and saw this, and immediately shouted: "Duan Rong!"
The Yongzhou army, which had originally retreated into the city wall and entered the inner city gate, rushed out again.
Amidst the chaos, Xu Hexue stepped on the shoulders of the Hu soldiers and rushed towards Shi Monu with his sword. When Shi Monu turned around, he immediately resisted with his golden sword.
The wind was howling, and Shi Manu met the cold eyes of the young man with his face covered by a long scarf.
Qin Jixun came on horseback at full speed and fought with Shi Manu's personal soldiers. Xu Hexue pierced the abdomen of a nearby Hu cavalryman with a sword, then fell on his horse's back and fought with Shi Manu on horseback.
Shi Monu was used to holding a knife, and his moves were extremely powerful. Xu Hexue's sword moves were flexible and swift. He dodged his horizontal slash, spun around, and landed behind Shi Monu.
Shi Monu suddenly felt a chill on his back. He immediately turned around, raised his golden sword high, and slashed at him.
……"bass".
Swords clashed.
Xu Hexue fell back on the original horse again. Shi Manu saw that his clothes were stained with blood and couldn't help but glance at his golden sword.
When did he hurt this person?
Before he could think too much, he saw the young Qi man with his face covered raising his sword towards him again. His expression started to tremble, and he immediately went forward, but he was unexpectedly hit hard on the palm of his hand by the hilt of the sword.
He felt pain and nearly fainted.
At this time, Xu Hexue stood up, and the cold silver-white blade flashed, colliding with Shi Manu's golden knife. He turned his wrist, and the sword tip circled around the golden knife. At the closest distance to Shi Manu's waist, he seized this opportunity almost accurately.
The sword rubbed against the golden knife, producing a sharp sound and very light sparks.
Shi Manu opened his eyes wide, then realized what was happening. He looked down and saw that the sword had pierced his waist and blood was flowing.
He raised his head again.
In the afterglow of the setting sun, he saw the hand of the man in front of him holding the sword, and his sleeves fell back, revealing one hideous bloody wound after another.
A bright red drop of blood hung at the bottom of his pale wrist, about to fall.
