Chapter 126 Hu Dong, you've sent the Princess back with all that smoke. ...
The snowstorm has stopped.
Bloodstains clung to the icicles atop Yunya Military Town, and rust-red hues seeped into the pale snow to the north of the city walls. Sunlight slanted across the snowfield, revealing frozen military flags and broken halberds scattered across the ground.
Chen Liangyu placed a blood-soaked figure under the Yunya City tower.
The man was one of Helian Wei's subordinates, who risked his life to break through the siege and join forces with the Longxiang Army, personally commanded by Zhai Ji, to seek reinforcements. Chen Liangyu mobilized the Youzhou garrison to surround Yunya on three sides, turning it into an isolated island. Helian Wei sent out more than a dozen elite guards to break through, but they were all ambushed and killed.
I've lost count of which batch this is.
The assassin, held captive by Chen Liangyu beneath the city walls, had his left arm severed at the shoulder; the hastily bandaged wound was still bleeding, and his face was ashen, like that of a dead man. Following him, more men dressed in Yong army uniforms were brought in, knives held to their necks, and forced to kneel in a row.
The men were all Helian Wei's personal guards.
Helian Wei did not move.
At mealtime, the cooks lit fires to cook the rice. The sheep driven from the Thousand Horse Plain pasture were slaughtered on the spot, and a table of roasted mutton was placed next to the captured assassins.
The soldiers guarding Yunya City lowered their chins, their eyes darting around, staring intently at the table of meat. Yunya had been without food for many days, and the soldiers inside the city were eating snow and clods of dirt to stave off hunger, fighting tooth and nail for the meager scraps of food that Chen Liangyu was throwing to him.
Chen Liangyu cut off a piece of meat and put it in his mouth. He bent his long leg and stepped onto the corner of the table with his military boot. "Helian Wei, open the city gates and surrender. They still have a chance to live!"
No one answered her from the city wall.
Chen Liangyu drew his short knife, severed a lamb leg, and threw a piece among the row of kneeling Northern Yong assassins. It rolled right to the leg of the man with the severed arm. Blood dripped from the tattered cloth on his shoulder onto the flesh.
The man closed his eyes, but his throat kept bobbing.
Chen Liangyu said, "If you surrender now, I will still have good wine and meat to entertain you. After today, there will not be such a good opportunity."
Zhai Ji's main force assembled at Jingzhe Lake. Jingming requested reinforcements. Chen Liangyu had already decided to leave Youzhou Sima Chai Chong and Yue Zhengyang to defend Yunya. She led her army to attack the east of the lake, cutting off Zhai Ji's route.
The knees of Yongjun's suicide squad were bleeding from kneeling, yet no one came to their aid.
Chen Liangyu threw the cleaned sheep bones into the fire and casually wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
The sparks from the smashed sheep bone irritated those people.
The first to jump up was a hothead. He lunged forward and reached out to snatch the piece of cooked mutton, but was held down firmly by another hand.
Everyone was wrestling, but the man with the severed arm remained unmoved. Someone bit down hard on one end of the meat, dragging him across the snow and drawing blood. Amidst the tearing sounds, the hothead seized the opportunity and stuffed the blood-stained lamb leg into his mouth.
Helian Wei narrowed his eyes and suddenly snatched the horn bow from the personal guard beside him.
Before the hothead could even swallow the mutton, he was pinned to the ground beneath the city wall by a piercing arrow. Then several more arrows came from the city wall, and the man with the severed arm fell in various poses.
Chen Liangyu looked up at the watchtower.
Helian Wei's gaze first fell on the breastplate on Chen Liangyu's chest, where an arrow was already pointed at her. Then his eyes lingered on her face, which was blackened by the flames of war but still sharp.
Her eyebrow was severed by an arrow wound and had scabbed over.
The cold light of the sun, gleaming like gold, slanted down from above. Chen Liangyu's sharp brows resembled the beak of a bent eagle, and his gaze sharpened. The short arrow fired from his crossbow snapped Helian Wei's arrow in mid-air.
***
As the morning bell rang, the north gate of Yongdu burst open, and bright yellow banners led the way through the passageway beneath the gate plaque.
A grand procession of carriages and horses set off northward from the city gate.
The Changning Guard cavalry led the way, all clad in black chainmail. Xie Wenjun's four-horse carriage traveled in the middle of the Changning Guard, followed by dozens of carriages loaded with rewards, and at the very end were grain carts and the infantry and laborers responsible for escorting them.
There is a special official road from Yongdu to the northern border. It is a straight road built during the reign of Emperor Xuanyuan to facilitate the dispatch of troops and provisions to the northern border. It is almost a straight line. Normally, it would not take more than a few days to travel along this road, but Xie Wenjun also needs to dispatch military provisions from other prefectures and counties, so he has to stop and take many detours along the way.
The scouts arrived at the northern border some time ago via the straight road, first delivering the princess's decree to reward the army.
Chen Liangyu wandered back and forth in various places and terrains around Yunya and Jingzhe Lake, her whereabouts uncertain. Scouts accompanied the army for two days, circling through the snow, mountains, and lakes, before finally spotting her.
Chen Liangyu crawled and rolled out of the mud that was up to his calves, wiping away the dirty water and mud that had covered his eyes.
Once the snow melts, the muddy water along the shore of Jingzhe Lake is knee-deep, making it difficult to walk and every step is extremely difficult. Yongjun has buried bait mines under the ice of Jingzhe Lake. The snow on the ice surface has not yet melted, and underneath are sharp wooden stakes and poisoned bait, making it difficult to cross Jingzhe Lake for the time being.
The air east of the lake is thick with moisture, and everywhere you can only see less than ten steps into the white sky. Soldiers wearing white linen are setting up fake camps by planting flags to lure the enemy.
Lin Yin followed behind Chen Liangyu, his white linen clothes equally filthy. "Commander, you haven't taken a bath in a month or two. If you can't take it, I'll chisel a hole in the ice and you go down and soak in the water. You smell terrible! The Princess has come all the way from Yongdu, and it's not easy for her. If you keep fuming her, she'll smell like that again."
"If you don't shut your mouth, I'll sew it shut for you."
"You're the kind of person who can't stand hearing honest but unpleasant advice."
"Go do something."
Chen Liangyu lowered his head and sniffed the eagle-head armor on his shoulder, then raised his arm and sniffed his sleeve.
What's wrong with the taste? It has no taste.
Fragrant.
To be honest, she couldn't smell anything on herself anymore, so she just pretended not to smell anything.
Lin Yin took a few steps forward, stretched his shoulders and arms, then turned back to Chen Liangyu and said, "Commander, Bu Ping'er has recovered enough after so long. We still have to fight this battle, so why don't we summon her over?"
Chen Liangyu noticed that she seemed to have discomfort in her left shoulder blade. "Are you unwell? Are you injured?"
Lin Yin said, "No, I just feel that having more people means having more help. Besides, I broke through the thirty military formations of Qilian Road with Ping'er. With her there, it will be easier for me to break through the formations."
Just then, a group of people emerged from the white mist.
Jingming dismounted and, hearing their conversation, said, "An army cannot have two generals. If she comes, which of you will be the commander of the Yunhui Army?"
Lin Yin said, "Ping'er was originally the commander of the Yunhui Army. I only took over because she was injured. Now that she has come, I should return the position of commander."
Lin Yin was somewhat taken aback by Jingming's question.
She never even considered competing with Bu Ping'er for the position of commander.
“I came to join the army not to seek merit, but because I heard someone say that they wanted to find a way out for women all over the world, so I came.”
Jingming said, "Such lofty aspirations!"
Lin Yin retorted, "Who's like you? You're too calculating."
Chen Liangyu interrupted the two of them, asking, "Jingming, is the straw dragon finished?"
"alright."
Several rough rope mats woven from cowhide and reeds were laid on the muddy road, allowing cavalry and warhorses to gallop and maneuver to the rear of the lake, where Zhai Ji's right wing army was stationed.
The sun pierced through the clouds, and a breeze rose around the lake, gradually dispersing the fog.
A small group of men circled around to the west of Jingzhe Lake. Due to the thin ice layer caused by the undercurrents on the west bank, the Yong army did not focus on controlling it, and the number of troops left behind was weak.
The two men from the squad returned shortly afterward and reported, "Commander, it's an empty camp."
Chen Liangyu thought to herself that she and Zhai Ji had planned the same thing, both leaving a fake camp for each other.
"A feigned attack to lure the Yong army into dividing their forces to return to their defenses."
"yes."
The military flag with eagle and cloud patterns was planted in a concealed place, but it was still spotted by the Yong army scouts. Before long, the left vanguard of the Yong army's right flank garrison arrived.
"Lin Yin, break the formation!"
"Okay."
The Yong army's vanguard was like a sharp cone, launching a swift and fierce attack, but its flank defenses were weak. Lin Yin ordered his crossbowmen to form a crossbow formation and attack the center, while his spearmen, wielding halberds, attacked from both sides, throwing the Yong army's formation into disarray. Lin Yin did not engage them for long; once countered, he led his troops to withdraw from the decoy camp. This convinced them that the place where the flags were planted was Chen Liangyu's actual camp.
Jingming had already drilled holes in the grassland and ice and buried barbed iron hooks.
When half of the Yong army's pursuers had passed, the ambushers suddenly pulled the winch, and the barbed hooks that secured the leather ropes sprang out from under the mud, entangled the horses' legs. In the chaos, the Yong army had no choice but to cut the leather ropes with their swords. In the blink of an eye, the entire army that had just fought was covered in white linen and disappeared into the vast snowfield.
Seeing that no one was around, Yongjun realized something was amiss and hastily retreated.
The Eagle Head Army sped across the lake along the laid-out grass dragon, cutting off their retreat.
Crossbow formations appeared once again in the snow.
Lin Yin waved his battle flag, and a thousand crossbows were drawn, unleashing a volley of arrows. The dense barrage of arrows forced the Yong army into Jingzhe Lake, where their warhorses were instantly trapped in a honeycomb of sharp wooden stakes. Their hooves were not clothed for slip prevention, and the horses had mistakenly ingested poisoned bait. After foaming at the mouth, they began to frantically bite their own kind. In their agonizing writhing, wooden stakes emerged from under the ice, piercing the horses' bellies. Before the fallen riders could even cry out, a second row of stakes pierced their ribs from the side, making them appear as if nailed to the ice.
The warhorses went berserk, trampling the ice until it exploded, causing the ice layer on the lake to collapse and become sharp icicles. The Yong soldiers and their horses plunged into the icy abyss.
The main force of the Yong army's right wing was defeated in a trap they themselves had set.
Chen Liangyu said, "Jingming, lead five hundred Eagle Head Soldiers and take care of the rest."
The rest were a small group of about a thousand people who had been lured to the west bank to defend when Chen Liangyu ordered a feigned attack on the empty camp west of the lake.
"Your subordinate obeys!"
Some of the Yong army's right flank remained in their positions, and Chen Liangyu intended to wipe them out in one fell swoop. Strangely, the right flank was of great importance to the Yong army, and after Chen Liangyu captured the original right flank garrison, Zhai Ji did not send troops to reinforce it for a long time.
Zhai Ji bypassed Yaocheng, a no-man's-land, and launched a surprise attack on Qianjiyuan Ranch, looting cattle, sheep, and horses belonging to the military forces of Suzhou and Wuzhou.
Chen Liangyu: "Shameless!"
Currently, Chen Liangyu and Yongjun's main forces are concentrated in Yunya and Hudong. The longer the situation lasts, the more crucial it will be to ensure the stability of the rear supply lines and reinforcements.
Zhai Ji lost nearly 20,000 troops on his right flank, while Chen Liangyu lost nearly 10,000 troops and supplies.
"Zhai Jizhen is shameless!"
There are villages along the shores of Jingzhe Lake, a few small, undeveloped villages, but none of them have a large population.
Chen Liangyu brought the telescope.
Lin Yin asked, "What are you looking at?"
In military battles, there is a long-standing custom that "if the army enters a civilian's home, killing them is not a crime." Not harming civilians was the only tacit understanding between Chen Liangyu and Zhai Ji.
What's in that village?
Chen Liangyu said, "Zhai Ji has left 20,000 troops here, and there are no granaries nearby. Where do you think the food for these 20,000 men will come from?"
The Eagle Head Army launched a surprise attack on a village by Jingzhe Lake. The villagers were indeed armed Yong soldiers in disguise. This place was a hidden granary of Northern Yong. Opening the water cellar revealed it was full of frozen fish.
Chen Liangyu frowned and said, "This general hates eating fish the most."
It has little meat, many bones, and it pricks your mouth.
Lin Yin said, "Ping'er likes to eat fish; she's from the South."
Reminded by Lin Yin, Chen Liangyu remembered that Lin Yin had earlier requested that Bu Ping'er be sent over, "to send someone back to Dingbei City to see if her injuries have healed."
Once he recovered from his injury and got back to work, he was short-handed.
Lin Yin said, "Yes."
Zhai Ji drove his herd of cattle, horses, and sheep back laden with their spoils. The next moment, he learned that the entire right-wing garrison of Jingzhe Lake had been wiped out, and the ice cellars where the grain was stored had been dug up by Chen Liangyu.
Zhai Ji gritted his teeth: "Shameless!"
The price of Chen Liangyu's head has skyrocketed in the Northern Yong army, rising from "a marquis title and a thousand taels of gold" to "a king title and a mansion, and ten thousand taels of gold".
The round thing above Chen Liangyu's neck became increasingly shiny.
"Chen Liangyu is utterly shameless!"
That night, Yong's army launched a counterattack on Yunya, catching Youzhou Sima Chai Chong off guard.
Chen Liangyu's mind was on the grain route in Hu County, Beiyong Mountain.
At the moment, she couldn't distinguish whether to send troops to cut off Bei Yong's supply lines via a longer route, so she could only ask for reinforcements. Judging by the days, the reinforcements she brought should arrive in the next couple of days.
With another quick calculation, Xie Wenjun's carriages should be arriving in Suzhou soon.
She needed to take care of these chores as soon as possible, otherwise she wouldn't even have time to entertain Xie Wenjun when she arrived. This was a situation she absolutely did not want to see.
A note from the author:
Thank you for reading this far!
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