Before the heavy rain washes away the tattered and broken Guan Jin thread, it is filled with a strong smell of blood.
Tens of thousands of wounded soldiers stood guard on their warhorses, waiting for the order to mount and gallop towards headquarters.
The night was deep, and the sky was as black as ink.
Those who choose night battles want to take advantage of the limited visibility to launch surprise attacks, but this limitation also blinds them.
For example, right now, although they are clearly wounded soldiers, in the eyes of the Tartars they are the Jiang family army of the headquarters.
Jiang Chengyuan withdrew his gaze and looked up at the sky again.
Night battles are not necessarily better the darker it is. In a pitch-black environment, it is difficult to distinguish friend from foe, make it harder to assess the situation, and make it difficult to give orders.
Only when the full moon hangs high in the sky is the true moment of charge.
As the dark clouds gradually dispersed, light rose all around, and one could vaguely see the "wounded" soldiers lying haphazardly on the ground, as well as the "exhausted" comrades resting with their eyes closed.
By calculation, the wounded soldiers who returned to headquarters had gone far away, so far that they could no longer hear the sounds of fighting on the Guan-Jin line.
Jiang Chengyuan bent down to listen to the vibrations, then stood up after a moment. "It's here."
Countless Tartar troops, with their iron hooves pounding the ground, surrounded the Guanjin Line in an instant.
The most valiant Anda cavalry charged in, determined to crush the wounded soldiers on the ground and shatter the bones of the Dayu Dynasty's warriors as quickly as possible.
If it weren't Jiang's army lying in ambush here, and if no one had anticipated this surprise attack, the entire Guanjin Line would have been completely annihilated, with 100,000 troops wiped out, causing incalculable losses.
The Tartars probably anticipated a great victory, and their faces were filled with light smiles as they gazed towards the Central Plains, a land rich in grain, their eyes revealing undisguised greed and longing.
It was at this moment.
In the blink of an eye, the wounded soldiers, lying scattered about, leaped to their feet, drew their hidden swords with deadly speed, and slashed at the enemy.
The Tartar horses were startled, neighing and rearing up.
The exhausted soldiers stood up, took out iron caltrops from their pockets, and threw them with remarkable accuracy under the horses' hooves.
The horse had just recovered from its shock and put its hooves down when it was struck by indescribable pain again, and could only neigh and hoof again, or fall down in agony.
Since the soldiers of Dayu were lying in ambush, they couldn't just sit on horseback and fight. Infantry had an insurmountable disadvantage against cavalry, so they could only outmaneuver them and not launch a direct attack.
Barbed caltrops are the bane of horses and an excellent weapon against cavalry.
The advantage is that it can force the Tartars to change from cavalry to infantry, and even make them fall and become dizzy.
The downside is that the caltrops can injure both horses and soldiers. If the soldiers of Dayu stepped on them, they would have to fight while grimacing and wincing.
Knives and swords clashed, and spears and lances parried back and forth.
National hatred, family feuds, personal grudges, and public resentments erupted to their peak at this moment.
Everyone was red-eyed, roaring and raging, venting their anger as they plunged their blades into the enemy's body, then fell with their arms outstretched.
Jiang Chengyuan, as a rising star, resolutely took over his father's position and mastered the Jiang family's swordsmanship to its fullest extent.
Blood, blood everywhere.
On hands, on body, on face.
Enemy's, compatriot's, and one's own.
Some fought until they were exhausted, but still wanted to take one more life.
Some people collapsed helplessly, their eyes still brimming with resentment.
Jiang Chengyuan had lost count of how many Tartars he had killed. Blood blossomed before his eyes, turning his vision crimson. He suddenly recalled the carefree days of fanning himself with a fan, those absurd years, the self-important young masters of Fengjing, and his two younger sisters.
She used to feel sad about the real and fake heiresses, struggled between her two younger sisters, avoided each other because of their long-standing relationship, and always missed opportunities after realizing it.
It wasn't until he rushed to this battlefield and saw countless children who had lost their homes and soldiers who had fallen on the battlefield that he realized how insignificant the things he had been struggling with were.
The world is never just about the peaceful and idyllic life of Fengjing; there are countless visible and invisible shadows that breed in different corners.
When you are only as tall as your thumb, all you see is a world the size of your thumb.
Only by stepping outside the thumb's perspective and seeing more and farther things will one realize that the thumb's inner turmoil is merely the thumb's own trouble.
Even now, Jiang Chengyuan still feels saddened by Jiang Chenghuan's death and heartbroken for the suffering Jiang Sheng endured, but he has been able to calmly accept everything, including the joys and sorrows, the ups and downs of life.
His love extended from his family to his country; his wish was to expel the Tartars and defend the borders.
Just like now, stabbing an enemy in the chest with a knife, then kicking it away to block a spear attacking from behind.
"careful."
Two more spears came thrusting at them, clearly intending to capture the king first.
Someone used a long sword to push him aside, then joined the battle, wielding it back to back.
"Why did you come here?" Jiang Chengyuan asked in a loud voice. "Wouldn't it be better to stay at headquarters? If something happens to you, Jiang Kuai will be heartbroken."
"Wouldn't she be sad if something happened to you?" Fang Heng scoffed. "Don't tell me you didn't hear her call him 'brother'."
I heard it, how could I not have heard it?
Due to the critical military situation, he couldn't even dismount to respond, let alone reach out and embrace his sister, who had been absent from his life for thirteen years.
"As long as we're alive, why worry about not getting a response?" Fang Heng seemed to have guessed what he was thinking. "Don't blame me for not warning you, your sister is about to come of age, and there will definitely be some scoundrels trying to woo her. We have to keep an eye on things for her."
I wonder which young master from Fengjing dares to marry a girl whose seven elder brothers have been vetted.
Jiang Chengyuan burst into laughter through his tears, his vision growing increasingly blurry, yet his swordsmanship becoming ever more ferocious.
"Alright, then let's fight to the end, kill to the end, and return to Fengjing alive, alive... to see my sister."
The two were unstoppable, facing each other back to back, and wherever they went, the Tartars could not escape their fate.
As more and more people fell, the Tartars surrounding the Guanjin Line realized something was wrong.
Originally, they sent in vanguards to crush the enemy, but they encountered horses neighing and screams, and their vision was obstructed, so they had to send sentries to investigate.
However, the soldiers of Dayu were prepared. They killed one sentry when one came, and killed two sentries when two came.
After three sentries failed to return, Prince Anda finally realized something was wrong, quickly called a halt to the attack, and used whistles to signal his intention to retreat.
But my vast land is not a place you can come and go as you please.
"My comrades, the Tartars are retreating! Kill them!" Jiang Chengyuan shouted, raising his long sword. "Slay all the Tartars and avenge our people on the frontier!"
"Avenge our people on the frontier!" Fang Heng shouted in response.
Those who lay in ambush are in high spirits, and those who are ambushed are bound to be defeated.
As more and more of our compatriots fall, the scene from the daytime is repeated.
However, the daytime was a bloody battle, while the nighttime was a complete victory.
Tens of thousands of Jiang family troops pressed their advantage and forced the Tartars to the city gates, where they regrouped with the besieging army and barely managed to calm their panic.
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