Behind Yuezhou is Dongting Lake, which has long been occupied by Bian's army, with 20,000 Bian troops stationed there. Behind Dongting Lake is Tanzhou, and if Bian Chunliang wants to retreat to Tanzhou, he has to pass through Dongting Lake.
There is only one road for marching from Yuezhou to Dongting.
Li Xian had already deployed 40,000 troops on the side of this necessary road.
Naturally, such a movement could not be hidden from the eyes and ears of the Dongting Bian Army, but the situation is different from the past. More than half of the 100,000 troops in Yuezhou City have been infected with the disease, and the situation is critical as they have lost their advantages. The 20,000 Dongting Bian Army dare not act rashly and can only report the news to Bian Chunliang and wait for Bian Chunliang's instructions.
There are also about 20,000 Bian troops stationed in Tanzhou behind Dongting Lake. However, in order to support Yuezhou with food and wages, Tanzhou is also short of military rations. Many soldiers are ordered to urgently "collect" food and fodder everywhere. Currently, there are less than 10,000 troops available to provide support.
As for Hengzhou and Yongzhou further behind, each state also had about 20,000 Bian troops guarding the city, but it would take them at least seven days to organize their troops and rush to Dongting after receiving Bian Chunliang's order.
Bian Chunliang obviously couldn't wait that long. The longer he delayed, the more of his men would die. He didn't want to, was unwilling to, and believed that he shouldn't be trapped to death in Yuezhou City.
Li Xian knew clearly the current predicament of General Bian Chunliang and the available troops. Therefore, he had full confidence in his plan to kill Bian Chunliang.
In Li Xian's plan, the best outcome should have been that Bian Chunliang contracted the disease and died, but God was not on his side - but it didn't matter, because in this way, he would have the opportunity to kill Bian Chunliang with his own hands.
Bian Chunliang had less than 50,000 soldiers available, and most of them were weak soldiers who had not eaten for many days. However, he had an army of 120,000, all of whom were strong and powerful... Even though there were 20,000 Bian troops in Dongting to the rear to support Bian Chunliang, their morale was unstable and they were not to be feared at all.
He would never let Bian Chunliang have the chance to step into Dongting Lake alive!
Once Bian Chunliang died, the Bian army in the rear would naturally be defeated without a fight, and he could easily take back half of the cities in the western part of Jiangnan that were occupied by the Bian army!
By then, he would have achieved such a great success, so what would the small mistakes of tens of thousands of people in Yuezhou matter? Victory was won with the help of corpses. By using the insignificant civilians as the price, the Bian army could be weakened to such an extent that it would become a sick dog to be slaughtered, and the rebellion of the Bian army could be quelled at the lowest cost and at the fastest speed. Any wise person would know how to choose the pros and cons of this matter.
And his aunt has always been very wise. Without this wisdom, she would not have been where she is today.
Li Xian believed that he knew this better than anyone else about such matters. His aunt only cared about the outcome of winning or losing - especially in the current precarious situation. In his aunt's mind, the word "outcome" was destined to override everything else.
After this incident, even if Li Xian became infamous, what would it matter? He had made such great contributions, what could the so-called infamy do to him? It would only increase people's fear of him.
A bad reputation is also a reputation of prestige. Only the strong can be feared.
He had been patient for so long and listened to countless words of taunting him, but today was the day for him to completely crush all those foolish words!
Li Xian led his army out of the camp, the sound of horses' hooves urging him to win.
Li Xian imagined countless ways and situations of victory, and repeatedly explored the situation of the Bian army, but he missed only one thing - or rather, he underestimated the hatred of the dying people and the changes they might bring.
Bian Chunliang was never a man who would sit and wait for death, nor did he ever look at any war in a negative or pessimistic way.
Moreover, he is very clear about his own advantages. As he said before, he can get to where he is today by relying on the people's hearts.
The plague took away the sword in his hand and turned this place into purgatory. But Bian Chunliang saw the blazing fire from this purgatory and believed that this purgatory fire could help him forge another sharp sword -
This time he will use this sharp sword to carve out a way to survive.
After Bian Chunliang had ordered his less than 50,000 soldiers to leave, he donned his armor and climbed up the city wall of Yuezhou.
He couldn't lead those infected soldiers to break through, but he didn't intend to call it abandonment.
At this moment, the infected generals and soldiers were standing under the city wall, and the atmosphere of despair and uneasiness filled the air.
But what Bian Chunliang said next reversed the desperate atmosphere.
Bian Chunliang denounced the despicable behavior of the imperial army and the arrogance and cold-bloodedness of the current imperial court in the capital that still refused to repent.
Hatred began to emerge in the eyes of the people below the city wall.
Bian Chunliang's voice was sonorous and powerful: "... Heaven will not destroy tyranny, so how can it destroy our Bian Army!"
"You are pleading for justice for all the people. What's wrong with that?"
"If the court had not been so cruel, there would not be the current situation!"
"If the imperial court is unjust, it will not be tolerated by heaven and earth!"
“…”
Countless responses began to be heard from below the city wall. Those voices were fierce and angry, filled with resentment and indignation.
Most of these people were of ordinary people origin. They were already very dissatisfied with the imperial court, and this man-made plague undoubtedly made their hatred rise again.
Bian Chunliang's words were like a fire that completely ignited the hatred in their hearts. The fire burned wildly, and countless desperate souls were twisted and deformed in this endless sea of fire.
"To sit and wait for death is the act of a coward! Even though we are of low status, we should not be treated like animals and let them kill us again and again!"
"If you still have the strength, pick up your knives and seek justice with your own hands!"
"An eye for an eye, a life for a life, is the greatest justice in this world!"
Bian Chunliang's loud and heavy voice carried great determination: "My son Bian Cheng will go with you!"
Among the crowd below the city wall, the young man standing at the front, half-supported by a soldier, was stunned when he heard the words, and looked up at his tall and burly father above him in disbelief.
He stammered through his cracked and scabby lips: "Father..."
Is his father going to abandon him too? He wanted to ask, but he didn't dare.
He noticed that the crowd behind him burst out with greater strength because of his father's "selfless" words.
Bian Cheng was in a panic, but he saw his father striding down the city wall and walking towards him with his guards and his younger brothers.
Bian Cheng suddenly knelt down and kowtowed in a trembling voice: "...Father!"
After a moment, a pair of strong hands supported his trembling shoulders.
Bian Cheng's body froze and he subconsciously wanted to step back, fearing that he would pass the epidemic to his father.
But the voice said, "Da Lang, raise your head."
Bian Cheng raised his head tremblingly.
"This sword has always been with me, father..." Bian Chunliang half-crouched and took off his sword, and handed it to his eldest son: "Today, father will give it to you."
Bian Cheng took it with both hands. He had wanted his father's sword for a long time. It seemed that with this sword, he would be as brave as his father and be respected and followed by everyone.
But he never thought that he would take over the sword under such circumstances.
His father's hand was still firmly supporting his shoulder. His voice was as powerful as his hand: "Today, my son, you can take this sharpest sword, lead the most loyal soldiers behind you, be their most heroic general, and fight a victory that belongs to Bian Cheng!"
Bian Cheng's eyes trembled: "Father, son..."
He wanted to say he was scared, but the next moment, his father held him in his arms, just like when he was a child.
Bian Cheng suddenly burst into tears.
Through tearful eyes, he saw his younger brothers standing behind his father.
He has always known that although he is the eldest son, he is not the most outstanding son of his father. His second brother is calm, and his third brother is smart... He, the eldest brother, does not have the demeanor that an eldest brother should have.
Therefore, he held a grudge and never got along well with his brothers.
But at this moment, he saw that his second brother's eyes were slightly red, and his third brother looked at him hesitantly as if he wanted to say something.
Bian Cheng suddenly forced a smile.
I'm going to die anyway.
You're going to die anyway... Why do you have to be a coward who is looked down upon by others?
"Father..." Bian Cheng took a deep breath, pulled away from his father's embrace, held the sword high in both hands, and said loudly: "Son is willing to go!"
Bian Chunliang's eyes turned red as he looked at his eldest son in front of him with satisfaction: "Good...!"
"After I die, father won't have to collect my body!" Bian Cheng's voice was hoarse. He pulled off the jade pendant from his waist, placed it in front of and behind him, and knocked his head heavily on the ground: "I only ask father to place this jade in the Bian family ancestral hall after he achieves his hegemony, so that my son can be a child of the Bian family in the next life!"
Bian Chunliang picked up the jade pendant, tightly grasped it in his hand, and said in a resounding voice: "When your father enters the capital, I will posthumously confer the title of Crown Prince of the New Dynasty on my son Bian Cheng!"
Bian Cheng kowtowed again and said a farewell poem: "I hope my father's great wish will be fulfilled, for generations to come!"
The generals behind Bian Cheng also knelt down to bid farewell to Bian Chunliang.
Then, Bian Cheng stood up with his sword in hand, facing behind him, his red eyes bursting with a determined spirit. He raised his sword and shouted, "Everyone, follow me first, kill the unkind government, and avenge this irreconcilable hatred!"
Countless responses rose up from the sky.
Afterwards, with the determination to die, they stepped out of Yuezhou City first to clear the way for Bian Chunliang.
Li Xian never expected that the plague-stricken Bian army, which should have been abandoned by Bian Chunliang and left to die in Yuezhou City, would attack first with such an offensive.
Li Xian sneered: "Are you dissatisfied with the slow death?"
He didn't care and raised his hand to order the enemy to be killed.
Those people also had war horses, bows and crossbows, but more were infantrymen holding swords and spears. They did not have a strict formation, but they came in full force. A rough estimate was that there were about 40,000 of them.
Among these 40,000 people, not all of them were Bian troops. There were also Yuezhou civilians dressed in cloth. They didn't even have decent weapons in their hands, but they were also extremely eager to fight. They rushed towards the imperial army with a spirit of self-immolation.
Even if there are 40,000 people who do not have much fighting ability, it will take a long killing process to kill them all.
Therefore, in a battle, killing all the enemies is never the best strategy. The first priority is to crush the enemy's morale. For an ordinary team, the bottom line for morale to collapse is usually 30% casualties - if three comrades die out of ten, the morale of the remaining seven will be greatly reduced.
But the common sense on the battlefield cannot be applied to the army suffering from the epidemic in front of them.
They didn't care how many people died. Hatred overwhelmed their pain. The despair of inevitable death made them no longer afraid of death. They shouted "kill" and the only thing in their minds was killing and revenge.
They will not retreat but only rush forward, without any rules or order, and their fighting style is like the savage biting of animals.
The war horses rolled over and neighed, dust filled the sky, broken limbs and blood flew everywhere, and surging hatred and murderous intent gushed out, burning and melting all order.
Being in the midst of it, many imperial troops gradually developed a sense of unreality. This was not the most powerful enemy they had ever encountered, but it was the most terrifying.
Those people held knives in their hands, and the hatred in their eyes was another knife. They were still making sounds, but they seemed to have become unconscious ghosts. Before falling into hell, they just wanted to drag their enemies into the abyss at all costs.
In a trance, many imperial soldiers could not tell whether the other party was the evil ghost, or they themselves who were holding the butcher knife were the evil ghost, or maybe both were the evil ghost.
This massacre, like a long nightmare, is destined to be deeply engraved in their hearts.
They began to feel fear, fear of the hatred in those people's eyes, and also fear of the plague in those people - Duke Han Guo said that as long as they drank military medicine every day, they would not be infected with the plague, but some people still accidentally got infected. Duke Han Guo also said that even if they were infected, it would be mild and would not be life-threatening.
They wanted to believe it, but they didn't dare to believe it completely. Duke Hanguo treated the Bian army and even the people of Yuezhou in such a way... Can they trust his words completely?
A coach who is too unscrupulous is bound to lose his ability to convince others to a certain extent.
Under the double fear, for a moment, facing the endless stream of enemy troops attacking them, the imperial army actually began to show signs of retreat.
Li Xian was furious and ordered to kill the enemy.
In the end, it was Xiao Min who stepped in to stabilize the battle situation and the military's morale, preventing the situation from getting out of control and falling into a disadvantage.
At this time, Bian Chunliang led an army of nearly 50,000 and came, trying to escape while the imperial army was delayed.
Li Xian immediately assembled 80,000 soldiers, fought his way out of the situation, and went after Bian Chunliang, leaving Xiao Min behind to deal with these difficult Bian troops infected with the disease.
Too much killing had already taken place, and Xiao Min wanted to stop the war, and even promised to find a way to resettle and treat them. However, those Bian soldiers who were infected with the epidemic had already lost all their rationality and only wanted revenge on the court.
Either you die or I die, there is no other choice.
Xiao Min had no other choice.
The battle here was forced to last for a day and a night. When the tens of thousands of Bian troops were almost killed, all the soldiers led by Xiao Min were exhausted, both physically and mentally.
Xiao Min was covered in blood as he stood in the distance, looking at the countless piles of corpses and body parts. His ears were buzzing and there was only one voice left in his mind - this cannot go on any longer.
But...how can I stop?
Xiao Min raised his bloodstained face and looked up at the bright blue sky. Thinking of the emperor's order to "put the overall situation of the war first", his eyes were filled with confusion and self-doubt.
At this time, news came back from the front about Li Xian's pursuit of Bian Chunliang.
In the battle between the two sides, the weak Bian army suffered 20,000 casualties, and Li Xian also lost more than 10,000 soldiers. However, with the support of the garrisons in Dongting and Tanzhou, Bian Chunliang finally escaped.
Li Xian was unwilling to give up, so he ordered Xiao Min in the rear to provide food and reinforcements, while he continued to pursue Bian Chunliang in the front.
As soon as Bian Chunliang entered Tanzhou, he ordered the city gates to be closed.
Li Xian's army trudged all the way in pursuit, but was temporarily unable to continue attacking the city, so they had to temporarily set up camp to rest.
Li Xian was furious because he missed the opportunity to kill Bian Chunliang, but he still sent someone to report the victory back to the capital as soon as possible - although he failed to take Bian Chunliang's life for the time being, at least he severely damaged Bian's army and took back Yuezhou and Dongting!
Along with Li Xian's victory report that reached the capital, there were also countless voices questioning and holding the court accountable.
Good night everyone~
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