Chapter 107 A Fight to the Death
In the early morning, dark clouds covered the sun, casting the entire Langya Pass in shadow.
After breakfast, General Sumonai assembled a force of 10,000 men outside the camp.
The deep blast of horns swirled and echoed in the chilly morning breeze. Eight thousand Western Rong soldiers, weapons in hand, formed into battle array. A dense forest of spears gleamed with a chilling iron light.
The morning meal was particularly sumptuous, and even the lowest-ranking soldiers received three times the usual amount of food.
At night, Xiao Zhuo led his troops to steal the camp, pouring oil into the tents storing food before setting it ablaze. The fire burned fiercely. To facilitate the attack on Langya Pass, the camp had been moved some distance from the northern water source. It took until late at night to extinguish the fire.
This meal was the only remaining food for the entire army.
"I'll be honest with you all," Sumonai said, driving his warhorse slowly past the ten-thousand-man army, his scabbard clashing against the saddle. "This morning's meal has already consumed all our food and fodder."
The soldiers were silent.
Everyone knows that without food, you'll be hungry. Hunger means defeat, and defeat means death.
"The next battle will determine the life or death of our 10,000-man army!"
Sumonai reined in his warhorse and pointed his whip at the Langya Pass, two miles behind him. "Take Langya Pass. Xiaogang Village inside is where the supplies are. We're outnumbered by 8,000 to 400. We're sure to win!"
"We will win!" The Xirong soldiers shouted in unison, drew their swords and raised their spears to express their determination to fight to the death.
"All troops advance."
Sumonai turned his horse around and led the way toward the Wolf's Tooth Pass.
Xiao Zhuo and Shen Yuexi stood on the top of the mountain, looking together at the Western Rong battle formation slowly approaching from afar.
"Eight thousand," Xiao Zhuo said calmly, "They are going to fight to the death."
Shen Yuexi sensed it, too. The Western Rong army, like a dark cloud on the tawny earth, slowly and steadily moved toward Langya Pass. This meant there were virtually no soldiers left to guard the main camp.
The meaning is very clear, in this battle, either you die or I die.
She nervously grasped Xiao Zhuo's hand, then reached up to touch his back. Through his clothes, beneath was impenetrable chainmail. The longsword slung at Xiao Zhuo's waist was the one she had crafted from Feng Zhang's steel fork, even outfitted with a scabbard.
He used this sword to kill tigers, duel with Xiao Beiheng, and fight against Xirong, and he never changed it.
"My lord, each soldier now has about twenty crossbow arrows left," Song Zhen said, slowly waving his feather fan. "The total is about eight thousand."
"One arrow per person, and we'll win." Shen Yuexi wanted to lighten the mood and started joking.
Everyone knew that was impossible because the Xirong army had shields.
The first time the Western Rong charged, they were unfamiliar with the crossbows, resulting in heavy casualties. When the enemy cavalry pursued them after they stole the camp at night, they were unaware of the crossbows' ambush. Both battles were unexpected. Now, the enemy is well prepared.
Song Zhen hesitated for a moment and looked at Xiao Zhuo: "My Lord, please forgive my frankness. The enemy is in high spirits. Why don't we take shelter from the enemy and buy some time?"
Hearing this, Shen Yuexi was stunned for a moment.
What did Song Zhen mean by buying time? It seemed like there were things that both Song Zhen and Xiao Zhuo knew, but they had kept her in the dark.
Xiao Zhuo remained silent.
"My lord, please make a decision quickly. Eight thousand enemy troops are charging at us, and the crossbows are unstoppable," Song Zhen said, a rare expression of anxiety on his face. "These soldiers are your foundation. If they are wiped out..."
Xiao Zhuo raised his hand to stop Song Zhen's urging: "If I withdraw my troops, the villagers of Xiaogang Village behind me will be slaughtered."
"My lord, if we can't hold on, Xiaogang Village will be razed to the ground!"
"No need to say more," Xiao Zhuo calmly gave the order, "Order the entire army to hold their positions and not retreat."
Song Zhen looked at Shen Yuexi for help: "Madam, please persuade the lord."
Shen Yuexi understood the argument between the two.
Song Zhen ordered Xiao Zhuo to temporarily withdraw his troops to save the 400 soldiers. The price he paid was that the enemy would rush into Xiaogang Village and the villagers would be massacred.
Xiao Zhuo refused to withdraw his troops, and the price he paid was the annihilation of his entire army, and Xiaogang Village was not in good shape afterwards.
Weighing the two options, Song Zhen's suggestion sounded more sensible, at least it saved the army.
But her way of thinking is different from Song Zhen's.
Perhaps it was more of intuition that played a role, she believed that Xiao Zhuo would get through this.
"Military Advisor Song, I trust my husband's judgment."
Song Zhen was speechless. He raised his feather fan and fanned it twice, then turned around and walked quickly down the hillside.
Xiao Zhuo turned his head to look at her, with a hint of admiration in his eyes, and whispered:
"Yuexi, if you were a man, your husband would also be willing to admit defeat."
"I'm not as complicated as you think," Shen Yuexi said a little embarrassedly, "I just think that you've been fighting Beidi for so many years and have never lost. You will definitely win this time too."
Xiao Zhuo laughed dumbly: "So that's what you think?"
"I don't know anything about marching and fighting," Shen Yuexi gently pinched the back of his hand, "Who knows what's going on in your head?"
"Song Zhen looks at the gains and losses of the present, while I look at the gains and losses of the future."
What did they mean by "now" and "later"? Shen Yuexi didn't understand for a moment, her attention was already focused on the foot of the mountain.
The Xirong army has arrived at the pass.
Sumonae's eight thousand soldiers stopped outside the range of the crossbows.
"General, the enemy is still holding their ground." Xiu Muye pointed at the shadowy figures halfway up the opposite hill. "What are they relying on? Why aren't they afraid?"
The corner of Sumonai's mouth twitched.
As he advanced, he had a small fantasy that perhaps the enemy would flee without a fight.
Now the fantasy is shattered.
He had participated in battles between various Western Rong kings, but he had never seen such a rock-solid army. There were only four hundred men, but they felt like four thousand or even forty thousand.
He had a vague feeling that perhaps behind these four hundred men were hundreds of thousands of Great Yan troops, waiting for them in a pocket formation. These four hundred men were bait, luring them into an ambush.
In any case, he has no way out now.
If we fail to capture the Langya Pass, the entire 10,000-man army will be destroyed. Only a desperate fight can give us a chance of survival.
"Thousand-man team, attack." Sumonai raised his knife.
The Xirong soldiers, shields raised and swords grasped, charged towards Langya Pass with a roar. They had no bows or arrows for protection, and they didn't exercise caution. There was no frills, just a crude charge.
They were greeted by the deadly flash of a crossbow bolt.
The first volley of fire killed nearly a hundred of the Xirong army. The battlefield was filled with screams, the sound of crossbow bolts hitting shields, and the crash of swords and spears falling to the ground.
Having put aside their previous fear of the repeating crossbows, the Xirong army did not hesitate. The people behind stepped on the corpses of their companions in front and continued to rush forward.
Round after round of crossbow bolts, like scythes harvesting lives, could not stop the desperate Xirong army from advancing towards the pass. Soon, the front line of the Xirong army reached the foot of the mountain and began to climb. The ground behind them was littered with corpses pierced by crossbow bolts.
"well!"
Seeing all this, Meng Yue excitedly stood up and shouted, "This is the right opponent. Put down the crossbow and show us your weapons!"
The four hundred soldiers put down their crossbows, which had run out of arrows, stood up, drew their swords, and picked up their spears.
When two armies meet, the brave one wins.
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