Xu Zhi is already over seven years old. Not only should she keep her distance from men outside the family, but she should also keep her distance from her father and brothers. However, Xu Rao's experience last night was truly terrifying. Although it wasn't a large-scale invasion, the destructive power of small-scale attacks was still very strong. Fortunately, she was on tenterhooks all day and never let her guard down.
Even though Zhang Zhaoci was a doctor, and a surgeon at that, and had seen countless deaths, he was still greatly shocked when he saw the soldiers who had been injured or killed while resisting the invasion. He realized that this was what real war was like, and that on the battlefield, human life was truly as worthless as grass.
After a quick dinner, the family of four, along with Granny Lu, sat on the kang (heated brick bed) in Zhang Zhaoci's room chatting and sharing their experiences. Xu Di, who was at the village, had already gone to bed, but upon hearing the commotion in Zhangjiazhuang and hearing recent rumors that the Northern Di were about to take action, he quickly roused his men. Under cover of darkness, they crept to Zhangjiazhuang and found more than a dozen burly men on horseback had already rushed there. Several houses in Zhangjiazhuang had been set on fire. After the initial panic, some of the village's young men began to resist.
Xu Di had long considered how to deal with the Northern Di cavalry. He always carried tripwires and instructed his men to carry them as well. The Northern Di cavalry were strong in combat and had warhorses, so it was impossible to fight them head-on. Therefore, to win, he had to come up with an unconventional strategy.
The people around Xu Di were also specially trained by him. Soon, Xu Di issued the combat mission. Including Xu Di, there were a total of seven people. They set up a simple ambush point at the entrance of Zhangjia Village, and then set up another ambush point not far away. After setting it up, Xu Di took out a gong and started banging it hard.
Hearing the commotion outside the village, the dozen or so cavalrymen disregarded everything else and rode off, only to be thrown from their horses by the ambush crew as soon as they left the village.
Seeing the man fall from his horse, Xu Di and his men quickly attacked and killed him. The first few were caught off guard and were easily killed by Xu Di and his men, but the others had already reacted. In terms of one-on-one combat, Xu Di's men were no match for the physically strong Northern Di people. Xu Di and his men were only able to kill the man with the help of the people from Zhangjiazhuang.
After Xu Di and his men killed these people, they quickly cleaned up the battlefield, told the people of Zhangjiazhuang to take temporary shelter on the mountain, and then led their men toward Hexi County.
To get from the village to Hexi, one has to pass through a valley with dense forests on both sides. When he arrived at the valley, Xu Di thought for a moment and decided not to go in. Instead, he went around to the mountain. There was a very hidden path on the mountain. It was much closer to Hexi County from this path, but the road was difficult to travel. Sometimes, the people of Zhangjiazhuang would take this route for the sake of convenience.
Out of curiosity, and also out of youthful impetuosity, Xu Di followed the village head of Zhangjiazhuang through this area. He remembered the way, and since the moon was quite bright tonight, Xu Di thought for a moment and led his men into the mountains.
Xu Di had a clear idea: those cavalrymen were well-equipped, unlike the equipment of ordinary tribes on the grasslands. They must be the most elite cavalry of the Northern Barbarians.
The Northern Di people couldn't have sent such a small number of people. Since these people were able to reach this area, their target must be Hexi County, or even Yanmen Pass on the other side of Hexi County.
The Northern Di people's advantages, besides their tall stature and superior horsemanship and archery skills compared to those of the Liang people, allowed them to dominate the grasslands and even further afield, all thanks to their horses. Riding horses, they could move swiftly, and with horses, they could unexpectedly occupy certain areas. The Hexi Corridor and the area north and south of Yanmen Pass are surrounded by high mountains, making it impossible to cross on horseback. Therefore, if they wanted to launch a surprise attack, they had to cross a river further away. That river was very wide, and after winter, the surface of the river froze, so they often crossed it. Although the Liang people stationed some border troops along the river, there were always times when they were caught off guard.
Xu Di guessed that something must have happened to the border troops stationed by the river, otherwise they wouldn't have let these cavalrymen in.
Since there were already a dozen or so people, Xu Di estimated that there would be even more teams of ten. He dared not take the risk. The reason was that the fighting power of those Northern Di people was simply too strong. He and his men had almost been killed by those dozen or so Northern Di people just now, so Xu Di dared not take the risk too early.
The group stumbled along the shortcut through the mountains in the dark, but fortunately, they encountered no accidents along the way. When they reached a place not far from the east gate of Hexi County, they saw that the east gate was surrounded by a large number of Northern Di people on horseback. Upon closer inspection, there were several hundred of them. Xu Di knew that this was a planned operation, or even an operation that had been planned for a long time.
Xu Di and his men dared not move rashly. They watched as those people shot arrows at the city wall one after another, and there were even battering rams ramming the newly completed city wall.
Xu Di's eyes turned red as he watched. He knew very well that he had no good options at the moment. Even if he fought to the death, he would only die. But Xu Di did not want to die now. He still had many things to do.
Xu Di is now very worried about the north and south gates. Unlike the east gate, the walls on those two sides are newly built, with only simple heightening and reinforcement due to insufficient funds. Fortunately, unlike the east gate, the terrain outside the gates is open, making it a good place to launch a war.
Xu Di led his men toward the North Gate, where they encountered Ma Ming and his reinforcements.
After receiving the news, Ma Ming led thirty men from Yanmen Pass towards this location. Some of them entered the city through the west gate to help resist on the city walls, while Ma Ming led thirty skilled men to prepare to harass the enemy from the rear.
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