Chapter 828 Siege! (First Update)
The cavalrymen were reluctant, but their mounts all wanted to go with Black Wind King.
Horses are very sensitive animals; otherwise, they wouldn't always be alert and sleep standing up. Changes in the environment have a great impact on horses.
Fortunately, they were not ordinary horses, but the strongest and bravest Black Wind Cavalry among the six kingdoms.
They have undergone the most rigorous obstacle training in the military camp, so this width is not a problem for them. They can basically jump over it with a running start.
However, some ponies that are just over three years old have not been trained enough and are not yet able to adapt well to this complex environment.
The ponies at the end of the line, carrying grain and fodder, hesitated to move forward. After repeated commands from the trainer, one of the ponies finally leaped forward.
Unfortunately, it lacked confidence and didn't exert its strength decisively. Only its front hooves landed on the opposite side, while its hind hooves missed the mark.
It panicked!
Black Wind King turned back, leaped into the ditch, and used his head to lift the pony up.
The little Black Wind Riders behind them seemed to have found a support, and they mustered their courage to leap over. The Black Wind King stood guard in the ditch, sending them across one by one.
After all the little Black Wind Riders had crossed the ditch, the Black Wind King emerged from the ditch, which was full of mud and thorns.
Its legs were scratched in several places by thorns. Gu Jiao treated its wounds and continued on its way.
The marching order of the three battalions was vanguard battalion, assault battalion, and reserve battalion. Wenren Chong was in the reserve battalion, and he rode his horse at the rear of the column.
As he walked, he used a charcoal pencil to record the terrain and routes in the forest.
"Hey, give me some water."
Zhao Dengfeng rode up to him on horseback and reached out his hand.
"No," Wenren Chong said without looking up.
"You bastard!" Zhao Dengfeng glared at him, then turned to look at the cavalry on the other side, "Li Shen..."
Li Shen ignored him and rode ahead.
Zhao Dengfeng gritted his teeth: "Who among you has a higher official rank than whom? And you're ignoring us?"
When Gu Jiao initially wanted to give the three men important positions, they were either not in the military camp or did not return. Now, however, they have returned and are starting from the bottom ranks.
Gu Jiao took the lead and led the way.
Master Hu and Mu Qingchen followed behind her under the scorching sun.
Gu Jiao suddenly stopped and looked around.
Mu Qingchen asked, "What are you looking for?"
“A stream,” Gu Jiao said. “There should be a stream nearby. If we follow the stream upstream, we can cross the mountain.”
She paused for a moment, then said, "Go and catch a deer, live, but don't hurt it."
Catching a deer isn't difficult, but doing it without getting hurt in the slightest is extremely difficult.
Mu Qingchen fell and got covered in dust before finally managing to tie up a fawn.
Gu Jiao let the fawn lick some salt for a while, and then released it.
Gu Jiao patted Black Wind King's neck: "Boss, follow it."
They had to follow stealthily, so as not to scare the deer away. Black Wind King slowed his pace and tracked the deer's scent from a distance. Before long, he arrived at a stream.
The fawn is bowing its head to drink water.
Gu Jiao led the group over and walked upstream along the stream, occasionally picking a couple of wild fruits or pulling up a couple of medicinal herbs.
The entire army was waiting for this young commander to get lost and cry.
Their imagined image of the young commander: "Oh no! What to do! What to do! I can't find my way! Oh no! It's getting dark! The wolf is coming! I'm so scared! Snake! There's a poisonous snake in the tree!"
What a certain commander looked like in reality—
He knocked out a tiger with one punch, grabbed a poisonous snake to use as a rope, and rode the Black Wind King to disperse a pack of wolves with a torch.
They were led safely across the swamp, successfully avoiding the miasma forest.
Even the most experienced soldiers don't have her jungle survival skills.
Gu Jiao found a suitable open space near the stream. "Alright, let's camp here tonight. Cheng Fugui, Zhao Lei, you two will take turns keeping watch tonight."
Cheng Fugui and Zhao Lei were the left and right commanders of the vanguard battalion, respectively.
The two men cupped their hands in acknowledgment and replied, "Yes."
Gu Jiao added, "Also, give the order not to light any fires."
The two replied again, "Yes!"
Unable to light a fire, they could only eat cold flatbread. The temperature difference between day and night was large in western Da Yan, and the daytime was similar to summer. In order to prevent the food from spoiling, the cooks baked the flatbread until it was dry and hard. After a few bites, their cheeks ached from chewing, and they could feel their throats being scraped by hard objects when swallowing.
The group ate the hard, scratchy biscuits while drinking the icy stream water, without a single complaint or waste.
Gu Jiao sat by the stream, eating the same food as the soldiers.
The soldiers huddled together and didn't get close to her, making her seem somewhat lonely.
Looking at the thin and youthful figure on the riverbank, everyone felt a strange unease.
...
Black Wind rode for two days and finally arrived at the upstream.
There is a wide river here, and at the end of the river is a waterfall that is hundreds of feet high.
The closer you get to the waterfall, the narrower the river becomes, the shallower the water, and the easier it is to cross.
However, the river is quite rapid today, and one might be swept away by the current if one is not careful.
"Boss," Gu Jiao tugged at the reins, "Can we go any further?"
Black Wind King took a few steps back, his muscles suddenly tensed, and he jumped into the water with a splash.
The water wasn't deep, just above its knees, and it calmly and steadily walked across.
The remaining Black Wind Riders jumped into the river one after another like dumplings being dropped into boiling water, and with the cavalry's reassurance, they crossed the swift current without incident.
But what no one expected was that when it was the last few Black Wind Riders' turn, the current suddenly became more and more rapid, and a big wave crashed over them, sweeping one of the Black Wind Riders carrying provisions downstream.
Black Wind King dashed out and bit its reins!
Black Wind King struggled against the raging river, using all his strength to pull Little Black Wind Rider up little by little.
Both horses were safely ashore, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Although the little black wind rider's life was saved, the rations on its back fell off, and it lowered its head in dejection.
Black Wind King rubbed its wet head against it, as if in a silent comforting gesture.
The army continued its march.
This little incident didn't have a significant impact on the army, except for that little black wind rider.
Having lost its food supplies, it listlessly followed at the back of the group until Gu Jiao placed the herbs she had gathered along the way on its back, at which point it perked up again!
It took two days to go up the mountain, but it was much faster to go down.
They successfully reached the foot of the mountain in just one day.
Mu Qingchen exclaimed in amazement: "It really only took three days."
The journey was extremely physically demanding, and all the soldiers and horses were exhausted. However, they only had one day to rest before they had to prepare for the siege.
It was midnight.
The Black Wind Rider scouts that Gu Jiao sent out have returned. At this moment, Gu Jiao is sitting under a big tree, discussing the siege plan with the six commanders. Mu Qingchen is also there.
"Speak," Gu Jiao said, looking at the spy.
The scout bowed and said, "Reporting to the commander, I have good news and bad news."
Gu Jiao held a map-drawing twig in her hand, glanced at him, and said, "Let's start with the bad stuff."
The scout said, "The bad news is that we have lost three more cities. Two of them were cities that surrendered to the Han and Nangong families, and the other city was captured by the Jin army."
Gu Jiao's branch scratched across Yanmen Pass: "The Jin army has entered the country. So, Tianshan Pass has completely fallen."
The scout replied with a heavy heart, "Yes."
"What's the good news?" Gu Jiao asked.
The scout reported, "The good news is that Quyang City is running low on grain. Two counties are transporting grain to Quyang City, and it is expected to arrive at the north and east gates of Quyang City tomorrow night."
They were worried about how to attack Quyang City. After all, Quyang City had strong walls and was easy to defend but difficult to attack. In addition, they were cavalry first and did not have siege vehicles and supplies for infantry sieges. This made breaking through the city gates not a normal difficulty but a hellish difficulty.
The news the scouts brought back was indeed timely.
Cheng Fugui said, "We can rob their grain supplies. Without grain supplies, they will be trapped in the city and starve. They will definitely come out to take back the grain supplies, and that will be our opportunity."
Gu Jiao nodded: "Yes, that makes sense."
But if the supplies arrive tomorrow night, it means their attack plan must be brought forward.
An hour later, the scouts went to investigate the whereabouts of the grain supplies again, and brought back news that they had transported the grain supplies overnight.
This conveys two signals.
First, the food supplies in Quyang City are running extremely low; they can't last even a day longer.
Second, they should arrive in Quyang by noon tomorrow at the latest.
The attack plan needs to be brought forward by half a day!
This was a huge challenge for the Black Wind Cavalry, who had been traveling for more than ten days, especially having spent three days crossing mountains and valleys.
"How many troops does the enemy have?" Gu Jiao asked.
The scout reported, "They all have five thousand."
Gu Jiao said thoughtfully, "Is there a lot of food? They actually sent 5,000 troops."
The 50,000 Black Wind Cavalry she had included supplies and warhorses; the actual number of cavalry in combat was 20,000.
The enemy has 10,000 troops, which doesn't seem like a big problem.
The key point is that seizing the grain was only the first step; the real battle was the Nangong army that fought its way out of the city to reclaim the grain.
That's an army of 80,000!
They had to fight continuously before their physical strength had recovered, and with only 20,000 soldiers, they were fighting against an army of nearly 100,000. This was simply like throwing an egg against a rock!
The scout asked anxiously, "Sir, shall we... fight?"
Gu Jiao clenched her fists, her eyes flashing: "Attack! Pass down the order: rest well tonight, no need to get up early tomorrow, in the afternoon—follow me to attack the city!"
(End of this chapter)
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