Chapter 835 The Real Battle! (Second Update)
The city gates of Quyang were too sturdy; ordinary chariots couldn't break them open. It was Li Shen and Zhao Dengfeng who led a garrison cavalry unit around to the south gate.
The city gates were open there, as the Nangong family had just escaped.
Li Shen, Zhao Dengfeng, and others entered through the south gate, crossed half the city, and arrived at the east gate. It took more than twenty people working together to slowly turn the winch of the city gate.
When they opened the city gates, intending to welcome all their Black Wind Rider companions into the city, what they saw was a scene of countless cavalrymen and warhorses lying haphazardly on the open ground outside the city gates.
Some fell asleep on the spot, while others fainted.
Warhorses are highly alert and usually sleep standing up, but now they are falling down in droves.
This battle was truly incredibly difficult.
The reserve cavalrymen were all somewhat tearful. As a reserve force, they had not participated in this battle with the vanguard and assault battalions. They were enjoying the victory that their comrades had won with their blood, and they all felt a little bitter.
If they could, they would also like to go into battle and fight the enemy.
They didn't want their companions to be this exhausted.
"Don't just stand there, can't you see the young commander is still busy?" Li Shen said, looking in Gu Jiao's direction.
Gu Jiao did not rest; she was working with the medical officers to rescue and treat the wounded cavalrymen.
On their way here, they encountered Cheng Fugui, Li Jin, Tong Zhong and others, and learned some details of the battle from them. This young commander had always taken the lead and charged at the forefront of the troops.
He rushed to wherever there was danger.
He killed the most enemies, even though he was the youngest.
Zhao Dengfeng opened his mouth: "Isn't he... tired?"
How could I not be tired?
If we include the battle at the city gate, she participated in all three battles today. Not only that, while other cavalrymen were resting and recuperating, she was the only one treating the wounded and sick.
Li Shen said with a complicated expression, "He is the one who has overdrawn his energy the most."
Zhao Dengfeng said in a daze, "...It's really good to be young."
The two commanders of the reserve battalion asked Gu Jiao for instructions on how to arrange for the prisoners and the wounded soldiers near the canyon.
Gu Jiao paused for a moment and said, "The prisoners will be locked up in the military camp in the city, and the wounded will be brought over."
These prisoners had served the Nangong family before, and it was hard to say whether they would retaliate. Gu Jiao had considered recruiting them, but she couldn't risk letting them participate in any important battles for the time being.
Of course, Gu Jiao could also kill them.
The mass killing of prisoners of war was not uncommon in any dynasty, but Gu Jiao did not do so.
Zhou Ren, the right commander of the reserve battalion, asked, "Then... what about their wounded soldiers?"
Gu Jiao said, "Let their physician treat him."
Hearing this, Zhou Ren and Zhang Shiyong were certain that Gu Jiao truly did not intend to make things difficult for the group of rebel prisoners.
The young commander was so ruthless when killing the rebels that they still thought he was a bloodthirsty man. On the way here, they thought those prisoners of war probably wouldn't survive.
The two exchanged a glance, both quite surprised.
But the two of them still answered in unison: "Yes!"
The reserve battalion was quite large, accounting for almost a third of the total forces, but it was fortunate that it was such a large proportion, otherwise the various arrangements after the war would not have been possible.
These troops are also skilled in combat, but they will not be deployed lightly unless absolutely necessary.
Zhang Shiyong led a team of soldiers to escort the prisoners, with Li Shen and Zhao Dengfeng accompanying him.
Zhou Ren led another team to the canyon to transport the wounded.
In addition, Zhou Ren arranged for Wenren Chong to bring the logistics troops camped near the mountains into the city.
Two major events occurred during the handling of these aftermath matters throughout the reserve battalion.
The first thing: Nangong Ze ran away.
He broke his own hand bones to escape from the narrow iron chains and ascend to heaven.
The second thing: Chang Wei is not dead; he is still breathing!
It was the Black Wind Camp cavalry who carefully discovered the body. His breath was too weak. If it weren't for the cavalryman's exceptional hearing, it would have been difficult to detect Chang Wei's faint breathing even in the noisy scene.
Many of the prisoners of war were also wounded, and they were usually treated by their own medical officers.
However, given Chang Wei's special status, Zhou Ren was unsure whether to give him the opportunity for treatment.
So Zhou Ren sent troops to ask Gu Jiao for her opinion.
Gu Jiao pondered for a moment and said, "Bring him here."
The cavalryman hesitated for a moment, then replied, "Yes!"
He took a few steps, scratched his head, and still mustered his courage to say to Gu Jiao, "Commander, um, Chang Wei... he has a very high reputation in the army, you... you'd better... well... uh... I am..."
Gu Jiao understood what he meant; he was worried that if Chang Wei survived, it might be detrimental to her.
Gu Jiao nodded: "I know, you go ahead."
It was a well-intentioned gesture.
Her impression of Chang Wei came from that dream of a three-year civil war. The Han family wanted to become the next Xuanyuan family, so they launched a plan to eliminate the other aristocratic families. The aristocratic families killed each other, with the Nangong family and the Han family fighting the most fiercely.
Among them, Chang Wei was the most valiant general in dealing with the Han family, without exception.
He used Snowfield Heavenly Silkworm Silk when fighting against the Han family's iron cavalry, and he almost wiped out the Han family's iron cavalry!
In that civil war, she did not confront Chang Wei, because Chang Wei was too annoying and caused the Han family a lot of suffering. In the end, he was assassinated by An Hun.
His snow-covered silkworm silk also fell into the hands of the Han family.
This time, she originally intended to make the canyon the main battlefield, but when she heard Li Jin and Tong Zhong say that the general leading the troops might be Chang Wei, she immediately changed her battle plan.
He also instructed Cheng Fugui that if the other side pretended to retreat, he should not chase them across the hillside or approach the section of the official road that was flanked by lakes on both sides.
Because if she were Chang Wei and wanted to use the Snowfield Heavenly Silkworm Silk to deal with the Black Wind Riders, that would be the most suitable ambush point.
...
The Black Wind Cavalry garrison was extremely efficient. By the time Chang Wei was dragged over on a cart, the tents for treating the wounded soldiers had already been set up.
Gu Jiao had just finished an operation and said to the cavalrymen at the door, "Bring the person in."
Two reserve cavalrymen carried Chang Wei, covered in blood, into the tent and placed him on a specially made foldable bamboo bed.
The tents were filled with luminous pearls for illumination.
In addition, they lit many oil lamps and candles, and Gu Jiao even used the small flashlight from her medicine box.
Chang Wei's armor had been stripped off by Zhou Ren before he arrived.
Gu Jiao used scissors to unbutton his shirt, completely exposing the wound on his left chest.
Gu Jiao held up her disinfected and gloved hand, looked at the unconscious Chang Wei, and said, "I rarely miss a killing. I wonder if this is fate."
...
When Gu Jiao came out after the surgery, she heard Master Hu, who was waiting at the door, report that Mu Qingchen had returned.
"It seems Zhao Lei died in battle."
Master Hu sighed, "Young Master Mu didn't say what the specifics were. Why don't you go and ask him yourself, sir?"
As he spoke, something occurred to him, and his brow twitched. "No, no! Sir! You're so tired! Why don't you get some sleep first, and ask me when you wake up—"
Gu Jiao walked away.
Master Hu looked at the slender figure, rubbed his chest, and sighed.
At first, he followed the young commander hoping to climb the social ladder and achieve great success, but as time went on, his mindset changed.
Master Hu looked up at the sky in confusion: "He's not my son, why am I worrying about this?"
Mu Qingchen stood far away, all alone by the roadside, leaning against a big tree and retching violently.
I've already vomited everything I could.
Now, only the feeling of nausea continues to assault him.
Gu Jiao came up behind him and calmly glanced at him: "First time killing someone, not used to it?"
Upon hearing Gu Jiao's voice, Mu Qingchen suppressed the urge to vomit, wiped her mouth with her sleeve, and gasped, "I killed five people."
Zhao Lei did not die at his hands.
He had never killed anyone, but he couldn't get over this hurdle in his heart. He plotted to bring Zhao Lei down from his horse and kill him under the hooves of Nangong Sizi.
But he never expected that the Nangong family's five thousand troops would not be so easy to shake off.
Mu Qingchen said with difficulty, "You said there was no need for a direct confrontation, but you knew all along that there would be a fight."
Gu Jiao stood with her hands behind her back and said calmly, "I only told you to know when to quit while you're ahead and run away quickly. I didn't say there wouldn't be a war or that no one would die. What's your casualty situation?"
Mu Qingchen said in a low voice, "...more than a dozen cavalrymen were wounded."
Because he initially refused to kill, one of the Black Wind Camp cavalrymen was seriously wounded by the Nangong family's rebels in an attempt to protect him.
"It's good that they're all back," Gu Jiao said sincerely.
Mu Qingchen didn't feel any good about it, and the thought of killing someone sent chills down his spine.
"Would you feel the same way the first time you killed someone?" he asked.
"I don't remember," Gu Jiao said. "I killed too many."
Mu Qingchen looked at her in astonishment.
Gu Jiao didn't explain. She turned around and walked back, saying as she went, "You'd better get used to it soon. There won't be any easy tasks for you to practice on anymore. The Jin army has already broken through Tianshan Pass, and the Liang army will arrive at Yanmen Pass within three days."
"Mu Qingchen, the real battle has begun!"
Marquis Xuanping: How...how lonely it is to be invincible...
Princess Xinyang: Get out!
Marquis Xuanping: Alright!
Go play with your son, hmph~
(End of this chapter)
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