The Xia army did not charge forward again, but they did not break the encirclement to let them leave. A brutal siege finally began. At this moment, Zhao Yang already believed the accuracy of the news. Chu Qiao and Yan Xun had indeed fallen out, and they were leaving Yanbei. The gate of Longyin Pass would not be open to them. Apart from going south along the waterway from Southern Xinjiang to Bian Tang, the only way was to pass through his own defense line, and Yan Xun had completely blocked the waterway from Southern Xinjiang.
He firmly believed all of this, and it was accurate.
On September 20th, it started snowing. The snow was not heavy at the beginning, but it continued for two days. The rations in Xiuli’s army were almost gone. If some civilians had not brought some food with them, they would have starved to death long ago. All the army tents had been distributed to the elderly, the weak, women and children. More than thirty people were crammed into each tent, but the elderly and children still continued to freeze to death at night. There was no medicine left in the army to treat wounds, and the wounded soldiers couldn't even get a sip of warm water. Chu Qiao could only watch helplessly as the cold and injuries took the lives of the soldiers who had stood firm before the Great Xia army, but she was helpless.
Whenever she saw soldiers dying one by one and young children crying and starving in the cold wind, she wanted to rush back to Longyin Pass immediately, kowtow to Yan Xun, apologize, and beg him to save these innocent people.
She smiled helplessly, feeling that she had no strength left in her body. Yan Xun was indeed the person in the world who understood her weaknesses best. He might have calculated this long ago. She was not afraid of Daxia, war, killing, or death. The only thing she was afraid of was that the people who loved her would sacrifice themselves for her in vain.
In the past two days, she led her troops to launch four attacks, but all failed. Zhao Yang maintained a defensive posture, neither coming out to fight nor paying attention to their attacks. Every time he rushed forward, he was met with a dense hail of arrows, leaving dozens of innocent corpses.
On the evening of September 22, a heavy snowstorm hit the sky, the temperature dropped sharply, and the cold wind blew bitingly. In just half a night, more than 50 wounded soldiers and more than 80 civilians were frozen to death. Finally, some people among the people could not bear it anymore. A woman in her forties suddenly left the army and ran to Longyin Pass to knock on the gate. It was like a flood. Following her, more people left the tents of the Xiuli Army, crying in the cold wind, and staggered towards Longyin Pass.
At the critical moment of life and death, the fear of death in people's hearts finally overcame their conscience. They abandoned the team that had been fighting to protect them and ran towards their hometown.
The soldiers of the Xiu Li Army stood quietly by, no one spoke, no one stopped them. They looked at the group of crying people in silence and let them leave with an expressionless face.
The sixty-year-old man ran to Chu Qiao crying, holding the already weak child in his arms. He wanted to say something with shame on his face, but in the end he could only let out a few short cries.
The child's face had turned pale, and Chu Qiao knew that if he wasn't kept warm, he would probably die soon. Her throat seemed to be choked by something. She felt no anger, no sadness, and no hatred for their betrayal.
As a soldier, she was unable to protect the people who supported her and could only watch them die innocently. She had nothing to say. She couldn't bear to look at the old man's guilty eyes again, because the guilt in her heart was even greater. She could only lower her head in silence, expressing her emotions without words.
sorry.
At Longyin Pass, a bright light gradually lit up, and at the foot of the pass, countless old people, children, and women staggered towards it. People were shouting loudly, "Open the door, open the door," with unspeakable despair and fear in their voices. After all, they are just ordinary civilians. Their only wish is to survive, and occasionally they will have a little extravagant hope, which is to live a better life.
The snow was getting heavier and heavier, and the sky and the earth were all white. The officers on the top of the city shouted loudly: "Don't get close! Back off! Back off!"
But no one paid any attention to him. His voice was drowned out by the noisy voices. The people cried and threw themselves on the city gate, banging on it and shouting, "Open the gate! Open the gate! We are the people of Yanbei, why don't you open the gate?"
The crying sound pierced the sky and the soldiers at Longyin Pass were stunned. They all clearly saw the battle two days ago. At this moment, no one was willing to point their weapons at their former comrades. Now, seeing these civilians, they stood there in a daze, not knowing how to fulfill their responsibilities as a defender.
"Open the door!" The people banged on the city gate frantically. Someone fell down, and the people behind him rushed forward regardless of anything and trampled that person into a meat paste.
The cries and screams echoed in the wilderness. The snow was flying and falling, and the sky and the earth were vast.
"Back off! Otherwise we will shoot arrows!" the officer on the city wall shouted loudly.
"Don't shoot! We are ordinary people!"
“Please! Save my child!” The woman who ran out first knelt on the ground, holding up the swaddling clothes in her hands, which had stopped crying, and cried bitterly, “You don’t have to save me! But please, save my child!”
"Open the door! Open the door! Let us in!"
…
"Lord Chu!" the defenders on the city wall shouted, "Come back! We can't open the city gate unless you come in. His Majesty has ordered that as long as you are willing to come back, all past events will be forgiven!"
"Master Chu! Let bygones be bygones!"
Hundreds of defenders shouted together, and the sound was like a rolling thunder, rumbling across the vast plain.
The people seemed to have found a savior. Suddenly, some people turned around and knelt down in the direction of the Xiu Li Army, crying bitterly.
"My Lord! Go back!"
"Sir! Save us, go back!"
"Sir! Go back and admit your mistake to His Majesty!"
“Sir!” The woman ran out from behind the crowd, tripped and fell to the ground. The child in her arms was hit and suddenly burst into tears. Her voice was sharper than Daxia’s saber, “Sir, please, save my child! Sir, please, save my child!”
The world was so cold and pitch black. The Xiuli Army stood silently, looking at their commander.
Chu Qiao's heart seemed to be torn into thousands of pieces. She bit her lower lip tightly, the taste of blood filled her mouth, her hands were cold, and her fingertips were trembling slightly.
Yan Xun, Yan Xun, you had already calculated this, right?
You had expected all this a long time ago. At this moment, are you standing on the Fire Thunder Plain outside Beishuo Gate, quietly waiting for me to come back and kowtow to you and confess my guilt?
Waves of screams came to my ears, and thousands of people knelt at her feet, knocked their heads on the ground, and cried loudly to her. Just a few days ago, they raised their fists and swore allegiance to her, shouting "Long Live Freedom". Now, they were begging her to go back and confess to Yan Xun.
Reality is so cruel, yet so helpless.
Her eyes were dry and she could no longer shed tears. A bitter taste was running rampant in her chest. Fate had pushed her into the abyss of despair. It seemed that every step she took would result in a broken head and blood.
"My lord." He Xiao walked over and stood firmly behind her, looking at her worriedly. There seemed to be a hint of heartache and pity in his eyes. "My lord..." He wanted to persuade her, but he didn't know what to say. Everything was so absurd and funny. The world was so big, but where should they go?
“He Xiao.” Chu Qiao sighed softly. For a moment, she felt as if the blood in her body had frozen. She was so desperate that she wanted to die on the spot, but she still managed to issue a brief order, “Send a message to the entire army, we…”
Just then, there was a sudden sound of hurried horse hooves behind him. The soldiers of the Xiuli Army turned back quickly, only to see the battle flag of Daxia approaching ferociously. Zhao Yang led the army to fight back once again!
"Send a message to the entire army! Follow me to resist the Xia enemies!" For the first time in her life, Chu Qiao felt that the army of Da Xia was so lovely. She didn't know if what she was thinking was right. She just wanted to escape from here like an ostrich. Daxia was attacking, and she could no longer care about anything else. She had to go back and fight! But she still secretly thanked God in her heart for not letting her make that heartbreaking decision at this time, although she might pay a heavy price for it.
"Your Highness! The entire army is ready to attack."
"No need!" Zhao Yang said calmly, "We're just going to take a look around and leave."
"Ah?" His subordinate was slightly stunned and asked, "Why?"
Zhao Yang remained silent for a long time, staring deeply into the thick darkness. After a long while, he whispered, "We can't let her return to Yanbei."
This back and forth fighting lasted for the entire night. It was as if Daxia treated Longyin Pass as an amusement park and would take a tour of it every now and then. It was not until the sun dispelled the long darkness and the heavy snow stopped that the clarion call for withdrawal was finally sounded.
Chu Qiao led the exhausted army back to the camp, only to see the silent eyes of countless people. Rows of corpses were neatly laid out in front of the army. Those lives that were still alive yesterday were now like fish out of water, lying lifeless on the ground. The heavy snow covered their faces and eyebrows, forming small snow slopes.
Seeing that the battlefield had calmed down, some people gradually left. The flow of people gradually expanded, from a stream to a spring, from a spring to a small river, and then from a small river to a vast dark ocean. They did not go to Longyin Pass, nor to Yanbei, but slowly went towards Yanming Pass of Daxia.
"Come back!" Ping An, who was standing beside Chu Qiao, suddenly shouted. He tried to pull those people away, but was pushed to the ground. He lay on the ground and shouted loudly: "Come back! Don't go!"
But no one paid any attention to him.
People gradually moved away and came to the front of Zhao Yang's army, raised their hands high, made a gesture of surrender, and repeatedly emphasized that they were just civilians.
A team from Zhao Yang's army came out and asked them to kneel down. Thousands of people knelt down in unison, raised their hands high and kowtowed in panic. From afar, the suppressed sobbing and Xia Bing's triumphant laughter could be heard. The soldiers of the Xiu Li Army stood there in a daze, some were crying silently, but they could not say anything. What to say? Should we encourage those unarmed people to fight the enemy, or tell them that we will definitely rescue them?
Heavy snow fell from the sky again. Chu Qiao's heart was as cold as a rock under the ice. She watched all this with empty eyes. The battle flags are flying, the clouds are red like fire, the world is bleak, it is the winter of 1977 or 1978, welcome. On September 25th, the wind was strong and the snow was flying like cotton wool.
The underground palace was covered with heavy snow, and the Qianling Mausoleum that was exposed on the ground had also hung up pure white lanterns early in the morning. The palace maids walking around were all wearing white linen clothes, with curtains flying and white gauze rolling, gently sweeping away the dust on the ground.
There were no lights in the hall, only rows of white candles burning quietly, emitting a pale light that formed deep candle shadows.
In the huge mourning hall, a slender figure sat quietly in the shadows. The light seemed unable to penetrate the darkness beside him, leaving only a dim circle of light. His features could not be seen clearly. On the small table next to him, a cup was half-tilted and wine was overflowing.
He never liked drinking, but now, he has been drinking alone in Qianling Mausoleum for three whole days.
On the third day, the main hall of Qianling Mausoleum was filled with the smell of wine, and empty jars were piled up like a mountain, but why was there not a trace of drunkenness?
Outside the door, there was a strong wind and heavy snow, but inside the hall, the candlelight was deep and the place was quiet and silent. He sat quietly alone, but he seemed to hear the rumbling of war drums at the border, the soldiers rushing into the cold wind with raised sabers to fight and hack, and the people screaming and waving in the cold wind calling for their hometown. Blood spread up and flooded the towering walls of Longyin Pass, the rustling grass of Yanbei, and the last bit of warmth between them.