In just two days, more than 200,000 rioters gathered on the Songjiang plank road. Among them were nobles, aristocratic families, soldiers, and common people. The southwest had already fallen, and they had fled here from thousands of miles away, covered in dust and looking like a group of hungry wolves, staring at the soldiers who blocked their way.
The roadblocks had been demolished, and a mere 20,000 troops were simply unable to stop such a surge. A deputy general stood in front of the team, shouting in a hoarse voice, urging people to turn around and continue fighting, but no one paid any attention to him. Wei Shuye rode on his horse, watching those people with dull expressions pass by him one by one, like a pile of lifeless straw.
After everyone had left, only a dozen children were still standing there. Some of them were fourteen or fifteen years old, and some were eleven or twelve years old. They were all boys. They timidly walked up to the deputy general with a hoarse voice, raised their hands and said that they were willing to join the army. The deputy general was greatly shocked, thinking that his words had finally worked, and hurriedly asked the young man why he joined the army, but did he realize that he would have to sacrifice himself for his country in a time of crisis? But the child said that his dry food was snatched away by the soldiers who fled with him. They would die if they went forward, so they might as well join the army.
Twenty thousand soldiers fell silent in front of these dozen skinny teenagers.
Wei Shuye ordered the quartermaster to distribute dry food and water to them, and then watched them leave happily. The setting sun shines on the seeds of these empires, like wormwood being pulled out of the soil.
After entering the southwest, the situation became even more chaotic. When passing through a small town, the entire town was deserted. The team felt like they were walking in a dead city. The only sound they could hear was their own footsteps, one after another, which seemed so heavy. However, when they walked to the small square in the town, they were all stunned. This is simply a Shura field, with all kinds of strange and bizarre punishments. Dozens of male corpses were hanging on a towering elm tree, and there was a pile of corpses more than two people high on the ground, which had been burned to charcoal. There were also a large number of women's corpses. It was obvious at a glance how cruelly they had died.
The whole team was in a dead silence. They were all veterans who had fought in many battles, had licked blood from their blades, and had killed countless people in their lives.
, but at this moment, there are still people crying silently and shedding manly tears.
As soldiers, if they cannot defend their country and protect their people, what is the value of their existence?
Homes were destroyed, houses were razed to the ground, fertile fields turned into scorched earth, prosperous cities turned into ruins, once prosperous towns turned into uninhabited dead cities, and once vibrant lives turned into senseless rotten meat, with a stench and surrounded by eagles and vultures. This is a terrible disaster and a nightmare from which one cannot wake up.
Wei Shuye couldn't imagine why the Yanbei Army would be so brutal. A huge amount of grief and anger was surging in his chest. He gripped the blade tightly, and his young spine was like a straight spear.
However, the subsequent battles, with their exaggerated fighting style and disorganized deployment of troops, made him understand something.
It turned out that the first group to enter the border of Daxia was not the Yanbei Army. Yan Xun opened Baizhi Pass, destroyed several military camps along the way, and then withdrew from Daxia and occupied the pass. He did not let a single soldier into Daxia, but issued a wide proclamation, inviting the bandits and horse thieves active in the Yanbei Plateau, the southern wilderness, the Helan Mountains, and the northwestern desert to share Daxia.
Waves of horse thieves poured into the territory of Daxia. They were fierce and brutal, coming and going like the wind, with no attachment to the land at all. They were only keen on killing and looting. Wherever they passed, there was a mess. They burned, killed, looted, and raped women. They could do things that the soldiers could not do without blinking an eye. The cruelty and bloodshed stimulated those soldiers and nobles who originally wanted to resist. Rumors about the enemy's ferocity and terror spread throughout the southwest, and the panic of war spread throughout Longxi within a few days. As a result, the soldiers gave up resistance, the nobles gave up holding on, and the people began to flee. However, in just a few days, the entire southwest fell into the hands of the enemy, and the follow-up troops of the Yanbei Army did not even encounter a formal resistance!
That's a lunatic! In the dark night, Wei Shuye smelled the pungent stench and said secretly.
He opened the gates of Daxia, paved the way for those demons, and turned all living things into hunting targets.
He did not come to occupy, but only to destroy, and let the countless lives of this majestic Da Xia become sacrifices for his Yanbei lineage.
The 20,000 grief-stricken Xia troops encountered the regular Yanbei army for the first time in Yangkang City. Twenty thousand cavalrymen against thirty thousand heavily armored soldiers, it was a bloody and tough battle. Wei Shuye's army defeated the Yanbei Army in one fell swoop with the spirit of a desperate soldier. When the angry Xia army brutally killed all the wounded and prisoners, Wei Shuye did not stop them, because in his heart, he also expected this.
He hated, hated the invaders, hated Yanbei, hated Yan Xun, and hated those brutal horse thieves.
But he hated the royal family even more, hated those domineering nobles, hated those soldiers who enjoyed military salaries but deserted in times of danger, hated Zhao Yang who mobilized all the southwestern troops for the civil war, hated the aristocratic families, hated the clans, and even hated himself.
He tore up his uncle's letters one by one. The elders of the family scolded him, saying that he was crazy for bringing the family's soldiers into the southwest at this time. They said that he was a sinner of the family and a traitor to the Wei clan.
However, this time, no matter how harsh the reprimand was, he could not turn back.
The enemy is attacking, the empire is trembling, the country is in civil war, the nobles are fleeing, and the people are wailing.
He is a warrior of the empire and must not retreat.
After the battle of Yangkang City, this isolated army that penetrated deep into the territory of Yanbei attracted the attention of Yanbei. Within two days, an army of nearly 70,000 surrounded them. After a day and night of fighting, they were finally exhausted.
The bows and arrows were used up, the medicines for wounds were exhausted, the food and fodder were almost gone, the swords and spears were all blunted, and the soldiers had not had a good night's sleep for a long time. Many times, they would even doze off during the fight, and occasionally be awakened by the pain, only to suddenly remember where they were.
The early morning sun shone again. Wei Shuye looked up at the sun in the sky, squinting his eyes slightly, and told himself that this might be the last sunrise he would see in his life.
The deputy general rushed forward, with a long, deep scar across his cheek, looking eerie and terrifying. His voice was already hoarse, but he still shouted to him: "General! We can't hold on any longer. The enemy has sent three more reinforcements. Retreat quickly!"
Wei Shuye didn't say anything, just looked at this man who was older than him. He was a comrade-in-arms who had followed him through all the campaigns. He had fought in more battles than himself, was more proficient in military tactics than himself, was more ferocious than himself on the battlefield, and was more popular than himself. However, because he was born a civilian, no matter how many military achievements he had made, he could not be promoted. If he had not been under his command, he might still be just a small sergeant.
But just because I had a little bit of support for him, he was loyal to me and rushed to the front in every battle to shield me from arrows and knives. But little did he know that I often looked down on them, the children of commoners, and enjoyed their contributions as a matter of course, standing behind them waiting for the outcome of the war. What is the difference between him and those wealthy nobles who deserted the battlefield? They ran for their own lives, and they, for their own reputations, ruined the lives of others.
At once, thousands of thoughts flooded my mind.
Wei Shuye knew that today was the last battle, there would be no reinforcements and no turning point. Zhao Yang was still fighting Zhuge Yue, so it was impossible for him to come to rescue him. He also knew that even if Zhao Yang and others were not fighting, they would not come under such circumstances. They were destined to be an abandoned team, sleeping forever in the flames of war in troubled times.
Wei Shuye drew his sword, a look of tenacity appeared on his face, and he rode his horse forward and walked in front of the soldiers covered in scars.
"Warriors, today will be our last battle."
The deep voice echoed over the battlefield, and thousands of blood-stained faces looked up at their commander.
"Soldiers, the enemy invaded, the country was lost, everyone was retreating, only you were brave enough to move forward. In just ten days, you experienced thirteen blocking battles, eleven field battles, and two battles, and you traveled across half of the motherland. You are worthy of the title of soldier and the uniforms on your body. Tens of thousands of generations of Daxia people in the future will be proud of what you have done today!
“Today, perhaps we will rest here forever, perhaps we will fail, but we must use the swords in our hands to tell those invaders that Daxia will not surrender, our blood will not freeze, and all those who trample on our dignity will pay a heavy price for it!”
The usually gentle general suddenly shouted loudly, pointed at the black mass of enemy troops rushing up, and roared angrily: "Long live the empire!"
"Long live Daxia!"
Thousands of broken swords pointed to the sky, and the soldiers' blood boiled. Wei Shuye rode out of the camp on his horse, shouting wildly as he charged towards the enemy, followed by thousands of roaring soldiers, like a group of crazy buffaloes.
The sharp wind blew past his ears, causing Wei Shuye's eyes to hurt. His horse was galloping, and he could not see anything around him. He just instinctively swung his increasingly heavy sword again and again.
Life became vivid at this moment. He remembered many things. He grew up cautiously in an aristocratic family. He ran and fought for the family time and time again under the guidance of his uncle. In the midst of wealth and luxury, he gradually developed a pair of cloudy eyes.
"I don't want to be such a coward, growing up, aging, and dying following the iron order of the empire. One day, I will break out of the cage, abandon everything that the family has brought me, and use my only life to accomplish a feat, even if it is so insignificant to others. I can also tell myself before I die that I was finally brave once."
With a sneer on his face, he swung his sword and led his army to fight wantonly, raising blood-red waves in the iron-gray ocean.
Not far away, under the Heng River embankment, a cloud of dust rose up. The general in black armor coldly watched the battle on the field and suddenly ordered: "All troops, prepare."
"Your Highness!" The staff frowned and said, "That is Wei Shuye's army, the private army of the Wei family. They are loyal to His Highness the Fourteenth Prince."
The general raised his eyebrows, turned around, and said slowly with deep eyes and a low voice, "I don't care about their family background. I only know that those people are our comrades in arms, and they are defending my country."
The aide was stunned for a moment, then replied, "I understand."
The general drew his sword and raised it high, "All troops, listen up! Follow me!"
“Kill the enemy!”
A huge charge sounded suddenly, like thunder rumbling across the sky!
"There are a lot of cavalry in the north!"
"It's very fast! It's rushing towards us!"
"It's hard to tell friend from foe! The other side has a large number of troops, it looks like there are more than 100,000!"
I don’t know who started shouting first, but soon everyone noticed something strange in the northeast.
The man was wearing a navy blue cloak and galloping on his warhorse. In the vast yellow dust, it was impossible to even see the number of people on the other side. Countless horse hooves were like surging sea water, rolling in waves. The sky and the earth were covered in a dark yellow color. Dust was raised high and spread over the towering dam, making it look like a majestic mountain.