"The north wind sweeps across the land, snapping the white grass; in the eighth month of the lunar calendar, snow flies in the northern regions!"
It is now late autumn and early winter, with leaden-gray clouds covering the sky, and snow may fall at any time!
Outside the city in the clouds.
The vast grassland at the foot of Daqing Mountain, along the barren river, is now stained red with blood.
Hot blood, white brain matter, steaming intestines and internal organs, severed limbs and dismembered bodies were everywhere.
The 50,000 Xianbei cavalry and 10,000 Xiongnu cavalry who were thrown into this great battle lost their lives one after another.
Their bodies, along with the corpses of their warhorses, littered the grassland.
Seven or eight thousand Han light cavalrymen continued to advance, and the number of cavalrymen guarding Tuoba Gao was dwindling.
They couldn't understand why the enemy's armor was so sturdy and why their weapons were so sharp!
The leather armor of the Xianbei people was as fragile as paper and could not withstand a single blow.
Seven or eight thousand light cavalrymen chased after twenty or thirty thousand Xianbei cavalrymen.
Tuoba Gao's main force of 30,000 cavalry, plus 3,000 Tiger-striped cavalry and 5,000 Murong troops, totaled nearly 40,000 men!
However, after Xue Rengui led the Xuanjia Cavalry to unleash their power, three thousand Tiger-Striped Cavalrymen perished.
The 30,000 cavalry were first killed by Xue Rengui with 8,000 light cavalry, killing 5,000 of them. Then, they were cut off by the Xuanjia cavalry, killing 6,000 of them.
Now Liu Du took over command and continued the massacre, killing more than 7,000 more.
After fighting for so long, only 19,000 men remain.
Moreover, the number is constantly decreasing!
The army was initially organized into units of several thousand men, but the number dwindled to a thousand, then a hundred, and eventually decreased with each battle.
In contrast, the Han Chinese light cavalry, numbering only two or three thousand less, launched an offensive that was not only undiminished but even more ferocious!
Tuoba Gao's heart bled as he watched his soldiers being slaughtered like sheep by a butcher.
He can now only hope that his sworn brother Yuwen Lie, who also loves reading Sun Tzu's Art of War, will break through the city and turn the tide.
But that seems a bit unrealistic!
Because at this moment, Yuwen Lie was not only being attacked by Xue Rengui's Xuanjia cavalry, but also by Zhang Liao's infantry.
Yuwen Lie's 10,000 men were completely trapped under the walls of Yunzhong City.
The addition of Zhang Liao's spear battalion to the battle completely snapped the tension that had been building up for the Xianbei people.
Seeing the large number of soldiers with long spears surging in from the southwest, Yuwen Lie's heart sank to the bottom!
"General Yuwen, enemy reinforcements have arrived. Should we continue the attack?"
Qu Bei was already filled with regret.
He knew that the Han army that had defeated his brother Qiangqu was no ordinary force.
Why did you have to come to Yunzhong and wade into this mess when things were perfectly fine in Shuofang?
I might die in the clouds today.
If they were in Shuofang, at the slightest sign of trouble, they would retreat to the western region, west of Langshan and over Juyan Lake.
At this time, the Western Regions Prefectural Governor's Office still existed, under the jurisdiction of the Liangzhou Governor's Office.
However, the Qiang people caused trouble near the Liangzhou governor's office, and control over the Western Regions gradually weakened.
It was all thanks to the might of the Han Dynasty, as well as the military and political foundation and prestige left by Ban Chao that it was able to maintain its power.
With Qu Bei's troops, he could absolutely crush the thirty-six kingdoms of the Western Regions and act arrogantly and domineeringly.
The Han people were too far away to reach the Western Regions, and at this time, a campaign to the Western Regions would be time-consuming and laborious.
In addition, the area north of the Tianshan Mountains and west of the Yanran Mountains was also the gathering place of the Northern Xiongnu.
Going to that place is a pretty good way out.
In this great battle, the Xianbei army of fifty or sixty thousand is no match for the Han army of just over ten thousand. What's the point of fighting?
A sense of inferiority is stirring within me.
"We must not give up until the Khan retreats!"
Yuwen Lie gritted his teeth and shouted, "Send half of your troops to intercept the reinforcements!"
"I'll deal with their heavy cavalry!"
After saying that, he led the four thousand cavalrymen he had assembled and charged toward Xue Rengui's group of sixteen hundred Xuanjia cavalrymen.
Upon hearing Yuwen Lie's order, Qu Bei did not act immediately, but remained in place to ponder.
"Chief, Tuoba Khan's side is suffering setbacks, and Yunzhong City has been under siege for a long time without success. I think we're likely to lose this battle! You'd better make plans as soon as possible!"
A man named Guduhou quietly offered his advice.
“How can we desert our posts in the face of battle?” Qu Bei blurted out.
"The Xianbei people took advantage of our eagerness for revenge and dragged us into a war with the Han people."
"Please, Chief, consider our tribe's well-being and preserve the fire!"
When the Bone Lord heard Qu Bei casually mention desertion, he understood what Qu Bei was thinking: "If all 10,000 of us are gone, the tribe will be completely finished!"
He asked humbly, "So what do you think we should do? Where should we go?"
"Of the thirty-six stratagems, running away is the best. While the Han and Xianbei are preoccupied, let's return to Shuofang!"
"If we leave like this, what if the Xianbei retaliate against us?"
"Then let's go to the Western Regions..."
Qu Bei saw his troops, who were attacking the city, being knocked down by the wooden planks hanging on the city wall. They fell like dumplings being dropped into a pot, their screams filling the air.
He was about to witness Yuwen Lie leading four thousand men in battle against the Han heavy cavalry.
Unsurprisingly, Yuwen Lie's cavalrymen were defeated one by one, suffering heavy casualties.
Yuwen Lie and the Han general in the "blood" robe had barely exchanged a few blows when Yuwen Lie was swept off his horse by a single halberd strike, blood splattering everywhere.
In addition, the Han Chinese spearmen have already broken into Yuwen Lie's siege force.
The young soldier leading the charge wielded his spear with incredible speed, like a dragon entering the sea.
"Let's go! Call the people of the tribe and leave immediately!"
Qu Bei knew that if he didn't leave, he would suffer the same fate as Yuwen Lie.
He roared and rode off first, ordering the Marquis of Gudu to relay the retreat order.
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