Chapter 819: Sunrise in the East (44)

Xiang Shenkang stared at the only more than a hundred remaining veterans surrounding him, his eyes a little sad, but more of them showed perseverance and unique skills. With more than a thousand troops, he guarded the small Xinhui. Facing an enemy force ten times his own, he defended the city for three full days, causing the enemy casualties several times his own. He felt it was worth it.

The bed crossbows have been shot, the arm crossbows have been shot, the stones have been thrown away, and the hammers have been thrown away. Now the soldiers have only spears and steel knives left in their hands.

Xiang Shenkang raised his head and looked at the ladders one after another climbing up the city from all directions. Seeing the enemies climbing up like ants, the corners of his mouth twitched slightly and he raised the bloody steel knife, "Brothers, Destroy the bed crossbow, arm the crossbow, and then pick up your swords and guns for the final decisive battle! With brothers like you in this life, I will live a life worth living for someone. Let's be brothers again."

The remaining bed crossbow was pushed down from the city, the steel knife was swung, and a handle of the crossbow was broken into two pieces. More than a hundred veterans gathered around Xiang Shenkang again, and Xiang Shenkang strode forward, walking to At the front of the team, looking at the Qi army swarming into the city, they roared angrily, "Brothers, kill us. We are already strong enough. If you kill one, you will earn one!"

"Kill!" More than a hundred people roared and followed Xiang Shenkang closely, killing the enemy who climbed up to the top of the city.

An hour later, Tian Jingwen stepped on the dilapidated Xinhui City with his combat boots. Looking around, he saw that there were many corpses lying under the city, and there was blood and pestle on the city. There was almost no clean place for him to stay. The tenacity of the Eastern Expeditionary Army was not only It was beyond his expectation, but it shocked him. He paid the price of more than 3,000 casualties here before finally taking over this humble town.

"This must be the most elite unit of the Eastern Conquest Army!" He murmured to himself in his heart. If not, how could he have such strong combat effectiveness? He wanted to cheer himself up, but he couldn't do it, because he knew very well that the Eastern Expeditionary Army was the most capable unit. They are all in Liaodong now, launching the final attack on Donghu.

This fact that he dared not face squarely made him feel a little trembling all over his body. There were just over a thousand people, if there were three thousand, five thousand. Ten thousand people, what will be the result? The powerful Qilu army that he was once proud of was groaning and trembling in front of the Eastern Expeditionary Army today.

Xiang Shenkang's body was brought to Tian Jingwen by several Qi troops. The bloody Xiang Shenkang's eyes were still wide open. Tian Jingwen felt that there was pride and contempt in his eyes.

"General, hang this bastard's body on the city wall and let our brothers vent their anger." A soldier beside him said angrily. Not long ago, the enemy general, who had only a hundred or so remaining soldiers, launched an attack. After the final desperate attack, despite being surrounded from all sides, the Qi army still paid a considerable amount of casualties as the enemy before finally killing them one by one.

No prisoners were taken for three days. Qi Jun's eyes were also red. On the city wall,

Any wounded soldier who is not dead yet. All have been patched up

Tian Jingwen looked at the opponent in front of him. Once upon a time, he did not regard the low-level officer of the Eastern Conquest Army as an opponent at all, but now, he had to admit that this person was enough to become the strongest in his military career. One of the opponents in this battle. It was he who fought the hardest and most brutally. The battle with the most serious losses

He shook his head slowly, even though they were enemies of each other. However, a brave and unyielding enemy is worthy of respect. Looking at Xiang Shenkang, he couldn't help but think of his clan brother who died in Hetao. From the last intelligence, the clan brother also launched an attack on the enemy at the last moment. deadly attack

"It's great for a man to die, so bury him. Bury the Eastern Conquest Army here together with him, and erect a monument," Tian Jingwen said a little lonely, "If there are still wounded soldiers found in the city, don't kill them, hand them over." Machines, let them fend for themselves!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a fire suddenly broke out in a house in the city. Accompanied by the raging fire was the military song that went straight into the sky. Tian Jingwen lost color in shock, rushed to the edge of the city wall, put his hands on his eyes, and walked toward that place. look

"What's going on?" he shouted sharply. Several soldiers around him also shook their heads in confusion.

After a while, an officer rushed to the top of the city.

"General Tian, ​​there were hundreds of wounded soldiers from the Eastern Conquest Army gathered in that house. They poured grease on the house and piled firewood. After luring some of our soldiers to rush in, they lit a fire and blocked the house. After entering the gate, dozens of us soldiers were trapped inside." The officer's expression was full of surprise, and his voice was trembling.

Tian Jingwen's fists were clenched tightly. Suddenly, he felt that maybe the chief minister's decision to capture Langya was wrong. Maybe Qi had provoked a mad dog, one that would bite you even to death. A mad dog not to be messed with

The long sword points directly to the northern territory;

The setting sun is like blood, flowing on the journey south;

The flags are hunting, summoning the war drums to march eastward;

The long yellow sand cannot stop the march of the Western Expedition.

The sound of the military song gradually became quieter as the fire burned, but it still echoed in Tian Jingwen's ears like thunder and around him. All the soldiers were silent. In this battle, there were more than a thousand enemies. , not a single prisoner was taken prisoner, and all died in battle. This was the first time in their military careers that they encountered

"Clean the battlefield, tidy up the city, and prepare for the arrival of the main force." Tian Jingwen whispered to the officers around him, "I'm tired and want to take a rest."

With heavy steps, he walked towards the city. His feet stepped into a pool of blood on the ground. He stumbled and almost fell to the ground.

Although the Qi army won the final victory in the Battle of Xinhui, the final high-spirited war song was like layers of heavy haze, lingering in their minds.

In the entire Xinhui City, there was no joy after victory, but instead an indescribable depression filled the air.

Huang Zhan was exhausted and pulled his feet out of the mud that went up to his ankles. Compared to ordinary soldiers, he was more tired. Not only did he have to rush like ordinary soldiers, he also had to worry about the follow-up of logistics and baggage, and worried about the battle situation ahead. Not only was he physically tired, but he was also mentally tired. Xiang Shenkang was a personal guard of his father Huang Desheng, and was later sent to him by Huang Desheng. The relationship with him was not only a superior and subordinate relationship, but also closer than family members. Brothers

"Hold on, Yasuko," he whispered silently in his heart

There was a heavy rain the day before, and the entire road became muddy. Unlike Liaoxi, Hejian, and Jishi, the areas under the jurisdiction of Zhengdong Mansion, the most important thing after being taken under the control of Zhengdong Mansion was Although Langya is rich in road construction and water conservancy, these most basic facilities are far inferior to those in western Liaoning and other places. A heavy rain put Huang Zhan and his army in trouble. In order to reduce the weight of the carriage, the soldiers They had to get off the car and walk, and at the same time they had to push the car out after the car's shaft got stuck in the mud. The troop's forward speed had slowed down a lot.

"What a thief!" Huang Zhan looked up to the sky and cursed. This heavy rain was enough to put Xiang Shenkang into a life-or-death crisis.

"Master, we must let the brothers rest for a few hours." The regiment leader Xie Zongjie walked up to Huang Zhan covered in mud and water, "Many brothers are already paralyzed from exhaustion. Even if they walk to the new club, they will have no fighting power. Sharpen your sword. Don’t miss out on chopping firewood, sir.”

Huang Zhan looked at the team that had been pulled into a long queue at this time, then looked up at the gloomy weather, and said helplessly: "Send the order, camp on the spot, and rest. We are less than fifty miles away from Xinhui. We will rest all night today." , tell the brothers that we will arrive at the new meeting tomorrow."

"Understood!"

The order was quickly passed on, and bursts of cheers came from the team. The actions of the past few days were simply more painful for them than fighting.

"Sir, can Xinhui still hold up?" Xie Zongjie stretched out his hand to wipe away the mud on his face, and asked worriedly.

"I believe Kangzi. There has been no bad news from the scouts. This shows that Xinhui is still fighting." Huang Zhan was not sure at all. The intelligence from the Supervisory Council showed that this time the Qi troops raided Langya, only the vanguard troops There were tens of thousands of people, and the main force behind them was more than 50,000. Even if one person spits, Xinhui will be drowned.

"I hope so!" Xie Zongjie was also worried. "Commander, our troops are too few!"

Huang Zhan rolled his eyes, "I know, I need you to remind me of this, but now you ask the superiors to pull out another troop. Langya County is the top priority. Ding Wei is desperately rushing towards Langya. Our The mission is to delay as much time as possible. As long as Ding Wei can enter Langya in time, we can persist longer. The Donghu people won't be able to survive for long. After our army comes back from Donghu Banshi, we can make them look good! Come, follow me. Go and see the soldiers, they are probably very tired."

The soldiers were not only extremely tired. After setting up camp, pulling up tents, and setting up defenses, many soldiers did not even enter the tent. They fell directly into the mud and fell asleep soundly all the way. As he walked closer, Huang Zhan saw someone tying tent ropes to the stakes and falling asleep holding the stakes.

"This won't work. Wake them up, light a fire, dry their clothes, and the soldiers will heat up hot water. Everyone should be dry before going to sleep!" Huang Zhan didn't know he woke him up along the way! There were so many such soldiers, some of whom couldn't be woken up, so they simply dragged them into the tent and threw them inside like dead dogs.

"After all, there are more recruits, and high-intensity training is still not enough. Xie Zongjie, this item must be written in the march diary. After we win this battle, we must conduct more extreme training during training."

"Understood!" Xie Zongjie said loudly. (To be continued)