My Chinese ancestors

Chapter 625: Xiang Yu's Defeat
It was the worst day for Sakpruit since he came to this world.

First came the news of the defeat of three legions, followed by the deaths of the legendary Alexander and Hannibal, as well as Galahad, one of the Twelve Knights.

What made him even more annoyed was that the army of Ceres that was besieging the city did not launch an attack, but just surrounded it, as if they were trying to compete with him in terms of food and the will of the soldiers.

At dusk, risking being attacked by hidden arrows, he led everyone to the top of the city wall. Looking out from the top of the city wall, they saw the flags of Seris standing among the endless army formations.

"Caesar of the Egyptian Legion has tied down the Seresian army in Longcheng. The Seresian people here cannot have any extra food and fodder... Moreover, they have many war horses that need to be raised... Their emperor must be playing a trick."

The wise knight Gawain stared at the army outside that stretched like a black line. He felt as if he was climbing a mountain. They climbed from the foot of the mountain to the top, but in less than two days they fell from the top to the foot of the mountain.

Now, we are truly trapped in Halabytos.

"I also know that they are playing tricks, but... do you have any solution now? Or, can you see through the tricks they are about to play?"

Sakprut's tone was clearly filled with anger, but he forgot that he wanted to use Halabytos as an anchor to nail down the advance of the Seres army.

"Lancelot!" He no longer looked at Gawain, but turned his gaze to the inconspicuous old man in the crowd, the Knight of Judgment Lancelot, who walked over silently.

"Your Majesty, what are your orders?"

"I am also very sad that your son Gaharad died in battle, but now is not the time to be sad." Sakprut patted the old man on the shoulder.

"Pour out your anger on the people of Seris. We have the Thunder Knight Bedivere, who has mastered the thunderbolts of the old man Seris. As long as the enemy climbs up the city wall, they will taste the pain of losing their loved ones."

Lancelot pursed his lips, knelt on one knee, covered his chest with one hand, and lowered his gray head.

"I will protect you, my king."

Sackpruit showed a satisfied smile. He did this because he was afraid that his knights would have other ideas, and he also put it on show for the legion commanders.

"Okay, go down and take good care of the soldiers of each legion. Don't let them worry. The enemy's army will collapse in our hands. The dawn of victory will eventually shine upon us. We will return to Ophirro wearing wreaths and honors and be cheered by the common people!"

This iron-blooded emperor, speaking gentle words and dragging his gorgeous cloak, walked on the top of the city wall, talked to the soldiers guarding the city walls, and inspected their weapons and armor.

In the fields outside the city, among the vast array of soldiers, where the dragon flag stood, all kinds of empty vehicles were moving back and forth, raising a lot of smoke and dust.

Looking from a distance, it seemed as if the Eastern army had an endless supply of food.

In front of the ancestral coffin carriage, Su Chen watched the empty carriages passing by. He took generals such as Dian Wei and Xu Chu on horseback to inspect the various military formations. He found that the flags of each army were more than twice as many as before.

There were many cavalrymen carrying Han Xin's orders running between the various military formations. Su Chen casually stopped a scout and took the orders to look through them. Most of them were orders to mobilize troops but not to attack the city.

"... Marquis Huaiyin is setting up a decoy formation to disrupt Sakprut's sight?" Su Chen had also fought in a war, so his first reaction to these practices was naturally to set up a decoy formation to make the other side have countless suspicions, so that their thoughts became confused and they were full of worries.

After sending the knight away, he looked at the city wall in the distance for a while, then raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

"Go ask Marquis Huaiyin how long it will take. I can't wait to watch this scene."

Soon, he ordered his cavalry to rush out.

In the plains at the south gate of Harabitos, Han Xin, who was in the Qingzhou army, had already set when he received Su Chen's inquiry.

"Since Your Majesty wants to watch, let's start."

Han Xin walked out of the tent in full armor. There were torches all around, illuminating the cavalry who had been waiting for him. When they saw their commander in full armor coming out of the tent, they immediately led their horses closer.

"Go tell Marquis Wen, General Ma, and... King Xiang to make some moves first to give the barbarians in the city a lesson. Don't let them have it too easy."

"By the way, the librettist should also prepare the lyrics for the captured barbarians and give them to the Samoans to sing."

As he was speaking, the cavalryman who received the order rode out on his horse.

When night fell completely, four thousand Wolf Riders, one thousand Giant Deer Flies, and two thousand Flying Qiang Riders rushed to the three city gates in the southeast and west. Arrows lit torches and pointed them at the top of the city as their horses galloped.

The city walls were also lit up by fire. The Sakpruit soldiers guarding the city felt the vibration of the galloping horses and had already deployed their defenses on the city walls.

It was generally thought that the Seris might attack the city under the cover of night.

The first thing that came into view was a piece of fire, which then rose into the night sky accompanied by the sound of trembling bowstrings and turned into a sea of ​​fire.

The Sakpruit soldiers on the city shouted and ran, and the defensive infantrymen put up iron shields, but the next second, they were covered by the rockets.

Amid hysterical shouts, the soldiers on the city walls kept calling on the standby troops to come for reinforcements, and tried their best to resist the possible attack from the Seres people who might climb the city.

However, after a few waves of arrows, the sound of horse hooves faded away in the darkness, confusing the Sakprut soldiers on the city wall.

Thunder Knight Bedivere and Judgment Knight Lancelot, who caught up with the city wall, felt that their powerful punches had missed and had to return to the city in disappointment.

However, soon after they left, the sound of horse hooves once again shook the outside of the city wall.

A large amount of fire lit up again in the darkness. After shooting at the three sides of the city walls, they rode their horses away from the top of the city. After a few times, the soldiers who were running around the city walls were exhausted, so they simply stationed themselves on the city walls to prevent any accidents.

But in the following time, until dawn, the other party did not harass us again.

Night fell again, and as soon as the soldiers who had rejoined the team got off the city wall, the cavalry of the Seres army appeared again. Just like last night, they fired a volley of rockets and then left.

Lancelot stationed directly in the south of the city this time and told the soldiers not to panic. But in the second half of the night, not only did Ceres' cavalry come again, but the war drums also beat wildly in the silent night.

Not only the soldiers on the city wall, but even Lancelot, who had just lost his son, was nervous.

Unfortunately, just like before, the drum sound disappeared after a fire of rockets from the Ceres cavalry.

On the morning of the third day, Lancelot dragged his tired body and gave instructions to a legion commander who was on duty, then rode back to his mansion in the city.

The Sakpruit soldiers on the city wall had no time to rest.

After three days of harassment, many people stood behind the parapets, nodding their heads. Some soldiers also felt a little scared when they saw the densely packed Celis flags flying outside.

"I heard that the Macedonian Legion, the Carthaginian Legion, and the Second Conqueror Legion have all been destroyed. Only the Egyptian Legion is still in the south, and they are unable to reinforce us..."

"We are running out of food."

"Bullshit, I ate meat today."

"Those are the Samos in the city..."

"vomit!"

... "Do you think we will all die in battle here?"

"The Seris people probably don't have that much power. Harabitos is still very strong."

"God, today I saw a steady stream of food trucks coming from the Seres army... and we only have Samos... to eat... vomit..."

"Judging from their flags, they still have a lot of troops being recruited. There are new changes every day. In the past two days... I have been counting their flags... and the formations are all different."

"Their numbers are increasing. Should we go on the expedition, or should they?"

"I don't want to die..."

In the city of Halabytos, which was cut off from information, the Sakprutt soldiers, who had been frightened for three consecutive days, gradually began to develop different emotions while originally intending to defend the city.

From time to time, they looked at the Seris army in the distance, and sometimes looked around, inside the city, and even at the expressions of their companions.

A strange, ominous atmosphere gradually began to brew in the city.

As the sun set, the harassment of the previous three days did not come as expected. Instead, news came that the Seres army north of Harabitos had withdrawn.

This means that there will be no obstacles in breaking out from the north gate.

When the soldiers in Sakpruit's army heard the news, they were naturally delighted and waited for the emperor to give the order to retreat.

But at this time, the Satsuma Palace was as chaotic as a market entrance, filled with all kinds of noises.

"Your Majesty, give the order immediately. The whole army should withdraw!" "We can't fight anymore!" "We can't withdraw. Ceres deliberately left a path open to undermine our fighting spirit!"

Sakprut sat back in the throne, rubbing his temples with his fingers. He no longer had the heart to pay attention to the quarrel below.

The actions of the Seris army became more and more strange. The large number of rotations of guards, the large number of flags, and the large number of food teams made him feel that the Seris people were constantly strengthening their army.

Maybe at some point they will launch a full-scale attack.

At this moment, the enemy also let go of the north, which made the army, which had originally been determined to fight to the death, feel unwilling to fight to the death.

From the attitudes of these legion commanders, one can tell that the soldiers under them probably have the same attitude.

"enough!"

The buzzing sound of quarreling in his ears finally made the emperor angry. He slapped the throne, and the huge noise covered up all the quarreling words in the palace.

Sakpruit stood up from the throne and said, "We can't retreat. The Seris people won't be so kind as to give us a way out. They just want us to leave Halabytos. As long as we leave the city, their cavalry can hunt us down in the wilderness and put our heads on stakes!"

The brewing emotions, along with his words, gradually resounded throughout the palace, however, before he could finish his next words.

Another piece of news came from outside: the Ophelia folk song was heard outside.

The generals of the various armies in the palace, as well as Sakprut, were stunned.

ballad?

The army of Ceres sang the ballad of Ophelia for them outside the city. What did this mean? Were they all bored?

Or do you think you can ridicule them by singing it out?

In the entire palace, only the wise knight Gawain and the prophet Moses showed serious expressions.

Especially Gawain, his expression was stiff, and his body, which was not thin, was shaking slightly uncontrollably.

"Your Majesty..." Gawain hesitated for a moment, then spoke again, "They are destroying the morale of the soldiers."

After he reminded them like this, Lancelot and other knights, as well as a group of legion commanders, were immediately horrified, and Sackpruit suddenly understood what he meant. He held on to the armrest of the throne with a splitting headache, and suddenly his whole body was shaky, as if he was about to fall.

He looked towards the open hall, gritted his teeth, and slowly raised his hand.

"Hold on... Don't leave here..."

The wind outside was getting stronger and stronger. The night breeze on the plateau also brought warmth, but it also concealed a song.

The Sakpruit soldiers on the city wall were already exhausted, and after seeing and hearing the news that the Seris were constantly increasing their troops and transporting large amounts of food for several days in a row, their hearts had already begun to waver.

Hearing the widely circulated ballad of Ofeiro, many people sat against the wall, secretly wiping away tears, probably thinking that they might die in battle here, and how their wives, children and elderly mothers at home would live.

The more I think about this, the less I want to die here.

"When I left home, my wife was only four months pregnant. Now the baby is almost born. I have already thought of a name... but I haven't had the chance to tell her."

“…I miss my mother.”

"Me too. My mother loves this song... I didn't expect to hear it here."

On the city wall filled with all kinds of thoughts, many soldiers whispered and talked to each other, speaking some hometown dialect, and occasionally glanced at the people around them, observing them, and showing understanding eyes to each other.

As low-level soldiers, they did not know that this sentiment was gradually growing in the city.

At this moment, on the western plains, the Xiliang army sat on the ground and wiped the blades of their swords. Dong Zhuo dragged his fat body and carried a serrated knife as he walked among the troops, cheering them up and regretting that he had not captured the city wall that day.

Not far away, Xiang Yu sat upright on his horse, listening with his eyes closed to the Oufeiro songs sung by the Samoans in the darkness ahead.

“So familiar…”

Xiang Yu smiled on his horse, then opened his eyes and said to Long Qie beside him, "The next step should be the 'suicide at Wujiang' scene, right?"

"This time, King Xiang is no longer a player in the game." Long Ju added jokingly.

For several days, Han Xin mobilized a large number of troops, empty vehicles, and flags every day to confuse the barbarian soldiers on the city. In the final step, he placed the final chip on the constantly accumulating emotions in the hearts of the barbarian soldiers in the city.

Don't underestimate these things. Just to mobilize the troops and coordinate them seamlessly to perform this play well requires a commander with extremely dense mobilization capabilities to connect everything seamlessly.

In the city, Sakpruit pushed the long table over with a bang.

He gritted his teeth and roared in anger: "Ceres is insidious and abominable!"

He roared for a long time but couldn't utter a single word that could be used to curse.

(End of this chapter)