Jiuxi

Chapter 670 668 [Where to Go]

The counterattack of more than 4,000 elite soldiers of the Feiyu Army caused some chaos in the vanguard of the Jing Army.

Under the command of Yan Hu and another Jing army general Pei Manlu, the Jing army's vanguard finally stabilized its formation. But at this time, more than 4,000 cavalrymen of the Feiyu army, led by Li Bingxue, entered from the northeast and exited from the southwest, and actually killed their way out of the Jing army's formation.

Pei Manlu shouted angrily: "Don't let them get away!"

Yan Hu glanced at the Feiyu Army in the distance and shook his head, saying, "Li Bingxue won't run away because she wants to protect the cavalry in front of her. She also knows she can't run away because she led the main force of the Feiyu Army on a long-distance raid this time, while our reinforcements are well rested and their horses are much stronger than the Feiyu Army's. This is also the reason why the enemy will be caught up by us."

His judgment was very accurate.

Li Bingxue was very clear about the current situation. If the Feiyu Army could shake off the pursuers and retreat back to Da Qi, why should she take the initiative to lead the troops to cover their retreat? Wouldn't it be better for them to return home safely together?
Because she couldn't do this, she could only choose to let the elite troops stay behind to cover the retreat and try to save half of the troops. This was a decision that had to be made due to the situation.

If they were unwilling to sacrifice these 4,000 elite soldiers, the final outcome would be that everyone would die on the battlefield.

Pei Manlu turned his horse's head and said with a fierce smile: "Then kill all these Qi troops first. Li Bingxue thought that the thousands of people in front could escape back, but she didn't know that this was wishful thinking! Since the Lord and General Pucha have made up their minds to strangle the Feiyu Army at all costs, how could they leave them a way out!"

He naturally knew the arrangements of Wuyan Shu and Pucha. On the southeastern direction, more than 30 miles away from Nanqi Teng County, a Jing army with thousands of infantrymen blocked the way, specifically to cut off the Feiyu army's retreat.

Yan Hu nodded and reminded: "Be careful, the fighting power of these thousands of people in desperate situations should not be underestimated."

Pei Manlu snorted coldly and stared at the blood-covered female general of Southern Qi in the distance.

Li Bingxue did not sense his vicious gaze, and even if she could, she would not care, because she was determined to die today, and so were the soldiers around her.

Charge, break the formation, turn, detour, and charge again, over and over again.

When the Feiyu Army completed its third charge, the formation of the Jing Army's vanguard had become extremely loose, and casualties were gradually increasing.

At this moment, the second group of Jing army cavalry arrived, about 4,000 horses. They immediately charged into the battlefield from both flanks to increase the thickness of their own cavalry formation.

At this time, the Feiyu Army was no longer able to charge forward. Even if the soldiers could still hold on, their mounts had very little strength left.

Into a melee.

Most of the Feiyu Army soldiers had blood on their faces. The few who did not have blood on their faces looked very pale. At this time, they were almost entirely relying on willpower to support themselves.

Li Bingxue suffered the most serious damage. In addition to the arrow wound on her forearm, she had two more wounds on her body. Fortunately, they were not vital parts.

She pursed her lips and continued to kill the enemy. Although she no longer had the invincible momentum of a thousand men, few cavalrymen of the Jing army were her match.

Fighting on the battlefield is ultimately a test of personal strength and experience in facing the enemy. Li Bingxue is undoubtedly a leader in these two aspects.

Until two long spears came rushing towards Li Bingxue with the power of wind and thunder.

A cold light flashed in Li Bingxue's eyes, and her upper body shook instantly, avoiding the oncoming attack at the critical moment.

The tip of the spear brushed past him, bringing up a gust of wind, but Li Bingxue had already turned from defense to offense, holding the lance tightly with both hands, one in front and one behind, and sweeping the sharp iron blade forward.

The intruders raised their spears to block almost at the same time. They were Yan Hu and Pei Manlu.

The iron blade and the gun tip collided, making a clanging sound. The three forces exploded one after another at the intersection, and the surrounding air seemed to be compressed into countless cyclones.

Li Bingxue frowned slightly, but her movements did not stop at all. She swung the lance vigorously, aiming directly at the opponent's vital points each time.

Faced with the siege by these two Jing army generals, she actually chose to take the initiative to attack!

However, Yan Hu and Pei Manlu are obviously not ordinary people. The former is fierce and his moves are deadly, while the latter is agile and his offensive is sharp. The spears in their hands dance like dragons and waves, trying to suppress Li Bingxue.

The three men fought in a group like a revolving lantern, and countless sparks burst out between the iron tips of the lances and the fine iron heads of the spears.

Li Bingxue had a resolute expression, but his attacks became more and more ferocious.

Pei Manlu dodged the attack and said jokingly, "General Li is already at the end of his strength. Why bother to hold on? If you dismount and surrender, you can avoid death!"

Yan Hu also said loudly: "If General Li is willing to surrender, all your subordinates will survive!"

Li Bingxue turned a deaf ear to him. She suddenly clamped her legs together, and the horse under her crotch neighed loudly. Its four hooves trampled through the yellow sand, stirring up countless dust.

The lance in her hand was like a white rainbow piercing the sun, stabbing towards Yanhu with the sound of endless wind and thunder.

This attack seemed to be able to pierce through the sky. Yan Hu did not dare to be careless and immediately turned his body and swung his gun to block it.

However, what he didn't expect was that Li Bingxue used all her strength in this attack, and not only did he fail to block the lance, but he completely lost the space to dodge.

Pei Manlu reacted extremely quickly and thrust his spear towards Li Bingxue's chest from the left side.

He did not forget Pucha's instructions to capture Li Bingxue alive as much as possible so that he could gain greater benefits, so this shot was just to force Li Bingxue to withdraw his attack and save himself, thus saving Yan Hu.

The problem was that Li Bingxue had no intention of saving herself at all, and Pei Manlu couldn't help but hesitate for a moment. It was because of this moment of hesitation that Li Bingxue's left arm appeared in front of his chest to block it slightly.

Pei Manlu's spear was so powerful that Li Bingxue's arm couldn't block it, but it did cause the opponent's spear to deflect by several inches.

"puff!"

The tip of the fine iron spear pierced into Li Bingxue's left shoulder. At the same time, the lance in her hand smashed Yanhu's spear, and the cold iron tip passed through Yanhu's throat.

A streak of blood suddenly appeared on Yanhu's throat. He raised his hand to cover his neck. More and more blood flowed out from between his fingers, and then he fell straight down.

At this moment, Li Bingxue's left hand had already tightly grasped Pei Manlu's spear, and the lance did not stop. She just let out a loud shout, endured the piercing pain in her shoulder, and summoned up her last bit of internal strength to swing the lance to the left.

The iron sword hit Pei Manlu's shoulder, knocking this extremely burly general of the Jing army to the ground!

In a flash, two generals of the Jing army were killed and one was injured!
Pei Manlu was rescued by the Jing army cavalry in the rear. In fact, even if the two cavalrymen were slow, and even if Pei Manlu was not as agile as before after being injured, Li Bingxue had no way to take his life.

After being injured several times, especially the shot from Pei Manlu which caused great damage, and exhausted from the long battle, Li Bingxue's eyes had become dull.

"General!"

More than a dozen Feiyu Army soldiers killed and repelled the surrounding enemy forces and surrounded Li Bingxue. Li Bingxue looked around the battlefield with difficulty. Many of the more than 4,000 soldiers who followed her had fallen, and the casualties of the Jing Army's vanguard should be even greater.

Facing this battle that could be described as a dead end, it was not easy for the Feiyu Army to achieve such a result. However, there was no trace of complacency on Li Bingxue's face. Instead, there was clear guilt and self-blame.

She held the lance in her right hand and leaned on the ground to keep herself sitting and avoid falling.

Because she had just caused one death and one injury in a short period of time, and her opponents were two vanguard generals of the Jing Army. Even though she was obviously unable to hold on any longer, the Jing Army cavalry in front did not dare to move forward.

If the war ended here, it would naturally be a rare victory for the Feiyu Army. However, muffled thunder rumbled from the west, and most of the Jing Army's follow-up troops had already arrived.

Li Bingxue gasped for air, gritted his teeth and raised his head. He calculated that the more than 5,000 comrades should be able to escape by now. He was about to order the surviving soldiers around him to break out on their own when he suddenly heard a commotion around him, followed by someone shouting, "General, east!"

She turned her head and saw dust billowing in the east and an endless stream of cavalry rushing towards them at high speed.

"These fools..."

Li Bingxue smiled sadly, with complex emotions appearing on her pale face.

She was willing to die just to let them go back alive, but these guys refused to listen and came back to save her even though they knew they would die.

At this moment she was a little angry and a little moved, with all kinds of thoughts entangled and difficult to express in words for a moment.

"Well, let's die together."

Li Bingxue thought so and tried to pick up the lance, but found that she had no strength in her hands.

"General, it's reinforcements! It's the Grand Commander!"

A soldier beside him shouted in a trembling voice.

The three words "Grand Commander" suddenly exploded in Li Bingxue's mind.

She turned her head and looked east again, and a large flag gradually came into her sight.

It was a pity that her vision was blurred at the moment and she couldn't see the words on the flag at all.

The guard continued to shout, "Grand Commander Lu of Dingzhou! Reinforcements are coming! Grand Commander Lu is here!"

The shout spread all over the place in an instant.

A past event suddenly emerged in Li Bingxue's confused mind.

That was his first time in Beijing. She heard in the palace that he had been assassinated near the residence of the Right Prime Minister. She rushed there anxiously, crossing the streets and alleys in the shortest time, and finally arrived at the critical moment to save him.

This time, he was not late...

Li Bingxue's hand loosened, and the bloody lance fell to the ground. She closed her eyes, leaned forward on the horse's back, and her arms hung limply.

"General! General!"

The soldiers beside him cried out in tears.

At the same time, under the flag of General Jing's army, Pucha listened to the report of a cavalry leader and his face turned very ugly.

"...General, Lu Chen of Southern Qi led two cavalry units, the Ruishi Battalion and Dingbei Army, and came straight from Teng County. In less than half an hour, they defeated our infantry from the rear and rushed all the way here. I dared not delay, but I was only one step faster than the enemy's vanguard. This time, Lu Chen sent out all his elite cavalry, about 20,000 people, so please make a decision as soon as possible!"

Pucha couldn't help but clench his fists.

This battle was not without gain. Jing's army had already dealt a heavy blow to the Feiyu Army of Southern Qi. Although the price they paid was not small, he estimated that they could at least annihilate the main elite forces of the Feiyu Army. However, Lu Chen still noticed the clues in the end!
To fight or not to fight?
Although the main force of the Southern Qi cavalry came from afar, the Jing army was not well-rested. The enemy was basically just on the way, while the main force of the Jing army had been fighting for a long time.

"Form a formation and prepare to retreat!"

After a brief thought, Pucha gave a decisive order.

Even though the gap in military strength between the two sides was not big, he was still very wary of Lu Chen. The past battles were enough to prove the opponent's ability.

In the center of the battlefield, the Jing Army cavalry, upon receiving the military order, took the initiative to retreat, and the Da Qi border army quickly brought over the main force of the Feiyu Army, which had suffered heavy casualties.

Under the commander's flag, Lu Chen looked at the white horses that were escorted by several soldiers all the way. His eyes fell on the woman lying on the horse's back. A sense of panic and anger instantly exploded in his mind.

This scene made his eyes go dark.

The word "kill the enemy" almost came out of his mouth.

Huo Zhen, who came with the army, also looked pale, but he immediately said to Lu Chen: "Grand Commander, the main force of the enemy is still there, and this place is still in enemy territory. We should not stay here for long. Otherwise, something unexpected will happen. Besides, the Feiyu Army is in a worrying state and urgently needs to treat the wounded. Since the enemy is temporarily waiting and watching, our army can withdraw. I hope the Grand Commander will think twice!"

Lu Chen was silent for a moment, then he uttered a sentence through his teeth: "Protect our Feiyu Army comrades, the Dingbei Army will cover the rear, and we will retreat slowly."

Huo Zhen bowed and said, "As ordered!"

Lu Chen rode forward, took the reins of the white horse from the hand of his personal soldier, and then asked in a deep voice: "Where is the military officer?"

A knight came forward carrying a medicine box.

Lu Chen bowed to him and said, "I beg you to save her, please!"

The doctor even said he didn't dare, and immediately stepped forward to give Li Bingxue initial first aid.

Lu Chen looked at the pale face, full of self-blame and regret, and whispered word by word: "You must stay alive."

The setting sun in the sky is blood-red.

The autumn wind is bleak and cold.

……

(Today's third update of 10,000 words is completed.)
(End of this chapter)