Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 9 Crying King Zhao (2)

Taking a breath of cold air, Zhao Xingde only felt his chest and back were chilly. Before setting off, he ate an egg and two steamed buns with horse meat sandwiched between them. It took less than an hour and a half, and he was already very hungry. Both the cotton robe and the bearskin cloak were frozen through, and he almost lost all feeling in his hands and feet. As he lay prostrate in the snow, he could only feel the cold rising from the ground in bursts, almost freezing himself into a popsicle.

As soon as he thought of the egg and cornbread, Zhao Xingde was filled with guilt. In the Han army's cottage, the little girl held the most precious food in front of him almost tremblingly. Zhao Xingde seemed to see her swallow a sip of water, and then quickly ran away.He broke off a piece of cornbread and went to the kitchen to share some with her, but found that several women and children in the village were drinking soup boiled with bark and grass roots.They said nothing about eating Zhao Xingde's food. It is good for women to have grass roots and bark. Now it is the coldest time in winter, and the bark in the mountains can't be peeled off. Now these are saved some time ago.

In winter, the starving and skinny Han army could hardly take down any Khitan camp, and the concentrated Han army was the best target for the Khitan cavalry.The Khitans hid in their fortified camps, with kangs on fire, large pieces of meat and bowls of wine, and they would not come out at all, while the Han army could only bring a few women and children to suffer in the deep mountains and old forests.

"My lord, can your artillery really open the Khitan stronghold?" Those big eyes seemed to be dangling in front of his eyes, and the childish voice still seemed to be in his ears, "Really?" Zhao Xingde asked the Han army more than once The leader Wang Hengzhi promised that as long as the artillery from the sea arrived, they would be able to capture the Khitan stockade.In winter, a large amount of grain, grass, and livestock were hoarded in the Khitan villages, and the other Han, Bohai, and Five Kingdoms people had only a little stuff that could keep them alive.The Han army was eager to see through Zhao Xingde's artillery. Almost every day, different people came to ask this question.

One day, Wang Tongdeng didn't know whether he was annoyed by the questioning, or he couldn't stand being suffocated in this village, so he cursed in a low voice: "There are Khitan people there, why don't you fight them yourself, you cowards. "

All the Han soldiers fell silent, and Wang Hengzhi, the head of the family, blushed and turned white and turned blue, so there was this sneak attack on the Khitan village.Zhao Xingde knew that because many war horses died of starvation, and the horse meat was used as food again, Wang Tongdeng had been holding back a lot of anger, but he still severely reprimanded Wang Tongdeng, warning him to provoke him again. If there is a conflict between the two armies, he will unceremoniously kick him back to Xia Guo.Then, Zhao Xingde went to dissuade Wang Hengzhi from taking risks, but Wang Hengzhi refused.

"Our Han army can also fight, not tortoises huddling in the mountains." Wang Hengzhi replied with a livid face while wiping his wrought iron knife, obviously he cared about Wang Tongdeng's words very much.Zhao Xingde went to look for Xu Detai, the third head of the military division, hoping that he would persuade Wang Hengzhi not to act impulsively, but Xu Detai said something else.

"It's better to die in battle than to die of starvation and cold." Xu Detai's haggard face fits well with the image of a military adviser in the play, but it's a pity that it's not because he has the talent to master the world, but because he was starved, and the arrival of Chengying Ying made it worse The burden of the camp, the Han army has tried to provide the best food and accommodation for these sergeants representing Xia, but they themselves eat the least and simplest things.

"We must keep our strength and save it for a more useful time." Zhao Xingde said in a deep voice, he did not expect Xu Detai to be so stubborn.

"Is there any useful time?" Xu Detai smiled coldly. With a finger missing on his right hand, he pulled out a dagger from the boot and 'inserted' it on the table. one."

Zhao Xingde said in a deep voice: "I don't agree to sacrifice the lives of soldiers for nothing."

"Then let's do it ourselves!" Wang Heng pushed open the door and came in. He threw his helmet on the table, "Let you see how the Han army fights." Finally, Zhao Xingde agreed and took Chengyingying with him Attack the nearest Khitan village, Evil Tiger Village.

In this way, more than 2000 ragged Han soldiers and [-] Chengying sergeants in bright armor and high morale set out from the stronghold, passed through the knee-high snow and dense forest, and sneaked to the vicinity of the Khitan camp.The Han army cut down wood in the distant forest behind and tied them into simple ladders.

According to Pu Tieyan, the second head of the cottage, there are more than 1000 Khitan households in the village, nearly [-] cavalry, and there is "infinite" food and "infinite" wine.Because the Han people couldn't get close to this village at all, Zhao Xingde even suspected that what he said was just imagination.Zhao Xingde suggested to lure the enemy to attack, and then he used Chengying's cavalry to intercept the enemy, but was laughed at by Wang Hengzhi, the Khitan people are not fools, in winter, the Khitan people in this small village will never come out.It's cold, there is food and drink, and whoever comes out is a fool.

The wall of the Khitan people's village is not high, with five feet of rammed earth and five feet of densely packed wooden piles. There are crenels built on the wooden piles, and there are archery towers built at intervals.There are Han people, Bohai people, Five Kingdoms people, Jurchens and many other races scattered across Tokyo Road. The Khitan people are mostly garrisons, not only maintaining the rule of the Liao Kingdom, but also searching for local wealth.

Looking at the earth and wood wall, which was only about ten feet long, it was like a moat in a flat snow field. If there were artillery, Zhao Xingde sighed, and his stomach grumbled a few times in disbelief.As if the sound was contagious, Wang Tongdeng, Du Chuijiao, and Jian Cheng started cooing one after another.

Tong Yunjie, the fourth master, turned his head and smiled at Zhao Xingde. Before he went up the mountain, he was a member of the Liao Kingdom. Tong Yunjie took out a handful of fried soy sauce noodles from his arms and handed it to Zhao Xingde, motioning him to eat it with the snow and pad his stomach. Tong Yunjie’s With thin cheeks and deep eye sockets, Zhao Xingde couldn't bear to refrain from his kindness, carefully took out a ball of clean snow, mixed it with fried rice noodles, and swallowed it.The not-cleaned sorghum shell was hard and loose, his throat itched for a while, and he retched twice almost reflexively.Zhao Xingde hastily suppressed himself and swallowed the cold snow and fried noodles.I just felt that a cold thing went directly into my stomach, as if my stomach was frozen into a ball.Now it's freezing cold outside, and there's another ball of snow inside, which is completely frozen, and the teeth can't help but chatter.

Tong Yunjie turned his face to the front and didn't see it, but Pu Tieyan behind him snorted coldly. Although these warriors of Xia Xia are good at martial arts, they are delicate and expensive. If there is no Han army, they will be in the dense forest of Liaodong I can't survive a winter.Since the arrival of Chengying Ying, even Wang Hengzhi's rations have been reduced, and they still make irresponsible remarks.If it wasn't for fighting against these outsiders and proving that the Han army could still fight, they weren't hungry people who could only hide in the mountains, and there wouldn't be today's battle. There are more than 2000 brothers, how many of them can go back?

As the sky gradually turned dusk, torches were lit on the wall of the Khitan people's stronghold. In the light of the fire, people's heads could be seen faintly shaking. They were the best targets for the Han army. "It's time." Excitement flashed in Wang Hengzhi's eyes, and he waved his hands to let Pu Tieyan, the second master, lead two hundred forwards, crawl over the snow, and use bows and arrows to destroy the Khitan soldiers guarding the wall, while Tong Yunjie, the fourth master, led 400 people dragged twenty ladders lying behind.Once the ladder was set up, Wang Hengzhi himself led more than 1000 people and began to rob the village.

"General Zhao's people have come from afar, and they are Missy's guests, so they can't afford to lose it. Let us Liaodong Han people do the job of sending you to death." Wang Hengzhi stopped Zhao Xingde's question with one sentence, turned his head and went back To watch the situation on the battlefield.

"My lord, what should we do?" Wang Tongdeng was a little anxious because he didn't expect to have no chance to play in the battlefield.

"Do you want to go up?" Zhao Xingde looked at the Evil Tiger Village built on the flat ground of the valley. The surrounding snow was extremely deep. If he couldn't sneak up, he could rely on the snail-like speed of the Han army moving in the snow. , is simply a living target.

Several leaders of the Han army were busy giving their subordinates the last encouragement. After all, it was nothing more than "open the Khitan village, eat and eat, drink and drink." The Khitan people are one of them." "The eldest lady's guests are watching from behind, and they are kind, don't lose the people from the Han army camp."

These low and simple words were blown away by the cold wind, but the blood began to burn silently from the deepest part of the body. The thin Han soldiers began to eat the little food they carried with them, rubbing their hands and feet, trying to fight Restore a little vitality in front of the enemy.Zhao Xingde took a deep breath of the frozen air, and the tingling sensation in his chest and lungs made his numb body regain consciousness.