Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 479 - 90

The setting sun is like blood reflecting on the city wall of Shuzhou, and the big flag with the word Yue is standing high.The township left a part of the troops to defend the city, and the other part camped outside the south city. In addition, several artillery warships entered the river.The Liao army stormed Shuzhou for more than ten days, but they couldn't advance an inch, and they couldn't even go around the city.Between the camps of the Liao and Song armies, there are many corpses of soldiers.

In Shuzhou, there were only more than 2000 defenders. In addition, Qiu Hong, the Zhizhou, summoned [-] soldiers from the township.But in May, tens of thousands of Liao troops marched westward, and the notorious general Tie Muge personally led the troops.The situation was extremely critical, and when Qiu Hong thought that he could only die with the city, Yang Zaixing and Wang Gui, the vanguards of the town, arrived in Shuzhou in time.Looking at the word "Yue" and the banner of "Zhen Guo" in the distance, the soldiers and civilians all over the city were overjoyed.

In order to enter Shuzhou ahead of the Liao army, the various ministries of the township government rushed for more than ten days.The vanguard cavalry didn't even bother to eat, they were hungry all the way, and after entering the city, they ate some battle meals in a hurry.Wang Gui left a small number of troops to assist the Shuzhou army and civilians in defending the city, and personally led the former army out of the city to meet the enemy.

The forward of the Liao army is the rebel army under Li Cheng.Seeing the banner of the town's army in the distance, he couldn't help being horrified, and bullied the town's small army, and immediately rushed forward to grab the city.

At this time, Yang Zaixing led more than [-] cavalry to launch a front and arrow formation, attacking the crowd with a small number, and fought hand-to-hand with the enemy. They clashed three times back and forth, invincible.But the enemy's troops were too large, although they couldn't resist the suppressing cavalry, they were defeated and regrouped, enveloping the cavalry regiment led by Yang Zaixing.In the middle of the battlefield, with spears and axes like a forest, and arrows like rain, hundreds of cavalry in the town were fighting endlessly with the Liao army. Surrounded by the army, he took off his iron pocket, danced his gun with both hands, and shouted, "I am Yang Zaixing of Xiangzhou. If Li Cheng has the courage, he can come and fight to the death!" All are terrified.

At this moment, Wang Gui seized the opportunity and led the cavalry of the former army to storm the Liao formation. Wherever the cavalry of more than 3000 townsmen passed, it was like a stream of iron rampaging, and the Liao army was smashed to pieces and routed.The battle lasted for more than an hour, suppressed the army and beheaded seven rebel generals, captured more than 80 prisoners alive, and captured more than 530 horses.In this battle, the town army defeated the front of the Liao army with few people, and completely controlled Shuzhou City and its surrounding areas.The soldiers and civilians in Shuzhou rejoiced throughout the city, and the cheers were heard several miles away.After the Jiedu envoy Yue Fei arrived, he heard that Zhichu had won the battle. Overjoyed, he reported [-] seven meritorious soldiers, and asked the prime minister's office to stick to Shuzhou.

The next day, Li Cheng's troops came to attack again, and Yue Fei personally defeated the enemy with his army.The rebels were unable to fight against the suppressing army, so they had to build a camp in the east of Shuzhou, waiting for Temuge to lead the main force of the Liao army.Concerned that most of the Liao army was cavalry, the suppressors also built long forts and antlers outside Shuzhou City.The plain outside Shuzhou is narrow, with rugged and densely forested mountains to the north and a great river to the south.After Temuge led the army to arrive, the two sides fought repeatedly in Shuzhou City and the township camp.The soldiers and civilians in Shuzhou City and nearby counties knew that once Shuzhou City was broken, everyone would have no eggs left, so they did their best to help the townsmen fight.However, more than [-] people from the township army marched in a hurry, and did not bring much food and grass. After a series of battles, after more than ten days, Shuzhou's food and grass were about to run out.At this time, the food and wages were not available, and the countryside and mountain villages had been ruined by the Liao army long ago, and the suppression of gangsters almost fell to the point of killing horses for food.

"Gu——" Yang Zaixing's stomach groaned, he gave a wry smile, and 'touched' the edge of his mouth.Since entering Shuzhou, the people of Shuzhou have provided all the food and grass to the town leaders, and a large number of people in the city have starved to death, even to the point of cannibalism.Yue Jiedu envoy, like the army, lived on two bowls of rough vegetable porridge every day.Qiu Hong, the magistrate of Shuzhou, personally led the people to dig wild vegetables on the mountains in the north of the city to provide food for the army.

The Liao army brought heavy artillery in iron barrels from Jiangning, and bombarded the city walls of Shuzhou day and night. The roar of the artillery disturbed people's rest.The suppressing army itself also bombarded it with artillery, and both sides continued to repair and strengthen their camps while bombarding.

The more drums sounded, and when it was time to patrol again, Yang Zaixing stood up unsteadily.He brought two personal soldiers to follow, and walked out of the camp. The moonlight was bright and clear, shining on the earth like mercury, and the night seemed very quiet.The Liao army seemed to be waiting for the town to run out of food, and the attack in the past few days was not as violent as before.Yang Zaixing felt like being watched and waited by a group of hungry wolves, and he was also very annoyed.

"You son of a bitch," Yang Zaixing murmured, "You can't kill a dog thief!" He was patrolling the camp all the way, asking for passwords, and when he passed a camp, he suddenly smelled a smell of meat. How can there be meat when the food is exhausted? Could it be that someone disobeyed Yue Jiedu's strict order and killed horses for food.Thinking of killing the horse, Yang Zaixing, commander of the cavalry, couldn't help flashing a cold light in his eyes.Just three days ago, five soldiers who killed horses were beheaded in the army. The pleading voices of those skinny soldiers were still in my ears before they died. I didn't expect that some people still committed crimes knowingly.

Following the smell before arriving at a camp, there was no fire outside, only a gleam of red light from the cracks in the tent.This group of people knew that they violated the military law, but they did it covertly.Yang Zaixing snorted coldly, and he gestured to the two entourages, telling them to stand still so as not to alert the suspect.Holding his waist knife, he approached the camp cautiously, gently opened the curtain, a ball of fire came into view, and seven or eight soldiers with yellow and thin faces were surrounding an iron pot, staring straight into the pot, even He didn't notice Yang Zaixing who opened the tent and entered.

"Hmph, what a guts!"

Hearing this cold shout, several soldiers turned their heads to see that it was Yang Zaixing, the commander of the battalion, and the three souls frightened the seven souls, and they knelt down and begged for mercy.Yang Zaixing was tyrannical in martial arts, when he was deeply trapped in the Liao formation, dozens of enemies surrounded him, even if he couldn't get close to him, he stabbed several people to death instead.Even if these soldiers wanted to resist, they were not sure of success, so they could only beg him to let him go.

"My lord, please spare me!" "Master Yang, we have no choice but to wait."

Yang Zaixing asked, "Killing a horse is a capital crime, don't you know?" He looked at these people coldly, but there was regret in his eyes.The vanguard cavalry is gathered from the elite of the town, and the cavalry of the Tabai Battalion under Yang Zaixing is even more elite scouts.Yang Zaixing recognized five of them, and Yue Shuai personally asked for credit for them the day before yesterday.However, the military order is like a mountain. If you indulge in killing horses, within ten days, there will be no cavalry in the town.No matter how many soldiers begged, Yang Zaixing only said to act impartially, let them tie him up, and brought him to Yue Shuai to plead guilty.

Ever since Yue Fei dispatched troops to the Henghaixiang Army, his military law has always been extremely strict, when several soldiers heard that Yang Zaixing was going to hand them over to Yue Fei, they looked at each other for a few times, their faces turned ashen, and they thought that they would surely die.One of them had a flushed face, rolled his eyes slightly, gritted his teeth, and asked, "Master Yang, if we didn't kill horses and eat meat, wouldn't it be a capital crime?"

"It's not horse meat? What kind of meat is that?" Yang Zaixing gasped as he thought of a possibility, staring at the soldier.

A few soldiers looked at each other, and the red-faced goofy Ai Ai said: "This is cut from the front of the battle." No matter what, the word "human flesh" still couldn't be said.The Zhen army and the Liao army fought for days, and both sides suffered a lot of casualties.The suppressors only collected corpses for burial in Paoze, but the Liao army did not have the habit of collecting corpses. There were countless corpses left on the battlefield, and the rotten smell made one almost nauseated.

Yang Zaixing frowned and looked at the iron pot, his eyes changed several times.He had only heard of this kind of thing when he was in the green forest.This matter can be big or small. It is strictly forbidden to kill horses and eat meat in the town, and it is also strictly forbidden to slaughter private cattle, but there is no express prohibition on eating the enemy's meat.If it weren't for this situation, the soldiers would not have been 'forced' to this point.

Seven or eight soldiers looked at Yang Zaixing with trepidation, wondering how he would deal with it.

At this moment, the curtain of the camp tent was suddenly lifted, and a gust of wind blew the flames into a roaring sound. Several soldiers turned their heads to look, their faces turned pale, and they saw Jiedu Shi Yue Fei's face was as cold as iron. , standing at the door of the tent.Zhang Xian, commander of the Beiwei battalion, stood behind the general with several soldiers.Yang Zaixing was in command of the cavalry army, and the soldiers in the battalion committed crimes in his hands, so they could still beg for mercy.But when Yue Fei saw them in person, these soldiers didn't even ask for forgiveness, and some of them stood up instead, acting like a good man who is a good man and only wants to die.

"How is this going?"

Yang Zaixing told what happened just now, the matter has come to this point, he can only wait for Yue Shuai's decision.

Yue Fei's face was as heavy as water, no one could see what he was thinking, he slowly scanned the soldiers of the Tabai Battalion.Looking over with a pair of tiger eyes, one's body immediately felt cold. Several soldiers barely stood upright, and one of them moved his lips slightly, but he didn't ask for mercy after all.

After a long time, Yue Fei walked to the iron pot, stirred the pot with the iron spoon next to it, and lifted some soup out with the spoon. "Master Jiedu!" Zhang Xian's face changed suddenly, and he cried out.Yue Fei's face darkened slightly, and he sighed: "Soldiers serve the country with all their hearts, and it's like this." He raised his hand and drank the soup in the spoon in one gulp. The soldier with a shocked face said coldly: "No matter how hungry you are, you can only cut off the flesh of the barbarians!"

"Yes!" Several soldiers subconsciously replied loudly.While his mind was still blank, the Jiedushi had already left. "You're lucky!" Yang Zaixing dropped the sentence and walked away.Walking through the gate of life and death, the soldiers stood dumbfounded in the tent, some had bitter mouths, and some had tears in their eyes.