Great Han Empire

Chapter 380
"The Journey to the West"

Author: Scarlet Coral
Chapter 15 Necklace
"Let go! Shoot in depth!" Zhao Guang picked up a Guishuang man who had climbed ashore with a spear and back into the water, while commanding the troops loudly to release arrows.The feathered arrows like locusts quickly covered the river surface, wiping away the last bit of fighting spirit in the chests of the enemies who forcibly crossed. The soldiers of Guishuang who survived the rain of arrows scrambled to retreat to the west bank, and many of them were shot to death by the sharp arrows that followed.There are thousands of corpses floating on the river surface, showing a strange beauty under the rays of the setting sun.

"It's grandma's day, finally survived another day!" Zhang Hu came up from the river with a long knife in his hand - just now the Guishuang people's last wave of attack was very fierce, almost a whole hundred people rushed ashore, thanks to Zhang Hu He led more than a dozen soldiers to jump down the river to fight desperately, and cooperated with the bow and crossbow salvo on the bank to kill the enemy. Team, this river seems to be unable to hold on!"

Xian Yugui interjected from the side: "Our army has less than 5000 people, guarding such a long river course is inevitable. Fortunately, the Guishuang people have not killed the whole army so far, so let's keep it for a while. When it really comes down to holding on, General Gao will not use his old books to make up for it.”

Commander Gao Shun fell into the camp to cover the retreat of the main force, but he didn't think about fighting hard.He devised a tactic of "blocking at every level and sneak attacking from time to time". He ate up several small enemy troops as soon as he came up. When the enemy's large troops advanced, he did not fight recklessly. .As a result, the Guishuang army's originally slow marching speed was even more sluggish. It took more than half a month to stop and go before advancing to the west bank of the Khotan River.Only then did Gao Shun put on a defensive posture, blocking tens of thousands of Guishuang troops here.

The Khotan River is an inland seasonal river with a width of more than [-] feet. The water level is not high after entering summer, and the deepest part is just empty.At the beginning, the Guishuang people dismissed the river and didn't bother to build a pontoon bridge. They just let the soldiers hold hands and wade across the river in a group of hundreds.The Guishuang soldiers moving slowly in the river immediately became good targets for the crossbows of the Han army. Even if there were a few fish that slipped through the net, they would be easily killed by the Han army waiting for work after landing.Commander Guishuang on the opposite bank saw that a hard attack would not work, so he resorted to a strategy: ordered people to build a dam upstream to block the flow, and the downstream to sneak across at night, and the soldiers built bridges while crossing the river... But Gao Shun saw through them one by one, desperate Then, relying on the number of people and their determination, they used stupid methods to force them across.The Battle of the Khotan River gradually turned into a war of attrition. Although the Guishuang Army had made no progress for a few days, as the number of enemy soldiers on the west bank increased, the situation became more and more difficult for the Han army on the east bank. Bad luck.

"The crossbow arrows stored in the army have gradually bottomed out, and the river will be lost sooner or later!" Zhao Neng stroked his beard and said softly, "Without the Khotan River, our army only has Gumo City to defend. But the small city of Gumo , when the main force of the Guishuang people arrives, I am afraid they will not be able to hold back for long."

"There must be a way for the car to reach the mountain. General Gao, a famous general who has fought in hundreds of battles, will always find a way. We people will try to kill a few more at that time, and earn enough money! It is useless to think about other things, but Thinking of another bird!" Roan said carelessly.This time it was temporarily incorporated into the trapped camp, and the forward team did not join as a whole.Zhao Guang handed over most of the people to He Chong and Tuo Bafeng to lead the retreat with the main force, and he only brought Luo An, Zhao Neng and dozens of capable soldiers to help out.

"What Lao Luo said is true!" Infected by Luo An's optimistic mood, everyone laughed loudly at the enemy's uselessness and the incompetence of the enemy generals.Zhao Guang laughed and cursed with everyone, but he knew very well in his heart: the army can't last long - the trapped camp is called the hero of the world, and even ordinary soldiers are one of the best in a hundred. There was a snoring sound, and he didn't even bother to tidy up his armor.

"The army is exhausted!" Gao Shun looked worried and looked at the brightly lit Guishuang tent on the other side of the river.

The deputy general persuaded from the side: "General, we have dragged the enemy for nearly a month, and we have tried our best. Why don't we just retreat to Kucha?"

Gao Shun said with a half-smile, "One month? That's not enough. I promised Pang Shuai [-] days. Why, are you afraid?"

"Afraid? I, Cao Xing, will be afraid? General, don't underestimate me!" The lieutenant became really angry and shouted, "Since I followed the general to build the camp, I have fought for more than ten years and suffered hundreds of wounds all over my body. When have you ever flinched? But now the situation is stronger than others, so we can't help but not retreat. If the general thinks that I am confusing the morale of the army, he can cut off my head to show his prestige! But the general, please be sympathetic to the brothers who have been fighting for many years to survive, and leave some seeds for the trapped camp. !"

Gao Shun patted Cao Xing on the shoulder and said, "Old Cao, I'm sorry, I made a slip of the tongue. I understand that you only think about the brothers in the camp. But you have to understand one thing. You are trapped in the camp for the sake of the big man." Existence. If you fight to the death for the great man, even if the entire battalion dies for the country, the battalion flag will not fall; if you retreat before the battle, even if the entire battalion retreats, the battalion flag will already fall."

Hou Cheng, the commander of the cavalry at the side, heard the words, and said, "The old brothers in the battalion know the general's ambitions. If the general is determined to be benevolent, the brothers will not disagree."

"I have no intention of begging for death, and I will not lead the camp to a dead end! But Tai Shigong said: 'Death is lighter than a feather, but heavier than Mount Tai'. Looking down on life and death may not mean begging for death...Old Cao, you Call the generals for a meeting for me." Cao Xing stomped his feet, turned around and left, Hou Cheng cupped his fists at Gao Shun and smiled wryly, "General, Lao Cao's temper is just so straightforward, don't worry..."

"How could I not know the loyalty and bravery of Lao Cao, my brothers and comrades for so many years?"

Early the next morning, the Guishuang people on the west bank were surprised to find that the Han army on the east bank, which had resisted the army for seven or eight days, had disappeared!Shaka, the chief general of Guishuang, suspected fraud at first, and refused to order to cross the river. After delaying until the next day, he finally found out that there was no Han army on the east bank.Shaka was so angry that he yelled and hurriedly ordered the army to cross the river to pursue him.

The Guishuang people chased all the way to the foot of Gumo City. Seeing the city gate was wide open, they thought that the Han army had abandoned the city again, so they swaggered in, and fell into Gao Shun's plan.After more than [-] Guishuang pioneers entered the city, the Qianjin gate on the city gate was suddenly lowered, thousands of arrows were fired on the city wall, and countless Han troops poured out of the houses and streets in the city. Wipe it out.After killing the enemies in the city, Gao Shun ordered someone to open the Qianjin gate. Although General Guishuang was so angry that his orifices were filled with smoke, he dared not enter the city again.After the two sides confronted each other for three days, the balance of power between the enemy and ourselves was broken again: General Jipinada, the main general of Guishuang's Eastern Expedition, arrived with the main force, and Guishuang's army outside the city reached [-] at a time.Seeing that the enemy was strong, Gao Shun immediately decided to set fire to the city that night. While setting fire, he secretly withdrew his troops from the east gate of the city.Although the Guishuang people were suspicious, they ignored the situation in the dark night because they were unclear. The fire continued to burn until noon the next day.When the Guishuang army entered the city, the Han army disappeared again, and Gumo City was burned to white ground, leaving no grass.Jipinada was furious and threatened to wipe out this cunning and hateful Han army first, and then attack Kucha.

Three days later, the main force of Guishuang's army searched south along the traces deliberately left by the Han army, and finally found the "cunning and hateful" Han army.Immediately, the two armies took up positions and started a decisive battle by the Congling River.

After several attempts with light cavalry to no avail, Jipinada decisively used his elites to attack the weak left wing of the Han army.

The elite of the Guishuang Army is an infantry phalanx with huge spears, iron armor, and a unit of thousands of people-the rise of these spearmen is very influenced by a series of colonial city-states established by the Greeks in Central Asia Impact.The Guishuang people used this infantry phalanx to cooperate with their own cavalry, so they rose from a tribe to which the Da Yuezhi belonged, conquered a vast land from Central Asia to India, and established a powerful empire.

And the left wing of the Han army, which is somewhat weak, is where Zhao Guang and more than a thousand "guest troops" are located.

These "guest troops" who voluntarily join the camp to fight against the enemy are mostly composed of young officers from the Western Expeditionary Army and their elite soldiers.These warriors are extremely brave in combat and have high martial arts skills, but the coordination of the military formation is far inferior to the veterans who are trapped in the camp.In the previous battles, Gao Shun had been deliberately protecting these "guest troops" and used them cautiously, but at this moment of decisive battle, he finally couldn't care about them anymore.It was such a negligence that was discovered by the sophisticated enemy general.

The Guishuang Army's six thousand-man spear teams formed a formation, and pressed against the left wing of the Han Army with overwhelming momentum.Although the Han army fought hard to resist, they couldn't use it at all under the enemy's dense formation. They were soon engulfed and surrounded by the enemy, and fell into the dilemma of fighting on their own.Seeing that the battle was not going well, Yan Ba, the leader of the left wing, personally led his troops into the enemy formation. General Fenwu Wang Ling gathered the remnants of the left wing and retreated to the central army.

After Zhao Guang followed Yan Ba ​​into the enemy's formation, he also fell into heavy siege.He soon found sadly that the iron cavalry that the big man was proud of could not gallop in front of the dense spear array of the Guishan people.Not long after entering the battle, his horse was pierced by several spears, and he could only abandon the horse and fight on foot.Although the high-strength marksmanship still prevented the enemy from getting close, after all, one shot per person could not block the attacks of dozens of spears in all directions, and many places on his body were soon wounded.While resisting desperately, a Guishuang general slapped him from behind, raised his saber and chopped off Zhao Guang's head.

Zhao Guang only felt the wind in the back of his head, and his heart suddenly went cold.In the nick of time, he was kicked down by a slanting stab, narrowly dodging the fatal blow, and when he looked up again, the enemy general behind him had been split in two by a big man with a giant sword.Zhao Guang narrowly escaped death, sat on the ground in a daze, and was awakened by the big man's loud shout: "What are you doing, why don't you gather up the rest of the brothers!"

After Zhao Guang gathered the remnants of the surrounding soldiers, he formed a circle to meet the enemy.The people of Guishuang had firmly gained the upper hand, so they were not in a hurry. A team of thousands of people separated a few feet away, forming a siege around everyone.Zhao Guang took the opportunity to count the number of people, and found that including himself and the big man just now, there were 36 people in total.Except for Luo An and Zhao Neng, the rest of them are the personal soldiers of other generals. It seems that the left wing of the Han army has been completely dispersed.

Zhao Guang carefully looked at the big man who had rescued him just now, and saw that he was nine feet long, with phoenix eyes, majestic, and extraordinary appearance. In his early teens, he was the legendary general Guan Ping, the brave general who won the three armies.

Zhao Guang hurriedly said: "Thank you, General Guan, for your rescue. Although today is a fatal situation, it is not in vain to be able to fight together with heroes like General Guan."

Guan Ping calmly wiped the blood from his face, threw it on the ground, and asked with a smile, "Boy, are you married yet?"

"Huh? This...not...never."

"Hehe, Guan has never done that before. Since a man has not yet married, how can he die here so easily! Let's rush out with Guan!" After Guan Ping said, he looked up to the sky and screamed, and swung the giant green dragon sword like a tiger. Going down the mountain, he rushed into Guishuang's formation, and the giant knife swung open a forest of spears, and then drew brilliant blood flowers in the enemy's formation.Zhao Guang raised his gun and shouted: "Follow General Guan!" He led the crowd to charge up and kill him.

At first, the Guishuang people didn't care about this small group of remnants who had lost their horses and were bruised and bruised.Surrounding them without attacking or shooting arrows, just waiting for them to surrender—on the battlefield of Tianzhu, it is very common for them to surrender with all their strength.However, the remnant soldiers in front of them suddenly exploded, which was beyond the surprise of the people of Guishuang. If they tried to suppress them with arrows, they had already been rushed into the formation by the opponent, unable to distinguish between the enemy and ourselves.The Guishuang Army's spear array is layered on the periphery, extremely strong and powerful, but once it is broken through to the inside, the spears as tall as three people cannot be used at all.As a result, the large formation composed of thousands of people was smashed into chaos by dozens of Han troops.

Although Guan Ping was killed like he was covered in blood, his heart was still extremely calm. He saw that the Guishuang people's formation was in disarray, and shouted loudly: "Don't love to fight, grab the horse, rush out!" Immediately, they suddenly realized that they all aimed at the general Guishuang who was riding a horse beside him, and rushed out of the formation after killing the general and seizing the horse.With the loss of officers in Guishuang's formation, the chaos became even more uncontrollable. The originally tight formation was scattered, and there was no one to stop the fleeing Han army.

The crowd fled to a small slope more than two miles away before stopping. Seeing that no one was chasing them, they breathed a sigh of relief and counted the number of people, only six people were lost in the formation.Zhao Guang said in admiration: "Thanks to General Guan's command, the brothers were able to break out of the encirclement."

"It's a big deal, what's it worth? Guan was able to get out thanks to your hard work together. What's your name, little brother?"

"Zhao Guang, the Sima of the lower official army, is named Ziyuan."

"Heh, you are Zhao Guang from the Changshui camp, you are indeed extraordinary." Guan Ping said seriously, "Now we have lost contact with the trapped camp, and it is really difficult to reunite with the enemy's army. And you can risk your life in vain at any time. I was thinking, why not just go east to Kucha, what do you think?"

Zhao Guang looked at the exhausted crowd, nodded and said, "I will obey General Guan's orders."

"Hey, Ziyuan is out of his sight. Guan is just a bare-bones general now. We are all on the same boat to survive. How old is Guan? If you want to save me, just call me Brother Guan."

(End of this chapter)