Chapter 219 Road to the West Sea
Chapter 219 Road to the West Sea
As the sky gradually brightened, Xiao Xia came to the wounded room, where there were more than seventy wounded soldiers. The bodies of more than eighty soldiers who died in the battle were in the next room, ready to be sent back to Zhangye City.
More than seventy wounded soldiers were lying on beds, and military doctors were treating their wounds. Generally speaking, flesh injuries are not a big problem, but injuries to internal organs are a concern. It all depends on whether they can survive it, but most of them cannot and eventually die from inflammation or complications.
There were originally more than one hundred wounded soldiers, and more than thirty seriously injured soldiers could not survive and died in the middle of the night last night. The remaining seventy-odd soldiers basically survived.
Xiao Xia comforted the wounded soldiers one by one, and finally came to Cao Taiyue. He was stabbed in the shoulder by a spear and fell heavily from the top of the city wall. Fortunately, the city wall was not high and there was a thick layer of snow on the ground, so he was not injured.
"How are you?" Xiao Xia asked with a smile.
Cao Taiyue said with a face full of shame: "I have let you down, my Lord."
Xiao Xia smiled slightly and said, "I am not disappointed. You are the first person who climbed up and survived. You still have a chance!"
"Thank you for your encouragement, sir!"
Xiao Xia nodded, "Go back to Zhangye and take good care of your injuries. Don't try to be brave and injure your shoulder!"
"I will definitely take good care of my injuries!"
Xiao Xia encouraged everyone a few more words before leaving.
Soon, the wounded soldiers were sent back to Zhangye in carts.
All six thousand troops arrived at the military city, but the war did not continue immediately. Xiao Xia was still waiting for news from the scout general Xu Min.
At present, the entire Dadouba Valley was occupied by the Sui army, but Tuhuohun still temporarily built fortifications at the southern exit of the Dadouba Valley, which was about twenty miles away from the military city that the Sui army had just occupied.
There are 4,000 Tuyuhun troops stationed on the south side of the canyon. In addition to these 4,000 people, there is a military city hundreds of miles northwest, called Datongshan Military City. This military city guards another dangerous pass, the Datongshan Canyon. Passing through the Datongshan gully valley that is more than 100 miles long is the northern shore of the West Sea, which is not far from the Tuyuhun capital, Fuqi City.
The news of the military city being captured had spread to the south of the canyon. The southern commander Murong Genu immediately ordered five hundred men to guard the southern entrance of the canyon, and the rest of the army immediately withdrew to the Datongshan military city.
In the afternoon, Xu Min returned to the military city and brought the latest news about the enemy.
"Your Excellency, our scouts climbed up the cliff and saw their movement. Their main force has already withdrawn. There are about 500 soldiers at the entrance of the valley. They have blocked the entrance of the valley with sand bags. The sand bags are about ten feet high."
Xiao Xia laughed, "Five hundred people can still block us? As usual, we will defeat them tonight!"
As soon as it got dark, Yin Shishi set off with two thousand cavalrymen, carrying six small catapults and a dozen large alien shields.
Under the cover of night, hundreds of Sui soldiers pushed more than a dozen large alien shields slowly forward. The structure of this large alien shield was very simple. It was a thick wooden board seven feet high and two feet wide, with a bracket at the back and two wooden wheels underneath. The workmanship was relatively simple and rough, but it was also very strong and practical.
Since the range of a small catapult is only about fifty steps, which is within the range of the enemy's bows and arrows, a large shield must be prepared for the small catapult and the Sui army. The large alien shield originally used to defend against stones came into play at this time.
The Sui soldiers pushed their shields forward cautiously, and the six catapults behind them rumbled along. The sound was particularly impressive in the valley, and when they were still a hundred steps away from the valley entrance, arrows whistled in, hitting the baffles with a crackling sound. The Sui soldiers immediately squatted down, and at this time, more than a thousand Sui archers in the rear also fired arrows at the same time, and the arrows rained down on the Tuyuhun fortifications at the valley entrance, suppressing the Tuyuhun's chaotic arrows.
"continue!"
Lieutenant General Liu Quan shouted, and hundreds of soldiers continued to push the baffles and catapults forward. From a distance, the six catapults looked like six war horses moving slowly in the dark, getting closer and closer, and were only fifty steps away from the enemy's fortifications.
The catapult stopped, and the soldiers pulled the casting poles and placed huge straw balls in the throwing bags. When defending Zhangye City, the soldiers found that although it was simple, it was very effective. It would break into pieces and collapse when it hit the ground, and the fire was all over the ground.
The soldiers lit the straw balls, and when they were all burned, six catapults fired one after another, and six fireballs flew into the air and hit the enemy positions. The six fireballs hit four of them, and there was a chaos in the fortifications. Then bundles of burning straw were thrown out, and the fortifications quickly caught fire. The six catapults threw one round after another, and finally a raging fire ignited at the mouth of the valley. A thousand Sui soldiers rushed up with spears in hand, rushed to the fortifications, and waited for the fire to go out. After burning for nearly half an hour, the fire at the mouth of the valley was finally extinguished. At this time, the Sui soldiers had moved the sand bags used to build the fortifications, and there were only dozens of charred bodies inside, and no other Tuyuhun soldiers.
The Sui army opened up a passage, and Xiao Xia led thousands of cavalry through the valley entrance and rushed out of the Dadouba Valley.
"Envoy, look over there!" Xu Min pointed to a huge fire in the distance.
Xiao Xia could see clearly that there were dozens of large tents. The Tuyuhun people could not take them away, but they did not want them to fall into the hands of the Sui army, so they burned them down.
"They all retreated!"
The 6,000-strong army all walked out of the Dadouba Valley. Although the weather was cold, the moonlight was as bright as silver and the view was exceptionally clear. This was the south side of the Qilian Mountains, but it felt different from the Hexi Corridor.
The terrain in this area is undulating, and the altitude is much higher than the Hexi Corridor, at least around four thousand meters. It should be a plateau meadow terrain, and is now covered with thick snow. However, once the snow melts, it will become green grass, and all kinds of colorful and varied flowers will bloom on the grassland.
This grassland is extremely vast, at least hundreds of miles long. In the distance is the towering Datong Mountain, and dozens of miles away is the Datong River, which is still covered with a thick layer of ice.
Xiao Xia's mission has changed. He received the latest instructions from the general manager Xue Shixiong yesterday, which no longer required him to capture Datong City. As long as he could completely capture Dadouba Valley, the mission would be considered completed. It would be better to wait until spring to attack Datong City.
This is also because the altitude here is high and the climate is cold. It is not realistic to attack Datong City at this time, and Han soldiers generally cannot stand this cold.
Of course, Xiao Xia would not force himself to lead his troops to attack Datong City three hundred miles away. This high and cold climate above four thousand meters would cause huge damage to both war horses and soldiers. The frozen soil and severe cold would penetrate the lungs directly and cause serious attack to the internal organs. If they came back after a month, the soldiers would suffer from diseases that would be difficult to remove for the rest of their lives.
"Pass on my order, the army will withdraw to Zhangye!"
Xiao Xia left his deputy Liu Quan to lead a thousand soldiers to guard the southern entrance of Dadouba Valley, while he led an army of 5,000 back to Zhangye City.
Time quickly entered February. Although the Hehuang area was still covered with ice and snow, Guanzhong was already full of spring, with warm water, green willows, and lush grass everywhere.
An army of one hundred thousand was marching from Guanzhong to the Hehuang area. As early as last autumn, food and supplies had been delivered to the transit warehouse in Jincheng County.
At this time, food and supplies from Jincheng County were being transported and distributed to the three fronts in an orderly manner.
That morning, the emperor held a departure ceremony at Chengtian Gate. Yang Jian led all the officials to offer sacrifices to the gods of roads and horses, and formally handed over the talisman to King of Jin Yang Guang.
"This is the flag of the 170,000-man army. From today on, you will be in charge of the 170,000-man army. I hope to hear the victory news as soon as possible, to minimize the strength of Tuyuhun, to completely conquer them, and to make them a vassal of the Sui Dynasty."
Yang Guang knelt on the ground, respectfully took the imperial seal with both hands, raised it high above his head and said: "I will definitely live up to my father's trust, lead the army to inflict heavy damage on Tuyuhun, and strive to return victorious as soon as possible!"
Yang Jian nodded, and said to Shi Wansui, the most powerful general of the Sui Dynasty, "General Shi is the commander of the central army and the most important force. I hope you can help the King of Jin create history again and leave your name in the future generations!"
Shi Wansui knelt on one knee and said, "Your Majesty has entrusted me with a great trust, and I will keep it in mind!"
At this time, the sound of cloud boards came from afar, and the time to march had arrived. Yang Jian smiled and said, "It's an auspicious time, let's set off!"
Yang Guang led a group of generals to Chengtian Tower. He jumped on his horse, looked at everyone, waved his sword and shouted, "Let's go!"
With flags waving and drums and music blaring, the last team of 30,000 people lined up to set off.
(End of this chapter)