Chapter 227: Pursuit in the Snowstorm
Chapter 227: Pursuit in the Snowstorm
There was a sound of horse hooves, and more than a hundred riders crossed the fields and rushed to the front.
When the marching soldiers saw this, they shouted loudly.
Shao Xun waved and laughed.
He watched the marching column in silence.
Although there was wind and snow, morale remained at a fairly high level.
This is not only due to the effective pre-war mobilization, but also due to the perfect logistical support.
At least, every soldier has a set of cotton clothes.
Cotton is not cotton.
The so-called cotton-padded clothes are actually cloth-lined jackets stuffed with silk cotton left over from reeling silk and weaving cloth. Because the cotton cotton is too short to be weaved, it is used as a material to keep warm.
As cotton-padded clothes developed, they were filled with more than just cotton.
Bird feathers are more expensive, while reed fluff is cheaper.
During the Western Han Dynasty, in order to facilitate winter combat, people even stuffed iron sheets inside the armor to make it cotton armor, the so-called "hard armor and cotton clothes."
However, this kind of cotton armor was not practical and had poor protective ability, so it was soon eliminated.
Soldiers would rather wear cotton-padded clothes and armor at the same time, but more often, they would not wear cotton-padded clothes and would just wear armor, which would be more convenient if they were cold. This is what is meant by "The protector general's iron armor is cold and difficult to wear."
Being a soldier and fighting in war is a tough job, no matter what era it is.
"My lord!" A group of people, young and old, about dozens of people, were standing at the intersection, shouting loudly.
Shao Xun stopped his horse and took a closer look.
Tang Jian rode up and reported in a low voice. It turned out that the local powerful commanders came to entertain the troops with wine, meat and food.
Shao Xun nodded, then looked at everyone and said loudly: "I already know about the kindness of the elders. Please accept the food and meat. How about the wine——"
He pointed his whip to the north and said, "After we defeat the enemy, we will drink together with the elders of Hebei."
After that, he rode away, his voice still faintly heard in the wind: "If you still have blood in your veins, you can join our army and go north to kill the enemy."
Cars rattled and horses rustled.
Tens of thousands of soldiers in the central army advanced without stopping despite the wind and snow.
A moment later, more than ten warriors rushed out of the crowd, carrying their own bows, horses and weapons, and followed the army northward.
Such scenes were repeated at every intersection, village, and fort. The enthusiasm of the people of Ji County to fight the enemy had been completely ignited. Not only did they send food and supplies, but they also sent hundreds of brave young men to join the army and fight the enemy together with Marquis Luyang.
People need organization.
The energy of organized people and that of scattered people is vastly different.
The arrival of the government troops organized these people at the right time.
The problem of food, supplies, and even part of the problem of manpower has been solved.
When this force grows stronger, no one can easily stop it.
******
The retreat led by Liu Ling and Wang Sang was a good plan, but the actual implementation was not so smooth.
The biggest problem is still the weather.
After the afternoon, the sky became gloomy again.
The north wind swept across the land, blowing the heavy snow all over the sky. The retreating troops hesitated with difficulty and even found it difficult to tell the direction.
With such terrible weather and visibility, even the scouts were useless. Everyone hurried on their way, secretly regretting not staying in Gong County.
Several troops gathered together one after another, but quite a number of troops lost contact for a while.
Wang Sang and Liu Ling had to slow down and wait while walking.
But their slow pace also gave the pursuers an opportunity.
When it was almost dark, several riders suddenly came running from behind. Before they could say anything, the sound of weapons clashing could be heard faintly.
Liu Ling cursed inwardly. Even with such strong wind and snow, he could still hear the sounds of fighting. The pursuers were coming so quickly!
He climbed to the top of an abandoned house and tried to observe the enemy situation, but the wind and snow were too strong and the sky was a little dark, so he couldn't see anything clearly.
The sounds of killing became clearer and clearer.
Soon, a long silver steel dragon appeared in sight.
Liu Ling subconsciously clenched his fists.
The armor of the silver dragon was covered with snow. They were breathing out white steam, holding spears, and marching in neat rows, braving the wind and snow, and moving forward quickly.
Our own soldiers were no match for the enemy and were defeated step by step.
"Stab!" The long spears like a forest stabbed out quickly, and the snow seemed to have opened a red dye shop, so bright that it hurt Liu Ling's eyes.
"Kill!" After a spearman stabbed the enemy in front of him, he swung his spear up and down without even the officer's command, and used the spear very accurately to knock down the spear of an enemy infantryman who was rushing towards him.
A man nearby was quick-witted and shot him dead.
The tacit cooperation is amazing.
Liu Ling could even imagine that in the countless days and nights in the past, these silver warriors would practice with each other whenever they had free time, and mastered many practical killing moves on the battlefield.
He didn't want to wait any longer, so he hurriedly got down from the roof, gathered a group of personal soldiers, and rushed towards them.
The Silver Spear Army warriors have already rushed into the village.
Dozens of people came at them directly when they saw them. The leader had a flag on his back and seemed to be a junior officer.
Liu Ling didn't waste any time and thrust his spear forward.
The opponent did not dodge, but fiercely pushed with his spear, deflecting Liu Ling's spear, and then pressed the spear hard, trying to suppress Liu Ling's spear blade. The two people on his left and right took a few steps forward, one thrust his spear straight into Liu Ling's armpit, and the other rushed towards his legs and feet.
The bodyguards tried their best to stop the two men's attack.
Liu Ling angrily used brute force to push the young officer's spear diagonally to the ground with his backhand. Then he took a step forward and used his clever strength to knock the young officer back with the spear handle. Then, before the young officer could react, he raised the spear over his head like lightning and stabbed it diagonally, driving the spear tip into the young officer's throat, killing him.
Before he could get excited, a scream was heard beside him, and a soldier fell backwards, without a sound.
"Whoosh!" A long spear, with a whistling sound, pierced Liu Ling's face.
In a flash, Liu Ling had no time to think. He subconsciously bent his legs, blocked the spear, and the spear pierced through his right shoulder.
Liu Ling took a half step back, raised his gun and thrust forward, but was stopped by another person.
Damn, these soldiers are really good! He cursed in his heart. They must have practiced the art of killing with spears for at least five years. Not only are their individual skills outstanding, but their coordination is also very tacit.
"Whoosh!" The spear came straight at him again.
Liu Ling took one and two steps back. The Silver Spear Army warrior on the opposite side became a little anxious and chased him half a step faster. Liu Ling seized the opportunity, advanced instead of retreating, stabbed the opponent under the armpit with a spear, and killed another person.
"Kill them!" The sound of hurried footsteps was heard again in the wind and snow.
Seeing his personal soldiers falling one after another, Liu Ling became more and more anxious. He pretended to be vulnerable and took great pains to stab the third man to death before finally breaking through the defense.
The Silver Spear Warrior he had just killed looked like a simple laborer in his thirties. However, he held the spear with standard movements, his steps were firm and powerful, his eyes were always on his face, armpits, knees and other places that were not covered by armor, and his assassination movements were tricky, vicious and swift.
Under the protection of his personal soldiers, Liu Ling barely killed one officer and two soldiers, but he was exhausted and out of breath.
Damn, where did Shao Xun find these people? They are so difficult to deal with.
"We lost, we lost!" A dejected cry came from the wind.
Liu Ling did not dare to delay any longer, and turned around and left, surrounded by some of his personal soldiers.
Another part of the personal soldiers stayed behind to cover the retreat and engaged in a fight with the Silver Spear Army soldiers. People from both sides kept falling down with screams.
The sound of horse hooves rang out, and Liu Ling rushed out of the village like the wind and disappeared into the night.
More and more Silver Spear Soldiers rushed in.
The bandits fled in panic, not caring about the heavy snow and wind, or whether they would be frozen to death in the severe cold of the night. All they wanted now was to escape, to stay away from these skilled and murderous soldiers.
Night finally fell completely.
After killing the last bandit, the Silver Spear soldiers dragged the injured horses over and slaughtered them on the spot. Then they demolished some houses, started a fire, and boiled the broth.
After eating some broth and dry food, they continued the pursuit.
The bad weather made it impossible to use their proud bows and rifles, but it didn't matter, close combat could still defeat the enemy.
They are the first building of the Silver Spear Army. Most of them have been in the army for more than five years. In a head-on hand-to-hand combat, they don't believe that anyone can stop their jungle of spears.
******
After escaping for most of the night, Liu Ling encountered a group of his own soldiers retreating in a village occupied by them in the northern border of Gong County. There were about two thousand people in total, and he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
As a result, I sat down to drink some hot soup and eat some dry food, when the sound of hurried horse hooves was heard again outside the village.
The clanging sound of armor leaves could be heard in front and behind the village fortress, as if someone was outflanking them?
Liu Ling looked at the personal soldiers around him, there were only a few dozen of them.
Looking at the soldiers crowded in the village, most of them were new recruits, their faces were filled with fear and noise was everywhere.
"Let's go!" Without any hesitation, he changed a horse and rode on it directly, then called on everyone who could follow to follow and break out to the east.
In the darkness, the torches were completely useless and were extinguished by the wind and snow in a short while.
Liu Ling didn't care about anything else. He just focused on one direction and ran wildly.
He no longer cared whether his tribesmen could escape, nor did he care where Wang Sang was at the moment. He just wanted to escape with his life.
He still has hundreds of people in Linlu and nearly a thousand soldiers in Yecheng. These are all his old resources. As long as he gathers them together, he still has a chance to make a comeback.
In the dark night, the sound of horse hooves following him became increasingly sparse.
On the way, they found a place sheltered from the wind to rest and drink some water. Then Liu Ling changed horses and galloped again.
First he headed east, then north, and hurriedly ran into Linlu County.
When the sun rose from the east on the morning of October 11, only twenty or thirty riders could keep up with his pace.
At this time, a group of people came running from the south.
Liu Ling was about to get up and flee, but he found that it was his own troops who were retreating northward in panic. He sent someone to ask, and found out that they were Wang Sang's troops.
They were originally looting nearby, but no one notified them to retreat, and no government troops came to attack them. After hearing that Wang Sanqi and Liu Pingbei had led their troops back north, they lost the courage to stay there, and fled with the looted people and property, and unexpectedly ran into Liu Ling.
Liu Ling breathed a sigh of relief, took over the command openly, and led his troops to retreat northward.
He knew very well that after a day and night of fighting, the climax of the government army's pursuit had passed.
In the dark night, he and Wang Sang's men were scattered everywhere. No matter how powerful the government troops were, they could not figure out where they had gone.
He was safe now. But he felt like crying, because retreating was not so easy.
The thief Shao was chasing too closely, so he took advantage of the wind and snow to spread out his troops and attacked everywhere.
I wonder how many of the people who went south to Gong County can return.
After returning to Yecheng, I'm afraid I will have to live my life according to Shi Le's mood.
He is not a kind person. If you are not careful, the troops will be swallowed up by him...
(End of this chapter)