Guo Ning waded through the muddy water, one foot deep and one foot shallow. He couldn't walk very fast. Even if this is the case, the muddy water under your feet will inevitably be stirred up, emitting a unique rancid smell that makes breathing difficult.
Although there was a bright moon in the sky, the swamp was full of deep pools and deep pits, and there was light mist floating around, mixing with the steaming water vapor, blocking the view. Traveling at night is very dangerous.
When I was dizzy and avoided the depths of the swamp, I didn't seem to have gone very far; now I turned back, but I lost my way several times on the way and spent a lot of time.
Fortunately, the fighting field just now remained the same.
The bodies of companions and enemies were still there.
There were several small black beasts baring their teeth, gathering around the corpse and licking the blood, eager to try. It wasn't until Guo Ning strode forward that they whined unwillingly and slowly retreated into the bushes.
Guo Ning first put a long knife on his waist, then lifted an iron bone flower to test its weight.
The failure of the Yehuling Battle severely damaged the core force that the Jin court could mobilize. Hundreds of thousands of well-equipped garrison soldiers and tens of thousands of field elites were wiped out in one fell swoop.
After the boundary trench defense line that had been in operation for decades fell, all the countless supplies that had been stored fell into Mongolian hands. On the contrary, the troops retreated to Hebei, without any relief in terms of food or weapons.
Short weapons such as swords are easy to damage, so clumsy things like iron bones have to become popular.
This iron bone flower was originally used by Yao Shier, Guo Ning's trusted subordinate. Yao Shier has extraordinary physical strength and is good at using weapons such as iron spears, iron bone flowers and meteor hammers. In his early years, when fighting north of Jiehao, he saved Guo Ning's life several times.
Because Yao Shier's character is brave, aggressive, and bloodthirsty, he is particularly feared by others. During the enemy's sneak attack, he was the first to be shot by random arrows, and his body was densely covered with more than a dozen arrows, like a dead hedgehog.
Guo Ning took out the arrows one by one, selected a few good ones, washed away the blood, and put them into the quiver.
Then, he found a slightly clean robe, wrapped Yao Shier's body, and dragged it into the newly dug hole by the pond.
After the tall and thin man was placed securely, Guo Ning turned around and continued to collect several other corpses.
The next one is Gao Kezhong.
Gao Kezhong was a Bohai native who came to Linhuang Prefecture in Beijing. He failed in the imperial examination in his early years and made his career teaching rural studies. Later he was signed into the army and moved to Xuandezhou.
Because he was proficient in writing, he became the official clerk for hundreds of households in the garrison. After living in Ansu Prefecture, he met Guo Ning and always wanted to teach Guo Ning to read. Unfortunately, Guo Ning was not interested at that time.
The old scholar survived the arrow and struggled for a long time before being hacked to death with a knife. He was stabbed several times in the chest and abdomen, leaving huge gashes. The intestines and lungs are flowing out, emitting a strong fishy odor, which is very troublesome to clean up.
After a long while, Guo Ning murmured a curse and went to the water to wash his hands.
The last person is the youngest Lu Su.
The groundwater level at the edge of the pond was very high, and Guo Ning didn't have enough physical strength and didn't have the tools handy, so the pit he dug was a bit shallow. Most of Lu Su's body was higher than the ground, and his bloodshot eyes stared at Guo Ning.
Guo Ning reached over and closed his eyes for him.
When he was at Wusha Castle, Guo Ning was the main soldier, and Lu Su was his Alixi, that is, the deputy of the soldiers. The elder Lu Su died young, and the family had an older sister and a younger brother to support. The spring famine was very difficult every year.
Because Zhengjun's salary was much higher than that of Ali Xi, he often borrowed money from Guo Ning.
Lu Su kept saying with a playful smile that when he retired from the army, he would be able to get eight taels of silver and five pieces of silk, and then he would pay off all his accumulated debts.
However, when will that take place? Unless the soldiers of the garrison died in battle, would they ever be able to retire? Guo Ning felt that this kid probably didn't intend to pay back the money, but was just being stubborn.
Guo Ning smiled.
The placket on Lu Su's chest was open, and a small rattle was about to fall out. Guo Ning hesitated for a moment, then solemnly put away the rattle, and then began to cover the piled corpses with soil.
It took him half an hour to collect a mound of soil.
Several small animals that had retreated into the bushes now wandered out again. They ran around the mound twice in disappointment and barked.
Then they discovered that there were still several corpses that had not been buried, so they pounced on them and continued the interrupted feast.
Guo Ning worked hard for half a night, and his whole body ached and he was very tired. Breathing heavily, he sat by the mound and watched the corpses of his enemies being torn apart by wild beasts.
Guo Ning knew all three of them. Their identity is the same as Guo Ning and others, they are also stragglers who retreated into Hebei from outside the boundary trench.
Its leader is a hundred households of the original garrison entrenched in the Gaoyangguan area, and the ridicule person Xiao Haohu.
Why Xiao Haohu acted so viciously, Guo Ning didn't expect it at all. But now Guo Ning can easily think clearly from beginning to end.
After the defeat of Da'an in three years, the defeated troops on the frontier did not receive any support or rectification from the imperial court.
Many people whose hometowns are in Hebei, Shandong or the Central Plains are returning to their hometowns on their own in groups. As for whether he will be signed to the army again after returning home or what, no one knows.
The garrison soldiers whose hometown is north of Jiehao are in trouble. Their hometown has long been turned into ruins, and there are not a hundred people left. Even if there are any living people, most of them have been moved to the grasslands by the Mongols.
The soldiers were homeless and scattered in Zhuo and Yi states in northern Hebei. Some fell into disgrace and became bandits, while others were recruited by local forces to make a living while waiting for the court to recruit troops.
Last year, the Mongolian army went south to attack again. The defeated troops scattered in various places took advantage of the news and fled, some heading east to Zhongdu, and others heading south.
Guo Ning and others were then carried away south, passing through Baozhou, and settled at the border of Ansu Prefecture.
Two months ago, news came that the Mongolian army had been defeated. According to the court, although Marshal Zuo Dujian Ao Tunxiang's troops were slightly defeated, Deputy Marshal Zuo and the one who stayed behind in Xijing, Mo Nian, fought to hold the city with all his loyalty, repelling the Mongolian army and injuring Genghis Khan himself.
The Mongolian army's partial division in the direction of the surprise attack was also unable to escape.
This news gave the defeated soldiers a little peace of mind.
Thanks to this victory, the imperial court finally had enough time to reorganize the northern defense line. The Taoists issued an order to gather troops and horses from all over Hebei and send them to the front one after another.
At this time, some Jurchen nobles intervened, trying to use these defeated troops as capital. After all, many of the defeated troops were originally field elites. If they could be retrained, they could easily form a strong army.
For example, the defeated troops gathered here in Ansu Prefecture have recently been attracted by Tu Shanhang, the new governor of Ansu Prefecture.
That disciple, Shan Hang, was originally a minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs in the court, and he was a descendant of a famous and prominent family in the Kingdom of Jin. I heard that his father was a consort and a privy envoy, his eldest sister is the current queen, and many members of the clan hold important positions such as marshal and rank-and-file.
Tu Shanhang had great ambitions. Although he was in a mere branch and county in Anzhou, he wanted to use his own strength to seek the position of Baozhou Shuntian Army's Jiedushi, so he tried his best to collect stragglers as a support.
To this end, Tu Shanhang specially set up a new command and envoy department, freeing up 500 people, and used all the positions of commander, military envoy, general, director, and escort to recruit brave people. .
Seeing the imperial court regrouping, the troops recruited from all over the country are marching north one after another, their power is gradually restored, and the defeated soldiers have been scattered for a long time. At this time, they have to think about the outcome. As a result, ambitious people, brave and ruthless people, and insidious and cunning people took advantage of the situation and took advantage of this opportunity to compete for power.
Guo Ning was very dedicated to serving his country and was very interested in reorganizing his troops. In the past few days, he had been running back and forth, trying to gather people to defect to Anzhou.
But although he was brave and brave, he obviously lacked the ability to discern people's hearts, and he ended up getting involved in inexplicable disputes.
Xiao Haohu, the leader of the defeated troops at Gaoyang Pass, has always been keen on official career. He regarded Guo Ning as his rival for the command position and was very dissatisfied with Guo Ning's constant communication.
Xiao Haohu is a very decisive and ruthless man. Just yesterday, he sent dozens of archers to set up an ambush on Guo Ning's only path. Guo Ning was completely unprepared for this and managed to escape with his life, but all his friends were attacked and killed.
