Chapter 43 Beauty Xia Lian
Since he can remember, Li Jiangyao has never felt as tired as he does now. In a daze, he seemed to have a feeling that he was about to run out of fuel.
It's scary to think about taking 400 people to fight 40,000 enemy troops. But at that time, he still made his choice without hesitation.
There is only one reason for this: if you want to live, you must first forget the fear of death.
As the saying goes, "When we meet on a narrow road, the brave wins."
Facing the brutal enemy army, the tens of thousands of people in Metasequoia City, as well as the Paoze brothers who came here with him, had no way out.
Since there is no way out, why not fight to the death?
Now that I have the confidence to live towards death, the next step is the question of strategy. Li Jiangyao was keenly aware that the enemy forces besieging the city were not as powerful as they appeared on the surface.
In the siege battle during the day yesterday, the opponent clearly had the advantage in terms of strength, but after a whole day of fighting, there was not even a decent attack on the city, and none of the city gates suffered heavy damage. The intensity of the offensive and defensive battle was not even as intense as the last time the ghost alliance horse bandits came to fight alone.
Li Jiangyao knew in his heart that no matter how well he had prepared his defense system in advance and no matter how brilliant Lin Feng's command methods were, such a situation should not have occurred.
This can only show that the coalition forces have their own internal plans and have not exhausted their full strength.
In addition to this, there is also the problem of the enemy setting up camp.
I don’t know if they are overconfident or eager to win. The camps of the Turkic horse bandit coalition were directly surrounding Metasequoia City, no more than a thousand steps away from the city gate.
Even if Li Jiangyao hadn't studied in the Imperial Capital's martial arts hall, he would have known with just the little military knowledge he had accumulated that doing this was just laziness and seeking death.
The distance of a thousand steps, if the cavalry sprints at high speed, it only takes a few dozen breaths to reach it. Once an opportunity is found to launch a surprise attack, the attacked party will not even have time to set up defenses.
The Turkic horse bandits must have thought that Metasequoia City's troops were weak and they would never have the guts to go out to fight, so they were so arrogant and set up a camp directly blocking the city gate.
And Li Jiangyao saw that the opponent was careless and underestimated the enemy. By harassing the opponent all night, he dragged the opponent down to exhaustion, and then completely relaxed his vigilance. Then he took advantage of the favorable conditions of the city gate and the enemy camp being close to each other to successfully attack in one fell swoop.
However, despite this, Li Jiangyao's actions were still extremely dangerous.
As long as any Turkic soldiers along the way are clear-headed and fearless of death, it is possible to stop him, and then let the army surround the armored cavalry from all directions.
Or, if Du Jian failed to respond in time, changed his strategy at a critical moment, and used poisonous fireworks to disrupt Geerhan's position, then Li Jiangyao would also be blocked between the two northeastern camps and unable to escape.
Therefore, this daytime attack on the camp was not only the unity of comrades in arms, but also the blessing of God.
And Li Jiangyao himself exploded with the strongest combat power in history. Especially after breaking into the Dongda camp, the entire army turned into a wedge formation. He personally shouldered the heavy responsibility of being at the forefront, fighting all the way and almost vomiting blood from exhaustion.
However, after returning to the city safely, Li Jiangyao rejected Lin Feng's suggestion to go home and rest. He only briefly treated various wounds at the top of the city, then gritted his teeth and inspected the defense line.
After a short time, the siege coalition forces originally surrounding the Metasequoia abandoned their camp barriers and began to assemble toward the east. Then, they formed a defensive formation and continued to retreat five miles east before re-establishing their position.
As a result, except for the east gate of Metasequoia, the siege on the other three sides of the city was lifted.
Seeing the army of Turkic horse bandits outside the city begin to shrink and retreat, Li Jiangyao knew that this was the result of his violent fighting style, which scared the opponent's general so much that he did not dare to underestimate the enemy.
At the same time, a feeling of weakness that he had never experienced before slowly rose in his body.
Li Jiangyao supported the wall with his hands and sat down slowly.
"Sir, there's too much blood." Ma Mu's voice rang in his ears: "It's better to go down and take a rest."
Li Jiangyao turned his head and felt warm in his heart when he saw Ma Mu's concerned expression. He was about to say a few words of comfort to the other party, but suddenly he found a very beautiful girl standing next to him.
Before Li Jiangyao could ask curiously, the girl knelt down on the ground with a grunt and bowed towards him.
The girl's behavior made Li Jiangyao feel confused. He quickly reached out to help him and asked Ma Mu what was going on.
Mamu smiled honestly: "Sir, have you forgotten? Wasn't she rescued by you?"
After hearing this, Li Jiangyao suddenly realized.
It turned out that the girl thanking him in front of me was the girl from the horse bandit camp. After breaking into the camp and returning to the city last night, Li Jiangyao entrusted her, who was almost fainting from fright, to Ma Mu's care. After that, he was so busy playing tricks on the enemy that he never bothered to ask about the matter.
It was dark last night, it was difficult to see clearly, and he was in danger. Li Jiangyao didn't take a closer look at the other party's appearance at that time. Now when I take a closer look, I see that this girl is actually extremely beautiful. Although she has no makeup, she is extremely bright and beautiful. Her exquisite and graceful figure is rare to see. It is no wonder that those horse bandits are so lustful.
Ma Mu introduced at the side: "Sir, this girl's name is Xia Lian, she is from the Yiwu tribe, and her home is in Modi Village, not far from Metasequoia. Originally, I asked her to take a good rest first, but she didn't listen He said that you have led your troops back to the city, so you must let me lead you to see you. I want to thank you in person for your life-saving grace."
Li Jiangyao nodded slightly, and was about to say something unkind, but he only heard Xia Lian say softly: "Sir, Xia Lian's family was killed by horse thieves, and you gave me my life. From now on, Xia Lian Lian is willing to always be by your side and serve you like a cow or a horse."
When a stunning beauty says these four words "Be a cow, be a horse", anyone who hears it will feel excited, and Li Jiangyao is certainly no exception. Hearing this, he was confused on the spot and didn't know how to respond.
Ma Mu knew that the girl Xia Lian was in a miserable situation, and was afraid that Li Jiangyao would refuse directly, so he quickly helped to persuade: "Sir, look at how pitiful this girl is, her family is gone. Since she has the intention to repay her kindness, you can Show mercy and take her in. Xia Lian can live in the city guard's mansion, and it will be convenient to take care of you."
Li Jiangyao thought about it carefully and said to Xia Lian: "If you are not afraid of the hardships in the military camp, then stay for now. At least you can protect yourself from the wind and rain. However, you are not my servant, but my sworn sister. From now on we will Just like brothers and sisters."
Xia Lian was surprised and happy when she heard this. She quickly leaned down and prostrated again: "Thank you, sir, for taking me in. Oh no, thank you, brother."
Li Jiangyao helped her up and comforted her a few more times before letting Ma Mu take her to the city guard's mansion to rest for the time being. As soon as the two of them left, Lin Feng and Du Jian came over with their back legs, and with them was Shen Lie.
After Shen Lie finished telling what happened before, Li Jiangyao was finally convinced that the person in front of him was truly one of his own, and that Lao Jianhua probably had some collusion with the Turks outside the city.
Shen Lie asked Li Jiangyao to take a step to speak. In a quiet place, he revealed his identity to the other party. When Li Jiangyao was in the imperial capital, he had heard rumors about Nilin Division from Xu Youchang and others, and knew that those people were the emperor's personal guards, similar to the spy organization in the modern world. And Shen Lie was actually the leader of the Nilin Division, so he immediately understood that what Lao Jianhua had done was extraordinary.
Shen Lie said in a deep voice: "Captain Li, I don't know the situation in Guimo in Western Xinjiang as well as you do, but Lao Jianhua has always been the target of our Nilin Division. I can give you a guarantee. The traitors have colluded with the Turkic Empire and our important ministers in the court to implement a big conspiracy that is detrimental to the Holy Tang. And the first step will definitely be in Western Xinjiang!"
Li Jiangyao was slightly startled: "An important minister in the court? Who do you mean?"
Ordinarily, given his official rank, he would not be able to get into the eyes of Nilin Changshi, let alone tell the secrets of the imperial court to him as a Zhenjiang captain. However, Li Jiangyao's outstanding performance of bravery and strategy, especially Bai Bai this morning The feat of the Japanese attack camp had already left a very deep impression on Shen Lie.
In his opinion, given time, Li Jiangyao will definitely become a famous general of the new generation of Shengtang.
Therefore, Shen Lie did not intend to hide it from him, and said calmly: "Shangzhu Kingdom, Xie Guang."
"Damn it, it's really him!" Li Jiangyao couldn't help but cursed: "During the previous battle in Western Xinjiang, I felt that this guy was unreliable. Mr. Shen, since you already know that Xie Guang has a problem, why don't you hurry up? Deal with him and keep him for the New Year?”
Shen Lie smiled bitterly: "Brother, do you think I don't want to? It's a pity that Xie Guang is not an ordinary minister. The safety of the emperor and the court is also within his scope of influence. If you are not careful, something worse may happen. A big disaster.”
Li Jiangyao was slightly curious: "Conventional methods are not effective, so special methods are not effective? I heard that your Nilin Division has always been..."
Shen Lie knew that he wanted to say "Ni Linsi has always been an expert in kidnapping, poisoning, and assassination", so he shook his head: "Xie Guang's martial arts can at least rank among the top five Shengtang masters. Compared with Commander He Jingming, the top expert in the military, is probably similar. In addition, he has always been cautious, and ordinary secret operations cannot threaten him at all."
Hearing this, Li Jiangyao nodded slightly: "I understand, you are planning to grasp solid evidence first to prevent the officers and soldiers of the Xuanjia Army from being bewitched and incited by him to the greatest extent, and then mobilize your forces to kill them all."
"That's right." Shen Lie said: "The Shengtang military has always been powerful, secretly entangled, and has complicated relationships. Only by providing ironclad evidence of Xie Guang's evil intentions can the military generals have nothing to say and the brothers in the various legions will not be angry. Misunderstand."
Li Jiangyao was silent for a moment, and sighed helplessly: "The truth is like this, but the reality may not be as expected. Xie Guang is a famous general who is good at fighting. His emphasis is on not moving, and his movement is like a thunderbolt. Wait. If you find the evidence, he may have turned upside down long ago."
Shen Lie knew that what the other party said was the truth, but Emperor Li Chengwu always hoped that the matter could be handled safely and avoid causing disasters like the Jin Dynasty Rebellion twenty years ago, so even the ruthless Nilin Changshi was helpless.
He sighed secretly, and then asked: "Brother Li, now that the enemy is attacking the city, what are your plans next?"
Hearing the other party mention this matter, Li Jiangyao smiled confidently: "What else can we plan? The soldiers will block it, and the water will cover it up. To be honest, brother, I have already warned my superiors before. Unfortunately, the Turks have a well-organized layout. With the cooperation of the local rebels in Western Xinjiang, our garrison deployment was almost completely disrupted, so no reinforcements would arrive. And I estimate that a bigger situation will happen in the entire Ghost Desert of Western Xinjiang soon, and Metasequoia City, It’s just a small wave in this huge whirlpool.”
