After working a night shift, Zaire led his subordinates and came back from Nancheng at dawn.
The team was walking on the road leading to the barracks when they suddenly saw a man standing at the street intersection in front of them. The tall and thin figure stood alone in the middle of the road, looking particularly lonely in the dark night before dawn.
Zaire was slightly startled when he saw this, feeling that the other party was coming from a bad person, and an inexplicable chill ran through his body. Although it was just a lone figure, it was like a huge high wall, blocking the way.
"Who?" Zaire stopped and shouted sharply.
The person opposite heard him asking, but he didn't rush to answer. Instead, he walked up to the team in a hurry, and his tone sounded calm and gentle: "It doesn't matter who I am, what matters is who you are." people?"
At this moment, Zaire has clearly noticed the strong hostility of the other party, and can't help but sullenly said: "We are the metasequoia city defenders! Report your name and origin immediately, otherwise don't blame me for being rude!"
"Guardian?" Shen Lie, who was wearing a blue gown, smiled and shook his head: "You talk nonsense in front of me, I think you are tired of living. I think you are a spy of the Ghost Alliance!"
Hearing this, Zaire's pupils suddenly shrank, and at the same time he and several horse bandits pulled out the long knives from his waist.
"You fucking slanderer! What evidence do you have that I'm a spy?"
Shen Lie laughed loudly when he saw this: "Could it be that all the criminals in the world were taught by the same master? When faced with accusations, you don't know how to take the initiative to clear up doubts. Instead, you have to ask the other party what evidence they have. You should tell me, If an innocent person is accused of being a spy, will he draw his sword and be on guard like you?"
Seeing that he was being played by Shen Lie, Zaire suddenly became even more panicked. He quickly lowered his knife-holding arm and excused himself: "There is a war going on right now. A sneaky person like you is standing on the street and talking. It’s normal to be on guard against false accusations against us.”
At this time, a voice suddenly sounded from behind: "If that's the case, then you should hand over your weapons immediately and go to the city guard's mansion to conduct identity checks one by one to prove your innocence!"
The person who said this was none other than Pegasus Scout Lin Feng.
Zaire was immediately shocked again when he saw this.
He didn't know Shen Lie's identity, but he recognized Lin Feng. This fair-faced young officer is responsible for the recruitment and training of the city's garrison, and he can be regarded as their direct superior.
Therefore, Lin Feng's sudden appearance immediately made other defenders understand. While staring at Zaire and his subordinates in confusion, they slowly distanced themselves and increased their vigilance.
Zaire knew that he had been exposed, and immediately shouted: "Damn it! I'm here to help you defend the city and fight, but you still don't trust our brothers. Then don't say anything, I won't do it! From now on, we will each Go separate ways and have nothing to do with each other."
Hearing this, Lin Feng's handsome face was immediately covered with frost, and he said word by word: "You are so brave!"
Following his words, a large number of soldiers and horses suddenly rushed out from behind, left and right, surrounding Zaire and others.
Shen Lie said quietly: "I advise you to just surrender and capture him. Otherwise, you will die in an ugly way later."
-
An interrogation room was temporarily set up in the backyard of the Metasequoia City Guards House. Shen Lie was alone inside, personally serving Geerhan's confidant and Ghost Alliance General Zaire.
By this time, Zaire's intestines were about to turn green. If I had known this, I might as well have fought to the death and died on the spot, lest I fall into the hands of the living king of hell, Shen Lie, and I no longer want to be a human being.
Zaire's shrill screams continued to be heard in the interrogation room, and Shen Lie's methods were endless, with no intention of stopping.
According to his opinion, he would not ask any questions to Zaire until he went through the complete process of the Ten Tortures of the Reverse Scale Division.
Xia Lian, who had settled in the city guard's mansion at this time, lived not far from the interrogation room. For more than half an hour, the poor girl kept covering her ears with her hands, terrified.
Not to mention her, even tough guys like Li Jiangyao and Lin Feng, who have been on the battlefield for a long time, were also frightened when they heard this.
Du Jian maintained his usual curiosity and sneaked into the interrogation room to watch the excitement. But in less than a moment, he ran back with green lips and white teeth, muttering: "This guy is not a human, he is the devil! The fucking devil!"
Half an hour later, Shen Lie walked out of the interrogation room calmly, with a hint of heavy worry under his calm and calm face.
While washing his hands carefully, he introduced the results of the interrogation to everyone. Li Jiangyao and others listened with more and more alarm and solemnity.
At the end, Shen Lie said in a deep voice: "The current situation may be worse than we imagined. Zaire only knows part of the inside story, and the actual situation will be a hundred times more severe. I must rush back to the imperial capital immediately to report this to the emperor. thing."
Li Jiangyao agreed: "You are right. If it is as Zaire said, what Shengtang is about to face is far from as simple as the ghost desert in Western Xinjiang. The court must know the details as soon as possible and take precautions. In addition, reinforcements can If we had arrived one day earlier, the losses here would have been reduced by one point."
"Reinforcements?" Shen Lie shook his head and sighed: "Brother, in that situation, it is already very difficult for the emperor to be able to protect himself. Can you still expect the imperial court to have spare power to rescue Western Xinjiang?"
Li Jiangyao was stunned when he heard this, and then said: "At least, Commander He's Fierce Blade Legion is still in Liangzhou."
Shen Lie stopped talking and was silent for a moment before saying: "If you didn't mention it, I would really have ignored this matter. He Jingming is the hope of Western Border and Central China right now, and only he can turn the tide. The worst, The Fierce Blade Legion can at least defend one end of it. But if we can think of this problem, can Turkic Khan Ashina Zhijin not think of it? Can Lao Jianhua think of it? Can Xie Guang think of it? "
Li Jiangyao's expression changed drastically: "You mean..."
Shen Lie nodded painfully: "I'm afraid Mr. He is already in danger at this time. You can't do anything at this time. The only thing you can do, and the only thing you should do, is to guard Metasequoia City with peace of mind. I will do my best as soon as possible Rush to Anxi Kingdom or Zijin Pass and try to use the messenger crow to send the message to remind the imperial capital and the commander-in-chief."
-
"Damn it, how many times has this been an attack today?" Du Jian threw away the curled long knife and asked cursing.
Lin Feng wiped the blood from his forehead and said with a solemn expression: "This is the seventh time. Our casualties are huge. Especially the brothers from the Pegasus Scout Battalion, who came here with you, there are less than two hundred people left."
Du Jian didn't say anything when he heard this, but silently picked up an iron gun. Five hundred comrades-in-arms, they were all brothers who had lived and died together for many years. Now more than 300 people had died in Metasequoia City. Du Jian had already cried all his tears.
The day after Shen Lie left Metasequoia, the coalition of Turkic horse bandits outside the city launched a frantic attack. Firstly, the heads of Zaire and other spies were hung on the top of the metasequoia city, which greatly stimulated the enemy's ferocity; secondly, time did not allow Duolun and the others to delay any longer.
Therefore, the Iron Pigeon Army changed their previous style of always letting the ghost alliance horse bandits take the lead and fight hard, and personally went into battle to attack the metasequoia. Moreover, they no longer only focused on the east gate, but swarmed in from all directions.
Li Jiangyao led six thousand defenders to resist desperately, and faced many dangers, but they finally managed to survive today.
If Duolun's troops were not used to riding on horseback and were not good at siege, and had almost no other siege equipment except a few broken ladders, Metasequoia would have been defeated long ago.
Lin Feng and Du Jian took advantage of the precious gap when the enemy temporarily retreated to heal their wounds while instructing their men to rebuild the fortifications. While they were busy, they saw Li Jiangyao running towards them excitedly from a distance. Lin Feng knew something was wrong and stood up quickly: "Boss, what's wrong? Is something wrong?"
"The enemies are retreating!" Li Jiangyao said with a smile.
Du Jian didn't even raise his head: "Hey, what do I think this is? We were the ones who defeated the Turkic ghosts. Do we still know?"
Li Jiangyao shook his head repeatedly and pointed to the camp in the distance: "I'm not talking about being beaten back. See for yourselves!"
Lin Feng and Du Jian were puzzled and quickly looked outside, only to realize that the Turkic horse bandit coalition was slowly shrinking its ranks and moving further back.
Du Jian was curious: "Are they unable to attack?"
Li Jiangyao smiled: "That's not entirely the reason. The main problem is that the cold wave is coming."
Upon hearing the word "cold wave", Lin Feng and Du Jian were slightly startled, and immediately raised their heads to look at the sky.
At some point, the entire sky had darkened, and the flags that had been hanging at the top of the city were being blown by the wind, making a whirring sound. There was still a faint hint of strange chill in the wind.
As veteran soldiers who have been stationed in the Ghost Desert of Western Xinjiang for a long time, the two of them knew very well that this was the precursor of the coming cold wave. When a cold wave passes, the wind is often particularly strong and the temperature will drop sharply.
In that case, the only way to withstand the extreme cold is to hide in a room with a stove and tight surroundings. Otherwise, just the white wind blowing outside can freeze people to death immediately.
Li Jiangyao said happily at this time: "God is really willing to help. Just when we were about to be unable to hold on, such a cold wave suddenly came. The enemy also knew how powerful it was, so he hurriedly withdrew his troops to avoid the cold, planning to escape this cold wave. It will be cold for two or three days, and then it will come back again. The weather has not completely cooled down yet, so quickly bring people to reinforce the fortifications. I have already asked Ma Mu to mobilize the people to carry water."
"Carrying water?" Hearing this, Du Jian was a little confused as a monk: "What are you doing carrying water?"
Li Jiangyao replied calmly: "Water and freeze the city."
The terrible cold wave in the Ghost Desert of Western Xinjiang is absolutely incomprehensible unless you experience it yourself.
In the most severe cases, cattle and sheep exposed to the outdoors can be frozen into hard "stones" overnight.
In the biting cold wave and strong wind, the Turkic horse bandit coalition did not dare to launch a siege war easily. In order to avoid unnecessary casualties, they could only temporarily hide in relatively warm tents to survive this terrible time.
But even so, the unexpected cold wave still caused them great trouble.
The Turkic warriors all wished they could hold the stove in their arms so that the violent trembling could stop. A thick soup made from beef and mutton bones, sprinkled with spicy seasonings, poured into the stomach, but it couldn't last long.
Everyone just felt like there was a chill coming out of the cracks in their bones.
Non-combat attrition became increasingly serious, with more than a dozen frozen corpses being carried out of flimsy tents every day.
Duolun, the leader of the Iron Pigeon Army, saw this and couldn't help but feel anxious.
In addition, another problem is also bothering him. After all, the Turkic soldiers and horses are regular legions and have strict disciplines. Therefore, even if the weather is bad, the overall order is still stable; but the Ghost League is originally a ragtag group. In just two or three days, many people have begun to secretly Sneak away and seek shelter from the cold in a nearby village.
Geerhan was worried about this all day long, yelling at Duolun that he couldn't live his life.
Fortunately, God was merciful. Just before the coalition forces completely collapsed, the cold wave that lasted for several days gradually came to an end. The most difficult period finally came to an end.
Seeing that the weather had improved slightly, Duolun, Geerhan and Lao Jianhua hurriedly discussed relaunching the attack, trying to seize the strategic location of Metasequoia before the outbreak of the war in Western Xinjiang.
However, what they never expected was that the new changes in the metasequoia would once again subvert their world view.
A huge crystal clear ice block stood proudly in front of the coalition forces, full of mockery.
In the past few days when the cold wave hit, the Metasequoia defenders repeatedly poured large amounts of water outside the city wall. At this time, the entire Metasequoia City and some surrounding areas were frozen into a big lump of ice, which looked hard and slippery. .
As far as the winter in the Ghost Desert of Western Xinjiang is concerned, this ice city will never melt away until spring comes.
And relying on the current strength of the coalition forces and siege conditions, it is simply a fantasy to capture such a slippery city.
Facing the stubborn and colorful metasequoia, Duolun and others all felt like crying. However, they didn't hesitate for too long.
The reason is simple. The military order from the Turkic Great Khan has arrived.
This order was written by Ashina Zhijin himself. He first praised the combat achievements of Geerhan and other coalition soldiers, and emphasized that the Iron Pigeon Army and the Ghost Alliance soldiers and horses laid an important foundation for the next war in Western Xinjiang. Then, Ashina changed the subject and severely reprimanded Duolun. Attacking a small Metasequoia City had been fruitless for nearly a month. It was really incompetent.
Finally, the Turkic Great Khan ordered the main force of the coalition forces to temporarily put down the metasequoia, and immediately went to Daban, an important town west of Chechi King's City, to join forces with the Loulan army that had already assembled there. In the direction of Metasequoia, only a small number of elite cavalry were left to continue monitoring the attack.
After consulting with Geerhan and Lao Jianhua, Duolun agreed that the Great Khan's holy order was very wise. Firstly, the whole war was imminent. Judging from the situation, it was indeed no longer possible to waste energy on metasequoia; secondly, surveillance and harassment , is the best fighting method of the Iron Pigeon Army, and to a certain extent, it can also blockade Metasequoia City.
As a result, the three men immediately carried out the order and left this sad place with the exhausted coalition soldiers.
