Not only the Turkic commanders, but also all the Iron Pigeon Army soldiers who had experienced the horse riding camp outside Metasequoia City felt chills in their hearts at this time. No matter who they were, they could not erase the terror of the ghost-faced white-robed army from their minds. remember.
Although everyone later attacked Metasequoia for many days in a row and had repeated battles with the city's defenders, they never encountered the vicious group of men known as the "ghost-faced white-robed troops" again, and naturally they felt a little comforted. And rejoice.
However, I never expected that just outside the Yueyazi City in Shanshan Kingdom, the Turks and the nightmare would unexpectedly meet again!
Looking at Li Jiangyao with a frosty face, the two captains had no idea for a while.
To be more careful, the two or three hundred Saint Tang troops in front of me are not the army that suffered a disastrous defeat in Crescent Bay, nor are they the Western Region vassal soldiers with low combat power who are about to collapse at a moment's notice. They dare to confront them with only 400 troops. The white-robed knight who defeated the 40,000 coalition forces!
Since the last evacuation of Metasequoia City, a song has circulated among the Turkic Iron Pigeon Army: "A fierce general and an elite soldier should not be imprisoned, and thousands of troops should avoid white robes."
This once became a subject for other Turkic armies to laugh at the Pigeon Army.
"It doesn't hurt to stand and talk!" The pigeon army soldier was indignant: "You bastards have never seen the ghost-faced white-robed army, so you don't know how scary they are! If it were you over there, you would be playing the same ball! "
And this situation is like a fight between two people. If one party is severely beaten by the other party and has no ability to fight back, it will inevitably leave a deep shadow in his heart, so that he will have to avoid the other party when he meets again in the future. Just go.
Therefore, although Li Jiangyao and the others only have about two hundred people now, as long as they compare the Metasequoia War and do a simple arithmetic problem, it is not difficult to deduce a conclusion: four hundred versus forty thousand, which is approximately equal to two hundred versus twenty thousand. Therefore, the reasonable combat strength to defeat these ghost-faced white-robed troops in front of us should be at least 20,000 people!
Fortunately, the commander studied seriously when he was a child and had solid arithmetic skills. The two leaders glanced at each other and immediately understood that the other's intention was the same as their own, so they turned their horses' heads in a tacit understanding. They did not even have the courage to rush forward and give it a try, so they led more than 2,000 men to evacuate quickly.
No matter what, it is better to stay as far away from these white-robed devils as possible.
This strange scene also completely confused Li Jiangyao.
The two hundred armored warriors, including him, all fell into deep confusion: Well... what about the promised victory in a narrow encounter?
The Shanshan army hiding behind the city wall also ran over in a swarm at this time, looking up with great reverence at this group of heroes who scared off the enemy without saying a word.
The old Shanshan officer stepped forward and bowed deeply to Li Jiangyao, and said with admiration: "Sir, today I have opened my eyes. I have seen what it means to conquer an enemy without fighting!"
Li Jiangyao, some Zhang Er monks, were confused and replied sheepishly: "Don't flatter me blindly. To this day, I still don't understand what happened. Why did those Turkic people turn around and leave after a disagreement."
"Sir, I know a little bit about Turkic dialect," the old officer said: "When they saw you just now, someone called out the name of the ghost-faced white-robed army. Are you from the Metasequoia City of Chechi Kingdom? "
Li Jiangyao was stunned for a moment, then nodded in agreement.
The young female general on the side's eyes lit up when she heard this, and she asked excitedly: "May I ask your surname? Is it Li? Li Jiangyao and Lieutenant Li?"
Li Jiangyao became even more confused: "Yes, you...you know me?"
The old officer was equally excited: "Are you really you? Mr. Li from Metasequoia City! You don't know that some merchants and common people who evacuated from Metasequoia City spread the word about your heroic deeds everywhere, but now most of the ghost desert knows about it!" "
Although the words of the old officer were a bit exaggerated, it is true that many people who left Metasequoia City spread the story of Li Jiangyao leading the Metasequoia defenders to resist the Turkic horse bandits to all parts of Western Xinjiang. In the process of word-of-mouth transmission, people gave full play to their imagination, rendered the story layer by layer, and superimposed it everywhere, creating an extremely exciting depiction of the already dramatic offensive and defensive battle.
In a turbulent period of war and chaos, such stories are often more easily accepted and spread by people.
Unknowingly, Li Jiangyao and his ghost-faced white-robed army had gradually begun to leave a very deep impression on the people of the Ghost Desert in Western Xinjiang. This also laid the initial foundation for the unprecedented counterattack. The foundation of public support.
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After learning the identities of Li Jiangyao and the others, the Shanshan soldiers felt relieved and explained their origins in detail.
That girl general turned out to be Holia, the youngest daughter of King Nitz of Shanshan and Princess Nanhua.
Despite her young age and the fact that she comes from a girl's family, in fact, this dashing little princess Holia has been fond of bow and horse martial arts since she was a child. She has been apprenticed to various teachers and has developed a good kung fu.
Calculating carefully, there are really few people in the entire Shanshan Kingdom who can be her opponent.
On the day when the royal court of Shanshan Kingdom was breached by Loulan's army, Huoliya had been directing the soldiers and horses on the front line of the east city gate. When she heard that the palace behind her was occupied by Loulan troops who rushed in from other city gates, she immediately decided to lead her troops back to protect her father. The deputy captain of the Royal Guards and veteran Paltahong who was with her at the time knew that the situation was over, so he tried his best to dissuade Horiyah, and forced her to break out and escape in the chaos.
After that, the remnant soldiers of their group avoided the enemy's pursuit while picking up the retreating Shanshan warriors in various places. Finally, they used Bogda Mountain as their base and temporarily settled down.
Fortunately, the Loulan army did not stay in Shanshan for long after they captured the city. They looted the royal palace in the capital and hurried to join forces with the Turkic Iron Pigeons. Only then did Houliya and the others get a chance to breathe, and then continued to attack near Bogda Mountain. The old troops gathered four to five thousand troops and established a firm foothold.
Huoliya was worried that the enemy would turn around at any time, so she did not dare to lead her troops back to the palace easily. Instead, she sent spies to inquire about the location of the Zhenjiang Protectorate’s army. She planned to meet up with the main force of Shengtang and then find an opportunity to defend her father and relatives. revenge.
But no one expected that in a shocking battle in Crescent Bay, even someone as powerful as Shengtang would suffer a ruthless defeat.
Holia, who made a special trip to find the Protectorate, learned of the final result. With no choice but to return to Bogda Mountain, she continued to gather the strength of her tribe and waited for the opportunity of revenge. Unfortunately, by coincidence, she bumped into a large group of people on the way. The Turkic cavalry finally managed to take a detour and come to Yueyazi City.
It was such a coincidence that she met the legendary metasequoia hero Li Jiangyao.
Horiyah and Paletahong discussed briefly and decided on the spot to lead their army to Metasequoia City and fight side by side with Lieutenant Li. Li Jiangyao was also in the process of employing people at this time, and he really had no reason to reject Holia and her four to five thousand loyal guards, so he readily agreed and everyone went on the road together.
From Yueyazi City to Metasequoia City, we pass through Bogda Mountain in the middle. Following the order of the princess, Pareta Hong rushed over in advance, brought out all the troops and supplies hidden in the mountains, and met up with Li Jiangyao and the others who arrived later. Together with the Shanshan Army and the wounded soldiers from Crescent Bay, nearly ten thousand people continued towards Metasequoia. Go ahead.
The army returned and gradually moved away from the main battlefield of the Crescent Bay Battle. Therefore, there were fewer and fewer Turks and rebels encountered, and the calmer the road became. A few days later, Li Jiangyao's army finally returned to their base camp, Metasequoia City.
Upon arriving at the Metasequoia, Li Jiangyao was immediately shocked by the sight in front of him.
Looking from a distance on the Silk Road outside the city, we can see dense tent camps surrounding Metasequoia City, arranged on three levels inside and three outside.
People traveling between the camps include people fleeing from Western Xinjiang, businessmen of various ethnic groups seeking refuge from disaster, and soldiers wearing various military uniforms. Looking around, there were no less than tens of thousands of people.
Facing the surprised expressions of Huoliya and other Shanshan soldiers, Li Jiangyao smiled awkwardly and said that he didn't know what was going on.
"When I left, it was still bare there. I didn't expect that in a month, so many things would grow here like a crop field."
Just when everyone was feeling confused, a horse team suddenly ran out from the gate of Metasequoia City and galloped towards them. The three leaders among them were Lin Feng, Du Jian and Ma Mu.
When the cavalry arrived, Li Jiangyao was surprised to find that Lin and Du were actually wearing white mourning robes outside their armors.
"You all already know what happened at Crescent Bay?" Li Jiangyao said calmly: "The Shengtang was defeated, and dozens of generals including Deputy Protector Zhang Sanpi died for their country. However, although everyone is sad in their hearts, according to the military system, You don't have to pay tribute unless the commander of our army is killed in battle."
Lin Feng and Du Jian looked at each other and said sadly: "Sir, the reason why I am so humble is not because of Crescent Bay, but... He is the Protector..."
Hearing Lin Feng say the words "He Dadu Protector", Li Jiangyao was stunned. He paused for a few seconds before he asked in shock: "He... Teacher He? What's wrong with him?"
"According to the report from the Liangzhou Prefecture and the Lieblade Army, Protector He... Protector He was ambushed by the Xuanjia Army and was unfortunately killed!"
Du Jian added: "The day before yesterday, the Feixin Cavalry from Zijin Pass broke through the blockade along the road by Turkic horse thieves and found this place. They sent the Liangzhou Di Newspaper, conveying the sad news of the death of the Protector He Jingming. Commander of the Pioneer Battalion of the Xuanjia Army , Qianniu Zhonglang General Xu Youchang led his troops to set up an ambush in the mountains of Liangzhou, and attacked and killed Mr. He who was about to go to Western Xinjiang to take charge. The imperial court clearly instructed that after Xu Youchang committed the crime, he fled to Western Xinjiang in fear of crime, and specially ordered the soldiers and horses of the Zhenjiang Protectorate to Once you find his traces, capture him immediately!"
Lin Feng carefully observed Li Jiangyao's reaction and saw that he frowned when he heard Xu Youchang's name. He quickly said: "Sir, in addition to the seals of the Liangzhou Prefecture and the Fierce Blade Legion, there is also Shen Shen on the letter of order. Mr. Lie’s signature, there should be nothing wrong with it.”
Li Jiangyao couldn't help but was slightly stunned. He didn't expect that Shen Lie was also involved, and then asked casually: "They said that Xu Youchang came to Western Xinjiang. Do you have any news about him? Where will this guy go?"
"Sir, God has eyes!" Du Jiandao: "God really has eyes! When we received the report from Liangzhou Tongzhuan Residence, Xu Youchang and his men happened to be hiding here. Xiao Lin and I have captured them all. . If it weren’t for waiting for you to come back and deal with them, the soldiers would have eaten them alive right then and there!”
"Xu Youchang is actually here with us?" Li Jiangyao thought for a moment and said calmly: "Let's go back and bring him to see me. I'm sure that what happened to Teacher He was definitely not the fault of that idiot."
