In the evening, the setting sun hangs in the sky, spreading soft and warm light over the entire Ulundu River.
The sky in the east was gradually getting dark at this time, forming a sharp contrast with the gorgeous sunset sky in the west. In that dim direction, an army of cavalry suddenly appeared out of thin air, galloping towards the river bank amidst the roar of hoofbeats.
The Turkic cavalry led by Deputy Marshal Mohadi, commander of the Turkic North Camp, finally arrived.
According to the original plan, this was the moment to launch a general attack, but Mohadi did not usher in the exciting scene of mass killing that he expected. All he and his subordinates saw were messes and flames and ashes.
"His grandma's! Could it be that the beating has already been completed?!"
As Mohadi muttered dissatisfiedly, the Turkic warriors who had followed him to this place and had already been aroused with bloody and murderous intentions suddenly felt a little disappointed. They hurriedly traveled for several days, and in the end, let alone eating meat, they didn't even drink soup. How could they not feel frustrated?
"There's something wrong, Marshal," one of the guards pointed at the crowd cleaning the battlefield and said to Mohadi, "Why...why didn't you see the body?"
Mohadi couldn't help being stunned when he heard this, and squinted his eyes to look carefully. That's right, not only were there no corpses littering the battlefield in this battlefield, there was even no smell of blood that they were used to.
what on earth is it?
Mohadi was wondering to himself when he suddenly saw a familiar figure riding a horse from a distance. He heard the man shouting in a rough voice while running: "Hey, Mohadi, you are here?!"
Mohadi took a closer look and saw that the person who came was none other than his old enemy in the Turkic army - the Marquis of Durham, another deputy marshal of the Turkic army.
Durham urged the horse to come closer, reined in the reins, and hummed slightly dissatisfied: "I said Mohadi, why did you get here? You were dragging your feet, like a bitch!"
After hearing this, Mohadi immediately showed a look of disgust, couldn't help curling his lips and snorted coldly.
The rift and conflict between the two people has actually been going on for a long time.
Although they are both deputy marshals, Mohadi and Durham are completely different. Durham was born into a golden noble family and was the cousin of the Temple Prince Ronya. In terms of blood relationship, he and the current Great Khan Ashina Zhijin are relatively close relatives of the same clan. Therefore, Durham was famous for being arrogant and domineering in the Turkic army. He would not give face to anyone except the Khan and the prince.
Mohadi, on the other hand, does not have such a noble bloodline as Durham. He comes from a small Turkic tribe and has a humble background. The powerful position he has today is entirely achieved by his own bloody fighting on the battlefield, with sword and gun.
Because of this, Durham looked down on Mohadi's humble status, and Mohadi looked down on Durham's nepotism. The two of them usually don't argue with each other, but they often get into tit-for-tat arguments over trivial matters.
Today, two deputy marshals who despise each other meet on the east bank of the Ulundu River. It can be said that they are enemies.
Seeing that Durham didn't give him any face when he opened his mouth, Mohadi couldn't help but get angry and said in a deep voice: "Durham, what is going on here? Where is Li Jiangyao's remnant Shengtang army?"
Durham really wanted to say, "Li Jiangyao has been killed by your uncle Durham!" in order to anger Mohadi, a "cold-faced ghost". However, the military situation was urgent, and there was no room for joking at the moment. What's more, because he accidentally let go of Li Jiangyao, Durham was originally worried that Mahadi would catch him and sue him to the Prince of the Temple. Therefore, he quickly put away the ridiculous thoughts in his mind and said seriously: "I was just about to tell you about this matter, and the Zhenjiang Army escaped!"
"Run away?" A cold smile appeared on Mohadi's face: "The war is about to begin, how could they run away for no reason? Durham, could it be because of your ugly appearance that you scared Li Jiangyao away? Right? Hahaha..."
Durham heard this and said angrily: "Bah, that stupid look of yours is called ugly! In my opinion, it is probably because your whereabouts were not secret and the news leaked out, which made the Zhenjiang Army afraid to run away!"
Mohadi's face darkened, and he retorted coldly: "Durham, don't make a mistake yourself, but you put the shit basin on my head! The enemy slipped under your nose, even if it makes trouble to His Highness the Prince There, I’m afraid you won’t take any account!”
At this time, Durham was most afraid that the other party would struggle with this issue. He quickly covered up his fear and embarrassment, waved his hands and said: "Okay, okay, I won't talk to you about these gossips. You quickly organize the team and follow what the scouts are doing along the way. Mark the chase. Just two hours ago, Alek Jiang led his troops to chase Li Jiangyao. You go to support him now!"
Mohadi looked at the other party quietly, without any reaction to Durham's order.
When Durham saw this, he couldn't help but secretly get angry, and shouted angrily: "Are you deaf? Why don't you act quickly?"
"Why should I obey your order?" Mohadi said coldly: "Following the military orders of Prince Temple, I led my troops to attack thousands of miles. I rushed to the east bank of the Ulundu River this evening to cooperate with the Western Xinjiang coalition forces. Attack the Suppressing Xinjiang Army Headquarters from both sides. No matter from any angle, it is not under your control. According to the original plan, Duolun's garrison and patrol forces are responsible for attracting and containing the enemy's main force on the flanks, while you lead the Western Xinjiang Middle Route Army, Attack the river bank defense line frontally and hold back Li Jiangyao. My mission is to launch a surprise attack from behind them. Now, you have let the Zhenjiang Army go in vain. If you miss the opportunity and delay His Highness the Prince's plan, why are you still pretending? You pretended to be a big-tailed wolf and ordered me to chase people for you?"
Durham was speechless by Mohadi's words. He waited for a long time before he could say anything: "What do you mean? Are you just watching the Zhenjiang Army escape? Doing nothing." ?”
Mohadi pushed up his helmet with his riding crop, and said, "I want to do something. But what? How to do it? Now I don't even know where the enemy has gone."
Durham said angrily: "That's why I asked you to follow the scout's road signs! Alek Jiang is chasing Li Jiangyao, and there are instructions along the way. Just look for them!"
"That's easy to say!" Mohadi sneered: "How long have you been chasing Alik Jiang? How far have you gone? What is the terrain of the battlefield over there? Is there an enemy city? Will you encounter an ambush? These are all two things. A smear of darkness, no idea at all, why should I follow you? What a ghost!"
-
"Stop the whole army!"
Alek Jiang raised his right hand and called to stop the galloping army.
After discovering that Li Jiangyao led his army to retreat this morning, Alek Jiang immediately followed Durham's instructions and led his troops to forcefully cross the Ulundu River and rush to pursue the Zhenjiang army.
Before setting off, the princess of Nanhua County, Huoliya, ordered her troops to set fire to the riverside camp, which largely hindered the actions of the Western Xinjiang coalition forces. Coupled with the haste of the matter, Alik Jiang could not mobilize the troops at that time. Not much.
The two sides chased and fought all the way. After several struggles, a large group of infantry was left behind.
At the moment, there are only more than 10,000 cavalry from various alliance countries who can stay with Alik Jiang. Among them, Loulan soldiers accounted for the majority.
Seeing that the sky was getting dark at this time, and Li Jiangyao and the others always kept a distance of two or three miles from him, neither far nor close, and the meaning of deliberate seduction became stronger and stronger, Alek Jiang couldn't help but secretly worry in his heart.
He asked the generals around him about where he was now.
Several officers who were familiar with the terrain discussed among themselves, and then reported that their current location was approximately in the northeast corner of Chechi State, not far from the border of Shanshan State.
"Shanshan? Then which direction is Metasequoia City?" Alekjiang frowned and asked subconsciously.
An old officer replied: "Your Highness, in my opinion, Metasequoia City should be to the south of us, about thirty miles away..."
Hearing this, Alek Jiang couldn't help cursing: "Damn it, why are you chasing us further and further? Li Jiangyao and the others are obviously not trying to escape back to Metasequoia."
Metasequoia City belongs to the city of Chechi State. It was originally located fifty miles east of Pansong Ferry, but now it is south of the Alike River. This shows that they have been chasing Li Jiangyao all day, and have been following Li Jiangyao towards Moving in the northeast direction, that's why Alik Jiang said that the more he chased, the more he strayed.
At this moment, all the generals under his command were also suspicious and alert, and they all began to persuade Alek Jiang: "Your Highness, as the saying goes, don't chase after poor enemies. We are driving all the way here today, and we are getting further and further away from the main force. In case of any emergency, If we fall into an ambush by the Zhenjiang Army, we will be in trouble! Why not, let’s just give up and withdraw our troops as soon as possible.”
In fact, Alekjiang also had this intention. Compared with his own life, Durham's order instructing him to bite Li Jiangyao's command center with all his strength was nothing at all.
"Damn it! Shengtang Barbarian has always been full of tricks. It's unwise for us to pursue him in such darkness and so far away." Alik Jiang nodded slightly and ordered: "Let's do this for today. It's impossible in Metasequoia City anyway. Grow legs and run away. When the Turkic elites commanded by Marshal Mohadi arrive, it won't be too late for us to find trouble with Li Jiangyao! Pass my order and the whole army will turn back, collect those stragglers along the way, and return to camp for dinner. Rest.”
Following Alik Jiang's order, the entire pursuit force was relieved. They pulled the reins one after another, turned their horses' heads, and prepared to return.
However, just when Alek Jiang and his men were about to urge their horses to leave, the Zhenjiang Army, which had been closely pursued by them and could not keep away, suddenly turned around and ran back. Two thousand Zhenjiang Metasequoia Knights roared over and stopped directly less than a few hundred steps away from the Alik River.
The general at the head is none other than the commander-in-chief of the Zhenjiang Army—Li Jiangyao!
