Several soldiers shouted loudly, stepped forward and tied up the commander of the former camp tightly. Then, regardless of how he whined and begged for mercy, they dragged him directly outside the camp gate and killed him with a knife.
When the other generals and officers in the front camp saw this, they were all too frightened to say anything. They knelt all over the ground, waiting for the second prince's reaction.
Kunli Mingtai couldn't help but sigh secretly in his heart.
Tonight's loss was largely caused by Tanley's carelessness in underestimating the enemy. On the one hand, as the coach of the Eleventh Army, he did not consider the possibility that Gema would take the initiative to attack the Golden Wolf Army; on the other hand, even if there was a big battle tomorrow, he should not let his men eat and sleep today. Not only would this not be good It is helpful to improve combat effectiveness and morale, but it can easily make people feel physically tired and slow to react.
The more critical issue is that the war is imminent, and it is really not appropriate to kill generals in front of the battle array and shake the morale of the army for no reason.
Kunli Mingtai shook his head gently and advised in a deep voice: "Your Highness, please calm down. Now that the guy who neglected his duty has been punished, can the remaining soldiers be temporarily spared and let them perform meritorious service. After all, it is a war, and occasionally Some losses are normal and should not dampen the morale of the entire army before the war."
Tanli heard something in Kunli Mingtai's words, and seemed to think that it was very inappropriate for him to kill the general before the war, and he suddenly felt quite angry. However, Kunli Mingtai was a trusted guard around his father Khan Ashina Zhijin. He followed the Khan all the year round and made many military exploits. His status in the army should not be underestimated. He frankly did not look at the face of a monk or the face of a Buddha. So I can lose my temper with the Blood Guard General.
Weighing the pros and cons, Tanli put on a smile, nodded and said: "Okay, for your sake, let's not pursue these idiots for now. This damn old guy, Gema, actually has the guts to play with me. Such a skill is truly amazing.”
Kunli Mingtai accompanied him and smiled helplessly: "As expected of the leader of the Yelun tribe, he is also a well-known figure in the Turkic Empire. It seems that we underestimated the enemy this time. Your Highness, since all the equipment has been burned, then we Are you still going to take action tomorrow?”
Tanli thought: I really don’t want to waste the Golden Wolf Army on Gema, but if Father Khan suddenly changes his mind and decides to let the old guy and the Yalun Clan live, then the eldest brother Chili will have another way to turn around. Such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity cannot be missed.
Thinking of this, Tanli shook his head and said firmly: "The situation in Western Xinjiang is changing rapidly. If it is delayed any longer, in the words of a Shengtang person, I am afraid that the day lily will be cold. When the time agreed with Gema comes tomorrow, as long as he If you don’t surrender obediently, we will attack Zijin Pass immediately!”
Kunli Mingtai pondered for a moment, nodded and said: "I am not opposed to attacking Zijin Pass immediately. Even if there are no large siege equipment, Turkic warriors can still attack the city with simple ladders. But..."
"Just what?" Stanley turned to look at him.
Kunli Mingtai said calmly: "However, if the offensive action is not fierce enough, I am worried that it will not be able to attract Gema's full attention. In that case, the effectiveness of the Blood Guard's elite sneak attacks using secret passages will be affected. "
A sly smile appeared on Tanli's face: "So you are worried about this. Don't worry, I will definitely let the Golden Wolf Army launch a fierce attack tomorrow! Moreover, I have a trick in my hand that is enough to distract Gema of."
-
"Dadu Protector, thank God, you are back. Are you not injured?" Gema said worriedly: "Just now we looked at the huge fire in the distance, and our hearts were always in our throats. We are really worried about you. Safety."
Li Jiangyao took off his helmet and asked the soldiers to take off his armor. He smiled at Gema and said, "It's okay. I guessed that Tanli had despised you and was unprepared, so he decided to launch a sneak attack. Sure enough, , he was caught off guard by us."
Gema was very excited when he heard this, and asked with a smile: "All burned?"
"Nine or ten." Li Jiangyao took the tea bowl brought by his men, drank a sip, and then said: "Dozens of the most threatening large-scale equipment have been destroyed. As the spies said before, Tanli All the equipment was actually deployed in the front camp, and it was close to the camp gate. This is the first time I have encountered such a way of arranging troops in battle. I would really be sorry if I didn't take the opportunity to burn him. of kindness.”
Gema was already smiling from ear to ear and kept saying hello: "Haha, that little brat Tanli, the hair on his mouth hasn't even gotten rid of yet, so he came here pretending to direct the war, bah! Although we Turks The army is not good at attacking cities, but it also understands that important weapons must be strictly protected. The normal approach should be to place the siege equipment in the central military camp and send people to take proper care of it. Wait until the siege battle officially begins, and then gradually attack the position. Transfer and go into battle. I don’t know where Stanley got the courage, but he carelessly placed the equipment at the front of the camp, waiting for others to destroy it."
Li Jiangyao nodded slightly: "At first, I thought that Tanli was doing this to spread suspicion, and that he might have set some trap to lure us in. However, after dark, I touched it myself After observing closely for a long time, I suddenly discovered that the Golden Wolf Army was really unprepared, and the entire camp was sleeping like dead pigs. Until I succeeded just now, I still couldn't believe it. Alas, Stanley This time I underestimated the enemy too much.”
Having said this, Li Jiangyao thought for a moment and then continued: "However, although the batch of equipment was successfully burned, the enemy can make a new batch at any time, so a sneak attack cannot really solve the problem."
"You can't say that, Protector General." Gema comforted him: "When two armies are fighting, morale is the most important thing. Tonight's victory has severely dampened Tanli's spirit, and it is of great significance for the subsequent battles."
Li Jiangyao stood up and patted Gema on the shoulder: "I'm very pleased that you can think so. Although Tanli suffered a heavy loss tonight, I judge that he will still launch an attack tomorrow, so we cannot take it lightly. Zijin I have already arranged the overall defense of Guan, as I said before, you are in the light, I am in the dark, we will work together to resist the Golden Wolf Army."
"Absolutely no problem!" Gema said loudly: "The enemy's morale is low now, but our army's morale is greatly boosted. As long as Tanli dares to come, I will make him suffer a lot!"
Li Jiangyao smiled when he heard the words: "Okay, with Gema Khan's full strength to stop it, the Golden Wolf Army will definitely not get any advantage. Tomorrow you will sit in the command post in Qiaolou, Zijin Pass, and I will guard the old warehouse in the south."
Hearing his arrangement, Gema was a little confused: "Old warehouse? Why does the Great Protector want to guard that place?"
"You will know when the time comes," Li Jiangyuan smiled narrowly: "Now, let me get out of the way first."
-
Under the Zijin Pass, beacon smoke is billowing.
The 50,000 Golden Wolf Army were neatly arrayed on the plains, ready to launch an all-out attack on the Chengguan Fortress in front of them.
On the top of the city, the defenders composed of the Yakut Legion of the Turkic Yelun Tribe and soldiers from Western Xinjiang were also waiting in strict formation, determined to give the enemy a head-on attack.
Just when the battle was about to break out, a white horse galloped out from the main formation of the Golden Wolf Army, approaching the edge of the defender's bow and arrow range, and stopped steadily.
The person sitting on the horse is none other than Tanli, the second prince of the Turkic Empire and the commander of the 11th Legion of the Golden Tribe.
He calmly raised his riding crop, pointed at the city head and shouted: "Gema, come out quickly and answer the question!"
Gema Khan, who had been standing at the gate of the city and silently observing the movements of the Golden Wolf Army, responded after hearing this: "Tanli, your grandfather and I are here. If you fart, hurry up!"
There was murderous intent in Tanli's brows, but his tone remained calm and calm: "Gema, I pitied you and the Yalun Clan before and gave you two full days to think about it. I didn't expect that you are still stubborn and not only unwilling to plead guilty. After being punished, you are still bold enough to repay kindness with hatred, send people to sneak attack on the Golden Clan's army, and challenge the authority of the Great Khan! Do you know how serious your sin is?"
"No, no, no." Gema suddenly imitated the scholarly appearance of Sheng Tang, and said a literate sentence. Although it was neither fish nor fowl, he still talked eloquently: "What happened last night was not an unprovoked attack on you Golden Clan, but It is an act of self-protection by the Yelun tribe, and its purpose is to obtain equal negotiation conditions. Without destroying the siege equipment, how can we both negotiate calmly?"
After listening to Gema Khan's nonsense, Tanli laughed angrily: "You old guy is getting more and more shameless. How can you say such unreasonable words? Well, since you want to follow me Negotiate, then let’s talk about it, what do you want?”
Gema said calmly: "Actually, my idea is very simple. If we, the Yelun tribe, want to stop the war and hand over Zijin Pass to you, we must unconditionally pardon all my previous affairs and detain all the people detained by the Eastern Expedition Army." Return all Yakut army soldiers to me."
"What did you say? Pardon you? And hand over the army to you?" Tanli showed an expression of disbelief: "Gema, are you an old fool? I will give you two days to let you think about what to do. To atone for your sins, consider whether you should die by yourself or drag the entire Yelun clan to death! Do you still want to be pardoned? The battle last night alone was enough to cut you into pieces!"
Hearing what he said, Gema didn't lose his temper and said calmly: "Ants can still survive, let alone humans? If you insist on forcing me to die, then I can only defend myself."
"Okay! Okay! Very good!" Faced with Gema, who was determined to play rogue to the end, Tanli said hello three times: "Gema, in fact, I have already seen through you, and I want you to go out of the city and plead guilty and die. That's absolutely impossible. If I don't give you some clues, I'm afraid you Yelun tribe will almost forget the bloody power of my Golden tribe! Gema, if you resist to the end, don't blame me for being ruthless! Give me the people Bring it up!”
