weaving

Chapter 1389 Extra Meal Tonight
"You little bastard, I'll... rip you off!"

The soldier's angry curse, born of pain, jolted Xu Xiaosan back to his senses.

With his eyes bloodshot, Xu Xiaosan spared the bandit's nose. He first spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with bits of flesh, and just then he saw the bandit's neck exposed as he looked up and cursed angrily.

Without saying a word, Xu Xiaosan bit down with his gaping maw.

Unexpectedly, the bandit's neck was not very fleshy, and he could not get a firm grip despite his struggle. But how could Xu Xiaosan let such a good opportunity slip by?

He opened his mouth wide, revealing a mouthful of black teeth, with streaks of blood clinging to them. Xu Xiaosan's face was contorted with rage as he roared and lunged at the bandit soldier's throat, biting down hard once more.

"what……!"

From the soldier's heart-wrenching screams, it was clear that the bite had landed squarely on the target.

Bright red blood seeped from between the teeth, flowing down the soldier's neck and dripping onto the parched earth below...

The soldier, in pain, struggled fiercely, but Xu Xiaosan held him tightly and he was unable to break free. As his breathing became more and more rapid, Xu Xiaosan's teeth gradually penetrated deeper into his throat, and blood flowed more and more, soon covering his entire neck and even staining his chest with a large red patch.

Gradually, the pain in the soldier's nose, eyes, and neck lessened, and his strength also decreased, as if he was exhaling much less than he was inhaling.

On the contrary, Xu Xiaosan became increasingly ruthless.

Like a wolf out of control, he ripped a piece of flesh from the soldier's neck with a ferocious grin, spat it out, then bit down hard, tore it off again, and spat it out once more...

Sometimes, before he could spit it out, he would swallow the mixture of blood and flesh in his mouth and then viciously bite the soldier's throat.

Even when the bandit's body was completely limp and lifeless, he still refused to give in.

Even though he had already gnawed all the flesh off the bandit's neck, he continued to tear at it bite by bite, as if he wanted to bite the bandit's neck off, showing no signs of fatigue.

Suddenly, Xu Xiaosan's surroundings brightened up, but then dimmed again in an instant.

It turned out that government troops had rushed over, and the starving people around them all knelt down, making the light much brighter. However, as the huge bodies of the government troops approached, they blocked some of the light again, making it much darker.

It was at this moment that Xu Xiaosan finally exhausted his last bit of strength and collapsed onto the cold, stiff corpse of the bandit soldier...

…………

As the starving people gave up resistance, either kneeling in surrender or turning to flee, the rebel army's latest offensive crumbled instantly...

Even the hundred or so bandits responsible for holding the line, seeing the overwhelming strength of the government troops, quickly retreated to their own lines, unwilling to suffer such a clear loss.

However, the rebel army employed a strategy of attrition warfare, with one wave of attacks followed by another.

At this moment, a new wave of attacks emerged from the formation. More than 5,000 starving civilians, just like the previous waves, slowly advanced towards the government troops under the pressure and threat of the bandit soldiers in the rear.

Li Zicheng, the rebel leader, had returned to his Grand Marshal's tent and handed over command of the front lines to General Yuan Zongdi.

After all, it was not yet the critical moment of the great battle, and as the supreme commander of the entire army, the rebel king naturally did not need to be on the front line at all times.

"Yufeng has been attacked?" The rebel leader looked at Li You, the commander of the central army, with an incredulous expression on his face.

"Yes, Grand Marshal."

Who brought the message?

"Du Chenggu, a junior officer in General Tian's personal guard."

Li Zicheng nodded and continued, "Where is he?"

"Wait outside the tent." "Let him in, I have something to ask him."

"Yes."

Li You turned and left the tent, and soon led in a man.

When the rebel leader and his men looked closely, they saw that he looked extremely tired and was covered in blood and dust. As soon as he entered the tent, he bowed and paid his respects to the rebel leader.

"Your name is Du Chenggu?"

"Yes."

"How many government troops are attacking you? And which force are they?"

"Reporting to the Grand Marshal, the government troops attacking our side number seven or eight thousand, with more than three thousand cavalry alone, including soldiers from Kaifeng and Baoding."

Du Chenggu knelt on one knee, clasped his hands in a fist and continued to report: "There are more than two thousand men attacking General Dang, and they are fighting under the banner of Hu Dawei of Baoding."

The rebel leader remained silent, but Song Xianze asked from the side, "What were your losses? Where are your troops now?"

Du Chenggu turned to Song Xianze, clasped his hands in greeting, and replied, "Reporting to Military Advisor Song, less than half of General Tian's 3,000 cavalrymen remain, while General Dang's side has also suffered over 700 casualties. When I arrived, General Tian was heading south along the long trench; I reckon they should have encountered General Dang and his men by now."

"Did you encounter any soldiers or officers on your way here?"

"I rushed along the way and encountered two groups of scouts from the government troops, but I avoided them both."

Song Xianze didn't ask any more questions. Instead, he turned to look at the rebel leader and whispered, "Grand Marshal, should we send someone to meet Yu Feng and the others?"

The rebel leader waved his hand and said, "With the decisive battle imminent, there is no need to defend the long trench anymore. Since Yu Feng has already led his army south, he will naturally come to join us. He still has several thousand men on his side, and small groups of government troops will avoid him. There is no need to provide support."

He then looked at Du Chenggu and said, "Please do your best to tell Yufeng that he must lead his troops to join us before noon tomorrow."

"Yes, Grand Marshal."

…………

"Grand Marshal, Jie Xuan has also discovered traces of government troops." Song Xianze spoke up after Du Chenggu left the main tent.

"Zhang Cheng only has a small force, yet he dares to divide his troops like this for the campaign?" Niu Jinxing also raised his question.

Upon hearing this, Li Zicheng, the rebel leader, had a sudden flash of inspiration, but he merely smiled slightly and said nothing.

Song Xianze saw through his thoughts and analyzed for him: "There are at least three or four thousand soldiers in Ruzhou, and no less than that in Qixian. Now, nearly ten thousand soldiers have appeared in Yufeng alone. Add to that the ones in Jiexuan, and I'm afraid there are more than twenty thousand troops sent out."

Niu Jinxing also said, "Judging from the enemy's formation today, the government troops on the other side cannot exceed 30,000."

Song Xianze smiled slightly and said loudly, "I don't think it's even 20,000."

He turned to the rebel leader and said with a smile, "The government troops opposite us number at most 20,000, half infantry and half cavalry."

At this moment, Li Zicheng, the rebel leader, completely relaxed his brows and laughed, "In that case, it seems we don't have to wait until the day after tomorrow!"

"Strike while the iron is hot, and treat illness as early as possible."

Song Xianze glanced at Niu Jinxing, then turned to Li Zicheng, the rebel leader, and said to him, "Let's take advantage of the fact that the government troops are few in number and defeat them in one fell swoop. Then we can divide our elite cavalry into several groups and attack them one by one."

"it is good."

The rebel leader slammed his hand on the table and said loudly, "Send down the order: give the men a good meal tonight so they will have the strength to kill the government troops tomorrow."