Martial Arts: Start with 100,000 Xiliang Cavalry

Chapter 95 Burning Dawn

A hill of dead bodies piled up under the city wall of Tianmenguan.

The ladder is no longer needed, and there is no flat ground enough to rest for it to be placed.The soldiers climbed up by stepping on the corpses. Everyone's eyes were red, terrifying like zombies.

Li Shengtian watched the battle situation from behind without taking his eyes off it.

He has long understood the truth that once a general is successful, his bones will be exhausted. As a general, he knows very well that this kind of war is fought with a determination.

Whoever can endure this cruelty better will win.

Under his strict military orders, the northern army did not dare to retreat, but he picked the wrong opponent.

Su Yuan's summoned soldiers didn't know what fear was or what cruelty was. They were the most efficient soldiers, and they wouldn't do any unnecessary actions except kill the enemy.

The fierce battle lasted for two or three hours. Both sides had finished throwing stones and arrows, and hand-to-hand combat had begun.

There were more than [-] corpses piled up under the city wall. Other soldiers continued to climb up the "ladder" made of their bodies, and some of them were already close to the top edge of the city wall.

Zhao Yun, who was in charge of the command before the battle, also decisively adopted the tactics of platooning guns.

He asked the soldiers to form an army of long spears, and as long as there was a soldier who raised his head to beg for the North, he would immediately stab him down with a spear platoon.

Several Beibei soldiers finally climbed to the top of the city wall, but before they had time to be happy, they were greeted by several sharp spear points.

But this can't stop the soldiers who have seen some hope, they still climb up bravely.

Facing the current situation, Su Yuan felt very solemn in his heart.

The number of casualties in the northern army has exceeded [-], and the casualties caused by the stones and arrows thrown by his summoned soldiers are also nearly [-].

Although Su Yuan had an advantage in this casualty ratio, he didn't want to fight like this anymore.

This kind of pure exchange of life for life, in his opinion, is the worst way of war, and it is also the cruelest.

"Pour the oil down!"

Su Yuan gave the order.

He wants to use flames to awaken the fear in the enemy's numb soldiers.

Soon, someone brought the prepared fire oil, poured it down from the city wall, and then ignited it with a rocket.

"boom!"

The flames rose instantly.

The fat of the corpses under the city wall itself is flammable, and under the catalysis, the flames jumped three or four feet high, devouring a group of Beibei soldiers who were climbing up.

"what!!!!!"

Extremely intense screams erupted, and a human-shaped fireball fell from the sky, igniting the dark night sky into a mass of bloody orange.

This scene was too horrifying, not to mention those numb begging soldiers, even Su Yuan was a little terrified.

But he didn't regret it, because he knew that if the hand-to-hand fight continued, more people would die!
Dozens of fire men fell from the sky, and the fear of the other Beibei soldiers was awakened, screaming and backing away, even the supervisors who were in charge of the battle were scared at the moment, they didn't care about the supervision, and went straight to the back shrink.

Li Shengtian didn't expect this scene either. Looking at the mountain of burning corpses under the city wall, he felt an indescribable feeling in his heart.

He has been stationed by the seaside all year round, and he is actually a bit unfamiliar with Huo Gong. The crackling sound, coupled with the smell... makes him very uncomfortable.

"……retreat!"

As a last resort, Li Shengtian made a decision.

Even his coach fell into hesitation, not to mention the soldiers under him.

There is no point in continuing to fight. No matter how afraid the soldiers are of military law, they will not bite the bullet and rush into the "flaming mountain".

Li Shengtian led the army to retreat in a hurry.

After they left, the summoned soldiers also brought water to put out the fire.

Zhao Yun looked at Su Yuan who walked out of the tower with a tired face, and said: "My lord, let's go to rest first, it will be dealt with in the end."

"Need not."

Su Yuan shook his head. When he came to the city wall, although the fire was probably extinguished, the remaining warmth was still there.

Looking down, everything from the body to the city wall was scorched black.

Especially the pungent smell almost made him vomit.

He resisted the discomfort and took a few steps back, taking a deep breath.

Zhao Yun asked with concern: "My lord, are you alright?"

"It's okay. Zilong, if you were the leader of the northern army, would you let the soldiers rush like this?"

"Maybe I will make an attempt, but if it doesn't work, I will retreat immediately." Zhao Yundao, "The general opposite seems to be a little too paranoid."

"Yes."

Su Yuan could also see from this battle that the commander-in-chief of the opposite army, the guy named Li Shengtian, was very paranoid.

If it were any other general, I'm afraid they wouldn't fight to such an extent before retreating.

Although there was no count, but from the observation of the army formation when Li Shengtian's army left, at least 1 people died in the attack on the city.

There were about a thousand casualties on Su Yuan's side, but many of them were just injured, and they could continue to fight after dealing with them.

At this time, it was already daylight, and Su Yuan had no time to think about it, so he hurriedly organized people to deal with the corpses under the city wall.

The way to deal with it is naturally to drag it outside the city wall and cremate it.

There is no way to do it. Tens of thousands of people have to dig a hole to bury it. It is really unrealistic. The time does not allow it, and Li Shengtian may also surprise him.

It would be even worse if we left it alone, as the weather is getting hotter now, so many corpses will breed a large number of microorganisms in just a day or two, and the plague is very likely to occur by then.

The fire burned for several hours, and it was still burning until noon.

The soldiers of the Northern Army could naturally see the cremation here, and they watched from a distance, not knowing what to do on their faces.

The siege soldiers who survived last night saw the high flames, as if the fear that disappeared last night had all returned at this moment, and most of them couldn't help covering their faces and weeping.

The crying quickly spread in the barracks, and Li Shengtian and the generals in the tent also heard it.

"A bunch of cowards! Cry!"

After a general shouted, he said to Li Shengtian: "General, do you want someone to arrest those crying soldiers?"

"Need not!"

Li Shengtian didn't stop his thoughts, on the contrary, he felt that it would be good for the soldiers to cry a bit, as it could be used to vent their emotions.

Anyway, it's better to cry than go crazy.

It can't be blamed on the poor psychological endurance of the soldiers. Even he, the general, was a little shocked when he saw the situation last night.

"At present, it is very difficult to attack by force." Li Shengtian said to the other generals, "The morale and determination of the enemy are stronger than we imagined."

The determination shown by the Bei'an Army last night really made Li Shengtian understand how terrifying this army under Su Yuan is.

He also finally knew why Su Yuan was able to rise so quickly, defeated all enemies, and occupied Mozhou.

With such a team of iron-blooded soldiers, they are naturally invincible in a place like Mozhou.

"Then general, what should we do?" A general from the capital scratched his messy hair and asked, looking anxious.

"Before departure, the Holy Majesty said that he hoped that the general will put down the chaos within half a year!"

"I know."

Li Shengtian nodded.

Before setting off from the capital, he also issued a military order in front of Emperor Qingxiang, saying that within half a year he would retake Mozhou and put down the Su Yuan rebellion.

Now it seems……

Li Shengtian pursed his lips tightly. After the tough battle last night, he already knew that Su Yuan was not an easy player to deal with.

It's really hard to say whether it can be won within half a year.

But in any case, he only has half a year.

Not only because of the military order, but also because of his own calculations, the food and grass needed by such a large army is huge every day.If the supply time exceeds half a year, the imperial court will not be able to stand it, and I don't know how many people will be killed by the sudden increase in taxes.

For this reason, this battle must be fought within half a year.

Li Shengtian believed that Su Yuan would think the same way, because if he had food and grass problems, Su Yuan would also have them.

At this time, the voice of a messenger came from outside the tent.

"Report to the general, the grain transport officer from Qingzhou is here to escort the grain truck!"

"Oh?"

When the food and grass arrived, Li Shengtian immediately went out of the account to receive it.

A total of hundreds of grain carts came from the west, some of which were pulled by donkeys and horses, and some were pushed and pulled by a few migrant workers. Thousands of people looked very tired.

Li Shengtian asked the soldiers to go to meet them, unload the grain bags from the car, and transport them to the granary built in the camp.

Not only did the soldiers work, but Li Shengtian himself did it himself.

He came to a car, grabbed two large grain bags from the car, and carried a total of four bags with both hands to the granary.But as soon as he took a few steps, he frowned.

The weight is wrong!

He has been in the army for so many years, and he has already known the weight of a large bag of grain.

Not to mention him, some experienced veterans can roughly judge how many catties of grain are in the grain bag with just a hand.

At this moment, Li Shengtian clearly felt that the four grain bags were very light. He released his internal force, and with a "stab", the grain bags in both hands burst open.

wow...

All the bran in the four bags was shaken out.

The soldiers were stunned when they saw it, and Li Shengtian was also stunned, and then became furious.

"Which bastard did it!"

Furious, he called the food transport officer. Seeing Li Shengtian holding a sharp sword in his hand, the grain transport officer immediately knelt down and begged for mercy.

"It's none of our business, General!"

"We haven't touched this grain, it's like this when it's shipped!"

"That's right, we haven't opened it at all since it was shipped from the capital!"

A cold light flashed in Li Shengtian's eyes, and he already knew it in his heart.

But he didn't let the grain transporter go, and said: "Come on, push it out and chop it up!"

"General, spare your life! General, spare your life!"

"General!!!"

The two grain transport officers repeatedly begged for mercy, but to no avail, the soldiers all looked at them with hatred.

Soon the heads of the two were beheaded. Li Shengtian had someone throw them on the ground, and said in public: "Don't worry, soldiers! I, Li Shengtian, will ensure that the soldiers will have enough to eat!"

After speaking, he asked the soldiers to check all the grain bags one by one.

It almost broke his teeth.

There are hundreds of grain trucks and thousands of bags of grain, but [-]% of them are bran!
This made Li Shengtian furious, he rushed into the camp and lost his temper.

"Damn corrupt officials! Even such important military rations are corrupt!"

"General..."

The generals looked at each other in blank dismay, many of them were old fritters, and they knew the tricks of the military rations.

From top to bottom, every piece has to be wiped first, and when it is sent to the front line, one can imagine how much is left.

And not just military rations.Military pay, rewards, pensions and other money have to be handed over layer by layer.

They didn't believe that Li Shengtian didn't know this.

In fact, Li Shengtian did know.

It's just that he didn't expect that those people would dare to be greedy in such an important battle.

This is not the kind of war against foreign nations, but a war to quell rebellion!

Don't those corrupt officials know that if they lose this battle, once Qingzhou falls into Su Yuan's hands, even the capital may not be able to keep?

No, they know, but they just can't keep their hands!
Li Sheng was furious. Although he killed the grain transport officer, he knew in his heart that it was just two kittens.

The real Shuoshu is in the capital, in the court.

Killing the two of them was purely for the purpose of calming the anger of the soldiers with the help of their heads.

But if those rats in the capital are not dealt with, such things will happen again.With hundreds of thousands of troops, if the supply of military rations is not enough, what terrible consequences will happen?

Li Shengtian absolutely cannot tolerate this happening, he will write a letter to the court immediately.

"Everyone, military rations are a matter of life and death for the entire army! We must not let it go, we must jointly file a petition, let the Holy One strictly investigate this matter, and ensure that the military rations are delivered in full!"

"That's exactly what the general said."

"As long as the general writes a memorial, the final general is willing to seal it with his blood name."

None of the generals is against the tune at the moment, in fact they are as anxious as Li Shengtian.

"very good!"

Li Shengtian quickly wrote the memorial, and the generals attached their names one after another, and then Li Shengtian arranged for people to send it to the capital as soon as possible.

"We're not going to starve, are we?"

Several generals of the Qingzhou Department got together to discuss the matter after leaving the account.

"Didn't General Li say just now that you can only eat less in the past few days, and only eat one meal a day..."

"Hey, damn it, these corrupt officials are really plucking their hair!"

"It's not... Speaking of which, I don't know what's going on with Wang Jian."

"Hmph, I guess he can't be hungry, maybe that Su Yuan is serving him with good food and drink, and he is at ease!"

Wang Jian, who was being talked about by everyone at the moment, would really scream nonsense if he knew what everyone was talking about.

He is currently locked in a small dark room and is not allowed to go out without permission.

Fortunately for Wang Jian, at least Su Yuan didn't starve him, and soldiers would bring him food when it was time to eat.

Although the gifts were rice porridge pancakes and nothing else, Wang Jian was already very satisfied.

They are all prisoners, and it would be nice to have something to eat.

Wang Jian now only hopes that the few letters he wrote will be effective.As long as his friends in Qingzhou are willing to help, he can get a good treatment from Su Yuan.

In fact, he doesn't wish he could go back now.A general like him won't get any good treatment after he returns. Even if he says he hasn't leaked the secret, others will still think he has leaked the secret.

It might as well be a leak.

Wang Jian found a good excuse for his lack of backbone, and then he felt at ease.

He thought, it would be good if Su Yuan could win, anyway, it's not selling to someone, and I heard that Su Yuan's policies are quite good, better than Da Zhou's.

Just as he was thinking happily, the door of the small black room opened.

Su Yuan was standing outside and said to him, "Wang Jian, your friend has replied."

(End of this chapter)