The Red Chamber begins with a bastard

Chapter 704 War begins

Jia Huan's injury was only a superficial wound. Under Xueyan's careful care, he recovered greatly within a few days. Although he was not fully healed, he could still eat, dress, and review official documents without any problems.

On this day, Amahei finally led 10,000 troops from Turpan to Hami City and set up camp two miles south of the city. Meanwhile, the tribes around Hami City had already moved away.

Although Hami has always been a vassal state of the Great Jin Dynasty, due to geographical factors, the Great Jin Dynasty's control over Hami is extremely limited, and the local people of Hami have no sense of belonging to the Great Jin Dynasty. Therefore, it is impossible to get them to help fight and defend against enemies.

These people would only stay far away and watch from the sidelines. If the Jin army won, they would return and continue to rely on the Jin army. If Turpan won, they would also return and kowtow to Turpan in submission.

Of course, Jia Huan didn't expect these people to contribute. As long as they didn't secretly defect to Turpan and stab the Jin army in the back, that would be enough. He believed that once the Jin army defeated Turpan, these people would obediently become subjects of the Great Jin.

After ordering the camp to be set up in the south of the city, Amahei immediately sent a group of men to the city gate to challenge them, showing off their power and displaying an arrogant attitude of full confidence and determination to win.

It is said that Amahei was always ambitious, and his abilities and courage were also quite extraordinary. Under his management, Turpan's national strength grew stronger day by day, and it successively annexed Huozhou and Liucheng.

Indeed, although Amakh is only the Taiji (crown prince) of Turpan, his father, Sutan Ali, does not really manage affairs. Military and political power is basically in Amakh's hands. Since annexing Huozhou and Liucheng, Amakh's ambition has grown even greater. A few years ago, he secretly helped Baiwa rebel and killed the former Hami king, turning his covetous eyes to the Hexi Corridor of the great eastern power.

At this time, the Emperor of the Great Jin Dynasty made the decision to arrange a marriage alliance with Hami. Amahei then conspired with Baiwa, who disguised himself as the envoy to escort the bride to the capital of the Great Jin Dynasty. He secretly investigated the state of the Great Jin Dynasty and then devised a strategy to seize Jiayuguan. Unfortunately, he suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Jia Huan and even became a prisoner.

Before meeting Jia Huan, Amahei had always been incredibly powerful and successful, easily conquering Huozhou, Liucheng, and Hami. However, he tasted defeat against Jia Huan, which was unacceptable to the proud and confident Amahei. In the end, he attributed his failure to bad luck, saying that a damned jade merchant recognized him, allowing Jia Huan to strike first. Otherwise, he would have already captured Jiayuguan and taken Princess Kangle into his private possession.

It was precisely because of this stubborn refusal and unwillingness to accept defeat that, after successfully escaping, he immediately encouraged his father, Sutan Ali, to send troops to Hami so as to confront Jia Huan head-on.

Before sending troops, Amah had already found out that the Jin army only had about three thousand troops in Hami, and given the current chaotic situation in Jin, it was impossible for them to send three hundred thousand troops to sweep away Turpan. So Jia Huan was just making empty threats, scaring the Khan, but not himself.

This time, Amahei intends to seize Hami with overwhelming force, annihilate the Jin army, and cut off Jia Huan's head. No, he wants Jia Huan to watch him enjoy the beauty of Princess Kangle, and then cut off Jia Huan's head to avenge his previous humiliation!
It is worth mentioning that the Halahui tribe had secretly pledged allegiance to Turpan long ago. They were a spy left in Hami by Amahei to control Baiwa. Unfortunately, the leader of the Halahui tribe was eager to make a name for himself. When he learned that Jia Huan had the mind to take women out of the city for fun on the eve of the great battle, he planned to take the opportunity to kill Jia Huan and use Jia Huan's head to curry favor with Amahei. As expected, he failed to curry favor and instead brought about the extermination of his tribe.

While Amah was somewhat regretful about the destruction of the Halahui tribe, he was mostly furious, cursing the tribe's leader for being so foolish as to fall for Jia Huan's trick so easily.

Amah's original plan was to use the Harahui tribe as inside agents to take Hami City from within and without. Now that plan has fallen through, he can only launch a frontal assault. Of course, even without an inside agent, Amah remains full of confidence.

The reason is simple: there are only three thousand Jin troops in the city, and all their reinforcements and supplies have to be transported from Jiayuguan, which is thousands of miles away. Such a long supply line can be easily cut off. In other words, the three thousand Jin troops in the city are undoubtedly an isolated force. Even if we do not attack, we can starve them to death!

"Heh heh, Jia Huan, no matter how cunning and clever you are, you're now trapped like a turtle in a jar. You can't escape this time." Amahei grinned and clenched his fist.

At this moment, on the city wall of Hami, Jia Huan, Duan Yong, and their generals were also observing the enemy formation. Amulang, Ayina, and Shanba were also present. Everyone looked solemn, while Jia Huan remained as calm and composed as ever.

Ayina stole a glance at Jia Huan and saw that he remained calm and composed in the face of the dark mass of Turpan troops outside the city. She couldn't help but admire him and thought to herself, "I heard that although this guy is not very old, he has been fighting on the battlefield for a long time. It seems that what he said is true. Ordinary people do not have such composure."

Duan Yong was both excited and nervous. He was skilled in martial arts, and the opportunity to make a name for himself was right in front of him, so he was naturally excited. However, he had never seen such a large force of tens of thousands of people before, so he was also very nervous. Fortunately, seeing the calm and composed Jia Huan, Duan Yong inexplicably gained confidence. Jia Huan had even defeated Nurhaci's army of 100,000, so a mere 10,000 troops from Turpan was naturally no problem for him.

At this moment, Amahei sent several riders forward to hurl insults, specifically naming and cursing Jia Huan's entire family. The insults were extremely offensive, even making Ayina blush with anger. The Jin soldiers were also enraged and requested to fight, but Jia Huan refused them all.

If you can fight a defensive battle to wear down the enemy, only a fool would go out of the city to fight. Even if you do go out to fight, you have to wait until you've worn down the enemy. Right now, it's not a bad thing for everyone to just talk back!
So Jia Huan ordered Chu Sheng to find ten soldiers with particularly loud voices in the army to curse back at the city below. At the same time, he ordered Amu Lang to find ten people from the tribe who understood Turpan language to carry out a "bilingual bombardment," cursing as harshly as possible, and even specifically mentioned the embarrassing things that happened to Amahei during his capture.

Shanba pursed his lips, leaned close to Ayina and whispered, "It's so boring to just argue. Jia Huan is such a coward. He was insulted like that and he still acts like a coward."

Ayina shook her head and said, "We have the advantage of defending the city, so why should we go out into the open to fight? We can just wait for the enemy to attack. What's wrong with that?"

Shan Ba ​​was taken aback for a moment, then retorted, "As men, don't you have any backbone? And to cower like a coward after being scolded, doesn't that damage morale?"

Ayina pondered for a moment and said, "To act only out of passion and not reason is the act of a brute. Besides, the Jin army's morale is very high right now. Wouldn't this just be sending someone to insult them back?"

Shanba frowned and said, "Ayina, didn't you dislike that kid Jia Huan? Why are you speaking up for him now?"

Ayina was taken aback for a moment, then shook her head and said, "I'm just stating the facts. The enemy's forces outnumber ours several times over. It would be inappropriate and unnecessary to rush out of the city to fight. Any wise commander would know what to do, wouldn't he?"

Shaanba was speechless. Amulang coughed lightly and tried to smooth things over, saying, "Let's go down to the city. The Turpan people will launch an attack soon."

Ayina shook her head and said, "Teacher, this is a rare opportunity to observe and learn. I want to stay on the city wall and watch the battle."

After a moment's thought, Amu Lang nodded and said, "Alright, Shanba, you must protect Her Highness the Princess's safety. My old arms and legs won't be in the way here."

Shanba quickly clenched his fist against his chest and said, "I understand, son."

Then, Amulang descended the city wall under the escort of his guards. Ayina turned around and walked to the crenellations of the city wall, looking out of the city with nervous anticipation.

Looking at Ayina's increasingly graceful and slender figure, Shanba felt his heart suddenly race. Six years ago, Ayina was just a little girl with yellow hair following him around. Now, she had grown into a beautiful young woman with long, straight legs and increasingly defined curves...

"Shaanba, it seems the Turpan people are about to attack!" A tribesman next to Shanba nudged him lightly and warned him.

Shanba then came to his senses and rushed to the front of the battlements. Sure enough, he saw the troops in the Turpan camp frequently moving around, which was clearly a prelude to an attack.

As expected, the Turpan army quickly launched its first probing attack, but was repelled by a hail of arrows as soon as it reached the moat surrounding the city, leaving only a dozen or so corpses behind.

(End of this chapter)