The Red Chamber begins with a bastard

Chapter 710 A crushing defeat

Outside the city, in the rear of the Turpan army, Amahei, clad in armor, waited hopefully on horseback. However, after three rounds of fierce attacks, until noon, they still hadn't seen Jia Huan's head.

"Why hasn't that kid from Shaanxi made his move yet? Could it be that he hasn't found an opportunity to strike?" Amahei muttered to himself, clearly still harboring a sliver of hope.

However, after the fourth attack was also repelled, there was still no movement on the city wall. The commander's flag embroidered with the character "Jia" was still flying high on the city wall. At this time, Amahei began to feel anxious. Seeing his troops suffering heavy casualties, he felt even more heartbroken.

After four rounds of relentless attacks, the Turpan army had suffered nearly two thousand casualties, a loss of 20%. Amahei could no longer withstand the onslaught and had no choice but to order a temporary retreat.

"Damn it, have I been tricked by Amulang?" Inside the central command tent, Amahei was so angry that he drew his sword and smashed two luminous cups, but it was just impotent rage.

Meanwhile, in Hami City, Shanba's men had already been wiped out, and even Amulang himself had been captured and brought before Jia Huan and Duan Yong.

Duan Yong said sinisterly, "Shaanba colluded with Amahei to try to assassinate Lord Jia and our family, and then open the city gates to let the Turpan people into the city. Now that traitor Shaanba has been executed, Amulang, what else is there to say?"

Amu Lang said with a dejected expression, "I have nothing to say. Kill me or torture me as you please. But Princess Ayina was not involved in this matter. I hope Lord Jia and Eunuch Duan can spare her."

Duan Yong sneered, "Then who rescued Amahei back then?"

Knowing he was doomed, Amulang readily admitted, "It was also done by me and Shanba. We were planning to leave ourselves a way out. However, Princess Ayina was also unaware of this."

"Pah! You're two-faced and deserve to die, but you old codger are quite loyal to your master, managing to clear his name completely!" Duan Yong sneered.

Amulang shook his head and said, "What I am saying is true. Princess Ayina is indeed unaware of the situation. She hates Amahei very much and would never agree to let us let him go."

Jia Huan said calmly, "I do believe that, otherwise Ayina wouldn't have gone to the city wall to warn me."

Upon hearing this, Duan Yong fell silent. He had originally intended to use this opportunity to implicate Ayina and eliminate her as well, thus eliminating the royal bloodline of Hami and making the abolition of the country's name even more logical. However, since Jia Huan had stepped forward to protect Ayina, he had to give him face. Therefore, he wisely remained silent. In any case, Ayina was a woman and had no right to inherit the throne, so whether she was killed or not was not a big deal. He could consider it as doing Jia Huan a favor.

Amu Lang looked at Jia Huan gratefully and said, "Thank you for your understanding, Lord Jia. I was confused for a moment and made a terrible mistake that I cannot atone for even if I die a hundred times. I hope that you will consider the bigger picture and not implicate other members of our clan."

Jia Huan coldly replied, "I will make my own decision."

Amulang sighed: "The previous kings of Hami were loyal to the Great Jin, and Princess Ayina has never betrayed the Great Jin. Moreover, she is a woman. I humbly beg Lord Jia to spare her life."

Jia Huan said calmly, "Since she is innocent, why should I kill her?"

"Alright, then I can rest assured." Amu Lang breathed a sigh of relief, bowed to Jia Huan with his hand on his chest, and suddenly his body trembled, his face turned black, and blood flowed from his seven orifices. He collapsed to the ground.

Lu Xiangjin hurriedly stepped forward, bent down to check Amu Lang's breathing, and found that he had already died. He quickly pinched the latter's cheeks, opened his mouth to look, and said solemnly, "Your Excellency, Amu Lang had a poison sac hidden in his back teeth. He just bit through the poison sac and committed suicide."

Duan Yong said sullenly, "That old bastard got off easy."

Jia Huan, however, was quite emotional. From the perspective of the Great Jin Dynasty, Amurang was indeed a traitor, but from the perspective of the Hami royal family, Amurang could be considered a loyal minister who devoted himself to the cause until his death.

After ordering Amulang's body to be disposed of, Jia Huan summoned his generals to his seat and said, "Now that the traitors have been eliminated, Amahei is probably still unaware. I have a plan that may deplete the enemy to the greatest extent. We only need to do this and that..."

The generals' eyes lit up upon hearing this, and they immediately began to execute the plan according to Jia Huan's instructions.

Meanwhile, inside the Turpan army camp, the soldiers were eating and resting. After fighting for half a day, everyone was hungry and exhausted.

In order to cooperate with and cover up the rebellion of Shanba, Amah launched four fierce attacks in one morning. The battle was extremely fierce and the casualties were extremely heavy. A large number of corpses that had not been buried in time were now laid out in front of the camp. Nearly a thousand bloody corpses were piled up like mountains. In addition, there were a large number of wounded soldiers. The entire camp was filled with painful cries, which naturally dealt a great blow to the morale of the army.

Amahei patrolled the camp and found the army's morale low, which made him even angrier. At this moment, a scout rushed into the camp and ran to Amahei to report: "Reporting to Your Excellency Taiji, there is an unusual situation on the walls of Hami City."

Amah quickly mounted his horse and, with his personal guards, galloped out of the camp. Approaching the city walls, they observed the flashing swords and the faint sounds of battle cries and screams, clearly indicating a fierce fight between two factions. Amah was overjoyed, thinking to himself, "Could it be that Shaanxi is only now finding an opportunity to strike?"

However, Amah was a cautious man and did not rush to attack, but continued to observe. At this time, the battle on the city wall seemed to be more intense, with weapons and corpses being thrown outside the city from time to time.

Suddenly, with a crack, the drawbridge in front of the city gate collapsed, and the city gate slowly opened, but immediately closed again, then opened again, and closed again. Between the opening and closing of the city gate, one could clearly see people fighting fiercely inside the gate opening, with blood splattering and corpses lying all over the ground. Obviously, two groups of people were fighting for control of the city gate.

Amah was both surprised and delighted to see this. It seemed that Amulang and Shanba had indeed started, but it wasn't going very smoothly.

"Your Highness, look, the flagpole has fallen!" a guard suddenly shouted, pointing at the city wall.

Amah looked up and, sure enough, saw that the Jin state banner and the "Jia" commander's flag on the city wall had been cut down. Amah was alarmed. Although he still had some doubts, he was more worried about missing a great opportunity to breach the city, so he immediately rode back to camp and ordered his troops to attack the city immediately.

The soldiers of Turpan had just fought a bloody battle all morning and hadn't even had time to fill their stomachs. Now they had to go into battle again, so they were all complaining. But due to military discipline, they had no choice but to reluctantly put on their armor and go into battle.

"Kill!" The Turpan army surged towards the city like a tidal wave.

Although the defenders on the city walls offered some resistance this time, the density of arrows and bullets was significantly less than in the morning. The soldiers of Turpan were overjoyed, as it seemed that a rebellion had indeed broken out in the city and the defenders on the city walls were no longer able to defend themselves.

Amah was overjoyed and decisively ordered the entire army to attack, determined to take Hami City in one fell swoop.

Seeing the enemy swarming in from all directions, crossing the city moat in the blink of an eye, Duan Yong broke out in a cold sweat. Wiping his nose, he said, "Lord Jia, isn't this too risky?"

Jia Huan calmly calculated the distance, and only when the first wave of enemies rushed to the city walls and began to struggle upwards did he give the order: "Make your move!"

The flag bearer on the high ground immediately raised his flag, and the next second, all the archers and musketeers hiding behind the parapets simultaneously emerged, their dark gun muzzles and gleaming arrows resembling a dense hedgehog.

hum...

With a chilling twang of the bowstring, the sky darkened as countless arrows shot into the air, blotting out the sun, before tracing parabolic arcs and cascading down with terrifying shrieks.

The Turpan soldiers outside the city were charging in a dense formation when they saw the overwhelming rain of arrows pouring down. They were terrified, and countless soldiers only had time to show their fear before being pinned to the ground by the arrows falling from the sky.

At the same time, gunshots rang out like popping beans, and the eight breech-loading cannons roared at full power. The fierce cannon fire and dense lead bullets intertwined to form a terrifying firepower net, frantically taking lives and tearing apart all flesh and blood.

Amahei, behind the enemy lines, felt a sudden darkness engulf him and nearly fell off his horse. He finally realized he had been tricked and hastily ordered a retreat, but it was too late. Once thousands of troops are deployed, how can they be controlled at will? Even a fart cannot be controlled at will!

At this moment, Amahei could only watch helplessly as his soldiers were harvested by the enemy's terrifying firepower like withered weeds.

Jia Huan's plan was to eliminate as many of the Turpan army's manpower as possible, so he moved almost all of his war supplies to the city walls. Ammunition and arrows were poured out like water. Archers, musketeers, and artillerymen had received orders before the battle to use all their weapons as quickly as possible, so the intensity of the firepower was devastating.

Wow, this firepower is incredible! Even a god couldn't withstand it. In just half an incense stick's time, the enemy within the city's moat was riddled with holes. Corpses were everywhere, and blood stained every inch of the land red. Blood even pooled in low-lying areas. Even the Jin soldiers on the city walls felt a chill run down their spines.

The moment the gunfire from the city walls ceased, the entire battlefield fell into a deathly silence. Immediately afterward, the surviving soldiers of Turpan all turned and fled for their lives.

Clearly, these Turpan soldiers were terrified by what they had just witnessed. They had no courage to attack and wished they had two more legs to run away as fast as they could.

"It's over!" Ah Mahei felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar, his whole body turning ice cold.

As the saying goes, a defeated army collapses like a landslide. Amahei's mistake was that he overexerted himself at the beginning and sent out his entire army. Now that the army has collapsed, the chain reaction is uncontrollable. How could a veteran like Jia Huan, who has fought many battles, miss the opportunity to strike when the enemy is down?

With a cannon blast, the city gates burst open, and Lu Xiangjin and Chu Sheng each led a cavalry unit to charge out, cutting down the fleeing enemy soldiers from behind.

(End of this chapter)