The lingering rays of the setting sun cast a red glow over the battlefield. The figures of the soldiers returning were stretched long by the dim light.
During this period, Great Yu Empire soldiers and barbarian soldiers repeatedly fought here, turning it into a veritable meat grinder.
The trenches in front of Pingzhou City were stained red with blood. The soil inside the trenches was damp, covered in the blood of soldiers from both sides.
In such a protracted tug-of-war, troop morale was extremely important. Now, both sides were competing to see who would ultimately falter and completely collapse.
In the tent, Lu Fei, Lei Ming, and Luo Xin sat around a low table. Each of them had disheveled beards and dirty clothes.
For several days of warfare, they barely slept, either personally leading soldiers in fierce combat with barbarian cavalry or formulating combat plans in the tent. Sometimes, due to differing opinions, they couldn’t sleep until midnight.
“Today, those charging out are already barbarian soldiers, not barbarian slave soldiers. This suggests that there aren’t many remaining soldiers inside the city,” Luo Xin said, looking towards Pingzhou City.
“The trouble is Wuzhugu’s cavalry. Every time we prepare to attack, he leads his troops to raid our camp to tie down our forces,” Lei Ming frowned. “We can’t keep protecting the cavalry anymore. Now, we must make them directly confront the barbarian cavalry, otherwise, barbarian reinforcements will continuously arrive, and this place will be a bottomless pit.”
Lu Fei remained silent. Wuzhugu was very cunning. Using the mobility of his cavalry, he simply avoided direct confrontation with the musketeers.
Instead, he would seize every opportunity to charge whenever he found a disorganized formation.
“Thirty thousand men aren’t even enough to fill Wuzhugu’s cavalry’s teeth,” Lu Fei glared at Lei Ming. He said, “Now, all we can rely on is Qi Guangyi. I hope that fellow can create some major commotion to draw away the barbarian cavalry, otherwise it’s difficult.”
Luo Xin and Lei Ming exchanged glances upon hearing this. Luo Xin said, “Qi Guangyi is a courageous and resourceful man. Let’s hope so.”
…
Jinzhou Camp. Qi Guangyi was formulating a plan.
Simple plunder and destruction were no longer enough to achieve the effect he needed. According to the information he had received, more barbarian troops were heading towards Pingzhou City, which was essentially ignoring his presence.
“Attack Jinzhou!” When Qi Guangyi announced his plan, the generals thought he had gone mad.
“Army Commander Qi, we are cavalry. Horses cannot fly up city walls,” a cavalry division commander said.
“Horses can’t fly up, but people can climb up,” Qi Guangyi’s gaze was deep. “There are three thousand musketeers and sixteen cannons in the camp. We only need one thousand musketeers and eight cannons to blast open Jinzhou’s city gate.”
Another cavalry division commander said, “But even if we blast open the city gate, Jinzhou is known as a massive city housing six hundred thousand barbarians. We simply cannot occupy it with just our men.”
“I never said I wanted to occupy Jinzhou City. Our goal is still plunder. It’s quite clear that our plundering in Jinzhou has spread, and many barbarians have fled into Jinzhou City. As you’ve seen, some villages are now clearing their fields and strengthening their defenses. In a few days, we will gain nothing,” Qi Guangyi reminded them.
The generals nodded upon hearing this. When they first arrived, they did indeed reap considerable rewards. Now, as time passed, the number of barbarians they captured was dwindling.
Now, they could only acquire captives by fighting reinforcements, but this resulted in heavy casualties.
Looking at the generals, he continued, “Moreover, the barbarians are now entirely focused on Pingzhou City. Jinzhou City appears formidable, but its defenses are actually very weak. Even if we cannot plunder more slaves then, it will still draw barbarian soldiers from Pingzhou City to reinforce it.”
“Yes, Army Commander Qi.”
The generals all nodded. Qi Guangyi’s final words convinced them.
The next day, Qi Guangyi led his troops towards Jinzhou City. Having already seen through Jinzhou’s weak nature, he was now unrestrained. Moreover, this action was more of a feint.
The army’s movement immediately attracted the attention of barbarian scouts, who continuously relayed news to Jinzhou City.
Learning that the Great Yu Empire’s musketeers and artillery had appeared near Jinzhou City, the barbarian flag leader of Jinzhou City was greatly alarmed. He immediately dispatched scouts to Pingzhou City to request reinforcements.
Because in his opinion, this was surely a feint by the Great Yu Empire. The Great Yu Empire’s true objective was to attack Jinzhou City.
Compared to the barbarians’ tension, Qi Guangyi was at ease. He led his cavalry to gather outside Jinzhou City, then had the artillery aim their cannons at Jinzhou City.
However, he was not in a hurry to attack the city. Instead, he prepared to put on a show for the barbarians. That night, he had a thousand musketeers leave under the cover of darkness, only to return the next morning, creating the illusion of continuous musketeer reinforcements.
The flag leader of Jinzhou City, witnessing this, was even more terrified. Scouts continued to depart for reinforcements.
…
Pingzhou City. After a night’s rest, the fighting here resumed as usual on the second day.
In the morning, Lu Fei received an order from Niu Ben, instructing them to capture Pingzhou City within three days.
In the order, Niu Ben mentioned that Luo Hong’s army had already set off by ship for Jinzhou. They would rendezvous with Qi Guangyi, and the imperial decree would have Qi Guangyi feign an attack on Jinzhou with them to draw away barbarian forces.
“His Majesty is truly determined this time. I didn’t expect him to even move half of Luo Hong’s forces here,” Lei Ming said excitedly. What they didn’t know was that Qi Guangyi had already taken action ahead of schedule.
Now, the battlefield was in a state of stalemate. Luo Hong’s arrival would formally break this deadlock.
However, to their surprise, less than a day after Niu Ben’s order arrived, 30,000 barbarian cavalry suddenly headed towards Jinzhou. Only just under 90,000 cavalry remained in Pingzhou City.
Although they didn’t know why, this was definitely good news for Lu Fei and the other two.
Lu Fei immediately ordered a fierce assault on Pingzhou City. Lei Ming personally led the cavalry into battle, while Luo Xin commanded the remaining chariots to form a chariot formation protecting the infantry’s flanks.
Niu Ben’s order gave them only three days. Now, they had to fight desperately.
Inside Pingzhou City, watching the Great Yu Empire army’s sudden deployment, Beishan slammed his fist hard against the city wall.
Best said pessimistically, “The enemy you face is excellent in both weaponry and tactics. This timing for attacking Jinzhou is very opportune. If Jinzhou falls, you will be attacked from both sides.”
“Shut up!” Beishan’s chest heaved violently. Pingzhou City had attracted most of the Khanate’s forces, and they were now very tired. The Great Yu Empire attacking Jinzhou at this moment was adding insult to injury for them.
Best was not intimidated by Beishan. He continued, “Pingzhou City is too small, and its city walls are not thick enough. The wise choice now is to retreat to Jinzhou City to recuperate.”
The novel has already been fully translated up to the final chapter. You can access it on my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/caleredhair