Chapter 44: Blood Sacrifice
Jerodira now has no choice, he can only rush forward, the tiger camp has encountered the most severe test since its creation, they have arranged six lines of defense in front of the position: iron water chestnut, horse rejection array, trench, spear array, saber and Mo knife team, each line of defense can give the enemy heavy damage, but whether it can stop the rolling iron flow, no one has the bottom of their hearts, the war is like this, the Bo of both sides, it is the two sides that determine the victory or defeat,
For the last glimmer of life, the Khitans went completely crazy, the iron horse galloped like thunder, and the heavens and the earth trembled.
Yeluyun Deshi saw his brother and his people rushing towards the land of birth, but they were accidentally buried in the torrent of the Murwei people, who were like two hammers falling from the sky, instantly deciding the fate of the Khitan people in the low-lying land.
20,000 people fought in one place, the air was thick and could not be dissolved, the whole valley fell into madness, restlessness, blood and death filled every corner of heaven and earth, everything stopped, and all that remained was the collision of soldiers and the endless fighting.
Yu Chongchong is facing the greatest pressure, in front of him are three thousand already crazy Khitan iron horsemen, they are driven by a primitive belief, without hesitation to pounce to death, the soldiers use flesh and blood to break the sharp rejection of horses, fill the trench with corpses, in the face of dense spear arrays are indomitable, iron water chestnut, horse rejection array, trench, spear array have been broken successively, Zama knife and Mo knife team can not block the impact of Khitan iron cavalry, the soldiers of the tiger battalion can only use flesh and blood on top,
The elite of the tiger battalion was exhausted, even the men and handlebars in the rear also picked up knives and guns and went into battle, Yu Chongchong shot six Khitan soldiers who tried to rush up, the enemy was too close, he dropped his bow and arrows and pulled out his waist knife, and led the guards to start hand-to-hand combat with the enemy, although his archery skills are unparalleled, his knife law is cold, but he is not willing to use knives and guns on the battlefield, a real commander, his value is not just to take the lead, charge into battle,
The Khitans are becoming more and more frustrated, they have exhausted the last strength of their lives, and still have not been able to break through the defense line of the tiger camp, and now they have fallen into death, the breath of despair is enveloping everyone's hearts, they have to accept the fate of their failure, Yelu Tira's heart is gloomy, he is the youngest Yi Lijin in the history of the Khitan, half of it comes from his own talent, and the other half is also won by his father to end his political life early,
He has also achieved a series of victories before, but all these "great achievements" will be ruined, but now everything is over, he will be the first Khitan to die on the battlefield, if he falls into the hands of the enemy and is tortured by them like dogs, it will be a shame that the Khitans have never had, and the father and family will be disgraced for generations because of themselves,
Jerodite thought of death, and would rather cut himself than fall into the hands of his enemies, and he put his scimitar around his neck, and his hands trembled a little, and his will began to waver.
"What else is there to be nostalgic for." Jerodira gave his people one last look, and slashed at his neck with the hilt of his sword......
Jerodethira did not die, at the last moment, Jerodopat arrived in time with his seventeen disciples, Jerodopat wounded Jerodethira's arm with an arrow, this was the only way to save him at that time, after a short argument, Jerodopat and his disciples escorted the commander to the northwest direction, "the three heroes of the clouds" took the lead, where the arrows went, the enemy horses fell to the ground,
This is an era of heroes, and eighteen warriors defended the last trace of dignity of the Khitan people with blood and bravery.
Yu Chongchong watched Yelutira flee, he gritted his teeth with hatred, but he was helpless, the guards had never seen the boss so out of shape, Yu Chongchong's heart was anxious to the extreme, as the commander-in-chief, he couldn't leave his post without permission to be a hero for a while, but as a man, the blood he was covered in was the blood of a hero,
He grabbed his carved bow and shot an arrow at the eighteen warriors with all his might, this bow was originally owned by Meng Bochang, Meng Bochang gave it to Yang Hao when he left Fengzhou, and Yang Hao personally gave him to Yu Chongchong before the war.
This place is called Muyaling, Yelu Tira many years later only to know that the opponent who defeated him was not Yang Hao, but Yu Chongchong, he engraved the three words "Muyaling" on the handle of his knife, and always reminded himself of today's fiasco, this battle, 10,000 tart horse army lost ninety, Muyaling was full of Khitan corpses, after the war, Qu Qingquan recruited local people to bury the corpses, each buried one to the labor fee of five yuan, this cost a total of 2,500 taels of silver, 5,000 Khitan bones buried here, and the remaining about 4,000 people were taken prisoner,
Yelu Yunde was one of the captives, and when the defeat was decided, the twelve-year-old boy did not abandon the wounded soldiers and fled alone, and then he saw the most terrible thing he had ever seen in his life, he saw a team of iron men with blood-red skulls embroidered on their armor riding iron horses and pressing over like a mountain of mountains, the horse's hooves shook the earth and trembled, and the three hundred Khitan warriors who served as the defenders trembled in front of the rolling iron stream, and the resistance was crushed in an instant.
The name of the Kuluber Heavy Cavalry Regiment has since been deeply engraved in the young man's mind, and has accompanied him all his life,
The war has not yet ended, Yelu Tira under the escort of Yelu Geba, miraculously passed through the blockade line, and actually came to the old city of the Tiande army to meet with Yelu Guluo, Yelu Guluo has built more than 20 "triangular houses" at this moment, and is attacking the city unhurriedly, knowing the defeat of Yelu Tira, the Khitan veteran looked extremely angry, he waved his fist and shouted: "You must not just withdraw like this, you must teach the Tang people a lesson." "He gave a death order to the besieging troops: the city must be attacked within three days, and as soon as the order was given, it was immediately recovered again, and the time of three days was changed to one day,
30,000 Khitan people besieged the old city of the Tiande army, the "triangle house" opened the frame to attack the city from all sides, this kind of equipment has a great destructive power to the earthen wall, it only took half a day, the wall of the old city was cut down a section, about 18 zhang long, the Khitan people swarmed in from the gap, occupied the old city after an hour, the defenders were about 700 people, most of them died in battle, and more than 100 people who were captured were tied to the stake and burned alive with fire,
Yelu Guluo was determined to take advantage of the situation to attack Jiuniang Pass, but when they rushed to Jiuniang Pass, most of the Khitan people were deflated, Jiuniang Pass was built by the mountain and water, the city wall was built with huge stones, the highest place has 20 zhang, the shortest place has more than 10 zhang, the height of the city wall alone is nothing, more importantly, Jiuniang Pass is built near the Yellow River, outside the pass is the Yellow River, in other words, if you want to tackle the problem, you must first cross the Yellow River by boat, this section of the river is not wide, the water flow is also gentle, but without a boat everything is in vain,
In the north of March, the weather is still very cold, many soldiers are still wearing winter leather jackets, let them wade through the water to attack the city is difficult for them, these soldiers are used to riding horses on the grassland, leaving the horseback Many people no longer know what they will do next,
It stands to reason that Yelu Tera is the chief general appointed by the Khan himself, and he has a golden order for the transfer of troops, and Yelu Gulo should obey unconditionally, but Yelu Gulo is a highly decorated veteran, and he can't see the "little hairy child" in his early twenties clearly, in addition, he is also the uncle of Jelu Tera, and more importantly, he has 30,000 troops in his hands, and there are only eighteen people left in the hands of Jerodira,
The dispute ended with Jerugulo's opinion prevailing, and Jerugulo ordered the soldiers to tie up the raft, most of the soldiers had not done this work, and they were learning and doing it now, not to mention the inefficiency, and more importantly, there was no suitable timber around, all of which affected Jerugulo's subordinates, and the veteran became very angry, but he was helpless, and then Jeruthira quieted down, while recuperating from his wounds, he did what he could, and he demoted himself from the main general to Jerugulo's deputy,
Yelu Guluo worked hard to build more than 200 rafts and laid them on the opposite bank of Jiuniang Pass, and the defenders of Jiuniang Pass raised new questions one after another: no one would use "this kind of strange thing", and some people even refused to board the raft, and the anxious Yelu Guluo almost collapsed, and he flew like thunder, killing ten centurions who refused to board the raft in a row, and punished two grumbling centurions as slaves.
The battle to attack Jiuniang Pass lasted for two whole days, in addition to the defenders of the iron bell battalion, the sailor battalion also rushed to help the battle, coupled with the ship, crane-shaped boats moved around, the river outside Jiuniang Pass was full of corpses, the clear Yellow River water was dyed red by blood, the Khitan people lost their troops and lost their generals, Jiuniang Pass stood majestically, at this time, the Xining army suddenly emerged from the nearby mountains and forests, surrounded the Khitan army in all directions, the Khitan people still had more than 20,000 people, but almost all the generals thought that if they started a war with the Xining army, they would be defeated,
The successive defeats and disturbances filled the Khitans with a sense of defeat, coupled with the fact that the grain route had been cut off, the epidemic in the army was epidemic, and the morale was extremely low.
In order to ensure that the army can safely withdraw from the Tiande army without loss, Yelu Tera chose the sparsely populated western route, and to take this road is to go north along the river, creating the illusion of being ready to cross the river and march westward at any time, confusing the defenders of Fengzhou,
The most important condition for the achievement of this strategy is to ensure that Datong River is in their own hands, at the beginning, Yelu Guluo in order to attract the main force of the Xining army, only a few hundred soldiers were stationed in Datong River, such a little force obviously can not stop Yang Hao's footsteps, if Datong River is lost, then the Khitan army going south will suddenly fall into a desperate situation,
Therefore, Datong River is bound to be won, and it is worth taking it at any price.