However, emotion is emotion, despair is despair, and the breakthrough must be as usual, otherwise you will really die in this valley.

Tani and the tens of thousands of soldiers under his command, in order to survive, can only continue to attack the defense line of the Zhenjiang army.

However, compared with yesterday's state of fighting with its back and momentum, the intensity of the offensive of the Right Army today has significantly weakened a lot. Especially after four large-scale group charges, after noon, many soldiers no longer had the slightest strength.

There is only one main reason for this dire situation, and that is the lack of water.

Water is the source of life.

Under extreme conditions, people can often stimulate their potential beyond imagination, and they may be able to survive without eating or even sleeping for two or three days. But unfortunately, if you don't drink water all day, even a person with a strong will as hard as steel may find it difficult to persevere. Especially in the very strenuous exercise of war, the physical strength of the soldier is quickly depleted, and it is more important to replenish water as soon as possible than to replenish food calories.

In fact, the entire army of the Right Route Army carried a large number of water bottles in the process of marching and fighting. However, compared to 40,000 or 50,000 people, this freshwater reserve is insignificant. Moreover, those few sweet and clear waters have to be reserved for middle and high-ranking officers to drink, and a large number of ordinary soldiers are not blessed to enjoy at all.

Last night, many soldiers in the team were already thirsty and began to secretly let horse blood to drink. But who would have thought that the horse blood thing was not only extremely fishy and unpleasant, but also not only did not quench your thirst after drinking, but on the contrary, it would further aggravate the feeling of dry mouth.

The horse's blood is fierce, and as soon as you drink it, from the mouth to the throat, and then from the throat to the stomach, the hot and hot air rushes straight to the brain, and it is indescribably uncomfortable.

Finally survived until dawn, and all the soldiers of the army got up early, ran around looking for plants, and sucked the dew on the leaves and flowers to quench their thirst. Although this method has some effect, after all, it is a full forty or fifty thousand people, and the trees in the Weilan Valley are originally pitiful, so that those leaves are instantly swept away, as if a large number of locusts have crossed the border.

Even so, the crisis of thirst has not been alleviated.

Due to the lack of water, the battalions and units of the Right Route Army began to suffer non-combat attrition to varying degrees, and even those who could still persist in participating in the battle were mostly physically exhausted and listless. This situation has led directly to the fact that the number of threatening attacks is becoming less and less.

On the other hand, the Zhenjiang army defending the valley mouth before and after the river valley was full of materials and waiting for work. With their strong fortifications, the Metasequoia soldiers were able to control the two ramparts, making it difficult for Tani's men and horses to move forward.

What's even more damaging is that the Zhenjiang army also took advantage of the geographical advantage of occupying the upper hand, lit a large number of firewood piles on the spot, and while roasting meat, a large amount of smoke was swept into the Weilan River valley with the wind, constantly aggravating the thirst and heat of the soldiers in the valley.

In this way, there was no need to wait for the sky to get dark, and the right army of the western frontier on the main attacking side completely retreated. In order to prevent the Zhenjiang army from taking advantage of the situation to counterattack, the commander Tani could only hurriedly call for the troops to retreat, temporarily retreat to the center of the river valley, and continue to wait for reinforcements to arrive.

-

On the third day of the siege of the Tani and the Right Army, everyone was on the verge of collapse due to severe water shortages, and could no longer afford to break out. Tani originally hoped that the deputy marshal Deman, who remained outside the valley, would be able to lead his troops to rescue in time, but three days passed, and the infantry rear guard troops outside the valley did not move.

At this moment, Tani couldn't help but feel a lot of regret in his heart.

Not only did he underestimate the Zhenjiang Army and Li Jiangyao, but he also forgot his father's Tajik advice to him before sending troops: "Child, the army of Metasequoia City has turned Alikjiang and Gelhan around, which shows that they are not just defeated bandits and rabble. So, now in this muddy water, let's try not to get wet. ”

Tani stared blankly at the sky, silently complaining to himself: his father's judgment was correct. If it weren't for my greed for merit and the hope of showing my skills within the Western Frontier Alliance and in front of the Turks, I would not have come to this point at all. Not only did it fail to defeat the Zhenjiang army, but it caused tens of thousands of soldiers of their own clan to fall into the desperate situation of the Weilan River Valley, shouting that the sky should not be used and the earth was not spiritual.

Who would have thought that the strong Right Route Army, the Shule Iron Cavalry, which was once invincible in the western frontier, would be completely defeated by "thirst" in just two or three days?

Looking at the languishing brothers around him, looking at the countless dry pits dug around him to find water, and looking at the fiery sun hanging above his head, Tani's heart was filled with a sense of helplessness and weakness.

In three days, I thought of all the ways I could think of, but I couldn't find even half a drop of water in this ghost place. Now let alone leading troops to break through, even if the heralds for help and help can't send a single one. The Zhenjiang Metasequoia Army tried its best, and the main force came out together, and the Second Army of Flame blocked the entire Veran River Valley tightly, and did not intend to give them the slightest chance.

If they continue to suffer like this, in less than a day or two, there will be no need for Li Jiangyao to bring the Zhenjiang army to fight them, and all the people in the Right Route Army will die of thirst!

Tani licked her chapped lips and swallowed the non-existent saliva with difficulty, a hot sensation filling her mouth and throat. He pondered for a long time, as if he had made up his mind, and ordered his subordinates to summon the generals of all ministries to come to a meeting.

"Brethren, I ...... I can't watch you die of thirst and death here, and I can't bear to let everyone do those senseless sacrifices. So...... So I decided that we would surrender to the Zhenjiang Army. ”

Hearing the word "surrender" and looking at Prince Tani's desperate and depressed expression, all the generals were silent.

As far as the current situation is concerned, there is no room for them to have any more choices. Either fight to the death, or stay where you are and wait for death, and if you really want to live, then the only way left is to "surrender".

Seeing that everyone had no objections, Tani nodded heavily.

He turned around and ordered his lieutenant to immediately send an envoy to contact the Zhenjiang army guarding the valley mouth, explain to the other side the idea of the right army, and ask them to raise their noble hands and arrange for the representative to make contact.

It didn't take long for the Zhenjiang Army to send a reply: accept surrender.

Immediately afterwards, the deputy commander-in-chief of the 2nd Army of Agni, Paletahun, was ordered to come to the negotiations in person. Paletahun brought a message from Li Jiangyao to Tani: "As long as the Right Route Army is willing to lay down its arms and stop fighting, the Metasequoia Regiment of the Shengtang Zhenjiang Army will guarantee with a high military reputation, and the lives and safety of all officers and men of the Right Route Army in Western Xinjiang from Prince Tani down to the right army in Western Xinjiang will be respected and protected." ”

With the clear attitude of the Supreme Commander of the Zhenjiang Army, Tani and his men finally secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and after brief but crisp consultations, the two sides finally reached an agreement on the surrender of the armistice.

The Western Frontier Right Route Army, with a strength of nearly 50,000 troops, under the leadership of Tani, the prince of Shule, handed over weapons and war horses in a unified manner, lined up in a neat queue, and slowly walked out of the Weilan River Valley.

As soon as they got out of the valley, the right army was immediately replenished with water and food, and finally survived. After a short rest, these men marched in formation towards the city of Pai under the joint supervision of the Second and Third Armies of Zhenjiang. At the same time, all the officers of the Right Route Army, including Prince Tani, were temporarily left in place by Li Jiangyao.

Only by separating the officers from their own troops can we ensure that the large number of prisoners of war does not make any trouble on the way.

Of course, this approach has also been negotiated by the two sides in advance.

-

After Thani and his men were settled, the generals of the Zhenjiang army began to worry about another problem:

What should be done with these more than 40,000 captives?

You must know that the Metasequoia Legion now has three main forces, and the combined three armies are only 50,000 horses. At present, the number of prisoners of war who have been added out of thin air has directly doubled the daily consumption of military rations.

In addition, the custody of prisoners of war became a troubling issue. If several large-scale prisoner of war camps were to be established within the four cities under the jurisdiction of the Zhenjiang Army, not only would a lot of time, manpower, materials, and funds be required, but at the same time, troops would have to be specially arranged to guard and control those prisoners.

At present, the armies of the other two roads of the Western Xinjiang Alliance are pressing the border, and the battle situation is extremely tense.

With so many prisoners, they couldn't be killed, they couldn't be released, they still wasted food if they were kept, and the generals of the Zhenjiang Army, who had been jubilant because of the victory and harvest of tens of thousands of enemy troops, now became sad one by one.

Just when everyone was worried about the placement of prisoners, Li Jiangyao borrowed an abacus from the bookkeeper in charge of the military quartermaster, and crackled and fiddled.

Du Jian couldn't help but be curious, and couldn't help asking, "Boss, what are you talking about?" ”

"A soldier asked him for a hundred silver coins," Li Jiangyao didn't have time to deal with him, so he just lowered his head and said to himself: "The squad leader has five hundred silver coins, and the captain has two thousand silver coins, what about the general?" The general has to count 100,000 silver coins anyway...... Oh yes, there's also a prince, haha, the prince is worth a million silver coins...... 3824, 7856...... I'm good, I can sell a total of 8.3 million silver coins! This time I'm getting rich! ”

Du Jian looked confused: "What are you...... Want to sell people? ”

"Of course it's going to be sold," Li Jiangyao continued to pull the abacus: "Otherwise, why keep them?" ”

"But...... Sell it to whom? ”

"Whoever bids high will sell it to whom," Li Jiangyao turned his head and asked the quartermaster: "You can help me do a good job of accounting, so many prisoners, people eat horses, how much does it cost them a day?" Calculated according to the highest standard of market conditions. ”