Seeing a new wave of enemies charging towards them, Sun Tu immediately shouted: "Get in formation!"
At this time, the Qingzhou Army under his command also temporarily put aside the despair and uneasiness in his heart, and quickly set up a defensive formation at the mouth of the valley to resist this round of charge. As for the Liao soldiers, they also followed the previous arrangement under Yelu Xiongge's order. Then go to a higher place as a support from the side.
At this point, they can neither retreat nor want to die, so they can only continue to rely on the relatively favorable terrain here to deal with the enemy to the end. Even if the number of enemy troops has more than doubled this time, they can only hold on. The scalp continues to hold on.
The captain of the soldiers who had previously dragged Si Boda outside the valley and forced his men to retreat was also frightened and angry. He yelled crazily at the enemy who was no more than fifty or sixty steps away: "Don't come here, or I will kill you." He..." In his opinion, Yelv Sibuda is the envoy of the Southern Academy of Liao Dynasty after all, and there are thousands of his subordinates there. Even Xiao Jinde has to be cautious at this time and dare not really let him die. here.
But soon, he discovered that his idea was completely wrong. In the advancing team, Xiao Jinde's eyes flashed with murderous intent, and he suddenly shouted: "Ping'er!"
A young man who was rushing in front of him immediately understood the greeting. He immediately bent his bow and nocked an arrow, and shot the arrow towards the two guys who were close together. At the same time, he also shouted loudly. Order: "Fire arrows!"
After seeing him, the leader, shoot arrows, Xiao Jinde's subordinates did not hesitate to follow the arrows that had already been stringed, like raindrops in front of them, towards the defenders at the mouth of the valley in front, as well as the two A lonely guy standing there flew away.
Sipota and the soldier captain first roared unwillingly and angrily: "How dare you..." But after only three words, they turned into two screams. There was no obstruction in front of these two people. In the blink of an eye, they were shot like hedgehogs by hundreds of random arrows. Their deaths were extremely tragic.
On the other hand, the soldiers in the valley behind them, although they were also injured, relied on their shields to resist, and coupled with the impact of the heavy rain, they were not disrupted by this round of random arrows. However, by this time the enemy had already charged and killed them. When they arrived, the bright scimitar was already raised high in the dim sky.
"Kill!" All the spearmen shouted loudly, and the spears in their hands soared into the air like angry dragons, stabbing the enemy's mounts in front of them with all their strength, killing the horses and causing Herod to hiss miserably, and knocked down many cavalrymen. The swordsmen who had been prepared for a long time quickly used their swords to kill the enemy soldiers who were struggling to get up on the ground without anyone's orders.
From the heights on both sides, the Liao archers shot all the remaining arrows at the enemies below as if they were free. Cavalrymen continued to be hit by arrows and fell off their horses. In addition, those who were killed by the cooperation of the defenders, Taniguchi In just a short time, hundreds of corpses were accumulated.
However, the Song army that defended the valley entrance paid an extremely heavy price. After all, their troops were too thin, and they were starved for a day and were unable to sustain their strength. Some people were still rushed to the front by the cavalry. Where the swords flashed, many soldiers fell. There was even a gap exposed.
Fortunately, Sun Tu, who stayed behind to command, reacted quickly enough. As soon as he discovered that the defensive formation was about to be torn open by the enemy, he personally led the remaining twenty or so people, together with Wu Songruda and others, to make up for it, and rushed with Kankan. The enemies who entered the gap launched a desperate fight.
At this time, the Song Army had exhausted all its resources, except for two people who had been unable to
The personal guards who had left Tong Guan did not come forward, and everyone else had already devoted themselves to the battle. As for the Liao people, it was the same. Only two or three soldiers were still guarding Yelu Xiongge, and the others also rushed forward.
The two senior officials of the Song and Liao countries, who were almost becoming commanders, also looked pale and trembling slightly. However, they still stood upright at the rear of the army without any intention of retreating. The soldiers and horses under their command are making the final fight to protect them, so naturally they can only hold on to the end.
Fortunately, since the two sides were completely strangled together, and the heavy rain had made the surrounding air completely humid, making the bow strings soft and difficult to use, there was finally no need to worry about the two of them being injured by cold arrows. Otherwise, I am afraid that in this melee, the two generals would have been shot dead.
Tong Guan, who stepped forward unintentionally, suddenly said: "Why did he order Si Boda to be killed without hesitation?"
Yelu Xiongge chuckled: "Do you even need to ask? Of course it is so that after getting rid of me, you can take over the power of Nanjing. Xiao Jinde has been waiting for this day for too long, how can he share such benefits with Si? What about this idiot Bu Da? Si Bu Da actually thinks of cooperating with him, that is seeking the skin of a tiger and seeking death!"
Yelu Xiongge knew Xiao Jinde's methods and ambitions very well. It would be better if he always had the advantage, otherwise this guy would definitely take action. As for the brave and foolhardy Si Boda, he was no match for Xiao Jinde.
Obviously, Xiao Jinde came a day late this time because he wanted to sit on the mountain and watch the fight between tigers. He planned to wait until Sibuda and Xiong were both injured in the fight, and then he would clean up the mess. Of course, his plan is impossible to realize in Yelv Xiongge's view, because there is Yelu Dashi in Nanjing, that terrifying figure who even Xiongge considers himself to be much inferior!
Moreover, the battle in front of him was indeed far beyond Xiao Jinde's judgment and expectation.
The heavy rain poured down and quickly formed streams on the ground, but these streams had already turned red. At this time, the defenders in the valley were making their final struggle. Everyone was gritting their teeth and desperately stabbing their weapons at the enemies who were approaching. Even if they themselves would die, they would make the enemy pay a greater price.
This determination to fight to the end finally made Xiao Jinde feel chilled and regretful after killing two hundred of the opponent's men. After a slight hesitation, he finally chose to withdraw his troops temporarily.
Even he couldn't bear the large number of casualties among his true elites for a while. He still needed these people to help him suppress everything after returning to Nanjing. Also, the impatient subordinates beside him had been standing there silently without making any move. No one knew what they were thinking.
Xiao Jinde just had someone shoot their general in front of him. Even though it seemed helpless, the fact that Yelv Sbuda died because of him was undeniable. This would naturally arouse the dissatisfaction of those people. .
What's more, Yelu Xiongge and the Song people have already become turtles in the urn. Even if they actually have a way out behind them, it won't help. Why should I be in a hurry? After figuring all this out, Xiao Jinde decisively issued the order to retreat.
As the somewhat dull sound of the horn sounded from the rear, the Liao soldiers, who had already intended to retreat, slowly retreated after a brief struggle. The defenders in front of them did not dare and were unable to pursue any more at this time, and could only watch the enemy retreat.
The war came to an end again, and the valley entrance was not broken, but hundreds of corpses were left piled up in front of the valley. Among them, more than 200 people were on the attacking side, and the defenders suffered more than 100 losses. The Song army, which was originally close to 200, now had less than 80 people left standing there. The others had already fell down.
Sun Tu and the others were covered in blood, and they didn't know where it was from their own blood or where it was splashed by the enemy's blood. At this time, it was poured by heavy rain, and red streams formed under the feet. Everyone was bent over and breathing heavily. Even the three of them, experts like them, felt exhausted...
This kind of battle between two armies was no ordinary fight. Individual martial arts did not play a big role in such a chaotic fight. Only by cooperating with the robe around them could they have a chance to kill the enemy and protect themselves. So even for them, this battle was extremely hard and even painful.
Until it was confirmed that the Liao army had indeed retreated, many people finally relaxed and sat down on the ground. It seemed that they no longer had the strength to fight. Only Sun Tu, still holding on to his strength, turned back and looked at Tong Guan and Yelu Xiongge: "Tong Shuai, King Xiongge, the situation is critical now, I'm afraid it will be impossible to defend. Even if they don't attack again tonight , come tomorrow, once the enemy has calmed down and regained his strength, we may not be able to hold on anymore!"
Tong Guan and Yelu Xiongge also looked heavy, and nodded in unison: "Yes, what else can we do now?"
After hearing this, not only a few of them, but also the soldiers on the side, both Liao and Song Dynasty, all set their sights on Sun Tu, waiting for him to come up with a countermeasure.
Unconsciously, Sun Tu almost became the backbone of the Song and Liao coalition forces. Because his previous performance was so impressive, from leading the army to defend the mouth of the valley at the beginning, to later using a surprise force to capture Si Boda. If Xiao Jinde hadn't suddenly led troops to kill them, they would have left safely and were on their way back to Nanjing.
These few performances have allowed Sun Tu to win the respect and trust of almost everyone. At this time, they were all waiting for Sun Tu to come up with a way for everyone to escape.
"It's impossible to defend, and retreating is a dead end. The only way is to break out and catch them off guard." Sun Tu loudly expressed his thoughts with twinkling eyes, but Tong Guan and the others were stunned. Is there any essential difference between exiting the valley and breaking out
Compared to giving up the easy-to-defend but difficult-to-attack terrain to face the threat of ten times the enemy, it might be safer to retreat.
But Sun Tu said loudly at this time: "Although there is no difference between retreating and breaking out, from the perspective of our army's mentality, they are completely different. To retreat is to escape. By then, our army's morale has long been shattered. Once we are overtaken, we may not even be able to resist." We can't do it anymore. But breaking out is different. It means fighting them desperately. If we can muster the last bit of courage, maybe we can fight a bloody way out!"
Hearing this, the soldiers present were stunned at first, but soon Song Jun shouted: "I am willing to follow the governor and kill again!"
Then, even the Liao army shouted: "If you don't retreat, kill!"
If you are in a desperate situation, then just risk everything and fight. It's good to be able to get out, but even if you can't, you still have to pull the enemy back!