At this time, it was exactly eight years since the Huoleiyuan battle that year, and under the witness of the entire Yanbei, Daxia paid a devastating price for his actions that day.
That night, Zhao Yang, the fourteenth prince of Great Xia, led his troops to gather the remnants of the Southwest Army, sent 500,000 troops, and once again surrounded Beishuo City.
At this time, in the inland Menglai Province of Daxia, Yan Xun finally received a letter from the flying eagle from Miss Yu. After reading the letter, he looked deeply at the ancient capital of Zhenhuang, which was no longer far away, and stood alone for a long, long time. Finally, he returned to the main tent of the Chinese army and issued an order that shocked everyone: "Battle camp overnight, return Help Beishuo!" After returning to Beishuo City, Chu Qiao was treated like a hero, and apart from the necessary defense, the soldiers and civilians of the entire Beishuo City gathered at the gate of the city. For a moment, the crowds here were dense, and the enthusiasm of the whole people was high, and there was joy, as if the Battle of Beishuo had been won. When Chu Qiao led the troops of the Southwest Township's envoys into the city gate, the crowd of welcome almost overwhelmed the team. Order was rectified at the forefront, but was quickly washed into a piece of loose sand by the crowd.
Chu Qiao looked calmly. Although the soldiers of the second army had been reorganized slightly to meet the friendly army, most of the army was damaged compared to when they left. The remaining soldiers were wounded, their clothes were torn, bloody and exhausted. , timidity, fear, confusion, fatigue, all kinds of uneasy emotions clearly flashed in their eyes. The dust well concealed their pale faces, and many of them had lost their swords, and they were just stuck in their waists indiscriminately. During their actions, they could hear crisp collisions. Just looked flustered.
Compared with these second army soldiers who were panicking like rabbits, the officers and soldiers of the Southwest Town Office formed a sharp contrast with them. Although their armor was also stained with blood and their faces were covered with dust, they were confident and calm, maintained a neat formation and lined up, had strict military discipline, rode steadily on their horses, followed Chu Qiao, and walked along the long street with vigorous steps. The north wind blows over their fluffy furs, and the black cloaks are full of the smell of blood, chilling and desolate. Seeing them, thunderous cheers erupted from the crowd. With millions of troops routed like water and soldiers from Yanbei fleeing one after another, they were the only ones who devoted themselves to death without hesitation and resolutely shouldered the responsibility. Take up the important task of defending the country.
Yin Liangyu strode forward, and the chaotic crowd squeezed his helmet crookedly. Before he could straighten his hat, the young officer hurriedly said: "It is easy to add flowers to the cake, but it is difficult to send charcoal in the snow. Master Chu came here to save Beishuo from a desperate situation." , the Second Army is grateful for your kindness!"
Chu Qiao jumped off the horse, smiled quietly, and said: "General Yin is serious, he also serves Yanbei, and the Southwest Township's envoy and the second army are in the same spirit." Saying that, the girl took off the hood on her head, even after going through After such a brutal fight, she was still tidy and clean. She was dressed in a military uniform to make her tall and beautiful, full of the heroic posture of a soldier and the charm of a woman. She has a beautiful face and white skin. Xing, high-spirited, full of confidence, with a calm and friendly voice, full of sincerity.
There was an inconceivable exclamation in the crowd, and the soldiers and people who had never seen her talked about it, and the praise came like a tide, from the Zhenhuang change, to the Northwest battlefield, from the Bian Tang mutiny, to the Chidu defense battle. , Too many brilliant battles have been adorned on this woman. Naturally, people automatically ignore her age and appearance.
But at this moment, on this precarious battlefield, the girl's beauty is like a shining lamp, shining on people's heads, and everyone can't help but exclaim: "Is this Master Chu? So young?"
"Yeah! It's unbelievable, it's so beautiful!"
Although the Southwest Field Army and the Batuha Family Army led by Zhao Qi were defeated, Chu Qiao knew that the fundamentals of this battle had not been touched at all. The reason why the Xia Army was defeated was because the Xia Army had just launched an attack on Beishuo City at that time. In the final intensive attack, the vanguard and cavalry regiments were all sent to the battlefield. In order to complete the battle before dark, out of absolute peace of mind for their rear, they sent several of their reserves as well, and the rear was empty. , and all of them are heavy soldiers and chariot teams, and the nearest cavalry regiment is also separated by two heavy divisions. The southwestern town government envoys were all composed of cavalry, and they were extremely fast. Under the impact, it was like a cheetah rushing into a herd of wild horses from behind. In addition, Zhao Qi died in his own hands by accident. , That's when I picked up this bargain.
However, Daxia's hundreds of thousands of troops are not called for nothing. Zhao Yang will arrive later. Chu Qiao is anxious, but it is inconvenient to show it. She said to Yin Liangyu, "Where is General Cao? I have an emergency situation." , report it immediately."
Yin Liangyu said in a deep voice: "The general is in the conference hall, my lord, please follow me."
It was still Beishuo City's city guard general's mansion. The black obsidian was laid neatly and flatly on the ground, towering toweringly, with faint torches, and the sound of footsteps resounded in the corridor, heavy and tired.
Finally at the entrance of the conference hall, two young guards saw Yin Liangyu, immediately stood up straight, performed a standard military salute, and said loudly: "General Yin!"
Yin Liangyu nodded, moved away, pointed to Chu Qiao and said, "This is Master Chu from the General Staff Department."
The two guards had obviously seen Chu Qiao, and they immediately saluted with a smile, "Greetings, Lord Chu!"
Chu Qiao nodded in return, "Thank you for your hard work."
"Is the general in there?"
"Yes, the general has been waiting for you two for half a day."
Yin Liangyu nodded and said, "Please inform us, both of you."
A guard nodded yes, knocked lightly on the door, and then said loudly: "Report to the General, General Yin and Lord Chu of the General Staff have something to see!"
The draft blows through the corridor, making a whining sound. The corridor was very quiet, no one spoke, only the voices of the young guards echoed in the four corners, floating back and forth with the sound of the wind.
Yin Liangyu frowned, took a step forward, and said in a deep voice: "General Cao, Master Chu Qiao of the General Staff has something to see."
Still no one answered inside, Yin Liangyu frowned more and more, and continued: "General, are you inside?"
Chu Qiao raised her eyebrows, stepped forward and said, "Not good." Immediately, she pushed open the door of the conference room forcefully.
With a creak, the door slowly opened, the wind inside was strong, and it blew out with a whirr, the window facing the door was not closed, and the materials and rice paper on the conference table were blown all over the floor, like a group of white folding Wing butterfly, flipping constantly under the feet. The huge conference hall was very empty, and the tables and chairs were all in their original positions. Cao Mengtong sat in his usual seat with his back to the crowd, motionless and silent, as if he was looking at the map hanging on the wall.
Yin Liangyu let out a long breath, took two steps forward, and said respectfully: "General, Master Chu is here, and she said she has something important to report to you."
Cao Mengtong didn't even change her sitting position as if she didn't hear it. Chu Qiao frowned and walked forward immediately. The guards who followed her were startled, and hurriedly chased after her and shouted, "Lord Chu..."
However, before he finished speaking, his voice stopped abruptly, his eyes widened in horror, his mouth was slightly opened, but he couldn't utter a word.
Cao Mengtong was wearing a brand-new uniform, the cuffs were slightly rolled up, exposing half of his arm, and there was an obvious scar on his left hand, which seemed to be left many years ago, and it was hard to see clearly without looking carefully. His clothes are very neat, without even a single wrinkle, half of a white handkerchief is exposed in the left pocket of the skirt, which is neatly folded, and the two sides of the black skirt are decorated with war eagles embroidered with gold thread. The nine thumb-sized patterns showed the noble status of the general of the old man's army. He is no longer young, in his sixtieth year, his face is covered with wrinkles, his muscles are slack, the corners of his eyes and mouth are drooping, and his gray hair, although combed meticulously, still cannot conceal his age.
A dagger was stuck in his heart, and the blood flowed down windingly, already congealed, the room was very cold, the red-black blood was frozen, congealed into a cold streak. Life has already left this body, leaving only a lonely shadow, which looks old and desolate under the moonlight.
A huge map of Yanbei hangs in front of him, with thousands of ravines and undulating mountains on it. A thin line connects the place names on the map. From Meilin Pass at the northernmost point, it passes through Huihui Mountain, Shangshen Plateau, and Four Hills. Lanling, Sunset Mountains, Blue City, Chidu, Beishuo, and then drew a big arrow with bright red cinnabar, pointing directly at the rich and vast East Land.
Yin Liangyu and the guards were all stunned. Facing the sudden death of the coach, they were all at a loss and didn't know what to do.
Chu Qiao walked forward slowly, stretched out her hand, and lightly brushed Cao Mengtong's staring eyes, leaving only a great deal of desolation in her heart.
For the sake of self-interest, he disregarded millions of soldiers and civilians, he didn't recognize people clearly, he didn't know the enemy, he was stupid and reckless, arrogant and pedantic. An immeasurable price was paid. His crimes are too numerous to record, ten thousand deaths are not enough to forgive his crimes, before coming here, Chu Qiao thought of so many ways and schemes, no matter what, she must take him down, regain the command of Beishuo City, and even plan to He uttered a lot of sharp words, wanting to express the anger in his heart. But at this moment, looking at the sixtieth old man sitting quietly in the cold wind, all her anger suddenly went to waste.
It was a brutal war, and everyone paid a cruel price, living and dead.
"General, look!" The guard with sharp eyes picked up a piece of paper from the table and handed it to Yin Liangyu.
Yin Liangyu quickly took it, took a quick look, then raised his head, handed it to Chu Qiao lightly, and said, "Master Chu, you are now the supreme commander of the Second Army, the last general, Yin Liangyu, reports to you !"
Chu Qiao took the paper, only to see that in a completely official tone, the command of the Second Army and the Beishuo Army was simply handed over, and a few words were written to hope that Chu Qiao would fight bravely and make contributions to Yanbei And so on, it was like a handover ceremony that was so ordinary that it couldn't be more ordinary.
Chu Qiao untied the sword, put it aside, then slowly took a step back, stood up straight and gave a neat military salute, "General Cao fought for the country, resisted the Xia army, fought to the last moment of his life without flinching, It is an example for the whole army, the last general will live up to the general's hope, be tenacious and loyal, and never back down!"
That night, the records of the military camp garrison recorded this: General Cao Mengtong took the lead in the Battle of Beishuo, and fought decisively at the head of Beishuo City in his sixtieth year. On the evening of October 27th, he died in the meeting hall. Before he died, he handed over the command of the Second Army to the military staff of the General Staff Department and the senior commander of the Southwest Township's envoy, Mr. Chu Qiaochu. General Cao was loyal and brave all his life, devoted himself to Yanbei, guarded the gate of the country in his sixties, and remembered the country before leaving. He is a model of Yanbei soldiers.