Chapter 124: A Pear Blossom Weighs Down the Begonia

"Those sons of bitches, the Xiongnu!"

Chen Ping was so enraged he spat out blood repeatedly.

Liu Chang was also kneeling on the ground, cold sweat pouring down.

They had originally thought that with a secret agreement behind the scenes, the Xiongnu would not make things difficult for them. Who would have known that these Barbarians, the Xiongnu, would never consider any agreement or credibility? If they had any credibility, how would they have torn up the treaty again and again to invade the Longyan Dynasty?

They had welcomed true tigers and wolves!

"Kill them for me! Do not panic, organize the formation, and resist with all your might!"

Chen Ping shouted with a gloomy face.

However, the Longyan Army, having suddenly fallen into an encirclement, was already in chaos at this moment. A rain of arrows that blotted out the sky and sun caused them to lose many men on the spot.

Fortunately, although the individual combat capability of the Longyan Dynasty was not as fierce as the Xiongnu soldiers, they excelled in strict military discipline and the ability to carry out orders without fail. The various commanding generals stabilized the situation at the first opportunity. They began to resist the Xiongnu Army in an orderly and rhythmic manner.

This was destined to be a battle that would be recorded in history.

This was a massive battle on the scale of hundreds of thousands.

This was destined to be a long, drawn-out slaughter, destined to bring misery to the people and turn the land into a river of blood; tonight, countless homeless souls would surely drift over Rongshan Pass.

True close-quarters combat.

True white blades against red blades, flesh against steel blades, all kinds of blades, all kinds of Crossbow Bolts, all kinds of attacks, all kinds of defenses.

Zheng Yuxing finally arrived before Chen Ping in the crowd, bringing the Crown Prince Xie Fang with him.

As soon as the Crown Prince saw Chen Ping, his classmate from the Hanlin Academy, he wailed and cried, clutching Chen Ping's thigh: "Chen Ping, save me!"

Chen Ping shook his head, his face gloomy.

Although he was much older than the Crown Prince, he had only entered the Hanlin Academy at the age of forty, at which time Chen Ping was only in his teens. Although the two were classmates, in reality, Xie Fang was only about the age of his own daughter.

"Your Highness, rest assured, this subordinate will absolutely guarantee your safety!"

Chen Ping shouted.

"Good, good, good!"

Chen Ping also knew the situation was urgent and hurriedly ordered: "Pass the order down, everyone must obey General Zheng's commands, fight to the death!"

"Yes!"

At this time, who would still dare to question Zheng Yuxing, and who would still dare to lead troops on their own?

Xie Fang, Xie Ling, the Prince of Lu, and the representatives of the Baiya Army also looked at Zheng Yuxing with eager eyes.

Zheng Yuxing sighed deeply.

If one had known it would come to this, why act as one did in the beginning?

If the military power of this army had been handed over to him earlier, it certainly would not have been so tragic, and they would not have been ambushed and bullied by the Xiongnu like this.

Now, in this situation...

Even in Zheng Yuxing's heart, a feeling of despair welled up.

The Longyan Dynasty was destined to end this game with the Xiongnu Army with a crushing defeat.

"Hahahaha, good, fight to the death!"

But Zheng Yuxing, a general in his forties, soon let go of his worries.

Since it was a fight to the death, then let it be a fight to the death. If he could die on the battlefield, there was no need to care how those who came after would judge him! If he won today... he gave a miserable laugh, was it even possible to win?

Zheng Yuxing had joined the army at twenty and had been fighting against the Xiongnu for over twenty years.

He understood these Barbarians, the Xiongnu, better than anyone.

This time, the Xiongnu had absolutely poured out their entire nest; their ambitions were great, and it was not just about plundering! Furthermore, this would be the largest scale of military deployment by the Xiongnu against Zhongyuan in history! One could tell just by looking at their attire that the Eastern and Western Xiongnu had already united.

Was that the Grassland Military Advisor?

He gave a miserable smile.

Don't look at the fact that the Longyan Dynasty still had nearly 150,000 troops; they simply could not withstand the charge of the 200,000-strong Xiongnu Army.

"Form up!"

"Crossbowman Cross Formation!"

"Pick-Stirring Blade Formation for the Blade Infantry, Cavalry Horse Formation for the cavalry!"

"Maintain the formation, close in!"

"Divide each branch into fifty squads, resist in turns! Rotate every quarter of an hour!"

Zheng Yuxing was indeed Zheng Yuxing; he immediately began to mobilize troops and assign generals. Soon, these 150,000 men were tightly huddled together, yet with a balance of tension and relaxation; the soldiers on the outer ring resisted the enemy's charges time and time again. After a quarter of an hour, they would rest, and the soldiers behind would take their place.

The Shield Soldiers were responsible for protecting these resting soldiers from being harassed by the rain of arrows from the sky.

The Longyan Army finally stabilized.

But the stern-faced Zheng Yuxing understood that this was only a delaying tactic...

Yes.

No matter how tightly you huddle together, no matter how you resist, at this moment, it was only to minimize losses. It was completely impossible to counterattack the Xiongnu. To put it simply, the 150,000-strong army at this time was like fish on a chopping block, left to be slaughtered by the Xiongnu Army.

Their mobility was so strong that they could finish a strike and leave, then send the next wave.

Because of this, although the Longyan Dynasty had spearmen, they dared not launch a full-scale attack and could only defend passively.

The losses of the Longyan Army were undeniably heavy.

The Xiongnu Army waited at their ease, even mocking and laughing to disrupt the morale of the Longyan side.

In a battle of hundreds of thousands, the scene was grand; because of the large base number, every charge was launched from all directions simultaneously, and every battle created many new corpses.

"Hold on, hold on a little longer!"

"It will be dark soon!"

Zheng Yuxing could only pass down such orders to stabilize the morale of the Longyan Army.

In reality, though, heh, dark?

At this rate of attrition, the Xiongnu Army will certainly cause the Longyan Army to lose more than half its strength before nightfall!

Half of one hundred and fifty thousand!

That would be seventy or eighty thousand!

By then, Longyan will only have seventy or eighty thousand left; this battle will truly be lost, and there will be no room for a turnaround.

Unless...

Unless at this moment, reinforcements from the Longyan Dynasty could suddenly appear on the periphery.

But, is that possible?

Zheng Yuxing shook his head.

The battle was still continuing.

Zheng Yuxing's defensive formation did indeed have a certain effect, but it could only slow down the deaths of the Longyan Army...

After one hour, almost everyone smelled the scent of despair.

Cheng Mu, on the watchtower, looked at all of this and couldn't help but sigh, "Is the dignified Longyan Dynasty really this pathetic?"

"The Military Advisor is divine and martial!"

"It is all the Military Advisor's credit!"

Others immediately began to flatter him.

Cheng Mu chuckled, "We should be able to go down now; I really want to see Chen Ping's expression at this moment."

Several generals from the Xiongnu Royal Court followed behind Cheng Mu, riding in war chariots, and slowly appeared on the battlefield. At this moment, Cheng Mu had the posture of a victor, looking proudly at the people here.

Chen Ping watched from afar, jumping and cursing angrily, "Old man Cheng Mu, despicable and shameless!"

Cheng Mu laughed loudly, "Lord Chen, all is fair in war; you are such a grown man, do you not understand this?"

After saying this, he stopped paying attention to Chen Ping and instead shouted loudly, "Surrender!"

"General Zheng, have your men put down their weapons and surrender. Given that we have dealt with each other for so many years, I can spare your life! But, when I go to your Jinghua to negotiate, you must hold the horse for me, Cheng Mu!"

Once these words were out, the Xiongnu side roared with laughter, mocking them endlessly.

Zheng Yuxing sneered, "Cheng Mu, do you think you are worthy? I, Zheng Yuxing, can die in battle, but I will never suffer such humiliation!"

"No, no, no!"

Crown Prince Xie Fang popped out, looking at Cheng Mu with a fawning expression, "Military Advisor Cheng, can you spare my life if I surrender? As long as you can guarantee that, we will surrender, we really will surrender!"

Hearing this, the crowd was furious.

"His Highness the Crown Prince!"

"Are you still a man?"

"The battle is not over yet; we still have the strength to fight!"

"In my Longyan Dynasty, there has never been a general who surrendered since ancient times!"

Xie Fang, however, had a gloomy face, "Bullshit! As long as the green hills remain, there is no need to worry about firewood. I am doing this for everyone's sake! Lost is lost; let us retreat for now and make plans later!"

The people on the Longyan side were extremely enraged upon hearing this.

At this moment, there were still one hundred thousand men here, and he couldn't help but want to surrender? Of course, surrender was also an option, but even if they surrendered, it should be when the Xiongnu Army could no longer hold on; only then could they do their best to preserve the dignity of Longyan!

During future negotiations,

And not now!

Proposing surrender now would only greatly diminish the morale of the soldiers!

Cheng Mu looked at Xie Fang with disdain and laughed loudly, "Naturally, if you surrender, I can guarantee you will not die!"

"Great, great, hurry up and surrender, stop fighting, stop fighting!"

Xie Fang jumped up happily.

Who would want to die if they could live? Anyway, even if they lost, he would still be the Crown Prince! Even if he were no longer the Crown Prince, he would still be an imperial prince. With this war lost, there were plenty of people to take the blame; it wouldn't affect him too much!

"You..."

Even Chen Ping couldn't help but be angered by this Crown Prince.

"General Zheng, General Zheng, shall we surrender?"

Xie Fang looked pleading.

Zheng Yuxing sighed, lamenting his misfortune and angry at his lack of resolve. He could have held on for a while longer; if he had, although there would still be losses, it would have gained the Longyan Dynasty some advantages in negotiations! But now that the Crown Prince had caused such a scene, perhaps the Longyan Dynasty would have to pay more reparations to the Xiongnu. Where would these reparations come from? Harsh taxes and levies; in the end, it would be more, perhaps even all the common people in the world, who would suffer!

By comparison, the Longyan soldiers would certainly be willing to make such a sacrifice.

War is, after all, the continuation of politics.

There are so many things before and after this battle.

Yet now, with the Crown Prince's attitude, what else could he do?

He could only surrender...

He let out a sorrowful cry toward the sky.

A lifetime of reputation would be destroyed in an instant.

He was just about to open his mouth to say the word "surrender."

Who would have thought that at this very moment, from the direction of Qingfeng Gorge, a roar that shook the earth and mountains would come.

"Reinforcements!"

"Reinforcements have arrived again!"

Someone exclaimed.

Zheng Yuxing also felt his spirits lift and turned to look.

He saw a large army of tens of thousands wearing green military uniforms, carrying battle flags embroidered with the character "Silver," rushing toward them like the wind.

The formation was neat and uniform!

The soldiers were in high spirits!

Even their footsteps were so synchronized that it seemed to make the earth resonate along with them.

"The Yinzhou Army?"

"The Yinzhou Army!"

"We are saved!"

"Kill!"

The Yinzhou Army?

Zheng Yuxing stared blankly at a young man beneath the military banner, a calm smile on his face.

Even when facing the two-hundred-thousand-strong Xiongnu Army, there was not a trace of fear on his face.

Chen Ping also looked over with a dark expression.

Crown Prince Xie Fang also looked over in surprise.

The Third Prince, Xie Ling, also looked at the man dressed in white, holding a folding fan in his hand.

Is this the world-renowned, talented young man, a scholar of immense learning, handsome and dashing, the one who outshines all others?

Young Master Liu, the Prefectural Assistant Liu?