In the Yuan army's formation, Zhen Jin turned to look at Dong Wenbing, hoping that the commander could find a way to defeat the Tang army or retreat out of here, so as not to cause any more unnecessary damage to the soldiers.
However, Dong Wenbing's face was solemn, even a little ruthless, and ordered the soldiers to continue charging towards the oasis.
"Dong Gong." Zhenjin couldn't help but said: "Too many people have died. We can't continue fighting like this."
"You can only fight."
Dong Wenbing responded hurriedly and ordered Dong Shiyuan to take over Dong Shixuan's troops.
After giving orders one after another, he leaned down and whispered to Zhenjin: "There is no way out. If we cannot capture Chala Lake, His Highness, the veterans, and these soldiers will all be buried in the yellow sand."
Even though Zhenjin didn't know anything about military matters, he could still see that if the battle continued, the entire army would be annihilated. Considering the favorable weather, location, and people, this was not an equal war at all.
When you think about it this way, you have actually fallen into a situation where you will die if you advance or retreat.
When he saw the soldiers falling one by one under the crossbows and blades of the Tang army, he could not help but show compassion and said to Dong Wenbing: "If the Tang army came for me, Mr. Dong can hand me over..."
"Your Highness!"
Dong Wenbing interrupted Zhenjin's words. He was surprised that the King of Yan could make such childish remarks. He shook his head and said, "This Tang army is not here for His Highness."
Obviously, this Tang army was able to ambush at Chala Lake in advance to ambush his troops, and for this reason they were willing to brave the wind and sand of the desert.
On the contrary, the Tang army did not seem to care about real gold. They were not willing to send more troops and horses along the way from Hehuang to Liangzhou, and only had more than 300 exhausted soldiers to escort them.
Dong Wenbing originally wanted to save Zhenjin at all costs, but at this moment, he was confused by Tang Jun's attitude...Which one is more important, a prince or 10,000 elite knights?
If the Tang army wanted to annihilate these ten thousand people, what impact would it have on the war situation?
A trace of worry arose in my heart, but it was too late to think about it now. Since we can only fight once, we should concentrate on fighting.
"Dong Gong." Zhenjin said again: "I can also go into battle to kill the enemy, inspire soldiers, or hang out flags to attract enemy soldiers. The descendants of the Jin family are not afraid to go into battle."
Dong Wenbing once again moved his eyes from the battle formation to Zhenjin's face, and then to his injured leg. He sighed and said, "Your Highness, please put on your armor."
Zhenjin just thought he agreed to let her go into battle, took two deep breaths, and his eyes became solemn...
~~
Yang Ben held the lookout tube and swept across the Yuan army's array and Dong Wenbing's battle flag, his expression still solemn.
It was said that he was waiting for work, but Yang Ben actually arrived at Chala Lake the day before yesterday. After arriving, he encountered more than 200 troops left here by the Yuan army.
Fortunately, the Tang Army's scouting horses first discovered the oasis with a lookout, and the Tang Army was able to sneak attack at night, finally occupying the oasis and getting a supply of food and water. However, so far, only nearly 1,500 of the more than 2,000 troops were left.
The power of war.
Kankan rested for a day, but before he could completely dispel the fatigue from trekking in the desert for half a month, the main force of the Yuan army returned.
This situation is extremely dangerous for Yang Ben. He does not dare to take it lightly because he is facing Dong Wenbing.
Dong Wenbing has been stationed in Henan for several years, which has prevented the Tang army from expanding into Henan, and has repeatedly launched offensives at Tongguan. If the Meng Yuan Dynasty thought he was incompetent because he could not conquer Chang'an, the Tang army as an opponent knew very well that he could not be underestimated.
watch for.
Sure enough, as soon as the confrontation broke out, the Yuan army, which should have been panicked, actually launched a fierce offensive.
There was even a Yuan army that rushed straight into the oasis, almost disrupting Yang Ben's arrangement. Fortunately, Tang soldiers made up for it in time and killed thousands of households of the general army.
Yang Ben was about to mobilize troops to reinforce the defense line when he suddenly heard a shout. He turned around and saw Wang Mancang rushing up with a head.
"General, I killed the enemy general Dong Shixuan!"
Yang Ben looked at the head and saw that it was a very young general, probably less than thirty years old.
He patted Wang Mancang on the shoulder and said, "Okay, okay! After this battle, you will be rewarded heavily."
Having said that, the moment he took Dong Shixuan's head, Yang Ben felt a little bitter in his heart, secretly thinking that Wang Mancang was too quick.
The Tang Dynasty not only lacked troops and horses, but also lacked famous generals. If Dong Wenbing could be recruited to surrender in this battle, His Majesty would obviously be more satisfied.
However, with more than a thousand people fighting against more than 5,000 Yuan troops, they must be defeated first, otherwise it will be difficult to capture them. The war has just begun, and it is the time to respond with all one's strength to the enemy. Of course, Yang Ben will not tell his soldiers to capture him alive.
He originally wanted to wait until he had the upper hand and then try to recruit the Dong family and his son to surrender, but he did not expect that Dong Shixuan would take the lead so quickly, and then be killed by the reckless Wang Mancang so quickly.
Next, I'm afraid it will affect the subsequent recruitment and surrender of Dong Wenbing.
Of course, now that the matter had come to this, Yang Ben was not someone who would agonize over such trivial matters. He made a prompt decision and ordered Dong Shixuan's head to be raised high to deter the soldiers of the Yuan Dynasty.
Wang Mancang was overjoyed and immediately did as he was told, holding up a long pole and shouting: "Dong Shixuan is dead!"
As a result, the soldiers of the Yuan Dynasty who had followed Dong Shixuan into the oasis were defeated one after another.
When the Tang army took a look, they saw that the Yuan army outside the oasis was almost wearing armor. They quickly took advantage of this opportunity to kill outside and cause more casualties now.
"Kill!"
Wang Mancang raised his pole to follow and stepped on the desert. He felt a very hot spot on the soles of his feet. Then he remembered that these days in the desert had worn out a hole in the soles of his shoes.
Turning around, he saw that there were no shortage of corpses on the ground, including Dong Shixuan's headless corpse.
He then thrust the long pole in his hand into the ground, ran to peel off Dong Shixuan's boots and put them on.
However, when the boots were lifted, Wang Mancang saw that half of his stinky feet had poked out of the soles of the shoes.
Dong Shixuan's boots turned out to be even worse than his own.
Wang Mancang turned around and looked around, briefly scanning a few corpses of the Yuan army, and finally put on his boots again.
"Damn, what a poor Huru."
He spat like this, but his view of the enemy general was different.
No matter how good or bad he is, he is indeed tenacious.
There was not much time for Wang Mancang to change his shoes on the battlefield, so he stood up, and with a "dong" sound, a sharp arrow was suddenly nailed to his long pole.
"Get my second brother back!"
Following this loud roar, another Yuan army came from the front to kill them.
After paying the price of many lives, the Yuan army finally put on armor and organized a truly decent assault.
"Pull the crossbowmen back! Push up the antlers!" Yang Ben shouted.
"Shield Bearer!"
The battle line was opened, and Wang Mancang stood behind the shield bearer, continued to raise the long pole, shook Dong Shixuan's head, and shouted: "The Yuan Army's last wave of offensive! Stop them, they have no strength."
By now in the battle, he had felt the toughness of the Yuan army generals, and the other soldiers had already been defeated by them.
It's a pity that no matter how stubborn you are, if you fall into this situation, you will only lose.
~~
This is indeed Dong Wenbing's last ditch effort.
The moment he saw Yang Ben appear in the Chala Lake Oasis, he knew that retreating would lead to death, and advancing would only have a very weak chance of survival.
The best way to save yourself is to surrender.
Why not surrender?
In terms of justice, he, a wealthy family from the Central Plains, surrendered the Han Emperor Li Xia without losing his justice... Dong Wenbing actually knew these things very well.
It's just that I can't get past the small sections.
Kublai Khan repeatedly called "Brother Dong" to show his favor. After pacifying Li Fen, all other princes had their military power reduced. Dong Wenbing was the only one who was exempted from having his power reduced because he was too trusted.
This time he also handed over the crown prince into his hands...
After coming back to his senses, he looked at the battlefield. In the front, Dong Shiyuan had led his army into the Tang army's line. In the rear, more and more Yuan soldiers began to stand still and wait and see the situation.
Dong Wenbing turned around and looked at Zhenjin.
Zhenjin had just changed into an ordinary leather armor and said, "Mr. Dong, I'm afraid this outfit is wrong?"
"Your Highness." Dong Wenbing did not answer him, but said: "When I was sixteen years old, my father died fighting for the Mongolian Kingdom. Today, I am in this situation again, and my fate is over. I hope that in the future, Your Highness will inherit the rule and rule the world in peace and prosperity.
The old minister died with his eyes closed."
"Dong Gong..."
Zhenjin was stained by this loyalty, his eyes suddenly turned red, and he burst into tears.
"Guard Your Highness, go away." Dong Wenbing shouted to his close soldiers, and then said: "Tell my brother, there are men in the Dong family who are still able to ride horses, try your best to serve the country!"
But in fact, he was not sure that they could get out of the vast desert.
Zhenjin still wanted to stop Dong Wenbing, but several cavalry generals came forward and pulled him back.
When they broke away from the central army's line, they soon caused panic in the Yuan army, and more and more soldiers turned around and fled.
Dong Wenbing's banner was still fluttering in the wind, bypassing the defense line deployed by the Tang army in the south of the oasis, and trying to attack from the side.
But while they were running hard in the desert outside, the Tang army only needed to run a few steps to set up a new line of defense.
Dong Wenbing wanted to attract the Tang army so that he could rescue his eldest son Dong Shiyuan from the siege.
~~
"General, the commander orders you to withdraw!"
When Dong Shiyuan received the order, he had already reached the banner with Dong Shixuan's head hanging on it.
He lowered his head and looked at the crossbow arrows on his body, then looked back at the vast desert in the distance, his eyes filled with bitterness.
"We can't withdraw." Dong Shiyuan murmured and continued to rush forward.
In front, a Tang Military Academy general shouted to him: "Surrender! You have been defeated."
"Those who surrender will not be killed if they surrender!" Tang Jun shouted.
As a result, more and more Yuan troops slowed down.
Dong Shiyuan was still rushing forward.
"A man serves his country, don't be afraid today!"
He held a shield in one hand and a knife in the other, as brave as he had been in Diaoyu City.
But even Brother Meng has been dead for seven or eight years, so how can the situation be compared to that of back then?
There were only a few stubborn people, and Dong Shiyuan charged into the Tang army almost alone...
~~
"General, Dong Shiyuan refused to surrender and died in battle."
Yang Ben heard the news, frowned, and walked towards Dong Wenbing's place with the knife in hand.
It was almost dusk, and as more and more Yuan troops surrendered, the Tang army had completely surrounded Dong Wenbing.
Yang Ben pushed the soldiers away, stepped across the grass covered in pools of blood, and looked at the dozen or so people left in front.
"Dong Wenbing, please surrender. Your brother Dong Wenyong is currently serving as an official in the Tang Dynasty and is highly valued by His Majesty."
Dong Wenbing lost his helmet and couldn't stand. He came back from the fight when he heard the sound. He looked at Yang Ben blankly and said, "I shouldn't lose to you."
He was appointed as an official when he was sixteen years old. He mounted his horse to conquer the north and south, and dismounted his horse to govern the country for thirty-three years. He conquered the Dali Kingdom and the Song Kingdom with great military exploits. No matter how you look at it, he should not lose.
"The winner is the king, the loser is the bandit." Yang Ben said.
Perhaps others thought that he had gotten a big advantage, hiding in this desert oasis, and attacking Dong Wenbing who had returned from fatigue. It was not difficult.
But all the terrible pressure he endured when making the decision, the hardship of almost losing his army in the desert... these made Yang Ben very clear in his heart that he deserved this victory.
Not a fluke.
Dong Wenbing, who had guarded Henan for several years and never allowed the Tang army to expand eastward, was defeated by him...
Through Yang Ben's eyes, Dong Wenbing also felt the confidence and the powerful momentum brought by confidence.
Just like back then, he was too.
Because he firmly believed that Kublai Khan was the wise king who would unify the world and establish a peaceful and prosperous age, he abandoned Meng Ge's official position and took his family to travel thousands of miles to join Kublai Khan.
That kind of belief gave him the momentum to move forward without fear of any difficulties.
However, this confidence seems to have loosened over the years.
Starting from Li Fen's rebellion and Dong Wenyong's surrender to Li Xia, Kublai Khan squeezed out Han officials from time to time... The most important thing is that someone more like a wise king has appeared.
However, Dong Wenbing is already old.
He knew that he could never give up his official position and travel thousands of miles like he did before. This kind of abandonment of everything and a desperate bet only happened once in his life.
He had already paid too much for Kublai Khan and had no strength to go back.
tired.
The time when famous generals have grown old and heroes from the Central Plains supported King Monan to practice Han law and establish Han industry has passed for him.
Following these thoughts, Dong Wenbing raised the knife and put it on his neck.
He seemed to be defeated by Yang Ben's eyes.
"Yes, the winner is the king and the loser is the bandit. Li Xia has trained a famous general." He murmured.
This sentence was given to the young people in front of him. He didn't mind adding confidence and momentum to the younger generations.
After that, Dong Wenbing slashed his knife and repaid Kublai Khan with his "Brother Dong".
"when."
The knife fell to the ground...
~~
In the wild sand of the desert, Zhenjin looked back and saw that the Tang army had chased out of the oasis and gathered the Yuan soldiers who did not dare to escape to the desert.
He knew that he had completely defeated these 10,000 elite soldiers with one person.
As a result, the expectations that the entire northern scholars placed on him increased a lot, and they were so heavy that he could not breathe.