Volume 2 Rising Winds and Clouds Section 6 The Death of the Same Robe
The result of the battle is hard to accept. More than 360 brothers failed to come back. This battle was fought in vain and lost in frustration.
More than a dozen gunpowder bombs exploded at once, and the sound spread like a tidal wave, deafening the people and horses who were closer. Then thick smoke rose and sand and rocks flew rapidly in all directions.
Xue Li didn't have time to set up directional blasting this time. He just saw a small hole about half a foot deep at the entrance about five feet above the ground, which could just fit a dozen gunpowder bombs.
In desperation, when he saw Li Shimin flying into the sky, he lit the fuse and quickly chased after Li Shimin.
With one explosion, a square boulder weighing several thousand kilograms was blown down from the mountain. When the sound wave came back, it fell sideways at the entrance of the official road, blocking the entrance, leaving only a half-strip at the bottom.
A foot-high gap.
Huge boulders separated the inside and outside of the official road, and the sounds of explosions could be heard from time to time outside. It should be that those comrades who had not yet died were fighting for time for the living.
Shattered bodies are their only fate, and the living people will not dare and will never forget them in their lifetime. This is the meaning of comradeship.
The war horses galloped forward uncontrollably. The huge explosion, the environment of the narrow official road, and the echo made the impact on them more uncomfortable than on humans.
The order was passed too hastily, and before the rear army could turn around, the knights had no chance and collided with the rapidly retreating front army, which turned into an even greater disaster.
The screams were endless. The war horses in Qinzhou City were not shoed, and they stepped on the people and similar people who fell on the ground. They were limp. The horses' legs were caught and they fell to the ground again. The casualties were hard to estimate.
The horses with horseshoes were fine. They were either injured or killed wherever they stepped, but they could still stand still and run forward wildly.
For a moment, the wailing screams drowned out the sound of the horse's hooves. Li Shimin closed his eyes and did not dare to look anymore. He barely controlled the horse and stood in the middle of the official road. Tears fell and his heart was twisted like a knife.
There are only three or four miles from here to that open area. More than 6,000 knights have lined up in that open area. When the huge sound is heard back to the rear team, the leading captain of the rear team knows that something big has happened and hurriedly organizes the knights to move to the open space.
, thus avoiding greater stampede casualties.
In order to prevent the enemy from pursuing him, the collapse of the mountain pass caused even greater casualties. Xue Li risked his legs being injured and jumped off his horse. He came to Li Shimin's horse and knelt down on his knees, wanting to cry without tears.
Liu Hongji helplessly watched the frantic war horses trampling each other. No one could stop this situation. The explosion of more than a dozen gunpowder bombs was so powerful that even the ground shook. If he wanted the frightened horses to stop running wildly, he could only
Wait for them to calm down on their own.
The only thing you don't have to worry about is the pursuers behind you. They are blocked by the huge rocks that have been knocked down and will not be able to get through for a while.
The open space saved them. Many war horses came here and gradually slowed down. Some knights on the horses had controlled their horses and retreated to the official road. The horses without knights were led by the knights who stayed in the open space and comforted them.
Already.
Li Shimin opened his eyes and saw Xue Li kneeling in front of his horse with his head downcast. He shouted: "Get up, you are not to blame for this matter. Your emergency response was right. I was too careless and underestimated the old fox Xue Ju. Now,
, your mission is to allow more brothers to return to Qinzhou alive, go ahead!"
Xue Li then promised with tears streaming down his face. He stood up, took an ownerless war horse from the side, and limped forward.
The scene was too miserable. The narrow official road was full of broken corpses. The smell of blood mixed with feces, urine and other unknown smells floated in the air, which was disgusting.
Liu Hongji did not disturb Li Shimin anymore. He helped Xue Li, whose legs were injured, to climb onto the horse. The two of them slowly approached the mountain of corpses and sea of blood, hoping to find the living brother.
School has finally started. Today is August 20th. The Mid-Autumn Festival has just passed. Li Xiuning has been in a bad mood these days because she misses her family far away in Chang'an.
So Yang Man became the teacher of the first class of Enlightenment. Not in the school, seventy-six students were arranged in six rows according to height, standing in line facing the rising sun. They were surrounded by people not far away from the square.
Expectant parents.
There are forty-two boys and thirty-four girls among this group of students. The oldest is fifteen years old, the youngest is seven years old, and two-thirds are around ten years old.
They were all wearing their own ethnic festival costumes. As far as the eye could see, they were colorful and beautiful.
Luo Yu stood on the second floor and looked at them. He was thinking about how these students should be divided into classes. There were only fifty sets of desks and chairs, and there was no room for them to be taught together. The original idea of one class studying literature and another class studying martial arts might not be possible in the same place.
It is implemented in this square.
Think about it, here you are reading and memorizing, you need to be focused on it, but outside there is another class of students practicing martial arts very close to each other, how can there be less noise? In this way, there will be mutual influence.
Yang Man was only sixteen years old. She was born in an imperial family and must know the classics and history very well. She was naturally qualified to teach these children. What's more, Li Xiuning had already written down the "Three Character Classic" and "Hundred Family Surnames" for her. She saw that
I was overjoyed afterwards.
The catchy words and simple principles are most suitable for beginners to enlighten. It is much easier than her enlightenment book. I immediately decided to start the first lesson with these two articles.
She was wearing a sky blue gown, her perfect figure was covered, her long hair was tied into a bun, and she pinned a hosta on her head. She smiled and said: "Children, today is the first day of your schooling.
I am very happy to be your husband, but learning is very hard and requires hard study. Are you ready?"
Some of the seventy-six students could not understand what she said, and there were only about twenty sparse responses. This group of students was a bit difficult to teach.
They are ethnic minorities and do not understand Chinese culture. They speak dialects at home. Children who are close to Xiao Li can understand Chinese, but only a small proportion of them can understand it.
Luo Yu has a big head. It seems that there is still a long way to go before he can teach normally. He may not have any free time during this period, so he has to help them share the liberal arts.
Yang Man was also a little overwhelmed. Luo Yu called Xiao Li and asked her to act as an interpreter and speak Yang Man's words in dialect again. This time, he got an enthusiastic response from all the students.
Luo Yu had an idea. He went downstairs and came to Xiao Li, and said softly: "Xiao Li, I want to divide them into two groups. Do you have any ideas?"
Xiao Li blinked his big eyes and said with a smile: "It's easy to handle, just separate the men and women."
Luo Yu thought for a while and said: "This is not a good idea. Although there is no difference in what they have learned, their ages are different and their intelligence is too different. The process of getting along with teachers and students will be more tiring."
Xiao Li added: "There are more than a dozen mentally retarded people among these children. How will they be arranged?"
Only then did Luo Yu remember the bloodline problem in the village. This was another difficult problem. The parents of a dozen children were mentally retarded because they were close relatives. To educate these children well, the husband would have to put in several times the effort.
It was too simple to think, and I was stumped on the first day of school. How to divide classes into classes that would benefit both teachers and students?
Xue Li and Liu Hongji were disappointed. From the start to the clearing, too many brothers fell down along the way, but none of them were alive. Horseshoes are good things, but if they step on one of their own, they will also be trampled to death.
Since most of the front team were cavalry brought by Li Shimin, they became the rear team when they retreated. In addition, the horses were running wildly. No body was intact wherever they passed, and severed limbs were everywhere.
Including the bodies of fallen war horses.
These robes can no longer tell who is who, and they don't know how to collect their clothes. Should they be left to expose their corpses in the wilderness and be eaten by wild beasts without any care?
Xue Ju's soldiers and horses on the other side of the boulder did not intend to let go of this opportunity. They were already shooting arrows into the sky. They didn't know what their purpose was. Could it be that they wanted to move the boulder blocking the entrance and then pursue them?
come over?
It is simply a fantasy. Without gunpowder bombs, it is impossible to move the boulder by human power.
Li Shimin calmed down his sadness. The deceased was gone. The most important thing now was to bring all the living safely back to Qinzhou. The debt with Xue Ju could only be settled later.
But what he never expected was that Xue Ju's men stuffed more than a dozen gunpowder bombs under the boulder. There was a flash of fire, and the fuse started to burn with blue smoke. If it was going to explode again, not only the boulder might
It will crack, and may startle the war horses in the sky again, causing secondary chaos.
These gunpowder bombs should have been left by the brothers who rushed out and died before they could light the fuse. They were collected by the enemy and bombed Li Shimin's side.
Fortunately, everyone except Li Shimin had already evacuated to the open space, and Xue Li and Liu Hongji were evacuating to Qinzhou in an orderly manner.
When the loud noise sounded again, the sound wave spread rapidly along the narrow official road. Li Shimin's war horse spread its hooves and ran forward without him urging him. Perhaps it had experienced it once and it was no longer crazy.
Li Shimin could guess what was happening behind him without looking. Although the boulder was big, it couldn't withstand the power of more than a dozen gunpowder bombs exploding at the same time. After they cleared the passage, the pursuers would come over immediately.
Xue Ju is determined to fight to the death. If this is the case, then I will let you taste the power of gunpowder bullets in an open space.
Li Shimin turned his head and took one last look at the sacrificed Paoze, and knocked the horse's belly. He had to rush to the clearing to prepare. This time he had time for directional blasting.
The deafening sound of horse hooves came from behind. At this time, Li Shimin had already reached the open space. Xue Li and others breathed a sigh of relief.
After hearing the second explosion, he was worried about Li Shimin who was staying behind, fearing that he was in danger. He was about to go back to meet him when he was stopped by Liu Hongji.
Liu Hongji's use of gunpowder bombs was far inferior to Xue Li's. He got on his horse and said to Xue Li: "I'll pick up the general, and you stay here to load the gunpowder bombs!"
Xue Li's legs were injured, so he could only nod in agreement. The sound had become subtle when it reached here, and it spread a little in the open space, so the war horses here were not affected at all.
Watching Liu Hongji's retreating back, Xue Li took the gunpowder bomb handed over by the special forces team member, found a pit suitable for directional blasting, dug a foot deep with a dagger, and put the gunpowder bomb into it.
.
Above this pit is a high cliff. The stone mountains are connected together as flat as a knife. It is not known whether they can be broken by explosion. This is also a helpless move. There is no place to install gunpowder bombs on the stone wall.
As soon as the gunpowder bombs were placed, Li Shimin and Liu Hongji flew over. Xue Li called out: "General, the gunpowder bombs have been loaded. You withdraw first, and your subordinates will come down and light the fire."
Li Shimin knew that Xue Li was injured and said: "Get on the horse and leave one team member to light the fire. If you are injured, don't act like a hero! I, Li Shimin, will not ignore my brothers."
Before Xue Li could speak, he was helped onto the horse by two team members next to him, and they reached out to pat the horse's buttocks.
The war horse was in pain and galloped away. Li Shimin said to the two third-generation team members: "Leave one person here to light the fire, make the lead longer, and come back alive!"
An older member of the team agreed, and another one who was eighteen or nineteen years old wanted to argue a few words, but before he could speak, the older member pushed him away and asked him to get on his horse and retreat.
Li Shimin no longer hesitated and crossed the clearing on horseback. Liu Hongji and the team members followed. At the same time, the pursuers had appeared and were heading towards them quickly.
The team member who lit the fire had to seize the opportunity. If he lit the fire now, it would blow up the rocks and naturally block the pursuers. If the explosions continued, the gunpowder bombs would only serve to scare the pursuers.
You can only wait until the pursuers get closer before lighting a fire. This way, even if the rocks are blown up, you can still cause casualties to them.
The team member lit the fuse when the pursuers were still three to four hundred paces away from him, then jumped on his horse and retreated recklessly.
Sparks from the fuse flashed, detonating the gunpowder bombs in the hole just as the pursuers arrived. The ground cracked with a muffled sound, followed by dust, and countless black dots shot toward the pursuers.
It's a pity that the rocks were not broken, and only a charred black pit of more than ten square meters appeared on the ground.
Because it was a directional blast, the killing direction was right at the pursuer, and the dozen or so pursuers in front were hit head-on by the thin nails in the gunpowder bombs.
Those who were lucky died immediately without suffering, while those who were unlucky suffered injuries to their cheeks or limbs. As the injured horse fell down, the leg bones were broken by the horse, and they kept wailing...
The team member who started the fire had already caught up with Li Shimin and the others and quickly withdrew towards Qinzhou.
Will the pursuers who have suffered several losses still risk their lives to catch up? Li Shimin is not sure. Does Xue Ju really want to capture Qinzhou regardless of the cost?
The Western Turks should have received news of his journey south. His home base of Lanzhou is in danger of being surrounded at any time. Does he really not care about Lanzhou anymore?
Li Shimin knew the answer after he returned to Qinzhou City. The five newly sent third-generation team members there sent battle reports. After reading them, Li Shimin knew why Xue Ju wanted to attack Qinzhou fiercely.
Sure enough, something big happened in his hometown. It was not a siege by the Western Turks, it was even more serious than this.