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Chapter 259 Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
In less than two days, over 200, 000 refugees had gathered at the roads along Songjiang, engaging in a standoff with the soldiers who were in their way. They included nobles, families, soldiers, and civilians who had escaped from the ravaged southwest regions.
As the roadblocks had been destroyed, the army of 20, 000 soldiers could not stop the crowd from surging forward. A vice-general stood in front of the team, shouting hoarsely in a loud voice as he ordered the people to turn back and fight. However, no one paid attention to him. Wei Shuye rode on his horse as he looked on at the people passing by him.
After everyone had left, only a group of about ten boys remained. Some of them looked 14 or 15 years old, while some of them looked 11 or 12. They approached the vice-general timidly as they raised their hands, saying that they were willing to join the army. The vice-general was shocked as he realized that his words had proved not to be useless. He asked the boys for their reasons in joining the army. Was it that they knew how to defend their country in times of need? However, the children stated that their rations had been stolen by the fleeing soldiers in front of them. They had been forced into a dead end.
The army of 20, 000 soldiers fell into silence in front of this group of children.
Wei Shuye ordered his troops to give them dry rations and clean water, as he watched them run off in joy.
It was even more chaotic after he had entered the southwestern borders. There were no traces of human beings as they passed by a ghost town; only the sounds of their own heavy footsteps were audible. When they reached a small square in that town, they were stunned. Tens of male corpses were hung on a big elm tree; mountains of burnt corpses over two human beings tall were piled up on the ground. In addition, lots of female corpses were found as well; it was evident how cruelly they had been tortured to death.
The entire army fell into silence once again. they were seasoned war veterans who had killed many people in their lives. However, at this moment, some of them started to weep quietly. As soldiers, if they were not able to defend their own country and their own people, what was the meaning in their existence?
Their homes had been destroyed. Their houses had been flattened, while the fertile lands had been turned to wastelands. A picture of prosperity had crumbled to dust as the ghost town lay in front of them. The vibrant life that once populated this town had been turned into lifeless corpses, whose pungent scents attracted hordes of vultures. This was a catastrophic, nightmarish sight.
Wei Shuye was unable to understand why the Yan Bei troops were so brutal. At that moment, he felt immense anger boiling within him as he held his sword tightly in his grasp. As they met with further conflicts subsequently, he began to solve the mystery of his question.
It turned out that the Yan Bei troops were not the first group of soldiers to enter Xia territory. Yan Xun had opened up Baizhi Pass by eliminating a few military camps along the way. Then, he stepped out of Xia territory and occupied the pass. He did not let a single troop into Xia territory but chose to publish a notice to the bandits along the highlands of Yan Bei, the southern wastelands, Helan Mountains, and the deserts along the northwest, telling them to attack Xia as they pleased.
Hence, group after group of bandits infiltrated Xia territory, carrying out their brutal rampages. As they did not hold any sentiments towards this piece of land, only believing passionately in robbing and killing, they carried out every single vile act that could be described without even batting an eyelid. The merciless bloodshed had alarmed the soldiers and noble families there, as they prepared to strike back. However, as they heard of the rumors of the enemy's prowess along the southwest, they gave up their resistance efforts, fleeing together with the civilians. In a few days, the southwest had fallen into Yan Bei's hands, without them even participating in an official battle!
He was a lunatic! Wei Shuye thought to himself as the pungent smell of decomposing corpses wafted into his nostrils. He had opened up the gates of Xia for those demons to enter, turning the southwest into a human hunting ground. His purpose was not to conquer but to sacrifice the lives in Xia to his ancestors back in Yan Bei.
The angered Xia troops finally bumped into a group of troops from Yan Bei in Yangkang City. It was an uphill battle for the Xia troops as 20, 000 of them encountered 30, 000 heavy cavalry troops. However, Wei Shuye's army emerged victorious as they mustered their willpower to fight, from the brink of death. As the Xia troops killed their enemies who had been captured alive, Wei Shuye did not stop them. He had also been looking forward to this in his heart.
He hated those infiltrators. He hated Yan Bei, Yan Xun, and those savage bandits.
However, he hated the royal family more, along with those noble aristocrats who lived their lives in luxury. He hated those higher-ranked soldiers who fled from battle. He hated Zhao Yang, who mobilized the entire Southwestern Army for his own internal conflict. He hated everyone, including himself and his family.
As he tore the letter from his uncle to shreds, his elders had berated him for being crazy. By leading the troops of his household into the southwest, he had been branded a sinner and rebel of the family. However, this time, nothing could stop him, no matter how severely he was reprimanded.
The enemies were threatening the sovereignty of the royal capital. The country was in a state of internal conflict. The nobles were fleeing, while the civilians were crying out for help.
He was a warrior of the royal capital. He would not retreat, no matter what.
After the battle at Yangkang City, his army had finally caught the attention of Yan Bei. In less than two days, close to 70, 000 troops had surrounded them. After fighting non-stop for one day and one night, they were on the brink of exhaustion.
They had run out of arrows, medicine, and rations, while their swords and spears had been dented. The soldiers had not had a good night's sleep in a long time. Many a time, they had managed to actually fall asleep while fighting, only to be brought back to reality as they were awakened by fits of acute pain.
As the sun rose again, Wei Shuye looked up towards the sky and squinted. He told himself: This might be the last sunrise that I see in my life.
As his vice-general, whose face had been scarred, approached him, he shouted in a loud, hoarse voice, "General! We can't hold on anymore! The enemy has sent in three reinforcement squads! Let's retreat quickly!"
Wei Shuye remained silent as he looked at the older man in front of him. He was a comrade who had fought with him all the way from the south to the north. The man had fought more battles than himself, was more well-versed in warfare, was more ferocious in the battlefield, and won over people's hearts easily. This was precisely because he was once an ordinary civilian, unable to be promoted regardless of how much credit he earned. If not for his grooming, the man might have remained as a small section leader.
Perhaps, due to him valuing the man highly, the man remained loyal to him. He fought at the frontline every battle, blocking the arrows and swords for him. However, the man did not know that many a time, he had looked down on people of such status. He had taken them for granted, taking credit for their hard work as he stood behind, waiting for each battle to conclude. How was he different from those aristocrats who fled from battle in cowardice? They had fled for the sake of their own lives, while he, in order to enhance his reputation, ruined the lives of other people.
A complex flurry of emotions suddenly brewed within his heart.
Wei Shuye knew that today was his last battle. There were not going to be any reinforcements, nor any room for victory. Zhao Yang was still engaged in battle with Zhuge Yue; this meant that he would not appear to save him. Wei Shuye also knew that even if Zhao Yang was not at war, he would not have saved him either. They were destined to be abandoned and killed in the chaotic battlefields.
Wei Shuye whipped out his sword, a determined look on his face. He rode forward on his horse and positioned himself in front of his wounded soldiers. He declared, "Warriors, today will be our last battle." As his low voice reverberated around the battlefield, countless bloodied faces looked up towards their commander.
"Soldiers, the enemy has ravaged our land. While everyone is retreating, only all of you are bravely going forward. In less than ten days, all of you have participated in 13 defense battles, 11 guerrilla warfare battles, two head-on battles, and traveled across half the land of Xia. All of you fulfilled your responsibilities as soldiers. The future generations of Xia will honor all of you proudly! Perhaps, we will all die here today. Perhaps, we will all fail, but we will use the swords in our hands to tell those invaders that Xia will not submit. Our passion will continue to burn on. Those that trample on our dignity will pay a heavy price!" As the general delivered his rousing speech, he pointed towards the rapidly approaching enemy forces and hollered, "Long live the royal capital! Long live Xia!"
Thousands of broken swords pointed towards the sky as the soldiers cheered passionately. Wei Shuye rode out of the camp on his horse, shouting as he charged towards the enemy troops with his army of soldiers behind him.
As the cold winds blew past his ear, his eyes ached. He was unable to see anything else as he whipped out his sword. He suddenly found life enlightening. He reminisced his past experiences, all the way back to when he was a young boy growing up under his uncle's guidance, to the times he fought on the battlefield.
"I don't want to be a coward. I don't want to be bound to the rigid ways of life in the royal capital, growing up, aging, and then dying. Someday, I will break free of that cage. I will leave everything behind and use my only life to achieve something big. I don't care if they brand it insignificant. I can tell myself before I die, that I was finally brave for once." He smiled coldly as he whipped out his sword to hack at his enemies, causing blood to splatter around the battlefield.
Along the banks of the Hang river not far out, another general dressed in black watched on coldly as the battle unfolded in front of him. Suddenly, the general ordered, "All of you, get ready."
"Your Highness!" Mu Liao frowned and said, "that's Wei Shuye's household troops. They are loyal to 14th Royal Highness."
The general frowned, turned around, and muttered in a deep voice, "I don't care who they are. I only know that they are our comrades who are defending our country."
Mu Liao was stunned as he replied, "I understand."
The general whipped out his sword and raised it high up in the air."All of you, listen to my orders! Charge!"
"Kill the enemy!"
The army suddenly let out a loud warcry!
"A large group of troops is approaching from the north!"
"They are heading towards us at full speed!"
"We can't tell whether they are friend or foe! It looks like they have over 100, 000 people!"
Swiftly, everyone's attention turned towards the bizarre sight at the northeast.
The leader of the pack was dressed in a green cloak as he galloped forward on his warhorse. As a large cloud of dust had been stirred up, the opposition's numbers were not known. The horses surged forward like waves, coloring the sky yellow with the dust that they stirred up.
| ← Ch. 258 | Ch. 260 → |