Flourishing of the Ming Dynasty Novel - Chapter 85

Chapter 85 Bear a Heavy Burden on One’s Shoulders
The impact of Huo Jie’s sudden battle was even more powerful than Liu Yi’s serious injuries just now, because his death was too strange. Everyone watched as all of this happened. They originally thought that he could not be hit, but in the end …

In an instant, the walls of Guangling North City fell into a strange silence. Not only were the people stunned on the spot, even the Ming army stopped in surprise. They looked at Huojie who had died against the wall with strange gazes. There were also people who carefully looked at Lu Zhen. How could this young official, who was not strong, be so capable? At this moment, it was as if the city wall had returned to the moment when Lu Zhen had assassinated the Fire Knot, and everything had temporarily stopped.

Lu Zhen’s heart was beating fast, something was flipping between his chest and abdomen, as if he would vomit at any moment. The feeling of killing was really not good. Even though he had killed more than one person on the grassland, this was the first time he had killed someone face-to-face on his own initiative. Huo Jie’s eyes, which were still wide open and unwilling to die, were still staring at him, causing him to feel a chill in his vest.

Suddenly, a voice sounded in Lu Zhen’s heart, “Now is not the time to feel guilty. The battle is far from over!” This voice caused him to suddenly wake up. Then, he forcefully pulled out his hand and pulled the saber out of the body of Huojie. Then, he held the saber and pointed out of the city. He shouted loudly,

“Great Ming’s soldiers, protect the people and kill the enemy! Kill the enemy, Wei Country! Kill!” With this roar, Lu Zhen used up all of his strength. His voice was so loud that the Ming army fighting at the two city gates heard him and let out roars as if they agreed.

This thunderous roar echoed in the ears of all the Ming soldiers on the northern city walls, pulling them back from their shock. Everyone’s expressions changed as they shouted, “Protect the people and kill the enemy! Kill the enemy and defend the country!”

If it hadn’t been for Lu Zhen’s earth-shattering assassination of Huojie just now, his shout might not have infected these Ming army soldiers, because he was only a civil servant after all, and there was a natural barrier between him and the soldiers. But now, the situation was completely different. His roar was actually echoed by everyone. Under the circumstances where Liu Yi’s life and death were unknown, County Magistrate Lu had become the backbone of these people. His words were the confidence that encouraged them to continue fighting!

Along with this shout, all the Ming army’s eyes turned blood red. They waved their weapons in their hands with killing intent and pounced fiercely towards the Meng people in front of them like ferocious beasts. The weapons in their hands were the sharp claws of the ferocious beasts.

The battle resumed, but this time, the situation had completely reversed. The Meng people’s morale was shaken because of the death of Huojie. With this and that, they were unable to resist the ferocious attack of the Ming army. In an instant, the Meng people in the city were stabbed down one by one and pushed back continuously by the Ming army. In the end, some people jumped off the city wall in fear.

Although some Meng people were still climbing towards the city, their movements had obviously slowed down. As the number of Meng people who had ascended the city walls had decreased sharply, they had become extremely passive and dangerous outside the city.

Military morale was an extremely strange thing. It could not be seen or touched, but it did exist. It could easily change the direction of a battle. Just like this battle at Guang Ling City, with the sudden reversal of the morale of the army, the result changed.

The Meng people who had already established their footing on the city wall were killed because of the death of Huojie and were constantly squeezed. In the end, they completely lost the foothold that they had worked so hard to reach. As a result, the follow-up troops were rendered helpless. In the end, they could only continue to die under the saber of the Ming army.

When he saw this strange scene, Yu Tai almost couldn’t believe his eyes. The rage in his heart was even more intense. He clearly had an absolute advantage. The city was destroyed overnight, but in the end, he was defeated by the collapsing Ming army. This was also an extremely serious blow to him.

But no matter how strong he was, he knew that today’s battle was no longer sustainable. The morale of the army had already fallen to the bottom, and the casualties of the army were even greater. In addition, the sky had already darkened. Continuing to forcefully order the siege would only cause more people to be buried under the hands of the Ming army. Finally, his rationality suppressed his anger. He closed his eyes and lowered his head to order, “Retreat!”

The desolate horn sounded again. Unlike the long and powerful voice before, this time it was two short horns, followed by a long, sighing trombone.

Meng Ren, who was still bravely rushing forward, immediately let out a long sigh of relief, because this was a sign of withdrawal. Without any hesitation, these people immediately turned around and retreated. The Meng people hanging on the city wall also hurriedly descended, afraid that they would stay here if they slowed down.

It was as if there was always a tide rising and falling. The Mongol army’s imposing attack finally retreated, leaving behind only a trail of wounds and corpses at the gates of the city walls. There were also the remaining dozens of Mongol people who had no time to escape from the city walls.

The fate of these people was self-evident. The furious Ming army would not allow them to continue living. They rushed forward and killed all the remaining Meng people with a single strike of their swords and spears.

At this time, the last glow of the setting sun had already disappeared, and the red of the sunset and the red stained with the blood of the city wall seemed to have completely merged into one. Today’s battle finally ended with a tragic victory for the Ming army.

@ @ @ @

Looking at Meng Ren who had retreated in a hurry, Lu Zhen felt a burst of shortness of breath in his heart, and his legs became even weaker, causing him to shake and fall.

After experiencing this battle, not only did the situation rise and fall, but he also personally killed an enemy general, causing him to feel a burst of excitement and collapse. Under the sudden pressure, one couldn’t stand firmly anymore.

At this time, a pair of hands held him in time, “Sir, please be careful!” It was Lin Lie who saw through his inappropriateness and immediately took action.

At the same time, all the soldiers of the Ming army also cast their gazes at him, burning with fervor and reverence … Their gazes flickered with a heart-shaking light, looking at Lu Zhen like they were looking at a deity or a savior.

Someone suddenly knelt down on one knee, “Greetings, County Magistrate Lu!”

Following this, everyone in the city bowed to Lu Zhen, “Greetings, County Magistrate Lu. Lord, we have finally won!”

This sentence made Lu Zhen feel the weight on his shoulders. He could tell that these people had taken him as their backbone. Because of this battle, he, a weak scholar, had actually become the backbone that they could rely on!

However, he clearly did not have the heart to feel this strange feeling. Instead, he quickly turned to look at Liu Yi on the other side and said, “Quick, go and see how Boss Liu’s injuries are!”

Everyone woke up and hurriedly went forward, only to discover that Liu Yi had completely lost consciousness because he had lost too much blood. The only good thing was that he still had one breath left and hadn’t completely died yet.

Lu Zhen exhaled heavily. He knew that he had to shoulder this important task this time. After discovering this result, everyone looked at him and waited for his next instructions. Even Wang Bing and Dai Zhang, who had rushed over from the east and west gates, looked at him eagerly.

This was the limitation of the Great Ming army. Once the general was seriously injured or killed in battle, no one would be able to take over. Therefore, the outcome of a battle was often related to the general’s ability. This Guang Ling’s battalion of five hundred people was the same, as were the hundred thousand troops.

Fortunately, Lu Zhen suddenly attacked from the side this time, reforming the fighting spirit of the entire army. Otherwise, at the same time that Liu Yi fell, the Ming army would collapse completely, and Guang Ling would also be completely defeated.

“Let’s rest on the spot for now and throw Dazi’s corpses down the city. The corpses of our brothers in the army can be easily restrained. Let’s send them down the city first.” Lu Zhen gave his first order after replacing Liu Yi.

“Yes!” The soldiers agreed and immediately began to move.

Those masked corpses were thrown down from the city wall like gunny bags. Some survivors were also ruthlessly stabbed into their chests before being thrown out of the city.

Lu Zhen did not react to this scene at all. After experiencing the fierce battle just now, who would pity these enemies? If the outcome was different, the Mongols would probably be even more ferocious than the Ming army, and even the innocent civilians in the city would be slaughtered.

Lu Zhen only swept his gaze over the dying Meng people before withdrawing his gaze. He then ordered, “Send the injured brother and Liu back to the city and let the doctors in the medical center treat them.”

“Yes.” Only then did these careless soldiers recall the aftermath, hurriedly lifting up Liu Yi and the others, and hurriedly rushing down.

“Also” Lu Zhen looked at the team of less than three hundred people left in the city. If the Mongols attacked the city again tomorrow, could this little troop withstand the wave after wave of attacks? Lu Zhen was not confident about this. Although he had already gained the hearts of the Ming army soldiers, he did not know how to command the army to defend the city.

After pondering for a while, he said under the gaze of the soldiers, “Go to the county government to find Shen Zhubu and Hou Xiancheng, and ask them to recruit the strong and young men in the city to defend my home together in the name of the county government.” Although ordinary civilians weren’t very useful on the battlefield, it was always good to have more people.

Everyone accepted the order again and hurriedly ran down the city.

As for Lu Zhen, he staggered to the city wall and looked into the distance at the Mongol army camp, which was gradually losing sight of the specific situation. A helpless bitter smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, “The burden of a thousand jin has fallen on my shoulders. The lives of so many civilians and soldiers are decided by me alone. Can I really defend Guanling City?”

Hearing the continuous thud of heavy objects falling to the ground from below the city, Lu Zhen let out a long breath and told himself, “Even if I can’t catch them, I can only do my best to hold on for a moment. I only hope that the reinforcements around me can arrive as soon as possible. This Guang Ling small city won’t be able to hold on for too long …”

However, would the reinforcements arrive in time as he had hoped?