History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 369 Zhao Zhi Kills the Barbarians

Jingzhou.

After Zhao Zhi led the Wei army into Luyang County, they learned that there were two large barbarian tribes in the area, whose leaders were Liu Beixi and Lu Beiyan respectively.

They incited countless small and medium-sized tribes to defect to the Great Wei, attempting to cross Nanyang County and migrate south.

Zhao Zhi dared not linger and ordered the troops to continue south, heading towards Beiyu County in the southern border of Jingzhou.

Beiyu County has become a hell of evil spirits.

The people suffering from hunger and cold due to the barbarian rebellion were emaciated, even worse off than the beggars of Sili. When the refugees saw the Wei army's grain carts, the lone fleeing people immediately rushed forward to grab the grain, and the desperate ones even tore at the grain inside the sacks, while those with families knelt by the roadside, kowtowing and begging.

The Wei soldiers guarding the cart showed no mercy, hacking and slashing at men, women, and children alike!

Suddenly, groups of barbarians appeared in the mountains on both sides, clearly having laid an ambush and using the civilians on the road as bait to slow down the Wei army's advance.

They shouted and brandished all sorts of homemade weapons as they charged at the Wei soldiers; those without weapons threw stones and mud.

The swarming bandits had a very clear objective: to attack only the grain carts, each with their own role. Some engaged the Wei soldiers, some wounded only the horses, some smashed the carts and untied the ropes, and the rest looted the grain.

"Tick, tick, tick, tick..."

The four military officers wielding lances descended like gods; not only were they exceptionally tall and strong, but their mounts were as well.

The killing intent was palpable even before the men and horses approached!
They swung their lances with all their might, smashing them at the barbarian bandits.

With each strike, the spear shaft made of mulberry wood caused the barbarian's internal organs to shift and his tendons and bones to break!
Seeing that the situation was not good, the six bandit leaders who had been hiding in the bushes immediately split up and fled in different directions.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...

Six crossbow bolts burst into the cold wind, swiftly striking from a distance and piercing the vitals of the six bandit leaders!

These six archers were all female warriors from the Mulan Camp!
Then, soldiers who ran swiftly cut off the heads of the six bandit leaders, which was to be counted as a merit in the battle.

With the bandit leader dead, the bandits dared not cause any more trouble and scattered like birds and beasts in an instant.

Zhao Zhi did not order her subordinates to kill them all, because in this world, even the kindest person could be driven to become a traitor.

"Move forward quickly!"

Zhao Zhi gave another order: once Wei Shi had passed this section of the road, the road was littered with corpses, and the survivors were crying and wailing, waiting for the next group of bandits to take them in.

Beiyu County was more than a hundred li away from the besieged Huyang County. The soldiers could march quickly, but the warhorses could not. When the army was resting briefly again, the military officer brought several families of fleeing barbarians to see Zhao Zhi.

"General, these barbarian families came from the northeast."

They fled in the opposite direction from the other fleeing barbarians!

Logically, these people would likely go to Huyang County, where bandits gathered, to join the rebels, but the other party was either old or young, and joining the rebels would be tantamount to suicide.

When Zhao Zhi went on this expedition, the court gave her several minor officials who were fluent in the language of the barbarians. Zhao Zhi asked the officials to inquire about the refugees. A middle-aged barbarian looked worried and gestured as he spoke. The officials interrupted him from time to time and translated for Zhao Zhi: "He said... they were originally barbarians from Luyang County. Last year, their small tribe was swallowed up by a large tribe, and their lives became more difficult. So they believed the rumor that a barbarian tribe in Dongjingzhou was taking in barbarians and giving them land and food."

"As a result, after they went to the vicinity of Longshan, they witnessed firsthand the local savages robbing and killing, taking strong laborers into the deep mountains, and slaughtering the weak as livestock."

"So they fled back. But their hometown of Luyang was full of dead people and empty houses, with no food. Fearing disease, they followed the direction the barbarians were heading, asking around as they went. When they got here, they heard that the Great Wei would not allow barbarians to live in Jingzhou. They could find a new place to live if they crossed Nanyang County and Xinye County."

“They had experienced a lot along the way and dared not believe any rumors. He said he knew we were wearing Wei Shi armor and that we didn’t kill anyone we saw or rob women on the road. So he mustered up his courage and wanted to ask us for the truth.”

Zhao Zhi: "Tell them that the truth is that the barbarians are colluding with each other and intend to rebel. The Wei army will only kill the rebels and not the innocent barbarian civilians. If they want to live, they should go to Luoyang."

Luoyang lacked laborers, and although the work was hard and tiring, the refugees received rations and warm clothes, which at least allowed them to survive the winter.

In chaotic times, human life is as fragile as duckweed. Zhao Zhi had no time to distinguish whether these families were genuine civilians or spies. All she could do was convey their account of the situation in Dongjingzhou to Luoyang.

"Keep going!" Upon entering Nanyang County, the road was filled with the stench of corpses. Many of the bodies were incomplete, and even the most hardened heart would find it extremely tragic.

Zhao Zhi ordered the troops to set up camp and bury all the corpses they could see. As evening fell, the soldiers dug stoves and lit fires. The quiet hills in the distance and the tender wild grass nearby gradually became menacing in the darkness after sunset.

The night wind rustled the grass, and the barbarian bandits who were raiding the camp crept stealthily through the grass, quickly approaching Wei's camp.

The bandits anxiously awaited the order to raid the camp. The lingering aroma of cooking food in Wei's camp was carried by the wind, and they couldn't help but sniff it hard, thinking it was an infestation of rats.

"It smells delicious! They even brought meat with them when they went to war?"

"We have to add mud to our millet."

"But we are weak and powerless, how can we defeat the Wei army?"

"We have to fight even if we can't win. The leader said that whoever gets tonight whatever we manage to steal is ours."

At this moment, a soldier in the Wei army camp accidentally knocked over a brazier, and a fire broke out in a tent. Most of the soldiers shouted and yelled, but few actually put in any effort to put out the fire. In the chaos, the tent could not be saved in time.

The military officer was furious. He ordered the soldiers who had made the mistake to line up and was loudly reprimanding them. The wind blew the tents whose flames had not been completely extinguished, and the tents behind them were also caught in the blast and began to catch fire as well.

This delighted the bandits hiding in the grass.

"Which idiot did the Wei Emperor send to lead the army? Haha, he burned down his own camp!"

"It's true what they say: one stupid soldier leads to a whole brood of stupid generals."

"What am I afraid of Master Wei, who can't even put out a fire? If you ask me, we don't need to wait, we should just charge into their camp. We'll probably scare half of them to death!"

"Yes, let's raid the camp now, I can't wait."

"I can't wait either."

"Let's raid the camp! Let's raid the camp!"

The whistling sound of animal bones suddenly rose from the darkness, and shouts of battle from near and far surrounded Zhao Zhi's military camp.

Crackle, crackle...

The barbarian bandits' first probing attack involved firing slingshots into the camp. The slingshots were homemade, and the projectiles were stones. When the Wei soldiers, hidden in the tents, suddenly appeared in shield formation, a clever bandit shouted, "Trap! Retreat!"

"We've been tricked! Get out of here!"

late!

The shouting bandits were the first to be spotted and shot dead by the Wei army's archers.

"Charge!" Zhao Zhi leaped out of the shield formation, swinging her lance and charging ahead. She was already a skilled jumper, and now, using the long shaft of her lance as support, she leaped again, and in the blink of an eye, she had charged into the ranks of the barbarian bandits.

"Whoosh—" With a swing of the lance, the sound of the wind rising up was like the howl of a tiger.

"Snapped!"

"boom!"

A spear with a blade as long as a sword, when it strikes a person, will surely cut them to death and splatter blood!

"What kind of weapon is this? We can't withstand it! Run, run!"

When the soldiers rushed out of the camp to kill the barbarian bandits, Zhao Zhi had killed at least ten people. After all these years, she was finally able to return to the battlefield, awakening the bloodlust within her!

"Dare to betray my Great Wei? Kill!"

Upon hearing the General of the Eastern Garrison's furious shout, the surrounding military officers and soldiers were all filled with righteous indignation and couldn't help but shout back, "Dare to betray our Great Wei? Kill him!"