Ask the mountains and rivers

Chapter 399 War (Part Two)

In matters of war, it's impossible to say who is right and who is wrong.

Concerned for the people and filled with fervent patriotism, Meng Liulang was eager to lead his troops in an attack. Li Chi, however, insisted on defending the city, unwilling to fight a stronger enemy with a weaker force, and wanted to preserve his strength to await reinforcements for a combined assault.

Who was wrong? No one was wrong. It was just that the leaders had different personalities, one radical and the other conservative.

Meng Liulang brought several days' worth of dry rations and led the Beiping army out of the city.

Li Chi stood atop the city wall, watching the Beiping army march away, his face grim, his thoughts unreadable. A personal guard beside him whispered, "General Li, if General Meng wins this battle, I fear we'll find it increasingly difficult to hold our heads high in front of the Beiping army."

Li Chi gave a self-deprecating twitch at the corner of his mouth: "We were never as good as the Beiping Army. Back then, when the Beiping Army went to the capital to defend the emperor, my uncle took the opportunity to establish his own independent regime. From then on, the Liaoxi Army lost its loyalty and courage. In the following years, they suffered repeated defeats against the Xiongnu barbarians and only knew how to oppress and plunder the common people and wealthy households. They were rotten to the core."

"If it weren't for General Pei leading a large army to reinforce us last year, you and I would have been killed by the Xiongnu barbarians long ago."

"I am grateful to and respect General Pei, and I also want to preserve the old foundation of the Liaoxi Army. For this reason, I even committed the heinous crime of murdering my uncle..."

The guard's mouth went dry from listening: "General! You can't say things like that!"

"What if I don't say anything?" Li Chi finally turned his head, his gaze complicated. "If I don't say anything, can I deceive myself and pretend that this never happened? Can I silence the gossip? Who in the North doesn't know that I, Li Chi, am a ruthless and treacherous villain who would do anything to survive?"

“Even that brute Lü Feng dared to laugh at me to my face.”

The guards quickly comforted him, saying, "Lu Feng has done plenty of disobedient things too. He imprisoned his own father, seized military power, and massacred the army. What right does he have to ridicule the general?"

Li Chi forced a bitter smile: "Let's not talk about these long-winded nonsense. In the end, the heated argument between Meng Liulang and me was due to my own selfishness. I couldn't bear to throw all these soldiers away, nor did I have the courage to fight the Xiongnu barbarians to the death. We've just suffered too many and too bad defeats, and we've lost our confidence and fighting spirit."

So how can the Liaoxi Army and the Beiping Army be compared?

In terms of commander alone, he was far inferior to Meng Liulang.

Li Chi was unusually gloomy and depressed, and no matter how his personal guards tried to cheer him up, he couldn't bring himself to smile.

The guard was also helpless. After thinking for a moment, he said, "The Guangning Army and the Fanyang Army have both led troops to reinforce us. However, General Pei, who was originally scheduled to hold his enthronement ceremony in Yan County in May, may not come."

Li Chi understood. For a military general to rise up in a chaotic world and ultimately seize power and sit on the throne—what a triumphant and glorious achievement! The arrival of reinforcements from the Beiping Army, the Guangning Army, and the Fanyang Army was already excellent.

"General!" Another personal guard rushed over, his face full of excitement and his voice trembling: "General Pei has personally led 40,000 troops from Jizhou to reinforce us."

Li Chi's mind went blank for a moment. He subconsciously reached out and snatched the letter from the guard's hand, quickly opening it. For some reason, his hand trembled slightly.

Pei Qinghe's letter was concise, consisting of only one short sentence.

Hold Liaoxi City and await the army's rescue.

The personal guard's voice echoed in his ears: "The messenger said that the army is on its way and will arrive soon. General, please hold the city and wait for reinforcements!"

"General Pei even disregarded the coronation ceremony in May and led his troops directly to rescue us. General, from now on we will wholeheartedly follow General Pei to conquer the world."

You treat me as a national hero, how can I not repay you as a national hero?
Li Chi's eyes glistened with tears, slightly red, but his expression quickly regained its composure: "Pass on my order. I will lead four thousand elite troops to quickly catch up with the Beiping army and launch an attack together. The remaining four thousand-plus will stay behind to defend the city." His two personal guards were invigorated and loudly accepted the order!
When Li Chi issued the order, the soldiers in the camp reacted differently.

Some veterans of the Liaoxi Army had their spines broken by the Xiongnu barbarians long ago, and the mere mention of the words "Xiongnu barbarians" filled them with fear.

The new recruits, who had been conscripted and trained for a year, were all eager to fight. Most of them were local people with blood feuds with the Xiongnu barbarians, who had caused the destruction of their families. Now that they had the opportunity to take the initiative and fight the Xiongnu barbarians, they were all willing to go.

There were also three thousand prisoners of war brought back from Bohai Commandery. They had never fought against the Xiongnu barbarians before and did not know how ferocious and powerful they were. Some of them were willing to go.

Li Chi personally selected his troops, choosing mostly young, brave, and daring men. He also brought enough rations for ten days. There weren't enough warhorses, so he gathered over a thousand cavalry and another two thousand infantry.

Li Chi selected a steady and reliable veteran general and ordered him to lead the troops to defend the city. He himself led four thousand elite soldiers out of the city.

They marched at breakneck speed for two days, but failed to catch up with the Xiongnu barbarians. However, they did manage to rescue many of the routed and wounded soldiers of the Beiping army.

“We’ve been tracking the Xiongnu barbarians all the way, and we fought a battle during the day, with both sides suffering casualties,” a wounded soldier said intermittently. “General, continue the pursuit. We are too wounded to fight anymore, so we are preparing to retreat back to Liaoxi City.”

Li Chi's expression was grave. He sent men to escort the wounded soldiers back to the city. With accurate location information, a day and a half later, Li Chi's reinforcements arrived at a chaotic battle.

War scenes are always bloody and cruel, with limbs and bones everywhere, and blood almost staining the land red.

The soldiers from the north were bloodthirsty, roaring and fighting desperately.

The Xiongnu barbarians were locked in fierce fighting and unable to stop the effective cavalry charge. Many were even forced off their horses to engage in close combat.

Such battles are extremely dangerous. If you kill me, I will kill you, and there are even fierce battles where both sides perish.

In fact, Meng Liulang had also reached his limit. He led his troops into a brutal battle between cavalry and infantry. Initially, the casualties were heavy, but fortunately, they did not collapse, withstood the enormous losses, and held the cavalry force firmly.

"Kill!"

The familiar Pei-character flag fluttered in the air, and Li Chi's fierce roar sounded particularly pleasing to the ear at this moment.

Meng Liulang secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He had originally thought he would die on the battlefield today, but with reinforcements, he could win this battle and boost morale.

With the addition of four thousand fresh troops, the tide of battle quickly turned.

Even dismounted Xiongnu cavalrymen are still human. Their advantage in combat strength isn't that significant. The Beiping and Liaoxi armies have greater numbers, allowing them to fight two against one, or even three or four against one.

As the Xiongnu barbarians fell one after another, victory was assured!

Li Chi finally charged to Meng Liulang's side: "I'm leading the troops to fight the enemy. You're injured, so go and apply medicine to treat your wounds first."

Meng Liulang stopped his angry outburst and obediently gave an "oh." He stepped back several meters and, surrounded by a dozen or so guards, hurriedly applied medicine and bandaged his wound.

Xiao Mo, a bodyguard who had followed Meng Liulang for over a decade, whispered, "I never expected Li Chi to actually catch up."

(End of this chapter)