Frontier Hero: From Receiving a Convicted Woman to Becoming an Emperor for All Time

Seeing the barbarian soldiers swarming in, the men did not stop what they were doing, their eyes burning with fighting spirit.

Behind them, a dozen catapults twisted and collapsed in the flames, their massive arms, trailing sparks, crashing into the snow with deafening roars.

"Be careful, sir!"

An old soldier beside him shouted.

Zhao Hongyuan cleaved a charging barbarian soldier in two with a single stroke, blood splattering on his face, but he didn't even blink.

"Don't worry about me, run towards the city gate!"

"General, what about you?"

"That's an order, get out of here!"

Zhao Hongyuan kicked the old soldier aside, but took a step in the opposite direction himself.

He glanced back at the burning catapult position behind him, the firelight reflecting off his weathered face and making it appear red.

Worth it.

What kind of skill is it to hide in a military camp and scheme? Does that deserve the title of soldier? If you want to scheme, go to the imperial court and argue with those who only know the phrase "Why don't they eat meat porridge?"

But this is the border.

He is a border soldier!

The only fate for border soldiers is to die on the battlefield, wrapped in horsehide, to be worthy of the armor they wear!

Zhao Hongyuan suddenly burst into laughter, his voice booming like a bell.

"After fighting alongside me for so many years, was this trip worth it?"

"We swear to follow Lord Zhao to the death!"

"We swear to follow Lord Zhao to the death!"

"We swear to follow Lord Zhao to the death!"

Of the twenty-three veterans, only nineteen are still standing; the other four have fallen in the snow, some still struggling, others motionless.

But none of the nineteen people standing there retreated.

They held their knives across their chests, back to back, forming a circle.

Zhao Hongyuan stood in the very center.

"Then let's kill another round!"

He pointed the knife forward, its blade still dripping with blood, gleaming a dark red in the firelight.

"Great Jing Border Troops, heed my command! Charge with me!"

Then they rushed up.

Instead of running towards the city gate, they charged towards the area where the barbarian soldiers were most concentrated.

Because Zhao Hongyuan knew very well that they couldn't escape.

However, if we attack in the opposite direction, we can attract all the attention of the barbarian soldiers and buy more time for those brothers running towards the city gate.

A few breaths will suffice.

An old soldier was struck by three curved blades at the same time. He did not fall, but instead held tightly to the waist of one of the barbarian soldiers. With his last strength, he plunged the blade into the man's stomach, and the two of them fell to the ground in the snow.

Another old soldier had his arm cut off, so he used his remaining hand to throw the knife, which hit a barbarian soldier right in the face, and then he was hacked down by the flurry of blows.

Zhao Hongyuan was covered in blood, and he could no longer distinguish which parts were his own and which were the enemy's.

His knife was already dulled, and now he was basically using the back of the blade to smash, each blow accompanied by the sound of bones cracking.

A barbarian soldier attacked him from behind, slashing him across the shoulder blade, the blow so deep that bone was visible.

Zhao Hongyuan grunted and slammed his elbow into the man's face, the sound of his nose breaking clearly audible.

He had lost count of how many he had killed.

Ten? Twenty?

At this moment, the barbarian forces besieging them were thrown into disarray, and shouts of battle came from afar.

Zhao Hongyuan suddenly looked up.

A young man in white rode up on horseback, carrying a long sword on his back and wielding a long saber to slash at the enemy.

"Shen Qiao!"

Zhao Hongyuan's pupils contracted, and behind Shen Qiao were Tie Niu and a troop of cavalry. Although there were only a few dozen riders, at this moment, these few dozen riders were like gods descended from the sky.

Shen Qiao took the lead and directly cut down the two barbarian soldiers blocking the front.

Tie Niu went completely mad, swinging his two battle axes with tremendous force, and wherever he went, barbarian soldiers fell to the ground.

"Zhao Hongyuan!"

Shen Qiao's voice traveled across the battlefield and clearly reached Zhao Hongyuan's ears.

Hang in there!

Upon hearing this, Zhao Hongyuan suddenly laughed.

I laughed until tears streamed down my face.

This was the first time in his life he had felt so exhilarated.

"Shen Qiao!"

"You're too late! I've almost killed them all!"

Shen Qiao felt a lump in her throat when she heard this.

He fought his way through the encirclement, grabbed Zhao Hongyuan's arm, and pulled him onto the horse.

Zhao Hongyuan was covered in blood, and half of his body was almost numb, but he still gripped the chipped knife tightly and refused to let go.

"Retreat! Retreat now!"

At his command, Tie Niu led his men to pull the surviving veterans onto their horses one by one and charge toward the city gate.

The barbarian soldiers realized what was happening and tried to give chase, but the cavalry brought by Shen Qiao blocked their path from behind. Rolling logs and boulders rained down from the city walls, completely blocking the pursuers' way.

Once the last old soldier was pulled through the city gate, the iron gate slammed shut.

Shen Qiao dismounted, and Zhao Hongyuan slid off the horse and knelt directly on the ground.

It wasn't because of the pain, but because my legs couldn't support me anymore.

Shen Chuxiao squatted down and looked at him.

Zhao Hongyuan raised his head, his face covered in blood, but his eyes were frighteningly bright.

"I have fulfilled my mission!"

Shen Chuxiao didn't say anything, but simply reached out and pulled him up from the ground.

Zhao Hongyuan leaned against the city wall, catching his breath for a while, and suddenly asked:

"How many of my brothers... managed to escape?"

Shen Chuxiao remained silent for a moment.

Seven.

Zhao Hongyuan closed his eyes.

Shen Chuxiao patted his shoulder without saying anything.

On the city wall, the soldiers watching this scene had tears in their eyes.

The only regret was that the catapults were not completely destroyed, but after this sneak attack, most of them were lost. As the fire spread in the rear, the barbarians had no choice but to order a retreat, shrinking back to three miles away once again.

now,

The barbarian camp was deathly silent in the central command tent.

Wochijin sat behind the table, with a group of disheveled barbarian soldiers kneeling in front of him, each one not daring to breathe and with their heads bowed low.

After listening to the report, he remained silent for a long time.

Of the twelve catapults, seven were destroyed, and the remaining five were damaged to varying degrees and could not be repaired in a short time.

The catapult was part of his scheme.

He had calculated that the people of Ling Shuang Pass would not sit still and would definitely send someone to burn it.

They also believed that three hundred people surrounding them would be more than enough.

But he hadn't anticipated that the people who came would be so tough.

"Isn't it supposed to be the most elite squad?"

Wochijin looked at the soldiers kneeling on the ground with a gloomy expression.

"Do you guys just freeload all day?"

Seeing that no one responded, he changed the subject and asked, "What's the name of the one leading the team?"

"His name is Zhao Hongyuan, the former garrison commander of Lingshuang Pass."

Wochijin nodded, picked up the bowl of mare's milk wine, and drank it all in one gulp.

"There are still people like this in Dajing."

He put down his bowl and glanced at the soldiers kneeling on the ground.

"Get out of here, all of you. Consider this a lesson learned. Don't think you can win just because you outnumber people. You're all missing something."

Seeing the soldiers scrambling and crawling, he couldn't help but sigh.

He traveled to Dajing when he was young and even went to the capital to study under a teacher.

The teacher was a scholar, thin and small, who spoke slowly and deliberately, but he asked him a question that I still remember to this day.

"The grasslands are so vast, and the barbarian cavalry and archery are unparalleled, so why can't they ever defeat the Great Jing?"

He was young and impetuous at the time and couldn't answer. He only felt that the people of Dajing were numerous and scheming.

The teacher smiled, neither saying it was right nor wrong.

Tonight, Zhao Hongyuan dared to lead twenty-four men, knowing full well that they were doomed, to launch a sneak attack without hesitation.

It's not because they're not afraid of death, but because they feel there are things more important than death.

"The kind of thing that's scarce..."

……

Ling Shuang Pass.

Shen Chuxiao stood at the breach in the city wall, the acrid smell of burning flesh carried into the city by the north wind. He gazed at the scattered catapult wreckage on the snowfield, and a cold smile finally appeared in his eyes.

After a while, he turned around and glanced at the figures still standing tall in the cold wind on the city wall.

The young faces were blackened by the smoke of battle, but their eyes shone with a fire unlike any they had ever seen before—not fear, but bloodlust, a resolute determination that was only right.

He placed his hand on his sword and faced the entire army.

"If they want to fight, we'll fight with them!"