The First Family of the Red Mansion

Chapter 20 Charging into Battle and Breaking Through the Enemy's Formation

As the deep sound of horns echoed from outside the city, the Oirat people began to organize a new round of siege.

Amidst the listless battle cries of the Western Region people and the furious roars of the Oirat people, Commander Qin, with the few hundred remaining defenders on the city wall, actually managed to withstand the Oirat attack.

"It seems that the annihilation of the elite Oirat forces in the east has dealt a significant blow to the morale of the enemy in the west."

Liu Hu looked up at the defenders on the city wall, who were methodically repelling the Oirat attack, and his confidence in this charge increased even more.

He gripped the lance tightly in his hand, tightened the reins, and silently gazed into the dark passageway, waiting for the sound of the retreat signal outside.

As the shouts of battle outside the city grew weaker, the roars, which had been fierce at first, became hoarse.

About an hour later, the sound of gongs rang out outside.

Soldiers who had been waiting at the city gate pulled up the heavy gate and removed the bolt. With a creaking and dull sound, the Yangguan city gate, which had been closed for more than half a month, opened for the first time in a long time.

"kill!"

Before the city gate was fully open, Liu Hu, his eyes gleaming coldly and his face filled with murderous intent, raised his lance and charged out through the gate.

"Charge! You Oirat bastards outside the city of Gansi!"

He Qianhu followed closely behind Liu Hu and shouted loudly.

When the retreating enemy troops heard the sound of the city gate, some of them stopped in their tracks and looked curiously toward the source of the sound.

Once the source of the noise was determined, several men dressed clearly as Oirats were overjoyed and prepared to regroup and seize the city gate.

But before they could reorganize, the sound of horses' hooves echoed from within the pass.

Liu Hu took the lead, swinging his lance and knocking away several enemies pushing the ram. The other Zhou cavalry scattered and chased after the Oirat people near the city wall.

The exhausted Oirat soldiers were no match for the well-equipped and well-rested soldiers of the Great Zhou. Caught off guard, the remaining men, seeing the enemy's ferocity, threw down their weapons and cried out:

"Run!"

Although a few Oirat people killed several fleeing Western Region people in an attempt to organize a force to resist.

But the people of the Western Regions did not have the courage to fight to the death; they had lost their guts.

In desperation, the Westerners running ahead also raised their ice blades and charged at the Oirat people who were trying to stop them.

Thus, the three thousand Zhou cavalry, like herding sheep, drove the five or six thousand enemies who had just participated in the siege towards the Oirat army formation.

"Go around to both sides, go around to both sides."

At this moment, in front of the Oirat army, dozens of Oirat generals shouted loudly to their retreating comrades.

But behind him were the ferocious Zhou cavalry. If he took a detour and got caught, wouldn't he die here?

Seeing that the fleeing soldiers ignored orders and stood there waiting for me to charge towards their ranks, the Oirat generals exchanged glances, then their faces hardened. They looked coldly at the group of wailing and crying soldiers and raised their right hands.

"Crunch!"

The Oirat soldiers at the front of the battle line drew their bows and arrows, aiming them at the fleeing soldiers and the Great Zhou army chasing behind them.

Seeing this, a hint of mockery flashed in Liu Hu's eyes, because he saw that among the Oirat army, only less than 10,000 Oirat people carried out the military order without hesitation, while the rest of the Western Region people looked at each other, hesitant for a moment.

"Keep pushing, don't give them a chance to catch their breath."

Liu Hu shouted and sped up a little.

He raised his lance, knocking away several slow-moving fleeing soldiers, and then hurled it at the fleeing soldiers in front of him.

As the shouts and the increasingly rapid hoofbeats rose from behind, the fleeing soldiers, who had already begun to slow down due to the arrows coming from the opposite direction, immediately quickened their pace to escape.

"put!"

Seeing that he could not intimidate the fleeing soldiers, the Oirat general on the opposite side suddenly swung his hand downwards.

However, before the Oirat soldiers could fire their arrows, a commotion suddenly arose from behind their lines.

Those Western Region people who were already hesitant suddenly started rioting when they saw that the Oirat people were really going to kill their own people.

"The Oirat people really don't treat us like human beings. When we were attacking the city, they hid in the back and let us charge forward. Now that they see they can't stop the Great Zhou army, they've turned on their own people. They've rebelled..."

"Titi Amu, Titi Amu is still on the other side, we can't shoot arrows..."

As more and more people from the Western Regions surged to the front lines, even the local officials and commanders dared not stop them, and some even charged forward with them.

They were shrewd men who had already realized that the Oirat people were now in decline and no match for the Great Zhou.

The supply lines have been cut off for more than half a month, and the Oirat people have not yet been able to reopen them. The situation of the main force at the front may be in grave danger.

The annihilation of their elite forces in the east further eroded their confidence in retaking Yangguan.

Moreover, what does the Great Zhou's killing of the Oirats and their Western Region people have to do with it? It's not worth dying along with the Oirats.

As more and more people from the Western Regions rushed to the front lines, the Oirat people immediately panicked.

The Oirat troops who remained behind had very little fighting power. The elite troops had gone to the front lines with their respective leaders, and almost all of those left were old and weak.

Faced with the swarming Western Region people, several Oirat generals immediately realized that their cause was doomed.

"withdraw!"

Seeing the fleeing soldiers getting closer and closer, and with riots breaking out in the rear, the Oirat generals made a quick decision. They led the remaining Oirat people, scattered the Western Region people surging up from behind, and rode westward at full speed.

At this moment, they had already lost. Not only had they completely lost Yangguan, but it also meant that their rule in the Western Regions was beginning to collapse.

Thinking back to the scene of tens of thousands of Western Region people rushing forward, the Oirat generals couldn't help but shudder.

"We must integrate our tribes as soon as possible and migrate to the Torgut tribe in the west. We will make further plans after the leaders at the front send back definite news."

Their Durbet tribe occupies the eastern part of the Western Regions. As long as the Great Zhou army opens up the Hexi Corridor, they can directly attack them, and then they won't be able to escape.

There wasn't a single fortified city in the entire Western Regions. Even Turpan, the largest city of the Durbet tribe, was only slightly better than a county town in the Central Plains.

"Run away!"

Several Oirat generals made the same decision without prior agreement.

Liu Hu desperately wanted to keep those ten thousand Oirat people, but the Western Region people who had just been "charging into battle" for him had now become a barrier to his defense.

When Liu Hu and his men rushed to the front of the battle, nearly 30,000 Western Region people were crammed together in a chaotic mess. After the routed soldiers joined the Western Region army, they collapsed to the ground, still shaken.

The other Western Region people swarmed forward, surrounding them and watching Liu Hu's Great Zhou army warily.

"General, these are the heads of those Oirat lackeys."

Just as Liu Hu was still deciding what to do with them, several Western Region men wearing leather armor walked over carrying several bloody heads.

They were unarmed and knelt down when they were two or three steps away from Liu Hu.

"General, after this, we have no way out. The Oirat people will definitely not tolerate our existence."

"We humbly beg the general for protection!"

"Please, General, protect me!"

Then all the people from the Western Regions nearby knelt down and begged loudly.

Immediately afterwards, more and more people from the Western Regions knelt down, bowing their heads in submission.

"I'm worried about you!" Liu Hu said bluntly, looking down at the group of Western Region people from his horse.

"Not long ago, we were mortal enemies, and we killed many, many of your people."

"And you, too, have killed many of us."

"Just now, you raised your swords against your former masters, the Oirats. How can I trust you?"

Liu Hu's icy voice sent a chill down the spines of these Western Region people, and some even managed to pick up their weapons and stand up, attempting to harm the Great Zhou army.

"They're so few people, let's just kill them all, then take Yangguan directly. Surely the Oirat leaders will be grateful if we do..."

However, before he could finish speaking, he and the Western Region people who had stood up were met with a rain of arrows from the Great Zhou army.

Those in the vicinity who were implicated were simply unlucky.

Just like that Western Region man said, Liu Hu and his men are too few. If they want to completely control these tens of thousands of Western Region people, they must completely eliminate the future troubles and make these people feel afraid.

Only by making them completely convinced can Liu Hu feel comfortable using them.

The groans of the Western Region people, accompanied by the howling of the wind and sand, made the empty battlefield feel exceptionally oppressive.

Liu Hu didn't say anything after that, just quietly looked at the few people kneeling at the front.

After an unknown amount of time, one of the Western Region men finally succumbed to Liu Hu's pressure and collapsed to the ground, saying, "I understand!"

He then stood up and shouted to the others kneeling in front of him, "Stop your ridiculous mercy! At this moment, your thoughts will only lead your people to hell."

After saying that, he ignored what the others thought and walked back into the crowd with a resolute expression. Following his directions, another group of people from the Western Regions stood up and followed behind him.

It is unknown what he said to those people from the Western Regions, but after hearing it, they picked up their weapons and scattered. Every now and then, they would pull a person from the crowd up and then, without saying a word, bring them down with their swords.

As time went on, some of the Western Region people at the front could no longer hold on, stood up with sorrowful expressions, and began the cleanup.

Gradually, the cleanup slowed down. Liu Hu knew that it was about time. If he continued to push them, these people from the Western Regions might not dare to have any ulterior motives, but they would inevitably harbor resentment.

Liu Hu glanced at the several Western Region chieftains still kneeling in front of him and said calmly, "Drag them away and behead them."

Everyone has their own choices, and since we are all adults, we must be responsible for our choices.

Since they chose to protect the Western Region people under their command who were loyal to the Oirat people, Liu Hu had no choice but to send them away.

"Eliminate all of their subordinates as well!"

Looking at the Western Region chieftain, whose body was now stained with the blood of his own men, Liu Hu said coldly.

"Yes, General!"

At this point, they had no other choice. Since they had already killed their own people, killing a few more people from other tribes wouldn't be a big deal.

Amidst screams and pleas for mercy, the purge of the Western Region people finally came to an end.

Seeing the Western Region chieftain approaching, Liu Hu changed his previous indifference and greeted him with a smile.

"Please forgive me, my leaders, but I had no other choice!"

Then Liu Hu said with a sorrowful expression, "Back then, I was ordered to lead several thousand men across the desert. Our army was isolated and could not afford to make the slightest mistake, otherwise we would have been reduced to ashes in an instant."

"So please don't blame me for being heartless!"

"No, no, we understand the general's difficulties."

"Yes, General, you led your troops deep behind enemy lines, cutting off the Oirat's supply lines and turning the tide of battle. Even Wei Qing and Huo Qubing of ancient times could not have done it."

"..."

Although they understood that Liu Hu was being insincere, since they had already taken this step, there was no turning back, so they all took the opportunity to back down.

Whether it was genuine or feigned, this harmonious scene unfolded on the battlefield between the two armies.

After taking stock, there were still more than 20,000 people from the Western Regions. After eliminating the old and weak, Liu Hu only kept 20,000 of them, and appointed the Western Regions leaders as officers.

It wasn't that Liu Hu didn't want to add something, but the current situation didn't allow him to do so.

On the one hand, we need to reassure the newly surrendered people from the Western Regions; on the other hand, although the threat from Yangguan has been eliminated, there is still no news from Yumenguan.

At this time, he had tens of thousands of troops under his command, and the morale of the Oirat people had been worn down.

If he continues to let the Oirat people swagger around, wouldn't all his tens of thousands of troops have been taken for nothing?

After resting for a night, Liu Hu left Qin Qianhu and the wounded Zhao Changjiu to lead 3,000 men, along with nearly 10,000 old and weak men from the Western Regions who had been eliminated, to guard Yangguan.

He himself led an army of 20,000 to reinforce Yumen Pass.

"Commander Hu, the Oirat offensive seems to have weakened recently. Is there some kind of conspiracy going on?"

After repelling another attack by the Oirat people, Putila looked at the Oirat army in the distance and asked in confusion.

At this moment, Hu Cunmeng raised his right hand and pointed at the Oirat people below. If you look closely, you will clearly see that he is missing a few fingers on his right hand.

He replied with a worried expression, "The Oirat people have been unable to capture this place for a long time, and the Western Region servants have clearly lost their morale, so they have focused their attack on the general."

"They're just launching a half-hearted attack here, intending to stall us."

"hiss!"

Upon hearing Hu Cunmeng's explanation, Putila couldn't help but gasp: "So, doesn't that mean the general is in danger?"

"Yangguan City was small with low walls, and he only led 10,000 men, most of whom were laborers who had just taken up arms."

"No, we can't just wait like this."

He then prepared to gather his troops and march out of the pass to fight the Oirat people to the death.