xymnovel 109: The Tang Dynasty's border troops fought to the death, refusing to retreat.
109: The Tang Dynasty's border troops fought to the death, refusing to retreat.
Zhang Xizhou was no ordinary man either. He decisively got up, stepped onto the gun barrel, and then swung it forcefully at Zhang Yi.
Zhang Yi dodged to the side, and Zhang Xizhou kicked the gun aside.
Blood began to flow from the corner of Zhang Xizhou's mouth, but he still gritted his teeth and took advantage of Zhang Yi's lack of weapon. He raised his knife and slashed, but Zhang Yi dodged to the side. Zhang Xizhou then swung his knife, but Zhang Yi bent over to avoid it. The blade of the Guan Dao passed right by Zhang Yi's body!
Zhang Xizhou changed his moves with lightning speed, unleashing a series of strikes, but Zhang Yi dodged them all with his agility. Just then, a soldier shouted, "General, take this!"
Zhang Yi lunged forward, caught the double maces, rolled on the ground, and then turned to face Zhang Xizhou with the maces in his hands.
Zhang Yi, son of Zhang Da'an, the prime minister during the reign of Empress Wu Zetian, was a border general and a military commander. He was known as Xuanjie Xiaowei. With a silver spear and a pair of maces, he fought on the battlefield against the Tubo and Uyghurs several times and captured flags twice. In the Lanzhou Campaign in the second year of the Kaiyuan era, he was nine heads short of earning the title of "Hundred-Man Killer". Unfortunately, he was dismissed from his post and demoted to Puzhou in Jiannan Circuit because he had offended some people during Zhang Da'an's time as prime minister.
Zhang Yi had made many meritorious contributions, but because of his father, he faced a lot of resistance in the court and was not given an important position. Instead, he was sent to the remote sandy island of Dunhuang as a Xuanjie Xiaowei (a military officer).
Zhang Yi held a pair of maces made of fine iron, five feet (1.25 meters) long and weighing twelve catties and seven ounces.
Zhang Xizhou, the Prefect of Shazhou, holds a Guan Dao (a type of halberd). The bottom of the Guan Dao is made of fine wood, and the top is the blade. It is eight feet six inches long (two meters and one inch) and weighs nine pounds and four ounces.
Zhang Yi took a deep breath, glared at Zhang Xizhou, and said, "You treacherous dog, how dare you collude with the Tibetans to rebel against my Great Tang! Today I will use your head to pay tribute to my brother, Kang Li!"
Zhang Xizhou braced himself up, then smiled slightly, without uttering any harsh words.
Zhang Xizhou already knew in his heart that he was doomed to die today. He was already in his late forties or early fifties, and facing this strong man in his late twenties or early thirties, who was also a border army general, the spear thrust he had just received had already damaged his internal organs, and the sweeping leg blow from the spear had made his left calf swollen. It could even be said that the bone in his calf was basically broken!
The fact that Zhang Xizhou was still standing here at this point already showed that he was prepared to die!
Zhang Xizhou didn't speak, he just breathed heavily.
Seeing this, Zhang Yi roared and rushed forward in a few strides. He thrust his left mace, which Zhang Xizhou parried with his spear. He then swept his right mace, which Zhang Xizhou blocked with his breastplate.
"Snapped!"
With a crisp sound, the hilt of the Guan Dao was smashed in two by the mace. He never expected that Zhang Yi's arm strength was so amazing that he could break his weapon with just one blow.
As a blunt weapon, the mace is made entirely of refined iron and has extremely strong armor-piercing and killing power.
With a single blow to the chest, Zhang Xizhou was knocked to the ground. He then swung his legs with both maces, delivering a crisp "crack" with a single strike.
Zhang Yi's legs deformed instantly. He jumped and stomped on Zhang Xizhou's chest. Zhang Xizhou spat out a mouthful of blood. Zhang Yi then swung his double maces, piercing Zhang Xizhou's ears with both maces.
Su Wen shouted from atop the city wall, "Don't kill them yet!"
"Thump"
With a dull thud, the double maces shattered Zhang Xizhou's head like a watermelon, leaving him unrecognizable. Blood splattered on Zhang Yi, but his anger remained undiminished.
Seeing this, Su Wen could only sigh deeply. Zhang Yi turned around and glanced at Su Wen.
Su Wen didn't say much at the moment. He just thought that he needed to interrogate Zhang Xizhou first to see if he could get anything out of him.
After all, this case involves so many lives and is extremely complicated, with several aspects that have been giving Su Wen a headache because he can't find any clues.
Of course, most importantly, Su Wen was afraid that they had some other conspiracy, because judging from this series of arrangements, things were far from over!
The fact that the Lotus Sect behind it can attract so many people and operate under the guise of Buddhism clearly indicates that it must be involved with some extreme Buddhist groups.
Unfortunately, he was beaten to death on the spot by Zhang Yi.
But it doesn't matter. After all, the most urgent task now is to quickly quell the rebellion, and then seize the time to prepare for the next battle to defend against the Tibetan siege!
Su Wen shouted, "Your Buddha is dead! Lay down your weapons and surrender!"
However, the people on the streets at the city gate were still fighting fiercely, completely disregarding everything else. It was only at this moment that Su Wen realized that they were not just Lotus Cult members, but Tibetans.
The remaining Lotus Cult members have likely already been controlled by drugs and turned into killing machines that only know violence.
At that moment, seeing the fighting still raging, Zhang Yi shouted and charged into the melee with his double maces in hand.
Zhang Yi's arm strength was astonishing; he was practically a monster. His double maces were purely offensive, and his defense relied entirely on dodging to the side. His attacks were all aimed at the head.
Even if the opponent was wearing a helmet, he still managed to hit them with a single blow, causing blood to splatter everywhere from their mouth, nose, eyes, and ears.
As a large number of cavalry returned to the city, Zhang Yi shouted, "Anyone who wears red cloth is to be killed without mercy, leave no one alive!"
The followers of the Lotus Sect all tied red cloths around their hands, which is also a symbol to distinguish between friend and foe.
The cavalrymen did not respond and began to move in groups of five throughout the city. Some of the Tibetans wearing armor did not hesitate when they saw the reinforcements arrive and turned to run away.
But how could infantry outrun cavalry? The cavalry charged forward and pierced through with a single spear thrust, then reversed their grip on the spear and dragged it along the ground to continue moving forward.
The lances of cavalrymen were mostly armor-piercing spikes. With the impact of the horse, they could break through heavy armor. However, once they were pierced, they were very difficult to pull out because they were extremely easy to get stuck in the armor. But the cavalrymen had their own way of doing it, which was to drag them until the lance was pulled out!
With the addition of the cavalry, the area around Dunhuang County was finally pacified.
......
Su Wen sat on the steps at the entrance of the governor's mansion. The few remaining constables, soldiers, and civilians in the city were responsible for cleaning up the city. Zhang Yi, without taking a break, hurriedly began to prepare for the defensive offensive.
That evening, Su Wen looked at the roughly tallied casualty figures in his hand and couldn't help but feel a pang of sorrow.
In particular, Su Wen was extremely distressed when he discovered that Qin Zhan Sima's entire family had been killed. However, when he heard that Qin Zhan Sima still had a wife, two sons, and a daughter far away in Luoyang, he felt a little better.
The number of Lotus Sect members killed this time reached more than 940, the number of Tang Dynasty civilians killed was more than 1,700, the number of foreign tribes in the Western Regions killed was more than 400, the number of Tang Dynasty border soldiers killed was 121, and the deputy commander of Xuanjie, Kang Li, was killed in battle!
Fortunately, both Xu Ge and Cui Bi suffered only minor injuries and will recover in a few months to six months!
Cui Lingyu sat beside Su Wen and said softly, "Su Lang, now is not the time to grieve and weep. You must pull yourself together. First, order the constables to split up and take action. Some should go and post notices to prepare everyone for battle in preparation for the arrival of the Tibetan army. Others should be responsible for compiling a list of all personnel and their family situations. After the crisis is resolved, we can petition the court to provide compensation to the families or exempt them from miscellaneous duties and taxes!"
Upon hearing this, Su Wen's hands trembled. He had never experienced war before. Although he had seen killing, killing was different from war. Especially when he saw such a bloody battle, he couldn't help but feel flustered and even at a loss.
At this moment, Cui Lingyu grasped Su Wen's hands tightly and whispered, "Su Lang!"
With a soft call, Su Wen looked at Cui Lingyu. Seeing the tears welling in Su Wen's eyes, Cui Lingyu gently held his trembling hands with one hand and took out a gauze handkerchief to wipe his eyes with the other, saying, "Su Lang!"