choke element

Chapter 2 Brave
Guo Ning stepped in the muddy water with one deep foot and one shallow foot, walking unhappily.If this is the case, the muddy water under the feet will inevitably be churned up, emitting a unique rancid smell, making it difficult to breathe.

Although there is a bright moon in the sky, there are pools and deep pits all over the swamp, and there is light mist floating, mixing with the transpiring water vapor, blocking the sight.Traveling at night is very dangerous.

When I was dazed and dodged into the depths of the swamp before, I didn't seem to have gone very far; now I turned back, but I lost my way several times on the road, and it took a lot of time.

Fortunately, the fighting field just now remained the same.

The bodies of companions and enemies are still there.

There were a few small black beasts, baring their teeth, licking the blood around the corpse, eager to try.It wasn't until Guo Ning came striding forward that they whimpered unwillingly and slowly retreated into the bushes.

Guo Ning first put a long knife on his waist, and then lifted an iron bone to test the weight.

The failure of the Yehuling battle severely damaged the core force that the Jin court could mobilize.Hundreds of thousands of well-equipped garrison soldiers and tens of thousands of field elites were wiped out.

After the boundary trench line of defense, which had been in operation for decades, fell, all the accumulated supplies fell into the hands of Mongolia.On the contrary, the defeated soldiers retreated into Hebei, and there was no support for food or armaments.

Short weapons such as swords are easily damaged, so clumsy objects like iron bones have to become popular.

This iron bone was originally used by Yao Shier, Guo Ning's confidant.Yao Shi'er has extraordinary physical strength, and is good at using weapons such as iron spears, iron bones, and meteor hammers.When fighting north of Jiehao in his early years, he saved Guo Ning's life several times.

Because of Yao Shi'er's strong and courageous character, aggressive and bloodthirsty, he is especially feared by others.During the enemy's surprise attack, he was the first to be shot by random arrows, and more than a dozen arrows were densely inserted into his body, just like a dead hedgehog.

Guo Ning took out the arrows one by one, picked out a few good ones, washed off the blood, and put them into the quiver.

Then, he found a slightly clean robe, wrapped Yao Shi'er's body, and dragged it into the hole just dug by the pond.

The tall and thin man was placed securely, Guo Ning turned around, and then cleaned up the other corpses.

The next one is Gao Kezhong.

Gao Kezhong is a Bohai native from Linhuang Mansion in Shangjing. He failed the imperial examination in his early years and made his career teaching rural studies.Later, he was signed into the army and moved to Xuande Prefecture.

Because of his proficiency in writing, he became a document for hundreds of households in the Garrison Army.After living in Ansu Prefecture, he got acquainted with Guo Ning and always wanted to teach Guo Ning how to read.Unfortunately, Guo Ning was not interested at the time.

The old scholar survived for a while after being shot by the arrow, he struggled for a long time before he was slashed to death with a knife.He was cut several times between his chest and abdomen, showing a huge gap.The intestines and lungs are flowing out, emitting a strong stench, which is very troublesome to clean up.

After a while, Guo Ning cursed in a murmur, and went to the water to wash his hands.

The last person was Lu Su, who was the youngest.

The groundwater level at the edge of the pond was very high, and Guo Ning was not strong enough, and the equipment was not handy, so the pit he dug was a bit shallow.Most of Lu Su's body was higher than the ground, and his bloodshot eyes were staring at Guo Ning.

Guo Ning reached out and closed his eyes for him.

When he was in Wushabao, Guo Ning was the main army, and Lu Su was his Arixi, that is, the second-in-command of the soldiers.Elder Lu Su died early, and the family has an older sister and a younger brother to support, so every spring famine is very difficult.

Because Zhengjun's treatment is much higher than that of Ali Xi, he often borrows money from Guo Ning.

Lu Su kept saying with a playful smile that when he was discharged from the army, he could get eight taels of silver and five bolts of silk, and then he would pay off the outstanding debts together.

However, what year and month do we have to wait?Unless the soldiers of the Garrison Army die in battle, will they still have a day to retire?Guo Ning felt that the doll probably didn't intend to pay back the money, but was just stubborn.

Guo Ning smiled.

The lapel of Lu Su's chest was open, and a small rattle was about to fall out.Guo Ning hesitated for a moment, solemnly put away the rattle, and then began to cover the stacked corpses with soil.

It took less than half an hour, and he managed to gather up a mound of dirt.

A few small animals that had previously retreated into the bushes now strolled out again.They ran around the mound twice in disappointment, barking.

Instead, they found that there were still a few corpses that had not been buried, so they rushed over to continue the interrupted feast.

Guo Ning has been busy for half the night, his whole body is sore and very tired.Panting heavily, he sat by the mound and watched the enemy's corpse being bitten by wild beasts.

Guo Ning knew all three of them.Their identities are the same as Guo Ning and others, and they are also stragglers who retreated into Hebei from outside the boundary trench.

Its leader is the hundred households of the former garrison army entrenched in the Gaoyang Pass area, Xi Ren Xiao Haohu.

Why Xiao Haohu acted so viciously, the original Guo Ning did not expect it at all.But now Guo Ning can easily think clearly from beginning to end.

Three years after Da'an's defeat in the war, the frontier rout did not receive relief or rectification from the imperial court.

Many people whose hometowns are in Hebei, Shandong or the Central Plains flocked in groups and returned to their hometowns one after another by themselves.As for whether he will be signed into the army again after returning home or what, no one knows.

The soldiers of the garrison whose hometown is north of Jiehao are in trouble.Their hometown has long been turned into a mound, and there is not a single person in it. Even if there are living people, most of them have been migrated to the grassland by the Mongols.

The soldiers were homeless, so they were scattered in Zhuo and Yi Zhuzhou in northern Hebei.Some fell into bandits, and some were recruited by local forces to make a living, waiting for the imperial court to recruit soldiers.

Last year, the Mongolian army went south again to attack, and the broken soldiers scattered all over the place heard the news and left, some went east to Zhongdu, and some went south.

Guo Ning and the others were enslaved and headed southward, passed through Baozhou, and settled in the border of Ansu Prefecture.

Two months ago, there was news that the Mongolian army had been repelled.According to the court, although Ao Tunxiang, the Marshal Zuo Dujian, suffered a small setback, the Deputy Marshal Zuo and left behind in Xijing, Mo Nian, fought loyally to the city, repelled the Mongolian army, and injured Genghis Khan himself.

The Mongolian army's partial division in the direction of the capital in the raid also couldn't leave.

This news reassured the rout soldiers a little.

Thanks to this victory, the imperial court finally had enough time to reorganize the northern defense line.The Taoists issued an edict ordering all parts of Hebei to gather troops and send them to the front line one after another.

At this time, some Jurchen nobles intervened, trying to use these defeated soldiers as capital.After all, many of the defeated soldiers were originally field elites. If they can be trained, they can easily form a strong army.

For example, the broken soldiers gathered here in Ansu Prefecture have been generally attracted by the new Anzhou Governor Tu Shanhang recently.

Natu Shanhang was originally the Minister of the Ministry of Officials in the court, and he was a son of a famous and prominent family in the Kingdom of Jin.It is said that his father is a son-in-law and a privy envoy, and his eldest sister is the current queen, and most of the clan members hold important positions such as marshal and Pingzhang.

Tu Shanhang has great ambitions. Although he is in a small county in Anzhou, he wants to use his own strength to obtain the position of Jiedushi of the Baozhou Shuntian Army, so he tries his best to collect scattered soldiers and think of it as a support.

To this end, Tu Danhang specially set up a new commander division, freeing up 500 posts, and took out all the positions of commander, military envoy, special general, successor, and escort to attract brave men.

Seeing the imperial court regrouping, and the troops enlisted from all over the country continue to move northward one by one, gradually recovering their power, and the defeated soldiers scattered for a long time. At this time, one has to think about the ending.Then there are ambitious people, brave and ruthless people, insidious and cunning people who take advantage of the situation and take advantage of this opportunity to fight for power and position.

Guo Ning has a heart of serving the country and is very interested in reorganizing his troops.In the past few days, he has been running back and forth, trying to gather people to join Anzhou.

But although he was brave, he obviously lacked the ability to read people's hearts, and he was involved in inexplicable disputes as a result.

Xiao Haohu, the leader of the rout at Gaoyang Pass, has always been keen on his official career.He regarded Guo Ning as an opponent competing for the position of commander with himself, and was very dissatisfied with Guo Ning's running and contacting.

Xiao Haohu is a very decisive and ruthless person. Just yesterday, he sent dozens of archers to set up an ambush on the only way Guo Ning must pass.Guo Ning was completely unprepared for this, and escaped with his life by chance, but his partners were all killed.

　Note: According to the records of Jin History, Tu Shanhang's appointment as governor of Anzhou should be after Hu Shahu's rebellion.

　
(End of this chapter)