The Red Mansion: From a Small Pawn to a Leader

Chapter 86 February th

In contrast to the bright and sunny capital city in spring, the Hetao Plain is still cold and covered with snow.

The sound of killing shook the sky!
Looking down from a high place, the dark masses of Ikh Ju League Mongols were like rows of tides crashing into the walls of the Vanguard Camp!
The cavalry of the Plain White Banner tore off their sheepskin coats, raised their swords and roared, sweeping forward like a tidal wave.

On the battlefield with mountains behind it, the battle formation of the vanguard camp, which was surrounded on three sides, was quickly torn into several pieces.

The soldiers of the vanguard camp were attacked from both sides and were trampled and hacked by the swords of the Plain White Banner cavalry and the Mongolian cavalry, falling down in large numbers.

The snow was soaked red.

The cannons at the foot of the mountain fired! Balls of artillery fire fell on the battlefield, trying to stop the Jurchens and Mongols, allowing the vanguard camp to catch their breath and reorganize the battle formation.

However, the Mongols and Jurchens would not give the Vanguard Battalion a chance to breathe. They ignored casualties and launched a fierce attack on the retreating Vanguard Battalion under artillery fire!
Behind the battlefield, a large flag with the word "Stone" on it fluttered in the cold wind!

Apart from the flag guard camp, there were only a few dozen cavalrymen still lined up beside the Duke of Shanguo Shi Guangzhu. Shi Guangzhu was holding a monocular telescope and looking towards the battlefield. Soon, he saw Xie Jing, who was leading a team of personal soldiers galloping towards him.

Xie Jing and his personal soldiers all had bloody faces and disheveled heads, and their bodies were covered in blood.

"Master, why hasn't the second prince come yet!" Xie Jing ran to Shi Guangzhu and shouted hoarsely.

Shi Guangzhu put down the telescope and remained silent.

Xie Jing's heart skipped a beat. The main cavalry were under the command of the Second Prince. If he didn't come to support, the vanguard camp would be finished.

Xie Jing's voice trembled: "Old Master."

Shi Guangzhu closed his eyes and sighed, "Go away. The Second Prince will not come to support us."

Xie Jing was stunned for a while before asking, "Why?"

Shi Guangzhu: "Because, even if you come here, you will die in vain."

Xie Jing was startled again: "How could it be? He still has more than 15,000 elite cavalry under his command. As long as we break through a gap and the two armies join forces, we can wait for reinforcements." At this point, he seemed to understand something and looked at Shi Guangzhu: "The Second Prince retreated?"

Shi Guangzhu sighed. The night before yesterday, the emperor's men came to his central military tent and asked him to rest on the spot and then advance slowly to annihilate the enemy. He directly refused.

However, yesterday morning the second prince came to the big tent and directly stated his attitude that the remnants of the Ikh Ju League could not be completely wiped out.

Shi Guangzhu understood what he meant. As long as the war in Hetao continued, the emperor would not summon him back to Beijing, and he would not be deprived of his military power.

The two had an argument.

In the evening, the second prince led the Yulin Town cavalry to leave the camp and retreat, on the pretext of dividing the troops to wipe out the remnants of the Ikh Ju League.

Without the cooperation of the Yulin Town cavalry, Shi Guangzhu was helpless and had planned to break camp and retreat today, but was caught off guard by the sudden appearance of the remnants of the Ikh Ju League, and then this great battle took place.

Shi Guangzhu let out a long sigh. The Second Prince has the Emperor's men around him!

At this moment, the deputy general stumbled over and shouted, "My Lord, we can't hold on any longer. Before the Jurchen cavalry blockades the entire battlefield, let Xie Jing protect you and fight your way out. I'll cover your retreat!"

Shi Guangzhu came back to his senses and quickly scanned the battlefield where the fierce fighting was taking place. The enemies were increasing in number and getting closer.

The deputy general was anxious: "Duke!"

Shi Guangzhu smiled calmly and said, "I'm not leaving."

Everyone's expressions changed drastically.

Shi Guangzhu looked at Xie Jing again: "I know you are the emperor's man. I want to ask you to tell him a message, 'If the sword is not broken, there will be trouble in the future.' Also, return this sword to the emperor, and tell him that I don't owe him anything anymore." As he said that, he took off the sword from his waist and handed it over.

Xie Jing was stunned and didn't dare to reach out to take the sword.

Shi Guangzhu: "It was my fault for commanding. Don't let the soldiers be slandered after their death."

This means you have to take all the blame!

Xie Jing felt a pang in his heart when he saw Shi Guangzhu holding the sword there with both hands. He quickly jumped off his horse and took the sword with both hands raised.

Shi Guangzhu: "If the emperor is so kind, please take care of the Shi family."

Xie Jing fell to his knees and started crying loudly.

Shi Guangzhu laughed instead: "You are a man who has experienced hundreds of battles, but you still can't see through life and death! Hurry up and don't let people laugh at you."

Xie Jing wiped away his tears and said, "Don't worry, I will protect the Shi family even if it costs my life."

Shi Guangzhu: "Go west, go to Gansu and enter Beijing from the south." Xie Jing understood: "Yes." He kowtowed heavily, stood up and mounted the horse.

Shi Guangzhu: "Go ahead."

Xie Jing gritted his teeth, swung the whip fiercely, and the horse rushed forward like an arrow.

The personal soldiers followed closely on horseback.

Shi Guangzhu looked at the flying snow dust and said to his deputy general, "Push the rear troops forward, ignore the Mongols, and directly counterattack the Jurchen army and fire all the shells. Even if we die, we must take the Jurchens with us to be buried with us!"

"Blow the horn, signal with flags, and order the artillerymen to bombard the Jurchen cavalry with all their might!" the deputy general shouted loudly.

The "woo woo" horn was immediately blown, and several soldiers sent flag signals to the artillery positions at the same time.

Black flashes of fire were gushing out from the muzzles of the cannons, continuously bombarding the Plain White Banner cavalry that were pouring in like a tide!

"Order the rear army to attack!" the deputy general gave the order loudly.

The sound of heavy drums began, and an officer holding a red flag waved it forward.

Then a battle formation consisting of thousands of infantrymen charged towards the battlefield.

Shi Guangzhu: "Burn all the food and supplies."

A big fire soon broke out at the foot of the mountain!

After all, infantry is no match for cavalry. As time passed, the rear army was defeated by the Jurchen cavalry. The Jurchens slowly advanced forward amid the killing and continued to expand their victory!
Countless soldiers gritted their teeth and fought forward, but were still ruthlessly strangled by the cavalry. Soldiers in the vanguard camp fell one after another, and the casualties of the Jurchens were increasing rapidly.

The Mongols surged forward like a tide, and the vanguard camp became smaller and smaller with each battle.

There was a loud noise from the artillery position, a cannon exploded, and the remaining cannons stopped firing.

"Blow up the cannon."

Shi Guangzhu adjusted his armor and drew the sword from his horse's back: "Kill the thief!"

The soldiers of the Banner Guard shouted in unison: "Kill the bandits! Kill the bandits!"

In response to the banner guards, the soldiers of the vanguard camp on the battlefield shouted loudly: "Kill the bandits!"

Amid bursts of explosions, Shi Guangzhu led the Banner Guard Battalion into the battlefield.

The shouts and sounds of fighting were loud on the battlefield, shaking the earth and sky!

The light between heaven and earth has dimmed, and the battlefield of fighting has gradually returned to calm.

The vast grassland was littered with piles of corpses. There were corpses of the vanguard camp, the Jurchens, the Mongols, as well as dead war horses, broken weapons, and tattered flags, all scattered in disarray and soaked in blood.

The lieutenant commander of the Plain White Banner came to the battlefield surrounded by a group of Ikh Ju League nobles. Every step his warhorse took left a bloody hoof print.

The commander of the Plain White Banner pulled the reins.

The whole group stopped.

In the center of the pile of corpses not far away, the big flag on the wooden flagpole as thick as an arm was already in tatters, but the huge word "石" (stone) was still clearly fluttering in the cold wind!
A Gushan Ezhen came over and pointed at the body under the big flag: "It has been confirmed, he is Shi Guangzhu."

The commander nodded and quickly scanned the battlefield. He had been through many battles, but this was the first time he had seen such a tragic battle. Although they had wiped out more than 20,000 elite Han infantry, the casualties of the Plain White Banner were not small, conservatively estimated to be 4,000 to 5,000. It was a big loss!

An old Mongolian prince spoke up: "Cut off his head and make it into a magic weapon to present to the wise, benevolent and martial emperor!"

The Mongolian nobles all echoed.

"All right!"

The assistant commander interrupted them irritably and asked the Gushan Ezhen behind him, "Have you confirmed that the son of the Han emperor has retreated to Yulin?"

Na Gushan Ezhen: "Yes."

The commander remembered Hong Zhou's instructions, and a smile appeared in his eyes. He looked at Shi Guangzhu's body and said, "Send someone to deliver his body and the big flag to the son of the Han emperor. Make a big noise along the way!"

That Gushan Ezhen responded loudly: "Yeah!"

(End of this chapter)