Chapter 297 Defeat the Huns

Chapter 297 Defeat the Huns

Knowing that Liu Ku was really as timid as a mouse, Li Tai was worried that this guy might be frightened and his performance would be affected, which would bring about counterproductive effects. Therefore, he did not initially plan to let him get too close to the Jihu people in the tidal flats. .

But he did not expect that Liu Kuzhen actually asked to come closer and shouted to surrender: "These thieves Hu are stupid and do not know the order, so they dare to become the enemy of the lord. Now they have suffered retribution and are trapped in this circle of heaven and earth." Inside, I should preach my lord's kindness and power to these thieves, so that they can understand and repent!"

This guy probably saw that the thieves were completely surrounded and there was no danger, so he was so brave and wanted to rely on Li Tai's army to show off.

"Although the thieves have no way out, they still have the will to resist. Some of those who intended to surrender were killed by the fierce and stubborn thieves. If you cannot break the thieves' fighting spirit, you will only encourage them to fight. , never take mercy!”

Seeing this guy's slightly better expression, Li Tai felt a little overwhelmed with joy, and immediately straightened his face and said in a deep voice.

When Liu Kuzhen heard these words, his expression suddenly became tangled, and various emotions were tangled in his eyes. Finally, he looked relieved again, kowtowed heavily in front of Li Tai and said: "Although the traitor is a traitor, You are still fierce and stubborn, but I enjoy the protection of my lord, so how can I be afraid of the persecution of these thieves! My lord, please rest assured that I will try my best to persuade you to surrender before the battle. If it is really tiring, I am willing to die to apologize!"

Hearing this guy's generous self-expression, Li Tai couldn't help but look at him with admiration. It seems that Liu Kuzhen is not only greedy for life and afraid of death, but also has some ambitions in his heart.

Probably because he saw that his father and brother were under siege, and the tribal power that he originally relied on for survival would collapse at any time, he did not dare to escape and retreat blindly. After all, there are no eggs left in the nest, and if there is no tribal power to back him up, he will be alive even if he is alive. I'm afraid it won't be too moist, and it may even be worse than death.

Li Tai was happy to give him a chance, so he ordered a group of soldiers to go forward and quickly build an earthen platform more than ten feet high, and then ordered people to lead Liu Kuzhen onto the stage to shout for surrender.

Although what Liu Kuzhen said before was somewhat generous and heroic, when he actually stepped onto the platform to face the surging dangerous atmosphere on the tidal flat, his knees began to tremble uncontrollably, and most of his body weight hung on his side. There was something about a sergeant who felt like mud could not hold up the wall.

Li Tai saw that this guy was already unsteady and felt quite disappointed. He was about to order someone to lead him back so that he would not be embarrassed on the stage again, but he saw Liu Kuzhen quickening his pace and standing on the platform tremblingly. , first looking around blankly, and then looking at the frightened crowd on the beach directly in front, he shouted several times at a very loud volume. His voice was trembling at first, but the last sound became vicious.

When the attention of many Hu crowds was attracted, Liu Kuzhen continued to shout: "I am named Kuzhen, the direct heir of King Zuoxian of Lishi, and he was specially ordered by Governor Li of the army..."

Hearing Liu Kuzhen's shouting, the barbarians in the tidal flats started whispering and buzzing with each other, with different emotional reactions, but without exception, they all listened attentively.

The beach looks crowded, but there is not all room among the crowds. Different tribes each guard an area, leaving a certain gap between them due to their close relationship.

Liu Kuzhen's shouting from outside quickly spread inside, and soon most of the Jihu people knew about it, including naturally the Hu chiefs from various tribes.

"King Zuo Xian, get out! How could your son be on the side of the army and call for surrender..."

Several Hu chiefs from Shuofang Hu led their elite confidants to one of the Hu garrison areas. They pointed inside and yelled and questioned.

"Nonsense! Because your tribes mistook the enemy's information, my son has already died in the southern border. Why would he help the enemy to surrender?"

Liu Tuo, the Xian King of Zuo, responded loudly with an angry look on his face: "I was deceived by your tribes and led my troops to help, and several of my sons died here. I haven't even asked you to blame me. How dare you doubt me?"

After hearing King Zuo Xian's words, several Shuofang Hu chiefs looked a little unnatural. Li Shihu lost his troops and generals, and the size of his troops had shrunk several times compared to when they first crossed the river. The losses were indeed heavy, which made them each feel guilty, so they all temporarily accepted King Zuo Xian's explanation.

The Hu chiefs each denounced the cunning and deceitful officers and soldiers, and reiterated that they would fight to the end and never give in, and then dispersed and returned to their troops. It's just that their respective tribes gathered together and vaguely surrounded the Li Shihu tribe.

After temporarily dealing with the questioning of the Hu chieftains, King Zuo Xian did not look relaxed. He still had some luck in his heart. He only felt that he knew his son better than his father. This kind of dangerous thing like shouting to persuade his son to surrender before the battle did not seem to be the kind of thing his son would do. Character can do it.

However, he still summoned Liu Aqi, who had fled back from Dongxia Prefecture, and questioned him carefully. Liu Aqi, who had escaped from the defeat, had also been severely punished. Seeing King Zuo Xian's serious expression secretly, he felt confident in his heart. He was very nervous, but after weighing it up, he still gritted his teeth and said that Liu Kuzhen had been killed in battle, and that the person shouting outside the battle was an officer in disguise.

After hearing this, King Zuo Xian breathed a sigh of relief, but he couldn't help but feel sad. He pointed at Liu Aqi and cursed angrily: "The battle situation is urgent now and there is no time for him to take care of it. When I break out, I will use you as a thief slave." Sacrifice your life and blood to my son!”

When Liu Aqi heard this, he was immediately dumbfounded. Before he could even beg for mercy, he was roughly dragged down by the strong men of the clan and put under guard.

After getting over the initial panic, Liu Kuzhen saw that the thieves on the other side did not dare to approach and attack him, and his courage gradually became stronger, and his shouts became louder and smoother.

However, although he worked hard to recruit surrender, the effect was not very great. Few Hu people came forward to surrender, which inevitably made Liu Kuzhen feel frustrated.

It was getting late, and the encirclement fortifications were initially completed. Li Tai did not expect Liu Kuzhen to be able to recruit many rebels. The main thing was to undermine the morale of the people on the other side, so he set out to lure Liu Kuzhen back before dark.

Liu Kuzhen was not willing to return without success, and even said that he could fight at night by burning the midnight oil. Li Tai's voice was quite hoarse, which showed that he really exerted his strength. After a few words of encouragement with a smile, he was led back to the camp.

After nightfall, people from all walks of life outside the encirclement went into camp to rest, leaving only some necessary soldiers to rely on the fortifications to provide warning.

The Jihu people in the tidal flats were more active and restless than during the day. Probably because under the cover of night, they no longer directly saw the formations of officers and soldiers surrounding them, and they became more courageous.

Some rebels broke away from the beach and tentatively approached the encirclement. They were greeted by cold arrows piercing the air, and then they quickly retreated.

Some other members of the crowd sneaked towards the gap in the encirclement that they had seen during the day. As expected, they were not blocked by any snipers, so they quickened their pace and fled from the gap, and quickly disappeared into the night. I don't know if it was true. After successfully escaping, he stepped into an even more cruel trap.

This small commotion lasted until late at night before gradually calming down. The fighting during the day and the nervous mood caused the Jihu people to suffer severe physical exhaustion.

Because there is no strong unity among the tribes, no one is willing to break out hastily and become a stepping stone for others to escape, so there has never been a large-scale breakout. As time goes by, under the dual consumption of physical strength and energy, it becomes more difficult to organize large-scale activities.

Just when both parties thought that the night would go through so peacefully, a relatively intense commotion broke out at the core of the crowd on the tidal flat.

All kinds of roars and killing sounds suddenly rang out, which immediately woke up the Hu people who were already frightened. The Hu chiefs did not dare to find out what happened, but strictly restrained their troops to avoid being involved in this. In the midst of commotion.

The source of this riot was the area where Lishi Huzhong was located, but most of the people in Lishi Huzhong didn't know the cause of the riot at all. They just tilted their heads and fell asleep for a while. When they woke up, the surroundings were already in chaos. , everyone makes inexplicable roars to embolden themselves and scare others.

"King Zuoxian was killed!"

The commotion lasted for a while, and finally a relatively clear sentence was shouted out by an unknown person, but the message conveyed shocked the Lishi Hu people inexplicably.

"Shuofang thief Hu Yi wants to take away my life, and he actually harms King Zuo Xian! Master Ku Zhen is recruiting people from the clan outside the formation, hurry up and join the young master, and then avenge the king!"

Next came another series of relatively clear shouts. The panicked Lishi Hu people finally received the guidance and orders at this moment. They were no longer at a loss. They subconsciously grabbed their weapons and sticks and followed the large troops straight towards Sakon rushed over.

Even well-trained elite troops may explode in camp bombing when faced with various factors such as siege, low morale, and huge pressure, let alone these hooligans.

Although the Hu chiefs still have the idea of ​​restraining their respective troops, their control is quickly disappearing. Except for the close followers around them, there are very few people who can influence them by giving orders. Most of the barbarians began to choose to act according to their instincts in fear, but these instinctive actions would make the situation even more chaotic and corrupt.

The chaotic roar of the camp in the tidal flat soon alerted the people in the camps outside the encirclement. The generals put on their armor and came out of the camp one after another, and arranged their respective troops to the encirclement to strengthen the front. In order to prevent the roar of the camp from spreading outwards, the armored soldiers on the front were asked to light rockets and shoot them inward to disperse and repel the Husbands who were rushing in this direction.

Li Tai had already fallen asleep in the camp. When he heard the commotion outside, he got up and left the camp. He saw rockets flying randomly and the beach under the flickering light seemed to have become a human hell. There were all kinds of shrill sounds and ghosts. The people who fled in fright even started fighting fiercely among themselves, and everything became out of control.

"how so?"

Although he expected that the bandit army would be unable to sustain it for much longer, when he woke up and saw how badly it had collapsed, Li Tai was surprised and asked around, but no one could explain what was going on. So, the only thing that's certain is that this isn't a bad thing.

Li Tai walked around the encirclement for another week and saw that both Yang Zhong and Yu Wengui were at the front and paying close attention to the chaos inside, but they did not dare to send troops in to intervene. After all, what is more terrifying than the elites who are victorious in every battle are the out-of-control rebels who blow up the camp. These rebels are really powerful enough to stop the gods of death. They can only be allowed to vent their madness until they have exhausted their physical strength and regained their sanity. can be restricted.

Fortunately, this situation did not last long. After all, these Husbands themselves were already at the end of their strength due to serious physical exertion. After making a crazy noise, those who were lucky enough to survive fell to the ground one after another, their limbs limp. It was difficult to move again.

When dawn arrived, the field of vision became wider again. Li Mu had no time to participate in cleaning up the battlefield, so he led his subordinates to hunt down the Hu people who escaped from the gap last night.

Looking at the mass of people on the tidal flat, it looks like a bloody and cruel slaughterhouse. The spilled blood has long since solidified and frozen, forming shocking red-brown mottled patches. The corpses are piled up, head to tail. Even if a large army attacks and kills them, it may not lead to such a tragic situation. The roar of the camp last night caused more harm to the Hu people than the battle on the battlefield.

People from all walks of life came in to clean up the scene. Even though there were still some Hu people who could still move, they were completely unable to organize resistance. Looking at the officers and soldiers entering in groups, they could only abandon their weapons and surrender in despair.

The camp roar last night almost caused nearly half of the casualties to the Hu people who were besieged here, especially the old and weak women and children who were already vulnerable groups in the tribe. They died in large numbers, and there was very little knowledge that could survive. part.

The barbarians who were lying in the pile of corpses gasping for rest were driven up. Under the orders of the armored soldiers, the cold and hard corpses were collected and piled up, and soon a high pile was formed.

Even though Li Tai had experienced battles and was used to seeing life and death, but when he saw that tens of thousands of horses that could run and move yesterday had turned into lumps of frozen meat today, his mood became a little depressed. With a deeper understanding of the cruelty, war will always continue to expand the boundaries of human evil.

Of course, it would be too pretentious to say that this caused any feelings of war-weariness and world-weariness. When people witness suffering, the biggest gain should be to do their best to keep themselves and those close to them away from this suffering. The joy and sweetness of victory will never be compromised because of the misery of the enemy.

As the battlefield was gradually cleaned up, this joint, cross-regional military operation of various states also came to a perfect end. Whether it was the Shuofang Hu who harbored evil intentions in the border, or the Li who came from across the border, Shi Hu and his forces suffered an almost devastating blow.

Even if the Western Wei Dynasty did not focus on Beizhou's strategy, this could definitely be regarded as a brilliant victory. It can even be said that the victory exceeded all previous military operations against Jihu in Beizhou since the unification of China!

So while the soldiers were still busy with various finishing matters, the generals had already begun to consider the distribution of battle merits and spoils.