The Battle of Xiangyang (7)

  They rushed out of the Mongolian camp, and Lin Heng and his men immediately arrived at the agreed location. Here, they waited for about a minute before seeing a group of beggars walking over.

  Lin Heng was overjoyed and said: "Brothers, you've finally arrived! I thought something had happened to you!"

  "Haha... thank you, Lin brother, for worrying about us. If it weren't for you guys attracting the Mongolians, we wouldn't have been able to come over so easily!" The newcomer was very polite and had nothing but praise for Lin Heng.

  Lin Heng felt a little pleased with these words, but he didn't show it on his face. After all, he didn't want to be a proud person.

  "Brothers, take a good rest..." Then Lin Heng turned to Yin Zhiping and Zhao Zhi Jing: "Elder brother Yin, Elder brother Zhao, please go to the Mongolian camp and keep an eye on them. As soon as they make a move, we'll launch a surprise attack. We must not let them attack Xin Ye."

  "Good!"

  The two of them nodded and then headed in the direction of the Mongolian camp. Although they had a bit of a scuffle, it wasn't serious, nothing like the intense animosity that would develop later. In fact, Zhao Zhi Jing's behavior over the past few days had left Lin Heng with a rather favorable impression of him. He really couldn't understand how Zhao Zhi Jing could become such a despicable person in the future.

  Shaking his head, Lin Heng threw out the distracting thoughts in his mind and sat down with everyone else, silently eating dry rations. About an hour later, Lin Heng had others go switch back with Yin and Zhao, then just sat there waiting for news.

  In this way, a day's time passed quickly, and the Mongolian army did not send troops that day. Everyone knew that they must be resting and reorganizing. Lin Heng had considered this when he was in Xinye, which is to fight a battle of attrition.

  In Xinye, there are many skilled warriors, but in the Mongolian army camp, even if there are skilled warriors on the battlefield, they would not be their opponents. So he said that when the time comes and the Mongolian army is resting, go to invite battle, with generals fighting each other. In ancient times, this was a very common thing, almost every major war before the generals fought first. This point, you can see from those ancient plays.

  Lin Heng said that the battle was not to let them kill and wound the Mongolian generals, but rather to try not to kill or wound, so as not to force the Mongolian army too much. His purpose was to delay time.

  This point, Qiu Chuji and others played very well. You see this afternoon, they invited three battles, each battle was Xin Ye's victory, and also consumed a lot of time. In the afternoon, they were invited to fight again, but because Mongolia had no masters, they did not respond. At this time, Qiu Chuji and others' policy was: scold! If you don't come out, I'll scold you; if you come out, I'll hit you.

  In this way, the Mongolian army did not rest for a whole day.

  At night, they continued their strategy, and this time Lin Heng and the others who had broken away from the siege also launched a surprise attack from behind. One after another, they provoked the Mongolian army's nerves, not letting them rest.

  On the second day, the Mongols finally couldn't hold back and launched an attack on the city. Perhaps because they still had spirit, the Mongols fought fiercely in this battle. If it weren't for Lin Heng and others setting a strategy and the general's proper command, Xin Ye would have been breached long ago.

  After this battle, the people in Xinye were a bit anxious, but they also knew that anxiety was useless. After all, what they lacked was manpower, and no one had the ability to conjure up people out of thin air. So, they could only continue to follow Lin Heng's strategy, repeatedly harassing the Mongols, not letting them get any rest.

  On the third day, the Mongols attacked the city again, but after three days of poor sleep, they were exhausted. Although this attack was fierce, it was not as intense as before. The defending general quickly realized this and that night ordered Qiu Chuji and others to increase the frequency of their sneak attacks, so that the Mongols had no moment of peace.

  For the sneak attack on the martial artists, the Mongols had thought of a way, but these martial artists were always high and mighty, they simply couldn't be dealt with. Originally, they wanted to lure them into the main camp and annihilate them all at once. However, Lin Heng had said before that they shouldn't enter the main camp deeply. So, Qiu Chuji and others would fight for a while, then run away. Some who didn't listen and fell into the Mongols' trap didn't suffer great losses, after all, they wanted to escape, even in the midst of a large army, it wasn't very difficult.

  On the fourth day, the Mongolian army was completely exhausted. The commander-in-chief of Mongolia was very worried about this, but he had no way to do it. If they attacked the city, the soldiers would not have the spirit to fight and would only be sending themselves to death; if they retreated, there were no orders. This was indeed a difficult situation.

  Just as the general was racking his brains for a solution, Lin Heng made another move. This time, he decided to go all out.

  At night, Lin Heng let Zhao Zhi Jing and others go to the big camp to disturb according to the previous plan, while he himself wore a Mongolian military uniform and quietly mixed into the Mongolian camp.

  In the past few days, he had become familiar with the Mongolian camp, including where they stored their grain and fodder for their horses. This time, he came to burn the Mongolians' grain and fodder, and again set up a fire horse formation to force them to retreat.

  Familiar with the road, Lin Heng walked to the Mongolian army's grain depot. Here, many people were guarding, they almost never left their posts day and night, fearing that the martial artists would discover their grain depot and burn it down with a single fire. Lin Heng hid aside, carefully observing the patrol rules, but here the patrol team was indeed never leaving, wanting to sneak in was impossible.

  Lin Heng stopped at a corner after circling around, he looked at the two people standing beside him and suddenly shouted: "Who are you?" The two Mongolians were extremely vigilant, as soon as Lin Heng shouted, they walked over. Looking at the silhouettes of the two men, Lin Heng, who was hiding in the darkness, made a swift move, killing them with one blow. He threw one person into the darkness and took his place himself, supporting the person in front of him to make it seem like he was standing.

  "What's wrong?" Immediately, other Mongolians rushed over. Lin Heng said quickly: "Nothing, I thought someone was there, but I didn't see anyone."

  "Everyone be careful, those people from the Central Plains have been causing trouble quite frequently these past few days, we can't let them discover this place!" A person who seemed to be a small team leader said, and then had everyone return to their respective posts. Lin Heng also supported the deceased Mongolian soldier back to where they were standing earlier.

  Standing there, he looked around and found that although the place was hidden, people on both sides could see them here. Unable to do anything, Lin Heng had no choice but to wait for an opportunity. Not long after, the opportunity he was waiting for arrived, as a commotion came from the large camp in front, and soon a big fire broke out. He knew that Zhao Zhi Jing, Yin Zhi Ping and others had begun to attack the Mongolian camp.

  "Everyone be careful, we must not let those people from the Central Plains break in here!" The squad leader came over again, waving his hand to gather everyone. Lin Heng took advantage of their distraction to quickly pull the corpse on his body and flash into the haystack behind him. Immediately, Lin Heng pulled out a bottle of fire oil that he had prepared earlier, poured it into the haystack, then pulled out a lighter and threw it in.

  With a loud noise, the big fire suddenly burst into the sky, and the Mongolian squad that had just gathered on the other side immediately became noisy, with many people starting to move in Lin Heng's direction.

  Here, Lin Heng didn't dare to stay for long, he grabbed a torch and jumped onto the grain pile, randomly igniting some of the grains. In no time, the entire grain pile was ablaze.

  Taking advantage of the Mongolians putting out the fire, Lin Heng quickly led them into the darkness and headed in the direction of the stables. On the way, he saw many panicked Mongolians, their eyes dull and faces anxious. It was clear that they had been worn down by Lin Heng and his men over the past few days. As for these people, Lin Heng naturally didn't have any good feelings towards them, so if he could kill them, he would; if not, he would rely on his Mongolian language skills and disguise to get through.

  He soon arrived at the location of the stables. Compared to where the grain was, this stable wasn't heavily guarded, and Lin Heng easily snuck in and started setting fire to the horse tails. Before long, the horses with flaming tails were in a frenzy. Due to the heat from the flames, they simultaneously exerted their strength, broke free from their reins, and ran wildly in all directions.

  "Haha... this time you're not going to die!"