The Battle of Xiangyang (8)

  Two great fires, Lin Heng burned the Mongolian army's grain and horses, disrupting the Mongolian camp, and countless Mongolians were trampled to death. If you add up the people who died in the previous few days, the remaining 15,000-strong Mongolian army was less than 8,000.

  In just four days, the Mongols had lost half of their men, which was a devastating blow to them. So on the fifth day, when the defender of Xinye Castle received the message, he decided to take a risk. He let those martial artists who stayed in the castle form a special task force and launch a surprise attack with daggers, while he led the soldiers in the castle to charge into the Mongolian army through the gap opened by the special task force.

  After this battle, the Mongols suffered heavy casualties and never had the ability to surround Xinye again. Moreover, they were also afraid of those mysterious Wulin figures. That night, after reassembling, they retreated far away.

  The crisis in Xinye has been lifted, and Lin Heng and the others have returned to the city. As soon as they came back, these people started snoring loudly. These past few days have not only been a huge test for the Mongolians but also for them. Fortunately, they are not ordinary people and can withstand several sleepless nights. Now that they've relaxed, they need rest too.

  Lin Heng slept until the sun was high in the sky on the second day, and when he came out, he found everyone gathered in the courtyard, happily chatting. The new commander of XinYe City was also there. From the smile on his face, it could be seen that he was also very happy.

  Compared to these people, Lin Heng thought a bit more. He knew that the crisis in Xinye City had been lifted, but the crisis in Xiangyang had not yet been resolved. There were over 70,000 Mongolian troops there, and it was also unknown how Dengzhou was doing. There were also martial artists there, but could they come up with a solution like their side?

  Lin Heng, who was silently thinking in his heart, did not notice that Qiu Chuji had walked to his side until Qiu Chuji patted him on the shoulder, and he came back to himself.

  "What are you thinking about?" Chu Chubojie looked at Lin Heng strangely. Lin Heng smiled wryly and said what he had just thought of. As soon as Chu Chubojie heard it, he slapped his forehead, overjoyed, and forgot the main issue. Immediately, he found the guardian general and told him about Lin Heng's concerns, saying: "General Guardian, now that the crisis in Xinye has been resolved, those Mongols are nothing to worry about. So I plan to lead everyone to Xiangyang to help Jing'er defend the city."

  Shou nodded in agreement. However, Lin Heng, who had just rushed over, expressed a different opinion. He said, "Master Shu, I agree that we should go to Xiangyang, but I think we shouldn't go now. Instead, we should go to Dengzhou first."

  "Dengzhou?" Chu Chubojie asked in puzzlement.

  Lin Heng nodded and said, "That's right. Although Dengzhou is not short of people and has the help of friends from the martial arts world, we don't know what it's like there after all. So let's go take a look first. If they're in danger, we can lend them a hand and at the same time use the same method to get rid of the Mongolian army there. If they've also taken care of the Mongolians, then we can join forces with the martial arts friends there and head to Xiangyang together. That way, our strength will be greater."

  "Ah, you're right too. Alright, let's go to Dengzhou first!" Chu Chubai nodded and immediately gathered everyone over, recounting the discussion they had just had. As soon as they heard it, everyone nodded in agreement. These past few days, although they were very tired, each of them was still full of energy, especially after defeating the Mongols, their spirits were even more lifted. Now that they heard they would be going to fight the Mongols again, naturally there was no problem with that.

  It was then that everyone naturally did not stay any longer. After having a big meal at noon, they began to rush in the direction of Dengzhou.

  On the road, Qiu Chuji, Lin Heng and others sent out scouts to explore the situation in Dengzhou City first, while they themselves took their time to recover their strength. When they were about to arrive at Dengzhou, those scouts returned and roughly reported on the situation there.

  In Dengzhou City, there are also clever people. Although they can't think of Lin Heng's plan, Huang Rong had once given a way out, that is to treat the martial artists as scouts. The defender of Dengzhou City did just that, only he didn't keep the martial artists in the city, but instead put them behind the Mongolian army, waiting for the right moment to attack the Mongolian army suddenly.

  In this way, every time the Mongolian army attacked the city, they would launch a surprise attack, making it impossible for the Mongolians to defend both front and back. In this way, although six days have passed, Dengzhou still stands firmly there.

  Upon hearing this, Qiu Chuji immediately sent scouts to inform the martial artists in Dengzhou City. Everyone met outside and Qiu Chuji explained their situation. Upon listening, they all cursed themselves for being foolish, wondering why they hadn't thought of this method before. However, it wasn't too late now, so they quickly decided to adopt Qiu Chuji's plan to launch a surprise attack on the Mongolian army.

  This time, the two sides gathered together, with about 500 people. So many people, ten per team, made up of fifty small teams. Each time they went out to attack, twenty-five teams were used, and the next time another wave was changed, rotating like this, so as not to be as tired as Lin Heng and others.

  Once again, Lin Heng's method took effect. After two days of harassment, the Mongolian army soon discovered that something was amiss, especially when they learned that the new wild army had been defeated and heard about their miserable experience. They immediately knew that it must be the martial artists from Xinye who had arrived. Originally, he wanted to ambush these people, but every time the martial artists would break through and leave, although occasionally killing a few, but not affecting the overall situation, instead attracting Lin Heng and others to launch even more frantic attacks.

  So on the fourth day, he decisively ordered the army to retreat. Seeing this, Lin Heng knew that the Mongols were also using a strategy.

  "Master, the Mongolians' losses are not great, they still have at least 10,000 people now. So many people can pose a threat to Dengzhou. If we leave and the Mongolian army comes again..." Lin Heng's words were left unfinished, but everyone knew what he meant. They thought for a moment, and indeed it was true. They could leave Xinye because the Mongolian army there had been defeated and couldn't harm Xinye. But here it was different, the Mongolian army hadn't been defeated, they had retreated voluntarily. If they left now, who knows if the Mongolians wouldn't come back again.

  Thinking of this, Qiu Chuji asked: "Master nephew, what should we do?"

  Lin Heng thought for a moment, but couldn't think of any good solution. If they still followed Xin Ye's method, it probably wouldn't work, after all those Mongolians had already made preparations. But if they just harassed and killed, at least several days would be wasted. That was too much of a delay, after all Xiangyang was very dangerous.

  After a moment of hesitation, Lin Heng gritted his teeth and said: "Master, in order to save time, I think we should take a risk. We will first return to Dengzhou, persuade the governor of Dengzhou to lead a large army with half of the people here to secretly rush to Xinye, combine with the generals of Xinye, and defeat the remaining Mongolians there once and for all. After it is completely safe there, let them return together to this place and have a decisive battle with the Mongolian army. And these remaining people will be responsible for harassing and attacking the Mongolians, delaying time."

  "This..." Chu Chubji hesitated, and Lu You stepped in, saying: "Lin brothers, isn't this plan too risky? If the Mongolian army here discovers something is amiss, Dengzhou will be lost for sure."

  "This is also a helpless measure, after all, we have to rush for time. If it's just us going to harass them, without five or six days of time, I'm afraid we can't defeat those Mongolian troops. Moreover, they can continue to retreat, what do we do then?" Lin Heng quickly asked two questions, Lu Youzu couldn't answer, and neither could the others. In the end, it was still Qiu Chuji who made the decision, which was to implement according to Lin Heng's method.

  Everyone saw that he had made up his mind, and they didn't say anything more. After all, he was the most famous one here. So, everyone returned to Dengzhou and persuaded the general guarding Dengzhou. That night, the soldiers of Dengzhou set out quietly towards Xinye under the leadership of more than 200 martial artists.

  The large army marched slowly and had to rest during the day and move at night, so it wasn't until the third day that they arrived in Xinye. When the commander of Xinye saw them, he was shocked, thinking that Dengzhou had been lost. But soon he understood the situation and decided to cooperate. The armies of Dengzhou and Xinye joined forces, totaling over 5,000 men, and launched a surprise attack on the Mongol army of over 5,000 men who were still licking their wounds that night.

  This time, it was the martial artists who made the first move, and then the army followed. This battle was a hard-hitting war, and the Mongolians, who had no morale, were defeated again, and they lost badly. They had more than 5,000 people, but by the end, less than 1,000 survived. These people would never pose a threat to Xinye again.

  After a night of fighting, the army did not stop and quickly rushed back to Dengzhou. At the same time, Lin Heng and others who stayed here were also delaying the Mongolian army very well, and they even attacked them at night. In three days, they killed more than 2,000 Mongolians. This forced the Mongols to retreat. Looking at their current situation, they almost retreated back to the main camp in Nanyang.

  That night, just as the Mongolian general was thinking of giving up, various noises broke out again in the camp, and soon the sound of weapons came. He thought it was those martial artists who had come to attack, but a wave of horseshoes immediately shattered his illusion. He anxiously walked out of the big tent and gathered everyone together. However, the noise around him was too loud, and he couldn't gather people from afar at all.

  Seeing this, he knew that he had lost this time.