The chaotic and broken Guanjin Line, before being washed away by the heavy rain, was still permeated with the strong smell of blood.
Tens of thousands of injured soldiers guarded the war horses and waited for the order to mount the horses and gallop towards the headquarters.
The night was dark and the sky was like ink.
The one who chose to fight at night wanted to take advantage of the limited vision to launch a surprise attack, but at the same time, this limitation would also blind them.
For example, now, even though it was the injured soldiers walking, in the eyes of the Northerners Nomads, it was the Jiang family army from the headquarters.
Jiang Chengyuan retracted his gaze and looked up at the sky again.
Night battles were not better the darker they were. An environment where you can't see your fingers would make it difficult to distinguish between enemy and us, making it harder to grasp the situation of the battle and issue commands.
Only when the full moon hangs high is the real moment to charge.
As the clouds gradually moved away, light rose around them, vaguely revealing the "injured" soldiers lying horizontal and vertical on the ground, as well as the "exhausted" comrades resting with their eyes closed.
After counting, the part of the injured soldiers who returned to headquarters had already gone far, too far to hear the fighting sounds at the Guanjin Line.
Jiang Chengyuan leaned close to the ground to listen to the vibrations. After a while he stood up, "Here they come."
Countless Northerners Nomads troops, stepping on millions of iron hooves, surrounded the Guanjin Line in an instant.
The most ferocious Anda Cavalry rushed in, vowing to use the fastest speed to trample the injured soldiers on the ground and crush the bones of the Dayu Dynasty’s soldiers.
If it was not the Jiang family army lying in ambush here, if no one had expected this feint, then the entire Guanjin Line would be completely destroyed, hundreds of thousands of troops would be annihilated, causing immeasurable losses.
The Northerners Nomads might have also expected a great victory in this battle. With a light and brisk smile on their faces, they looked towards the Central Plains, the land of abundant grain, with undisguised greed and craving in their eyes.
It was at this very moment.
In the blink of an eye, the horizontal and vertical injured soldiers leapt up, unsheathed the sabers hidden under their bodies, and hacked at the enemy with the greatest speed.
The Northern Nomads’ horses were shocked and whinnied, raising their front hooves.
The exhausted soldiers stood up and took out iron caltrops from their arms, throwing them under the horses' hooves with extreme precision.
The horses had just recovered from the shock when they put down their hooves again, only to suffer unbearable pain, and could only whinny again and raise their hooves, or even crash down painfully.
Since the Dayu troops were lying in ambush this time, they could not confront the enemy openly on horseback. And infantry was at an irreversible disadvantage against cavalry, so they could only outsmart the enemy instead of attacking head-on.
The iron caltrops were the nemesis of the horses and the best weapon against cavalry.
The advantage was that it would force the Northern Nomads from cavalry to infantry, or even throw them into disarray.
The disadvantage was that the iron caltrops injured horses and also injured people. When the Dayu soldiers stepped on them, they also had to grit their teeth in pain and continue fighting.
Sabers collided with swords, spears countered halberds again and again.
National hatred, family hatred, private resentment, public resentment, burst out to an extreme at this moment.
Everyone had bloodshot eyes, roaring, snarling, venting, and piercing enemies with their blades while throwing open their arms and falling down.
As the next-generation young general, Jiang Chengyuan took over his father’s place and displayed the Jiang family’s swordsmanship to its greatest potential.
Blood, blood everywhere.
On his hands, on his body, on his face.
The enemy’s, his comrades’, his own.
Some fought until exhaustion yet still wanted to take more lives.
Some reluctantly fell down with lingering chagrin in their eyes.
Jiang Chengyuan can no longer remember how many Northern Nomads he had killed. Blossoms of blood unfolded before his eyes and his vision turned crimson. He suddenly thought back to his gallant and profligate days of the past, recalling those riotous old times, thinking of those self-important noble youths in Fengjing, and then his two little sisters popped up in his mind.
He used to feel distressed over his unreal thousand-gold sister, struggling hard between his two sisters, and always missing the chance after waking up from a long affection entanglement.
Until he came to this battlefield, seeing countless children losing their homes, seeing the soldiers falling on the battlefield, did he understand how insignificant those entanglements he once had were.
There has always been more than just tranquil days in Fengjing in this world, various kinds of visible and invisible darkness breeding in different corners as well.
When you are only at thumb’s length height, the world you see is merely at thumb’s length.
Only by breaking through the vision of the thumb to see more and farther things will you realize that the distress of the thumb’s entanglement is merely the thumb’s own distress.
Even now, Jiang Chengyuan would still feel sad about Jiang Chenghui’s death and distressed about Jiang Sheng’s sufferings, but he has been able to calmly accept everything, life's joy and sorrow, separation and reunion.
His feelings have extended from family to country. His wish is to drive away the Northern Nomads and defend the borderlands.
Just like now, stabbing the enemy’s chest with a saber and then kicking the enemy away to block the long spear sneaking up from behind.
"Be careful."
Another two long spears stabbed towards them, obviously intending to capture the king first.
Someone parried them away with a long knife and then joined the battle, wielding weapons with their backs against each other.
"Why did you come here?" Jiang Chengyuan asked aloud, "Isn't it better to stay at the headquarters? If something happens to you, Jiang Kuai will be heartbroken."
"Won’t she be heartbroken if something happens to you?” Fang Heng replied coldly, “Don’t tell me you didn’t hear her call you brother."
Of course he heard it, how could he not have heard it?
But for the urgency of military affairs, he couldn’t even dismount to respond, let alone open his arms to embrace the little sister who had been absent from his life for thirteen years.
"As long as we survive, why worry that we can’t respond?" It was as if Fang Heng had guessed what he was thinking, "Don’t blame me for not warning you, our little sister is about to reach adulthood. At that time, there will definitely be some annoying brats courting her, so we have to keep an eye on her."
He also wondered which young master in Fengjing would dare to marry a girl with seven overprotective brothers.
Jiang Chengyuan broke into a smile amidst his grief, his vision became more and more blurred, yet his swordsmanship became increasingly fierce.
"Alright, then let's fight to the end and kill to the end, survive and go back to Fengjing, survive and...see our little sister."
The two of them were unstoppable. With their backs against each other confronting the enemies, wherever they passed, the Northern Nomads could hardly escape.
As more and more enemies fell, the Northern Nomads who were surrounding Guanjin Line realized that something was wrong.
The earlier vanguards were originally sent in to crush any enemies easily, but there were whinnying horses and screaming men, yet with obscured vision they couldn't see clearly. They could only send scouts in to investigate.
However, the Dayu soldiers were prepared, slashing and killing every scout they saw, one by one and in pairs.
Until after three consecutive scouts were sent but none returned, the Anda Third Prince finally sensed something wrong and quickly ordered the troops to retreat with horn signals.
But my vast lands, how can you come and go as you please!
“My brothers, the Northern Nomads want to retreat, kill them!” Jiang Chengyuan brandished his sword and shouted loudly, “Kill all the Northern Nomads and avenge the elders of our borderlands!”
“Avenge the elders of our borderlands!” Fang Heng yelled loudly in response.
The ambushing side morale was high while those ambushed were doomed to be defeated.
As more and more comrades fell, the scene of daylight appeared again in the night.
It’s just that while it was a bloody battle in the day, it was a total victory at night.
Tens of thousands of Jiang family troops pursued and attacked the retreating Northern Nomads, forcing them back to the city gates to regroup with the besieging army before finally halting in shock.
