Due to Jiang Yuqing's heroic deed the night before, the breakfast at the Wounded Soldiers Camp had a qualitative improvement the next day.
In addition to a bowl of millet porridge, each injured soldier also had half a bowl of milk and a boiled egg.
These things, so common in later generations, were comparable to mountain delicacies in their eyes.
Everyone ate extremely cherishedly, almost piously, which made Jiang Yuqing feel sour.
After they finished eating, she took several nurses to do rounds. These lovely and straightforward guys actually pushed the eggs they hid into her hands one after another.
"Little genius doctor, this is for you!"
"Little genius doctor, eat mine. I've been holding it warm..."
Jiang Yuqing felt sour and extremely moved at the same time. She opened her own small cloth bag, revealing three round eggs inside, and deliberately boasted with a relaxed tone: "Look, I have three, more than you guys. So you should eat your own!"
Only then did the wounded soldiers scratched their heads and grinned to take the eggs back and carefully peel the shells to eat them.
December 7th, the third day of the short-lived ceasefire.
Ten miles north of the Yumen Pass Garrison Camp, on the Gobi Desert, thirty thousand soldiers headed by filial piety cloths silently dug pits with picks, hoes and shovels.
The frozen hard ground was very difficult to dig, but none of them complained. They just silently dug the earth, one pick and one shovel, muffled as if chiseled at the heart.
Not far away, those simple earthen piles were where the fallen comrades were now asleep.
Next to the white tents, on the two-story shelves, rows of naked coffins were parked. A simple wooden plaque with black lettering of their fallen brothers’ names and birth and death years was nailed to the outside of each coffin. This was also their tombstone.
There were a total of seventeen such white barracks, with a total of 13,451 coffins parked, and 13,451 brothers who lay here forever.
Fortunately, it was freeze-thaw winter, and they were extremely grateful that the prefect of Su Prefecture sent these coffins, otherwise the bodies of their brothers would probably have rotten away or been eaten by wild wolves before they came to dig graves.
It also seemed that every parting of life and death on this side of the pass always happened in this cold winter.
The grave pits were dug.
In the howling cold wind, under the gloomy icy sky, the soldiers put down their picks, walked into the white barracks silently, and carried the coffins four men in a group to put them in the burial pits one by one.
Watching the black and gray soil mixed with snow slowly covering the coffins, at this moment, everyone burst into tears.
Jiang Yuqing suddenly remembered a poem from her previous life, "It is fortunate for a daughter to marry a neighbor, but a son is buried under hundreds of grasses. Have you not seen that, at the head of Qinghai Lake, from ancient times white bones were uncollected. New ghosts complain bitterly and old ghosts cry sadly, the gloomy rainy weather making rustling sounds!"
This silent funeral lasted from morning until dark, and Jiang Yuqing felt that her tears seemed to have dried up.
In her previous life, she had seen off comrades-in-arms. Later, comrades-in-arms had also seen her off. In this life, it was her turn to see off comrades-in-arms again.
Although she was no longer a soldier in this life, they were all her comrades-in-arms in her heart.
She was in reincarnation, and grief seemed to be in reincarnation as well.
When the last mound was built, everyone faced the tombstones, knelt on one knee, and let out a thunderous roar full of iron blood and grief: "Brothers, bon voyage! We will surely kill all Xiongnu to avenge you!”
One bowl of turbid wine, saluting heaven and earth, ghosts and gods, as well as these loyal souls.
At some point, it started snowing again. In the twilight, these endless tombstones seemed to be silently resolute and vivid faces.
Alive, with their flesh and blood they built the Great Wall, preventing the Xiongnu from taking a step past the pass. Dead, their bodies also turned into war souls, continuing to guard this land they deeply loved.
They were the most tenacious Great Wall in the north.
After returning that night, none of the military doctors who participated in the funeral had the appetite for dinner. Jiang Yuqing didn't eat either. After rounds, she just sat in the tent in a daze.
In the middle of the night, the camp suddenly became noisy. After Jiang Yuqing was awakened and just ran out of the tent, a messenger came: "Tongluo Pass asked for help. Military doctors hurry up and follow."
Jiang Yuqing was shocked. She quickly made arrangements, then selected ten doctors and twenty medical apprentices plus herself to form a thirty-one-person medical team. They brought some medicine with them symbolically and followed the reinforcements rushing towards Tongluo Pass.
It turned out that after the Xiongnu attacked Yumen Guan for a long time without success, suffering heavy casualties, not to mention that the food they carried with them was almost exhausted. Unlike the soldiers of the Han dynasty, they could not get food supplies at any time.
There was only so much that could be carried on horseback, and after eating it all, they could only drink the northwest wind. Having no alternative, the Xiongnu commander had to come up with another idea. After thinking twice, he chose Tongluo Pass in the southwest of Su Prefecture.
Although the terrain there was the most rugged, the defending troops were also the least on the entire northwest defense line, with only 30,000 soldiers and horses. Out of this 30,000+ troops, 10,000 were transferred days ago to support the nearby Hangu Pass.
Avoiding the sentry of the Yumen Pass commander, the Xiongnu divided 60,000 troops led by the fifth Xiongnu Prince Huyin Agula and Grand General Habater to attack Tongluo Pass.
Tongluo Pass was in imminent danger. Having no choice, Old General Wang, the commanding general, had to ask for reinforcements from other camps.
Of the five major camps in the northwest, the closest was Hangu Pass. Hangu Pass could barely maintain itself, otherwise there would not have been the previous incident of Tongluo Pass sending troops to support it.
Further north was Jinchuan Pass. Jinchuan Pass fought fiercely alongside Jinling Pass with the Xiongnu.
Only the farthest Yumen Pass could send reinforcements, and Yumen Pass was three days away from Tongluo Pass.
Military situations were like fighting fires, with not a moment's delay allowed. All the way, except for occasionally stopping to pee and short breaks, the troops did not dare to stop for half a moment.
However, before they reached Tongluo Pass, bad news came.
Tongluo Pass was broken, Commander Old General Wang died in battle, and none of the defending soldiers survived with all having died heroically. How tragic was this!
Wei Qing, the commander who led the team, instantly turned red-eyed. He used to be a subordinate of Old General Wang and could be said to have Old General Wang as half a mentor.
The troops moved faster, and when they arrived at Tongluo Pass, the gates were wide open as expected, with severed limbs and messy corpses everywhere, horizontally and vertically lying all over. There were soldiers of both Han dynasty and Xiongnu.
Jiang Yuqing saw a Han soldier whose body was chopped into two halves, with the exposed intestines trailing long outside the body.
There were traces of bright red blood everywhere on the snowy ground, which had frozen into blocks of blood ice due to the extreme cold. White snow, red blood.
The horrific scene on the site was indescribable in words.
Even the military doctors who were used to seeing blood couldn't stand it. Two nurses vomited uncontrollably on the spot, crying as they did so.
The heads of Commander Old General Wang and several deputy commanders were chopped off and hung at the gatehouse tower by the Xiongnu.
Seeing this, the soldiers of the Han dynasty instantly went mad.
After rescuing the heads of the generals and placing them together with their bodies, everyone let out an angry roar together: "Chase! Kill all Xiongnu to avenge Old General Wang and the tragic deaths of brothers at Tongluo Pass!”
The troops followed the traces left by the Xiongnu in pursuit.
Not long after, a scout brought the news that the Xiongnu were burning and killing all the way, and had raided past Tongluo County to Xichen Town, showing momentum of heading straight for Su Prefecture city.
When Jiang Yuqing heard this, she almost went mad. Su Prefecture city, that was where her parents and relatives were, she definitely couldn’t allow it.
For a moment, she wanted to throw everything and return to Su Prefecture, but eventually reason triumphed over her.
She believed in Wei Qing, the commander, and the soldiers. They must be able to block the Xiongnu.
At this time in Su Prefecture city, upon receiving the news of Tongluo Pass being attacked, Jiang Wenyuan immediately ordered the surrounding counties and towns to hide in the mountains temporarily. At the same time, he ordered closing the city gates with all citizens making preparations to fight.
Then he brought his son Jiang Yuchuan and all the family soldiers of the prefecture, while recruiting valiant warriors in the city and inviting disabled veterans to give pointers, and dug horse traps and entanglement ropes along the foot of the city wall.
On the one hand, they collected all available oil in the city to heat it and also gathered lime, stones, etc. to move onto the ramparts, with Jiang Wenyuan personally commanding on top of the wall, fully prepared to fight a final battle against the invading Xiongnu at any time.
Even Lu led all the maids of the prefectural city, silently preparing medicine and tearing silk and cotton cloth into gauze.
This weak woman had an unprecedented firmness in her eyes. Her daughter was with the army at the frontline, her husband and son stood on the city wall, if they could not survive, she would have no reason to live either, it would be good for the whole family to reunite underground.
Originally panicked commoners, when they saw their beloved magistrate Wei Qing and young master Jiang Yuqing standing straight on the city wall, their hearts calmed down inexplicably.
That's right, Magistrate Jiang is not afraid, what do they have to be afraid of? At worst, death! If they were lucky enough to be reborn, they might even become Wei Qing’s brothers.
At the same time, the army led by Wei Qing rushed all the way and finally intercepted the remnants of these Xiongnu troops within the borders of Xichen Town a day later.
Jiang Yuqing followed all the way. The villages passed along the way were all robbed, burned and killed by the barbarians.
The old man was hacked to death at the foot of the wall, the child was stabbed on the thorn fence, and Jiang Yuqing even saw a pregnant woman with her belly cut open and her eyes wide open in death.
And that pitiful little fetus still connected by the umbilical cord was hacked in half and thrown aside, frozen black and purple.
Jiang Yuqing's eyes instantly turned blood red, and she bit her lips tightly to keep herself from crying out. She tremblingly sewed the little fetus, cut in half, back together and placed it back in its mother's belly before sewing it shut.
She then tidied the woman's clothes and choked back tears as she said firmly, "Auntie, you and little brother rest in peace. I will avenge you. I swear with my life that none of these beasts will live to return to Xiongnu!"
After she finished saying this, the pregnant woman's wide open eyes miraculously closed shut. Perhaps she really had a soul!
Hatred completely ignited the soldiers' anger, and as soon as they engaged the barbarians, the battle immediately became intense.
When attacking the city, the Xiongnu had already lost more than half of their troops. Now there were only over 20,000 remnants left. When facing 40,000 Han soldiers who were completely aroused, they quickly fell behind.
The battle lasted more than a day. The more the Xiongnu fought, the more afraid they became as their numbers dwindled. They were about to be completely wiped out.
The Xiongnu Prince Agula, who led them, had to send out a squad to intercept the Han army at full strength, while he himself led the remaining 5,000 plus people and fled at full speed towards Tongluo Pass.
The Han soldiers became more courageous as they fought, chasing them from behind, but unfortunately there were not enough horses for the Han side, and they could only watch helplessly as the remnants escaped.
Wei Qing hated that he smashed his fist heavily on the city wall. It was not that he did not want to pursue, but there were still large Xiongnu forces outside the pass, and with so few troops left, going out would be suicide.
Without absolute certainty, he could not risk the lives of his officers and men.
He could only resentfully give the order to camp and gather the bodies of soldiers who had died in the battle for Tongluo Pass.
It was almost midnight when Jiang Yuqing finished the surgery on the last seriously wounded soldier.
She took off her surgical clothes, took off her cap, and said to her deputy, "I'm going out for a moment, leave things here temporarily to you."
The deputy thought she was just going to the bathroom or something and didn't care. He responded okay and went back to work.
Under the cover of night, Jiang Yuqing stuck an invisibility charm on herself, rode Bai Xiaoshi and rushed straight out of Tongluo Pass.
Blood debts are paid in blood!
