Chapter 1087 Why Fear Death

In the valley below Duanliang City, the sound of killing shook the sky. Under the leadership of Guo Yan, the Wei army soldiers formed a circle with their backs against the ridge. The waterwheels that were protected in the circle were used to transport water. On the east side of this formation, the Qi army kept rushing in, and almost every rush took away several lives in the formation.

The terrain of Duanliang City was too steep, which indeed caused great trouble to the attacking party, and also increased the difficulty of delivering reinforcements and supplies. Guo Yan had led his team to try to rush to Duanliang City from the front several times before, but was repelled by the enemy, and several waterwheels were damaged by the enemy.

After some trial and balance, Guo Yan chose to lead his troops to avoid the hillside earth beam in front of Duanliang City, and chose to form a formation in the valley below the back of the city, so that the defenders in the city could use long ropes and wooden barrels to extract water from the city.

On the east side of the Qi army's main attack formation, hundreds of Wei soldiers who had died in the battle had already fallen on the ground. Guo Yan still commanded the soldiers with a stern expression to block the gaps opened by the enemy, so as to buy time for the defenders in the Broken Beam City on the plateau to draw water.

Qi General Xue Guyan knew the importance of these water supplies to the Wei army in the city, so in addition to breaking through the enemy formation, he also ordered to destroy the water wheels and buckets carrying water.

The remaining rockets from the previous siege were thrown without reservation, and the outer walls of some water buckets were pierced or burned. Some Wei soldiers actually rushed forward to block the gaps and extinguish the flames. And the bodies of some dead soldiers were also ordered by Guo Yan to be dragged back and covered on the water wheels to form a layer of protection, so that blood would inevitably flow into the water.

When the defenders in the city carried this precious water tool up to the city, they saw the bloody water, and tears welled up in their dry eyes. They couldn't help but lean down and yelled: "General Guo, please retreat for now. We have enough water. The enemy is too fierce. Don't let our comrades suffer here again! We must swear to defend this city and wait for the army to arrive!"

Guo Yan under the city saw that under the harassment of the enemy, more than half of the water in the waterwheel had not been pumped into the city, so he glared and roared: "I led the army here, don't you know the danger? Only you defend the city, the rest are not worth it! Quickly draw water and store it, don't cry! Since the army has come here, there is no water and blood, and the country will die. Where else can we choose? Kill the enemy!"

Under Guo Yan's roar, the defenders in the city wiped away their tears and sped up the speed of drawing water. Although many thieves wanted to destroy the buckets and long ropes with stray arrows, there were always three or five buckets of water in ten buckets that were brought into the city for storage.

Xue Guyan originally wanted to let the enemy in and then destroy them together, but he didn't expect the enemy's morale to be so strong that they were willing to risk their lives to deliver water to the defenders in the city.

He was furious, waving his lance and slashing at the enemy formation again and again. His armor was covered with blood. Seeing that the enemy formation was still stubbornly maintaining its position and not retreating, he pointed at Guo Yan who was fighting hard in the formation and roared: "You thieves, what kind of reward can Li Boshan give you that you are willing to fight to the death for him!"

After hearing this, Guo Yan laughed and said, "What do you know, thieves! My lord governs the world with benevolence and righteousness, and can lead to the revival of the Han Dynasty and rebuild the Yanxia! When my way is prosperous, everyone will serve, so why fear death! Kill the thieves, kill the thieves!"

"Kill the thieves, kill the thieves!"

Along with Guo Yan's roar, other soldiers also roared loudly. For a time, the loud roar overwhelmed the shouts of the Qi army, which was several times their number.

After the battle continued for a while, the soldiers in the rear finally shouted loudly: "General Guo, the water has been delivered to the city!"

Guo Yan was also happy when he heard this. He did not retreat but advanced. After reaching the front of the battle, he shouted loudly: "I will stop the enemy from here and guard the rear. You will quickly evacuate to the west!"

As he spoke, he rushed to the front line, and together with the soldiers around him, he blocked and killed the enemy while slowly retreating the army. At this time, the defenders on the city, after taking the water, also joined the attack on the enemy below the city.

"Don't let the thief get away, kill all these Qiang thieves!"

Xue Guyan was also in a killing mood at this time. Naturally, he was unwilling to let the enemy send water to the city under his nose and then evacuate safely. He immediately led his elite soldiers to rush towards the retreating enemy formation.

The passage at the bottom of the ravine was narrow. When the Wei army's battle formation was firmly held, the Qi army still found it difficult to break through the battle formation easily. However, as the battle formation began to shift backwards, it was no longer as solid as before. Although Guo Yan still led the soldiers to fight hard, it was still difficult to stop more and more enemy soldiers from invading the battle line, making the entire battle formation about to break.

"The soldiers on the east side are fighting with chariots, and the soldiers on the west side quickly evacuate! Tell the passing soldiers that the supplies in Duanliang City have been replenished, and they can continue to hold on for many days. Don't worry about this. Quickly wipe out the remaining cross-border bandits!"

Seeing that the battle formation had been penetrated and scattered by the enemy, it was difficult to evacuate all of them. Guo Yan made a quick decision to lead more than 300 people who were fighting the enemy here to stay here to cover the rear, so as to give nearly 1,000 soldiers in the rear a chance to escape and retreat.

Because the enemy was too fiercely entangled and there were successors swarming in the rear, it was difficult for Guo Yan and others to escape. The soldiers in the west knew that the situation was urgent and did not dare to waste precious time and opportunity, so they immediately withdrew.

The Qi army was blocked by Guo Yan and other soldiers and the carriage frame, so it was difficult to move forward. Even if dozens of people rushed forward, they did not dare to continue to pursue, and could only turn back, trapping Guo Yan and his party firmly in place.

As the messy carriages were gradually destroyed, Guo Yan and others were gradually exposed to the enemy's front. There was no barrier between them. Every collision would be bloody.

"General, goodbye!"

A soldier's abdomen was pierced by the enemy's spear. He looked down at the spear that passed through his abdomen, and then retreated instead of advancing. He roared and swung his sword to chop the face of the enemy soldier opposite.

Guo Yan had fewer guards around him at this moment, and even his arm armor had been smashed by the enemy's long spear. One arm hung at his side, and he killed the enemy with one hand. When he saw his soldiers die tragically in front of him, there was no pity on his face, and he only laughed softly: "The boy actually went first, Huang Quan came later..."

Xue Guyan shouted loudly, and swung the long spear in his hand, killing two soldiers beside Guo Yan, and then pressed the spear tip down, hitting Guo Yan's shoulder and forcing him to kneel on the ground, and then shouted: "Will the thief surrender?"

Guo Yan turned his head to look at the broken bone on his shoulder that was protruding and then covered with blood. He then gritted his teeth and stood up, staring at the enemy with bloodshot eyes, and shouted again: "Kill the thief..."

The soldiers on both sides rushed over, each swinging their swords to slash at Guo Yan's chest, and the brave general, who was already covered with scars, fell upright on the battlefield.

"You bastard, you are doing me a disservice!"

Seeing Guo Yan die in battle, Xue Guyan was still furious. He drew his sword and beheaded Guo Yan. Then he ordered the soldiers to behead all the Wei army soldiers who died in the battle and build a Jingguan outside Duanliang City to intimidate the defenders in the city.

The news that Guo Yan died in Duanliang City soon spread to the rear. When the soldiers who retreated from outside Duanliang City reported the matter, Li Tai couldn't help but think of the scene when Zhou Changming introduced this high-spirited and brave general to his own school. For a moment, he felt quite sad.

"Although it is a farewell, this life is all. The dead are gone, but the living still have the courage. We should hold back our tears and fight bravely to avenge General Guo and others, to comfort the heroic spirits who died on the battlefield!"

Casualties are inevitable in war, and being too emotional and indulging in grief is useless. Li Tai quickly calmed down and said to Guo Yan's comrades who were still full of sorrow.

He naturally had no time to be disturbed by such emotions, because there were still many military affairs waiting for him to deal with and make decisions, especially the Northern Qi army active in the mountains north of Wusu City, which needed to be searched, encircled and eliminated. As for the task of defending the Jiashiling Mountain Road that Guo Yan was responsible for before, it was handed over to Li Yantou.

The battlefield situation around Wusu City was too complicated, and it was not suitable for a large-scale infantry battle. But now both sides of the war have chosen this place as a battle battlefield, so naturally they must work hard to grasp the surrounding terrain in their hands, so as to facilitate the army to advance, retreat, gather and disperse, and avoid being surrounded and intercepted by the enemy.

Before completing this task, the large group of troops naturally did not dare to enter the battlefield easily.

Because once they are at a disadvantage in controlling the terrain, even if they have more troops, it will be difficult to play out. For example, a strategic stronghold like Duanliang City only needs a few hundred people to garrison to stop thousands of troops. Once surrounded by the enemy, they are already in an absolute disadvantage.

From the perspective of the Western Wei Dynasty, Li Tai needs to firmly control the passage from Qinyuan to Wusu City, as well as the mountainous area north of Wusu City, so as to avoid being harassed by the enemy from these directions, thereby consolidating Wusu City as the forward base camp, so that the main force of the Western Wei Dynasty can attack the Shangdang area from north to south and from a high position.

Under the desperate battle of Guo Yan and others, the defenders of Duanliang City were provided with important supplies. Since the Jiashiling Passage was not opened by the Qi army, it was difficult for the rear troops to follow it, and the strongholds built by the Qi soldiers who had crossed the border to find water and explore the road could not be supported and could not play a role. Instead, they were surrounded and eliminated one by one by the Wei army.

At the same time, the areas where these Qi army squads appeared and stayed also further pointed out the geographical points within the area to the Wei army, thereby strengthening the prevention and control within the area and further compensating for the disadvantage of fighting away from home.

In the next few days, the Wei army attacked separately and carried out a detailed elimination of the small groups of Qi troops in this area, ensuring the safety of the north of Wusu City.

At the same time, the grain and grass material reserves transferred in Wusu City also reached a certain scale. After all the conditions were met, Li Tai finally led the main division to Wusu City, preparing to fight with the Northern Qi army here.