Song Xiu

Chapter 91: Twenty Thousand Elite Troops Vanished

Inside the Funiu Mountains, the air is unbearably hot and dry, and dry, withered trees and wild grasses are everywhere.

However, looking at the steep and hard rock walls on both sides of the mountain path, many Han soldiers felt a little calmer.

This terrain, at least, ensured the safety of their left and right flanks.

After their emotions calmed down somewhat, information about the perilous situation in the rear was being passed around among the troops.

Realizing that the deadly threat from the rear had not been completely eliminated, this exhausted army had no choice but to embark on its journey home once again.

The mountain passes in the Funiu Valley are deep and narrow, with some sections only wide enough for two or three soldiers to walk side by side.

The roads, varying in width, caused large numbers of Han soldiers to crowd together, their shoulder armor touching shoulder armor.

The worst part was that even as the sun moved westward and the evening glow gradually appeared on the horizon, the heat in the mountain path was still like a steamer, and every soldier was soaked in sweat.

The 20,000 Han soldiers who entered the Funiu Mountains marched towards the valley entrance in dense, intertwined masses, like ants stuffed into a bamboo tube.

During the march, the occasional arguments and insults that broke out in the group gradually turned the Funiu Mountains into a powder keg.

The 20,000 Han soldiers marching amidst their complaints failed to notice the slight trembling of the trees on the cliff face.

The trees shook, causing some fallen leaves to drift down.

As the leaves drifted down, one landed right on a soldier's shoulder. Annoyed, he assumed the leaves were blown down by the mountain wind and impatiently brushed them aside.

Little did he know that, in the shadow of the trees overhead, thousands of eyes were coldly watching the congested valley.

The arguing and cursing coming from the rear did not affect Liu Ji'en, who was riding at the front of the procession.

Even with the situation having developed to this point, Liu Ji'en was still unwilling to walk like an ordinary soldier.

Even though he had a fine horse to ride with, which spared him the hardship of marching, Liu Ji'en still looked miserable.

When he first arrived in Luzhou, he was full of ambition, thinking that he would make military achievements so that Liu Jun would no longer be disappointed in him.

Unexpectedly, from the day he took command of the military, many unforeseen circumstances began to unfold, slowly shattering his ambitions.

Reflecting on his experience in commanding troops over the past few days, Liu Ji'en felt a strong sense of powerlessness.

Sometimes Liu Ji'en even felt as if there was an invisible giant hand manipulating him like a puppet.

This feeling is becoming stronger and stronger over time.

Upon further reflection, Liu Ji'en couldn't help but find the idea rather ridiculous.

If such a large hand truly exists, it could only belong to Zhao Dexiu, the commander-in-chief of the Song army.

But he anticipated the enemy's moves—was that even possible?
Liu Ji'en chuckled repeatedly when he thought of Zhao Dexiu's age.

Admittedly, he had not expected that the Song army would be able to break through his camp in such a short time.

However, the Song army was able to do this because of its superior numbers, and it had little to do with Zhao Dexiu.

After temporarily suppressing the shadow of defeat in his heart, Liu Ji'en looked at the 20,000 Han soldiers who were hesitatingly moving forward behind him, and a sense of pride gradually arose in his heart.

Although most of the Han soldiers had a look of defeat on their faces.

They lost the battle of Luzhou.

Fortunately, they were defeated but not seriously injured.

Once these 20,000 brave men from Hedong have returned home safely, they will have a good rest and recuperate, and will soon recover their strength.

If the Han army can then gain the assistance of the Khitan army, it will surely be able to make a comeback!

Lost in his beautiful vision of the future, Liu Ji'en unconsciously quickened his pace.

But as he walked, Liu Ji'en soon noticed something was wrong.

A dozen or so steps ahead in the valley, many thick trees lay diagonally, blocking the Han army's path.

In the summer, the weather in the mountains is unpredictable, and it is not unusual for trees to be broken by strong winds and heavy rain.

How could so many thick tree trunks have fallen in one place at the same time?
Importantly, the bark on those tree trunks had also been stripped off.

Even the strongest storms cannot completely destroy the bark of a tree.

This unusual scene caught the attention of several Han army generals, led by Liu Ji'en.

Surprised, they dismounted and quickly walked to the tree trunk.

Upon closer inspection, Liu Ji'en and Lu Zan discovered two lines of writing on the two thickest tree trunks.

The line of text is:
"If you enter the country armed with weapons, why would you seek to return alive?"

The other line reads:
"The scoundrel from Hedong met his end here!"

Upon seeing the two lines of large, flowing characters, the Han generals' expressions changed drastically, filled with suspicion and unease.

The appearance of these two lines was so unusual that anyone could tell something was very wrong!

Liu Ji'en was completely stunned on the spot.

Could it be that he can truly anticipate the enemy's moves?

While the generals were still visibly shaken, a shocking turn of events occurred at that very moment!
Suddenly, a series of strange sounds exploded on the cliff top. It was not the sound of wind, but the tearing sound of thousands of oil-soaked fire arrows slicing through the air.

Under the crimson glow of the sunset, thousands of fire arrows, like shooting stars falling from the sky, fell irresistibly towards the Funiu Valley below.

Liu Jiye was the first to react.

He had just wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked up at the sky when he saw that the sky was covered by shooting stars that blotted out the sun.

This spectacular scene left Liu Jiye utterly astonished.

"Burn down Mount Funiu!"

So this was Zhao Dexiu's hidden trump card!
Before Liu Jiye's exclamation had even finished, many of the rapidly descending fire arrows had already landed among the crowd.

A Han soldier's battle robe was set ablaze, flames leaping up his collar. He frantically tried to extinguish the flames, but in his terror, he crashed into a group of men beside him, instantly igniting even more fireballs. The mountain path was too long, with cliffs on both sides, and many soldiers at the back could not clearly see what was happening ahead.

All they saw was flickering flames and screams ahead. Their survival instincts made them quickly turn around and try to escape this hellish place.

But their escape route had already been blocked by a large number of their comrades.

The fire arrow struck the withered grass in the valley, instantly raising a thick cloud of smoke. The smoke, along with hissing sparks, rose continuously, turning the deep valley a fiery red.

Compared to people, cavalry horses are more afraid of fire.

After the sparks landed on the generals' horses, the northern steeds reared up abruptly to escape the sparks, throwing the generals off their backs to the ground, and then charged wildly left and right.

Many warhorses collided with soldiers, their mournful cries echoing through the valley.

Chaos spread like wildfire. No one heeded orders anymore, no one looked in the right direction, and all the soldiers were pushing, trampling, and screaming.

The Song soldiers on the cliff top continued to shoot arrows.

One fire arrow after another pierced the cliff face, some striking the dry branches and igniting the flames, which then spread rapidly down the cliff.

Some of the fireballs landed in the crowd, creating even more fireballs that rolled around in the throng.

The bowstrings in the Song soldiers' hands vibrated so hard that their arms went numb, but no one stopped.

War is always a life-or-death struggle, with no room for sentimentality!
The fire in the valley grew brighter and brighter, and the numerous panicked roars in the valley slowly turned into dying sobs.

At this moment, Mount Funiu has become a complete hell!

The wave of fleeing soldiers, numbering in the tens of thousands, quickly swept out of the Funiu Mountains.

Just as this wave was about to rush into the Funiu Mountains, the intense flames erupting from within the mountains stopped them in their tracks.

The intense flames terrified tens of thousands of fleeing soldiers.

Is it the sun in the sky that has fallen onto the mountain in front of us?
Having developed this misconception, tens of thousands of defeated soldiers dared not continue into the mountains.

Tens of thousands of defeated soldiers, fleeing for their lives, would not have died in vain.

The howling mountain winds carried the pungent smell of burning as they swept out of the mountains. This smell gradually brought the tens of thousands of defeated soldiers back to their senses outside the Funiu Mountains.

Throughout their lives, many defeated soldiers were overwhelmed by a profound sense of exhaustion.

With the sun setting and flames soaring into the sky, and tens of thousands of Song soldiers pursuing them relentlessly, the defeated soldiers, caught in a desperate situation, collapsed to the ground and wept bitterly.

As many of the routed soldiers began to despair, Zhao Dexiu led three thousand Crane Control Army soldiers to the outskirts of Funiu Mountain.

The fleeing soldiers were incredibly good at escaping.

Zhao Dexiu had a tough time chasing after him all the way.

Zhao Dexiu began to understand the helplessness that Yelü Xiuge had felt in history.

Fortunately, Zhao Dexiu had given the troops a good morale boost before the battle; otherwise, the Song army would have been unable to withstand such a high-intensity march.

When thousands of menacing Song soldiers appeared, a deafening chorus of pleas for mercy reached Zhao Dexiu's ears.

Looking at the tens of thousands of defeated soldiers on the ground, weeping and begging for mercy, Zhao Dexiu's eyes were filled with sorrow.

He had been leading his troops in pursuit of the fleeing soldiers and witnessed firsthand how the elite Han army was so frightened by this torrent that they were driven into the Funiu Mountains.

He had hoped that this torrent of fleeing soldiers would at least help him delay the elite Han troops at the front.

To his utter surprise, this torrent of defeated soldiers directly helped him achieve his goal in one fell swoop.

Tens of thousands of defeated soldiers can become an unstoppable torrent after losing their minds, but they can also become helpless lambs to the slaughter after regaining their senses.

Human nature is complex, as it always has been.

Zhao Dexiu was not a bloodthirsty person.

Unlike the 20,000 elite troops from Hedong, most of these tens of thousands of defeated soldiers were civilians captured by the Han army from various places and had no sense of belonging to the Northern Han.

Even if the number of defeated soldiers was large, once they regained their senses, they would not pose a danger to the elite Song army.

After weighing the pros and cons, Zhao Dexiu gave the order:
"Those who surrender will not be killed!"

At Zhao Dexiu's command, thousands of Song soldiers began to shout this phrase in unison.

When the cries of thousands of Song soldiers to surrender echoed outside the Funiu Mountains, it signified that the Song army had won a great victory in this battle of annihilation against the Han army.

The fire in Funiu Mountain was largely extinguished after a night.

The next morning, Zhao Dexiu stood at the entrance of the valley.

From Zhao Dexiu's perspective, small fires were still flickering in some places inside the valley.

In the valley ahead, the once crowded people had turned into a mountain of corpses.

Under the supervision of some Song soldiers, a large number of Han soldiers and laborers entered the valley to carry away corpses and clear the battlefield.

Among the mountain of corpses, some bodies were charred black, and others had limbs twisted so that they were no longer recognizable as human.

This scene, resembling purgatory, terrified many laborers, turning their faces pale, and some even vomited uncontrollably.

In their terror, the thought that "Zhao Dexiu is not to be resisted" was deeply ingrained in the minds of many laborers.

And it wasn't just the laborers who had this thought.

When the surviving Han generals were brought before Zhao Dexiu, their eyes were filled with terror.

Twenty thousand elite troops, wiped out in the blink of an eye—all thanks to the man before us!

　Two more chapters, totaling 6000 words, will be released at 6 PM, bringing the total number of words updated today to 12000.

　　During the period when it is available, the update time will still be 12:00 and 18:00.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)