Time Travel: The Survival of Li Zhi

No matter how ferocious the Tatars were, they were actually just a temporary assembled force.

The leaders of several tribes are good at killing and fighting, but they are all of equal status and have too high an opinion of themselves. Once they encounter disagreements, without someone who can suppress the leaders and calm the situation, their already fragile alliance will fall apart in an instant.

Zunzhen, garrison.

"I don't agree to cross the Beihe River!" a dark-faced man said in a rough voice.

As soon as the big man finished speaking, he gained the recognition of several other leaders.

"I support Adamu. The northern border of the southern country is enough for us to plunder. Why should we take the risk of crossing the North River and heading south?" Saigao said.

"When did the men of the grassland become so timid? If you are worried about the risks, you might as well go back to the grassland and herd sheep!" Tata glanced at Saigao with disdain.

Sai Gao was not very enthusiastic. He picked up a bowl of wine and drank it in one gulp before he said slowly, "Tata, provocation will not work on me. I will not let my men sacrifice in vain. The northern border is enough for my tribe to plunder. I will not participate in the matter of crossing the river."

"You... humph!" Tata snorted coldly, but he could do nothing. They were all of equal strength. Saigao was unwilling to cooperate with Tata, and even though he was angry, he could do nothing about him.

At this time, another tribal leader came out and said, "Sai Gao, the southern part of the Southern Kingdom is more prosperous. We have seized ten cities in the northern border, but not as many as one city in the south. You are too short-sighted!"

Sai Gao laughed and said, "You mean short-sighted? If you want to go, go by yourselves. Anyway, I'm not going."

Adamu also smiled and said, "I won't go either. You want to go to the south to eat meat, so I will stay in the north and just drink soup."

Then three more leaders came forward and said they would not go to the south.

Batu glanced at Saigao and the other four people with a gloomy face. It was he who proposed to cross the Beihe River and go south. Now Saigao and the others opposed it, which made him lose face. He was very angry.

This time, eleven tribes were assembled to plunder the Southern Kingdom together. Sai Gao and his companions accounted for more than half of the troops. If Sai Gao and his companions did not go south together, their strength would be greatly reduced, and they would not be able to cause greater deterrence to the Southern Kingdom.

However, Sai Gao and his companions were not afraid of Batu at all. The combined forces of the five of them were already greater than those of Batu. They were not afraid of Batu and his men gathering together and using their military force to force them to cooperate.

Batu had a gloomy face, but he couldn't do anything about them, so he could only sneer and say, "Since you don't want to go, I won't force you, just don't be jealous when the time comes!"

After saying that, Batu stood up and left. Tata and several other leaders who were willing to cross the river and head south also followed him.

After they left, Sai Gao said to the other four people: "Well, without them, the North will all belong to us. Let's divide it up."

The other four people all looked happy when they heard this.

 …

Batu tightened the fox fur coat he was wearing. Although it was not officially winter yet, the cold could already be felt clearly in the north.

Standing by the Beihe River, Batu stared at the river in front of him, which was like a roadblock. With sharp eyes, he waved his hand and ordered, "Cross the river!"

At the command, nearly 100,000 Tatar troops surged like a tide and rushed quickly towards the river.

The river was turbulent, and the rushing water hit the river bank, making a roaring sound.

However, the Tatar army was not frightened by this dangerous scene. They all came from poor mountains and bad waters, so how could they be frightened by these things?

They jumped into the river without hesitation and swam hard to the other side.

Looking at the soldiers' high morale, Batu nodded. Although their troops were reduced to less than 100,000 due to the retreat of Saigao and others, the victories since entering the Pass meant that the men of various tribes were not affected too much. This made Batu feel relieved and a smile appeared on his face.

However, his smile disappeared immediately.

Because after crossing the river, disagreements arose again in their crossing alliance.

"Batu, Beijing is the capital of the Southern Kingdom. It is not so easy to take it. I don't agree to attack Beijing!" Tata shook his head and said.

Batu took a look at the expressions of the others and knew that none of them agreed to attack the capital. He could only hold his temper and said, "The capital of the Southern Kingdom is definitely a fertile city. If we take it down, everything inside will be ours! And once we take down the capital of the Southern Kingdom, the entire Southern Kingdom will surely fall into panic. No one will dare to resist us wherever we go. The entire Southern Kingdom will be plundered by us!"

Batu's words sound nice, but who can become a leader is easy? One of the leaders said, "Hey, what you said sounds nice, but the walls of the capital are high. We grassland men are not good at attacking cities, and we don't have siege equipment. If we attack the city like ants, we will lose our lives. How many of our 100,000 people will have to die before we can capture the capital? Don't forget that Sai Gao and the others are still in the northern border!"

Batu had no choice but to give up the idea of attacking the capital. After all, he knew that what the man said made sense, and the competition on their grassland has always been fierce. Although they gathered together to go south this time, they were actually fighting among themselves not long ago. Once they failed in the siege or suffered too many casualties, they would be eaten by Sai Gao and others as soon as they returned to the north.

Seeing Batu listening to advice, everyone smiled.

Then they discussed how to fight and where to attack. After all, after they split their forces with Sai Gao, they were short of troops. If they made a wrong arrangement, they would be easily defeated one by one.

After they reached a consensus, Batu paused and said, "I will transfer some people to the capital."

"What's the matter? Do you still want to attack the capital?" Tata said with a frown.

Batu waved his hand and said, "No, I can't take down the capital by myself. I will send some people over to contain them so that we can rob other places without worry. And I will just send a team to take the prisoners over, it won't affect us."

Hearing Batu say this, Tata nodded and no longer objected.

 …

"What's the current situation with the Tartars?" Li Zhi asked, tilting his head.

A scout stepped forward and said, "After crossing the river, the Tartars split up their forces. The majority of them went to Shannan, but some of them are heading our way. They are still about three days away from us."

"Did you find out anything?" Li Zhi asked.

"Yes! The group of people coming towards us is about three thousand people, but they are driving five or six thousand captured civilians. They probably want to use these civilians as the vanguard. Those Tartars are so arrogant that they didn't send out any scouts or vanguards along the way." said the scout.

Upon hearing this, Li Zhi raised his head and looked towards the north. His calm and deep gaze seemed to want to penetrate the space, ignoring the distance, to see whether Li Fu was among the group of people who were being driven forward.

Li Zhi retracted his gaze and ordered, "Pass the order and prepare. If the Tartars really didn't send out scouts, then we will follow the original plan. Zhang Da will lead the people in the city to defend the city, and the others will follow me out of the city to ambush!"

"As ordered!"

three days later.

A huge army of prisoners appeared before people's eyes.

The number of prisoners was huge. At first glance, the dense crowd was like a surging tide, advancing forward continuously.

They were dressed in tattered clothes, with various scars and dust on their bodies. It was obvious that they had suffered inhuman torture during the days they were captured by the Tatars. They all looked haggard and numb, as if they had lost hope in life.

Behind them, the Tatars, holding whips or spears, closely monitored the prisoners' every move on both sides of the team. Their expressions were cold and ruthless, and their eyes revealed contempt and oppression for the prisoners.

Driven in this way, the army of prisoners slowly arrived at the gate of Qi Town.

Li Zhi led the Qizhen army to ambush near a hill. Li Zhi looked up slightly and saw his father Li Fu among the thousands of captives.

Li Fu staggered forward, his eyes no longer had the former brilliance, his clothes were torn and covered with scars.

Li Zhi's hand gripped the knife handle tightly uncontrollably, his fingers trembling slightly due to excessive force.

On the Tartar side, the leader of the team, with a face full of flesh, raised a big knife and shouted loudly.

As soon as he finished speaking, the Tatars let out a wild roar!

Roar!

The siege begins!