Harem Daily Life

Heavy snow fluttered down, and the sky and the earth were covered in silver white, but it could not cover up the blood and tragedy on the battlefield.

The Yan soldiers were caught off guard and were defeated, but they were familiar with the terrain and had experience fighting in the snow, so even though the Zhou soldiers were well prepared, they did not gain any advantage in such extremely bad weather.

Soldiers from both sides fought hard in the snow, and the shouts of killing shook the mountains.

The generals of the Great Zhou rode on war horses, holding spears and swords, charging left and right in the enemy formation, and the blood of the Yan soldiers splattered wherever they went.

The archers of Yan State continued to shoot arrows, and rows of arrows pierced through the snow and shot towards the soldiers of Da Zhou.

Gu Yi led five hundred people to cut off the retreat of the Yan army from the rear. In the gusts of wind and snow, the vision became blurred and the shouting and killing sounds were so deafening that the ears could hardly hear.

Suddenly, the Yan army retreated en masse and charged towards the five hundred men led by Gu Yi. Gu Yi tore off a strip of cloth from his inner garment and tied it around his head, tying it tightly to relieve the headache brought on by exhaustion. He shouted, "Today, either they die or we die. Soldiers, charge out and join the main army. Don't let a single Yan person escape!"

The five hundred men, each holding a weapon, put aside all distractions and attacked the Yan army directly.

With pursuers in front and ambushes behind, the soldiers of Yan State lost their minds, chaos broke out in the army, and they fled in panic.

However, Gu Yi was like a god of war, blocking the retreating Yan army. He wielded his sword and chopped down one enemy after another.

The war drums of the Great Zhou Dynasty sounded as General Duan led a group of lieutenants and soldiers to attack step by step.

"Fight, hold on! You can't retreat, you can't retreat!" The Yan general Yuwen Hao pushed the retreating soldiers forward, but the soldiers had already lost their composure.

"I can't fight anymore. I haven't even had enough to eat. I want to surrender. I surrender. Don't kill me."

"I want to go home, I want to go home, I won't fight anymore, I won't fight anymore..."

The soldiers of Yan State began to throw away their weapons, squat down with their heads in their hands and beg for mercy.

Upon seeing this, General Duan shouted in a voice as loud as a bell: "Drop your weapons! Surrender and you will not be killed!"

The soldiers of the Great Zhou Dynasty also shouted: "Drop your weapons, surrender and you will not be killed! Drop your weapons, surrender and you will not be killed!"

The Yan army was defeated like a mountain collapsing. The snow fell heavier and heavier, and the calls for surrender resounded throughout the mountains. The Yan army was defeated. The war lasted for nearly half a year and ended with the Great Zhou annihilating more than 60,000 enemies.

Yuwen Hao looked at the corpses of Yan soldiers scattered all over the ground, watching the snowy ground dyed red by the blood of the dead soldiers, and cried out to the sky: "We are defeated. No food, no support, no military pay, no winter clothes. Yan State, defeated..."

He thrust the silver spear in his hand into the snow, took out the dagger he carried with him, and thrust it directly into his neck.

"General Yuwen!" His deputy general cried out, hugging the fallen Yuwen Hao: "Military doctor, military doctor come quickly!"

But Yuwen Hao's blow was fatal. As a military general with great military achievements in the State of Yan, his pride would not allow him to be captured, which would be a shame in his military career.

I would rather commit suicide to thank my country than be a captive.

General Duan met up with Gu Yi, and they both saw Yuwen Hao committing suicide. General Duan pondered for a moment, stepped forward, picked up the Yan army flag whose flagpole had been cut down, removed it from the flagpole, and covered Yuwen Hao with it.

Although the Great Zhou and the State of Yan had fought several wars and were mortal enemies on the battlefield, Yuwen Hao's bravery was worthy of the respect of the generals of the Great Zhou.

The Yan general wiped the blood from his face, stood up, and saluted General Duan. "We weren't defeated due to lack of strength or poor military tactics. We were defeated because we were out of food and support. Our commander-in-chief has been killed. As deputy commander, I am willing to lead the remaining soldiers in surrender."

General Duan and Gu Yi exchanged a glance, and Gu Yi nodded. General Duan said, "Take them all back to the camp and wait for the ransom from Yan State."

The weapons and war horses of Yan State were taken away by the soldiers of Zhou State. Even the better armor was stripped off the corpses. The spoils were countless.

Things on the battlefield are over, but the aftermath has just begun.

Gu Yi was tired, cold, and had a splitting headache after leading a small team of 500 people over the mountains for three days. He was also injured from fighting on the battlefield. After returning to the barracks and bandaging his wounds, he fell into a deep sleep and slept for two days and two nights before waking up.

"General, you're finally awake. I'll go inform General Duan right away."

Watching the guards leave, Gu Yi got up, washed up briefly, drank some hot water, and felt refreshed.

General Duan and several deputy generals came in, all with worried expressions on their faces.

"General Gu, these 30,000-plus Yan soldiers are such voracious eaters. They've devoured thousands of kilograms of food right off the bat. If Yan doesn't come to negotiate and pay the ransom, I'm afraid our army won't be able to sustain its rations."

Gu Yi's eyes darkened and he said, "A few dozen miles past Yanyun Mountain is the Wuya City of Yan State. Why don't we just take down Wuya City? Then we will have food, right?" The part of Yanyun Mountain within the territory of Yan State is right inside the Wuya City. If the Great Zhou directly takes over this city, the Yanyun Mountain will naturally belong to the Great Zhou.

General Duan pondered for a moment and said worriedly, "What about these prisoners of war? Take them with us?" If they turn against us and join forces with the Yan soldiers in Wuya City, the army of the Great Zhou would be in trouble.

Gu Yi said, "We now have over 80,000 men. Let's leave 20,000 to guard the city. They'll only be fed the thinnest gruel every day. I don't believe they can resist. The remaining 60,000 will attack the city."

After he finished speaking, he looked at the worried faces of the crowd and said, "Yan State is still determined to be a traitor. They fought and negotiated peace in the past few years, and they are fighting again this year. If they negotiate peace again, there is no guarantee that they will not fight again in the future. While we are in high spirits now, why not make a decisive move, capture Wuya City, and redraw the border between the two countries?"

General Duan and his deputy generals were so excited by what Gu Yi said.

"But, on the side of the court, on the side of His Majesty... Although a general is away from the army and is not subject to military orders, we still have to obtain His Majesty's consent, right? After all, we have to pay the soldiers and prepare food and fodder." General Duan hesitated.

Gu Yi smiled and said, "Don't worry, I will immediately write a letter and send it to the capital city at an expedited rate of 800 miles."

The messenger who was still galloping on the road at this time: "..."

What's going on? Why didn't you tell me a few days ago? I should have sent it along!

In fact, although Gu Yi said that he wanted to write a letter to ask His Majesty, ever since Ningyuan Hou said that it would be best to take Yanyun Mountain, he had a vague feeling that His Majesty also wanted them to continue forward and capture a city.

He had always had some speculations about his father's sudden resignation from office to travel around. He always felt that traveling around was just a superficial excuse, and in fact, his father was most likely going to complete some secret mission assigned by His Majesty.

And this mission may be related to Yanyun Mountain.