Chapter 120 The star of the battle (2)
Within a few days, the war broke out again. Muke let his men lead their men to attack Great Liang’s border at two places at the same time. The outposts designed by Great Liang at the border were broken one after another. The Xiongnu broke into them, committed arson, killed and looted. Great Liang suffered heavy losses.
This situation had been repeating every year and failure seemed to have become the normality. The weak outposts at the border in the northwest of Great Liang couldn’t withstand the brutal trampling of the iron hoofs of the Xiongnu.
Everything seemed to have become inevitable and a matter of course. Everything happened as forecasted. However, what made people shocked was that a different scenery seemed to have appeared in one of the outposts in the northwest this year.
After Zhao Zimu took over Situ Yuanxiao’s men, she didn’t make any changes. She only assigned these people under her to be led by her original troop of hundred. Although, Chen Jin added two thousand soldiers to her, he didn’t remove the hundred people that were under her command. Therefore, these people were arranged like this.
Let her lead hundred people, she could give them intensive training one by one. However, if there were more than a thousand people, then, let her subordinates go train them. If they couldn’t teach them well, she didn’t mind teaching her subordinates once again.
After arranging all the people under her, Zhao Zimu’s troop also fought against the Xiongnu like everyone else and they also defended the outposts at the border, preventing the Xiongnu from getting closer to the cities of Great Liang.
The only difference was that Zhao Zimu’s ‘defense’ was a bit different from other generals.
The difference was that Zhao Zimu’s people really regarded taking the initiative to attack as defense. She often led the people under her and set up ambushes when the Xiongnu were just heading towards them. They specialized in beating the cavalry. If they could win, fight. If they couldn’t win, withdraw.
Sometimes, Zhao Zimu would tactically withdraw and deliberately let the Xiongnu in and then kill them from behind while they were off guard.
The horses of Zhao Zimu’s original subordinates were the best horses in the army, making their stable have a lot of high-quality horses. Therefore, the speed of the Xiongnu cavalry had no advantage on them. These were the fine horses that helped the ghostly black armored troop crisscross through the grassland. Naturally, their speed couldn’t be compared with.
However, things didn’t go so smoothly in the beginning. Situ Yuanxiao’s soldiers were also veterans that had guarded the northwest. They also had the deep-rooted fear for the Xiongnu and could only defend passively.
Of course, this kind of defense didn’t mean that the generals of the northwest wouldn’t lead troops to fight. The defense here referred to the kind of weakness of the heart. They thought that the Xiongnu were strong and they only would be beaten and could only defend.
Zhao Zimu also knew about this, but she still didn’t change strategy. One had to know how the ghostly black armored troop got its name; take the initiative to attack, even if blood was exchanged for blood!
Because the weak collided with the strong, Zhao Zimu’s subordinates suffered a terrible loss in the beginning. Many people could barely withstand this pressure and there were also those who had fled. However, Zhao Zimu’s troop could be said to be the strongest and the most ruthless of the entire army because they were all disciplined and supervised by the ghostly back armored troop. As for how ruthless the people under Zhao Zimu were, the Xiongnu who had experienced it probably knew the best.
Therefore, even if the hearts of the people weren’t on one line in the beginning and how intense the urge was to flee when facing the enemy, they were subdued by the blood on the supervising leader. No one dared to flee.
There were those who cried, died and injured, but no one dared to flee. Those who had fled had died under the swords of the teammate. And that young and unfeeling general of theirs was even more frightful. She was ruthless towards the enemy and also ruthless to them.
Therefore, they could only face the challenge.
When the first battle was won, everyone was dumbstruck. They looked blankly at the corpses of the Xiongnu all over the ground. They had actually won.
For the first time, the Xiongnu had run away under their defense. To them who had hardly experienced such a victory, it was like a fantasy.
How could this be possible?
But nothing was impossible!
The victory told them that they had won. They have not failed after sacrificing countless of companions. They have won!
On that day, Zhao Zimu was looked at by the gazes of the surviving soldiers that she had newly received. Those gazes were full of admiration and approval.
There was excitement in their eyes because following this person seemed to have given them hope.
He was worthy of being followed!
Zhao Zimu only had about fifteen hundred people left. Nearly five hundred people had been lost in a battle. Although, this was common for the other generals in the northwest, it was too much for her.
But those who could stay were excellent soldiers with courage. Although, it was a bit exaggerated, but Zhao Zimu’s subordinates were all elite soldiers. So, they had to be elite soldiers, no, they had to be baptized in blood.
For a time, the people led by Zhao Zimu became the most dazzling existence in the northwest army that made the Xiongnu’s expression change when they heard about them because only they had fought with blood and displayed vigor!
There were sixteen outposts at the northwest. Each outpost that had been guarded by them became different because the place where they were must be the fiercest, the most violent and the most exciting.
The Xiongnu also firmly remembered this troop after their blood had been shed. This troop had a black flag with the word ‘Zhao’ when fighting. Ever since Situ Yuanxiao was unable to fight, the strange thing was that Chen Jin didn’t re-arrange Zhao Zimu to be under the command of any other general. The command for each battle came from himself and he treated with almost the same treatment as the other generals.
This may be a sign of the upcoming rise of a new star of battles.
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Thanks for the chapter 🤩