For a moment I was pleasantly surprised that this chapter was short (this has only happened like two times), then I remembered that the new site cuts the chapters in parts! I almost cried. Thank you for waiting. Weâre 40/79 chapters in! 39 chapters more and weâre done with this beautiful story. âBambi.
Chapter 40. Giving up a foot to rescue a brother
After the fire incident, when FiyanggĆ« beheaded several soldiers, only then did Yinzhen understand how the fire happened, and Yinyou for his part, didnât ask much.
Two days later, it started to rain and their army didnât have enough rain gear. There was worry that the soldiers would get sick if they traveled in the rain. One sick soldier could spread the sickness to others, and a diseased-riddled army would be troublesome. FiyanggĆ« had no choice but to stop the whole army and find a slope to set up camp.
In the military tent, Yinzhenâs face was gloomy. If the rain kept falling like this, the original battle plan will have to be shelved. If Galdanâs retreat couldnât be cut off, the entire army generals will be punished.
On his left was Fiyanggƫ, and on his right was the eighth brother Yinsi. No matter what their positions were at this time, they all had the same worries.
Yinsi tilted his head to look at the pensive Yinzhen. In the past two years, he and this fourth brother have been very at odds, and the two had fought a lot in the open and in the dark, but this time if the fourth brother was unlucky, he will not get any benefits.
Yinzhen said in a deep voice, âSince thatâs the case, itâs better to let those who have rain gear go first, and the rest of them will travel lightly. They will accelerate their marching after the rain stops.â
âIf we do it this way, and we encounter a large number of Galdanâs army, what should we do if our army is insufficient?â Yinsi retracted his finger from tapping on the table, and spoke slowly. âIf Galdan escaped under our hands, who will take responsibility for this mistake?â
Yinzhen lowered his eyelids slightly, âThere are two possibilities. One is that because the army was too slow we let Galdan escape without putting up a fight. The other option is to try and fight him to the point of damaging Galdanâs vitality. We have to choose one.â
In any case, they couldnât let Galdan escape back to his lair. Letting the tiger return to the mountain will only cause endless trouble.
Yinyou, who was about to enter the tent, stopped on his tracks when he heard this. He flipped the bamboo hat on his head, feeling a bit lost. From his previous life, he knew that the Qing army would be victorious and defeat Galdan. He also knew Galdan would commit suicide by taking poison, but frankly speaking, he didnât know how they won.
Before meeting with the West Army, Yinyou had already received Kangxiâs order to lead the Bordered Yellow Banner battalion. He looked back at the soldiers standing guard in the rain. The lives of all these people were all in the hands of their leader. If he made a wrong decision, these people would die.
âWait another day. If the rain continues tomorrow, let most of the troops go first.â
Yinyou listened to FiyanggĆ«âs words, turned around and returned to his tent.
At noon on the second day, when the rain stopped, FiyanggĆ« was overjoyed, and immediately led all his troops to advance at full speed. When they reached the Ongi River, the Central Route Army led by Kangxi had already left and entered the north of the Gobi Desert to approach Galdanâs army. The West Army hurried forward, and after crossing the Tula River, they heard the news that Galdan had fled.
âReport!â A soldier rushed to FiyanggĆ«âs horse. âGeneral, the enemy camp is fifteen kilometers ahead.â
FiyanggĆ« looked at the three imperial princes behind him, âWhat plans do the princes have?â
Yinzhen glanced at the tiredness of the soldiers around him. The rush of the past few days was indeed unbearable. He thought for a while. âNow that everyone has been on the road for several days, tired and hungry, why not set up camp for everyone to rest and raise their spirits. Then we will fight with all our might.â
Yinsi nodded silently, and Yinyou on the side had no objection either.
âThatâs exactly what nucai2ć„Žæ nĂșcai. Slave.  wants too,â FiyanggĆ« looked at the surrounding terrain, and quickly arranged the campâs location. He then breathed a sigh of relief.
The formation chosen by FiyanggĆ« was easy to defend and difficult to attack, and most of the soldiers rested peacefully that night. The next day several generals went to the generalâs tent to discuss countermeasures.
âThat being the case, the general Zhengsun, the fourth prince, the seventh prince, and the eighth prince will lead the army to guard against the mountain, and the last general will lead people to detour to Galdanâs lair and cut off his retreat. This is the plan. Do any of you have any comments?â FiyanggĆ« looked away from the map and looked at the fourth and eighth princes.
The fourth prince and the eighth prince were at odds with each other, and each knew more or less what was going on in the court. Luring the enemy was no small feat. One prince led the Plain Red Banner and the other the Plain Blue Banner. Choosing who to send was particularly difficult. If he let the fourth prince go, some people would say that heâd formed a party with the fourth prince but letting the eighth prince go was not an option as he was unwilling to give up this military achievement to his son-in-lawâs opponent.
The other lieutenants also understood this fragile balance and didnât speak. No one wanted to offend the two princes.
Seeing this situation, Yinyou opened his mouth, then closed it again; he didnât want to step on this muddy water either.
âFrom the point of view of this general, the seventh prince has been in the barracks for some time now. How about letting the seventh prince do this?â Sun Sike3ćæć sĆ«nsÄ«kĂš. Sun Sike (1628-1700), courtesy name Jinchen and nickname Fuzhai. He was a military general of the Qing Dynasty. Son of Sun Degong. Hereâs his Chinese Wikipedia page., who was standing aside, said. âThe fourth prince and the eighth prince must also fight the enemy with all their strength. Is this acceptable?â
Fiyanggƫ nodded slightly, apparently having no opinion on the matter.
âThe general is right,â Yinsi replied indifferently, his heart was like a mirror4äžćżćŠæéĄ â the heart is like a mirror. âRefer to the thorough observation and perception of people and things that appear in front of youâ.: most of these people turned towards the fourth brother, and everyone here knew that the seventh brother was close to the fourth brother. Letting the seventh brother take the credit was better than directly giving it the fourth brother, anyway, he couldnât get it.
Two days later, Yinyou sent more than 400 people to lure the enemy. Sure enough, Galdan was really angry and vowed to take down the mountain. The Qing army first used cannons to repel the shotgun soldiers. When the enemies tried to go up the mountain, they released stones to stop them; then they fought with arrows, and in the end, it was hand-to-hand combat where the true battle began.
The feeling of killing a man for the first time was horrific. It was entirely different from killing a chicken and a duck. Yinyouâs hand holding the sword was sweating, but when Galdanâs army rushed up from behind, he still didnât hesitate. This was a battlefield, he was a man and an imperial prince of the Great Qing. At this time, even if his heart was fearful, he couldnât even have the slightest intention to retreat. As soon as he took a step back, he would become a joke among princes, and his Eâniang and her clan would all become a joke among the Eighth Bannersâ noble families.
What was the difference between killing one person and killing ten people? Fear and numbness. When heâd cut down a person with the sword, sometimes blood from the neck artery would spray on Yinyouâs hands and face but he didnât even have time to wipe it off, and so he continued to defend against the next enemy soldier.
Yinzhen and Yinsi on the one side were also bloodstained, but their movements did not slow down. The imperial princes who were originally aloof, at a time like this, could only be red-eyes6æçșąäșçŒ shÄhĂłng liÇo yÇn. It means killing until one loses all reason, and enters a state of mental numbness, only knowing mechanical killing, killing, killing! Describes fighting to the point of being uncontrollable. Source. generals.
A group of soldiers approved by Galdan rushed up the mountain but soon fell down. The so-called shotgun soldiers were not seen much, and they had no resistance at all under the guns and cannon of the Qing army.
After killing a group of enemies, the silver armor on Yinyouâs body was already stained red with blood. He looked at the enemies who continued to charge up the mountain, and said coldly, âBring the bow.â
He drew the bow and shot the arrow. Woosh, the arrow passed through the chest of the enemy general riding in front of the cavalry, and fell off the horse.
âSons of the Great Qing, let these people know the prestige of our Qing Dynasty. Where do we have to be afraid of such bastards!â
Yinzhen, who was riding beside him on the horse, heard him and immediately shouted, âPraise the Qing Dynasty! Sons of the Great Qing, cut off the heads of the enemies, and share the emperorâs worries!â
At this time, the red-eyed soldiers were full of murderous intent , and when they heard the impassioned words of the fourth prince, they charged at the enemy with howls, but those enemy men had already lost most of their fighting spirit.
âFourth brother, eighth brother, let Galdan come and die here today!â Yinyou tilted his head and smiled brightly at Yinzhen and Yinyou, his blood-stained face looked particularly attractive at this moment.
âOkay,â Yinsi clenched the cold knife stained with blood. His usual gentle demeanor was nowhere to be found, and his body was full of killing intent.
With a whip to his horse, Yinzhen rushed to the front, and the soldiers who stayed close to him to protect him also followed, fearing that something might happen to this noble master. Seeing this scene, Yinyou raised his whip and followed with a smile.
Yinsi was one step behind the two of them, and seeing the figures of the two on horseback, he wiped the blood on his cheek and rushed forward without hesitation.
When fighting in hand-to-hand combat, the so-called stratagems were meaningless; everyone was simply fighting for their lives. Even the princes who were protected by someone were still in a dangerous situation at this time.
Yinyou knew that none of Kangxiâs sons had died on the battlefield, but the history he knew had changed, and he wondered if any prince would die on the battlefield because of this. He dodged the enemyâs lieutenantâs sword, threw his body forward, and sliced through the opponentâs chest. The opponent felt the pain, so he raised the sword and slashed at him.
Yinyou only dared to scream inwardly, when suddenly a knife appeared from the side, slashing the enemy on the horse, he quickly glanced aside, it turned out to be the eighth brother. At this time, he didnât bother to thank him, and kicked the enemy off the horse with his right foot. Immediately, one of the soldiers who protected him rushed forward and stabbed the knife into the manâs chest.
The battle went on for a long time, but the enemy soldiers still wanted to take down the mountain, and the Qing army fought hard to kill the enemy. Even though they were extremely tired, no one dared to slack around.
The horse under Yinyou had already started to bleed, although most of it was the blood of the enemy, there were also wounds on the horse. For his part, Yinyou didnât feel tired, the nerves in his whole body were tense to the extreme and there was no other color in his eyes, only dazzling red.
Suddenly seeing an enemy army appear behind Yinzhen, Yinyouâs complexion changed. He quickly turned his horseâs head and pierced the manâs chest with a flying knife; at the same time, he felt his foot hurt, it turned out that his left foot was slashed by the enemy, and blood had started to spurt from the toe.
âSeventh brother!â Yinzhenâs complexion changed. If it wasnât because the enemy was in front of him, at this moment, he wished he could step forward and hug Yinyou to check his injuries.
âSeventh prince!â The faces of the soldiers around him changed drastically, and after killing the opponent, they gathered around Yinyou.
âWhat are you panicking about?â Yinyou sat on the horseâs head and scolded with a serious face, âKill the enemy for me, such a small injury, donât worry about it!â
He said that, but inside he couldnât help crying in his heart; he was afraid that half of his toe was gone. People said that the ten fingers were connected to the heart, but why didnât they say that the ten toes were also connected to the heart? Otherwise, how could it be so painful?
Seeing that Yinyouâs face had turned pale, Yinzhen looked at his left foot and noticed the bleeding. He quickly turned his head away, and gritting his teeth, he continued to kill the enemy, striking harder and harder. If it wasnât for him, how could the seventh brother be injured?!
Thinking that just now Yinyou disregarded his own danger to kill the enemy behind him, his knuckles turned white while holding the sword. He pierced an enemyâs throat with one slash, and the back of his hand was sprayed with hot blood.
The battle lasted for a day, and Galdanâs lost tens of thousands of troops, in the end, Gerdan led the army to flee.
Yinyou rode on the horse with his back straight. Looking at the blood-stained land, his face was expressionless and his solemnity made the people around him afraid. Even after winning the battle, he still didnât feel good.
âSeventh brother!â Yinzhen jumped off the horse, looked at Yinyouâs left foot that was no longer bleeding, and walked next to Yinyouâs horse, âGet off the horse quickly, let the military doctor check your injury.â
âFourth brotherâŠâ Yinyou slowly lowered his head, looking at Yinzhen who was full of anxiety.
âWhatâs the matter?â Yinzhen stretched out his hand to hold Yinyouâs hand tightly gripping the rein. Yinyouâs hand was frighteningly cold.
âCatch me.â Yinyouâs eyes went dark, and he fell down.
âSeventh brother!â
Fainting⊠was also good.
The author has something to say: The process of the battlefield is pure nonsense and has nothing to do with history. I hope that the ancient heroes will forgive this incompetent Butterfly7The authorâs pseudonym is Butterflyâs Shadow Beneath the Moon on the battlefield.