12dz Chapter 1987 Aid or Not
Chapter 1987 Aid or Not
The Vermilion Bird Legion annihilated the enemy on the battlefield.
Feng Mulan received Xue Dingshan's second message via carrier pigeon.
When she saw phrases like "encountering 50,000 reinforcements" and "determined to fight to the death to stop the enemy," her fingers tightened slightly as she held the letter.
A complex light flashed in her eyes beneath the veil, a mixture of shock, worry, and above all, a resolute determination.
"Send the order!"
Her voice was as cold as ice: "Spread the news of General Xue's desperate fight to stop the enemy to the entire army!"
"Tell the soldiers that General Xue is risking his life to buy us time! We must not let his sacrifice go to waste!"
"Launching a full-scale offensive, we must annihilate Helian Wujiu today!"
"In addition, send 10,000 troops to support Xue Dingshan!"
Xue Dingshan was, after all, the son of Xue Huaide, who was a great general of the Zhou Dynasty. Although he had followed Wu Zetian to submit to the State of Chu, she would not really let him die here.
At only twenty years old, he showed such courage in his first solo battle. If he survives, he will surely become a pillar of the Chu state in the future!
Therefore, she was willing to send 10,000 troops to provide support.
Outside the Tang army camp at Luoxia Mountain.
Xue Huaide commanded his army to launch wave after wave of fierce attacks on the Tang army's camp.
When he received his son's message by carrier pigeon, an attack had just failed and the troops were temporarily resting.
He went alone to a secluded place and unfolded his son's letter.
Seeing the familiar handwriting and the resolute determination conveyed between the lines, the veteran, known for his fortitude, instantly had tears welling up in his eyes, and his hand holding the letter trembled slightly.
But he quickly suppressed the turmoil in his heart, transforming all his worries and grief into an even more ferocious desire to attack.
He strode back to his command post, his voice hoarse but filled with undeniable power, and roared to his generals, "Did you all hear that? My son, Ding Shan, is holding off Wang Zhongsi's 50,000-strong army with only 20,000 soldiers in the Blackwater Valley!"
"He's buying us time with his blood! What reason do we have not to fight on?!"
"Order! Catapults, concentrate all stones and bombard the enemy's left flank! Suicide squad, follow me in a personal charge! I swear I will not return until this camp is breached!"
Xue Dingshan's desperate resistance in the Blackwater Valley was like a boulder thrown into a calm lake; the ripples it created profoundly affected the entire eastern front and touched the hearts of every commander.
With his courage and wisdom, and with the blood of his 20,000 soldiers, he wrote the most tragic and crucial chapter in this grand battle.
Before the main camp, torches flickered in the night wind, their dancing light illuminating Xue Huaide's ashen face.
Holding a feather fan, Jia Yu frowned deeply. Finally, he couldn't help but step forward, his voice filled with barely concealed anxiety:
"General Xue, General Xue Dingshan is surrounded and in dire straits! I am willing to lead a light cavalry force to his aid immediately, which may be able to..."
Before he could finish speaking, Xue Huaide raised his hand to stop him.
The gesture was crisp and decisive, without the slightest hesitation, as if it had been rehearsed a thousand times in the mind.
Xue Huaide's gaze passed over the continuous campfires and fell upon the deep night in the distance, the direction in which Xue Dingshan's lone army was fighting.
His voice was surprisingly calm, yet carried an undeniable resolve:
"No need. If this is Ding Shan's fate, then my Xue family...accepts it."
"General Xue!"
Jia Yu almost growled; he couldn't comprehend this near-cold composure.
"That's your only son! The sole heir of the Xue family bloodline! If we stand by and watch him die, how will we face His Majesty and Consort Feng's inquiries in the future? They will never blame you for this!"
Xue Huaide slowly turned around, the firelight etching hard lines into his weathered face.
Those deep-set eyes churned with pain and struggle, ultimately settling into a resolute stillness.
“Jia Yu, it is precisely because he is my son that I should do this.”
Each word he uttered seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth, carrying immense weight: "Come and see—"
He waved his arm, pointing to the situation on the sand table where the enemy and our forces were intertwined.
"The Tang army is as solid as a rock, and our army has been unable to break through it despite a long siege."
"This time, Lady Feng happened to be there and met Helian Wujiu, which forced the Tang army to send troops to help her."
"Ding Shan's troops are the final bait, the most crucial piece to pry open the entire battle!"
"Now, the Tang army camp at Luoxia Mountain has only 50,000 men, and the dawn of victory is just around the corner."
"To divide our forces now would mean all our previous efforts were in vain, and the blood of countless soldiers would be spilled in vain!"
"How could I, Xue Huaide, betray His Majesty's trust and the army's high expectations because of my own personal feelings?"
He paused, a barely perceptible tremor in his voice, but his posture remained as upright as a pine tree, as if no emotion could break him:
“Ding Shan… from the day he donned his armor, he was no longer the only son of the Xue family; he was a general of the Tang Dynasty!”
"If his sacrifice can bring about a great victory at Luoxia Mountain and ten years of peace on the border, then it will be the highest honor for him as a soldier, and the greatest contribution that my Xue family can make to this land!"
At this point, a poignant yet heroic aura erupted from Xue Huaide.
Without saying another word, he suddenly grabbed the halberd standing to the side.
The cold halberd blade drew a chilling glint in the firelight, as if transforming all the pent-up paternal love, worry, and unforgettable pain in his heart into a raging fury against the enemy.
"Pass on my orders!"
Xue Huaide's voice boomed like thunder in the silent night sky:
"All troops, listen to my command! Target—the Tang army camp at Luoxia Mountain! All-out attack! No retreat, no survival!"
Before he finished speaking, he had already mounted his horse. The magnificent warhorse seemed to sense the surging grief and indignation in its master's heart, and it reared up and neighed loudly.
Xue Huaide spurred his horse forward, leading the charge like a blood-red arrow released from a bow, and charged into the enemy camp.
His halberd swung wildly, like a silver dragon awakening, carrying a resolute determination to tear everything apart, as he charged towards the brightly lit Tang army position.
He was charging forward, but more importantly, he was venting his emotions.
He transformed his sense of powerlessness over his son's fate, his heart-wrenching pain of separation from his flesh and blood, and all the unspeakable and unexpressed deep paternal love into the most ferocious offensive on the battlefield.
Each swing of the halberd carried the force of a thunderbolt, as if to utterly tear apart the cruelty of fate and the meat grinder of war.
The commander-in-chief led by example, and the Han soldiers who witnessed this scene were all deeply moved.
That figure, solitary yet majestic, bearing the pain of losing a child, yet still forging ahead without hesitation.
A surge of intense grief and indignation, coupled with soaring morale, instantly ignited within the army: "For the Commander-in-Chief! For General Xue! Kill—!"
The deafening shouts were like a mountain collapsing and a tsunami crashing down. The Han soldiers, like a flood bursting its banks, followed the leading figure and launched a desperate charge towards the Tang army camp at Luoxia Mountain.