Chapter 43: The Prelude to the Last Battle on the Prairie
The horse that stepped down limped and walked slowly.
The wound above his right eye was in severe pain, and his head was dizzy and almost impossible for Ma Chao to sit on his horse's back. When I looked down, I saw that the breastplate was covered with blood, showing a solidified sauce purple and flowing bright red. And the sharp arrow in the left chest that pierced the armor and directly injured the lungs, causing Ma Chao to constantly foam with blood gushing out of his mouth and wound between exhaling and inhaling.
Looking back at the soldiers behind him, there were only a few hundred people left in the army of more than 4,000 people, looking at the haggard faces, they were all as tired and on the verge of death as Ma Chao.
The brocade of Xiliang is no longer as dazzling and proud as it was when it first entered the grassland.
The splendid robe has long been discarded at this time. Perhaps, in the melee that night, he was pulled away by the rebels. Or maybe it was when I was fighting hard, and it had drifted away with the wind?
And these Xiliang iron riders are no longer as indifferent and passionate as they were when they followed Ma Chaoshi. However, what they looked at Ma Chao was still a touch of unapologetic respect.
That night, I don't know whether several tribes or dozens of Qiang tribes besieged Ma Chao at the same time. Even so, Ma Chao still led them to charge out. However, they were outnumbered, and in the end they were surrounded by more than 50,000 Qiang people, if it weren't for the appearance of the two tribes of Baimaqiang and Tsing Yi Qiang in the end, and secretly released water, I am afraid that Ma Chao would have been buried in the vast night!
However, it wasn't until after that time that Ma Chao really knew the power of the Iron Qiang Order!
In the past, Ma Chao and Yan Xing were just staging a game of cat and mouse in this grassland, and it is not yet known who is a cat and a mouse. Because even though Yan Xing has a large number of people, he has a great advantage. But the Xiliang Iron Cavalry under Ma Chao is a cavalry equipped with stirrups, and it is still a one-man and two-rider. In terms of foot strength and endurance, it is much stronger than the Yan Xing tribe who can control the war horse with only the waist, abdomen and legs. But later, since Yan used the Iron Qiang Order and ordered all the Qiang tribes to kill Ma Chao, Ma Chao has completely become a rat crossing the street, everyone shouts and beats, and there is almost no hiding place.
Until now, Ma Chao and his Xiliang Iron Cavalry have not stopped for three days and three nights, and those hateful Qiang tribes are still like wild dogs that have seen bones, biting closely behind Ma Chao, and from time to time, they have to guard against other Qiang tribes from the side.....
Fortunately, in the past few days, Ma Chao has also learned from other Qiang tribes that Chang'an reinforcements and his father's troops have appeared on this grassland, and if God gives some face, so that Brother Chou and Jia Xu can successfully find the mark they left behind, then they may still escape from Ascension.
It's a pity that the sky does not obey people's wishes, at this moment, Ma Chao heard the ground trembling slightly, and the sound of thunderous horses' hooves came from far and near! Looking up at the source of the sound: a cloud of dust rapidly approaching and expanding from the distant horizon, reflecting a little light in the sunlight. It was the Xiliang ironclad elite cavalry and Qiang troops under the command of the enemy general Yan Xing.
The enemy is rushing in this direction!
Ma Chao couldn't help but smile bitterly: he has been struggling to survive on the grassland, and to this day, can't he still get rid of the end of being defeated by Yan Xing?
In an instant, the enemy's iron cavalry torrent rushed over like a mountain and a sea. The ears could no longer hear anything, and the shouts of killing rolled in the ear drums, drowning out everything.
In the face of death, Ma Chao suddenly had a cruel sense of relaxation in his heart: what crossed the main halo, what woke up to the power of the world, drunk and lying on the knees of beauties, what changed the end of the troubled times, and the magnificent voice of the powerful man, it seemed that they were all far away from him, everything was just a delusional thought, and he was an ordinary technician, thinking that he could change the unchanging giant wheel of history by inheriting the body and force of Xiliang Jin Ma Chao?
Consciousness is blurring, fear and pain are slowly leaving, is this the embrace of death?
Opening his eyes wide, Ma Chao suddenly found that the color of the sky and the earth at this moment was so beautiful: so beautiful that only the wonder of death remained.
Isn't the yellow sky and the green earth also a kind of destination as the final burial place?
Ma Chao smiled, his last thought was to see what kind of face and expression Yan Xing had in front of him. And Pang De beside him, although he was also a little delirious at this time, still twitched the reins slightly and blocked in front of Ma Chao.
"Young master, Pang De will fight on the grassland with you, and he will die a well-deserved death." Pound smiled bitterly, but his demeanor was so peaceful and tenacious.
"Ling Ming, we won't die, although I already feel the breath of death, but you have to believe me, we will definitely not die!" Ma Chao also twitched the reins, and the war horse, which was already extremely tired, still obeyed the master's order, raised his hooves and walked to the front of Pound's war horse.
"Subordinate letter!" Pang De looked at Ma Chao fixedly, and after saying these two words, he smiled.
"We believe it too!" Behind him, after hearing the conversation between Ma Chao and Pang De, more than a dozen people couldn't help but say these two words.
"We believe!" In the end, although the hundreds of Western Liang cavalry did not know the conversation between Ma Chao and Pang De, they chose to believe the promise of this young master without hesitation!
"Okay, in that case, let's see, who are the bastards who want to kill us?!" Ma Chao raised his head suddenly, grinning, and there was a trace of fierceness and determination on his originally handsome face: "Even if we die, we will die in the charge!" Xiliang Iron Cavalry, set up a gun to meet the enemy! ”
"No!" Hundreds of resolute voices rang out loudly, and the last angry cry composed of hoarse and violent voices moved the whole world and the earth.
Looking back at these soldiers who were already supporting their bodies with all their breath, the sadness and anger in their hearts were indescribable, and suddenly they only felt that everything around them had lost their color, leaving only the yellow sky and green earth, which were sad and dazzling.
In the face of these generals and soldiers who showed trust and dependence on him, as well as resolute eyes without regrets, Ma Chao tried his best to smile at them, but this expression was more ugly than crying. Turning his head and stretching out his hand to cover his face, Ma Chao didn't want to cry, but the tears of pain couldn't stop pouring out: these days of tossing and turning, the continuous fighting that night of forgetting life and death, what are you fighting with these soldiers to fight wits and courage with the enemy? In the end, is this the end?
No!
Unwilling!
This is the destined ending of Xiliang Zhijin? This is the last memory of these soldiers?
Well, since that's the case; Well, that's it; Well, do you need to think again?
Yan Xing, come on!
I want to see how you killed us!
Suddenly, Ma Chao only felt that all his limbs and bones were filled with a heroic aura that looked at death as if he were at home.
Cheering up and clenching the big gun in his hand, Ma Chao wanted to say a few words of gratitude to these strong men who were willing to die with him at the end, but his chest was stuffed full, and he moved his lips, but he couldn't say a word.
The enemy is rushing towards this side like a tide, but the memories since the crossing have flashed in front of his eyes one by one, these memories are all treasures that Ma Chao treasures in his mind and can never forget. Although it is short, it is also clear: when people are dying, they will always involuntarily look back on their lives, because if they don't look back at this time, they are afraid that they will never have a chance again.
In history, the heroic horse Chao finally died of depression. But this Ma Chao feels that he has been through such a troubled era, and he has been a lot luckier than Ma Chao in history, and he has long been in vain.
The enemy was getting closer and closer, and the long-brewing fierce fighting aura finally turned into a roar from the depths of his heart, and Ma Chao mustered up his last strength, urging the horse to meet the torrent of iron horses like a mountain and a sea. There was no need to look back, Ma Chao knew that Pang De and those Xiliang Iron Riders were following him closely.