Chapter 1361: Chapter 1356: Bait is Meant to be Sacrificed
Chapter 1361: Chapter 1356: Bait is Meant to be Sacrificed
“Chen Ruobai’s target is me, not you. Your staying would just mean a needless death,” Lin Sisi said with a wave of her hand, commanding the two people beside Ye Qingru, “Ensure General Ye’s safe departure, taking the few thousand men that remain and fleeing towards another direction down the mountain.”
“If we take the remaining men away, what will you do, General Lin?!” Ye Qingru was even more alarmed.
Was Lin Sisi really planning to face off against Chen Ruobai’s countless poison corpses and grand army alone?
How could that be possible, wouldn’t that be a death sentence?!
Lin Sisi counted the remaining people. Apart from her own loyal guards, numbering over a hundred, she assigned everyone else to Ye Qingru, instructing him to lead them away.
Ye Qingru fell to his knees with a thud, his face smeared with blood, his eyes red-rimmed, “General Lin, you cannot do this! Even if it means dying for our country, none of us can cower in the face of death and leave you to face your fate alone!”
“Dying for our country is a last resort. If you have a chance to live, why accompany me to a certain death?”
Lin Sisi spoke with a majestic tone that suggested she had foreseen the current situation the moment the battle began.
“We cannot defeat Chen Ruobai; it’s a matter of sheer disparity in strength. Not fighting would make us cowards! But now, we have fought, and we’ve been defeated. There’s no need to fight to the death. The soldiers who remain can return to the emperor’s side and serve more effectively!”
With her tremendous strength, Lin Sisi pulled Ye Qingru up from the ground, her face stern as she explained, “It’s not just about me acting bravely. Your staying serves no purpose other than to die needlessly. Chen Ruobai’s iron cavalry and the army of poison corpses will not spare a single life, but my staying could buy time for the rest of you, preserving the lives of these few thousand soldiers. It could also buy time for the emperor.”
Ye Qingru immediately understood the nobility of Lin Sisi’s choice; she was using herself as bait to hold back Chen Ruobai, allowing them to escape, and also buying time for the emperor to lay siege.
Three benefits in one action.
But such an action would inevitably involve sacrifice!
The sacrifice was Lin Sisi herself!
Ye Qingru’s heart was tumultuous, followed by deep sorrow, “General Lin, is there really no other way?”
“There is,” replied Lin Sisi, her voice hoarse from shouting, “We could fight and run, perhaps luck will be on our side, and we’ll make it back to the emperor. But Chen Ruobai would be on guard, the emperor may not be able to take the city, and many of us might not survive. There will also be many left crippled by bites and scratches from the poison corpses.”
Ye Qingru wanted to suggest that they just run, even if retreating meant less dignity, at least they would survive.
As the commanding officer, wouldn’t it be better to live, lie low, and later claim victory in another battle?
But Lin Sisi didn’t see it that way!
She looked toward the mountain base, her eyes aglow with a light that grew increasingly intense, “With this battle over, Qiongzhou City will be ours. If the emperor can return in time, he could kill Chen Ruobai and end this war! The people of Qiongzhou City can be reborn, and the Great Cheng Dynasty’s borders will be peaceful.”
Following her gaze, Ye Qingru saw beyond the noon hour; the sun of the late afternoon was still fierce, the smoke of war and dust billowing intensely in the air, the thick scent of blood and the smell of corpses sharp in the nostrils, stinging both the nose and the heart.
Lin Sisi looked down and smiled faintly at Ye Qingru, “I may not necessarily end up a sacrifice, doesn’t Chen Ruobai still want to take me as a hostage?”
Ye Qingru’s throat choked up, unable to say what he wanted to say.
As he was leaving, Lin Sisi tore a piece of fabric from her battle robe, bit her fingertip, and wrote something on it. She folded it and handed it to him, “Please keep this safe for me.”
Ye Qingru tucked it carefully into his chest, nodding solemnly, “General Lin, I will go immediately to request reinforcements from the emperor!”
Lin Sisi just needs to hold on a little longer, and she’ll be all right!
On Lin Sisi’s command, Ye Qingru, assisted by the lieutenant, was hoisted onto a horse and quickly led people away.
With several thousands departing, the commotion was significant. Chen Ruobai and Xin Yi, stationed at the foot of the mountain, could easily notice it.
Therefore, right at the beginning of the ascent, Lin Sisi had instructed her trusted Lin Ergou to cut down trees on the mountain. Leading over a hundred soldiers from the Lin family army, Lin Ergou chopped down many thick trees. “General, as you ordered, we rode horses and dragged these trees around the mountain, making a lot of noise, but it can’t delay them for long, can it?”
This was a method to confuse the enemy, taken from the twelfth volume of the military book, a strategy once employed in battle by Chu Yihan. With just six thousand men, he faced an enemy force of twenty thousand. He used the mountainous terrain to his advantage, creating the illusion of a larger force, disorienting the enemy’s minds, and then launched an attack with his smaller number of troops, ultimately securing a complete victory.
Such is the peril of battle.
Although Lin Ergou knew this was a military tactic, he couldn’t help but be skeptical, “General, the emperor had at least six thousand men when he fought his battles, but we have now… just over a hundred.”
The disparity was too great!
The people at the bottom of the mountain were not fools. In at most a quarter of an hour, they would scale the mountain to test the truth. Compared to the emperor back then, they had no confidence at all.
“I’m aware of that. To delay even for a moment is worth it. The Lin family’s army are my people, Lin Sisi’s people—are you afraid of death?” The tone of Lin Sisi’s voice was different when speaking to Lin Ergou and Ye Qingru.
Heroic and magnificent.
Lin Ergou immediately straightened his back and roared loudly, “To join the army is glory, no regrets in this life!”
“Good, no regrets. This time, I might truly be unable to lead you out of here alive.”
Regret flashed in Lin Sisi’s eyes, “We can’t let Chen Ruobai get wind of this. Once Ye Qingru and the others are far enough away, we must charge down immediately; otherwise, Chen Ruobai will become wary.”
A quarter of an hour later, before Chen Ruobai sent anyone up the mountain, Lin Sisi and her troops had already charged down.
With a long saber in her hand, she rode her warhorse, clad in black and red armor, her presence awe-inspiring. Plunging her saber into the enemy ranks, she cut through them with unstoppable force, emitting a cold and fearsome power.
Many of Xin Yi’s soldiers, upon seeing Lin Sisi, were more terrified than if they had seen the King of the Underworld, and couldn’t even hold their weapons properly.
Xin Yi personally went into battle to face Lin Sisi but, regrettably, although her martial arts were strong, she was no match for Lin Sisi’s bravery. With each blow more ferocious than the last, Xin Yi’s sword plunged into her abdomen. Yet Lin Sisi, gripping the sword, managed to pull Xin Yi off her horse and delivered a brutal wound to her.
“Uh…”
Upon Xin Yi’s injury, Chen Ruobai immediately had her brought to his side to administer medicine and stop the bleeding.
Drenched in blood, Xin Yi struggled to stand up and face Lin Sisi in combat once more!
She couldn’t accept defeat just like this!
Chen Ruobai held her back, “Don’t be reckless; your wound is severe!”
Xin Yi was one of his leading generals; she couldn’t be lost just because of Lin Sisi.
Chen Ruobai looked up at Lin Sisi, whose situation was no better than Xin Yi’s, with blood flowing freely from the sword wound in her abdomen. However, she could only use the cloak draped behind her to tightly bind the injury, preventing excessive blood loss.