Chapter 218: Tonight, The Counterattack

When Mo Xiaobai received the Wild Goose Letter delivered by the Rattan Armor Soldiers, he was sitting with Fatty and others, each stuffing a Hu pastry into their mouth.

He tore off half of the big cake with one bite and, while chewing, scanned the contents of the letter. Seeing that the arriving Kushan reinforcements numbered no less than thirty to forty thousand, he knew without a doubt that the Kushan Central Army had finally arrived.

“Maogong, Fengxiao, what do you think the Vice-King of the Kushan will arrange for tomorrow?”

“Nine out of ten chances, he will lead the troops to continue heading to Shule,”

Guo Jia had been helping with logistics work all day, and even now he was full of energy. After a moment of thought, he smiled and said, “But from my guess, he will still leave the advance troops who attacked today. First, these men already have experience fighting our Han Army. Second, he needs a force to secure the rear.”

“Saying it’s to ‘secure’ sounds good, but to be blunt, it means they will rely on this group to go out and burn, kill, rob, and loot, right?”

Mo Xiaobai sneered and then pouted, “I don’t know what these people are thinking. This is a Gobi desert area. Even without the fortresses built by Ban Chao, it would not be easy for them to catch any scattered Western Regions locals. Yet they still want to sustain their war by plundering in the Western Regions.”

“Whatever their choice is, at least it is good news for us. Defending the city tomorrow will be much easier,” Li Ji agreed with a smile, then frowned as he looked toward the northeast. “My Lord is guarding the Wang City of Yarkand, so generally there should be no mistakes, but Old General Ban Chao has few soldiers and generals. The pressure there must be quite heavy.”

Although everyone clearly knew that historically Ban Chao successfully defended the city, being here in person and facing ten times the enemy, no one dared to say that the Kushan troops were not a threat at all.

And whether Ban Chao could hold off the attack of tens of thousands of troops would be the key to this battle.

The fight at Shule was destined to be even more bloody than the one at Yarkand.

With these tangled thoughts, he fell asleep drowsily. First thing the next morning, Mo Xiaobai reflexively climbed out of his bed.

Dressed neatly and arriving at the City Wall, he just happened to see the Kushan troops gathering to attack their city wall again.

On the City Wall, Generals Li Ji, Li Guang, and others were all present. Looking at the charging cavalry below, a hint of a smile flashed across Li Ji’s brows. “My Lord, look. The Kushan troops sent out today are nearly half of yesterday’s number.”

Without needing Li Ji to say it, Mo Xiaobai could actually see it too.

Compared to the dark, endless sea of Kushan troops from yesterday, the cavalry lineup outside the city today, while still huge, could not compare to before.

The difference between ten thousand and five thousand was clearly visible to the naked eye.

As the five thousand troops in front began their assault, not only Mo Xiaobai, but also Fatty and A-Dai who arrived later could tell that something was wrong.

“What’s going on with them today? They attack, then retreat, then run up again a while later?”

Compared to the fierce battle of the previous day, Fatty found that he had been fighting all morning but wasn’t even as tired as he was in the past hour. He immediately complained, “Aren’t they running out of food today? Did they all skip breakfast?”

“They aren’t completely out of food, but their rations must be scarce. Those troops not on the battlefield today mostly went out to raid.”

“What’s the meaning of these Kushan people then? They don’t plan to continue a direct assault?”

“Even if they can’t take the city by force, they will try again. The Kushan commander isn’t that stupid,” Mo Xiaobai said, putting away his spear as he watched the retreating Kushan Heavy Infantry. “By the way, didn’t you say yesterday you were about to suffocate from exhaustion? Why are you complaining about the war today?”

“Yesterday I was really too nervous, but today’s battle feels like playing house. My skills as Grandpa Fatty are completely useless,” Luyu said while shaking his head and swaying, making it seem like he was a master martial artist to those who didn’t know better.

In reality, apart from the sword in his hand, Luyu was not reliable in any other way.

When the day of probing attacks ended at dusk, the Kushan army quite straightforwardly turned their horses and left. Both sides had few Battle Losses this time. Mo Xiaobai’s side had at most a few dozen lightly injured men, while the Kushan side had only two to three hundred casualties.

On the following third and fourth days, the Kushan troops continued to maintain this kind of besieging and probing attack. In fact, the attack frequency on the fourth day was much weaker than in the first two days.

By the fifth day, the Kushan army simply stopped the direct assaults. They only sent out cavalry to patrol outside the city every day, acting as if they would no longer attack as long as the Han Army stayed inside the city safely.

“My Lord, a new report has arrived via the Wild Goose messenger outside the city.”

“Most of the Kushan cavalry sent out to raid from the camp outside the city have returned empty-handed. However, today, many more cavalry have left their Territory in all directions.”

On the sixth day, just as usual, the Kushan did not attack the city, but Li Ji arrived before Mo Xiaobai with a new Wild Goose Letter. “From my judgment as This subordinate, the problem of grain shortage in the Kushan camp must have been exposed. Now they urgently need to grab enough food to continue this great war.”

“It seems our opponent is getting a bit too eager.”

After scanning the content of the letter, a smile deepened in Mo Xiaobai’s eyes. “Let’s go together to see the King of Yarkand. We have guarded his city for so long. As a vassal of the Great Han, he should also contribute to this great war.”

Stepping into the Wang City of Yarkand once again, Mo Xiaobai showed no politeness or respect due to meeting a head of state. After exchanging greetings with the King of Yarkand, he sat down casually. “Now that the war between the two nations has been going on for several days, I wonder what thoughts the King has?”

“The strength of the Han Army is rare in the world. Being protected by a Baron is a great blessing for the Kingdom of Yarkand.” The King of Yarkand spoke with a face full of flattery.

In just these few days, although he had not gone to the battlefield personally, he had “heard” about the fierce battle between the Han Army and the Da Yuezhi.

The Da Yuezhi, who always prided themselves on their military strength, had been beaten by the Great Han Soldiers to the point where they dared not attack the city again!

The Da Yuezhi had sent over ten thousand troops to invade. The Han Army inside the city was only a mere two thousand or so. In such a battle with such a huge difference in troop numbers, there was no one-sided fight. Instead, the Great Han defenders were gaining the upper hand. The King of Yarkand himself felt like he was dreaming.

At first, when he heard that the invading Da Yuezhi troops numbered ten thousand, the King of Yarkand couldn’t sleep well for two nights, fearing that if the city was breached, the Da Yuezhi would come to settle the score with him.

But now, more than five or six days have passed, and his Wang City remains as solid as gold. The King of Yarkand now has to admire Mo Xiaobai, as well as the Great Han Soldiers represented by Mo Xiaobai and Ban Chao.

The power of the Great Han troops is even stronger than that of the Da Yuezhi.

Regarding the King of Yarkand’s deliberate flattery, Mo Xiaobai was not surprised at all. He continued with a huff. “Whether our Great Han Soldiers are strong or not does not need others to explain. I came here today just to ask you. You, who are also a subject of the Great Han right now, do you plan to just sit there and watch the show?”

“If the Baron has any plans, please let our Kingdom of Yarkand Soldiers know immediately. I will definitely cooperate with all my might.”

“The King truly understands righteousness. I thank you in advance.”

Mo Xiaobai nodded satisfactorily, then smiled and said, “Here is the plan. We will each send out 500 cavalry, placed under the command of my generals. Starting tonight, we will counterattack the enemy troops outside the city.”