Chapter 122 – Defining Western Liang
In the cold sky, a hawk is flying, it is not afraid of those human arrows below, fearlessly sliding downwards, gliding over the battlefield that stretches for several miles, it clearly sees the corpses of those Hu sons and daughters who died under the enemy’s swords, guns, crossbows and arrows, the blood that gradually seeps into the gravel and red soil, as well as a very exciting smell of iron blood. The Qing army that set up an ambush at the red mountain pass began to clean up the battlefield, organize the formation, and the main force of the grassland a great battle, even if it is the most elite Dingzhou army, still paid an extremely extremely tragic price.
The eagle vibrated its wings and flew a little higher, then alertly and fearfully realized that from the northeast direction of Shtuhai meadow, a Qing light cavalry troop silently attacked, this troop numbered at least more than 4,000, following the lower edge of the natural undulation of the dunes and meadows, and silently headed deeper into the grassland.
With a strange cry, the hawk seemed to sense the solemnity and terror of that light cavalry and flew higher into the cold clouds, not knowing how long it had been flying, it finally broke through the cold clouds and swept low towards a small knoll next to a side lake.
On this small hill there were thousands of grassland western beard generals, interspersed with part of the northern warriors who moved over from the northern snowy plains, only this batch of generals were obviously those who had previously escaped hard from the great battle of the red mountain pass, their morale was very low, and there were many of them were already injured.
Shan Yu Speed Bida’s lips were a bit dry, but there were no blood stains on his body, he indifferently looked at the direction of the Red Mountain Pass in the distance, knowing that the Dingzhou army there was reorganizing and could not come over in a short time, and he thought that those Qing people would not dare to go deeper into the grassland for a pursuit.
He glanced at the royal court warriors around him, looking at the injuries on these sons and daughters, thinking of the great battle at the red mountain pass earlier, his eyes went cold.
The grassland in winter, will rarely use the army, this is the western Hu and Qing have been accustomed to things, the biggest reason is because the cold weather, food and grass, Hu people come like the wind to go like electricity is difficult to carry out the means. This winter, the single Yu listened to the advice of Hu Ge a part, raised the hands of the most elite knights, began to launch an attack on the West Liang Road, seems to be an unwise choice, especially now this bleak situation, seems to be more to confirm this point.
However, what kind of person is Shan Yu Sulbi Da? Thirty years ago, the decline of the monarch’s royal court out of him such a character, able to survive and grow in the middle of the right and left sage king, and extremely sensible acceptance of the barbarians from the north in the ice and snow ride, open their hearts and minds, absorbing the Central Plains into their own court tent …….
If not in such a time, if the eastern continent is not so a few amazing characters, single Yu Speed Bida will undoubtedly grow into the grasslands of the Lord of the Ming, the mighty figure.
How could he possibly make such a low-level mistake?
Speed Bida’s eyes pierced through the hill, fell on the top of the hill that rode on the horse Hu female body, expression became extremely complex low.
The reason why this time chose to risk attacking the Western Liang Road of Qing in the cold winter, Shan Yu Speed Bida has his own way of thinking, because he knows that the South Qing court is now in internal turmoil, that His Majesty the Emperor and his favorite powerful ministers are engaged in a cold war between them, and Hu Ge ……
The corner of Shan Yu’s eyes narrowed slightly, looking like an eagle in the direction of the distant red mountain pass, thinking in his heart, that Hu Ge who dared to betray the grassland and collude with the Supervisory Board should have already died, what a stupid person, how many people who dealt with the Supervisory Board could live smoothly?
This year Hu Ge in the grasslands above the rise, secretly rely on what, single in has investigated some wind, so he also guessed why Hu Ge will choose in such a winter into the West Liang Road. Shan Yu Speed Bida is extremely concerned about the political winds in the Kyoto of the Qing Dynasty, and with only a little bit of calculation, he figured out that it must be related to that little Fan Xian, who has lost his power.
Fan Xian entered the grassland last time and cleansed most of the secret spies and grassland eyes sent out from Xiliang Road, the strength of the royal court was seriously damaged, and in the end, Fan Xian even escaped with a few hundred black riders under Shan Yu’s watchful eyes, a fact that made Speed Bida feel endless humiliation, especially every time he looked at the Songzhi immortal order, this humiliation is even more difficult to bear.
This winter Hu Ge’s pseudo attack on the western Liang road was an opportunity for Shan Yu, after a long talk with Song Zhi Xian Ling, he rejected the king’s daughter’s advice to be cautious, and instead wanted to take this good opportunity and use the momentum of Fan Xian’s desire to use foreign troops to help the position of the great general of Dingzhou, to gather all the forces in the grassland, and to attack the western Liang with a decisive momentum!
This is a wonderful strategy, must be Dingzhou that great general Li Hongcheng also got the news of Fan Xian, will only think Hu Ge is a fake intention to invade, where would have expected Shan Yu to use the momentum to do, a large attack, attacked!
Who would have guessed that more than 100,000 Qing elites had gathered around the red mountain pass? In this battle, Hu Ge was ambushed and died, the royal court and the Right Honorable King’s department suffered heavy casualties, and at least 20,000 grassland youths lost their lives on the red soil!
Thinking about the pain of the previous battle, Shan Yu’s eyes narrowed more and more, and his mood became colder and colder. With a clip of his horse’s belly, he came to Songzhi Xianling’s side and said in a chilling voice, “You said that he was only borrowing my steppe soldiers to help Li Hongcheng stabilize his position.”
Haitang Duo Duo did not turn around, the leather jacket on her body shivered in the cold wind: “As a single lord, this kind of risky gamble should not have been done, I have never really believed in him …… but I think this time it has nothing to do with him, and he is also just a poor, counted pawn. ”
The two men fell silent at the same time, able to Fan Xian’s response, the strategy of the grassland hu people will be calculated clearly, and has long been planning, so as to achieve the grassland thirty years has not been a fiasco, such a far-sighted, eyes watching the world of the characters, the Qing country only one.
In front of His Majesty, the Emperor of Qing, it seems that all the conspiracies and plots are just a prelude to his killing moves in the chessboard.
The eagle finally landed and landed on the coldly outstretched arm of Speed Buster. The sky was cold and the ground was freezing, and after flying in the cold clouds for a few moments, this beast was freezing and shivering, and the color of the fur feathers on its body appeared particularly dull.
Speed Bida’s pupils shrunk, said in a deep voice: “There are thousands of light cavalry in the northeast are covering over ……” He said in a cold voice: “The Qing people this time are scheming greatly, I don’t know which generals, but after this big battle, they still dare to send another I don’t know which general dares to send another strong army deep into the grassland after this big battle. In this cold weather, do these Qing people still dare to hope that the royal court can be wiped out in one fell swoop?”
Having said that, at the bottom of his heart, Shan Yu was also extremely shocked by the toughness of the Qing army and the determination they showed to destroy everything. At this time, although there are still thousands of grassland children around the lake, but just experienced a big battle, is tired and low, and then and the four thousand light cavalry that has been stored for a long time to charge head-on, the victory or defeat is not to be known.
Speed Bida heart viciously cursed a Qing people despicable, is not to give themselves the slightest opportunity to rest, but as a king, where dare to let their anger destroyed reason, in the first time, has to the hillside below the subordinates issued a warning. The warriors of the royal court around the lake acted at once, moving extremely fast, completely unable to see the previous injuries and low emotions.
“Follow this king?” Shan Yu twisted his horse’s head and glanced back at the Hu woman on the mound.
“I’m going to Nanqing.” Haitang Duo Duo slightly lowered her head, her eyes never leaving the direction of the Red Mountain Pass, her face serene, while a hint of self-reproach and introspection flowed from her voice.
She was able to see countless resentful souls rising up in that place. Because of Hu Ge’s trust in someone, because of his own trust in someone, because of Shan Yu’s trust in himself, tens of thousands of generals on the grassland fell into the siege of the iron cavalry of the Qing Kingdom, and suffered heavy casualties, with severed limbs and severed heads spread out on the ground like withered wood in a rotting swamp.
Looking at this hellish scene of the sands, even if it was her, she couldn’t help but be shaken in her mind, at that moment, this current head of the Heavenly Dao realized that originally, in the midst of thousands of armies, the power of one person, in fact, is really very small, and can’t change anything.
“I want a statement. If I can’t, I always have to give you, as well as give a statement to these dead people.” After saying these words, Haitang lightly clamped the belly of his horse and turned into a light smoke, galloping down the hill and galloping away in the opposite direction from the sun.
Fan Xian had asked Hong Yiqing to bring a message to her, which had already been brought to her; it was only because of the matter between Xiliang and the grasslands that Haitang could not get away for a while, and at this moment, she had to go to Kyoto.
Shan Yu Speed Bida did not turn back to look at the smoke and dust again, with a stern shout, led the remnants of his subordinates, toward the depth of the prairie, he believed that as long as he returned to his real hometown, those behind him like wolf cubs pouncing over the light cavalry of the Qing Dynasty, no longer pose any threat to himself. And in the western part of the grassland, the 10,000 northern barbarian iron cavalry that only obeyed the orders of Songzhi Xianling’s queen daughter still had 7,000 people alive and waiting for themselves.
Compared to that inexplicable battle in the northern part of the central continent, this war with the Hu people that took place in the Western Liang Road of the Kingdom of Qing had an undoubtedly more far-reaching and important position of influence in history. The genesis of this war was actually just that one order that Fan Xian had the Qiyan group issue in a certain small courtyard in Kyoto, Qingguo, that he had bought for more than a hundred taels of silver.
It was because of these orders that Hu Ge led the old subordinates of Zuo Xian Wang to falsely launch an offensive towards the Xiliang Road, while Shan Yu Suibida’s hawk-like eyes saw the relationship between Hu Ge and Fan Xian of the Supervisory Yuan, and took advantage of the situation to send out a message, not realizing that all of this was, however, in the Dingzhou military’s anticipation.
The red mountain pass that a big net, do not know how many hu people’s lives, after this battle, the left virtuous king department all lost, the royal court and the right virtuous king department damage heavy, the prestige is lost, the grassland tribes began to move, the single Yu speed Bida in that called the Songzhi immortal order of the king’s daughter, in the north qi heaven a way to help the initial germination of the country’s ambitions, this is broken, decades, the grassland is a chaotic, no longer can not appear a unification of the opportunity. The opportunity for unification could never arise again.
This battle, the great defeat of Western Hu, far-reaching impact, known as the Great Victory of Qingzhou.
The cause of the non-stop turmoil on the grassland, in addition to the battle of Red Mountain Pass, there is another extremely important reason, is the four thousand light cavalry found by Cang Ying. A young general, the whole planning of the Dingzhou army ambush the battle of the West Hu elite, and this general is extremely abrupt in the battle started at the beginning of the battle will be separated from the red mountain pass battlefield, to the commander-in-chief position, leading the hidden in the northeast side of the 4,000 light cavalry, to the remnants of the king’s court, initiated a whole half a year of continuous pursuit.
This pursuit in the snow and ice, in the wilderness, whether it is the pursuer or deserter, are living an exceptionally cruel life, this pursuit is finally will single Yu Speed Bida beat all the guts, how to not be able to contact with that scattered in the far west of the seven thousand northern barbarians iron cavalry.
Walking through winter, walking through spring, walking through wind and snow and long grass, this jaw-dropping pursuit action, maintained a total of five months, when the last remaining strength of Shan Yu’s royal court, finally contacted the last seven thousand iron cavalry that Hai Tang Duo Duo stayed in the grassland, that brave and magnificent light cavalry of the Qing country, finally withdrew from the grassland.
In the five months in the grassland, this number of only four thousand people light cavalry all the way to burn and plunder, do not know how many hu tribes destroyed, with iron blood like means and discipline, to maintain in the grassland in the difficult pursuit, to be the next spring when they returned to the city of Qingzhou, the four thousand people also only eight hundred left.
Completely changed the situation in the western part of the Qing Dynasty, and completely canceled the grassland west beard into the Central Plains of the heart of this iron cavalry, their commander-in-chief is in fact the commander of the great victory of Qingzhou. As a senior general who should be in the tent, but bravely descended into the grassland to pursue, the victory of Qingzhou, in addition to His Majesty the Emperor of the Kingdom of Qing, this young general is the real role of the powerful, the single speed Bida in the hands of the defeat of this person, it is not unfair at all.
This young general is called Ye Wan, the eldest son of South Qing Privy Council Minister Ye Da Da Shuai, the elder brother of Second Wangfei Ye Ling’er. It was that seventeen year old who left the Dingzhou army and went to the front line of Nanzhao, and had gradually been forgotten by the people of Kyoto, and also forgotten by Fan Xian’s character.
While Ye Wan was sitting in Qingzhou, commanding and deploying the battle of Hongshankou, killing the Hu people and shouting, the nominal highest military officer of Qing’s Western Liang Road, the Great General Li Hongcheng, was under house arrest in Dingzhou’s Great General’s Mansion.
With him in the mansion, there is also Gong Dian, who left the position of commander of the forbidden army and came to Dingzhou to take over. The military reports from Qingzhou were continuously sent to the general’s residence, and Gong Dian and Li Hongcheng were seated on two sides, looking at the military information in silence, not saying a word.
The troops that were put into action near Qingzhou were basically the headquarters of the Dingzhou Army of the Xiliang Road, all of which were native border troops. The Ye family has been operating here for decades, and apart from the Great Prince’s western expedition that year, which left some influence here, the Ye family is like the Emperor of the Dingzhou Army. Now that His Majesty has transferred the eldest son of the Ye family back to Dingzhou and is leading these old Dingzhou troops to fight fiercely, there is of course no problem at all in cooperating with them.
The half of the Nanzhao border army that made Fan Xian’s heart palpitate didn’t flood into Dingzhou City as he thought, but only stopped in the north of Cangshan Mountain west of Kyoto, and then chose one of its subordinates to enter Dingzhou City, which wasn’t too many in number, but was enough to control the general’s residence.
The handover of military power in Dingzhou was actually not a handover of soldiers, but only a handover of generals. The eldest son of the Ye family entered Dingzhou, and with the cooperation of the forbidden army and other forces led by Gong Deng, he easily seized the military power from Li Hongcheng’s hands.
If everything as Fan Xian arrangement, if the world is not suddenly more a military like God, Dingzhou army as their own young general Ye Wan, then when Hu Ge led the crowd fake attack, Li Hongcheng can take advantage of this opportunity, will be his own time to stay in office, delayed for another year and half a year.
The great general’s residence was very quiet, after a long silence, Li Hongcheng calmly said, “Marching and fighting, I am not as good as Ye Wan.”
Gong Dian raised his head and looked at him, after a long time sandy voice responded, “Ye Wan grew up within the Dingzhou army since childhood, since the age of three he has been practicing martial arts on a horse and maneuvering in the battlefield, but only the youthful exuberance, resentful of his father’s forceful suppression of his accomplishments, so he abandoned the city of Dingzhou and threw himself into the Southern Zhao.”
“No wonder we rarely hear about this person in the capital.” Li Hongcheng nodded.
Gong Dian sighed and said, “When Marshal Ye suppressed his merits back then, he was also thinking that he was too young and too successful in the military, so he was afraid that he would attract scorn, after all, back then, Master Qin’s eldest son died horribly in the camp.”
“Qin Heng is also inferior to him.” Li Hongcheng looked at the military report in front of him and shook his head, “Marshal Ye knows the art of harmonizing with the light, no wonder he was able to hide such an outstanding son for so long.”
“My Dingzhou Army’s thought in this life is to pacify Western Hu.” Gong Dian was also a general from the Dingzhou Army, he looked at Li Hongcheng and said, “Loyalty to His Majesty is a rightful righteousness, no matter what the world says about my Dingzhou Army, but for the sake of His Majesty and the Kingdom of Qing, we are willing to do anything.”
Li Hongcheng let out a bitter smile, knowing that the words were referring to the time when Ye Ling’er married the second prince, and as a result, the Dingzhou Army ended up turning against him on the verge of a rebellion in Kyoto, giving the second prince the heaviest blow.
“I don’t know what Fan Xian has said to you in private, but if this time, drawing foreign thieves into the rebellion is just to try to protect your position as a great general ……,” Gong Dian’s eyes narrowed as he said with chilling intent, “I’m extremely not ashamed of Fan Xian This move.”
Li Hongcheng raised his face and eyes, calmly looked at Gong Dian and said, “What kind of person do you think I am? And who is Fan Xian? Since I dared to let Hu Ge come, I naturally have my means, even if Ye Wan doesn’t come, do you think I’ll let the Hu people take half the advantage?”
“After all, it’s something that didn’t happen, and there’s still room to turn it around.” Gong Dian said, “But I think that His Majesty must be disappointed to the extreme with Lord Little Fan ……”
He paused and then said, “When the son of the world returns to Kyoto, please take a message for this general to Lord Little Fan, this general has always appreciated him, however, this time there is some disappointment, a man is born in the heavens and the earth, how can he use the blood of his generals as a bargaining chip?”
Li Hongcheng took a deep breath, looked at Gong Dian with a smile or not, and said calmly after a long moment of silence, “After all, you still don’t understand Fan Xian, if he is really a role of a general who has accomplished a great deal, if he really doesn’t take the lives of Qing’s generals as a matter of fact, nowadays, this Daqing …… has long since turned into a tattered garment with a thousand holes. If he really does not take the lives of Qing’s soldiers seriously, now this Qing is afraid that it has already become a ragged coat with a thousand holes, and your majesty, no matter how great his talent is, can’t stop him from tearing the coat from the inside? You underestimated his ability, and you also underestimated his character.”
Gong Dian was silent, but there was a hidden chill in his heart, he didn’t know that in the presence of His Majesty, that little Lord Fan had already suffered such a great wound, could he still have any power to fight back?
The battle of Red Mountain Pass, although it is an ambush battle, however, the face is like a wolf like a tiger tens of thousands of grassland cavalry, the court of Qing, more accurately His Majesty the Emperor of Qing, for this under a great effort. A secret decree in addition to Li Hongcheng’s military power, another secret decree to give the eldest son of the Ye House Ye completely right to command the power, the so-called use of people do not doubt, doubt, His Majesty’s confidence in that young general or gamble, in the end is ultimately a total victory.
Victory needs foundation, need soldiers, in order to defeat the grassland hu people, Dingzhou city inside and outside the several large military camps in the soldiers were all empty, Dingzhou army full force, plus the Qingzhou a genus, and finally gained such a war, and now the Dingzhou city, is by the GongDian personally brought the group of soldiers and YeWan left behind a small portion of the south imperial border army, in the maintenance of order and law and order.
Li Hongcheng returned to his mansion in silence, looking at the large map in his study and then said to the gatekeeper who had been accompanying him, “I’m going back to Kyoto soon, I’ll send you out of Dingzhou, and as for how you’ll escape in the future, that’s up to you.”
The gatekeeper was silent for a moment and then said, “Zi Yue thanked the general for his great favor.” This person was Fan Xian’s close friend Deng Ziyue, fully responsible for the Supervisory Yuan’s four locations in Xiliang, only after the dramatic change in Kyoto, Deng Ziyue became a character that the court had to capture, and no one thought that this person would be so bold that he actually hid in the great general’s residence.
“This Qingzhou great victory, in addition to his majesty’s holy eyes like a torch, General Xiao Ye used the army like a god, the Supervisory Academy is also all activated, Yan Bingyun has been in the city of Dingzhou, I think Kyoto do not know.” Deng Ziyue sighed and then said, “Lord Xiao Fan’s scheming has all fallen into His Majesty’s calculations, and when it comes down to it, it is impossible for me to turn my back on the interests of Daqing and inform those Hu people …… I believe that Lord Xiao Fan and my subordinates should be of the same general mind.”
Li Hongcheng was silent for a moment and then said, “I suddenly feel that Gongdian’s words make sense, no matter how much Fan Xian tosses and turns, he is not His Majesty’s rival after all, and he can’t afford to let the people of Daqing fall into the midst of a miserable situation, if that’s the case, why bother?”