Chapter 133 – Two Willow Branches

When retreating, Dong Zhuo’s two thousand rangers and six hundred foot soldiers pulled apart for a distance, appearing to be sparsely articulated, Dong Zhuo let out a huff after running out three miles, pulling the reins, the tip of his Green Spring spear slowly cutting a furrow in the yellow sandy ground, and looking back, he regretted that the Great Snow Dragon Riders didn’t take advantage of the situation to chase after him. Dong Zhuo nuzzled, took off his red tasseled helmet and clipped it to his armpit, and didn’t mind revealing a bitter face and sighing at the generals under his command. A dismounted as a foot soldier of the first line of lieutenants stride to follow the upper cavalry, came to Dong Zhuo horse, three miles to feign defeat, running like a dog, stopping the foot in fact, calm and relaxed, full of swear words, but only to spit on that the first iron cavalry of the Northern Liang no guts. The generals trained by Fatty Dong are generally of this kind. Dong Zhuo placed his Green Spring Gun on the shelf, put on his helmet, and said, “Go.”

The lieutenant who followed behind Dong Zhuo’s one man and one horse was born with a tiger’s back and asked, “General, are we really leaving just like this? We’re not going to make a comeback?”

Dong Zhuo didn’t answer his subordinate’s question, and if he didn’t say anything, the lieutenant would stop asking. This was the tacit understanding of Dong Zhuo’s army. Dong Zhuo was not only good at long-distance raids with a few elite cavalrymen, but also extremely good at horseback shooting, and in many fierce battles, he could even retreat dozens of miles or even hundreds of miles in one go at a slight disadvantage, or even when the situation was even, turn around and fight again, and then establish a winning situation. Must know that the tactics is a double-edged sword, with good effect, with bad is smart, false drama, then really want to a rout of thousands of miles, the soldiers fell like a mountain. The need for their own military morale and the enemy’s strength and toughness are insightful and thorough knowledge, this kind of take hundreds of thousands of lives at every turn to do the cost of arithmetic deduction, never on paper.

Dong Zhuo said to himself: “6,000 to fight 4,000, played a tie, the Dragon Elephant Army’s combat power is almost by us to find out the bottom. Wazhu Hong Guan did not lose in vain.”

The lieutenant gave a heave, his words were unapologetic, “General, if you say this, if you give those courtiers in the court an ear, they will have to say that we don’t want to be cheeky again.”

Dong Zhuo knocked his teeth and slightly raised his buttocks, the eldest daughter-in-law of the royal relatives at home always teased him that his buttocks were calloused and pinched when he touched them, and told him to ride horses less often. Dong Zhuo is the top of the day of the smart people, seems to be the boudoir eyebrow stream of private interesting words, in fact, the implication is to let his husband less personal battlefield, after all, is still young, but also has the identity of the imperial tent relatives, less risky to earn the military, as long as you can stay alive, you can always climb to a high position. Only this trip to reinforce the precarious away from the Valley Maolong, he did not personally lead the troops to come, really can not rest assured. By the Dragon Elephant Army knocked out six thousand soldiers, said not heartache that is a lie, but Dong Zhuo has always been a veritable cold-blooded ruthless, as long as the heart of the small calculations did not calculate the loss, but also lazy intentionally pretending to be how to grieve and hurt the lungs, but Dong Zhuo’s 60,000 troops where the elite, perversely, not in the cavalry, but in the twelve thousand foot soldiers, if the latter loss of 6000, Dong Zhuo has long been going to the south of China’s HuangSongPu a few generals blocked the door to curse the mother.

A few miles ahead, we saw another 500 cavalry of the Dong family army, which silently integrated into the army. Dong Zhuo has never been known as a trickster, do not like to do all the family will be a throw away life breaking business, the reason why his back to the gun not many times, but can be successful every time, lies in every retreat, beforehand, there will be at least one-sixth of the total strength of the hidden cavalry to maintain the spirit of full, used as a back to the head of the gun.

Hulukou battle, Dong Zhuo originally thought that since the Dragon Elephant Army dared to set up an ambush to fight the reinforcements, the general troop transport veteran generals are responsible for the deployment of troops, will not be out of the nest, so at first did not put the number of 8,000 riders into the battlefield, the fact proves that in addition to the Dragon Elephant Army did not have a back hand of the matter is unexpected, the rest of the estimation did not have any mistakes, if not that should be the White Bear Yuan Zuozong’s unparalleled fierce generals appeared out of the blue, not only can Dong Zhuo eat up the 4,000 Dragon Elephant Army, but also strangle the second son of the human butcher in one fell swoop. Dong Zhuo of course is not afraid of the big snow dragon rider, really want to fight, plus the back of the 500 cavalry, can also completely spell out Yuan Zuozong, but want to kill Yuan Zuozong and Xu Longxiang will be difficult, Dong Zhuo self-confessed that is a very good at life man, management of 60,000 Dongjia army with the small family man management of small family in general, not see the rabbit do not spread the eagle in order to do so. Since you can not kill the only goal of this trip Xu Longxiang, kill a few hundred or even a few thousand Beiliang army, for the general situation is not painless not to mention, but also from their own body cut down a few pounds of meat, Dong Zhuo meat pain, not happy to do.

Dead fat man crying, helpless: “This trip back, the future is not think to go to the old man there in the name of New Year’s Eve to take sheep. This is not only, I’m afraid that for a month will not be able to touch the hand of the little daughter-in-law.”

Gong Park and the guest minister and Penglai carrying slaves all killed in action, Dong Zhuo for watching them die for their own battle, no guilt, just for the future layout of the trouble constantly, after all, the old father-in-law commanded that with the military majesty of the town of Tibing Mountain, is also famous for the city of the cold.

The lieutenant asked cautiously, “General, it seems like we’re not going in the direction of Maolong?”

Fatty Dong, who was in the middle of his anger, glared and said, “Going to the rebirth in a hurry, can’t you see that the Northern Liang King’s personal army, the Great Snow Dragon Riders, have all sprouted up? There are only 800 of them, where are the rest? The rest of them have gone to gnaw on Ligu Maolong? Otherwise, the 4,000 Dragon Elephant Army would be waiting at Hulukou for us to get into their pants!”

The lieutenant scratched his head and said with a quiet blank stare, “My sister told me long ago not to let General come to pick up the hot potato, but General nonetheless refused to listen.”

Dong Zhuo squeezed out a broad smile and beckoned, “Yelu Chu Cai, come over here.”

The lieutenant was creeped out and slowed down his running speed, turning his left ear in and out to the general’s greeting.

Dong Zhuo smiled and said, “Brother-in-law!”

The lieutenant obediently stepped forward and received a solid kick, the fat man who was out of breath felt refreshed, “You see how absolutely gorgeous your sister looks, and then look at you, crooked. I first met with you said, you kid is not your parents parents born, may be hand picked up.”

As Dong Zhuo’s brother-in-law’s lieutenant, that is a real royal family, when I heard this kind of disrespectful words, but also did not dare to refute, see Dong fat man’s power of lust. A belly sulking, spread such a rogue brother-in-law, is really God dozing ah.

Dong Zhuo suddenly convergence of relaxed look, “have fart quickly put.”

The lieutenant, who would only be treated as a trap reckless man, ran near Dong Zhuo’s horse and said, “It’s not uncommon for 10,000 Dragon Elephant Army to win against the unauthorized Wazhu Army. But Jun Zi Pavilion according to the city does not, but there can still be a full strength of four thousand Dragon Elephant army appeared in the gourd mouth, here is enough to show that the Jun Zi Pavilion side of the situation, we North Mang military towns, although not as high as the Central Plains border defense and control of the place of the military towns as the city is steep, Jun Zi Pavilion, but it is not the Dragon Elephant Cavalry can be attacked, to take a siege equipment can not keep up completely with the cavalry to attack the city, is really comical, which can only show that the Northern Liang of North Mang’s border army’s Infiltration is far beyond what the Southern Dynasty has envisioned, perhaps Hong Guan’s hot-headedness to go out of the city to reject the enemy has spies working for him.”

Dong Zhuo does not nod or shake his head, continued to ask: “Then you tell me about the Dragon Elephant Army lone army, Hulukou remaining four hundred, plus the previous remaining wounded and sick, the whole ten thousand Beiliang elite has been left less than two thousand, such a big price, figure what?”

The lieutenant who is often teased by Fatty Dong as “golden branch and jade leaf” thought for a while and said, “The four towns of Wazhu Junzikan and Ligu Maolong are all easy to defend and attack in the end, and they don’t have too much value in terms of troop strength. Unless they are stupid, the Beiliang army would not leave troops to defend them, and wait for a few old generals of the Southern Dynasty to seek revenge. To be honest I can’t figure out what this battle has been fought, is the king of Northern Liang senile? Or is he in a hurry to send his second son into the Northern Liang Army as a general?”

Dong Zhuo kicked a foot, brother-in-law ducked fast, a foot fell short of the fat man gasped and laughed: “Said half a day are not to the point, your sister is right, read the book of war read to death, do not know to go to explore things outside the book of war.”

The lieutenant is used to his brother-in-law’s hit is a kiss and scolding is love, cheeky smile: “General wise and wise, help to give the little one to say through.”

Dong Zhuo light smile: “the original border near the north of all the military towns, in terms of combat power, are quite conceited, think you can with the north of the iron horsemen of the north of the Liang openly one-on-one without losing the wind, not only Hong Guan these generals think so, but also the remnants of the central plains of the old and young people want to go home, want to pay homage to the ancestors, or nostalgia for the south of the rich and comfortable water and soil, and therefore secretly make efforts to push the waves, the people pick up firewood flame is high, but unfortunately, the general is a little bit too much, but the general is a little too much. All the people pick up firewood flame high, but unfortunately are fucking false fire. First, the southern army despises the northern Liang army, then the entire southern temple is restless, inevitably affecting the northern royal court and his majesty’s mentality, his majesty rushed to take the sword of the Buddhist sect, more or less because he thinks that he can take down the northern Liang and settle the world in one fell swoop.”

The lieutenant hesitated for a moment and said, “Then let’s fight, since the Northern Liang army let the Dragon Waist Prefecture’s chickens fly with just one Dragon Elephant Army, it is clear that they can fight to the death, we Southern Dynasty is so high-minded, if we really fight, we will definitely suffer, why did Northern Liang send troops at this time, could it be that I was right, the King of Northern Liang is really senile? Now this battle down, the dragon waist state almost no power to fight back, Her Majesty the empress proud of her hands compiled a large network of post road beacon flint fortress, all of a sudden to the sieve, the results of the real fight, only to realize that ran into the old ancestor to build the post road system of the king of Bei Liang, there is no way to play. In this way, we Beimang more cautious with the army, and then spend a few years to really calm down not to play fancy, but seriously build practical beacon flint post road, Beiliang army is not completely north of no hope to rest assured that the south shrink?”

Dong Zhuo slowly spat out two words, “Time.”

The lieutenant froze for a moment, confused and asked, “What?”

Dong Zhuo stroked the green spring gun body on the side of the saddle and said softly, “Xu Snap, the king of Beiliang Mountain, is waiting for the son of Beiliang to be strong enough to be hereditary and take over the entire Beiliang army. But want to let that young son and Chen Zhi Bao fight not fall in the fight, one Xu Snapdragon out of the effort is not pleasing to the eye, how the shot is wrong. On the other hand, Chen Zhi Bao has a huge innate advantage accumulated from the Spring and Autumn War, so Xu Snap must slowly snow Chen Zhi Bao in these few years to buy time for his eldest son. If the North Mang is too fast to the south, even if he hastily raises his son to the throne, the heart of the North Liang army will certainly still be the majority to Chen Zhi Bao, I am afraid that in the end, only the Great Snow Dragon Riders and Dragon Elephant and Weeping Bear, which are a few of the troops, will remain under the banner of the king of the word Xu. That said, this trip to knock down the North Mang, with the second son to lead the troops of the Dragon Elephant Army is almost the only choice for the North Liang King, both can pave the way for the two sons, but also in the Chen Zhi Bao behind that mountain side to say that this time the troops in the North Mang, did not take your first line to fill the holes, face to face, in the final analysis, Xu Snapdragon’s eating is very good to look at, every aspect of the internal aspects of the North Liang army has no reason to point fingers. ”

Dong Zhuo muttered to himself, “In my place, the same will spare no expense, even if the Dragon Elephant Army is all beaten up and lost, it does not hurt. Generals and marshals, meat pain and heartache, are all different. What’s more, the Dragon Elephant Army also left two thousand, after the incident to re-form the army, can casually pull out eight thousand strong cavalry, the Dragon Elephant Army combat strength will not be reduced too much, I use the ass to step on all know that this eight thousand soldiers must be a certain or several in the Beiliang King will remain in the change of generation of the neutral characters, their hands of the elite old pawns, so that, it is equal to the new Beiliang King and Chen Zhi Bao’s some secretly this and this and the other. This kind of handiwork is the kind of yang conspiracy that you can’t read about in military books.”

The lieutenant froze for a moment and muttered, “That man Tu plotted so far.”

Dong Zhuo laughed, “Otherwise, do you think that Bei Liang can be a triad with Bei Mang Liyang? I heard that there is a strategist named Li Yishan in the Hearing Tide Pavilion of the Northern Liang King’s Mansion, who was previously underestimated by the bigwigs of the two dynasties as only being able to rule one side of the country, saying that when it comes to leading troops and temple calculations, he is not even comparable to Zhao Changling, the military advisor who has been dead for a number of years. As I see it, it’s all because of Li Yishan’s biding, this scholar, who uses both positive and strange, is the one who deserves my respect. The 300,000 iron horsemen of the Northern Liang Army have been able to maintain their strength for more than ten years, living in a remote area without any decline, and most of the credit goes to Li Yishan. If he dies, I’m curious as to who else is qualified and capable of advising the new Northern Liang King.”

The school lieutenant hemmed and hawed, “Can’t we just have Zhu Sprite assassinate this man?”

Dong Zhuo took the sheath of his Beimang sword and slapped his brother-in-law’s helmet heavily, “I’ve only just told you about the importance of the Yang plan, but you’re using this kind of crooked brain, you’re really a stone in the pit, you can’t be taught!”

The lieutenant complained, “General, aren’t you famous for being a trickster in North Mang?”

Dong Zhuo unprecedentedly did not say much, and laughed to himself in his heart: I call this a few benefits and a few efforts.

The lieutenant couldn’t stand his brother-in-law’s silence and asked curiously, “General, do you think the second son of that human butcher will die after receiving a sword in his heart? That guy has the title of Hollowing in our Zhu sprites.”

Fatty Dong remembered the sword of the chief assassin of the Zhu sprites and lamented, “The flavor of that sword ah, scary is scary, but not to the point of stabbing Xu Longxiang to death.”

Hulukou battlefield, white bear Yuan Zuozong looked at Xu Longxiang’s chest that sword, anger, he is the Liyang dynasty army battle strength among the top three generals, know that the viciousness of this sword, not to pull out, the blade of the sword initially clearly stabbed in the heart on the mouth of the heart, only due to Xu Longxiang’s qi, only to slide to the left chest, a stab and enter. Not only is the blade through the chest, the sword away from the hand, as if a cut rootless willow branches, hand inserted into the shade, the sword in the black teenager body lush growth, is still constantly bursting, Xu Longxiang what kind of body, is still until now, the blood in the chest is only a slight trend to stop the bleeding.

Yuan Zuozong, although angry, but excellent qi cultivation kung fu, gently gritted his teeth, remembered this assassin, Zhu sprites of the leading killer, known as a willow branch to pull out the heart.

Xu Longxiang asked a second question, “Do we still have to go north to find my brother?”

Yuan Zuozong was slightly heartbroken, shook his head and laughed, “Righteous father said that when we reach Hulukou, we can go home, and that His Highness the son of the world will soon be able to return to Beiliang.”

Xu Longxiang let out an oh, “Then I will wait here.”

Yuan Zuozong said, “No need, righteous father has instructed that your highness will not pass through here on his way home.”

Yuan Zuozong thought that he would not be able to persuade this young prince who was born with a closed mind, but he did not expect that the black-clothed young man just pondered with his heart for a moment and nodded his head.

Yuan Zuozong looked at the blood-soaked sands and for the first time looked forward to the return of that great general’s first-born son.

It was only at this time that he remembered that Xu Fengyen had actually gone out to travel three times.

Beiliang post road, willow, a scholar holding a little girl, no horse to ride, not to mention pay to hire a carriage, but not in a hurry, the post road willow thick, walking in the shade of the trees is also quite bear the sun.

A small and large dependent on each other, this more than a year time to go also happy, this is a bitter life origin, are not afraid of suffering.

“Brother Chen, are we going to meet that Mr. Xu?”

“Not necessarily, whether I want to see him or not, I still have to travel all over Northern Liang before I can do so. Of course, it’s still a toss-up whether he’s willing to see me or not. He is, after all, the hereditary Prince of Northern Liang, not an ordinary person.”

“Mr. Xu is a good person ah, he even went to the wishing fountain to help me pick up money. The watermelon he gave us in the back, after eating it and frying it with the skin, brother Chen, you don’t say it’s delicious either?”

“Good people also have to do bad things, bad people also have to do good things, can’t say.”

The little girl also could not understand, just smiled and gave an oh.

The scholar saw no one around, secretly folded down a long willow branch, braided a wreath to wear on the little girl’s head.

He had said to himself that he would die as a posthumous Wenzheng. He had given the general Xu Gong to submit “submit six things negligence”. He once made a splash in a talk about Wang Ba at the Temple of Reputation in Jiangnan Province.

This is Chen Liangxi, a poor scholar who traveled all over the country with a small beggar.

Back then, when the Yang Cai Zhao Changling first met the human butcher Xu Snapdragon, he took the maids and servants with him and swarmed with 600 people.

Yin talent Li Yishan, on the other hand, was alone, and was also this down and out.