Chapter 173: Chu Lushan’s Problems

Xiangfu two years of the spring equinox, if the intensifying war in the northwest is still unattended, then the original situation of a good situation in Guangling Road suddenly turned sharply downward, it is very worried about the capital city of Liyang, it all stems from Xie Xijian the young man’s “into a miracle”, in the eastern line of the generals of Guangling accustomed to the god of Kou Jianghuai’s troop deployment! After that, the general Song Kasa slowly pushed forward step by step, constantly compressing the room for play of the Western Chu army, not only recaptured all the lost land, but also successfully turned back several Western Chu lieutenants who had rebelled at that time, and compressed Xie Xijian’s main force of 20,000 foot soldiers in the line of DangYinHe and CrowMingGu. At that time, Song Kasa’s army not only had 30,000 foot soldiers of the GuangLing Road, but also 8,000 excellent horsemen as a maneuvering power, coupled with Song Kasa’s usual stable and prudent use of force, it was a sure win. How to look at the situation is a sure victory, the only problem is to see whether it can be in the summer before the attack into the old capital of Western Chu. However, at the moment when this kind of result was within reach, Xie Xijian, who was in a disadvantageous position in terms of military strength, suddenly started to make strength and took the initiative to form a line of attack. Afterwards, rumor has it that Song Rasa cavalry army all out, want to thousands of cavalry “thin its array”, with the grassland nomadic cavalry the most skilled momentum, eight thousand cavalry divided into three shares, each share and then divided into five horizontal line, rangers in front of the elite cavalry in the back, after the enemy elite cavalry quickly through the gap forward charge, to start the parrying, and then in the case of keeping the battle line united, the elite cavalry retreat, the light cavalry Then, while keeping the battle line united, the elite cavalry retreated, the light cavalry retreated, and so on, and so on, trying to play out the greatest advantage of mounted archery, and wait until the enemy formation is greatly disorganized, then it can be attacked as if chiseling and fighting. But Xie Xijian only five thousand force Jian heavy armor foot soldiers, holding more than ten feet stranger sword to horizontal dense formation in front, despite the arrows, such as the wall and into, when the depth of the continuous reduction of the Guangling cavalry had to start the real charge, on these as if Western Chu halberdiers reappeared in the sky of the heavy armor foot soldiers, even after the Ministry of Military Affairs of the city of Tai’an officials looked at each other with a face of the six words, “the horses and men when the shattered! “! Then the routed remnants of the cavalry can only be by their own center army foot soldiers on both flanks around the battlefield, followed by a more grueling battle of the foot soldiers, morale fell to the bottom of the Guangling foot soldiers did not retreat, but it is still difficult to block the advance of the West Chu, the main general Song Kasa did not hesitate to personally trapped in the battlefield, led eight hundred dead soldiers in one fell swoop broke open the West Chu Stranger Sword Formation, even so, in the next battle, the pre-war by the Liyang court laughed at called Xie Xijian, who was laughed at by the court of Liyang before the war as “a clever woman who can’t cook without rice”, repeatedly mobilized the living forces of the army into the battlefield, which numbered less than 1,000 people, but all of them remedied the critical situation in a few places precisely. Songasa is not a mediocre general, blood bath, once twice with troops to Xie Xijian less than 100 paces in front of the formation, were shot back by arrows. After this Xie Xijian ambush in the rear of thousands of cavalry charging, Song Kasa is also early response to this, even if the battle is stalemate, is still a strict order of heavy loss of cavalry shall not be “light into the battlefield” full support of their own side, only permitted to ride lieutenant led by five hundred riders to kill the enemy in turn, which is in the three thousand West Chu cavalry under the charge to maintain the Guangling cavalry and infantry not to The first battle will be collapsed. West Chu Guangling two armies from noon to twilight, corpses everywhere, Xie Xijian under the command of 20,000 foot soldiers dead and wounded as many as 15,000, while Song Kasa’s 40,000 foot soldiers and 8,000 cavalry finally withdrew from the battlefield, the number of people who still have the strength of the battlefield, but less than 5,000 people. But the real truth that made both sides feel cold in the spine was that, more than ten miles away from Song Kasa’s active retreat from the battlefield, Xie Xijian deployed 3,000 light cavalry that seemed to have fallen from the sky, and what blocked this cavalry from expanding the pace of their pursuit was the 5,000 ambush troops that Song Kasa had intended to use to surprise and win the battle.

The court of Liyang in the 800-mile expedited post arrived in the capital of the great dynasty meeting, have to Songasa impeachment, saying that his military dim-witted, empty advantage but sit on the situation. The emperor was furious and ordered Song to go to the capital to apologize. However, in a small meeting where only the central ministers met, Zhao Zhuan, the son of the emperor, was the first to praise Song Kasa, saying that it was not the Guangling army, not to mention Song Kasa. Zhao Youling, the second in command of the Central Committee, even confessed that although Song Kasa had made the battle situation in Guangling even worse, because before Lu Shengxiang entered the country, Guangling Road had no power to fight for the time being, and could only hope for Guangling King Zhao Yi’s navy army, but in the end, it was just a small loss to test the depth of the military power of the Western Chu. At that time, the spring veteran general Yang Shenxeng happened to also be broken among the small dynasty meeting, immediately kneeled down on the ground to ask for forgiveness, sobbing uncontrollably, but did not exculpate himself, but said that the death of Yan Zhenchun, the crime is he Yang Shenxeng and Jizhou old pawns. Emperor Zhao Zhanzhuan did not pursue the matter, instead, he comforted this old general who had lost all the face of the court, and even let his eldest son Yang Huchen, who had lost an arm in the battle of Guangling, to be the vice-general of Jizhou, and lead the Jinan hundred battles foot soldiers that had not been out of the trap for a long time to rush to the north of Jibei, to make up for the mistake on behalf of his father.

After the spring equinox, the 100,000 strong army of the southern border had already reached Xiangzhou, and King Zhao Bing of Yanzhi was seriously ill in the middle of the journey, so he had to hand over the leadership to his son Zhao Zhu. At the same time, Phyllis General Lu Shengxiang and that and Yang Shen Xing Yan Zhenchun the same generation of meritorious veteran generals in two lines, a total of 40,000 elite. They echoed with the South Border army and clamped down on the Western Chu rebels. Before this, it was as if the Liyang court had created the fame of Xie Xijian and Kou Jianghuai, the two young men of Xichu, with a huge loss of nearly 90,000 casualties and at the cost of the death of a vassal king in battle.

At such a moment, Xichu made a sound that could be said to have shaken the world. Following Xu Snapdragon, another king of the dynasty with a different surname, Chen Zhi Bao, wrote to the capital, claiming that he had raised more than 10,000 troops and was ready to go out of West Shu to aid Guangling. Although the Ministry of War rejected it. But the dynasty is still shaken, praised as “happy to hear the sound of spring thunder”, which can be seen that the white soldier saint in the minds of the people of Liyang transcendent status. It seems that in Li Yang seems, those “defected” from the Northern Liang of the brilliant literary hero, not to mention has always been very high reputation of Chen Zhi Bao, science master Yao Baifeng, or Yan Jiexi, or the royal relatives, and now resides in the Ministry of Rites of the Jin Lanting, will be extraordinarily let the great city of Tai’an look at the comfort of the eyes. In the Beiliang Palace, Xu Fengyen and Chu Lushan headed by a group of Liangzhou border generals are facing a temporary sand table, discussing the Xie Xijian and Songasa both winners and losers. This was perhaps the only pastime of the Northern Liang generals during wartime.

Huang Laifu, the captain of Huaiyang Pass, spoke with disdain, “This Xie’s son’s method of using military force is not learned from us, in the area where both sides are not enough to spread out the battle line, secretly accumulating strength, and at the critical moment to put into the battlefield by batches, our Beiliang Border Army a little bit of eyesight of the captains, we all know that. The only thing that can be taken out, is that he does not know where to tune out the stranger sword formation, but against the Guangling cavalry is okay, against our iron cavalry, hehehehe, that is when the West Chu halberdiers ended up.”

Xu Fengyen said, “After all, this is the first time since the Spring and Autumn period that the foot won over the horsemen, no matter how good Song Rasa’s cavalry is, we should feel the bottom. Is there any detailed arrangement of the Stranger Sword Formation?”

Chu Lushan, as always, obsessively looking at the various geographic details on the sand table, after hearing the words looked up and replied with a smile, “Still waiting for the news from the whisking room, but estimating the rough battle damage on both sides, Xie Xijian’s Stranger Sword Formation should be much more perfect than the halberd battle formation of that year. I believe Gu Jiantang’s two Liao side will soon be popularized, not less with the Ministry of households lion’s mouth to ask for a large amount of military pay.”

The burly lieutenant of Qingyuan military town frowned, “Judging from the spy reports, Xie Xijian and Song Kasa are not a single muscle, they are both ghostly, cautious and bold in the use of their respective cavalry and footwork. Previously, I only heard that Western Chu that Kou Jianghuai is good at long distance raids without sparing feet, even if the overall strength is less than the enemy, can also form a local battlefield to fight more than fewer, and never defend the city nor attack the city, fight as if the foot soldiers can be used as a cavalry army, it’s very chewy.”

Chu Lushan jiejie laughed: “Kou Jianghuai is with a series of dazzling victories to tell the world, after the war in the Central Plains zone in the end how to play, it is not you attacking the city I defend the city so simple, all battles are to eliminate the enemy’s vital forces as the purpose, you hunker down in the city, I’ll be changing the way to force you to fight out of the city, you if a large number of troops out of the city, I can first do not fight! If you have a large number of troops out of the city, I can not fight first, and find the opportunity to have a sure victory, and then once again to beat you. Anyway, it is a fast knife to cut meat, once two or three pounds, more often, but also see the bones. If Gu Dazu first proposed the war outside the door, enough to make the later generations of soldiers eye-opening, then the Kou Jianghuai this innovative and novel way of playing, is a perfect extension, probably can be called the war outside the city, to maximize the significance of weakening the city, with a good, to be able to take the initiative everywhere. Of course, at that time, I fought in the hinterland of Northern Mang, it has long been played this way, only the spearhead is not aimed at Liyang, those officials of the imperial court will not know the meat pain.”

Liu bud riding general rubbed his chin and said: “Guangling Road is not easy to have Song Kasa such a general who understands military affairs to support the scene, that Liyang emperor brain to donkey kick, so directly take to Tai’an City to ask for punishment? Obviously Zhao Yi’s navy will also be eaten by Cao Changqing.”

Xu Fengyen shook his head and said softly, “Only in terms of purely Guangling battle, is should not move Songasa. But in terms of the overall picture, this seemingly self-destructive approach of the court is actually in the same vein. At that time, the destruction of the eight kingdoms of the Spring and Autumn Period, the division of military generals, now the Zhao family to collect the world’s military power, in order to cope with the future situation of the war with the North Mang full force. Yang Shenxing and Yan Zhenchun with the private army under their command of the counter-insurgency, is one side of the matter, and Tangxi sword immortal Lu Baijie, the southern expedition commander Lu Shengxiang, Longchamp general Xu Gong, Liao Xi general Tang Tieshuang, as well as the current Song Kasa, the successive entry of these people into the capital as an official, is the other side of the relatively hidden. The court intends to condone the restoration of Western Chu, in addition to not expecting the beginning of the Western Chu will give them so big a downward spiral, other things are expected to happen step by step, and even now the Yan Zhi Wang sent 100,000 soldiers and horses to the north to support, but also arranged, do not look at Xie Xiyi to the land battlefield of the Canton Road to the breath of the air, in fact, is only to help the court to let the King of the Yan Zhi Wang Zhao Bing died more people only. In the final analysis, the imperial court is using this as a way to cut clans and curb the power of local military generals, a sort of yang conspiracy.”

That Liu Bud riding general, after scolding the Zhao family successive two emperors are not good birds, immediately said to Xu Fengyen with a smile, “The king’s view of the problem, with us these big old man is really different, it is a high house …… eek, a high house what comes to be?”

Huang Laifu hurriedly interfaced, “High house built …… his mother, the old man also forgot.”

Chu Lushan rubbed his forehead, somewhat humiliated.

Xu Fengnian laughed, “High house building.”

The two lieutenants said in unison, “Yes, high roof!”

Then each praised, “Your Highness is talented!” “Your Highness this learning is hard to come by!”

The eyes of our Beiliang Capital Protector Lord seemed a bit melancholic ah.

Xu Fengnian joked, “Alright, flattering this kind of technical work is not suitable for you guys. You’d better be honest and lead your troops to war, and when you win a big battle in the future, I’ll have no problem kissing your asses.”

The whole hall laughed.

Xu Fengyen after Chu Lushan rejoined the Liangbei sandbox to discuss the arrangement with the generals, the two of them walked towards Chu Lushan’s residence, after Xu Fengyen walked into the cramped courtyard, he lamented, “It’s really hard for you.”

Chu Lushan habitually bent over and laughed: “Don’t look at the Luk Baller these years living in a luxurious and incomparable immortal days, back then when poor and crazy, can have a hot special steamed buns to eat that would rejoice in the sky. Later is into the Xu family army, this body fat only bit by bit to raise out, said out of the king may not believe, Lu ball child once not to say that the bones are as thin as firewood, the whole body together, is also a hundred and twenty pounds of meat, but then meat solid, can afford to eat bitter.”

Xu Fenian really didn’t know about this, looked at the bloated as a mountain Lu Qiu’er, “I dare not imagine how you looked when you were thin.”

Chu Lushan sighed, “Who says it isn’t, even he has almost forgotten.”

Xu Fengyen today specially piggybacked on the two cans of chess, Chu Lushan and then let a person find a kind of construction is also exquisite nephrite wood chessboard, the two people long time opposite each other to sit, Xu Fengyen white, Chu Lushan black, began to play.

Xu Fengyen lost. Chu Lushan finally won.

Because Chu Lushan waited for so many years, finally can not have to deliberately let the chess, sitting cross-legged on a wide embroidered pier Chu Lushan looked at the chess game in a daze, some sighs said: “Today I realized that His Highness the real depths of the chess power. It turns out that back in the day, Lu Qiu’er was letting go of the water, and His Highness has never put his heart into it.”

Hearing the somewhat unfamiliar title of “Your Highness”, Xu Fengyen lost his concentration for a moment, sighed, and said, “I had people go to Qingzhou to look for that Lu Dan, but the result was disappointing, Lu Dan brought me a message, saying that he would rather go to the capital than come to Beiliang. ”

Chu Lushan grinned, “People have their own aspirations, you can’t force them.”

Xu Fengnian hmmmed, helplessly said, “I heard that in the past Xu Snapdragon had also captured many Chunqiu literati, but the vast majority of the favored characters were unwilling to serve under his command, so they could only be released.”

Chu Lushan smiled with some embarrassment and softly said, “Righteous father was released, but many of them were given to Lu Qiu’er afterward and secretly slaughtered again. Among them was Yuan Bai Xiong guy a close friend’s elder.”

Xu Fenian cried and laughed, “No wonder Yuan Erge said he was going to light your heavenly lantern!”

Chu Lushan hemmed and hawed, “Unlike that Mr. Zhao, I am from the same poor background as Mr. Li, and was born to be at odds with the worldly figures, and I don’t have Mr. Li’s elegance, back then, when I saw those guys with their eyes high above the ground, I couldn’t wait to chop off a head with a knife. In retrospect, I should have been softer and killed fewer people back then.”

Xu Fengnian was speechless.

Chu Lushan’s fingers slightly twisted a slightly cool chess piece and said, “Putting aside the Yonghui Spring’s group of courtiers, Tongxi Sword Immortal Lu Baijie, Zhongshu Order Qi Yanglong, Guozijian Left Sacrificing Scholar Yao Baifeng, Dongyuan Pavilion University Scholar Yan Jiexi, Southern Expedition Commander Lu Shengxiang, Longchamp General Xu Gong, and so on, these are the people that Zhao Dun helped his son to ask to fill in the capital to fill in the vacancies after Zhang Lu’s collapse, and as for Song Ke Li and other people, they are the people that Zhao Dun had in his life, and the people that Song Ke Li and other people that Zhao Dun had in his life. The people are Zhao Dun in the world deliberately suppressed pawns, so that the next emperor to show the king’s grace. Then Tang Tieshuang, the Minister of the Ministry of War, Fan Changhou, the new chess sage, Song Kasa of the Guangling Road, Chen Wang, the Junbao, General Yuan Tingshan of Jizhou, Sun Yin, and Lu Dang, these people are the ‘newcomers’ that the new emperor Zhao Zhuan has cultivated on his own.”

Chu Lushan sneered, “Except for the fact that every move against our Beiliang was ‘unreasonable’, the rest of the first moves were very much in line with orthodox chess theory.”

Xu Fengyen lamented, “Zhao Dun must have thought long and hard when he chose Zhao Zhuan, the fourth prince, to succeed the throne instead of Zhao Wu, the eldest prince, we cannot deny this. So far, Zhao Zhuan has done a drop-dead perfect job.”

Chu Lushan suddenly looked at Xu Fenian with playful eyes.

Xu Fengyen blankly said, “Don’t think wrongly, I have nothing with that Empress. Do you think the Zhao family’s royal family are all blind? Besides, it’s not like you don’t know that Yan Dongwu and Li Negative Zhen are the same, both of them were indifferent to me in the first place, in fact, accurately speaking, they are treated like enemies.”

Chu Lushan playfully said, “Luk ball child but thinking of what is good.”

Xu Feng Nian laughed and scolded, “Do you really think that all women in the world should like me?”

Chu Lushan put down that chess piece, stretched out his hands and said with a heavenly face, “Your Highness, you don’t know, now the slightly well-informed ladies around the Central Plains, the little lady who adores you, Your Highness, there are eight thousand without ten thousand!”

Chu Lushan leisurely said: “This is also unable to do things ah, the world jianghu a hundred years, martial arts top, may be quite a lot, but also have to look like a jade tree, more behavior flow, can be few and far between, counting, there is only the old God of the sword Li Chungang, Wang Xianzhi? Wang Xianzhi? Topaz Bodhisattva? A northern barbarian. Deng Ta’a, the sword skill is true, but unfortunately, the appearance of the hurdle can not pass. Originally, Qi Xuanzheng and Cao Changqing could each be counted as one, but one is a Taoist fairy who never entered the world, and the other is a nerd who only thinks about restoring the country. So only you, Your Highness, can live up to your reputation, having traveled to Liyang twice, with countless anecdotes and stories, and having been to the city of Tai’an, and being the King of Beilang. There are also countless rare paintings and calligraphy that you have identified as ‘fakes’ circulating in the capital and Jiangnan, and at the same time, there is the strong rise of Da Xue Ping and Xuanyuan Qingfeng, which is tantamount to creating a momentum in disguise for the king who had once personally visited Hui Mountain, so how can those little ladies not go crazy over it? That would really be a long drought with sweet rain!”

Xu Fengnian really did not know that this result would occur, and said mockingly, “In that case, there must be more people who will hate us in Northern Liang in the future.” Chu Lushan laughed heartily, “Of course! Let’s not talk about far away, just take those aunties in Rouge County who don’t worry about getting married, as long as there is a matchmaker who says which man looks a little bit like you, Your Highness, then the market can be suddenly tight up!”

Xu Fengyen could only laugh it off.

After a moment of silence, the atmosphere in the room seemed to change.

Chu Lushan suddenly asked with a straight face, “Your Highness, I don’t know if I should say something?”

Xu Fengnian said, “It can be asked, not necessarily answered.”

To make Lukuo’er open his mouth so solemnly to ask, not that Xu Fengyen wanted to make a show of it, but he was really unsure of giving an answer.

As expected, Chu Lushan asked a very tricky question, “After Your Highness went to North Mang, especially after carrying Xu Huainan’s head back to North Liang, Lu Qiu’er knew that this big war with North Mang would be different from what everyone envisioned. Then, Chu Lushan must ask Your Highness today, if one day, the exact same choices as your righteous father did back then, are placed in front of Your Highness, what will be the choice?”

Xu Fengyen was about to speak, Chu Lushan stared at him dead in the face and quickly said, “Your Highness know one thing, the person who will be sitting in the dragon chair of the Zhao family at that time will not necessarily be Zhao Zhuan, it will probably be the one who used to be with Your Highness in Dantong Pass, Zhao Chu!”

Xu Fengnian did not speak, instead, the questioning Chu Lushan continued, “If that time really comes, the same choices will be made, but it’s no longer the same pattern of the world. Compared to that year, when the Xu family had no chance of winning and was bound to lose, in the future, the Xu family, the Zhao family, the least we can do is to win or lose half and half! The great power, is in our hands!”

The game of chess between the two was set and dead.

Xu Fengnian took a deep breath and said bitterly, “Lukuo’er, I’ve let you down.”

Chu Lushan slowly lowered his head.

Xu Fenian also lowered his head and looked at the chessboard in a daze.

At some point, Xu Fengyen was still sitting withered in place, Chu Lushan had stood up and came to Xu Fengyen’s side, bending down with some difficulty, stretching out his hand, gently rubbing Xu Fengyen’s head, and said softly, “Although it is disappointing that I did not hear the answer I wanted. However, Your Highness, you may have forgotten that when you were small, amongst so many righteous sons, it was always you who was closest to that naive and foolish Luqiu’er. Luqiu’er I was also never more proud of this than when I won a battle.”

“If one day, Luqiu’er, who has been alone since he was a child, hands over these three hundred pounds of fat on the sands, don’t be sad.”

“In my life, Chu Lushan, it’s worth it to have a home.”