Chapter 217: Underneath Those Magnificent (Middle)

As the sun was setting, the northernmost city of Jizhou, Hengshui City, was about to close its gates, and the city towers started to prepare for the hanging of the red lanterns, when a blood-soaked scout rode in at a fast pace, and after the soldiers in charge of the lookout got a clear look at the face, they opened their voices to make the gates that had fallen down most of the way to be re-lifted, and the scout with two arrows sticking in his back rushed in and hissed with all his might, “Urgent! Enemy situation, the North Mang army is attacking!”

Not long after, Hengshui City lit up wolf smoke to warn the neighboring Silver Harrier City, and the wolf smoke rolled out, which was actually the specification of 50,000 Northern Mang cavalry. Soon the beacon towers south of Hengshui City and Yin Harrier City were lit one after another, and in less than half an hour, the entire northern part of Jizhou knew the shocking news of the 50,000 enemy cavalry of the Northern Mang invading the south!

The new guard of Hengshui City is a middle-aged fat man with a bloated body, surnamed Gao fluorescence, this person is from the old Northern Han Dynasty is the Jinan famous family of distinguished origin, the general Yang Shen apricot Jinan foot soldiers, a considerable portion of the source of soldiers from the Jinan Gao, Gao fluorescence can not wait for the armors, in the crowd of guards and escorts hastily came to the head of the city of Hengshui, his face is pale. Not that Gao Fu didn’t want to run, but according to the military intelligence from the scouts, the North Mang vanguard cavalry was already close at hand, and there was a large group of horse fences circling around the city to the south to take the lead in blocking the way.

Gao fluorescence teeth chattering, really regret green intestines! I thought that after Wei Jingtang’s death in battle, Ji Zhou General Yuan Ting Shan, who has 7,000 to 8,000 private cavalry troops from the Li family’s Yan Fort as his direct line of battle, has won several battles here in a row, and Gu Jiantang, the Great Pillar of the Liaodong Border, is also frequently reported to have won, so Gao fluorescence estimated that the North Mang barbarians, since it is now too much for them to fight Beiliang, will not divide their troops to come to Ji Zhou to fight in the autumn breeze, which is why he has spent three hundred thousand taels of silver to open up a joint in the General Yuan and the capital, relying on a relationship with the old General Yang, who is a member of the General Yang. Joints, relying on the old general Yang Shenxing that a little love, only with a capital family son to grab this Hengshui guard general of the fat job. Now there are nominally five thousand soldiers in the city, but in Jizhou not to eat the empty pay of the general than the three-legged toad is still difficult to find, but now there is Yuan Tingshan staring, eat a lot of good, most only dare to eat one or two percent of the empty pay, up to 30%, Gao fluorescence is not a son of the family’s eldest house, that is to spend the second house of 300,000 taels of his private money to become the official, so the real strength of Yokohama City, less than 3000 soldiers! And all of them are oil soldiers drawn from Jinan, but can he blame him Gao fluorescence, Jibei border produces bowmen, although more skilled in bow and horse, but the price is also more expensive ah, a Jibei bowmen, can top two in a few years ago also known as “the world’s only step” in the Jinan foot soldiers, Jizhou’s old base are given to the Yang Shenxeng a head to take away, and the result is a great defeat in the Guangling Road. Now, the second best elite Jinan pawns have been taken away by Yuan Tingshan, so if Gao wants to get back his capital in three years, what else can he do except to make a show in Hengshui City?

Gao fluorescence turned his head to look at the silver harrier city, there guard Wei Kuanxiao also with their own similar moral, just bought the hand has not yet covered the hot official hat, the two young is together to spend the day drinking fox and dog friends, back in the day, but also put together a JiZhou four dukes to come. Surname Wei than their own worse, they at least do not dare to take the city treasury equipment hands and feet, Wei Kuanxiao silver harrier city is said to be almost empty, are sold privately at a low price to the north of the artichoke a few powerful soldiers, two days ago, please go to silver harrier city to drink wine, Wei Kuanxiao this lard blinded by the heart of the fall of the money in the eyes of the son of a bitch, surprisingly a throw of money from the state of the city to ask the two when the red flower girl to accompany the wine, two people in a large bed two rouge horses galloped! “Kill” time, Wei Kuanxiao also proposed this with him, said the money is too fast, fifty loaded with bows and crossbows armor gun wagons a trip back and forth, there can be a small 100,000 taels of silver into the account, and to ensure unimpeded, Gao fluorescence at that time wondered, Thistle General Yuan Tingshan, although for the border affairs of the management of the not wide, but has always been quite strict, Wei Kuanxiao laughingly scolded him is a pig brain, with a thick finger, and then he was a pig brain. Wei Kuanxiao laughed and scolded him as a pig brain, and with his thick finger, he wrote the surnames of two customers, Li and Han, on the white and tender back of the flower girl.

Gao fluorescence instantly understood, and Yuan Tingshan and the Yan Fort Li family! As well as the loyalist Han family, which was once decapitated and is now rising again in the east! One of them has the Great Pillar State, who is in charge of the military and government of the two Liao provinces, as their biggest backer, and the other one is Han Fang, the Vice General of Jizhou, who has been greatly honored and promoted by His Majesty! Gao fluorescence and Wei Kuanxiao rule army with soldiers know nothing, but in the family of influence, for the official way again poor can not be worse, Yuan Tingshan no matter how the war constantly, but in the border to do Jizhou general almost is the apex, or else the old father-in-law has jurisdiction over the entire two Liao, if the son-in-law managed a Jizhou is not enough and then come to the entire river state, this still have to be done? So this will need to be in Jizhou Han’s only seedling to check and balance, the emperor rewarded more, give more military power, in the end the foundation is still shallow, vice general Han Fang in five years is a worthy of the court’s trust rely on the border generals.

Before you see him, you hear his voice.

Gao fluorescence seems to feel that the whole city is shaking.

With the last remaining light, at the end of Gao fluo’s field of vision, a black line appeared violently from the horizon.

Gao Fu’s heart was like ashes, the defense line of Jibei was completely finished.

This fat man, who was only meant to come to Hengshui City to eat empty paychecks, didn’t even seem to have the time to earn any silver from border smuggling.

Gao fluorescence looks around blankly, except for the personal escort brought from the Gao family, those city guards are all some green and young faces, heard that in the northern part of Jizhou just need to wear armor and hold a spear in the city to get a good salary, then they all came to this Hengshui City. They didn’t even know that Wei Jingtang, the last general of the city and a student of the old chief minister Zhang Julu, had been forced to fight against the North Mang cavalry here, and that 800 Hengshui cavalrymen and 4,000 elite foot soldiers had all died in the battle. What’s more, I don’t know earlier, quietly crossing the border thousands of miles to attack 10,000 Yuzhou cavalry here to break the North Mang, this Hengshui City, in fact, is not peaceful at all.

Many of the soldiers of Hengshui City are still holding on to their luck, naively believing that the vast North Mang cavalry is only here to show off, or that General Yuan Tingshan of Jizhou will soon be able to lead his army to defeat the enemy in one fell swoop, or that the Great Pillar Gu Jiantang is coming from Liaodong with his troops.

Wang Sui gathered 50,000 elite cavalry of Beimang’s easternmost border army, 10,000 cavalry each of Qiushi Da Ruzhi Ro Wei and Dongzhi Wang Jing Chong, as well as three young and strong wanfu chiefs who disregarded the two Beimang generals’ “polite persuasion”, 50,000 people, compared to the total strength of Beimang’s eastern front which gradually increased to nearly 300,000 from Beitian Grassland, seems to be not too much of a burden. Compared to the total strength of the eastern front of Beimang, which has gradually increased from the Beiting Grassland to nearly 300,000, 50,000 men seems to be not too much, but to determine the trend of a large-scale war, the number of heads is very important but not absolute. Beimang’s new eastern front commander Wang Sui abducted these 50,000 elite soldiers, almost equal to half of the eastern front’s essence.

The two generals on the eastern border with Liu Gui Yang Yuanzan seniority, firstly, the authority is lower than Wang Sui, secondly, two people simply can not control the three grassland Sizhixian origin of the ten thousand captains, not to mention the big Ru Shi Muro Wei and Wang Jing Chong such a powerful warlord children, can only watch these 50,000 people run to Jizhou, which is naturally unimaginable if in the Liyang Dynasty.

Riding a steppe steed with a body like ink, Da Ru Shi Muro Wei looked up at the silhouette of Hengshui City and said with a grim smile, “Let’s enter the city and still have dinner!”

There is still some way to go before the charge starts, Wang Jing Chong didn’t drive his horse to his own 10,000 men army, he and Qiu Shi Bao are located at the side of Wang Sui, frowning: “The spy report said that the two city guards Gao Lun Wei Kuan Xiao are all drunkards, but if the other side is desperately defending the city, we are not favorable to fight at night, plus the 50,000 men are all cavalry, even though it’s fine to get off the horse to fight, they are not carrying siege equipment, is it really? We don’t have any siege equipment with us, so can we really take these two important towns in Jibei easily?”

Wang Sui snorted, “In addition to paying attention to the ever-changing situation on the battlefield, you also need to pay attention to the situation outside the battlefield, and you should do so even more in the future when you have the chance to go to the Central Plains. Wang Jing Chong, why do you think Yuan Ting Shan would have two idiots stationed at Hengshui Yin Harrier, is it really that he doesn’t have any spare troops in his hands? To take a step back, with him a line grasshopper Li Yan Fort, private horsemen have 8,000, riding battle is still not weak, defending the city can be what problem? It’s obvious that he’s giving us a way out, otherwise, if he keeps winning battles, how long do you think he’ll be the general of Jizhou? The war in Guangling Road was so bad that an imperial decree was sent to the general’s residence in Jizhou, and the court asked him to work under Lu Shengxiang, the commander in chief of the Southern Expedition, and he, Yuan Tingshan, dared to say a word? Even if he dares, that kid’s old husband will be the first to clean him up!”

Da Ru Shi Muro Wei said impatiently, “I don’t believe that these two grandsons of Gao Florence Wei Kuan Xiao really have Wei Jing Tang’s guts, not to mention Wei Jing Tang’s ability, if we take the two cities, we will have a great chance whether we go to Jizhou in the south, go to Hezhou in the west, or retreat to the east in the end! Lord Commander, you can just order the attack on the city, and Wang Jing Chong won’t steal the first prize of Hengshui City from me!”

Wang Sui sneered, “Attack the city? Attack the hell out of the city! If you guys want to die in battle, then die in battle in Youzhou.”

Da Ru Shi Muro Wei was stunned, “What should we do?”

Wang Sui looked at the twilight shrouded border city and said, “Tell them that they will not be killed if they surrender, but if they don’t, they will be slaughtered. Only give them half an hour to think about it, and add one more sentence, we only need the food and armor in the city, as for the people, as long as they are willing to take off their armor and get out of Hengshui City empty-handed, we’ll let them go.”

Da Ru Shi Muro Wei muttered, “No point.”

Wang Sui turned to Wang Jing Chong and said, “Go tell those three big old men that Hengshui City belongs to you and Da Ru Shi Muwei, and Silver Harrier City belongs to the three of them.”

Wang Jing Chong nodded and was about to steer his horse away when he heard Wang Sui blandly say, “Wait until the soldiers of the two cities retreat south out of the city, then how to get the battle credits is all up to the five of you. Well, remember, leave a few alive to send word to that Yuan Tingshan, so that Jizhou will know that we are going all the way south. After this, according to the established arrangement, each of the two cities of Hengshui Yin Harrier will leave three thousand soldiers and horses to guard the city, and all the rest will run with me to Hezhou.”

After Wang Jing Chong was far away, Wang Sui asked with a smirk, “Lord Qiu Ruzhi, I heard that you’re thinking about the process for dinner?”

The hot-eyed Da Ru Shi Muro Wei hemmed and hawed, “These two to three thousand people in Hengshui City are barely enough for me and my sons and daughters to have a meal, not enough to eat, but at least it will cover hunger for a while.”

Wang Sui was expressionless, looking up at Hengshui City, which had resisted the steppe iron horsemen for an unknown number of times since it was built.

At the end of the summer of the first year of Xiangfu, the two cities of Hengshui Silver Harrier in Jizhou lost their defense and fell into the hands of North Mang. It is rumored that the North Mang’s main army on the eastern front is going to bypass the two Liao defenses and use Jizhou as a breakthrough to move south.

The whole country was shaken by the news.

Han Lin, the new strategic envoy of the Huainan Road, was urgently and posthumously appointed by the court as a university scholar of the Pavilion, not long after he left for his post.

Cai Nan, the Huainan Province governor, was made a second-ranking general of the Western Zhenxi province.

Yuan Tingshan, the general of Jizhou, was ordained as the Pingxi general of the third grade.

Han Fang, the vice-general of Jizhou, was granted the military authority to authorize a temporary expansion of 10,000 troops and horses.

Along with this imperial decree, there was also a secret decree personally delivered by Song Tanglu, the eunuch in charge of the Palace of Ceremonies.

The war in Jizhou must be confined to Jibei!

The sound of trumpets resounded through the vast lands around Qingcang City.

Liuzhou finally welcomes the first grand battle that sweeps through almost the entire force of both sides on the western front.

The 30,000 foot soldiers of the Longguan nobles served as the main force of the attack, slowly spreading out their formation battle lines and launching an attack on Qingcang City.

The four town cavalry troops, including the Wazhu Junzikan, were closely guarding the southern part of the foot soldiers, facing off with the Longxiang army from a distance.

The commander-in-chief of the western front, Great General Liu Gui, sat on horseback, personally supervising the attack on the city, behind him were the 30,000 Liu Clan troops that were standing still and the 10,000 personal cavalry guards brought by the Northern Courtyard Great King Tuoba Bodhisattva.

A Long Guan noble military general from the A-character surname didn’t care whether the siege went well or not, and from time to time he turned his head to look at the large swath of Northern Liang black armor that was arrayed three miles away.

Can the four town cavalry of Guseizhou really withstand the charge of the Longxiang army? If the Dragon Elephant Army cut through their own cavalry formation, not to mention, even the attacking infantry to break through, only two back and forth, this battle will not have to fight ah! Do you want to give Northern Liang the biggest result since the Liang-Mang war? Doesn’t General Liu realize that the battle for Liuzhou is not about the loss or gain of a small Qingcang city? Is it worth risking the entire western front just to take down Qingcang City?

He finally couldn’t hold back and rode his horse to Liu Gui’s side, and was about to speak when Liu Gui said in a cold voice, “I’ve made up my mind, no need to say more!”

This Wanfu chief of Northern Mang, who had a good background, was also annoyed, but he still tried his best to suppress his anger, and tried to calmly talk to this old man who was highly respected by His Majesty, “Great General, this kind of direct split between the cavalry and infantry formations is really too risky ah, it’s not hard to take down the small Qingcang City, even if we hide 20,000 among the 30,000 infantry troops… …No, even if it is 10,000 heavily armored foot soldiers waiting for the opportunity to wait for the Dragon Elephant Army’s charging formation, it will be fine. To be so desperate and belittle the charging strength of the Northern Liang Iron Cavalry, Great General, it’s not right!”

Liu Gui did not speak.

The military general finally said angrily, “Great General, you are taking the lives of 30,000 Long Guan sons and daughters as child’s play for the sake of your own official position!”

Now the south dynasty’s west capital temple on the dark currents, originally from the south dynasty’s western line of military generals of course have heard, said Liu Gui name is not real that are considered polite, not polite is directly requesting that his majesty to change the marshal, and even the candidate is very clear, in addition to already in the Liuzhou border of the top Bodhisattva, and even in the Hulukou east line of the brilliant seed sandalwood have been carried out, if you say that the introduction of the god of the army top Bodhisattva is still justifiable, then If it is reasonable to launch the military god Topaz, then taking seed sandalwood is simply hitting Liu Gui’s old face, how long has seed sandalwood been in the army? How long has Seed Dan been in the army? How long has General Liu Gui been in the military? The old king of the southern court, Huang Song Pu, came back after leaving his post to replace Liu Gui, who had done nothing, as the commander of the western front, and undoubtedly had the highest reputation in the southern dynasty. As a result the Eastern Front Army, which had been stationed in the territory of Liuzhou for a long time, had all sorts of claims circulating in a colorful manner.

Right at this moment, this military general’s face changed dramatically as a horse slowly arrived, and the man on the back of the horse, clad in light armor, said in a deep voice, “Roll back to the battle formation.”

The military general gulped, and without saying a word, he turned his horse to return to the infantry formation.

Liu Gui glanced at the visitor and asked with a smile, “Great King of the Northern Courtyard, do you think that Dragon Elephant Army dares to swallow the bait? With 30,000 slaughtered infantry troops and the battle-weak four town cavalry, the bait is big enough.”

The person who came was none other than Topaz Bodhisattva, looking at Qingcang City, “The Great General’s intention, Wang Lingbao may not be able to see through it, but Li Mor Fan who is also the vice general of the Dragon Elephant Army will most likely be able to see through it, except that there are Yang Guangdu and Chen Xiliang in that city, Li Mor Fan if he is smart enough will also follow the trend, or else he won’t be able to rise high up in the Bei Liang Border Army in the future. Even if Li Mo Fan is cold enough, but as long as a part of the Dragon Elephant Army launches a charge into a stalemate, he, Li Mo Fan, can’t see death to save him, and I believe that he doesn’t have that kind of heart of stone.”

Liu Gui laughed, “On the surface, I, an old man whose marshalship is at stake, needs to be sick and desperate, they are in the midst of a big battle on the two fronts of Beiliang Hutou City and Xiaguang City, and Liujiu also needs a big win to boost people’s spirits, so both sides are on fire.”

Liu Gui gathered his smile, “That said, if it wasn’t for the other 20,000 of the Northern Court Great King’s personal army, which is on its way here at a rapid pace, I, Liu Gui, still wouldn’t have fought this battle even if I lost my marshalship. In this Liuzhou, we can’t eat all the Dragon Elephant Army in one breath, and it’s pointless to fight small battles. The Great Battle of Liangmang was originally meant to be won or lost with Liuzhou, and now it’s just a big detour that has finally circled back.”

Tuoba Bodhisattva hesitated for a moment and said in a deep voice, “After this battle, General, you will more than likely still be recalled back to the Southern Dynasty.”

Liu Gui laughed, “No harm done, just think of it as making room for Fatty Dong on the center line.”

Tuoba Bodhisattva laughed softly, “General Liu don’t worry, in the future, you and I will enter the Central Plains hand in hand.”

Liu Gui nodded.

This old man lamented, “It’s just that I can’t apologize to these Southern Dynasty sons and daughters who fought bravely and came from the yellow sands of the desert, and in the end, they just died in the yellow sands of the desert, all without being able to see the prosperity of the Central Plains, even if it’s just for a glance.”