Chapter 220 – The Four Battles of Northern Liang (II)

When that sword swept towards Escape Summer Town from 10,000 miles away, when Mr. White Lotus hadn’t yet revealed the mysteries of heaven before.

Liuzhou was already on the verge of a great battle.

Two civil and one military three Liuzhou officials walking on the city, position near compared to the outer wall slightly shorter daughter wall side, because outside the city there are constantly North Mang small groups of roaming riders whistling past, as few as thirty more than two hundred, from time to time riding and shooting a set of, not so much as to the guarding pawns killed and wounded, in fact, just like to come to this city under the sightseeing to enjoy the scenery is almost the same, full of heavy provocative meaning.

The only old man in the three people, wearing a positive third grade purple robe civil official public uniform, embroidered peacock official patch, just now there are a few powerful arrows swept from the top of the old man’s head, the old man laughed: “Evil guests at the door ah, so like in front of other people’s homes to throw shoes, back if you catch the opportunity …… ”

Saying this, the old man paused for a moment and turned his head to look at the young man who was draped in armor outside of his military officer’s robe with a smile, “General Kou, can this official have such an opportunity?”

The self-proclaimed Dragon King of the Western Regions, Cai Junchen, was thrown by the King of Northern Liang to serve as the county governor of Huangnan County in Lingzhou, and lived as a divine couple with his daughter-in-law, Yu Rou Rou, and the Dragon King’s Mansion of Qingcang City was changed into the Residence of the Assassin of Liujiu Prefecture in the meantime.

This old man is the highest ranked civil official in Liuzhou, Assassin Yang Guangdou, and the civil shirt staff beside the old man is Chen Xiliang, a cold warrior of the Jiangnan Road who is unwilling to leave the roots in Liuzhou.

When Qingcang City realized the intention of Liu Gui’s army to attack the city, there was a heated argument in the governor’s mansion all night long about whether to defend or withdraw, which evolved into two sharply opposing camps. The older Liuzhou officials all advocated that they might as well give up Qingcang City and go to the Lin Rumor military town under the escort of the Dragon Elephant Army, as long as the people are still alive, the operation of the military and government of Liuzhou won’t be a problem. The younger generation of officials, whether they are from the general’s family, or foreign to the cool of the Central Plains scholar, are strongly requested to defend Qingcang City, for the Dragon Elephant Army to fight for a battle to determine the flow of the state of the perfect opportunity. Originally, as long as the two men agreed, this quarrel would not intensify, but the problem lies in the fact that Yang Guangdou, the veteran assassin, unexpectedly supported defending the city to the end, while Chen Xiliang, whose prestige among the Liujiu stragglers was almost a whole lot higher than that of the young feudal king, was diametrically opposite, suggesting that the assassin’s residence be transferred to Lin Rumor, and in this way the two sides were at a stalemate.

Then the new Liuzhou General entered Qingcang City at such a moment.

Kou Jianghuai reached out and gently pressed his hand on the coarse wall of his daughter, not making a big speech, not to mention patting his chest to assure the old assassin of anything.

Under the feet of this Dafeng Dynasty used to control the vast western region of the ancient military town, as the closest to Liangzhou Liuzhou the first major military town, this point of the city wall is a pose, although it was included in the Northern Liang Road map after the emergency reinforcement, but still let the usual Central Plains city of Kou Jianghuai feel laughable, this young Liuzhou general with a few hundred riders rushed to this place, temporarily in the assassin’s office adjacent to a mansion to fulfill their duties, but the large a territory comparable to the But a large state with a territory comparable to that of the old Northern Liang Dao, there are only a handful of generals that can be deployed by Kou Jianghuai, for example, the most intimidating force in Liuzhou, the 30,000-strong Dragon Elephant Army, is directly under the jurisdiction of the Dugu Palace, with the main general Xu Longxiang and the two vice-generals Li Morfan and Wang Lingbao, and there is not a single one that he can call upon, and if Kou Jianghuai dares to intervene in the specific lifting and lowering of the Dragon Elephant Army, he is afraid that the general of Liuzhou would be able to achieve the head of the army. The two towns of Fengxiang, Lin Ballad, Kou Jianghuai, from beginning to end, there is no one to recognize, and now he has only four thousand Qingcang city of Qingcang army, and Chen Xiliang enlisted more than ten thousand stragglers can be driven, although the single combat is not bad, defending the city is also barely adequate, but put into a large battlefield killing, Kou Jianghuai do not know in addition to Liu Gui to send the military achievements can also do.

So he, the Liuzhou general who aspired to make a mark in the Western Region, was worse than a clever woman who couldn’t cook without rice; he didn’t even have a decent stove at the moment.

Kou Jianghuai walked near the outer wall, looking at a stream of North Mang roving horsemen galloping away in the flying dust, softly said: “The assassin Lord wants to die, is that this retreat, Liuzhou from the balance of power into a disadvantage of no initiative to speak of, pulling one hair affects the whole body, resulting in the link between Liuzhou and Liangzhou was torn out of a big mouth, North Mang southern military towns and Dong Zhuo center line will be able to a steady stream of troops transported here, which will affect the whole Liangzhou, and thus will affect the entire Liangzhou. and thus would implicate the entire layout of Liangzhou. Mr. Chen wants to retreat because he is worried that the Dragon Elephant Army will fall into a trap and fight with Liu Gui’s army outside of Qingcang City to the point where they will be wounded, once the Dragon Elephant Army loses its role in holding back the North Mang’s western line of armies ……”

Chen Xiliang nonchalantly interrupted Kou Jianghuai, “Although I’m not well versed in military affairs, I also know that Liu Gui has been able to hold back until now, and definitely wants to fight a big battle, Qingcang City is the bait, and I’m even certain that Liu Gui’s army will not be too swift in attacking Qingcang, but will only bait and force the Dragon Elephant Army to increase its strength little by little, until the 30,000-strong Dragon Elephant Army is fully trapped in the mire. I’m not advocating that Qingcang City should not be attacked. Moreover, I am not advocating that Qingcang City should not be defended, but rather that all of the officials of the assassin’s residence should retreat to the military town of Lin Rumor, and Qingcang City should still be defended by me and the 14,000 men to the end. In this way, the Dragon Elephant Army can attack and retreat, so that it won’t be so deep that it can’t get out of the quagmire.”

Today’s Chen Xiliang dark skin, no longer when the newspaper Temple of the weak scholar of the half point of the wind, simply put, is originally a good one may be in the deserted mountains of the ancient temple to the vixen in the eyes of the handsome scholar, now even if the world is really vixen, but also not happy to pay attention to this all day long labor hands full of calluses of the readers.

These two days full of fire Yang Guangdou coldly grunted: “Not to mention my Beiliang, almost the entire Liyang know in the heart of the king of Beiliang, you Chen Xiliang one person is worth the whole assassin’s residence!”

Chen Xiliang frowned, “Then tell the Dragon Elephant Army in charge of the escort that I, Chen Xiliang, will also withdraw to the military town of Lin Rumor.”

Yang Guangdou laughed in exasperation, “Do you think that those guys who were able to become generals in Li Mor Clan Wang Lingbao are fools, every one of them is shrewd! I Yang Guangdu died okay, you Chen Xiliang if you die in Qingcang city, die in Li Mor Clan Wang Lingbao two hall of Dragon Elephant Army vice generals of the eyes, they still want to want to climb in the Northern Liang border army?!”

Kou Jianghuai smiled and interrupted the argument between the two, “Those who make good use of the military, do not think about victory but first think about defeat, this is indeed the golden words in the book of war.”

To be honest, Yang Guangdou is very curious about this young western chu relic who almost ranked among the generals, according to Kou Jianghuai’s temperament shown in the series of battles in Guangling Road, it is not a general who will be concerned about the gains and losses of a place, on the contrary, Kou Jianghuai, who has a disadvantage in the overall strength, is the most skillful in the wide range of long-distance raiding, and always allows himself to dominate the local battlefield with superior strength, letting the Guangling army’s entire eastern line which is beaten into sieve scorched and beaten by Zhao Yi’s several elite armies have all been so desperate that in the end, they don’t even have the courage to go out of the city to rescue them, for fear that they will again take the initiative to run into the trap, and then Kou Jianghuai will wipe out all of Zhao Yi’s main field armies on the eastern front, and then one city pass will be completely out of contact and become a virtual void. Yang Guangdou originally thought that after Kou Jianghuai came to Qingcang City, he would support Chen Xiliang and the group of civil servants and bureaucrats of the assassin’s residence who are bent on stability. In his private thoughts, Yang Guangdou is also worried that this is the young Kou Jianghuai’s eagerness to build up prestige in Liuzhou, and he wants to take the battle of the Qingcang City offensive and defensive wars to save up military achievements for himself.

Yang Guangdou hesitated for a while, decided to stop hiding, and asked bluntly, “General Kou has a few points of certainty, can you give this official a bottom?”

Kou Jianghuai looked towards the distant North Mang camp, “If Qingcang City is just Qingcang City, all the variables are only inside and outside Qingcang City without outside interference, and the soldiers and horses of both sides are these people in plain sight, then I only have 10% certainty that the situation in Liujiu will become better.”

Chen Xiliang smiled bitterly without saying anything.

Kou Jianghuai continued: “The situation in Liuzhou is different from the eastern line of the Guangling Road where I was at first, where it seems that there are many cities and passes, but they are all dead, just like the chessboard where the seeds are rooted and do not move, and the Guangling army generals of the Liyang court have gone down a dead end, as if there is no city without a soul, and in Liuzhou, it’s very different, and it’s destined to be decided by the cavalry only. The battlefield of the trend of victory and defeat, Lin ballad Fengxiang two towns soldiers and horses will be a small variable, was Liu Gui hidden backhand is a big variable, the same is distant water to put out a fire, the key is to see the time who enters the battlefield to reinforce their own side of the more appropriate timing.”

Kou Jianghuai pointed his finger to the east, further east than Liu Gui’s army’s barracks, “The real variable, is actually held in our Northern Liang’s hands, as long as Liangzhou has 10,000 cavalry troops running to Liuzhou, it doesn’t even have to be the Great Xue Long Riders, nor does it have to be Qi Dangguo’s 6,000 Iron Floaters, as long as it’s the most ordinary Liangzhou Border Guards Cavalry, that’s enough.”

Yang Guangdou shook his head and said, “Although this official advocates for a deadly defense of Qingcang City, but it’s also clear that the survival of Qingcang City can’t wait for the Liangzhou cavalry to hear about it, we can only rely on the 14,000 men of Qingcang City and the 30,000 Dragon Elephant Army outside the city, plus at most the 7,000 or 8,000 cavalry troops that have been temporarily drawn out of the two towns of Lin Rang Fengxiang.”

Kou Jianghuai laughed, “Anyway, we are already in the position of defending Qingcang City to the death, so it’s not a bad thing for us to have more thoughts.”

Kou Jianghuai turned his head to the worried Chen Xiliang and smiled, “In order to appease the people’s hearts and not to collapse at the first battle, I am going to bother you to ‘lie about the military situation’ with those young and strong migrants and tell them that the iron cavalry of Beiliang Border Guard is on the way, and that as long as Qingcang City can hold on for five days without being broken down, this Liujiu State is going to have not even a single Northern Mang barbarian to stand on. a single Northern Mang barbarian won’t have a foothold anymore.”

Chen Xiliang’s face had some angry expressions.

Kou Jianghuai purposely turned a blind eye and asked with a smile, “What, Mr. Can’t bear it in your heart? Feeling that it goes against your heart? In fact, if you think about it from a different perspective, it’s simple, since we have to defend the city to the death regardless of whether there are reinforcements from Liangzhou or not, a high morale is always a lot less deaths than a low morale. Mr. do not want to Qingcang city in a day or two to be attacked, scattered around the 14,000 people, withstand the red-eyed North Mang army a few times the hand up and down? Mr. is a serious scholar, may not know much about military matters, the battlefield with the most and fastest deaths is often not during the siege, not the cavalry clashing or the cavalry breaking the foot formation, but the slaughter after the city is broken, it is the pursuit of the routed soldiers in the field.”

Chen Xiliang asked two questions, “Is General Kou willing to fight to the death with Qingcang City? Is he really willing to die in this western military town?”

Kou Jianghuai seemed to have a suspicion of avoiding the issue and said in a flat tone, “I, Kou Jianghuai, came to Liuzhou to win the battle as a Liuzhou general. I’m not afraid of death, but I’m also very life-sparing at the same time.”

Chen Xiliang excused himself and left.

Kou Jianghuai smiled, not taking it personally.

Yang Guangdou did not follow Chen Xiliang down to the city and sighed, “General Kou should be able to see that Chen Xiliang has already considered Liuzhou to make Qingcang City his home, so why do you still want to rub salt in his wounds. Moreover, with Chen Xiliang’s temperament, once he has a bad impression of someone, I’m afraid it will be hard to change his mind for the rest of his life. General Kou is not doing a one-shot deal in Liuzhou either, he is here to build a successful career, so if that is the case, why would he still want to cross paths with Chen Xiliang?”

Kou Jianghuai asked rhetorically, “Is Chen Xiliang merely a gentleman who would rather be taken in the straight and narrow?”

Yang Guangdou shook his head and said, “That’s looking down on him too much, Chen Xiliang may not be the next Li Yishan. I am more optimistic about Chen Xiliang than Xu Beihao, who has had a prosperous official career in Lingzhou.”

Kou Jianghuai reached out and slid his hand over the slightly hot arrows on the wall and said softly, “The spy report that Liuzhou sent to Liangzhou is just doing his best to listen to the fate of heaven, I am betting that Liangzhou has such an insightful character …… In short, this time, Liuzhou will either lose everything, or make a lot of money. ”

Yang Guangdou lamented, “As long as I am given another half a year to create a rough beacon system on the southern line of Liuzhou, I will not be so passive, but unfortunately time is not waiting for me!”

Kou Jianghuai’s eyes were complicated, no one knew what this Liuzhou general, who took over the hot potato as soon as he took office, was calculating.

The Longxiang Army camp that was stationed south of Qingcang City was different from the Liu Gui’s army that was riddled with grievances and dark currents, and different from the indecision of Qingcang City.

From top to bottom, the entire Dragon Elephant Army has no distractions, last year drove straight into North Mang, almost sweeping half of Gusei State, beating the four military towns of Wazhu Junzikan and Ligu Maolong to death, and in the end, even Dong Zhuo had to personally go into battle, still losing about 5,000 of his elite private army. In the spring of this year is a breath to eat the more than eight thousand called the desert ghost of the Qiang cavalry, the Longxiang army of the military heart, is so a hard battle victory accumulated. Before Xu Longxiang joined the Dragon Elephant Cavalry, Vice General Li Mo Fan and Scarface Wang Lingbao is already a unique border generals, more than ten years, which year not with the Northern Mang barbarians to fight a few battles?

Black-clothed boy sitting on a small slope, beside the amazing size of the black tiger, it lazily dozed off, occasionally shaking his body, is a good burst of dust and yellow sand.

Li Mo Fan and Wang Ling Bao each held their horses and stood not far away, the fierce-looking Scarface asked softly, “Judging from the situation, the Northern Mang barbarians are going to make their move tomorrow. This battle is definitely for us to fight, but how to fight, old Li, do you have any rules and regulations?”

Li Mo Fan’s horse is like a mobile arsenal, hanging an iron gun, not to mention, there is a riding bow and two pairs of crossbows, but also the halberd bag full of halberds, and Li Mo Fan himself is wearing a sword. After hearing Wang Lingbao’s inquiry, this Dragon Elephant Army vice general who had always had a mixed reputation in terms of his character said in a bad mood: ”Chapters and laws? The 30,000 Dragon-Elephant Army is a cavalry army, so it’s just riding against riding and riding against stepping. What else can they do? Liu Gui that old man is clearly using Qing Cang City as bait to catch the big fish that is our Dragon Elephant Army, so let’s bite the hook, but we need to rip the fisherman out of the water and tell them that it’s not that easy to take chestnuts out of the fire, and it’s very easy to turn into a game of fire and get burnt.”

Wang Lingbao hehehe laughed: “Our vice general Li also have nervous time ah, put aside in the past, you talk about how to use the army that is the head of the road, can not wait to even every standard cavalry to the blade, I do not interrupt the words, you can breath without gasping to say for a few hours.”

Li Mo Fan face gloomy, did not refute.

Wang Lingbao went over and asked quietly, “Are you worried that you can’t stop Topaz Bodhisattva?”

Li Mo Fan shook his head, “Both sides together have almost 150,000 troops, such a huge battlefield, a Martial Assessment Grand Master isn’t that important, Tuoba Bodhisattva who has no say in this North Mang western front army, even if he participates in the battle, although he can influence the battle situation to a certain extent, he can’t really decide the battle situation.”

Wang Lingbao said with a blank stare, “Then what are you worried about? It’s not like you don’t know what kind of shit the four town cavalry of Guseizhou is, unless Liu Gui’s old man uses heavily armored foot soldiers as the center army, arranges the horse rejecting formation to the death, and then places all of the cavalry on the two flanks, and deals with the Dragon Elephant Army using this most rigid of shrunken head turtle tactics, then we won’t have much of a chance to get down on the battlefield.”

Li Mo Fan still shook his head, “Such a fighting method that a random mediocre general from Northern Mang would be able to copy and adapt, that wouldn’t be Liu Gui.”

Wang Lingbao was also a bit annoyed, suddenly remembered something and asked curiously, “That Liuzhou general surnamed Kou said that he wants us to leave him 5,000 elite troops, and no matter what the situation is, he is not allowed to use them, what’s the secret? Really agree with him?”

Li Mo Fan helplessly said, “Anyway, the general has promised, you just do it.”

Long silence.

Wang Lingbao suddenly laughed: “Old Li, I didn’t expect that Qingcang City’s large group of civil officials in the end, none of them went to the Lin Rhyme, do you think that under the sky, is it only us, Beiliang, who have this kind of light? But it’s not that I, Wang Lingbao, have no conscience, just the thought that this group of bureaucrats might show up at the head of the city to learn how to bend the bow and shoot arrows, makes me want to laugh.”

Li Mo Fan also had a few smiles on his face.

Wang Lingbao subconsciously touched the scar on his face and asked again, “Old Li, how many years have we fought side by side together?”

Li Mo Fan froze for a moment and simply replied, “I forgot.”

Wang Lingbao laughed, “I’ve also forgotten.”

In short, it was many years.