Compared with the war-torn northern land, Daizhou has a quiet and peaceful atmosphere. People have recovered from the suffering of the previous war, and Daizhou City has regained its vitality.
Under the moonlight, by the pond, a graceful and charming figure is dancing with a sword. Yang Yanzhao was thinking as he walked this way. When he heard the sound of sword dancing in front of him, he couldn't help but stop and look up. When he saw the woman dancing the sword, she couldn't help but smile, with a look of adoration in her eyes. Walking up, "Lanying!" It turns out that the fairy-like figure dancing the sword under the moon is actually Yang Yanzhao's concubine Wang Lanying!
Wang Lanying stopped, saw Yang Yanzhao, a smile appeared on her face, and ran towards her father, "Husband!"
Yang Yanzhao laughed and sighed: "Lanying's martial arts is getting better and better. I'm afraid I will soon catch up with your eldest nephew!" Wang Lanying smiled sweetly: "It's still a little worse than Yang Dezheng!" Then she looked expectant. He asked: "Did the imperial envoy from the imperial court just come to convey the order for us to make the Northern Expedition?"
Yang Yanzhao sighed and shook his head.
Wang Lanying frowned, "Isn't it?"
Yang Yanzhao looked up at the bright stars and moon in the sky, frowned and said: "The imperial court has strictly ordered all armies to stand still. The imperial court is negotiating peace with the Khitan people!" Wang Lanying raised her eyebrows, "Meeting for peace again!? Didn't the imperial court learn from the previous lessons? Negotiate peace, negotiate peace. , as a result, Hebei was gone, Shanxi was gone, and later even the entire Central Plains was lost! No matter how much peace is negotiated, I don’t think Jiangnan can be saved!" Yang Yanzhao looked worried.
Wang Gui walked over quickly, clasped his fists and said, "General, King Yan's envoy is here!" Yang Yanzhao and Wang Lanying's eyes lit up, Yang Yanzhao hurriedly asked: "Where is the person?" "My subordinates have brought the person here. Back hall." Yang Yanzhao and Wang Lanying hurriedly walked towards the back hall, followed by Wang Gui.
The three people hurried to the back hall and saw a dusty young man dressed as a merchant sitting there drinking tea. The visitor saw Wang Gui coming in with a very majestic and extraordinary general, and immediately realized that the man was the legendary commander-in-chief of the Yang Family Army, Yang Yanzhao, and quickly stood up to pay homage: "The villain Wang Kai pays homage to General Yang!"
Yang Yanzhao smiled boldly and said: "Brother Wang, you're welcome! Sit down and talk!"
Wang Kai couldn't help but feel heartbroken when he saw Yang Yanzhao's extraordinary bearing and lack of pretensions. The host and guest sat down respectively, with Wang Gui and Wang Lanying standing behind Yang Yanzhao.
Wang Kai cupped his fists and said, "The King of Yan asked the villain to greet the general." Yang Yanzhao smiled and said, "Thank you, King Yan, for your concern." Then he asked, "I wonder what the important matter is for King Yan to send Brother Wang here?" Wang Kai took out the A letter came over and was presented, "This is the personal letter that King Yan asked the villain to give to the general." Yang Yanzhao took the letter, opened it, took out the letter paper, read it over, and showed a very moved expression. He quickly asked Wang Kai: "Is King Yan preparing to counterattack the Liao Kingdom?" Wang Gui and Wang Lanying couldn't help showing excitement when they heard this.
Wang Kaidao said: "The King of Yan has ordered General Han Bing to be the commander-in-chief to command all the Yanyun troops in Hebei and Shandong to prepare to attack Zhongjing; at the same time, General Liu Zhiliang, General Huyan Bixian, and General Zhanjin have been ordered to attack by the King of Yan. Entering the Liao Kingdom's Zhongjing Road, troops have now arrived at Zhongjing City!"
The three people were very excited. Yang Yanzhao asked anxiously: "Yan Yun's army has arrived in Zhongjing?!"
Wang Kai nodded, "General Liu Zhiliang, General Huyan Bixian, led the 40,000 warriors of our direct army out of Gubei Pavilion and marched northward. They successively attacked the Ma Yu Mountain military stronghold, Guihua City, and Ali Puluhun's troops. Sixty thousand warriors fought decisively at the foot of Guihua City, annihilating them all, and killed more than a dozen generals below Ali Puluhun!" Yang Yanzhao couldn't help but high-fived: "Okay! It's really satisfying! This brother of mine really took action. Extraordinary!"
Wang Kai continued: "At the same time, General Zhan Jin led two thousand Xuanjia troops to attack Tanzhou and Lizhou one after another, annihilating tens of thousands of Khitan troops, burning the big warehouses in Lizhou, and then successively defeated the wealthy and Wending troops. The two counties are approaching Zhongjing from the east."
Wang Lanying said in disbelief: "Only two thousand people can defeat so many prefectures and counties, and also annihilate tens of thousands of Khitan troops?!"
Yang Yanzhao said: "The Xuanjia Army is an elite force carefully trained by King Yan. Its combat power can be said to be unparalleled in ancient and modern times. It has already shown its edge. The battle on Gushan that day was even more powerful! As long as it is commanded properly , it is normal to achieve such a result!" Then he frowned and said: "The three generals are brave and fearless, which greatly boosts the ambition of our Han people! However, the Khitan army still has hundreds of thousands of troops on the Zhongjing Road, and they are so alone that I am afraid... Wang Kai said: "I'm not sure about the specific villain, but I think King Yan must have thought it through very carefully!" Yang Yanzhao nodded.
"Brother, are you okay?" Wang Lanying asked with concern.
Wang Kai cupped his fists and said, "King Yan is very good! King Yan wants a villain to greet Miss Wang on his behalf!" Wang Lanying blushed and looked very happy. Wang Kai said to Yang Yanzhao: "The King of Yan hopes that the general can mobilize the Yang family's army in the northern expedition, so that he can join forces with the Yanyun army from the north and the south to drive out the Tartars and restore the Central Plains! I wonder what the general wants?"
Yang Yanzhao frowned and said: "I, Yang Yanzhao, have never forgotten the shame of Erlang Mountain for a day. My greatest wish in this life is to avenge my shame and restore my homeland, and then go north to the desert, plow the courtyards and sweep holes to completely destroy the Khitan!" He paused, "But I am As a general of the imperial court, you must abide by the imperial court's orders!" He glanced at Wang Kai and said, "Brother Wang may not know yet, but just before you came, the imperial ministers had just left. He conveyed the emperor's imperial edict and strictly ordered Our army is stationary and must not raise troops without authorization!" Wang Lanying snorted: "We should not obey such an order! This country belongs to the people of the world. We fight bloody battles on the battlefield, not for that one person, but for the people of the world, for me, China. The dignity of a clan! You can’t just ignore all this for the sake of the imperial court and the Zhao family!”
Yang Yanzhao glared and shouted: "Stop talking nonsense!" Wang Lanying looked indignant.
Wang Kai clasped his fists and said: "General, Miss Wang is right! We fought bloody battles, and we did not hesitate to throw our heads and blood. Is it just for the sake of the imperial court and the Zhao family? Since the Zhao family cannot defend our Han people's homeland, why not What qualifications do you have to be the lord of China! The Zhao family can't defend their homeland, let's protect it. The Zhao family doesn't want to restore the Central Plains and avenge its past humiliation. We rely on our own strength to complete our revenge! My Chinese family was in this world tens of millions of years ago. There was no Zhao family at that time!"
Yang Yanzhao actually agreed with Wang Kai's words in his heart. However, the long-term Confucian education of loyalty to the emperor prevented him from turning around for a while. He frowned and said: "In any case, Zhao Song is also the Zhengshuo of our China." Ah! Just like the head of a family!"
Wang Kai sighed, knowing that he could not convince Yang Yanzhao for a while, and clasped his fists and said: "General, we will not discuss these issues for the time being. Let's talk about the matter at hand. I hope the general will not delay the opportunity to restore the Central Plains because of the imperial court's order. !" Yang Yanzhao nodded, "I have to think about this matter carefully!" He glanced at Wang Kai and said, "Brother Wang, please stay here." Wang Kai thought for a while and nodded. Yang Yanzhao stood up, called a guard, and ordered him to take Wang Kai to the wing. Wang Kai stood up, said goodbye to Yang Yanzhao and others, and left with the guards.
Wang Lanying asked impatiently: "Husband, what else is there to consider about this matter? Why don't you agree to join forces with the Yanyun Army?" Yu Fei frowned and said: "How can you send troops without permission from the court?" Wang Lanying did not He said angrily: "But the imperial court has no intention of the Northern Expedition!" Yang Yanzhao said: "I want to submit another letter to His Majesty!"
Turning his attention back to Yanjing, Yang Peng received reports from three directions: Gubeiguan, Longshan, and Yuguan, saying that the main force of the Khitan army in front of them had returned to support Zhongjing. Yang Peng saw an opportunity and immediately ordered the 70,000 soldiers of the First Army to move in the direction of Gubei Pavilion. At the same time, he ordered the artillery team to immediately set off for Gubei Pavilion. Then Yang Peng also left Yanjing and rushed to Gubei Pavilion. They arrived at Gubei Pavilion two days later. At this time, the 10,000 cavalrymen of the First Legion were already in place, and the legion commander Duan Zhixian had also arrived, but the infantry had not arrived yet.
Yang Peng walked into the hall quickly, followed closely by Duan Zhixian, Chen Jie and other generals. Yang Peng went straight to the top and sat down. Duan Zhixian and Chen Jie led the generals to pay homage: "Greetings to King Yan!"
Yang Peng said loudly: "No need to be polite!" "Thank you, King Yan!" Yang Peng asked Chen Jie: "How is the situation in Bei'an Prefecture?" "Reporting to King Yan, Xiao Yebule left with 80,000 warriors. Now Bei'an There are only 80,000 Khitan troops in and around the state, including 10,000 war cavalry!"
Yang Peng nodded and asked: "Is there any news from Liu Zhiliang?" Chen Jie clasped his fists and said, "I was about to report to King Yan. I just received news today that General Liu Zhiliang is in contact with Xiao Zhanmeihe. Prepare to join forces to attack Zhongjing City!" Yang Peng said with a smile: "Okay! Liu Zhiliang is both wise and brave, I don't have to worry about him at all!" Then he asked: "The Liao Emperor didn't plan to abandon Zhongjing?"
"According to what the visitor said, the four gates of Zhongjing City are tightly closed, and they are preparing for war day and night. It seems that they intend to defend the city!" Yang Peng frowned and said to Chen Jie: "Send someone to inform Liu Zhiliang immediately that Zhongjing City can be broken. Break if you can. Don’t force it if it cannot be broken. After all, there is a principle. You must not be trapped in a tight siege. If the situation is not right, just come back immediately!" "Yes!"
At this time, Liu Zhiliang was meeting with Xiao Zhanmuhe in Zhongjing City. Each side brought dozens of guards to meet on a grassland between the military camps of both sides.
"Xiao Zhan didn't drink General!" Liu Zhiliang said, cupping his fists. "General Liu Zhiliang!" Xiao Zhan didn't return the gift. "I have heard of General Liu's reputation a long time ago, and today I saw that he is well-deserved!" Liu Zhiliang smiled, clasped his fists and said, "General, thank you for your praise. I have also admired General Liu's reputation for a long time." After a pause, "General, since we all have We have a common enemy and can definitely unite and cooperate sincerely!" Xiao Zhan nodded without drinking, "We don't have to waste time! What I mean is that our two armies will attack Zhongjing at the same time, I will attack the north gate, and Yanyun's army will attack the south. Gate, after the city is broken, Yan Yun's army must not enter the city!"
Liu Zhiliang smiled and said, "General, what you said is wrong! Our army came all the way, wasted so much money and food, and sacrificed so many sergeants. However, when the city of Zhongjing was destroyed, our army was placed outside the city. It is unreasonable. You can’t even explain it!”
Even though Xiao Zhan didn't drink, he felt that this request was indeed too much. He thought about it and said, "Let's do this. You can plunder the ministers' mansions, but you must not touch the royal family and official warehouses!"
Liu Zhiliang smiled and said: "I think this is it. After the event is completed, the general will pay us three million taels of silver as reward." Xiao Zhan didn't think about it for a while, nodded and said: "Okay, that's settled. !”
Liu Zhiliang turned to the back and shouted: "Bring it up!" When ten soldiers came over carrying five large boxes, he placed the boxes next to the two of them and then stepped back. Zhan Weidai was very surprised. He pointed at the box and asked, "What is this?" Liu Zhiliang smiled and said, "This is the thunder made by Yan Yunjun. It is so powerful that it can break through the city wall like a thunderbolt!" Xiao Zhan showed joy without drinking, "Great, with this thunder, Zhongjing is at your fingertips!"
The two sides agreed to launch an attack on Zhongjing City at the same time the next morning, and then went back.
When Liu Zhiliang returned to his tent, a scout immediately came in and reported: "General Qi, Xiao Yebule's troops have just crossed the Liuhe River. More than 100 of our 500 soldiers were killed, and the rest successfully retreated!" Liu Zhiliang walked quickly! When I got to the map stand, my eyes fell on Liuhe. Liuhe River is dozens of miles north of Bei'anzhou and is a tributary of Luanhe River. It is still far away from Zhongjing. Yebule's 80,000 war cavalry had set out several days ago, so why did they cross the Liuhe River just now? It turned out that Liu Zhiliang advanced all the way, but did not forget to guard against the Khitan army behind him, so he burned the wooden bridge every time he crossed a river, leaving hundreds of sergeants to guard the riverside to limit the speed of his opponent's advance. The entire army cannot increase its speed at all, and it has only taken a few days to cross the Liuhe River.
Hu Yanbixian said: "At this speed, it will take them at least ten days to arrive here. We have at least ten days!"
Liu Zhiliang shook his head, "This Khitan army is like this. The Khitan army in the direction of Yuguan is restrained by the Xuanjia army of Zhanjin Kingdom, so the speed will only be slower. But..." He nodded with his finger in the direction of Longshan, "Xiao Lu Yegan's Khitan army has no troops to contain them, they have already arrived in Zezhou, and it will not take more than three days to reach Zhongjing!"
Hu Yanbixian frowned, "In this case, we only have three days! I'm afraid it will be difficult to break through Zhongjing!"
"It depends on people! Although it is not easy, it is not necessarily impossible!" Turning around, "Instruct all armies to prepare for battle!" "Yes!" Early the next morning, Yan Yun's army lined up outside the south gate of Zhongjing. The 80,000 rebels of Xiao Zhanwei formed a fighting formation outside the North City Gate, and the war was about to break out.
At the same time, Yang Peng led the 70,000 troops of the First Army out of Gubei Pavilion and marched towards Bei'an Prefecture. Along the way, they destroyed the two strongholds in the southwest of the Khitan Army, the Sixiang Mountain Army Village and Xinguan Town. Annihilate five thousand Khitan troops.
The alarm reached Bei'an Prefecture. Kelun, the Khitan army general who stayed behind in Bei'an Prefecture, was not only unafraid, but also excited. "Great! They took the initiative to fight to die!" The general next to him said hurriedly: "General Don't be careless, the Yanyun Army is no better than the Liao Army and the Song Army!"
Kelun scolded: "Don't talk nonsense here! In the eyes of this general, the Yanyun Army is just a chicken and a dog, not worth mentioning at all! It's just you trash who talk about them so much! They What's great about it? It's just defeating Liu Yu, who is even more useless, and it's just relying on the strong fortresses of Gubei Pavilion to resist our army's front! Huh! Since they took the initiative to come out of the turtle shell today, I, the general, will make sure they never come back. ! Not only that, I want to seize the opportunity to seize the Gubei Pavilion and go south. I want people all over the world to know my name!" Then he raised his voice and said: "Pass this general's military order to assemble the army immediately and prepare for battle!"
Soon after, the gates of Bei'an Prefecture were opened wide, and an army of 70,000 led by Kelun came out of the city.
That night, the forward cavalry of both sides met. After a short and fierce fight, the Khitan army's cavalry was defeated. When Kelun received the report of defeat, he was very angry and ordered the forward general to be beheaded. The entire army was in awe. Then Kelun sent his own soldiers to issue a letter of war to Yang Peng, agreeing to fight on the grassland northeast of Xinguan Town tomorrow morning!
Yang Peng read the letter of challenge, smiled, and said to the visitor: "Go back and tell your general that I accept his challenge!" The visitor gave Yang Peng a chest salute and left.
Duan Zhixian cupped his fists and said, "Brother, let me take the lead tomorrow!"
Yang Peng thought for a while, nodded and said: "You will lead the three thousand Modao army to break out first!" Duan Zhixian agreed loudly and excitedly. Here, by the way, I will explain the organization structure of Yanyun Army. Among the ten major legions of the Yanyun Army, except for the directly affiliated legions, the Mo Dao Army in each of the other legions has a total of 3,000 people. In addition, there are 10,000 war cavalry, and the rest are ordinary infantry.
The ordinary infantry of the Yanyun Army are divided into heavy shield spearmen, sword and shield men and infantry archers. Infantry archers are not just archers in the simple sense. In fact, these infantrymen also have very strong close combat capabilities. Their training is harder than the training of heavy shield spearmen and sword and shield bearers. They not only have to practice archery, but also practice fighting skills like sword and shield bearers. The armor, swords and sword and shield bearers they are equipped with are the same, but they are missing a shield.
Early the next morning, a light mist enveloped the entire grassland, and clear dewdrops hung on the veins of the green grass. All the small animals that had rested for the night came out to look for food.
Suddenly, the rumbling drums and whistling horns broke the tranquility of the morning. I saw clouds of flags surging from the north and the south. The red wave and the yellow wave were approaching quickly. It turned out to be the cold light reflected from the spears and spurges. The little animals ran back to their nests in panic, with only two eyes exposed, trembling all over as they looked at the humans who were about to fight.
When the two armies approached to a distance of about two hundred paces, they blocked each other's positions.
Kelun stared at the Yanyun Army soldiers opposite, looking very excited. A strong general next to him asked impatiently: "General, please let me challenge them! I want to see if Yan Yun's army is as powerful as the legend says!" Kelun nodded. Nodding, "Very good! If you can kill the enemy general, I will take credit for your achievement!"
But Mo was so happy that he immediately rode out into battle with a mace, came between the two armies, and shouted: "Han people on the opposite side, who of you dares to fight me to the death?"
Ma Kuang, the commander of the left army of the First Legion, immediately rode out into battle and charged Kemo straight with his spear. But don't get excited and rush your horse to meet him. In the blink of an eye, the two knights crossed each other, their weapons waved at the same time, only a loud clang was heard, and then the two knights passed each other. The two men turned their horses' heads and urged the horses to kill each other again. This went back and forth for several rounds without deciding the winner. Then the two men struggled to fight, but they could not swing their sticks. The horses stabbed their spears. The loud noise of the weapons clashing was heard endlessly. Both sides The soldiers kept shouting and the drums beat loudly.
Just when the two sides were fighting inextricably, a Khitan general suddenly rushed out of the military formation and tried to sneak attack Ma Kui. Seeing that Ma Kuang was unaware, the enemy general's sneak attack was about to succeed. At this moment, he saw a black shadow screaming across the sky. Before the golden general who tried to sneak attack Ma Kuang could react, the black shadow It instantly penetrated his neck and flew away with a spurt of blood! Khitan will flip backward and fall off his horse on all fours. The Khitan army couldn't help but be shocked, while the shouts of the Yanyun army were even more loud and shocking. Yang Peng put down the cloud-piercing bow, and Duan Zhixian next to him exclaimed: "My elder brother's archery skills are probably on par with Li Guang's." !" Yang Peng smiled.
But Mo Mo saw one of his own generals being killed by his opponent with an arrow. He was very frightened and wanted to escape. However, Ma Kuang became more and more courageous as he fought. His offensive became more and more urgent and his momentum became more and more shocking, but Mo couldn't escape at all. After another dozen moves, Ke Mo's movements were obviously panicked. Seeing that Kemo was in danger, Kelun immediately ordered his warriors to charge and kill him! Five to six thousand warriors shouted and rushed out. But Mo Mo didn't see his own cavalry coming up. He was eager to get away and tried to escape with a feint. However, Ma Kuang, who was ready to kill, was not fooled by his feint and attacked! But Mo was so shocked that he had no time to react. He was stabbed from the side by his opponent's spear, piercing his body. He couldn't help but scream loudly! Ma Kuan used his arms to carry his strength, and General Ke Mo was dismounted from his horse. The Khitan army officers were greatly shocked!
Ma Kuan quickly turned his horse's head and ran back to the military formation. At this time, the Khitan Army's cavalry had already rushed to the Yanyun Army's front! The heavy-shielded spearmen put down their spears together and shouted. Immediately, the Khitan Army's cavalry hit the Yanyun Army's front line like a tide, making deafening noises continuously!
However, how could the light cavalry break through the Yanyun Army's heavy shield and spear defense line? The Khitan army's charge energy quickly disappeared, and five to six thousand cavalry were crowded in front of the Yanyun army's front, unable to advance or retreat for a while.
At this moment, the Yanyun fusiliers fired a powerful hail of bullets, and the Khitan army officers and soldiers were thrown into confusion on their backs. The heavy shield and spear line suddenly opened, and the three thousand heavy-armored Mo Dao Army, commanded by the mighty general Duan Zhixian, roared out, just like a tiger coming out of its box! After crashing into the middle of the Khitan army, the terrifying Modao Hanguang flew up and down, cutting people at the top and horses at the bottom. Even the Iron Buddha Tu could not withstand such an attack, let alone the light cavalry! I saw blood and flesh flying everywhere on the battlefield, and the Khitan army's cavalry fell one after another, with almost no ability to resist; the brave Khitan army howled and slashed the Mo Dao army with their swords, but the scimitar slashed hard at the Mo Dao army. There were just some sparks splashing on the armor, and then he was killed in two by the Modao Army's counterattack!
This was a one-sided massacre. The Mo Dao army marched forward trampling on the blood and corpses of men and horses. The Khitan army soldiers could not resist and retreated continuously.
Kelun's eyes widened with an expression of horror. He probably didn't expect that Yan Yunmo's sword army would have such terrifying power! Only then did he realize that the legend was true. His idea of defeating Yan Yun's army in one go and then heading south could only be a dream!
What happened after all, let’s see what happens next.
