When Brother Wei Mingxiu heard the news, he couldn't help being shocked. Li Qiyun, the general next to him, said in fear: "They are going to cut off our retreat!" Brother Wei Mingxiu said anxiously: "Quickly, send the order and retreat immediately! "The generals hurriedly agreed and ran down. Then there was a commotion in the fortress.
Yang Peng noticed signs of commotion on the Hue Fortress from a distance, and immediately ordered the army to leave the camp and attack the Hue Fortress. War drums rumbled loudly, and the camp gates on the south side of the fort were opened wide. A torrent of soldiers poured out, with roaring horseshoes and clanking iron armor, rushing towards the Hue Fortress.
The Xixia army in the fortress was retreating in a hurry. When they saw Yanyun's army coming out in full force, they were so frightened that they ignored the generals' orders and scrambled to escape from the city. The scene was chaotic. Looking at the chaotic scene in front of him, Brother Wei Mingxiu could only shake his head and smile bitterly. He couldn't care about it now.
Seeing that there was no one on the majestic and steep fortress beside the dangerous peak, Yan Yun's army immediately launched an attack. The wave of soldiers surged under the city wall, and then overflowed the city wall. Then the city gate was opened by Yan Yun's army who entered the fortress, without encountering any resistance from beginning to end. Then Chen Xiao led the army into Hue Fortress.
Yanyun's army captured Hue Fort without any bloodshed, and divided the army into two groups. One was the main force led by Yang Peng, which advanced by land and water and drove directly to Keyi Gate, which is almost two hundred miles south of Hue Fort. The other group was led by Yelu Hanyu. Leading only 20,000 soldiers and horses, he marched southwest and attacked Loubobei, where the military department of Baima Qiang Town was located.
Let’s put this aside for now and let’s turn our attention to Xiping Mansion. Li Qingxia, dressed in military uniform, stood on the gate tower of Xiping Mansion, looking at the vast wilderness in the south, frowning. All the civil and military officials stood behind him with solemn expressions. At this time, even the most carefree people cannot relax. After all, a war that concerns the entire Xixia and the fate of the entire Party is about to come, and the battlefield is right here.
Li Qingxia turned to ask the Generalissimo Li Zongdao beside her: "Generalissimo, is there any news from Li Cunxiao?" Li Zongdao replied: "I was about to report to Your Majesty. I just received news that Li Cunxiao's Snow Mountain Army is still attacking Youzhou. . The Yanyun Army refused to retreat, and the battle was extremely brutal! Li Cunxiao's Snow Mountain Army had already suffered nearly 10,000 casualties! Of course, the Yanyun Army also suffered heavy casualties!"
Li Qingxia frowned and said: "If Li Cunxiao can't break through Youzhou, it's better to transfer the main force of the Snow Mountain Army here, and we can be more sure." Li Qingxia currently has a total of 400,000 troops in Xiping Mansion. Isn't that enough? Maybe it's really not enough, because among the 400,000 troops, less than 200,000 are regular troops, and the rest are civilians gathered temporarily; but Yang Yanzhao's Volcano Army is different. Although there are only 100,000 in number, they are all They are elites who have fought in hundreds of battles, and each one is as brave as ten. Therefore, although the Xixia army has 400,000, it is really difficult to say whether the victory or defeat of this battle will be achieved.
After listening to Li Qingxia's words, Li Zongdao was silent for a moment and said: "Our army can at least draw a tie when facing Yang Yanzhao's troops, so there is no need to worry too much! And if the main force of the Snow Mountain Army is transferred over, our advantage will not be It will increase too much. If the Yanyun Army retreats to Yanzhou, we will have nothing to do with them, which will become an embarrassing situation of being invincible. However, if the main force of the Snow Mountain Army continues to attack Youzhou, our army will most likely To win, after all, there are only 10,000 Yanyun troops in Youzhou. No matter how brave they are, they can't withstand the continuous fierce attacks of our Snow Mountain elite! As long as Youzhou is broken and the Snow Mountain army marches straight in, they can take the Great Wall Ridge in one go! Take the Great Wall Ridge in one go Next, our army can be said to be sure of victory, and at least it can annihilate Yang Yanzhao's 100,000-strong army!"
Li Qingxia pondered and nodded, "The Generalissimo is right!" She raised her head and looked into the distance, murmuring: "I hope Li Cunxiao can live up to his great trust!" Li Zongdao said categorically: "He can definitely do it! If he can't, we will be No one in the Xia army can do it!"
A fast horse suddenly appeared on the horizon in the distance, galloping towards this side. The eyes of everyone on the city gate couldn't help but fall on him. Prime Minister Zuo Li Tongren said: "He is a scout of our army!" A moment later, the scout galloped to the bottom of the city, reined in his horse, and shouted loudly: "Emergency military situation." , open the city gate quickly!"
The city gate was immediately opened, the scouts galloped in, and the city gate was immediately closed. A moment later, the scout appeared behind Li Qingxia and knelt down to report: "Your Majesty, Yang Yanzhao's Yanyun Army has arrived thirty miles away!"
Everyone was shocked, and Li Zongdao couldn't help but said: "It's so fast! In the morning, the distance was still sixty miles, but now it's only thirty miles!!" Li Qingxia looked grim and said loudly: "Let's explore again!" The scout responded. With a sound, he ran down the city wall, and then the city gate opened and closed, and the scouts galloped out and flew into the distance.
At sunset that day, the Yanyun army suddenly appeared in the field of vision. Facing the setting sun, I saw a blood-red hue. The Yanyun army rolled in. An invisible and huge pressure hit my face. All Xixia people were shocked. I felt out of breath, and there was a dull and vague rumble in my ears, as if thunder was brewing and was approaching from far away. Li Qingxia couldn't help but murmured: "It's here! It's finally here!"
The tide of one hundred thousand Yanyun troops slowly approached the city wall and stopped four hundred steps away from the city wall. The sound of thunder gradually stopped, and then there was a solemn atmosphere.
A brave general carrying two hammers rushed out from Yanyun's army, ran between the two armies, and shouted: "I am General Yang Gui of Yanyun, who dares to fight with me!" Huge power! The fierce sound was louder than thunder, rolling and echoing in the sky. The Xixia people on the city wall were stunned and fascinated by the shock.
When Li Qingxia saw that Yang Gui's aura actually overwhelmed hundreds of thousands of his own troops, she couldn't help but be surprised and admired. Her eyes radiated with brilliance, and she couldn't help but murmured: "Such an aura is worthy of being powerful in the world." Tiger general!"
After hearing Li Qingxia's words, the fierce general Yeji was very unconvinced and said loudly: "Your Majesty, I will go and get his head!" After saying that, he ran down the city wall. Then the city gate opened and closed, and Ye Ji ran out of the city gate with a mace in hand. Everyone on the city wall saw him galloping away towards Yue Yun, and couldn't help but get excited, and shouts rang out one after another on the city wall.
Yeji rode his horse more than ten steps in front of Yang Gui, reined in his horse, pointed at Yang Gui and shouted in Dangxiang language: "I am General Yeji, and I want to take your head!"
Yang Gui didn't understand Dangxiang's language and knew that the words were not good, so he stopped talking nonsense to him and rushed towards him on horseback. Seeing this, Yeji shouted to urge his war horse, raised his mace high and charged forward, howling and screaming like a crazy beast. At this time, on the battlefield, the shouts of the soldiers on both sides were like a sea wave, deafening!
In the blink of an eye, the two sides met, and Yeji swung his mace and hit Yang Gui on the head. It was really astonishing. Yang Gui remained motionless, raised his copper hammer with his left hand, and with a snap, the mace flew high upwards from the bottom up. Yeji was shocked to feel the opponent's incomparable power. At this moment, I heard a loud roar and saw the opponent's copper hammer coming from his right hand! Yeji was startled and wanted to dodge, but before he could, the copper hammer hit him hard on the head. His helmet cracked and his brain was shattered. His brains were scattered everywhere. He couldn't survive before his eyes! The Xixia people on the city wall were shocked when they saw such a scene. Their cheers and cheers suddenly stopped, and there was a dead silence on the city wall!
The two riders passed each other and ran a dozen paces. Yang Gui reined in the horse, turned around, and looked towards Yeji, who then dismounted from his horse and leaned to one side. Yang Gui turned to look at the city wall and shouted loudly: "Is there anyone else coming to die?" Although the Xixia soldiers could not understand Yang Gui's words, they were overwhelmed by his momentum and felt fearful and uneasy in their hearts.
Ye Ji's younger brother, Ye Heli, said sadly and angrily: "Your Majesty, I am going to avenge my brother!" Yuluo ran down the city wall. Li Qingxia turned to the generals around her and said, "You all go together and be sure to take Yang Gui's head!" The generals agreed in unison and ran down the city wall together.
The city gate opened wide, and the sound of horse hooves rumbled. Yue Yun looked towards the city gate and saw six enemy generals pouring out together, with excitement showing on his face. The six enemy generals rushed out of the city gate without saying a word, roaring and charging towards Yang Gui. Yang Gui held a pair of bronze hammers in his hand and stood tall and motionless like a majestic mountain peak. The Xixia people on the city wall couldn't help but feel heartbroken when they saw Yang Gui's arrogance. Li Qingxia was even more excited and couldn't help herself.
Six Xixia warriors suddenly swarmed in front of Yang Gui, and then attacked fiercely with swords and guns. Yang Gui swung his hammers, and heard the loud sound of the weapons hitting each other. In the blink of an eye, six Xixia warriors surrounded Yang Gui, fighting around him like a revolving lantern. Various weapons kept coming at Yang Gui, but Yang Gui danced with a group of bronze hammers until they whirred. , all the weapons he attacked were thrown away by him. It was really impenetrable and airtight!
In the blink of an eye, the two sides fought fiercely for more than thirty rounds, but there was still no winner. Yang Gui became more and more courageous as he fought. The brass hammer in his hand whistled louder and louder, swinging away the enemy's weapons and counterattacking at the same time. With one against six, he actually gained the upper hand; but the six Xixia warriors were increasingly stretched. Seeing Yang Gui's bravery like a god, he couldn't help but feel timid, and the Xixia people on the city wall widened their eyes. , pursed his lips tightly, clenched his hands, and sweated profusely for the generals on his side. Yang Gui's bravery deeply shocked them!
In the blink of an eye, more than a dozen moves were passed, and Yang Gui's momentum had overwhelmed the six Xixia warriors. Yang Gui's roar was heard, and like a thunderbolt from the blue, the six Xixia warriors were so shaken physically and mentally that their movements could not help but stagnate. At this moment, Yue Yun's pair of hammers were seen flying up and down, hitting the chests of two enemy generals with two bangs.
The two enemy generals screamed and fell off their horses. The other four were shocked when they saw two of their companions killed instantly. Before he could react, Yang Gui had already found the third person. When the Xixia warrior saw Yang Gui approaching fiercely, he was frightened and hurriedly attacked Yang Gui with his sword, the light of the sword flashing. Yang Gui shouted loudly, and swung the two hammers in his hands upwards to attack the opponent's sword simultaneously. There was a loud bang, and the sword broke instantly after being hit by the two hammers! The Xixia warriors were extremely horrified when they saw that Zhan Yi's sword was broken by his opponent in one fell swoop! Then he saw his opponent's copper hammer whizzing towards him, as powerful as a mountain collapse. The Xixia general was so frightened that he couldn't avoid it and subconsciously raised his sword pole to resist. He only heard a loud clang sound, and the copper hammer smashed the sword like a piece of wood. The pole, unabated, hit the Western Xia warrior's chest with a muffled thud. He saw his chest dent, blood spurting from his mouth and nose, and he fell off his horse.
At this moment, Xixia warrior Ye Heli attacked Yang Gui from behind. Upon seeing this, Yan Yun's soldiers shouted, some reminded Yang Gui to be careful of the enemy behind him, and some cursed the enemy as despicable. In fact, Yang Gui had already heard the sound of horse hooves behind him, but he deliberately did not turn around. Hearing the sound of horse hooves approaching, he suddenly turned around and swung the copper hammer with his right hand to sweep over. Ye Heli ran behind Yang Gui, fully expecting to succeed. However, as soon as he raised the mace, he saw his opponent's copper hammer suddenly sweeping over. He was so shocked that he no longer cared about attacking, and quickly threw his body into the air. He leaned back, and almost at the same time, the copper hammer whizzed past him less than half a foot away from the door with strong wind, Ye Heli was so shocked that he broke out in cold sweat. However, before he had time to sit up, he heard the terrible sound of the copper hammer, and almost at the same time, he saw Yang Gui's other copper hammer smashing down from top to bottom. At this time, Ye Heli was lying on his back on his horse. He saw the copper hammer falling like a mountain. He wanted to dodge, but his body had no time to react.
Others only saw Yang Gui's copper hammer slamming into Ye Heli's face, causing blood and flesh to fly everywhere. The remaining two Xixia warriors were horrified to the extreme. They felt that the Yanyun warrior in front of them was simply not a human being. He was clearly a terrifying monster from hell. They all turned their horses' heads in unison and bolted towards the city gate.
Yang Gui was so excited that he rode in pursuit. When the Xixia people on the city wall saw this, they couldn't help but feel their hearts in their throats. The speeds of both sides were almost the same, but the gap never got closer. The Xixia warrior running at the end was always about two horse lengths away from Yang Gui.
Seeing that the two Xixia warriors were about to escape, Yue Yun suddenly heard a roar on the battlefield. At the same time, he raised his right hand and threw the heavy copper hammer in his right hand at the back of the Xixia warrior. go out! The bronze hammer flew across the distance between two horses and hit the Xixia warrior in the back. The Xixia warrior screamed and then fell off his horse. The Xixia people on the city wall were stunned for a moment and swallowed involuntarily.
The last Xixia warrior rushed into the city gate, and the city gate was immediately closed. Yang Gui rushed to the body of the Xixia warrior. Seeing the corpse bleeding from all its orifices, with a look of horror on his face, he smiled coldly. He bent down, picked up his copper hammer, looked up at the large group of Xixia nobles on the city gate tower, and shouted: "Is there anyone else who is here to die?"
The Xixia civil and military officials seemed to be standing in the cold wind, their whole bodies trembling uncontrollably. Li Tongren couldn't help but said: "I have heard of Yang Gui a long time ago, but I didn't expect him to be even scarier than the legend!" All the civil and military officials felt the same way.
Li Qingxia shouted: "What's so scary! Isn't he just a man with some brute strength? The courage of an ordinary man is useless!" All the civil and military officials couldn't help but feel ashamed. Footsteps sounded from behind, and Li Yuantong, the only remaining warrior among the six Xixia warriors who went into battle, ran behind Li Qingxia, bowed with shame on his face and said: "The last general is incompetent, please punish me!"
Li Qingxia turned around and looked at Li Yuantong with a very complicated expression. She just heard her say: "You are not guilty. You have tried your best. It's just that Yang Gui is too powerful! You won't be defeated by him." It’s not a shame!” Li Yuantong said with lingering fear: “The general has gone through countless battles, big and small, and there have been countless powerful generals from Liao, Mongolia, Tubo, and Song, but he has never encountered such a terrifying tiger general! The general and the other six people It is incredible to besiege him alone and gain less than half an advantage. However, under such circumstances, he can kill five generals of our army one after another. This, this, this is simply not something that a human can do. thing!"
Li Qingxia frowned. Although she was also very horrified by Yang Gui's performance, she didn't like it when her subordinates said such words. Saying these words would not be of any use except to make others more ambitious and destroy her own prestige. Li Qingxia said displeasedly: "Yang Gui is just a bit brave, and it doesn't have much effect on the outcome of the war! On the battlefield where millions of troops are fighting fiercely, a single arrow can kill his dog." Life!" Everyone felt that what His Majesty said was very reasonable, and the fear of Yang Gui in their hearts subsided a lot.
Yang Gui continued to challenge loudly outside the city, but the Xixia army, which had already lost six strong men, dared to fight. Yang Gui saw that the enemy troops were huddled in the city and did not dare to fight, so he turned his horse around and returned to his own formation. When he came to the front of his father, he crossed his hammers in front of the saddle, clasped his fists and said: "Father, the enemy army can't retreat. The child is back and alive!"
Yang Yanzhao looked at Yang Gui, his eyes full of praise, but these expressions were quickly replaced by serious expressions, and he nodded slightly, "You did well, and finally you didn't lose the face of our Yanyun Army!" Yang Gui agreed. With a cry, he returned to his father. Yang Yanzhao looked up at the city and said: "The enemy will not go out to fight. The army will retreat fifteen miles and go down to the stronghold on the mountain!" The generals agreed in unison, and then rode down to greet their respective armies. The front line of the 100,000-strong army turned into the rear line, and the rear line turned into the front line, slowly retreating toward the southeast.
When Li Qingxia saw that Yanyun's army had retreated, she said to Li Zongdao: "I ordered all the troops to be on guard and to defend to the death, and not to be negligent." Li Zongdao agreed, and then gave the order to several of the heralds around him, and several of the heralds agreed. , immediately ran down.
Li Qingxia led the civil and military personnel back to the camp hall. Li Qingxia went to the top and sat down, while the civil and military personnel stood on their left and right. Li Qingxia glanced at everyone and asked: "Do you have any way to defeat the Yan Yun army in front of you?"
Everyone was talking in low voices, all looking downcast. Li Qingxia couldn't help but feel angry when she saw everyone like this, but she suppressed it and didn't have an attack. Now that the situation was critical, she couldn't let her emotions cause any internal discord. Li Tongren saluted Li Qingxia and said: "Your Majesty, the Yanyun army is brave and good at fighting. It will be difficult to defeat it! I think we should defend the wall and not go out to fight!" Many civil servants nodded in agreement, saying that fighting Yanyun in the field was simply a waste. It is a road of self-destruction, and the only way is to stick to this road.
Li Qingxia frowned and remained silent. Li Zongdao saluted Li Qingxia and said: "Your Majesty, the general's views are different from those of the prime minister! As the saying goes, if you defend for a long time, you will lose, and offense is the best defense!" After a pause, "The Yan Yun Army must also think that We don't dare to go to war. They won another big victory today, so they must despise us even more! We will take it by surprise and do the opposite. We will send troops to rob the camp tonight and we will definitely succeed in the battle!"
Li Qingxia was very moved, but still a little hesitant. Li Tongren said: "It cannot be said that what the Grand Marshal said is unreasonable, but it is a very risky thing. If the Yanyun Army is prepared, wouldn't we be stealing chickens but losing rice?"
Li Zongdao said angrily: "There is no way of war without taking risks! If you are always afraid of failure, how can you win?" Then he said to Li Qingxia: "Your Majesty, this matter should be successful, please make your decision!"
Li Tongren said quickly: "Your Majesty, please do not be impulsive. Think before you act!" Li Qingxia glanced at the two humerus ministers, stood up, walked to the middle of the hall, and thought to herself: "What you two said makes sense. ! But I am more inclined to Prime Minister Zuo’s statement!" Li Tongren was overjoyed and said quickly: "Your Majesty is wise!" Li Zongdao was surprised and said anxiously: "Your Majesty..."
Li Qingxia raised her right hand and interrupted Li Zongdao, "The strategy considered by the Generalissimo is naturally very clever! But Generalissimo, our opponent is Yang Gui, who is as famous as Yang Peng! For such a person, we must There must not be any opportunistic thoughts, because what we can think of, he must also be able to think of, and the fact that he saw through our carefully planned plan to lure you into the urn is proof!" Li Zongdao frowned and said nothing more.
Li Qingxia suddenly raised her voice and said loudly: "There is no way our army of 400,000 can defeat his 100,000 troops! Tomorrow, I will set up a majestic formation outside the city for a decisive battle!"
The civil servants were startled, but the military generals were greatly encouraged and shouted in unison: "Long live! Long live!!" After the meeting, Li Zongdao stayed alone, while the other civil and military officers left the hall, and the generals returned to their respective rooms. Military camp, civilian officials returned to their temporary residence. Several civil servants caught up with Li Tongren and said one after another: "My lord, please stay!" Li Tongren stopped, glanced at his colleagues, and asked with a smile: "Comrades, what can I do?" Several people looked worried. Color, one of them said: "Your Majesty will go out of the city tomorrow for a decisive battle with Yan Yun's army. We all feel that this is very wrong!..." Several others nodded in agreement.
Li Tongren said: "In that case, why didn't you say anything to remonstrate just now?" The civil servant who just spoke said: "We originally wanted to remonstrate, but we saw that the Prime Minister did not speak, so it was hard to say anything! Prime Minister Sir, why don't you advise His Majesty? Isn't it good to hold on to the city?"
What happened after all, let’s see what happens next.
