Yang An'er has no children, and for several years only Yang Youjiu has been by his side, caring for his father and son. Yang You's martial arts skills are also quite similar to those of Yang An'er. He is especially good at spear skills and has few opponents when practicing in the army. But he was young after all, so he only acted as an empty commander. When it came to leading troops in battle, Yang An'er was surrounded by many veteran soldiers and there were few opportunities for Yang You to participate.
This time it was luck. The senior generals went to lead their troops respectively. Yang An'er faced Tang Kuo and fought together. He could not hesitate, so he pointed his finger at Yang You.
Yang You accepted the order excitedly and immediately ordered his troops to set off.
What Yang An'er sent to Yang You was the elite of his headquarters, a full hundred-man team. All of them were wearing armor and hemispherical iron helmets riveted with armor leaves. In addition to long spears and long knives, half of them were carrying crossbows.
When Yang An'er returned to the imperial court in Shandong, he did not have such equipment. As a result, I came to Hebei and armed myself to the teeth by picking up weapons abandoned by defeated soldiers on the battlefield.
Because they were ordered to set off temporarily, it took some time to prepare food, tents, vehicles, etc. By the time the group finally set out on the road, Liu Quan, Li Siwen and other generals in front had already gone far.
"The stragglers are the most cunning. Once Mr. Liu and Uncle Li take action, Anzhou will soon get the news. We have to hurry up, lest Guo Ning escapes!"
Yang You repeatedly urged the soldiers to speed up their pace.
The general responsible for commanding hundreds of soldiers is the short Zizhou Renguo Jie'er. He is about the same age as Yang An'er, less than forty, but he has a full head of white hair, a sparse beard under his chin is also gray, and his waist is still a little bent, like an old farmer.
He was a soldier in the Sheliang Army, and he had a row of tattoos on his face. Due to the vicissitudes of life, the handwriting was no longer legible and blurred into small blue-black groups.
Guo Jie'er waved vigorously.
The guide quickly ran to the front of the team, and the soldiers also quickened their pace.
Dingxing County, a slightly inhabited county, was quickly left behind.
On the road from Dingxing County to the south of Ansu Prefecture, there are Yishui River and Laishui River crossing it. Counting tributaries such as the Qihe River, there are six more rivers. It is these rivers that irrigate the land and support the prosperous Hebei.
But two consecutive years of drought and military disasters destroyed almost everything on this land. The originally dotted villages and long stretches of streets have shrunk to a minimum; the originally carefully maintained ponds have dried up in large numbers, while swamps and reed swamps have expanded disorderly.
There are only a small number of people, relying on various sources of force, or relying on the complex terrain among the swamps to survive. Apart from this, Yang You's sight was desolate. Even some fertile fields that had obviously been well cared for were now densely covered with thatch and thorns; a few scattered wild wheat plants grew to chest height.
It was dusk on the third day after leaving Dingxing County.
A group of people were wading through the mud and crossing the semi-dry channel of the Qihe River. Not far upstream, in the direction of Guchengdian, which was the Great Wall of Yan State in the Spring and Autumn Period, the sound of fighting suddenly came.
Guchengdian is the former site of Dingxing County, which was previously occupied by a group of defeated soldiers. Since last year, many people have continued to rely on them, forming a small village community that can barely make a living. The group of defeated soldiers kept a respectful distance from Yang An'er's troops, but there was no hostility. One time, Yang You passed by the Gucheng Inn and feasted on them.
That group of defeated troops was the one that Yang An'er wanted to make a forced landing. The person responsible for the specific implementation should be Liu Quan's subordinate Ji Junli.
At this moment, Yang You was standing low and could not see the situation in the town. But he could smell the pungent smell of blood, the burning smell of the house, and heard threats, shouts and groans.
Yang You didn't care too much and moved on.
He had encountered this situation several times in the past few days. The soldiers had been depressed for a long time since they were recruited into the Tiewagan fighting army by the imperial court. This time Yang An'er had an order, and all the tribes went out to attack and kill, using their claws and claws to their heart's content, and the actions were inevitably a bit fiercer.
Not long after, the footsteps of the soldiers rushing across the water were mixed with the heartbreaking cries of women and children.
It seems that the conditions have not been agreed upon. If the soft one fails, the hard one will have to be adopted. Ji Junli used his dangerous skills to kill people wantonly.
War is so cruel.
Since ancient times, strong men have been coerced and coerced. How can they still be persuaded in a good voice? Most of the time, you have to deal with them ruthlessly first to cut off their livelihood and worries. Ji Junli is a veteran on the battlefield, especially skilled in doing this.
I just don’t know that out of the thirty or fifty strong men in the Gucheng store, only a few will be left alive in the end.
Yang You shook his head, quickened his pace and rushed to the front of the team to talk to the guide.
Guo Yao'er was also looking in the direction of the Gucheng store with a gloomy expression.
Yang You's heart skipped a beat and he quickly ran up to him. When he was about to speak, a thin figure suddenly jumped out from the grass, holding a stone in his hand, and threw it at Yang You.
Yang You was taken aback and quickly drew his sword.
Guo Yao'er's reaction was faster, and he stabbed straight through the figure in an instant, piercing the figure's chest.
The stone fell clumsily at Yang You's feet. Yang You looked at the figure stabbed under Guo Yaer's long knife and found that it was a child. The military uniform he wore was very shabby, but it was well washed, and the bun on his head was also a short bun common in the army.
The child struggled hard, and blood was pouring out from the wounds on his mouth, nose and chest, staining a large area of the ground red.
Guo Jie'er stepped on the child's belly with an expressionless face and pulled out the long knife with force. The child stared at Guo Jie'er, his struggle turned into twitching, and he slowly became motionless. His eyes began to be scattered, but they were still wide open, with bloodshot eyes bursting out.
Guo Jie'er wiped the blood on the blade with his sleeve and said in a deep voice: "Jiulang, something is wrong."
"What? What's wrong?" Yang You was confused.
"The defeated soldiers seem to be somewhat prepared. Their resistance is fierce." Guo Yaoer motioned Yang You to listen: "Many of Ji Junli's men died, but they were not able to contain them. Many people fled to the west. Got it!"
Yang You thought about what he had seen along the way, and sighed: "I saw three fights yesterday, and three more today... Those slippery soldiers are more difficult to deal with than ordinary people when they are fierce! "
Guo Yao'er nodded: "It's much more difficult to deal with... I'm afraid there will be trouble!"
Yang An'er's decision itself was not wrong. The method of attacking villages and kidnapping strong men wherever their troops went was an old trick that everyone had used in Shandong. It shouldn't be any difficult for the elite of Tiewagang's army to attack the scattered troops separately, kill their leaders, and coerce their subordinates.
But what Yang An'er didn't expect was that the defeated soldiers were very different from ordinary people in Shandong.
The people are obedient cattle and sheep, accustomed to humiliation and patience. Even if they are walking on the road leading to death, they are still numb. That's why violent killings are needed to anger them, and the choice of life and death is used to force out the blood and energy deep in their hearts, turning cattle and sheep into tigers and wolves.
And the countless broken soldiers scattered in Hebei Province all escaped from the blood sea of the mountain of corpses. They had fought for their lives with the Mongols. They themselves were tigers and wolves!
In the previous years of brutal wars, these soldiers were in desperate situations countless times. They fled to Hebei and just wanted to live. To outsiders, although these people are brave, they are all in a daze, like zombies.
Therefore, Yang An'er, who relied on his elite team, did not take them seriously.
The plan to raise troops and march directly to Shandong was kept secret, and only a small number of close associates around Yang Aner knew about the entire arrangement. In order to avoid leaking the news and arousing suspicions that Tang Kuo was fighting together, Yang An'er even deliberately kept a distance from the leaders of the defeated troops.
As a result, something went wrong at this time!
Tiewa Ganzhan's army suddenly took action. These defeated soldiers were caught off guard, but they did not give in easily.
The defeated soldiers just wanted to live. Who has time for any big plans? Who believes the nonsense told by everyone in the imperial court? Who is still a fool, willing to work for you without any evidence?
The defeated soldiers only knew that if anyone came to cause trouble, they would not let them live, and they would definitely resist fiercely! Whoever fights them with sword and slaying will face their vengeance!
Over in Anzhou, Xiao Haohu himself was one of the powerful leaders of the defeated army. He knew the defeated forces in Anzhou very well, and he took advantage of the unpreparedness of each family to launch an attack. As a result, he was attacked by a fierce tiger like Guo Ning.
Are the defeated soldiers in Zhuozhou weaker than their companions in Anzhou?
Scattered among the defeated troops of the armies of various states in Hebei, there were some fierce warriors who dared to fight. They were caught off guard at first, but later on, the resistance would become more intense, and even more terrifying turmoil would brew. Yang You couldn't clearly judge this sign yet, but Guo Yaoer had been on the battlefield for a long time, and he had already felt it.
Guo Yao'er had a bad premonition. He vaguely felt that the defeated soldiers were not like the fat in Yang An'er's eyes, but a wild nest that could not be touched!
"Jiulang, let's go to the Gucheng store first, meet Ji Junli and ask about the situation. We will go to Xijun River tomorrow without any delay." Guo Yao'er said cautiously.
Yang You looked at Guo Yao'er in confusion: "Why not delay? What if Guo Ning ran away..."
"There is more than one Guo Ning to consider right now." Guo Yao'er insisted: "Jiulang, something is really going to go wrong, and many plans will have to change. Who can care about Guo Liulang?"
"...Same. Come on, let's go to the Gucheng store." Yang You was a little frustrated.
So the soldiers turned back and crossed the Qihe River along the ford where they came from.
The sky began to darken, and their figures gradually faded away. Once they reached the other side of the river, they could no longer be seen clearly. In a dense bush about a hundred steps away from the road, the branches and leaves swayed, making a soft rustling sound.
The sound became more and more obvious, the branches and leaves separated to both sides, and first more than ten archers appeared. More than ten people all had their arrows on their bows and stood on the side of the road in alert vigilance.
Then two more people came out of the bushes.
Li Ting strode to the middle of the road and looked at the little kid whose body was already stiff. His face was extremely ugly.
Guo Ning came up slowly and stood beside Li Ting, silent.
