"The elite troops of the imperial court?"
Nian Kezhen perked up. He hurried out of the mansion following Su Lingtong.
At this time, the city was already in chaos, and the smell of blood began to fill the air. Outside the opposite door of Jiedushi's residence, cheerful soldiers came out from behind. As they walked, they wrapped brightly colored women's skirts around their waists. The skirts jingled and shone with the color of gold and silverware.
There were also several topless gangsters with tattoos exposed, holding short knives in their hands. They were pushing a wealthy old man, shouting and cursing. A group of people passed in front of Nian Kaizhen in a chaotic manner. Su Lingtong quickly scolded them and urged Nian Kaozhen: "Jiedu, let's go to the city quickly to see!"
"Uptown! Uptown!"
Nian Kaizhen also knew that this was not the time to show off as a local official. He lifted up his crimson official robe and hurried up the corridor to the top of the city. As soon as his head came out of the wall, he heard the roar of war drums and the high-pitched sound of killing. The sounds came and went, forming a thunderous sound that poured into Nian Kezhen's ears, causing him to feel weak on his feet and stagger.
Su Lingtong quickly pressed his waist from behind and pushed him up high.
Nian Kaizhen stood up and looked out while holding on to the city bricks.
Below the city wall, the large black mass of soldiers shrank back like an ebbing tide. Although the troops have withdrawn, the army is still full of flags and crowds.
"Jiedu, look to the north!" Su Lingtong said repeatedly.
Nian Kezhen looked across the city and saw a large army in the direction where Su Lingtong raised his finger!
Already approaching the city, there were light cavalry divided into two teams on the left and right, forming a wide front. Most of these cavalrymen wore white round-collar uniforms, with Jurchen-style curtains on their heads. They held swords in their hands, long bows hanging at their sides, and dense arrows in their leather quivers. From a distance, they looked like It looks like the erect tail of a wolfdog.
Some of the light cavalry rode slowly, and some urged their horses forward, making a leaping attack. They stopped their horses and turned back when they were in front of Yang An'er's troops. It can be seen that each of them is proficient in riding skills, and they are good at not only serving as scouts, but also driving back and forth on the battlefield and killing enemies with bows and swords.
These two teams are the famous elite light cavalry in the Jin Army, called "Kaizi Horses".
Between the two wings of the horse, there were no less than two thousand infantry. Among the infantry, some were wearing Zha armor, wearing combat boots, and holding the iron spears that were standard equipment of the Jin Army; some were only wearing light armor, carrying long bows on their backs, and carrying weapons such as meteor hammers and maces in one hand; Some were dressed in cyan or black cloth robes and held various sizes of swords and guns in their hands.
To the north of Fanyang City, the Zhuoshui River and the Huliang River flow side by side. When the water is strong in summer, many small lakes are formed by temporary water retention in the highlands. At this time, the small lakes had dried up, leaving a large field suitable for the deployment of soldiers and horses.
The infantry walked slowly down the slope with heavy steps, crossing the clumps of reeds and grass in the field, and gradually protruded from the cover of the crippled horses on both sides.
When the infantry stood still, several riders rode out from the top of the slope they passed, waving flags of different colors. Later, about two hundred cavalry appeared on the top of the slope.
These cavalrymen all wore heavy black iron armor, their helmets were decorated with long eaves, and even their horses were also covered in armor. Two hundred knights vaguely formed a circular formation. In the middle of the circular formation, there were more than ten generals in bright uniforms and armor, all of them menacing.
Surrounded by these generals, a stout general rode his horse slowly, emerging from the crowd like the most ferocious alpha wolf among the wolves.
This man was a rare giant man. Compared with his huge body, the tall horse looked like a donkey. He was covered in shining armor and wore no helmet. From a distance, I couldn't see his face clearly. I just felt that his beard was dark and tinged with yellow, and the color was very strange.
"What a mighty army! What a mighty general!"
Although Su Lingtong was not good at fighting, he had good vision. He could tell at a glance that this was a strong army, and he couldn't help but be filled with joy and praise repeatedly. Seeing Yang An'er's troops immediately retreating from the city and confronting the general's troops, he felt more relaxed and turned to look at the flag behind the general.
Oddly enough, there is no general's flag. In the position of the central army, there are five square flags, five-color flags, and various triangular flags used to convey orders, but there is no flag representing the identity of the general.
Su Lingtong was a little confused, so he asked Nian Gezhen: "Jiedu, but I don't know who the general is? Do you recognize him?"
After asking twice, Nian Gezhen didn't answer.
Su Lingtong looked back and found that Nian Kezhen's expression was very strange. He had the joy of escaping a disaster, but more of it was fear, hostility and uncontrollable resentment.
"Jiedu?"
"You see that face with a yellow beard, and you still don't recognize it? It's He Shi Liezhuzhong!" Nian Kezhen snorted, and then asked to himself: "Why is this person here?"
Hearing this name, Su Lingtong was surprised and said quickly: "Is it the marshal He Shilie who stayed behind in Xijing?"
Nian Kaizhen raised his voice and shouted: "He is no longer the right deputy marshal of Xijing's left behind! Now, he is just a civilian!"
Su Lingtong coughed twice, thinking that civilians with such power may have been rare since ancient times.
It turns out that He Shi Liezhizhong was a famous general from the Jin Dynasty.
This person's real name was Hu Shahu. During the reign of Emperor Shizong, he was the escort of the crown prince Wanyan Yungong, and served successively as the prince's servant, chief of Yingfang, envoy of Yingfang, and commander of Gongwei. Because the crown prince died young and after the death of Emperor Shizong, the grandson succeeded him. Heshi Lie was not favored by the new emperor. He was demoted to a foreign official for being arrogant and incompetent, and served successively as a defense envoy and a military envoy. , recruitment envoy, military envoy and other positions.
During his tenure in office, Heshi Lie was corrupt and autocratic, did not follow the laws, and acted arbitrarily and abnormally. He was often impeached by civil servants, and was further censured by the emperor's edicts.
But he is indeed brave and good at fighting, and he is a brave general on the battlefield. When Taihe attacked the Song Dynasty, He Shilie led an army southward, defeating tens of thousands of Song troops along the way. He successively killed the Song army commander Li Zao, captured the loyal general Lu Zhang, captured the important town of Huaiyin, and advanced to Chuzhou.
After the new emperor came to power, Heshi Liezhizhong relied on this meritorious service to conquer the hereditary throne. He was subsequently promoted successively, and in just a few years, he became a stayer in Xijing, served as a privy council member, and served as a pacifier.
Who would have thought that after a fierce general who had the courage to fight for a country gained wealth and power, he seemed to have changed.
In the third year of Da'an, the Mongolian army moved south. Heshi Liezhi raised 7,000 elite troops to meet the enemy, but they fled without fighting, causing the entire army to collapse. The tragic failure of the Yehuling battle was inseparable from him.
After the war, Heshi Liezhong fled along Yuzhou and Zijingguan without stopping along the way. Sometimes he steals money from the official treasury, sometimes he seizes horses from officials and people, sometimes he breaks into Zijing Pass without permission, and kills the magistrate of Laishui County with a stick. Because when hiring people, the court doesn't ask.
Until last year, when He Shilie was in charge of stationing troops at the south entrance, he actually moved to Wen Shangshu Province, saying that he would not be able to defeat the northern troops if they came, and he was afraid that his officers and soldiers would not be safe, and the palace of Zhongdu would not be safe. This was so outrageous that no one in the imperial court could tolerate it, so they finally issued an edict to enumerate the fifteen major sins in one breath and banish him from the field, leaving only a false title of hereditary conspiracy.
When Nian Gezhen served in Dexing Prefecture and Xuande County, he collaborated a lot with Xijing Road in military affairs, and had several face-to-face interactions with He Shi Liezhi. His behavior was driving him crazy. As for this man's later behavior of escaping from the battle, leading to the rout of hundreds of thousands of people, Nian Gezhen was even more filled with hatred.
Knowing that He Shi Lie was finally dismissed from his post, Nian Gezhen was happy to have a drink and a banquet.
Unfortunately, this year, because the imperial court was really short of troops, it finally turned its attention to Heshi Liezhizhong again. No matter how domineering and violent this person is, with thousands of tiger and wolf warriors under his command, he is one of the few powerful generals in Dajin today.
Those thousands of people were all tough soldiers who had experienced many battles in the north and south. They were nominally the soldiers of Meng'an on Dongping Road, but in fact they were just like the private soldiers of Heshi Liezhi. Although no one said it clearly, everyone in the imperial court understood that if these soldiers were to be used, this general must be used!
Last month, Nian Gezhen heard that the imperial court intended to summon He Shilie to Zhongdu to prepare military plans.
Because Shangshu, the Prime Minister on the right, and Zhang Xingxin, the left-hand admonishment official, were both wary of He Shi Liezhi's style of conduct and strongly opposed it, this important task of "predicting military affairs" was forcibly put on hold. Therefore, although Heshi Liezhizhong led his troops north, they could only stay in the villages southwest of Zhongdu, waiting for the next order.
Who would have thought that this man would suddenly lead his troops privately out of Daxing Prefecture in Zhongdu and enter Zhuozhou?
Is he really here to rescue? Or come to rob? This man's temperament is like that of a ferocious beast, and his subordinates are all ferocious and savage... He is not someone who can be dealt with easily!
Thinking of this, Nian Kaizhen suddenly shouted: "Su Lingtong, you go and order the troops immediately, and then gather all the strong men in the city! Just say that the situation outside the city is unclear, and if anything goes wrong, we will be destroyed! Anyone who wants to live, want to Those who protect their family property will send people out to guard the city!"
Su Lingtong didn't understand why Nian Gezhen suddenly cheered up, but it was always a good thing that the local chief was determined to defend the city well. He responded and turned to go down to the city.
Nian Kaezhen continued to stand at the top of the city, staring in the direction of He Shi Liezhizhong.
But He Shilie only looked at the top of Fanyang City with contempt, snorted coldly, and then carefully stared at Yang An'er's military formation that quickly stabilized.
"Yang An'er is right there. This kid has indeed rebelled again. Look at his military formation... This man is quite interesting! He is quite capable! He deserves to be my old enemy! He deserves to be the Iron Wa Dare Warrior named by the late emperor! Haha, Ha ha!"
He was full of energy and sneered casually, which was like rolling thunder, making the ears of the surrounding soldiers buzz.
After laughing for a while, he added: "I have achieved meritorious service by defeating this group of rebels. With meritorious service, those mediocre people in the court will not be able to block my way! Haha, Han Renqing, you are wise They’re all good. As expected, I caught Yang An’er here… It’s not in vain that I took care of you in Fuzhou, haha!”
Having said this, he lowered his eyes and looked at Han Renqing, who was standing at the end of the queue of generals: "I will remember your contribution and your hard work! Tell me, what do you want?"
It had been less than ten days since he left the Gucheng store, and Han Renqing's face was already so thin that he was out of shape. He looked less alive, more like rotten wood spliced together, ready to fall apart at any time.
Hearing He Shi Lie's question, hatred flashed in his eyes, he came out of the queue, bowed and saluted: "Marshal, I just want Yang An'er to die!"
