Perhaps in order to win over people's hearts, or to compensate for the Ashan Nu tribe, Ou Yunxi ordered that all the three thousand soldiers brought from Yunxi Island be put under the command of Ashan Nu. Although these islanders are not as brave and good at fighting as the veterans of Zhengdong Baizhan, they all have good martial arts, so the number of Zhengdong's army still remains at about 40,000, and the loss of combat power is almost negligible. Moreover, this Three thousand soldiers have extremely strong individual combat capabilities. In certain small-scale battles, their role will only be more significant.
Now that the army is assembled, Ashannu's Eastern Expeditionary Army is still the main siege force. Zhang Yuankang, the Pingnan General, and Ma Juquan, the North Patrol General, each lead 10,000 elite troops to assist, while Gong Changping, the West-Suppressing General, stays behind in Shengyun City. Ou Yunxi was martial by nature, and originally planned to lead the expedition himself, but now as the king of a country, he could not take the lead in everything, so he stayed in the capital under Li Mixian's persuasion. The 60,000-strong army is pointing directly at Jingzhou and is bound to break through Heding City in the Liang Kingdom.
Heding guard Yan Jingyao was standing on top of the city, looking at the dangerous Feiyun Stream in the distance. Behind him stood two young lieutenants and a group of soldiers. Yan Jingyao was an old member of Cao Bo's army. He had been in the army for more than thirty years and was now nearly half a century old. He was stationed in Heding City all year round and faced off against the Xiping Army in the past. After Cao Bo's defeat and death, the original generals were quickly replaced by the other two. Among the generals, only Yan Jingyao has not yet surrendered to anyone. Now he looked at Feiyun Stream not far away and smiled bitterly: "I have just received the secret decree from the emperor. Your Majesty has ordered General Ye to personally lead an army of 50,000 people to go here to prevent the Liao army." I wonder how you feel about the intrusion?"
Seeing no one answered, he turned to himself and said: "There are only five thousand troops stationed in Heding City all year round. After so many years of confrontation with Ashannu, there have been few wars. Now that Xiping has changed its country's name and changed its emperor, how come it has changed? Has the war continued? Ashannu was a master of espionage warfare. Now it may be difficult to rely on spies to obtain intelligence. The last news from Shengyun City showed that Emperor Liao had ordered the army to Assemble, we will attack Heding City in the near future, and the person leading the army is still our old acquaintance Ashan Nu. As for the number of troops, we don’t know yet.”
Deputy General Zhou Zong asked in a deep voice: "General Yan, how should our troops deploy in this battle?"
Yan Jingyao sneered and said: "Deployment? What deployment? The imperial edict only stated that General Ye would lead troops to defend the city. As for the deployment of our army, there was no mention of it. When General Cao marched into Feiyun Stream, , I don’t know if he dislikes us for dragging down the Cao family’s troops, or because he dislikes me, Yan Jingyao, for my incompetence in using troops, so he ordered us to stay in Heding City. Now General Ye seems to have abandoned our five thousand troops and is still unwilling to reuse them. Could it be that I Are the Heding defenders really a bunch of losers?"
After hearing this, everyone behind him looked angry, but they dared not speak in anger.
Yan Jingyao sighed and continued: "I, Yan, joined the army when I was young. It has been more than thirty years now and I have very few military achievements. Now I can only get a full fifth-grade military position, which is far inferior to those of my juniors. But I After all, Yan Jingyao is a veteran of the Jiepai Camp. He followed General Cao Bo in the north and south. In Heding City, he killed seven enemy troops and lost seven. In the end, the entire Jiepai Camp except for me was killed. General Cao missed his old friendship and made an exception to promote me to the position of guard general of Heding City. To this day, I, Yan Jingyao, have lived for eighteen years, and I feel ashamed to have faced General Cao and to have died in the Jiepai camp. It is said that if a soldier is raging, a general will be raging. Because of my incompetence, I have caused you to be looked down upon by others. I am so ashamed of you! Now that the war is coming, please allow me to stand firm!"
Lieutenants Zhou Zong and Yu Lei took a step forward almost at the same time, clasped their fists and said solemnly: "The last general is willing to accompany the general!"
Five thousand soldiers knelt down at the same time, crossed their right fists to their chests, and said in unison: "I am willing to go with the general!"
Yan Jingyao's eyes were determined, he turned around and looked at his soldiers, and sighed: "You will follow me, and you will have little military merit and little military pay. This battle will lead to a near-death life. I will not force you. If there is anyone who is not willing to die with me, You can take a step forward and stay in the city. The rest of the brothers, please accept my respects first. If there is a future life, it’s okay for Yan Jingyao to be a bull and a horse for you!"
In the end, except for the 300 garrison troops who settled in Heding City with their families, the remaining 4,700 soldiers all asked to fight. Most of them, like Yan Jingyao, had been depressed for more than ten or twenty years and were despised by others. For more than ten or twenty years, we have been holding grudges for a long time, just waiting to be aired out. Yan Jingyao even spent all his wealth and treated all his soldiers to a good meal. There were no grand words in this practice of wine. Everyone just silently exchanged cups and ate meat.
At the end of the banquet, Yan Jingyao picked up the wine bowl and said loudly, without saying much, "Thank you all."
On the battlefield, the five thousand soldiers all stood up and saluted with fists clasped together.
After the banquet, the five thousand soldiers left one after another. Yan Jingyao left Zhou Zong and Yu Lei behind. The three of them sat around the table. Yan Jingyao personally made tea for the two subordinates. After drinking a cup of strong fragrant tea and exhaling the smell of alcohol, Yan Jingyao looked at the two young lieutenants on the left and right and sighed: "You two have joined the army since childhood and have been following me for a long time. Now because of my own will, you have to follow me." I am going to die together, and I, Yan Jingyao, feel guilty. Now I give you two a last chance to choose, whether you want to live or die, you can decide for yourself."
Zhou and Yu looked at each other and nodded. Zhou Zong said with a smile: "The words of the old general are really hurtful. The general is not afraid of death, and we are not people who are greedy for life and afraid of death. If we run away from the battle, even if we can survive for a lifetime, we will not be able to hold our heads up in this life." Come, so please don’t worry, general, I am willing to die!"
Yan Jingyao burst into tears, raised his hand to wipe his face, and laughed at himself: "It's so windy, grandma's."
Zhou Zong and Yu Lei looked at each other and smiled. They drank tea instead of wine.
Zhou Zong asked again: "I dare to ask General Yan, our army has less than 5,000 troops, and we will face at least 40,000 Donghulang troops under Ashannu's command. With such a disparity in strength, how should we fight?"
Yan Jingyao said solemnly: "There are not many battles in history where more people win with fewer people. The closest one to us happened in Feiyun Stream. However, the side with the superior force and the loser at that time was our army of the Liang Kingdom. Now that Ashan Nu has given us a proof, let’s follow the tiger’s example and treat the other person the same way. Tomorrow morning, the whole army will march towards Feiyun Stream, and let’s have another decisive battle at Feiyun Stream!”
Zhou and Yu had hot eyes, but they didn't expect Yan Jingyao to have such a bloody side.
————
At dawn the next day, the 4,700 defenders of Heding City, led by Yan Jingyao, were ready to march towards Feiyun Stream.
In the last battle of this life, everyone went to die generously, bringing enough rations and weapons. They didn't ask to survive for a moment longer, just to kill a few more Liao soldiers. At the same time, 60,000 troops were assembled in Laonan City on the border of the Liao Kingdom. Ashannu knew that Feiyun Stream was dangerous. Although he did not think that Liang Jun had the courage to fight decisively in the opposition, but just in case, he ordered and Yang Qinan Each of them led an army of 20,000 expedition troops to march from the mountain road, and even left the 3,000 skilled soldiers from Yunxi Island with Yang Qinan to protect his disciple Zhou Quan. Zhang Yuankang and Ma Juquan each commanded 10,000 soldiers and marched by water.
On the eve of the army's departure, Yang Qinan found Ashannu privately and asked, "Father, why don't you let our soldiers use the waterway?"
A Shannu said in a deep voice: "Yesterday, I received a message from a flying pigeon in Qingyang City. Feng Jingquan has ordered Ye Baiye to lead an army of 50,000 to dispatch to the aid of Heding City. Compared with the Liang Kingdom's army, which has experienced hundreds of battles, our troops With little experience in infantry warfare, it is an indisputable fact that attacking a city is much more difficult than defending it. Only by capturing Heding City first can we gain the upper hand. Currently, there are only five thousand defenders in Heding City. It is our army that attacks the city. A great opportunity. Similarly, Feiyunjian is easy to defend but difficult to attack. The waterway seems stable, but in fact it is full of dangers. If the cross-strait battle falls into a disadvantage, the navy will be isolated and helpless, but will become a living target. My father does not want to risk the lives of 40,000 troops. It is entrusted to Zhang and Ma."
Only then did Yang Qinan understand, and asked in a low voice: "Is it possible that the adoptive father is worried that there will be any changes when the army crosses Feiyun Stream?"
Ashannu smiled and said: "There is a saying in the military book that the one who can win due to the changes of the enemy is called a god! The situation on the battlefield is changing rapidly, and my father cannot be the god of war who adapts to changes. He can only prepare all possible situations before the war. Think carefully. It is said that a dog jumps over a wall in a hurry, but my father is not willing to risk his life. If Feiyunjian has been ambushed by Liang Jun early, my father does not want the head on his neck to become Yan Jingyao's military merit. My father only trusts the sword in his hand. I am conquering the east with an army that cannot trust others, let alone expect others to help my army break the formation."
Yang Qinan was convinced, nodded and said: "My child has learned a lesson."
————
The 60,000-strong army was divided into two groups, with the mountain infantry as the main force. A slight difference from the last time was that Ashannu, as the siege party, was more cautious this time, not wanting what happened to Cao Bo to happen to them again.
When the army reached the middle section, Yan Jingyao led his men to fight out from the side. At the same time, the defenders of Heding City opened the floodgates to release the flood, catching the Liao army by surprise. The waterway army was in chaos for a while. Fortunately, except for some soldiers who fell from the boat and fell into the water, There were no casualties. As for the infantry on both sides of the strait, Ashan Nu and Yang Qinan were personally on duty, and they quickly turned the tide of the battle.
Forty thousand against five thousand, Yan Jingyao's troops were not defeated by one blow as imagined, and they resisted desperately. But after all, the disparity in strength was too great. After half an hour, none of the 4,700 people survived, and no less than 3,000 of the Zhengdong army had died in the battle. If Ashannu and Yang Qinan were not so brave and invincible, and if the Zhengdong army had not been well-trained, The number of people killed by the Liao army had to be doubled.
Yan Jingyao was old and strong, and took the lead. Even though he was hit by several arrows, he still managed to kill seven or eight Liao soldiers, but was finally cut down by Yang Qinan. At this time, Yang Qinan gritted his teeth and stared at the dead veteran corpse in front of him. He resisted the urge to whip the corpse and said in a cold voice: "Cao Bo's one hundred thousand army only cost me three thousand." Brother, you, Yan Jingyao, who has never had a brilliant record, have less than 5,000 troops, but you have lost 3,000 of our troops. It is hateful! It is also respectable! Pass on my military order to bury this man generously!"
As a military general on the battlefield, the Eastern Expedition Army will sincerely admire generals who dare to die calmly, even if they are in the enemy camp.
After leaving a thousand infantry to tidy up the battlefield and bring back the wounded, Yang Qinan raised his right arm high and said loudly: "The army continues to move forward, and we will break through Heding City within two hours!"
