Sima Zheng seemed to have made a wrong judgment, because the battle that was originally like rolling in a quagmire suddenly declared victory like a landslide.
Following the failure of the official army's large-scale attack on Zhang Xingjun's formation, and the subsequent flight of the generals, countless deposed dragon troops swarmed onto the official road at the foot of Mount Li, from the water swamp to the foot of the mountain, completely locking the preset battlefield. The nearly 20,000 officers and soldiers locked in their pockets were completely at a loss and immediately began to flee.
As all experienced officers have judged, the seemingly smooth swampland on the west side is actually impossible for a large army to effectively pass through. The mud, thick straw and some areas with water as deep as thighs constitute a huge trap. But this trap looks so harmless, like a bait, constantly tempting the officers and soldiers to give up resistance and flee in droves.
Their escape, in turn, further destroyed the organizational ability and resistance determination of the Qilu officers and soldiers in the preset battlefield, allowing the Dragon Army to advance smoothly like a destructive force, recruiting surrender, mopping up and massacring. At this time, it seemed that there was still some distance before evening. From this perspective, the most tragic incidents were about to happen one after another.
Zhang Xing finally stood up after sitting in the rain for who knows how long.
What's interesting is that as the Qi dissipated, the horse under his butt was instantly frozen into a lump, and even the red "deposed" flag above his head seemed to be frozen to the point of becoming stiff.
The ground where the previous confrontation had occurred had already been covered with a thin layer of ice.
Zhang Xing stepped forward on the ice and came to the side of Bai Yousi, who was obviously confused and ashamed, with his hands behind his back, and then stared at him with interest. Seeing this scene, many of the elites of the Deposed Dragon Gang behind them just stayed still in a tacit agreement, or avoided this place to pursue and capture them.
"Sisi, are you ashamed?"
After Bai Yousi avoided his sight again with a slight embarrassment, Zhang Xing simply smiled and spoke.
"Did you expect this scene?" Bai Yousi, who half-bowed his head, was almost resentful.
"Can't be called..." Zhang Xing looked at Mount Li and shook his head. "But I must be mentally prepared... It's just rare to see you, a heroine, so shy and weak, so I deliberately watched it for a while."
"..."
"To put it bluntly, as far as I am concerned, the success or failure of this battle is mine, the gains and losses are mine, and the honor and disgrace belong to me!" Zhang Xing looked at the soldiers of the Deposed Dragon Army beside him who were going back and forth in the rain, and continued to smile slowly. "Of course, it can also be said that the success or failure lies with the Deposed Dragon Gang, the local powerful Xu Shiying, and even Li Shu, but it is difficult to say that it lies with you... Because you have obviously felt a little outside the world since you came here. You know that the world will You know that Wei Dynasty is hopeless, you know that your father did something wrong, you also know the helplessness of farmers and people, but because of your background and experience, you don’t know who you really are. Which side...Even if I have said something to you, I still have doubts, right or wrong?"
Bai Yousi's thoughts were confused. It was obvious that she was easily convinced by the other party again.
"So." Zhang Xing sighed faintly, "You only participated because this is my battle and because of our relationship, instead of treating this battle as your own."
After saying this, the two of them were silent for a moment.
"I just..." After a while, Bai Yousi suddenly spoke.
"I guessed it, it's the pass your master mentioned last time, right?" Zhang Xing blurted out. "Sima Zheng should be the same. This makes me no longer weird... I can only say that although you met by chance, you participated in this battle in the end. God's way is fair, or God's way is unfair. And regardless of the entanglements in your hearts, It was opened immediately..."
"If that's the case, I shouldn't have softened my mind and let Zhang Changgong go." Bai Yousi became even more ashamed. "It's always possible to manipulate the enemy on the battlefield."
"That's not the case." Zhang Xing remained magnanimous. "After I stopped Sima Zheng, the victory of this battle has been determined. Who lives and who dies is no longer a battle duel... Moreover, do you really think Zhang Changgong escaped?"
"What do you mean?" Bai Yousi felt slightly relieved after hearing the first half of the sentence, but suddenly became nervous after hearing the second half.
"It's not interesting." Zhang Xing replied calmly. "In this battle, you and Sima Erlong have doubts. You don't know who you are in this battle, and you don't know whether this battle belongs to you. It's normal... But what about Zhang Changgong? He is a member of the Qilu Army. The nominal number two is actually a backbone in the army, and not only Zhang Changgong, but Zhang Xuguo and the others also escaped? But they can't end this battle so easily."
"You said they will come back again?" Bai Yousi's heart moved slightly, and he couldn't help turning his head to look at the fleeing officers and soldiers trudging through the gaps in the crop fields to the west.
"Maybe!" Zhang Xing said indifferently. "But maybe they won't come back, but those who won't come back won't stop here. Maybe they will continue to resist, maybe they will be caught up and surrender soon, maybe they will abandon everything on the surface and leave, and then secretly brew Come back...the worst of them may become dirt on the side of the road, like a rotten tree from now on, and living is equivalent to being dead."
"Is it because this is their battle?" Bai Yousi couldn't ask.
"Not bad." Zhang Xing turned around and looked directly into the other person's eyes, actually looking a little condescending. "This war is theirs, a war between us and them. Those of us who win will get something from it, and those who lose will also lose something... This kind of thing may be life and death, it may be fame and status. , but it’s more than that…”
Bai Yousi nodded slightly, understanding something in his heart.
"Sisi, you are not sure, you are still hesitating, but don't be afraid, this is normal." Zhang Xing relaxed a little when he saw this. "Just keep going. Sooner or later, you will make up your mind to fight your own battle without hesitation. Sooner or later, we will fight side by side."
"Why are you so sure? Why aren't you worried that I will become your enemy sooner or later?" Bai Yousi asked quickly.
"Because..." Zhang Xing paused, and then his tone became more certain. "Once you understand some truths and things, you will find it unbearable if you look back at some of the glamorous things before."
Bai Yousi thought for a moment, but in the end he said nothing more and just watched the battlefield endgame side by side with the other party.
"I can't just leave!"
Just after turning around the foot of the mountain, only two miles away, Zhang Xuguo, who was surrounded by thousands of defeated soldiers and was in a mess, suddenly reined in his horse and turned back blankly before returning to the reserve force of the new force.
The other generals were stunned, then suddenly realized, and finally fell silent.
"I know..." Zhang Xuguo's beard was "rubbed" by a third, exposing his flesh and blood. At this moment, he opened his mouth as if he was speaking with blood in his mouth. "If you want to speak at this time, I am afraid that you will be able to say countless words. There are countless truths and explanations. Everyone can explain... But now, what to say, what to say, and what to explain. , what’s the use?”
At this point, the man was heartbroken and burst into tears.
The surrounding senior officers of the Qilu Army could not help but shed tears.
"If I have to say it, there is only one sentence." After a moment of pause, Zhang Xuguo's beard started to tremble. "After leaving, I have no shame in returning to Qijun, because most of the children of Qijun are left surrounded by the bandit army... not to mention, the life and death of General Yu is unknown!"
At this point, Zhang Xuguo glanced at the other defeated generals. Although he paused for a moment on Fan Hu, who had his head lowered, he remained silent. Then he lowered his head and turned back.
There were about a few knights around, but more of them moved slightly and then stopped in place.
As Zhang Xuguo himself said, if you have to be reasonable, there are countless truths... The emperor first abandoned the world and conquered the Eastern Yi three times, which destroyed the Eastern Territory the most. The children of Qijun raised troops for a year, defeated the bandits dozens of times, and recovered He conquered five or six counties, which was completely worthy of the Wei Dynasty; and before this battle, Qi County was exhausted to the extreme, and the conflict between Zhang Xuguo and other foreign elites and the local children of Qi County had also been completely intensified; and this adventurous march , it was entirely Zhang Xuguo's further advance after his military adventure succeeded for a while in response to the political requirements of the Eastern Capital.
So after today's disastrous defeat, Zhang Xuguo had no face to see the elders of Qijun and sought his own death. Everyone should be speechless.
He seeks benevolence and gets benevolence.
However, there is no problem if Zhang Xuguo dies, but what about the others?
Mixed with the rain and mud, there was an indescribable desolate silence. The horse suddenly started to move, turned around and chased after Zhang Xuguo. Everyone looked up in shock, and then became even more shocked, because this person turned out to be the general Zhang Qing. special.
"Old Zhang!" Someone shouted with some kind of panic, it was another Jiangjiang Xiexiang. "What are you going to do? You alone..."
"I am a surrendered general!" Zhang Qingte looked back and spoke simply. "The soldiers are gone, the brothers are gone, the boss is gone...what's the point of living alone? Now go back and fight for your life. If you can save a subordinate...isn't it just one life? I was a thief ten years ago. I wasn’t afraid all the time, are you afraid now?”
As he said that, he disappeared directly into the rain.
If when Zhang Xuguo left, many people had mixed emotions, with a vague mentality of "you deserve to die", then once Zhang Qingte left, everyone else could no longer maintain the most superficial calmness. Confusion, confusion, confusion, and panic arose in everyone's hearts... It was difficult for them to understand that they had won dozens of battles before, so why did they suffer a single defeat today? It was hard for them to imagine that after nearly 20,000 people were lost in the first battle, how would they face everyone when they returned to Qi County? How to face the next situation? They don't even know how to survive in troubled times without soldiers and horses.
Will the Deposed Dragon Gang take advantage of the situation and sweep away?
Will Qilu counties, which have been suppressed to the extreme for a long time, rebel again?
Will the rebels from all walks of life who have not been wiped out come back?
Where will your family go then?
Everyone else present was frightened. Someone suddenly hit his horse, but instead of heading towards the battlefield where people were shouting and shouting for killing, he was galloping towards the north or east.
Obviously, they want to return to their old nest or stronghold urgently to clean up the situation, or try to escape.
Someone took the lead, and the rest left one after another... Among them, two more people actually turned back to the battlefield.
For a time, only Jia Wugen and the Fan brothers were left.
"Old Jia..." Fan Hu spoke with difficulty.
"I want to go back to Qijun." Jia Wugen said expressionlessly. "I am the newly appointed Commander-in-Chief of Qi County. The troops at the front are defeated and I don't know whether the Commander is alive or dead. I have to clean up the situation."
Fan Hu remembered the Jia Runshi he had met beside Cheng Zhili when he was in Lu County before, and smiled bitterly without saying a word.
Therefore, Jia Wugen also led the remnants of his troops to leave, turning eastward directly to the north of Mount Li... This defeated army was ninety-nine times his subordinates. When other defeated armies saw this, although they each had subordinates, they still followed. .
For a time, only two brothers and a dozen of Fan's personal guards were left.
"I'll go...I'll go with the manager to find General Yu."
After a while, Fan Hugan swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and then spoke in a low voice.
At this time, Fan Bao suddenly dismounted and hugged the opponent's horse's neck: "Brother! You can't go! If you go, I can't control my little sister! And I won't deal with people like Cheng Zhili! They don't recognize it either Me! Half of the four thousand soldiers can be dispersed immediately!"
"That's not the case." Fan Hu whispered to each other on the horse, tears streaming down his face. "Listen to me, second brother... You are actually smarter and more sophisticated than me. I have always known it in my heart. Moreover, do you think it is a good thing for us to keep four thousand elite soldiers from Qi County at this time when everyone else is in ruins? Half of the soldiers have dispersed. , leaving a brave man who seems to be ignorant, and a young sister who can't control, can actually make people tolerate us. Now I only regret that I don't have the foresight of Lao Jia, because someone who is an official throws his son out; We are guarding the village in front of the powerful, but we are coveting a little official position, so the two brothers came out together..."
When Fan Bao heard this, he felt great grief. He immediately gritted his teeth with tears in his eyes and asked, "How about we lower our eyebrows and be small and surrender together? Now hand over the army and just hope that we brothers and sisters can continue to live?" OK?"
Fan Hu shook his head: "Who knows if the imperial court will call again? You also saw the Sima Zheng today... I simply surrendered the Dragon Gang today, what will I do next time the imperial army comes again? You have to follow the rules! We brothers, thanks to Zhang Xuguo’s kindness, broke into the palace within a year, and we have to give back our lives!”
Fan Bao hugged the horse's head and responded silently, but was still unwilling to let go.
In the end, it was Fan Hu who gritted his teeth, whipped his horse hard, and urged the horse to go towards the foot of the mountain. Fan Bao did not dare to use his true energy, but was rolled around on the ground by the horse and fell into the mud. After a long time, he got up, then lowered his head and got on a horse, taking the remaining five or six horses to the rear.
However, they could not walk for a long time when they saw four thousand soldiers coming towards them. They were shocked and hurriedly greeted them and asked, "Didn't I say that you are not allowed to do anything without my military orders?"
A general responded nervously in front of him: "It's Governor Zhang! He just came back and said that the main force of our army is surrounded. Let's rush forward with the whole army and try to open the passage from inside and outside!"
Fan Bao was stunned on the spot. He was stunned for a moment, and then he realized who Commander Zhang was, and then his heart became cold.
Sure enough, within a moment, he saw Zhang Changgong riding a horse and personally supervising the army forward. This usually very elegant man from a famous family who always wore a silver-gray mask had disheveled hair and a handsome, white, and rather feminine face. There was an obvious blood stain, and the whole person had a ferocious expression, but he didn't even look at Fan Bao.
Fan Bao didn't dare to speak. After the other party passed by, he went to the rear army to find his little sister.
But soon, he got another bad news.
"Fan Siniang left early. She heard that the war ahead was critical. As early as half an hour ago, when the second master set out, he led two hundred horses around Lishan to raid the rear of the bandit camp." A familiar officer hurried forward and gave the answer.
Fan Bao stood on the side of the road with a dazed look on his face. Then he suddenly came to his senses as if he had been agitated by the rain. However, he followed the large army with the last few riders and turned back to the battlefield.
At the same moment, Yu Baimei, who had previously stayed in the encirclement with the highest status, was already heavy all over and could no longer exert any energy, especially the half of his body that was hit by the arrow. He was almost completely unconscious. In such a predicament, he could not Just like Shang Huaizhi who was killed by him, he was blocked in the col at the foot of Mount Li.
"Yu Baimei!"
Wang Shuyong looked at his old rival in front of him with a ferocious look on his face. "I ask you one last time, surrender or not?!"
Yu Baimei, who was leaning against a small tree, looked at the other person and opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but no sound came out.
"Master Wang!"
A horse came galloping through the mud and water. "Leader Shang Da's younger brother Shang Huai'en went to Zhang Dalongtou and cried, begging to kill this person. Many other brothers said that this person killed too many members of our gang. Leader Zhang Da has an order. If I find this place, this person will still not surrender. There’s no need to persuade me any more!”
Wang Shuyong sneered and turned to look at him: "Yu Baimei, did you hear that? When you wantonly killed our leader and son of the Dragon Gang half a year ago, did you think about this moment?"
Yu Baimei spoke again, but after regaining his strength, he finally managed to speak out: "You thieves, everyone can find them... punish them! Yu... Yu just hates not killing enough!"
When Wang Wulang heard this, he raised his head and laughed. The sound of laughter shook the whole field. The sergeants around him were shocked. Then he suddenly stopped talking and pointed at the other party: "What a momentum! In this case, I, the thief, will leave you alone today." corpse!"
As soon as he said this, he took off the iron bow from the back of the guard again, and then walked forward. He only came to a place twenty or thirty steps away from the opponent. He stopped just now, but he used his true energy to raise his hand and shot an arrow, which was easily shot through. The opponent's armor is deep in the middle of the abdomen.
By this time, Yu Baimei had no other reaction except a groan.
Immediately, Wang Wulang did not aim deliberately, but fired more than ten arrows in a row, until all the arrows in the barrel were shot in the rain... The bow string was damp, and the arrow feathers were wet. Once shot, it would be random, but Wang Wulang used Lihuo Zhenqi. , coupled with my excellent archery skills, after shooting more than ten arrows, seven or eight arrows actually hit the target, pinning the opponent to the small tree.
By the time he put away the big iron bow, blood had already flowed out from the seven or eight holes in the opponent's body, spreading into the puddles on the ground that had turned red before he knew it.
Of course, Yu Baimei himself died without knowing when.
He was twenty-four years old.
PS: Good night everyone.
Recommend the old author's new book "Jing'an Hou". Academy student Chen Qing was beaten to death for his classmates, but the crime fell on Shen Yi. Shen Yi died unjustly in the county jail, but the new Shen Yi woke up in the jail...
(End of chapter)
