"Where is the front?" Li Dingxing was sitting on a horse, with fifty thousand Nanhuai troops behind him. When he arrived in Chuxiang territory, he was not familiar with the geography and asked his guide.
The guide was a local old man who had seen the world, so he replied in a neither humble nor arrogant manner: "If we go back to the father-in-law, we will reach Yucheng less than fifty miles ahead. After passing Yucheng, we will enter Sichuan and Sichuan."
Chu Xiang had already been taken back to the imperial court, and Chu Xiang's remaining ministers were collected and beheaded as they should be, so the road was smooth and there was no obstacle. It took Li Dingxing less than a month to travel westward from the capital to Yucheng, the western border of Chuxiang.
"I'm freezing to death. No wonder the Art of War says it's not advisable to use troops in the middle of winter." Yi Xiaoling sighed as he put his hands to his mouth and breathed to keep warm.
Li Dingxing pulled off his gloves and threw them to Yi Xiaoling: "Put them on."
Yi Xiaoling smiled "hehe". What she liked most was Li Dingxing's meticulous care. She didn't hesitate and put on Li Dingxing's gloves generously, put it to the tip of her nose and smelled the smell of the gloves.
"The whole army hastened up and camped outside Yucheng to rest tonight." Li Dingxing ordered the herald. After receiving the order, the herald galloped to the rear of the army and relayed the orders one by one.
Fifty miles sounds like a long time, but for an army that marches and fights all year round, it really comes in the blink of an eye. Although the Nanhuai Army was not good at land warfare, its march was not slow. The sun was setting in the west, the temperature was gradually dropping, and the army also arrived at the gate of Yucheng.
The troops were busy setting up camp, while Li Dingxing took Qin Changqian, Bai Xinglong and others to leave the camp to survey the terrain. When marching and fighting, the most important thing is the right time, place and people. Li Dingxing has studied the art of war since he was a child. Everywhere he goes, he must personally survey the terrain and keep it in mind.
The crowd had traveled less than a few miles to the west when they saw a group of people rushing towards them in the distance, a mass of darkness and a large number of people.
"Be on guard!" Li Dingxing gave the order, and everyone held weapons and stood on guard. Qin Changqian held two guns and rushed forward to check the situation.
After a while, I saw Qin Changqian coming back: "My lord, you are not helping the guards!"
"Unaided guard!?" Li Dingxing also heard that the imperial court had long sent unaided guard to rescue the distressed princess in Sichuan. He originally thought that he had gone awry with them, but he didn't expect that almost a month had passed, and they had just Rush to Yucheng.
"Come with me and have a look." Li Dingxing turned his horse to look, and everyone followed closely behind. After walking for a while, they finally saw this group of people.
The opponent had already prepared a tight formation, with their spears set up and their swords unsheathed, and they formed a circle to protect the hundreds of people in the middle.
"Where is Captain Sun?" Li Dingxing came out first and shouted to the opposite side.
Hearing Li Dingxing's call from the other side, the soldiers and horses on the opposite side made way, and a woman wearing armor came out: "Sun Hong, who is not helping the guards, pays homage to Duke Zhongyi!"
Li Dingxing waved his hand: "There is no need to be polite, Captain Sun. What's wrong with you?" It wasn't until he got closer that he realized that everyone on the other side was injured and suffered a loss.
Sun Hong turned around and waved, and the people behind him relaxed their vigilance. They were all so tired that they staggered around. Some people couldn't stand and collapsed directly to the ground.
Sun Hong said with some dejection: "Well, I came to meet the princess on your majesty's order. I didn't want the Xigui Army to pursue me all the way without stopping for a moment. If it weren't for the fact that there were many Sichuan and Shu troops and Tangmen disciples around the princess, I would have been alone. I don’t have a few hundred people to help with the defense, I’m afraid…”
Li Dingxing frowned and said: "We are almost in Chuxiang territory, and the Xigui army is chasing them all the way? When was the last time you fought against them?"
Sun Hong replied: "At noon, when we were about to bury the pot and rebel, the Xigui Army rushed out. Fortunately, a group of Tang Sect disciples risked their lives to stop us, and we were able to protect the princess and escape."
"Where is the princess?" Li Dingxing asked.
Sun Hong waved to the back, and the soldiers came to Li Dingxing surrounded by a woman. Although the woman's clothes were not in tatters, there was no clean spot on her body, and they were all stained by dust and blood.
"Princess, you are frightened." Li Dingxing recognized that this person was Peng Baby from Sichuan. He quickly dismounted and led a group of people behind him to greet him.
Peng Baby looked up and saw Li Dingxing and Yi Xiaoling. Although they only met a few times, they were acquaintances after all. Peng Baby lamented in his heart that the last time they met, he was the dignified princess of Sichuan and Shu, with a hundred thousand soldiers in his hands, but now he was reduced to the situation where the country was ruined and the family was ruined. Thinking of this, I felt like crying.
Yi Xiaoling was kind-hearted and hated to see this the most. He strode forward, not afraid of the blood and dust on her body, and hugged her gently: "It's okay, it's okay."
Peng Baby endured his grief, wiped his eyes, and said: "Mr. Zhongyi, please be careful. The Xigui army is coming fiercely. Most of the soldiers and horses in Sichuan and Shu, as well as the people, will be hunted down and plundered! I'm afraid it won't take a few hours." , they will chase here."
Li Dingxing nodded: "Chief Sun, since it is His Majesty's will, please take the princess away quickly. I will stop the pursuers here."
Sun Hong nodded, calling for everyone to help each other up, and hurried past. Li Dingxing noticed that there were only about twenty Tangmen disciples left in these teams.
"It seems that the Xigui Army came with bad intentions." Li Dingxing realized that the Xigui Army was more difficult to deal with than he thought, and ordered: "Feng Nan, Chu Zhou, we just passed through a valley, you two will lead each other Ten thousand soldiers and horses are ambushing both sides of the valley. As soon as Xigui's soldiers and horses pass by, they will immediately guard the entrance of the valley!"
"Chen Guang, you dress up as a princess with disheveled hair and lead hundreds of people to wait here. If the Xigui army arrives later, immediately retreat and lead the Xigui army back into the valley." Li Dingxing is indeed familiar with the art of war, and he hurriedly He immediately thought of a move, Li Dai Tao Zhan, to lure the enemy deeper.
But he didn't know how many troops were chasing him. In order to maintain stability, Li Dingxing put all his troops and horses on them and warned the generals to act expeditiously if something unexpected happened.
Yi Xiaoling interjected from the side and said, "Let me go. At least I am a woman and I look much more like Chen Guang."
"This..." Li Dingxing deliberately didn't want her to take risks, but how could he show favoritism before joining the army?
"Madam, please listen to what the father-in-law has to say." Chen Guang persuaded from the side.
Yi Xiaoling nodded, and Li Dingxing said: "I will lead more than a thousand people to go up the valley from both sides and shoot the enemy generals from above. I still need one person to lead the remaining army to block the west side of the valley. Your army. My original intention is for you to block the entrance of the valley..."
Yi Xiaoling shook his head: "I don't know how to command troops and horses. You give me so many troops and horses, and I don't know how to command them. It's better to kill the enemy personally. Chen Guang is a general in Nanhuai, and he can command troops and horses better than me." suitable."
Seeing that Yi Xiaoling had made up his mind, Li Dingxing said nothing and turned to look at the two guest generals, Qin Changqian and Bai Xinglong.
"Don't worry, Lord Zhongyi!" they both replied in unison. Li Dingxing was above the valley, so there was no danger. Naturally, they followed Yi Xiaoling to protect Yi Xiaoling's safety.
After the arrangements were made, everyone left quickly and went to carry out military orders.
Li Dingxing also led five thousand crossbowmen and rushed up the valley in a detour.
Yi Xiaoling took off his armor, disheveled his hair, and tore his clothes in several places, pretending to be running for his life in embarrassment. Still feeling unsafe, he rolled on the ground twice more, staining a lot of mud, and nodded with satisfaction.
Qin Changqian and Bai Xinglong were a little stunned at the fact that Duke Zhongyi's wife could actually do this. Not to mention the wife of the Duke of Guo, even an ordinary peasant girl cannot get away on the ground.
After Chen Guang selected hundreds of capable soldiers and left them with Yi Xiaoling, he repeatedly told these soldiers to protect his wife's safety, and then led his troops towards the valley to deploy an ambush.
"Madam, would you like me to go to the front to check the situation." Bai Xinglong, who was very good at lightness skills, asked Yi Xiaoling.
"Then there's Young Master Lao Bai."
Qin Changqian and Bai Xinglong nodded. They already had a spear in their hands, protecting Yi Xiaoling's side. Bai Xinglong used his Qinggong skills and rushed towards Sichuan.
Sichuan and Sichuan are very mountainous, and before Bai Xinglong had gone far, there was another high mountain blocking the road ahead. On the cliff, you can still vaguely see some wooden piles embedded in the cliff.
"It must be that the Sichuan and Shu Army demolished all the plank roads when they fled. In this case, the Xigui Army should not be able to catch up." Bai Xinglong looked at the cliff and knew what was going on. It's not a big problem to step on these wooden stakes and climb over the mountain with your own Qinggong. However, not everyone in the Xigui army has excellent Qinggong, so there is nothing to worry about.
Thinking of this, Bai Xinglong was about to turn around and leave when suddenly there was a loud noise behind him. The roaring sound was like a mountain collapsing and the ground cracking. It was very scary.
"What? Did the Earth Dragon turn over again?" Bai Xinglong could barely stand on his own feet and quickly turned back to check the situation.
Looking back, Bai Xinglong took a breath of cold air. A green snake tail like a giant pillar actually hung down from the cliff!
"This..." Before Bai Xinglong could react, several more snake tails hung down. They were the same as the green snake tails, but they were not as thick and slightly thinner.
On the cliff, the girl Cao Qingxing poked her head out and saw Bai Xinglong at a glance: "Another handsome man!" After saying that, she jumped onto the green snake and slid down along the green snake's tail. .
Bai Xinglong drew his sword and retreated, keeping distance. Just as they stood firm, several more people slid down the cliff along the tail of other big snakes like Cao Qingxing, and the number of people gradually increased.
"Let's go!" Seeing the large number of people on the other side, Bai Xinglong turned around and ran away without any hesitation.
"Xiao Qing, don't worry, don't worry, that little girl can't run away! There are so many people around her, and you will definitely let you eat a few!" The big green snake slowly climbed down from the mountain, spitting out letters and tracking the air. residual odor.
The rest of the people also had their own weapons and wanted to share the credit, but no one dared to get in front of Cao Qingxing, and they were all led by her.
Bai Xinglong had just returned, and Yi Xiaoling couldn't wait to greet him: "How is it? Are there any pursuers coming?"
Bai Xinglong thought of the green snake tail just now, and still had some palpitations in his heart: "Madam, there are pursuers... It's just..."
"Are there many people?" Qin Changqian couldn't help but ask from the side.
"I suggest that the ambush troops be evacuated, I'm afraid it will be self-defeating..." Bai Xinglong hesitated and didn't know whether to speak out, so he only put forward his own ideas.
Yi Xiaoling was impatient after all, and when he was about to press him, he accidentally saw Bai Xinglong in the distance behind him, dumbfounded...
Bai Xinglong looked back and said with a wry smile: "That's it, no need to explain..."
A big green snake raised its head high, like a mountain, like a god... On the head of the "god" stood a little girl with her arms around her breasts, doing a green line...
